Vaikunta Ekadashi 2027–28 — Saturday 8 January 2028
వైకుంఠ ఏకాదశి 2027–28
Pausha Shudda Ekadashi in Dhanurmasa (Putrada Ekadashi nationally) · Mukkoti Ekadashi / Pausha Putrada Ekadashi · Brahma Muhurat 05:05 – 05:57 IST · Ekadashi tithi till 19:38 IST — TTD announces Tirumala Vaikunta Dwaram timings closer to the date (Hyderabad)
Vaikunta Ekadashi 2027–28 (also called Mukkoti Ekadashi / Pausha Putrada Ekadashi) falls on Saturday, 8 January 2028. The most sacred Ekadashi — Lord Vishnu opened the gates of Vaikuntha on this day for all souls. Tirumala temple's Vaikunta Dwaram (special north-facing door) opens only on this day. No Vaikunta Ekadashi falls inside calendar year 2027: Dhanu Sankranti arrives in mid-December 2027, after Margashirsha Shukla Ekadashi (9 December), so the first Shukla Ekadashi of Dhanurmasa is 8 January 2028. Bhagavad Gita Jayanti belongs to the earlier Mokshada Ekadashi on 9 December 2027, not to this day. Primary observance: Vaikunta Dwaram darshan (Tirumala), strict Ekadashi Vrat (Nirjala or fruits), Vishnu Sahasranama parayanam, Bhagavad Gita parayanam (all 18 chapters), Krishna-Arjuna Samvad worship, Pausha Putrada Ekadashi observance. Recommended muhurat: Brahma Muhurat 05:05 – 05:57 IST · Ekadashi tithi till 19:38 IST — TTD announces Tirumala Vaikunta Dwaram timings closer to the date (Hyderabad).
Vaikunta Ekadashi 2027–28 — Date & Muhurat
| Festival Date | Saturday, 8 January 2028 |
| Telugu Masa & Tithi | Pausha Shudda Ekadashi in Dhanurmasa (Putrada Ekadashi nationally) |
| Primary Muhurat | Brahma Muhurat 05:05 – 05:57 IST · Ekadashi tithi till 19:38 IST — TTD announces Tirumala Vaikunta Dwaram timings closer to the date (Hyderabad) |
| Alternative Names | Mukkoti Ekadashi / Pausha 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 2027–28
The most sacred Ekadashi — Lord Vishnu opened the gates of Vaikuntha on this day for all souls. Tirumala temple's Vaikunta Dwaram (special north-facing door) opens only on this day. No Vaikunta Ekadashi falls inside calendar year 2027: Dhanu Sankranti arrives in mid-December 2027, after Margashirsha Shukla Ekadashi (9 December), so the first Shukla Ekadashi of Dhanurmasa is 8 January 2028. Bhagavad Gita Jayanti belongs to the earlier Mokshada Ekadashi on 9 December 2027, not to this day.
Key Rituals on Vaikunta Ekadashi 2027–28
Vaikunta Dwaram darshan (Tirumala), strict Ekadashi Vrat (Nirjala or fruits), Vishnu Sahasranama parayanam, Bhagavad Gita parayanam (all 18 chapters), Krishna-Arjuna Samvad worship, Pausha Putrada Ekadashi observance.
Vaikunta Ekadashi 2027–28 Puja Samagri Checklist (Shopping List)
Items to procure 1-2 days before Vaikunta Ekadashi 2027–28:
| # | Item |
|---|---|
| 1 | Tulasi leaves |
| 2 | Banana leaf |
| 3 | Vishnu Saligramam |
| 4 | Akshat + kumkum + turmeric |
| 5 | Yellow + white flowers |
| 6 | Sandalwood paste |
| 7 | Tulsi mala |
| 8 | Coconut + bananas |
| 9 | Camphor + ghee lamp |
| 10 | Naivedyam: panakam, dadhojanam (curd-rice), fruit (no grains) |
Regional Variations of Vaikunta Ekadashi 2027–28
AP: Tirumala Vaikunta Dwaram is the BIGGEST Vaikunta Ekadashi event in the world (lakhs of pilgrims). Tamil Nadu: Srirangam (Sri Ranganathaswamy) Vaikunta Ekadashi mass darshan. Karnataka: Madhwa tradition observes with great precision. North India: Pausha Putrada Ekadashi (same day); Mokshada Ekadashi and Gita Jayanti fall earlier, on 9 December 2027.
How to Keep the Vaikunta Ekadashi 2027–28 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 2027–28; 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 2027–28, and our Today's Panchangam for your city's sunrise, tithi and nakshatra on the day itself.
Why a Gate Is Opened
Vaikunta Ekadashi is the one day of the year on which the northern door of a Vaishnava sanctum — the Vaikunta Dwaram, the Uttara Dwaram, the Paramapada Vasal — is opened. It stays shut for the rest of the year. The tradition holds that Vishnu opened the gate of his own world on this day, and that those who pass through the northern door of his temple while it stands open pass through that one.
The fast has its own story, and it is the reason the day is a vrata and not only a darshan. The asura Muran harried the devas without rest, and Vishnu withdrew into a cave to meet him. While the Lord lay in yoga nidra, Muran came to strike him, and a goddess rose out of the Lord's own body and destroyed the asura where he stood. Vishnu named her Ekadashi and asked what she wished for; she asked that whoever fasted on her day be released from the round of birth. So the fast is kept to a goddess who is not worshipped apart from the day — she is the day.
In the Telugu country the day is called Mukkoti Ekadashi, three crore being the number the tradition puts on the devas gathered at the gate when it opens. The name carries the whole idea of the observance: the crowd at the northern door of a temple on this morning is understood to be standing in a line that is not only human.
In the north the bright-fortnight Ekadashi of Margashirsha is kept as Mokshada Ekadashi — the Ekadashi that gives release — and Gita Jayanti is observed with it. The two traditions are describing the same thing in different words, and usually, though not always, on the same day.
Vaikunta Ekadashi Puja Vidhi — Step by Step
The observance runs from the pre-dawn bath on the Ekadashi to the parana on the Dwadashi morning, and the fast is not complete until that release is taken. The parana window is in the panel above, computed for the city.
| Step | What is done |
|---|---|
| 1 | Sankalpam and snanam before dawn — Bathe before sunrise and take the sankalpam for the vrata, stating the fast that will be kept and the release that will follow. The vrata is understood to begin here, not at the first missed meal. |
| 2 | Vaikunta Dwara darshanam — Enter the sanctum through the northern gate while it stands open, in single file, in the hour the temple opens it. Where no temple with an Uttara Dwaram is reachable, the household worships at its own altar facing north. |
| 3 | Tulasi puja — Water the tulasi, circumambulate it and light a lamp at its base. No Vishnu worship on this day is offered without tulasi, and tulasi is also the one leaf placed on the naivedyam. |
| 4 | Vishnu puja with the dwadasha nama — Worship with the twelve names — Keshava, Narayana, Madhava, Govinda, Vishnu, Madhusudana, Trivikrama, Vamana, Sridhara, Hrishikesha, Padmanabha and Damodara — and apply the urdhva pundra where the family keeps it. |
| 5 | Vishnu Sahasranama — Recite the thousand names, which is the recitation most households keep on this day. The Dwadasha Stotra, the Tiruppavai or the family's own Prabandham portion is read where that is the tradition. |
| 6 | Naivedyam without rice — Offer fruit, milk, panakam, coconut and jaggery. Rice and grain are not offered on an Ekadashi and are not eaten, so the naivedyam follows the fast rather than the other way round. |
| 7 | Jagarana — the night vigil — Stay awake through the night with nama sankeertana, the Sahasranama, or the reading of the Lord's acts. The vigil is as old a part of this vrata as the fast and in many families is the part the household gathers for. |
| 8 | Daana and annadanam — Give food, cloth and tulasi, and feed others. Feeding on the Dwadashi, after the parana, is the form the tradition most emphasises. |
| 9 | Parana on the Dwadashi — Break the fast on the Dwadashi morning, after Harivasara has passed and before the Dwadashi tithi ends, beginning with tulasi water and the prasada. An Ekadashi fast released outside this window is held to be incomplete. |
Of the whole sequence the two parts the tradition will not let go of are the fast through the Ekadashi and the parana inside the Dwadashi window. The gate, the vigil and the recitation are what is built on them.
Fasting on Vaikunta Ekadashi
This is the strictest of the year's Ekadashi fasts in practice, because the day carries the gate as well as the vrata. The grades below are the usual ones and a household keeps the one it has always kept.
| Form | What it involves |
|---|---|
| Nirjala upavasa | No food and no water from sunrise on the Ekadashi until the parana on the Dwadashi, with the night vigil kept. The strictest grade, taken by those in health. |
| Jalahara or phalahara | Water, or water with fruit and milk, through the day and night. The grade most households keep. |
| Ekabhukta without grain | One sattvic meal with no rice, wheat, pulse, onion or garlic, taken after the midday worship, then only water until the parana. |
| Substituted observance | Children, the elderly, the unwell, pregnant women and anyone on medication keep the darshan, the tulasi and the recitation and eat non-grain food normally. The tradition provides for this explicitly and treats the vrata as kept. |
Rice is the one thing avoided in every grade, including the lightest. And in every grade the fast ends with the parana inside the Dwadashi window — a fast carried a day longer is not a stricter vrata, it is a broken one.
Mantras Chanted on Vaikunta Ekadashi
The recitation on this day is longer than the mantra — the Sahasranama, the Prabandham, the Gita — but these are the names said at the gate, at the tulasi and through the vigil.
| Mantra | What it means |
|---|---|
| ఓం నమో నారాయణాయ Om Namo Narayanaya | The eight-syllabled name, said at the northern gate, at every offering, and as the japa of the day. |
| ఓం నమో భగవతే వాసుదేవాయ Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya | The twelve-syllabled name, kept through the night vigil and at the tulasi worship. |
| ఓం విష్ణవే నమః Om Vishnave Namah | Said with each of the twelve names in the puja and with the offering of tulasi. |
| హరే రామ హరే రామ రామ రామ హరే హరే | హరే కృష్ణ హరే కృష్ణ కృష్ణ కృష్ణ హరే హరే || Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare | The nama sankeertana sung through the jagarana. It is what keeps a household awake through the night, which is its function on this day as much as its meaning. |
Chant at whatever pace lets the words stay clear. Tradition counts attention, not speed, and a short count said with care is held better than a long one rushed. If a syllable is uncertain, follow your family priest or your temple's recitation rather than a transliteration.
How Vaikunta Ekadashi Is Kept Region by Region
Vaikunta Ekadashi is kept wherever Vishnu is, but the gate is what makes it a crowd, and the great gates are in the south.
| Region | How the day is kept |
|---|---|
| Tirumala | The Vaikunta Dwaram is opened and the queue passes through the northern gate around the sanctum, with the darshan continued on the Dwadashi because of the numbers. It is the single largest Vaikunta Ekadashi gathering anywhere and the one day of the year the gate is used. |
| Srirangam | The Paramapada Vasal is opened and Namperumal is brought through it into the thousand-pillared hall. The day falls inside the Adhyayana Utsavam, the twenty-day recitation of the Nalayira Divya Prabandham, and marks the point where Pagal Pathu — the ten days of daytime recitation — gives way to Ra Pathu, the ten of the night. |
| The Divya Desams of Tamil Nadu | Srivilliputhur, Kanchipuram, Tirunelveli, Tiruchendur and the other Divya Desams open their Vaikunta Vasal and keep the Adhyayana Utsavam in the same form, each with its own Prabandham portion. The vrata in Tamil households is kept with the temple's calendar rather than separately. |
| Andhra Pradesh and Telangana | Kept as Mukkoti Ekadashi, with the Dhanurmasa pujas at dawn through the whole month and the gate opened at Bhadrachalam, Simhachalam, Dwaraka Tirumala and the Vishnu temples generally. The household vrata here is strict and the vigil is common. |
| Karnataka | Kept with a strict fast in the Madhva tradition, where the Ekadashi discipline is closer than almost anywhere else, and with the Dwadasha Stotra recited at the Udupi and Vaishnava mathas. The parana hour is followed precisely. |
| Kerala | Vishnu temples keep the Ekadashi vrata and the Dhanurmasa pujas, though the state's own great Ekadashi — Guruvayur Ekadashi, with its Udayasthamana puja — falls in the solar month before this one and is a separate observance. |
| North India | Kept as Mokshada Ekadashi, with Gita Jayanti observed alongside it: the Gita is read through, in full where a household can, and Vishnu is worshipped with tulasi. There is no gate custom, and the emphasis sits on the fast and the reading. |
Dhanurmasa and why the southern and northern days can differ
The southern reckoning fixes Vaikunta Ekadashi to the bright-fortnight Ekadashi that falls while the sun is in Dhanus — the solar month of Dhanurmasa, the month in which the pre-dawn pujas are kept daily and no marriage is performed. The northern reckoning fixes Mokshada Ekadashi to the bright-fortnight Ekadashi of the lunar month Margashirsha.
Those two usually name the same day, and in most years a temple in the south and a household in the north keep Vaikunta Ekadashi and Mokshada Ekadashi together. They are not the same rule, though, and in some years the solar reckoning places the day in the following lunar fortnight. When that happens the southern temples and the northern households are a fortnight apart, and both are correct by their own convention.
This is why the date for this page is taken from the panel above rather than assumed, and why a reader whose family follows the other convention should check the day their own tradition keeps. The difference is a matter of reckoning, not of one side being mistaken.
Harivasara and why the parana hour matters
An Ekadashi fast is held to be incomplete until it is released, and the release has a window. The first quarter of the Dwadashi tithi is Harivasara, and the tradition forbids breaking the fast within it. The parana is taken after Harivasara has passed and before the Dwadashi itself ends — which can be a short window, and is why it is computed rather than estimated.
Two faults are possible and both are common. Breaking the fast on the Ekadashi night, as though the vrata ran for one calendar day, ends it early. Carrying the fast past the Dwadashi because it seemed more devout to do so misses the release altogether. The tradition is unusually firm that neither is a stricter observance.
The parana is begun with tulasi water, then the prasada, then the meal, and feeding others is customarily done on this morning rather than on the Ekadashi. The window for the day is given in the panel on this page for the city.
Smarta and Vaishnava days, and why two dates are sometimes shown
Where the Ekadashi tithi is touched by the Dashami at sunrise, the Vaishnava convention moves the fast to the next day so that no part of the Dashami is included in it, while the Smarta convention keeps it on the first. The result is that two days are sometimes listed for one Ekadashi, and both listings are right for the households that follow them.
This is a long-settled difference and not a disagreement to be resolved. A family follows the convention it has always followed, and where a family does not know which that is, the temple it belongs to keeps one and that is the practical answer.
The gate, where it is opened, is opened on the temple's own day, so a household keeping the other convention keeps its fast on its own day and takes the darshan when the temple gives it.
More Questions About Vaikunta Ekadashi
What is the Vaikunta Dwaram and why is it opened only once a year?
Why is it called Mukkoti Ekadashi?
Is Vaikunta Ekadashi the same as Mokshada Ekadashi?
When is the fast broken?
Can the fast be kept without going without water?
Why is rice avoided on Ekadashi?
Is the night vigil necessary?
Do we need to go to a temple with a Vaikunta Dwaram?
Points Households Most Often Get Wrong
| # | Point |
|---|---|
| 1 | Breaking the fast on the Ekadashi night — The vrata runs to the parana on the Dwadashi morning. A fast released at the end of the Ekadashi day has ended early, however complete the day itself was. |
| 2 | Breaking it inside Harivasara — The first quarter of the Dwadashi is Harivasara and the fast is not released in it. The parana comes after it, inside the Dwadashi, and the window is computed rather than guessed. |
| 3 | Carrying the fast past the Dwadashi — Holding on longer is not a stricter vrata. The release is part of the observance and missing it leaves the fast unfinished. |
| 4 | Eating rice because the fast is being kept lightly — Rice and grain are avoided in every grade of an Ekadashi fast, including the lightest one kept by those who cannot go without food. |
| 5 | Treating the gate as a substitute for the fast — The Vaikunta Dwara darshan and the vrata are two parts of the same day and the tradition asks for both. Neither replaces the other. |
| 6 | Assuming Vaikunta Ekadashi and Mokshada Ekadashi are always the same date — The southern reckoning is solar and the northern lunar. They usually coincide and in some years they do not, and a household should keep the day its own convention gives. |