How do you do Hindu ancestral tarpan rituals? (pind daan) in the traditional way?
The Hindu process for Pitru Paksh and getting rid of Pitru Dosh
Performing Pind Daan or ancestral tarpan rituals is a very fundamental part of the Hindu tradition - an essential ritual to be conducted for the journey towards moksha, for the shanti of our ancestors and for releasing us from karmic blocks that create hurdles in our present life incarnation.
Pitru Dosh is one of the most common doshas - when we think about the solutions to our problems be it the fact we got sick or got into a toxic relationship, our finances aren’t growing or whatever on earth is the problem you want to extract yourself from - even removing these doshas is important in progress for spiritual sadhana. It is necessary for all indigenous lineage Hindus to get these rituals done as part of dharma. If you are not born into a Hindu lineage, you can still do ancestral rituals but I will cover the general area of ancestral healing in another article.
There are several different resources and procedures for doing Pind Daan in Hindu tradition, this is usually done during the PITRU PAKSH time which comes 2 weeks before SHARADIYA NAVRATRI in September / October according to the Vedic Panchang. This period of Pitru Paksh is the single biggest peak time to get these rituals done in the Vedic Hindu tradition and get rid of Pitru dosh.
*Please note that Pitru tarpan rituals are only applicable to indigenous lineage Hindus (an indigenous lineage Hindu by birth has a Gotra, Kula, Varna, Jati and Sampradaya. Gotra is required for ancestral tarpan rituals.)*
Over time, the knowledge of our traditional ways and how they are conducted have been diluted for convenience and also distorted
This is one complete sequence for Pitru Paksh rituals - which you will not read anywhere else as it has been taken in conversation with local pandits in Kashi
You may have heard of Gaya in Bihar as being the major place for doing ancestral tarpan rituals, likewise Badrinath in Uttarakhand. This guide focuses on Prayag, Kashi and Gaya
The first thing to know is that, whilst you can go directly to Gaya and get ancestral rituals done - the original sequences involves first going to Prayag and then Kashi. (Badrinath is a separate circuit).
Pitru Tarpan rituals are only done by the MALE MEMBER of the family. If in the case that you can’t access a male member, it can still be done. Always ask an authentic karmakandi pandit for advice given your situation.
It’s important to note that pitru tarpan is done by the male who doesn’t have his father, if his father is still alive he is NOT MEANT TO DO THIS RITUAL.
So let’s go through this entire sequence in short!
The first step of the Pitru tarpan rituals is announcing to all your family that you are going to Gaya to do pitru tarpan. This applies only to Hindu lineage families. It is important to announce it first because you are giving peace to your lineage ancestors and vocalising that is a necessary opening of this ritual.
The second step is to get the pitru tarpan rituals done at your home by a Purohit. After the rituals are complete, something called as ‘Ghera’ is done where the male member then takes water and goes around the block (or even just your house) in a circle clockwise. This is often not mentioned anywhere.
Then the next step is to go to PRAYAG (not to Gaya first), and do the Pitru Tarpan rituals there. In Prayag you are supposed to get MUNDAN or get your head shaved, ideally.
After this you have to go to KASHI which is just a few hours from Prayag and get the pitru tarpan done in Pisasch Mochan temple. Many people just get it done on Manikarika which is good but actually Pisach Mochan is the original place to go for this specific sequence.. People in Kashi are very helpful and you can find some authentic pandits or contacts for this. I share in my Hindu traditions group.
Then after this, you go to GAYA and get the rituals done there. There would need to be a separate guide on Gaya and many have already shared on this. It would take 1-2 days to get the rituals done properly in Gaya. (Slight variation is NOT to go to Gaya if one of the parents are alive, if both parents of the male member getting the tarpan done have passed then one goes to Gaya. I will follow up with this).
After returning you then give a big feast to all your family members. Also give food to brahmins. It is necessary to do this to complete the process.
So this is the complete sequence. In Hindu tradition, the time of AMAVASYA or new moon is very powerful for clearing pitru dosh so be sure to feed cows, brahmins, and donate food on Amavasya tithi. Apart from this, one absolutely MUST visit their Kula Devata and Kula Devi to clear pitru dosh - if you are born into a Hindu lineage then you must visit every year. If you don’t know your Kula (ancestral lineage deities) then ask your extended jati network, or try to scope out in your native village. You can also just sit in meditation and ask them intuitively to appear to you.
There is much more to write on this topic including ancestral tarpan rituals in Badrinath which is another sequence, ancestral tarpan rituals on Somavati Amavasya, ancestral healing, and relevant stotrams for pitrus.
** Please note that Pitru Tarpan rituals can also be done in Badrinath to the same effect, for that the same process of announcing to your Hindu family members, then doing tarpan rituals at home, etc as mentioned here still apply **
** Please also note that if your parents are alive it is your father who would do this rituals. Pitru Tarpan rituals are supposed to be done by males. Given that there may be different situations, you would have to ask an authentic traditional pandit for the correct information if in doubt. A separate version of this may be applicable to non-Hindus but they don’t have it as part of their dharma to do any of this. **
I will be sharing more information on Hindu ancestral traditions and Sanatan Dharma here, and you can follow on my social media @iamkamyabuch for more, community meet ups, group yatras, healing ceremonies and so forth.
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Jai Kashi Vishwanath