I make firm the earth about thee; may I not be harmed in laying the clod here; may the fathers hold this pillar for thee, and Yama make thee a home yonder." In the Atharva Veda mention is made of a coffin, but none is noticed here.
Hillebrandt (_loc.cit_.xl.

711) has made it probable that the eighth verse belongs to a still older ritual, according to which this verse is one for human sacrifice, which is here ignored, though the text is kept.[36] 'Just so the later ritual keeps all this text, but twists it into a crematory rite.

For in the later period only young children are buried.

Of burial there was nothing for adults but the collection of bones and ashes.

At this time too the ritual consists of three parts, cremation, collection of ashes, expiation.