Festival · Krishna

Gita Jayanti

The day Lord Krishna spoke the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna at Kurukshetra, on Mokshada Ekadashi. Many fast, and read or recite the Gita’s eighteen chapters.

Gita Jayanti 2026
Sunday 20 December 2026
New Delhi

For New Delhi, Sunday 20 December 2026

Shukla Ekadashi tithi

Begins
10:10 pm, 19 Dec
Ends
8:15 pm
Sunrise
7:09 am
Sunset
5:28 pm
Moonrise
2:00 pm
Moonset
3:52 am, 21 Dec

Worked out for your city. Panchangs can differ by a minute or so.

Full panchang for this day →

Puja times

For New Delhi, Sunday 20 December 2026

Parana (breaking the fast), 21 Dec

7:09 am to 9:13 am

Hari Vasara ends
1:35 am
Dwadashi ends
5:37 pm
Ekadashi begins
10:10 pm, 19 Dec
Ekadashi ends
8:15 pm

Worked out for your city. Panchangs can differ by a minute or so.

How it is kept

Customs vary by region and family

  • Keep the Ekadashi fast
  • Read or recite the Bhagavad Gita, or a chapter of it
  • Break the fast tomorrow in the parana time
The Bhagavad Gita →

What it remembers

Gita Jayanti marks the day Lord Krishna spoke the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna on the field of Kurukshetra, as the two armies stood ready for war. It falls on the bright eleventh day of Margashirsha, which is also Mokshada Ekadashi, the Ekadashi that gives liberation. So the day is kept twice over: with the Gita, read and recited at home, in temples and in a great festival at Kurukshetra, and with the Ekadashi fast, broken the next morning in the parana time.

The song on the battlefield

On the first morning of the Mahabharata war, Arjuna asked Lord Krishna, his charioteer, to drive between the two armies. Seeing his teachers, cousins and friends on the other side, he put down his bow and would not fight. Krishna’s answer is the Bhagavad Gita, 700 verses in 18 chapters, part of the Bhishma Parva of the Mahabharata. It reached the blind king Dhritarashtra through Sanjaya, to whom the sage Vyasa had given the sight to see and hear the battle from afar.

What Krishna taught

The Gita weaves together the paths of knowledge, action and devotion. Among its best-loved teachings: that the self is never born and never dies (2.20); that we have a right to our work but not to its fruits (2.47); that Lord Krishna comes in every age when dharma falls (4.7 and 4.8); and, near the end, his call to take refuge in him alone (18.66). In chapter 11 he shows Arjuna his universal form.

King Vaikhanasa’s dream

The story of Mokshada Ekadashi, told by Lord Krishna to Yudhishthira in the Puranas, is of King Vaikhanasa of Champaka, who dreamt that his father was suffering in hell. His Brahmins sent him to the sage Parvata, who saw that the father was paying for a wrong done in his life. The sage told the king to keep the fast of this Ekadashi and give its merit to his father. The king fasted with his family, and his father was freed and rose to heaven. So many keep the fast for their ancestors.

The banyan of Jyotisar

Tradition places the teaching at Jyotisar, on the edge of Kurukshetra, where Lord Krishna is also said to have shown Arjuna his universal form. Adi Shankara is said to have named it as the very place. A banyan tree there, on a raised platform, is held to be an offshoot of the tree under which the Gita was spoken.

Keeping Gita Jayanti

The day joins the Gita and the Ekadashi fast, which runs from sunrise to the parana the next morning. Families keep it in many ways; follow your own tradition where it differs.

  1. On Dashami, the day before, eat one simple meal before sunset, and pick the tulsi leaves you will need: tulsi is not plucked on Ekadashi.
  2. Bathe early and take the vow (sankalpa) to fast. Keep it without grains or beans, on fruit and milk, or without water, as your health allows.
  3. Set a copy of the Gita beside an image of Lord Krishna, or of Krishna and Arjuna on the chariot, and worship them both with flowers, tulsi leaves, incense and a lamp.
  4. Read the Gita: all eighteen chapters through the day, alone or with others, or as many chapters as you can, with their meaning.
  5. If you keep the fast for your ancestors, as King Vaikhanasa did, offer its merit to them in your prayer.
  6. Give a copy of the Gita to someone who will read it, as many temples and families do on this day.
  7. On Dwadashi, break the fast in the parana time shown on this page, starting with tulsi water.

What you need

  • A copy of the Bhagavad Gita
  • An image of Lord Krishna, or of Krishna and Arjuna
  • Tulsi leaves, picked the day before
  • Flowers, incense and a lamp
  • Fruit and milk for the fast

Across India

Kurukshetra, Haryana

The International Gita Mahotsav, held as an international festival since 2016 by the Kurukshetra Development Board and Haryana Tourism, runs for days around the Ekadashi. Hundreds of stalls line Kurukshetra’s Brahma Sarovar, thousands of students recite together one verse from each of the 18 chapters, and pilgrims walk the 48 Kos Parikrama of Kurukshetra’s holy places.

Jyotisar

The Gita is recited and a Gita yagya held beside the banyan where the teaching is said to have been given.

ISKCON temples

Devotees recite all 700 verses together, often through the morning, and hold a Gita yajna, a fire offering. Copies of the Gita are given away, to schools and to anyone who will read one.

Guruvayur, Kerala

Guruvayur keeps its own Ekadashi, in the Malayalam month of Vrischikam, as Gitopadesham day, the day of the Gita’s teaching, with an elephant procession to the Parthasarathy temple. Some years it falls on the same day as Gita Jayanti; in others it comes about a month earlier.

The South

When this Ekadashi falls after the Sun has entered Dhanu, it is also Vaikuntha Ekadashi, and the Vishnu temples of the south open their northern gates on the day of the Gita.

When it falls

Shukla Ekadashi of Margashirsha. Kept on the day this tithi holds at sunrise.

These are the usual rules. A few days can differ by a day in your tradition, so check with your temple.

Gita Jayanti in the coming years

New Delhi, India time

  1. 2026Sunday 20 December 2026
  2. 2027Thursday 9 December 2027
  3. 2028Monday 27 November 2028

Questions

When is Gita Jayanti in 2026?

Sunday 20 December 2026, in New Delhi. In a few places it can fall a day apart, so the date above is worked out for your city.

When does Gita Jayanti fall?

Shukla Ekadashi of Margashirsha. Kept on the day this tithi holds at sunrise.

How is Gita Jayanti kept?

Families keep the Ekadashi fast, read or recite the Bhagavad Gita, or a chapter of it and break the fast tomorrow in the parana time. Customs vary by region and family.

Who is honoured on Gita Jayanti?

Krishna. The day Lord Krishna spoke the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna at Kurukshetra, on Mokshada Ekadashi. Many fast, and read or recite the Gita’s eighteen chapters.

Are Gita Jayanti and Mokshada Ekadashi the same day?

Yes. Both fall on the Shukla Ekadashi of Margashirsha. Gita Jayanti remembers the day the Gita was spoken; Mokshada Ekadashi is the fast kept on that day, for one’s own liberation and for one’s ancestors.

Is Gita Jayanti the same day as Vaikuntha Ekadashi?

Sometimes. Vaikuntha Ekadashi is set by the Sun as well as the moon: it is the bright Ekadashi kept while the Sun is in Dhanu, the Tamil month of Margazhi. When Mokshada Ekadashi falls in that month, the two are one day. In 2026, both are on Sunday 20 December.

Where was the Bhagavad Gita spoken?

At Kurukshetra in Haryana, on the battlefield of the Mahabharata. Tradition places it at Jyotisar, on the edge of the town, where a banyan said to grow from the original tree still stands.

What is the International Gita Mahotsav?

A festival held at Kurukshetra each year around Gita Jayanti, made an international event by the Haryana government in 2016. It brings mass recitations of the Gita, hundreds of stalls around Kurukshetra’s Brahma Sarovar, and recitations and a yagya at Jyotisar.

How many verses are in the Bhagavad Gita?

700, in 18 chapters, spoken mostly by Lord Krishna, with Arjuna’s questions and Sanjaya’s telling around them. It forms part of the Bhishma Parva, the sixth book of the Mahabharata.

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