In the sacred tradition, it is taught that when performing the rites for departed ancestors, three rice-balls are to be offered for six persons, ensuring that the giver remains clear and unconfused in the ritual. The paternal grandmother and the paternal great-grandmother receive offerings from their own descendants, honoring the lineage. For certain occasions, a śrāddha is to be performed without invoking deities, with only a single rice-ball placed as an offering. Among the rites, the śrāddha known as pārvaṇa is recognized, and wise ones speak of five distinct kinds of śrāddha. On the day of death, a man should offer just one rice-ball, though three are customary at other times. When a woman is married, the marriage mantras and the act of taking her hand mark her separation from her original lineage. She shares in the same impurity as her husband, and this unity extends to the offering of rice-balls and water; in these rites, in lineage, and in impurity, she becomes one with her husband. The gathering of bones after death is a solemn task, best performed by relatives who possess good judgment. This gathering follows the prescribed order of castes, ensuring proper observance. Through these rites, the departed soul is released from the world of the ancestors and honored in the realm of the gods. With reverence, the performer of the rites calls upon the ancestors: “May my ancestors come; may they accept these handfuls of offerings.” Taking water equal in measure to a cow’s horn, he casts it into the midst of other water, symbolizing the offering. The abode of the ancestors is said to be in the sky and in the southern direction, so one who desires their welfare should always offer them water. Water, between both realms, is always pure for purification, whether kept in a vessel or placed upon the earth. A wise person should offer water on the ground for those who died without proper rites, and for both—the properly and improperly honored—offerings must be given during the ritual, as established by sacred law. Now, listen with courage to the descriptions of the fierce hells from which beings arise. There are realms where souls are cooked, bestowing terrifying consequences. These hells bear names such as Kumbhīpāka, Nirucchvāsa, Kālasūtra, and Pramardana. Others are called Mūṣāvasthā, Vasākūpa, and there flows the dreadful river Vaitaraṇī. There is Paśūla, Paśilā, and the tormenting Śālmalī tree. In these hells, some are forced to eat their own flesh and dwell amidst blazing flames. They endure briny water, scalding water, burning milk, and are compelled to consume balls of food. There is the stone-colored hell, where worms are eaten, and torments where one is smeared with excrement and forced to eat it. Some drink smoke, are bound with ropes, and pierced with spikes of every kind. Many are tortured by wooden devices, ground, and cut. Striking with elephant tusks and bites from serpents are common torments. Some must drink dreadful alkaline water and consume salt, enter holes filled with alkaline water, and eat flesh. Others are thrown from treetops or submerged in water, bitten by ants, and tormented by scorpions. Lying in mud, they are overwhelmed by foul odors, forced to drink excessively hot oil and consume pungent substances. They bathe in water that is either scalding or freezing, and their teeth are shattered. O illustrious one, these torments exist by the tens of millions. Among them, each sinner receives suffering appropriate to his deeds, O protector of the earth. Thus is the fate of those who stray from righteous conduct, and thus are the rituals and offerings prescribed for the welfare of ancestors and the release of souls.