Devalok
Festival story · 2 tellings · South India

The day the gate of Vaikuntha opens

On the bright eleventh of Dhanu the gate of Vaikuntha is believed to open; Srirangam's Paramapada Vasal and Tirumala's Vaikunta Dvaram are passed through, and the Padma Purana tells of the demon Mura and the power named Ekadashi.

Who is in it

Places: Srirangam, Tirumala · Texts: Padma Purana

The story, beat by beat

  1. The demon Mura harries the gods and Vishnu, after a long fight, withdraws to a cave to rest.
  2. While he sleeps a woman of light rises from him and kills the demon.
  3. Vishnu names her Ekadashi and grants that those who fast on her day will be freed.
  4. Devotees believe the door of Vaikuntha stands open on this day.
  5. At Srirangam the god passes through the Paramapada Vasal, opened only on this day; at Tirumala pilgrims pass through the Vaikunta Dvaram around the sanctum.

gate fasting demon slaying liberation

How it is told, place by place

Base telling · Encyclopedia

Padma Purana legend

South India Vaishnava

The Padma Purana gives the day its story. The demon Mura had driven the gods from their places, and Vishnu fought him until, weary, he retired to a mountain cave to sleep. Mura followed to strike him there, but a shining female power came out of the sleeping god and destroyed the demon. Vishnu woke, named her Ekadashi after the eleventh day of the fortnight, and promised that whoever kept a fast on that day would be released from rebirth. Devotees hold that on the eleventh of the bright half of the solar month of Dhanu the northern gate of Vaikuntha stands open.

Vaikuntha Ekadashi — Wikipedia

Temple tradition

Srirangam and Tirumala observance

South India · Srirangam, Tamil Nadu; Tirumala, Andhra Pradesh Vaishnava 🪔 Vaikuntha Ekadashi

At Srirangam the day belongs to a gate. The Paramapada Vasal, the doorway named for the highest station, is unbarred once a year in Margazhi and the god is carried through it while something like a million people press to follow. At Tirumala the equivalent is the Vaikunta Dvaram, a passage that circles the sanctum and is opened to pilgrims for the day. The same date is Mukkoti Ekadashi in Andhra and Telangana and Swargavathil Ekadashi in Kerala.

What is different here:

Practice rather than legend: the gate as ritual; three regional names for one date.

Vaikuntha Ekadashi — Wikipedia; Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam — Wikipedia; Vaikuntha Ekadashi 2025 — hindutone.com

Sources: Vaikuntha Ekadashi — Wikipedia; Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam — Wikipedia; Vaikuntha Ekadashi 2025 — hindutone.com

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