Ekadashi 2026 Dates: Next Ekadashi and Full List

What Ekadashi is

The Moon moves about 12 degrees ahead of the Sun each lunar day. Ekadashi is the eleventh of these days counted from the New Moon (Amavasya) or the Full Moon (Purnima). In the Puranas, Ekadashi is described as especially dear to Vishnu, and keeping it is traditionally said to purify the mind and the body.

The 24 Ekadashis of a year each carry a name, such as Mokshada, Putrada, Kamada or Papmochani, and a story (katha) told on the day. A year with an extra lunar month (Adhika Masa or Purushottam Masa) has two more: Padmini (Kamala) and Parama Ekadashi.

How Ekadashi is observed

The fast traditionally runs from sunrise on Ekadashi to the next morning. Many people eat a simple sattvik meal before sunset on the day before (Dashami), so the stomach is light. On Ekadashi, worship Vishnu with tulsi leaves, a lamp and simple offerings, read or listen to the day's katha, and chant a name of Vishnu or the Vishnu Sahasranama if you know it.

There are several levels of fasting, and families choose what suits them: without water (nirjala), with water only, with fruit and milk (phalahar), or one simple meal without grains. Many people who don't fast still avoid grains and pulses on the day.

Simple rules many families follow

Fasting is optional. Children, older people, anyone pregnant or breastfeeding, and anyone with diabetes, low blood pressure or another health condition should eat normally or keep a light fruit-and-milk (phalahar) fast, and check with a doctor first. Traditionally the intention and the prayer matter more than going without food.

• Avoid rice, wheat and other grains, and pulses (dal), on Ekadashi.
• Fruit, milk, curd, nuts, potatoes, sweet potato, sabudana, and flours such as kuttu (buckwheat), singhara (water chestnut) and rajgira (amaranth) are traditionally allowed.
• Rock salt (sendha namak) is used in place of ordinary salt; onion and garlic are avoided.
• Keep the day calm: less argument, less screen time, more prayer, reading and kindness.
• Break the fast on the next day (Dwadashi), not on Ekadashi itself.

Breaking the fast (Parana)

The Ekadashi fast is broken on the next day, Dwadashi, after sunrise. This is called Parana. Traditionally it should be done while Dwadashi is still running; breaking it after Dwadashi has ended is considered as missing the fast.

Calendars also avoid the first quarter of Dwadashi, called Hari Vasara, and prefer the early morning (Pratahkal) to midday. The exact window depends on when Dwadashi starts and ends and on your city's sunrise, so it changes every time. Start with a little water, a tulsi leaf or fruit, then a simple meal.

Smarta and Vaishnava dates

Smarta followers accept a tithi that is viddha, that is, overlapped at dawn by the tithi before it, as long as it prevails for enough of the day or night by the rules of the dharma-shastra texts, and they observe the vrat on that day.

Vaishnava followers (for example ISKCON and the Bhagavata Panchangs) require a shuddha (pure) tithi. If Dashami is still running even a little before sunrise, at Arunodaya, the day is considered spoiled (viddha) and the Ekadashi fast moves to the next day. That is why calendars often list two dates for one Ekadashi: the first for Smartas and the next day for Vaishnavas.

The dates on this page follow the Smarta reckoning, as Drik Panchang does by default. Follow your family's, temple's or guru's tradition.

Why the date can differ in your city

A vrat's day is set by when its tithi is running at sunrise, sunset or moonrise, and those come at different clock times in different places. The dates above are for New Delhi. Across India they are almost always the same; abroad, especially in the Americas, a vrat can fall a day earlier because the tithi changes before local sunrise there. Your city's Panchang shows the local tithi times, sunrise, sunset and moonrise, and its month calendar shows the vrats by your own sunrise.

• New Delhi, Delhi PanchangMonth calendar
• Mumbai, Maharashtra PanchangMonth calendar
• Kolkata, West Bengal PanchangMonth calendar
• Chennai, Tamil Nadu PanchangMonth calendar
• Bengaluru, Karnataka PanchangMonth calendar
• London, United Kingdom PanchangMonth calendar
• New York City, United States PanchangMonth calendar
• Toronto, Canada PanchangMonth calendar
• Dubai, UAE PanchangMonth calendar
• Singapore, Singapore PanchangMonth calendar

Another city? Panchang by city covers over 400 places.