01What Indira Ekadashi is
Indira Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the dark half of Bhadrapada in the amanta calendar, which purnimanta calendars place in Ashwin. It is kept in September or early October and falls within Pitru Paksha, the fortnight the tradition gives to the ancestors, the pitri. That placing is the key to the day: Indira is the Ekadashi whose merit the tradition offers to the ancestors. The account is told by Krishna to Yudhishthira, and the form of Vishnu worshipped on it is Shaligrama, or Vishnu as Hrishikesha.
Calendars that end the month at the new moon (amanta, used in the south and west) name it the Krishna Ekadashi of Bhadrapada; those that end it at the full moon (purnimanta, used in the north) name it the Krishna Ekadashi of Ashwin. It is the same day.
02The story told of it
King Indrasena of Mahishmati was a devoted follower of Vishnu. One day the sage Narada came to his court with word of the king's father: through an Ekadashi vow he had once left unkept, the father's merit was incomplete, and he had asked Narada to bring his son a message. Narada taught Indrasena how to keep the Ekadashi of this fortnight and offer its merit to his father. The king kept it with his family and household, and the account says his father rose to Vaikuntha, Vishnu's realm.
03How the fast is kept
The keeping joins the Ekadashi fast to the rites of Pitru Paksha. On Dashami one eats a single meal; on the Ekadashi the fast runs to the next day's parana, and many families perform a shraddha for the ancestors, offering water and sesame and setting aside food for brahmins, cows and crows. Because grains are not eaten on the fast, the food for the shraddha is prepared and given while the household itself abstains. The fast is broken on Dwadashi with the merit of the day offered to the pitri.
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 1:06 AM on 27 September, before sunrise, so parana runs from sunrise at 6:11 AM to the end of Pratahkal at 8:35 AM on 27 September.
- Sunrise6:11 AM on 27 Sep
- Hari Vasara ends1:06 AM on 27 September
- Parana window6:11 – 8:35 AM
- Dwadashi ends4:56 PM on 27 September
05Why 26 September
- In Bhopal: It is kept on 26 September because the Ekadashi tithi is current at sunrise that morning (6:10 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.
06Indira Ekadashi in other years
- 2026Tuesday, 6 October · parana 6:16 – 8:36 AM
- 2027Sunday, 26 September · parana 6:11 – 8:35 AM
- 2028Friday, 15 September · parana 6:07 – 8:34 AM
