Water for the Ancestors

Tarpana is the offering of water to satisfy the gods, the sages and above all the ancestors (pitrs), poured from the cupped hands, traditionally with sesame seeds added for the ancestral portion, while their names and lines are recalled. It is a daily observance for some, part of the morning rites of the devout, and takes on special importance at particular times, during the fortnight of the ancestors, at eclipses, and at sacred bathing places along rivers, where pilgrims perform tarpana for their dead.

Closely bound up with the fuller death and ancestor rites such as shraddha, it expresses the same conviction that the departed depend on the offerings of their descendants and that this care is an ongoing duty of the living. The simplicity of the act, water let fall from the hands with a few words, makes it among the most accessible of the ancestral rites, and it remains widely performed wherever Hindus gather at holy waters.