Studies in the Origins of Buddhism c8.110

c8.110

As to the funerary rites,³⁸ “Le cérémonial traditionnel indien a fourni la trame des rècits bouddhiques.” This is true of the older records, the newer ones having effaced some of the earlier features “C’est ainsi que des traditions relatives aux lamentations des pleureuses, aux lavage du corpse, au cortege funèbre ont été peu à peu èliminées,” and can only be restored from the traces left in some versions. On the other hand “Sur ce fond antique....apparaissent des ornements plus éclatants et plus moderns.” They are taken from the ceremonial of kings and the efforts of the theologians to divinize the Buddha.