SRADDHA, shriid'hA (Skt. griiddlifi, faith, connected with Lat. credcrc, to believe). The funeral ceremony of the Hindus, in which balls of rice arc offered to the deceased ancestors of the sacrificer, or to the pitris (q.v.) collectively. It is especially performed for a parent recently deceased, or for three paternal ancestors, repre sented by three Brahmans, and secures the resi dence of the souls of the dead in the heaven of the pitris at the end of a year. The term sraddha is also applied to the daily offer ings to the manes in general, and to offerings performed on various domestic occurrences, as on the birth of a son. There are likewise voluntary performed for a special object, such as the hope of religions merit. The presentation of the ball of food to the deceased, and to his progenitors in both lines, is the office of the nearest male relative. lf, however, sons have divided their patrimony contrary to their father's wishes, they may be excluded from the Araddlia. The widow can inherit only on condition that she has the ceremony duly per formed. The'craddha is still offered in certain parts of India, as at Gaya in Behar. The entire
ceremony is based on the fear of malignant ghosts, since if the 4raddha is not performed, the dead man will return to seek revenge for the neg lect shown him. See GHOSTS. Consult: Caland, Todtenrcrehrung bci cinigcn don indoger manischen Viilker (Amsterdam, 1888) ; id., A It indischcr Ahncnkult (Leyden, 1893) ; Jolly, Becht and Sitte (Strassburg, 1896) ; Hillebrandt, kitita/-Litteratur (ib., 1897).
gRAVAKA, (Slot. artlraka, Pali sa rake, disciple, from §rn, to hear). Originally any true disciple of Buddha. The term was later applied to those who were on the four-fold road to Nirvana (q.v.). The four classes of ravakas are the (Pali sotapanna), neophytes Or converts; the sakaragrimiinas (Pali sake dugumin), who are so far purified that they need he reborn on earth only once; the anagamnnri (Pali also anagamin), who will be reborn in a Brahmaloka, not in an inferior heaven or on earth; and the arhats (Pali urn/ia), who have attained such sanctity that they are freed from reincarnation. The general name among the Northern Buddhists for the Southern sect is sravokas.