Pitru Paksha Opens at Pishachmochan as Over 40,000 Offer Shraadh

Pitru Paksha began on Sunday in Varanasi with more than 40,000 people offering shraadh at Pishachmochan kund and its surrounding ghats. Priests worked from dawn into the late night, and approach roads jammed under the first-day rush.

Priest Sanjeev Tiwari said Gaya-bound shraadh rites ran from early morning until about 11 pm, after which Narayan Bali and Tripindi rites continued. The kund, the seven priest ghats and the kund sides stayed crowded through the day. The fortnight runs about 14 days this year through around 10 October, with one tithi kshaya shortening the calendar against a full 15-day stretch.

Ritual material prices have risen by Rs 200 to Rs 500 after the recent rain. Depending on the rite, families buy between 40 and 65 items. Tripindi materials cost around Rs 2,000 and Narayan Bali materials around Rs 2,500 on the figures tied to the opening day.

Pishachmochan is one of the city's main shraadh centres when the Pitru Paksha window opens. First-day crowds of that size explain the traffic on approach roads without needing invented colour from unnamed devotees. The desk is not adding pilgrim quotes beyond the named priest's account of timing and rite sequence.

Kalash-lined vedis around the kund and the press of morning arrivals for Gaya shraadh set the day's rhythm. Tiwari's account puts the Gaya block first, then Narayan Bali for pitrs believed to be in pret yoni, and Tripindi for seeking pitrs' grace. That order is the practical sequence families heard on Sunday, not a theological lecture invented for this brief.

For families planning the rest of the fortnight, the calendar runs through about 10 October. Price rises on ritual kits after rain will matter for households that buy full sets rather than a few staples. Those who only need a short list of flowers and grains will feel less of the Rs 200 to Rs 500 uplift than those booking full Tripindi or Narayan Bali packages.

This is a culture and religion brief. It stays on the opening-day turnout, the named priest's timing, the roughly 14-day span to around 10 October, and the material price band. No political framing and no invented eyewitness lines are added. The rain-hit week that raised flower and material costs is background for the price note, not a separate weather story.

Police and traffic management on the approach roads is implied by the jam, but this piece does not invent deployment numbers. The locked facts are the crowd figure, the priest's hours, the rite sequence and the shortened fortnight.

Until later days of the fortnight bring fresh priest-desk updates, Sunday's locked facts are the ones that matter: more than 40,000 at Pishachmochan, Gaya shraadh into about 11 pm, Narayan Bali and Tripindi after that, and a shortened roughly 14-day Pitru Paksha through around 10 October.