Aja Ekadashi 2028: Date, Parana Time & Vrat Vidhi

Parana (breaking the fast) is on Thursday, 17 August 2028, from 1:44 PM to 4:21 PM (New Delhi).

Break with water and tulsi, then fruit, then a light non-grain meal; a full meal after.

It is the grain-free Ekadashi fast (the fasting and parana rules are on the Ekadashi page), kept for the return of what has been lost and for the peace of the ancestors.

By its mahatmya the fast removes accumulated sin and carries the merit of a horse sacrifice.

The Brahmavaivarta Purana tells that King Harishchandra, having given away his kingdom to keep his word to Vishwamitra, sold his wife and son and himself into service and became keeper of a cremation ground. The sage Gautama told him to keep the Aja Ekadashi; by its merit his dead son was restored to life, his wife and kingdom returned, and he rose to heaven with his subjects.

Source: Brahmavaivarta Purana — the Aja Ekadashi mahatmya (the Harishchandra narrative)

The Aja Ekadashi mahatmya is given in the Brahmavaivarta Purana; the day-rule, parana and vrat vidhi are those of every Ekadashi (see the Ekadashi page). It falls in the dark fortnight of Bhadrapada, within Chaturmas.

• Brahmavaivarta Purana — the Aja Ekadashi mahatmya (the Harishchandra narrative)
• Padma Purana — the Ekadashi mahatmyas

1. Devotees bathe before sunrise, take the sankalpa and worship Vishnu in his Upendra form with tulsi, yellow flowers, incense and a ghee lamp.
2. The katha of King Harishchandra is read: after losing kingdom, family and freedom, he kept this Ekadashi on the sage Gautama's advice and had everything restored.
3. Many keep a night vigil with kirtan; daan of grain and clothes is given, and the fast is broken at the Dwadashi parana.

• Pan-Indian (Vaishnava). Kept for the return of what is lost and the peace of the ancestors, with a Vishnu puja and the katha of Harishchandra.

• Phalahar — Monsoon fruit such as pears and jamun, milk, and kuttu or singhara puri with rock salt.
• Dwadashi parana — Tulsi water, a fruit, then a simple meal with the family.

Aja Ekadashi is kept on the day when Ekadashi of Bhadrapada Krishna paksha prevails at sunrise. That day is Wednesday, 16 August 2028. Ekadashi holds at sunrise only on this day.

at sunrise

Aja Ekadashi is the Krishna Ekadashi of Bhadrapada — the Moon 120°–132° behind the Sun (sidereal, Lahiri), with the Sun in sidereal Simha. See the Ekadashi page for the day-rule and the Smarta / Vaishnava difference; the Gregorian date drifts about 11 days earlier each year.

A lunar date: Ekadashi of the dark half of Bhadrapada drifts about 11 days earlier each solar year, then jumps back ~19 days when a leap (Adhika) month is inserted.