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BUDDHIST INDIA
public teachers, were cremated; and the ashes were buried under a so-called tope (in Pāli thupa, in Buddhist Sanskrit strīpa). But the dead bodies of ordinary people were disposed of in a unique way. Thiey were put away in a public place (sīt'athikā or ámka-susana, both of whichi, for want of a better word, are usually translated cemetery). There, as a rule, the bodies, or the remains of the pyre, were not buried, but left to be destroyed by birds or beasts, or dissipated by the process of natural decay.' This spot was also used as the public place of execution especially by impalement. It was quite open to the public. But as we can readily understand, it was believed to be haunted; and was only frequented by the more austere sort of ascetics.
Sometimes Dāgabas or topes were erected in these cemeteries. But more usually they were put up in the suburbs, either in private grounds,' or, in cases of special lionour, at some place where four cross-roads met. We are accustomed to think of them as especially Buddhist monuments. They were, in fact, pre-Buddhistic; and indeed only a slight modification of a world-wide custom. The use of barrows or cairns to mark a place of interment was not universal; but it was certainly very frequent in ancient times. And marked differences in their shape or size is rightly held to be evidence of race. The Aryans in India still used the round forin. And the only curious point is that, in India, at the period under discussion, certain sections of the
D. 2. 295–297: Jāt. 1. 264 : 3. 330 : 5.455. ? Jāt. t. 29: 6.10. 3 Vin. . 303.
Jāt. 3. 155.
Budithist Suttas, 93.
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
