Pitru Paksha 2028: Date, Rituals & Significance

Purnima runs 3 Sept, 02:52 → 4 Sept, 05:17.

Each day corresponds to a tithi: a person's shraddha is done on the paksha tithi of their death. The rite offers pinda (rice balls), water with black sesame, and a meal to Brahmins, with portions set aside for the cow, the crow (held to carry the offering to the pitr), the dog and the ant. The son or nearest male relative performs it, wearing the sacred thread over the right shoulder.

Key days: Mahalaya Amavasya (Sarvapitri Amavasya), the last day, when shraddha is done for all ancestors and any whose tithi is unknown or who died by accident; Bharani and Matru Navami (for the mother's line); Avidhava Navami (for a mother who died before her husband); and Nana-Nani shraddha. Gaya, Varanasi, Prayag, Nashik and Pehowa are the great shraddha tirthas, and Gaya's Pitru Paksha Mela draws pilgrims from across India and the diaspora.

The Mahabharata tells that Karna, dying, went to the world of the fathers and was given gold to eat, not food, because he had given away gold all his life but never made offerings to his ancestors. Allowed back for a fortnight, he offered pinda and water to his pitr; that fortnight became Pitru Paksha, and its rites the means by which the living discharge the debt owed to those who came before.

Source: Grihya Sutras, Manusmriti and the Garuda Purana — the shraddha rites; the Karna narrative in the Mahabharata

The shraddha rites are among the oldest in the tradition, set out in the Grihya Sutras, the Manusmriti and the Garuda and Vayu Puranas; the sixteen-day Mahalaya paksha and its tithi-by-tithi scheme are codified in the shraddha nibandhas, and the Gaya shraddha carries a special mahatmya said to free the pitr entirely.

• Grihya Sutras, Manusmriti and the Garuda Purana — the shraddha rites; the Karna narrative in the Mahabharata
• Wikipedia — Pitru Paksha

1. For sixteen lunar days, families offer shraddha to their ancestors, each on the tithi of that ancestor's death.
2. Tarpan of water with black sesame and kusha grass is offered, and pind daan is performed, above all at Gaya, Varanasi and Prayagraj.
3. Food is set out for crows, cows and dogs and given to Brahmins; new purchases and ceremonies are avoided, and Mahalaya Amavasya is kept for all ancestors.

• Pan-Indian. Daily tarpana and the tithi-shraddha at home or a riverbank; Mahalaya Amavasya as the close, and in Bengal the Mahalaya dawn broadcast that opens Durga Puja.
• Gaya, Varanasi, Prayag, Nashik, Pehowa. The great shraddha tirthas; the Gaya Pitru Paksha Mela and the pinda-daan at the Vishnupad and the Akshayavat.

• The offering and the food — Kheer, rice, urad-dal vada, seasonal vegetables and a Brahmin meal; no onion, garlic or masur dal. Portions for the cow, crow, dog and ant.

Pitru Paksha (Shraddha) is kept on the day when Purnima of Bhadrapada Shukla paksha prevails at sunrise. That day is Sunday, 3 September 2028. Purnima holds at sunrise only on this day.

at sunrise

Pitru Paksha runs the sixteen tithis of the Krishna paksha from the Bhadrapada (purnimanta Ashwin) full moon to the Ashwin new moon, in September or October. Each shraddha is done in the aparahna (early afternoon) on the tithi that matches the day of death; where a tithi is doubled or skipped, the almanac and the family's shakha decide.

A lunar date: Purnima of the bright half of Bhadrapada drifts about 11 days earlier each solar year, then jumps back ~19 days when a leap (Adhika) month is inserted.