Vaikuntha Ekadashi: What, Why, When, How

What it is

Vaikuntha Ekadashi is the most honoured Ekadashi of the year in the Vishnu temples of South India. It is the Ekadashi of the bright half of the moon that falls in the Tamil solar month of Margazhi, in December or January. On this day the northern gate of Vishnu temples, called the Vaikuntha Dvaram or Paramapada Vasal, "the gate of heaven", is opened at dawn, and devotees pass through it to see the Lord.

Telugu families call it Mukkoti Ekadashi, and Tamil families also call it Sorga Vasal Ekadashi. Great crowds come to Srirangam in Tamil Nadu and Tirumala in Andhra Pradesh, and Sri Venkateswara and other Vishnu temples abroad open a decorated gate for the day. Devotees fast, keep awake in prayer through the night before, and recite the Vishnu Sahasranama and the hymns of the Alvars.

In North Indian calendars the same Ekadashi carries the name of its lunar month: Mokshada Ekadashi in Margashirsha in some years, Pausha Putrada Ekadashi in others.

Why it is kept

The gate of Vaikuntha. Vaikuntha is the abode of Vishnu. Sri Vaishnava teachers tell, from the Pancharatra texts, that two asuras born from Vishnu at the time of the great flood (Madhu and Kaitabha in most tellings), defeated by him and changed by his grace, were let into Vaikuntha through its northern gate on this day. They asked that whoever passes through the northern gate of his temples on this day, and remembers their story, should also reach Vaikuntha. That wish, granted in the story, is why the temples open the northern gate at dawn. It is the tradition's own promise, told here as tradition.

The great recitation at Srirangam. In Sri Vaishnava temples, above all at Srirangam, Vaikuntha Ekadashi opens the second half of a twenty-day festival of recitation, the Adhyayana Utsavam. In its first ten days (Pagal Pattu) and last ten days (Ra Pattu) the four thousand hymns of the Alvars, the Tamil poet-saints, are sung before the Lord, and the festival enacts the Alvar Nammalvar reaching Vaikuntha. For Sri Vaishnavas the day joins the Sanskrit Vedas and the Tamil hymns, which they honour together.

Ekadashi and Margazhi. Ekadashi, the eleventh day of each half of the moon, is a day of fasting and prayer to Vishnu throughout the year. The Ekadashi stories families read, which tradition takes from the Padma Purana, tell of the goddess Ekadashi, a power that came forth from Vishnu, and praise the Ekadashi fast. Margazhi itself is a holy month for Vaishnavas: Andal's Tiruppavai, one verse for each day of the month, is sung at dawn throughout it, and in the Bhagavad Gita (10.35) Krishna names Margashirsha, which overlaps Margazhi, as the best of months.

The day in the North. In North India the fast of this Ekadashi is kept as part of the yearly round of Ekadashis, under its lunar month's name; the opening of the northern gate is a South Indian temple tradition.

The texts behind the story

• The Vaikuntha Dvara tradition as a Sri Vaishnava teacher tells it: Madhu and Kaitabha, freed from pride by the Lord, are let into Vaikuntha by its northern door, and ask that all who celebrate their story receive the same mercy; the Sri Prashna Samhita, a Pancharatra text (chapter 47), is named as the source. Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swami, "Vaikunta Ekadasi" (a discourse, on the website of his Sri Vaishnava ashram). Wikipedia, "Vaikuntha Ekadashi", tells the same story of two asuras let in by Vishnu. Summarised in our own words.
• The Adhyayana Utsavam at Srirangam: the day-time Pagal Pathu and the night-time Ra Pathu, ten days each, with the four thousand verses of the Alvars recited; Vaikuntha Ekadashi is the first day of Ra Pathu, when the deity comes out through the Paramapada Vasal; on the last day Nammalvar's reaching Vaikuntha is enacted. Wikipedia, "Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam". Summarised in our own words.
• The Ekadashi vrat kathas, traditionally taken from the Padma Purana (the goddess Ekadashi and the praise of the fast). Named as tradition; no edition was read.
• Andal, Tiruppavai (thirty verses for the month of Margazhi), and the Nalayira Divya Prabandham of the Alvars. Named, not quoted.
• Bhagavad Gita, 10.35

When it is kept

Vaikuntha Ekadashi is the Shukla Ekadashi fast that falls in the solar month of Margazhi (the Sun in Dhanu), with the month's start decided by the Tamil sunset rule. The fast day itself follows the Ekadashi rule of your tradition. Smarta rule: the day on which Ekadashi is present at sunrise at your location, as in the Nirnayasindhu and Dharmasindhu, with their exceptions when no sunrise has Ekadashi or Dvadashi is too short. Vaishnava rule, as computed by the GCal program: Ekadashi must already be present at arunodaya, 96 minutes before sunrise; if Dashami still touches that time, the fast moves to the next day, and special Dvadashi rules can move it again. The fast is broken the next morning (parana), within the window your calendar gives.

Traditions and regional customs

• Tamil and Sri Vaishnava: the Shukla Ekadashi in the solar month Margazhi
• Telugu: Mukkoti Ekadashi
• Smarta (Nirnayasindhu, Dharmasindhu): Ekadashi present at sunrise
• Vaishnava (GCal): Ekadashi present at arunodaya
• Srirangam and other Sri Vaishnava temples: their own panchangam
• North Indian: kept under the lunar month's Ekadashi name

Why the day can differ

The Smarta and Vaishnava rules can put the fast on different days in the same city, and sunrise and arunodaya are local, so cities can differ too. Sri Vaishnava temples such as Srirangam, and many temples abroad that follow them, keep their own panchangam, so the day the gate opens at your temple can differ from the computed date; follow your temple for the gate opening.

Margazhi is a solar month and Ekadashi is lunar, so some calendar years have two Vaikuntha Ekadashis, in January and again in December, and some have none. In a rare year one Margazhi can hold two bright Ekadashis, or none; the app follows the solar-month rule, so check with your temple in such a year.

How to keep it at home

1. On the evening before (Dashami), eat a light meal, and many keep awake in prayer through the night, singing bhajans and reading.
2. Rise before dawn, bathe, and go to the temple for the opening of the northern gate, the Vaikuntha Dvaram, and pass through it for darshan. If you cannot go, set a picture of Vishnu or of your temple's deity facing north at home, light a lamp and pray at dawn.
3. Offer tulsi leaves, flowers, a lamp and fruit. Prayers commonly said are the Vishnu Sahasranama, Andal's Tiruppavai, hymns of the Alvars, "Om Namo Narayanaya" and the Bhagavad Gita.
4. Spend the day in fasting and prayer, and many keep awake again through the Ekadashi night. The next morning, Dvadashi, break the fast within the parana window your calendar gives, often with a simple meal offered first to the Lord.

Fasting

The Ekadashi fast leaves out grains and beans. Some devotees keep a full fast with only water, many take fruit and milk, and many eat one meal of fasting food. Sri Vaishnava and other Vaishnava families often keep it strictly, with the night vigil. The fast is broken on Dvadashi within the parana window. Anyone who is pregnant, unwell, diabetic, elderly or on regular medicine should keep a light fast, or none, and talk to a doctor first.

Food

On Ekadashi: fruit, milk, nuts and fasting foods without grains. On Dvadashi morning many Tamil families break the fast with a simple meal that includes agathi keerai (a leafy green), amla and sundakkai, and with sweet pongal, payasam and other prasad from the temple.

Prayers read at this time

• Bhagavad Gita

For children

Vaikuntha is the home of Lord Vishnu, a place of light and peace. Once a year, on Vaikuntha Ekadashi, Vishnu temples open a special gate on their north side, called the gate of Vaikuntha. Early in the morning, while it is still dark, families wait with lamps and flowers. When the gate opens, everyone walks through it, singing, to see the Lord. It feels like walking into Vishnu's own home.

Something to do together

Make a paper gate decorated with flowers and stand it facing north beside the home shrine. At dawn, walk through it together with a lamp, and sing one verse or say "Om Namo Narayanaya".

Sources

• Panchang engine rules vaikuntha-ekadashi and ekadashi (packages/panchang/data/festivals.json), with the sources each lists and the note that Sri Vaishnava temples such as Srirangam follow their own panchangam.
• A. Hudli, Ekadashi rules from the Nirnayasindhu, Dharmasindhu and Kala-Madhava (Advaita-L, 2010), the engine's source for the Smarta rule.
• Vaisnava Events Calculation in GCAL (GCal algorithm documentation, 2008), the engine's source for the Vaishnava rule.
• N. Dershowitz and E. M. Reingold, "Indian Calendrical Calculations" (§4, the Tamil sunset rule for the start of a solar month).
• Wikipedia, "Vaikuntha Ekadashi" (the two asuras and the gate of Vaikuntha) and "Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam" (the Adhyayana Utsavam and the Paramapada Vasal).
• Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), the temple trust of Tirumala, press release "Devotees throng Tirumala for Vaikuntha Dwara Darshanam" (2025, issued by the TTD Chief Public Relations Officer): the Vaikuntha Dwara Darshanam "on the auspicious day of Mukkoti Ekadasi", and in the Telugu text ముక్కోటి ఏకాదశి. The temple's own name for the day. Wikipedia, "Vaikuntha Ekadashi", section "Tirupati", also gives "Mukkoti Ekadasi, as it is known in the Telugu-speaking regions".

Related guides

• Nirjala Ekadashi
• Dev Uthani Ekadashi (Prabodhini Ekadashi)