History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c73.t1.537

v5.c73.t1.537

In the Garuḍapurāṇa it is stated that the deceased person for whom a bull is not let loose on the 11th day after death permanently remains a *preta*, even if hundreds of śrāddhas are offered for him. The same Purāṇa further provides that if a bull be not available on the 11th day, then the effigy of a bull made of darbhas and flour or clay should be symbolically let loose.¹²²¹ In the Bhaviṣyapurāṇa the 12th day after death is prescribed for the letting loose of a bull (N. S. III. p. 505). The Nirṇayasindhu says that the making of an effigy of a bull with clay, darbhas and flour is without authority. Even at present people let loose a bull but owing to the rise in the prices of bulls this is becoming less frequent. Several medieval digests such as the Pitṛdayitā (pp. 84, 94), Śrāddhaviveka of Rudradhara (pp. 69-77), Nirṇayasindhu (III. pp. 595-596), Śuddhiprakāśa pp. 225-230, Antyeṣṭipaddhati of Nārāyaṇabhaṭṭa present a far more elaborate description, but from considerations of space they are passed over here. It is provided in these and other digests that such a bull should not be seized by anyone nor made to draw a vehicle and the cow or cows let loose along with him should not be milked nor confined in a cow-pen. A bull is not let loose for a deceased woman, but a cow may be donated together with its calf without being branded and after being decked with sandal-wood paste.1221a