When Pitru Paksha falls in 2026
In 2026 the shraddha fortnight runs from Saturday 26 September to Saturday 10 October. It closes on Sarva Pitru Amavasya, the day kept for every ancestor at once. Bhadrapada Purnima Shraddha falls on the first of those dates, 26 September, and Pitru Paksha proper begins the next day.
Fifteen calendar days carry sixteen shraddha tithis, because one day this year holds two of them. Nothing is left out — every tithi from Pratipada to Amavasya has a place in the fortnight.
The dates below are worked out for Gaya. A panchang computed for a distant city can place a tithi on a different day, so if you are following a calendar printed elsewhere, do not be surprised by a day's difference — and read the section on the difficult days before you fix your travel.
| Date | Shraddha tithi | Traditionally kept for |
|---|---|---|
| Sat 26 Sep | Purnima | Bhadrapada Purnima Shraddha. Those who died on Purnima are conventionally remembered on Amavasya instead — see the note below. |
| Sun 27 Sep | Pratipada | Those who died on Pratipada. Also kept for maternal grandparents — nana and nani. |
| Mon 28 Sep | Dwitiya | Those who died on Dwitiya. |
| Tue 29 Sep | Tritiya · Maha Bharani | Those who died on Tritiya. Bharani nakshatra prevails this day, so it is also Maha Bharani — kept for those who died within the past year. |
| Wed 30 Sep | Chaturthi and Panchami | Both tithis fall on this one day. Panchami is also called Kunwara Panchami and is kept especially for those who died unmarried. |
| Thu 1 Oct | Shashthi | Those who died on Shashthi. |
| Fri 2 Oct | Saptami | Those who died on Saptami. |
| Sat 3 Oct | Ashtami | Those who died on Ashtami. |
| Sun 4 Oct | Navami | Matru Navami — the day for one's mother and for the departed women of the family. Also called Avidhava Navami, kept for married women who died before their husband. |
| Mon 5 Oct | Dashami | Those who died on Dashami. |
| Tue 6 Oct | Ekadashi | Those who died on Ekadashi. |
| Wed 7 Oct | Dwadashi · Magha Shraddha | Those who died on Dwadashi, and those who had taken sannyas. Magha nakshatra prevails this day, which is held to be especially fit for shraddha. |
| Thu 8 Oct | Trayodashi | Those who died on Trayodashi. Also kept for children who died young. |
| Fri 9 Oct | Chaturdashi | Kept only for those who died by weapon, accident or violence. All other Chaturdashi deaths are remembered on Amavasya. |
| Sat 10 Oct | Sarva Pitru Amavasya | Every ancestor, known and unknown. The day for families who do not know the tithi, for rites that were missed, and for those who died on Purnima or Chaturdashi. |
How to find your family's day in this table
Look for the tithi on which your ancestor died — not the English date of death. The shraddha belongs to the tithi, and the tithi falls on a different English date every year, which is why this calendar has to be worked out afresh each time.
If you know the tithi, find its row and that is your day. If you know only the English date of death, a separate article on this site explains how to work the tithi out from it. If nothing at all is remembered, your day is 10 October.
A few days are kept by circumstance rather than by tithi — a mother on Navami, a child on Trayodashi, an unmarried son or daughter on Panchami, an accidental death on Chaturdashi. Where the circumstance and the tithi point to different days, ask your purohit which the family should follow; both practices exist.
The three days most calendars get wrong
Sunday 4 October, Navami. This is the one to be careful about. Navami begins early on the morning of 4 October and ends before dawn on 5 October, so it never falls at sunrise on any day. A calendar built on the sunrise tithi therefore drops Navami altogether and shows 4 October as Ashtami. For shraddha that is wrong: the day is fixed by the tithi running at midday, not at sunrise, and by that rule Navami is squarely on Sunday 4 October. If you are coming for your mother, this is your day.
Wednesday 30 September, Chaturthi and Panchami together. Chaturthi ends in the early afternoon, while the midday period fixed for shraddha is still running, and Panchami begins straight after. So both shraddhas belong to 30 September and Shashthi moves to 1 October. The margin here is only about twenty minutes, and it is the one day in this fortnight where a panchang computed for a city far to the east genuinely gives a different answer. If your day is Panchami, confirm 30 September with your Pandaji before booking.
Saturday 26 September, Purnima. Purnima Shraddha is on 26 September, but it sits just before Pitru Paksha rather than inside it, and the older practice is that an ancestor who died on Purnima is remembered on Amavasya — 10 October — and not on 26 September. Both are followed. If Purnima is your tithi, ask before you fix the date, because the two answers are a fortnight apart.
The days that carry a special significance this year
Maha Bharani falls on Tuesday 29 September, because Bharani nakshatra prevails through the shraddha hours of that day. It is kept for those who died within the past year, and the tradition speaks of it with unusual weight. Note that Bharani is not tied to a fixed tithi — in another year it can land elsewhere in the fortnight, so do not carry this date forward.
Magha Shraddha falls on Wednesday 7 October. Magha is the nakshatra of the Pitrs themselves, and a shraddha performed while it prevails is held to be especially fitting, whatever the family's own tithi.
On the closing day, 10 October, the Sun and the Moon both stand in Hasta nakshatra on Amavasya, the combination called Gajachhaya Yoga. It does not occur every year, and the tradition regards a shraddha offered under it as especially fruitful. For a family already planning to come on Sarva Pitru Amavasya, that is a quiet piece of good fortune this year.
What time of day the rite is performed
Shraddha is performed in the afternoon, not in the morning. Through this fortnight the aparahna kaal at Gaya runs from roughly a quarter to one until a little after three in the afternoon, shifting by a few minutes from day to day. That is why the tithi at midday, rather than the tithi at sunrise, decides which day a shraddha belongs to.
In practice the day at Gaya starts much earlier than that. The bath, the sankalp and the movement between the vedis all come first, and the offering itself is made in that afternoon window. Plan on giving the whole day to it rather than an hour.
Coming to Gaya during these fifteen days
This is the busiest fortnight of the year in Gaya. Rooms fill, trains fill, and the vedis carry many times their usual number of families. Whichever day is yours, arrive at least a day early — a family that reaches Gaya on the morning of its own tithi is starting the day already behind.
Speak to a Tirth Purohit well before you travel, not after you arrive. Tell him the tithi, the names and the gotra, and how many of you are coming, so that the vidhi and the samagri are ready for your day rather than arranged in a hurry on the morning.
Three days carry the heaviest crowds: Maha Bharani on 29 September, Matru Navami on 4 October, and Sarva Pitru Amavasya on 10 October, which is the busiest day of the year in this town. If your family’s day is one of those three, fix the purohit and the room first and the travel afterwards, not the other way round.
When you speak to him, give the tithi and not only the dates you are free to travel. A family that says “we can come on the 2nd or the 3rd” gets a day that suits the calendar; a family that says “our day is Navami” gets the right day. Where the tithi is not known at all, 10 October is yours, and that is the day to settle earliest of all.
If these dates cannot be managed at all, the rite is not lost. Gaya Shraddh may be performed on any day of the year, and a separate article on this site explains what changes and what does not when a family comes outside the fortnight.
Please confirm your own day before you book
This calendar has been worked out carefully and checked against more than one panchang for Gaya, and it agrees with them to the minute. Even so, a family should have its own day confirmed by the purohit who will perform the rite — for the three difficult days above, and because your family's practice may differ from the general rule.
It takes a few minutes on the phone and costs nothing. Tell us the tithi or the English date of death, and a Gaya Pandaji will tell you which of these fifteen days is yours.