The day the fortnight sets aside for the mother
Most days of Pitru Paksha are kept by tithi — you come on the tithi your ancestor died on. Navami is different. It is kept by relationship. It is the day for one's mother, and more widely for the departed women of the family, whatever tithi they left on.
That is why a family whose mother has passed will often be told to come on Navami even though her own tithi falls elsewhere in the fortnight. Both practices exist, and which one your family follows is worth settling with the purohit rather than assuming.
Matru Navami and Avidhava Navami — two names, slightly different meanings
You will hear the day called by both names, and they are not quite the same. Matru Navami is the broader usage: the day for the mother, and for the deceased women of the household generally. Avidhava Navami is narrower — literally the 'unwidowed ninth', kept for married women who died before their husband, that is, while still sumangali.
Both usages are current, and different regions lean on one or the other. Nothing turns on the name for an ordinary family: if you are coming for your mother, or for a grandmother, aunt or sister-in-law who has passed, this is your day either way.
In 2026 it falls on Sunday 4 October
Navami Shraddha in 2026 is on Sunday 4 October. That date is worth writing down, because this is the single day of the fortnight most likely to be printed wrongly, and the reason is worth understanding rather than taking on trust.
In 2026 Navami begins early on the morning of 4 October and ends before dawn on 5 October. It therefore never falls at sunrise on any day at all. A calendar built on the sunrise tithi has nowhere to put it, so it drops Navami and shows 4 October as Ashtami instead.
For shraddha that is the wrong rule. The day is fixed by the tithi running during aparahna — the afternoon period in which the offering is made — not by the tithi at sunrise. By that rule Navami sits squarely on Sunday 4 October. A family following a sunrise-based list would arrive for their mother on the wrong day, which is why this is worth checking rather than assuming.
What is performed on the day
The vidhi is the ordinary shraddha vidhi, directed to the women of the lineage. The sankalp is taken in their names with the gotra, tarpan is offered with water and til, the pind is offered, and brahmins are fed. At Gaya the offering is made at the vedis in the usual order, with the sankalp naming the mother.
Many families also observe the day at home — the offering of water with til, and a portion of the day's food set aside before the family eats. If travelling is not possible this year, that observance is not a lesser thing, and a separate article on this site sets out what a household does through the fortnight.
Who performs it
Ordinarily the son performs the shraddha for the mother, with the family joining the sankalp. Where there is no son, the tradition provides more generously than most people assume — daughters, grandsons through a daughter, sons-in-law, brothers and nephews all perform it in practice, and Gaya in particular is known for accepting the offering from whoever comes with shraddha.
If your family has no son, that question is answered in full in a separate article, and it is worth reading before you conclude that the rite is closed to you. It is not.
If you do not know her tithi
This is common, and Navami is part of the reason the day exists. Because it is kept by relationship rather than by tithi, a family that never recorded the date can still come on Navami for the mother. If nothing at all is remembered about any ancestor, Sarva Pitru Amavasya on 10 October covers the whole line at once.
If you know only the English date of her death, the tithi can be worked back from it — a separate article explains how, and a Gayawal Tirth Purohit will do it for you on the phone in a few minutes. Guessing is worse than asking.
Planning the day at Gaya
Navami falls on a Sunday in 2026, in the middle of the busiest fortnight of the year in Gaya. Rooms and trains fill, and the vedis carry many times their usual number of families. Reach a day early rather than on the morning itself, and speak to the Tirth Purohit well before you travel so the vidhi and the samagri are ready in her name.
Tell him her name, the gotra and the relationship, and whether her own tithi is known. He will confirm whether your family should observe Navami or her own tithi. That call costs nothing and settles the question properly.