01What Devutthana Ekadashi is
Devutthana Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the bright half of Kartik, kept in late October or in November. Its name means the day the god rises: the tradition holds that Vishnu, asleep since Devshayani Ekadashi in Ashadha, wakes on this day, and the four months of Chaturmas end. It is also called Dev Uthani and Prabodhini Ekadashi, the Ekadashi of awakening. With Vishnu awake, the season of weddings and new beginnings opens again, which makes it one of the most widely kept Ekadashis of the year.
It is the Kartik Shukla Ekadashi in both ways of naming the lunar months.
02The story told of it
The first account is of Vishnu's rest. The tradition tells that Lakshmi once said to Vishnu that he kept no measure: he stayed awake for ages at a stretch and then slept for ages, and neither the gods nor his devotees knew when to find him. She asked him to rest at a fixed time each year. Vishnu agreed. He would sleep through the four months of the rains, from the Ekadashi of Ashadha's bright half, on the serpent Shesha in Kshirsagar, the ocean of milk. In those months weddings and other new beginnings are set aside. On the Ekadashi of Kartik's bright half the gods gather with conch, bells and hymns and wake him, and auspicious work begins again.
The second account goes back to Vamana. King Bali, the grandson of Prahlada, had won the three worlds, and the gods turned to Vishnu. Vishnu came to Bali's sacrifice as Vamana, a young brahmin of small stature, and asked for as much land as three of his steps would cover. Bali agreed, against the advice of his teacher Shukracharya. Vamana then grew until one step covered the earth and the second the heavens, and no place was left for the third. Bali offered his own head.
Pleased with a king who kept his word at the cost of everything, Vishnu gave Bali the realm of Sutala and a boon. Bali asked that Vishnu stay with him, and Vishnu became the keeper of his door. To bring him home, Lakshmi tied a thread on Bali's wrist and, as his sister, asked for her husband back. So it was settled, the tradition tells, that Vishnu stays with Bali for four months of each year, from Devshayani Ekadashi, and returns on Devutthana Ekadashi.
Both accounts end the same way. On this day Vishnu returns to his devotees, the vows of Chaturmas are completed, and the season of weddings opens, in many homes with the marriage of Tulsi.
03How the fast is kept
Households wake Vishnu in the evening: the image of his feet is drawn in rice flour or chalk, sugarcane is set up in a canopy, seasonal produce is offered, and he is woken with conch, bells and the song Uttho Deva. Chaturmas vows end. In many homes the marriage of Tulsi to Vishnu as Shaligrama, Tulsi vivah, is performed on this day or the next. In Maharashtra it is Kartiki Ekadashi, with a second great gathering at Pandharpur. The fast is the ordinary one, from sunrise to the next day's parana.
In Vaishnava temples the day is Utthana or Haribodhini Ekadashi. It opens Bhishma Panchaka, the last five days of Kartik, and many devotees keep a night vigil with kirtan and offer a lamp each evening of the month. Grains and beans are left out for the whole day.
What is eaten on the fast
Commonly eaten- Fruit
- Milk, curd and paneer
- Nuts and dry fruit
- Sabudana
- Kuttu and singhara flour
- Potato and sweet potato
- Sendha namak (rock salt)
Commonly left out- Rice
- Wheat and other grains
- Dal and beans
- Onion and garlic
- Ordinary salt, in many homes
Families choose the strictness that suits them. Anyone who is unwell, pregnant or elderly keeps a lighter form.
04Puja vidhi and samagri
- Clean the courtyard or the place of worship. In the evening, draw Vishnu's feet in rice flour or geru, commonly leading from the doorway to the place of worship.
- Set up a small mandap of four or five sugarcane stalks tied together at the top, and place an image of Vishnu or a Shaligrama under it.
- Light a ghee diya, and offer water, haldi and kumkum, flowers and tulsi leaves.
- Offer the season's new produce: sugarcane, singhara (water chestnut), shakarkand (sweet potato), ber, amla and other fruit.
- Wake Vishnu: blow the conch, ring the bell, and say the waking mantra below or sing your household's Uttho Deva song. In many homes a covered thali or basket is lifted at this moment to mark the waking.
- Read or listen to the katha of the day, then perform the aarti.
- Share the prasad. Those keeping the fast stay with fast food until the parana the next day.
Samagri: what to gather
- Sugarcane, four or five stalks
- A tulsi plant
- A Shaligrama or an image of Vishnu
- Rice flour or geru, for drawing the feet
- A diya, ghee and wicks
- Haldi, kumkum and flowers
- A conch and a bell
- Singhara, shakarkand, ber and amla
- Fruit and sweets for the bhog
- A red chunri and bangles for Tulsi, if Tulsi vivah is performed
The waking mantra
उत्तिष्ठोत्तिष्ठ गोविन्द त्यज निद्रां जगत्पते।
त्वयि सुप्ते जगन्नाथ जगत् सुप्तं भवेदिदम्॥
Uttishthottishtha Govinda tyaja nidram jagatpate,
tvayi supte Jagannatha jagat suptam bhavedidam.
Rise, rise, Govinda; leave your sleep, lord of the world. While you sleep, Jagannatha, this whole world sleeps.
Practices differ by region and family. Where your household's way differs from these steps, follow your household's.
05When to break the fast
The fast is broken on the morning after, the Dwadashi, and the tradition sets three limits on when. It must be after sunrise. It must not fall in Hari Vasara, the first quarter of Dwadashi. And it must be inside Dwadashi itself, ideally in Pratahkal, the first fifth of the daylight, and not in Madhyahna, the middle fifth. This time Hari Vasara lasts until 12:08 PM on 21 November, past the end of Pratahkal, and Madhyahna is avoided, so parana moves to the afternoon: from 1:09 PM to 3:25 PM on 21 November.
- Sunrise6:24 AM on 21 Nov
- Hari Vasara ends12:08 PM on 21 November
- Parana window1:09 – 3:25 PM
- Dwadashi ends4:57 AM on 22 November
06Why two dates: 20 or 21 November
- In Hyderabad: This year the Dwadashi after it ends before the following sunrise, so a fast kept on the later day could not be broken within Dwadashi. The fast therefore moves a day earlier, to 20 November. Vaishnava calendars keep the later day.
- In New Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad: the Ekadashi touches no sunrise at all, so it is kept on the day it begins, 20 November.
- Vaishnava calendars, ISKCON's among them, judge the day from arunodaya, 96 minutes before sunrise, and keep an Ekadashi only on a day it has reached by then. This time that day is 21 November, with parana on 22 November from 6:25 AM to 10:10 AM.
Two things move an Ekadashi. The first is your city: the day is decided by sunrise, so change the city above to see yours. The second is the tradition, and this time the two differ: Smarta calendars keep 20 November and Vaishnava calendars keep 21 November. Both are given on this page with their own parana. Keep the one your family or your temple follows.
07Tulsi vivah 2026: date and time
- Tulsi vivahSaturday, 21 November
- Evening window in Hyderabad5:40 – 8:13 PM
Tulsi vivah, the marriage of Tulsi to Vishnu as Shaligrama, is kept on Kartik Shukla Dwadashi, in the evening. Some households perform it on the evening of the Ekadashi itself, 20 November.
08Chaturmas ends: what begins again
- 25 July Devshayani Ekadashi: Vishnu's rest begins, and Chaturmas with it.
- Four months in which many families hold no weddings, griha pravesh or mundan.
- 20 November Devutthana Ekadashi: Vishnu wakes and Chaturmas ends.
- From the days after weddings, griha pravesh, mundan and other new beginnings are taken up again, on the days the muhurat rules allow.
09Devutthana Ekadashi in other years
- 2026Friday, 20 November · parana 1:09 – 3:25 PM
- 2027Wednesday, 10 November · parana 6:19 – 8:35 AM
- 2028Sunday, 29 October · parana 6:14 – 8:32 AM
