The dead are never burnt, but their bodies are weighted with sand-bags
and thrown into a stream. The practice which formerly prevailed among
the Bishnois of burying their dead in the courtyard of the house by
the cattle-stalls has now fallen into desuetude as being insanitary. A
red cloth is spread over the body of a woman, and if her maternal
relatives are present each of them places a piece of cloth on the
bier. After the funeral the mourning party proceed to a river to
bathe, and then cook and eat their food on the bank. This custom is
also followed by the Panwar Rajputs of the Wainganga Valley, but is
forbidden by most of the good Hindu castes. No period of impurity is
observed after a death, but on some day between the fourth and tenth
days afterwards a feast is given to the caste-fellows.