01What Rama Ekadashi is
Rama Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the dark half of Ashwin in the amanta calendar, which purnimanta calendars place in Kartik. It is kept in October or early November, a few days before Diwali, and is the last Ekadashi before the festival. The name is not Lord Rama's: Rama here is a name of Lakshmi, Vishnu's consort, and the tradition worships Lakshmi together with Vishnu on the day. Its nearness to Diwali, when Lakshmi is worshipped, makes the link natural. 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 Ashwin; those that end it at the full moon (purnimanta, used in the north) name it the Krishna Ekadashi of Kartik. It is the same day.
02The story told of it
King Muchukunda kept Ekadashi so strictly that the account says no one in his kingdom, not even the animals, was fed on the day. His daughter Chandrabhaga married Prince Shobhana, who was not strong and found the fast hard, but kept Rama Ekadashi at the king's wish. The account says the merit of a fast kept so unwillingly was real but would not hold firm, until Chandrabhaga, who had kept every Ekadashi since childhood, gave him the strength of her own. The tradition reads it as a story about the spirit in which a fast is kept, and about a household keeping it together.
03How the fast is kept
The fast is the ordinary one, from sunrise to the next day's parana, with grains and beans left out even in the lighter forms. What is particular to Rama Ekadashi is the worship of Lakshmi with Vishnu, with lamps, Tulsi, flowers and sweets prepared without grain. Many households begin the cleaning and lighting of the house for Diwali around this day. Because Shobhana kept the fast with difficulty, the tradition also uses the story to say that a lighter form kept willingly is better than a strict one kept grudgingly.
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 16:35 on 5 November, before sunrise, so parana runs from sunrise at 06:37 to the end of Pratahkal at 08:48 on 6 November.
- Sunrise06:37 on 6 Nov
- Hari Vasara ends16:35 on 5 November
- Parana window06:37 – 08:48
- Dwadashi ends10:31 on 6 November
05Why this day, and why dates differ
It is kept on 5 November because the Ekadashi tithi is current at sunrise that morning (06:36).
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.
06Rama Ekadashi in other years
- 2026Thursday, 5 November · parana 06:37 to 08:48
- 2027Monday, 25 October · parana 13:12 to 15:27
- 2028Saturday, 14 October · parana 06:22 to 08:40
