Thai Amavasya 2026 Date
Thai Amavasya 2026 is on Sunday, 18 January 2026, on Amavasya tithi.
Dates are for India (IST). Tithi timings for your city are on the Thai Amavasya page.
About Thai Amavasya
Thai Amavasai is the new moon that follows Makara Sankranti, falling in the first half of Uttarayana — the northward solar half scripturally favoured for ancestor rites. Tamil families gather before dawn at Agni Theertham in Rameswaram and the Kaveri ghats to offer tarpanam with black sesame and darbha grass.
The ritual hinges on a small gesture. Water mixed with black sesame seeds and a blade of darbha grass is poured through the gap between thumb and index finger — the spot called Pitru Tirtha, reserved for the departed. The Garuda Purana says that if a family no longer remembers the exact death-date of a forebear, an Amavasya tarpanam covers everyone in the line, three generations back on both sides. Thai's new moon carries extra weight because the sun has just turned north; the pitrus are said to be most receptive in this half of the year. Performing the rite is meant to repay Pitru Rina — the inherited debt every Hindu is born with to those who came before. Coastal towns like Rameswaram and Tiruchendur, and the Kaveri sites of Mayiladuthurai and Thiruvengadu, see the largest gatherings before sunrise.
