History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c73.t1.462

v5.c73.t1.462

Sapiṇḍīkaraṇa partakes of the character of both ekoddiṣṭa and pārvaṇa, the first applying to the *preta* and the 2nd to the three ancestors of the *preta*, so that in it two kinds of śrāddhas are combined. When the sapiṇḍīkaraṇa rite is completed by the giving of dakṣiṇā to the brāhmaṇas, then the *preta* ceases to be so and himself becomes a pitṛ. The status of being a *preta* involves the experiencing of great torments due to hunger and thirst and becoming a pitṛ means being brought in contact with the śrāddha *devatās* called Vasu, Rudra and Āditya.¹¹⁷⁰ The word *preta* has two meanings, (1) a person who is dead and (2) one who being dead has not the sapiṇḍīkaraṇa performed for him The result of sapiṇḍana is that the ¹¹⁷¹ great-grandfather of the deceased whose sapiṇḍana is performed drops out from the list of pitṛs entitled to piṇḍa and becomes one called ‘lepabhāk’ (entitled to only wipings of the hand) and the former *preta* becomes one of the pitṛs and entitled to participate in the piṇḍas offered at a pārvaṇaśrāddha thereafter. As stated in the Garuḍapurāṇa I. 220. 2 the sapiṇḍīkaraṇa-śrāddha is to be performed like the pārvaṇa in the afternoon.