Pitris

Pitris (devanāgarī: पितृ pitṛ, plural: pitara) is a Sanskrit term that means "forefathers". There are two classes of Pitris in Hinduism: the human and the divine. The human pitris (manuṣyāḥ pitaraḥ) are the spirits of the departed ancestors. They are often remembered annually. The divine Pitris (devāḥ pitaraḥ) are gods of different origins, forms, grades, and abodes, regarded to be the progenitors of mankind. In Theosophy, the term "Pitri" is used for the divine classes, and it is interpreted in an esoteric way to denote certain classes of celestial beings who participated in the "creation" or development of humanity.

Divine Pitris in Hinduism

There are seven classes of the devāḥ pitaraḥ (divine Pitris). Three of them are amurtayah (incorporeal; composed of intellectual, not elementary substance) while the other four are samurtayah (corporeal). The names and function of the different classes of Pitris vary considerably in different texts. The commonest classification is given below:

• Incorporeal

1. Agnishvātta are the pitṛs of the gods.

2. Barhishad are the pitṛs of the demons.

3. Vairāja are the pitṛs of the great ascetics.

• Corporeal

4. Somapa are the pitṛs of the brāhmins.

5. Havishmat are the pitṛs of the kshattriyas.
6. Ājyapa are the pitṛs of the vaiśyas.

7. Sukālin are the pitṛs of the of the śudras.

There is an eight category sometimes listed:

8. Vyāma, "fumes", the pitṛs of the barbarians.

As can be seen, the corporeal pitris are connected to the four traditional casts in Hinduism and the non-Hindus (barbarian).

The Rig Veda and Manu make two independent classes: those who kept up the household flame (Agni-dagdhas) and those who did not keep it up (Anagni-dagdhas). The Vishnu Purana identifies the Barishads with the fromer and the Agnishwāttas with the latter.

Blavatsky recounts these teachings as follows:

There are seven classes of Pitris, as shown below, three incorporeal and four corporeal; and two kinds, the Agnishwatta and the Barhishad. And we may add that, as there are two kinds of Pitris, so there is a double and a triple set of Barhishad and Agnishwatta. The former, having given birth to their astral doubles, are reborn as Sons of Atri, and are the "Pitris of the Demons," or corporeal beings, on the authority of Manu (III., 196); while the Agnishwatta are reborn as Sons of Marichi (a son of Brahmâ), and are the Pitris of the Gods (Manu again, Matsya and Padma Purânas and Kulluka in the Laws of the Manavas, III., 195). Moreover, the Vâyu Purâna declares all the seven orders to have originally been the first gods, the Vairâjas, whom Brahmâ "with the eye of Yoga, beheld in the eternal spheres, and who are the gods of gods"; and the Matsya adds that the Gods worshipped them; while the Harivansa (S. I, 935) distinguishes the Virâjas as one class of the Pitris only—a statement corroborated in the Secret Teachings, which, however, identify the Virâjas with the elder Agnishwattas and the Rajasas, or Abhutarajasas, who are incorporeal without even an astral phantom.

Pitris in Theosophy

When referring to the divine fashioners of humanity, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky borrowed the word "Pitri" from Hinduism. However, she claimed that this term is not the one used in the Esoteric Philosophy:

The term Pitris is used by us in these Slokas to facilitate their comprehension, but it is not so used in the original Stanzas, where they have distinct appellations of their own, besides being called "Fathers" and "Progenitors."

The use of this term is not arbitrary. According to Blavatsky, the Hindu mythologies connected to the Pitris are in fact an exoteric allegory of esoteric truths:

Pitris (Sk.). The ancestors, or creators of mankind. They are of seven classes, three of which are incorporeal, arupa, and four corporeal. In popular theology they are said to be created from Brahmâ's side. They are variously genealogized, but in esoteric philosophy they are as given in the Secret Doctrine.

Occultism defines and limits the number of primordial races to seven, because of the "seven progenitors," or prajâpatis, the evolvers of beings. These are neither gods, nor supernatural Beings, but advanced Spirits from another and lower planet, reborn on this one, and giving birth in their turn in the present Round to present Humanity.

Of the two classes of Pitris, the Barhishads or Lunar Pitris have to do with the evolution of the lower principles of human beings, while the Agnishvattas or Solar Pitris are those who endowed humanity with intellect:

The Progenitors of Man, called in India "Fathers," Pitara or Pitris, are the creators of our bodies and lower principles. They are ourselves, as the first personalities, and we are they. Primeval man would be "the bone of their bone and the flesh of their flesh," if they had body and flesh. As stated, they were "lunar Beings."

The Endowers of man with his conscious, immortal EGO, are the "Solar Angels"—whether so regarded metaphorically or literally. The mysteries of the Conscious EGO or human Soul are great. The esoteric name of these "Solar Angels" is, literally, the "Lords" (Nath) of "persevering ceaseless devotion" (pranidhâna). Therefore they of the fifth principle (Manas) seem to be connected with, or to have originated the system of the Yogis who make of pranidhâna their fifth observance (see Yoga Shastra, II., 32.)

It has already been explained why the trans-Himalayan Occultists regard them as evidently identical with those who in India are termed Kumâras, Agnishwattas, and the Barhishads.

Barhishads

Barhishad (devanāgarī: बर्हिषद् barhiṣad) is a Sanskrit word used to denominate a kind of Pitṛs (fathers) or ancestors who, when alive, kept up the household flame, and presented offerings with fire. In Theosophical literature, this myth and the question of the "sacred fire" are interpreted as an allegory:

Exoteric Hindu books mention seven classes of Pitris, and among them two distinct kinds of Progenitors or Ancestors: the Barhishad and the Agnishwatta; or those possessed of the "sacred fire" and those devoid of it. Hindu ritualism seems to connect them with sacrificial fires, and with Grihasta Brahmins in earlier incarnations: those who have, and those who have not attended as they should to their household sacred fires in their previous births. The distinction, as said, is derived from the Vedas. The first and highest class (esoterically) the Agnishwatta, are represented in the exoteric allegory as Grihasta (Brahman-householders) who, in their past births in other Manvantaras having failed to maintain their domestic fires and to offer burnt sacrifices, have lost every right to have oblations with fire presented to them. Whereas the Barhishad, being Brahmins who have kept up their household sacred fires, are thus honoured to this day. Thence the Agnishwatta are represented as devoid of, and the Barhishad as possessed of, fires.
But esoteric philosophy explains the original qualifications as being due to the difference between the natures of the two classes: the Agnishwatta Pitris are devoid of fire (i.e., of creative passion), because too divine and pure (vide supra, Sloka 11th); whereas the Barhishad, being the lunar spirits more closely connected with Earth, became the creative Elohim of form, or the Adam of dust.

These Pitris are in charge of guiding the physical evolution of humanity by providing an astral model upon which the early human body could be formed:

[The Barhishads are] a class of the "lunar" Pitris or "Ancestors", Fathers, who are believed in popular superstition to have kept up, in their past incarnations the household sacred flame and made fire-offerings. Esoterically the Pitris who evolved their shadows or chhayas to make therewith the first man.

Having given birth to their [humans] astral doubles, are reborn as Sons of Atri, and are the "Pitris of the Demons," or corporeal beings, on the authority of Manu (III., 196).

The "Lunar Monads" or Pitris, the ancestors of man, become in reality man himself. They are the "Monads" who enter on the cycle of evolution on Globe A, and who, passing round the chain of planets, evolve the human form as has just been shown. At the beginning of the human stage of the Fourth Round on this Globe, they “ooze out” their astral doubles from the “ape-like” forms which they had evolved in Round III. And it is this subtle, finer form, which serves as the model round which Nature builds physical man.

Although these Pitris were able to endow humanity with the lower principles, they were unable to stimulate the intellectual evolution:

The Dhyanis (Pitris) are those who have evolved their BHUTA (doubles) from themselves, which RUPA (form) has become the vehicle of monads (seventh and sixth principles) that had completed their cycle of transmigration in the three preceding Kalpas (Rounds). Then, they (the astral doubles) became the men of the first Human Race of the Round. But they were not complete, and were senseless.

The Barhishad, though possessed of creative fire, were devoid of the higher MAHAT-mic element. Being on a level with the lower principles—those which precede gross objective matter—they could only give birth to the outer man, or rather to the model of the physical, the astral man.

The evolutionary activity on the intellectual plane fell upon the Agnishvattas or Solar Pitris.

Agnishvattas

In Hindu mythology, Agnishvattas (devanāgarī: अग्निष्वात्त Agniṣvātta) are Pitris who, when living on Earth, did not maintain their domestic fires or offered burnt-sacrifices. As explained in the previous section, Blavatsky offered a more esoteric interpretation:

The Agnishwatta, devoid of the grosser creative fire, hence unable to create physical man, having no double, or astral body, to project, since they were without any form, are shown in exoteric allegories as Yogis, Kumaras (chaste youths), who became "rebels," Asuras, fighting and opposing gods, etc., etc. Yet, it is they alone who could complete man, i.e., make of him a self-conscious, almost a divine being—a god on Earth.

Mânasa Dhyânis (Sk.). The highest Pitris in the Purânas; the Agnishwatthas, or Solar Ancestors of Man, those who made of Man a rational being, by incarnating in the senseless forms of semi-ethereal flesh of the men of the third race.

See also

• Mānasaputra
• Kumāras
• Prajāpati

Additional resources

Articles

• Pitris at Theosophy World
• Agnishvatta at Theosophy World.
• Lords of The Flame in Theosophy World.
• Barhishad in Theosophy World
• Lunar Pitris in Theosophy World

Books

• Barborka, Geoffrey A. The Peopling of the Earth. Wheaton, Illinois: Theosophical Publishing House, 1975. See the chapters on "The Lunar Pitris" and "The Lords of the Flame."