Pitṛs

From that [realm] where the living do not draw near to the pitṛs — [that realm] which the evil deed of the daidhiṣavya has overtaken him — the first who entered, unfit for sacrifice:

Offered upon the tongue of Agni, desired, approved by the Maruts — I partake of this with the Fathers.

may the Fathers protect us at the invocations of the gods.

Those who first of all served the cosmic order, the guardians of ṛta, the promoters of ṛta — O Yama, send this one to those ascetic Fathers;

Those seers of a thousand paths who guard the sun — O Yama, may this one go to those ascetic ṛṣis, to those born of tapas.

Crying again and again in the direction of the ancestors, speak here as an auspicious, good-word-speaking one.

One should honor the sages with the study of the Veda, the gods with fire-oblations according to the rule, the ancestors with *śrāddhas* (sacred rites for the ancestors), men with food, and the spirits with the *bali*-offering.

For him whose rites to the gods, ancestors, and guests are chiefly performed by her, the ancestors and gods do not eat his offerings, and he does not go to heaven.

The sons of Viraj, the Somasads, are remembered as the ancestors of the Sādhyas;

> Even when the fortnight of the ancestors has passed, as long as the sun is in Virgo, / > the ancestors desire the *śrāddha* given by their sons.

> For the Nāndīmukha ancestors, every year, when the sun is in the sign of Virgo, / > one should perform it on the full moon day, as is the word of Varāha.

> This fifteenth *tithi* which is famous on earth as Dīpānvitā, O king, / > on it one should give, if it has not been given to the ancestors in Mahālaya.

and all the ancestors (*Pitṛs*), grandfathers, and all the great-grandfathers in those forms, // Ang_1.

For him who has become one with Brahman, who has the form of all the gods, the state of being a *Pitṛ* (ancestor) is attained.

will become eternally satisfied.

Polygamy the fathers passed over in silence, as a brutish thing and altogether foreign to the race of men.

And since many in the incursion of the barbarians transgressed their faith in God, performing pagan oaths, and tasting certain unlawful things offered to them among the magical idols, let these be ordered according to the canons already set forth by our fathers.

And it has been ordained by our fathers that such persons weep for one year, hear for two years, prostrate for three years, and in the seventh stand with the faithful;

"Therefore," said Scipio, "when that senate of Romulus, which was composed of the best men, to whom the king himself had granted so much that he wished them to be named fathers and their children patricians, attempted, after the death of Romulus, to rule the commonwealth itself without a king, the people did not endure it, and through longing for Romulus did not cease afterward to clamour for a king;

And after the death of Tatius, when all dominion had fallen back to him—although together with Tatius he had chosen into the royal council leading men (who were called, for the affection borne them, the fathers), and had divided the people, in his own name and in Tatius's and in that of Lucumo, who as Romulus's ally had fallen in the Sabine battle, into three tribes and thirty curias (which curias …

And when Romulus had reigned thirty-seven years, and had brought forth these two excellent bulwarks of the commonwealth, the auspices and the senate, he attained so much that, when the sun was suddenly darkened and he did not appear, he was thought to have been placed in the number of the gods—an opinion which no mortal could ever attain without the extraordinary glory of virtue.

We must, beyond doubt, believe the ancient and primeval men, as they say, who declared themselves to be the offspring of the gods, and who therefore handed down to us the names of those gods.

In the worship of the gods, follow the example of your ancestors, but believe that the noblest sacrifice and the greatest devotion is to show yourself in the highest degree a good and just man;

" Yet I would have you set this aside in such a way as to remember that our ancestors, who believed it, were Stoics;

From that time onward, O descendant of Kākutstha, the ancestors when assembled partake of rams without their testicles — and they ordained that those animals' testicles be the fruit offered to them.

Hearing the words of Agni, the ancestors assembled, and having extracted the ram's testicles, presented them to the thousand-eyed Indra.

Hearing the words of Śatakratu, the gods led by Agni, together with all the hosts of Maruts, approached the deity of the ancestors and said: