The dead are usually buried, though well-to-do families have
adopted cremation. The corpse is laid on its side in the grave,
with head to the north and face to the east. A little til, cotton,
urad and rice are thrown on the grave to serve as seed-grain for
the dead man's cultivation in the other world. A dish, a drinking
vessel and a cooking-pot are placed on the grave with the same idea,
but are afterwards taken away by the Dhobi (washerman). They observe
mourning for ten days for a man, nine days for a woman, and three days
for children under three years old. During the period of mourning
the chief mourner keeps a knife beside him, so that the iron may
ward off the attacks of evil spirits, to which he is believed to be
peculiarly exposed. The ordinary rules of abstinence and retirement
are observed during mourning. In the case of cremation the ceremonies
are very elaborate and generally resemble those of the Hindus. When
the corpse is half burnt, all the men present throw five pieces of
wood on to the pyre, and a number of pieces are carried in a winnowing
fan to the dead man's house, where they are touched by the women and
then brought back and thrown on to the fire. After the funeral the
mourners bathe and return home walking one behind the other in Indian
file. When they come to a cross-road, the foremost man picks up a
pebble with his left foot, and it is passed from hand to hand down
the line of men until the hindmost throws it away. This is supposed
to sever their connection with the spirit of the deceased and prevent
it from following them home. On the third day they return to the
cremation ground to collect the ashes and bones. A Brahman is called
who cooks a preparation of milk and rice at the head of the corpse,
boils urad pulse at its feet, and bakes eight wheaten chapatis at
the sides. This food is placed in leaf-cups at two corners of the
ground. The mourners sprinkle cow's urine and milk over the bones,
and picking them up with a palas (Butea frondosa) stick, wash them in
milk and deposit them in a new earthen pot until such time as they
can be carried to the Ganges. The bodies of men dying of smallpox
must never be burnt, because that would be equivalent to destroying
the goddess, incarnate in the body. The corpses of cholera patients
are buried in order to dispose of them at once, and are sometimes
exhumed subsequently within a period of six months and cremated. In
such a case the Kawars spread a layer of unhusked rice in the grave,
and address a prayer to the earth-goddess stating that the body has
been placed with her on deposit, and asking that she will give it
back intact when they call upon her for it. They believe that in such
cases the process of decay is arrested for six months.