Vishnupurana 3.13.p1

3.13.p1

Alurva said:—"A father, without changing his cloth, should bathe when a son is born; he should then go through the ceremonies consequent upon the birth and perform the Srāddha which should always be celebrated upon occasions of prosperity. With a composed mind and thinking on nothing else, he should worship both the celestials and the manes and reverentially go round keeping Brāhmans on his left hand and offer them food. And standing with his face directed to the east, he should, with the portions of the hand sacred to the celestials and Prajāpati, offer balls of food with curds, unbruised grain and jujubes. He should perform on every accession of prosperity the Srāddha ceremony, by which the manes called Nāndimukhas are propitiated. On the occasion of the marriage of a son or daughter, on entering a new house, on giving a name to a child on performing his tonsure and other purificatory rites, at the binding of the mother's hair during gestation, on first seeing the face of a son and on similar other occasions a householder should diligently worship the manes so named. I have described to you, O king, the mode of worshipping the manes, as laid down by ancient sages; hear, I shall now describe the rules for the performance of obsequial rites.