Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v1.c7.73

v1.c7.73

¹ The reason would be the same as in Mārk.-Pur., cxx, 6: King Khanīnetra, who has no son, goes hunting to get flesh to offer his forefathers, and through this sacrifice a son. Cp. Caland, *Ahnenkult*, p. 172. The flesh of various kinds of game and tame beasts is used for an offering to the dead, and nourishes them for far longer than many other foods, as is carefully reckoned up for each kind of flesh in the Smṛiti and in the Purāṇas, and elsewhere, I think; and as, according to a widespread belief, children are only the dead appearing again, especially kindred and forbears, or else the shades send or bestow the children, we cannot but hold the Indian belief to be quite natural, that the Ṣrāddha give their help towards getting offspring. See, for example, Albrecht Dietrich, "Mutter Erde," *Arch. f. Religionswiss.*, vii, 19 ff., 39-43; Hartland, *Prim. Pat.*, i, 199 ff.; Crooke, *Pop. Rel.*, i, 179; Krauss, *Sitte u. Brauch d. Südslawen*, 542; *Anthropos*, vii, 99; 658; iv, 710; v, 765; *Zschr. f. Ethnol.*, Bd. 6, p. 363; Gobhila, Gṛihyas., iv, 3.27; Caland, *Ahnenkult*, 8; 10; 13; 43; 73, n. 3; 10, n. 2; *Totenverehrung*, 6, 39, etc.