Jaya Ekadashi 2028: Date, Parana Time & Vrat Vidhi

Parana (breaking the fast) is on Tuesday, 8 February 2028, from 7:05 AM to 9:17 AM (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); its mahatmya is release from a bhuta-yoni — a ghostly state after death — so it is often kept for the peace of a soul believed unquiet.

In parts of the South and West it coincides with Bhishma / Bhaimi Ekadashi and is kept for the ancestors and for Bhishma, who chose this fortnight to leave his body.

The Padma Purana tells that in Indra's court the gandharva Malyavan and the apsara Pushpavati, singing before the assembly, lost their concentration in love for one another; Indra cursed them to fall to earth as pishachas in the Himalaya. Living in cold and hunger, they once passed a whole day and night without food and awake — it was Jaya Ekadashi — and by that unintended fast the curse lifted and they returned to the celestial world.

Source: Padma Purana — the Jaya Ekadashi mahatmya

The Jaya Ekadashi mahatmya is given in the Padma and Bhavishyottara Puranas; the day-rule, parana and vrat vidhi are those of every Ekadashi (see the Ekadashi page). It falls in the Magha bright fortnight near Bhishma Ashtami and Ratha Saptami.

• Padma Purana — the Jaya Ekadashi mahatmya
• Bhavishyottara Purana — the katha of the cursed celestials

1. The grain-free fast is kept from sunrise with a Vishnu puja, the Ekadashi katha and, for many, a night vigil; the merit is dedicated to a departed soul or to the ancestors.
2. Tarpana and a daan for the pitrs are done; the parana is within the Dwadashi after the Hari Vasara.

• North India. Kept as Jaya Ekadashi with the katha of the freed celestials, often for the peace of a departed relative.
• Maharashtra, South India. Kept close to or as Bhaimi / Bhishma Ekadashi, with tarpana for Bhishma and the ancestors.

• Phalahar — Til-gur, roasted peanuts, milk and kuttu in the Magha cold.
• Parana — Tulsi water, fruit, then a warm light meal.

Jaya Ekadashi is kept on the day when Ekadashi of Magha Shukla paksha prevails at sunrise. That day is Monday, 7 February 2028. Ekadashi holds at sunrise only on this day.

at sunrise

Jaya Ekadashi is the Shukla Ekadashi of Magha — the Moon 120°–132° ahead of the Sun (sidereal, Lahiri), with the Sun in sidereal Makara or Kumbha. 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 bright half of Magha drifts about 11 days earlier each solar year, then jumps back ~19 days when a leap (Adhika) month is inserted.