Rohita (Fish)
Rohita, “the red one, a fish”
Rohita has other meanings too: see all meanings of Rohita.
Grammar: masculine noun, from rohita (red): “the red one”, the name of a fish.
Meaning: a kind of fish, named in the rules of śrāddha, the rite for the pitṛs. This is the fish, not Rohita the son of Hariścandra.
In the scriptures: in the Brahma Purāṇa, Vyāsa teaches the munis what may and may not be offered at śrāddha. Among the substances allowed he says that Manu declared that the rohita may be offered in havya and kavya, the offerings to the devas and to the pitṛs (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 220).
He then gives the Vārāha śrāddha-kalpa, so called because it was seen by Vārāha. What it forbids must not be given to brāhmaṇas at śrāddha, nor eaten. In it the meat of the rohita, of the boar, of the tortoise and of the uḍumu (the monitor lizard) is not fit. Rather than offer and eat what this kalpa forbids, says Vyāsa, it is better to eat one’s own flesh; and if it is offered or eaten unknowingly, one must perform prāyaścitta (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 220).
Related terms: Śrāddha · Pitṛ · Havya · Kavya · Matsya
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 220