The period of Pitrupaksha is the fortnight between the Ganapati festival and the Navaratri Festival. Mahalaya is the day when the mourning or Shraddha Paksha ends, and the day is also called as Sarvapitri Amavasya. Goddess Durga is said to travel to earth on the day of Mahalaya. But do you know the story behind how the  Pitru Paksha or the fortnight of mourning  came to be observed?

Listen to the story of Karna and importance of praying to ancestors and feeding others. When he died, his soul went to heaven but he was required to return to earth to offer his respects to his ancestors. Karna was known for his generosity and we will publish shortly a related story on Fairytales of India podcast, titled "How King Karna Was Humbled".  We have also published the Hindi version of this story today. Check it our on Baalgatha Hindi podcast!

This story was narrated by Shweta for Baalgatha Podcast. Music is obtained under Creative Commons license from incomptecech.com and other sources.

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