Sraaddha
Among the Hindus, the sradda is
religious ceremony, often performed annually, in
propitiation of there departed ancestors who are
technically known as pitrus, the word sraddda, according
to sage pulastya, is derived as
follows:"sradhaya deyathe yasmath sraddam
ithyabhidheeyathee: i.e., that which is performed with
great faith.
The faith referred to here is the faith
in the Vedas, whose dictates are taken as
incontrovertible and which enjoin its performance as a
duty. It is interesting to note that sraddha or faith,
and medha or intelligence, are actually deified in the
Vedas. Among the important items of a sradha are
the argya (water libation): Havana (fire-offering), the
feeding of Brahmins, pinda dana, vikira, dakshina-
offering and tarpana.holy Brahmins are fed in a
worshipful manner, after invoking of them the souls of
the departed ancestors of three generations identified
with vasu, rudra and adithya, on the paternal or
maternal side, as the case may be. The pitrus.who live
in pitru loka in the form of spirits, are fetched into
the sradda venue by the vishvedevas or the universal
soul.The darbha or kusa grass and til sesamum are two
significant materials used in the performance of
sradda.the padmapurana states that the kusa grass and
black til sprang from the body of Vishnu.Aswalayana
gruhya sutra points out that the essence of waters
became darbha, alluding to a Vedic story. Since Vishnu
in anathema to evil spirits, the use of til prevents
sradda offering from being pilfered by them. Use of
kusa, being the essence of all holy waters, makes the
whole rite holy. Silver vessels for argya and pinda in
sraddaa are highly recommended because, the ancient
pitrus milked svadha in a silver vessel and they
are highly pleased with the sight, use and gift of such
vessels. The sraddha became an important limb of Hindu
religious life.
The how of it
Question often asked about the sradda as we
perform it today is this; how, by feeding some Brahmins
here and now, one expects to feed ones ancestors who are
dead long since, and possibly, according to the karma
theory, live in other forms and climes.The answer to
this question is given in the matsya purana; what we do
in our sradda is to invoke the souls of the departed
ancestors on the venue of the sradda by viswedevas or or
the universal spirit. Thus for practical purposes, the
spiritual bodies or souls of our ancestors, identified
with vasu, rudra, and adithyas who are the sradda
deities, are present, and we worship them. Now, the food
the Brahmins eat or the oblations one offers in the
sacrificial fire uttering the deportees name and gotra
during the sradda is transformed by the mantra and faith
into food appropriate for current bodies of the
celestial messenger, agni, (the god of fire) or the
vasus, rudras, etc, who have access everywhere and
gratify the pitrus.if, for instance, the ancestor had
been born an angle, the oblation goes to him as nectar;
if he be born as cattle, it is taken to him as grass; or
if born as human, it goes to him as cereals,Just as a
calf finds its own mother from the money cows grazing,
so the mantras uttered in the sradda ceremony carry the
food to the correct pitrus,The pitrudevathas, after
completion of the sradda and gratified by the worship,
bless the performer with health, wealth, children and
prosperity and prosperity and depart to their own
region.Whatever the religious merit or otherwise of
sradda.it has this psychological merit, namely, it
definitely helps us recall with affection and gratitude
the memory of our elders and benefactors, which is an
ennobling experience. Secondly, it is a
demonstrable fact that faith works miracles. When that
is the case with ordinary faith. What shall we say of a
faith such as the sradda, which has been a racial memory
in the sense that it is the continuous possession of
successive generations of Hindus since the Vedic times!
It must work greater miracles.
THE IMPORTANCE OF
SHRAADH
Hindu mythology is rich in its legacies
and traditions. Of the many rites, rituals, festivals
and ceremonies, Shraadhs appear to be quite different.
Shraadhs constitute 'a debt of the dead' which ought to
be repaid assuming the dead ones as being alive and
living with us.
During this period called pitru paksha,
the lord of death, Yama raja enables all who shed their
mortal frames to come back to earth and receive
offerings from their descendants. For ages, it has been
associated with such offerings being made to the dead
christened pretas (spirits) and pitrus(forfathers).
It is believed that one owes three main
debts. First its Devarina (debt to the gods), second is
Rishi rina (debt to the guru) and the last but, not the
least is the Pitra rina (debt to the forefathers). It is
ordained that one must pay off these debts with utmost
humility and respect.
During the fortnight of the Aashwin
month, Hindus offer ablation to their ancestors, While
most people observe shraadhs at their places, the more
devout of them prefer to perform the rites at the
designated holy places but Gaya in Bihar (India) is
considered the holiest. A pinda daan is supposed to
liberate all souls from the control of Yama and help
them attain moksha.
Gaya derives its name from al demon
called gayasura. Legend has it that after a severe
penance demon Gayasura pleased Vishnu and was granted a
boon that whoever would touch him will be allowed a
place in heaven. This angered other Gods and they
hatched a conspiracy.
One day when the demon sat for worship
on the banks of river Phalgu, the Gods not only put a
stone over his head to render him immobile but even
persuaded Vishnu to put his feet on the stone.
On seeing Vishnu, Gayasura asked for
another boon. He stretched his body to four yojans
(approximately 32 miles) and requested that the place be
named after him.
At Gaya there are as many as 45 sacred
Vedic where shraadhs are performed. In ancient times,
Gaya was a holy place for offering obseuies for merits
of parents and was divided into two distinct areas,
dharamanya and dharmaprastha. In dharamanya were
contained the Aswatha tree near Phalgu. Buddha Gaya was
the place where pinda is offered by the Hindus from all
over India, as par of the Shraadh rites. There is also
the Sita Kunda where lord Rama, accompanied by Lakshmana
and Sita, is believed to have performed the shraadh of
his father, Dasrath.
Shraadhs seem to be the outcome of the
Karma theory to which all Hindus subscribe to rather
fruitfully and maintains relationship till eternity.
Like King Mahabali who visits Kerala during the Onam
celebrations to prepetuate the ties for ever onwards, so
the shraadhs seem to build bridges between the living
and the dead.
Gone are the days when shraadhs were
observed in a spirit of true indebtedness. The Brahmins
were invited, served with rice meal and a hefty dakshina
amid puja recitations but now not many even know what
shraadh mean to us. Not even the Pandits accept the
invitation with pleasure which indeed is unfortunate,
because our values are being squandered away.
Little wonder then, that even devouts
of other religions pay their respects to their ancestors
by remembering them on the birth and death anniversaries
and by raising memorials and offering flowers at the
graves. Christians, Muslims and Boudhs all observe the
ritual. The example of the world famous Taj Mahal at
Agra can also be assumed to be something akin to a
shraadh.
The Chinese, Japanese and some other
Asian partners honour their ancestors in much the same
sense of gratitude and remembrance.
While there are lots of people whose
descendants remember and honour their ancestors, there
may be millions who die n harness. Hindu religion even
remembers those who die in wars and other natural
calamities, even the unseen and unheard of insects and
other creatures and upholds the highest celestial
standards.
Funny though it may seem, the shraadh
code of conduct provides for observance of a shraadh in
one's own life time at Gaya. Should one, therefore,
anticipate, a situation that there is no one after him
to perform the pinda-dan rite, he could go ahead to have
one done for himself for mutual peace and
propensity. |