History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c73.49

v5.c73.49

In many passages of the Vedic Literature the word *pitaraḥ* is applied to the three immediate deceased male ancestors of a man. 'Therefore up to three generations they specify (the ancestors) by name; for so many are the ones to whom sacrifice is offered' (vide n. 772 above). The Śat. Br. II 4. 2. 19⁷⁸¹ mentions the presentation formulas of the cakes to the father, grand-father and great-grand-father and then states that the performer mutters the words "here, O fathers! regale yourselves, like bulls come here each to his own share' (*Vāj. S* II. 31 first half). Some (such as Tai. S. I. 8. 5. 1) repeated the formula "this here (ball of rice) is for thee and (for those) that come after thee." But the Śat. Br. emphatically says that he should not offer with this formula, but rather with the formula 'this here is for thee.' In Śat. Br. XII. 8. 1. 7 the three immediate paternal ancestors are said to be svadhā-loving. Relying on these Vedic passages and on the fact that Manu (III. 221) and Viṣṇudharmasūtra (21. 3, 75. 4) prescribe the invocation of pitṛs after mentioning their gotra and names that the Śrāddhaprakāśa (p 13) concludes that it is really the father and the other ancestors that are the deities of śrāddha and not Vasu, Rudra and Āditya, since these latter have no gotra and that the description of the father and others as Vasu, Rudra and Āditya is meant only for contemplation (on them as identical with Vasus &c.). On a passage of the Brahmapurāṇa⁷⁸² prescribing that the performer should say to the invited brāhmaṇas that he would call the pitṛs to the rites and that when the brāhmaṇas give permission to call them he should do so, the Śr. P. (p. 204) remarks that the pitṛs here meant are the divine ones viz. Vasus, Rudras and Ādityas and also the human ones viz. the performer's father and the rest. The Vāyupurāṇa (56 65-66) Brahmāṇḍa and Anu. distinguish between pitṛs who are above and pitṛs who are *laukika*, viz father, grand-father and great-grand-father. Vide also Vāyu 70. 34 for pitṛs that are like gods.