Indian Research Institute Publications. Fine Arts Series-No. III. Barhut. Book III. Aspects of Life and Art

The sculptor cleverly indicates the existence of the forest the maddened condtion of the elephant the falling piece of dung the challenging of the elephant by the beetle and the fate it ultimately met. [...] After that the head and mouth of the dead person were to be covered with the omentum of the she-animal the kidneys of the animal were to be laid into the hands of the dead body the heart of the animal or two lumps of flour or rice were to be put on the heart. [...] The purpose of the presiding spirits having been otherwise they carried the body by the north to the north of the city and entering the city by the north gate they brought it through the midst of the city into the midst thereof. [...] The thirteen unmarked altar-bricks are placed in the sepulchre with a view to connecting the bodily remains of the deceased with all the months and seasons of the year Behind the maximum height allowed for the sepulchre of a Kshatriya of a BrAmaria of a woman of a Vaisya or of a Sadra is the conception of Purusha in the Purusha-Sakta (Rv. [...] The arms in the case of a Kshatriya the mouth in the case of a Brahmana the hips in the case of a woman the thigh in the case of a Vaisya and the feet in that of a Sudra are taken to be symbolical of their respective strength.