ਏਕਾਦਸ਼ੀ ਸ਼ਰਾਧ

ਏਕਾਦਸ਼ੀ ਸ਼ਰਾਧ ਬਾਰੇ

ਮਹੱਤਵ

Ekadashi Shraddha, often called Gyaras Shraddha in Hindi-speaking regions, is for ancestors who died on an Ekadashi in either fortnight. The Ekadashi of this fortnight is Indira Ekadashi. Its story in the Ekadashi-mahatmya, told by Krishna to Yudhishthira, is of King Indrasena, who learned from Narada that his father was suffering in Yama’s realm and released him by keeping this Ekadashi with a Shraddha; the day is therefore closely tied to the welfare of ancestors.

The Mahabharata’s tithi list (Anushasana Parva, Section 87) links the eleventh day with wealth in clothes and vessels and with sons of spiritual radiance, and the Brahma Purana’s list with Vedic learning.

ਇਹ ਕਿਵੇਂ ਅਤੇ ਕਿੱਥੇ ਮਨਾਇਆ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਹੈ

A Shraddha on the day of the Ekadashi fast raises a practical question that the digests discuss and that families answer differently. A commonly cited resolution is that the Shraddha is still performed on its proper tithi and the brahmanas are fed, while the performer who keeps the fast does not eat the cooked offering but only smells it; other families prepare the Shraddha with foods permitted on a fast, and some Vaishnava families move the meal to Dwadashi. Dharma Sindhu also lists Ekadashi as a day from which a shortened Mahalaya may begin. Follow your family custom or purohit.

ਰਸਮਾਂ

The order is the familiar one: invitation of brahmanas, the afternoon meal in their honour, pinda-dana, tarpana with sesame water, and shares for the cow, dog and crow. Although Dharma Sindhu names Ekadashi among the days on which sesame-water offerings are normally avoided in daily worship, it allows them in the Mahalaya and at Gaya, so tila-tarpana is offered on this day as on the others.

ਤਾਰੀਖ਼ ਕਿਵੇਂ ਤੈਅ ਹੁੰਦੀ ਹੈ

The Shraddha date is Bhadrapada Krishna Ekadashi (Amanta), the same as Ashvina Krishna Ekadashi (Purnimanta), chosen by the tithi in the afternoon Aparahna. The Indira Ekadashi fast is fixed differently: by the tithi at sunrise in Smarta practice, or already at Arunodaya, 96 minutes before sunrise, in Vaishnava practice. The fast and the Shraddha can therefore fall on different dates; the fast dates are given on the Ekadashi pages.

ਸਰੋਤ

• 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)
• 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)
• Indira Ekadashi vrata-katha, Ekadashi-mahatmya (Krishna’s narration to Yudhishthira)

ਰੀਤਾਂ ਖੇਤਰਾਂ, ਭਾਈਚਾਰਿਆਂ ਅਤੇ ਪਰਿਵਾਰਾਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਵੱਖ-ਵੱਖ ਹੁੰਦੀਆਂ ਹਨ; ਇਹ ਵਰਣਨ ਪਿਛੋਕੜ ਹੈ, ਕੋਈ ਹਦਾਇਤ ਨਹੀਂ। ਉੱਪਰ ਦਿੱਤੀ ਤਾਰੀਖ਼ ਇਸ ਪੰਨੇ ’ਤੇ ਦਿਖਾਏ ਨਿਯਮ ਨਾਲ ਗਿਣੀ ਗਈ ਹੈ।