History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c72.106.1

v5.c72.106.1

It is not possible from considerations of space to set out all that is said in the other gṛhya sūtras. A few interesting points may be noted here. The Sat. Br XIII. 8. 4. 11, Pār. gṛ. (III 10. 10 ff) expressly provide that funeral rites for any one whose upanayana has been performed are the same from the choosing of the site for the burning of the body to the descent into water on the part of the relatives (for bathing themselves) as those prescribed for a person who has set up the śrauta (Vedic) fires, the only difference being that an *āhitāgni* is cremated with the three Vedic fires kept by him, that one who has kept only the smārta⁴⁹⁴ or aupāsana fire is burnt with that and that common persons who have neither kept the śrauta fires nor smārta fire are burnt with the ordinary⁴⁹⁵ fire. Devala provides that when using ordinary fire, one should avoid taking the fire from a cāṇḍāla or any unclean fire or the fire in the room of a freshly delivered woman or the fire of a *patita* or fire from a funeral pyre.⁴⁹⁶ The Pitṛdayitā states that the mantra 'asmāt tvam &c' was not to be recited when the deceased was a person who had not kept sacred fires.⁴⁹⁷ The Pār. gṛ. further provides that all relatives residing in the same village, if they can trace the relationship, do the same, that they wear only one garment, suspend their sacred thread over the right shoulder, that with the fourth finger of the left hand they spurt away the water with Vāj. S 35.