What is Ekadashi?

Ekādaśī — also transliterated Ekadasi or Ekadashi — is the eleventh lunar day (tithi) of each fortnight in the Hindu calendar. It arrives twice every lunar month: once during the waxing fortnight (śukla pakṣa, between new moon and full moon) and once during the waning fortnight (kṛṣṇa pakṣa, between full moon and new moon). Across a standard lunar year, this gives twenty-four Ekadasis. In leap-month years — see Adhika Māsa — two more are added, for twenty-six.

The astronomy

A tithi is not a day — it is an angular distance. Specifically, it is one-thirtieth of the cycle from one new moon to the next: the moon, having met the sun at amāvāsyā, pulls ahead by exactly twelve degrees of elongation to complete each tithi. The eleventh tithi of either fortnight is the moment the moon reaches 120° ahead of the sun (shukla 11) or 300° ahead (kṛṣṇa 11). Because the moon's apparent speed varies, a tithi can be as short as twenty hours or as long as twenty-seven — so Ekadasi tithi does not align with any fixed clock time.

For observance purposes, the Ekadasi day is the calendar day at whose sunrise the Ekadasi tithi is prevailing. That sunrise rule is what makes location matter: the same astronomical Ekadasi can fall on different civil days for an observer in Bengaluru versus one in London, simply because their local sunrises are hours apart. The site computes this from your IP-derived location automatically.

Why fast on the eleventh?

The Purāṇic explanation, given in the Padma Purāṇa, is allegorical: the consciousness of all sin (pāpa-puruṣa) takes refuge inside food grains on the day of Ekadasi to avoid being burnt by the merit of those who fast. Eating grains on that day, by this telling, is a kind of accidental hospitality to one's own sins. Avoiding them denies the sin shelter.

A more physical reading, common in modern commentary, frames Ekadasi as a lunar fasting rhythm: a regular interval of digestive rest, twice a month, aligned with a measurable astronomical event. The body benefits; the mind benefits; and the day's ritual structure — japa, story, satsang — uses the cleared time for inward attention.

Most traditional practitioners take both readings as true. The fast is good for the body and the merit is real; arguing about which is the "real" reason misses the point that both are recognised in the texts.

The twenty-four names

Each Ekadasi has its own name, story, and presiding episode. They are listed in the Padma Purāṇa (which covers most of them) and the Skanda Purāṇa (which adds the two Adhika Māsa Ekadasis). The standard set across a normal year:

• Pāpamocanī — Chaitra kṛṣṇa
• Kāmadā — Chaitra śukla
• Varūthinī — Vaiśākha kṛṣṇa
• Mohinī — Vaiśākha śukla
• Aparā — Jyeṣṭha kṛṣṇa
• Nirjalā — Jyeṣṭha śukla
• Yoginī — Āshāḍha kṛṣṇa
• Devśayanī — Āshāḍha śukla
• Kāmikā — Śrāvaṇa kṛṣṇa
• Putradā — Śrāvaṇa śukla
• Ajā — Bhādrapada kṛṣṇa
• Parivartinī — Bhādrapada śukla
• Indirā — Āśvina kṛṣṇa
• Pāpāṅkuśā — Āśvina śukla
• Ramā — Kārtika kṛṣṇa
• Prabodhinī — Kārtika śukla
• Utpannā — Mārgaśīrṣa kṛṣṇa
• Mokṣadā — Mārgaśīrṣa śukla
• Saphalā — Pauṣa kṛṣṇa
• Putradā (Pauṣa) — Pauṣa śukla
• Ṣaṭṭilā — Māgha kṛṣṇa
• Jayā — Māgha śukla
• Vijayā — Phālguna kṛṣṇa
• Āmalakī — Phālguna śukla

The two adhika-only Ekadasis — Padminī and Paramā — appear only in leap-month years.

Smārta and Vaiṣṇava

On most Ekadasis there is one date and the two traditions agree on it. Roughly once a year, the Ekadasi tithi spans two consecutive sunrises — and the traditions diverge. Smārta observers fast on the first such sunrise; Vaiṣṇava observers wait until the second, requiring that Dvādaśī also touch sunrise. This is called the atirikta case. The differences are listed on each story page in the years they apply, and on the hero card when the displayed Ekadasi has them.

Spelling — Ekadashi or Ekadasi?

Both spellings are correct transliterations of ekādaśī. Ekadashi renders the palatal śa as sh; Ekadasi uses plain s. They refer to the same word and observance. This site uses Ekadasi in most prose but accepts the sh spelling in URLs and search terms.

Practical guide: fasting rules · Adhika Māsa · today's Ekadasi · all stories.