Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v1.c17.s4.144

v1.c17.s4.144

Odin (Budha) introduced the latter custom, and the raising of tumuli over the ashes when the body was burned; as also the practice of the wife burning with her deceased lord. These manners were carried from Sakadwipa, or Saka Scythia, “ where the Geta,” says Herodotus [v. 5], “ was consumed on the pyre or burned alive with her lord.” With the Getae, the Siebi or Suevi of Scandinavia, if the deceased had more than one wife, the elder claimed the privilege of burning.¹ Thus, “ Nanna was consumed in the same fire with the body of her husband, Balder, one of Odin’s companions.” But the Scandinavians were anxious to forget this mark of their Asiatic origin, and were not always willing to burn, or to make “ so cruel and absurd a sacrifice to the manes of their husbands, the idea of which had been picked up by their Scythian ancestors, when they inhabited the warmer climates of Asia, where they had their first abodes.” ²