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Pitru nama-mantra
ॐ पितृभ्यो नमः
Oṁ Pitṛbhyo Namaḥ
Simple reading: Om pi-tri-bhyo na-mah
About this mantra
The simplest remembrance of the ancestors — a bow any householder can make without a priest, to the line that produced them.
Meaning
Om, salutations to the pitrs — the fathers and mothers gone before. The mantra's three words carry a debt no gift settles: bodies, names, and half our habits are theirs. Offered with water and sesame, it does what remembrance can do — tells the lineage it is not forgotten, and asks that its blessings, not its burdens, flow down.
When to recite it
Pitru Paksha above all — the fortnight of the ancestors — and at shraddha and tarpan, Amavasya offerings, and family remembrance days.
Word by word
- ॐoṁ
- the primordial sound
- पितृभ्योpitṛbhyo
- to the fathers/ancestors
- नमःnamaḥ
- I bow, salutations
Source: Traditional nāma-mantra; full tarpan vidhi is family/priest-specific
Note: Formal shraddha and tarpan follow one's own family tradition and priest. This mantra is the simple householder remembrance, not a substitute for those rites.