Pitrupaksh Shraadh and its significance
‘Pitrupaksh’ literally mean the fortnight of the ancestors. It is a 16 day period when the Hindus pay homage to their dead elders or ancestors in order to seek their blessings specially by offering food to them and later feeding the needy. It is said that those who offer food to the needy is blessed and gets food post his mortal death. It is also called ‘Solah Shraadh’. These days are considered highly inauspicious to do anything new like buying anything, investing in property, celebrating anything etc. The ceremony of performing death rites is called ‘Tarpan’ or ‘Shraadh’. It is observed every year in the second fortnight of the Hindu Lunar month of ‘Bhadrapada’, falling immediately after the Ganesha Festival. The sun moves from the northern t the southern hemisphere during this phase.
The legend has it that the souls of three previous generations of a human being reside in the ‘Pitru-Lok’ the place between heaven and earth. When a person from the fourth generation dies, that is when the first generation reaches heaven and are not offered the shraadh rituals as it is considered that the soul of the dead person of the first generation has united with God. The three generations are only qualified to receive shraadh rituals.
What is the story behind ‘Pitrupaksh Shradh’?
According to the folklore, when the great warrior and the son of God Surya ‘Karna’ died during the epic ‘Mahabharata’ war in the ‘Treta Yug’. Lord ‘Yama’ took his soul to heaven as he was popularly known as ‘Daani Karna’ or the helpful one. He used to do a lot of charity work during his time on earth. He could never say ‘no’ to anyone who came seeking his help. But, when he was served food made up of gold and gems, instead of the real food, he came confused and went to seek Lord Indradev’s (Head of the Gods) help. That is when the Lord told him that undoubtedly he was a selfless human being, a good son, a great friend and a true warrior but since he committed two sins he was being punished. The first sin being that he never offered food to his ancestors and failed to acknowledge them and secondly, he never offered food to any needy instead only gave them gold coins and gems. The great ‘Karna’ realized his mistakes and thus asked Lord Indradeva’s permission to go back to the earth in order to rectify his mistakes. Lord sent him back for 16 days, which are called the inauspicious 16 days of ‘Pitrupaksh Shradh’. People till date, consider these 16 days as inauspicious and no new work is started in these days. People donate food and other items to the needy in the name of their ancestor, thereby giving them importance in their present lives and seeking the blessings from the dead ones.
Importance of Pitrupaksh Shraadh
People have become self oriented these days and have forgotten that charity is necessary. These sixteen days of Shraadh can be taken as those days when one can not only get connected to one’s past and pay respect to his/her roots from the past but also feed the needy. People should do it with not only the religious purpose, but also from philanthropy point of view.