The dead are always buried by the Kabirpanthis and usually by other
Halbas, cremation being reserved by the latter as a special mark
of respect for elders and heads of families. A dead body is wrapped
in a new white cloth and laid on an inverted cot. The Kabirpanthis
lay plantain leaves at the sides of the cot and over the body to
cover it. One of the mourners carries a burning cowdung cake with the
party. Before burial the thread which every male wears round his waist
is broken, the clothes are taken off the corpse and given to a sweeper,
and the body is wrapped in the shroud and laid in the grave, salt being
sprinkled under and over it. If the dead body should be touched by any
person of another caste, the deceased's family has to pay a fine or
give a penal caste-feast. After the interment the mourners bathe and
return to the deceased's house in their wet clothes. Before entering
it they wash their feet in water, which is kept for that purpose at
the door, and chew the leaves of the nim tree (Melia indica). They
smoke their chongis or leaf-pipes and console the deceased's family
and then return home, washing their feet again and changing their
clothes at their own houses. On the third day, known as Tij Nahan,
the male members of the family with the relatives and mourners walk
in Indian file to a river or tank, where they are all shaved by the
barber, the sons of the dead man or woman having the entire head
and face cleared of hair, while in the case of other relatives, the
scalp-lock and moustache may be left, and the mourning friends are
only shaved as on ordinary occasions. For his services the barber
receives a cow or a substantial cash present, which he divides with
the washerman. The latter subsequently washes all clothes worn at the
funeral and on this occasion. On the Akti festival, or commencement of
the agricultural year, libations of water and offerings of urad [145]
cakes are made to the spirits of ancestors. A feast is given to women
in honour of all departed female ancestors on the ninth day of the
Pitripaksh or mourning fortnight of Kunwar (September), and feasts
for male ancestors may be held on the same day of the fortnight
as that on which they died at any other time of the year. [146]
Such observances are practised only by the well-to-do. Nothing is
done for persons who die before their marriage or without children,
unless they trouble some member of the family and appear in a dream
to demand that these honours be paid to them. During an epidemic
of cholera all funeral and mourning ceremonies are suspended, and a
general purification of the village takes place on its conclusion.