Varāha Piṇḍa Sṛshṭi
The Varāha Piṇḍa Sṛshṭi tells how the offering of piṇḍa-dāna (rice-balls to the ancestors) began. It is told in the Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 345, inside the Nārāyaṇīya. After Bhagavān Varāha lifted the earth from the primordial waters on his tusks, he drew three piṇḍas (balls of earth) from the mud that clung to them. He placed them in the waters and declared himself to be all three of the pitṛs (ancestors) that they stood for.
Where the account stands
This account is part of the Nārāyaṇīya, the great teaching on Nārāyaṇa in the Mokshadharma Parva. In it, Nārāyaṇa’s rule over every part of life is shown through smaller accounts set inside it. The Varāha Piṇḍa Sṛshṭi gives the beginning of the rites for the ancestors, pitṛ-tarpaṇa (water offering to the ancestors) and piṇḍa-dāna (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 345).
Varāha lifts the earth
The background is the Varāha Avatāra. Nārāyaṇa took the form of a great boar (varāha) and went down into the primordial waters to bring back the earth (bhūmi, pṛthivī), which the asura Hiraṇyāksha had sunk. With his huge tusks Varāha lifted the earth from the depths of the ocean and raised her to her rightful place.
As he rose from the waters with the earth on his tusks, the mud and earth of the ocean floor clung to them. It was the first earth-matter (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 345).
The three piṇḍas
From the mud on his tusks Varāha drew out three balls, three piṇḍas, made of that first earth-matter. He placed the three piṇḍas in the waters.
Then Varāha made his great declaration: he himself was all three of the ancestors that the piṇḍas stood for.
- Pitāmaha, the paternal grandfather.
- Pitṛ, the father in the family line.
- Pitā, the immediate progenitor.
Varāha declared himself to be the pitṛ of all living beings, the ancestor of all from whom every line descends and to whom every offering to the ancestors in the end returns (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 345).
Varāha’s words in every śrāddha
The text says plainly that the words Varāha spoke over these three piṇḍas are the words repeated in each śrāddha (rite for the ancestors) (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 345).
The start of piṇḍa-dāna
From this first act Varāha set up piṇḍa-dāna as the householder’s main way to pay the pitṛ-ṛṇa (debt to the ancestors). This is one of three basic debts that shape the ritual life of a gṛhastha (householder). The other two are the deva-ṛṇa (debt to the devas), paid by yajña, and the ṛshi-ṛṇa (debt to the ṛshis), paid by svādhyāya (study of the Veda).
The three piṇḍas given in śrāddha follow the three piṇḍas of Varāha in form and in number (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 345).
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva (Nārāyaṇīya), Chapter 345