History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c72.271

v5.c72.271

śrāddhas' (or Viṣamaśrāddhas) performed on the uneven days (i. e. 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th) with uncooked food. According to the Garuḍapurāṇa (Pretakhaṇḍa 34. 36 which speaks of six śrāddhas on uneven days from 1st day to 11th) and Āpastamba they are six (Dharmasindhu p 464, Nirṇayasindhu p 588, Śuddhiprakāśa pp. 214-216, Śrāddhatattva p. 619) and according to others there is an option. Aṅgiras and Vasiṣṭha speak of six Navaśrāddhas on uneven days from the 1st to the 11th, while Baud Pitṛmedha S. II. 10. 6 speaks of five. Some prescribe the placing of some cooked food sprinkled with ghee on the hand of a brāhmaṇa. Others do not approve of this They prescribe the placing of uncooked corn in front of a brāhmaṇa or in front of a figure of a brāhmaṇa made with kuśas (called *cāṭa* in Marathi). The Garuḍapurāṇa (II. 5. 67 ff) holds that the navaśrāddhas are those performed at the place where a man died, where the funeral procession rested on the way, when the bones were collected and those performed on the 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th day. The Śuddhiprakāśa p. 214 quotes similar views from Kātyāyana and the view of Vṛddha-Vasiṣṭha that the deceased does not become free from the status of a *preta*, unless the navaśrāddhas are performed. The Garuḍapurāṇa, Pretakhaṇḍa (chap. 34. 27-28, 44, 48) states that by the piṇḍas offered for ten days the several limbs of a subtle body are provided for the departed spirit which at first wanders like thin air. There are several differing views on the navaśrāddhas which are passed over here. On the uneven days if navaśrāddha is performed two piṇḍas will be offered (one the daily one and the other, of the navaśrāddha). The Padma (Sṛṣṭikhaṇḍa 10. 19) prescribes that one should not partake of the food at *navaśrāddha* and on doing so should undergo the cāndrāyaṇa expiation.