My great grandfather apparently knew 15 languages and translated from English to Tamil, from Tamil to English and Sanskrit, and Sanskrit to English.

My grandfather was all about English it seems from what my grandmother used to say. I've never seen him.

She used to call him Shakespeare apparently.

My grandmother could read and speak and write Tamil and Sanskrit and with limited English, has travelled to Denmark, Holland, Australia

My father taught me the English and Tamil I know. As in, he was much much more if an expert and I think I didn't get the Tamil he was trying to teach me. Even as late as 2018 I used to ask him to clean up the typos in my Tamil and he helped translate and transcribe interviews

Interviews I did in Tamil.

I being this up because last night I had one panic moment where I kept looking at the word ADVERTISEMENT - and froze because I wasn't sure if that was the right spelling.

I used to be a copywriter you see. In big as agencies. Yes.

The other reason I bring this up is this. Outside of the really hyper and hard core great grandfather none of our family had that great a knowledge of Sanskrit. Perhaps my grandmother. And maybe my brother who took it up as a.third language for 3, 4 years

But having to do this whole pitru tarpanam thing for my father, mother, grandfather grandmother, great grandfather and great grandmother...
Half the "mantram" they ask us to do is just stating, in Sanskrit, I give my <relative> water and sesame.

So why can't I just say so in Tamil. Surely if my dead father is up there listening and waiting for me to give him Ellu and water, he'll understand and appreciate it better when it comes to him in a language he actually liked and loved, no?

The other half of the "mantram" consists of me "undertaking" (sankalpam) to do said tarpanam, and finally, announcing that I have indeed done said tarpanam. It's basically a Mgmt consultant's report of a process.

Surely all of this is better said in a language ALL of my relatives understand. Why Sanskrit?