DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0310
298 Death, Funeral Rites, and Ancestor-worship.
removing the hair from under the arms and without clipping
the nails. Next he bathes it with water from a sacred
stream and decorates it with sandal-wood and garlands; or
in place of decoration he may plaster it with mud from the
Ganges. Then it is covered with new vestments and placed
on the litter; an oblation (Pinda) being offered to the guardian
deities of the soil, who protect the road to the burning-
ground from the attacks of evil spirits. At the same time
the name and family of the deceased man are pronounced
by his son, while his son's wife and the other women of the
household reverently circumambulate the corpse and utter
lamentations. The body is now ready to be borne to the
place of cremation, which ought, if possible, to be near a
river1. And here a great difficulty has sometimes to be
overcome in finding proper persons to carry the dead body.
If the deceased happens to be a Brahman, four men of his
own caste—and, if possible, chosen from his own relations—
ought to perform this office, walking behind the son, who
leads the funeral procession, holding in his hand an earthen
vessel containing fire. Or, according to the Garuda-purana
(X. 12), the son himself should help to carry the corpse on
his shoulder, the other relatives with bare heads following
in the rear.
It may be noted here that the rule which prevents Brah-
mans from touching the bodies of persons of inferior caste is
often a cause of great trouble and difficulty.
Not long ago a very respectable man of the Kayastha caste
died in Khandesh at a place where no male members of his
own caste lived. The body had to be burnt immediately,
but no one of superior caste could be induced to touch it, and
had any one of a lower caste done so, the family would have
suffered irretrievable degradation. The difficulty was only
1 If a place near a river is to be found anywhere within ten or fifteen
miles of the dead man's residence the corpse is generally carried there,
unless, as we have seen, this is done before the breath leaves the body.
removing the hair from under the arms and without clipping
the nails. Next he bathes it with water from a sacred
stream and decorates it with sandal-wood and garlands; or
in place of decoration he may plaster it with mud from the
Ganges. Then it is covered with new vestments and placed
on the litter; an oblation (Pinda) being offered to the guardian
deities of the soil, who protect the road to the burning-
ground from the attacks of evil spirits. At the same time
the name and family of the deceased man are pronounced
by his son, while his son's wife and the other women of the
household reverently circumambulate the corpse and utter
lamentations. The body is now ready to be borne to the
place of cremation, which ought, if possible, to be near a
river1. And here a great difficulty has sometimes to be
overcome in finding proper persons to carry the dead body.
If the deceased happens to be a Brahman, four men of his
own caste—and, if possible, chosen from his own relations—
ought to perform this office, walking behind the son, who
leads the funeral procession, holding in his hand an earthen
vessel containing fire. Or, according to the Garuda-purana
(X. 12), the son himself should help to carry the corpse on
his shoulder, the other relatives with bare heads following
in the rear.
It may be noted here that the rule which prevents Brah-
mans from touching the bodies of persons of inferior caste is
often a cause of great trouble and difficulty.
Not long ago a very respectable man of the Kayastha caste
died in Khandesh at a place where no male members of his
own caste lived. The body had to be burnt immediately,
but no one of superior caste could be induced to touch it, and
had any one of a lower caste done so, the family would have
suffered irretrievable degradation. The difficulty was only
1 If a place near a river is to be found anywhere within ten or fifteen
miles of the dead man's residence the corpse is generally carried there,
unless, as we have seen, this is done before the breath leaves the body.