Pitru Paksha 2026 Dates: Shradh Start and End, Every Tithi, and the Times for Your City

Pitru Paksha 2026 runs from Saturday 26 September to Saturday 10 October in India, the Gulf, Singapore, the UK and Australia — and from Friday 25 September to Friday 9 October in the USA and Canada. Every date below is computed for each city. Lahiri sidereal.

Pitru Paksha — also called Shradh, Shraddh, Shraddha or Kanagat in the north, and Mahalaya Paksha in the south and west — is the fortnight of the ancestors. For sixteen lunar days, families remember their dead by name. They offer water, sesame and rice. They feed people in their memory. The tradition holds that the ancestors are nearest in these days, and that what is offered now reaches them.

This page gives the Pitru Paksha 2026 dates: the start and end date and time, the shradh date for every tithi, the hours to do it, and how to do it at home. It covers India, the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia, because abroad the dates are not always the same.

Pitru Paksha 2026 start date and end date

Start and end time. The Purnima (full-moon) tithi begins at 23:07 IST on Friday 25 September — 17:37 UTC, and 13:37 in New York and Toronto. The Amavasya (new-moon) tithi ends at 21:20 IST on Saturday 10 October — 15:50 UTC, and 11:50 in New York and Toronto.

The fortnight proper — the dark half of the lunar month — begins the day after the Purnima shradh: Sunday 27 September in India, the UK and Australia, and Saturday 26 September in North America.

Why the USA and Canada are a day earlier. A shradh is done in the afternoon, on the lunar day (the tithi) that is running at that time. The Purnima begins at 13:37 on Friday in New York and Toronto, in time for that afternoon. In India the same moment is 23:07 at night, so India's first Purnima afternoon is Saturday. The same thing happens at the other end: the Amavasya is running on Friday 9 October in the North American afternoon, and on Saturday 10 October everywhere else.

Navratri begins on Sunday 11 October in every one of these places.

Shradh 2026 dates — every tithi, by country

A shradh is kept on the tithi on which the person died, not on the calendar date. The tithi moves every year, so the date does too. Find the tithi in the left column and read across to your country.

* Two shradhs fall on the same day. This happens when a tithi is short and covers the afternoon only partly, so it shares that afternoon with its neighbour.

Computed for Delhi, Dubai, Singapore, London, New York, Toronto, San Francisco, Vancouver and Sydney — each by its own local afternoon. Three notes:

• Singapore follows the India column, except that Panchami moves to Thursday 1 October, beside Shashthi.
• Within India, Chaturthi and Panchami share Wednesday 30 September almost everywhere. In the far north-east (Guwahati), Panchami moves to Thursday 1 October.
• If you live far from these cities — Chicago, Houston, Perth, Auckland — the starred days are the ones most likely to differ. Check those with a priest or temple near you.

In India this year, Panchami shradh falls on Wednesday 30 September, the same day as Chaturthi. Saptami shradh is Friday 2 October, Ashtami Saturday 3 October, Navami Sunday 4 October and Ekadashi Tuesday 6 October. The last shradh, Sarva Pitru Amavasya, is Saturday 10 October.

How the day is chosen

The rule is old and exact. A shradh is done in the aparahna — the afternoon. The daylight is divided into five equal parts, and the aparahna is the fourth. The shradh for a tithi falls on the day when that tithi is running through the afternoon.

Sometimes a tithi covers the afternoon on neither day in full. Then the shradh goes to the day on which it covers more. That is how two shradhs come to share one day, and why a family in London and a family in Delhi may keep the same tithi on different dates. It is the same rule, applied to a different sun.

The times — Kutup, Rohina and the afternoon

Three windows are named for the rites. The daylight is divided into fifteen equal muhurtas (about 48 minutes each at this time of year):

• Kutup muhurat — the eighth muhurta, centred on local noon. It is the same slot as the abhijit muhurat.
• Rohina muhurat — the ninth, straight after.
• Aparahna — the tenth to twelfth, the afternoon proper. The main offering is made here.

Delhi, IST:

Elsewhere in India the windows shift by a few minutes to about half an hour, with local sunrise and sunset.

Abroad — the afternoon window, local time:

The Sydney window jumps an hour because Australian clocks go forward on 4 October. The UK and North American clocks do not change until after the fortnight.

Days that carry extra weight

Maha Bharani — Tuesday 29 September, everywhere. The Moon passes through Bharani (Bharni) on that afternoon in every city above. Bharani's deity is Yama, lord of the dead. The tradition holds that a shradh done on Bharani in this fortnight carries the merit of one done at Gaya.

Matru Navami (Avidhava Navami) — Sunday 4 October. The Navami shradh is kept for mothers, and for women who died while their husbands lived. On the Pacific coast of North America it shares Sunday with the Dashami.

Magha — Wednesday 7 October; Tuesday 6 October in North America. The Moon passes through Magha, the mansion whose deities are the Pitris — the ancestors themselves. In the south especially, an offering made on Magha in this fortnight is valued.

Ghata Chaturdashi — Friday 9 October; Thursday 8 October in North America. The Chaturdashi shradh is kept for those who died by accident, weapon or violence — a death before its time. For them the tradition sets this day apart from their own tithi. Those who died a natural death on a Chaturdashi are remembered on the Amavasya instead.

Sarva Pitru Amavasya — Saturday 10 October; Friday 9 October in North America. The new-moon day is for everyone. If you do not know the tithi on which someone died, their shradh is done today. It is also the day for ancestors whose names are no longer known. In Bengal it is Mahalaya, the morning that turns the fortnight of the ancestors into the fortnight of the Goddess.

How to do shradh at home — and what not to do in Pitru Paksha

The core of a shradh is simple. It can be kept at home, abroad, and without a priest if there is none near:

1. Choose the day and the hour. Take the day from the table above and the afternoon window for your city.
2. Offer tarpan. Face south, the direction of the ancestors. Pour water mixed with black sesame, through kusha grass if you have it, naming each person you are remembering.
3. Say svadhā with each offering. It is the word used for the ancestors, as svāhā is used for the gods. A simple form many families use is Om pitṛbhyaḥ svadhā namaḥ (ॐ पितृभ्यः स्वधा नमः) — "to the ancestors, svadhā, and salutation." Your family priest may use a longer one.
4. Offer pinda, if you can. Pinda daan is the offering of balls of cooked rice to the ancestors.
5. Feed someone. Give a meal in their memory to Brahmins, to the poor, or to both. Set portions aside for a crow, a cow and a dog.

The eldest son traditionally performs the rite. The texts do not stop at him, and in many families today a wife, daughter or grandson performs it. Practice differs by region and by lineage; follow your own. Abroad, many temples in the UK, the USA, Canada and Australia hold shradhs through the fortnight, and tarpan can be done at home.

What not to do. This is widely agreed: Pitru Paksha is not a time to begin things. Weddings, engagements, housewarmings, new ventures and large purchases are put off until Navratri. Many families also keep the kitchen plain: no meat, no alcohol, and often no onion or garlic.

None of this makes the fortnight unlucky. It is a fortnight of attention. The tradition's point is that a family's debts to its dead are settled before it asks the Goddess for anything new.

The sky over the fortnight

The Sun is in Virgo — Kanya — for the whole fortnight. That is where the North Indian name comes from: Kanagat is Kanya-gat, the Sun gone into Kanya. It leaves for Libra on 17 October, a week into Navratri.

Two things happen in the sky while Pitru Paksha runs:

• Mercury enters Libra on 26 September at 12:38 IST (07:08 UTC).
• Venus stations retrograde in Libra on Saturday 3 October at 12:43 IST (07:13 UTC). That is Ashtami day, and 03:13 in New York. Western (tropical) forecasts place this station in Scorpio; the moment is the same. Venus Retrograde 2026: When Charm Lies

Mars remains debilitated in Cancer, and Jupiter remains exalted there. Saturn is retrograde in Pisces. Rahu and Ketu hold Aquarius and Leo.

And in the chart: pitru dosh

Pitru Paksha is also the time people ask about pitru dosh — an affliction in the birth chart that the tradition reads as a debt to the ancestors. Classically it is seen in the ninth house, the house of the father and the lineage, and in the Sun, the father's planet, when Rahu, Ketu or Saturn press on them.

A chart condition is not a curse, and it is not read from one placement. That is why, in the Astro River reading order, the Moon, Saturn and Ketu are read third, straight after the lagna (the rising sign): together they show what struggle a life is carrying, and some of that struggle is inherited. The full piece on pitru dosh — how it is seen, how it is not, and what the tradition prescribes — follows shortly.

If you cannot keep the rites yourself this fortnight — no priest nearby, or the family scattered across countries — the Institute arranges tarpan, shradh and pitru dosh puja on your behalf, in your family's name.

→ Arrange a shradh or puja this Pitru Paksha

How the Institute publishes

Three layers, and they are meant to be used in that order.

The pages are free, and stay free. Everything the framework can say in general — the mansions, the houses, the dashas, the sky overhead this year — is published openly and computed rather than repeated. Most people need nothing beyond it.

A written report takes one area of a chart and works it in full. A report — an Inscription, in the Institute's own word — is read at your own pace and kept.

A private consultation reads the chart whole, live. Lagna, Moon, sub-lords, dasha and the transits overhead, with your questions rather than ours. It is where the judgement sits that no page and no report can carry.

Questions we are asked

What is Pitru Paksha? The fortnight of the ancestors: sixteen lunar days, from the full moon to the new moon, in which families offer water, food and prayer to their dead. It is also called Shradh, Kanagat and Mahalaya Paksha.

When does Pitru Paksha 2026 start and end? In India, the Gulf, Singapore, the UK and Australia: Saturday 26 September to Saturday 10 October. In the USA and Canada: Friday 25 September to Friday 9 October. The tithi begins at 23:07 IST on 25 September and ends at 21:20 IST on 10 October.

When is Pitru Paksha 2026 in the USA, Canada and the UK? USA and Canada: Friday 25 September to Friday 9 October. UK: Saturday 26 September to Saturday 10 October, the same as India. North America is a day earlier because the full-moon tithi is already running there on Friday afternoon.

Pitru Paksha kab se hai, aur kab khatam hoga? It begins on Saturday 26 September and ends on Saturday 10 October in India — Sarva Pitru Amavasya is the last day. In the USA and Canada it is one day earlier at each end.

When is Panchami shradh 2026? Wednesday 30 September in India, the UK and North America — in India it shares the day with Chaturthi. Thursday 1 October in Australia and Singapore.

When is the last shradh of 2026? Sarva Pitru Amavasya: Saturday 10 October, or Friday 9 October in the USA and Canada.

Is the shradh date the same as the date of death? No. It follows the tithi — the lunar day — of death, which falls on a different calendar date each year. Find the tithi in the table above.

What if I don't know the tithi? Do the shradh on Sarva Pitru Amavasya: Saturday 10 October, or Friday 9 October in North America. The day exists for exactly this.

What is the Pitru Paksha mantra? The offering word is svadhā. A simple form many families use with tarpan is Om pitṛbhyaḥ svadhā namaḥ (ॐ पितृभ्यः स्वधा नमः). Priests use longer forms that name the father, grandfather and great-grandfather in turn.

Pitru Paksha me kya na kare — what should not be done? Do not begin new things: weddings, engagements, housewarmings, new ventures and large purchases wait until Navratri, which begins on Sunday 11 October. Many families also avoid meat, alcohol, onion and garlic for the fortnight.

Can shradh be done outside India? Yes. Use your local afternoon and the column for your country. Many temples abroad hold shradhs, and tarpan can be done at home with water, black sesame and a clear intention. The Institute can also arrange the shradh on your behalf.

Can a woman perform shradh? Traditions differ. The texts name the son first but allow others when there is none, and many families and priests today accept a wife or daughter performing it. Follow your family's practice, or ask your priest.

What is Kutup muhurat? The eighth of the fifteen parts of the day, centred on local noon — 11:48 to 12:36 IST in Delhi on 26 September. It is the same window as the abhijit muhurat.

This page teaches. The dates are computed from the Swiss Ephemeris (Lahiri) for the cities named. Where a family or temple follows its own panchang, follow that.

For a question about your own chart — the ninth house, the Sun, a dasha (planetary period) that seems to carry more than its share — a private consultation is where it is read in full.

→ Book a private consultation · Magha · Bharani · Abhijit Nakshatra and Abhijit Muhurat