Members of the Lingayat and Kabirpanthi sects bury their dead and
the others cremate them. With the Tirmendar Koshtis on the fifth
day the Ayawar priest goes to the cremation-ground accompanied
by the deceased's family and worships the image of Vishnu and the
Tulsi or basil upon the grave; and after this the whole party take
their food at the place. Mourning is observed during five days for
married and three for unmarried persons; and when a woman has lost
her husband she is taken on the fifth day to the bank of some river
or tank and her bangles are broken, her bead necklace is taken off,
the vermilion is rubbed off her forehead, and her foot ornaments
are removed; and these things she must not wear again while she is
a widow. On the fourth day the Panch or caste elders come and place
a new turban on the head of the chief mourner or deceased's heir;
they then take him round the bazar and seat him at his loom, where he
weaves a little. After this he goes and sits with the Panch and they
take food together. This ceremony indicates that the impurity caused
by the death is removed, and the mourners return to common life. The
caste do not perform the shraddh ceremony, but on the Akhatij day
or commencement of the agricultural year a family which has lost a
male member will invite a man from some other family of the caste,
and one which has lost a female member a woman, and will feed the
guest with good food in the name of the dead. In Chhindwara during
the fortnight of Pitripaksh or the worship of ancestors, a Koshti
family will have a feast and invite guests of the caste. Then the
host stands in the doorway with a pestle and as the guest comes he
bars his entrance, saying: 'Are you one of my ancestors; this feast
is for my ancestors?' To which the guest will reply: 'Yes, I am your
great-grandfather; take away the pestle.' By this ingenious device
the resourceful Koshti combines the difficult filial duty of the
feeding of his ancestors with the entertainment of his friends.