This word _S_râddha, which meets us here for the first time, is full of interesting lessons, if only properly understood. First of all it should be noted that it is absent, not only from the hymns, but, so far as we know at present, even from the ancient Brâhma_n_as. It seems therefore a word of a more modern origin. There is a passage in Âpastamba's Dharma-sûtras which betrays, on the part of the author, a consciousness of the more modern origin of the _S_râddhas:[306] "Formerly men and gods lived together in this world. Then the gods in reward of their sacrifices went to heaven, but men were left behind. Those men who perform sacrifices in the same manner as the gods did, dwelt (after death) with the gods and Brahman in heaven. Now (seeing men left behind) Manu revealed this ceremony which is designated by the word _S_râddha." _S_râddha has assumed many[307] meanings, and Manu,[308] for instance, uses it almost synonymously with pit_ri_ya_gñ_a. But its original meaning seems to have been "that which is given with _s_raddhâ or faith," _i.e._ charity bestowed on deserving persons, and, more particularly, on Brâhma_n_as. The gift was called _s_râddha, but the act itself also was called by the same name. The word is best explained by Nârâya_n_a in his commentary on the G_ri_hya-sûtras of Â_s_valâyana (IV. 7), "_S_râddha is that which is given in faith to Brâhmans for the sake of the Fathers."[309] Such charitable gifts flowed most naturally and abundantly at the time of a man's death, or whenever his memory was revived by happy or unhappy events in a family, and hence _S_râddha has become the general name for ever so many sacred acts commemorative of the departed. We hear of _S_râddhas not only at funerals, but at joyous events also, when presents were bestowed in the name of the family, and therefore in the name of the ancestors also, on all who had a right to that distinction. It is a mistake therefore to look upon _S_râddhas simply as offerings of water or cakes to the Fathers. An offering to the Fathers was, no doubt, a symbolic part of each _S_râddha, but its more important character was charity bestowed in memory of the Fathers.