History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c72.151

v5.c72.151

It is further provided in Śat Śr. 29. 4. 41, Baud P. S. (III. 7. 4) and Garuḍapurāṇa II. 4. 169-70 that, if after the effigy is cremated in the belief that a person died in a foreign land, he returns alive, then he is plunged in a pit containing clarified butter and then he comes out of it, takes a bath, then all the saṁskāras from *jātakarma* are performed on him, then he marries the same wife again or if she be dead, he may marry another girl, then consecrate again śrauta fires. Some sūtras provide that if the wife of an *āhitāgni* dies before him, he may, if he so desires, cremate her with his śrauta fires or he may cremate her with fire prepared from cowdung and some easily inflammable things (like straw) placed in three *sthālīs* (cooking pots⁵²⁶). Manu (V. 167-168) provides that if the *savarṇa* and virtuous wife of a twice-born person who had consecrated sacred śrauta fires died before him she was to be cremated with his fires (śrauta and smārta) and with the sacrificial implements. Then he may marry again and consecrate śrauta or smārta fires again. To the same effect are Yāj. I. 89, Baud. P S. II. 4, 6, Gobhila-smṛti III. 5, Vaikhānasa-smārtasūtra VII 2, Vṛddha-Hārīta XI. 213, Laghu-Āśv. 20 59.⁵²⁷ Viśvarūpa on Yāj. 1.87 quotes a Kāṭhaka-śruti to the effect that if a person keeps the same śrauta fires after the death of his wife they are (impure like) the fires used for burning a corpse and adds that even if a brāhmaṇa āhitāgni had a wife of the kṣatriya class and she died before him, she was to be cremated with his śrauta fires This view is opposed to that of many other commentators and he explains Manu V 167 (where 'savarṇām' occurs) as merely illustrative and that if it were interpreted as restricted to a savarṇa wife alone, there would be the fault of *vākyabheda*. Some of the smṛtis provide that he may remain a widower and perform his Agnihotra by having a golden effigy of the wife or one made of kuśa grass, as Rāma did Vide Gobhilasmṛti III.⁵²⁸ 9-10, Vṛddha-Hārīta XI 214 If the householder did not marry again (when his wife died before him and was cremated with his śrauta fires) and did not consecrate fresh vedic fires he was to be cremated with ordinary fire If the householder was unable to marry again, he may cremate his wife with fire kindled by means of the kindling sticks (*araṇis*) and keep his śrauta fires and carry on agnihotra with the image or effigy of the wife. If the āhitāgni died first and his wife then died as a widow she was to be cremated with fire (*nir manthya*) kindled by attrition of the *araṇis* Vide Baud P. S II. 4 6-8, Kāt Śr. 29 4 34-35, and Trikāṇḍa-maṇḍana II. 121.528a When the wife was cremated the mantra 'Asmāttvam-abhijāto'si' quoted above was not to be recited (vide Gobhilasmṛti III. 52) It was only a virtuous wife and not an unchaste one that was cremated with śrauta or smārta fire (Gobhilasmṛti III. 53) Kratu (*q.* by Śuddhiprakāśa p. 166)528b and Baud P. S. III. 1. 9-13 state that a widower and a widow were to be cremated with fire generated on a *kapāla* (made red hot and then cow-dung thrown thereon), a brahmacārin and yatı were to be cremated with uttapana (or kapālaja) fire, an unmarried girl and a boy whose Upanayana is not performed aıe to be cremated with fire produced from chaff If an āhitāgni became *patita* or guilty of suicide in various ways or met death by challenging animals or snakes, hıs śrauta fires were to be cast ınto water and smāıta fire was to be cast on the place where four roads meet (or in water), his sacrificial implements were to be burnt (a smṛti q by Par. M. I. 2. p. 226, Parāśara V. 10-11, Vaik Smārta V. 11) and he was to be cremated with ordinary fire