Panchang 23 August 2026: Sawan Shukla Ekadashi
Today is the Ekadashi of Sawan's bright fortnight, and it is placed unusually well this year. The tithi ends at 4:19 AM tomorrow, so the fast breaks on Monday morning. That Monday is the fourth and last Sawan Somvar of the year. One vrat hands straight to the next.
Today's Panchang
Shukla Ekadashi runs until 4:19 AM, then Dwadashi begins. The Moon stays in Moola until 5:44 PM, then enters Purva Ashadha. Yoga is Vishkambha, karana is Vanija. Sunrise is 5:54 AM in Delhi and sunset 6:54 PM. The Moon is 76 percent lit and waxing, five days from Purnima.
Moola is the root star, and it holds through the whole fasting day until early evening. A fast is a stripping back rather than an adding to. Moola reads the same way.
The Evening Window
Rahu Kaal runs 5:16 PM to 6:54 PM, ending exactly at sunset.
That matters today. The evening lamp and the closing prayer of a vrat day usually fall right inside it. Either light the lamp before 5:16 PM, or wait until after 6:54 PM when Rahu Kaal closes and the Moon has already moved into Purva Ashadha.
Gulika sits just before, 3:39 PM to 5:16 PM, so the whole late afternoon is loaded. Yamaganda takes 12:24 PM to 2:01 PM. The clean stretch today is the morning, from sunrise through to about 12:24 PM. Put the main puja there. Live times are on the panchang for 23 August 2026.
How the Fast Is Kept
Ekadashi is kept without grain. No rice, no wheat, no lentils. Fruit, milk, potato, sabudana, and rock salt are the usual foods for those who eat once in the day. A waterless fast is kept in some families and is not asked of most.
Bathe early and keep the day quiet. Chant, read, and sleep less than usual. Many keep a night vigil, though an early night is accepted everywhere.
Breaking It on Monday
The fast breaks in the parana window on Monday morning, after sunrise and inside Dwadashi. Dwadashi opens at 4:19 AM, so the window is wide.
Monday 24 August is also the fourth and last Sawan Somvar of 2026. Break the fast, then keep the Monday. Sawan itself closes five days later at Purnima on 28 August. The full calendar and the Somvar method are on the Sawan 2026 guide.
The Last Week to Start
If you have been meaning to put on a rudraksha this Sawan, the last Monday is tomorrow. After that, the month is done for another year.
The Shiva Purana traces the bead to tear-drops that fell from Shivji's half-closed eyes, and calls the five-faced one Rudra himself under the name kalagni. The Rudraksha Jabala Upanishad describes the same bead as the five Brahmans, Sadyojata through Isana. Starting on a Sawan Monday is living practice rather than a rule those books set down.
Every Naksham bead is an Original Nepal rudraksha, hand selected, and each bead is lab certified on its own. A free lab X-ray certificate ships with every bead at every price. The five-faced single bead arrives strung on sacred cotton and is ready to wear. To match the mukhi to your own chart, the rudraksha calculator reads your kundali and returns it.
