Unlike the other bright twelfths of the year, Māgha's does not take a Viṣṇu name. It is called after Bhīṣma, who waited on his bed of arrows for the sun's northward turn and left his body in Māgha. Bhīṣmāṣṭamī, four days earlier, is kept as the day of his passing. Bhīṣma Dvādaśī follows Jayā Ekādaśī and is remembered as part of the same stretch of days. How the day is fixed: The day is the one on which Māgha Śukla Dvādaśī stands at local sunrise, normally the morning after Jayā Ekādaśī. Keep in mind: Bhīṣmāṣṭamī on the bright eighth and Bhīṣma Dvādaśī on the bright twelfth are two different days of the same fortnight. Because the tithi is read at local sunrise, check your own town's pañcāṅga. 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. Breaking the Ekādaśī fast: Those who kept Jayā Ekādaśī break the fast after sunrise, within Dvādaśī and outside Hari Vāsara. Remembering Bhīṣma: Many recite the Viṣṇu Sahasranāma, which Bhīṣma taught Yudhiṣṭhira from the bed of arrows, and some families offer water in his memory. Worth remembering: Bhīṣmāṣṭamī, the day of Bhīṣma's passing, falls on Māgha Śukla Aṣṭamī and has its own tarpaṇa. Bhīṣma Dvādaśī is the separate twelfth that closes the same fortnight's remembrance. Customs around Bhīṣma's fortnight vary a great deal, from a full Sahasranāma recitation to a simple pāraṇa. Follow what the elders of your own house have kept.
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