Without denying therefore that in later times the system of _S_râddhas may have degenerated, I think we can perceive that it sprang from a pure source, and, what for our present purpose is even more important, from an intelligible source.
Let us now return to the passage in the G_ri_hya-sûtras of Â_s_valâyana, where we met for the first time with the name of _S_râddha.[313] It was the _S_râddha to be given for the sake of the Departed, after his ashes had been collected in an urn and buried. This _S_râddha is called ekoddish_t_a,[314] or, as we should say, personal. It was meant for one person only, not for the three ancestors, nor for all the ancestors. Its object was in fact to raise the departed to the rank of a Pit_ri_, and this had to be achieved by _S_râddha offerings continued during a whole year. This at least is the general, and, most likely, the original rule. Âpastamba says that the _S_râddha for a deceased relative should be performed every day during the year, and that after that a monthly _S_râddha only should be performed or none at all, that is, no more personal _S_râddha,[315] because the departed shares henceforth in the regular Pârva_n_a-_s_râddhas.[316] _S_ânkhâyana says the same,[317] namely that the personal _S_râddha lasts for a year, and that then "the Fourth" is dropped, _i.e._ the great-grandfather was dropped, the grandfather became the great-grandfather, the father the grandfather, while the lately Departed occupied the father's place among the three principal Pit_ris_.[318] This was called the Sapi_nd_îkara_n_a, _i.e._ the elevating of the departed to the rank of an ancestor.
There are here, as elsewhere, many exceptions. Gobhila allows six months instead of a year, or even a Tripaksha,[319] _i.e._ three half-months; and lastly, any auspicious event (v_ri_ddhi) may become the occasion of the Sapi_nd_îkara_n_a.[320]
The full number of _S_râddhas necessary for the Sapi_nd_ana is sometimes given as sixteen, viz., the first, then one in each of the twelve months, then two semestral ones, and lastly the Sapi_nd_ana. But here too much variety is allowed, though, if the Sapi_nd_ana takes place before the end of the year, the number of sixteen _S_râddhas has still to be made up.[321]