3. Funeral rites.

When a man is about to die they take him down from his cot and lay

him on the ground with his head in the lap of a relative. The dead

are buried, a person of importance being carried to the grave in a

sitting posture, while others are laid out in the ordinary manner. A

woman is buried in a green cloth and a breast-cloth. When the corpse

has been prepared for the funeral they take some liquor, and after a

few drops have been poured into the mouth of the corpse the assembled

persons drink the rest. While following to the grave they beat drums

and play on musical instruments and sing religious songs; and if a

man dies during the night, since he is not buried till the morning,

they sit in the house playing and singing for the remaining hours of

darkness. The object of this custom must presumably be to keep away

evil spirits. After the funeral each man places a leafy branch of

some tree or shrub on the grave, and on the thirteenth day they put

food before a cow and also throw some on to the roof of the house as

a portion for the crows.

The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, Volume 2 · 第 227 / 579 题