Vaikunta Ekadashi 2026 — Sunday 20 December
వైకుంఠ ఏకాదశి 2026
Margashirsha Shudda Ekadashi (Dhanurmasa) · Mukkoti Ekadashi / Putrada Ekadashi · Vaikuntha Dwaram opening — Sunrise 06:50 IST (Tirumala temple), nationwide observance all day on 20 Dec
Vaikunta Ekadashi 2026 (also called Mukkoti Ekadashi / Putrada Ekadashi) falls on Sunday, 20 December 2026. The Ekadashi of Margashirsha Shudda Paksha when the Vaikuntha Dwaram (gateway to Vishnu's celestial abode) is said to open. Observance on this day grants moksha. Falls during the Dhanurmasa Vaikuntha period. Primary observance: Vaikuntha Dwaram darshan at Vishnu temples (especially Tirumala, Srirangam, Bhadrachalam), full-day fast (Nirjala or Phalahara), Vishnu Sahasranama, Sri Suktam, jagaran (night vigil), Tulsi puja. Recommended muhurat: Vaikuntha Dwaram opening — Sunrise 06:50 IST (Tirumala temple), nationwide observance all day on 20 Dec.
Vaikunta Ekadashi 2026 — Date & Muhurat
| Festival Date | Sunday, 20 December 2026 |
| Telugu Masa & Tithi | Margashirsha Shudda Ekadashi (Dhanurmasa) |
| Primary Muhurat | Vaikuntha Dwaram opening — Sunrise 06:50 IST (Tirumala temple), nationwide observance all day on 20 Dec |
| Alternative Names | Mukkoti Ekadashi / Putrada Ekadashi |
All timings computed using Lahiri Ayanamsa Swiss Ephemeris for Hyderabad (17.385°N, 78.486°E). For exact local timings in other cities use our Today's Panchangam tool.
Significance of Vaikunta Ekadashi 2026
The Ekadashi of Margashirsha Shudda Paksha when the Vaikuntha Dwaram (gateway to Vishnu's celestial abode) is said to open. Observance on this day grants moksha. Falls during the Dhanurmasa Vaikuntha period.
Key Rituals on Vaikunta Ekadashi 2026
Vaikuntha Dwaram darshan at Vishnu temples (especially Tirumala, Srirangam, Bhadrachalam), full-day fast (Nirjala or Phalahara), Vishnu Sahasranama, Sri Suktam, jagaran (night vigil), Tulsi puja.
Vaikunta Ekadashi 2026 Puja Samagri Checklist (Shopping List)
Items to procure 1-2 days before Vaikunta Ekadashi 2026:
| # | Item |
|---|---|
| 1 | Tulasi leaves (lots) |
| 2 | Banana leaf |
| 3 | Akshat + kumkum + turmeric |
| 4 | White + yellow flowers |
| 5 | Sandalwood paste |
| 6 | Coconut + bananas |
| 7 | Vishnu Sahasranama book |
| 8 | Ghee lamp + camphor |
| 9 | Naivedyam: kheer, fruits (no grains during fast) |
| 10 | Tulsi mala for japa |
Regional Variations of Vaikunta Ekadashi 2026
Tamil Nadu: Vaikuntha Ekadashi at Srirangam — massive crowds. Andhra: Tirumala TTD Vaikuntha Dwaram darshan — special queue for Vaikuntha Dwaram passage. Karnataka: Udupi Krishna Matha. Vrat is observed nationally; the temple-specific observances vary.
How to Keep the Vaikunta Ekadashi 2026 Vrat
An Ekadashi is kept as a vrat, and a vrat runs across two days, not one. The fast is taken up at sunrise on Ekadashi and held through that day and the night that follows. It is released the next morning, on Dwadashi, in a window called Parana. A household that observes only the first half — the fasting — and eats whenever it pleases the following morning has kept half the vrat. The sections below explain the shape of the observance; the times themselves are in the muhurat panel above, because they move with your city.
The three grades of the fast
Nirjala is the strictest — no food and no water for the whole day and night. Phalahara permits fruit, milk and the non-grain foods listed below. Ekabhukta permits a single sattvic meal, usually after the evening puja. All three are valid. The tradition expects you to choose by capacity, not by ambition: children, the elderly, pregnant and nursing women, anyone unwell, and anyone on prescribed medication take the lightest grade or substitute japa and parayana for fasting altogether. Prescribed medicine is never skipped for a vrat.
What is eaten and what is set aside
| Taken during the fast | Set aside |
|---|---|
| Fruit, fresh fruit juice, coconut water | Rice and every rice product (this is the one grain set aside even by non-fasting households) |
| Milk, curd, buttermilk, paneer | Wheat, semolina, maida and all flour made from grain |
| Sabudana, samak rice, rajgira and singhara flour | All dal and pulses, including besan |
| Potato, sweet potato, raw banana, pumpkin | Ordinary table salt |
| Peanuts, almonds, cashew, dry fruit | Onion and garlic |
| Rock salt (sendha namak), ghee, cumin, black pepper | Alcohol, tamasic food, and food cooked outside the house |
Grain is the heart of the restriction. In most Telugu and Tamil households rice is set aside on Ekadashi by everyone in the house, including those who are not formally fasting, and the kitchen simply cooks a non-grain meal for the day.
Parana — releasing the fast correctly
Parana is done on the morning of Dwadashi, after sunrise, and it has two conditions. It must fall after Hari Vasara has ended, and it must be completed before the Dwadashi tithi itself ends. Between those two boundaries lies the Parana window shown on this page. Releasing the fast while Ekadashi is still running, or letting Dwadashi pass without releasing it at all, are the two faults the vrat literature asks you to avoid. Customarily Parana begins with tulasi teertham, followed by a simple grain meal — the grain returning to the plate is what formally closes the vrat — and it is a traditional day for anna daanam.
Hari Vasara — why the window does not always open at sunrise
Hari Vasara is the first quarter of the Dwadashi tithi. Parana is held back until it has passed. This is why a published Parana window sometimes opens at sunrise and in other years opens an hour or two later: it depends entirely on the clock time at which the Dwadashi tithi began, which changes year to year and city to city. If the window on this page starts later than you expect, Hari Vasara is the reason.
Why two consecutive dates are sometimes listed
When the Ekadashi tithi stretches across two sunrises, the Smarta and the Vaishnava reckonings separate and the same Ekadashi is observed on two consecutive days. Smarta householders keep the earlier day. Vaishnava sampradayas, temple servants and sannyasis keep the later one. Neither is a correction of the other — each is right inside its own reckoning. Keep the day your family has always kept, or the day your temple announces. The date at the top of this page is the one our panchangam computes for Vaikunta Ekadashi 2026; if your sampradaya keeps the following morning instead, that is the Vaishnava reckoning of the very same Ekadashi, not a different festival.
If the fast breaks
Illness, medication, or simply eating by mistake does not cancel the vrat. The sankalpa — the intention taken at the start — is what is counted. Resume the fast for whatever remains of the day, complete the japa or the Vishnu Sahasranama parayana, and do Parana at the proper time the next morning. A vrat abandoned in guilt helps nobody; a vrat completed imperfectly is still completed.
Getting the timings for your own city
The Ekadashi tithi start and end, the Hari Vasara end and the Parana window all shift with local sunrise, so a time published for one city is not the time for another. Use the muhurat panel above for Vaikunta Ekadashi 2026, and our Today's Panchangam for your city's sunrise, tithi and nakshatra on the day itself.