History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c73.t1.342

v5.c73.t1.342

It is now necessary to illustrate how *pārvaṇa śrāddha* is performed in modern times. Here the greatest variety prevails. The details of the rite vary in the different parts of India. They vary also according as the performer belongs to a particular Veda or a particular recension of the Veda, they vary according to the particular eminent writer that is followed and further additions are made according as the performer is a Vaiṣṇava or a Śaiva. Such differences have to be passed over here, particularly because they are not material. We saw above that the Pārvaṇa-śrāddha was very simple in the days of the Brāhmaṇas and most of the sūtras. There was then no express mention of the worship of Viśvedevāḥ in Pārvaṇa-śrāddha, or of the maternal ancestors or of the wives of any ancestors. Gradually these came to be added and by the time of the Yājñavalkyasmṛti there was special invocation of the Viśvedevāḥ But these latter were probably not expressly divided into groups at the time of that work. During the smṛti period groups of Viśvedevāḥ came to be assigned to different kinds of śrāddhas (vide p 457 note 1018). The Purāṇas prescribed several Paurāṇic mantras for being recited during the śrāddha rite, such as the verse 'āgacchantu' (note 984) and the verse 'devatābhyaḥ pitṛbhyaśca' (p. 458 note 1020). Then there arose the principle of the Pūrvamīmāṁsā that all rites described in the different śākhās and sūtras constitute but one rite, and that one may take over from another śākhā or sūtra details described therein, which are not opposed to one's own śākhā or sūtra (vide pp 453-55 notes 1011-1013). This principle tended to make the śrāddha rites all inclusive and the whole procedure became swollen to an enormous extent. How even the slightest variation causes difference in the details may be illustrated by an example. In Mithilā villages even among poor men eleven brāhmaṇas are invited for pārvaṇa-śrāddha, but it is often difficult to secure a very learned man (who is called *pātra* or *mahāpātra*) to officiate. In such a case where a *mahāpātra* or a *pātra* brāhmaṇa is not available the śrāddha is called *apātraka-pārvaṇaśrāddha* (for which really there is no śāstric authority) and is distinguished from the *sapātraka pārvaṇaśrāddha* in several matters, two of which in the case of the Vājasaneyins may be stated here. Though the Śrāddhasūtra of Kātyāyana, which is of special authority among Vājasaneyins, declares (at the end of kandikā III) that the brāhmaṇas are to be dismissed at the end of the śrāddha with the verse 'Vāje vāje' (Vāj. S 9. 18) and the performer should circumambulate the brāhmaṇas with the mantra 'ā mā vājasya' (Vāj S. 9. 19), it is not the practice among the śistas in Mithilā according to the editor of the Śrāddharatna to observe these directions in what is called 'apātraka-pārvana-śrāddha' in these days. In Rudradhara's Śrāddhaviveka (pp. 138-146) the 'apātraka-pārvana-śrāddha-prayoga' is set out at length.