Shayan Ekadashi is the eleventh day of the waxing Moon in Ashadh, when Vishnu goes to sleep for four months. In Bengal it falls in the days of the Rath: the chariots went out on the second day of the fortnight, and Ulto Rath, the return, is on the tenth, the day before. The Ekadashi fast is kept strictly by Vaishnavas, and by many Bengali widows on every Ekadashi of the year.
The story
The Rath Yatra at Mahesh, in Serampore, has been held since 1396 and is counted the second oldest in the world after Puri's. Its present iron chariot, fifty feet high with nine pinnacles, was built in 1885.
The fair of Mahesh appears in Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's novel Radharani, whose child heroine tries to sell garlands there in the rain.
How it is kept
- Ekadashi brataNo rice or grain; fruit, milk and sabu for those who do not fast fully.
- Hari naamKirtan is sung at Vaishnava temples.
- ChaturmasyaThe four-month season of vows begins.
- Rath er melaThe chariot fairs, with papad and jilipi, are in their last days.
Why this date
Shayan Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the bright fortnight of Ashadh, on the day it is present at sunrise, placed so that the fast is broken during Dwadashi.
Shayan Ekadashi in other years
| Year | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Saturday | |
| 2027 | Wednesday | |
| 2028 | Sunday | |
| 2029 | Saturday | |
| 2030 | Thursday | |
| 2031 | Tuesday |
More Bengali festivals
18 JulyGuru Purnimaগুরু পূর্ণিমা
17 AugustRakhi Purnimaরাখী পূর্ণিমা
8 MayAkshaya Tritiyaঅক্ষয় তৃতীয়া
20 AprilHanuman Jayantiহনুমান জয়ন্তী
15 AprilPoila Boishakhপয়লা বৈশাখ
24 AugustJanmashtamiজন্মাষ্টমী
Where to see Shayan Ekadashi
In West Bengal
- Mahesh, SeramporeWest BengalThe Rath and its month-long fair on the Grand Trunk Road.
- MayapurWest BengalEvery Ekadashi is kept as a fast by the Vaishnavas of Nadia.
- GuptiparaWest BengalAnother old Rath of Hooghly district, known for its tall chariot and the rite of Bhandar Loot.
Across India
- PuriOdishaSuna Besha: the gods in gold on their chariots.
- PandharpurMaharashtraAshadhi Ekadashi and the end of the Wari.
- SrirangamTamil NaduThe sleeping Vishnu of the south.