History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c72.274

v5.c72.274

Some of the Purāṇas and medieval digests assert that after a man dies, the soul or spirit assumes what is called an *ātivāhika*594a body consisting of three of the five elements (viz. fire, wind and *ākāśa*) that rise up from the dead body (while two viz. earth and water remain below), that such a body is obtained only by men and not by other beings, that with the aid of the piṇḍas that are offered to the departed at the time of cremation and during ten days thereafter, the soul secures another body called *bhogadeha* (a body for enjoying the piṇḍas offered) and that at the end of a year when *sapiṇḍīkaraṇa* is performed, the soul secures a third body wherewith the spirit reaches heaven or hell according to the nature of his actions. The word ‘ātivāhika’ is comparatively an ancient one. It occurs in Vedāntasūtra IV. 3.4 (*ātivāhikās-tal-liṅgāt*). But there the meaning is somewhat different. The Upaniṣads speak of the soul as going by the path of *arcis*, day &c. The sūtra says that these (viz. *arcis*, *ahah* &c.) are superintending deities that take the soul gradually onward by the path that leads to *Brahma*. Govindānanda in his commentary on the Prāyaścittaviveka (pp. 13-14) holds that there are only two bodies (and not three as appears at first sight), viz. the *ātivāhika* or *pretadeha* and the *bhogadeha*. The belief was that the man on whose death no piṇḍa was offered or the sixteen śrāddhas (to be described below) were not performed remained for all time in the condition of a *piśāca*, from which he would not be freed even if numerous other śrāddhas were later on offered for him.⁵⁹⁵ The Brahmapurāṇa calls the body ‘yātanīya’ (i. e. one that has to undergo trials and torments), while the Agnipurāṇa calls it ‘yātānīya’ or ‘ātivāhika’ and asserts that this body is made up of the elements of *ākāśa*, *vāyu* and *tejas* The Padmapurāṇa (II. 67. 98) states that persons who commit certain sins secure after death a body similar in shape to the physical body for undergoing torments. The underlying conception was that when the gross body was destroyed after death by cremation, burial or other methods an intermediate subtile body had to be built up before the departed soul was compelled to assume another body in a fresh incarnation The subtile body was gradually built up, as stated by the Mārk 10.73, by the rites performed on death and on several days after death. Though this conception is very clearly set forth in the Purānas it should not be supposed that it was altogether a new one. It had its roots deep down in the earliest Vedic period and was implicit in some of the hymns as indicated by Rg. X. 15. 14, X. 16. 4-5 translated above. Though in the Tai. S. I. 8. 5 1-2 and in passages of the Tai. Br. and Śat. Br to be set out later on it is said that the offerings are made to the paternal ancestors, it does not follow that the brāhmaṇas were not fed at the same time on the food prepared for being offered to the ancestors, just as in the solemn Vedic sacrifices offerings were made to the gods, Agni, Indra, Prajāpati, Visṇu and others and at the same time priests engaged in the sacrifices were fed and given presents (*dakṣiṇā*). Therefore, it need not be necessarily supposed that feeding the brāhmaṇas at śrāddha was a later idea and offering food to the dead was the original idea.