Such charitable gifts flowed most naturally and abundantly at the time of a man's death, or whenever his memory was revived by happy or unhappy events in a family, and hence Srâddha has become the general name for ever so many sacred acts commemorative of the departed. We hear of Srâddhas not only at funerals, but at joyous events also, when presents were bestowed in the name of the family, and therefore in the name of the ancestors also, on all who had a right to that distinction.
It is a mistake therefore to look upon Srâddhas simply as offerings of water or cakes to the Fathers. An offering to the Fathers was, no doubt, a symbolic part of each Srâddha, but its more important character was charity bestowed in memory of the Fathers.
This, in time, gave rise to much abuse, like the alms bestowed on the Church during the Middle Ages. But in the beginning the motive was excellent. It was simply a wish to benefit others, arising from the conviction, felt more strongly in the presence of death than at any other time, that as we can carry nothing out of this world, we ought to do as much good as possible in the world with our worldly goods. At Srâddhas the Brâhmanas were said to represent the sacrificial fire into which the gifts should be thrown.[310] If we translate here Brâhmanas by priests, we can easily understand why there should have been in later times so strong a feeling against Srâddhas. But priest is a very bad rendering of Brâhmana. The Brâhmanas were, socially and intellectually, a class of men of high breeding. They were a recognized and, no doubt, a most essential element in the ancient society of India. As they lived for others, and were excluded from most of the lucrative pursuits of life, it was a social, and it soon became a religious duty, that they should be supported by the community at large. Great care was taken that the recipients of such bounty as was bestowed at Srâddhas should be strangers, neither friends nor enemies, and in no way related to the family. Thus Âpastamba says:[311] "The food eaten (at a Srâddha) by persons related to the giver is a gift offered to goblins. It reaches neither the Manes nor the Gods." A man who tried to curry favor by bestowing Srâddhika gifts, was called by an opprobrious name, a Srâddha-mitra.[312]
Without denying therefore that in later times the system of Srâddhas may have degenerated, I think we can perceive that it sprang from a pure source, and, what for our present purpose is even more important, from an intelligible source.
Let us now return to the passage in the Grihya-sûtras of Âsvalâyana, where we met for the first time with the name of Srâddha.[313] It was the Srâddha to be given for the sake of the Departed, after his ashes had been collected in an urn and buried. This Srâddha is called ekoddishta,[314] or, as we should say, personal. It was meant for one person only, not for the three ancestors, nor for all the ancestors. Its object was in fact to raise the departed to the rank of a Pitri, and this had to be achieved by Srâddha offerings continued during a whole year. This at least is the general, and, most likely, the original rule. Âpastamba says that the Srâddha for a deceased relative should be performed every day during the year, and that after that a monthly Srâddha only should be performed or none at all, that is, no more personal Srâddha,[315] because the departed shares henceforth in the regular Pârvana-srâddhas.[316] Sânkhâyana says the same,[317] namely that the personal Srâddha lasts for a year, and that then "the Fourth" is dropped, i.e. the great-grandfather was dropped, the grandfather became the great-grandfather, the father the grandfather, while the lately Departed occupied the father's place among the three principal Pitris.[318] This was called the Sapindîkarana, i.e. the elevating of the departed to the rank of an ancestor.
There are here, as elsewhere, many exceptions. Gobhila allows six months instead of a year, or even a Tripaksha,[319] i.e. three half-months; and lastly, any auspicious event (vriddhi) may become the occasion of the Sapindîkarana.[320]
The full number of Srâddhas necessary for the Sapindana is sometimes given as sixteen, viz., the first, then one in each of the twelve months, then two semestral ones, and lastly the Sapindana. But here too much variety is allowed, though, if the Sapindana takes place before the end of the year, the number of sixteen Srâddhas has still to be made up.[321]
When the Srâddha is offered on account of an auspicious event, such as a birth or a marriage, the fathers invoked are not the father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, who are sometimes called asrumukha, with tearful faces, but the ancestors before them, and they are called nândîmukha, or joyful.[322]
Colebrooke,[323] to whom we owe an excellent description of what a Srâddha is in modern times, took evidently the same view. "The first set of funeral ceremonies," he writes, "is adapted to effect, by means of oblations, the re-embodying of the soul of the deceased, after burning his corpse. The apparent scope of the second set is to raise his shade from this world, where it would else, according to the notions of the Hindus, continue to roam among demons and evil spirits, up to heaven, and then deify him, as it were, among the manes of departed ancestors. For this end, a Srâddha should regularly be offered to the deceased on the day after the mourning expires; twelve other Srâddhas singly to the deceased in twelve successive months; similar obsequies at the end of the third fortnight, and also in the sixth month, and in the twelfth; and the oblation called Sapindana on the first anniversary of his decease.[324] At this Sapindana Srâddha, which is the last of the ekoddishta srâddhas, four funeral cakes are offered to the deceased and his three ancestors, that consecrated to the deceased being divided into three portions and mixed with the other three cakes. The portion retained is often offered to the deceased, and the act of union and fellowship becomes complete."[325]