Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 7 of 7Thurston, Edgar
General
Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 7 of 7
Thurston, Edgar
Caste -- India, South; Ethnology -- India, South; India, South -- Social life and customs; Tribes -- India, South
The
burning concluded, a portion of the skull was removed from the ashes,
and handed over to the recently made mother-in-law of the dead girl,
and wrapped up with the hair in the bark of the tud tree (Meliosma
pungens). A second buffalo, which, properly speaking, should have
been slain before the corpse was burnt, was then sacrificed, and
rice and jaggery were distributed among the crowd, which dispersed,
leaving behind the youthful widower and his custodians, who, after
daybreak, partook of a meal of rice, and returned to their mands;
the boy's mother taking with her the skull and hair to her mand,
where it would remain until the celebration of the second funeral. No
attention is paid to the ashes after cremation, and they are left to
be scattered by the winds.
A further opportunity offered itself to be present at the funeral of
an elderly woman on the open downs not far from Paikara, in connection
with which certain details possess some interest. The corpse was, at
the time of our arrival, laid out on a rude bier within an improvised
arbour covered with leaves and open at each end, and tended by some
of the female relatives. At some little distance, a conclave of Toda
men, who rose of one accord to greet us, was squatting in a circle,
among whom were many venerable white-turbaned elders of the tribe,
protected from the scorching sun by palm-leaf umbrellas. Amid much
joking, and speech-making by the veterans, it was decided that,
as the eldest son of the deceased woman was dead, leaving a widow,
this daughter-in-law should be united to the second son, and that
they should live together as man and wife. On the announcement of the
decision, the bridegroom-elect saluted the principal Todas present
by placing his head on their feet, which were sometimes concealed
within the ample folds of the putkuli. At the funeral of a married
woman, three ceremonies must, I was told, be performed, if possible,
by a daughter or daughter-in-law, viz.:--
(1) Tying a leafy branch of the tiviri shrub (Atylosia Candolleana)
in the putkuli of the corpse;
(2) Tying balls of thread and cowry shells on the arm of the corpse,
just above the elbow;
(3) Setting fire to the funeral pyre, which was, on the present
occasion, done by lighting a rag fed with ghi with a match.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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