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For fifteen days each year, in the dark fortnight before Navratri, Hindu households turn to the people who came before them. Pitru Paksha is the period set aside for the ancestors — for feeding them, remembering them, and settling what may have been left undone.
Varanasi is one of the three places in India where these rites carry the greatest weight. This page explains what the fortnight is, which day belongs to whom, and what ceremonies can be performed here.
Pitru Paksha 2026
26 September to 10 October 2026, concluding with Sarva Pitru Amavasya on 10 October.
The fortnight falls in the waning half of the lunar month of Bhadrapada, immediately before Sharad Navratri begins on 11 October. Dates follow the panchang and shift each year.
What the fortnight is for
The belief is straightforward. During these fifteen days the pitru — the ancestors — are held to draw close to the living world, and offerings made now reach them in a way they do not at other times of year.
What is offered is not elaborate. Water and black sesame. Rice shaped into pinda, cooked plain, without salt or spice. Food given to a brahmin, to a cow, to a crow, to someone who needs it. The simplicity is the point: this is a debt acknowledged rather than a transaction performed.
The Garuda Purana and the Mahabharata both treat the neglect of these rites as a serious failing, and the tradition holds that ancestors who are not remembered remain unsettled. That is the anxiety a great many families arrive here carrying, and it is worth saying that it is met by doing the thing properly once, not by doing the most expensive version of it.
Which day belongs to whom
Each of the fifteen tithis corresponds to the lunar date on which a person died. Shraddh for an ancestor is performed on their tithi, not on the calendar anniversary.
Finding out your tithi before you travel is the single most useful piece of planning you can do. Families frequently arrive without it, and while there are ways around that, knowing it opens the correct day.
Several tithis in the fortnight carry a particular assignment:
If you cannot come on your tithi, Sarva Pitru Amavasya is the accepted alternative and carries no lesser standing.
The ceremonies
These names are used loosely, including by people arranging them. They are different rites addressing different situations.
Tarpan. The offering of water with black sesame and kush grass to the ancestors. The simplest of the rites, performed daily through the fortnight by many families, and short — a matter of minutes at the ghat.
Pind daan. The offering of pinda, balls of plain cooked rice, made on behalf of the departed. Held to provide the soul with a body for its onward passage and to release it from attachment to the world it has left. Usually an hour or two, seated at the ghat.
Parvan Shraddh. The principal annual ceremony, performed on the ancestor's tithi, with offerings made to three generations — father, grandfather and great-grandfather, and their counterparts on the maternal side.
Mahalaya Shraddh. Performed on Sarva Pitru Amavasya for all ancestors together. The right choice where tithis are unknown, where several ancestors are being remembered at once, or where a family can come only for one day.
Tripindi Shraddh. Performed where ancestral rites have been neglected across generations, or where three generations are to be propitiated together. Longer and more involved than the ordinary shraddh.
Narayan Bali. Performed in cases of unnatural or untimely death — accident, suicide, drowning, or death away from home and without rites. Often undertaken together with Nagbali.
Asthi visarjan. The immersion of ashes in the Ganga. Traditionally done within ten to thirteen days of cremation, though in practice often much later, particularly by families abroad. There is no window that closes.
Pitru Dosh Nivaran. Undertaken by families who believe ancestral obligations left unmet are affecting the present generation.
Rudrabhishek and Mahamrityunjaya Jaap. Performed at Kashi Vishwanath and other temples, often alongside ancestral rites, for the peace of the departed.
Annadaan and daan. The charitable half, and not an optional extra. Food given, cloth given, sesame and a cow given where a family wishes. In the tradition this carries as much weight as the ritual itself.
Which of these your family needs depends on your circumstances. A priest who asks about your situation before recommending a rite is doing the right thing. One who recommends the longest ceremony before asking anything is not.
Where these are performed in Varanasi
Manikarnika Ghat — the principal cremation ground and the most significant site for these rites.
Harishchandra Ghat — the older and smaller cremation ghat, quieter, used by many families for the same ceremonies.
Assi Ghat — calmer and more accessible than the cremation ghats, commonly used for pind daan and tarpan.
Panchganga Ghat — the mythical confluence of five rivers, held to be especially auspicious for ancestral offerings.
Pishach Mochan Kund — a tank away from the river, used specifically for rites concerning those who died untimely or unnatural deaths, and where Tripindi Shraddh is performed.
Kashi is one of three cities forming the traditional circuit, the Tri-sthali, together with Gaya and Prayagraj. Many families do all three across a few days. Many do only one, and doing one is not a lesser observance whatever anyone tells you at the ghat.
What to bring
Ritual materials — rice, sesame, kush grass, flowers, cloth, vessels — are arranged locally and should be included in whatever you are quoted rather than billed afterwards.
If you cannot travel
Rites can be performed on a family's behalf by priests in Varanasi, with the family joining by video. This is widely offered and is an accepted practice. Whether it is right for your family is a question for you and your own priest rather than for a website.
On what this should cost
Families arriving to perform these rites are grieving, unfamiliar with the city, and in no position to judge whether a figure is reasonable. That combination is exploited routinely, and it is worth holding a few things firmly.
A legitimate priest quotes a total in advance and does not revise it once the ceremony has begun. No rite becomes invalid because you decline to extend it — if you are told mid-ceremony that something further is required and it was not mentioned beforehand, you may say no, and nothing is spoiled. The dakshina offered to the priest is customary and proper; a demand is a different thing.
Ask what is included: the priest, the samagri, the boat where one is needed, and any ghat or temple charges. Get it in a message you can refer back to.
How we arrange it
We arrange the priest, the ghat, the boat, the ritual materials and the transport, at a price given in full before you commit, GST included, and settled before you arrive in Varanasi. Nothing is asked for at the ghat. No one approaches you mid-ceremony. The figure does not move.
We will tell you honestly which rite your circumstances call for, and we will not propose Tripindi Shraddh or Narayan Bali to a family whose situation does not require them.
A Sāthi can accompany you throughout, in any of fifteen languages, which for families arriving from abroad is often the difference between following what is happening and sitting through it.
Pitru Paksha is the busiest fortnight of the year for this work and priests are limited. If you are coming between 26 September and 10 October, please contact us as early as you can.
Contact us on WhatsApp to book a pooja
Or write to namaste@kashiandkin.com
Ritual dates and tithis depend on the local panchang and on family tradition. Confirm the timing for your ceremony with the priest performing it.
