History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c73.t1.330

v5.c73.t1.330

Others like Karka hold the view that piṇḍadāna is the principal item in śrāddha. They rely upon the fact that in the śrāddha at Gayā it is the offering of piṇḍas that is the most important matter and upon the fact that in the Viṣṇudharmasūtra (78. 52-53, and 85. 65-66) and in several Purāṇas such as the Varāha (13.50), Viṣṇu (III. 14.22-23), Brahma (220.31-32), Viṣṇudharmottara (I 145.3-4) the pitṛs are stated to have expressed a deep yearning for a son who would offer them piṇḍas at Gayā and water on sacred rivers &c (vide note 911). Further support is sought for this view in the fact that in the śrāddha on the birth of a son and in śrāddha offered even by a good śūdra the feeding of brāhmaṇas is forbidden. A third view is that both the feeding of brāhmaṇas and the offering of piṇḍas are the principal matters in a śrāddha. The Gobhila-smṛti, after stating¹⁰⁸⁴ the other two views and some of the reasons therefor, tells us that the author of it is himself in favour of this third view. In cases where the word śrāddha is employed and there is neither brāhmaṇa feeding nor piṇḍadāna as in Daiva śrāddha, the word śrāddha is applied in a secondary sense (*gauṇa*). Vide Hemādri (śrāddha) pp. 157-160. In the Dharmapradīpa it is said that among the followers of the Yajurveda (i e. Vājasaneyins) the offering of piṇḍas is principal, among the followers of the Ṛgveda the feeding of brāhmaṇas is principal, while among the followers of the Sāmaveda both are principal. In this way śrāddha partakes of two characters viz it is a *yāga* (sacrifice) and also¹⁰⁸⁵ a gift (dāna) Haradatta, Hemādri, Kapardī and others appear to hold that all three (bhojana piṇḍadāna and agnaukaraṇa) are principal. Vide Saṁskāra-ratnamālā p. 1003.