Mystical systems
Ekadashi
Direct answer
Ekadashi is the eleventh day of each waxing and waning Moon in the Hindu calendar, observed twice a month by devotees of Vishnu with a fast from grains and with prayer.
$0 today, then $19/month after 7 days. Cancel anytime.
At a glance
- Also called
- ekadasi
- Found in
- Mystical Systems
- Related
- Tapas, Asceticism, Vigil, Ramadan
Ekadashi is the eleventh day of each waxing and waning Moon in the Hindu calendar, observed twice a month by devotees of Vishnu with a fast from grains and with prayer.
A lineage map for books and systems; it avoids presenting symbolic traditions as literal fact.
Understand the chapter you are in.
Your life’s turning points, measured from your birth.
Walk through Alex’s whole example first
Prefer to explore first?
The Road of AgesThe turning points of your whole life, from your own chart
Walk my road
When is Ekadashi?
Ekadashi means the eleventh in Sanskrit. The Hindu lunar month has two fortnights, one of the waxing Moon and one of the waning, and the eleventh day of each is set aside for Vishnu. That gives twenty-four Ekadashis in a normal year and two more when an extra month is added to keep the calendar in step with the seasons. Each has its own name and story.
The usual observance is to give up grains and pulses for the day, living on fruit, milk and root vegetables, or to take nothing but water. The day is spent in worship, reading and singing, sometimes with a night watch. The fast is broken the next morning, on the twelfth day, within a set window of time. The tradition itself exempts the sick, the old, children and pregnant women.
On the tree of the hidden arts: Fasting and discipline.
What sets Ekadashi apart
Ekadashi is a fast set by the Moon's phase and not by the solar date, so it has to be computed, and two almanacs can disagree. Followers of different schools apply different rules when the eleventh day is touched by the tenth at dawn, and may fast a day apart. What is given up is specific: grain and pulses above all, on the teaching that sin lodges in grain on this day. The ending is ruled as closely as the fast, within a window on the twelfth morning called parana.
- Word: Sanskrit ekadashi, the eleventh
- How often: twice in each lunar month, twenty-four times in a common year
- Deity: Vishnu, also worshipped as Krishna or Rama
- Chiefly avoided: grains and pulses
- Breaking the fast: parana, on the morning of the twelfth day
- Great feast: Vaikuntha Ekadashi, in December or January
Often mistaken for something else: Ramadan fasts by the hour of the Sun, from dawn to sunset, every day for a lunar month; Ekadashi fasts by the day of the Moon, one day in each fortnight, all year.
The story behind Ekadashi
The observance is praised in the Puranas, medieval Sanskrit collections of myth and rule. The Padma Purana tells that a goddess sprang from the sleeping Vishnu on this day to kill the demon Mura, and was named Ekadashi and granted that those who fast on her day be favoured. The Vaishnava movements of the sixteenth century, among them the followers of Chaitanya in Bengal, made the fortnightly fast a mark of membership, and the Hare Krishna movement carried it abroad after 1966.
Why Ekadashi matters
Ekadashi is one of the most widely kept regular fasts in the world, and it ties food to the phases of the Moon in the manner of an almanac.
How to read Ekadashi
Devotees look up each Ekadashi and the hour for ending the fast in a panchang, the Hindu almanac, since the date shifts with place and tradition.
Ekadashi in practice: an example
A family that keeps Ekadashi cooks no rice or lentils that day and eats a simple meal of fruit, potatoes and milk after evening prayers.
Where readings of Ekadashi go wrong
The waterless form, kept in the heat of early summer, risks dehydration. Fasting is unsafe for some people, and the tradition excuses them.
Sources and editorial method
This entry summarizes the tradition in the Almanac's own words; where no source is listed, it is an editorial summary rather than a primary text, and symbolic readings are named as the tradition's, not as fact.
- Source
- The Great Almanac Dictionary
- Category
- Mystical Systems
- Aliases
- ekadasi, ekadashi fast, ekadashi meaning, nirjala ekadashi, ekadashi vrat
- Last updated
- 2026-09-26
See Ekadashi in your personal almanac
A definition tells you what it is; your own birth chart tells you what it means for you. The Oracle casts your real chart and answers for your love, your work, and your year ahead, in conversation. It opens with the 7-day Oracle trial.
Speak with the OracleRelated terms
More in Mystical Systems
From the reference page to your own chart
Every word here
is in your own chart.
- Your life’s turning points, measured from your birth
- A practical next step to consider
- It opens with 7 days free: the AI Oracle on thirty hidden arts, and your daily horoscope
$0 today, then $19/month after 7 days. Cancel anytime.
Common questions
When is Ekadashi?
It is the eleventh lunar day after each new Moon and each full Moon, so it comes about every two weeks. The calendar date differs from year to year and can differ by a day between regions.
What can be eaten on Ekadashi?
Custom varies. Most who keep it avoid rice, wheat, lentils and beans. Many eat fruit, nuts, milk, potatoes and flours such as buckwheat, and some take only water.
What is Nirjala Ekadashi?
It is the Ekadashi of the bright fortnight of the month of Jyeshtha, in May or June, traditionally kept without food or water and linked in story with Bhima of the Mahabharata. Going without water in summer heat is hazardous.
