Vaishnava Papamochani Ekadashi 2026 Date
Vaishnava Papamochani Ekadashi 2026 is on Monday, 16 March 2026, on Ekadasi tithi.
Dates are for India (IST). Tithi timings for your city are on the Vaishnava Papamochani Ekadashi page.
About Vaishnava Papamochani Ekadashi
The Vaishnava observance of Papamochani — the 'sin-remover' Ekadashi — falls one day after the smarta date, in Chaitra Krishna Paksha. It is the last Ekadashi of the lunar year, slotted between Holika Dahan and Chaitra Navratri, and is the day sanyasis, widows and Gaudiya Vaishnavas keep the fast.
The 'Vaishnava' label matters: when Ekadashi tithi straddles two sunrises, smartas with families fast on the first day, while sanyasis, widows and Vaishnava sects fast on the second — the Vaishnava day. ISKCON follows this rule via its Gaurabda calendar and breaks the fast only after Hari Vasara, the first quarter of Dwadashi. The vrat-katha, told in the Bhavishya-uttara Purana as a dialogue between Krishna and Yudhishthira, explains the name. Sage Medhavi, a Shiva devotee in the Chaitraratha forest, was seduced by the apsara Manjughosha and lost 57 years to her spell. He cursed her into a pishachini (she-demon); his father Chyavana prescribed this fast, which freed both of their sin. Hearing the story is said to equal the merit of gifting a thousand cows.
