DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5832#0249
A HINDOO FUNERAL.
217
those who were in its immediate vicinity; still
they did not seem to be inconvenienced, but calmly
proceeded with the solemn ceremonial. "Within the
square which had been formed, certain mystic rites
took place to propitiate the spirits supposed to pre-
side over sepulchres and to have an influence upon
the happiness or misery of departed souls. "When
these were completed, the body was borne towards
the pile, which had been carefully erected on a spot
previously consecrated for the occasion by the of-
ficiating Brahmin. It consisted of large branches of the
mango-tree, well besmeared with ghee, rising about two
feet and a half from the ground. It was squared with
great exactness and regularity, forming a compact
body, and the wood was so skilfully disposed that few
or no interstices were apparent.
The corpse was now laid upon the pile by four
pariahs, who alone touch dead bodies in India; for the
contact with a corpse is held by all other castes to be
a pollution from which no one can be purified but by
undergoing the severest mortifications. It is on such
occasions only that the poor pariah is tolerated, and
this because his services are indispensable; though
even then no rigid Hindoo will approach him so near
as to run the risk of coming even within the reach
of his shadow. The principal mourner, who I under-
stood was father of the deceased, as soon as the
pariahs had retired, approached with a lighted torch
in his right hand and a vessel of water on his left
shoulder. On reaching the sacred platform on which
were deposited the remains of an only son, he turned
his back towards it, applied the torch to the com-
u
217
those who were in its immediate vicinity; still
they did not seem to be inconvenienced, but calmly
proceeded with the solemn ceremonial. "Within the
square which had been formed, certain mystic rites
took place to propitiate the spirits supposed to pre-
side over sepulchres and to have an influence upon
the happiness or misery of departed souls. "When
these were completed, the body was borne towards
the pile, which had been carefully erected on a spot
previously consecrated for the occasion by the of-
ficiating Brahmin. It consisted of large branches of the
mango-tree, well besmeared with ghee, rising about two
feet and a half from the ground. It was squared with
great exactness and regularity, forming a compact
body, and the wood was so skilfully disposed that few
or no interstices were apparent.
The corpse was now laid upon the pile by four
pariahs, who alone touch dead bodies in India; for the
contact with a corpse is held by all other castes to be
a pollution from which no one can be purified but by
undergoing the severest mortifications. It is on such
occasions only that the poor pariah is tolerated, and
this because his services are indispensable; though
even then no rigid Hindoo will approach him so near
as to run the risk of coming even within the reach
of his shadow. The principal mourner, who I under-
stood was father of the deceased, as soon as the
pariahs had retired, approached with a lighted torch
in his right hand and a vessel of water on his left
shoulder. On reaching the sacred platform on which
were deposited the remains of an only son, he turned
his back towards it, applied the torch to the com-
u