Ekadashi fast
Devshayani Ekadashi 2027: date, parana time and vrat katha
देवशयनी एकादशी
Devshayani Ekadashi 2027 is on Tuesday, July 13 in Washington DC (Smarta rule). Break the fast on Wednesday, July 14, between 2:41 and 5:37 PM.
Eat between 2:41 and 5:37 PM on Wednesday, July 14.
- Fast
Tuesday, July 13, 2027
Washington DC. Smarta and Vaishnava agree.
- Break the fast
Wednesday, July 14, 2027, 2:41–5:37 PM
Smarta rule.
- Fast in India
Wednesday, July 14, 2027
New Delhi, same rule.
Vaishnava parana: Wed 14 Jul, 10:03–10:47 AM.
Why this time
Hari Vasara ends after pratahkala; parana is avoided in madhyahna, so break the fast after madhyahna, within aparahna (the fourth fifth of the day, which ends the window).
Smarta rule: fast on the day Ekadashi prevails at sunrise (Dashami at sunrise spoils the day).
The fast day
The day in Washington DC
- Sunrise: 5:53 AM
- Abhijit muhurat: 12:44 to 1:43 PM
- Rahu Kaal: 4:53 to 6:43 PM
- Sunset: 8:33 PM
- Pradosh (after sunset): 8:33 to 10:26 PM
- Ekadashi ends: 3:40 AM +1 day, then Dwadashi
- Next sunrise: 5:54 AM +1 day
- Nakshatra: Vishakha until 3:52 PM
- Nakshatra: Anuradha until 5:48 PM, 14 Jul
Tomorrow, Wednesday, July 14: Break the fast
A tithi is a lunar day. It ends when the Moon gains another 12° on the Sun, at the same instant everywhere, so the clock time differs by city.
A tithi is a lunar day. It ends when the Moon gains another 12° on the Sun, at the same instant everywhere, so the clock time differs by city.
The nakshatra is the Moon’s place among the 27 star groups.
The nakshatra is the Moon’s place among the 27 star groups.
One of eight equal parts of the daytime, set by the weekday. Many families avoid starting new work in it. It is a calendar fact, not a prediction.
The eighth of fifteen equal parts of the daytime, around local noon.
The first part of the night after sunset. Evening pujas such as Lakshmi Puja follow it.
Hari Vasara ends after pratahkala; parana is avoided in madhyahna, so break the fast after madhyahna, within aparahna (the fourth fifth of the day, which ends the window).
Devshayani Ekadashi is on Tuesday, July 13, 2027 in Washington DC (Smarta rule). Break the fast on Wednesday, July 14, 2027, 2:41 PM – 5:37 PM.
Words on this page
- Paksha: Shukla and Krishna
- Half of a lunar month. In Shukla paksha, the bright half, the Moon grows. In Krishna paksha, the dark half, it wanes.
- Smarta rule and Vaishnava rule
- Two traditions' rules for the day of a festival or a fast. When they give different days, our pages show both and name each rule.
- Parana
- Breaking a fast at the time its rule allows. For Ekadashi: on the next day, after sunrise and Hari Vasara, before Dwadashi ends.
- Hari Vasara
- The first quarter of the Dwadashi tithi. The Ekadashi fast is not broken in it.
- Arunodaya
- The dawn before sunrise. In the Vaishnava Ekadashi rule, the 96 minutes (four ghatikas) before sunrise.
Ashadha Shukla (the same month in the amanta and purnimanta calendars)
Also called: Padma Ekadashi, Ashadhi Ekadashi, Harishayani Ekadashi
Devshayani means "the day the god lies down to sleep". On the Ekadashi of the bright half of Ashadha, Vishnu is said to begin his four months of rest, Chaturmas, which end on Prabodhini (Dev Uthani) Ekadashi in Kartika. In Maharashtra it is Ashadhi Ekadashi, when pilgrims reach Pandharpur. The two printings read for this page tell two different stories for it.
Written for Pujadeep and checked against the sources listed. See the sources
When it falls
Next for Washington DC: Tuesday, July 13, 2027. Parana: Wednesday, July 14, 2027, 2:41 PM – 5:37 PM. Other cities can differ. Every Ekadashi of 2027 by city.
The story
Vamana and Bali. In the Padma Purana, Yudhishthira asks how Vishnu sleeps and why he stays with Bali. Krishna tells him. Bali was a king of the daityas, yet a devotee of Vishnu, and he held great sacrifices. Vishnu came to him as Vamana, a small brahmin boy, and asked for as much land as he could cover in three and a half steps. Bali's teacher Shukra warned him, but Bali poured the water that seals a gift. Then Vamana grew until his form filled the worlds, from the earth below to the heavens above. With three steps he covered the earth and all the worlds, and he set the last half step on Bali's back. Vamana sent him to the underworld, Rasatala, but was so pleased by his humility that he promised to stay near him. So, on this Ekadashi, one form of Vishnu stays with Bali and another lies down to sleep on the serpent Shesha in the ocean of milk, until Kartika.
Mandhata and the rain. The Ekadashi Mahatmya printed at Pune tells instead the story of King Mandhata of the solar line, under whose just rule there had never been famine. Then for three years no rain fell. The king went into the forest and found the sage Angiras, son of Brahma, and asked what he could do. Angiras told him to keep the Ekadashi of the bright half of Ashadha, called Padma, with all his people. They kept it together, the rain came, and the fields grew full again. The printing then says that this Ekadashi is called Shayani, and tells how Vishnu is laid to rest for the four months.
About this telling
The two printings place the two stories the other way round. The Padma Purana (1894) tells Vamana and Bali for this Ekadashi of Ashadha, and the drought of Mandhata for the bright Ekadashi of Bhadrapada, which it calls Padma or Padmanabha. The Pune printing (1890) tells Mandhata's drought here and Vamana and Bali for Bhadrapada (Parsva Ekadashi). Both are given here, each with its source. The calendar's other name for this day, Padma Ekadashi, follows the Pune printing. In the Padma Purana's printing Vamana asks for three and a half steps and sets the last half step on Bali's back; most tellings today give three steps, with the third on Bali's head.
Fasting is a choice. Anyone who is pregnant, nursing, diabetic, unwell, elderly or on regular medicine should talk to a doctor before fasting.
Where the story comes from
- Padma Purana, Uttara Khanda, chapter 55, in the Anandashrama Sanskrit Series edition (Padmapuranam, part 4, Uttara Khanda, edited by V. N. Mandlik; Poona: Anandashrama Press, 1894; title page, leaf n5). An anonymous Sanskrit text: public domain. Read on the page images and retold in our own words. (chapter 55, pp. 1361–1362 (leaves n143–n144))
- Ekadashi Mahatmya, the Sanskrit stories of the Ekadashis as Krishna tells them to Yudhishthira, printed as a pothi (Pune: Ravji Shridhar Gondhalekar, Jagaddhitechhu Press, first edition, Shaka 1812, that is 1890; imprint, leaf n215). Its colophons assign the stories to the Bhavishyottara, Brahmavaivarta and Skanda Puranas. An anonymous Sanskrit text: public domain. Read on the page images and retold in our own words. Mandhata's drought, the Padma (Shayani) Ekadashi of Ashadha. (folios 53–55 (leaves n106–n110))
Sources
- Ekadashi name and month: the Pujadeep calendar's table of Ekadashi names.
- Padma Purana, Uttara Khanda, Anandashrama edition (Poona, 1894), chapter 55. (pp. 1361–1362 (leaves n143–n144))
- Ekadashi Mahatmya (Pune: Jagaddhitechhu Press, 1890). (folios 53–55 (leaves n106–n110))
Questions families ask
When do I break the Ekadashi fast?
Breaking the fast is called parana. For Devshayani Ekadashi in Washington DC: Wednesday, July 14, 2027, 2:41 PM – 5:37 PM. Hari Vasara ends after pratahkala; parana is avoided in madhyahna, so break the fast after madhyahna, within aparahna (the fourth fifth of the day, which ends the window).
Why can the Smarta and Vaishnava dates differ?
Each tradition has its own rule. Smarta rule: fast on the day Ekadashi prevails at sunrise (Dashami at sunrise spoils the day). Vaishnava rule (Gaudiya): Ekadashi prevails from arunodaya (96 minutes before sunrise) through sunrise. How we compute dates
More Ekadashis
Source and licence
- Our explanation
- Written for this site from the sources listed here, and checked against them. Free to quote with credit.
- Checked
- Checked against the sources listed, October 15, 2026.