01What Yogini Ekadashi is
Yogini Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the dark half of Jyeshtha in the amanta calendar, which purnimanta calendars place in Ashadha. It is kept in June or early July, as the first monsoon rains reach much of India, and it is the last Ekadashi before Devshayani, when the four months of Chaturmas begin. The name is usually read as belonging to one who keeps discipline, a yogi or yogini. The account is told by Krishna to Yudhishthira, and the tradition counts it among the Ekadashis held in particular esteem.
Calendars that end the month at the new moon (amanta, used in the south and west) name it the Krishna Ekadashi of Jyeshtha; those that end it at the full moon (purnimanta, used in the north) name it the Krishna Ekadashi of Ashadha. It is the same day.
02The story told of it
Kubera, lord of wealth, worshipped Shiva every day with flowers brought by his gardener Hemamali from the Manasarovar lake. One day Hemamali stayed at home with his wife Vishalakshi and the flowers never came. Kubera, angered, cursed him to leave Alaka with his body marked by the curse. Hemamali wandered in the Himalaya until he reached the ashram of the sage Markandeya, who told him to keep the Ekadashi of the dark half of Jyeshtha. The account says that when he kept it his form and his place were restored.
03How the fast is kept
Yogini 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. Since the story turns on a duty of worship left undone, the tradition stresses attentive puja on the day: Vishnu is worshipped in the morning with Tulsi, flowers and a lamp, and many also offer water at the root of a peepal tree. Some families take the day as a moment to set right obligations they have let slip before Chaturmas begins.
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 1:57 AM on 1 July, before sunrise, so parana runs from sunrise at 5:45 AM to the end of Pratahkal at 8:23 AM on 1 July.
- Sunrise5:45 AM on 1 Jul
- Hari Vasara ends1:57 AM on 1 July
- Parana window5:45 – 8:23 AM
- Dwadashi ends6:15 PM on 1 July
05Why 30 June
- In Hyderabad: It is kept on 30 June because the Ekadashi tithi is current at sunrise that morning (5:45 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.
06Yogini Ekadashi in other years
- 2026Friday, 10 July · parana 1:40 – 4:17 PM
- 2027Wednesday, 30 June · parana 5:45 – 8:23 AM
- 2028Sunday, 18 June · parana 1:37 – 4:15 PM
