The dead are buried as a rule, but the practice of cremating the bodies
of adults is increasing. When a body is buried a rupee or a copper coin
is tied in the sheet, so that the deceased may not go penniless to the
other world. Sometimes the dead man's clothes and bows and arrows are
buried with him. On the tenth day the soul is brought back. Outside
the village, where two roads meet, rice is offered to a cock, and
if it eats, this is a sign that the soul has come. The soul is then
asked to ride on a bowstick covered with cloth, and is brought to the
house and placed in a corner with those of other relatives. The souls
are fed annually with rice on the harvest and Dasahra festivals. In
Sambalpur a ball of powdered rice is placed under a tree with a lamp
near it, and the first insect that settles on the ball is taken to be
the soul, and is brought home and worshipped. The souls of infants
who die before the umbilical cord has dropped are not brought back,
because they are considered to have scarcely come into existence;
and Sir E. Gait records that one of the causes of female infanticide
was the belief that the souls of girl-children thus killed would not
be born again, and hence the number of future female births would
decrease. This belief partially conflicts with that of the change of
sex on rebirth mentioned above; but the two might very well exist
together. The souls of women who die during pregnancy or after a
miscarriage, or during the monthly period of impurity are also not
brought back, no doubt because they are held to be malignant spirits.