[Death ceremonies.] 16. Those who have been initiated into the Siva Nârâyani or Sri Nârâyani, Kabîrpanthi or Râmanandi sects are buried, unless before death they have expressed a wish to be cremated. Their corpses are removed to the burial-ground on a gaily decorated bier without any marks of mourning and accompanied with shouts of Râm! Râm! Sat hai. “The Lord is the Lord of Truth.” Ordinary Châmars are burnt in the usual way. Those who are poor only scorch the face of the corpse (mukhâg). The ashes, when the body is properly cremated, are thrown into some neighbouring stream. The chief mourner who has fired the pyre on the day after the cremation places outside the house an earthen pot full of milk and rice gruel (mânr) with a pitcher of water for the use of the disembodied spirit. On the third day after death comes the tirâtri ceremony which consists of the offering of oblations and cakes of barley-flour (pinda) to the departed soul. On the tenth day (daswân), this ceremony is repeated, and the castemen are fed. On that day the person who fired the pyre (dagiha) is purified by being shaved. On the eleventh the utensils and private property of the dead man are made over to his sister’s husband (bahnoi), who acts as the officiant priest—perhaps a survival of the matriarchate. In some places, however, and particularly where Chamârs are becoming rich and influential, the Mahâbrâhman offers the sacred balls (pinda). When the service is done by a member of the tribe he says,—Âr Ganga, pâr Ganga; Bihâri ka beta, Râmbakhsh ka nâti, pinda det; Ganga Mâi bujbuji det—“Ganges on this side, Ganges on that side; the son of Bihâri (or whatever his name may be) the grandson of Râmbakhsh offers the cakes, but mother Ganges gives only bubbles in return.” Some plant a few stalks of grass near a tank as an abode for the spirit which wanders about until the funeral ceremonies are complete. On this water is poured daily for ten days. Some again give a tribal feast on the twelfth, some on the sixteenth day after death. On the anniversary of a death twelve balls are offered, and, if the family can afford it, the clansmen are fed. Some, again, after the usual balls and oblations during the fortnight (pitrapaksha) sacred to the dead, join in removing the corpse, and each of the five touches his mouth with a burning brand. By this procedure none of the five incurs any personal defilement.