History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c73.13

v5.c73.13

The explanation offered by the Śrāddha-kalpalatā relying on passages of the Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa is not satisfactory and is rather far-fetched. The Mārkaṇḍeya and the Matsya appear to agree with the doctrine of Vedānta that immediately on leaving one body the soul has recourse to another body, either as a god or a man or a beast or a snake &c. The hypothesis propounded is that the food and drink offered in śrāddhas becomes transformed into various substances for the use of the ancestors (Matsya 141. 74-75). But the great difficulty in accepting this explanation is that the ancestors might die at different places, while śrāddha may very often be performed at one place far away from those places. It is difficult to believe that the grass growing in one place where the ancestor has been transformed into a beast as a result of his evil actions is the same that might have been produced from the substances offered in śrāddha at a place hundreds of miles away. Further, if one or all the three ancestors have been transformed into beasts or the like how can they recognize their offspring and bestow on them long life, wealth &c? If the Vasus, Rudras and Ādityas bestow these, it is better to say so directly and affirm that pitṛs cannot bestow any thing on their progeny. It appears very probable that the worship of ancestors by means of śrāddhas was a very ancient institution and that the doctrines of *punarjanma* and *karmavipāka* were comparatively later ones and that Hinduism being all-embracing retained the institution of śrāddhas while adopting also the doctrine of metempsychosis. The institution of śrāddha is from one point of view an excellent one. It provides an occasion for remembrance of one's ancestors and relatives that were dear and near when living The Āryasamāja objects to the institution of śrāddha and interprets pitṛs in the Ṛgveda as meaning living men in the Vānaprastha stage. It may be noted that the texts support both views. The Śat. Br. expressly says that food is offered to the father of the sacrificer in the words 'this is for thee.' Viṣṇu Dh. S. 75. 4 'He whose father is dead may put down a piṇḍa for his father &c.' On the other hand Manu III. 284 states that fathers are spoken of as Vasus, grandfathers as Rudras &c and Yāj. I. 269 provides that Vasus, Rudras and Ādityas are the pitṛs and the devatās of śrāddha. These latter are to be explained as containing an injunction to contemplate upon the pitṛs as Vasus, Rudras &c.