Amavasyaఅమావాస్య
The new moon — reserved for the ancestors, not for beginnings.
- Deity
- The Pitris (ancestors)
- Frequency
- Once a lunar month
What Amavasya is
Amavasya is the thirtieth tithi, when the moon and sun share the same longitude and the moon is invisible. The day belongs to the ancestors: shraddha and tarpana are performed on it, and the tradition treats it as a time for looking back rather than starting anything. Mahalaya Amavasya in Bhadrapada closes the fortnight of the ancestors; Diwali falls on the Kartika amavasya; Mauni Amavasya in Magha is kept in silence.
Who observes it
Kept by nearly every household for ancestral rites, and by many as a monthly day of restraint. In the amanta reckoning of the south, it is the last day of the lunar month.
Fasting rules
Many keep a single meal or a light fast. Some keep silence for the day. New ventures, weddings and housewarmings are traditionally not begun on amavasya.
Pooja vidhanam
Tarpana — offerings of water with sesame to the ancestors — performed at a river or at home facing south. Feeding brahmins, the poor, cows and crows. A lamp lit at the threshold at dusk. The day is kept quietly by design.
2028 dates
Computed from the tithi at sunrise for your selected city. Tap any date for that day's full panchangam.