[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Polity, Pleasure & Law](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti) › [Law and Social-Religious Duty](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma) › [Minor extant smṛtis](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.upasmrti) › [Devalasmṛti](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.upasmrti.devala) › [Devalasmṛti (fragments)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.upasmrti.devala*fragments) › [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.upasmrti.devala*fragments~en-mt) › 6 # The old Devala law-book — fragments 6: Ancestral rites English (machine translation) 6 - **Language:** English ### Ancestral rites ### [6.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.upasmrti.devala*fragments~en-mt.6.1) By this rule he should perform the śrāddha once a year, or twice or four times as his faith allows, or every month, or every day. ### [6.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.upasmrti.devala*fragments~en-mt.6.2) Likewise the giver, having invited (the Brahmins), bathed in the morning with his clothes on, should begin with new vessels, together with his kinsmen. ### [6.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.upasmrti.devala*fragments~en-mt.6.3) When the rite for the ancestors is over, covering the lamp with his hand, sipping water and washing his hands, he should feed his kinsmen with what remains; when they have eaten he should feed his own servants; afterwards he himself and his wife should eat the rest of the śrāddha. ### [6.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.upasmrti.devala*fragments~en-mt.6.4) If a Brahmin who has performed a śrāddha does not eat of it at all, the gods do not accept the offerings, nor the ancestors theirs. ### [6.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.upasmrti.devala*fragments~en-mt.6.5) At a śrāddha he should not shed tears, nor chatter or laugh together, nor be distracted, angry or anxious about anything. ### [6.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.upasmrti.devala*fragments~en-mt.6.6) One should never make a śrāddha begin with the gods nor ever end with the gods; (but) a śrāddha occasioned by a death one should begin and end with the gods. ### [6.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.upasmrti.devala*fragments~en-mt.6.7) If an obstacle arises when the single-person śrāddha is due, he should give it carefully on the same lunar day in another month. ### [6.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.upasmrti.devala*fragments~en-mt.6.8) Even with a single Brahmin one should perform the śrāddha of six rice-balls; he should have six guest-offerings given there, and likewise give the oblation to the six. ### [6.9](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.upasmrti.devala*fragments~en-mt.6.9) The gods drink (the water wrung) from the head (of the bather's garment), the ancestors from the mouth, the gandharvas from the eyes, and all creatures from below. ## Linked texts (1) - [Devalasmṛti (fragments)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.upasmrti.devala*fragments.6.1) — Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.upasmrti.devala*fragments~en-mt.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.upasmrti.devala*fragments~en-mt.6) · Pramāṇa