History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c72.115.4

v5.c72.115.4

It may be stated that these rules about impurity on the ground of carrying or following the carrying of a dead body of another caste are no longer enforced and it is extremely doubtful whether they were ever strictly enforced or followed Hārīta⁵⁰³ prescribes that a dead body should not be carried through the midst of a village if while going to the cemetery a village comes in the way, but it should be carried away from it. Manu, 5 92 and Vṛddha-Hārīta IX. 100-101 prescribed that the dead body of a śūdra, vaiśya, kṣatriya and a brāhmaṇa was to be taken out respectively by the southern, western, northern and eastern gates of the town or village It was provided by Yama and the Garuḍapurāṇa II 4 56-57⁵⁰⁴ that the fuel for the funeral pyre should not be carried (for higher *varṇas*) to the cemetery by a śūdra and if a śūdra did so the deceased would always remain in the state of *preta* The Hāralatā (p 121) says that if firewood is carried by śūdras still the pyre should be made by brāhmaṇas only (for a brāhmaṇa's body).