Sapindikarana

Funerary rite (antyeshthi samskara)
performed on the twelfth day after
death, which symbolically represents
the one-year anniversary of the death.
In this rite, the departed person is transformed from a potentially dangerous
wandering spirit (pret) to a benevolent
ancestral spirit (pitr). Each day for ten
days following a person’s death, mourners leave a ball of cooked grain (pinda)
for the departed spirit. Gradually the ten
pindas “construct” a new body for the
departed person. Then sapindikarana is
performed on the twelfth day. A large
pinda, representing the departed, and
three smaller ones are collected, representing the departed’s father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. The rite’s
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Sapindikarana
central moment comes when the
departed’s pinda is divided into three
parts, one part is mixed with each of the
other three pindas, and finally all three
pindas are combined into one. At the
moment the three pindas are combined,
the departed is believed to have become
one (sapindi) with his ancestors, and to
have been transformed from a wandering spirit into an ancestor as well. This
twelfth day rite is the last of the funerary
rites performed on a strict timetable.
Mourners may wait for years before performing the final rite of asthi-visarjana,
in which bone and ashes from the dead
person’s cremation pyre are immersed
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A groom and bride circle the sacred fire during the marriage ceremony,
a rite often combined with the saptapadi, or the seven steps.
in a sacred river, although with the
advent of better transportation this is
sometimes now performed before the
twelfth day rites. In addition, people
still perform annual memorial rites for
the deceased. For an excellent account
of this rite, see David M. Knipe,
“Sapindikarana: The Hindu Rite of Entry
into Heaven,” in Frank E. Reynolds and
Earle H. Waugh (eds.), Religious
Encounters With Death, 1977.