History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c31.28.2

v2.c31.28.2

16–18) says that "(when a dead body is to be cremated ) they should place the wife to the north of the body and a bow for a kṣatriya ( if he be the dead person ) and then her brother-in-law or some one else who can be the representative of her husband or a pupil or an old servant should make her rise up with the mantra 'udīrṣva'". The Śāṅ. Śr. S. IV. 16. 16 also directs that the verse Ṛg. X. 18. 7 is repeated when the eyes of women are touched with blades of kuśa grass and XVI 13. 13 says that Ṛg. X. 18. 8 and Ṛg. X. 85. 21-22 are called 'utthāpinyaḥ' (verses addressed for making one rise). There is another mantra in the Atharvaveda (18. 3. 1 ) and Tai. Ār. VI. 1¹⁴⁵² 'Oh ( dead ) man! this woman choosing the world of the husband lies down by thee, the deceased, observing the old universal custom ; bestow on her in this world offspring and wealth '. The first verse ( i. e. Ṛg. X. 18. 7 ) contains nothing about niyoga or remarriage. It has been made use of for giving Vedic authority to the practice of *satī* ( which will be dealt with later on ). That verse refers to the practice that young women of the household of the departed used to go to the cemetery and applied clarified butter to their eyes ( by way of purification and *śānti* ); this practice continued to the days of the Āśv. gṛ , the Bṛhad-devatā ( VII. 12 ) and the Baud. pitṛmedhasūtra ( I.21.11). The two verses ' iyam nārī ' and Ṛg. X. 18.