Feeding the Dead

Ancestor Worship in Ancient India

Bibliographic Data

ID24156924
AuthorsMatthew R Sayers (corresponding author)
Year2013
Publication date2013-08-05
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueFeeding the Dead (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199917471.001.0001
ISBN9780199917471
LanguageEN
Citations received14

Despite strong associations with the concept of reincarnation, Hinduism, and its Vedic antecedents, exhibit a strong tradition of ancestor worship. This book describes the development of the classic form of ancestral rite, the śrāddha, which is still practiced in its contemporary form in India today. The author outlines the process whereby the domestic concern about sustaining one's Ancestors in heaven is incorporated into the Vedic ritual cycle and the codification of the domestic rituals of ancestor worship in the G?hyasātras, the domestic ritual manuals. Central to the process of synthesis he describes is the recreation of the role of ritual expert, a pivotal change in the religious practice in ancient India, which is most well-developed in the Brahmanical treatment of ancestral rites. Additionally, the standardization of the śrāddha that begins in the G?hyasātras and continues in the early dharma literature is central to the competitive religious marketplace of India in the last few centuries before the Common Era. The competition was between ritualist and renouncer traditions within the Brahmanical tradition and between the Brahmanical traditions and, among others, the Buddhist tradition. Theologians in each of these traditions sought to establish their soteriology and their religious expert as crucial to success in one's religious practice and these efforts are most animated in the textual discussions of ancestor worship.

Environmental Science · Indian and Buddhist Studies · Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices