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The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c36.s2: § 2. The Offerings to the Dead in the Domestic Ritual

The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c36.s2

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§ 2. The Offerings to the Dead in the Domestic Ritual

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Beside the regular offerings which are prescribed for the Fathers, there are others which are to be performed on special occasions, such as the birth of a son, a marriage, and the giving of the name to the child.³ In this case the offering or 'Çrāddha', which bears its name⁴ of that which is connected with Çraddhā, 'faith', from the fact that the presents to the Brahmans which accompany the offerings to the dead reveal the faith of the offerer in the Brahmans, is to be performed on the waxing half of the month, and before midday: the number of Brahmans chosen is even, not as usual odd: the performances are from left to right, not *vice versa*; barley replaces sesame; the milk meal lumps are mixed with sour milk and roasted grains, and the Fathers are addressed as Nāndīmukha, 'joyful in countenance',⁵ in place of 'with tearful countenance', which is elsewhere not rarely used. These rank as the Vṛddhi Çrāddhas, and similar to them are Pūrta Çrāddhas, at the dedication of wells, pools, and so on.

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³ AGS. ii. 5. 13 ff.; iv. 7. 1; BhGS. iii. 16; BGS. iii. 12. 2-15; GGS. iv. 3. 35 ff.; Caland, *Todtenverehrung*, pp. 39 ff.

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⁴ Max Müller, *India*, p. 235; see PB. xii. 11. 25; TS. vii. 4. 1. 1; ÇB. xiv. 1. 4. 10; RV. x. 151; Oldenberg, *Rel. des Veda*², p. 566, n. 4; ZDMG. l. 448 ff.

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⁵ They are clearly not the ancestors beyond the immediate three as has been suggested.

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Much more important are the regular monthly Çrāddhas⁶ performed on the day of new moon, month by month, and after midday. The important part of the rite is the choice of Brahmans to represent the Fathers, at least three, but often more, and on no account one only at least at the first Çrāddha offered. Moreover, by some authorities, further Brahmans are required to represent the All-gods. Three vessels of metal, stone, and clay are employed: into each water is poured, and in the view of Çaunaka⁷ the first vessel is not touched for the whole of the ceremony, as the Fathers would be present in it. Sesame is also put into the vessels. Then the water is offered as Arghya water to the Brahmans, and they are also given garlands, incense, lights, perfumes, and clothes. With the remains of the water the offerer wipes his face, if he desires a son. Then he asks their permission to offer lumps of food in the fire, and does so or places it in their hands: they are also given other food, which they eat, and the ceremony finishes when they are satisfied.

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⁶ AGS. iv. 7; ÇGS. iv. 1; HGS. ii. 10; BhGS. ii. 11-14.

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⁷ AGS. iv. 7. 16.

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Distinct from the monthly Pārvaṇa Çrāddha seems to have been another offering, the Māsika,¹ monthly brought on the waning half of the month on an uneven day. The rites for this day are varyingly given, and in some cases the rite seems to have been assimilated to the Aṣṭakā rites. For it Hiraṇyakeçin² lays down the rule that the sacrificer up to the age of fifty should offer to the Fathers the seam of his garment, and that otherwise he should offer hair. The first idea is clearly that the dead need garments: the second seems less obvious, and it is possible that it is due to the very different idea of substitution, which becomes the more necessary, since at fifty one is approaching the age when death is claiming a man more and more energetically.³ But other theories are possible; the giving of hair may be merely a desire for communion, the burial of hair with the dead has been explained by Eitrem⁴ as at once due to this desire⁵ and to the wish to lay apart that which has been contaminated by death.

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¹ AGS. ii. 5. 10.

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² ii. 10–13; so also at the Piṇḍapitṛyajña, ĀÇS. ii. 7. 6.

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³ TB. i. 3. 10. 7; Oldenberg, *Rel. des Veda*², pp. 552, 553.

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⁴ See Keith, *JHS.* xxxvi. 108.

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⁵ More plausibly Hopkins (*Origin of Religion*, pp. 118 ff.) holds that the gift of hair, which is endowed with life, is a mode of strengthening the dead, as is the offering of blood (Cumont, *After-Life in Roman Paganism*, pp. 51 f.).

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The Aṣṭakās⁶ are festivals of special importance and difficulty. The rule of Āçvalāyana is that there should be four, on the eighth day of the dark half of the month in the two months of each of the two seasons, winter and the cool season, Mārgaçīrṣa, Pauṣa, Māgha, and Phālguna. But the rule is that the number should be three or less. The normal view seems to be that Taiṣa, Māgha, Phālguna are the months, but the three ceremonies can be reduced to three days, the 7th to 9th of one month, or pressed into the eighth day only. Hiraṇyakeçin allows only one festival, the three-day rite of the Ekāṣṭakā, the eighth day of the dark half of the month Māgha. The deities of the Aṣṭakās are a matter of dispute: Agni, Sūrya, Prajāpati, night, the Nakṣatras, the seasons, and the Fathers have all claims. The nature of the offering is equally disputed: some demand flesh at all three: others cakes at the first, a cow at the second, and vegetables at the third, or the same set but in diverse order. A very odd rite is prescribed by the Mānava school,⁷ for the evening before the last Aṣṭakā: at the cross-roads the sacrificer kills a cow, dismembers it, and divides the flesh among the passers-by. The Aṣṭakā is followed by the Anvaṣṭakya, which is allowed to follow all three rites, or the middle one only. The nature of the rite is rather curious: a fire is made, surrounded, and an opening made in the north: an offering strew is laid down, and food placed on it, various forms of rice with sesame, milk rice, and mixed messes of meat and sour milk, and of meal and honey. Then he offers to Soma with the Fathers and to Agni Kavyavāhana, and thereafter gives to the Fathers in the east, and their wives in the west, shares of all except the honey drink: the Mothers receive also Surā and the scum of boiled rice. The offering is, according to Gobhila, made with much elaboration in pits which are dug for the offerings. Three lumps of food are made, and salve and sesame oil are also given to the Fathers and the Brahmans: the three lumps at the end are put to varied uses: the middle one his wife eats, if she wishes sons: the others are put in the water, or on a fire, or given to a cow or to a Brahman to eat.¹ The giving to a cow is of interest as it is also provided as a substitute for the offering of a cow at the appropriate Aṣṭakā that a cow should be given food to eat. It is difficult not to feel that this is a case of a very simple desire to save the life of the cow, and of the parallel desire to secure the favour of the cow. Another mode of evading the offering of a cow at the Aṣṭakās was to fire brushwood, an idea which Oldenberg² has suggested may be regarded as an effort to strengthen the sun at the period of the winter solstice, in which very roughly the Aṣṭakās tended to fall.

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⁶ AGS. ii. 4; ÇGS. iii. 12–14; GGS. iii. 10; iv. 1; MGS. ii. 8, 9; BhGS. ii. 15–17; BGS. ii. 11; PGS. iii. 3; HGS. ii. 13; Oldenberg, *Ind. Stud.* xv. 145 ff.; Winternitz, *VOJ.* iv. 205 ff.

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⁷ *VOJ.* iv. 211; MGS. ii. 9. 1–3.

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¹ GGS. iv. 1. 18 ff.; AGS. ii. 4. 8–10. The use of pits is not regularly provided for, but it is clearly old; cf. Homer, *Od.* x. 527 ff.; xi. 23 ff.; Wissowa, *Rel. der Römer*, pp. 234 ff.; Arbman, *Rudra*, pp. 73 ff. (whose German parallel, however, must be corrected; see Helm, *Altgerm. Rel.* i. 244).

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² *Rel. des Veda*¹, p. 446.

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There is clear evidence that, in addition to the three or four Aṣṭakās, another offering was made in the middle of the rains, perhaps in the month of Prauṣṭhapada: it is stated to be intended to be like the Anvaṣṭakya offering or the Pārvaṇa Çrāddha: there is the same dispute as to the nature of the offering: flesh is necessary if at all possible, but one authority calls it out and out a vegetable Aṣṭakā. This provision and the tendency, as we have seen, to make the offerings simple are due doubtless to the fact that they are obligatory offerings, which could not be omitted and which therefore must often be simple.³

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³ AGS. ii. 5. 9; ÇGS. iii. 3. 13; HGS. ii. 13. 3; PGS. iii. 3. 13 (Çākāṣṭakā).

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