Devshayani Ekadashi 2008

On the Shukla Ekadashi of Ashadha, usually in June–July, at the onset of the monsoon. It begins Chaturmas, the four sacred months, ending on Devutthana Ekadashi in Kartika. This year's date is shown above.

From this day Vishnu is held to sleep through Chaturmas, and auspicious new works — weddings, housewarmings, sacred-thread ceremonies — are paused until he wakes on Devutthana Ekadashi in Kartika, about four months later.

A discipline taken up from Devshayani Ekadashi and kept through the four months — giving up a particular food, keeping a daily japa or study, or a service. Traditional lists give up leafy greens, curd, milk and pulses in successive months.

The same day. It is the culmination of the Pandharpur Wari, when lakhs of Warkaris walk to Pandharpur carrying the palkhis of the saints Dnyaneshwar and Tukaram, to stand before the god Vitthal.