Reality Take: Shraadh ceremony concocted?
A peep into reality
Having understood that the spirits of dead people (so called ancestors) cannot return as, after discarding the present body, the soul gets cut off from all previous relations and starts off new relations entering into another body, the question is ‘how and why did the ritual of ancestral oblations (Shraadh) come into vogue. Even before the various twisted versions appeared in the mythical mythologies, there must have been some raison d’âtre for the origin of the ritual.
In the above context, I was always wondering whether this change of practice temporally had something to do with the temper of Shraadh changing from the service of living to the service of the dead. I was really happy to find a supporting evidence from the response of a spiritual master, Dada Bhagwan to questions related to Shraadh. According to him, Shraadh was not concocted to serve or remember the dead. Clearly, people don’t want to spend anything on charity and so, to pressurize them to spend money and do some charity, religious people told them that whatever they do will not only benefit their dead ancestors but also benefit them because of the blessings of the pitru. This understanding led to a blind faith and observance in the hope of satisfying both.
Shraadh food
Most of the Hindu festivals involving fasting and feasting have some scientific basis. We shall touch upon those in some other blog. Suffice it for the present that milk-based food served during the Shraadh days, especially the rice porridge has something to do with the vector- borne diseases prevalent during the monsoon season. Even fasting is a norm in some communities during the Shraadh period. Mosquito- borne diseases especially malaria is quite common in India as it is not yet eradicated in India mainly due to the unhygienic conditions and the many water-logged bodies providing an ideal breeding ground for the mosquitoes and other vector flies.
Scientific ploy & killing two birds with one stone so to say
Rains are the norm in the 11th month of the Indian calendar. Is it not a coincidence of convenience that the Shraadh period is also during the 11th month? This season is generally the period of malaria with lots of mosquito menace. The fever of malaria is essentially a pitta fever. According to Ayurveda, there are three body types – ‘Vata, Pitta, and Kabha’. The malarial fever is due to pitta that causes excessive bile production. More bile production would, in turn, attract more mosquitoes. One of the reasons for suggesting fast during malaria is to reduce the bile output, which in turn would attract fewer mosquitoes.
Moreover, a milk-based diet would also reduce bile production. So, people suffering from malaria are advised to consume a diet high in milk to combat the pitta fever. Is there any surprise then, that fasting and offering of rice porridge (payasam or kheer) are part of the Shraadh ceremony that falls in this month? This dietary plan is a scientific ploy of the past wise people to link it with Shraadh observance, and in fact, this came to light only sometime later.
As already mentioned in the earlier parts of the Shraadh story, once a person dies, all the worldly ties of the soul are cut off only to make more relations and ties as per its karmic imprint in different bodies. The old connections are lost and forgotten only to establish new ties and, if karma so dictates the soul may meet others of the past ties in new bodies and in new situations and relationships.
Alas! The dead do not benefit from the rituals or receive any of the ritual food. The wise concocted the ceremony of Shraadh intending to benefit from the health point of view. In the process, it also goaded people to spend some money on charity in the name of their departed ancestors. . Performance of Shraadh rituals was not only to benefit the performers but also get blessings from the dead and gone, ancestors. Those who do not follow the tradition get nagged, goaded and pressurised to follow the ritual.
Crooked Concoctions
It is rather unfortunate that besides these well-meant intentions, quite a bit of obscure, obnoxious, illogical and irrational practices have also been introduced (see previous parts). Authors of various mythological books have introduced different such versions which defy intelligence and logic. It becomes difficult to pinpoint as to when, how and why were they introduced surreptitiously; Were they the creations of perverted minds or, to benefit a particular class of people is something that would remain enigmatic and inexplicable.
