On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c5.74

v1.c5.74

As to the slaughter of domestic animals, this was practised at funerals by the T'ufan people but not by all the other tribes. The Turks, who also gashed their faces in mourning, slew sheep and horses in front of the tent in which the body of a deceased parent was placed pending the completion of arrangements for burial. It is to be noted, however, that the T'ufan people and the Turks are not said to have slain their domestic animals in sacrifice to the manes of their deceased parents.³ These animals were killed, we are expressly told in the case of the T'ufan people, that they might be at the service of the departed one, as the human beings who were slain, or killed themselves, on the death of a relative or chief went to serve the deceased in the other world. Julien makes our pilgrim here state that the tribes slew their domestic animals to make offerings to their dead. This is perhaps more than is in the text which is simply that they "slaughter their domestic animals, and offer sacrifice to the *manes*".