Sustaining the Dead

Shraddha is the rite by which the living sustain the dead, offered first in the days and months after a death to build for the departed a new subtle body and to settle them among the ancestors (pitrs), and then repeated at intervals, above all at the yearly anniversary and during the fortnight of the ancestors (Pitru Paksha). Its characteristic act is the offering of pinda, balls of cooked rice, together with water and the feeding of Brahmins, understood to nourish the ancestors and secure their continued welfare in the afterworld.

The rite rests on a reciprocal bond in which descendants owe the dead this sustenance and the ancestors in turn bless the family with prosperity and continuity, and the classical texts treat the duty of performing shraddha as a serious obligation, especially of a son. It remains widely observed across Hindu communities, its detailed procedure varying by region and lineage but its purpose, the ongoing care of the dead by the living, remaining constant.