Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 7.djvu/356

VALLUVAN In some places, the Valluvans, at their marriages, like the Pallis and some other castes, use the pandamutti, or pile of pots reaching to the top of the pandal. The Saivite lingam wearers bury their dead in a sitting posture in a niche excavated in the side of the grave. After death has set in, a cocoanut is broken, and camphor burnt. The corpse is washed by relations, who bring nine pots of water for the purpose. The lingam is tied on to the head, and a cloth bundle, containing a rupee, seven bilva (Ǽgle Marmelos) leaves, nine twigs of the tulsi (Ocimum sanctum), and nine Leucas aspera flowers, to the right arm. The corpse is carried to the grave on a car surmounted by five brass vessels. The grave is purified by the sprinkling of cow's urine and cow-dung water before the corpse is lowered into it. On the way to the burial-ground, the priest keeps on chanting various songs, such as " This is Kailāsa. This is Kailāsa thillai (Chidambaram). Our request is this. Nallia Mutthan of the Nandidarma gōtra died on Thursday in the month Thai in the year Subakruthu. He must enter the fourth stage (sayichyam), passing through Sālokam, Sāmīpa, and Sārupa. He crosses the rivers of stones, of thorns, of fire, and of snakes, holding the tail of the bull Nandi. To enable him to reach heaven safely, we pound rice, and put lights of rice." The priest receives a fee for his services, which he places before an image made on the grave after it has been filled in. The money is usually spent in making a sacred bull, lingam, or stone slab, to place on the grave. On the third day after death, the female relatives of the deceased pour milk within the house into a vessel, which is taken by the male relatives to the burial-ground, and offered at the grave, which is cleaned. A small platform, made of mud, and composed