(“satisfying”) Tarpana is a ceremony of remembrance in which
one delivers libations of water to one's ancestors in order to satisfy their
thirst.
Tarpana fulfills one of the Five Great Sacrifices,
"sacrifice to the ancestors." These five sacrifices are obligatory
daily religious observances (nitya karma) for a "twice-born" house
holder, that is, a householder who was born into one of India's three
"twice born" groups—brahmin, kshatriya, or vaishya—and received the adolescent
religious initiation known as the second birth.
Tarpana may also be a one-time religious deed (naimittika
karma) that should be done while bathing (snana) at pilgrimage sites (tirthas).
The ritual itself is pretty straightforward.
The performer first bathes in order to become ritually pure,
then scoops water into his joined hands and tips his fingers forward to drain
the water.
According to some texts, the water should also be mixed with
sesame seeds, a component linked with funeral gifts.
Tarpana was regarded a companion ritual to the memorial
service known as shraddha, albeit tarpana was done considerably more often as a
required daily deed.
One symbolically feeds one's ancestors to satisfy their
hunger in the shraddha ceremony, while one gives them water to relieve their
thirst in the tarpana rite.