Dev Uthani Ekadashi: Vrat, Puja Timings, Rituals And Myth Behind Festival

Dev Uthani Ekadashi, also known as Prabodhini Ekadashi and Devutthana Ekadashi, marks the beginning of the wedding season. The festival that is ce;berated by offering puja to Lird Vishnu and the tulsi plant is done for long happy married life. The perios that starts from today is considered ideal for Hindu marraiges. This year, Dev Utahni Ekadashi is being celebrated on 8 November 2019. 

The Dev Uthani Ekadashi is celebrated in the month of Karthik of the Hindu calendar, on the 11th lunar day.

Dev Uthani Ekadashi Fast timings:

The Ekadashi tithi began from 9.55 am on Wednesday, and will end at 12.24 pm on Thursday.

The auspicious time to observe a fast during this festival is today and the married men and women can break the fast in between 6.42 am to 8.51 am tomorrow. 

Dev Uthani Ekadashi Rituals 

Married women observe a fast during which they offer which sugarcane plant, conch shell, leaves of ‘Bael’  tree to Lord Vishnu and then plant a Tulsi sapling on the corridor of their house, and then the ceremonial marriage takes place. Bel Patra, which is a leaf from the Bel tree is offered to the deity, and finally the fast is broken on the next day.

Myth or Story Behind Dev Uthani Ekadashi

Dev Uthani Ekadashi is celebrated prominently in North Indian states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, and in some southern states as well.

As per scriptures, Lord Vishnu wakes up from sleep and stays on the Amla tree till full moon on Devuthani Ekadashi. The festival is a ritual to wake up Lord Vishnu who is commonly believed to be sleeping since Shayani Ekadashi — which is observed four months before Dev Uthani Ekadashi, in the month of Asadha according to the Hindu lunar calendar. 

Vishnu is considered to have married tulsi, a plant considered an incarnation of a woman named 'Vrinda',  on this day.

Hence, the four months between the Shayani Ekadashi and the Dev Uthani Ekadashi are believed to be inauspicious for marriages.