Skandapurana 16.206

Īśvara said: / Now I shall declare the rules of śrāddha according to the ordinance of the pārvaṇa rite. / Listen with single-minded attention in proper order, O great goddess, my beloved! 1

Having placed the sacred thread over the right shoulder on the previous day, one should first invite the ancestors [saying]: / "May you perform our ancestral rite and be pleased." 2

One should send trustworthy men of equal caste to invite the twice-born. 3

A brahmin's food is not to be eaten when invited by Kṣatriyas and others; / likewise, a brahmin's food [is proper] when invited by a brahmin. 4

If a Śūdra gives food to a brahmin, or a brahmin gives food to a Śūdra, / both of these have food unfit to be eaten; having eaten it, one must perform the cāndrāyaṇa penance. 5

If a twice-born cooks the food of a Śūdra through the manner of a deposited trust, / that food becomes unfit to eat, and that brahmin falls downward. 6

A Śūdra's food, contact with a Śūdra, sitting together with a Śūdra, / and the acquisition of knowledge from a Śūdra cause even a blazing [sage] to fall. 7

Brahmins ruined by a Śūdra's food, agitated and longing for sexual pleasure— / what will they do when angered, like serpents deprived of poison? 8

One wearing dirty clothes is [considered] naked; one wearing only a loincloth is naked; / one with two tucks and no upper garment is [considered] unclothed, and one without tucks is without clothes. 9

One wearing ochre robes is [considered] naked, and one with half a cloth is remembered as naked. / But cloth whose edge is uncut and which is washed with clay, 10

whether unworn or dyed with mineral dye, is established as pure. / If a fool lives nearby and an endowed [worthy man] is far away, 11

the gift should be given to the one endowed with virtues; there is no offense toward the fool. / But that deluded man who, bypassing a nearby brahmin who is not fallen, / worships one residing far away though rich in virtues, goes to hell. 12

When a learned vedic scholar who has bathed at the end of his vow of Vedic study arrives at the house, / all the medicinal herbs rejoice, [thinking:] "We shall attain the highest state!" 13

At both twilights, during recitation of prayers, while eating, while brushing teeth, / in ancestral rites, in divine rites, as well as while passing urine and feces, / in the presence of teachers, during giving of gifts, and especially in yoga— / observing silence in these, a person attains heaven. 15

If there should somehow be a breach of the restraint of speech during recitation and the like, / one should utter a Vaiṣṇava mantra or remember the imperishable Viṣṇu. 16

In giving gifts, bathing, recitation, oblation, eating, and worshiping deities, / darbha grasses are single [and straight] for the gods, and doubled for the ancestors. 17

One faces north for the gods, but faces south for the ancestors. / By means of fire, ash, barley, water, / or the partition of a doorway, no fault of the dining line exists. 18

In an iṣṭaśrāddha, Kratu and Dakṣa [are the Viśvedevas]; in a vṛddhiśrāddha, Satya and Vasu are remembered;
in an occasional rite, Kāla and Kāma; and in an optional rite, Adhva and Virocana.

Purūravas and Ārdrava are proclaimed for the pārvaṇa rite. / [One gains] nourishment and progeny through [a vessel of] nyagrodha; intellect, wisdom, resolve, and memory [through one of other woods].

A vessel of kāśmīrya is said to destroy demons and bring renown; / supreme good fortune in the world is declared [from one of] madhūka.

One performing [the rite] with a vessel of phālguna obtains all desires; / with [one of] arka, supreme splendor and eminence in particular.

With [one of] bilva, [one obtains] prosperity, austerity, intelligence, and long life constantly, / as well as fields, gardens, and ponds—and indeed with all [such] vessels.

When Parjanya rains continuously, for one who performs [the rite] with bamboo vessels, / the merit of these is obtained as though through [vessels of] gold and silver.

Palāśa, breadfruit, nyagrodha, plakṣa, aśvattha, vikaṅkata, / udumbara, bilva, and sandalwood, and whichever trees are sacrificial;

Sarala, devadāru, śāla, and khadira— / these trees are particularly recommended for sacrificial fuel.

Śleṣmātaka, naktamālya, kapittha, śālmalī, / neem, and bibhītaka are condemned in the ancestral rite.

Ground that has unpleasant noises, is cluttered, barren, full of vermin, / or has an offensive odor—one should avoid such ground in the ancestral rite.

One should avoid the region of Traiśaṅku for an entire twelve yojanas / to the north of the Mahānadī and strictly to the south.

The land named Traiśaṅkava is excluded in the ancestral rite. / Kāraskara, Kaliṅga, and the land north of the Sindhu, / and regions where the duties of the life-stages have vanished, should be avoided with effort.

The Kṛta age is declared brahminical, the Tretā is remembered as kṣatriya, / the Dvāpara they call vaiśya, and the Kali age is remembered as śūdra.

In the Kṛta, the ancestors are to be worshiped; in the Tretā, the gods; / in the Dvāpara, always the sages; and in the Kali age, the heretics.

A wise man should perform the śrāddha in the forenoon during the bright fortnight; / during the dark fortnight, in the afternoon, and he must not let the Rauhiṇa [muhūrta] pass.

The pitṛtīrtha, prepared [there], is to measure only a cubit. / Superior kuśa grass cut near the root is for strewing, / and śyāmāka, nīvāra, and dūrvā are also prescribed. / Prajāpati, the foremost of the renowned, had abundant hair;

His hair fell to the ground and became kāśa grass. / Therefore, kāśa is always pure and honored in the ancestral rite.

Upon them one who desires prosperity should make the offering of rice-balls. / With faith he should offer warm food to the twice-born.

Except for fruits, flowers, and drinks, a wise man, / having placed salt and cooked dishes in the hand out of affection / or with an iron vessel—indeed, rakṣasas consume that. / Having placed the food in the vessels of the twice-born, he should quietly make the solemn resolve.

Since no contact of theirs is seen when it remains in a ladle or the like; / and if a twice-born eats like a boar, or eats from the palm of his hand, / or eats speaking, the ancestors do not consume that.

Of such size that they comfortably enter the mouth of a two-year-old calf, / one should make the rice-balls, as stated by Vyāsa.

A woman should not move them, nor one devoid of knowledge, nor one without vows; / the son himself [should do so], or whoever desires supreme prosperity.

While the dishes are still present, if the twice-born pronounce 'svasti', / that food is consumed by the asuras, and the ancestors depart hopeless.

One should immerse one ball in water; one he should present to his wife; / one he should offer into the fire: this is the threefold disposition.

One should feed a Sāmaveda chanter at the śrāddha, and a Ṛgveda reciter at the Vaiśvadeva; / an Adhvaryu priest in rites for prosperity, and an Atharvaveda reciter in rites for appeasement.

For the gods, one should seat two Atharvaveda brahmins facing east; / for the ancestors, one should make Ṛgveda, Yajurveda, and Sāmaveda priests face north.

All varieties of jasmine should be offered, [as well as] mallikā, white yūthikā, / all water-born flowers, and campaka.

Madhūka, asafoetida, camphor, black pepper, jaggery, / rock salt, and cucumber are commendable in an ancestral rite.

A brahmin, a blanket, cattle, the sun, fire, a guest, / sesamum seeds, darbha grass, and the proper time—these nine are known as kutapas.

In misfortune, when the sacred fire is absent, at a sacred ford, during an eclipse of the moon or sun, / at a planetary conjunction, and likewise when [the sun] has set, one should not perform [the ancestral offering].

A menstruating woman becomes purified on the fourth day after bathing; / for rites for the gods and ancestors, she becomes pure on the fifth day.

In the absence of materials, in the absence of twice-born men, while away from home, on the birth of a son, / or if one's wife is menstruating, one should perform an āmaśrāddha.

For those killed by snakes, brahmins, fanged beasts, horned animals, or reptiles, / and for suicides, one should not have a śrāddha performed.

Death at the hands of an outcaste, from water, from a snake, from a brahmin, from lightning, / and from fanged animals and beasts, is the lot of evil-doers.

Whatever is performed by the eldest with the consent of all / using undivided wealth, that is considered done by all.

He who causes churning to be done on the new-moon day during an ancestral rite— / that buttermilk is equal to liquor, and the clarified butter is regarded as cow's flesh.

The ancestors consume in order, and so do the partakers of the rice-ball blessings. / An invited twice-born man must not sleep with a woman on the day of the śrāddha.

One who eats at a śrāddha should brush his teeth after rising in the morning; / a wise man who performs a śrāddha should not clean his teeth.

The śrāddha performed year after year on the day of the parents' death / should not be performed during an intercalary month, according to the word of Vyāsa.

In rites for pregnancy, usury rites, rites for the deceased, for servants, in monthly rites, / and in annual śrāddha, an intercalary month is not prescribed.

In marriage and similar rites, the solar month is taught; in sacrificial rites and the like, the civil month is taught. / But in the annual ancestral rite for the ancestors, the lunar month is commended. (61)

In whichever zodiacal sign the sun was when the demise of the twice-born occurred, / precisely in that sign must the ancestral rite be performed on the day of death. (62)

The vaṣaṭ-call, the fire-offering, the parvan-sacrifice, and likewise the first-fruits oblation / must be performed even in an intercalary month; one should avoid optional offerings. (63)

Setting up the sacred fires, consecration, sacrifices, gifts, and observances, / Vedic vows, the release of a bull, the tonsure ceremony, the investiture with the girdle, (64)

auspicious rites, and royal consecration must be avoided in an intercalary month. / In the intercalary month, one should perform regular and occasional rites while being restrained: / ritual ablution at a sacred ford, rites in the elephant's shadow, and likewise the funeral rite for the deceased spirit. (65)

Where tastes are praised, where the eaters are kinsmen and gotra members, / and there is clamour about political news and the like—this is the mark of a demoniacal ancestral rite. (66)

He who, having performed an ancestral rite, agitatingly eats at another's ancestral rite— / his ancestors fall, deprived of the rites of rice-balls and water. (67)

On the next day, having approached them, he should give oil, unguent, a bath, / and tooth-twigs to those whose hair and nails have been trimmed. (68)

If best of brahmins properly invited to offerings for the gods or ancestors / fail to attend in any way, being sinful, they will become hogs. (69)

When ritual impurity occurs during a rite for the gods or for the ancestors, / then at the end of the ritual impurity the ancestral rite is offered to them. (70)

Then, at the conclusion of the ancestral rite, he should have blessings pronounced there: / 'Long are the serpents, and likewise the rivers, and the three strides of Viṣṇu; / by the measure of these, may I attain a long life!' (71)

'The gods abide within the waters; everything is established in the waters. / Placed in the hand of the brahmin, may the waters be auspicious for us!' (72)

'Lakṣmī dwells in flowers; Lakṣmī dwells in the lotus. / May Lakṣmī dwell in my abode; may she grant me gladness of mind!' (73)

'May my religious merit be unbroken, and may I have peace, nourishment, and resolve! / Whatever brings welfare in the world, may that ever be mine!' (74)

Regarding the priestly gift everywhere: 'May we have much to give!' / 'So be it,' they should say, and he must receive that upon his head. (75)

A man seeking enjoyment should always offer a ball of rice into the fire; / for offspring, he should give the middle one to his wife, preceded by a mantra. (76)

Desiring supreme radiance, he should always present it to cows; / if he desires authority, renown, and fame, he should always throw it into the waters. (77)

Praying for a long life, he should give it to crows; / seeking the world of Kumāra, he should give it to roosters. (78)

Or standing facing south, he should cast it into the air; / the air is the abode of the ancestors, and so too is the southern direction. (79)

One should avoid an ancestral rite at night, except during the sight of Rāhu [an eclipse]; / at the sight of Rāhu, it must be performed quickly, even with one's entire wealth. (80)

He who does not perform it during an eclipse sinks like a cow in the mud; / but he who performs it crosses over sin like a ship on the ocean. (81)

Black kidney beans and sesame seeds are excellent, as are barley and rice, / great barley, paddy-barley, and lentils. (82)

Black or white [grains] are always to be used in ancestral rites; / bilva, āmalaka, grapes, jackfruit, hog plum, pomegranate, (83)

bhavya fruit, pigeon plum, dates, karamarda, / jujube with calyxes, palmyra root, and lotus root, (84)

tamāla, asana bulb, māvella, śatakandalī, / kāleya, kālaśāka, cooked mung bean, and suvarcala, (85)

meat, milk, curd, leafy vegetables, the three pungents, reed shoots, / kaṭphala, vajraka, grapes, lakuca, and banana, (86)

priyāmalaka, durgrīva, tinduka, madhusāhvaya, / vaikaṅkata, coconut, water chestnut, parūṣaka, (87)

long pepper, black pepper, paṭolī, and bṛhatī fruit; / indeed everything grown within the boundary of an orchard. (88)

These and other flowers are used in the ancestral rites: / lentils, śatapuṣpī, and the śrīniketana blossom, (89)

the superior svāti barley always, and likewise vṛṣa and yavāsa, / bamboo shoots, karīra, holy basil, cleansers, and bhūtṛṇa grasses. (90)

I shall declare what is constantly to be avoided in ancestral rites: / garlic, turnip, onion, spherical radish, / mogara, vaideha, and long radish. (91)

In the eighth part of the day, when the sun has grown dim, / that ancestral rite becomes demoniacal; it does not reach the ancestors. (92)

A man who performs an ancestral rite when the fourth watch has arrived / gains an ancestral rite in vain, and the giver goes to hell. (93)

Beginning from sunrise, there are three muhūrtas / termed morning; the wise call the time after that bhaga. (94)

The period of three muhūrtas is saṃgava; midday covers all around [three muhūrtas]; / and after that, a period of three muhūrtas is ordained as afternoon. (95)

Then that which is the fifth division of the day is remembered as evening. (96)

And likewise the Śruti says: / 'When the sun rises, that is spring; when it is saṃgava, that is summer; when it is midday, that is the rainy season; when it is afternoon, that is autumn; / when it sets, that is winter.' (97)

Having begun the ancestral rite in the kutapa period, the wise man, / adhering to the rules and knowing the rite, should proceed to the ascent, but must not transgress the rohiṇa period. (98)

The eighth muhūrta is called kutapa; / the ninth is declared to be rauhiṇa: so know those who know the ancestral rites. (99)

The rite for a single deceased is at midday; in the morning for the birth rite. / One should cook the food separately for the ancestors and for the Vaiśvadeva rite. (100)

In the Vaiśvadeva rite, what is for the ancestors is not used; in the rite for the ancestors, what is for the Vaiśvadeva is not used. / Having performed the ancestral rite, O great goddess, and having dismissed the brahmins, (101)

one should then perform the rite of Vaiśvadeva and the rest, O fair-faced one, / especially in a fire that has abundant fuel for offerings and is well kindled. (102)

One should perform the rite for success [in a fire that is] smokeless and leaping with flames. / But he who sacrifices into a fire that is not fully kindled and full of smoke,

That patron of the sacrifice will become blind, and have a bad son; this is certain. / Especially [fire that is] foul-smelling, black, or blue,

And wherever it penetrates into the ground, one should know that defeat will occur there. / Luminous, with yellowish-red flames, possessing the lustre of clarified butter or gold,

Glossy, and curling clockwise—such a fire leads to the success of an undertaking. / Anointing the eyes, rubbing with oil, perfumes, and the bringing of the sacred formula,

The ritual should be performed with kāśa grasses; he obtains the fruit of a horse sacrifice. / And the jasmine flower (aṣṭajātikā) and collyrium should always be used,

And oil carefully preserved from black sesamum seeds. / And both sandalwood and agallochum, tamāla, uśīra, and padmaka,

And bdellium incense is the best, as well as olibanum incense. / White fragrant flowers are best, as well as lotuses and water lilies,

And whatever other sweet-smelling ones are available, completely. / The night-blooming jasmine, hibiscus, bhindīrūpaka, along with yellow amaranth:

These flowers are always to be avoided in a śrāddha rite. / A vessel of gold, silver, or copper is prescribed for the ancestors.

Even a slight sight of silver grants merit. / The presence of a black antelope skin, the sight of it, and indeed the gift of it

Destroys demons, promotes vigor, and saves cattle and sons. / Now I will proclaim the nectar-like mantra fashioned by Brahmā:

"To the gods, to the ancestors, and to the great yogins; / Homage to svāhā, to svadhā, always homage, homage!"

Reciting this with three repetitions at the beginning and the end of the śrāddha / [yields] the fruit of a horse sacrifice; it is indeed revered having been understood by the brahmins.

Or, with a collected mind, one should recite this during the offering of the rice balls. / The ancestors arrive swiftly, and the rākṣasas flee.

I shall proclaim the seven-flamed hymn (saptārcis), granting all desires and good fortune:

"To the formless and the embodied ancestors of blazing splendour, / To those who meditate, endowed with divine vision, I always bow.

The leaders of Indra and the others, Dakṣa, the descendants of Marīci, and so on— / To all of them, the ancestors, and to the plants, I bow.

To the ancestors of the lunar mansions and the planets, and of Wind and Fire, / And of Heaven and Earth, I always bow with folded hands.

Homage to the seven ancestors! Homage [to them] in the seven worlds! / We bow to the self-manifest Brahmā, who has the eye of yoga."

This has been declared to you, attended upon by the assembly of the seven seers and brahmin seers; / It is supremely purifying, auspicious, and destroys demons.

A man endowed with this rule should recite it three times, / Endowed with supreme devotion, full of faith, and with senses subdued.

He who recites the saptārcis constantly with a concentrated mind / Shall become the sole king of the earth consisting of the seven oceans.

He who recites the Śrāddhakalpa becomes one who purifies his company; / And he is considered a master of the eighteen disciplines.

Honour, nourishment, memory, intelligence, sovereignty, and freedom from disease— / Pleased, the grandfathers grant these always to human beings.

Thus, in the sacred field of Prabhāsa, at the confluence of the Sarasvatī and the ocean, / One should perform the śrāddha according to the injunction, O beautiful woman, in Prabhāsa.

Thus ends the two hundred and sixth chapter, named 'Description of the Procedure of Śrāddha' in the Śrāddhakalpa at the confluence of the Sarasvatī and the ocean, in the Māhātmya of the Prabhāsa sacred field, in the first [part of the] Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the Skandamahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.