Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 3 of 7Thurston, Edgar
History
Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 3 of 7
Thurston, Edgar
Caste -- India, South; Ethnology -- India, South; India, South -- Social life and customs; Tribes -- India, South
Of death ceremonies, the following account is given in the manual
of the Ganjam district. "Immediately after death, a cloth is wrapped
round the corpse, but no cloths or valuables are removed. A portion of
paddy (unhusked rice), and all the cooking utensils of the deceased
are given to the village Sitra. [The Sitras manufacture the brass
rings and bangles worn by the Kondhs.] The body is then burnt. On the
following day, a little rice is cooked, put on a dish, and laid on the
spot where the corpse was burnt. An incantation is then pronounced,
requesting the spirit of the deceased person to eat the rice and
enjoy itself, and not to change itself into a devil or tiger, and
come bothering the survivors in the village. Three days after death,
the madda ceremony is performed. An effigy of the deceased is prepared
of straw, which is stuck up in front of or on the roof of the house,
and the relations and friends assemble, lament, and eat at the expense
of the people of the deceased's house. Each person brings a present of
some kind or other, and, on his departure on the next day, receives
something of slightly higher value. The death of a man in a village
requires a purification, which is made by the sacrifice of a buffalo
on the seventh day after death. If a man is killed by a tiger, the
purification is made by the sacrifice of a pig, the head of which,
cut off with a tangi (axe) by a Pano, is passed between the legs
of the men in the village, who stand in a line astraddle. It is a
bad omen for him if the head touches any man's legs. If the Patro
attends a funeral, he gets a fee of a goat for firing his gun, to
drive away the dead man's ghost." According to Mr. Jayaram Moodaliar,
if a person is killed by a tiger, the head of the decapitated pig is
placed in a stream, and, as it floats down, it has to pass between
the legs of the villagers. If it touches the legs of any of them,
it forebodes that he will be killed by a tiger.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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