Dashami Shraddha

About Dashami Shraddha

Significance

Dashami Shraddha is for those who died on a Dashami, the tenth tithi, in either fortnight; no particular category of the departed is assigned to this day. Dashami does, however, mark a turn in the classical texts. In Ganguli’s translation of the Mahabharata (Anushasana Parva, Section 87), Bhishma says that in the dark fortnight the days from the tenth to the new moon, leaving out the fourteenth, are the commended days for Shraddha, the dark half being preferred to the bright and the afternoon to the forenoon.

The same passage associates a Shraddha on the tenth lunar day with wealth in cattle, while the list ascribed to the Brahma Purana says it fulfils all wishes; these are statements of traditional merit, not promises.

How and where it is observed

Dharma Sindhu also names Dashami as one of the days from which a person who cannot keep the whole fortnight may begin the Mahalaya and continue daily to Amavasya, so in some households the series of daily Shraddhas begins here; others keep only the Dashami of their own departed. When illness, travel or a period of ritual impurity (ashaucha) prevents the rite, Dharma Sindhu allows it to be done on a later day of the fortnight after purification, or through a representative.

Rituals

The invited brahmanas are fed in the afternoon, after which pindas of cooked rice, sesame and honey or ghee are offered on kusha grass and tarpana is given with sesame water. A share for the crows, which many families watch for as a sign that the offering has been accepted, a share for the cow and one for the dog are set aside before the household eats.

How the date is fixed

The date is Bhadrapada Krishna Dashami (Amanta), equivalent to Ashvina Krishna Dashami (Purnimanta), on the day Dashami holds the afternoon Aparahna. The fortnight falls close to the autumn equinox, so day and night are nearly equal across India and the Aparahna lasts about two hours and twenty-four minutes. The tithi ends at the same moment everywhere, but that moment falls at a different point of the local afternoon in cities far apart in longitude, so the date can occasionally differ between them.

Sources

• 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, 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, 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.