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280
THE FUNERAL CEREMONIES
and primitive character, they may be thought to deserve publication. I have been favoured with the version by Professor M. Müller, but I have verified it by comparison with the original text: the commentary which he has used I have not had the means of consulting
“The burial ceremonies, as observed by the Brahmans during the Vaidik period, are explained in Asvalayana's Grilya-sútras, in the fourth or last chapter*. The Grihya-sútras describe what might be called the domestic or family rites of the Hindus. They lay down general rules which are to be observed at marriages, at the birth of a child, on the day of naming the child, at the tonsure and investiture of a boy, &c. In fact, they describe all those essential and purificatory ceremonies which are known under the general name of “Sanskára”l. Although in the performance of these festive rites, allowance is made for local customs, still, according to the Bralımans, these should be followed only as long as they are not opposed to the general and more sacred rules of the Grilya-sútras. These general rules of the Grihya must be obeyed first, and the omission of any one of the ceremonies prescribed by them as “nityáni karmáñi” or “obligatory rites”, is sinful. Here lies the distinction between the Grihya and Srauta -sútras.
* [Edited, with a German translation and notes, by M. Müller in the sZeitschrift der deutschen morgenl. Gesellschaft”, Vol. IX.]
i Cf. Wilson's Sanskrit Dict. s. v.
