History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c72.161
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c72.161
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A yati (sannyāsin) was and is even now buried. In a previous note (n. 528b) a verse of Kratu is quoted that a brahmacārin and yati are to be cremated with uttāpana fire. The explanation of the Śuddhiprakāśa (p. 166) is that the word yati here means an ascetic of the Kuṭīcaka kind and quotes a⁵³⁰ verse as to how the dead bodies of the yatis of four grades are to be disposed of. The⁵³¹ Baud. P. S. III. 11 gives a brief description which is adopted with some variations by the Smṛtyarthasāra (p. 98) that contains a description of the death rites of a *parivrājaka*.⁵³² One should go to the east or north of the village, he should dig a pit (lit. a sacrificial place) as deep as the staff (carried by the yati) under a palāśa tree or on a river bank or on some other pure spot to the accompaniment of the *vyāhṛtis*; then he should sprinkle water thereon thrice repeating the seven vyāhṛtis each time, should spread darbha grass on the bottom of the pit, should deck the dead body (with garlands, sandal paste), deposit the body in the pit with the *mantra* (Tai S. I. 1. 3. 1) 'O Viṣṇu! guard this offering (the dead body).' He should place in the right hand the staff of the parivrājaka (breaking it into three parts) with the mantra 'Viṣṇu took strides over this' (Rg. I. 22. 17, Vāj. S. V. 15, Tai. S. I. 2. 13. 1). He places the *śikya* (loop of strings) in the left hand with the mantra 'what is beyond this world' (Tai. S.
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IV 2.5.2), the piece of cloth used as a water-strainer on the mouth with the words 'by which strainer the gods' (Tai. Br. I 4.8.6), the pot on his belly with the Gāyatrī stanza (Ṛg. III.62.10, Vāj S III. 35, Tai S. I.5 6 4), his water pot near his private parts with the mantra 'earth went to earth'. He then invokes with the mantras beginning with 'cittiḥ sruk' (ten sentences in Tai. Ā, Maitrāyaṇī S I 9 1 which are called 'caturhotāraḥ')⁵³³ The other rites are not performed here as they were performed before No cremation should be done, no *āśauca* should be observed nor should water be offered to (an ascetic who is dead) who was free from all attachments and who had given himself up to meditation. The Smṛtyarthasāra adds that no *ekoddiṣṭa śrāddha* nor sapiṇḍīkaraṇa is performed for an ascetic, but only *pārvaṇa* on the 11th day, that a kuṭīcaka should be cremated, the bahūdaka should be buried, *haṁsa* should be thrown into water and *paramahaṁsa* should be thoroughly buried. The Nirṇayasindhu (pp 634-635) quotes the Smṛtyarthasāra and then adds a few details from Bṛhat-Śaunaka, viz that the dead body of a *yati* should be bathed with the Puruṣasūkta (Ṛg X, 90), then the pit (dug for burial) should be sprinkled eight times with the syllable 'Om' on all sides; having deposited the body in the pit with the Yajus formula 'O Viṣṇu! guard this offering' (Tai S I 1. 3.1) and with 'Om', he should place in the right hand the staff with the mantra 'Viṣṇu took strides over this' (Ṛg.
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I 22. 17), then pierce the crown of the head with a conch by repeating the mantra 'bhūr-bhuvaḥ-svaḥ', he should fill up the pit with salt to the recitation of the Puruṣasūkta (Ṛg. X. 90). He should fill up the pit thoroughly (with sand) in order to guard against jackals and dogs and the like (exhuming the body with their paws) The Dharmasindhu (p 497) adds some details particularly as to the number of hymns and mantras to be repeated It states that the crown of the head should be pierced with a conch or an axe, that one who is unable to do this should smash a ball of jaggery placed on the head. It adds that no yati except kuṭīcaka should be cremated. In modern times a sannyāsin is always buried and not cremated, since kuṭīcaka and bahūdaka kinds of yati are no longer in vogue and it is only the *paramahaṁsa* that is prevalent in the whole of India. The reason why ascetics were buried and not cremated appears to me to be as follows; part of the procedure of becoming an ascetic consisted in giving up his śrauta fires and throwing in fire his sacrificial wooden implements (vide H. of Dh. vol. II. p. 954). One of the rules for ascetics is that he should not kindle śrauta or smārta fires nor kindle ordinary fire for cooking his food but was to subsist on cooked food obtained by begging (H. of Dh. vol II pp. 933-934). The householder was cremated with his śrauta or smārta fire but the ascetic, having abjured these, was without any fire and was therefore buried.
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The Vaikhânasasmārtasûtra X. 8 (ed. by Caland) contains a brief description of the burial of an ascetic who was not an āhitāgni and the cremation of an ascetic who was āhitāgni.