Vratam Vishnu
Devshayani Ekadashi · Chaturmas begins
The Ekadashi of the bright fortnight of Ashadha, on which Vishnu is held to lie down on Shesha for four months.
Devshayani Ekadashi · Chaturmas begins 2027 falls on Wednesday, 14 July, computed for Chennai.
Latitude, longitude and time zone 13.08, 80.27
Asia/Kolkata · UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place.
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A tithi that ends at dusk in Chennai can still be running at dusk a thousand kilometres west, which moves the day. Sunrise and sunset here are computed for the place above.
When it falls next
North India calendar, computed for Chennai
- Wednesday, 14 July 2027
- Sunday, 2 July 2028
- Saturday, 21 July 2029
Where Devshayani Ekadashi · Chaturmas begins falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 14 Jul
- 2028: 2 Jul, 11 days earlier
- 2029: 21 Jul, 18 days later
The dates, year by year
North India calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The Ekadashi of the bright fortnight of Ashadha, on which Vishnu is held to lie down on Shesha for four months. From this day to Devuthani Ekadashi in Kartika no marriage, no thread ceremony and no housewarming is held; ascetics stay in one place for the rains, and householders take one small vow for the four months.
- Deity
- Vishnu
- Kind
- Vratam Days kept by a fast or a vow, most of them coming round every lunar month.
Significance
The Padma Purana's story of the day is of King Mandhata, whose kingdom went three years without rain until the sage Angiras told him to keep this Ekadashi, and the rain came; so the fast is also a prayer for a good monsoon. Another telling says Vishnu is keeping his word to King Bali by staying with him in the underworld for these four months, which is why his sleep is sometimes spoken of as his stay in Patala. North Indian households say that while Vishnu sleeps the care of the world passes to Shiva, and that is why the Shravana month that follows is Shiva's. The Chaturmas vow taken today is a householder's discipline for the rains, the season of stale water and sickness, so giving up leafy greens, curd or brinjal for a month at a time is good sense as much as devotion.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Devshayani Ekadashi · Chaturmas begins: how it is kept
Keep ready
- an image of Vishnu or Lakshmi Narayan
- a small bed or cot with a yellow cloth and a pillow
- panchamrit
- yellow chandan and yellow flowers
- tulsi leaves plucked the day before
- a ghee lamp and incense
- a hand fan
- fruit and makhana for the bhog
- the Vishnu Sahasranama
The steps
0 of 8 done
What is cooked
The fast is kept on fruit, milk, makhana, sabudana, or kuttu and singhare puris with sendha namak, and without any grain; the Dwadashi meal is simple and satvik. From this day many families drop what the Chaturmas vow names, one food for each month: leafy greens, curd, milk and the dals are the usual four, though traditions vary on the order, and stricter homes give up brinjal, onion and garlic for all four months. The Telugu country makes pelala pindi, roasted jowar flour with jaggery, for the day.
The hour
Clock times for Wednesday, 14 July 2027 at Chennai
Shukla Ekadashi at sunrise, with the dasami-viddha and kshaya cases settled as for every Ekadashi; the parana is the next morning.
The main rite. Ashadha Shukla Ekadashi holding the sunrise, the later day when it holds two; Vishnu is laid to rest at the evening puja, and the fast is given up at the Dwadashi parana, when the Chaturmas vow begins in earnest.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 05:50 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
Sunrise 05:50, sunset 18:40, UTC+5.5. These are the instants the rule is read at, not the temple's own puja times, which every temple prints for itself.
The day itself
| What | When | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Tithi | Shukla Ekadasi from previous day 12:09 until 13:11 | then Shukla Dwadasi until next day 14:41 |
| Nakshatra | Anuradha until next day 03:18 | then Jyeshtha until 2 days later, 05:40 |
| Rahu kaal | 12:15 to 13:51 (1 h 36 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 07:26 to 09:02 (1 h 36 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 10:39 to 12:15 (1 h 36 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:49 to 12:40 (0 h 51 min) | the midday muhurta, not counted on a Wednesday |
| Moonrise | 15:14 | moonset next day 02:45 |
For Wednesday, 14 July 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
The ordinary Ekadashi fast, without rice or grain. Many give up one food for the whole of Chaturmas from this day: curd in Shravana, milk in Bhadrapada, and so on.
What is avoided
No wedding, mundan, janeu or griha pravesh is fixed from today until Devuthani Ekadashi, and the Ekadashi fast itself avoids rice and grain. Tulsi is not plucked today, and many who take the vow avoid long journeys during the four months.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
The Chaturmas bar on weddings is kept across India, so this date and its closing date matter to anyone fixing a marriage. Traditions vary on an adhika Ashadha year, when some almanacs start the four months a month earlier.
In other regions
- Telugu
- The Telugu country keeps Tholi Ekadashi, the first Ekadashi of its year, with pelala pindi as prasad and the Chaturmas vow.
- Kannada
- Karnataka calls it Shayani or Prathama Ekadashi, and the Madhva mathas give the tapta mudra, the heated seal of the conch and the discus, to their followers on it.
- North India (the dates above)
- The Hindi belt keeps Devshayani or Harishayani Ekadashi, lays the god to rest in the evening and stops fixing weddings from this day; the sadhus of the akharas begin their Chaturmas stay in one place.
- Maharashtra
- Maharashtra keeps it as Ashadhi Ekadashi, when the Varkaris reach Pandharpur with the palkhis of Dnyaneshwar and Tukaram and the Chief Minister performs the mahapuja of Vitthal at dawn.
The dates above are the North India reckoning, because that is the calendar this key belongs to. Switch the tradition on the calendar page to see how another one dates the same day.
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
Temples of Vishnu near you
Not recorded for this day in particular: the nearest temples of the day's own gods, for a reader whose own temple is not listed above.
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Venkatakrishnan (Parthasarathy) with the arrow scars on his face
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · The eight forms of Lakshmi in shrines on four floors, facing the sea
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Adhivyadhihara Bhaktha Anjaneyar, thirty-two feet tall from a single block of granite
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Neervanna Perumal below and Ranganathar on the hill, in four postures
Your family's own temple comes first, and its calendar is the one that decides.
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A temple is listed here only where the gazetteer's own line names this day, or where this day's own entry names the town, or where the day belongs to the ancestors or the nagas and the temple is recorded for that rite. Where neither table says anything, nothing is listed as kept for the day; where fewer than three are, the nearest temples of the day's own gods are added under a heading of their own.
Mantras
The prayers said with the day. Each opens with its words and meaning.
Fixing a day for it
The muhurtham rules for a puja held alongside, whose day the family chooses
Devshayani Ekadashi · Chaturmas begins's own date is set by the rule in "The hour" above, and no muhurtham moves it. For a wedding around it, whose day the family does choose, the finder below applies these rules.
Vivaha, the marriage itself. The grading is the Tamil almanac one: nine wedding months, the seven wedding tithis, the marriage stars, and Mithunam, Kanni and Thulam as the best lagnas. Tuesday and Saturday rule a day out, as no Tamil almanac prints a wedding muhurtham on either. Confirm the chosen day and hour with the family astrologer.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it.
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A printed panchangam can differ by a day where an almanac reads a tithi at a different instant, and a family's own custom always comes first. Where the practice genuinely varies, the text says so rather than choosing for you.