Shraddha on 9th tithi; for mothers and married women ancestors

Navami Shraddha, widely known as Matru Navami or Avidhava Navami, is the Pitrupaksha rite of the ninth lunar day of the dark fortnight of Ashwin. Besides ancestors who departed on a Navami, it is especially dedicated to the mothers of the family — mother, grandmother and great-grandmother — and to women who passed away as suhagan, before their husbands. On this day the daughters-in-law of the house traditionally play a central role: they keep a fast, and a suhagan brahmin woman or a married woman of the community is honoured with food, a sari, bangles, sindoor and other marks of marital auspiciousness in the ancestors' name. The karta offers tarpan of water and black sesame and pinda of cooked rice in the aparahna, with the sacred thread worn to the right. Matru Navami is an expression of the deep reverence Indian tradition holds for the mother; satisfying the maternal ancestors is believed to bring harmony to married life, the blessing of children and the protection of the women of the household.

Daughters-in-law of the family traditionally fast until the shraddha is complete.