Amavasya Tharpanam - Importance of Amavasya Tharpanam

Saints, sages and other experts have always stressed on the importance of Amavasya tharpanam. In simple terms, tharpanam usually means offering something to one’s ancestral beings so as to satisfy them. Many believe that tharpanam is as important as any other worship procedure. Tharpanam which is carried out on the day of Amavasya is known as Amavasya tharpanam.

In case you already know the traditional way of doing tharpanam along with the traditional mantras or if you are a man of family traditions who believes in certain practices carried out by your family members, you should follow your traditional practices. On the other hand, if you are not sure about how to do tharpanam in order to satisfy your dead ancestors, here is an easy way to do so. Amavasya tharpanam done in this way consists of two different parts. One is pitru tharpanam and the other one is karunya tharpanam.

According to the first method, one needs to pay many spiritual debts everyday. One such debt is what we have to pay to our ancestors. Pitru tharpanam done on the day of Amavasya is one such way to pay this debt. This worship procedure does not take much time and can be done within ten minutes or so.

Going by the names, Pitru Tharpanam means to satisfy one’s ancestors. In this part of tharpanam, we offer tharpanam to 12 of our recently departed ancestors. These may be your parents, grandparents and so on. People in your parental lines are the only ones who are included in this tharpanam. So, uncles, aunts or cousins are excluded from Pitru tharpanam worship. They are however included when we perform karunya tharpanam.

The second part of tharpanam is known as Karunya tharpanam. In this procedure we include departed relatives, friends, pets, creatures, animals and other departed beings.

Things needed for Amavasya tharpanam

• A mat to sit on made of darbha grass. A wooden plank or clean cloth made of natural fibers.
• A clean plate made of wood, copper, brass or silver. Glass and steel should not be used.
• Clean water in a glass made of wood, copper, brass or silver. You may also keep some water in an extra bowl.
• Sesame seeds. Use black sesame seeds if you are a male and white sesame seeds if you are a female.
• Darbha grass.
• Pavitram made of darbha grass to be worn in the ring finger of the right hand.

Procedure to offer Amavasya tharpanam

• Light at least two oil or ghee lamps.
• Sit on a mat facing east.
• Pray to lord Ganesha followed by lord Sun. Lord Sun is considered to be the lord of ancestral beings.
• Place the plate in front of you and arrange the Tharpanam grid. The first three block of the grid should be offered to paternal male ancestors. The next three should be offered to paternal female ancestors. Blocks seven to nine should be offered to maternal male ancestors. The last three blocks should be offered to maternal female ancestors.
• Place strips of darbha grass in each block of the grid.
• From the bottom of your heart, request pitru ancestral beings to be present in the tharpanam grid and accept your humble offerings.