Tritiya Shraddha

About Tritiya Shraddha

Significance

Tritiya Shraddha, the third day of the dark fortnight, is for those who died on a Tritiya in either half of any month. As with most of the middle tithis, the digests attach no special category of the departed to it; its purpose is the annual Mahalaya offering for that tithi.

In the Mahabharata’s list of tithi-wise results (Anushasana Parva, Section 87) the third lunar day is associated with horses, and in the Brahma Purana’s list with sons: old images of household prosperity that tradition attaches to the day, not promises.

How and where it is observed

The tithi of death is generally the lunar tithi current at the moment of death, not the civil date and not necessarily the tithi at that day’s sunrise. A death after midnight while Tritiya was still running therefore belongs to Tritiya even though the civil date has changed, and a morning death before Tritiya began belongs to Dwitiya. When the tithi was never recorded and cannot be worked out, families perform the Mahalaya Shraddha on Sarva Pitru Amavasya instead.

Rituals

The rite is the ordinary Mahalaya form: an invitation to brahmanas the day before or that morning, the afternoon meal in their honour, pindas, tarpana, and a share of food for the crows, cow and dog. Dharma Sindhu’s Mahalaya resolve is broad: besides the three paternal generations it names the mother’s line, the maternal grandfather’s line and other relatives, teachers and friends. Where no brahmana can be invited, families commonly give uncooked provisions (sidha) with a gift (dakshina) instead.

How the date is fixed

The date is Bhadrapada Krishna Tritiya (Amanta), called Ashvina Krishna Tritiya in Purnimanta calendars, on the day this tithi holds the afternoon Aparahna. A tithi can be shorter than a day: when Tritiya is a short, kshaya tithi it may begin after one afternoon and end before the next, touching no Aparahna at all, and the Shraddha then goes to the day on which Tritiya lasts longest. In such years the Tritiya Shraddha can share its date with the Dwitiya or Chaturthi Shraddha.

Sources

• Mahabharata, Anushasana Parva, Section 87 (K.M. Ganguli translation): Bhishma on Shraddha and the result of each lunar day
• Brahma Purana, Shraddha-kalpa: tithi-wise list for the fortnight when the Sun is in Kanya (as summarised in Essence of Dharma Sindhu, ch. 7)
• Dharma Sindhu, Dwitiya Pariccheda, Bhadrapada: Mahalaya Paksha, Proshthapadi, Bharani, Magha-Trayodashi, Shastrahata Chaturdashi and Kapila Shashthi (English condensation: V.D.N. Rao, Essence of Dharma Sindhu, ch. 7)
• Nirnaya Sindhu, Shraddha-nirnaya: the Shraddha tithi decided by its presence in Aparahna

Customs differ between regions, communities and families; this description is background, not a prescription. The date above is calculated by the rule shown on this page.