Tarpan has multiple meanings depending on the context. Here are the different meanings of tarpan based on the search results:
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Tarpana or Tarpaṇa is a term in the Vedic practice that refers to an offering made to divine entities. It refers to the act of offering as well as the substance used in the offering. Tilatarpana is a specific form of tarpana involving libations offered to the pitri (deceased ancestors) using water and sesame seeds during Pitru Paksha or as a death rite.
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Tarpan is a prehistoric wild horse type that ranged from Southern France and Spain eastward to central Russia. Cave drawings of Tarpan horses can be found. When their natural forest and steppe habitat was destroyed to make room for more people, they came into conflict with farmers who did not want the wild Tarpans eating their crops or stealing their tame mares. The farmers in Eastern Europe treated the Tarpan in much the same manner as mustangs and wild burros are treated in the United States today.
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Tarpana means “satisfying” or “satiating”. One acknowledges the debt one has to devas (gods), rishis (sages) and pitris (ancestral manes) and tries to satisfy them using this ritual. Just as gods are invoked in fire in a homa, pitris are invoked in water in this ritual, then held in the palm and released in a specific way conducive to freeing them of some conditioning. Tarpana is a water ritual where gods, sages, and manes are invoked in water and their desires are satisfied, making their emancipation (and emancipation of ones own debts to them) easier. In the long run, a regular practice of this ritual increases the release of various kaarmik predispositions and weaknesses that are blocking one’s spiritual and material progress.
Therefore, tarpan can refer to a type of horse, a Vedic offering, or a Hindu ritual.
