Glossary · concept
Ekadashi
Also written the eleventh
Ekadashi is the eleventh tithi of each lunar fortnight — so there are two a month, one in the bright paksha and one in the dark, and twenty-four across the year (twenty-six in an Adhik Maas year).
It is sacred to Vishnu, and is the most widely kept fasting day of the lunar cycle. Many observe a vrat — abstaining from grains and beans, sometimes from food entirely — treating the day as a quiet pause that lightens the body and settles the mind. Each Ekadashi has its own name and story: Nirjala (the waterless fast), Vaikuntha, Devshayani (when Vishnu is said to sleep), and the rest.
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