Smartha Shraddha Vidhi: The Annual Ceremony, Step by Step

A full Smartha annual shraddha follows a fixed order: a formal declaration (sankalpa) naming three generations of ancestors, brahmins seated in the place of the gods and the ancestors, a fire offering, a meal served in silence, rice-ball offerings (pinda pradana), and a formal farewell. It is done on the death tithi, beginning around midday and running into the afternoon, and the purohit leads every step. Below is what happens, in order, as laid down in the Dharmasindhu - the rulebook Smartha purohits in Karnataka, Maharashtra and much of the South still decide shraddha questions from - with notes on where the Vedic schools differ. For what a shraddha is and the forms it takes, start with our shraddha ceremony guide.

Your sutra decides the details

Every Smartha household belongs to a Vedic school, and each school has its own sutra (manual) for the rite. Most Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Marathi Smartha households follow one of these, or a Sama Vedi sutra:

• Apastamba - a Krishna Yajurveda sutra, followed very widely in the South.
• Bodhayana - also Krishna Yajurveda, with a longer form of the rite.
• Hiranyakeshi - another Krishna Yajurveda sutra, close to Apastamba.
• Katyayana - the Shukla Yajurveda sutra of Kanva and Madhyandina households, common in Karnataka and Maharashtra.
• Ashvalayana - a Rigveda sutra.

The order below is common to all of them. Where they differ - the fire, the moment the pindas are given - the Dharmasindhu records each school's practice, and your purohit follows yours. Tamil households often take their decisions from Vaidyanatha Dikshitiyam (the Smriti Muktaphala of Vaidyanatha Dikshita) rather than the Dharmasindhu; the order is the same.

Before the day

• The brahmins. The Bhagavata Purana (7.15.3), which the Dharmasindhu quotes, gives two for the gods (the Vishvedevas, who escort the ancestors) and three for the ancestors, or one at each place, and tells even a wealthy household not to go beyond that.
• Restraint. The karta (the person performing it) and the invited brahmins fast on the night before and keep the day quietly: no quarrels, no loud talk, celibacy.
• The kitchen. The food is cooked by the karta, his wife or close relatives, in vessels of any metal except iron. Nobody in the house eats until the brahmins have eaten and the pindas have been offered; small children are fed elsewhere.
• The names. For a father's shraddha, keep ready the name and gotra of the father, grandfather and great-grandfather; for a mother's, the mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Your purohit will say how your school counts them. If a name is lost, the relationship is stated instead.

When it is done

The Dharmasindhu divides the day into fifteen muhurtas. The shraddha is begun in the eighth, called kutapa, and done in the five muhurtas from there, through late midday and into the afternoon (aparahna). It forbids the full shraddha in the morning and forenoon, in the evening and at night. The tithi that decides the day is the one running in the afternoon, not the one at sunrise, which is why a shraddha day can differ from the tithi printed against that date. Our Pitru Paksha 2026 calendar lists the shraddha day for each tithi this year.

The ceremony, step by step

1. Bath and purification. The karta bathes, wears washed clothes, puts on a ring of darbha grass (pavitra) and sips water (achamana).
2. Sankalpa. With the sacred thread moved to the right shoulder, the karta declares that he will perform the shraddha for his ancestors, naming each by relationship, gotra and name, and stating the form: with cooked food, uncooked food, or money.
3. Washing the brahmins' feet. Two spaces are prepared: a square one to the north for the gods' place and a round one to the south for the ancestors' place. The brahmins' feet are washed, with barley (yava) in the water for the gods' place and sesame for the ancestors'.
4. Seating. The brahmins for the gods sit facing east, the brahmins for the ancestors facing north. Beside the gods' place a seat is kept for a guest in the form of Vishnu.
5. Invocation and arghya. The Vishvedevas and then the three ancestors are invoked into the seated brahmins, and arghya (an offering of water with darbha, flowers, and barley or sesame) is given. The ancestors' arghya is prepared in three vessels. Some schools invoke before the arghya, others after it.
6. Honouring the guests. Sandal paste, incense, lamp and cloth are offered. The Dharmasindhu says that if cloth cannot be given, a sacred thread or its value must be.
7. The fire offering (agnaukarana). A portion of the cooked food is offered into the fire. Apastamba households prefer a sacred fire, and a household that keeps none lights one for the rite; Ashvalayana households use the household fire. Where there is no fire at all, the offering is made into the brahmin's hand (pani-homa), as the Manusmriti (3.212) allows.
8. Serving. The meal is served, and the karta formally gives it to the ancestors with words that end: "May Janardana, Vasudeva, in the form of the ancestors, be pleased."
9. The meal. The brahmins eat in silence. The karta recites passages addressed to the ancestors and makes sure nothing is lacking. The Dharmasindhu is specific that the guests should never have to ask for salt.
10. Asking if they are satisfied. After the meal the karta asks whether the guests are satisfied, and a little food is scattered on the ground for ancestors who have no one to offer for them (vikira).
11. Svadha, akshayya and dakshina. The brahmins pronounce the blessing "svadha", water is offered asking that the offering never be exhausted (akshayyodaka), and dakshina and betel are given.
12. Farewell. The ancestors and gods are bidden farewell (visarjana).
13. Pinda pradana. Pindas - balls of the cooked rice mixed with ghee, honey and sesame - are placed on darbha grass spread with its tips to the south, one for each of the three generations named in the sankalpa. In Apastamba and Hiranyakeshi practice this comes after the farewell, as here; Ashvalayana households give the pindas earlier, around the time the brahmins rinse their mouths after the meal. In Apastamba practice the middle pinda may be given to the karta's wife as a blessing for children; otherwise the pindas are given to a cow, a brahmin, fire or water.
14. The crow and the family meal. A portion is set out for crows, and the family then eats what remains, a meal treated as the ancestors' blessing rather than ordinary leftovers.

Vishnu is remembered at the beginning, middle and end of the rite, with a prayer asking that any lapse in words or actions be made whole. In the strict form, tarpan (the water offering with sesame) is done the next morning; by family custom it may come before the shraddha, and many households now do it at the end of the same day. Our tarpan guide covers it.

Where the schools differ

Point	What varies
When the pindas are given	After the farewell (Apastamba, Hiranyakeshi), or earlier, after the meal (Ashvalayana)
The fire	A sacred or specially lit fire (Apastamba), the household fire (Ashvalayana), or the brahmin's hand where there is no fire
The invocation	Before the arghya in some schools, after it in others
The number of pindas	Three in the Dharmasindhu's annual form; some Yajur Vedi households give six, and Bodhayana households more

The sacred thread, and why it keeps moving

Through the ceremony the karta keeps moving his sacred thread between two positions, which a first-time karta often finds the most confusing part. The rule is simple:

• Over the left shoulder (savya) for everything addressed to the gods, and for everything addressed to the brahmins as guests: greeting them, serving them, giving betel.
• Over the right shoulder (apasavya, also called prachinavita) for everything addressed to the ancestors: the sankalpa, their arghya, the pindas. Offerings to the ancestors are also made moving anticlockwise, and with the word "svadha" where the gods receive "svaha".

The purohit will tell you each time. You do not need to memorise it.

Smaller forms, and other traditions

When the full form is not possible, the Smartha tradition keeps the day with a smaller one: without the fire offering and pindas (sankalpa shraddha), with uncooked provisions (ama shraddha), or with money in place of the meal (hiranya shraddha). When no brahmin can come to eat in the ancestors' place, darbha grass is placed in the brahmins' seats and the rite goes ahead; in Karnataka this is the chataka shraddha. Our guide to hiranya, ama and the other smaller forms explains each. Other traditions keep the same day with the same Vedic order and their own emphases: see the Madhva shraddha, the Iyengar srardham, and shradh in North India and Bengal.

Duration and arrangements

A home shraddha takes one and a half to two and a half hours depending on the form; a hiranya shraddha is much shorter. Dakshina for a standard annual shraddha at home typically runs ₹2,000 to ₹8,000, more when a meal for brahmins is arranged, as our purohit cost guide explains. When you book, tell the purohit your sutra if you know it, whether the meal will be served to brahmins (the bhoktas) or darbha will take their seats, and the names and gotra for the sankalpa. Request a purohit for the shraddha.