FestivalMargashirsha Shukla Ekadashi (Mokshada Ekadashi)

Gita Jayanti 2027

गीता जयंती

Gita Jayanti marks the day Krishna spoke the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna at Kurukshetra, on Mokshada Ekadashi; devotees read the Gita and fast.

Next: Sunday, 20 December 2026

Quick answer

Gita Jayanti 2026 falls on Sunday, 20 December 2026 (Margashirsha Shukla Ekadashi (Mokshada Ekadashi)).

Dates follow the Delhi panchang and can shift by a day in your region, so confirm the muhurat with a local panchang.

Gita Jayanti 2027 falls on Thursday, 9 December. On the Ekadashi of the bright half of Margashirsha, tradition holds that Krishna spoke the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, on the morning the great war of the Mahabharata began. The same day is Mokshada Ekadashi, “the Ekadashi that grants liberation”. Devotees read the Gita, often all 700 verses, and Kurukshetra holds the International Gita Mahotsav.

Gita Jayanti 2027 date

Gita Jayanti and Mokshada Ekadashi 2027 are on Thursday, 9 December 2027 (Margashirsha Shukla Ekadashi). In 2026 they fall on Sunday, 20 December. Those keeping the Ekadashi fast break it the next morning within the Dwadashi tithi.

Why Gita Jayanti is celebrated

As the armies faced each other at Kurukshetra, Arjuna saw his teachers, cousins and elders on the other side and laid down his bow in despair. Krishna, his charioteer, answered his doubts in eighteen chapters on duty (dharma), action without attachment (karma yoga), knowledge and devotion. The best-known verse is Gita 2.47:

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन ।
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ॥
karmaṇy evādhikāras te mā phaleṣu kadācana, mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr mā te saṅgo ‘stv akarmaṇi.
English: You have a right to your action alone, never to its fruits; do not let the fruits be your motive, nor be attached to inaction.
Hindi: तुम्हारा अधिकार केवल कर्म पर है, उसके फल पर कभी नहीं; फल को कर्म का कारण मत बनाओ, और कर्म न करने में भी आसक्त मत हो।

The Mokshada Ekadashi katha in the Padma Purana tells of King Vaikhanasa, who freed his father from suffering in the afterlife by keeping this fast.

How Gita Jayanti is observed

Gita path: reading or chanting the whole Gita, or chapter 2 and chapter 15.
Fast: the Mokshada Ekadashi fast, without grains.
Kurukshetra: the Gita Mahotsav at Brahma Sarovar with deep daan, recitations and cultural programmes.
Gifting the Gita: copies are given to students and libraries.

The meaning of Gita Jayanti

Gita Jayanti honours a teaching given in a moment of crisis that still speaks to anyone facing a hard choice: act rightly, without fear and without clinging to results. See every festival on the Hindu festival calendar.