01What Papmochani Ekadashi is
Papmochani Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the dark half of Phalguna in the amanta calendar, which purnimanta calendars place in Chaitra. It is kept in March or early April, between Holi and the new year of Chaitra, which makes it the last Ekadashi of the lunar year. Papmochani means the one that frees from wrongdoing, and the tradition places it at the year's end for that reason: it closes the year as Kamada opens the next. The account is told by Krishna to Yudhishthira.
Calendars that end the month at the new moon (amanta, used in the south and west) name it the Krishna Ekadashi of Phalguna; those that end it at the full moon (purnimanta, used in the north) name it the Krishna Ekadashi of Chaitra. It is the same day.
02The story told of it
The sage Medhavi, son of Chyavana, was practising austerities in the Chaitraratha forest when the apsara Manjughosha, sent to break his tapas, drew him away from it. Many years passed before he realised how much time he had lost. In anger he cursed her to become a pishachi. She begged him for a remedy, and he told her of the Ekadashi of Phalguna's dark half. His father Chyavana told Medhavi to keep it too, for his own lapse, and the account says both were freed.
03How the fast is kept
Papmochani 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 the day given to Vishnu. Since it is the year's last Ekadashi and its account is about lapses set right, many families use it to take stock of the year and to seek forgiveness where it is owed. Both figures in the story kept the fast, and the tradition draws from that the lesson that the one who curses also has something to set right.
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 lasts until 9:16 AM on 3 April, past the end of Pratahkal, and Madhyahna is avoided, so parana moves to the afternoon: from 1:27 PM to 3:57 PM on 3 April.
- Sunrise5:58 AM on 3 Apr
- Hari Vasara ends9:16 AM on 3 April
- Parana window1:27 – 3:57 PM
- Dwadashi ends4:27 AM on 4 April
05Why 2 April
- In Kanpur: It is kept on 2 April because the Ekadashi tithi is current at sunrise that morning (5:59 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.
06Papmochani Ekadashi in other years
- 2026Sunday, 15 March · parana 6:17 – 8:41 AM
- 2027Friday, 2 April · parana 1:27 – 3:57 PM
- 2028Tuesday, 21 March · parana 6:55 – 8:36 AM
