________________
382
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
(SEPTEMBER, 1902.
If & cremation, the coffin is first carried with music three times round the pyre, and the latter is set fire to by the sons or nephews with their faces turned away from it. Those assembled leave when the pyre is half barnt; and on the following day, or a few days after, the ashes are collected and buried in the garden of the deceased, over which a colamn is erected, or are thrown into the nearest stream.
The funeral party bathe before returning to the house, and are supplied by the dhobi with newly-washed clothes; during their absence the house is well cleansed and purified by the sprinkling of water mixed with cow-dang; and the visitors before leaving partake of a meal either bronght from some neighbour's or cooked after the body had been removed,
The day after barial an almagiving of conjee to priests and paupers takes place, when a little of it in a rolled-up leaf is kept on a tree, or at a meeting of roads. If a crow or any other bird eats of it, it is a sign that the deceased has gone to the land of the blessed. Otherwise it indicates that it has reached the stage of an elemental (perStayd). On this occasion all the belongings of the dead man are given away in charity. Seven days after there is an almsgiving of rice, when & similar leaf is again made use of as a further sign. Three months after is the last almsgiving, which is done on a large scale. Relatives are invited for a feast, and all signs of sorrow are banished from that day.
It is traditionally maintained that if this last feast be not given, the spirit of the dead man comes to the boundary of the garden; if the omission is not made good after six months, it takes its stand near the well, and when nine months have-elapsed, it stays at the doorway of the house, watches at the food eaten by the inmates and causes indigestion. After twelve months it enters the house and commences to haunt it and make its presence felt by kaavish tricks, when it is execrated as a gevalaya (goblin) till got rid of by "devil" ceremonies.
(To be continued.)
EXTRACTS FROM THE BENGAL CONSULTATIONS OF THE XVIIITA CENTURY RELATING TO THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS.
BY SIR RICHARD O. TEMPLE. (Continued from p. 321.)
1794. NO. VII. Fort William 7th April 1794. Road a Letter and its Enclosure from the Military Auditor General,
Milty And: General dated 15 March 1794 Honble Sir John Shore Bar! Gov! Gen! &ca. &ca. &ca., in Council.
Honble Sir, 1. I received on the 8th Inst! MI Sub Secretary Shakespeare Letter of the 21h Ultimo, and According to your decisions therein conveyed I have Audited the Accounts of the Superintendant of the Andamans.
2. It was not perhaps in the Recollection of Government when they passed these decisions that the Accounts had been referred to this Office for report as long Ago as August last. It was my intention to have sent up the report at that time, but having in the Course of examining the Accounts observed several Articles that required previous explanation I applied to Major Kyd in the terms of the enclosed paper Marked N: 1.
