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When, however, the gifts were brought forward to be offered, his son Nachiketas, although probably a lad about twelve years of age, observed how worthless were the animals which his father was offering. His heart at once became filled with Shraddha. There is no one English word which can convey the meaning of this Sanskrit term. It is more than mere faith.
It is with a true instinct that the Hindu religion prescribes its Shrâddha ceremonies and the Catholic Church its prayers for the dead. It sometimes happens, however, that the desire for communication is from the other side, and that an entity of the class we are considering has something which it specially desires to say to those whom it has left behind.
"Brahma Pooran. If the husband die in another country, the virtuous wife shall take any of his effects; for instance, a sandal, and binding it on her thigh, shall enter the fire with it. "Reek, Bede. If a wife thus burn with her husband, it is not suicide; and her relations shall observe three days' uncleanness for her; after which her Shraddha must he properly performed.
If the husband die in war, only present uncleanness, or till bathing, will be observed for him: if, therefore, the wife burn with him only one night's uncleanness will be observed for her; but, if in a separate fire, three days; and in that case the husband's Pinda will be at the end of three days. If the husband and wife burn in one fire, they will obtain separate offerings of the Shraddha.
After the uncleanness on account of the husband is over, the Shraddha must be performed according to the commandment. Three days after his death, the Dospinda must be made, and after ten days the regular Shraddha. "Goutam. Brahmmanee can only die with her husband, on which account she cannot burn in another fire.
It was to him I put the matter, and behold in the due time all came about as I desired. The Brahmin in the house of the father of my daughter's son has since said that it was through his prayers which is a little error that I will explain to him when we reach our journey's end. And so afterwards I go to Buddh Gaya, to make shraddha for the father of my children. 'Thither go we.
When a woman dies with her husband, the eldest son, or nearest relation, shall set fire to the pile; whose office also it is to perform the Dospinda, and all the obsequies. He who kindles the fire shall perform the Dospinda: but her own son, or nearest relations, must perform the Shraddha.
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