Amavasya — Dates, Pitru Tarpan, Shradh & Puja Vidhi

Amavasya dates 2026 & 2027

What is Amavasya?

Amavasya (अमावस्या) is the new-moon tithi — the night the Moon disappears from the sky because the Sun and Moon share the same celestial longitude. It is the final day of the Krishna Paksha, the waning fortnight, and the very day on which a new lunar month begins in the Amanta tradition. Because a lunar month closes with Amavasya, there are twelve Amavasyas in a normal year and thirteen when an Adhik Maas (extra month) is added.

Unlike Purnima's bright fullness, Amavasya is a day of inwardness. The scriptures hold that the dark fortnight is when the souls of the ancestors — the Pitru — draw close to the living, which is why Amavasya is the day reserved for Tarpan, Shradh and remembrance rather than celebration. The date can never be picked from the English calendar; it is fixed by the exact moment the Moon-Sun separation reaches the new moon, which is why every date above is computed from real planetary positions using the Swiss Ephemeris engine.

Amavasya and the ancestors (Pitru Tarpan & Shradh)

The central observance of Amavasya is for the Pitru — the departed ancestors. Offering Tarpan, water mixed with black sesame and kusha grass given facing south, is how the family nourishes and honours them. Where a death anniversary's Shradh is due, Amavasya is the day it is performed, or the ancestors are honoured by feeding Brahmins, a cow, a crow and a dog in their name. This repays the Pitru Rin — the ancestral debt every person is said to carry.

The greatest of these is Mahalaya / Sarva Pitru Amavasya in Bhadrapada, which closes the fortnight of Pitru Paksha and covers Shradh for every ancestor whose own tithi may have been missed. Mauni Amavasya in Magha is kept in silence with a holy bath — most powerfully at Prayagraj — and Kartik Amavasya is Diwali, the night of Lakshmi Puja. Each is listed in the table above with its Hindu month and engine-computed date.

What to do and avoid on Amavasya

On Amavasya, bathe at sunrise, offer Tarpan to the ancestors, worship Lord Shani and a Peepal tree, donate food, black sesame, iron or oil, and light a diya for the Pitru in the south at dusk. When Amavasya falls on a Saturday it is Shani Amavasya and on a Tuesday it is Bhaumvati Amavasya — both especially potent for relief from Saturn's pressure and from Sade Sati. The day suits Kali and tantric sadhana and settling karmic accounts.

Amavasya is deliberately avoided for new beginnings — weddings, grih pravesh (housewarming), starting a business or any auspicious launch. Keep speech truthful, avoid anger and arguments and set aside tamasic food. The new moon is a day to close accounts, not to open them. For the exact sunrise, tithi window and Shubh timing in your city, use the daily Panchang.

Amavasya puja vidhi

1. 1Take a holy bath at sunrise. Rise before sunrise and bathe — at a river or holy water if possible, otherwise at home with a little Ganga jal. Cleanliness of body comes before the rites for the Pitru.
2. 2Offer Tarpan to the ancestors. Facing south, offer Tarpan — water mixed with black sesame (til) and kusha grass — to your departed ancestors, taking their names and gotra. This is the heart of Amavasya for the Pitru.
3. 3Perform Shradh or feed in their name. Where Shradh is due, perform it through a priest, or feed Brahmins, the needy, a cow, a crow and a dog in the ancestors' name. On Mahalaya Amavasya this covers every ancestor whose specific tithi was missed.
4. 4Worship Shani and the Peepal. Offer water and a mustard-oil diya at a Peepal tree, and light a diya for Lord Shani — Amavasya, especially Shani Amavasya, is a strong day for Saturn's grace and relief from Sade Sati.
5. 5Donate and keep the day calm. Donate food, black sesame, iron, oil or warm clothes. Keep speech truthful, avoid anger and arguments, and do not begin new auspicious work — the new moon is for settling karma, not starting fresh.
6. 6Light a diya for the Pitru at dusk. At sunset, light a diya in the south of the home or doorway so the departing ancestors leave with blessings. Pray for the family's protection and the lifting of any ancestral burden.

Upay for Pitra Dosh on Amavasya

If the same obstacles, repeated losses or a feeling of being blocked keep returning across a family, the tradition reads it as Pitra Dosh — an unsettled ancestral karma — and Amavasya is the prescribed day to lighten it. Offer Tarpan with black sesame, feed a crow and a cow, donate in the ancestors' name, plant or water a Peepal tree, and light a mustard-oil diya for Shani. Doing this on Amavasya — and most of all on Mahalaya — is the classical way to honour the Pitru and ease their unrest.

Which Amavasya and which upay matter most for you depends on your chart — an afflicted Sun, a weak ninth house, or Rahu and Ketu on the lunar nodes each point to a different remedy. Generate your free kundali to see your Sun, ninth house and the upay that fit your ancestral karma.

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