Pitru Paksha 2026 Shraddha Tithi: How to Find Your Ancestor's Day

Pitru Paksha 2026 — the fortnight of the ancestors, also called Shraddha Paksha or Mahalaya Paksha — runs from Saturday 26 September (Purnima shraddha) to Saturday 10 October, which is Sarva Pitru Amavasya. The single most common question families ask in these two weeks is simple: on which day should we do shraddha for our father, mother or grandparent? The answer is not the date of death on the English calendar. It is the shraddha tithi — the lunar day on which that person died — and finding it takes a few minutes with a panchang. This guide walks through how the tithi is chosen, which days in the 2026 fortnight carry special rules, and what to do when nobody remembers the tithi at all.

What Pitru Paksha 2026 actually is

Pitru Paksha is the dark fortnight (Krishna Paksha) of the lunar month that follows the Bhadrapada full moon. In the purnimanta calendar used across most of North India it sits in Ashwin; in the amanta calendar used in the South and West it is the dark half of Bhadrapada. Both describe the same fifteen days, so the dates do not change between calendars — only the month name does.

For 2026 the fortnight opens with Purnima shraddha on 26 September and the first proper tithi, Pratipada, on Sunday 27 September. It closes with Sarva Pitru Amavasya, also called Mahalaya Amavasya, on Saturday 10 October. The day after Mahalaya, the bright fortnight of Ashwin begins and the mood turns towards the Devi festivals.

In Jyotish terms the fortnight is tied to the Sun's passage through Kanya (Virgo) — the Sun entered Virgo on 17 September, as we explained in Kanya Sankranti on 17 September 2026. Traditional texts describe this as the window when the ancestors are closest to the living, which is why offerings of water, sesame and rice balls (pinda) are made now rather than at any other time of year.

How to find the shraddha tithi for an ancestor

The rule is straightforward: shraddha is done on the same tithi on which the person died, whatever the month of death. If your grandfather passed away on a Saptami (the seventh lunar day) — waxing or waning does not matter for this purpose — his shraddha in Pitru Paksha falls on the Saptami of this fortnight.

To find it:

• Look up the date of death in a panchang. Enter the calendar date in any daily panchang and note the tithi that was running at sunrise, or at the time of death if the family knows it. Our daily panchang calendar shows the tithi for any date.
• Match that tithi to this fortnight. Pratipada falls on 27 September, and the tithis then roughly advance one per day until Amavasya on 10 October.
• Check the afternoon, not only sunrise. Shraddha is performed in the aparahna — the afternoon portion of the day. When a tithi begins or ends mid-day, panchangs assign the shraddha to the day on which that tithi covers the afternoon window.

That last point matters in 2026. Some panchangs note that Panchami is a short tithi this fortnight and does not fully cover the afternoon window on any single day, so different calendars place Panchami shraddha on 30 September or 1 October. If your family's ancestor died on a Panchami, follow the panchang your household or priest already uses rather than mixing sources.

Special days in the 2026 fortnight

A few tithis carry rules that override the simple "same tithi" principle:

• Purnima shraddha — 26 September. For those who died on a full moon day. Some families also observe it as the formal opening of the fortnight.
• Pratipada — 27 September. Many traditions reserve this day for the maternal grandparents (nana-nani), especially when the family has no male heir on that side.
• Matri Navami — Sunday 4 October. Navami is dedicated to mothers and married women of the family who died while their husbands were alive. It is observed even when the actual death tithi was different.
• Indira Ekadashi — Tuesday 6 October. The Ekadashi of this fortnight is a fast in its own right, traditionally kept for the uplift of ancestors. Ekadashi shraddha is also done on this day.
• Chaturdashi — Friday 9 October. Reserved for those who died an untimely or violent death — accident, weapon or drowning — regardless of the actual death tithi.
• Sarva Pitru Amavasya — Saturday 10 October. The catch-all day, described below.

The middle tithis, from Dwitiya to Trayodashi, follow the ordinary rule. Because tithi boundaries shift with your city's sunrise, always confirm the exact day and afternoon timing locally.

When you do not know the tithi

Many families simply do not have the date of death, or the elders who remembered it are gone. The tradition anticipated this. Sarva Pitru Amavasya on 10 October is the day on which shraddha is valid for every ancestor collectively — those whose tithi is known, those whose tithi is forgotten, and those the family never knew by name. If you can only do one observance in the fortnight, this is the day to choose.

Amavasya is also the fallback when the correct tithi was missed because of travel, illness or a clash with a tithi that fell on a working day. There is no penalty in the texts for doing it on Amavasya instead; the intention is what the ritual asks for.

Muhurat and everyday decisions during the fortnight

Pitru Paksha is treated as inauspicious for new beginnings — engagements, weddings, griha pravesh, buying gold or vehicles — because the fortnight belongs to the dead rather than to new ventures. The fortnight also falls inside Chaturmas, the longer wedding-muhurat pause we explained in no weddings in Chaturmas. If you have a date to fix for after 10 October, the muhurat finder will show you auspicious windows once the fortnight closes.

Daily life does not stop. Work, study, medical treatment and routine purchases carry on. What changes is the emphasis: this is a good fortnight for clearing debts, feeding people, donating food and simply remembering. If you have been told you carry pitru dosh in your chart, our calm guide to pitru dosh remedies before Pitru Paksha explains what the classical texts actually recommend and what is marketing.

A simple checklist for the fortnight

• Write down each ancestor you intend to honour and find their death tithi in a panchang.
• Mark the matching day between 27 September and 10 October, noting special days (Matri Navami on 4 October, Chaturdashi on 9 October).
• Keep Sarva Pitru Amavasya on 10 October as the common day for everyone else.
• Perform tarpan (water offering with sesame) and, if possible, feed a Brahmin, a cow, a crow and a dog, or donate a meal to someone in need.
• Hold back new beginnings until the fortnight ends.

Open the panchang for your city each morning of the fortnight to confirm which tithi covers the afternoon — that single check settles most of the confusion families face every year.