Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c7.s1.96

c7.s1.96

(b) *Death and after.*—A person's death was the turning point of this life, when, although he did not cease to exist, he passed from one life into another. Picturesque rites attended his death, to be followed by posthumous ceremonies. When a Hindu was about to die, people hastened to lay his body on the floor, the priests began chanting *mantras* and the near relations distributing gifts to the poor and the needy, to ease the passage of his soul into the next world. The floor had been plastered with cowdung and covered with *kusa* grass, over which the corpse was laid, with the head resting in a northerly and the feet in a southerly direction, the face downwards. If sacred Ganges-water was available, some drops were poured over the corpse; a cow was offered as a gift to a Brahman; some leaves of Tulsi were put over the dead man's chest and the caste-mark on his forehead. After these preparations, the body was put on a bier and was ready for disposal. The orthodox theory recommended the throwing of the body of a Brahman into water, the cremation of a Kshatriya and the burial of a Sudra.¹ But during our period, the burning of Hindu dead bodies appears to be universally popular. In fact, if a person had expired at a distance from his home and relations, a commemoration cremation was held, in which a deer hide, a bamboo, some flour, a few leaves and a cocoanut were consigned to the flames symbolizing probably the remains of the deceased.² The sons, brothers, friends, and pupils of the deceased shaved their heads and beards and conveyed the corpse, which was sometimes dressed in the usual costume the deceased had been fond of wearing, to the crematorium where it was burned with appropriate ceremonies. After the cremation, the bones were collected in a ewer or a deer-skin and sent to be thrown if possible into the Ganges.