Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 7.djvu/254

ULLADAN When he resumes his former self, he takes half the offerings to himself, allowing the other half for distribution among the bystanders. They also worship the spirits of the departed members of their families, who, they think, sometimes appear to them in dreams, and ask them for whatever they want. They believe that, in the event of their neglecting to give what is asked, these spirits will cause serious calamity to their family. "The Ullādans generally bury their dead in special places called chotala, but some of them bury the corpse a few yards away from their huts. The young are buried deep in the ground, while the old ones are buried not so deep. The dead body is placed on a new piece of cloth spread on a bamboo bier, which is carried by the relatives to the grave-yard. The castemen of the neighbourhood, including the relations and friends of the deceased, accompany the bier to the burial-ground, and return home after bathing. The members of the family fast for the night. They observe pollution for fifteen days, and, on the morning of the sixteenth day, the Thalippan (barber priest) comes and cleans the huts and its surrounding, and sprinkles cow-dung mixed with water on the members of the family as they return from bathing, in order that they may be freed from pollution. They entertain their castemen on that day. It is a custom among the Ullādans, Pulayas, and other low classes, that, when they are invited to a feast, they bring with them some rice, curry stuffs, toddy, or a few annas to meet the expenses of the feast. Very often the above articles are obtained as a gift from the charitably disposed members of the higher castes. At the end of the year, a similar feast is given to the castemen. Among the Ullādans, the nephew is the chief mourner, for he usually