Saptami Shraddha

About Saptami Shraddha

Significance

Saptami Shraddha is for those who died on a Saptami, the seventh tithi, in either fortnight; the digests give no special category of the departed for it. In the Mahabharata’s tithi list (Anushasana Parva, Section 87) the seventh lunar day is associated with fame, and in the Brahma Purana’s list with leadership of a community.

Saptami does appear in Dharma Sindhu’s count of the ninety-six Shraddha occasions of the year. Besides the fifteen days of this fortnight, that list separately names the Krishna Saptami, Ashtami and Navami of Bhadrapada and of the four months from Margashirsha to Phalguna, called Purvedyuh, Ashtaka and Anvashtaka. In this fortnight the Saptami is thus the eve of the Ashtaka day.

How and where it is observed

Families with a Saptami death keep their annual Mahalaya Shraddha on this day, and those who perform a Shraddha on every day of the fortnight continue their daily series. Dharma Sindhu also records an opinion that a single-day Mahalaya should avoid Saptami; that caution does not apply when Saptami is the ancestor’s own death tithi.

Rituals

Shraddha is an afternoon rite, and the calendar shows three windows for the day. Kutup is the eighth of the fifteen muhurtas of daytime, around midday, and is traditionally regarded as the best time to begin; Rohina is the ninth muhurta that follows; and Aparahna is the fourth fifth of the day, within which the rite should be completed. Within these windows the brahmanas are fed, pindas offered and tarpana given, and food is set out for the crows, cow and dog.

How the date is fixed

The date is Bhadrapada Krishna Saptami (Amanta), named Ashvina Krishna Saptami in Purnimanta calendars, on the day Saptami holds the afternoon Aparahna. The date is chosen by the Aparahna, while the Kutup and Rohina windows shown for it fall a little earlier, around midday. If Saptami begins during that afternoon, the Kutup of the chosen date may still fall in Shashthi; how to handle this is a matter for your purohit.

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)
• 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)
• Nirnaya Sindhu, Shraddha-nirnaya: the Shraddha tithi decided by its presence in Aparahna

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.