Ashadhi Ekadashi 2027: Vitthal and the wari to Pandharpur
Ashadhi Ekadashi, the eleventh day of the bright half of Ashadha, is the great day of Vitthal. Lakhs of Varkaris walk to Pandharpur for it, and at home families keep the fast and take his name.
When it falls next
Ashadhi Ekadashi in each region
What Ashadhi Ekadashi is
Every ekadashi is a day of fasting kept for Vishnu, and this one, Devshayani Ekadashi, is the day he is held to lie down to sleep on the serpent Shesha for the four months of chaturmas, until Kartiki Ekadashi.
In Maharashtra it is above all the day of Vitthal, or Vithoba, of Pandharpur, a form of Krishna standing on a brick with his hands on his hips, waiting for his devotees. The saints of the Varkari tradition, Dnyaneshwar, Tukaram, Namdev and Eknath, sang of him.
The wari is the walk to Pandharpur. The palkhis of Dnyaneshwar from Alandi and of Tukaram from Dehu set out weeks before, and the Varkaris walk with them, singing abhangs, to reach Pandharpur for the ekadashi.
How families keep it at home
Many keep the fast, eating no grain: sabudana khichdi, rajgira, potatoes, peanuts and fruit. The fast is opened the next morning, the dwadashi.
Families who cannot walk the wari go to their own Vitthal temple, read the abhangs of the saints, or join a dindi, a singing group, in their town.
Tulsi is worshipped, and the name "Vitthal, Vitthal" or "Jai Hari Vitthal" is chanted through the day.
How it differs by region
In Maharashtra the day is the Varkari tradition's greatest, kept in every town with the arrival of the palkhis' news from Pandharpur.
Elsewhere it is kept as Devshayani or Padmanabha Ekadashi, with a fast and a puja of Vishnu, and as the start of chaturmas, when many families set aside weddings until it ends.
How its date is set
Ashadhi Ekadashi is the ekadashi of the bright half of Ashadha, kept on the day the ekadashi holds at sunrise. When the ekadashi meets the next day's sunrise too, the tradition's rules decide which day householders and which day ascetics keep.
Kartiki Ekadashi, the ekadashi of the bright half of Kartik, closes chaturmas, and the Varkaris walk to Pandharpur again for it.
Read the Vishnu aarti and the Vishnu Sahasranama.