Cremation, Caste, and Cosmogony in Karmic Traditions.

including fire-altars (Marshal 1951b:823-824), which
give testimony of Zoroastrianism. Buddhism seems to
have been practiced in Taxila from the first century BCE
to the fifth century CE (Marshall 1951a:xvii). In the
early Buddhist literature Taxila is often mentioned as a
university centre where students could get instructions in
almost any subject whether these were religious or
secular (Marshall 1960:23). Taxila was a cosmopolitan
town in its time. “The great city was even more
important than it had been in Alexander’s day, for it had
long been the seat of the Mauryan governor of the
North-West; though near it stood the fourth great stupa,
that of the Head-gift, it was only partially Buddhist and
Vishnu was strong there”, Tarn argues, “with its famous
University, of which the buildings have been excavated,
sought by students from many quarters, its merchants
guilds who struck their own city coinage, the Iranian
element in its population with their Tower of Silence, its
balance of religions, its feeling of independence which
had led it to withstand Porus and to revolt against the
Maurya, it seemed destined to be the capital of the
foreign invaders” (Tarn 1938:137).
Funeral practices
Aristoboulos makes, according to Strabo, references to
various curious practices of the inhabitants of Taxila
regarding death rituals, including air-burials. Aristobulus
is said to have accompanied Alexander in his campaign
in India, and he comments on “some strange and unusual
customs which existed at Taxila…The dead are thrown
out to be devoured by vultures. The custom of having
many wives prevails here, and is common among other
races. He says that he had heard from some persons of
wives burning themselves along with their deceased
husbands and doing so gladly; and that those women
who refused to burn themselves were held in disgrace”
(Strabo, op.cit M’Crindle 1901:69). Starting with the last
funeral practice first, this comment is probably testifying
the Hindu practice of sati and referring to an orthodox
funeral practice among the Hindus or at least the
Brahmanical population. The general funeral practice for
the Hindus seems to have been cremation. Regarding the
funeral practice where the deceased is exposed to the
vultures, Marshall puts forward the hypothesis that this
practice was of Iranian origin as it still is for the Parsi
religion, meaning Zoroastrianism. “It might reasonably
be inferred, therefore, that the practice was one that had
been introduced at Taxila by Persian settlers in the fifth
and fourth centuries BC, among whom there must have
been many adherents of the old daivayasnian cults”
(Marshall 1951a:16). This interpretation seems
plausible, and it is uncertain whether Buddhists in this
area performed air-burials.
In general, there is considerable evidence of abandoning
dead bodies in cemeteries in the Buddhist Pali literature.
The corpses were left on the cemeteries where they were
eaten by vultures and scavengers. Some texts refer to
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names of cemeteries literally meaning “the cemetery of
raw flesh”, and the practice of abandonment was
referred to as “raw” or “uncooked” (Tiwari 1979:38-39).
It has been argued that it is quite likely that Buddha did
not preach exposure or air-burial as the preferred mode
of disposal since he was cremated (Hodivala 1920:120).
However, Buddhas or high-ranking lamas have normally
been cremated, whereas common people have received
air- or water-burials, and occasionally earth burials. The
problem is that there are few, if any, Buddhist funeral
relics of the common people at Taxila, except those of a
late date. There were found numerous skeletons, but they
are probably from monks and nuns who were killed by
the White Huns when they sacked and burnt the
Dharmarajika Monastery about the end of the fifth
century CE, and it is not unlikely that some of the
remains comprise bones of the White Huns themselves
who died in the fighting (Guha 1951:296).
In the Mahabharata there are several references to tree
burials. The epic in its present form was composed
between the 4 th century BCE and 4 th century CE (Tiwari
1979:17). The practice of leaving or abandoning the
dead on open grounds seems to be, although not the
most popular method (which was cremation), prevalent
in ancient India, and it has been continued by some in
later periods as well (ibid:43). Mass cremation of the
dead after wars was also a common practice. Thus, there
seems to be three modes of handling the dead after
battles: (1) the dead were simply often abandoned, (2)
attempts were made to recover the bodies, and in the
case of important persons separate funerals were
arranged, and (3) the rest of the recovered dead were
accorded communal cremations (ibid:48-53). There are
also references to re-cremations of the remains of a
person who had consecrated his sacrificial fire and died
away from home, which was regarded as highly
inauspicious since the proper rituals could not be
conducted (ibid:77). One may expect all these modes of
funerals at Taxila since it was a town haunted by wars
and because of the mentioned modes of disposal in the
historical sources. The main problem is, as indicated, the
absence of mortuary remains except from the late
Buddhist remains, and air-burials, if they were practiced,
leave few traces in the archaeological record.
Nevertheless, the material remains of the monumental
architecture reveal some insights into the conglomerate
of religious practices. Temples are monuments built with
the intention of fulfilling religious purposes, and hence,
they are entrances by which one may grasp the religious
syncretism at work.
The temple of Jandial
The temple of Jandial is one of the most interesting
monuments at Taxila, but apart from general references
to the temple it has rarely been analysed in a context of
religious bricolage. Most analyses use and refer to
Marshall’s original report from the excavation, and I will