Mohini Ekadashi
Lord Vishnu
When it falls
The date shifts because it tracks the moon, not the Gregorian calendar.
Calculated for India (IST) using precise Panchang astronomy. Dates can shift by a day at locations far to the east or west.
What Mohini Ekadashi marks
Mohini Ekadashi falls on the eleventh lunar day (Ekadashi) of the bright fortnight (Shukla Paksha) of Vaishakha, the month that usually spans April and May. It is one of the twenty-four Ekadashis kept through the year for Vishnu, and it carries its own name and story rather than being just another fasting day.
The name comes from Mohini, the female form Vishnu took to recover the pot of nectar (amrit) during the churning of the ocean and keep it from the asuras. Because of that link, the day is associated in tradition with steadiness of mind and release from confusion and attachment. The Vaishnava texts frame the fast as a way to clear accumulated wrongs and turn the mind toward Vishnu, not as a transaction that guarantees a fixed reward.
Ekadashi recurs twice in every lunar month, once in the waxing fortnight and once in the waning one, so a Vishnu fast comes around roughly every two weeks. Mohini is simply the named Ekadashi for Vaishakha Shukla; the Ekadashi before it is Varuthini Ekadashi in the dark fortnight of Chaitra, and the one after is Apara Ekadashi in the dark fortnight of Vaishakha.
Rituals & observance
The day is kept simply: a fast through the day, worship of Vishnu, and a measured breaking of the fast (parana) the next morning. Observance ranges from a full waterless fast to a light one-meal fast, depending on health and family custom.
- Bathe early, then take a sankalpa (a stated resolve) to keep the fast, ideally before sunrise.
- Worship Vishnu through the day with simple offerings, tulsi leaves, and recitation such as the Vishnu Sahasranama; many spend part of the day reading or hearing the Ekadashi katha.
- Avoid all grains, rice, and pulses for the day. Strict observers keep a nirjala (waterless) fast; others take only water, fruit, milk, or a single light meal of permitted fasting foods.
- Keep the day quiet and disciplined: avoid heavy, tamasic food, and many also avoid sleeping in the daytime and keep a night vigil (jagran) where custom calls for it.
- Break the fast the next morning during the parana window on Dwadashi, the twelfth lunar day, after sunrise and before the tithi ends, traditionally starting with food offered to Vishnu.
- Giving food, water, or alms (daan) on the day is part of the observance and is considered as much a part of the vrat as the fast itself.
How this date is determined
Observed on the Ekadashi tithi of Vaishakha (Shukla paksha), reckoned by sunrise (udaya tithi).
Dates are computed to astronomical precision (NASA/JPL ephemeris), in line with traditional panchang.
