Mahalaya services include rituals and offerings to ancestors that are performed during the Pitru Paksha. These services are also known as Tarpanam or Shraddha.

Mahalaya services

Tarpan: Men perform the Tarpan ritual.

• Feeding Brahmins: Brahmins are served food, clothes, shoes, and dakshina.
• Offering to cows, dogs, and crows: Leftover food is offered to these animals before the family eats.
• Listening to religious songs: Devotees listen to religious songs like “Chandipath” and “Mahishasura Mardini”.
• Offering oblations: Oblations are offered to ancestors.

Mahalaya significance

• Mahalaya Thidhi is considered the most important day to honor departed souls.
• Performing Mahalaya Thidhi rituals helps in removing Pitru Dosha.
• It ensures ancestral peace, and brings prosperity, success, and harmony to the family.

Mahalaya observances

• It is inauspicious to buy gold, house or cut one’s hair or shave one’s beard during this time.
• People are advised to not include onion, garlic, non-vegetarian food in their diet and alcohol.