Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.123

v1.c3.123

Burial was clearly not rare in the Rigvedic period: a whole hymn⁷ describes the ritual attending it. The dead man was buried apparently in full attire, with his bow in his hand, and probably at one time his wife was immolated to accompany him, in accordance with a practice common among savage tribes. But in the Vedic period both customs appear in a modified form: the son takes the bow from the hand of the dead man, and the widow is led away from her dead husband by his brother or other nearest kinsman. A stone is set between the dead and the living to separate them. In the Atharvaveda,⁸ but not in the Rigveda, a coffin (*vṛkṣa*) is alluded to. In both Saṃhitās⁹ occur other allusions to the ‘house of earth’ (*bhūmi-gṛha*). To remove the apparent discrepancy between burning and burial, by assuming that the references to burial are to the burial of the burned bones, as does Oldenberg,¹⁰ is unnecessary and improbable, as burning and burial subsisted side by side in Greece for many years.