Sapiṇḍīkaraṇa

Sapiṇḍīkaraṇa · sa-piṇḍī-karaṇa, “making one of the same piṇḍa”

Sapiṇḍīkaraṇa is the śrāddha by which one who has died leaves the state of a preta, the newly departed, and attains the state of a pitṛ-devatā. In the Brahma Purāṇa, Vyāsa teaches the munis that it is performed at the end of the first year after a death, by the pārvaṇa procedure, after the monthly śrāddhas.

When it is done

After a death the family is impure for a fixed time: brāhmaṇas until the eleventh day, kshatriyas until the thirteenth, vaiśyas until the sixteenth and the śūdra until the thirty-first. For one who has become a preta, the piṇḍa and water are offered on the ground, with sesame and kuśa, near water. At the end of the impurity the ekoddishṭa śrāddha, offered to the one person, is performed at home on the twelfth day, at the month and at three fortnights, and the māsika, the monthly śrāddha, is offered each month until the year is complete. After that the sapiṇḍīkaraṇa is performed by the pārvaṇa procedure, and from then on the one who has died leaves the state of preta and becomes a pitṛ-devatā.

The rite

When the munis ask Vyāsa for the procedure of the sapiṇḍīkaraṇa, he gives it:

  • The Viśvedevas are not invited.
  • Only one arghya is given.
  • There is no offering into the fire (agnaukaraṇa) and no invocation (āvāhana).
  • Brāhmaṇas are honoured in an odd number.
  • Four vessels are set out with sesame, scent and water: three for the pitṛs and one for the preta.
  • With the arghya in the preta’s vessel, water is sprinkled into the other three vessels while reciting the mantra that begins yenamānāḥ.

Who receives it

For women too it is done by this ekoddishṭa procedure. For women without children the sapiṇḍīkaraṇa is not needed; for them, and for those without progeny, the annual ekoddishṭa is prescribed. After the sapiṇḍīkaraṇa the nitya-śrāddha is performed, in which the father, grandfather and great-grandfather share the piṇḍa.

When the father has died and the grandfather is living, the son offers the piṇḍa to the father, feeds the grandfather, and offers a piṇḍa meant for the great-grandfather; to those who have died the piṇḍa is offered, to the living food is served, and in these cases there is no sapiṇḍīkaraṇa and no pārvaṇa-śrāddha.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 220

Sources

  • Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 220