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Shukla paksha · Margashirsha · amanta reckoning

When is Mokshada Ekadashi 2026?

Mokshada Ekadashi 2026 is on Sunday, 20 December. Parana, breaking the fast, is on 21 December, 06:59 to 09:06 in Dubai.

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

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Timings on this page are computed for Dubai.

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Outside India

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.

Computed for Dubai

The date in Dubai

Sunday, 20 December 2026

Mokshada Ekadashi 2026 timings in Dubai
TimingDubaiWhat it is
Parana (breaking the fast), 21 Dec 202606:59 to 09:06The window is the first fifth of the daylight (pratahkala).

Mokshada Ekadashi is not a Gregorian date. It is Shukla paksha tithi 11 of Margashirsha 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, Shukla paksha
Lunar month
Margashirsha (amanta)
Tithi begins
19 Dec, 20:40
Tithi ends
20 Dec, 18:45
Decided at
Sunrise
Sunrise in Dubai
20 Dec, 06:59

Sunrise in Dubai falls at 06:59 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.

Shukla paksha · Margashirsha

Mokshada Ekadashi 2026: Smarta and Vaishnava dates

This year the Sun is in Dhanu (Sagittarius) — the Tamil month of Margazhi — on this Ekadashi, so in South India it is also kept as Vaikuntha Ekadashi, on Sunday, 20 December 2026, when the Vaikuntha Dwaram is opened at Srirangam, Tirupati and other Vishnu temples.

Listed here (Smarta, the sunrise rule)
Sunday, 20 December 2026 — 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
Sunday, 20 December 2026 — 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 Sunday, 20 December 2026 (20 Dec, 05:23) is already inside Ekadashi, not Dashami.

Every day above is computed for Dubai 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.

Meaning and vrat katha

Mokshada Ekadashi vrat katha and significance

Mokshada Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the bright half of Margashirsha, the month Krishna calls his own in the Gita ("of months I am Margashirsha"). Mokshada means "giver of release". The day is kept for Vishnu, and for Krishna as the speaker of the Gita, with the fast's merit traditionally offered for one's ancestors — the subject of its katha.

Gita Jayanti is kept on this same Ekadashi. By tradition it is the day Krishna spoke the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna on the field of Kurukshetra, and it is marked with recitation of the Gita — often all eighteen chapters — and with the Gita path in temples, above all at Kurukshetra itself. Gita Jayanti has no date of its own: it is Mokshada Ekadashi, which is why it shares this page.

The katha

Retold in brief from the Brahmanda Purana, in the Ekadashi-mahatmya told by Krishna to Yudhishthira.

King Vaikhanasa ruled the city of Champaka and cared for his people as a father would. One night he dreamt that his own father was suffering in the lower worlds and calling out to him for help. He woke shaken and asked the learned brahmins of his court what he should do.

They sent him to the hermitage of the sage Parvata, who knew past, present and future. Parvata sat in meditation and then told the king what he had seen: in his lifetime the king's father had wronged one of his wives, and that act was what held him now.

The remedy, the sage said, was close at hand. The king should keep the Ekadashi of the bright half of Margashirsha — Mokshada, the giver of release — with his whole household, and then give the merit of the fast to his father.

Vaikhanasa did so with his queen, his children and his ministers. As he offered the merit, the Purana says, flowers fell from the sky and his father, freed, blessed his son on his way to the heavens. Krishna ends by telling Yudhishthira that this fast is like the wish-granting jewel, and that hearing the story is itself counted as 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.

All 26 · Dubai

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 2026 with tithi and parana times

Muhurat · Dubai

Mokshada Ekadashi muhurat

Mokshada 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 DubaiWhat it is
Abhijit Muhurat 11:55 to 12:37 Auspicious
Brahma Muhurat 05:11 to 06:05 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 Dubai
Rahu Kaal 16:14 to 17:33
Yamaganda Kaal 12:16 to 13:35
Durmuhurta First 16:09 to 16:51
Varjyam 09:36 to 11:08
Varjyam (Second) 22:19 to 23:48

Every window above is computed for Dubai on Sunday, 20 December 2026, 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.

Mokshada 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 Wednesday, 11 December 2024 past
2025 Monday, 1 December 2025 past
2026 Sunday, 20 December 2026 upcoming
2027 Thursday, 9 December 2027 upcoming
2028 Monday, 27 November 2028 upcoming

Every row is computed for Dubai 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 Mokshada Ekadashi?

Sunday, 20 December 2026. It is Ekadashi of Shukla paksha in Margashirsha, and that tithi runs from 19 Dec, 20:40 to 20 Dec, 18:45.

Why does another calendar give a different Mokshada 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 Mokshada Ekadashi observed?

Mokshada Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the bright half of Margashirsha, the month Krishna calls his own in the Gita ("of months I am Margashirsha"). Mokshada means "giver of release". The day is kept for Vishnu, and for Krishna as the speaker of the Gita, with the fast's merit traditionally offered for one's ancestors — the subject of its katha.

Where does the Mokshada Ekadashi vrat katha come from?

It is told in the Brahmanda Purana, in the Ekadashi-mahatmya told by Krishna to Yudhishthira. The katha is retold in full above.

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

Not this year — both keep Sunday, 20 December 2026. The Vaishnava rule reads Ekadashi at arunodaya, and Ekadashi already holds that day's arunodaya.