சதுர்த்தசி (காத சதுர்த்தசி) சிராத்தம்

About சதுர்த்தசி (காத சதுர்த்தசி) சிராத்தம்

Significance

The Chaturdashi of Pitru Paksha, called Ghata Chaturdashi or Shastrahata Chaturdashi, is set apart for those who died an untimely or violent death: by weapons, accident, poison, fire, drowning, snakebite, attack by animals and the like. Dharma Sindhu describes this Shastrahata Mahalaya Shraddha on Bhadrapada Krishna Chaturdashi, says it is offered as an ekoddishta rite with a single pinda for the person who died in that way, and adds that it does not replace that person’s regular annual Shraddha on the death tithi.

The restriction has an old basis. In the Mahabharata (Anushasana Parva, Section 87 in Ganguli’s translation) the fourteenth is the one lunar day left out of the commended days for Shraddha, with the warning that the performer’s family may lose its young men in war; the list ascribed to the Brahma Purana instead presents the Chaturdashi Shraddha as the one for those who died in battle.

How and where it is observed

Ancestors who died a natural death on a Chaturdashi are not given their Mahalaya Shraddha on this day; families perform it on another day, usually Sarva Pitru Amavasya. Those who died violently on any tithi may be remembered here, while their regular annual Shraddha stays on the tithi of death. Customs vary; follow your family tradition or purohit.

Rituals

The rite is offered with the same care as on the other days, with afternoon brahmana-bhojana, tarpana with sesame water and shares for the cow, dog and crow, but in the ekoddishta form: addressed to one person with a single pinda rather than to three generations. Some families also light lamps or offer prayers for the peace of those who died suddenly.

How the date is fixed

The date is Bhadrapada Krishna Chaturdashi (Amanta), the same as Ashvina Krishna Chaturdashi (Purnimanta), on the day Chaturdashi holds the afternoon Aparahna. Masik Shivaratri, which falls on this lunar date every month, is reckoned by midnight (Nishita) and can be a different date. Because Amavasya follows directly, a short Chaturdashi can occasionally share its date with Sarva Pitru Amavasya.

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)
• 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.