History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c73.t1.1
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c73.t1.1
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v5.c73.t1.1.1
Śrāddhas have been variously classified. One classification, viz. into *nitya*, *naimittika* and *kāmya* has already been described above (p. 369) Another classification is that into Ekoddiṣṭa and Pārvaṇa⁸⁵⁵. The first is offered to one deceased person alone, while the latter is performed on the amāvāsyā of a month or in the dark half of Bhādrapada or on saṅkrānti and in it the three paternal ancestors are principally invoked. Bṛhaspati quoted in the Śrāddhaviveka of Rudradhara mentions five classes of śrāddhas as declared by Manu viz. nitya, naimittika, kāmya, Vṛddhi and Pārvaṇa ⁸⁵⁶. The Śrāddhaviveka remarks that the sixteen pretaśrāddhas (to be described later on) are included under naimittika and that such śrāddhas as Goṣṭhīśrāddha enumerated in other smṛtis are included in Pārvaṇa. The Kūrmapurāṇa (II. 20. 26) similarly speaks of the five srāddhas as enumerated by Manu ⁸⁵⁷. The Mit. on Yāj. I. 217 states that there are five śrāddhas, viz. 'ahar-ahaḥ-śrāddha, pārvaṇa, vṛddhiśrāddha, ekoddiṣṭa and sapiṇḍīkaraṇa. The daily śrāddha is described by Manu III. 82 (= Śaṅkha 13 16 and Matsya 16.4) as one that is performed every day with food (cooked rice, yavas &c.) or with water or with milk, fruits and roots. Two verses of Viśvāmitra⁸⁵⁸ quoted by several works speak of twelve kinds of śrāddhas, viz.
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nitya, naimittika, kāmya, vṛddhi-śrāddha (performed on the birth of a son, marriage or similar incident of good luck), sapiṇḍana (sapiṇḍīkaraṇa), pārvaṇa, goṣṭhīśrāddha, śuddhiśrāddha, karmāṅga, daivika, yātrāśrāddha, puṣṭiśrāddha. Explanations of all these are quoted from the Bhaviṣyapurāṇa by the same works. Sapiṇḍana and Pārvaṇa will be described below. Some of the rest not already defined may be briefly explained as follows: The Goṣṭhī-śrāddha ⁸⁵⁹ is one which is performed when a man becomes enthusiastic owing to a talk about śrāddha or when many learned men gather together at a sacred place and, finding it impossible to have separate cooking arrangements for each, pool their resources for collecting śrāddha materials and perform simultaneously śrāddha for the pleasure it affords to themselves and for the gratification of pitṛs The Śuddhi-śrāddha is one where brāhmaṇas are fed when a person undergoes *śuddhi* (purification) after being guilty of some sin or transgression (it is a subsidiary act in a prāyaścitta) That śrāddha is called 'karmāṅga' which is performed at the time of the *Garbhādhāna* rite or at the performance of a soma sacrifice, or at *sīmantonnayana*, *puṃsavana* (it is like Vṛddhiśrāddha).
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That is called *daivika śrāddha* which is intended to propitiate gods (it is like nityaśrāddha and is performed on the 7th or 12th *tithi* or the like with sacrificial food) When a man going to a distant country on a pilgrimage or the like performs a śrāddha in which clarified butter is served (to brāhmaṇas) in abundance or when he comes back to his house, that is yātrā-śrāddha, That is called puṣṭiśrāddha which is performed for the health (or fattening) of the body (when taking some medicine for the purpose) or for the increase of one's wealth. Out of these⁸⁶⁰ twelve the principal ones are *pārvaṇa*, *ekoddiṣṭa*, *vṛddhi* and *sapiṇḍana*. There are works called Ṣaṇ-navati-śrāddha such as those of Śivabhaṭṭa, son of Govinda, and of Raghunātha. The 96 śrāddhas to be performed in a year are briefly enumerated in a verse⁸⁶¹ quoted in the note. They are: 12 śrāddhas on the 12 amāvāsyās in the year, the four śrāddhas on the Yugādi days (note 841 above), the fourteen śrāddhas on the Manvantarādi days (p. 375 above), the śrāddhas on 12 *saṅkrāntis* (i. e. the sun's apparent motion from one sign of the Zodiac to another), the 13 śrāddhas on the Yoga called Dhṛti (i. e. Vaidhṛti) and the 13 śrāddhas on the Vyatīpāta yoga, the 16 Mahālaya śrāddhas, the four Anvaṣṭakā days (according to Āśv. as noted on pp 359-360), the four Aṣṭakā days and the four days (i e. 7th of dark half of the months of Hemanta and Śiśira) of the day previous (to the Aṣṭakā).
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These classifications and enumerations of śrāddhas will afford an idea how the doctrine of śrāddhas was carried to an exaggerated extent in the course of centuries. It goes without saying that only a few people could have indulged in the luxury of so many śrāddhas a year and most people were content with the performance of only one Mahālayaśrāddha and one or two more. It may be noted that Manu (III. 122) first prescribed that on the amāvāsyā of each month an elaborate śrāddha should be performed, but knowing that this was almost impossible Manu recommends to all (III. 281) that an elaborate śrāddha should be performed on three amāvāsyās in one year⁸⁶² (viz. in Hemanta, Grīṣma and Varṣā) and one should perform every day the śrāddha which is one of the five daily sacrifices (III. 82-83). Devala went further and recommended that an elaborate śrāddha may be performed only once a year.