[181] The following compilation from a burial service of the Brahmins, who are the priests of all the other castes of Hindoos that burn their dead, may prove interesting to the reader. It is extracted from the 'Sacred Anthology.'
'_O Earth!_ to thee we commend our brother: of thee he was formed, by thee he was sustained, and unto thee he now returns.
'_O Fire!_ thou hadst a claim on our brother during life: he subsisted by thy influence in nature: to thee we commit his body, thou emblem of purity; may his spirit be purified on entering a new state of existence.
'_O Air!_ while the breath of life continued, our brother respired by thee: his last breath is now departed, to thee we yield him.
'_O Water!_ thou didst contribute to the life of our brother: thou wert one of his sustaining elements: his remains are now dispersed, receive thy share of him who has now taken an everlasting flight.'
During the past year the remains of the Hon. Narayan Wassadeo, a member of the Legislative Council of Bombay, were solemnly burnt on the burning-ground at Sonapore, and the ceremony is thus described in the 'Times of India,' Aug. 6, 1874:--
The body was placed, after it was recovered from under the ruins, on the floor of a large apartment at the rear of one of the wings of the house; and the female members of the family, seating themselves around it, gave themselves up to uncontrollable grief. The unhappy widow was overwhelmed by the dreadful calamity which had befallen her. A great number of the leading members of the European and various native communities called and took a last look at the remains as they lay covered with a white robe, the lower part of the face being alone exposed.
