When is Putrada Ekadashi?
The answer
Tuesday, 19 January 2027
The eleventh of the bright fortnight.
Why that day
- The tithi it is
- Pausha Shukla 11
Read the ordinary way: the day whose SUNRISE this tithi is running at.
And after that
Saturday, 8 January 2028
Pausha Shukla 11
Wednesday, 27 December 2028
Pausha Shukla 11
How this date is worked out
A festival is a position, not a date. The lunar month is named by the sidereal sign the Sun stands in at the new moon that opens it, and the tithi is the Moon's distance from the Sun in twelve-degree steps. Both come from the same ephemeris this site casts birth charts with.
North India reckons a month from full moon to full moon, so the dark fortnight carries the next month's name — the same day is Shravana Krishna Tritiya in Pune and Bhadrapada Krishna Tritiya in Delhi. These dates use the northern reckoning, and the tithi is printed above so there is nothing to take on trust.
Why it is kept
There are two Putrada Ekadashis in a year — one in Pausha Shukla, one in Shravana Shukla. This is the Pausha one, also called Vaikuntha Ekadashi in the north. The name means 'giver of sons', but in practice the vrat is kept for children and for the family line, daughters included. The other name comes from the belief that the north gate of Vaikuntha opens today; in the south, temples walk devotees out through the Swarga Vasal on this day.
The story behind it
King Suketuman
King Suketuman of Bhadravati and Queen Shaibya had no child. What worried the king was who would offer water to the ancestors after him.
In the forest
In his grief he walked into the forest, and came half-dead of hunger to a lake where sages were at their austerities.
What they said
They said: today is Pausha Shukla Ekadashi, we are keeping the Putrada vrat. Keep it too.
The vrat
He kept it there and went back to his city. In time a son was born who grew into a king who looked after his people.
The point
The story is not really about a child. It is about continuity — that what has been carried should go on being carried.
What to keep ready
- An image of Vishnu, or Laddu Gopal
- Tulsi leaves — without tulsi the bhog is not held to be accepted
- Panchamrit — milk, curd, ghee, honey, sugar
- Yellow flowers, yellow cloth, turmeric
- Seasonal fruit, coconut, panjiri
- Incense, lamp, sandal, akshat
- The Ekadashi vrat katha
- Grain and cloth to give away
How the puja is done
1
The day before
On Dashami, eat one sattvik meal and nothing after sunset. The vrat really starts there.
2
The vow
Bathe in the morning and take the sankalp before Vishnu — nirjala, fruit only, or one meal, whatever you can hold.
3
The puja
Abhishek with panchamrit, yellow cloth, yellow flowers, and the bhog with tulsi on it. The Vishnu Sahasranama or the Ekadashi katha.
4
Staying up
The tradition keeps this night awake with bhajan and kirtan. The Vaikuntha gate belongs to this night.
5
Parana on Dwadashi
Break the fast the next day inside the parana window — take it from a panchang. Feed a brahmin or someone in need first, then eat.
What to do
- Break the fast inside the Dwadashi parana window. Missing it is held to leave the vrat incomplete — the strictest rule of any Ekadashi.
- Tulsi must be on the bhog, but tulsi is not plucked on Ekadashi itself — pluck it the day before.
- Give up grain from Dashami night; the vrat is counted from there.
- Both parents may keep this vrat for a child.
- Feed someone before you eat — the tradition treats that as required.
What not to do
- No rice at all today — the ban on rice is the clearest rule of Ekadashi, for those fasting and those not.
- Do not pluck tulsi on Ekadashi.
- No onion, garlic, masoor dal or tamasik food.
- Sleeping in the day and speaking ill of anyone are both held to be out on Ekadashi.
- No cutting of hair or nails.
The aarti
Om Jai Jagdish Hare
ॐ जय जगदीश हरे, स्वामी जय जगदीश हरे।
भक्त जनों के संकट, क्षण में दूर करे॥
जो ध्यावे फल पावे, दुख बिनसे मन का।
सुख सम्पत्ति घर आवे, कष्ट मिटे तन का॥
मात-पिता तुम मेरे, शरण गहूँ किसकी।
तुम बिनु और न दूजा, आस करूँ जिसकी॥
तुम पूरण परमात्मा, तुम अंतर्यामी।
पारब्रह्म परमेश्वर, तुम सबके स्वामी॥
तुम करुणा के सागर, तुम पालनकर्ता।
मैं मूरख खल कामी, कृपा करो भर्ता॥
विषय विकार मिटाओ, पाप हरो देवा।
श्रद्धा भक्ति बढ़ाओ, संतन की सेवा॥
The sky has a calendar. So do you.
The same engine reads your own birth moment — every house, every graha, every period with dates.