When is Pitru Paksha 2026?

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Timings on this page are computed for Doha.

The whole table below is recomputed for the city you pick. That is not cosmetic: an observance decided at moonrise, such as Karwa Chauth, can genuinely fall on a different day in two cities, and the moment the fast ends differs by more than an hour across India.

Computed for Doha

The date in Doha

Saturday, 26 September to Saturday, 10 October 2026

Pitru Paksha is a period, not a day. It opens on Shukla paksha tithi 15 of Bhadrapada and closes on Sarva Pitru Amavasya, Krishna paksha tithi 15 of Bhadrapada, in the amanta reckoning. Both ends are computed each year, so the Gregorian dates move by up to a month between years, and so can the number of days between them.

First day

Saturday, 26 September 2026

Last day

Saturday, 10 October 2026

Length

15 days

Opens on

Purnima, Shukla paksha, Bhadrapada (amanta)

Closes on

Sarva Pitru Amavasya

Opening day decided at

Aparahna (afternoon)

The first and last days are each computed from the Moon and the Sun for Doha, so the length of the period is an answer rather than a constant: a tithi that is skipped or repeated inside it moves the last day without changing what the period is.

Muhurat · Doha

Pitru Paksha muhurat

Pitru Paksha runs 15 days, so no single muhurat is published for it: a window computed for its first day would be read as the window for all of them. Its opening day is decided at aparahna (afternoon), and each day inside the period keeps its own auspicious windows — the day's are on the vrat and tyohar calendar under "shubh muhurat today".

Pitru Paksha across five years

Two years back, this year, and two ahead. Past years are kept rather than dropped so you can check the engine against a calendar you already have.

Every row is computed for Doha from the same ephemeris, not looked up. Sunrise decides which day a tithi names, and sunrise differs across India by more than an hour, so a date computed for Delhi can be a day out elsewhere.

Why calendars disagree about this date

There is no single authority that settles a Hindu festival date, and the divergence is genuine rather than sloppy. Three causes account for almost all of it.

1. A tithi rarely starts at sunrise. One that is running at the deciding moment on two days — or on none — is claimed by both days under different rules.
2. Month reckoning. North India runs purnimanta, the south and west amanta. The same dark fortnight carries different month names in the two, so an observance defined as "krishna X of month Y" can land a full lunation apart.
3. Which moment decides. Most vratas belong to the day whose sunrise carries the tithi, but not all: this one is decided at aparahna. Almanacs that apply the sunrise rule to everything move several festivals by a day.

So this page shows its working. If your pandit or your family almanac gives a different day, the instants above will usually show you exactly why — and that is more useful than a date asserted without one.

Related timing

• The full vrat and tyohar calendar
• Panchang for your city — tithi, nakshatra, yoga, karana
• Choghadiya windows for the day
• Free kundli — see what this period touches in your own chart