Ekadashi fast
Mohini Ekadashi 2027: date, parana time and vrat katha
मोहिनी एकादशी
Mohini Ekadashi 2027 is on Sunday, May 16 in Washington DC (Smarta rule). Break the fast on Monday, May 17, between 5:54 and 6:58 AM.
Eat between 5:54 and 6:58 AM on Monday, May 17.
- Fast
Sunday, May 16, 2027
Washington DC. Smarta and Vaishnava agree.
- Break the fast
Monday, May 17, 2027, 5:54–6:58 AM
Smarta rule.
Same date in India (New Delhi).
Vaishnava parana: Mon 17 May, 5:54–6:58 AM.
Why this time
Break the fast after sunrise, before Dwadashi ends.
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: 5:54 AM
- Ekadashi ends: 7:43 AM, then Dwadashi
- Abhijit muhurat: 12:36 to 1:33 PM
- Rahu Kaal: 6:27 to 8:14 PM
- Sunset: 8:14 PM
- Pradosh (after sunset): 8:14 to 10:10 PM
- Next sunrise: 5:54 AM +1 day
- Nakshatra: Hasta until 1:59 AM, 17 May
- Nakshatra: Chitra until 2:13 AM, 18 May
Tomorrow, Monday, May 17: 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.
Break the fast after sunrise, before Dwadashi ends.
Mohini Ekadashi is on Sunday, May 16, 2027 in Washington DC (Smarta rule). Break the fast on Monday, May 17, 2027, 5:54 AM – 6:58 AM.
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.
Vaishakha Shukla (the same month in the amanta and purnimanta calendars)
Mohini means "she who enchants", and the name recalls Vishnu's form as Mohini. It is the Ekadashi of the bright half of Vaishakha. In the Padma Purana, Rama asks about it when he is grieving, and the sage Vasishtha tells him the story of a son who had lost his way.
Written for Pujadeep and checked against the sources listed. See the sources
When it falls
Next for Washington DC: Sunday, May 16, 2027. Parana: Monday, May 17, 2027, 5:54 AM – 6:58 AM. Other cities can differ. Every Ekadashi of 2027 by city.
The story
On the Sarasvati river stood the city of Bhadravati, ruled by King Dyutiman. There lived a merchant named Dhanapala, a generous man who built water stalls, wells, gardens and tanks for everyone. He had five sons. The youngest, Dhrishtabuddhi, wasted the family's money on gambling and drink and bad company. At last his father and his relatives turned him out of the house.
With nothing left, he took to stealing. He was caught more than once; the first time he was let go for his father's sake, but later he was chained and punished. In the end he left the city and lived in the forest, hungry and alone, hunting to stay alive.
One day in the month of Vaishakha he came, worn out, to the ashram of the sage Kaundinya, who had just bathed in the Ganga. A drop of water from the sage's wet cloth fell on him, and something in him changed. He folded his hands and asked how he could make his life right. Kaundinya told him to keep the Ekadashi of the bright half of Vaishakha, called Mohini. Dhrishtabuddhi kept it with all his heart. The text says that he was freed from all his wrongdoing and went at last to Vishnu's world; that is the text's own claim, told here as its claim.
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 51, 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 51, pp. 1355–1356 (leaves n137–n138))
Sources
- Ekadashi name and month: the Pujadeep calendar's table of Ekadashi names.
- Padma Purana, Uttara Khanda, Anandashrama edition (Poona, 1894), chapter 51. (pp. 1355–1356 (leaves n137–n138))
Questions families ask
When do I break the Ekadashi fast?
Breaking the fast is called parana. For Mohini Ekadashi in Washington DC: Monday, May 17, 2027, 5:54 AM – 6:58 AM. Break the fast after sunrise, before Dwadashi ends.
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 14, 2026.
- Updated
- October 15, 2026