DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.638#0096
YAMA, THE KING OF THE DEAD 39
of Agni burned their dead for the same reason as did the
ancient Greeks. " When the remains of the deceased
have been placed on the funeral pile, and the process of
cremation has commenced, Agni, the god of fire, is prayed
not to scorch or consume the departed, not to tear asunder
his skin or his limbs, but, after the flames have done their
work, to convey to the fathers the mortal who has been
presented to him as an offering. Leaving behind on
earth all that is evil and imperfect, and proceeding by the
paths which the fathers trod, invested with a lustre like
that of the gods, it soars to the realms of eternal light in
a car, or on wings, and recovers there its ancient body in
a complete and glorified form; meets with the forefathers
who are living in festivity with Yama; obtains from him,
when recognized by him as one of his own, a delectable
abode, and enters upon more perfect life, which is crowned
with the fulfilment of all desires, is passed in the presence
of the gods, _and employed in the fulfilment of their
pleasure."'
Agni is the god who is invoked by the other deities,
" Make straight the pathways that lead to the gods; be
kind to us, and carry the sacrifice for us ".2
In this connection, however, Professor Macdonell
says, " Some passages of the Rigveda distinguish the path
of the fathers or dead ancestors from the path of the gods,
doubtless because cremation appeared as a different pro-
cess from sacrifice ".3
It would appear that prior to the practice of cremation
a belief in Paradise ultimately obtained: the dead walked
on foot towards it. Yama, King of the Dead, was the
first man.4 Like the Aryan pioneers who discovered the
'Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, v. 302.
s Rigveda, n. 51 (Arnold's translation).
* A History of Sanskrit Literature, p. 117.
* As was also Manu of a different or later cult.
of Agni burned their dead for the same reason as did the
ancient Greeks. " When the remains of the deceased
have been placed on the funeral pile, and the process of
cremation has commenced, Agni, the god of fire, is prayed
not to scorch or consume the departed, not to tear asunder
his skin or his limbs, but, after the flames have done their
work, to convey to the fathers the mortal who has been
presented to him as an offering. Leaving behind on
earth all that is evil and imperfect, and proceeding by the
paths which the fathers trod, invested with a lustre like
that of the gods, it soars to the realms of eternal light in
a car, or on wings, and recovers there its ancient body in
a complete and glorified form; meets with the forefathers
who are living in festivity with Yama; obtains from him,
when recognized by him as one of his own, a delectable
abode, and enters upon more perfect life, which is crowned
with the fulfilment of all desires, is passed in the presence
of the gods, _and employed in the fulfilment of their
pleasure."'
Agni is the god who is invoked by the other deities,
" Make straight the pathways that lead to the gods; be
kind to us, and carry the sacrifice for us ".2
In this connection, however, Professor Macdonell
says, " Some passages of the Rigveda distinguish the path
of the fathers or dead ancestors from the path of the gods,
doubtless because cremation appeared as a different pro-
cess from sacrifice ".3
It would appear that prior to the practice of cremation
a belief in Paradise ultimately obtained: the dead walked
on foot towards it. Yama, King of the Dead, was the
first man.4 Like the Aryan pioneers who discovered the
'Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, v. 302.
s Rigveda, n. 51 (Arnold's translation).
* A History of Sanskrit Literature, p. 117.
* As was also Manu of a different or later cult.