Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 2.djvu/96

CHERUMAN cannot at certain seasons afford to be idle for fourteen days consecutively, they resort to an artifice to obtain this end. They mix cow-dung and paddy, and make it into a ball, and place the ball in an earthen pot, the mouth of which they carefully close with clay. The pot is laid in a corner of the hut, and, as long as it remains unopened, they remain free from pollution, and can mix among their fellows. On a convenient day they open the pot, and are instantly seized with pollution, which continues for forty days. Otherwise fourteen days consecutive pollution is all that is required. On the forty-first or fifteenth day, as the case may be, rice is thrown to the ancestors, and a feast follows." The following account of the death ceremonies is given by Mr. Anantha Krishna Iyer. "When a Pulayan is dead, the castemen in the neighbourhood are informed. An offering is made to the Kodungallūr Bhagravati, who is believed by the Pulayas to watch over their welfare, and is regarded as their ancestral deity. Dead bodies are generally buried. The relatives, one by one, bring a new piece of cloth, with rice and paddy tied at its four corners, for throwing over the corpse. The cloth is placed thereon, and they cry aloud three times, beating their breasts, after which they retire. A few Parayas are invited to beat drums, and play on their musical instruments — a performance which is continued for an hour or two. After this, a few bits of plantain leaves, with rice flour and paddy, are placed near the corpse, to serve as food for the spirit of the dead. The bier is carried to the graveyard by six bearers, three on each side. The pit is dug, and the body covered with a piece of cloth. After it has been lowered into it, the pit is filled in with earth. Twenty-one small bits of leaves are placed over the grave, above the spot where the mouth