Description of Goddess Shraddha

Shraddha is defined as 1 Cl faith, trust, confidence, trustfulness, faithfulness, belief in (loc or comp; Sraddhaya Vgam 'to believe in', with gen Divya V), loyalty, Faith or faithfulness is often personified, and in Rigveda X.151 invoked as a deity, in Taittiriya-brahmana she is the daughter of Prajapati, and in 1 Satapatha-brahmana, of the sun. It is seen sometimes that the concept of Shraddha or trust There are a few or faith or loyalty is deified as a goddess. instances in the Rgveda, Vajasaney 1 Samhita, Taittiriya Brahmana and Satapatha Brahmana where she is conceived of and worshipped as an independent divinity. She is beseeched to come to the sacrifice of her devotees. She is invoked in the forenoon, in the afternoon and in the evening by her worshippers 3 She is worshipped by her followers with oblation? She is approached to grant the desired fruit to the devotee who is a giver of a kind of pot in which a particular oblation i.e, a sacrificial cake is cooked; she is supplicated to give the same to those who are liberal, and have completed the sacrifice properly. 1 M. Monier Williams, Sanskrit-English dictionary, Oxford, 1872, p. 1095. 2 Taittiriya-brahmana III : 3:12:2. 3 Rigveda X # 151:5. 4 Taittiriya-brahmana III : 3:12:2, II # 3:12:2. ke S Taittiriya-brahmana III : 3:12:2, II: 2:88, Rigveda X : 151:2.

238 She is invoked to create the immortal world for the worshipper, and to make her devotees worthy of trust and devotion in this world or in the sacrificial ritual? She purifies the soma-juice by means of the eternal sieve. She provides nourishment, support and shelter to all living creatures. 10 11 She is the daughter of Prajapati and also of the sun. She is pleased with her followers, and she is regarded as the goddess of the whole world 12 she resides among the gods and personifies the whole world 13. deity. The goddess sraddha is generally considered as an abstract The Vedic Aryans deified the attributes of faith, trust, confidence and loyalty in the divinity sraddha. They considered her as a deity endowed with attributes as any other goddess. bestowed boons on the people, and also gave them nourishment and She refuge. She played some role in the performance of the sacrificial ritual, too. 7 Rigveda X : 151:5. 8 Vajasaney-samhita XIX: 4. 9 Taittiriya-brahmana III : 3:12:1 & 2, II : 3:12:2. 10 Taittiriya-brahmana III: 3:12:2, II : 2:8:8, II : 311011. n 11 Satapatha-brahmana XII: 7:3:11. 9727 12 13 Taittiriya-brahmana III : 3:12:1 & 2, II : 288. Taittiriya-brahmana II : 2188. :

239 A reflection of the religious ideas prevalent in society at the time of the Brahmanas is found in the personality of Shraddha. It can be understood that people during this period aspired for something more than their basic earthly and material needs. It is is seen that sraddha is being worshipped for granting them the immortal fruit, and also for creating the immortal world (for their sake). This clearly bears out that the people in general were aware of the ideas of immortality, Brahman, the Supreme creator, etc. Sraddha is looked upon as a minor deity of the Vedic Pantheon. This ascription of attributes of other goddesses to the abstract concept sraddha is clearly a mythopoeic device for rendering her acceptable as a goddess. Does this reflect a waning of faith in the sacrifice among a section of the people, to counter which a new personified faith is introduced ? That she still does not rank as a full-fledged goddess is evident from the fact that she is not offered oblation or libation as proper goddesses are. The effort of deification is, however, significant in the history of Vedic ritual.