Book Title: Essays Lectures on Religion of Hindu Vol 02
Author(s): H H Wilson
Publisher: Trubner and Company London

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Page 295
________________ OF THE HINDUS. 285 sacrifice once commenced is to be finished although the person who offers it should happen to die before. Asyaláyana says, that as soon as he dies his body should be carried to the place where the sacrificial utensils are cleaned, that there his nails, his hair, his beard, and the hairs on his body should be cut off, that the body should be anointed with spikenård, and a wreath of spikenard be placed on his head. He remarks, that in some places the crdure also is taken out of the body, and the body filled with melted butter and curds. The corpse is then covered with a new cloth, but so that the feet remain uncovered. The seam of the cloth is cut off, and must be kept by his sons. “So much is to be supplied here from the Srautasútras. After this the Gribya-sútras continue. It is enjoined that a large quantity of sacred grass and melted butter, which is to be offered to the Manes, must be of a peculiar kind, a mixture of milk and butter, called Prishadájya. It need not be mentioned that as the whole ceremony of burning and burying belongs to the "ancestral rites”, the persons engaged in it have always to look toward the south-east, and to wear their brahmanical cord passing over the right and under the left shoulder. “The relations of the deceased take his three sacred fires and his sacrificial implements and carry them to the place where the ground is prepared. Behind follow the old men, without their wives, carrying the corpse. Their number should not be even. In some

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