A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v1.c9.s2.13

v1.c9.s2.13

By the VIIth century A. D., we find Siva’s worship well established in India. In the life of King Harsa by Vána there is a graphic description of a weird ceremony performed by a Saiva saint named Bhairavácháryya. “Seated on the breast of a corpse which lay supine, anointed with red sandal and arrayed in garlands, clothes and ornaments, all of red, himself with a black turban, black unguents, black amulet, and black garments, he had begun a fire rite in the corpse's mouth where a flame was burning."'¹ In the drama of Málatímádhava by Bhavabhúti (690 A.D.) we have also references to similar rites.