How to do the Mahalaya · Sarva Pitru Amavasya puja at home

The house awake at a quarter to four, the broadcast, and the bath without soap or oil.

1. Before dawn

   The bath

   1. Bathe in cold or plain water before sunrise, with no soap, no oil and nothing scented.
   2. Wear washed cotton that has dried in the air and not been worn since — an unstitched dhoti where the house keeps one, a clean cotton saree otherwise.
   3. Eat nothing until the tarpan is done. Water is allowed.
   

At the river where there is one, on the terrace where there is not. Eight offerings, each with its own direction and its own part of the hand.

1. The tarpan

   Who offers it, and who may

   1. The tarpan is offered by a man whose father has died — the eldest son first, then his brothers, then a grandson, then a nephew.
   2. Where there is no such man, a daughter may offer it; in Bengal many daughters now do.
   3. A house with nobody to offer it still keeps the day: the plates at midday, the food given away, and the diya at dusk are the household's own.
   4. Today the offering is for everyone: the whole fortnight's missed days are gathered into this morning, so a family that does not know a tithi offers today.
   

2. The tarpan

   Where you sit, and what you wear on the hand

   1. Stand knee-deep in a river or a pond where there is one and it is safe; otherwise sit on a wool or kusha mat on an open terrace, a courtyard or a balcony, with a wide brass thali before you.
   2. Wear the kusha ring — the pavitri — on the right ring finger, and keep a few blades of kusha in the palm.
   3. Keep the black til, the water and the thali within reach, so that you need not rise until the tarpan is done.
   
4. 3. 1 · The devas
   4. 2 · The rishis
   5. Avahan: invite the pitars
   6. 4 · Your father's line
   7. 5 · Your mother's people
   8. 8 · Everyone who has nobody
   9. Wring out the cloth on the bank
   10. Visarjan: bid the pitars farewell

   These 8 steps, with their drawings and mantras, are in the app

From Kutup, a little before noon, to the end of the aparahna, the afternoon hours: the food cooked, offered, and set out for the cow, the crow, the dog, the devas and the ants.

1. 1. The shraddh meal
   2. The pinda
   3. The five plates
   4. The guest's meal, then the family's

   These 4 steps, with their drawings and mantras, are in the app

The diya, and then the fortnight turns: Pitru Paksha ends this evening and Devi Paksha begins.

1. 1. The diya at dusk
   2. The katha
   3. The fortnight turns

   These 3 steps, with their drawings and mantras, are in the app