Prohibited by the
Emperor Kang-hi, at the close of the 17th century, i.e. the forced
burying; but voluntary sepulture remained in force [Yu chi wen].
Notwithstanding this prohibition, cases of forced burying occurred again
in remote parts of Manchuria; when a concubine refused to follow her
deceased master, she was forcibly strangled with a bow-string [Ninguta
chi]. I must observe, however, that there is no mention made in
historical documents of the existence of this custom with the Mongols; it
is only an hypothesis based on the analogy between the religious ideas and
customs of the Mongols and those of other tribes." (Palladius, p. 13.)
In his Religious System of China, II., Dr. J. J. M. de Groot devotes a
whole chapter (ix. 721 seqq.), Concerning the Sacrifice of Human Beings
at Burials, and Usages connected therewith. The oldest case on record in
China dates as far back as B.C. 677, when sixty-six men were killed after
the ruler Wu of the state of Ts'in died.
The Official Annals of the Tartar Dynasty of Liao, quoted by Professor J.
J. M. de Groot (Religious System of China, vol. ii. 698), state that "in
the tenth year of the T'ung hwo period (A.D. 692) the killing of horses
for funeral and burial rites was interdicted, as also the putting into the
tombs of coats of mail, helmets, and articles and trinkets of gold and
silver." Professor de Groot writes (l.c. 709): "But, just as the placing
of victuals in the graves was at an early date changed into sacrifices of
food outside the graves, so burying horses with the dead was also modified
under the Han Dynasty into presenting them to the dead without interring
them, and valueless counterfeits were on such occasions substituted for
the real animals." - H. C.]
CHAPTER LII.
