SHE KNEW HER DUTY
hymns as they reverently laid the body on the pyre. More wood was heaped on it, jars of clarified butter were poured, and the fire which was lighted soon rose in a mighty blaze. Within a short time the cremation was complete.
The mortal remains of the dead were piously collected and thrown into the bosom of the sacred river. The mourners then plunged into the river to make their sacred ablutions. They rested in a neighbouring house that night, and on the following day returned to the desolate home of Debipur.
Sirish and all the mourners remained bare-footed and wore the white scarf of mourning round their necks for the specified number of days. They carried square pieces of woven grass with them and sat on no other seat, and the food of the family was regulated according to prescribed rules, all meat and fish and rich dishes being avoided. Day after day there was sound of crying and lamentation from the women's apartments. The sorrow of the heart-broken widow and her daughter Hemlata was deep and agonising. Every evening, as they entered the vacant chamber with incense and prayers, loud and convulsive sobs and cries broke forth. Other women joined in the wailing in honour of the dead or in sympathy with the living.
When the specified number of days had passed, the Sraddha or funeral sacrifice was performed on a scale befitting the rank of the departed. The most learned priests of the Debipur House conducted the ceremony, and Brahmans from all the neighbouring places, and even from Birnagar, were invited. Thousands of other people who came from the surrounding villages were fed; cloth was distributed to them, and the holy
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