The Oraons either bury or burn the dead. As the corpse is carried
to the grave, beginning from the first crossroads, they sprinkle a
line of rice as far as the grave or pyre. This is done so that the
soul of the deceased may find its way back to the house. Before the
burial or cremation cooked food and some small pieces of money are
placed in the mouth of the corpse. They are subsequently, however,
removed or recovered from the ashes and taken by the musicians
as their fee. Some clothes belonging to the deceased and a vessel
with some rice are either burnt with the corpse or placed in the
grave. As the grave is being filled in they place a stalk of _orai_
[362] grass vertically on the head of the corpse and gradually draw
it upwards as the earth is piled on the grave. They say that this is
done in order to leave a passage for the air to pass to the nostrils
of the deceased. This is the grass from which reed pens are made,
and the stalk is hard and hollow. Afterwards they plant a root of
the same grass where the stalk is standing over the head of the
corpse. On the tenth day they sacrifice a pig and fowl and bury the
legs, tail, ears and nose of the pig in a hole with seven balls of iron
dross. They then proceed to the grave scattering a little parched rice
all the way along the path. Cooked rice is offered at the grave. If
the corpse has been burnt they pick up the bones and place them in a
pot, which is brought home and hung up behind the dead man's house. At
night-time a relative sits inside the house watching a burning lamp,
while some friends go outside the village and make a miniature hut
with sticks and grass and set fire to it. They then call out to the
dead man, 'Come, your house is being burnt,' and walk home striking
a mattock and sickle together. On coming to the house they kick down
the matting which covers the doorway; the man inside says, 'Who are
you?' and they answer, 'It is we.' They watch the lamp and when the
flame wavers they believe it to show that the spirit of the deceased
has followed them and has also entered the house. Next day the bones
are thrown into a river and the earthen pot broken against a stone.