History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c72.161.3

v5.c72.161.3

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.