প্রতিপদ শ্রাদ্ধ

About প্রতিপদ শ্রাদ্ধ

Significance

Pratipada Shraddha, on the first tithi of the dark fortnight, is the day for ancestors who died on a Pratipada in either fortnight. It is also the first day of the Mahalaya proper: Dharma Sindhu counts the Mahalaya Shraddhas from Bhadrapada Krishna Pratipada to Amavasya, and families who keep a Shraddha on every day of the fortnight begin their daily series here.

The Mahabharata (Anushasana Parva, Section 87 in Ganguli’s translation) gives Bhishma’s list of what a Shraddha on each lunar day is said to bring; for the first day it names a household blessed with spouses and many accomplished children. A parallel list ascribed to the Brahma Purana names wealth. These are traditional statements of merit, not promises.

How and where it is observed

A day often confused with this one is the Dauhitra or Matamaha Shraddha. Dharma Sindhu directs a daughter’s son to offer a Shraddha with pinda to his maternal grandfather on Ashvina Shukla Pratipada, the day after Sarva Pitru Amavasya and the first day of Sharad Navratri, and says this applies even when his own father is living. Popular almanacs sometimes link the maternal grandparents with the Pratipada of Pitru Paksha instead; where the two differ, follow your family custom or purohit.

Rituals

The Pratipada rite follows the usual pattern of brahmana-bhojana, pinda-dana and tarpana, with portions for the cow, dog and crow. One detail concerns this tithi in particular: Dharma Sindhu lists Pratipada among the days on which sesame-water offerings are normally avoided in daily worship, but it allows tila-tarpana during the Mahalaya, as at Gaya, so sesame is used on this day as on the rest of the fortnight.

How the date is fixed

The date is Bhadrapada Krishna Pratipada in the Amanta calendar, which Purnimanta calendars call Ashvina Krishna Pratipada, on the day this tithi holds the afternoon Aparahna. Pratipada begins the moment the full moon ends, so its date is tied closely to that of Purnima Shraddha: when the full moon ends during an afternoon, both tithis touch that Aparahna and each goes to the day on which it covers more of it, which can put them on consecutive dates or, occasionally, on the same date. The Dauhitra Shraddha on Ashvina Shukla Pratipada is a different day, a fortnight later.

Sources

• Dharma Sindhu, Dwitiya Pariccheda, Bhadrapada: Mahalaya Paksha, Proshthapadi, Bharani, Magha-Trayodashi, Shastrahata Chaturdashi and Kapila Shashthi (English condensation: V.D.N. Rao, Essence of Dharma Sindhu, ch. 7)
• Dharma Sindhu, Tritiya Pariccheda, Uttarardha: who performs Shraddha; the daughter’s son’s Shraddha on Ashvina Shukla Pratipada (Essence of Dharma Sindhu, ch. 25)
• Mahabharata, Anushasana Parva, Section 87 (K.M. Ganguli translation): Bhishma on Shraddha and the result of each lunar day
• Brahma Purana, Shraddha-kalpa: tithi-wise list for the fortnight when the Sun is in Kanya (as summarised in Essence of Dharma Sindhu, ch. 7)
• Dharma Sindhu, Tritiya Pariccheda, Shraddha-prakarana (English condensation: V.D.N. Rao, Essence of Dharma Sindhu, ch. 26)

Customs differ between regions, communities and families; this description is background, not a prescription. The date above is calculated by the rule shown on this page.