Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 8.djvu/140

BADAGA MEN. —BADAGA WOMAN. man or maiden springs to the front and dances to the song, light and agile as a deer, or better still, a mountaineer, such as they are. Thus with song and dance the evening glides away." The funeral ceremonies are most interesting, not only for the funeral dirge sung and chanted, but for the ceremonies themselves, which resemble those of the Todas and other tribes, or may have been adopted from them. We proceed to extract some portions of Mr. Gover's descriptions in illustration.

"The ceremonial (of cremation) commences somewhat before death. As soon as the last struggle sets in, the whole village springs into activity and earnest labour. The family gathers round the dying man. The father, or senior member of the family, takes a small gold coin worth about sixpence, and therefore very tiny, dips it. in ghee, and places it in the sick man's mouth, telling him to swallow what should be his last and most important food and fortune. If the coin slip down, well; he will need both gold and ghee: the one to sustain his strength in the dark journey to the river of death; the other to fee the guardian of the fairy-like bridge that spans the dreaded tide." (This is the ceremony of the Birianhana, and, according to Mr. Breeks, is one of time Toda observances). "If the coin cannot be swallowed, it is tied to the right arm, that there may be nothing to hinder the passage of the soul into the regions of the blest."

The deceased's friends and relatives are then summoned from the villages around, and wood is collected for the bier, which is prepared by Kota carpenters.

"Towards evening all this is done. Then the car is covered with cloth, and the corpse is brought out in a native cot or bed, and laid under the car. On one side of the cot are placed the various tools employed by the deceased—his plough, his knife, &c.; on the other are laid out his flute, his stick, and the bows and arrows made by the Kotas." (This also is in accordance with Toda customs; it is not Hindoo). "Last of all an empty gourd, to serve him as a drinking pot in the long journey from the known to the unknown, is laid at the dead man's feet.

"With early dawn the crowd of friends comes in. Men and women are dressed in their best. . . . The first ceremonial is that of the dance. It begins with the male relations of the dead, who circle round the corpse, now fast, now slow, now with joined hands, and then separately. Above all rises the shrill music of the Kotas, who officiate at this portion of the ceremony. Music and dance get faster and faster still; as friends arrive, they join in, and with their fresh vigour keep up the frenzied round. They are supposed to be accompanying the parted soul in its rapid flight to the feet of God, or rather to the pillar of fire, of which more will be said hereafter. Sometimes this frantic dance will last for hours."

When the dance is done, the nearest relatives of the man, walk in procession round the body, each reciting his good qualities, and at every fresh illustration there are "bursts of weeping." Now the confession of sins commences: one man