New moon day dedicated to ancestral rites, offerings to departed souls, and holy river baths.

Darsha Amavasya is the new moon day observed in the Vedic tradition as the occasion for Pitru Tarpan — the offering of water and sesame to the ancestors. Darsha refers to the moment the moon becomes invisible, when the lunar cycle completes and begins again. In the Vedic ritual calendar it is one half of the Darsha-Purnamasa pair, the fortnightly sacrifices prescribed for householders who maintain the sacred fires. For most families today the observance takes a simpler form: a bath at first light, tarpan offered to three generations of ancestors, and a meal given to a Brahmin or to the poor. Amavasya is considered the day the Pitru Loka is nearest, and offerings made now are believed to reach the departed most directly.

The performer of the rites traditionally fasts until the tarpan and the feeding of Brahmins are complete, then takes one simple meal.