Food to avoid during pitru paksh PC: Freepik
Pitru Paksha is a 16-day holy phase when ancestors are believed to come down to earth to accept offerings. Families perform rituals like Tarpan and feed Brahmins as a gesture of respect. This year, Pitru Paksha began on September 7, 2025, and will end on September 21, 2025.
Although the rites are felt to be spiritual in nature, culinary laws during this time often escape observation. These rules of diet are thought to maintain the purity of the rituals and guarantee the blessing of the ancestors.
A sattvic diet-light, clean, and soothing is recommended. There are foods that are forbidden:
Stale or leftover food: Only freshly cooked food can be eaten and offered as adlements left over are felt to be unclean.
Non-vegetarian food: Meat, fish, poultry, and eggs are avoided as they are tamasic and are associated with violence and drowsiness. Holy scriptures advise that they can attract negative vibrations.
Pulses such as black chana, urad dal, rajma, and chickpeas: As heavy and tamasic foods, they are substituted with lighter sattvic varieties, including moong dal, chana dal, or toor dal.
Onion and garlic: Widely used in Indian cuisine, but thought to attract bad energies and raise body temperature because of their tamasic and rajasic nature.
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Spicy and oily foods: Rajasic in nature, they interrupt calmness. Light spicing or boiled food is favored.
Brinjal: Avoided on account of its tamasic nature, as it can lead to dullness. Bottle gourd is sattvic alternative.
Tamarind: Thought to be overstimulating and not apt for offerings.
Overnight kept kneaded dough: Holy books advise that keeping overnight aggravates negative energies, causing sickness and misery.
Mushrooms: Owing to their meaty texture and unclean cultivation, they are shunned during Shraddh.
Alcohol and intoxicants: Tobacco, alcohol, paan, and supari are totally forbidden since they blur spiritual perception.
Dairy food items: Milk, curd, ghee, and buttermilk are sattvic, filling, and soothing.
Fruits and vegetables: Pumpkin, bottle gourd, spinach, banana, apple, and pomegranate are seasonal produce that are favoured.
Sattvic drinks: Herbal teas like tulsi or ginger tea and fresh juices keep one refreshed and the
mind clear.
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Grains and pulses: Rice, wheat, and millets are clean and ensure purity and energy.
Nuts and seeds: Almonds, sesame seeds, and pumpkin seeds build strength and provide healthy fats.
Most people follow fasts and consume food only after performing rituals. This practice is not only respectful to the ancestors but is also good for the body. Sattvic light foods promote clarity, calmness, and gratitude during this holy time.
