When can females perform shrāddha?

1. Importance of performing Shrāddha by oneself

‘Ideally, the host should perform the ritual of Shrāddha by himself. However, since we do not know how to perform it, we get it done through the priest (Brahmin). Nowadays, it has become difficult to get priests for performing Shrāddha. As a solution to this, one can procure the holy texts that describe the ritual and learn it by heart. This text is in Sanskrit. Akin to learning other languages, one should also try and learn Sanskrit, which is considered to be God’s language. Also, it is easy to learn Sanskrit.

(Although the point mentioned above is correct, considering the complexity in pronouncing certain Sanskrit words and limitation to understand the rites mentioned in the science, it may not be possible for everyone to perform the ritual as prescribed, by themselves. In such cases one can get the ritual performed through priests and if they are not available, then the ritual can be performed with the help of knowledgeable people in society. One should remember that making the ritual of shrāddha is more important - Compiler).

2. Hindu Dharma that does not give any cause for excuse for not performing shrāddha due to the absence of a particular person!

Son (including the one whose threading ceremony has not been done), daughter, grandson, great grandson, wife, daughter’s son (if he is one of the heirs), real brother, nephew, cousin’s son, father, mother, daughter-in-law, son of elderly and younger sisters, maternal uncle, anyone in the seven generations and from the same lineage (sapinda), anyone after the seven generations and belonging to the same family domain (samanodak), disciple, priests (upadhyay), friend, son-in-law of the deceased person can perform Shrāddha in that order.

In case of a joint family, the eldest and earning male person should perform Shrāddha. In case of the unit family, everyone should perform shrāddha independently. (9)

Hindu Dharma has made arrangement so that for each and every dead person the shrāddha can be performed so as to give momentum to that person to progress to a higher sub-plane. Holy text Dharma Sindhu mentions that, ‘If a particular dead person does not have any relative or a close person, then it is the duty of the king to perform Shrāddha for that person’.

(In spite of numerous avenues being available, Hindus do not perform shrāddha. Then, who will help such Hindus? - Compiler)

3. Performance of Shrāddha by females

1. In point 2 it is mentioned that the daughter, wife, mother and daughter-in-law of the deceased person have the authority to perform Shrāddha. In spite of this, in the current era, the priests who conduct Shrāddha deny their consent for females to perform Shrāddha. This could be because in the earlier days the thread ceremony was  performed for females, and in current era, this practice has been discontinued in all classes. Therefore, in accordance to that, even performing of Shrāddha has been disallowed for females. In emergency conditions, however, if no one is available for performing Shrāddha, then it is better for it to be performed by females instead of not performing it at all.

2. The female performing shrāddha should place a clean cotton cloth on her shoulder while performing ‘Savya-Apasavya’