Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/32

 26 ANCIENT BELIEFS. BOOK I. Italy. The Hindu had to supply the manes with the repast, which was called sraddha. " Let the master of the house make the sraddha with rice, milk, roots, and fruits, in order to procure for himself the good-will of the manes." The Hindu believed that at the moment when he offered this funeral repast, the manes of his ancestors came to seat themselves beside him, and took the nour- ishment which was offered them. He also believed that this repast afforded the dead great enjoyment. "When the sraddha is made according to the rites, the ancestors of the one who offers it experience un- bounded satisfaction." * Thus the Aryas of the East had, in the beginning, the same notions as those of the West, relative to man's destiny after death. Before believing in metemp- sychosis, which supposes an absolute distinction be- tween the soul and the body, they believed in the vague and indefinite existence of man, invisible, but not immaterial, and requiring of mortals nourishment and offerings. The Hindu, like the Greek, regarded the dead as divine beings, who enjoyed aliappy existence ; but their happiness depended on the condition that the offerings made by the living should be carried to them regularly. If the sraddha for a dead person was not offered regu- larly, his soul left its peaceful dwelling, and became a wandering spirit, who tormented the living; so that, if the dead were really gods, this was only whilst the living honored them with their worship. The Greeks and Romans had exactly the same be- lief. If the funeral repast ceased to be offered to the • Laws ofManu, I. 95; III. 82, 122, 127, 146, 189, 274.