Pitru Paksha 2026: Shraddh Dates, Tithi & Vidhi

July 18, 2026

Every year, the Pitru Paksha Shraddh dates mark a sacred 16-day period when Hindus honour their departed ancestors (pitrs) through shraddh, tarpan and pind daan. Pitru Paksha 2026 runs from Saturday, 26 September 2026 to Saturday, 10 October 2026, concluding with Sarva Pitru Amavasya (Mahalaya Amavasya). Falling in the Krishna Paksha of the Ashwin month, this period is dedicated entirely to expressing gratitude and seeking blessings from our forefathers.

You will also see the fortnight written as Shradh or Shraadh, and hear it said as Sarad or Sharad in everyday North Indian speech; the ancestors themselves are pitr in Sanskrit but pitar in Hindi, which is why many households simply call these days Pitar Paksh or pittar ke din. The spelling changes with the language. The observance does not.

Plan the rites before choosing supplies

Start with your family’s tithi and the guidance of your purohit. The calendar below is a reference; the articles you need depend on the rite and what you already have at home.

• Read the Shraddh and Tarpan samagri checklist.
• Read what to confirm when arranging rites through a priest.
• If your household needs a reusable set, compare the brass pooja thalis and their included pieces.

A general temple puja is not the same service as Shraddh, Tarpan or Pind Daan. Confirm the exact rite, location, date and inclusions before paying. For Panchang and app services, visit Divine Hindu on Google Play.

Compare reusable puja pieces for your confirmed Shraddha preparation list.

Pitru Paksha 2026 Calendar: Every Shraddh Date, Day by Day

This is the complete day-by-day calendar for Pitru Paksha 2026, with each tithi mapped to its English date. The dates are reckoned for Indian Standard Time. Because a tithi begins and ends at an astronomical moment rather than at midnight, the same tithi can fall on a different calendar date outside India, and occasionally shift by a day within India too — so treat this as your starting point and confirm your own day against a current panchang for your city.

That is fifteen calendar dates carrying sixteen named shraddhas, which is why you will see Pitru Paksha described as both a fifteen-day and a sixteen-day period. Both counts are defensible: the Krishna Paksha itself runs from Pratipada on 27 September to Amavasya on 10 October, and the Purnima Shraddh on 26 September is conventionally counted alongside it. Where your family has always counted sixteen, keep counting sixteen.

One thing to watch in 2026. Panchami is a short tithi this fortnight and does not hold through the afternoon aparahna window on any single day. Panchangs resolve this in two ways: some list Panchami Shraddh alongside Chaturthi on 30 September, others keep it on 1 October because Panchami is the tithi running at sunrise that morning. Neither is an error, and this is precisely the kind of year in which two printed calendars will disagree. If Panchami is your family's tithi, follow the panchang your household has always used, or ask your purohit.

Bharani Shraddh, kept in some families for those who died young or unmarried, is tied to the Bharani nakshatra rather than to a fixed tithi, so its date moves independently of the table above. Look it up in your own panchang rather than assuming a date.

Pitru Paksha 2026 Shraddh Dates and Tithi

Shraddh is performed on the tithi corresponding to the day an ancestor passed away — not on a fixed calendar date. Pitru Paksha follows the sixteen tithis of Ashwin Krishna Paksha in sequence, beginning the day after Bhadrapada Purnima and ending on Amavasya.

Important: the calendar date on which each tithi falls shifts by location, because tithis begin and end at astronomical moments rather than at midnight. A tithi that falls on 3 October in Delhi may fall on 2 or 4 October elsewhere. Confirm your family's exact shraddh date, and the Kutup and Rohina muhurat for tarpan, against a current panchang for your own city before performing the rites.

Bhadrapada or Ashwin? Which Month the Fortnight Belongs To

If you have seen Pitru Paksha placed in Ashwin by one source and in Bhadrapada by another, neither is wrong — they are using different calendars. North India follows the purnimanta reckoning, in which a lunar month ends on the full moon; by that count the fortnight after Bhadrapada Purnima is Ashwin Krishna Paksha. Most of the south and west follow the amanta reckoning, in which the month ends on the new moon; by that count the same fifteen days are Bhadrapada Krishna Paksha. The dates are identical. Only the label on the month changes, which is why a Tamil or Kannada family and a Haryanvi family observe the same day while naming the month differently.

What anchors the fortnight in both systems is Bhadrapada Purnima, which in 2026 falls on Saturday, 26 September. Purnima Shraddh is observed that day; the Krishna Paksha tithis run from the 27th, and the fortnight closes on Amavasya, Saturday, 10 October 2026. Through these days the Sun is traditionally described as travelling through Kanya (Virgo) rashi — which is the usual explanation given for the name Kanagat, by which the fortnight is known across Rajasthan, Haryana and much of the Hindi belt. For where this sits in the wider year, see our Hindu festival calendar 2026.

How to Find Your Family's Shraddh Tithi

This is the question most families ask, and it has a simple answer.

• If you know the tithi of the death: perform shraddh on that same tithi during Pitru Paksha. The English calendar date of the death does not matter — the tithi does.
• If you only know the English date: look up which Hindu tithi that date fell on in the year of the passing. A panchang or an astrologer can convert it in a moment.
• If you know neither: observe Sarva Pitru Amavasya on 10 October 2026. This final day exists precisely for ancestors whose tithi is unknown, forgotten or missed.
• If the person died during Pitru Paksha itself: the first shraddh is performed the following year, not the same fortnight.

If You Do Not Know the Date of Death at All

Families who left a village two generations ago, families whose records were lost in a move or in Partition, families where the elder who remembered has themselves passed — this is far more common than people expect, and nobody should feel they have failed a duty because of it. Tradition anticipated it and built in an answer.

Where no date and no tithi can be established, the rites are performed on Sarva Pitru Amavasya, Saturday 10 October 2026, which is kept for all ancestors together, named and unnamed. Some households additionally keep Chaturdashi for a relative known to have died in an accident, or Navami for the women of the family, because the category is remembered even when the tithi is not. Where the year itself is uncertain, a purohit will take the sankalp in the family gotra and in the general form used for ancestors whose names are not recalled — a provision that exists for exactly this situation. And if no gotra is remembered either, many purohits fall back by long convention on the Kashyap gotra; ask yours rather than assuming.

Two practical notes. First, an approximate memory is worth writing down before it goes: even “it was the week of Holi” or “it was two days after Diwali” lets a panchang recover the tithi. Second, once you have established a tithi, record it somewhere the next generation will find it. A great many of the families searching for this page every year are searching because nobody did.

Significance of Pitru Paksha and Shraddh

The significance of the Pitru Paksha shraddh dates is rooted in the belief that during this fortnight, the souls of ancestors descend closer to the earthly realm. By offering food, water, and prayers, descendants help their pitrs attain peace and, in turn, receive blessings of prosperity, health, and family harmony. Neglecting these duties is traditionally associated with pitra dosh, an ancestral affliction believed to obstruct progress and well-being.

If you suspect ancestral obstacles in your family, our guide on pitra dosh remedies explains traditional measures to seek relief and blessings.

Key Rituals of Pitru Paksha

• Shraddh: Ritual offering of food and prayers on the ancestor's tithi
• Tarpan: Offering water mixed with black sesame (kala til) and kusha grass to the pitrs
• Pind Daan: Offering rice balls (pind) for the peace of departed souls
• Brahmin Bhoj & Daan: Feeding Brahmins and the needy, and giving charity

Tarpan, Pind Daan and Shraddh: How the Three Rites Differ

These three words are used interchangeably in conversation, and they are not interchangeable. Families regularly arrange one believing they have completed another. The distinction is worth a few minutes.

Put plainly: tarpan is water, pind daan is food shaped into pind, and shraddh is the whole rite that contains both. Offering tarpan every morning of the fortnight is a complete and honoured observance in its own right — but it is not a replacement for the shraddh on the family tithi, and was never intended as one. Related rites such as Tripindi Shraddh and Narayan Nagbali are prescribed only in specific circumstances; ask a qualified purohit rather than assuming your family needs one.

Who Performs Shraddh, and What Tradition Says If There Is No Son

The eldest son is the customary performer, and in most households he leads the rite with the family present. But the question that actually reaches us is the opposite one: what happens when there is no son, or no son who can be there.

Where there is no son. Tradition does not leave the family without a route. The order of eligibility commonly cited runs from the eldest son to a younger son, then a grandson through the son, a great-grandson, the widow, a daughter, a daughter's son, a brother, a nephew, and onward through the sapinda relatives of the same gotra. Different dharmashastra texts and different family traditions order that list differently, which is exactly why it is a question for your own purohit rather than for a website.

Daughters. This is asked constantly and deserves an honest answer: practice varies, and it has been changing. Many families, many purohits and several of the major tirtha establishments today accept a daughter performing shraddh and pind daan for her parents, particularly where there is no son, and conduct it as a matter of routine. Texts are quoted on both sides of the question. The position most widely taken now is that a daughter's shraddh is valid, and that a rite performed in faith by a child who loved the departed is not lessened by gender. If your family purohit takes a different view, that is a conversation to have within the family; what should not happen is a family leaving the rite undone because it believed there was nobody eligible.

A widow or a wife. Where there is no son, a widow performing shraddh for her husband is traditionally accepted in a great many communities, and a mother may perform it for a child who has died. Again, custom differs by region and by family.

If nobody in the family is able to. Distance, illness and work take families out of reach every year. A qualified purohit performing the rite on your behalf, with your name, gotra and sankalp taken aloud, is considered valid in tradition — the section further down covers how that is arranged.

One exception worth knowing. Where a death has occurred within the past year and the first annual shraddh — varshik shraddh, or barsi — has not yet been completed, most traditions hold that the ordinary Pitru Paksha shraddh is not yet performed for that person; the monthly rites continue until the barsi is done. Practice differs here as well, so confirm with your purohit rather than deciding from a list.

Shraddh and Tarpan Samagri Checklist

Tradition places great weight on purity of preparation. Gather everything the evening before, keep these items separate from everyday use, and set them out on a clean cloth or a dedicated thali.

Nothing on this list has to be new or expensive. Many households use the same brass lota and thali for the shraddh year after year, and tradition weighs the care taken far more heavily than what was spent.

Pitru Paksha Shraddh Vidhi

Follow this traditional shraddh vidhi during Pitru Paksha 2026.

Step four is often the one families find hardest to arrange in a city. Offering grass and food to a cow (gau-graas) on the shraddh day is considered especially meritorious, and can be fulfilled through a gau daan or cow-feeding seva made in your ancestors' name.

When in the Day Shraddh Is Performed

Shraddh is traditionally performed in aparahna kaal — the fourth of the five parts into which the daylight hours are divided, roughly the early-to-mid afternoon — and not in the morning or after sunset. Within that stretch, panchangs mark the Kutup and Rohina windows as the periods most favoured for the offering, with the remainder of aparahna also considered suitable.

All of these are calculated from your own sunrise and sunset, so the clock times differ between Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, and differ again for families abroad. We deliberately do not print a single national timing on this page: a wrong time is worse than no time. Take the aparahna window from a current panchang set to your city, or from the purohit conducting the rite. If you are attending a rite in India by video from another country, work backwards from Indian afternoon — it lands mid-morning in the Gulf and the UK, evening in Singapore and Australia, and in the small hours for North America, where most families receive a recording instead.

Sarva Pitru Amavasya 2026: The Day That Covers Everything Missed

Sarva Pitru Amavasya falls on Saturday, 10 October 2026, the closing day of the fortnight. It is also called Mahalaya Amavasya, Pitru Visarjani Amavasya and, in Bengal, simply Mahalaya. Of the whole fortnight this is the day that matters to the largest number of households, and the reason is practical rather than mystical.

• It covers the tithi you do not know. Shraddh performed on this day is traditionally held to reach every ancestor, including those whose tithi was never recorded or has been forgotten.
• It covers the tithi you missed. Illness, travel, work, a bereavement in another family — whatever kept you from the day, the rite on Amavasya is traditionally understood to make it good.
• It covers every ancestor at once. Not only the paternal line: many households include maternal ancestors, teachers, and relatives who died without descendants to remember them.
• It is the day for households that keep nothing else. A family that does not observe the fortnight day by day can still mark it here — tarpan at home, a meal given in the ancestors' name, a lamp lit before the mandir.

In Bengal the same day is Mahalaya, when tarpan is offered at the river ghats at dawn and, by long tradition, the Mahishasura Mardini recitation is heard before first light. It closes Pitru Paksha and opens Devi Paksha: Sharad Navratri begins the very next morning, Sunday, 11 October 2026, and the mood of the household turns over entirely in a single night.

What to Avoid During Pitru Paksha

These sixteen days are observed as a period of restraint rather than celebration. Tradition asks households to set aside:

• New purchases of gold, vehicles, property or auspicious items — buying is customarily deferred until after Amavasya
• Weddings, engagements, griha pravesh and other mangal karya
• Non-vegetarian food, onion, garlic, alcohol and tobacco
• Cutting hair or nails, and beginning new ventures
• Turning away anyone who comes to the door hungry during this fortnight

The restraint lifts the moment Sarva Pitru Amavasya ends. Sharad Navratri begins the very next day, Sunday 11 October 2026, opening the most auspicious stretch of the Hindu year.

The Honest Counterpoint: How Much of This Is Actually Kept

How strictly any of it is observed varies enormously by region and by family, and it is worth saying so plainly rather than leaving readers with a list that reads like law. Many Maharashtrian and South Indian households keep the fortnight with daily tarpan and place no restriction at all on ordinary purchases. In parts of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana the restraint on buying is taken seriously enough that showrooms plan for it. Bengal treats the closing Mahalaya as the start of the most festive weeks of the year, with Durga Puja shopping well under way throughout. Some families abstain from a haircut for all fifteen days; others only on the shraddh day itself; others not at all.

Two things are worth holding on to. First, the restraint traditionally sits most heavily on the person performing the rites rather than on every member of the household — a child's school function or a scheduled medical procedure is not a violation of anything. Second, these are marks of a period of remembrance, not prohibitions with stated consequences attached. Where your family has always done something particular, that practice carries more weight than any general list, including this one. If a genuinely unavoidable commitment falls inside the fortnight — a surgery date, an admission deadline, a job start — most purohits will simply tell you to go ahead and keep the rite properly on your tithi.

If You Cannot Perform Shraddh Yourself

Distance, work, illness or living abroad prevent many families from performing the rites in person, and tradition makes allowance for this. Shraddh performed on your behalf by a qualified priest at a tirtha, with your gotra and sankalp taken in your name, is considered valid.

If travelling is not possible, read our guide to arranging Shraddh and Tarpan through a priest. Confirm the exact rite, location, date, devotee details and deliverables with the provider before booking. Our Ayodhya temple puja selection lists the rituals currently offered; a general temple puja should not be assumed to include Shraddh, Tarpan or Pind Daan. Follow your family’s guidance for observances at home.

Whoever performs it, have the ancestor's name, the family gotra and the tithi ready before you book, and arrange it early. The last tithis of the fortnight are the most crowded of the year at every tirtha, and a purohit and the samagri both need lead time.

Regional Variations

In Bengal, the concluding day is observed as Mahalaya, marking the descent of Devi and the true beginning of Durga Puja preparations. In Maharashtra and Gujarat the fortnight is often called Pitru Pandharwada, and in the South, Mahalaya Paksha, where tarpan is offered daily rather than only on the family tithi. The underlying rite is the same; only the emphasis and the name change.

What the Fortnight Is Called Across India

Almost every part of the country keeps these days, and almost every part calls them something different — which is why families searching for their own tradition often cannot find it under the name they know.

Two of these names come up often enough to be worth a line on their own. Kanagat is simply what a very large number of families in Rajasthan and Haryana call this fortnight — if you have been told that the family is “doing kanagat”, it means precisely the shraddh described on this page, on the dates in the calendar above. And Mahalaya means two different things depending on who is speaking: in Bengal it is the single day of Sarva Pitru Amavasya on which Devi Paksha opens, while in the South Mahalaya Paksha is the whole fortnight. Both usages are correct.

Families settled outside India face one further question: whether to follow the tithi as it falls in India or as it falls in their own sky. Both are defensible. Many keep the day their relatives in India keep, so that the family remembers together; others follow a local panchang. Ask your elders or a nearby temple, and do not let the uncertainty become a reason to skip the day.

What Follows Pitru Paksha: the 2026 Festive Run

The restraint of the fortnight lifts on the morning after Amavasya, and the busiest weeks of the Hindu year begin at once. Households that have kept the fortnight quietly often find themselves preparing for four festivals in a row, so it helps to see the run laid out.

Indira Ekadashi, the Ekadashi that falls inside Pitru Paksha and is kept for the peace of departed ancestors, is on Tuesday, 6 October 2026; the year's remaining fasts are in our Ekadashi 2026 list, and the full year in the Hindu Festival Calendar 2026. Each date above is a tithi mapped onto a calendar day and can move by one with your city's sunrise, so confirm against a current panchang before you observe.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is Pitru Paksha in 2026?

Pitru Paksha 2026 runs from Saturday, 26 September to Saturday, 10 October 2026, ending on Sarva Pitru Amavasya.

How do I know which day to perform shraddh?

Shraddh is performed on the tithi (lunar day) matching the day the ancestor passed away, not the English calendar date. If the tithi is unknown, Sarva Pitru Amavasya on 10 October 2026 is observed for all ancestors.

What is tarpan in Pitru Paksha?

Tarpan is the offering of water mixed with black sesame and kusha grass to the ancestors, performed to bring peace to their souls.

What is the difference between shraddh, tarpan and pind daan?

Tarpan is the offering of water, traditionally with black til and kusha grass, and can be done at home by anyone without a priest. Pind daan is the offering of pind — balls of rice or barley flour with ghee, til and honey — usually with a purohit, on the ancestor's tithi or at a tirtha such as Gaya. Shraddh is the complete rite performed in faith, of which tarpan and pind daan are components, along with the cooking and offering of satvik food, the portion set aside for cow, crow and dog, and daan. Daily tarpan through the fortnight is a complete observance in itself, but it is not a substitute for the shraddh on the family tithi.

Why is Pitru Paksha called Kanagat?

In Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi and much of the Hindi belt the fortnight is known as Kanagat, and the days are spoken of as kanagat ke din. The name is traditionally explained by the Sun's passage through Kanya (Virgo) rashi during this period. It refers to exactly the same days as Pitru Paksha, Pitar Paksh, Sorah Shraddh and Mahalaya Paksha — in 2026, 26 September to 10 October. Only the regional name changes; the shraddh, tarpan and pind daan are the same.

What is the significance of Sarva Pitru Amavasya?

It is the concluding day when shraddh can be performed for all ancestors, especially those whose tithi is unknown or missed during the fortnight.

Why is Pitru Paksha considered important?

It is a time to honour ancestors, seek their blessings for prosperity and harmony, and traditionally to relieve pitra dosh in the family.

Can we buy new things during Pitru Paksha?

Tradition advises deferring purchases of gold, vehicles, property and other auspicious items until after Sarva Pitru Amavasya. Everyday necessities and items required for the shraddh rituals themselves are not restricted.

Can shraddh be performed by a daughter or a younger son?

The eldest son is the customary performer, but in his absence a younger son, grandson, daughter, or another close relative of the same gotra may perform the rites. Many traditions explicitly permit a daughter to perform shraddh for her parents.

What if I miss my ancestor's shraddh tithi?

Observe Sarva Pitru Amavasya on 10 October 2026, which covers all ancestors including those whose tithi was missed or is unknown.

Observe Pitru Paksha 2026 with reverence. Prepare a pure, complete setup for shraddh and tarpan with our kalash and puja accessories, and see our Hindu festival calendar 2026 for the year's remaining observances. When the fortnight concludes on 10 October, the Navratri collection has everything for the nine nights that follow.

This guide is for educational and devotional purposes and reflects traditional practice, which varies by region, community and family. Tithi-to-date mapping shifts with sunrise and location, so please confirm your family's shraddh date and the aparahna, Kutup and Rohina windows with a current panchang for your city, or with your purohit, before performing the rites.