Pitṛ Devatās
The Pitṛ Devatās are the divine ancestors. They receive the offerings of their living descendants and sustain their family lines. They also welcome the newly departed, when a preta (a departed being not yet among the ancestors) becomes one of them. They live in their own lokas, arranged in a fixed order. The Agniṣvātta and Barhiṣad groups receive the most worship.
The Varāha Purāṇa tells how the Pitṛ Devatās came to be, what kinds there are, and what they ask of their descendants. The Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa adds how a preta becomes a pitṛ through the sapiṇḍīkaraṇa rite, and why the pitṛ-pūjā (worship of the ancestors) must be kept up.
Origin
From Brahmā’s tapas (Chapter 34)
During creation, Brahmā meditated deeply on the Paramātmā and reached a state of union in yoga. Subtle essences (tanmātrāḥ) came out of his body like wisps of smoke (dhūmra). These beings wished to rise to the upper worlds and drink Soma. They stood in the sky with their faces raised upward.
Brahmā told them:
“You are the Pitṛ Devatās of all householders.”
Those with faces tilted upward became the Nāndīmukha Pitṛs. They are worshipped in the vṛddhi-śrāddha (the rite for an auspicious event).
From the Saptarṣis (Chapter 13)
Brahmā had seven sons born from his mind, the Saptarṣis. They tried to worship themselves instead of Brahmā, as he had commanded. Brahmā gave them a śāpa (a curse):
“You will lose all your jñāna.”
At once the cursed ṛṣis had sons. They reached a higher birth through the śrāddha offerings of their sons, and they went to svarga (heaven). This chain of ancestor worship gave rise to the Pitṛ system.
Kinds of Pitṛ Devatās
With form and without form
| Kind | Nature | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Sāntānaka (Prājāpatya) | Without physical form; they live in the Sāntānaka worlds | Born from Prajāpati (Brahmā) |
| Vairāja | Without form; they came before the devas and are worshipped by the devas | Descendants of Virāj |
| Agniṣvātta | With form | Descendants of Marīci (from the line of agni, fire) |
| Barhiṣad | With form | Descendants of Vasiṣṭha (they sit on barhi, which is kuśa grass) |
The Pitṛ Devatās in each loka (Chapter 13)
| Loka | Pitṛ group | Worshipped by |
|---|---|---|
| Bhūloka | Brāhmaṇas and others | — |
| Svarloka | Marīci group (Saptarṣis) | Brāhmaṇas of Bhūloka |
| Maharloka | Kalpa-vāsins | Saptarṣis |
| Janaloka | Sanaka and the others | Residents of Maharloka |
| Tapoloka | Vairājas | Residents of Janaloka |
| Satyaloka | Liberated souls (ātmās) | Residents of Tapoloka |
The Pitṛ Devatās for each varṇa (Chapter 13)
| Varṇa | Pitṛ group |
|---|---|
| Brāhmaṇa | Agniṣvātta |
| Kṣatriya | Barhiṣad (Virāj’s descendants) |
| Vaiśya | Sukāleya (descendants of Vasiṣṭha) |
| Śūdra | No separate pitṛs. They must get permission from the upper three varṇas to worship the same group |
“Śūdras have no separate Pitṛ Devatās. With the permission of the three upper varṇas, they should worship those same ancestors — using their parents’ names, but without specific mantra or procedure.”
The song of the Pitṛs: what they want from their descendants
The Pitṛ Devatās made gītas (songs) that say what they wish for. The main requests are these (Chapter 13).
- May a noble son be born in our family who gives us piṇḍa (funeral rice balls) and is not greedy for money.
- May he offer us water, gems, clothes, fine vehicles and wealth, as far as his means allow.
- At the time of śrāddha, may he offer food with a devoted mind, in proportion to his means.
- If he cannot afford food, he should offer forest greens to a brāhmaṇa.
- If he cannot afford that, he should hold a handful of sesame seeds (nuvvulu in Telugu) and offer them to a brāhmaṇa with a bow.
- If he has nothing, he should fill his palms with water and give it with full devotion.
- If he has no water, he should go to a forest, raise both hands toward the sun and say aloud:
“I have no money, no wealth, nothing appropriate for śrāddha. I offer my Pitṛ Devatās a single namaskāra. May they be satisfied. I hold out my hands on the path of the wind.”
Amāvāsyā, the special day of the Pitṛs
Brahmā declared Amāvāsyā (the new moon) to be the special day of the Pitṛs. On this day the descendant offers water with sesame seeds (nuvvulu kalasina nīru in Telugu). This one offering gives the Pitṛs satisfaction for a thousand years.
The best times for śrāddha
The Varāha Purāṇa names the lunar tithis and nakṣatras that are most powerful for rites for the ancestors (Chapter 13).
| Nakṣatra with Amāvāsyā | How long the Pitṛs are satisfied |
|---|---|
| Ārdrā, Viśākhā, Svāti | 8 years |
| Puṣyamī, Maghā, Punarvasu | 12 years |
| Dhaniṣṭhā, Pūrvābhādra, Śatabhiṣā | Very rare, deva-durlabha (hard to get even for the devas) |
These Amāvāsyā dates carry special puṇya (merit):
- Māgha Kṛṣṇa Amāvāsyā with Śatabhiṣā: very rare, with great puṇya.
- Māgha Kṛṣṇa Amāvāsyā with Dhaniṣṭhā: 10,000 years of satisfaction.
- Māgha Kṛṣṇa Amāvāsyā with Pūrvābhādra: the Pitṛs sleep in comfort for a whole yuga.
From preta to pitṛ: the Garuḍa Purāṇa teaching (Chapter 5)
The Dharma Khaṇḍa teaches that a person who has just died is not at once a pitṛ. The jīva (the living being) is a preta. A preta wanders, is building a body and suffers, until the sapiṇḍīkaraṇa rite joins it to the company of the pitṛs. To go from preta to pitṛ, these steps are needed:
- The ten-day sequence of daśagātra piṇḍa offerings, which builds the subtle body of the preta.
- The eleven-day śrāddha, which gives provisions for the journey on the Yama-mārga (the road of Yama).
- The twelve monthly śrāddhas, which sustain the preta through the journey of sixteen cities.
- The sapiṇḍīkaraṇa on the twelfth day (or at the one-year mark), in which the preta-piṇḍa is merged into the three pitṛ piṇḍas.
Only after sapiṇḍīkaraṇa does the departed one join the Pitṛ Devatās. They are the ancestors who receive the amāvāsyā tarpaṇa, the pitṛ-pakṣa śrāddha and all later offerings. Before that, the preta is in a middle state, neither fully living nor fully an ancestor. (Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Dharma Khaṇḍa, Chapter 5)
The Dharma Khaṇḍa also teaches (Chapter 8) that the pitṛs feel deep satisfaction (tṛpti) when their descendants keep up śrāddha and śuddha-āhāra (pure food and conduct). When a family gives up śrāddha completely, the pitṛs fall from their loka. In the end they must be born again in human form, to seek their own mokṣa (liberation) through karma. So a person’s dead ancestors may be born again in the same family as younger relatives. They seek in new lives the mokṣa that they could not gain in the pitṛ state.
The teaching ends with the three debts (ṛṇa-traya) of a human being: to the devas (paid through yajña), to the ṛṣis (paid through svādhyāya, study of the Veda) and to the pitṛs (paid through śrāddha and piṇḍa). All three must be honoured for a householder’s dharma to be fully discharged. The debt to the pitṛs is paid through faithful śrāddha over many generations. It is what makes the jīva‘s own mokṣa possible. Having met all its debts, the jīva is free to seek liberation, without the pull of ancestral duty left undone. (Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Dharma Khaṇḍa, Chapter 8)
Sources
- Varāha Purāṇa, Chapters 13, 34, 35
- Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Dharma Khaṇḍa, Chapters 5, 8