It is widely held in Kashi tradition that the Ganges is sacred in its origin and has the capacity to wash away deadly sin. The directional flow of the river at Kashi, a section of modern-day Varanasi, is part of the local sthala-parampara that explains why the city has remained the foremost shraddha kshetra for so many centuries. According to the same tradition, a battle between Lord Shiva and the powerful river is invoked to explain why Shiva is said to have halted the Ganges with his trident before it overran the city's boundary. Beyond legend, it is held in Kashi that everyone who dies in Kashi achieves salvation, and is liberated from the cycle of rebirth — and that even if one dies elsewhere, as long as the final rites are done here, salvation is still promised.

Pind daan at Varanasi can be performed by the son, daughter, brother, sister, wife or husband of the departed soul. In case there is no one available in the immediate family to carry out the rite, then a friend or a pratinidhi (representative) can perform the rituals with the help of the pandit. Children (sons) and other male relatives — brothers, fathers, and grandchildren — are frequently called upon to conduct the Pind Daan; when there are no male relatives who are ready or able, female relatives such as daughters and mothers can carry it out. Prayag Pandits coordinates online pind-daan-in-Kashi for NRI families and any family that cannot travel.

Pind daan in Varanasi is performed at the city's sacred Ganga ghats — primarily at Pishachmochan Kund (the kshetra named in the Skanda Purana, Kashi Khanda for releasing ancestors from the preta-yoni, particularly those who died untimely or by accident), with Manikarnika and Dashashwamedh ghats available at the family's preference. Each site has its own scriptural and historical character; the in-person family chooses based on their tradition and the package booked. Pishachmochan is the Kashi-specific anchor that distinguishes pind-daan at Kashi from pind-daan at any other tirtha — no other shraddha kshetra in the Puranic corpus names a single kund with this verse-density for akal-mrityu shraddha.

The last rite is performed by the successor in order to provide salvation to the departed soul. The soul is said to dwell around unsatisfied and unhappy, trying to achieve those feelings which are not possible for its form. Pind Daan offers enlightenment to the soul and leads it towards Moksha. At Kashi specifically, the Skanda Purana, Kashi Khanda — through the Pancanada verse — extends this further by promising that the libations made here reach ancestors even if they have already taken another birth.

Yes, you can perform the Pind daan of your father if your mother is still alive.

Pind daan can be performed throughout the year, but Pitrupaksha — the 16-day fortnight in Ashwina Krishna Paksha (before Navaratri) — is considered the most powerful window. At Kashi specifically, because the Mahabharata Vana Parva names the kshetra as Avimukta (the one place Shiva pledged never to leave), the rite carries full scriptural merit year-round, on every Amavasya, and on the death-anniversary tithi.

Pind daan is a holy ritual conducted after the cremation of an individual; it is an offering to ancestors so they can acquire sadgati (the proper next stage of life after death). It addresses the family's deepest concern for the departed and, in the Kashi tradition specifically, also addresses the concern for ancestors who could not be released in earlier generations — Pishachmochan in the Kashi Khanda is named precisely for this purpose.

When there are no male relatives who are ready or able to carry out Pind Daan, female relatives such as daughters and mothers can carry it out. In the Kashi tradition this principle is reinforced by the long-standing practice of widows, daughters, and other female karta performing the rite at Pishachmochan and the Ganga ghats; the qualification is the karta's relationship to the departed and the sincerity of the sankalp, not the karta's gender.