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How Ekadashi dates are decided: the sunrise rule, and why Smarta and Vaishnava sometimes differ

6 min read
An old engraved zodiac wheel with the twelve signs and their figures
Photo by The New York Public Library on Unsplash

The short answer

Ekadashi falls on the eleventh tithi of each paksha, so it comes about twice a month. The fast is kept on the calendar day on which Ekadashi tithi is running at sunrise at your place; if the tithi begins after sunrise, the fast is the next day. When Ekadashi overlaps Dashami at dawn or spans two sunrises, Smarta tradition usually keeps the first clean day and Vaishnava (ISKCON) tradition the later one, which is why two calendars can name different days for the same Ekadashi.

See the next Ekadashi for your city

Ekadashi is the most widely kept fast in India, and also the one whose date most often causes an argument, because two respectable calendars can name different days. Neither is wrong. The date depends on a rule, and there is more than one rule. The Ekadashi dates page computes every one for the next twelve months at your own sunrise and shows when the tithi begins and ends, so you can see which case you are in. This guide explains the cases.

Ekadashi is a tithi

A tithi is a lunar day: the time the Moon takes to move 12° further from the Sun. Ekadashi is the eleventh tithi of each fortnight — the eleventh after the new moon in Shukla paksha, and the eleventh after the full moon in Krishna paksha. So there are two a month, twenty-four in an ordinary year, twenty-six in a year with an extra month.

A tithi lasts between about 19 and 26 hours and begins at any time of day. That is the whole source of the difficulty: a tithi that starts at 3 a.m. and ends at 11 p.m. fills a day neatly; one that starts at 7 a.m. or lasts 26 hours does not.

The sunrise rule

The traditional way to hang tithis on calendar days is by sunrise. The tithi running at sunrise at your place names the day. If Ekadashi is running when the Sun comes up, today is Ekadashi and the fast is kept today, even if the tithi ends in the afternoon. If Ekadashi begins after sunrise, today is still Dashami and the fast is tomorrow — provided Ekadashi is still running at tomorrow’s sunrise, which it usually is.

Because sunrise is local, the day can differ by city. A tithi beginning at 6:15 a.m. IST is before sunrise in Kolkata and after it in Mumbai. The dates page computes sunrise for your location, and marks any row where the tithi begins within an hour of it — those are the days on which a calendar printed for another city may disagree.

When the tithi spans two sunrises

A long Ekadashi can be running at two consecutive dawns. The general rule keeps the fast on the first day. But many traditions hold that the fast should be on the day Ekadashi is at sunrise and Dwadashi follows cleanly the next morning for the breaking of the fast (parana). When the two days disagree, the dates page shows the tithi’s full span so you can see it.

Smarta and Vaishnava

The best-known disagreement is between Smarta calendars — the ones most families and temples in North and West India follow — and Vaishnava calendars, followed by the Vallabha, Madhva and Gaudiya lineages and by ISKCON.

Vaishnava practice holds that an Ekadashi contaminated by Dashami cannot be observed. If the tenth tithi was still running at arunodaya, about an hour and a half before sunrise on Ekadashi day, the fast is moved to the next day, when Dwadashi may already have begun; the fast is then kept on Dwadashi and broken on Trayodashi. Smarta calendars do not apply the arunodaya test, keep the sunrise rule as it stands, and so name the earlier day. Every few months the two rules give different dates, and both calendars are following their own rule correctly.

If your family follows a Vaishnava lineage, look at the “tithi begins” time in the row: when it is within about ninety minutes after the previous day’s sunrise — that is, Dashami was still running before dawn — expect your calendar to name the next day.

Breaking the fast

Parana is done on Dwadashi, after sunrise and before Dwadashi ends, and in most traditions not during the first quarter of the tithi called Hari Vasara. The panchang for the following morning shows Dwadashi with its end time, which is all you need to time it.

What the dates page does

For each Ekadashi in the coming twelve months it computes the Moon’s elongation at your sunrise, names the day by the sunrise rule, and prints the tithi’s start and end times and the lunar month and paksha it falls in. The dates can be downloaded as a calendar file. It does not decide between Smarta and Vaishnava for you; it gives you the times both rules are applied to. The Jyotish app can remind you of Ekadashi, Pradosh and your own vrats for your city.

  • Astrology
  • Panchang

Questions people ask

How many Ekadashis are there in a year?

Twenty-four in an ordinary year — one in each Shukla and Krishna paksha of twelve lunar months — and twenty-six in a year with an adhik masa. Each has its own name: Papankusha, Rama, Devutthana, Utpanna and so on.

What if Ekadashi runs across two sunrises?

Then it is 'running at sunrise' on both days. The general rule keeps the fast on the first; many traditions prefer the day on which Ekadashi is running at sunrise and Dwadashi follows properly, which can be the second. The dates tool shows the tithi's start and end so you can apply your family's rule.

Why does ISKCON give a different Ekadashi date?

Vaishnava practice avoids any overlap with Dashami: if the tenth tithi was still running at the previous dawn's 'arunodaya' (about 96 minutes before sunrise), the Ekadashi is considered tainted and the fast moves to the next day. Smarta calendars do not apply that rule.

When do I break the fast?

On Dwadashi, after sunrise and within the Dwadashi tithi — ideally before it ends. The time Dwadashi ends is the Ekadashi's 'tithi ends' plus about a day; the panchang for the next morning gives it exactly.

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