DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0286
CHAPTER XI.
Death, Funeral Rites, and Ancestor-worship.
In the two preceding chapters we have had occasion to
state incidentally the Hindu doctrine in regard to the spirits
of the dead. We have seen that they are supposed to pass
into one or other of two very different conditions. They may
be degraded to the state of evil demons or elevated to the
position of divinities1. In the former case they are rather
feared and propitiated than worshipped; in the latter they
are rather reverenced and worshipped than propitiated. In
the present chapter I have to point out how far this varying
condition of deceased persons depends on the performance of
funeral and ancestral rites by living relatives and descendants.
Of all forms of religious devotion homage to dead relations
is the most widely extended2. It forms a part of nearly all
religions, and is an element in the creed of nearly every race 3.
Perhaps the one exception is Protestant Christianity. The
Roman Catholic Church, as is well known, teaches that suppli-
cations and prayers may avail to improve the condition of
departed spirits in purgatory. Not only therefore does it
1 In the same way among the Romans some souls of the dead were
good, pure, and bright, and therefore called Manes ; while others, called
Larvse and Lemures, wandered about as unquiet ghosts, and were often
regarded as evil spirits. Compare also the Roman ideas respecting the
Penates. With regard to the ideas prevalent among the Greeks, the
following passages bear on the existence of the tyvxk after death as an
eidwXov in Hades : II. xxiii. 72, 104 ; Od. xi. 213, 476 ; xx. 355 ; xxiv. 14.
2 I refer any one who doubts this fact to Mr. E. B. Tylor's ' Primitive
Culture,' vol. ii. chap, xviii.
3 The Bishop of Madagascar stated not long ago, that when he had to
descend a dangerous stream in that island, the boatmen made offerings
to the spirits of their ancestors before attempting to shoot the rapids.
Death, Funeral Rites, and Ancestor-worship.
In the two preceding chapters we have had occasion to
state incidentally the Hindu doctrine in regard to the spirits
of the dead. We have seen that they are supposed to pass
into one or other of two very different conditions. They may
be degraded to the state of evil demons or elevated to the
position of divinities1. In the former case they are rather
feared and propitiated than worshipped; in the latter they
are rather reverenced and worshipped than propitiated. In
the present chapter I have to point out how far this varying
condition of deceased persons depends on the performance of
funeral and ancestral rites by living relatives and descendants.
Of all forms of religious devotion homage to dead relations
is the most widely extended2. It forms a part of nearly all
religions, and is an element in the creed of nearly every race 3.
Perhaps the one exception is Protestant Christianity. The
Roman Catholic Church, as is well known, teaches that suppli-
cations and prayers may avail to improve the condition of
departed spirits in purgatory. Not only therefore does it
1 In the same way among the Romans some souls of the dead were
good, pure, and bright, and therefore called Manes ; while others, called
Larvse and Lemures, wandered about as unquiet ghosts, and were often
regarded as evil spirits. Compare also the Roman ideas respecting the
Penates. With regard to the ideas prevalent among the Greeks, the
following passages bear on the existence of the tyvxk after death as an
eidwXov in Hades : II. xxiii. 72, 104 ; Od. xi. 213, 476 ; xx. 355 ; xxiv. 14.
2 I refer any one who doubts this fact to Mr. E. B. Tylor's ' Primitive
Culture,' vol. ii. chap, xviii.
3 The Bishop of Madagascar stated not long ago, that when he had to
descend a dangerous stream in that island, the boatmen made offerings
to the spirits of their ancestors before attempting to shoot the rapids.