The tribe bury the dead, placing the head to the north. When the
corpse is taken out of the house two grains of rice are thrown to
each point of the compass to invite the ancestors of the family to
the funeral. And on the way, where two roads meet, the corpse is set
down and a little rice and cotton-seed sprinkled on the ground as a
guiding-mark to the ancestors. Before burial the corpse is anointed
with turmeric and oil, and carried seven times round the grave,
probably as a symbol of marriage to it. Each relative puts a piece
of cloth in the grave, and the dead man's cooking and drinking-pots,
his axe, stick, pipe and other belongings, and a basketful of rice are
buried with him. The mourners set three plants of orai or khas-khas
grass on the grave over the dead man's head, middle and feet, and
then they go to a tank and bathe, chewing the roots of this grass. It
would appear that the orai grass may be an agent of purification or
means of severance from the dead man's ghost, like the leaves of the
sacred nim [493] tree.