Pitru Paksha 2026: dates, and which day is your father's shraddha

The full date table

Pitru Paksha 2026 runs for fifteen days, from 26 September to 10 October. Find the tithi on which your person died, then match it to the date below. These tithis are confirmed for Varanasi; if you are in a different city, the date for a given tithi is unlikely to shift by more than a day, but check a local panchang if you want to be sure.

Date	Tithi
26 Sep (Sat)	Purnima
27 Sep (Sun)	Pratipada
28 Sep (Mon)	Dwitiya
29 Sep (Tue)	Tritiya
30 Sep (Wed)	Chaturthi
1 Oct (Thu)	Panchami
2 Oct (Fri)	Shashthi
3 Oct (Sat)	Saptami
4 Oct (Sun)	Ashtami
5 Oct (Mon)	Navami
6 Oct (Tue)	Dashami
7 Oct (Wed)	Ekadashi (and Dwadashi, see note below)
8 Oct (Thu)	Trayodashi
9 Oct (Fri)	Chaturdashi
10 Oct (Sat)	Amavasya, Sarva Pitru Amavasya

Important for 2026: Dwadashi does not get its own sunrise this year. If your person died on a Dwadashi tithi, keep their shraddha on 7 October, the same day as Ekadashi. Most printed calendars will not mention this; now you know.

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The short answer

Your shraddha day is the tithi, the lunar day, on which your person died, matched to this fortnight's calendar above. It has nothing to do with the English calendar date of the death. If you do not know the tithi, or can only manage one day, go with 10 October, Sarva Pitru Amavasya, which covers everyone. The three things that actually matter are: offering water with black sesame seeds, setting aside a portion of food for a crow or a cow before anyone in the house eats, and feeding at least one person that day.

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How the tithi rule works, a worked example

Suppose your father died on 14 March 2019. That date fell on Shukla Saptami, the seventh day of the bright fortnight of Phalguna. The paksha and month of his death do not matter for the shraddha. What matters is the tithi: Saptami. So in Pitru Paksha 2026, his shraddha falls on 3 October, which is Saptami of this fortnight.

To find your own case: look up the tithi of the death date in any panchang app, note the tithi name, then find that name in the table above.

Special days to know:

• 5 October, Matru Navami: for mothers and for all the women of the family who have passed.
• 9 October, Chaturdashi: for those who died suddenly, by accident, or far too young.
• 10 October, Sarva Pitru Amavasya: for everyone, and especially for anyone whose tithi you do not know.

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Step by step

1. Wake up and bathe before anything else. This is the one preparation the tradition is consistent about.
2. Set your intention out loud or in your mind. Say the name of the person you are doing this for. That is enough.
3. Cook a simple meal, rice, dal, a vegetable, something sweet if you can. Plain food cooked at home is what is called for.
4. Before anyone in the house eats, set aside a portion on a leaf or a small plate. This is the offering. Take it outside for a crow, a cow, or a dog. If none appear, leave it on the ground.
5. Fill a small vessel with water and add a pinch of black sesame seeds (kala til). Stand facing south and pour it slowly, saying the name of your ancestor. If you have no kala til, plain water still counts.
6. Light one lamp, any oil lamp or even a diya with ghee, near where you made the offering or in your prayer space.
7. Feed one person. A neighbour, a relative, someone who needs a meal. This is the core act. It does not have to be elaborate.
8. Sit quietly for a few minutes. Remember the person. That is the shraddha, the word itself means sincere feeling.
9. The family eats after all of this is done. There is no rule that says you must fast the entire day, though many people eat only once.

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What to offer

For the ancestor (set aside before the family eats):

• Cooked rice
• Dal or a simple curry
• Something sweet, jaggery, a piece of fruit, kheer if you have it
• A small amount of water or milk

For the water offering (jal tarpan):

• Water, from the tap is fine if a river is not near you
• Black sesame seeds (kala til), available at any kirana store; if unavailable, plain water works
• A small vessel you can pour from with both hands

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If this is you

You are doing this for the first time, alone, with no elder to ask

You do not need to get it perfect. The act of remembering and offering is the point, not the procedure. Do steps 4, 5, and 7 from the list above, set food aside for a crow, offer water with sesame, feed one person, and you have done what matters. No one needs to supervise you.

You are a working person with twenty minutes before office

Do the water offering before you leave, it takes five minutes. Set aside a small portion of whatever you cooked for breakfast for a crow or a cow outside your door. Arrange to feed one person later in the day, even if that means paying for someone's meal or sending food to a neighbour in the evening. The day does not have to be a single ceremony.

You are living abroad and cannot travel

You do not need to be in India or near a river. Use tap water, find kala til at an Indian grocery store, and do the offering at home. The shraddha is your own act and it travels with you. If the date falls on a workday, move your home observance to the morning of that day or the evening before; practice varies by family on timing flexibility.

You are a daughter and your family says you should not do this

There is no single rule across all Hindu traditions that bars a daughter from performing shraddha. Many families do hold this view, and if keeping peace at home matters to you right now, you can offer water privately, light a lamp, and feed someone, without calling it a formal shraddha. Your love for your parent is the substance of the act. What you call it is secondary.

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Why these fifteen days matter

The idea behind Pitru Paksha is straightforward: the people who came before you shaped the life you are living, and once a year there is a dedicated window to acknowledge that. The fortnight is set in the lunar calendar specifically because the thinning of the boundary between the living and the ancestors is considered greatest at this time.

The crow is central to the ritual because tradition holds that ancestors can appear in the form of a crow to receive the offering. When a crow eats from what you have set out, many families take it as a sign that the offering was accepted. Whether or not you hold that belief, the act of setting food outside before you eat is a daily reminder that you did not arrive here alone.

The shraddha is described in the texts as the descendant's own act. It does not require a priest, a river, or a specific location to be valid. Outsourcing it entirely is an option, but the tradition is clear that doing it yourself, however simply, carries its own weight.

Sarva Pitru Amavasya on 10 October is the safety net the tradition built in. If you missed a day, if you do not know the tithi, if you have ancestors whose names you never learned, this day holds space for all of them.

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Common questions

Do I have to fast the whole day? Fasting is customary but not the core requirement. Many people eat once, after the offering is made. If fasting is not possible for health or other reasons, you can eat normally and still perform the water offering and the food offering. The shraddha is not invalidated by eating.

Can I drink water during the day? Yes. There is no tradition that restricts water on a shraddha day the way some fasts do. Drink normally.

I have work and cannot take the day off. What do I do? Do the water offering in the morning before you leave, it genuinely takes five minutes. Set food aside for a crow. Arrange to feed one person, even informally. The ritual does not require a full day at home; it requires the intention and the three core acts.

Can a daughter or an unmarried person perform shraddha? Practice varies by family and region, so you may get different answers from different elders. Many traditions do allow daughters and unmarried individuals to perform shraddha, especially when there is no son or when the person chooses to do it out of love. If your family does not support it openly, a private offering of water, food, and a lamp is something no tradition prevents you from doing.

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Work out your own family’s day. A shraddha follows the tithi the person died on, not the calendar date, so it moves every year. Put in the date and Ask Kanha will tell you which day it falls on this Pitru Paksha, and what to do that morning at home. It is free.

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