________________
OF THE HINDUS.
291
some, food may be bought. Again, for those nights, they have to abstain from salt and spices.
After the death of a parent or spiritual father (Guru), reading of the Veda and alms-giving must be omitted for twelve days.
After the death of a near relative, the same abstinence must be observed for ten days. If they are females, the morning lasts for ten days, if they had not been given away in marriage. The same number of days must be observed, if a spiritual teacher (Guru) die, though he was not a near relative. For other teachers (Acharyas), the mourning lasts three nights. The same for more distant relations; but if females, only if they had not been given away in marriage. Children also wlio die before breathing, or those stillborn, are mourned for three nights only. If a schoolfellow dies, and if a Srotriya-brahman dies who lived in the same village, mourning is to be observed for one day.
It is to be remembered, however, that the corpse is still left smothering on the pile. Therefore Aśvalayana, in the fifth Section, proceeds to direct that after the tenth of the dark half (i. e., of the waning moon) on odd days (i. e., on the 11th, 13th, or 15th), under any Nakshatra except Asládhá, Phalguni and Proshthapadá, the bones must be collected. The general rules as to how people are to walk, &c., are the same as before. Milk and water are sprinkled on the spot with a sami-branch, and he who is doing this, walks thrice round the pile, always towards the left, saying: “Pale
19*
