PINDA. SANSK. A ball of food offered at the Srad'has of Hindus to the pitri or manes. They are made of boiled rice, scsaznum seeds, honey, butter ; also, at times, various pulses, cereal grains, water, frankincense, sugar, and milk. Also said to mean food prepared the day after a death, of which, as a rule, only members of the family partake.
It is laid down in the Hindu scriptures that, on the occurrence of a death, the son or other heir of the deceased must offer lump-offerings (pinda), and that if he neglect to do so, the spirit passes into the state of goblin. If, after the fourth lump has been offered, the obsequies proceed no further,—for example, if any cause occur to prevent cremation,—the spirit, it is believed, remains a blunt or goblin. Similarly, if six lumps only be offered, the spirit remains a pret. I or twelve days the soul, it is supposed, is seated on the eaves of the house in which it had parted from the human body. At sunset, therefore, the compassionate relatives place upon the roof for its subsistence a vessel of water and another of milk. Other accounts fix the resid ence of the soul during this melancholy period at the place of the funeral pile, or at cross roads; and some admit that it dwells alternately in the elements of fire, air, and water, and in the house which was its home. One lump-offering should be made daily, until the fourth day from the day of decease, for the construction of a new body for the pret. The body at the end of that time attains to the size of the upper joint of a man's thumb. On the tenth day, a lump should be offered for the purpose of satisfying the hunger and thirst which the pret now begins to feel.
The common practice in Gujerat at the present time is to make the lump-offering ten times on the tenth day. Srad'ha must be performed on the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, or thirteenth day succeeding the decease, and afterwards monthly on the day of the month on which the death occurred, and yearly on its anniversary. Srad'ha must be performed beside a reservoir or his the banks of a river. The sacrificer shaves hts face, and, holding in his hand a copper cup containing water, with sesainum and sacrificial grass, ho repeats the name of his progenitors, both latened and maternal, sprinkling water as ho repeats each name. The heir now forms an image of the deceased with tiacrificial grass, washes it, and strews it with flowers. A similar representation of a Viswa Deo is also made to witness per formance of the rite. The sacrificer spriniles these, muttering a charm which has been taught him by his family priest, and which is supposed to call the Deo and the soul of the deceased into the figures. A saligratni stone is placed beside them to represent Vishnu, and the three are worshipped with the usual ceremonies. Food is then set before the grass figures and the saligrarui, and the heir, sprinkling them once more, repeats the charm which is supposed to dismiss their inhabit ants. The grass is thrown before a cow to be eaten. The rites performed, the relations and neighbours of the deceased are entertained, and Brahmans feasted according to the means of the sacrificer.—Kennedy on the Origin of Languages, p. 210 ; Rasa=la, Hindoo Annals, ii. p. 374.