Observance Pitrus, Yama
Pitru Paksha begins
The full moon of Bhadrapada opens the fortnight of the ancestors, sixteen days in which shraddha is offered to the departed on the tithi on which each died.
Pitru Paksha begins 2027 falls on Wednesday, 15 September, computed for Chennai.
Latitude, longitude and time zone 13.08, 80.27
Asia/Kolkata · UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place.
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A tithi that ends at dusk in Chennai can still be running at dusk a thousand kilometres west, which moves the day. Sunrise and sunset here are computed for the place above.
When it falls next
North India calendar, computed for Chennai
- Wednesday, 15 September 2027
- Sunday, 3 September 2028
- Saturday, 22 September 2029
Where Pitru Paksha begins falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 15 Sep
- 2028: 3 Sep, 11 days earlier
- 2029: 22 Sep, 18 days later
The dates, year by year
North India calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The full moon of Bhadrapada opens the fortnight of the ancestors, sixteen days in which shraddha is offered to the departed on the tithi on which each died. No wedding, housewarming or new purchase is made in it. It ends at the Amavasya, Sarva Pitru Amavasya, on which everyone whose day is not known is remembered together.
- Deity
- Pitrus, Yama
- Kind
- Observance Days marked, watched or begun, without a fast or a feast of their own.
Significance
The story told in north Indian homes is Karna's: he had given gold all his life but never food, so in heaven he was served gold to eat, and he was allowed back to earth for these sixteen days to feed his forebears, which is why the fortnight is theirs. It is held that the ancestors come close to the world of the living while the Sun is in Kanya and wait at the door for water and food from their descendants, so the pitru rin, the debt owed to those who gave us life, is paid in these days with tarpan and pind. A few tithis carry their own people: the Navami, Matru Navami, is for mothers and married women who died before their husbands, and the Chaturdashi for those who died by weapons or by accident. Gaya is the great place of the fortnight, where families offer pind on the Phalgu, at the Vishnupad temple and under the Akshayavat, since a shraddha done there is held to satisfy the ancestors for good.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Pitru Paksha begins: how it is kept
Keep ready
- black til
- kusha grass and a kusha ring
- jau (barley) or its flour
- cooked rice for the pinds
- ghee and honey
- a copper or brass vessel for the tarpan
- white flowers
- leaf plates for the panchbali
- the shraddha meal
- dakshina and a cloth for the brahmin
The steps
0 of 9 done
What is cooked
The shraddha meal is simple and satvik, cooked fresh without onion, garlic or masoor dal: kheer, puri, kaddu or lauki ki sabzi, urad dal bade or pakodi, raita and rice, with kheer the one dish no north Indian shraddha is without, and often the dish the departed person loved best. Maharashtra adds vade and a kheer of its own, and the south cooks sesame rice, vadai and payasam for its tarpanam.
The hour
Clock times for Wednesday, 15 September 2027 at Chennai
From Bhadrapada Purnima to the Amavasya that follows. Each day's shraddha is offered at aparahna, the afternoon, after the pind and the water are made ready.
The main rite. The fortnight runs from Bhadrapada Purnima to the Amavasya, and each ancestor's shraddha is done on the tithi of his or her death, in the kutapa and aparahna hours of the afternoon, never in the morning or at night.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Aparahna | 13:17 | the afternoon, three fifths of the daylight after sunrise |
Sunrise 05:58, sunset 18:10, UTC+5.5. These are the instants the rule is read at, not the temple's own puja times, which every temple prints for itself.
The day itself
| What | When | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Tithi | Shukla Pournami from 02:49 until next day 04:34 | then Krishna Prathamai until 2 days later, 05:52 |
| Nakshatra | Shatabhisha until 11:33 | then Purva Bhadrapada until next day 13:44 |
| Rahu kaal | 12:04 to 13:36 (1 h 32 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 07:30 to 09:01 (1 h 32 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 10:33 to 12:04 (1 h 32 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:40 to 12:29 (0 h 49 min) | the midday muhurta, not counted on a Wednesday |
| Moonrise | 17:43 | moonset next day 06:01 |
For Wednesday, 15 September 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
The one who offers the shraddha eats one meal after it, without onion, garlic or masur dal. Crows, cows and dogs are fed first, and a brahmin or a guest is fed before the family.
What is avoided
No wedding, engagement, mundan or griha pravesh, and no buying of gold, land, vehicles or new clothes; the one who offers the shraddha does not cut hair or nails. Onion, garlic, meat, masoor dal, alcohol and stale food stay out of the kitchen, and no animal at the door, least of all a crow, a cow or a dog, is turned away.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
The north calls the fortnight Pitru Paksha or Kanagat; Bengal ends it with Mahalaya and the invocation of Durga; the south keeps the same fortnight as Mahalaya paksha and the Amavasya as Mahalaya Amavasai.
In other regions
- Tamil Nadu
- Tamil families keep Mahalaya Paksham with tarpanam, and many go to Rameswaram or Tiruvallur for it.
- Telugu
- The Telugu country keeps it as Mahalaya Paksham, offering the tarpanam on the tithi and again at the Amavasya.
- Kannada
- Karnataka keeps the fortnight as Pitru Paksha with the Mahalaya shraddha by tithi, and Gokarna's shore for those who travel for it.
- North India (the dates above)
- The Hindi belt calls it Pitru Paksha, Shraddh or Kanagat, and Gaya's Pitru Paksha mela draws families from every state to the Phalgu and the Vishnupad temple; Haridwar, Prayagraj and the Pishach Mochan kund in Varanasi are the other great places.
- Maharashtra
- Maharashtra keeps Pitrupaksha with the shraddha on the death tithi and the crow fed from the roof, and the ghats of Nashik and Trimbakeshwar fill with families.
- Bengal
- Bengal keeps the fortnight as Pitri Paksha and closes it with tarpan at the Mahalaya dawn, when the Devi Paksha begins.
- Nepal
- Nepal keeps the same fortnight as the Sorha Shraddha, the sixteen shraddhas, ending on the Aunsi before Ghatasthapana.
The dates above are the North India reckoning, because that is the calendar this key belongs to. Switch the tradition on the calendar page to see how another one dates the same day.
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
- Kollumangudi, Mayiladuthurai, Tamil Nadu
This day is kept for Pitrus, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Pitru and ancestors. Visited where a family quarrel or a father’s displeasure is read into the chart, and on amavasai for the ancestors.
- Tamil Nadu
This day is kept for Pitrus, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Pitru and ancestors. Tula snanam through Aippasi, when lakhs bathe at the ghats, and amavasai tarpanam are what most come for.
- Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu
This day is kept for Pitrus, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Pitru and ancestors. Amavasai tarpanam and Maha Sivaratri are its days
- Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu
This day is kept for Pitrus, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Pitru and ancestors. Amavasai and Aadi Amavasai tarpanam on the nearby shore are what most come for.
- Erode, Tamil Nadu
This day is kept for Pitrus, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Pitru and ancestors. Maha Sivaratri and amavasai tarpanam are its days.
- Jaffna, Northern Province, Sri Lanka
This day is kept for Pitrus, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Pitru and ancestors. Aadi Amavasai tarpanam at Keerimalai is the largest ancestor rite in the north of the island.
26 more temples in this gazetteer are recorded for the day. Find temples near you.
Your family's own temple comes first, and its calendar is the one that decides.
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A temple is listed here only where the gazetteer's own line names this day, or where this day's own entry names the town, or where the day belongs to the ancestors or the nagas and the temple is recorded for that rite. Where neither table says anything, nothing is listed as kept for the day; where fewer than three are, the nearest temples of the day's own gods are added under a heading of their own.
Mantras
The prayers said with the day. Each opens with its words and meaning.
- Pitru tarpanam sankalpam
- Devatabhyah Pitribhyashcha (to the ancestors)
- Yamaya Dharmarajaya (the fourteen names of Yama)
A name without a link is a long reading, read in full from the family’s own copy or at the place of worship; the library prints the shorter prayers.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it.
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A printed panchangam can differ by a day where an almanac reads a tithi at a different instant, and a family's own custom always comes first. Where the practice genuinely varies, the text says so rather than choosing for you.