Mahalaya · Sarva Pitru Amavasya: 2026 and 2027 dates by city

Last day of Pitru Paksha: shraddha for all ancestors in the afternoon.

Mahalaya, or Sarva Pitru Amavasya, is the new Moon that closes Pitru Paksha, the fortnight of the ancestors. On this day shraddha can be offered to all departed forebears, including those whose day of death is unknown. In Bengal Mahalaya is also the dawn on which the Goddess is invoked before Durga Puja.

Families offer tarpana, water with sesame and kusha grass, and pinda, rice balls, to the ancestors in the afternoon, a traditional time for these rites, often at a river or a holy place. Food is given to Brahmins, the poor, cows, crows and dogs. In Bengal people rise before dawn to hear the Mahishasura Mardini recitation on the radio.

How the date is set

Amavasya (new moon), krishna paksha (waning Moon), in the month of Bhadrapada by the amanta calendar (the month ends at the new moon). The purnimanta calendar (the month ends at the full moon) calls the same day Ashwin. It is kept on the day when the tithi holds the aparahna, the fourth fifth of the daytime.

Dates in 2026 and 2027

The local date in each city; under it, the time of the part of the day the rule looks at, in local time.

In 2026 Delhi keeps it on 10 October; a day apart from that: New York, Toronto, Los Angeles, Chicago, São Paulo, Mexico City, Buenos Aires.

In 2027 every city in the table keeps it on the same date as Delhi.

Smarta rules as published by Drik Panchang. ISKCON and regional calendars can name another day. The time shown is the part of the day the rule looks at, not a muhurat for a particular puja.

How to read the table

Each row is a city from our panchang list, and the date is the local civil date on which Mahalaya · Sarva Pitru Amavasya is kept there by its rule. Under the date is the time of the part of the day that rule looks at, in the city's own local time: for example the pradosh kala, the evening after sunset, or the nishita around midnight. A time past midnight carries (+1). Where the rule names no part of the day, such as a solar ingress or a festival tied to another festival, only the date is given. The city's name opens its panchang for today.

Why the date can differ between cities

A tithi begins and ends at the same moment everywhere, but sunrise, noon and evening come at different local times. If the tithi ends shortly before the evening in one city and shortly after it in another, the two cities keep the festival on different dates. That is why a single date for the whole world is wrong for some places, and why this page gives the date city by city. The difference is almost always one day.

Which calendar this follows

These are the Smarta dates, by the decision rules of the Dharmasindhu and Nirnayasindhu as Drik Panchang publishes them; every city in the table was compared with Drik Panchang's calendar for that city. ISKCON keeps some days, Janmashtami among them, by the Vaishnava rule, and regional calendars can name another day. If your family or temple follows a particular calendar, follow it.

Questions

See also

• Delhi
• Hindu festivals 2026–2027
• Anant Chaturdashi
• Sharad Navratri · Ghatasthapana

Positions and tables: sidereal zodiac, Lahiri ayanamsha — the same as professional Jyotish astrologers use, and the same calculation as the charts in JyotiSoft. Updated 2026-10-17.