पौर्णिमा श्राद्ध

पौर्णिमा श्राद्ध विषयी

महत्त्व

Purnima Shraddha is the Shraddha for ancestors who died on a Purnima, the full-moon tithi. It falls on Bhadrapada Purnima, the day before the dark fortnight begins, and calendars therefore usually count it as the first day of Pitru Paksha, although Dharma Sindhu reckons the Mahalaya Shraddhas themselves from Krishna Pratipada.

Dharma Sindhu also describes a separate rite on this full moon, the Proshthapadi Shraddha (Proshthapada being an old name of Bhadrapada): a parvana Shraddha addressed to three generations of ancestors together with their wives. It is a seasonal Shraddha in its own right and is not limited to families who lost someone on a Purnima.

तो कसा आणि कुठे पाळला जातो

Families who lost someone on a Purnima perform that person’s annual Mahalaya offering on this day, and others begin the fortnight’s observances with it. Customs differ: some families remember Purnima deaths on Sarva Pitru Amavasya instead, and some also offer water to the sages (rishi-tarpana) on this full moon. Follow your family custom or purohit.

विधी

The rite has the same elements as the rest of the fortnight: an afternoon meal for invited brahmanas, pinda-dana with rice, sesame and honey or ghee, tarpana with sesame water, and portions for the cow, crow and dog. Where the Proshthapadi form is kept, it is a full parvana Shraddha in which the three paternal generations and their wives are named in the resolve (sankalpa), and Dharma Sindhu notes that some families also invoke the Vishvedevas.

तारीख कशी ठरते

The date is Bhadrapada Shukla Purnima, a name shared by the Amanta and Purnimanta calendars, on the day the full-moon tithi prevails in the afternoon Aparahna. A Purnima fast or Satyanarayan puja, which is reckoned by the evening or by moonrise, can therefore fall a day earlier than this Shraddha. If the full moon is short and does not reach the afternoon on either day, the Shraddha goes to the day on which Purnima lasts longest. On this site the date of Purnima Shraddha is also the first day of the Pitru Paksha span.

स्रोत

• 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)
• Nirnaya Sindhu, Shraddha-nirnaya: the Shraddha tithi decided by its presence in Aparahna
• Manusmriti, Chapter 3 (Shraddha)

प्रदेश, समुदाय आणि कुटुंबांनुसार प्रथा वेगळ्या असतात; हे वर्णन पार्श्वभूमीसाठी आहे, विधान नाही. वरील तारीख या पृष्ठावर दाखवलेल्या नियमानुसार मोजली आहे.