At The Death Of
Kanghi's Mother, However, In 1718, When Four Young Girls Offered
Themselves For Sacrifice On The Tomb Of Their Mistress, The Emperor Would
Not Allow It, And Prohibited For The Future The Sacrifice Of Life Or The
Destruction Of Valuables On Such Occasions.
(Deguignes, Voy.
I. 304.)
NOTE 5. - Even among the Tibetans and Mongols burning is only one of the
modes of disposing of the dead. "They sometimes bury their dead: often
they leave them exposed in their coffins, or cover them with stones,
paying regard to the sign under which the deceased was born, his age, the
day and hour of his death, which determine the mode in which he is to be
interred (or otherwise disposed of). For this purpose they consult some
books which are explained to them by the Lamas." (Timk. II. 312.) The
extraordinary and complex absurdities of the books in question are given
in detail by Pallas, and curiously illustrate the paragraph in the text.
(See Sammlungen, II. 254 seqq.) ["The first seven days, including that
on which the demise has taken place, are generally deemed to be lucky for
the burial, especially the odd ones. But when they have elapsed, it
becomes requisite to apply to a day-professor.... The popular almanac
which chiefly wields sway in Amoy and the surrounding country, regularly
stigmatises a certain number of days as ting-sng jit: 'days of
reduplication of death,' because encoffining or burying a dead person on
such a day will entail another loss in the family shortly afterwards."
(De Groot, I. 103, 99-100.) - H. C.]
NOTE 6.
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