Shraddha

Shraddha Tithi

Find the correct Shraddha tithi for ancestor rituals from the date of death, with annual Pitru Paksha dates.

What this page computes from a date of death

Give a date of death and this page finds the tithi for the annual (pratyabdika) shraddha and the day in the year's Pitru Paksha on which that tithi falls, for a target year and a place. The anchor is not sunrise: it is aparahna-vyapini, the day whose aparahna the death tithi pervades.

Manu III.278 puts the rite of the gods in the forenoon and the rite of the pitrs in the aparahna, so the afternoon is the prescribed time and the afternoon is what a candidate day has to be tested against. Matching at sunrise instead puts the rite a whole day late whenever the tithi's boundary falls in the morning, which happens on roughly a quarter of cases, silently, on a fortnight that is otherwise correct.

Aparahna, kutapa and the performable window

Aparahna is taken in the five-fold reading, the stretch of daylight from three fifths to four fifths of the arc, which is this codebase's named default; the Kalanirnaya calls the five-fold division the one resorted to in the sastric passages. On an ordinary day that is roughly two and a quarter to two and three quarter hours, and it moves with the season and the latitude because it is a proportion of the real daylight.

The window in which the rite may be performed is wider than the anchor and is reported separately, so the two are never confused. The rite is begun in kutapa, the eighth diurnal muhurta, whose midpoint is apparent noon, and must close by the Rauhina, the twelfth: diurnal muhurtas eight to twelve, which is the tail of madhyahna plus the whole of aparahna (Prajapati-smrti 158-159; Matsya Purana 22).

The five-fold division itself is Satapatha Brahmana II.2.3.9 with Prajapati-smrti 156-157, reported by Kane in History of Dharmasastra Vol. II Part I.

Two anchors are reported, and neither is chosen for you

The sources do not agree on what the pitrs attend. Manu III.278 gives aparahna, which is the anchor this page uses for the date and names as such. Kane, History of Dharmasastra V.i p.74, quotes the Grhya-parisista for the other: the pitrs attend on that tithi which exists at the time when the sun sets.

Both are computed for every candidate day and both are shown, because showing one and hiding the other would be this app settling a question the sources leave open.

When two consecutive days both carry the tithi at aparahna, which is what a tithi-vriddhi produces, the "whichever day has more of aparahna covered" tie-break is a modern panchang-maker's rule with no verse behind it. It is computed, labelled as modern, and displayed beside the classical sunset reading, and the single annual date is deliberately left unset, because choosing between them is not a decision this page is entitled to make on a reader's behalf.

The yugmavakya does not reach pitr rites

The yugmavakya is the pairing rule that, for ordinary vratas, joins a tithi to its neighbour and can move an observance by a day. Kane records that pitr rites are expressly not governed by it, so no pairing, no plus or minus one day, and no second-day-of-the-pair adjustment is applied anywhere in this calculation.

That statement is carried in the response itself rather than left as a comment in the engine, so that no later screen can quietly reintroduce it. The day returned is the day on which the death tithi actually pervades aparahna, and nothing shifts it afterwards.

Pitru Paksha itself

Pitru Paksha is the dark fortnight of Bhadrapada, and this page selects it from the almanac's own masa rather than from a hard-coded September to October range, because the fortnight drifts across an August to November window from year to year and a fixed range would be wrong in the years it drifts out of.

The fortnight is listed day by day with the tithi on each, and the days on which the death tithi is present at aparahna are marked, so a family that remembers the tithi but not the Gregorian date can still find the day. Because aparahna is a proportional division of the local daylight, supplying a place changes which day is marked in the borderline cases.

Frequently asked questions

On which day should the annual shraddha be performed?: On the day whose aparahna the death tithi pervades, aparahna being the daylight from three fifths to four fifths of the arc. Manu III.278 assigns the pitr rite to the aparahna, so that window and not sunrise is what the day is tested against. Enter the date of death and a target year and the page computes it, and when two consecutive days both qualify it shows both rather than picking one.
Why is the sunrise tithi not used?: Because sunrise is the right anchor only for a rite whose prescribed time is the day as a whole, and shraddha's prescribed time is the afternoon. A tithi that begins at 09:00 and ends at 08:00 the next morning is that second day's tithi at sunrise, but it covers the aparahna only on the first day. Matching at sunrise therefore puts the rite a day late whenever a tithi boundary falls in the morning.
What is kutapa, and how does it relate to aparahna?: Kutapa is the eighth of the fifteen diurnal muhurtas, the one whose midpoint is apparent noon, and it is where the rite is begun. The performable window runs from there to the twelfth muhurta, the Rauhina, so it is muhurtas eight to twelve, the tail of madhyahna plus the whole of aparahna. Aparahna is the narrower window that fixes the date; kutapa to Rauhina is the wider window in which the rite may be carried out.
What happens if the tithi falls on two consecutive days?: The page shows both and marks the readings rather than resolving it. Two classical anchors are reported, aparahna from Manu III.278 and sunset from the Grhya-parisista as Kane quotes it, and the modern tie-break that prefers the day with more of aparahna covered is computed and clearly labelled as modern. The single annual date is left unset in that case on purpose.
Does the place of the rite change the date?: It can. Aparahna is a proportional division of the local daylight arc, so it opens and closes at different clock times in different places, while a tithi boundary is one instant worldwide. In the borderline cases that decides which day the tithi pervades, which is why latitude, longitude and timezone are accepted as inputs.
What is Pitru Paksha, and when does it fall?: It is the dark fortnight of Bhadrapada, in which the annual shraddha of a departed relative is commonly performed on the tithi of their death. Because it is selected from the almanac's masa rather than from Gregorian months, it drifts across an August to November window from year to year, and this page dates the fortnight for the year you ask for rather than assuming September and October.
Does the yugmavakya move a shraddha date?: No. The yugmavakya pairs a tithi with its neighbour for ordinary vratas and can shift an observance by a day, but Kane records that pitr rites are expressly not governed by it. No pairing and no one-day shift is applied here, and that statement travels with the result so a later screen cannot reintroduce it.
Do I need the exact time of death?: No. The date of death is what the calculation needs, because it is used to find the tithi. A target year is optional and defaults to the current one, and latitude, longitude and timezone are optional too, though supplying them sharpens the aparahna window and therefore the borderline cases.

What this page computes from a date of death

Aparahna, kutapa and the performable window

The five-fold division itself is Satapatha Brahmana II.2.3.9 with Prajapati-smrti 156-157, reported by Kane in History of Dharmasastra Vol. II Part I.

Two anchors are reported, and neither is chosen for you

Both are computed for every candidate day and both are shown, because showing one and hiding the other would be this app settling a question the sources leave open.

The yugmavakya does not reach pitr rites

Pitru Paksha itself

Frequently asked questions

On which day should the annual shraddha be performed?

On the day whose aparahna the death tithi pervades, aparahna being the daylight from three fifths to four fifths of the arc. Manu III.278 assigns the pitr rite to the aparahna, so that window and not sunrise is what the day is tested against. Enter the date of death and a target year and the page computes it, and when two consecutive days both qualify it shows both rather than picking one.

Why is the sunrise tithi not used?

Because sunrise is the right anchor only for a rite whose prescribed time is the day as a whole, and shraddha's prescribed time is the afternoon. A tithi that begins at 09:00 and ends at 08:00 the next morning is that second day's tithi at sunrise, but it covers the aparahna only on the first day. Matching at sunrise therefore puts the rite a day late whenever a tithi boundary falls in the morning.

What is kutapa, and how does it relate to aparahna?

Kutapa is the eighth of the fifteen diurnal muhurtas, the one whose midpoint is apparent noon, and it is where the rite is begun. The performable window runs from there to the twelfth muhurta, the Rauhina, so it is muhurtas eight to twelve, the tail of madhyahna plus the whole of aparahna. Aparahna is the narrower window that fixes the date; kutapa to Rauhina is the wider window in which the rite may be carried out.

What happens if the tithi falls on two consecutive days?

The page shows both and marks the readings rather than resolving it. Two classical anchors are reported, aparahna from Manu III.278 and sunset from the Grhya-parisista as Kane quotes it, and the modern tie-break that prefers the day with more of aparahna covered is computed and clearly labelled as modern. The single annual date is left unset in that case on purpose.

Does the place of the rite change the date?

It can. Aparahna is a proportional division of the local daylight arc, so it opens and closes at different clock times in different places, while a tithi boundary is one instant worldwide. In the borderline cases that decides which day the tithi pervades, which is why latitude, longitude and timezone are accepted as inputs.

What is Pitru Paksha, and when does it fall?

It is the dark fortnight of Bhadrapada, in which the annual shraddha of a departed relative is commonly performed on the tithi of their death. Because it is selected from the almanac's masa rather than from Gregorian months, it drifts across an August to November window from year to year, and this page dates the fortnight for the year you ask for rather than assuming September and October.

Does the yugmavakya move a shraddha date?

No. The yugmavakya pairs a tithi with its neighbour for ordinary vratas and can shift an observance by a day, but Kane records that pitr rites are expressly not governed by it. No pairing and no one-day shift is applied here, and that statement travels with the result so a later screen cannot reintroduce it.

Do I need the exact time of death?

No. The date of death is what the calculation needs, because it is used to find the tithi. A target year is optional and defaults to the current one, and latitude, longitude and timezone are optional too, though supplying them sharpens the aparahna window and therefore the borderline cases.