Rama Ekadashi 2026: Date, Parana Time and the Story Behind It

Rama Ekadashi falls on Thursday 5 November 2026. The fast is broken the next morning, Friday 6 November, and in Delhi the parana window is 6:37 AM to 8:48 AM. That Friday is also Dhanteras, so the Ekadashi is the first fast of Diwali week and ends on the morning the festival starts.

Why Thursday and not Wednesday

The Ekadashi tithi begins at 11:03 AM on Wednesday 4 November and ends at 10:35 AM on Thursday the 5th. An Ekadashi fast is kept on the day when Ekadashi is current at sunrise. On Wednesday the sun rises during Dashami, the tenth day. On Thursday it rises during Ekadashi, so Thursday is the fast, even though the tithi itself runs out mid-morning.

DrikPanchang notes that the tithi timings are for reference only, and that the fast starts at sunrise.

Parana times

The fast is broken on Dwadashi, the twelfth day, and it has to be broken before Dwadashi ends. On 6 November Dwadashi ends at 10:30 AM.

In Delhi the parana window is 6:37 AM to 8:48 AM. In Mumbai it is 6:41 AM to 8:57 AM.

Families who follow the ISKCON calendar keep the same date in Delhi this year, Thursday 5 November, but their parana window on the 6th is longer, 6:37 AM to 10:15 AM. The ISKCON calendar takes Hari Vasara into account when it works out parana, which is why the two windows close at different times. Its date also moves with location: ISKCON's listing for Boston puts Rama Ekadashi a day earlier, on Wednesday 4 November.

Dhanteras puja and shopping happen later on Friday, but the parana has to be done in the early window, so anyone heading to a jeweller's by 10 AM should eat before leaving.

The story told on Rama Ekadashi

The katha is narrated by Krishna to Yudhishthira, who asks about the Ekadashi of the dark fortnight of Kartik.

King Muchukunda was strict about Ekadashi and had the whole kingdom keep it. His daughter Chandrabhaga was married to Prince Shobhana, who was physically weak. Shobhana was visiting his in-laws when the Ekadashi came, and Chandrabhaga feared he would not survive the fast. He kept it anyway, could not bear the hunger and thirst, and died on the morning of Dwadashi.

He was reborn as the ruler of a kingdom on Mount Mandarachal. A brahmin named Soma Sharma, on pilgrimage, recognised him there. Shobhana told him that he had kept the fast without faith, so the kingdom would not last.

When Chandrabhaga heard this, she went to the ashram of the sage Vamadeva on the mountain, rejoined her husband, and gave him the merit of every Ekadashi she had kept since childhood. That made the kingdom permanent.

ISKCON Delhi cites the Brahma Vaivarta Purana for the account. ShubhPanchang's retelling attributes it to the Bhavishya Purana instead.

Where it sits in the month

Rama Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the waning moon before Diwali. Under the north Indian calendar, which counts months from full moon to full moon, that is Kartik. The calendars of Gujarat, Maharashtra and the south place it in Ashwin. The day of the fast is the same under both.

The next Ekadashi is the bigger one for anyone planning a wedding. Dev Uthani Ekadashi on Friday 20 November ends Chaturmas, and Tulsi Vivah on the 21st opens the wedding season.

The rest of the week

Govatsa Dwadashi is on the evening of Thursday 5 November, the same day as the fast. Dhanteras follows on Friday 6 November, Kali Chaudas on Saturday the 7th, and Diwali on Sunday 8 November.