DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9551#0198
186
ABSTRACT OF ARGUMENTS
implies women then present; fourthly, some commen-
tators consider the passage as conveying an allegorical
allusion to the constellations of the moon's path, which are
invariably spoken of in Sunskrit in the feminine gender : —
butter implying the milky path, collyrium meaning unoccu-
pied space between one star and another, husbands signify-
ing the more splendid of the heavenly bodies, and enter-
ing the fire, or, properly speaking, ascending it, indicating
the rise of the constellations through the south-east hori-
zon, considered as the abode of fire. What ever may be the
real purport of this passage, no one ever ventured to give
it an interpretation as commanding widows to burn them-
selves on the pile and with the corpse of their husbands.
We next direct attention to the Smritee, as next in
authority to the Veds. Munoo, whose authority super-
sedes that of other lawgivers, enjoins widows to live a
virtuous life, as already quoted. Yagnuvulkyu and some
others have adopted the same mode of exhortation. On
the other hand, Ungira recommends the practice of
Concremation, saying, " That a woman who, on the death
of her husband, ascends the burning pile with him, is
exalted to heaven as equal to Uroondhuti."* So Vyas
says, " A pigeon devoted to her husband, after his death,
entered the flames, and, ascending to heaven, she there
found her husband."f " She who follows her husband
to another world, shall dwell in a region of glory for so
many years as there are hairs in the human body, or
f xrfasffiT *WftFT" TTfttsi IfcTTWT I
^ f^m^x vrxTk' ^rrem ii
ABSTRACT OF ARGUMENTS
implies women then present; fourthly, some commen-
tators consider the passage as conveying an allegorical
allusion to the constellations of the moon's path, which are
invariably spoken of in Sunskrit in the feminine gender : —
butter implying the milky path, collyrium meaning unoccu-
pied space between one star and another, husbands signify-
ing the more splendid of the heavenly bodies, and enter-
ing the fire, or, properly speaking, ascending it, indicating
the rise of the constellations through the south-east hori-
zon, considered as the abode of fire. What ever may be the
real purport of this passage, no one ever ventured to give
it an interpretation as commanding widows to burn them-
selves on the pile and with the corpse of their husbands.
We next direct attention to the Smritee, as next in
authority to the Veds. Munoo, whose authority super-
sedes that of other lawgivers, enjoins widows to live a
virtuous life, as already quoted. Yagnuvulkyu and some
others have adopted the same mode of exhortation. On
the other hand, Ungira recommends the practice of
Concremation, saying, " That a woman who, on the death
of her husband, ascends the burning pile with him, is
exalted to heaven as equal to Uroondhuti."* So Vyas
says, " A pigeon devoted to her husband, after his death,
entered the flames, and, ascending to heaven, she there
found her husband."f " She who follows her husband
to another world, shall dwell in a region of glory for so
many years as there are hairs in the human body, or
f xrfasffiT *WftFT" TTfttsi IfcTTWT I
^ f^m^x vrxTk' ^rrem ii