Pinda Daan - Jagannath Ghat - Kolkata 2012-10-15 0701

Piṇḍas are balls of cooked

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

mixed with

ghee Ghee is a type of clarified butter, originating from South Asia. It is commonly used for cooking, as a Traditional medicine of India, traditional medicine, and for Hinduism, Hindu religious rituals. Description Ghee is typically prepared by ...

and black sesame seeds offered to ancestors during Hindu funeral rites (Antyesti) and ancestor worship (Śrāddha). According to traditions in the Garuda Puran, offering a pinda to a recently departed soul helps to unite the soul with its ancestors.Gold, Ann (2000). ''Fruitful Journeys: The Ways of Rajasthani Pilgrims''. Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press Inc. p. 90. . Pindas can be placed on a recently deceased person's hands and feet on their way to a funeral pyre. Pindas are offered to both maternal and paternal lineages. When making an offering of pindas the first can be offered to the father (or for widow's, their husband), the 2nd their father's father, the third their father's father's father, the 4th their mother, the 5th their father's mother, the 6th their father's mother's mother, and so on to cover ancestors from all sides of the family.

Purananuru

The ''Purananuru'' is a classical Tamil literature, Tamil poetic work and traditionally the last of the Eight Anthologies (''Ettuthokai'') in the Sangam literature. It is a collection of 400 heroic poems about kings, wars and public life. This book has mentions of this rice ball called Pindam and is one of the common death rituals followed by Hindus of South India.

References

Death and Hinduism Objects used in Hindu worship Barley-based dishes Food and drink in Hinduism {{Hinduism-stub