As soon as death occurs the corpse is bathed, clothed and smeared
with a mixture of powdered sandalwood, camphor and spices. A bier is
constructed of planks, or if this cannot be afforded the man's cot
is turned upside down and the body is carried out for burial on it
in this fashion, with the legs of the cot pointing upwards. Straw
is laid on the bier, and the corpse, covered with fine white cloth,
is tied securely on to it, the hands being crossed on the breast, with
the thumbs and great toes tied together. When a married woman dies she
is covered with a red cloth which reaches only to the neck, and her
face is left open to the view of everybody, whether she went abroad
unveiled in her life or not. It is considered a highly auspicious
thing for a woman to die in the lifetime of her husband and children,
and the corpse is sometimes dressed like a bride and ornaments put on
it. The corpse of a widow or girl is wrapped in a white cloth with
the head covered. At the head of the funeral procession walks the
son of the deceased, or other chief mourner, and in his hand he takes
smouldering cowdung cakes in an earthen pot, from which the pyre will
be kindled. This fire is brought from the hearth of the house by the
barber, and he sometimes also carries it to the pyre. On the way the
mourners change places so that each may assist in bearing the bier,
and once they set the bier on the ground and leave two pice and some
grain where it lay, before taking it up again. After the funeral each
person who has helped to carry it takes up a clod of earth and with it
touches successively the place on his shoulder where the bier rested,
his waist and his knee, afterwards dropping the clod on the ground. It
is believed that by so doing he removes from his shoulder the weight
of the corpse, which would otherwise press on it for some time.