Duties Towards the Dead

The boar next described duties towards the dying and the dead. When a person is about to die, hymns from the vedas should be recited to him and pure honey should be poured into his lips.

After death, the dead body must be placed under a tree and bathed. It should then be anointed with oil, clarified butter, incense and fragrances. When the funeral pyre is lit, it is always the head to which the fire must be first applied. When the body has been completely burnt, the funeral pyre should be circumambulated. Funeral rituals should then be observed. Those who go to the cremation ground must bathe and wash their clothes before returning home.

For ten days following the day of death, a state of uncleanliness (ashoucha) has to be observed. No religious rites are to be observed during this period. But rituals like bathing in the river and offering oblations to one’s dead ancestors should be discontinued. On the thirteenth day after death, brahmanas have to be invited and given cooked food to eat. They must also be donated umbrellas, footwear, incense and lamps. The brahmana who conducts this funeral ceremony (shraddha) must be pure of body and mind. The prescribed rules for a shraddha ceremony are more or less same for all the four classes.