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THE FUNERAL CEREMONIES
places the corpse is carried on a wheel-cart drawn by an ox; an animal, either a cow, or a kid of one colour, or a black kid, is led behind by a rope tied to its left leg. This is called the Anustarańí, because it is afterwards to be strewed over the corpse and to be burnt with it. This, however, is optional; nay, some authors, for instance Kátyáyana, rather discountenance the custom, because after burning, it might become difficult to distinguish which were the bones of the man or the animal. Then follow his friends, the old ones first, the young ones last, their brahmanical cord hanging down, and their hair untied.
“After the procession has reached the ground, he who has to perform the sacrifice steps forth, walks three times round the place towards the left, sprinkles it with water with a branch of the Samítree, and repeats this verse of a hymn of the Rig-veda (X, 14, 9, or VII, 6, 13): “Depart, disperse, fly away [ye evil spirits]! The fathers (our ancestors) made this place for him (the dead). Yama grants him this restingplace, which is day and night sprinkled with waters.”
Thereupon the fires are placed on the borders of the pit, so that the Ahavaniya fire stands south-east, the Gárhapatya north - west, and the Dakshina fire south-west, and a person skilled in these matters piles the wooden pile in the midst of these fires. All is ready now for the corpse to be burnt. But before this is done, fresh water, as the commentary says, is to be brought in a chamasa or ladle, and a piece of gold is to be placed in the pit: oily seeds also are to
