History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c72.232.1

v5.c72.232.1

The Sat. Śr. 29. 1 3 ff. and Baud. P. S. I. 17–20 provide a lengthy procedure for erecting a mound over the bones of one who has performed the special rite of *agnicayana* which is passed over here. In building a mound the urn deposited under a tree is taken out and after the bones are purified in various ways (such as the spilling on them of curds mixed with *vājina* from a jar, the digging up of the clods by means of a plough to which a certain number of oxen are yoked). The Sat. Śr. (29. 1. 3–12) deals with one kind of procedure in which there is no *dhāvana*, while 29.1. 13–32 deal with the procedure where *dhāvana* is employed and sūtras from 33 deal with procedure common to both *pakṣas* (viz. one without *dhāvana* and the other with *dhāvana*) The building of a mound with clods (*loṣṭaciti*) in which there is *dhāvana* is rather an obscure matter in its nature and had some symbolic significance which is now lost. It may be briefly described as follows.—The members of the deceased's house build a shed or a seat for a bed. They drive in the eastern half or middle or western half of it a three-pronged palāśa peg. In front of it one born of a śūdra woman or a *brahmabandhu* (a brāhmaṇa only in name) sits down for a dialogue He asks the principal wife (of the deceased) 'will you dwell with me.' That woman replies to him 'I shall not give (what you ask).' The same dialogue takes place on the 2nd day.