Page:Castes and tribes of southern India, Volume 5.djvu/509

Rh who carries them what has become of the dead person, and he is expected to reply that he has gone to Kāsi (Benares) or Jagannātham. A cloth is spread on the spot where the corpse was burnt, and offerings of food are placed on it. On the fourth day, a pig is killed and cooked. Before being cooked, one of the legs is hung up near the spot where the deceased breathed his last. Death pollution is got rid of by touching oil and turmeric, and the ceremonies conclude with a feast. An annual offering of food is made, in the month of November, to ancestors, unless a death takes place in the family during this month.

The Ganjam Paidis worship the Tākurānis (village deities), and sacrifice goats and sheep at local temples. As they are a polluting caste, they stand at a distance opposite the entrance to the temple, and, before they retire, take a pinch or two of earth. This, on their return home, they place on a cloth spread on a spot which has been cleansed, and set before it the various articles which have been prepared as offerings to the Tākurāni. When a Paidi is seriously ill, a male or female sorcerer (Bejjo or Bejjano) is consulted. A square, divided into sixteen compartments, is drawn on the floor with rice-flour. In each compartment are placed a leaf, cup of Butea frondosa, a quarter-anna piece, and some food. Seven small bows and arrows are set up in front thereof in two lines. On one side of the square a big cup, filled with food, is placed. A fowl is sacrificed, and its blood poured thrice round this cup. Then, placing water in a vessel near the cup, the sorcerer or sorceress throws into it a grain of rice, giving out at the same time the name of some god or goddess. If the rice sinks, it is believed that the illness is caused by the anger of the deity, whose name has been mentioned.