The dead are usually buried, two pice being first thrown into the
grave to buy the site. The body is laid on its back, naked and with
the head pointing to the south. The earth is mixed with briars and
thorns while being filled in so as to keep off hyenas, and stones
are placed over the grave. No fixed period of mourning is observed,
but after the lapse of some days, the deceased's family or relatives
go to the burial-place, taking with them a piece of turmeric. This
they cut into strips, and, placing them in a leaf-cup, pour water
over them. As the water falls on the tomb, a god is called to witness
that this day the dead man's spirit has been sent to live with the
ancestors. The pieces of turmeric are then tied in a cloth which,
after receiving an oblation of fowl's blood, is suspended from the
main beam of the house, this being considered the dwelling-place of
the departed. This ceremony, called Pitar Miloni, is the first rite
for the admission of the deceased with the spirits of his ancestors,
and is preliminary to the final ceremony of Sedoli which may be
performed at any time between four months and fifteen years after
the death. But until it is complete the spirit of the deceased has
not been laid finally to rest and has the power of sending aches and
pains to molest the bodies of its living relatives. Each sept has a
place in which the Sedoli rites must be performed, and however far
the Korku may have wandered from the original centre of his tribe,
he must return there to set his father's spirit at rest and enable it
to join the ancestral ghosts. When the Sedoli is to be performed an
unblemished teak or salai [606] tree is selected and wrapped round with
a thread, while seven circuits of it are made and a bottle of liquor
and two pice are offered as purchase money. It is then cut down and
brought home, and from it a smooth stake called munda is fashioned,
24 to 30 inches high, and squared or pointed at the top, often being
arrow-headed. On it are carved representations of the sun and moon,
a spider and a human ear, and below these a figure representing the
principal person in whose honour the stake is erected, on horseback
with weapons in his hand. The proper method is to have one munda for
each ancestor, but poor persons make one do for several and their
figures are then carved below. But care must be taken that the total
number of figures representing the dead does not exceed that of the
members of the family who have died during the period for which the
Sedoli is performed. For in that case another person is likely to die
for each extra figure. The little bags of turmeric representing the
ancestors are then taken from the main beam of the house and carried
with the munda to the burial-place. There a goat is sacrificed and
these articles are besmeared with its blood, after which a feast is
held accompanied by singing and dancing. Next day the party again go
to the burial-place and plant the munda in it, placing two pice in
the hole beneath it. They then proceed to the riverside, and, making a
little ball from the flesh of the sacrificed animal, place it together
with the bags of turmeric on a leaf platter, and throw the whole into
the river saying, 'Ancestors, find your home.' If the ball sinks at
once they consider that the ancestors have been successful, but if
any delay takes place, they attribute it to the difficulty experienced
by the ancestors in the selection of a home and throw in two pice to
assist them. The pith of a bamboo may be substituted for turmeric to
represent the bones. The dead are supposed to inhabit a village of
their own similar to that in which they dwelt on earth and to lead
there a colourless existence devoid alike of pleasure and of pain.