Kautilya's Arthashastra 14.3.49

14.3.49

caturbhaktopavāsī kṛṣṇacaturdaśyām asaṃkīrṇa ādahane baliṃ kṛtvaitena mantreṇa śavaśārikāṃ gṛhītvā pautrīpoṭṭalikaṃ badhnīyāt //

Having fasted for four nights and having on the fourteenth day of the dark half of the month performed animal sacrifice (bali) in cremation grounds, one should, repeating the above mantra, collect the pith of a corpse (savasárika) and keep it in a basket made of leaves (pattrapauttaliká). When this basket, being pierced in the centre by a dart-like hair of a porcupine, is buried, chanting the above mantra, the whole animal life therein falls into deep slumber.