Pitru Paksha begins
The fortnight of the ancestors — sixteen days of shraddha from the Bhadrapada full moon to the Ashwin new moon.
Where it is kept All India; Gaya in Bihar is the principal site, along with Prayagraj, Varanasi, Nashik, Rameswaram and Haridwar.
When it falls
Computed from the Moon's elongation from the Sun. The civil day is the one carrying the tithi running at sunrise.
Overview
For sixteen days the dark fortnight is given to the dead of one's own line. Each day corresponds to a tithi, and a person performs the shraddha for a parent or grandparent on the tithi on which they died, whatever the month. Those whose date is unknown, and all the rest, are covered on the last day.
The rite is tarpana — water with sesame offered to three generations — and pinda dana, balls of cooked rice offered and then given to crows, cattle and dogs. It is performed at midday, by the eldest son by preference, and it does not require a temple.
Where it comes from
The shraddha is among the oldest continuously performed rites in India, set out in the Grhya Sutras and elaborated in the Dharmashastra literature, with a full treatment in the Garuda Purana. The three-generation structure — father, grandfather, great-grandfather — is fixed and old.
Gaya holds a specific position: the Vishnupada there is where the pinda is offered for a final release, and a shraddha performed at Gaya is held to discharge the obligation permanently. The Gaya pilgrimage on this fortnight is attested for well over a thousand years.
Why it matters
It is the one obligation in the tradition that runs in the opposite direction from most religious duty: it is owed by the living to the dead, and it cannot be delegated to a priest alone.
The fortnight is inauspicious for anything new. No wedding, no house-warming, no new vehicle or business — the sixteen days are held entirely for the ancestors, and the ordinary calendar stops.
How to celebrate
- Perform the shraddha on the tithi of the death, not on the Gregorian dateThe rule is the tithi; a person who died on Ashwin Krishna Saptami is remembered on that tithi each year.
- Offer at middayThe aparahna and kutapa hours are prescribed for the rite.
- Feed a brahmin, a cow, a crow and a dog, and give food to someone in needThe panchabali offerings are part of the form, and the feeding is the substance of the rite.
- Offer tarpana with water and sesame even if you cannot do the full riteThe abbreviated form is explicitly permitted and is widely used.
What to avoid
These are not all the same kind of thing. Some are prohibitions from a named text, some are Indian law, some are practical, and some are a confusion worth not repeating. Each item says which it is.
- Do not begin anything new in this fortnightNo wedding, house-warming, new business, new vehicle or new construction. The prohibition is general and firmly kept.
- Do not cut hair or shave on the day you perform the shraddhaA standard restriction for the person performing the rite.
- Do not use onion, garlic, or masur dal in the shraddha foodThe prescribed food is satvik and excludes these specifically.
- Do not drive away the crow that comes for the pindaIt is the point of the offering; the crow taking it is read as the ancestors accepting.
Where this comes from
Everything above is either computed by this site’s own panchang engine, or drawn from the works listed here. Where a custom is modern, commercial or contested, the page says so rather than presenting it as ancient.
- Garuda Purana, Pretakhanda, for the shraddha rites and their sequence.
- Manusmriti chapter 3 and the Grhya Sutras, for the three-generation structure and the prescribed food.
- Vayu Purana, for the Gaya shraddha and its standing.
Dates are computed for the place named above and will differ elsewhere. Regional traditions vary; where two reckonings are in use, both are named rather than one being chosen silently.
Other festivals
All festivals, with dates for any year · The calendar on the home page