The Pankas are strict vegetarians and do not drink liquor. A Kabirha
Panka is put out of caste for eating flesh meat. Both men and women
generally wear white clothes, and men have the garland of beads round
the neck. The dead are buried, being laid on the back with the head
pointing to the north. After a funeral the mourners bathe and then
break a cocoanut over the grave and distribute it among themselves. On
the tenth day they go again and break a cocoanut and each man buries
a little piece of it in the earth over the grave. A little cup made
of flour containing a lamp is placed on the grave for three days
afterwards, and some food and water are put in a leaf cup outside the
house for the same period. During these days the family do not cook
for themselves but are supplied with food by their friends. After
childbirth a mother is supposed not to eat food during the time that
the midwife attends on her, on account of the impurity caused by this
woman's presence in the room.