Papamochani Ekadashi 2026
Sunday, 15 March 2026 · Krishna Paksha, Ekadashi tithi — Washes away accumulated sins.
Vrat & Parana timing
Ekadashi is fasted through the tithi and broken the next morning on Dwadashi within the parana window. The times below are for New Delhi and indicative — confirm the exact tithi and parana for your city on the Panchang.
Papamochani Ekadashi
Sunday, 15 March 2026
Times are for New Delhi and shift with your location. Check the day's Panchang for your city.
How the vrat is kept
A simple four-step observance, from the dawn sankalp to breaking the fast on Dwadashi.
Rise before dawn, bathe, and vow (sankalp) to keep the fast with a steady, pure mind.
Worship Lord Vishnu with tulsi, flowers, incense and a ghee lamp; offer fruit and panchamrit.
Set aside grains and pulses. Pass the day in chanting, katha and charity, and hold the night vigil.
Break the fast on Dwadashi morning within the prescribed window, after feeding the needy.
The vrat is completed only when it is broken correctly: on Dwadashi tithi, within the parana window and after Ekadashi has ended. In 2026 the parana for Papamochani Ekadashi falls the morning after Sunday, 15 March 2026, in New Delhi.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. A tithi begins and ends at a precise moment, and the vrat is kept on the day the Ekadashi tithi is current at sunrise. Because that moment falls at different clock times across India, regional calendars can differ by a day.
On Dwadashi tithi, within the parana window and only after the Ekadashi tithi has ended. Breaking it too early, or after Dwadashi has passed, is considered inauspicious.
From sunrise on Ekadashi, grains, rice and pulses are set aside. The day is spent in Vishnu worship, japa and charity, ideally with a night vigil (jagran), and the fast is broken only the next morning on Dwadashi within the parana window.
“Papamochani” means releaser of sin. The Bhavishyottara Purana says keeping this fast absolves all accumulated wrongdoing, told through the story of the apsara Manjughosha and sage Medhavi.
Papamochani Ekadashi falls on Sunday, 15 March 2026, on the Ekadashi tithi of the Krishna Paksha of Chaitra. The fast is broken on Monday 16 March within the parana window.