Pithori Amavasya 2026: Date, Vrat Vidhi, Pola & Kushotpatini Amavasya Guide

There is one Amavasya in the Hindu year that wears four different names in four different parts of India — and most families only ever learn one of them. In Maharashtra it is Pola, the day bullocks are bathed, painted and garlanded. In the Hindi belt it is Pithori Amavasya, when mothers fast for their children before sixty-four goddesses shaped from flour. To priests and pandits everywhere it is Kushotpatini Amavasya — the single day of the year on which kusha grass is pulled from the earth to sanctify every ritual for the next twelve months. And in the panchang it is simply Bhadrapada Amavasya, a powerful day for tarpan to the ancestors.

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All four fall on the same new moon this year. Here is everything you need — the exact tithi, why some calendars say 10 September and others say 11, the vrat vidhi, the katha, and the samagri to keep ready.

Pithori Amavasya 2026: Date & Timings

Why some calendars say 10 September and others say 11

This is not a mistake in anyone's panchang — it is how the tithi falls. Amavasya starts late on the morning of the 10th and finishes just after sunrise on the 11th. So:

• Rituals performed in the evening — the Pithori vrat puja, Pola, the mustard-oil lamp under the peepal — go on 10 September, because Amavasya is present all through that evening.
• Rituals performed in the afternoon — Amavasya shraddha, tarpan and pind daan — also go on 10 September, because aparahna kaal on the 11th falls after the tithi has ended.
• Rituals tied to sunrise — the sacred bath, daan, and the cutting of kusha grass — belong to 11 September.

If your family follows a single-day custom, 10 September is the safer choice, since that is when the tithi covers both the afternoon and the evening.

Pithori Amavasya: The Story Behind the Vrat

The Pithori Amavasya katha was first spoken by Maa Parvati to Indrani, the consort of Indra. In the telling, a woman had lost child after child soon after birth. Grieving and without hope, she was told to worship the sixty-four Yoginis on the Amavasya of Bhadrapada — not with costly idols, but with small figures kneaded from pith, ordinary flour, and offered simple food made in her own kitchen. She kept the vrat with complete faith, and her children thereafter lived long and well.

That single word gives the day its name: pith means flour, and Pithori Amavasya is the day the Goddess is invited into the humblest thing a household owns. Alongside the Chausath Yoginis, the Saptamatrika and Ashtamatrika forms of the Devi are honoured. The promise attached to the vrat in the shastras is direct — by merely remembering these Yoginis with devotion, a mother is blessed with healthy children, grandchildren, and a home as prosperous as Indrani's own.

Pithori Amavasya Vrat Vidhi (Step by Step)

1. Morning snan and sankalp. Bathe early, adding a few drops of Gangajal to your bathing water. Facing east, take the sankalp of the vrat, naming your children and praying for their long life and health.
2. Clean the puja sthan. Wash the floor, draw a swastika with roli, and place a wooden chowki with a red cloth.
3. Make the Pithori figures. Knead wheat or rice flour and shape sixty-four small forms — many families simply make sixty-four tiny mounds on a thali rather than detailed idols. Arrange them in rows on the chowki.
4. Sthapana of the kalash. Fill a copper kalash with water, add akshat, a coin and a haldi ki ganth, and place it beside the Yoginis.
5. Shodashopachar puja. Offer chandan, roli, akshat, flowers, dhoop and a ghee diya. Tie mauli around the kalash.
6. The bhog. Prepare puri, kheer or halwa and a vegetable your children love. Offer it to the Yoginis first, along with panchmeva.
7. Read the katha and do aarti. Recite the Pithori Amavasya katha aloud, then perform aarti with Bhimseni kapoor.
8. The child's blessing. In the traditional custom the mother holds the thali of prasad above her head and asks, "Atit kon?" — Who is behind me? The child answers and receives the prasad from her hands. This small exchange is the heart of the whole vrat.
9. Break the fast after the evening puja is complete.

Fasting Rules

Kushotpatini Amavasya: The One Day Kusha Is Cut

Kusha (darbha) grass is required for shraddha, tarpan, havan and almost every samskara — and by tradition, kusha gathered on this Amavasya stays ritually pure for the entire year. The scriptures list ten varieties of darbha and are unusually specific about how it must be collected:

• Gather it at sunrise, facing north.
• Never cut it with a knife, sickle or any tool — pull it out with the right hand only, in one clean motion.
• The tip must not break. Kusha with a broken point is unfit for ritual use.
• Recite "Om Hum Phat" while uprooting.

A beautiful belief attaches to this grass: when Sita Maiya returned to the earth, Shri Ram reached out to hold her and only a strand of her hair remained in his hand — and that strand became kusha. If Bhadrapada Amavasya falls on a Monday, the kusha collected is said to remain potent for twelve years rather than one.

Bail Pola: Maharashtra's Thank-You to the Bullocks

In Maharashtra, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh and parts of Telangana, this same Amavasya belongs to the farmer's bulls. Their ropes are untied, they are bathed in the river, their horns painted and tipped with brass, bells hung at their necks, anklets on their feet, and a shawl thrown across their backs. No work is asked of them all day. The village walks them in procession to the temple, women perform their aarti at the doorstep, and they are fed puran poli before anyone in the house eats. It is one of the gentlest festivals in the Hindu calendar — an entire day set aside simply to say thank you to an animal.

Pitru Tarpan on Bhadrapada Amavasya

Every Amavasya belongs to the ancestors, but this one carries extra weight: it is the last new moon before Pitru Paksha, which begins at the end of September 2026. Many families treat it as the day they set their pitru dosha remedies in order before the fortnight of shraddha begins.

1. Bathe before sunrise and offer arghya to Surya Dev with water and black sesame (kala til).
2. Perform tarpan in aparahna kaal, facing south, wearing the janeu over the right shoulder, offering water mixed with til and kusha to your forefathers by name.
3. Give daan — food, cloth, black til, or a meal to a brahmin, a cow or someone in need.
4. At dusk, light a mustard-oil lamp under a peepal tree and take seven parikrama while remembering your ancestors.
5. This Amavasya is also considered highly effective for Kaal Sarp Dosh remedies and for Shani Dev worship.

Puja Samagri Checklist

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Pithori Amavasya on 10 or 11 September 2026?
The vrat, the evening puja and Bail Pola are on Thursday, 10 September 2026, because the Amavasya tithi runs from 10:33 AM on the 10th and covers the whole evening. Snan, daan and the cutting of kusha grass are done at sunrise on Friday, 11 September, before the tithi ends at 8:56 AM.

Can a mother keep this vrat if her children are grown up?
Yes. The vrat is for the wellbeing and long life of children at any age — many women continue it for decades. Grandmothers often keep it for grandchildren too.

Do I have to make sixty-four flour idols?
No. The traditional form is sixty-four small figures of pith, but most households today make sixty-four simple mounds or dots of flour paste on a thali. The Devi accepts the intention, not the artistry.

Is Pithori Amavasya the same as Pola?
Same tithi, different observance. Pithori is the mothers' vrat to the sixty-four Yoginis, kept mainly in North and Central India. Pola is the farmers' bullock festival of Maharashtra, Vidarbha and Chhattisgarh. Both fall on Bhadrapada Amavasya.

Can I do tarpan at home without a river?
Yes. Take clean water in a copper or brass vessel, add black til and a blade of kusha, face south, and offer the water into a wide plate while reciting your ancestors' names. Empty the plate at the root of a tree or a tulsi plant afterwards.

What should be avoided on Bhadrapada Amavasya?
Avoid arguments, harsh words, non-vegetarian food, alcohol, cutting hair or nails, and starting new ventures. Amavasya is a day for quiet, charity and remembrance rather than celebration.

Before the Pitru Paksha Fortnight Begins

Pithori Amavasya sits at a hinge in the year. Behind it are the festivals of Shravan and Janmashtami; ahead of it is Ganesh Chaturthi, and then the long, still fortnight of Pitru Paksha at the end of September. Families who keep this Amavasya well — a lamp for the ancestors, sixty-four small offerings for the children, and a day of rest for the animals that feed us — enter that fortnight already prepared.

Tithi timings are calculated for New Delhi, India. Moonrise, sunrise and aparahna kaal shift with your city — always confirm with your local panchang before fixing your puja time.