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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[AUGUST, 1894.
11. Ceremonies following on the Death Horoscope. When the Death Horoscope has been made out, the body is tied up in a sitting posture by the auspicious person indicated by the horoscope, and placed in a corner of the room pot occupied by the house-demon. Notice is sent to all relatives and friends within reach, who collect within two or three days and are entertained with rice, vegetables, etc., and with a copious supply of murwa beer and tea. This company of visitors remains loitering in and around the house, doing great execution with hand-prayer-wheels and muttering the sacred formula, 'Om-mani-padne-hung,' until the expulsion of the shén, or death-demon, who follows the removal of the body. In this last ceremony the whole company must join. The expense of the entertaining the visitors is considerable.
During the whole of the death-feast the deceased is always, at every meal, offered a share of what is going, including tobacco, etc. The deceased's own bowl is kept filled with beer and tea, and set down beside the corpse, and a portion of all the other eatables is always offered to the corpse at meal times. After each meal is over the deceased's portion is thrown away, as the spirit is supposed to have extracted all the essence of the food, which then no longer contains nutriment, and is fit only for destruction. Long after the corpse has been removed, the deceased's cup is regularly filled with tea or beer even up till the forty-ninth day after death, as the spirit is free to roam about for a maximum period of forty-nine days subsequent to denth.
12. The Litanies. The LÂmas chant by relays all night and day the De-wa-chan-ky-mon-lam, or service for sending the soul direct to the Western Paradise of the mythic Dhyani Buddha, Amitabha. According to the means of the deceased, two or more Lâmas are entertained to read this service in chorus, as the more frequently it is repeated the better for the deceased. A special reading also of this service by the assembled monks in the Gompa is also arranged for by those who can afford the expense.
One or more Lamas also read at the house of the deceased the Thos-grol (pronounced Thö-dol), or Guide for the spirit's passage through the valley of horrors intervening between death and a new re-birth. This passage is somewhat suggestive of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, but the demons and dangers, which beset the way, are much more numerous and awful. Fall directions are read out for the benefit of the deceased, shewing how to avoid pitfalls and ogres, and how to find the proper white path, which will lead to a fortunate rebirth. It is, however, rather incongruous that while the Lama, reading this service, is urging the spirit to bestir itself for the necessary exertions for a fortunate re-birth, another Lâma by his side is reading the De-wa-chan Service for sending the spirit direct to the Western Paradise, a non-Buddhist invention, which is outside the region of re-birth.
Though it is scarcely considered orthodox, many of the LÂmas find, by consulting their astrological books, that the spirit of the deceased has been sent to hell, and the exact compartment in hell to which it has gone. When this happens & most expensive service must be performed by a very large number of Lâmas. This commences with dge-ba, or act of virtue, on behalf of the deceased, which consists of offerings to The Three Collections, vis. :
1st. - Offerings to the Gods of sacred food, lamps, etc. 2nd. - Offerings to the Lamas of food and presente.
3rd. - Offerings to the Poor of food, clothes, beer, etc. This is a good work supposed to tell in favour of the spirit in hell. After this many more expensive services must be performed, and especially the propitiation of Thuk-je-chhen-po, or The Great Pitier, for his intercession with the king of hell (an offshoot of his own self) for the release of this particular spirit. Even the most learned and orthodox Lamas believe that by such a service may be secured the release of a few of the spirits actually in hell, and in practice
