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🕉️ Vishnu (sleeping)

Devshayani Ekadashi (Ashadh Shukla) to Devuthani Ekadashi (Kartik Shukla) — 4 months

Chaturmasa

Chaturmasa ("four months") is the 4-month sacred period from Devshayani Ekadashi (Ashadh Shukla) to Devuthani Ekadashi (Kartik Shukla) — traditionally when Vishnu sleeps on his serpent bed Shesha. This coincides with the monsoon season (Shravan-Bhadrapada-Ashwin-Kartik). New auspicious ventures — weddings, griha pravesh, upanayanam, thread ceremonies — are traditionally paused during Chaturmasa. Instead, this is a period intensified for spiritual practice: extra fasts, mantra recitation, scripture study, and monsoon-appropriate ascetic disciplines.

📅 Upcoming dates

Saturday, 25 July 2026 – Friday, 20 November 2026
Wednesday, 14 July 2027 – Wednesday, 10 November 2027

Dates are worked out from the panchang for New Delhi (IST). A tithi ends at a different hour elsewhere, so in some years the day differs by one.

🔔 Puja Vidhi

Observe extra fasts during Chaturmasa (all Ekadashis are especially powerful)
Choose one specific ascetic vow: giving up curd, jaggery, salt, or one favourite food
Read one Purana or scripture entirely during the 4 months
Increase daily japa (mantra recitation)
Perform Satyanarayan Puja on each Purnima

📜 Rules

Weddings and new ventures traditionally postponed until Devuthani Ekadashi
Sanyasis and ascetics do not travel during Chaturmasa (stay in one place)
Modern flexibility: for urgent life events, muhurat can still be found; ideally within Shravan's "Ravi Yoga" days

Related reading in the Devotional Library

📖 Ekadashi Vrat Katha

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Frequently Asked Questions

Are weddings absolutely forbidden during Chaturmasa?

Traditionally yes, but modern practice allows weddings during specific Ravi Yoga days within Shravan for those who cannot postpone. Full traditional families still wait for Devuthani Ekadashi.