It?s time to pay obeisance to ancestors

The Pitra Paksh started on Friday with the devouts offering obeisance to their ancestors. Thousands took a dip into the holy waters of Ganga before performing various rituals. A large crowd of the followers of Hinduism gathered at the banks of Ganga and many had their hairs shaved as a part of the ritual. They performed 'pind dan' and offered their prayers to the pitras. The offerings included cooked rice, black sesame and water.

The Pitra Paksh started on Friday with the devouts offering obeisance to their ancestors. Thousands took a dip into the holy waters of Ganga before performing various rituals.

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A large crowd of the followers of Hinduism gathered at the banks of Ganga and many had their hairs shaved as a part of the ritual. They performed 'pind dan' and offered their prayers to the pitras. The offerings included cooked rice, black sesame and water.

The city astrologers have highlighted the significance of this fortnight when the souls of our ancestors actually descend on earth to bless us and 'pind dan' is considered important to please them.

Meanwhile the astrologers held different views regarding the occurrence of lunar eclipse on the eve of Pitra Paksha. According to astrologer Pandit JN Mishra, the lunar eclipse falling on the day before Pitra Paksha will have no effect whatsoever on the life of devouts. "Pitra Paksha always begins from amavasya and lunar eclipse occurs on full moon day. Both of them thus have no link and so no bad affect or bad omen for people," he said.

However another astrologer Ashok said that the duration of Pitra Paksha had already started when the lunar eclipse was just about to end, thus it is important to propitiate the pitras to evade any probable harmful effects. "All the rituals should be performed facing west," he said.