In the Srad'ha or funeral ceremonies of the Hindu of Gujerat, the son repeats before au image many incantations, to the following purport : Before thee 0 Brahma, I perform my father's Srad'ha. lie next offers to his deceased parent, on a plantain-trunk dish, seven blades of kusha, and seven of durva grass, flowers, dry rice, cloth, red paint, and a brass lamp. He next cleanses the place before him with his hands, and, scatter ing upon it a few blades of kusha grass, presents other offerings to his deceased father, repeating many incantations, which contain the names of the offerings, and an invitation to the deceased father to partake of them. From what remains of these offerings, the son makes two balls, the smallest of which is offered in the name of those of the family who have not received the benefits of the Srad'ha, and the other he presents to his deceased father, and then lays it on some kusha grass as before, and worships it, presenting flowers, water, etc. He now places both hands open against a lamp which is burning, as though he were warming himself ; after which he pro strates himself to the sun, and presents a fee of from one rupee to five to the officiating Brahman, salutes all the Brahmans present, and makes prostrations to the saliuram, whick he afterwards sends into the house. "ill the offering-s are sent to the houses of Brahmans. The family now return home, where an entertainment is provided, both for Brahmans and others, consisting princi pally of sweetmeats, milk, curds, sug-ar, cakes, etc. The Brahmans eat in an enclosed spot, the uninvited Brahmans near the house, and the poor in the street or road. At the close of the enter tainment, if the person making the Srad'ha be rich, he gives presents to all those who are not guests, whether Brahmans or the poor, and thus dismisses them. The next morning he dismisses the learned Brahmans with presents ; to the most learned he gives five rupees perhaps, and to those less learned one. The Brahmans who were invited are also dismissed with presents. About one o'clock a feast is provided for the relations, who are dismissed the next morning with presents of money, cloth, etc., and on this day another dinner is provided for nearer relations. At the close of the Srad'ha a number of mendicant musicians play on certain instruments of music, and sing verses celebrating the revels of Krishna ; they are often dismissed with large presen s. The next day the family return to their accustomed diet ; but the sons, for twelve months after the decease of the father, must refuse every gratifi cation, and cook with their own hands, or eat what has been prepared by a wife or some near relation dwelling in the house. Gunga Govindu Singhu, a person of the writer caste, head-servant to Mr. Warren Hastings, expended, it is said, 12,00,000 rupees at his mother's Sradla ; and Raja Nuvu Krishna of Calcutta, nearly as much in the Srad'ha for his mother. This expense was principally incurred in presents to the Brahmans, such as bedsteads, at two or three hundred rupees each ; water pitchers of silver and gold, some worth a thousand, a,nd others two thousand rupees ; dishes of silver and gold, valued at one to five hundred rupees. At the time of bathing, the person who will perform the Srad'ha purifies himself by putting water, seeds, fruits, etc., in parts of the trunks of four plantain trees, repeat ing incantations. He sends some of this water home to purify the family.
The monthly Srad'ha for the first year after the death of the parent, is upon a very small scale, and the expense is from ten rupees to twelve annas. Besides these, there are other Srad'has for deceased ancestors, as in every month at the total wane of the moon ; on the last fifteen, or ten, or five days of the moon in the mouth Bhadra ; once during the first fifteen days of the moon in Ugruhayunu ; and again in the same month, in Poushu and Magill], on the eighth of the wane of the moon ; in Voishakhu and Shravunu, on any of the first fifteen days of the moon. At some of these times all Hindus perform this ceremony ; at other times only a few persons. The expense is trifling, as scarcely any persons are entertained at them. In this Srad'ha the flesh of cows was formerly offered in sacrifice. In the Kali-yogu this is forbidden, and that of deer or goats is substituted ; herbs, bread, and barley are used, as also fresh rain water.
Mr. Forbes in the Hasmala (p. 378) says, The Bhut and Pret are said to reside,--at the place where funeral piles are erected, in trees -which are not used for sacrificial purposes, such as the tamarind and the acacia, in desert places, at the spot where a death has occurred, or at cross _ roads, for which reason people set at these places food for the use of the 13hut. Ile is most at a loss for water to drink. The pipe of his throat is, it is said, the size of the eye of a needle, and he is continually thirsty enough to drink twelve gallons of water. The watchmen of Witroon Dev, however, are stationed wherever there is water, to prevent the Mint from drinking, and their thilst is therefore as continual as it is intense. The Bhut feed upon all kinds of refuse. The goblin of the best class, he, that is to say, whose funeral ceremonies have been duly performed, but who has been debarred from liberation by his own intense affection for earthly objects, is called a l'oorwuj Dev, and resides in his own house or in a sacred fig tree. The Poorwuj Dev, like the Etruscan Lar, or the Grecian hero, is re rrarded as hovering about his former abode, avert ing dangers from the inhabitants, and bestowing blessings upon them. He frequently appears in the character of a serpent, and is then treated with great respect by the inmates of the house near which he resides. It is a common belief in Gujerat that serpents aro always to be found wherever a hoard is buried, and that these are the Bhuts of the deceased owners who have remained upon earth from affection to their wealth. The Arabian Jin also frequents cross roads, and the fairies of the Scottish Lowlands carry bows made of the ribs of a man buried where three lairds' lands meet, as in 'A Mid summer Night's Dream ' (Act. iii. Sc. 2) :— ' Damned spirits all, That in cross-ways and floods have burial.' Desert places, in Girjerat, correspond exactly with the dry places (e.49vapco, Terri.a.,) assigned to the evil spirits in Matthew xii. 43, Luke xi. 24. And all eastern races believe them to be the resort of evil spirits. In Gujerat the Bhut and Pret can take possession of a corpse, and speak through its mouth ; they exhibit thernselve.s the form 11 hich they possessed when living; they enter into a living man, and cause Mtn to speak RS they please ; sometimes they afflict him with fever, or various other diseases; sometimes they assume the forms of animals, and frighten people by suddenly vanishing in a flash of fire ; some times, remaining invisible, they speak in whispers. A BMA has been known to come to fisticuffs with a man, and to carry a man off and set hint down in a distant place. It is even said that women are somethnes found with child by Blurts.
The Jain Shastras teach a different doctrine in regard to spirits from that which is taught by the Hindu Puranas. They assert that there are eight kinds of Vyuntur Dev, and eight of Wan Vylintnr Dev, who reside below the earth. Each of these has two Indra, or sovereigns, ruling respectively the northern and southern regions, and who are in colour black, white, or blue. The Vyuntur and Wan-Vyuntur Dev appear upon earth, where they possess the bodies of men, exhibit themselves in various shapes, and perform many strange feats, whence their common manic of Kutohulee (or surpribing) Dev. Below them reside the 13huwunputi Dev, who also sometimes appear on earth. Below them again .are the Narkina or infernal spirits. Above this earth, in the atmosphere, five kinds of Dev of splendour reside,—the sun, moon, stars, and others. Above them, in .twelve Dcv-Loka, the Dev who ride m chariots dwell ; these, sotnetitnes drawn by their own desire, or compelled.by charms, appear in the world, but they do harm to no one. Above them are nine claws of Grivek, and five of Unootur Vimani. They are of great power, and never visit the earth. Men who have lived a life of austerity and righteousness are horn again in these classes of. upper or lower Dev, but the sinner is not born in then). In olden times, a man who had performed the rite of Uthum by fasting for three days, acquired the power of calling the Der to hini, but now, it is said, these Dev never visit the earth at any one's call.