Children under eight years of age and unmarried girls are buried, as also are all who die of smallpox, as the belief is that this ailment is a manifestation of the presence of the goddess Ammun, Mariatba, Mariarnma, or Kali, and the anger of the goddess would revert on the family if burned. The dead from cholera are similarly buried.
In the mode of disposing of the dead, the wish expressed by the deceased is attended to. Ved antists all bury ; also all the Gosai, all the Lingaet or Vira Saiva, the five artisan castes, the Kansala, goldsmith, carpenter, ironsmith, brazier, and stone cutter, all the Byragi and Sanyasi, and the gurus of the sects, the Pandarums, the Kashai, likewise all the non-Aryan races and tribes not admitted into Hinduism. The dead of the Vedantist sect, and those of the Lingaet and artisans, are placed seated, the last in a grave five feet square, with a ledge on the south.
As the artisan's life becomes extinct, the body is made to assume the attitude to be preserved in the procession and in the grave. It is placed against a wall, the legs are crossed underneath in the usual sitting attitude, and the head is fastened to a nail driven into the wall, and so retained till rigidity ensue. They are borne to the grave in a car, on the shoulders of relatives or friends. On reaching the burial - place, the Oodwan reads prayers, and the body is seated on the side ledge with its face looking northwards ; salt and ashes of cow-dung are placed on the head.
Amongst the Aryan Hindu, the great bulk be lieve in spirits and worship them ; their worship of ancestors, pitri,' is continuous; they also believe in demons and evil spirits ; transmigration through clean and unclean animals is a point of faith, and a great majority regard the soul as an emanation from the Deity, and look to re-absorption and annihilation as the point of attainment for the good. Many of these are Buddhist views.
Hindus of Sind are not allowed to die in bed, otherwise one of the males of the family who has attended upon the deceased becomes in a state of impurity, and must visit some well-known place of pilgrimage, as the Dhara. Tirth, the Narayan Sar in Kutch, etc. When near death, the sick person is placed on a spot smeared with cow-dung (Chanko, Lepan, or Poto), and when in the last agony, the five sacred elements are poured into the dying person's mouth.
The Mahomedan, when about to die, has his spirit calmed by the Yasin ' chapter of the Koran being read to him, and is either washed (Ghassal) at his own house, or taken, within a few hours, to a Ghassalkhana, specially built for the purpose, near the cemetery, and where men or women washers perform the duty, and then put on burial clothes and apply camphor and antimony.
The body is conveyed in a box with much solemnity, with wreaths of flowers and perfumes laid over the covering ; the coffin is carried on men's shoulders, and from time to time is heard the Ty-eb part of the Mahomedan creed : There is no deity but God, and Mahomed is the prophet of God ; ' and on reaching the grave, funeral service is read, consisting of the four portions of their creed (takbir), and a blessing (dua) is asked, which all present repeat. After the Fatiha, the body is lifted from the coffin and gently lowered into the grave, laid with the head_to the north and feet to the south, and turned on its side with the face towards Mecca. Each person then takes a little earth, and, repeating the words in chap. 112 of the Koran, We created you of earth and we return you to earth, and we shall raise you out of the earth on the day of resurrection,' he puts the earth gently into the grave. The body is then piotected with wood and covered in. Tho Fatiha is again repeated, and again at the door of the cemetery, and at this juncture two angels, Moonkir and Nikir, approach the dead, make him sit up, and inquire who his God and prophet are, and what his religion is. If he has been a good man, his answers are satisfactory, and odours from paradise are diffused around the departed; but if bad, he is bewildered, and these angels torture him. They believe that the dead continue in a conscious state, and dogs and horses or other polluting animals are not allowed within the cemetery ; women, also, do not enter, lest the repose of the dead be disturbed. Mahomedans do not speak of a person as dead,—they say he has passed away, has taken his departure ; and the living all believe in, and hope for, resurrection in a future state : They who believe and do that which is right, shall enjoy blessedness, and partake of a happy resurrection. . . . Paradise . . . . is watered by rivers; its food is perpetual, and its shade also ; this shall be the reward of those who fear God' (Koran, ch. xiii.). 'Therein are rivers of uncorruptible water; the rivers of milk, the taste whereof changeth not ; and rivers of wine pleasant unto those who drink ; and rivers of clarified honey ; and therein shall they have plenty of all kinds of fruits; and pardon from their Lord' (eh. xlvii.). There shall be gardens with shady trees ; with fountains flowing, couches of silk interwoven with gold ; beauteous damsels with black eyes lying on green cushions, and beautiful carpets, fruits, palm trees and pome granates' (ch. lv.).