Śrāddha ( sa, श्राद्ध) is a

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

word which literally means anything or any act that is performed with all sincerity and absolute faith in it. In the

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

religion, it is the ritual that one performs to pay homage to one's '

ancestor An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder or a forebear, is a parent or (recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from whom ...

s' (Sanskrit:

Pitṛs The pitrs () are the spirits of departed ancestors in Hinduism. Following an individual's death, the performance of the antyesti (funeral rites) is regarded to allow the deceased to enter Pitrloka, the abode of one's ancestors. The non-performance ...

), especially to one's dead parents. Conceptually, it is a way for people to express heartfelt gratitude and thanks towards their parents and ancestors, for having helped them to be what they are and praying for their peace. It also can be thought of as a "day of remembrance". It is performed for both the father and mother separately, on their respective 'thithi' – death anniversaries as per the

Hindu Calendar The Hindu calendar, Panchanga () or Panjika is one of various lunisolar calendars that are traditionally used in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, with further regional variations for social and Hindu religious purposes. They adopt a s ...

. In addition it is performed for the entire community of 'pitr' – both from paternal and maternal side – collectively during the Pitru Paksha or ''Shraaddha''

paksha Paksha (also known as ''pakṣa''; sa, पक्ष, Nepal Bhasa: ''thwa'' and ''gа̄''; ) refers to a fortnight or a lunar phase in a month of the Hindu lunar calendar. Literally meaning "side", a paksha is the period either side of the Fu ...

(Fortnight of ancestors), right before ''

Sharad Sharad/Sarath/Sharath ( sa, शरद्)is the autumn season or ritu in the Hindu calendar. It roughly corresponds to the western months of mid-September to mid-November. Sharad is preceded by Varsha and followed by Hemant. The Hindu calendar c ...

Navaratri Navaratri is an annual Hindu festival observed in the honour of the goddess Durga. It spans over nine nights (and ten days), first in the month of Chaitra (March/April of the Gregorian calendar), and again in the month of Sharada. It is ob ...

'' in autumn.

Etymology

'Śrāddha' means 'confidence, devotion', stemming from

Proto-Indo-Iranian Proto-Indo-Iranian, also Proto-Indo-Iranic is the reconstructed proto-language of the Indo-Iranian/Indo-Iranic branch of Indo-European. Its speakers, the hypothetical Proto-Indo-Iranians, are assumed to have lived in the late 3rd millennium B ...

''*ćraddʰaH-'' ('believe, have trust in'), ultimately from the

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...

compound Compound may refer to: Architecture and built environments * Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall ** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struct ...

''*ḱred-dʰeh₁-'' ('to put one's heart into somebody' > 'to believe'). It is

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymology, etymological ancestor in a proto-language, common parent language. Because language c ...

with the Latin ''crēdo'' ('to entrust, give credence'), the

Old Avestan Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scrip ...

''zrazdā-'' ('devoted, trusting, believing'), or the

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic ( sga, Goídelc, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ga, Sean-Ghaeilge; gd, Seann-Ghàidhlig; gv, Shenn Yernish or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive writt ...

''creitid'' ('believe'). Lubotsky, Alexander.
Indo-Aryan Inherited Lexicon
. ''Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Project''.

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...

. See entry ''Śrāddha-'' (online database).

Rituals

Pinda Daan - Jagannath Ghat - Kolkata 2012-10-15 0689

In practice, the karta (person who performs the Śrāddha) (1) invites

Brahmanas The Brahmanas (; Sanskrit: , ''Brāhmaṇam'') are Vedic śruti works attached to the Samhitas (hymns and mantras) of the Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas. They are a secondary layer or classification of Sanskrit texts embedded within ea ...

(priests) that day, invokes in them the divinity of his/her parent, worships and feeds them (2) performs a

homa Homa may refer to: Places Ethiopia * Homa (woreda), a district in Oromia Region, Ethiopia Kenya * Homa Bay, a town and a bay on the shore of Lake Victoria in Kenya * Homa Mountain, a volcano near Homa Bay, Kenya Iran * Chal Homa, Mark ...

(fire ritual), appeasing Agni and Soma – the deities who transmit the offerings to the ancestors, nourish and protect them and (3) offers balls of rice to the departed souls ("pinda pradaana", offered to the Pitṛs, the ancestral spirits).The offerings are made to three generations i.e. father, grandfather and great grandfather / mother, fathers’mother, fathers’ grandmother. The karta extends hospitality to the priest and concludes the ceremony by giving "dakshina" (fees) to the brahmanaas. (There are various other actions done to show respect to the Brahmanaas, like washing their feet etc. during the course of shraaddha). Crows are also revered in Hinduism and during Śrāddha the practice of offering food or pinda to crows is still in vogue. Since this is one of the more important and noble "" (rituals meant to cleanse the mind and soul) that the Hindu sages have envisaged, it is imperative that the performer of the ritual understands what he or she is doing. Only then will the true intent of the ritual be fulfilled and the performer of the ritual feel completely gratified. Else, the ritual becomes just a mechanical exercise for one's part.

The Śrāddha period

The scripture mandate performing 96 Śrāddha karmas. However, these practices are difficult to be adhered to. In addition, once in year offerings are to a larger universe of forefathers – during the pitr paksha. In Hindu ''amanta'' calendar ( ending with ''amavasya'' ), second half of the month '' Bhadrapada'' is called Pitru Paksha: ''Pitṛpakṣa'' or ''Śrāddha pakṣa'' and its ''

amavasya Amāvásyā () is the lunar phase of the new moon in Sanskrit. Indian calendars use 30 lunar phases, called tithi in India. The dark moon tithi is when the Moon is within 12 degrees of the angular distance between the Sun and Moon before conjun ...

'' ( new moon ) is called ''sarvapitri amavasya''. This part is considered inauspicious in ''muhurtaśāstra'' (electional astrology). At this time (generally September) crops in India and Nepal are ready and the produce is offered as a mark of respect and gratitude (by way of pinda) first to the ancestors be they parents or forefathers before other festivals like ''

'' begin. Many people visit Hindu pilgrimage sites to perform, ''Śrāddha'' ceremonies, like Pehowa,

Kurukshetra Kurukshetra (, ) is a city and administrative headquarter of Kurukshetra district in the Indian state of Haryana. It is also known as Dharmakshetra ("Realm of duty ") and as the "Land of the Bhagavad Gita". Legends According to the Pura ...

Haridwar Haridwar (; ) is a city and municipal corporation in the Haridwar district of Uttarakhand, India. With a population of 228,832 in 2011, it is the second-largest city in the state and the largest in the district. The city is situated on the righ ...

Gokarneshwar Gokarneshwar is a municipality in Kathmandu District in the Bagmati Province of Nepal that was established on 2 December 2014 by merging the former Village development committees Sundarijal, Nayapati, Baluwa, Jorpati and Gokarna. The office of ...

Nashik Nashik (, Marathi: aːʃik, also called as Nasik ) is a city in the northern region of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Situated on the banks of river Godavari, Nashik is the third largest city in Maharashtra, after Mumbai and Pune. Nashik ...

, Gaya etc. Haridwar is also known for its Hindu genealogy registers.

Hindu genealogy registers at Haridwar Genealogy registers, of families, maintained by Brahmin Pandits locally called as ‘Pandas’, who double up as professional genealogists, at Haridwar, has been a subject of study for many years now.Hindu genealogy registers at Jawalamukhi,Himachal Pradesh Genealogy registers, of families, maintained by Brahmin Pandits locally called as ‘Pandas’, who double up as professional genealogists, at Haridwar, has been a subject of study for many years now.Hindu genealogy registers at Kurukshetra, Haryana Genealogy registers, of families, maintained by Brahmin Pandits locally called as ‘Pandas’, who double up as professional genealogists, at Haridwar, has been a subject of study for many years now.Hindu genealogy registers at Peohwa, Haryana Genealogy book, Genealogy registers, of families, maintained by Brahmin Pandits locally called as ‘Pandas’, who double up as professional genealogy, genealogists, at Haridwar, has been a subject of study for many years now.

Hindu genealogy registers at Trimbakeshwar, Maharashtra Genealogy registers, of families, maintained by Brahmin Pandits locally called as ‘Pandas’, who double up as professional genealogists, at Haridwar, has been a subject of study for many years now.Hindu genealogy registers at Varanasi *

Pitrs The pitrs () are the spirits of departed ancestors in Hinduism. Following an individual's death, the performance of the antyesti (funeral rites) is regarded to allow the deceased to enter Pitrloka, the abode of one's ancestors. The non-performanc ...

Sandhyavandhanam Sandhyavandanam (Sanskrit: , ', lit. 'salutation to (Goddess) Twilight' or 'salutation during the twilight') is a mandatory religious ritual centring around the recitation of the Gayatri mantra, traditionally supposed to be performed three times ...

Vedic priesthood Priests of the Vedic religion are officiants of the ''yajna'' service. Yajna is an important part of Hinduism, especially the Vedas. Persons trained for the ritual and proficient in its practice were called ( ' regularly-sacrificing'). As memb ...

Śrāddha (Buddhadharma) In Buddhism, faith ( pi, saddhā, italic=yes, sa, śraddhā, italic=yes) refers to a serene commitment to the practice of Gautama Buddha, the Buddha's teaching and trust in enlightened or highly developed beings, such as Buddha (title), Bud ...

Etymology

Rituals

The Śrāddha period

See also

References

Further reading