ABSTRACT
T he ritual of purification plays such an important part in the death customs of all peoples, that we cannot afford to lose sight of its potent significance. It is most vital to stress at the outset that the modern conception of cleansing is entirely at variance with that of the primitive or that of the members of ancient society. Our motive is, as Farnell points out, for hygienic or pleasure-giving considerations, connected in some measure with the self-preservation instinct. 44 No hygienic, or utilitarian, or secular consideration will carry us far into explaining the cathartic code of Leviticus, or the Zend-Avesta, of Buddhism, or the impurity of tabooed animals. These codes are instinct with religious or super stitious beliefs ” .1
