Ekadashi fast
Nirjala Ekadashi 2027: date, parana time and vrat katha
निर्जला एकादशी
Nirjala Ekadashi 2027 is on Monday, June 14 in Washington DC (Smarta rule). Break the fast on Tuesday, June 15, between 5:42 and 8:40 AM.
Eat between 5:42 and 8:40 AM on Tuesday, June 15.
- Fast
Monday, June 14, 2027
Washington DC. Smarta and Vaishnava agree.
- Break the fast
Tuesday, June 15, 2027, 5:42–8:40 AM
Smarta rule.
Same date in India (New Delhi).
Vaishnava parana: Tue 15 Jun, 5:42–10:39 AM.
Why this time
Break the fast after sunrise, within pratahkala (the first fifth of the day).
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: 5:42 AM
- Rahu Kaal: 7:33 to 9:25 AM
- Abhijit muhurat: 12:38 to 1:38 PM
- Ekadashi ends: 4:38 PM, then Dwadashi
- Sunset: 8:34 PM
- Pradosh (after sunset): 8:34 to 10:24 PM
- Next sunrise: 5:42 AM +1 day
- Nakshatra: Chitra until 7:58 AM
- Nakshatra: Swati until 8:53 AM, 15 Jun
Tomorrow, Tuesday, June 15: 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, within pratahkala (the first fifth of the day).
Nirjala Ekadashi is on Monday, June 14, 2027 in Washington DC (Smarta rule). Break the fast on Tuesday, June 15, 2027, 5:42 AM – 8:40 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.
Jyeshtha Shukla (the same month in the amanta and purnimanta calendars)
Nirjala means "without water". It is the Ekadashi of the bright half of Jyeshtha, in the hottest weeks of the year, and the strictest devotees keep it without food or water. It is also called Bhimseni or Pandava Ekadashi, after Bhima. The Nirjala Ekadashi guide has how families keep the day.
Written for Pujadeep and checked against the sources listed. See the sources
When it falls
Next for Washington DC: Monday, June 14, 2027. Parana: Tuesday, June 15, 2027, 5:42 AM – 8:40 AM. Other cities can differ. Every Ekadashi of 2027 by city.
The story
In the Padma Purana, Krishna says that the sage Vyasa will tell this story. Vyasa first says that in the age of Kali people should fast on the Ekadashis of both halves of the month. Bhima hears this and speaks to him openly. His brothers Yudhishthira, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva, his mother Kunti and Draupadi never eat on an Ekadashi, he says, and they tell him to fast too. But there is a fire called Vrika in his stomach, and he cannot go without food even for one day. He can give gifts and worship, but not fast twice a month. Is there one fast that he could keep?
Vyasa tells him to keep just one: the Ekadashi of the bright half of Jyeshtha, when the sun is in Taurus or Gemini. On that day he must take no food and no water from one sunrise to the next, except a sip for the rite of purification. On the next day he should bathe, give water and gold to others, and eat with brahmins. The text says that this one fast gives the merit of all the Ekadashis of the year; that is the text's own claim, told here as its claim. Bhima kept it, and the day still carries his name.
Nirjala Ekadashi: 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 53, 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 53, pp. 1357–1358 (leaves n139–n140))
Sources
- Ekadashi name and month: the Pujadeep calendar's table of Ekadashi names.
- Padma Purana, Uttara Khanda, Anandashrama edition (Poona, 1894), chapter 53. (pp. 1357–1358 (leaves n139–n140))
Questions families ask
When do I break the Ekadashi fast?
Breaking the fast is called parana. For Nirjala Ekadashi in Washington DC: Tuesday, June 15, 2027, 5:42 AM – 8:40 AM. Break the fast after sunrise, within pratahkala (the first fifth of the day).
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