Pitri
Following an individual's death, the performance of the antyesti (funeral rites) is regarded to allow the deceased to enter Pitrloka, the abode of one's ancestors.
The custom of a death anniversary is still practised in India, where the deathday of one's parents involves a number of rituals and offerings, that are elaborated in the Puranas.
[5] Balls of rice (Piṇḍa) are traditionally offered on certain occasions, due to the belief that one's ancestors still need to be fed by their descendants.
While the Vedic religion held that one's forefathers attain Svarga, the heavenly realm, most Hindus today believe in samsara, the cycle of rebirth, where all departed souls reincarnate on earth until they achieve spiritual liberation, called moksha.
[6] According to popular belief, the fire deity, Agni, is believed to carry the deceased to Pitrloka with the smoke that emerges during cremation.
After the performance of a penance, Brahma is described to have ordered the devas, who had ceased to worship him, to acquire instruction from their sons regarding the manner of devotion and veneration.
[18] In the Mahabharata, while Yudhishthira talks to Bhishma upon his bed of arrows, the latter states that whether one is a deva or asura, a human being, gandharva or uraga or rakshasa, pisaca or kinnara, one must always venerate one's pitrs.
[21] A legend from the Devi Bhagavata Purana narrates that the sage Jaratkaru was once travelling through the forest, when he came across his pitrs, hanging over a precipice at the end of a blade of grass.
When enquiring regarding their state, the pitrs told Jaratkaru that they experienced this condition due to the latter's childlessness, which resulted in them not being to enter Svarga.
[23] A legend from the Skanda Purana explains the origin of the Shraddha ritual, stating that not offering these rites to one's ancestors during the amavasya (new moon day) will lead to one's pitrs suffering from hunger and thirst.
[24] The legend of Bhagiratha features the king performing arduous penances to Ganga and Shiva, to free his ancestors from Patala, where they had been destroyed by Kapila.
