Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 2.djvu/400

IDAIYAN a tank. The widow rubs oil over the head of the corpse, and some one, placing a little oil in the hands thereof, rubs it over her head. On the way to the burning-ground, a barber carries a fire-brand and a pot, and a washerman carries the mat, cloths, and other articles used by the deceased. When the idukādu, a spot made to represent the shrine of Arichandra who is in charge of the burial or burning ground, is reached, the polluted articles are thrown away, and the bier is placed on the ground. A Paraivan makes a cross-mark at the four corners of the bier, and the son, who is chief mourner, places a small coin on three of the marks, leaving out the one at the north-east corner. The Paraiyan takes these coins and tears a bit of cloth from the winding-sheet, which is sent to the widow. At the burning-ground, the relations place rice, water, and small coins in the mouth of the corpse. The coins are the perquisite of the Paraiyan. The son, who is clean-shaved, carries a pot of water on his shoulder thrice round the pyre, and, at each turn, the barber makes a hole in it with a chank shell, when the head is reached. Finally the pot is broken near the head. The sacred threads are thrown by those who wear them on the pyre, and the son sets fire to it, and goes away without looking back. The widow meanwhile has broken her tāli string, and thrown it into a vessel of milk, which is set on the spot where the deceased breathed his last. The son, on his return home after bathing, steps across a pestle placed at the threshold. Ārathi (wave offering) is performed, and he worships a lighted lamp within the house. On the following day, rice and Sesbania grandiflora are cooked, and served to the relatives by the widow's brothers. Next day, milk, ghī (clarified butter), curds, tender cocoanuts, nine kinds of grain, water, and other