Hariyali Amavasya (12 August): Puja Vidhi, Pitru Tarpan and Significance
Wednesday, 12 August 2026 is Hariyali Amavasya, the last no-moon day of Sawan — puja vidhi, pitru tarpan, tree worship, and why this Amavasya is so significant.
Wednesday, 12 August 2026 is Hariyali Amavasya — the no-moon day that closes out the month of Sawan. Known across large parts of North India as "Hariyali" (greenery) Amavasya, it falls at the peak of the monsoon, when fields, riverbanks and village groves are at their lushest. This Amavasya is set apart from an ordinary monthly no-moon day by its double significance — it is both a day of nature worship, celebrating the season's greenery, and one of the most favoured Amavasyas in the year for pitru tarpan, the ritual remembrance of ancestors.
Why Sawan's Amavasya is special
Every Amavasya is considered auspicious for ancestor worship and charity, but the one falling in Shravan carries extra weight because the entire month is already steeped in devotion — to Shiva through the Sawan Somwars, and to Gauri through the Mangala Gauri Tuesdays. Its arrival right after the greenest weeks of the monsoon is why it has come to be called Hariyali Amavasya in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, where villages hold small fairs, plant saplings, and set up swings much like at Teej. In several regions this day is also treated as an extension of the nature and serpent worship associated with Naag Panchami earlier in the month, tying together reverence for ancestors, trees and the land itself.
Puja vidhi — items and steps
The rituals for Hariyali Amavasya are quiet and rooted in gratitude rather than festivity.
- Rise before sunrise and bathe, ideally in or with water from a river; adding a little til (sesame seed) to the bathing water is a common practice on Amavasya.
- Perform tarpan — offering water, black til and kusha grass to departed ancestors — facing south, as is customary for pitru rituals.
- Visit a Peepal or Banyan tree, water its roots, light a diya beneath it, and tie a sacred thread around the trunk; both trees are considered abodes of ancestral and divine energy.
- Where possible, plant a sapling — this is one of the few days in the year when tree planting is treated as an act of direct religious merit.
- Offer food, clothes or money in charity (daan) to Brahmins, the elderly or those in need, and feed cows and crows, who are traditionally regarded as messengers to the ancestors.
- Many households also keep a simple fast through the day, breaking it only after the evening puja.
The significance behind the rituals
There is no single katha attached to Hariyali Amavasya the way there is for a vrat like Mangala Gauri; its significance instead lies in the confluence of ideas it carries. Pitru tarpan on this day is believed to bring peace to ancestors and relief from pitru dosh — the belief that unresolved obligations to one's forebears can cause obstacles in life. At the same time, the greenery of the season is honoured through tree worship and planting, reflecting an older agrarian understanding that the wellbeing of ancestors, the fertility of the land and the prosperity of the family are all connected. This is also the last Amavasya before Sawan gives way to Bhadrapada, making it a natural point to seek blessings and closure before the festival season that follows.
Who observes it
Hariyali Amavasya is observed most seriously by those performing pitru tarpan for recently deceased family members or on the recommendation of a family priest for pitru dosh nivaran. In rural North India it is equally a community occasion — farmers and villagers gather for tree worship and local melas, while women in some regions set up swings and sing folk songs reminiscent of Teej. Spiritually inclined households simply use the day for daan-punya — charity and good deeds — considering any Amavasya, and especially this one, auspicious for acts of generosity.