Pitru Paksha

Pitru Paksha (Sanskrit: पितृ पक्ष), also spelt as Pitru paksha or Pitri paksha, (literally "fortnight of the ancestors") is a 16–lunar day period in Hindu calendar when Hindus pay homage to their ancestor (Pitrs), especially through food offerings. The period is also known as Pitru Pakshya, Pitri Pokkho, Sola Shraddha ("sixteen shraddhas"), Kanagat, Jitiya, Mahalaya Paksha and Apara paksha.

Pitru Paksha is considered by Hindus to be inauspicious, given the death rite performed during the ceremony, known as Shraddha or tarpan. In southern and western India, it falls in the 2nd paksha (forthnight)Hindu lunar month of Bhadrapada (September)and follows the forthnight immediately after the Ganesh festival. It begins on the Padyami (first day of the forthnight) ending with the new moon day known as Sarvapitri amavasya, Pitru Amavasya, Peddala Amavasya, Mahalaya amavasya or simply Mahalaya. Most years, the autumnal equinox falls within this period, i.e. the Sun transitions from the northern to the southern hemisphere during this period. In North India and Nepal, and cultures following the purnimanta calendar or the solar calendar, this period may correspond to the waning fortnight of the luni-solar month Ashvin, instead of Bhadrapada.

Birendra Krishna Bhadra

Birendra Krishna Bhadra (Bengali: বীরেন্দ্রকৃষ্ণ ভদ্র) (1905–1991) was an Indian broadcaster, playwright, actor, reciter and theatre director from Kolkata, and a contemporary of Pankaj Mallick and Kazi Nazrul Islam. He worked for the All India Radio, India's National Radio broadcaster for several years during its early, starting 1930s, and during this period he produced and adapted several plays.

Today, he is most known for his soaring Sanskrit recitation through a two-hour audio program, Mahishashura Mardini (Annihilator/Destroyer of Mahisasura) (1931), a collection of shlokas and songs broadcast by All India Radio Calcutta (now Kolkata) at 4:00 am, in the dawn of Mahalaya. He also acted and directed several plays in Bengali theatre and even wrote screenplay for film, Nishiddha Phal (1955).

Early life and education

Birendra Krishna Bhadra was born on 4 August 1905, to Roy Bahadur Kalikrishna and Sarala Bala Devi at a rented house in Ahiritola his maternal home, in north Kolkata. Later the family shifted to 7, Ramdhan Mitra Lane, the house bought by his grandmother Yogo Maya Devi. His father, Kali Krishna Bhadra was a linguist, fluent in 14 languages, and employed as an interpreter in a lower court and later became a known figure in the Bengali literary circles of the time. Kali Krishna married Sarala Bala Devi the second child of the then famous Police Court lawyer Kalicharan Ghosh, and in 1927 was awarded the title of Roy Bahadur. Roy Bahadur Kali Krishna had two sons, Bhupendra Krishna and Birendra Krishna.