Ancestors Re-born in Children.
Among many races, again, there is a common belief that the father or grandfather is re-born in one of his descendants. The modern reader is familiar with examples of such beliefs in Mr. Du Maurier’s “Peter Ibbetson,” and Mr. Rider Haggard’s “She.” Manu expresses this belief when he writes—“The husband after conception by his wife, becomes an embryo and is born again of her; for that is the wifehood of a wife, that he is born again by her.” The feeling that children are really the ancestors re-born is obviously based on the principle of hereditary resemblance. Hence the general feeling in favour of calling a child by the name of the grandfather or grandmother, which is about as far as the rustic goes in recognizing the ascending line. The Konkan Kunbis, and even Brâhmans, believe that the dead ancestors sometimes appear in children. Among Gujarât Musalmâns the nurse, if a child is peevish, says, “Its kind has come upon its head.” The same idea is found among the Khândhs. Among the Laplanders of Europe an ancestral spirit tells the mother that he has come into the child, and directs her to call it after his name.[6] Another variant of the same belief is that common among some of the Drâvidian races that the ancestor is revived in a calf, which is in consequence well fed and treated with particular respect.
The Srâddha.
The ordinary worship of ancestors among Brâhmanized Hindu races has been so often described in well-known books as to need little further illustration.[7] The spirits of departed ancestors attend upon the Brâhmans invited to the ceremony of the Srâddha, “hovering round them like pure spirits, and sitting by them when they are seated.” “An offering to the gods is to be made at the beginning and end of the Srâddha; it must not begin and end with an offering to ancestors, for he who begins and ends it with an offering to the Pitri quickly perishes with his progeny.” The belief is common to many races that the spirits of the dead assemble to partake of the food provided by the piety of their relations on earth. Alcinous addressing the Phæacians tells them—“For ever heretofore the gods appear manifest among us, whensoever we offer glorious hecatombs, and they feast at our side sitting by the same board.” And the old Prussians used to prepare a meal, to which, standing at the door, they invited the soul of the deceased. “When the meal was over the priest took a broom and swept the souls out of the house, saying—‘Dear souls! ye have eaten and drunk. Go forth! go forth!’”[8]
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.
The orthodox Hindu, besides the usual Srâddha, in connection with his daily worship, offers the Tarpana or water oblation to the sainted dead. The object of the annual Srâddha is, as is well known, to accelerate the progress (gati) of the soul through the various stages of bliss, known as Sâlokya, Sâmîpya and Sârûpya, and by its performance at Gaya the wearied soul passes into Vaikuntha, or the paradise of Vishnu.
Hindus do not allow their sons to bathe during the fortnight sacred to the manes, as they believe that the dirt produced by bathing, shaving, and washing the apparel will reach and annoy the sainted dead. The story goes that Râja Karana made a vow that he would not touch food until he had given a maund and a quarter (about one hundred pounds) of gold daily to Brâhmans. When he died he went to heaven, and was there given a palace of gold to dwell in, and gold for his food and drink, as this was all he had given away in charity during his mortal life. So in his distress he asked to be allowed to return to earth for fifteen days. His prayer was granted, and warned by sad experience he occupied himself during his time of grace in giving nothing but food in charity, being so busy that he neglected to bathe, shave, or wash his clothes, and thus he became an example to succeeding generations.[10]