Pind Daan Rituals

Piṇḍas are balls of cooked rice and/or barley flour mixed with ghee and black sesame seeds offered to ancestors during Hindu funeral rites (Antyesti) and ancestor worship (Śrāddha). According to Hindu traditions, offering a pinda to a recently departed soul helps to unite the soul with its ancestors. Pindas can be placed on a recently deceased person’s hands and feet on their way to a funeral pyre. Pindas are offered to both maternal and paternal lineages.