Ekadashi fast
Utpanna Ekadashi 2026: date, parana time and vrat katha
उत्पन्ना एकादशी
Utpanna Ekadashi 2026 is on Friday, December 4 in Washington DC (Smarta rule). Break the fast on Saturday, December 5, between 7:11 and 9:06 AM.
Eat between 7:11 and 9:06 AM on Saturday, December 5.
- Fast
Friday, December 4, 2026
Washington DC. Smarta and Vaishnava agree.
- Break the fast
Saturday, December 5, 2026, 7:11–9:06 AM
Smarta rule.
Same date in India (New Delhi).
Vaishnava parana: Sat 5 Dec, 7:11–10:23 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: 7:10 AM
- Rahu Kaal: 10:46 to 11:58 AM
- Abhijit muhurat: 11:39 AM to 12:17 PM. Abhijit and Rahu Kaal overlap from 11:39 AM to 11:58 AM.
- Ekadashi ends: 1:15 PM, then Dwadashi
- Sunset: 4:45 PM
- Pradosh (after sunset): 4:45 to 7:39 PM
- Next sunrise: 7:11 AM +1 day
- Nakshatra: Chitra until 1:19 AM, 5 Dec
- Nakshatra: Swati until 3:09 AM, 6 Dec
Tomorrow, Saturday, December 5: 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. Abhijit and Rahu Kaal overlap from 11:39 AM to 11:58 AM.
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).
Utpanna Ekadashi is on Friday, December 4, 2026 in Washington DC (Smarta rule). Break the fast on Saturday, December 5, 2026, 7:11 AM – 9:06 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.
Kartika Krishna in the amanta calendar; Margashirsha Krishna in the purnimanta calendar
Utpanna means "she who was born". This Ekadashi tells how Ekadashi herself came to be, so many families who want to begin keeping the Ekadashi fast begin with this one. In the Padma Purana it is the first Ekadashi that Krishna describes to Yudhishthira.
Written for Pujadeep and checked against the sources listed. See the sources
When it falls
Next for Washington DC: Friday, December 4, 2026. Parana: Saturday, December 5, 2026, 7:11 AM – 9:06 AM. Other cities can differ. Every Ekadashi of 2026 by city.
The story
Long ago a powerful asura named Mura, son of Talajangha, ruled from the city of Chandravati. He drove the gods out of heaven, and they went to Vishnu for help. Vishnu fought Mura and his armies for a thousand years of the gods. Then, tired, he went to Badarikashrama in the Himalaya and lay down to rest in a great cave called Simhavati, which had only one door.
Mura followed him into the cave and found him asleep. At that moment a young woman, shining and armed, came out of Vishnu's own body. She faced Mura, and with a single sound she turned him to ash.
When Vishnu woke and saw what had happened, he was pleased and offered her a boon. She asked that people who fast on her day with devotion be helped to live rightly and to reach liberation. Vishnu named her Ekadashi, "the eleventh", and said that her day would always be dear to him. The text says that whoever keeps this fast with faith goes 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 40, 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 40, pp. 1329–1334 (leaves n111–n116; the tale of Mura, pp. 1331–1333, leaves n113–n115))
Sources
- Ekadashi name and month: the Pujadeep calendar's table of Ekadashi names.
- Padma Purana, Uttara Khanda, Anandashrama edition (Poona, 1894), chapter 40. (pp. 1329–1334 (leaves n111–n116; the tale of Mura, pp. 1331–1333, leaves n113–n115))
Questions families ask
When do I break the Ekadashi fast?
Breaking the fast is called parana. For Utpanna Ekadashi in Washington DC: Saturday, December 5, 2026, 7:11 AM – 9:06 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