Pitrpaksh(a)/ Pitru Paksh/ Shraadh
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An overview
Devdutt Pattanaik, Sep 10, 2022: The Times of India
During the Indian monsoons – between Ganesh Utsav and Navratri – Hindus observe Pitrpaksha, fortnight of the pitr, ancestors. This is a dark fortnight of the lunar month, in the dark half of the year. It is a time to feed the dead. Facing the south, Hindu men across India are seen placing mashed rice balls mixed with black sesame seeds, known as pinda, on blades of grass, near water bodies. They pour water on these pinda in a peculiar way, known as tarpana. Crows are encouraged to eat this rice.
Many Hindu families avoid buying cars, houses or even new clothes. No contracts are signed. No weddings conducted. This hesitance is interesting for what it reveals of the ambiguous relationship Hindus have with the dead. The ancestors are venerated and need tobe fed, it’s true. However, all things associated with death are also deemed inauspicious and impure. The dominant mainstream Hindu understanding of death comes from the Preta-kalpa of the Garud Purana, which was composed a thousand years ago, and is still read during funeral ceremonies. The ritual of shradh that involves offering pinda to ancestors can be traced to Grihya-sutra literature, which is over 2,500 years old, indicating a remarkable continuity of tradition. The word ‘pitr’ used for ancestors can be traced even to the Rig Veda, Hinduism’s oldest scripture.
While the practice of giving food and gifts to the dead is found in many cultures, Hindu customs are unique as they are based on the metaphysics of rebirth, not an eternal afterlife. Hindus believenothing is permanent, not even death. The dead eventually return to the land of the living to repay unpaid debts. Life is needed to free oneself from the burden of debts. Feeding the dead is itself an obligation, a repayment of debt. Those alive owe their life and privilege to the dead. The dead depend on the living to facilitate their return to the land of the living and keep the circle of life turning.
This idea of eternal return is embedded in the Hindu mind through ritual and story. Today, festivals of Ganesh and Durga are celebrated over ten days and nine nights to remind us of ten lunar months and nine solar months of pregnancy. After the festival, clay effigies of the deity are cast into water bodies, like the ashes of the dead. Thus, even the gods are impermanent. They go awaythis year but will return next year, mimicking the reality of punar mrityu, re-death, and punar janma, rebirth, mentioned in the Upanishads.
Hindus share their ideas of rebirth with the other faiths of Indian origin, such as Buddhism and Jainism. Myths in most other parts of the world are built around a single life followed by an eternal afterlife. Even in India there are communities such as the Lingayats and the neo-Buddhists who do not believe in rebirth. When you believe you live only once, this life and this body become special. Both are commemorated with tombs and tombstones, a practice shunned by orthodox Hindus who want the dead to move on, not stay back.
There is much to learn about Hindu culture by approaching it through its death rituals. (Abridged from Garuda Purana And Other Hindu Ideas On Death, Rebirth And Immortality)
