Ancestor worship is one of the oldest belief systems in the world along with nature worship. According to Raj Bali Pandey, during ancient times family members of the deceased cherished mixed sentiments towards the dead whom they believed proceeded to the realm of the dead after their earthly life ended. First there was the sentiment of dread. It was believed that the deceased still had some kind of interest in his family property and relatives whom he would not like to quit and therefore was lingering about the house. It was also supposed that because he was alienated from the survivors by death, he might cause injury to the family and so attempts were made to avoid his presence and contact. The next sentiment was of love and affection towards the deceased. The survivors thought that it was their duty to help the dead in reaching his destination after death and hence provided him with food and other articles necessary for a traveller so that he could resume his journey to the next world. The next world was believed to be a replica of this world and everything necessary for starting a new life was presented to him. For example, food was offered and also an old cow or a goat to serve as a guide in his journey to the world of the dead.1
The seed of the shraddha rite can be probably attributed to the Atharva Veda which tells us that the dead man is conducted upward by the Maruts and meets the fathers who reside in the company of Yama. The idea that the dead in heaven are nourished by the piety of the relatives on earth is also found in the Atharva Veda. Accordingly, such nourishments may either be buried with the dead so that the grains of corn and sesame, so buried may turn into wish-cows in heaven, or the nourishment may be conveyed through subsequent offerings.2
Shraddha, the rites associated with ancestor worship
The rites associated with ancestor worship is called Shraddha. It is a ceremony performed by a son for the gratification of his departed father, paternal grandfather and paternal great grandfather who are identified with the three orders of superintending pitr deities namely Vasus, Rudras and Adityas and combines three aspects –
homa or food oblation into the sacred fire by uttering mantras
feeding of Brahmins and
the offering of pindas (rice balls)3
Contradictory to doctrines of karma and punarjanma
According to P.V.Kane, a firm believer in the doctrines of karma and punarjanma may find it difficult to reconcile that doctrine with the belief that by offering rice balls to his three deceased paternal ancestors a man brings gratification to the souls of the latter. In Bhagavad Gita chapter two, verse 22 and Brihadaranyaka Upanishad IV.4.4, it is said that the spirit leaving the body enters into another and a new one. But the doctrine of offering rice balls to ancestors requires that the spirit of the three ancestors even after a lapse of 50 or 100 years are still capable of enjoying in an ethereal body.4 According to P.V.Kane the worship of ancestors by means of shraddha was probably a very ancient institution and the doctrine of punarjanma and karma were comparatively later ones and that Hinduism being all embracing retained the institution of shraddha while also adopting the doctrines of metempsychosis.5
Contradictory to the teaching of the Upanishad
The Upanishad taught that atman was essentially identical with the Paramatman, Supreme Spirit or the Brahman. If the soul of the deceased were atman pure and simple, on the death of its body, it would immediately merge in the Supreme Spirit and thus attain moksha or liberation. This would render the performance of pinda pitryajna meaningless.6
Contradictory to the teaching of Advaita
Adi Shankaracharya in his Advaita philosophy propounds that Brahman is the only reality and declares the whole world to be an imposition of avidya. Ultimate reality is one and without any relation and so all the smacks of multiplicity must be due to the influence of avidya and the Vedas and shastras which deal with multiplicity of the world, however full of wisdom must be stigmatised as such. They lose their validity and authoritativeness when true knowledge springs.7
Shraddha rite is devoid of rational thinking
According to Matsya Purana and Agni Purana being gratified by rice balls offered by their descendants these pitrs bestow them with long life, learning, progeny, wealth, happiness, kingdom, heaven and moksha.8 No sane person can believe that offering made here can reach persons living in another world. Also it looks strange that these pitrs who are capable of giving various boons to their descendants are eager for these rice balls to satisfy their hunger.
The proponents of shraddha say that it is the duty of a son to perform shraddha. Yes, a son has obligations towards his parents, but when they are alive. Saying that we have duties towards the dead is like saying that we have duties towards the unborn and that the unborn are to be fed, clothed and educated and provided with recreation. Will it not sound absurd? If at all a son has a duty after the death of his father it is to take care of his mother and other siblings if they were dependent upon the deceased father. Also, to repay any debt his father had occurred, but that too, if the son is able to do so.
Contradictory injunction in texts
The texts which give information about Shraddha are full of contradictory injunctions. For instance, Gobhila Smriti says that the husband should not offer pinda to his wife even if she dies sonless, nor a father to his son and an elder brother to a younger brother. But Baudhayana and Brddhasatatapa allow a shraddha to be performed by anyone for any relative with affection particularly at Gaya.9 In the Samhitas and Brahmanas there is no reference to Shraddha in honour of deceased female maternal ancestors. It is found only in the Grhyasutra literature though some like Paraskara Grhyasutra and Hiranyakeshi Grhyasutra are silent about it.10
Shraddha a source of livelihood for the priestly class
Originally the articles of food offered to deceased ancestors were cast into fire (agnaukarana) and the fire carried the essence to the deceased. Later on this was replaced by offerings to the Brahmins in the name of the deceased: it was believed that the essence of the offerings reaches the deceased spirits through the medium of the Brahmins and the Garuda Purana II.5.47 mentions that the Brahmin should be fed to satisfy the hunger of the departed souls.11
Haradatta commentator of Apastambha Dharma Sutra holds that feeding to the Brahmins is the principle act of shraddha.12 shraddha according to Brahmapurana is “whatever given with faith to Brahmanas intending it to be for the benefit of pitr at a proper time, in a proper place, to deserving persons and in accordance with the prescribed procedure”.13 According to Vayu Purana, at the time of shraddha the ancestors enter the invited Brahmanas after assuming an aerial form and that when the best of Brahmanas are honoured with clothes, food, gifts, eatables, liquid, cows, horses and villages, pitrs become pleased.14 Similarly Manu prescribed the shraddha rite (ancestor worship) for the good of mankind wherein the objects of worship are the fathers, while the Brahmans who are fed on their behalf are for the purpose of ahavaniya that is the Brahmanas are as if they are the sacred fire into which oblations are made.15 All these statements contained in the dharma sutras shows that the importance given to shraddha rite was to provide a livelihood to a particular community though the rites went against the tenets of Hindu philosophy. The fact that absurd theories were created to prevent the cult from becoming redundant in the wake of the karma theory also proves the fact that the main beneficiaries of this cult was the priestly class. For instance when the law of karma rendered the rites of ancestor worship untenable, the votaries of the ancestor worship came up with a new theory stating that as soon as a person dies he does not enter a new body but will be in a unembodied existence (Preta) for a period of one year and to provide sustenance to it, the institution of ekoddista Shraddha was established. The ekoddista shraddha was to be performed every month for a period of one year after the death of an individual. Along with ekoddista shraddha, the Sapindikarana shraddha was introduced which was undertaken to terminate the state of Preta and make it a pitr or take a rebirth in accordance with its karma.16
Alternative to Shraddha
P.V.Kane says that it is a good practice to set apart at least one day in a year for the remembrance of one’s near and dear relatives that are no more, to invite relatives, friends and learned people to a dinner in memory of the dead and to make monetary gifts on poor but learned persons of character and devoted to the practice of plain living and high thinking. This will be in keeping with our past traditions and will also give a new orientation to and infuse new life into practices and usages that have become lifeless and meaningless to many people.17
But the best option would be to celebrate the birthdays of living parents by inviting friends and relatives and if financially stable donate money to orphanages or old age homes on their behalf. Today most parents suffer the pangs of separation and loneliness. Instead of performing shraddha after death, children could spend quality time with their parents when they are still alive and assist them in their mundane activities.
A flourishing Primitive Belief
According to Raj Bali Pandey in no other field of Hinduism the primitive beliefs regarding life and death survive so insistently as in the naive funeral operations. The next world is nothing but the replica of this earth and the needs of the dead are the same as those of the living. Throughout the ceremonies the prayers are offered for sensuous enjoyments and ease of the dead. We do not find any indication of the desire for his or her spiritual benefit, salvation or beatitude. The prayer for freedom from the cycles of birth and death is very casual and could be discovered only in the latest phase of the ritual. The whole performance is of the most primitive kind and speaks of a period of remote antiquity.18
Ancestor worship, though contrary to Hindu philosophy and defies common sense, is a flourishing cult in modern India with its votaries belonging to all sections of the Hindu society; from the highly educated to a simpleton illiterate fellow.
Reference
Raj Bali Pandey –Hindu Samskaras, A Socio-religious study of the Hindu Sacraments, Vikrama Publications, Banaras, 1949, pp:409-11
R.C.Majumdar Edited, The History and Culture of the Indian People, The Vedic Age, 1952, p.445
P.V.Kane – History of Dharmasastra, vol IV, 1953, pp:334-35 and B.Narayan Aiyangar – Sraddha (Brahman Ancestor Worship), Quarterly Journal of Mythic Society, vol III, no 3, 1911-12, p.80
P.V.Kane – Op.Cit, p.335
Ibid, p.339
Y. Krishan – The Doctrine of Karma and Sraddhas, ABORI, vol – 66, No. 1/4, 1985, p.110
Satindra Kumar Mukerjee – Sankara on the relation between the Vedas and Reason, The Indian Historical Quarterly, vol 6, Calcutta, 1930,p.113
P.V.Kane – Op.Cit, p.335
Ibid, pp:364-65
Y. Krishan – Op.Cit, pp:112,113
Ibid, p.98
P.V.Kane – Op.Cit, p.349
Ibid, p.334
Ibid, pp:339-40
B.Narayan Aiyangar – Op.Cit, p.80
Y. Krishan – Op.Cit, p. 108
P.V.Kane – Op.Cit, p.550
Raj Bali Pandey – Op.Cit, pp:479-80
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