CONCEPTS OF DEAD AMONG ANCIENT CIVILIZATION 31 



caste system and elevated themselves to superhuman rank. A be- 

 lief in transmigration, a re-embodiment of human souls in man 

 or beast, appeared approximately 800-600 B.C. This was not an 

 original idea since it was characteristic of the primitive savage. 

 Residence in either heaven or hell, therefore, came to be thought 

 of as a temporary state of retribution between successive embodi- 

 ments of a soul. What the Indian strived for, was to save himself 

 from going through an endless chain of lives and to think in 

 terms of his future caste, sex and fortune. 



Another feature of early Hinduism, was the burning of the 

 dead, with the exception of children and great saints. It was 

 customary to carry the body to the shore of a holy river before 

 death. If this were not feasible, special precautions were taken 

 to keep the messengers of hell at bay, such as surrounding the 

 bed of the dying with a ring of cow dung or putting a sacred stone 

 or plant by its side. Another way to neutralize the powers of these 

 spirits of the devils was to have the dying man grasp the tail of 

 a cow which would assure him of being transported across the 

 waters of death. 



Special rites attended the burning of a corpse which was 

 performed on an open pyre. An important part of the ceremony 

 was to crack open the top of the skull with a strong blow from a 

 club, but not until the body was partly consumed. This was done 

 to permit a still vital soul an exit for escape. The bones which 

 remained were collected in an urn and buried in the ground; they 

 were later resurrected to be thrown into the Ganges or another 

 sacred river. 



Since a part of the creed of Hinduism, was a belief in a tem- 

 porary stay in either a heaven or hell, a few more facts may be 

 mentioned. Persons reaching heaven, spent a long time in a 

 state of conscious blessedness. At the other extreme, there were 

 from twenty-one to twenty-eight hells presided over by a judge 

 and executioner, named Yama. At death, he sent two of his mes- 

 sengers to where the cremation was performed. When the soul 

 of the deceased escaped through the artificially produced opening 

 in the cranium, they captured and bound it and then hurried to 

 the seat of judgment. Thirteen days were required to pass muster 

 in the court, during which the soul grew into an intermediate 



