01What Papankusha Ekadashi is
Papankusha Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the bright half of Ashwin, kept in late September or in October, the day after Vijayadashami. An ankusha is the goad a mahout uses to steer an elephant, and the name pictures the day as a goad that checks wrongdoing, as the ankusha checks an elephant. The tradition gives it to Vishnu as Padmanabha, the one from whose navel the lotus of creation grows. The account is told by Krishna to Yudhishthira, and the post-monsoon weather makes it a clear, pleasant day of the year.
It is the Ashwin Shukla Ekadashi in both ways of naming the lunar months.
02The story told of it
The account tells of Krodhana, a fowler in the Vindhya hills whose name means the angry one. He lived by cruelty and by robbing travellers, and in time grew afraid of the weight of all he had done. In remorse he went to the ashram of the sage Angiras and asked for any way to change. Angiras told him of the Ekadashi of Ashwin's bright half, which fell the next day. Krodhana kept it as he was taught, and the account says he was freed from the burden of his past and turned to Vishnu.
03How the fast is kept
Papankusha is kept in the ordinary Ekadashi way, a fast from sunrise to the next day's parana, with grains and beans left out even in the lighter forms, and worship of Vishnu as Padmanabha with lotus flowers where they can be had. Since the story turns on a change of heart, the day is often given to reflection and to making amends. The tradition commends gifts of land, cows, grain, umbrellas and shoes. Coming just after the Navratri fasts, it is for many the last of a long season of observance.
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 8:40 PM on 11 October, before sunrise, so parana runs from sunrise at 6:04 AM to the end of Pratahkal at 8:23 AM on 12 October.
- Sunrise6:04 AM on 12 Oct
- Hari Vasara ends8:40 PM on 11 October
- Parana window6:04 – 8:23 AM
- Dwadashi ends4:14 PM on 12 October
05Why 11 October
- In Lucknow: It is kept on 11 October because the Ekadashi tithi is current at sunrise that morning (6:03 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.
06Papankusha Ekadashi in other years
- 2026Thursday, 22 October · parana 6:10 – 8:26 AM
- 2027Monday, 11 October · parana 6:04 – 8:23 AM
- 2028Friday, 29 September · parana 5:58 – 8:21 AM
