Ekadashi fast
Mokshada Ekadashi 2026: date, parana time and vrat katha
मोक्षदा एकादशी
Mokshada Ekadashi 2026 is on Saturday, December 19 in Washington DC (Smarta rule). By the Vaishnava rule it is on Sunday, December 20. Break the fast on Sunday, December 20, between 3:05 and 4:48 PM (Smarta rule).
Eat between 3:05 and 4:48 PM on Sunday, December 20 (Smarta rule).
- Fast
Saturday, December 19, 2026
Washington DC. Smarta rule.
- Break the fast
Sunday, December 20, 2026, 3:05–4:48 PM
Smarta rule.
- Vaishnava rule
Sunday, December 20, 2026
Fast by the Vaishnava rule. Break it Monday 21 December, 7:23 AM – 10:31 AM.
- Fast in India
Sunday, December 20, 2026
New Delhi, same rule.
Vaishnava parana: Mon 21 Dec, 7:23–10:31 AM.
Why this time
Hari Vasara ends late in the day: break the fast after it, before sunset and before Dwadashi ends.
Smarta rule: Dwadashi does not prevail after the next sunrise, so householders fast on the day Ekadashi begins even though Dashami prevails at its sunrise (Padma Purana, Skanda Purana; Dharmasindhu). The next day is for sannyasis and those seeking moksha.
The fast day
The day in Washington DC
- Sunrise: 7:22 AM
- Rahu Kaal: 9:43 to 10:54 AM
- Dashami ends: 11:39 AM, then Ekadashi
- Abhijit muhurat: 11:46 AM to 12:24 PM
- Sunset: 4:48 PM
- Pradosh (after sunset): 4:48 to 7:43 PM
- Next sunrise: 7:22 AM +1 day
- Nakshatra: Ashwini until 4:26 AM, 20 Dec
- Nakshatra: Bharani until 2:39 AM, 21 Dec
Tomorrow, Sunday, December 20: 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 late in the day: break the fast after it, before sunset and before Dwadashi ends.
Mokshada Ekadashi is on Saturday, December 19, 2026 in Washington DC (Smarta rule). By the Vaishnava rule it is on Sunday, December 20, 2026. Break the fast on Sunday, December 20, 2026, 3:05 PM – 4:48 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.
Margashirsha Shukla (the same month in the amanta and purnimanta calendars)
Also called: Gita Jayanti
Mokshada means "the giver of liberation". It is the Ekadashi of the bright half of Margashirsha, and the same day is kept as Gita Jayanti, the day the Bhagavad Gita was spoken. In the Padma Purana it is simply called Moksha, and its story is about a son who helps his father.
Written for Pujadeep and checked against the sources listed. See the sources
When it falls
Next for Washington DC: Saturday, December 19, 2026 (Vaishnava: Sunday, December 20, 2026). Parana: Sunday, December 20, 2026, 3:05 PM – 4:48 PM. Other cities can differ. Every Ekadashi of 2026 by city.
The story
In the city of Champaka there lived a good king named Vaikhanasa, who cared for his people as a father cares for his children. One night he dreamt that his own father was suffering in the world of the dead. He woke troubled and called the learned brahmins of his court. They told him to go to the ashram of the sage Parvata, who could see the past and the future.
The king went, bowed to the sage and told him the dream. Parvata sat in meditation for a while. Then he said that the king's father, in his life, had been proud and had failed his own wife when she needed him, and that this was why he now suffered.
The king asked what he could do. Parvata told him to keep the Ekadashi of the bright half of Margashirsha, called Moksha, with his family, and to give its merit to his father. The king went home and kept the fast and the night's vigil as the sage had said, and at the end he gave its merit to his father. Flowers fell from the sky. His father, now free, rose towards heaven and blessed his son as he went.
About this telling
The Padma Purana's printing calls the king Vaikhanasa; one of the manuscripts its editor compared gives Vaishvanara. The Gita Jayanti guide has the rest of the day.
Gita Jayanti: how families keep the day
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 41, 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 41, pp. 1334–1336 (leaves n116–n118))
Sources
- Ekadashi name and month: the Pujadeep calendar's table of Ekadashi names.
- Padma Purana, Uttara Khanda, Anandashrama edition (Poona, 1894), chapter 41. (pp. 1334–1336 (leaves n116–n118))
Questions families ask
When do I break the Ekadashi fast?
Breaking the fast is called parana. For Mokshada Ekadashi in Washington DC: Sunday, December 20, 2026, 3:05 PM – 4:48 PM. Hari Vasara ends late in the day: break the fast after it, before sunset and before Dwadashi ends.
Why can the Smarta and Vaishnava dates differ?
Each tradition has its own rule. Smarta rule: Dwadashi does not prevail after the next sunrise, so householders fast on the day Ekadashi begins even though Dashami prevails at its sunrise (Padma Purana, Skanda Purana; Dharmasindhu). The next day is for sannyasis and those seeking moksha. Vaishnava rule (Gaudiya): Trisprsa Mahadvadashi; the fast is kept on this Ekadashi day. 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