Shraddha

(“faithful”) Ancestral memorial rite, performed either for one specific person
(ekoddishta), or for a group in which the
primary beneficiaries were one’s three
paternal ancestors (parvana).
An ekoddishta shraddha is usually
first performed on the eleventh day after
a person’s death, although it may be
repeated on the anniversary of the
death. It is also usually performed every
year during the Pitrpaksha, a two-week
period specifically devoted to such rites,
on the lunar day during this period that
corresponds to the lunar day of death.
A parvana shraddha can be performed on a number of different occasions, for a number of different reasons. In the dharma literature and its
commentaries, shraddhas are classified as falling in all three categories of
ritual action: nitya, naimittika, and
kamya. Certain shraddhas are obligatory (nitya) because they are prescribed for certain particular times,
such as during the Pitrpaksha. Other
shraddhas are occasional (naimittika)
because they are necessary only under
certain conditions, such as the obligation to give a tirtha shraddha when
one visits a pilgrimage place (tirtha).
Finally, certain shraddhas are freely
performed because of the desire (kama)
for certain benefits from them—usually
conceived as the well-being of one’s
ancestors—and these are desiderative
(kamya) shraddhas.
Whatever the motive for giving the
shraddha, the general procedure always
has two particular features: symbolically
feeding one’s ancestor(s) by offering
balls of cooked grain (pindas), and feeding real food to a group of brahmins (the
group with the highest social status in
Hinduism) representing one’s ancestors.
Each of these parts is given a great deal
of ritual elaboration, and there is considerable disagreement about which
should come first, but in modern times
offering the pindas generally precedes
the meal. Many texts exalt the spiritual
merits generated from feeding brahmins, but this is hardly surprising, since
most of these texts were written by brahmins, and for many brahmins living at
pilgrimage places these shraddhas were
(and remain) an important part of their
livelihood. However, many people deem
this livelihood parasitic, and it is also
potentially inauspicious, since it is
gained through rites performed for the
638
Shiwalik Hills
dead. For further information see
Pandurang Vaman Kane, A History of
Dharmasastra, 1968; and Raj Bali
Pandey, Hindu Samskaras, 1969.