Festival Vishnu, Venkateswara, Ranganatha
Vaikuntha Ekadasi · Mukkoti Ekadasi
The Shukla Ekadasi that falls while the Sun stands in Dhanus, the greatest Ekadasi of the Vaishnava year.
Vaikuntha Ekadasi · Mukkoti Ekadasi 2026 falls on Sunday, 20 December, 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
Telugu calendar, computed for Chennai
- Sunday, 20 December 2026
- Saturday, 8 January 2028
- Sunday, 16 December 2029
Where Vaikuntha Ekadasi · Mukkoti Ekadasi falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2026: 20 Dec
- 2028: 8 Jan, 346 days earlier
- 2029: 16 Dec, 342 days later
The dates, year by year
Telugu calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The Shukla Ekadasi that falls while the Sun stands in Dhanus, the greatest Ekadasi of the Vaishnava year. The north gate of the Vishnu temples, the Vaikuntha Dwaram, is opened before dawn and the devotee passes through it behind the deity; the day is called Mukkoti because the thirty million gods are held to come to the darshan.
- Deity
- Vishnu, Venkateswara, Ranganatha
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
The story told is of Madhu and Kaitabha, the two asuras Vishnu slew at the beginning of creation, who asked as their last wish that whoever saw him come out through the northern gate on this Ekadasi should reach his world; the Vaikuntha Dwaram, the Uttara Dwaram of the Telugu temples, is that gate. Mukkoti means three crores, the thirty million gods held to gather at Vishnu's door that dawn, and passing through with them is taken as a promise of moksha that no other Ekadasi carries. At Tirumala the gate is now kept open for ten days from this Ekadasi so that the pilgrims can all pass, the Swarna Ratham, the golden chariot, goes round the streets, and the Chakrasnanam is done at the Swami Pushkarini on the Dwadasi; at Bhadrachalam Rama and Sita are shown through the north gate on Garuda. The fast is the Ekadasi's own, kept without grain from the old belief that sin takes shelter in grain on this day, and the night is spent awake in bhajans and the Vishnu Sahasranama.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Vaikuntha Ekadasi · Mukkoti Ekadasi: how it is kept
Keep ready
- tulasi leaves picked the day before
- flowers
- a ghee lamp
- fruit and milk for those who take them
- the Vishnu Sahasranama and the Bhagavad Gita
- a picture or image of Venkateswara or Vishnu
The steps
0 of 7 done
What is cooked
No rice or grain on the Ekadasi; those who eat take fruit, milk, sweet potato or sago. The Dwadasi meal is plain and vegetarian: Telugu homes cook pappu, a vegetable and payasam and share the temple laddu or pulihora, and Madhva homes of Karnataka break the fast early with agase soppu, agathi greens, and nellikai, amla.
The hour
Clock times for Sunday, 20 December 2026 at Chennai
The Ekadasi running at sunrise while the Sun is in Dhanus, roughly 16 December to 13 January, read in the Vaishnava way: the second of two sunrises, and the Dwadasi day when the tithi holds no sunrise. The gate opens in the last watch of the night; the fast runs to the parana on the Dwadasi.
The main rite. The Ekadasi running at sunrise while the Sun is in Dhanus. The north gate opens in the last watch of the night before dawn, the fast runs through the day and the night's vigil, and it is broken at the parana on the Dwadasi morning.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 06:26 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
Sunrise 06:26, sunset 17:47, 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 22:10 until 20:15 | then Shukla Dwadasi until next day 17:37 |
| Nakshatra | Ashwini until 14:56 | then Bharani until next day 13:09 |
| Rahu kaal | 16:22 to 17:47 (1 h 25 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 12:06 to 13:32 (1 h 25 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 14:57 to 16:22 (1 h 25 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:44 to 12:29 (0 h 45 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 14:08 | moonset next day 03:14 |
For Sunday, 20 December 2026 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
A full Ekadasi fast without rice or grain, kept by many without sleep through the night and broken after sunrise on the Dwadasi.
What is avoided
No rice or grain, no sleep for those who keep the vigil, and no tulasi picked on the Ekadasi itself. The fast is not broken before sunrise on the Dwadasi, nor left until the parana time has passed.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Tirumala, Srirangam and Simhachalam keep it alike. A civil year can hold two of these or none, because the Dhanur masa straddles the turn of the year.
In other regions
- Tamil Nadu
- Tamil Nadu keeps Vaikunta Ekadasi with the Paramapada Vasal opened at Srirangam, the day that opens the Ra Pathu, the ten nights of the Adhyayana Utsavam.
- Kerala
- Kerala keeps it as Swargavathil Ekadasi, at the Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram among others.
- Telugu (the dates above)
- Andhra and Telangana call it Mukkoti Ekadasi and keep the Uttara Dwara darshanam at Tirumala, Bhadrachalam, Simhachalam and every Venkateswara temple, where the queues begin at midnight.
- Kannada
- Karnataka keeps Vaikuntha Ekadashi at the Venkateswara and Vishnu temples, many of which put up a decorated Vaikuntha Dwara for the day where they have no north gate, and Madhva homes keep the fast without water.
The dates above are the Telugu 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.
Greeting
What is said to family and friends on the day
ముక్కోటి ఏకాదశి శుభాకాంక్షలుMukkoti Ekadasi shubhakankshalu
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
- Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh
The entry for this day names Tirumala. The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Tirumala, Srirangam and Simhachalam keep it alike.
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Vaikunta Ekadasi and the Chithirai Brahmotsavam are its days.
- Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu
The entry for this day names Srirangam. The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Tirumala, Srirangam and Simhachalam keep it alike.
- Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Vaikunta Ekadasi and the Chithirai festival are its days
- Mandya, Karnataka
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Vaikunta Ekadasi is its day.
- Mandya, Karnataka
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Vaikunta Ekadasi is its day.
1 more temple in this gazetteer is recorded for the day. Find temples near you.
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.
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.