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Pitru Paksha begins 2026

The fortnight of the ancestors opens with Pratipada Shraddha.

Pitru Paksha begins 2025Pitru Paksha begins 2027
Pitru Paksha begins 2026 date
Sunday, 27 September 2026
Tithi: Ashvin Krishna Pratipada
Tithi window: 10:22 PM, Saturday, 26 September 2026 → 09:02 PM, Sunday, 27 September 2026
See the full panchang for Sunday, 27 September 2026
Pitru Paksha begins 2026
Starts in
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Today's Panchang

Kashi reference · computed live
Tithi
Saptami
till 20:47
Nakshatra
Ashwini
till 21:21
Yoga
Shula
Karana
Vishti
Sunrise
05:26
Sunset
18:41
Moon sign
Aries
Sun sign
Cancer

Muhurat & timings

Kashi/IST · astronomically computed
  • Sankalp (sunrise)05:48
  • Sunset17:50
  • Fasting window (tithi)2026-09-26 · 22:22 → 21:02
  • Parana (tithi ends)21:02

The significance of Pitru Paksha begins

Pitru Paksha is the fortnight set aside for the ancestors — the Krishna Paksha that follows the full moon of Bhadrapada, opening with Pratipada Shraddha and closing on the Amavasya known as Sarva Pitru Amavasya or Mahalaya. It is not a festival in the celebratory sense but a period of remembrance and duty, when the living discharge their debt to those who came before.

The central act is shraddha — rites performed with faith (the word itself is from shraddha, faith) for departed parents and forebears — and tarpan, the offering of water. Through these the descendants nourish the pitrs and ask their blessing, and repay the pitru-rina, the ancestral debt each person is held to carry.

The day of shraddha for a given ancestor is usually the tithi on which they died; where that is unknown, the Amavasya at the fortnight's close serves for all. The tone throughout is reverent and restrained, and auspicious new undertakings are traditionally deferred until the fortnight ends.

Historical background

Pitru Paksha — the fortnight of the ancestors — is the annual season of shraddha, the rite by which the living repay their debt to the departed. The practice is very old, woven through the Vedas and the Dharmashastras, and Gaya in Bihar became its foremost tirtha, where a single pind-daan is held to free the ancestors for good. In Bengal the fortnight ends at Mahalaya, the dawn recitation that ushers in Durga Puja.

Scriptural references

The rite and its fruit are set out in the Garuda Purana, which describes the soul's journey and the shraddha that eases it, and in the shraddha sections of the Manusmriti and Mahabharata. The Mahabharata's story of Karna — sent back to earth to perform shraddha because in life he had given only gold, never food — is the tale most told of why the fortnight is kept.

Pitru Paksha begins puja vidhi

  1. 1Bathe and take the sankalpa for the shraddha, naming the ancestor and their gotra where known.
  2. 2Perform tarpan: offer water mixed with black sesame to the pitrs, facing south, the direction of the ancestors.
  3. 3Prepare satvik food including kheer and the dishes the departed were fond of, cooked with purity.
  4. 4Invite and feed brahmins, offering them the food, cloth and dakshina, as representatives of the pitrs.
  5. 5Set aside the pancha-bali — portions for the cow, crow, dog, ant and fire; the crow especially is held to carry the offering to the ancestors.
  6. 6Offer pind daan where kept — balls of cooked rice or barley — with reverence and the ancestral prayers.
  7. 7Complete the rite quietly, seeking the blessing of the pitrs for the family's continuity.

Vrat rules

  • The observance is of shraddha and tarpan for the ancestors, not a fast for personal benefit.
  • The one performing shraddha takes a satvik meal, avoiding onion, garlic and often certain grains, and eats only after the rites and the feeding of others.
  • Tarpan — the offering of water with sesame — is made to the pitrs, ideally each day of the fortnight.
  • Food is offered to brahmins, and a portion set aside for the cow, the crow, the dog and the fire (the pancha-bali).
  • New and auspicious undertakings — purchases, weddings, housewarming — are traditionally deferred until the fortnight ends.

Common mistakes to avoid

  • Doing the shraddha on the wrong day — it is done on the tithi of the ancestor's death, not on a fixed date; Sarva Pitru Amavasya covers the unknown.
  • Beginning weddings, housewarmings or major purchases during the fortnight, which tradition sets aside for the ancestors.
  • Neglecting the crow, cow and dog offering, held to be the ancestors' messengers.
  • Treating it as inauspicious or fearful — it is an act of gratitude and repayment, not of dread.

The vrat katha of Pitru Paksha begins

The Mahabharata tells that when the warrior Karna died and rose to the higher worlds, he was given gold and jewels to eat in place of food, for though he had given generously all his life, his charity had been of wealth and never of food offered to his ancestors — he had not known his lineage in time to make it. When he pleaded that the fault was in not knowing, he was granted a return of sixteen days to the earth.

In that fortnight Karna offered food and water to his forebears and made the shraddha he had missed. That period, tradition holds, is Pitru Paksha, and the offerings kept in it complete for every family what Karna returned to complete for his. The fortnight is thus the yearly window in which the debt to the ancestors, easily forgotten in life, is deliberately remembered and repaid.

Pitru Paksha begins timeline

  1. Pratipada — the fortnight opens

    From the first tithi of Bhadrapada's dark half, daily tarpan of water and sesame is offered to the ancestors.

  2. The ancestor's own tithi

    The full shraddha — pind-daan and the feeding of brahmins — is done on the tithi on which that ancestor passed away.

  3. Feeding the messengers

    A portion is set out for the crow, the cow and the dog, held to carry the offering to the departed.

  4. Sarva Pitru Amavasya

    The final new moon (Mahalaya) is for all ancestors together, and for any whose tithi is unknown or was missed.

Famous places & temples

Gaya, Bihar

The foremost place for pind-daan; the Vishnupad temple and the Falgu river draw lakhs during Pitru Paksha for the Gaya Shraddh.

Varanasi (Pishach Mochan)

The Pishach Mochan kund is sought for the release of ancestors from unquiet states; a major shraddha centre.

Prayagraj, Nashik & Ujjain

The Sangam, the Ramkund at Nashik and Siddhavat at Ujjain are important tarpan and shraddha tirthas.

Badrinath (Brahmakapal)

The Brahmakapal ghat behind the temple is held to give shraddha here a merit that needs no repeating.

Interesting facts

  • ◆The shraddha for each ancestor is performed on the lunar tithi on which they died, so the exact day differs family to family.
  • ◆A single pind-daan at Gaya is held to free the ancestors permanently, which is why the Gaya Shraddh is so sought.
  • ◆The crow is treated as a messenger of the ancestors; food set out for it is believed to reach the departed.
  • ◆In Bengal the fortnight closes at Mahalaya, whose dawn Chandi-path opens the countdown to Durga Puja.

Common questions

When does Pitru Paksha begin?

It begins with Pratipada Shraddha, on the first day of the Krishna Paksha following the full moon of Bhadrapada, in early autumn, and runs for a fortnight to Sarva Pitru Amavasya. For this year's date, see the date shown above.

What is the difference between tarpan and shraddha?

Tarpan is the daily offering of water, mixed with black sesame, to the ancestors. Shraddha is the fuller rite performed with faith on the ancestor's tithi — including the feeding of brahmins and, where kept, pind daan.

On which day should shraddha be performed for a particular ancestor?

On the tithi of the Krishna Paksha corresponding to the day the person died. Where the date of death is unknown, the shraddha is done on Sarva Pitru Amavasya, the last day of the fortnight, which serves for all ancestors.

Why are new ventures avoided during Pitru Paksha?

The fortnight is a reverent period of remembrance and duty toward the departed, not a celebratory time. By custom, auspicious new undertakings such as weddings, major purchases and housewarming are deferred until it ends.

Festival days follow the classical attribution rules — udaya (sunrise), pradosha (evening), nishita (midnight), madhyahna or aparahna vyapini as each festival prescribes — computed for Kashi/Varanasi (IST). Regional observance can differ by a day in some years.

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