ISKCON calendar: festivals, Ekadashi and fasts

Days to plan around in 2026 (Sridham Mayapur)

Days to plan around in 2027 (Sridham Mayapur)

Times are local for Sridham Mayapur (UTC+05:30). Another city can differ by a day.

Sources: GCal (ISKCON GBC calendar), Chaitanya-charitamrita, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Hari-bhakti-vilasa, the Ekadashi mahatmyas of the Puranas.

What the calendar includes

The profile gathers the whole Vaishnava year in one place. Our engine computes the dates by the rules of GCal, the calendar ISKCON keeps, and we check them against the published calendar. For each day you see what is celebrated, who is remembered and how the day is fasted: till noon, till sunset, till moonrise, till midnight, or the full Ekadashi fast. The parana (break-fast) time follows the sunrise in your city. Every festival and acharya has a short note and a longer story with its sources. In the profile settings choose which events to show and when to be reminded; the profile can be on together with others.

• Festivals and appearance days of the Lord
• Appearance and disappearance days of the acharyas
• Ekadashi and parana
• Chaturmasya, Bhishma Panchaka, Tulasi Jala Dan

How Vaishnavas fast

Ekadashi comes twice a month, on the eleventh lunar day. The Puranas call it a day especially dear to the Lord, and the fast a way to set aside the body's demands and give the time to Krishna. Vaishnavas give up grains and beans (rice, wheat, cereals, peas, lentils); those who can fast fully or take only water, others take fruit, vegetables and milk. More important than the food is staying awake in remembrance of the Lord: more japa, kirtan and reading. When Ekadashi is mixed with the tenth day before dawn (96 minutes before sunrise), GCal's rule moves the fast to the next day. The fast is broken in the morning parana window, which we compute for your city.

Breaking the Ekadashi fast matters as much as keeping it: it is done on the morning of the twelfth day by taking grain prasadam. The window opens no earlier than sunrise and no earlier than the end of the first quarter of Dvadashi, the hari-vasara. It closes within the first third of daylight, or earlier if Dvadashi ends first. The time depends on sunrise, so it differs from city to city; we compute it for your city the same way GCal does. After a full fast a little prasadam is enough; what matters is to take it within the window.

Chaturmasya begins on Shayana Ekadashi or the full moon of Ashadha and lasts until Utthana Ekadashi or the full moon of Kartika. In these months, the Puranas say, the Lord goes to sleep, and devotees take small vows. The Chaitanya-charitamrita tells how Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu spent the four months of Chaturmasya at Srirangam, in the house of Venkata Bhatta. GCal, the calendar ISKCON follows, counts the months from the full moon: the first month without green leafy vegetables, the second without yogurt, the third without milk, the fourth (Kartika, the month of Damodara) without urad dal. The vows are taken as one is able; what they are for is remembering the Lord.

Bhishma Panchaka is five days at the end of the month of Damodara: it begins on Utthana Ekadashi and ends on the full moon of Kartika. Tradition says that in these days Bhishmadeva, lying on his bed of arrows, gave the Pandavas his knowledge of dharma, and then left his body thinking of Krishna. Vaishnavas give these days to a special vow: some take only fruit, roots and milk, some fast more strictly. The measure is chosen by one's strength and a teacher's advice. The calendar marks the first and the last day.

The fast is kept by one's strength. Strict forms are not advised for people with health conditions, pregnant women and children; decide with a doctor.

Questions

See also

• Ekadashi 2027
• Hindu festivals 2026–2027
• Hindu (Smarta)
• Hindu (Smarta)

Positions and tables: sidereal zodiac, Lahiri ayanamsha — the same as professional Jyotish astrologers use, and the same calculation as the charts in JyotiSoft. Updated 2026-10-21.