Pitru Paksha & Shraddh: Anna Daan for Your Ancestors

Every year, for a fortnight, Hindu families turn their thoughts homeward — not to the home they live in, but to the ones who built it before them. This is Pitru Paksha, the 'fortnight of the ancestors,' a sacred window in which we remember our departed parents, grandparents and forefathers, and offer them our gratitude, our prayers and our charity. If you have been searching for what to do in Pitru Paksha, what daan to give in Shraddh, or how to honour your parents after they are gone, this page is written gently for you. At the centre of the whole tradition sits one simple, luminous act: anna daan — the giving of food. And that is something you can offer today, in your ancestor's name, at our free Kanwar Sewa Shivir on the NH-8 at Mahipalpur, New Delhi.

We want to be honest and respectful from the very first line. This is an article that explains the tradition of Pitru Paksha and Shraddh as our elders have handed it down, and it points to one concrete thing our samiti can do for you: dedicate a meal, or a whole day of langar, to your departed loved ones. We do not perform pind daan, tarpan or priestly shraddh rituals — for those, please turn to a qualified pandit or a tirth like Gaya, Haridwar or Prayagraj. What we humbly offer is the anna daan itself: warm food placed in a hungry hand, given in your ancestor's name, so that your shraddha becomes something living in the world.

What is Pitru Paksha?

Pitru Paksha, sometimes called Shraddh Paksha, Mahalaya Paksha or simply the 'pitra' days, is a sixteen-day period in the Hindu lunar calendar dedicated to the pitrs — our ancestors. It falls in the dark fortnight (Krishna Paksha) of the month of Ashwin, immediately after the bright fortnight that ends with Ganesh Utsav and just before Navratri and the festive season. In these days it is believed that the doors between our world and the world of the ancestors stand open, and that the offerings we make with faith reach those who have gone before us.

Each day of the fortnight corresponds to a tithi (lunar date). Traditionally, the Shraddh for a departed person is performed on the tithi on which they passed away — so a father who left on a Panchami would be honoured on the Panchami of Pitru Paksha. The fortnight closes with Sarva Pitru Amavasya (also called Mahalaya Amavasya), the most important day of all, on which Shraddh can be offered for every ancestor whose date of passing we may not remember, and for the whole lineage together.

Pitru Paksha 2026 dates (per panchang)

Exact tithis shift each year and vary slightly by region, so please always confirm with your local panchang or family pandit. As a general guide, Pitru Paksha 2026 is expected to fall in the second half of September — beginning around the full moon after Ganesh Utsav and closing on Sarva Pitru Amavasya near the end of September 2026, just before Navratri. Treat these as an approximate window and verify the precise dates with a reliable panchang before you plan a Shraddh.

What does Shraddh mean?

The word Shraddh comes from shraddhā — faith, sincerity, an offering made from the heart. Shraddh is the set of acts by which we remember and nourish our ancestors: prayer, remembrance, and above all the giving of food and charity in their name. The idea beneath it is beautiful and simple. In the Hindu understanding, death does not sever the bond between us and those who raised us; it only changes the form of the relationship. We can no longer feed our parents with our hands — but we can feed the world in their name, and that love, our elders teach, still reaches them.

A full traditional Shraddh, performed by a pandit, may include pind daan (offering rice balls, or pind, to symbolically nourish the ancestors), tarpan (offering water mixed with sesame and kush grass), and the feeding of brahmins and the poor. Each part has its own meaning, and we describe them here only so you understand the whole — not because our samiti performs them. Woven through every one of these rites is the same golden thread: anna, food, offered so that the departed may be satisfied and blessed on their journey.

Annam brahma — food itself is sacred. To offer food in an ancestor's name is to offer them the very substance of life, long after we can no longer offer it by hand.

Why anna daan is central to honouring ancestors

Ask any elder why we feed people in Shraddh, and the answer is always the same: because feeding is the purest way to satisfy a soul. Our scriptures place anna daan — the gift of food — among the very highest forms of charity, and in the context of the ancestors it carries a special weight. The pitrs, it is said, are nourished not by grand ceremony but by the sincere offering of food made in their name. When a hungry person eats because of you and blesses the one you gave for, that blessing is believed to travel to your ancestor as punya — spiritual merit that eases and brightens their onward path.

This is why, across every region of India, families mark Shraddh by feeding brahmins, feeding the poor, offering bhojan to the needy, and holding a bhandara in their ancestors' memory. It is not superstition and it is not display; it is love given a body. A photograph on the wall grows faded; a prayer said once fades into silence. But a meal given in your father's name becomes real food in a real hand — and the good it does keeps rippling outward in his name. That is the quiet genius of anna daan: it turns remembrance into nourishment.

The punya of feeding in a departed soul's name

Our tradition holds that when we perform a good deed and dedicate its fruit to someone else — a sankalp made 'on behalf of' the departed — the punya of that deed flows to them rather than to us. This is the very engine of Shraddh. We give not to earn merit for ourselves, but to send it onward to those who can no longer act in this world. Feeding a hungry soul in a departed person's name is one of the most direct and powerful ways to do this, because food answers the most basic need of all, and because the blessing of a satisfied heart is freely and sincerely given.

There is also a deep gentleness in this teaching. It means no one is ever too far away, and no grief is ever wasted. Whether your parents left last year or long ago, whether you can afford a grand ceremony or only a single plate of food, the door of anna daan is open to you. A modest gift, offered with shraddhā, is said to reach the ancestors as surely as a great one. What matters is the faith and the love behind it — not the size of the sum.

What to donate in Shraddh

Beyond feeding, families traditionally give certain daans during Pitru Paksha, each carrying its own significance. You are always free to give any of these to a pandit, a needy family, or a place of seva. The table below explains the most common Shraddh daans and what they are believed to signify, so you can choose what feels right for you.

If you would like to donate ration, grains or supplies to our shivir rather than money, you are warmly welcome to — a sack of atta or rice, dal, oil or sugar all become part of the langar. Simply message us first on WhatsApp and we will guide you on what is most needed and how to send or drop it. And of course, the simplest anna daan of all is to sponsor the cooked meals directly, which we describe below.

How to dedicate a meal in an ancestor's name

For over thirty years, our volunteer-run samiti has kept a free sewa shivir burning on the NH-8 highway at Mahipalpur, near IGI Airport, through the Kanwar season. Tired pilgrims — many walking barefoot from Haridwar with sealed pots of Ganga jal — stop here to eat, drink, rest and receive first aid. No one is asked their name, caste or means; the plate is free, offered with folded hands. When you give in your ancestor's name, your gift joins this stream directly, and a warm meal reaches a hungry hand in their memory.

About ₹35 provides one bhakt a full, hot meal — dal, rice or roti, sabzi and often something sweet. So a few hundred rupees feeds a dozen people in your parents' name; a few thousand can keep the langar running for hours in the name of your whole lineage. There is no minimum on seva and no gift is too small. Dedicating your daan is simple, and we handle it with quiet care. There are just two steps.

• 🔱First, give your daan. Visit our Donate page at /donate and give in under a minute by card, UPI, netbanking or wallet through our secure Razorpay checkout. For a larger gift, you can send a bank transfer (NEFT/IMPS) to our Punjab National Bank account: A/C 0149000104323988, IFSC PUNB0014900, Khan Market branch, New Delhi, in the name of Shiv Kavar Samiti.
• 🔱Second, tell us the name. After you donate, send us a short message on WhatsApp at +91 98189 08237 with your ancestor's name — your late mother, father, grandparents, or simply 'for my pitrs' — and, if you wish, the Shraddh tithi. We will dedicate a meal, or a day of langar, in their name.

That is all it takes. You do not need to justify your gift or explain your grief — a name is enough. If you wish, we are always glad to tell you how your daan was used, and you are welcome to visit the shivir in person and watch a plate you funded reach the hands of someone who needed it. Please note we can offer only the anna daan itself; for pind daan, tarpan or the formal Shraddh ceremony, kindly approach a qualified pandit.

For your mother, your father, your whole lineage

To dedicate a meal in memory of parents is to complete a circle that began with them — the mother who fed you before she fed herself, the father whose work put food on your plate. Feeding a stranger in their name is a way of saying that the nourishment they poured into you is still flowing outward, and has not ended. And on Sarva Pitru Amavasya, when Shraddh is offered for the entire lineage, an anna daan given 'for all my pitrs' becomes a blessing spread across every generation whose love brought you here.

We cannot serve our ancestors their food with our own hands any longer. But we can set that plate before someone who is hungry today — and let the blessing find its way home.

You may give once, on a single Shraddh tithi, or make it a quiet annual practice — a day of langar dedicated to your parents each Pitru Paksha, year after year, so their name is spoken in blessing at our shivir long into the future. There is no right amount and no wrong time. There is only your shraddhā, and a hungry person who will be fed because of it. If your ancestors are on your heart this Pitru Paksha, give at /donate in seconds by card, UPI, netbanking or wallet, or by bank transfer to our Punjab National Bank account — then message their name to us on WhatsApp at +91 98189 08237, and let a warm plate carry your love home to your pitrs.