In Bastar, at some convenient time after the death, a stone is set
up in memory of any dead person who was an adult, usually by the
roadside. Families who have emigrated to other localities often return
to their parent village for setting up these stones. The stones vary
according to the importance of the deceased, those for prominent men
being sometimes as much as eight feet high. In some places a small
stone seat is made in front, and this is meant for the deceased to
sit on, the memorial stone being his house. After being placed in
position the stone is anointed with turmeric, curds, ghi and oil,
and a cow or pig is offered to it. Afterwards irregular offerings
of liquor and tobacco are made to the dead man at the stone by the
family and also by strangers passing by. They believe that the memorial
stones sometimes grow and increase in size, and if this happens they
think that the dead man's family will become extinct, as the stone
and the family cannot continue to grow together. Elsewhere a long
heap of stones is made in honour of a dead man, sometimes with a
flat-topped post at the head. This is especially done for men who
have died from epidemic disease or by an accident, and passers-by
fling stones on the heap with the idea that the dead man's spirit
will thereby be kept down and prevented from returning to trouble
the living. In connection with the custom of making a seat at the
deceased's tomb for his spirit to sit upon, Mr. A. K. Smith writes:
"It is well known to every Gond that ghosts and devils cannot squat on
the bare ground like human beings, and must be given something to sit
on. The white man who requires a chair to sit on is thus plainly akin
to the world of demons, so one of the few effective ways of getting
Gonds to open their mouths and talk freely is to sit on the ground
among them. Outside every Gond house is placed a rough bench for
the accommodation of any devils that may be flitting about at night,
so that they may not come indoors and trouble the inmates."