Tarpan Mantras: Sanskrit, Meaning and How to Offer

Tarpan is the offering of water to the ancestors, made with black sesame and kusha grass held in cupped hands and poured while reciting the mantras below. The word means to satisfy. The core mantra of the rite is Om Sarva Pitru Devataabhyo Namah — salutations to all ancestor deities — offered three times for each ancestor, facing south.

This page gives the sankalpa that opens the rite, the three hand positions the shastras prescribe, each of the principal mantras in Sanskrit with transliteration and meaning, the materials you need, the full procedure, and how the practice differs by region. For the stage-by-stage vidhi — rishi, divya manushya, pitru and yama tarpan as separate offerings — see the tarpan vidhi guide.

The sankalpa, before any offering

Every tarpan opens with the sankalpa, the formal vow of intention. Without it the offering has no address. The karta holds water, sesame and darbha grass and recites:

Om Adya [tithi] [nakshatra] Asmat Pitri Pitamaha Prapitamaha Sapatnikanam Akshayatripti-sampadanartham Pitri Tarpanam Karishye

“Today I perform this tarpan for my father, grandfather and great-grandfather, and their wives, to grant them imperishable satisfaction.”

The sankalpa carries your own name and gotra, and the names of the ancestors where the family knows them. Where the gotra is not known, say so to the pandit rather than guessing — there is an established way of handling it.

The three tirthas — how to hold your hand

Water is poured from a different part of the hand depending on who receives it. This is the detail most often got wrong when families perform tarpan at home, and it is the one a pandit corrects first.

Pitru tirtha is the position that matters most during Pitru Paksha. Three anjalis — cupped handfuls — are offered for each ancestor.

The tarpan mantras

Pitru Gayatri mantra

The principal invocation, calling the ancestors to the rite and offering them peace. Chanted eleven times.

ॐ पितृगणाय विद्महे जगत धारिणी धीमहि तन्नो पितृो प्रचोदयात्।

Om Pitriganaya Vidmahe Jagat Dharini Dhimahi Tanno Pitro Prachodayat.

“We meditate on the assemblage of ancestors, the sustainers of the world. May the ancestors inspire and enlighten us.”

Pitru Dosha Nivarana mantra

Recited where a family has not kept the ancestral rites for some years and wishes to begin again.

ओम श्रीं सर्व पितृ दोष निवारणाय क्लेशं हं हं सुख शांतिं देवि फट् स्वाहा।

Om Shreem Sarva Pitru Dosh Nivaranaaya Kleshm Ham Ham Sukh Shantim Devi Phat Swaha.

“Om, we bow to all ancestors. May all afflictions and disturbances caused by ancestral neglect be removed, bringing peace and tranquillity.”

The general tarpan mantra

Recited while the water and sesame are poured. This is the mantra most families use.

ॐ सर्व पितृ देवताभ्यो नमः।

Om Sarva Pitru Devataabhyo Namah.

“Om, salutations to all ancestor deities.”

The Swadha mantra

Repeated three times, reinforcing the offering so that it is received. Swadha is the word by which an oblation is given to the ancestors, as svaha is for the gods.

ॐ सर्व पितृ देवा नमः। तस्मै स्वधा नमः। तस्मै स्वधा नमः। तस्मै स्वधा नमः।

Om Sarva Pitru Devaaya Namaha. Tasmai Swadha Namaha. Tasmai Swadha Namaha. Tasmai Swadha Namaha.

“Om, salutations to all the deified ancestors. Salutations to them with the offering of Swadha.”

What you need

• Water — from the Ganga where you have it, otherwise clean water in a copper vessel
• Black sesame (kala til) for the pitru offerings
• Kusha grass (darbha), held in the hand throughout
• Barley (yava) for the rishi offerings
• White flowers and a little rice
• A copper or brass vessel and a plate to receive the poured water
• Unstitched cloth for the karta — traditionally a white dhoti

How tarpan is performed

1. Bathe and dress. Rise before sunrise, bathe, and put on clean unstitched cloth. At a tirtha the bath is taken in the river itself.
2. Sit facing the right way. East or north for deva and rishi tarpan; south for pitru tarpan, with the thread on the right shoulder.
3. Take the sankalpa. Water, sesame and darbha in the hand, and the vow recited as above with your gotra and your ancestors’ names.
4. Deva tarpan. Water from the fingertips, facing east.
5. Rishi tarpan. Water mixed with barley, from the base of the little finger, facing north.
6. Pitru tarpan. Water with black sesame, from between thumb and index finger, facing south — three anjalis for each ancestor, with the mantras above.
7. Close. Offer the remaining water, bow to the ancestors, and give what you can to someone in need.

The full vidhi guide sets out each stage with the mantras that belong to it, including yama tarpan.

When tarpan is performed

Daily, by householders who keep the practice. On the annual death tithi. On amavasya each month. And above all through the sixteen days of Pitru Paksha — 26 September to 10 October in 2026 — when many families offer tarpan every morning rather than only on their own tithi. The Shradh dates calendar gives the tithi-by-tithi schedule, and the Pitru Paksha guide covers the fortnight itself.

Regional practice

In north India tarpan is offered at the river, most often the Ganga, and the Gangetic tirthas draw families from across the plains. In Bengal the great occasion is Mahalaya, the amavasya that closes Pitru Paksha, when families gather at the ghats before dawn — the single largest day of tarpan anywhere in the country. In the south the rite is tharpanam, kept with particular regularity on amavasya and often performed at home; see the Tamil guide to pithru tharpanam. In the west, families commonly combine tarpan with shradh on a single day rather than keeping it as a daily observance.

Beneath the regional pattern, every family has its own kulachar — the number of offerings, the ancestors named, the order. Where an elder has given you the family’s way, follow that before anything on this page.

Common questions

Can women perform tarpan? Yes. Where there is no son, or where the family chooses it, a daughter or another woman of the family performs the rite, and the purohits at Prayagraj and Gaya conduct it without qualification.

Can it be done at home? Yes, and most families do. A tirtha carries greater scriptural merit; it is not a requirement.

What if we missed Pitru Paksha? Offer on the next amavasya. The annual tithi comes round again, and there is no penance owed for a lapse — begin again and continue.

How is tarpan different from shradh and pind daan? Shradh is the whole ceremony; tarpan is the water offering within it, and pind daan the offering of the rice balls. Tarpan can stand alone as a daily practice; the other two cannot.

Are there dietary rules during Pitru Paksha? Keep a sattvic diet for the fortnight — no meat, fish, eggs, alcohol, onion or garlic — and eat only after the day’s offering is complete.

What if we cannot reach a river? Offer at home into a clean vessel and pour the collected water at the root of a tree, or into any flowing water afterwards. The offering is made valid by the sankalpa and the mantras, not by the location.

Having tarpan performed for you

Families abroad join by live video while the pandit performs at the ghat, with the sankalpa taken in your name. A recording follows. See the guide for families abroad.