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290
THE FUNERAL CEREMONIES
As the fires are burning round him, and consuming him, twenty-four verses of the Rig-veda, the same as specified in the Srauta-sútras, are to be recited.
Then the dead body is left burning; all turn to the left and go away without looking back. A verse is recited from the Rv. X, 31, 3:
“These men are still alive and separated from the dead. There was to-day amongst is a holy invocation of the gods. Let us go forward now to dance and mirth; for we are leading a longer life!”
When they arrive at a place where there is flowing water', they stop, immerse themselves, and on rising throw a handful of water into the air, while they pronounce the name of the deceased and that of his family. They then get out of the water, put on dry clothes, and after once wringing those they had on before, they spread them out toward the north and sit down there themselves till the stars are seen. According to others, they do not go home before sunrise. Then the young ones walk first, the old ones last. And when they arrive at their home, they touch (by way of purifying themselves) the stone, the fire, cow-dung, grain, oil, and water, before they step in. They must not cook food that night, but according to
1 This portion of the ceremonial is called the udakakarma, and described in other Grihya-sútras also [e. g. in that of Páraskara, III, 10. See Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländ. Ges., VII, 540 f.). Yajnavalkya explains it in the beginning of the third book of his Dharma-sástra; Mamu in the fifth book, verse 68 seq.
