﻿OF THE HINDUS, &C. 241 



the relations of the deceased may be, is enforced by 

 the strictest injunctions : it is generally the perqui- 

 site of the priest who othciatcs at the funeral *. 



The corpse is carried out by the southern gate of 

 the town, if the deceased werea 'Siidra; by the western, 

 if he were a Brahman a ; by the northern, if he be- 

 longed to the military class ; and by the eastern por- 

 tal, if he sprung from the mercantile tribe. Should 

 the road pass through any inhabited place, a circuit 

 must be made to avoid it ; and when the procession 

 has reached its destination, after once halting by the 

 -way, the corpse must be gently laid with the head 

 towards the south on a bed of cm a, the tips M'hereof 

 are pointed southward. The sons or other relations 

 of the deceased having bathed in their clothes, must 

 next prepare the funeral pile with a sufficient quantity 

 of fuel, on a clean spot of ground, after marking lines 

 thereon to consecrate it in a mode similar to that 

 which is practised in preparing a fire for sacrifices 

 and oblations. They must afterwards wash the 

 corpse, meditating on Gaija and other sacred places, 

 holy mountains, the field of the Curus, the rivers 

 Gangd, Yamuna^ Caufici, Chandrabhagd, Bhadrdvu' 

 cus'd, Gatid'aci, Scirayu, and Nermadd ; Vainavay 

 Vardha, and Phi "ddraca, and all other holy places 

 on the face of the earth, as well as the four oceans 

 themselves. 



Some of these ceremonies are only observed at the 

 obsequies of a priest who maintained a consecrated 

 fire ; his funeral pile must be lighted from that fire : 

 but at the obsequies of other persons, the carrying 

 of food to be left by the way, and the consecration 

 of the spot whereon the funeral pile is raised, must 

 be omitted, and any unpolluted fire may be used : 



R It 



* In most parts of India the priests who officiate at funerals are 

 held in disesteem ; they are distinguished by various appellations, as 

 Mahdbidhmen, &c. See Digest oi Hindu Law, vol. lit p. 176. 



