122 ON THE ORIGIN OF CREMATION, 



inclined to think, that, at an early age, the cremation of the 

 body might have been immediately meant as an act of expiatory 

 sacrifice. Of this, however, it must be acknowledged, we have 

 no direct evidence. Bat the want of this evidence is not a de- 

 cisive proof that the conjecture is totally unfounded. The ori- 

 gin of the practice itself being buried in the obscurity of ve- 

 ry remote ages, almost beyond the period of fabulous history; 

 it is by no means surprising, that we should be as much at a 

 loss in regard to the primary design. On a subject of this 

 kind, even the feeble voice of conjecture ought not to be with- 

 held, as no other can be heard ; nor should it be totally disre- 

 garded, because at times mere conjecture has eventually led to 

 the discovery of truth. 



It is highly probable, that this custom had its rise in the dis- 

 tant regions of Scythia, if not in Hindostan. As we learn 

 from the earliest accounts of the inhabitants of this interesting 

 peninsula, which have reached our times, that even when these 

 were written, they not only burnt the dead, but that the living 

 often devoted themselves to the flames ; it may afford ground 

 for conjecture that the latter practice preceded the former. 

 Those who viewed it as a signal act of piety for a man to cast 

 himself into the funeral-pile, and as a complete atonement for 

 all the transgressions of his past life, though they could not ri- 

 val him in intrepidity, might, like those who affect liberality in 

 their latter wills, wish to imitate him as far as possible, by de- 

 voting the mortal part to the fire after the extinction of life. 



It may perhaps be supposed, that this act of self-dedication 

 to the flames was originally meant as a consecration to the sun. 

 For, though the Persian fire-worshippers objected to cremation 

 as a profanation of their deity, we are not warranted to con- 

 clude, that all who concurred with them in worship entertain- 

 ed the same idea. While we know that some of the ancient 



Brachmans 



