What is Mahalaya? And what is its relation to Durga Puja? In our land, the preparations for Durga Puja begin from Mahalaya itself; yet in certain regions, the sacred rites commence even earlier—from Krishna Navami, the ninth lunar day preceding Mahalaya (the ritualistic inauguration that unfolds daily for fifteen days before the Puja proper). So let us contemplate the very philosophy of it: what is the relationship between the ancestral fortnight and the Goddess's fortnight? It bears noting that the ancestral fortnight—known commonly among us as 'Mahalaya'—is a sacred season set apart for offerings to forebears and ancestral rites. This fortnight goes by other names as well: Pitripaksha, the sixteen shraddhas, Kanagat, Jitiya, Mahalayapaksha, and Aparapaksha.
'Mahalaya' is a feminine noun, a modifier of 'amavasya'—the moonless night. But why is this ancestral moonless night called 'Mahalaya'? If we parse the etymology—'mahan layah yatra' or 'mahan alayah yatra'—then whose great dissolution or destruction occurs on this moonless night? And whose dwelling, whose great abode? Or again, if we venture another interpretation—'mahasya utsavasya alayah', meaning the seat of the festival, the fullness of festive occasion—what does this signify? What do the scriptures tell us?
Both 'Mahalaya' and 'Mahalaya' find their use in the scriptures. Therefore, the third etymology too is plausible; or if we say—'mahansh cha asau alayah cha iti'—the masculine Mahalaya.
Let us now proceed through these etymologies.
(1) 'Mahan layah yatra'—whose dissolution? The moon's. Indeed, the moon undergoes a great dissolution on this moonless night—and since practical meaning emerges from etymological sense, 'Mahalaya' is a word of conventional usage, as the celebrated Smarta scholar Sri Krishna Tarklankar, commentator on the Kalbibek (that authoritative text prescribing the seasons for Hindu worship, auspicious acts, rituals, and festival observances composed by Jimutvahana), has stated. But the moon wanes during every Krishna paksha, every dark fortnight. Why then does this particular moonless night—following the full moon of Prausthapada or Bhadra—speak of the moon's extreme or special diminishment?
For etymological reasons precisely, Tarklankar called the word 'conventional usage'. I understand it all, yet an unease persists: why do we confine the etymology of 'Mahalaya' to 'mahan layah yatra' alone? There remains a certain disquiet about this. Let me think more simply. If we understand it thus—that on this Mahalaya moonless night, the obligation or opportunity to perform shraddha on all the applicable lunar dates throughout the year reaches its complete cessation or dissolution—then surely we need not invoke the meaning of 'the moon's dissolution' or 'the moon's end'; yet the scriptural texts harmonize perfectly with this sense. Mahalaya, then, is not the dissolution of the moon, but the dissolution of obligation.
(2) 'Mahan alayah yatra'—The Shukla Yajurveda-Samhita speaks thus—
Dve sṛti aśṛṇvam pitṛṇām aham devānām uta martyānām. Tābhyām idam viśvam ejat sameti yad antara pitaram mataram cha. (19/47)
Meaning: O people! I am he who hears the two paths—the path of the fathers and the path of the gods—through which men and the learned attain coming and going, that is, birth and death. By these two paths, the entire world moves forward and attains excellence. And you know this: when one separates from one's father and mother and, taking on another body, obtains new parents.
According to the province of the gods and the fathers, there are two paths—one is the southward course, the other the northward course. Magha, Phalguna, Chaitra, Vaishakh, Jyestha, Ashadh—these six months comprise the northward course, and Shravan, Bhadra, Ashwin, Kartik, Agrahayan, Paush—these six months make up the southward course. The southward course is the season presided over by the fathers.
Within these six months of the southward course, when Keshav—Lord Vishnu—sleeps once more, that time becomes auspicious. Within these six months, moreover, the dark fortnight following Bhadra's full moon becomes especially auspicious. And within that, reckoning by the lunar days: from the first and second through the fifth, from the sixth through the tenth, and from the eleventh through the new moon—that is, through Mahalaya—the time grows progressively more auspicious, then more auspicious still, then most auspicious of all.
If the thirteenth lunar day falls under Magha—that luminous star among the twenty-seven constellations reckoned in astronomy—then it becomes the most auspicious of all. When offerings of milk and rice pudding are made in the shraddha rite, that shraddha becomes eternal. Whatever one's circumstances—whether one follows the scriptures precisely or not—at this time, the shraddha rite is absolutely incumbent upon all.
In the Matsya Purana, as cited in the Brihat Rajamartanda, we find: When the sun enters the house of Kanya, Through fifteen days, by ritual ordinance, The shraddha rite is ordained. Meaning: When the sun is in the zodiacal sign of Virgo, the shraddha offering is prescribed by ritual law.
The Mimamsa scholar Karshnaijni cites from the Bhavishya Purana in his commentary: In the latter half of the month when sky is lord, Daily the shraddha rite is fit to be performed; Neither the nandas are to be rejected nor the fourteenth day. Meaning: In the dark fortnight of the latter Bhadra month, the shraddha rite is prescribed on every lunar day; neither the nanda days—the first, sixth, and eleventh—are to be avoided, nor the fourteenth.
Therefore, this fortnight connected with Mahalaya being so exceptionally auspicious, many forms of shraddha are prescribed during this time. These practices are eternal, or to be observed eternally.
In the Shraddha-kalpa-lata of the renowned smriti-writer Nanda Pandit, also known as Vinayak Pandit, we find: "In the fifth month from Ashadh, when the sun dwells in Virgo, in that supreme fortnight, mankind offers shraddha to the departed forefathers." Thus, when the sun enters Virgo—that is, in Ashwin—from the fifth month counting from Ashadh—in that supreme fortnight, among all the lunar days appointed for paternal rites and shraddha offerings, the new moon, the Mahalaya itself, being the most auspicious, this particular new moon of the dark fortnight becomes the finest day throughout the year for the shraddha of the fathers.
During this dark fortnight—the fathers' fortnight—the ancestors depart from their own realm and gather in the world of humans to receive food and offerings given by sons and grandsons. They come from the realm of the departed on this very lunar day and assemble—they become alaya, that is, they come to dwell in the abode of this day, which is why it is called Mahalaya, the great dwelling.
(3) 'The Abode of the Great Festival': The word 'maha' means 'festival.' On the new moon of the fortnight that follows, the realm of the departed is emptied as all spirits return to the earthly plane, gathering together under the dominion of Yama himself—and they remain here until the sun reaches the sign of Scorpio. If the ancestors do not receive their oblations of rice during this period when the sun dwells in Scorpio, they return to the realm of the dead seized by terrible anguish, wounded pride, and remorse, and curse the descendants of the present lineage with awful imprecations. The new moon is the most auspicious day for receiving the oblations of the departed—and it is for this reason that this lunar date has been designated as 'Mahalaya,' marking it as the festival day of the ancestors. Shulpani, the originator of the new code of remembrance, cited in his authoritative treatise on oblations, the 'Shraddhaviveka,' a passage from the primordial scripture, the 'Brahmapurana': Yavacch kanyatulayoh kramad aste divakarah. Tavachhradhasy kálah syat shúnyam pretapuram tada. Meaning: When the sun moves through the transition from Virgo to Libra, it is the season of oblations, and the realm of the departed stands empty. In the 'Shraddhaviveka' we find that the 'Bhavishyapurana' as well fully endorses this teaching. Why is this day of Mahalaya the supreme day of joy for the ancestors?—to prove this, one must examine the prescribed order of offering oblations. First, it is the sacred duty of sons to perform the annual oblations on the death-day itself. Beyond the 'Shraddhaviveka,' Raghunananda Bhattacharya, in his 'Twenty-Eight Principles,' has clearly stated that the ritual oblations performed during each dark fortnight are also eternal obligations. (The oblations offered on special occasions like Mahalaya and on particular dates when someone has died are called 'seasonal oblations.') Among these, the afternoon is most auspicious—"In each month, the afternoon of the dark fortnight is superior." The Vedas declare: "During the dark fortnight, oblations may be offered on any date, but when offered on the new moon, they yield special fruit." The person who is constantly devoted to sacrifice and maintains an unquenched fire of ritual—the householder of continual oblation—performs sacrifice only on the new moon. The Vedic hymn proclaims: "The bright fortnight belongs to the gods, the dark fortnight to the ancestors." Brahma first created the bright fortnight. Later he created the dark fortnight, and therefore it is called the 'second fortnight.' In the third chapter of the 'Manusmriti' it is ordained: Na paitryajnyo homo laukikehgni vidhiyate. Na darshen vina shraddhm ahitagner dvijanmanah. (3/282) Meaning: (Apart from the Vedic and traditional fires) the oblations to the ancestors are not to be performed on the household fire. The oblations of the twice-born who maintains the sacred fire cannot be done except on the new moon. Yet if someone cannot perform the seasonal oblations during each dark fortnight, the 'Manusmriti' prescribes an alternative: Anena vidhina shraddhm trir abdasyheh nirvpet. Hemantgrishmvarsasu panchyajnikm ambhm. (3/281)
According to this rule, one must perform the rite of *śrāddha* three times in the year—during autumn, summer, and the monsoon season—while the *śrāddha* within the five sacrifices must be performed daily.
Alternatively, as the scripture says—"when the sun is in the sign of Virgo and during the dark fortnight always"—one must perform the rite three times within the year: when the sun enters the sign of Virgo, namely during the solar months of Āśvin, Phālgun, and Jyaiṣṭha, specifically on the new moon night.
If even this proves difficult for anyone, then—
*Haṁse varṣāsu kanyāsthe śākenāpi gṛhe vasan* *Pañcamyā uttare dadyau ubhayorvaṁśayorṛṇam*
According to this scriptural ordinance, when the sun enters the sign of Virgo, the householder must perform the *śrāddha* at least once on the new moon, even if only with vegetables. This, then, is the *Mahālaya* new moon—that most auspicious night.
Here it must be particularly noted that on this great festival day of the ancestors, the offering of sixteen *piṇḍas* becomes absolutely imperative.
The ritual of offering nineteen *piṇḍas* is called the *ṣoḍaśa-piṇḍa-dān*. This is a technical term—that is, the very act of offering nineteen *piṇḍas* bears this name. On the new moon of the month when the deceased spirit dwells and upon reaching a sacred place, one must perform the seasonal *śrāddha* according to proper rites and offer nineteen *piṇḍas*. According to the method prescribed at Gaya on the Stone of the Deceased, wherein the offerings are made through the mantras of the *Mātṛ-ṣoḍaśī* and *Pitṛ-ṣoḍaśī*, the *piṇḍa* must be offered in this manner; thus this term should be understood as technical in character, like words that are accomplished through the fifth case or through irregularities of formation. (This is written following Śrī Raghunandana Bhaṭṭāchārya's *Tithitattva*.)
After performing the seasonal *śrāddha* according to proper rites, one must make the offering of the sixteen *piṇḍas*. By reciting nineteen mantras and offering nineteen *piṇḍas*, the *ṣoḍaśa-piṇḍa-dān* is completed. This view is described in the *Śrāddha-tattva* and the *Śrāddha-paddhati*. At sacred places, for the attainment of sanctification, after performing the *śrāddha* and the seasonal rites at *Mahālaya*, one must offer the sixteen *piṇḍas* in this manner.
In brief, on this most blessed day of *Mahālaya*, the giver of *śrāddha* makes no distinction—low and high, sinful and pure, born of different wombs—all are equal in his mind. To all alike the giver of *śrāddha* offers his reverent homage—
*Oṁ ābrahmasthamba paryantaṁ devariṣi pitṛmānavaḥ* *Tṛpyantu pitaraḥ sarve mātrī-mātāmahā dayaḥ* (Śrī Śrī Gayā-Māhātmya, 1/21)
Meaning: From Brahma down to the smallest blade of grass—all that exists in the world—may the gods, the sages, the ancestors, and the kinfolk among men, and all those dwelling in the realm of fathers, mothers, and grandmothers, be satisfied by my offering of water mixed with sesame.
Now the question arises: if by misfortune one cannot perform the *śrāddha* of the ancestors even on *Mahālaya*, is there no other means to appease them? To this matter, the commentators, by prescribing this secondary ordinance, have the *Bhavishya Purāṇa* declare:
*Yeṣyaṁ dīpānvitā rājan khyātā pañcadaśī bhuvi* *Tasyāṁ dadyānna ceddattaṁ pitṛṇāṁ vai mahālaye*
That is to say, he must arrange the rites of *śrāddha* on the new-moon day of the fifteenth lunar date in the month of Ashwin, with offerings of lamps. Yet in this secondary observance, there will be no offering of sixteen *piṇḍa*s.
The dark fortnight and the bright fortnight, the time of ancestors and the time of the goddess—these two are bound together inseparably. The *Mahālayā* tithi of the dark fortnight echoes with the conch-call announcing the arrival of the Great Mother. The exultation of the ancestors and the footfall of the World-Mother drawing near—in their union, *Mahālayā* becomes for humankind a day held most dear, a day brimming with joy.