History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c75.333
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c75.333
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v5.c75.333.1
Funeral rites, see under 'Agnihotrin', 'cremation', 'child', 'deceased', 'mantras', 'satī', 'water', animal in, may be killed or donated or let off acc. to Āśvalāyana-gṛhya 209n, are same for all whose upanayana has been performed except that āhitāgni is cremated with the three Vedic fires, except that one who has smārta fire only is cremated with that fire and one who has neither of these with ordinary fire 210, couch on which corpse was carried was to be of *udumbara* wood 204, 206n, description of death and funeral rites of Gautama Buddha 234-235, differ in each Vedic Śākhā, though certain matters are common to all 190, earthenware vessel filled with water continuously and cooked rice at mid-day to be offered for the deceased's benefit 219, ethereal body was supposed to be built up by the piṇḍas offered to the deceased for ten days after death 221, for an āhitāgni in general 204-208;
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for one who had undergone consecration for a *soma* sacrifice or *sattra*, acc to śrauta sūtras 202-204, for ten days after death, a handful of water mixed with sesame was to be offered to deceased on the stone called *aśmā* placed on kuśas and one large piṇḍa also on kuśas every day 262, for Yati 229-231, funeral pyre is to be made of the wood of sacrificial trees 211, great importance attached to the incident of a crow seizing or eating the piṇḍa offered on the 10th day after death 264, king to arrange for funeral rites of the deceased in the absence of all relatives 256-257, lamp fed with sesame oil to be kept burning for ten days after death 219, milk and water to be placed in space for ten nights after death for reducing torments of thirst to the spirit of the deceased 340, no funeral rites for those who start in anger on the Great Journey (to the Himālayas) or who commit suicide in one of various ways 222-223, order of persons who are *adhikārin* for performing f r is generally the same as the adhikārins for śrāddha, but varies in different works 256-260, person who begins the funeral rites on the first day has to carry them on till the 10th day even if a nearer relative becomes available after the former has begun 221, piṇḍas to be offered to deceased on day of cremation and for ten days more in addition by the son or nearest sapiṇḍa 219-221, procedure of, according to Āśv gr. 208-210, procedure of, became more elaborate in medieval and later times 190;
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procedure of offering water to deceased after cremation 218-219; procedure of what to do after returning to the house on cremation 237, procedure for ten days after death 262, procedure on 10th day after death 263-264; procession of relatives returning after cremation arranged according to age, the elder coming first 199n; relatives after performing f. r. should touch dūrvā tendrils, fire and bull and should offer a piṇḍa to the departed 237, relatives should, for one day after rites on death, purchase or obtain food from another (house) of one kind only and without salt 238, rules of conduct to be observed by relatives (male and female) after they return from cremation and for three days after 238-239, slaves and attendants were buried with the corpses of the master in Babylon and Celtic Britain but no such practice mentioned even in early Vedic literature 256, some persons, such as the impotent, thieves of gold, women that kill their foetus or husbands, or drink surā were forbidden to offer water to deceased relations 222; some works allow a man to perform his own antyeṣṭi, while living 261, the mantra 'aśmāt-tvam' is not to be repeated in f. r.
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when deceased had not kept śrauta fires 210-211, toes and thumbs of the corpse were tied with a white thread or the fringe of a garment in, 204, throwing of *aśmā* into water after anointing it with oil 264, urn containing bones was supported by wooden post 201n, varied acc to the śrauta or gṛhya sūtra, or acc as the deceased was an āhitāgni or not, or acc as the deceased was a woman or child or an ascetic or died in a distant land or by accident or committed suicide 190; verses of Ṛgveda X. 14-18 were employed by most of the sūtras, are used even now in cremation rites and occur in other Vedic saṁhitās 191; views differ as to the stoppage of certain actions for ten or twelve days after death by relatives 239-240, what fire cannot be used in f. r 210, what the relatives and those who carried the corpse though no relatives were to do on day of cremation and one day thereafter 238, what is stopped for ten days after death is performance of kāmya rites, giving and accepting gifts, homa and vedic study, but nitya and naimittika acts to be performed in vedic and smārta fires are to be performed through another 239, women could, in default of son or male sapiṇḍas of the deceased, perform f. r. of their husbands or father, father-in-law, brother but without vedic mantras, acc.
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to some 256-257, 259, words of condolence and comfort were to be addressed to the relatives of the deceased according to several works, after they have offered water, expatiating on the grip of Kāla on everything, on the certainty of death for every one born, on dharma alone following the soul in its wanderings and on the futility of mere lamentations 236-37