Shraddha on 14th tithi; for those who died by weapons or accidents

Chaturdashi Shraddha, also called Ghata Chaturdashi or Ghayal Chaturdashi, is the Pitrupaksha rite of the fourteenth lunar day of the dark fortnight of Ashwin. It is reserved for those who died an untimely or violent death — by weapons, accidents, drowning, fire, snakebite, war, or by their own hand — whatever the tithi of their passing. Tradition holds that such souls, torn from life suddenly, may remain restless, and that this day's offering brings them peace. Notably, ancestors who died a natural death on a Chaturdashi are not offered shraddha today; their rite is performed on Sarva Pitru Amavasya instead. The karta bathes, takes the sankalp with the sacred thread worn to the right, and in the aparahna offers tarpan of water and black sesame and pinda of cooked rice, often with a lamp lit facing south for Yama. Families of soldiers, police and all who fell in the line of duty also remember them today. The rite is believed to remove pitru dosha arising from untimely death in the family.

The karta observes satvik purity; food is eaten only after it has been offered to the departed and brahmins.