01What Devshayani Ekadashi is
Devshayani Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the bright half of Ashadha, kept in late June or in July, once the monsoon has set in. Its name means the day the god lies down to sleep: the tradition holds that on this day Vishnu goes to rest on the serpent Shesha in the ocean of milk, and sleeps for four months until Devutthana Ekadashi in Kartik. Those four months are Chaturmas. The day is also called Harishayani and Padma Ekadashi, and in Maharashtra it is Ashadhi Ekadashi, one of the largest days of the year.
It is the Ashadha Shukla Ekadashi in both ways of naming the lunar months.
02The story told of it
The account usually told is from the Bhavishya Purana, given by Krishna to Yudhishthira. King Mandhata ruled a prosperous land until no rain fell for three years and his people began to suffer from want. Unable to find any fault of his own that could explain it, he went into the forest and asked the sage Angiras for counsel. Angiras told him to keep the Padma Ekadashi of Ashadha's bright half with his whole kingdom. The account says that when they kept it the rains came and the land was green again.
03How the fast is kept
The day opens Chaturmas, and many people take a vow for the four months: giving up a particular food, eating once a day, or keeping a daily reading. Weddings and other new beginnings are traditionally not held until Vishnu wakes in Kartik. In Maharashtra the day is the end of the Pandharpur wari, when hundreds of thousands of warkaris who have walked for weeks from Alandi and Dehu with the palkhis of Dnyaneshwar and Tukaram reach Pandharpur for the darshan of Vitthal. The fast itself is the ordinary one, from sunrise to the next day's parana.
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.
04When 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 ends at 7:33 PM on 14 July, before sunrise, so parana runs from sunrise at 5:32 AM to the end of Pratahkal at 8:18 AM on 15 July.
- Sunrise5:32 AM on 15 Jul
- Hari Vasara ends7:33 PM on 14 July
- Parana window5:32 – 8:18 AM
- Dwadashi ends2:41 PM on 15 July
05Why 14 July
- In Ghaziabad: It is kept on 14 July because the Ekadashi tithi is current at sunrise that morning (5:32 AM).
Two things move an Ekadashi. The first is your city: the day is decided by sunrise, and sunrise in India differs by more than an hour from Kolkata to Ahmedabad, so a city can keep an Ekadashi a day apart from another when the tithi changes near dawn. Change the city above to see yours. The second is the tradition: the dates here are the Smarta ones most households follow. Vaishnava calendars, ISKCON's among them, judge the day from arunodaya, about an hour and a half before sunrise, and sometimes keep the fast a day later.
06Devshayani Ekadashi in other years
- 2026Saturday, 25 July · parana 5:38 – 8:22 AM
- 2027Wednesday, 14 July · parana 5:32 – 8:18 AM
- 2028Sunday, 2 July · parana 5:53 – 8:14 AM
