When is Pitru Paksha 2026?

It runs from 26 September to 10 October 2026 — from the Bhadrapada purnima to the amavasya that closes the month.

Which day do I keep the shraddha on?

The day carrying the tithi on which the death happened, not the calendar date. If you do not know the tithi, you can find it from the date at /en/date/. If it cannot be found, Sarva Pitru Amavasya on 10 October is kept for exactly that case.

Does the city change the dates?

It can, by a day. A tithi ends at one instant everywhere, but which tithi is running at sunrise depends on where the sun rises. The dates here are for Delhi; check your own city's day page where a tithi turns near dawn.

Pitru Paksha 2026

26 September to 10 October 2026. Fifteen days in which each tithi carries the shraddha of whoever died on it. The rite follows the tithi of the death, not its date.

The fortnight, day by day

Date		Tithi	Nakshatra
26 Sep	Sat	Pournami	Purva Bhadrapada	Purnima Shraddha. The fortnight opens here.
27 Sep	Sun	Krishna Prathamai	Uttara Bhadrapada
28 Sep	Mon	Krishna Dwitiyai	Revati
29 Sep	Tue	Krishna Tritiyai	Ashwini
30 Sep	Wed	Krishna Chaturthi	Bharani
1 Oct	Thu	Krishna Panchami	Rohini
2 Oct	Fri	Krishna Shashti	Mrigashira
3 Oct	Sat	Krishna Saptami	Ardra
4 Oct	Sun	Krishna Navami	Punarvasu	Avidhava Navami, kept for married women who died before their husbands.
5 Oct	Mon	Krishna Dashami	Pushya
6 Oct	Tue	Krishna Ekadashi	Ashlesha
7 Oct	Wed	Krishna Dwadashi	Magha
8 Oct	Thu	Krishna Trayodashi	Purva Phalguni
9 Oct	Fri	Krishna Chaturdashi	Uttara Phalguni
10 Oct	Sat	Amavasai	Hasta	Sarva Pitru Amavasya. Kept for anyone whose tithi is not known, and for any shraddha missed earlier in the fortnight. If you know nothing else, this is the day.

There is no Ashtami this year

Ashtami never touches a sunrise in 2026: it begins after one sunrise and ends before the next, so no civil day carries it. A tithi that does this is called kshaya, lost. Where a shraddha falls on a lost tithi the household keeps it on the day the tithi was actually running, even briefly — or, failing that, on Sarva Pitru Amavasya, which exists for exactly this.

Bharani Shraddha

Bharani falls on 30 September this year. Where the rite is kept by the nakshatra rather than the tithi, that is the day.

If you do not know the tithi

Most people know the date a parent died and not the tithi, because the death certificate carries one and not the other. The two drift apart: a death on 12 March 2019 fell on Shukla Shashti, and Shukla Shashti will not land on 12 March again in a lifetime.

Find the tithi from the date — any day since 1950, in eighteen cities. Then come back to this table and find the day it falls on this year.

Why the tithi and not the date

A shraddha is an anniversary kept in the calendar the rite belongs to. The Gregorian date is an accident of which calendar the hospital used. The tithi is the day itself, and it returns once a year — in this fortnight, for the ancestors.

How a tithi is computed · Today in Delhi

How this was computed
The fortnight is bounded by the Bhadrapada purnima and the amavasya that ends the month, both computed from the Swiss Ephemeris on the Lahiri ayanamsha. Each day carries the tithi running at sunrise.