Page:Castes and tribes of southern India, Volume 5.djvu/50

MARAVAN water which is considered to be sacred. On the eleventh or twelfth day, some grain is sown in two new earthen vessels which have been broken, and there is continued weeping around these. On the sixteenth day, the young plants, which have sprouted, are removed, and put into water, weeping going on all the while; and, after this has been done, the relatives bathe and enjoy a festive meal, after which the karma karta is seated on a white cloth, and is presented with a new cloth and some money by his father-in-law and other relatives who are present. On the seventeenth day takes place the punyagavachanam or purification, at which the Brāhman priest presides, and the karma karta takes an oil bath. The wood of the pipal tree (Ficus religiosa) is never used for purposes of cremation."

Concerning the death ceremonies in the Trichinopoly district, Mr. F. R. Hemingway writes as follows. "Before the corpse is removed, the chief mourner and his wife take two balls of cow-dung, in which the barber has mixed various kinds of grain, and stick them on to the wall of the house. These are thrown into water on the eighth day. The ceremonial is called pattam kattugiradu, or investing with the title, and indicates the succession to the dead man's estate. A rocket is fired when the corpse is taken out of the house. On the sixth day, a pandal (booth) of nāval (Eugenia Jambolana)leaves is prepared, and offerings are made in it to the manes of the ancestors of the family. It is removed on the eighth day, and the chief mourner puts a turban on, and merry-making and dances are indulged in. There are ordinarily no karumantaram ceremonies, but they are sometimes performed on the sixteenth day, a Brāhman being called in. On the return home from these ceremonies, each member of the party has to dip his toe