History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c73.139.1

v5.c73.139.1

Śrāddhas are divided into three classes, *nitya*, *naimittika* and *kāmya*. An observance is called *nitya* when it is laid down that it must be performed on a certain or fixed occasion (such as every day, on an amāvāsyā, or on Aṣṭakā day). What is laid down for being done on an occasion which is uncertain is called *naimittika* (such as the birth of a son). What is ordained to be done in case one desires a certain reward or fruit is called *kāmya* (e. g. the performance of a śrāddha on Kṛttikā or Rohiṇī by one who desires heaven or progeny). The five daily *yajñas* including pitṛ-yajña are *nitya* i. e. they must be performed without any eye to any reward therefrom and the non-performance thereof will lead to sinfulness. Passages mentioning the rewards that follow from the performance of obligatory (*nitya*) rites are only laudatory, they only convey that such performances make a man pure, but it is not meant that they are not obligatory and may be performed only if a person desires the rewards or results promised (i. e. such performances are not *kāmya*). Āp. Dh. S. (II. 7. 16. 4-7) provides certain times for the performance of śrāddha viz. that it must be performed in the latter half of every month, that the afternoon is preferable for it, that the last days of the latter half of each month are preferable to the first days of the latter half. Gaut. 15. 3 and Vas. XI. 16 say that śrāddha may be performed on any day of the dark half of a month after the 4th day and Gaut. 15.