1870.] On the Funeral Ceremonies of the ancient Hindus. 249 



of the dead, (and abide) in this (region) ; we (shall dwell) here 

 well served and prospering, and overcoming all presumptuous 

 assailants."* The scholiast of As'valayana says the remover of the 

 widow, and not the widow, herself should take the gold, and that in 

 the event of his being a slave, this and the two preceding mantras 

 should be repeated by the chief mourner, and Wilson and Max 

 Midler take it in the same sense ; but Sayana's comment is opposed 

 to this interpretation. f The words to be addressed to a Kshatriya 

 or a Vaidya woman, are the same, the words boio and jewel 

 being respectively substituted for gold, and Kshatriya and Vaisya 

 respectively for Brdhmana. Under any circumstance the removal 

 of the widow and the articles is completed. The Aranyaka con- 

 templates no alternative, and the Siitrakaras are silent on the 

 subject, shewing clearly that when the Aranyaka was compiled, 

 the inhuman practice of burning the living wife with her dead 

 husband, had not obtained currency in the country, and as we 

 know from the writings of Greek authors that the Sati rite 

 had formed an important part of the Hindu funeral ceremony 

 three centuries before Christ, and at least four centuries before that 

 the Raniayana and the Makabharata, alluded to it, it may be pre- 



. * s^n<* ^rgT^T^T^T ^w f^rq w^ ff^ri *rarsr i ^N srf»r^ 

 ?rq% W^t f*w ^p*T ^fWirnft^rc it 



This verse does not occur in the 10th Maiidala of the Rig Yeda, but the 

 counterpart of it, in connexion with the bow, occurs with a different reading, 

 thus — 



T^^w^T^r^T ^wtw ^re -jHt^ ^re i ^%^r srf»rs ^ ^rKr 



Dr. Max Muller renders the last as follows: "I take the bow from 

 the hand of the dead, to be, to us, help, glory, and strength. Thou art there, 

 we are still here, with our brave sons ; may we conquer all enemies that at- 

 tack us." Dr. Wilson's version is slightly different in words, bat is in sub- 

 stance the same. " Taking his bow from the hand of the dead that it may be 

 to us for help, for strength, for fame, (I say) here verily art thou, and here are 

 we : accompanied by our valiant descendants may we overcome all arrogant 

 adversaries."— Joivr. B. As. Soc, XVI. p. 2J2. 



t ^^rrft: w "rw" *«i*j C t "w^fii" *rw*raro', <c ^^" ^r^', 

 wtit, '^^ "^ ftre i '*& ^Jfa 'v? %t#, 'i^^rr' ^ %-^rnTT: q*r. t 



32 



