Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India.djvu/219

 hold the tray, and convey it to the bone pit, which every hamlet possesses. Into it the bones are thrown, while an elder repeats the words "Become united with the line of your relations, with your class, and with the big people," or "May the young and old who have died, may all those who have died from time immemorial up to the present time, mingle in one." When the pit has been closed up, all return to the spot where the body was burnt, and, clearing a space, make a puddle, round which they stand, and throw into it a handful of korali (Setaria italica), uttering the words "May deaths cease ; may evils cease ; may good prevail in the village ; in virtue of the good deeds of the ancestors and forefathers, may this one mingle with them." This ceremony concluded, they repair to a stream, where a member of the bereaved family shaves a Toreya partially or completely. Some take a razor, and, after removing a patch of hair, pass the Toreya on to a barber. All the agnates are then shaved by a Badaga or a barber. The chief mourner then prostrates himself on the ground, and is blessed by all. He and the Toreya proceed to the house of the deceased. Taking a three-pronged twig of Rhodomyrtus tomentosus, and placing a minige (Argyreia) leaf on the prongs, he thrusts it into a rubbish heap near the house. He then places a small quantity of samai grain, called street food, on the leaf, and, after sprinkling it thrice with water, goes away.

It was noted by Harkness that, at the burning-ground, the son or representative of the deceased dropped a little grain into the mouth of the corpse, carrying in his left hand a small bar of iron, which is supposed to have a repulsive power over the spirits that hover about the dead.