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Krishna paksha · Margashirsha · amanta reckoning
Sun, 3 Jan
Saphala Ekadashi 2027 is on Sunday, 3 January. Parana, breaking the fast, is on 4 January, 7:14 AM to 9:18 AM in New Delhi.
2028: Tuesday, 12 December 2028
Parana (breaking the fast), 4 Jan 2027
7:14 AM – 9:18 AM
Also called Safala Ekadashi. Those are the same observance and the same date, so they share this page rather than competing with it from a second URL.
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Sunday, 3 January 2027
| Timing | New Delhi | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Parana (breaking the fast), 4 Jan 2027 | 7:14 AM to 9:18 AM | The window is the first fifth of the daylight (pratahkala). |
Saphala Ekadashi is not a Gregorian date. It is Krishna paksha tithi 11 of Margashirsha in the amanta reckoning, and the Gregorian day it lands on moves by up to a month between years because twelve lunations fall about eleven days short of a solar year.
Sunrise in New Delhi falls at 7:14 AM on that day, and that is the instant the tithi has to be running at for the day to carry the observance. It is computed for this city rather than assumed, because it is what decides the date.
The two instants above are the astronomy and are not in dispute. The day is an interpretation of them: this observance is decided at sunrise, so it belongs to the day whose sunrise the tithi carries — not simply to the day the tithi begins.
Saphala Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the dark (krishna) half of Pausha in the purnimanta reckoning used across North India, and of Margashirsha in the amanta reckoning used in the south and west. It is the same night: the two calendars name the dark fortnight after different months.
Every day above is computed for New Delhi from the same tithi instants. ISKCON temples publish their own calendar for each city and also apply the Mahadvadashi rules, which can move a fast to Dwadashi in some years — where your temple's calendar differs, follow it.
Saphala Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the dark fortnight of Pausha in the purnimanta reckoning — Margashirsha Krishna in the amanta one — and falls in December or early January, around the turn of the Gregorian year. Saphala means "fruitful": the day is kept for Vishnu as Narayana with offerings of seasonal fruit, lamps through the night and night-long kirtan, all of which come straight out of its katha.
Retold in brief from the Brahmanda Purana, in Krishna's Ekadashi-mahatmya to Yudhishthira.
King Mahishmata of Champavati had five sons, and the eldest, Lumpaka, squandered his father's wealth, insulted holy men and preyed on the citizens. At last the king banished him, and Lumpaka went to live in the forest, stealing from the city by night and sleeping under an old peepal tree.
One winter, on the night of Dashami, the cold was so bitter that he could not sleep, and by morning he lay numb and half-conscious. He came to only at midday, too weak to hunt, and could gather nothing but a few fallen fruits. He ate none of them.
That night, Ekadashi night, he again could not sleep. Grieving, he set the fruit at the foot of the peepal and said, "Let Vishnu be pleased with these." Without meaning to, he had fasted all day, stayed awake all night and offered fruit to Narayana — the whole of the Saphala vrat.
At dawn a voice from the sky told him that the merit of the fast would restore him. Lumpaka returned home a changed man; his father gave him the kingdom, which he ruled well before retiring to the forest in old age. Krishna tells Yudhishthira that even a fast kept unknowingly bears fruit — which is what Saphala means.
Fasting customs are described here as tradition, not as medical advice. Consult a doctor before fasting, particularly if you are pregnant, diabetic, elderly or on medication.
Twenty-four in an ordinary year, two more in a year with an adhika month. Each has its own page with its katha, parana and Smarta and Vaishnava dates.
The next Ekadashi and its parana · every Ekadashi of 2027 with tithi and parana times
Saphala Ekadashi, the fruitful Ekadashi, is kept for Vishnu as Narayana with offerings of seasonal fruit, lamps that burn through the night and kirtan in place of sleep. In New Delhi it falls on Sunday, 3 January 2027: the fast runs from sunrise to parana on Dwadashi, 4 Jan, 7:14 AM to 9:18 AM. It is the Ekadashi of Pausha Krishna in North India (Margashirsha Krishna in the amanta calendar), in the cold weeks around the turn of the year.
| Muhurat | Time in New Delhi | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Parana: the time to break the fast | 4 Jan, 7:14 AM to 9:18 AMThe morning of Dwadashi (the first fifth of the day), Hari Vasara having ended overnight. | The window on Dwadashi, the morning after the fast, in which Saphala Ekadashi is completed. It opens once Hari Vasara is over and normally closes with the first part of the morning; when Hari Vasara runs late it moves past midday, and it never runs beyond the end of Dwadashi. The time shown is computed for New Delhi. |
| Hari Vasara ends | 10:41 PMThe end of the first quarter of Dwadashi; the fast is never broken inside it. | Hari Vasara is the first quarter of Dwadashi. The fast is not broken inside it, even when it is already morning, so its end in New Delhi is the earliest moment parana can begin. |
| Brahma Muhurta | 5:25 AM to 6:19 AMThe 14th of the night's fifteen muhurtas, ending one muhurta before sunrise. | The hour before dawn on the Ekadashi day, the traditional time to wake, bathe and take the sankalp of the fast. |
| Sunrise | 7:14 AMThe upper edge of the Sun on the horizon, with refraction. | The fast is counted from sunrise on Ekadashi to parana on Dwadashi, and the morning puja begins after it. |
| Auspicious choghadiya (day) |
| The day's Amrit, Shubh, Labh and Chal periods. Families who cannot worship at dawn choose one of them for the main puja. |
| Pradosh Kaal: the evening lamps | 5:36 PM to 8:20 PMFrom sunset for three night muhurtas (a fifth of the night). | The evening after sunset, when lamps are lit before Vishnu and beside the tulsi and the aarti is sung again. |
| Nishita Kaal: the night of kirtan | 11:58 PM to 12:52 AM (4 Jan)The 8th of the night's fifteen muhurtas, around the middle of the night. | Saphala is above all a night vigil, with lamps kept burning and kirtan in place of sleep, as in its katha. The middle of the night shown here is the heart of it. |
| Rahu Kaal (to avoid)Kept clear of | 4:19 PM to 5:36 PMRahu's eighth of the daylight, fixed by the weekday: a puja, a purchase or a journey is not begun in it. | The weekday's Rahu Kaal on the Ekadashi day in New Delhi. Many families avoid beginning the sankalp or the main puja inside it; it does not change the fast itself or the parana window. |
| Window | Time in New Delhi | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Abhijit Muhurat | 12:04 PM to 12:46 PM | Auspicious |
| Amrit Kaal | 11:58 AM to 1:43 PM | Most Auspicious |
| Brahma Muhurat | 5:25 AM to 6:19 AM | Auspicious |
These are the spans classical muhurta sets aside for beginnings. They are descriptions of a convention, not warnings: the observance is kept on its day regardless, and nothing here needs to be bought, corrected or remedied.
| Window | Time in New Delhi |
|---|---|
| Rahu Kaal | 4:19 PM to 5:36 PM |
| Yamaganda Kaal | 12:25 PM to 1:43 PM |
| Durmuhurta First | 4:13 PM to 4:55 PM |
| Varjyam | 2:03 AM to 3:50 AM |
Every time above is computed for New Delhi around Sunday, 3 January 2027, from the sunrise, sunset and the positions of the Sun and Moon for this city. The Vedic day runs sunrise to sunrise, so a window whose clock time falls after midnight still belongs to the evening before; a time on another date carries that date.
Every Ekadashi is kept the same way: one sattvic meal on Dashami, the sankalp at dawn, Vishnu puja with tulsi, the katha and aarti, lamps at dusk, the night vigil and parana on Dwadashi. Those steps are in the Ekadashi vrat vidhi. Below are the steps Saphala Ekadashi adds or words its own way.
Sit before the altar, hold a little water and a flower in your right hand and resolve to keep the vrat: say your name, that you are keeping Saphala Ekadashi for Vishnu, and how you will fast, whether without water, on water alone, on fruit or with one phalahar meal. Then let the water fall. The Ekadashi sankalpa verse in the mantra section can be said here.
Saphala's offering is fruit. Arrange the season's fruits on a plate before Narayana, as many kinds as you can find (oranges, guava, ber, amla, banana, sugarcane), each with a tulsi leaf, and say the Gita verse on the leaf, the flower and the fruit. Nothing cooked from grain or pulses is offered.
Read or listen to the Saphala Ekadashi vrat katha below, and the Vishnu Sahasranama or a chapter of the Gita if you can. Then sing Om Jai Jagdish Hare with a ghee lamp or camphor, and ask pardon for any mistake made in the puja.
At dusk light lamps of ghee or sesame oil before Narayana and beside the tulsi, and keep at least one burning safely until morning. Some families, remembering the katha, also light a lamp at the foot of a peepal tree.
The puja samagri every Ekadashi uses (an image of Vishnu, tulsi picked on Dashami, a ghee lamp, yellow flowers, panchamrit, Ganga jal and the rest) is in the Ekadashi samagri list. For Saphala Ekadashi, add:
The verses every Ekadashi uses, from the dhyana and sankalpa verses to the parana verse, and the Om Jai Jagdish Hare aarti are in the Ekadashi guide's mantras and aarti. Saphala Ekadashi's own:
ॐ नमो नारायणाय
Om Namo Narayanaya
Meaning: Om, salutation to Narayana, the refuge in whom all beings rest. With the Om it has eight syllables, the ashtakshara of the Narayana Upanishad.
When and how: 108 times on a tulsi mala, or softly through the day in place of the twelve-syllable mantra.
पत्रं पुष्पं फलं तोयं यो मे भक्त्या प्रयच्छति ।
तदहं भक्त्युपहृतमश्नामि प्रयतात्मनः ॥
Patram pushpam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayachchhati
Tad aham bhaktyupahritam ashnami prayatatmanah
Meaning: Whoever offers me with devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit or a little water, that offering of love I accept from the pure-hearted.
When and how: Said while offering the fruit, once or three times.
हरे राम हरे राम राम राम हरे हरे ।
हरे कृष्ण हरे कृष्ण कृष्ण कृष्ण हरे हरे ॥
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Meaning: Sixteen names, Hare, Rama and Krishna, each a call to the Lord by name with nothing asked for. The Kali-Santarana Upanishad gives the Hare Rama half first; many communities, ISKCON among them, sing the Hare Krishna half first. It is the same mantra either way.
When and how: Sung aloud in the night kirtan, or said softly on a tulsi mala through the day.
Its lesson is that a vrat can work on someone before he understands it. A prince who had wasted his life went hungry, lay awake in the bitter cold and, grieving, set a few fallen fruits at the foot of a peepal for Vishnu, never knowing he had kept a fast; the Purana says even that changed him. So the day is a gentle one for beginners and for anyone who feels unworthy of a vrat: what it asks is only that you begin.
It comes in the deep cold around the turn of the calendar year, about a fortnight before Pausha Putrada. That season shapes its charity: blankets, warm clothes and hot food for people sleeping outdoors, as the exiled prince slept under a peepal. The katha closes with Krishna's word that even a fast kept without knowing it bears fruit.
Offer every kind of seasonal fruit you can find, then give some of it away: to children, a temple or someone in need. The name of the day is fruitfulness, and the custom is to let the fruit travel.
Keep one ghee lamp burning before Narayana from dusk to dawn, set on a metal plate away from cloth. A steady flame through the dark is the traditional sign of Saphala's night vigil, kept even by those who must rest.
Gather the family for kirtan or the Hare Krishna maha-mantra after the evening aarti, and keep it going for as much of the night as you can, as the katha's sleepless night became a vigil.
Lumpaka sheltered under a peepal and offered his fruit at its roots. Some families light a lamp and pour water at a peepal tree on Saphala, remembering him.
Lumpaka nearly froze on Dashami night. Giving a blanket or a shawl to someone sleeping out in the cold is a fitting daan for Saphala.
The katha is a story of return. If someone close to you has lost their way, it is a fitting day to name them in your prayer and keep the fast with them in mind.
What may be eaten on any Ekadashi, from fruit and sabudana to samak rice and the parana meal, is in the Ekadashi food list.
Two years back, this year, and two ahead. Past years are kept rather than dropped so you can check the engine against a calendar you already have.
| Year | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Sunday, 7 January 2024 | past |
| 2024 | Thursday, 26 December 2024 | past |
| 2025 | Monday, 15 December 2025 | past |
| 2026This year | none in 2026 — it falls in late December or January, so a calendar year can have two or none | — |
| 2027 | Sunday, 3 January 2027 | upcoming |
| 2027 | Thursday, 23 December 2027 | upcoming |
| 2028 | Tuesday, 12 December 2028 | upcoming |
Every row is computed for New Delhi from the same ephemeris, not looked up. Sunrise decides which day a tithi names, and sunrise differs across India by more than an hour, so a date computed for Delhi can be a day out elsewhere.
There is no single authority that settles a Hindu festival date, and the divergence is genuine rather than sloppy. Three causes account for almost all of it.
So this page shows its working. If your pandit or your family almanac gives a different day, the instants above will usually show you exactly why — and that is more useful than a date asserted without one.
In New Delhi, Saphala Ekadashi falls on Sunday, 3 January 2027, with Ekadashi tithi running 2:24 PM (2 Jan) to 4:08 PM. It always comes between mid-December and early January, so some calendar years have two Saphala Ekadashis and some have none; the table of years on this page shows which.
Three honest reasons. The tithi can be running at the deciding moment on two days or on none. North India reckons the month purnimanta and the south and west amanta, which names the same krishna fortnight differently. And almanacs differ on which moment of the day decides an observance. The instants above are the astronomy; the day is an interpretation of them.
Saphala Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the dark fortnight of Pausha in the purnimanta reckoning — Margashirsha Krishna in the amanta one — and falls in December or early January, around the turn of the Gregorian year. Saphala means "fruitful": the day is kept for Vishnu as Narayana with offerings of seasonal fruit, lamps through the night and night-long kirtan, all of which come straight out of its katha.
It is told in the Brahmanda Purana, in Krishna's Ekadashi-mahatmya to Yudhishthira. The katha is retold in full above.
Not this year — both keep Sunday, 3 January 2027. The Vaishnava rule reads Ekadashi at arunodaya, and Ekadashi already holds that day's arunodaya.
Break the fast on Dwadashi morning inside the window 4 Jan, 7:14 AM to 9:18 AM, computed for New Delhi. The window opens once Hari Vasara is over (10:41 PM); on a cold winter morning many begin with warm water and a tulsi leaf, then fruit, before the first full meal.
Lumpaka, the wayward eldest son of King Mahishmata of Champavati, was banished and lived under a peepal in the forest. One winter night the cold kept him awake; the next day he was too weak to eat, gathered fallen fruit and, sleepless again, offered it to Vishnu at the peepal's roots. Without knowing it he had kept the whole Saphala vrat. A voice from the sky told him he would be restored, and he returned home a changed man. The full katha is above.
Saphala means fruitful, and the katha's lesson is that even a vrat kept unknowingly bears fruit: Lumpaka fasted and stayed awake only because he was cold and weak, and was still transformed. The day is kept for Narayana with fruit, lamps and a night of kirtan, and many keep it for the success of honest effort.
Yes. Safalta, success, is a common way of saying Saphala, fruitful, and both point to the same Ekadashi: the dark-fortnight Ekadashi of Pausha in North India. Safala is another spelling. Its date in New Delhi is Sunday, 3 January 2027.
Saphala is fixed by the Moon, not the calendar: it falls between mid-December and early January. When one Saphala comes in the first days of January and the next in late December, that year has two; when one falls in December and the next does not come until the January two years later, the year in between has none. The table of years on this page lists them.
Take the sankalp after an early bath, worship Narayana on a yellow cloth with water, panchamrit, sandalwood, yellow flowers and tulsi, and offer a full plate of the season's fruits. Read the Lumpaka katha and sing the aarti. At dusk light lamps, keep one burning until morning, and give the night to kirtan. The full vidhi is above.
The Brahmanda Purana says the fast makes one's efforts bear fruit and that it changed even Lumpaka's life. These are the tradition's words, not a promise of any particular result; what families value is the discipline of the fast, the night of devotion and the giving that goes with it.
Fruit, above all: the day is built around it. Oranges, guava, ber, banana and amla are in season, with milk, makhana, sabudana, sweet potato and singhara where the family's custom allows. Rock salt replaces common salt, and there is no grain, dal, onion or garlic until the parana.
The traditional ones come straight from the katha: offer as many seasonal fruits as you can and give some away, keep a lamp burning through the night, give the night to kirtan, light a lamp at a peepal tree and give a blanket to someone out in the cold. They are acts of devotion and charity, not guarantees.
Om Jai Jagdish Hare, given in full above, after the morning puja and again with the evening lamps. On a night of kirtan many go on to the Hare Krishna maha-mantra and bhajans of Narayana until late; some families also sing the Ekadashi Mata aarti from their vrat book.
The katha makes the night vigil central, so stay awake for as much of it as you can, with kirtan, japa or reading. Those who must sleep, because of age, health or work, keep the evening and the middle of the night awake and leave a lamp burning; tradition values the devotion more than the number of hours.
