Bhālacandra Sankashti is the Phālguna Kṛṣṇa Caturthī fast for Gaṇeśa as the one who wears the crescent moon on his brow, from bhāla, forehead, and candra, moon. The legend tells how Gaṇeśa fell from his mouse after a feast of modakas, was mocked by the moon and cursed it to vanish, then softened the curse into the cycle of waning and waxing when the devas pleaded. In many tellings he took the crescent onto his own forehead as a sign that the moon was forgiven. A fast closed by offering arghya to the moon sits naturally with a name that recalls that pardon, and it is the last Sankashti before Ugādi and Guḍhī Pāḍavā open the new year. How the day is fixed: The vrata is kept on the day when amānta Phālguna Kṛṣṇa Caturthī prevails at local moonrise. Pūrṇimānta calendars place the same day in Caitra. Keep in mind: It usually falls in March, a few days after Holī on Phālguna Pūrṇimā. Because moonrise is judged locally, the day can differ by one between places. 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. Fast and evening pūjā: There is no separate rite for this month, and the shared Sankashti pattern is followed. Households fast through the day and worship Gaṇeśa in the evening with durvā, red flowers and modaka. Arghya to the moon: When the moon rises, arghya is offered to it before food is taken. The god who pardoned the moon is thus honoured with a fast that ends at the sight of the moon. Worth remembering: Holī on Phālguna Pūrṇimā comes a few days before, and Ugādi and Guḍhī Pāḍavā follow soon after, each a separate festival. The next Sankashti, in Caitra, opens the new year's round of Sankashtis. Each region marks the season by its own signs: Tamil homes by the last month of the Tamil year, Telugu and Kannada homes by the countdown to Ugādi, Marathi homes by the days between Holī and Raṅgapañcamī, Gujarati homes by Holī and Dhuḷeṭī, Kerala by the konna blossoms of Mīnam, and Bengal and Odisha by the days after Dol. The offerings differ too, from kozhukkaṭṭai and undrāḷḷu to ukaḍīce modak and the Atharvaśīrṣa. The surest guide is the way the elders of one's own house keep the vrata.
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