The death ceremonies of the Nambutiris are commenced shortly before death actually takes place. When death is believed to be unmistakably near, some verses from the Taittirya Upanishad are spoken in the dying man's ears. These are called karna mantras, or ear hymns. A bed of kusa grass, called darbhasana, is prepared in the verandah or some convenient place outside the foundations of the house, and the dying man is placed on it. When life is extinct, the body is washed, dressed in a new white cloth, and placed on a bier made of bamboos covered with a new white cloth. The bier is then carried on the shoulders of four of the nearest relatives to the place of cremation within the compound of the illam, and laid on a pile of firewood, which must include some sandalwood. This should be done by brothers or sons if there are such; if not, by more distant relatives or friends. The pyre need not of necessity be prepared by Nambutiris. Properly speaking, according to the sacred texts, which govern almost every act of the Nambutiri's life, relatives and friends, male and female, should accompany the bier to the place of cremation, but, as a rule, women do not join the little procession. The bier is laid on the pyre, and the corpse is uncovered. Rice is scattered over the face by the blood-relations present, and small pieces of gold are thrust into the nine openings of the body, while mantras are recited by the Vadhyayar or priest. The gold is said to be used on this occasion as part of the offering in the yagam--the last sacrifice, as the burning of the body is called--and not in any way to assist the deceased in his journey to "the undiscovered country." Soon after the bier is laid on the funeral pyre, a homam is made. Fire taken from it is placed on the chest of the deceased, and then the pyre is lighted in three places. The performer of the crematory rites carries an earthen pot round the pyre. The officiating priest punctures the pot with a knife, and receives the water in another pot. He throws this water on the pyre, and the pot is then smashed and flung away. This part of the ceremony is said to symbolise that the deceased has had his ablution in the water of the Ganges, and the fire god, Agni, represented by the homam, was witness to the same. The fire god is supposed to witness every ceremony enjoined by the Vedas. After the body is burnt, those who attended go away and bathe. The disembodied soul is supposed to enter a body called Sukshma Sarira, and eventually goes to heaven or hell as it deserves. But, before it can reach its destination, certain ceremonies must be performed. These consist chiefly of oblations on each of the ten days following death, for the purpose of causing the preta (spirit) to grow out of the Dhananjaya Vayu, which causes deformities and changes in the deceased after death. Each day's ceremony completes a limb or part of the preta, and the body is complete in ten days. On the third day after death,