Tarpan Vidhi: How to Offer Water to Ancestors, Step by Step

Tarpan is the ritual offering of water - usually mixed with black sesame seeds - to one's departed ancestors, poured from the hands while their names are recited. The word comes from the Sanskrit root "tṛp", to satisfy: tarpan is literally the act of satisfying the pitrs, the ancestors, with water. It is the simplest and most frequently performed of all ancestor rites - simpler than shraddha, of which it often forms a part - and it is one ritual many households continue across generations even when much else has faded. This guide explains who offers tarpan, how it is done step by step, when, and whether to do it at home or at a river. For the fuller ceremony it accompanies, see our shraddha ceremony guide.

In short, for the water offering to the ancestors: bathe, face south - the direction traditionally held to belong to Yama and the pitrs - and pour water mixed with black sesame from your right hand over the space between the thumb and index finger, three times for each ancestor, saying their names. The steps below explain each part.

Who offers tarpan

Tradition assigns the duty to the descendants: sons offer tarpan for departed parents and grandparents, and through them for the wider paternal and maternal lines. The eldest son commonly leads, but any son may offer, and brothers may offer together or separately. Where there is no son, the shastras and long-standing practice allow a grandson, a daughter's son, a brother or a nephew, and in many homes today daughters offer tarpan too. A person whose parents are both living does not offer pitru tarpan: while the father is living, the offering to the ancestors is his to make. When only one parent has passed, traditions differ on what is offered and for whom, and a family purohit will know your family's practice.

Tarpan is offered not only to one's own named ancestors. The full vidhi includes three rounds: to the devas (gods), to the rishis (sages), and finally to the pitrs - the idea being that a person carries a debt to all three, and water is the humblest way of acknowledging it.

What you need

• Water - clean water in a lota or panchapatra; at a river, the river itself provides it.
• Black sesame seeds (kala til) - the defining ingredient of pitru tarpan. Sesame is held sacred to the ancestors; a pinch is added to the water for each offering.
• Kusha grass - a ring (pavitri) worn on the ring finger, and a few blades held in the hand. Kusha keeps the offering ritually pure and is used in almost every ancestor rite.
• A vessel to receive the water - a wide plate or thali when done at home; the flowing river when done at a tirtha.

The vidhi, step by step

• Bathe and wear washed clothes. Tarpan is offered after bathing and before eating, usually in the morning. When it goes with a shraddha, the family's tradition decides whether it comes before the shraddha or the next morning. Each round faces its own direction.
• Sankalpa - a short declaration of who is offering, for whom, on what day. If a purohit is guiding, he recites it with your name and gotra; alone, a simple statement of intent in your own language is accepted by most traditions.
• Deva tarpan - facing east, the sacred thread in its usual place over the left shoulder (upavita), water is poured over the fingertips of the right hand (the deva tirtha), without sesame.
• Rishi tarpan - in a common form, facing north, the sacred thread worn around the neck like a garland (nivita), water is poured over the side of the hand near the little finger.
• Pitru tarpan - facing south, the sacred thread moved to the right shoulder (prachinavita, or apasavya), water with black sesame is poured over the space between the thumb and index finger - the pitru tirtha, the part of the hand reserved for the ancestors. Each ancestor is named with gotra, and the offering is poured three times for each. A common order is father, grandfather and great-grandfather; then mother, paternal grandmother and paternal great-grandmother; then the mother's father, his father and his grandfather; then their wives, beginning with the mother's mother; then anyone else being remembered. Families and regions order it differently, and your own tradition's order is the right one.
• Closing - a prayer that any ancestor left unnamed, and any departed soul with no one to offer for them, also be satisfied. A verse often used for this begins "ye bāndhavā abāndhavā vā" - those who were our kin, those who were not, and those who were kin in another life. It is worth keeping: the rite closes by widening, not narrowing. The sacred thread then goes back to the left shoulder.

If you do not wear a sacred thread - most women, and many men who have not had an upanayanam - leave out the thread steps. Facing the right direction, the sesame water, the thumb-side pour and the names carry the rite.

The names matter more than the Sanskrit. Recite the mantra as best you can, but say the names slowly and mean them. That is the offering.

Doing it for the first time, or for a parent who passed this year? A purohit can lead it with you, gotra and names included. Request a purohit for tarpan.

When tarpan is offered

• Pitru Paksha - the fortnight dedicated to the ancestors, when daily tarpan is the core observance for many households; the specific shraddha day matching the ancestor's tithi carries the fuller rite. Dates and tithis are in our Pitru Paksha shraddha dates post.
• Mahalaya Amavasya (Sarva Pitru Amavasya) - the last day of Pitru Paksha, when tarpan is offered for all ancestors together, including those whose tithi is not known. In Bengal, Mahalaya morning is when crowds gather at the Ganga ghats for tarpan.
• Amavasya - the new moon of every month belongs to the pitrs, and monthly Amavasya tarpan is a living practice in many homes.
• The ancestor's shraddha tithi - the annual death anniversary, usually fixed by tithi in the lunar calendar, when tarpan accompanies the shraddha.
• At a tirtha - any visit to a sacred river or place associated with ancestor rites (Haridwar, Gaya, Prayagraj, Rameswaram among them) is an occasion for tarpan, whatever the date.

Outside India, the vidhi is the same but the days may not be. The day is set by which tithi is running at a fixed moment of your own day - sunrise for most observances, the afternoon for shraddha - so the shraddha day in Durban, Port Louis or London can fall a day apart from the date printed for India. Use a panchang set to your own city.

At home or at a river?

Both are fully valid, and the tradition itself says so - the texts rank flowing water above still, and a tirtha above an ordinary riverbank, but they do not rule out the home. In practice:

• At home, tarpan is done in the courtyard, on a balcony or anywhere with room to pour into a wide vessel; the water is afterwards poured to a tree or plant, not down the drain where it can be avoided. This is how monthly Amavasya tarpan happens in most city homes.
• At a river or tirtha, the offering is poured directly into flowing water, standing in it if possible. Households often reserve this for Pitru Paksha, for the first year after a death, or for a planned visit to Gaya or Haridwar, where purohits who specialise in ancestor rites conduct the full sequence.

A purohit is not mandatory for routine tarpan - many people learn the vidhi once and continue it alone, which is itself in the spirit of the rite. Households usually call a purohit for the first tarpan after a loss, for Pitru Paksha shraddha where tarpan is one part of a longer ceremony, or at a tirtha. If you want the vidhi taught or led properly the first time, you can request a verified purohit, and the shraddha guide linked above explains how the fuller ceremony fits together.