A History of Indian Literature v1.c8.s2.138

v1.c8.s2.138

The fact that verses may be composed for ritual purposes and yet be of great poetic beauty, is proved by the funeral songs of which a few are preserved in Book X of the Ṛgveda. In Ancient India corpses were usually burnt, yet in the oldest times burial was probably the custom with the Indians, as with other Indo-European peoples. The following beautiful verses (Rv. X, 18, 10-13) refer to a burial : ¹