How long should I grieve after someone dies in my Hindu family?

There's no expiration date on grief, though Hindu practice offers a container. The formal mourning period ranges from 13 days to a year, depending on your relation to the deceased and your family's tradition. Shraddha rituals continue for 13 days, with yearly remembrance on death anniversaries and new moon days. But here's what tradition actually understands: grief doesn't fit into a calendar. Mirabai spent her life grieving Krishna—a longing dressed as love, a love dressed as devotion. She didn't 'move on.' She transformed her sorrow into song. Your job isn't to grieve 'correctly' or finish on schedule. It's to let grief teach you. Some days you'll feel the loss acutely; other days you'll laugh at a memory and feel no guilt about it. Both are honest. The rituals—especially shraddha—aren't about moving past the person. They're about maintaining the relationship differently. Death changes the form, not the bond. If you need more time than tradition prescribes, take it. If you need less formal structure, honor that too. Your grief is valid exactly as it arrives.