A screen of calico was drawn round the
furnace in which the cremator placed the body, and filled up the opening.
Then a dozen Lamas began chanting the burial litany in Tibetan in deep bass
voices. Then the head priest blessed the torches and when the fires were
lit he blessed a fan to fan the flames, and lastly some melted butter,
which was poured in at the top to make the whole blaze. This was frequently
repeated. When fairly ablaze, a few pieces of Tibetan grass were thrown in
at the top. After three days the whole cooled, and a priest with one gold
and one silver chopstick collects the bones, which are placed in a bag for
burial. If the bones are white it is a sign that his sin is purged, if
black that perfection has not been attained." - H.C.]
And it is very worthy of note that the Chinese envoy to Chinla (Kamboja)
in 1295, an individual who may have personally known Marco Polo, in
speaking of the custom prevalent there of exposing the dead, adds: "There
are some, however, who burn their dead. These are all descendants of
Chinese immigrants."
[Professor J.J.M. de Groot remarks that "being of religious origin,
cremation is mostly denoted in China by clerical terms, expressive of the
metamorphosis the funeral pyre is intended to effect, viz. 'transformation
of man'; 'transformation of the body'; 'metamorphosis by fire.' Without
the clerical sphere it bears no such high-sounding names, being simply
called 'incineration of corpses.' A term of illogical composition, and
nevertheless very common in the books, is 'fire burial.'" It appears that
during the Sung Dynasty cremation was especially common in the provinces
of Shan-si, Cheh-kiang, and Kiang-su. During the Mongol Dynasty, the
instances of cremation which are mentioned in Chinese books are,
relatively speaking, numerous. Professor de Groot says also that "there
exists evidence that during the Mongol domination cremation also throve in
Fuhkien." (Religious System of China, vol. iii. pp. 1391, 1409, 1410.)
- H.C.]
(Doolittle, 190; Deguignes, I. 69; Cathay, pp. 247, 479; Reinaud,
I. 56; India in the XVth Century, p. 23; Semedo, p. 95; Rem. Mel.
Asiat. I. 128.)
CHAPTER LXI.
CONCERNING THE CITY OF CHINANGLI, AND THAT OF TADINFU, AND THE REBELLION
OF LITAN.
Chinangli is a city of Cathay as you go south, and it belongs to the Great
Kaan; the people are Idolaters, and have paper-money. There runs through
the city a great and wide river, on which a large traffic in silk goods
and spices and other costly merchandize passes up and down.
When you travel south from Chinangli for five days, you meet everywhere
with fine towns and villages, the people of which are all Idolaters, and
burn their dead, and are subject to the Great Kaan, and have paper-money,
and live by trade and handicrafts, and have all the necessaries of life in
great abundance.
