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MANNERS AND CUSTOMS
241
Then we come across various people who earned then brcad by exhibiting various performances There were aciobats, dancers, ropewalkers, etc. already mentioned above We hear of polc-dancer's tricks. At the top of the pole there was a horizontal wooden attachment on which were nails which attached themselves to the shoes When the acıobat holding the sword and shield started walking, the nails attached themselves to the already prepared sockets in thc shoes. Very carefully at cvery
came step he engaged and disengaged the nails, because a slight carelessness
parcu
s
ul acercy meant death. Even the kings in the company of their qucens attended such performanccs. 189
FUNER IL OBSCQUIFS Dead bodies were cremated and shrines and stūpas (thibha lena) were built over the ground in the Jain and the Buddhist agc The body was cremated with sandal wood, aguru, luukka, ghet, and honey and after the flesh and the blood was consumed by fuc, the boncs were taken and the stūpas (ceiyathubha) 188 were erected Paying homage to the dead 'madagapūyana) and mourning (runnasadda) are mentioned 184
Jain texts refer to another custom when the dead bodies were not duly disposed of, but were left uncared for at the mercy of wild beasts and birds.185 Besides, sometimes according to the instructions of the king, the ascetics had to leave a dead body in a hollow (agada), lake or a flowing river or by the side of these places. 188 Mention has been made of gıddhapitthaka, a kind of death in which a person thiew himself among the corpses of human beings, elephants, camels, donkeys, etc, and allowed his body to be devoured by vulturcs. The bodies of criminals and the indigent were also thrown away to rot when vultures and jackals fed on them.187 There are also references to the burial of corpses. This custom was in vogue among the mlechas, who did not cicmate the dead bodies but burried them at the burial ground (madagagiha ; mudagalena). Such burial houses existed in the country of Diva and Jona 138
The Chedasūtras have laid down elaborate rules for disposing of the dead body of the sain sädhus. 189 It is stated that after the death of a monk, one monk should go in search of a bier to carry the corpse and should inspect the cremation ground (thandıla) where the proper direction should be chosen for the disposal of the dead. The corpse should be covered with a clean white cloth, and as far as possible be taken out during day or night as the case may be after the monk dies. The corpse should 18. Ava. cü p 484 f, cf Dhammapada dithalatha Vol IV. pp 60ff
The Titlira jätala (No 438), III, p. 537 mentions topes of sand (lälukathiiba), also Paramatthadipani, the com on the Udana, p. 97, cf. the funeral ceremonies in the Rāmā.
yana (IV, 25, 16 fl) 184
Ava. Bha. 26, 27, Hari. Ti p 133, Ava, ců 167, 222 f. 186
Mahd. Ni. p. 25; cf. Lalitauistara, p. 265. 188
Bh Bha. 3. 4824. See Supra, p. 174 Nisi, cū. 3, p. 330, Aca cu 370 See Vięyagbhayagaprakrtani Brh u. 4, 29 and its Bhasya 5497-5563.
187
181
