Odia Shraddha Paddhati: Barsika, Dashaha, Mahalaya and the Mantras

Shraddha (ଶ୍ରାଦ୍ଧ) in English is simply the ancestral rite — the ceremony performed for departed parents and forebears — and barsika (ବାର୍ଷିକ) is its annual form, the death anniversary. The Odia shraddha paddhati is the prescribed method for performing these, Vedic in substance with regional customs of its own. This guide covers barsika, mahalaya, the ten-day dashaha, paya shraddha, the tarpan mantra, and the nimantrana patra format, with the Odia terms alongside.

The terms, in Odia and English

Families in the diaspora often need the English word for a form, an employer or a relative who does not read Odia. These are the ones that come up.

Shraddha Barsika — the annual rite

Barsika is the central annual obligation in an Odia household, and it falls on the tithi the person died on, never on the English calendar date. If someone died on Kartika Krishna Dashami, barsika falls on Kartika Krishna Dashami every year.

The Odia Panjika — Kohinoor, or the Utkal Jyotish Parishad — maps the tithi to the English calendar each year. If you do not have a panjika, or nobody is sure of the tithi, give us the English date and year of death and we will work it back. It is a short calculation and we do not charge for it.

A barsika properly done contains five things: the sankalpa, the vow naming the ancestor, their gotra and the purpose, taken facing south; pinda daan, the rice balls with til and barley, placed in Odia families on a banana or peepal leaf; tarpana, water with black sesame from a copper or silver vessel, again facing south; brahmana bhojana, feeding at least one brahmin, the food sattvic with no onion, garlic or masoor dal; and daan.

Mahalaya Shraddha, during Pitru Paksha

Mahalaya is the shraddha performed in the sixteen days of Pitru Paksha, which in 2026 runs from 26 September to Sarvapitri Amavasya on 10 October. Offerings made in the fortnight are held to carry further, and the Garuda Purana holds that a soul which did not receive its rites in the year after death can still be reached here.

For Odia families it is also a public occasion. In the weeks before Durga Puja, families gather at the Mahanadi bank at Cuttack and at the Bindusagar tank in Bhubaneswar for collective tarpan. Many who keep barsika at home through the year choose to perform Mahalaya at a tirtha instead — Gaya or Prayagraj — for the additional merit.

Dashaha — the ten days after a death

Dashaha, or dashkriya, is the ten-day period following a death. It is not passive mourning: each day carries its own rite, and the Garuda Purana describes the pindas offered across those days as building the subtle body the departed will travel in, one part at a time — the head first, then the senses, and downward to the feet by the tenth.

The eleventh and twelfth days carry ekodishta, the rite addressed to that one soul alone, and sapindikaran, which joins their pinda to the ancestral three and moves them from the transitional state into the company of the forebears. In some Odia families sapindikaran is kept here; in others it waits for the first barsika. Which your family does changes what the prathama barsika contains, so it is worth knowing which happened — the fuller account is in the sapindikarana guide.

Paya Shraddha — the milk-rice offering

Less widely known and worth knowing. In paya shraddha the offering is payasa — rice cooked in milk, sweetened — rather than the plain rice pinda. No separate pinda is required; the payasa is itself the offering. The karta sets three small portions on a banana or peepal leaf and sprinkles til over them.

The Dharma Sindhu prescribes it in three situations, and only one of them is about death:

• In the third, sixth or ninth month after a death, as an intermediate offering between the monthly masika rites.
• At the birth of a child, asking the ancestors’ protection over the newborn.
• At a family milestone — a son’s upanayana, a daughter’s marriage — where ancestral blessing is sought for the passage.

The payasa is made with rice, full-fat cow’s milk and jaggery or sugar, and no salt. Paya shraddha can be kept at home by a karta who knows the sankalpa and the tarpan mantras, with a local pandit reciting the full vidhi. At Prayagraj our pandits fold it into the pind daan ceremony for families who ask on the day.

The tarpan mantra

Water mixed with black sesame is poured from a copper or silver vessel, facing south, while the mantra is said:

ॐ [गोत्र] गोत्राय [नाम] शर्मणे / वर्मणे / गुप्ताय वसु-रूपाय पितृ-तृप्त्यर्थं जलं तर्पयामि।

Om [Gotra] gotraya [Name] sharmane / varmane / guptaya vasu-rupaya pitri-triptyartham jalam tarpayami — “for [Name] of [Gotra], in the form of the Vasus, for the satisfaction of the ancestors, I offer this water.”

Tarpayami is said three times for each ancestor as the water is poured — once addressing them as pitru, once as matamaha, and once as one of the wider ancestral body. The variants for the mother, the maternal grandparents and for anapatya pitru, ancestors who died childless, are in the tarpan vidhi.

The nimantrana patra — the invitation card

When an Odia family performs shraddha at Gaya or Prayagraj — particularly for the prathama barsika — it is customary to send a nimantrana patra to relatives and the community. The format is recognised across Odisha and pandits will expect it. These are its elements, in order:

1. Header — an invocation at the top, commonly ଶ୍ରୀ ଜଗନ୍ନାଥ ସ୍ମୃତି (Sri Jagannath Smriti), or another to Jagannath or Vishnu.
2. The deceased’s name in Odia script, with gotra and the relationship to the karta — ସ୍ୱ. [Name], [Karta]ଙ୍କ ପ୍ରିୟ ପିତୃ, “Late [Name], beloved father of [Karta]”.
3. The tithi and the English date, with the place — Triveni Sangam, Prayagraj, or Falgu Ghat, Gaya.
4. Which ceremony it is: barsika, mahalaya, prathama barsika, or pind daan at a tirtha.
5. The karta’s name and address, then the immediate family named as co-performers.
6. The brahman bhojan invitation — time and venue for the meal afterwards, where one is held.
7. Closing line, usually ସମସ୍ତ ଆସ୍ଥାବନ୍ଧୁ ଓ ସ୍ୱଜନଙ୍କ ଉପସ୍ଥିତ ପ୍ରାର୍ଥନୀୟ — “the presence of all well-wishers and relatives is respectfully requested”.

Printed in Odia script, on cream or white, with a saffron or maroon border. Families abroad preparing a card for relatives in India can hand this format to any Odia press or digital card service.

Who may be the karta, and the rules they keep

The eldest son is the traditional karta. The Dharma Sindhu permits a younger son, a son-in-law, a paternal nephew, or the daughter of the deceased, and a widow may perform shraddha for her husband. A daughter performing these rites is not a substitute making do — the scriptures provide for her and the offering carries the same weight. The full order of eligibility is in who can perform pind daan.

The karta fasts until the ceremony is complete, bathes beforehand, wears undyed cloth, and faces south throughout. The Dharma Sindhu makes one exception worth knowing: a karta who is gravely ill or elderly, for whom fasting is a health risk, may take a light meal of rice and milk beforehand, provided the deviation is declared in the sankalpa. Families put elderly relatives through unnecessary fasting for want of knowing this. Afterwards the karta resumes ordinary activity once the brahmin has been fed and the ashirvad received, and prasad is distributed to the family.

At Gaya and Prayagraj

Odia families have gone to Gaya for pind daan for generations, and the practical side of that journey — route, timing, where to stay — is in the Gaya from Odisha guide. These are what we perform, with pandits who know Odia custom:

If you are unsure which ceremony your family owes — whether sapindikaran was done at the twelfth day or is still pending, whether a missed barsika needs making good at Mahalaya — tell us the circumstances and a pandit will say. The year’s full calendar, with the Odia panjika correspondences, is on the shradh dates page.