Māgha's Dvādaśī name is Bhīṣma. The bright twelfth, Bhīṣma Dvādaśī, is tied to Bhīṣma's last days on the bed of arrows, and the waning twelfth repeats the name as Kṛṣṇa Bhīṣma. This waning day has company of its own. Rāma Til Dvādaśī, when sesame is offered, falls on the same sunrise, and the day usually closes the Vijayā Ekādaśī fast that Rāma kept on the shore before crossing to Laṅkā. How the day is fixed: The day is the one on which the Kṛṣṇa-pakṣa Dvādaśī of amānta Māgha stands at local sunrise. Pūrṇimānta calendars show the same day in Phālguna. Rāma Til Dvādaśī is reckoned from the same sunrise, so the two share a date in an ordinary year. Keep in mind: When Māgha repeats as an adhika month, the extra month's waning twelfth is named Adhika Kṛṣṇa Bhīṣma Dvādaśī, and Rāma Til Dvādaśī is not marked then. The sesame offering waits for the waning twelfth of the regular Māgha. 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. Pāraṇa after Vijayā Ekādaśī: Those who kept Vijayā Ekādaśī break the fast this morning within the pāraṇa time of the pañcāṅga. The monthly Dvādaśī name has no vrata of its own, so the fast is only the Ekādaśī's. Rāma Til Dvādaśī on the same day: Rāma Til Dvādaśī is kept in every region on this sunrise. Sesame is offered to Viṣṇu and given away, and the observance has its own customs apart from the monthly name. Worth remembering: Bhīṣmāṣṭamī and the bright Bhīṣma Dvādaśī both fall in the bright half of Māgha and are separate days. Kṛṣṇa Bhīṣma Dvādaśī is the monthly name of this waning twelfth, and Rāma Til Dvādaśī is the sesame vrata kept on it. With Mahāśivarātri only a couple of days away, many homes move quickly from this pāraṇa to preparing for the night of Śiva. How much of the sesame offering a family keeps, and whether the Śivarātri fast shapes the meal today, is best learned from the elders of your own house.
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