The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c41.s6.10

v2.c41.s6.10

It is, however, extremely difficult to arrive at any theory establishing the period when or the place whence the new practice came to be disseminated. The theory of Ridgeway⁸ which makes the Celts protagonists in the matter is most implausible in the form in which he has stated it, and there is no conclusive reason to assume that the use must have been started by one only of the Indo-European peoples. Whether the motive of burning was due to a change in the aspect in which men regarded the dead, or arose from practical considerations, such as those affecting the advance of a people who could not continue to bury their dead and to cherish them in their ancestral homes, there is no special reason to suppose that only one Indo-European people invented it. The Greeks invading Hellas, and the Indians invading India, may have been moved by similar motives independently, or again in one case one, in another yet a different, motive may have been operative, and it is not necessary to seek any theory which will explain all cases. Borrowing from any non-Indo-European source is implausible, in the absence of any clear evidence of the prevalence of the rite among peoples by whom the Indo-Europeans could have been influenced.