When is Aja Ekadashi 2027?

Aja Ekadashi 2027 is on Saturday, 28 August. Parana, breaking the fast, is on 29 August, 06:14 to 08:47 in Udaipur.

Also called Annada Ekadashi. Those are the same observance and the same date, so they share this page rather than competing with it from a second URL.

Timings on this page are computed for Udaipur.

Show all cities

The whole table below is recomputed for the city you pick. That is not cosmetic: an observance decided at moonrise, such as Karwa Chauth, can genuinely fall on a different day in two cities, and the moment the fast ends differs by more than an hour across India.

The date in Udaipur

Saturday, 28 August 2027

Aja Ekadashi 2027 timings in Udaipur
TimingUdaipurWhat it is
Parana (breaking the fast), 29 Aug 202706:14 to 08:47The window is the first fifth of the daylight (pratahkala).

Aja Ekadashi is not a Gregorian date. It is Krishna paksha tithi 11 of Shravana in the amanta reckoning, and the Gregorian day it lands on moves by up to a month between years because twelve lunations fall about eleven days short of a solar year.

Tithi
Ekadashi, Krishna paksha
Lunar month
Shravana (amanta)
Tithi begins
27 Aug, 15:26
Tithi ends
28 Aug, 12:43
Decided at
Sunrise
Sunrise in Udaipur
28 Aug, 06:14

Sunrise in Udaipur falls at 06:14 on that day, and that is the instant the tithi has to be running at for the day to carry the observance. It is computed for this city rather than assumed, because it is what decides the date.

The two instants above are the astronomy and are not in dispute. The day is an interpretation of them: this observance is decided at sunrise, so it belongs to the day whose sunrise the tithi carries — not simply to the day the tithi begins.

Aja Ekadashi 2027: Smarta and Vaishnava dates

Aja Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the dark (krishna) half of Bhadrapada in the purnimanta reckoning used across North India, and of Shravana in the amanta reckoning used in the south and west. It is the same night: the two calendars name the dark fortnight after different months.

Listed here (Smarta, the sunrise rule)
Saturday, 28 August 2027 — The fast belongs to the day whose sunrise carries Ekadashi — the day AstroSage lists and the one this page leads with.
Vaishnava (ISKCON), the arunodaya rule
Saturday, 28 August 2027 — The same day this year. The Vaishnava rule reads the tithi at arunodaya, the 96 minutes before sunrise, rather than at sunrise; the arunodaya of Saturday, 28 August 2027 (28 Aug, 04:38) is already inside Ekadashi, not Dashami.

Every day above is computed for Udaipur from the same tithi instants. ISKCON temples publish their own calendar for each city and also apply the Mahadvadashi rules, which can move a fast to Dwadashi in some years — where your temple's calendar differs, follow it.

Aja Ekadashi vrat katha and significance

Also known as Annada Ekadashi.

Aja Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the dark fortnight of Bhadrapada in the purnimanta reckoning — Shravana Krishna in the amanta one — a few days after Janmashtami. It is also called Annada Ekadashi. It is kept for Vishnu, and its katha is King Harishchandra's, so the day is associated with truthfulness kept through loss, and with the hope of recovering what has been taken.

The katha

Retold in brief from the Brahma Vaivarta Purana, in Krishna's Ekadashi-mahatmya to Yudhishthira.

King Harishchandra of Ayodhya was famous for never breaking his word. Having promised his whole kingdom away, he kept the promise, and to pay what he still owed he sold his wife Taramati and his son Rohitashva into service and then sold himself to a chandala, who set him to work at the cremation ground.

For years he did that work — collecting the fee for each cremation, far from everyone he loved — and he never once went back on his word. But he grieved, and he wondered how his suffering might end.

One day the sage Gautama passed that way, and Harishchandra told him his story. The sage was moved. The Ekadashi of the dark fortnight of Bhadrapada, Aja, was only days away, he said; keep it with devotion and stay awake through its night.

Harishchandra kept the fast exactly as the sage had told him. The Purana says its merit ended his trials: his son, who had died, was restored to life, he was reunited with Taramati, and his kingdom was returned to him. Krishna tells Yudhishthira that the fast wins the merit of the horse sacrifice, and that even hearing the story carries merit.

How the fast is kept

  • The fast runs from sunrise on the Ekadashi day to parana on Dwadashi. Many families eat a single plain meal on Dashami, the evening before.
  • Grains and rice are left out on Ekadashi. Those who cannot keep a complete fast take fruit, milk or a phalahar meal; a waterless fast is kept only by those whose tradition and health allow it.
  • Vishnu is worshipped with tulsi leaves, a lamp and his names; reading or hearing the day's katha is part of the observance, and many stay awake for a part of the night in kirtan or japa.
  • Parana is on Dwadashi, after Hari Vasara — the first quarter of Dwadashi — has passed. The window for your city is computed above.

Fasting customs are described here as tradition, not as medical advice. Consult a doctor before fasting, particularly if you are pregnant, diabetic, elderly or on medication.

Every Ekadashi and its next date

Twenty-four in an ordinary year, two more in a year with an adhika month. Each has its own page with its katha, parana and Smarta and Vaishnava dates.

The next Ekadashi and its parana · every Ekadashi of 2027 with tithi and parana times

Aja Ekadashi muhurat

Aja Ekadashi is decided at sunrise, which is an instant rather than a window, so there is no anchor window to intersect with the tithi. The generally auspicious windows of the day are below, and Abhijit is the one most commonly used where an observance names no muhurat of its own.

Auspicious windows that day

WindowTime in UdaipurWhat it is
Abhijit Muhurat 12:10 to 13:01 Auspicious
Amrit Kaal 04:07 to 05:34 Most Auspicious
Brahma Muhurat 04:44 to 05:29 Auspicious

Windows usually worked around

These are the spans classical muhurta sets aside for beginnings. They are descriptions of a convention, not warnings: the observance is kept on its day regardless, and nothing here needs to be bought, corrected or remedied.

WindowTime in Udaipur
Rahu Kaal 09:25 to 11:00
Yamaganda Kaal 14:11 to 15:47
Durmuhurta First 06:14 to 07:05
Durmuhurta Second 07:05 to 07:56
Varjyam 19:25 to 20:52

Every window above is computed for Udaipur on Saturday, 28 August 2027, from that day's sunrise, sunset and the following sunrise. The Vedic day runs sunrise to sunrise, so a window whose clock time falls after midnight still belongs to the date named above rather than to the one the wall clock has turned over to.

Aja Ekadashi across five years

Two years back, this year, and two ahead. Past years are kept rather than dropped so you can check the engine against a calendar you already have.

YearDateStatus
2024 Thursday, 29 August 2024 past
2025 Tuesday, 19 August 2025 past
2026 Monday, 7 September 2026 past
2027 Saturday, 28 August 2027 upcoming
2028 Wednesday, 16 August 2028 upcoming

Every row is computed for Udaipur from the same ephemeris, not looked up. Sunrise decides which day a tithi names, and sunrise differs across India by more than an hour, so a date computed for Delhi can be a day out elsewhere.

Why calendars disagree about this date

There is no single authority that settles a Hindu festival date, and the divergence is genuine rather than sloppy. Three causes account for almost all of it.

  1. A tithi rarely starts at sunrise. One that is running at the deciding moment on two days — or on none — is claimed by both days under different rules.
  2. Month reckoning. North India runs purnimanta, the south and west amanta. The same dark fortnight carries different month names in the two, so an observance defined as "krishna X of month Y" can land a full lunation apart.
  3. Which moment decides. Most vratas belong to the day whose sunrise carries the tithi, but not all: this one is decided at sunrise. Almanacs that apply the sunrise rule to everything move several festivals by a day.

So this page shows its working. If your pandit or your family almanac gives a different day, the instants above will usually show you exactly why — and that is more useful than a date asserted without one.

Common questions

When is Aja Ekadashi?

Saturday, 28 August 2027. It is Ekadashi of Krishna paksha in Shravana, and that tithi runs from 27 Aug, 15:26 to 28 Aug, 12:43.

Why does another calendar give a different Aja Ekadashi date?

Three honest reasons. The tithi can be running at the deciding moment on two days or on none. North India reckons the month purnimanta and the south and west amanta, which names the same krishna fortnight differently. And almanacs differ on which moment of the day decides an observance. The instants above are the astronomy; the day is an interpretation of them.

Why is Aja Ekadashi observed?

Aja Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the dark fortnight of Bhadrapada in the purnimanta reckoning — Shravana Krishna in the amanta one — a few days after Janmashtami. It is also called Annada Ekadashi. It is kept for Vishnu, and its katha is King Harishchandra's, so the day is associated with truthfulness kept through loss, and with the hope of recovering what has been taken.

Where does the Aja Ekadashi vrat katha come from?

It is told in the Brahma Vaivarta Purana, in Krishna's Ekadashi-mahatmya to Yudhishthira. The katha is retold in full above.

Is Aja Ekadashi on a different day for Smarta and Vaishnava (ISKCON)?

Not this year — both keep Saturday, 28 August 2027. The Vaishnava rule reads Ekadashi at arunodaya, and Ekadashi already holds that day's arunodaya.