Krishna paksha · Margashirsha · amanta reckoning
When is Saphala Ekadashi 2027?
Saphala Ekadashi 2027 is on Sunday, 3 January. Parana, breaking the fast, is on 4 January, 07:19 to 09:42 in Kuala Lumpur.
Also called Safala 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 Kuala Lumpur.
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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 Kuala Lumpur
The date in Kuala Lumpur
Sunday, 3 January 2027
| Timing | Kuala Lumpur | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Parana (breaking the fast), 4 Jan 2027 | 07:19 to 09:42 | The window is the first fifth of the daylight (pratahkala). |
Saphala Ekadashi is not a Gregorian date. It is Krishna 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, Krishna paksha
- Lunar month
- Margashirsha (amanta)
- Tithi begins
- 2 Jan, 16:55
- Tithi ends
- 3 Jan, 18:39
- Decided at
- Sunrise
- Sunrise in Kuala Lumpur
- 3 Jan, 07:18
Sunrise in Kuala Lumpur falls at 07:18 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.
Krishna paksha · Pausha (purnimanta) · Margashirsha (amanta)
Saphala Ekadashi 2027: Smarta and Vaishnava dates
Saphala Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the dark (krishna) half of Pausha in the purnimanta reckoning used across North India, and of Margashirsha 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)
- Sunday, 3 January 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
- Sunday, 3 January 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 Sunday, 3 January 2027 (3 Jan, 05:42) is already inside Ekadashi, not Dashami.
Every day above is computed for Kuala Lumpur 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
Saphala Ekadashi vrat katha and significance
Saphala Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the dark fortnight of Pausha in the purnimanta reckoning — Margashirsha Krishna in the amanta one — and usually the first Ekadashi of the Gregorian year, or the last. Saphala means "fruitful": the day is kept for Vishnu as Narayana with offerings of seasonal fruit, lamps through the night and night-long kirtan, all of which come straight out of its katha.
The katha
Retold in brief from the Brahmanda Purana, in Krishna's Ekadashi-mahatmya to Yudhishthira.
King Mahishmata of Champavati had five sons, and the eldest, Lumpaka, squandered his father's wealth, insulted holy men and preyed on the citizens. At last the king banished him, and Lumpaka went to live in the forest, stealing from the city by night and sleeping under an old peepal tree.
One winter, on the night of Dashami, the cold was so bitter that he could not sleep, and by morning he lay numb and half-conscious. He came to only at midday, too weak to hunt, and could gather nothing but a few fallen fruits. He ate none of them.
That night, Ekadashi night, he again could not sleep. Grieving, he set the fruit at the foot of the peepal and said, "Let Vishnu be pleased with these." Without meaning to, he had fasted all day, stayed awake all night and offered fruit to Narayana — the whole of the Saphala vrat.
At dawn a voice from the sky told him that the merit of the fast would restore him. Lumpaka returned home a changed man; his father gave him the kingdom, which he ruled well before retiring to the forest in old age. Krishna tells Yudhishthira that even a fast kept unknowingly bears fruit — which is what Saphala means.
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 · Kuala Lumpur
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.
- Papankusha Ekadashi · Thursday, 22 October 2026
- Rama Ekadashi · Thursday, 5 November 2026
- Dev Uthani Ekadashi · Saturday, 21 November 2026
- Utpanna Ekadashi · Friday, 4 December 2026
- Mokshada Ekadashi · Sunday, 20 December 2026
- Saphala Ekadashi · Sunday, 3 January 2027
- Pausha Putrada Ekadashi · Tuesday, 19 January 2027
- Shattila Ekadashi · Tuesday, 2 February 2027
- Jaya Ekadashi · Wednesday, 17 February 2027
- Vijaya Ekadashi · Thursday, 4 March 2027
- Amalaki Ekadashi · Thursday, 18 March 2027
- Papmochani Ekadashi · Friday, 2 April 2027
- Kamada Ekadashi · Saturday, 17 April 2027
- Varuthini Ekadashi · Sunday, 2 May 2027
- Mohini Ekadashi · Sunday, 16 May 2027
- Apara Ekadashi · Tuesday, 1 June 2027
- Nirjala Ekadashi · Monday, 14 June 2027
- Yogini Ekadashi · Wednesday, 30 June 2027
- Devshayani Ekadashi · Wednesday, 14 July 2027
- Kamika Ekadashi · Friday, 30 July 2027
- Shravana Putrada Ekadashi · Thursday, 12 August 2027
- Aja Ekadashi · Saturday, 28 August 2027
- Parivartini Ekadashi · Saturday, 11 September 2027
- Indira Ekadashi · Sunday, 26 September 2027
- Padmini Ekadashi · Monday, 26 March 2029
- Parama Ekadashi · Monday, 9 April 2029
The next Ekadashi and its parana · every Ekadashi of 2027 with tithi and parana times
Muhurat · Kuala Lumpur
Saphala Ekadashi muhurat
Saphala 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
| Window | Time in Kuala Lumpur | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Abhijit Muhurat | 12:53 to 13:41 | Auspicious |
| Amrit Kaal | 14:28 to 16:13 | Most Auspicious |
| Brahma Muhurat | 05:42 to 06:30 | 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.
| Window | Time in Kuala Lumpur |
|---|---|
| Rahu Kaal | 17:46 to 19:16 |
| Yamaganda Kaal | 13:17 to 14:47 |
| Durmuhurta First | 17:40 to 18:28 |
| Varjyam | 04:33 to 06:20 |
Every window above is computed for Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, 3 January 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.
Saphala 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.
| Year | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Sunday, 7 January 2024 | past |
| 2024 | Thursday, 26 December 2024 | past |
| 2025 | Monday, 15 December 2025 | past |
| 2026 | none in 2026 — it falls in late December or January, so a calendar year can have two or none | — |
| 2027 | Sunday, 3 January 2027 | upcoming |
| 2027 | Thursday, 23 December 2027 | upcoming |
| 2028 | Tuesday, 12 December 2028 | upcoming |
Every row is computed for Kuala Lumpur 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Related timing
Common questions
When is Saphala Ekadashi?
Sunday, 3 January 2027. It is Ekadashi of Krishna paksha in Margashirsha, and that tithi runs from 2 Jan, 16:55 to 3 Jan, 18:39.
Why does another calendar give a different Saphala 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 Saphala Ekadashi observed?
Saphala Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the dark fortnight of Pausha in the purnimanta reckoning — Margashirsha Krishna in the amanta one — and usually the first Ekadashi of the Gregorian year, or the last. Saphala means "fruitful": the day is kept for Vishnu as Narayana with offerings of seasonal fruit, lamps through the night and night-long kirtan, all of which come straight out of its katha.
Where does the Saphala Ekadashi vrat katha come from?
It is told in the Brahmanda Purana, in Krishna's Ekadashi-mahatmya to Yudhishthira. The katha is retold in full above.
Is Saphala Ekadashi on a different day for Smarta and Vaishnava (ISKCON)?
Not this year — both keep Sunday, 3 January 2027. The Vaishnava rule reads Ekadashi at arunodaya, and Ekadashi already holds that day's arunodaya.