Book Title: Indian Antiquary Vol 36
Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

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Page 228
________________ 214 THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY. [JULY, 1907. Burial Customs. All sickness or accident is, as has been already stated, supposed to be directly due to the action of some supernatural being, and when this spirit refuses to be appeased by the offerings made to him, the man must die. The body is then washed with water, in which the leaves of the kadu plant have been steeped, and the hair is combed. A small chicken is killed, and tied by a string to the big toe of the deceased. This chicken will accompany the deceased to the other world, and will peck at the caterpillars lying in the way, which might otherwise incommode the traveller to that far-off land. Other chickens are sacrificed, and pigs also; and if the man was fairly well-to-do, buffaloes and bullocks too, for the welfare of the deceased and to provide a feast for the visitors. Whenever bullocks or buffaloes are sacrificed, the blood is mixed with rice or "bread" and then put into the large intestines and roasted. A portion of this, too, is thrown away for the spirits to eat, and the rest is eaten by the guests. Rice-beer (kaung) is prepared before a man dies, for it takes four or five days to brew; and were all left to the last, there might not be found time to make it before the body would have to be disposed of. Should this happen, or should there be no yai-shen present to utter the incantations, the corpse is buried; and then after a year it is unearthed, and the burial customs are duly performed. Chicken and rice and 'kaung are from time to time given to the corpse to eat; and the yai-shën, sitting between the liquor and the corpse, chants the customs of Mother 'Li. All the village, and many visitors from a distance, flock to a big funeral; but if the body is to be buried there will only be a very few present. Often the women, and formerly the men too, would dance in front of the dead man's house. A piece of wood, nearly four feet in length, is carved with a figure of the bird (the king crow) or an elephant on the top of it; or in the case of a poor man a piece of bamboo is cut, and the end of it is made into a fringe. This is called the (n)'klo-'seung, and is put into the dead man's hand. The yai-shën utters his charms, and the spirit of the deceased is bidden to take up his abode in this stick. Before the corpse is removed from the house, the (n) klo- seung is taken away and set up in the ground somewhere outside the village. Frequently, too, a wooden spear and a wooden gun were put into the hands of the dead man; or in the case of a woman the lath of her loom. There is also put into the dead man's hand money to pay as ferry-charge over the stream of death. Sometimes a pice or two, or two annas it may be, or sometimes as much as Rs. 10, or even more, is given. This money, as well as the little chicken tied to the big toe of the deceased, and the pawn-zëng thread is burut at the cremation of the body. Five small pieces of bamboo, wound round with thread (red, white, black, green, and yellow) called pawn-zëng, are also put into the hands of the deceased for him to take with him to the land "over there." The neighbours make an offering of a pig for sacrifice, also called pawn-reng; and the master of the house gives a big pig (called lawn-gá) for the guests to eat. A wake is kept up the whole night before a funeral; "There can be no sleeping." The whole village attend the corpse to the burning-ground, which is not far away; but all, excepting a few men, return before the cremation actually takes place. The funeral pyre is of no great height, and is made of eutch-wood, as this is found to be the best for burning. The few who remain by the fire imbibe still more 'koung, and keep the fire up until the body is consumed. Then they gather the charred bones and prt them in a new earthen pot of the ordinary kind, such as are in daily use. The pot is for a time, at least in the rains, or when the people are otherwise busy, placed on a small stand made for it under a tree outside the village fence. Afterwards, at a convenient season, the bones are conveyed away

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