Note 9 — Chapter IV · THE WORSHIP OF THE SAINTED DEAD.

The place where the oblation is to be made is to be sequestered, facing the south, the land of departed spirits, and smeared with cow-dung. The use of this substance is easily to be accounted for, without following the remarkable explanation of a modern writer, who connects it with the dropping of the Aurora.9 “The divine manes are always pleased with an oblation in empty glades, naturally clean, on the banks of rivers, and in solitary spots.” The ceremony is to be performed by the eldest son, which furnishes the Hindu with the well-known argument for marriage and the procreation of male issue. We have seen that the Drâvidians also regard the rite as merely domestic and to be performed by the house-master.