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Ekadashi to Purnima: Every Fasting Date Through July 2026
If you keep a vrat, plan ancestor rites, or simply like marking the moon, the next five weeks are busy. The upcoming Ekadashi, Amavasya and Purnima dates run almost back to back through late June and July 2026, and a couple of them are among the most significant of the entire year. One of them effectively shuts the wedding season for four months.
Here is the stretch from now through early August, in plain order, before we get into why each one carries weight.
The dates you'll actually use next
From today through the first week of August 2026, these are the days to circle:
- Nirjala Ekadashi — Thursday, June 25 (Jyeshtha Shukla)
- Jyeshtha Purnima / Vat Purnima — Monday, June 29
- Yogini Ekadashi — Friday, July 10 (Ashadha Krishna)
- Ashadha Amavasya — Tuesday, July 14
- Devshayani Ekadashi — Saturday, July 25 (Ashadha Shukla)
- Guru Purnima — Wednesday, July 29 (Ashadha Purnima)
- Kamika Ekadashi — Sunday, August 9 (Shravana Krishna)
A word of caution before you lock anything in. A tithi does not line up with the clock the way a date does. Ekadashi, Amavasya and Purnima each begin and end at fixed moments that often spill across two calendar days, and the day you observe depends on when the tithi is active at sunrise. Regional panchangs and the amanta-versus-purnimanta split can nudge a date by a day. Treat the list above as your anchor, then confirm the exact tithi and parana timing for your city.
Why 2026 handed you two extra Ekadashis
There is a quiet oddity baked into this year. The Hindu lunisolar calendar drifts against the solar year, and roughly every 32 to 33 months it corrects with an Adhik Maas — a leap month inserted to keep festivals in their seasons. In 2026 that extra month landed as Adhik Jyeshtha earlier in the cycle.
The practical effect is simple. A normal year carries 24 Ekadashis, two per lunar month. A leap-month year carries 26, because the extra month brings its own pair, known as Padmini Ekadashi and Parama Ekadashi. So devotees who fast every Ekadashi observed two more than usual this year. By late June we are back in the regular reckoning, which is why Nirjala and the rest follow the standard names again.
That detail also explains why some calendars look unfamiliar this season. The leap month pushed certain festivals later, so things that normally arrive in early summer cluster into a tight run now.
Nirjala Ekadashi: one fast that's said to count for all
Of the lot, Nirjala Ekadashi on June 25 is the heavyweight. The name means "without water," and that is exactly the discipline — a full day and night without food or even a sip, from one sunrise to the next. It is the hardest of the Ekadashi fasts, and tradition holds that keeping this single one earns the merit of observing all the others across the year. For anyone who cannot manage a vrat every fortnight, this is the day people pick.
The story attached to it is part of its appeal. Bhima, the strongest of the Pandavas, could not bear hunger and despaired of ever fasting properly; the sage Vyasa told him that this one waterless fast would stand in for the rest. Because of that, it is also called Bhima Ekadashi or Pandava Ekadashi.
The timing matters. The Ekadashi tithi opens on the evening of June 24 and closes on the evening of June 25, with the fast broken — the parana — on the morning of June 26. In peak summer heat, a waterless fast is genuinely demanding, so older people, the unwell, pregnant women and children are traditionally exempt and observe a lighter, fruit-and-water version instead.
When the moon goes dark: Ashadha Amavasya
Four days after Nirjala comes the full moon, then the cycle turns toward darkness. Ashadha Amavasya on July 14 is the no-moon night of the Ashadha month, and its character is the opposite of a celebration. Amavasya is the day of the ancestors.
Families use it for shraddha and tarpan — offerings of water and food made to departed elders. The belief is that the pitru, the ancestors, draw close on the moonless night, and that rites performed then bring their blessings and settle pitru dosha, the ancestral debt that astrology blames for stuck careers and family friction. In farming regions this Amavasya doubles as Halharini Amavasya, when agricultural tools and bullocks are worshipped at the start of the sowing season, and in parts of the country lamps are floated or lit, giving it the name Deep Amavasya.
If you have lost a parent or grandparent in the past year, this is one of the days elders will steer you toward for the annual remembrance. Many people also avoid starting new ventures on Amavasya, saving fresh launches for the brighter half of the month.
Devshayani Ekadashi and the long pause of Chaturmas
The single most consequential date in this run is Devshayani Ekadashi on July 25. This is when, in the tradition, Vishnu lies down for his cosmic sleep — "dev-shayani" literally points to the gods reclining. From here begins Chaturmas, the holy four-month stretch that ends with Prabodhini Ekadashi in November, when Vishnu is said to wake.
For ordinary households the impact is concrete. Through Chaturmas, many families hold off on weddings, housewarmings, sacred-thread ceremonies and other big auspicious events, resuming only after the deity wakes. It is treated as a season for restraint and devotion rather than celebration — people take small vows, give up a favourite food, and turn inward. Monks and ascetics traditionally stop wandering and stay in one place for these months, a practice that predates even the Vishnu legend.
In Maharashtra the same day is Ashadhi Ekadashi, and it is enormous. It is the climax of the Pandharpur Wari, the centuries-old pilgrimage in which lakhs of warkaris walk for around three weeks behind the palkhis of Sant Dnyaneshwar from Alandi and Sant Tukaram from Dehu, converging on the Vitthal temple at Pandharpur. The sea of pilgrims chanting and walking through the monsoon countryside is one of India's great living religious sights.
Guru Purnima: the full moon for teachers
The run closes with Guru Purnima on July 29, the full moon of Ashadha. This is the day set aside to honour teachers and spiritual guides, and it carries a meaning that reaches well beyond religion.
It marks the birth of the sage Vyasa, who is credited with compiling the Vedas and composing the Mahabharata, which is why it is also called Vyasa Purnima. Disciples traditionally pay respects to their guru, and in a wider sense people use the day to acknowledge anyone who shaped them — a school teacher, a mentor, a parent. Buddhists observe it too, as the day the Buddha gave his first sermon at Sarnath. As a Purnima, it is also a natural day for charity, fasting and a visit to the temple or the river.
How to keep these vrats without tripping up
Fasting well is less about willpower and more about getting the small things right. A few pointers that regular observers swear by:
- Mind the parana. An Ekadashi fast must be broken within a set window the next morning, after Dwadashi begins and before it ends. Breaking it late is considered as faulty as not fasting at all.
- Pick your level honestly. Nirjala is waterless; most other Ekadashis allow fruit, milk and water but bar grains, rice and pulses. There is no shame in the lighter version, especially in monsoon heat.
- Confirm the local timing. Because tithis cross calendar days, the date your neighbourhood temple follows may differ slightly from a national list. Check a panchang for your city.
- Use Amavasya thoughtfully. It is the day for ancestor rites and quiet reflection, not for launching anything new.
- Plan around Chaturmas. If a wedding or big ceremony is on your horizon, remember the four-month pause that opens on July 25 and reopens in November.
Marked together, these days are less a scattered set of rituals than a rhythm — the fortnightly discipline of Ekadashi, the inward turn of Amavasya, the gratitude of Purnima. The next five weeks pack an unusually rich sequence of them, and now you know which ones are worth clearing your calendar for.
