Pitru Paksha 2026: Dates, Shraddha Tithi Calendar and Puja Vidhi at Home

Pitru Paksha 2026 runs from 26 September to 10 October, and it arrives the moment the Ganpati idols go into the water. Anant Chaturdashi falls on 25 September this year, so the very next morning the mood in most Indian homes turns quiet. No new gold, no housewarming, no wedding cards. Instead the family kitchen starts cooking kheer at noon, someone hunts for the old brass lota, and an elder tries to remember whether Nanaji passed on Panchami or Shashthi.

What Pitru Paksha 2026 actually is

Pitru Paksha is a sixteen day stretch set aside for the pitrs, the three generations of ancestors on the paternal side and, on certain days, the maternal side too. Tradition places the pitrs in Pitriloka, a realm between earth and the heavens, and holds that they come closer to their descendants during this fortnight. The rites offered to them are called shraddha, from the Sanskrit word for the sincerity with which they are meant to be done.

The fortnight sits in the dark half of Bhadrapada, the sixth month of the Hindu lunar calendar, and ends on the new moon. Families in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and the south follow the amanta reckoning and call it Bhadrapada Krishna Paksha. In much of north India the purnimanta system is used and the same fifteen days are counted as Ashwin Krishna Paksha. The dates on the wall calendar do not change; only the name of the month does. That single detail causes a surprising number of family arguments every September.

Pitru Paksha 2026 at a glance

Also called	Sorah Shraddha, Mahalaya Paksha, Kanagat, Shraddh
Period in 2026	26 September to 10 October
Opening day	Purnima Shraddha, Saturday 26 September
Closing day	Sarva Pitru Amavasya (Mahalaya), Saturday 10 October
Hindu month	Bhadrapada Krishna Paksha (amanta) or Ashwin Krishna Paksha (purnimanta)
Core rites	Tarpan, pind daan, deep daan, feeding a brahmin, cow, crow and dog
Usual timing	Aparahna kaal, the stretch after solar noon
What follows	Sharad Navratri begins the day after Amavasya

Finding your family tithi in the Pitru Paksha 2026 calendar

The rule is simple even if the execution is not. Shraddha is offered on the lunar day of death, not the anniversary you have saved in your phone. If your father passed on a Navami, his shraddha this year falls on the Navami inside the fortnight. If you have no idea, that is far more common than people admit, and the tradition has already made room for it.

• Purnima Shraddha: the opening day, kept for those who passed on a full moon tithi.
• Chautha Bharani and Bharani Panchami: the fourth and fifth days, generally reserved for anyone who died in the past year.
• Avidhava Navami: the ninth day, kept for married women who passed before their husbands.
• Dwadashi: the twelfth day, traditionally for children and for sanyasis who had renounced household life.
• Ghata Chaturdashi: the fourteenth day, for those who died in an accident, in violence or in war.
• Sarva Pitru Amavasya: the last day, which covers every ancestor regardless of tithi and rescues anyone who forgot or could not observe the right day.

How to observe Pitru Paksha 2026 at home

Most families in cities cannot travel to a river ghat, and the shastras never demanded it. A clean corner, running water from a tap into a wide vessel, and a settled mind will do. The person performing the rite bathes first, wears a fresh dhoti or clean cotton, and works facing south, since the southern direction is the one assigned to the ancestors.

Tarpan, the water offering

Tarpan is water poured with black sesame while the ancestors are named. The water is released over the base of the right thumb, the part of the palm assigned to the pitrs, and the janeu is shifted to the right shoulder for the duration. A ring of kusha grass is worn on the ring finger, and kusha is collected each year on Kush Amavasya precisely for rites like this one.

Pind daan, the rice offering

A pind is a ball of cooked rice or barley flour bound with ghee and black til. It stands for the body of the departed and is offered on a leaf, then given to a river, a cow or the roots of a peepal. Families with the means often travel to Gaya in Bihar, where the annual Pitru Paksha Mela draws lakhs of pilgrims to the banks of the Falgu.

The lamp and the meal

A pure brass lamp is lit through the rite and, in many households, kept burning through the fortnight. If you do not own one, a simple south Indian style oil lamp such as this brass peacock diya works for daily use and outlives a dozen clay ones. Camphor is lit at the close, which is where a brass kapoor dani earns its place, and the rest of the collection of idols and puja essentials covers the smaller pieces most home mandirs are missing. Food is cooked without onion and garlic, kheer is almost always included, and a portion is set aside for a crow, a cow and a dog before the family eats.

Tarpan, pind daan and shraddha bhojan compared

Rite	What is offered	Where it is usually done
Tarpan	Water with black til, sometimes barley	At home over a wide vessel, or at a river
Pind daan	Rice or barley balls with ghee and til	A ghat, a tirtha, or a clean spot at home
Shraddha bhojan	A cooked satvik meal with kheer	The family kitchen, served at midday
Deep daan	A lit lamp, often kept burning all fortnight	The home mandir or the south facing threshold

Common mistakes people make

• Using the English date: the tithi governs the day, so a death on 3 October some years ago rarely lands on 3 October now.
• Doing it in the morning: shraddha belongs to aparahna kaal, the stretch after solar noon, not to sunrise.
• Skipping it because the tithi is unknown: Sarva Pitru Amavasya exists for exactly this situation.
• Treating the fortnight as unlucky: it is solemn rather than inauspicious, and gratitude is the point.
• Cooking with onion and garlic: the offering meal is kept satvik, and leftovers are not offered.
• Buying a brand new car or jewellery mid fortnight: most families hold such purchases until after Amavasya, when Navratri opens.

One more point worth making plainly. Several Puranic sources including the Garuda Purana speak of the son as the one who must offer the pind. In practice today, daughters, grandsons through the mother's line and adopted children perform shraddha in countless households, and priests across India accept it. If there is no male heir on your mother's side, the daughter's son is traditionally the one who offers on Sarva Pitru Amavasya anyway.

Frequently asked questions

1. When does Pitru Paksha start in 2026?

It opens with Purnima Shraddha on Saturday 26 September 2026, the day after Anant Chaturdashi and Ganpati visarjan. Some panchangs mark the start at Pratipada Shraddha on 27 September, because the tithi straddles both dates. Either reading is defensible, and your family panchang decides.

2. What is the last day of Pitru Paksha 2026?

Sarva Pitru Amavasya, also called Mahalaya Amavasya, on Saturday 10 October 2026. It is the most important day of the fortnight. In Bengal the same morning marks Mahalaya and the countdown to Durga Puja, which is why the Amavasya tithi carries so much weight in the east.

3. Can shraddha be done without a priest?

Yes. A full vidhi with a purohit is preferred where the family can arrange it, but tarpan with water and til, a lit lamp, a satvik meal offered at noon and the names of the ancestors spoken aloud is an accepted home observance. Sincerity is treated as the operative ingredient.

4. Is it wrong to buy anything during Pitru Paksha?

Big celebratory purchases such as vehicles, property registration and bridal jewellery are usually postponed until after Amavasya. Puja items, lamps, malas and anything needed for the rites themselves are a different category and are bought freely, since the fortnight requires them. Many families deliberately stock up before 26 September so nothing is missing midway.

5. Why is tulsi kept away from the pind but used elsewhere?

Shraddha rites are Vishnu centred, and tulsi is the leaf most associated with Vishnu, so it is offered to the deity and to the water rather than pressed onto the pind itself. Japa on a tulsi mala during the fortnight is a settled Vaishnava practice, and the wider range of japa malas suits anyone keeping a daily count through these sixteen days.

6. What should be kept ready before the fortnight begins?

Black til, barley or rice flour, ghee, a wide brass or copper vessel, a lamp with a steady wick, cotton wicks, camphor, kusha grass, white flowers and a clean cotton dhoti or angavastram. Most of it costs under a few hundred rupees. The well being and harmony range covers the calming pieces some people like to keep on the mandir shelf through a heavy fortnight.

There is a version of this fortnight that is all anxiety, where people worry about doing something wrong and offending someone who is no longer here. There is another version where a family sits together at noon, names the people they came from, feeds a crow on the balcony railing and eats a plain meal afterwards. The second one is closer to what the rites were built for. Which tithi does your family keep, and does anyone still remember why? If you are also setting up the mandir for the Navratri that follows, the notes in our Ganesh Chaturthi 2026 guide and the placement rules in the Shree Yantra piece will save you a second round of hunting.