Bhīṣmāṣṭamī marks the day Bhīṣma left his body on the bed of arrows at Kurukṣetra after the Mahābhārata war. Tradition holds that he waited for Uttarāyaṇa and chose this Aṣṭamī to depart, after teaching Yudhiṣṭhira the duties of kings and the Viṣṇu Sahasranāma. Because he lived and died a celibate with no children to offer him water, everyone may offer tarpaṇa to him on this day. The tone is quiet and ancestral, and the offering is made in gratitude and for the welfare of dharma and of one's own line. How the day is fixed: The day is the one on which Māgha Śukla Aṣṭamī prevails at local sunrise. It usually comes the day after Ratha Saptamī. Keep in mind: Since this is a bright-fortnight tithi, amānta and pūrṇimānta calendars both call it Māgha. Because sunrise differs from place to place, the day can still move by one depending on where you are. This year: The 2026 date shown here is worked out from sunrise at the place you chose, so in another city the same day can fall a day earlier or later. Tarpaṇa for Bhīṣma: Sesame and water are offered to Bhīṣma as tarpaṇa, and some add piṇḍa or a symbolic offering. Tradition allows even those whose father is living to make this one offering to Bhīṣma. Viṣṇu Sahasranāma: From the arrow-bed Bhīṣma taught Yudhiṣṭhira the duties of kings and of liberation, and the Viṣṇu Sahasranāma in the Anuśāsana Parvan belongs to that teaching. Households that keep the day recite it or listen to it. Worth remembering: Mahālaya Pakṣa and Maghā Śrāddha are for all of one's ancestors, while Bhīṣmāṣṭamī remembers Bhīṣma alone. The Māgha Śukla Ekādaśī three days later is called Bhīṣma Ekādaśī in the South and Jayā Ekādaśī elsewhere, and it is a separate Ekādaśī fast. Where Bhīṣmāṣṭamī is kept, custom varies widely. Some families go to a river or tank for tarpaṇa, some make the offering at home, and in many places the day passes with only a reading of the Sahasranāma. The safest course is to follow what the elders of one's own house have done.
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