FIG. 40.—PUNATVAN AND PICHIEVAN CUTTING UP THE CALF. IN THE BACKGROUND KÒDRNER IS SHARPENING UP THE ‘KO.’
The next part to be removed is the right mogâl, and then the three other corresponding parts. Up to this point, everything must be done by the palikartmokh himself, but after the mogâl have been removed any one may help, and on the occasion when I witnessed the ceremony, several operations were going on simultaneously after this point of the proceedings, and it became difficult to ascertain exactly what was being done and the exact order in which the parts were being removed. The cutting up of the calf was performed chiefly by Pichievan, while the palikartmokh, Punatvan, occupied himself with other operations.
After the removal of the mogâl, the remaining parts of the two fore-limbs are removed and placed on the skin. The larynx and windpipe are taken out together, and in doing this the large vessels of the neck are divided. The body of the animal is then taken up and held over the skin, so that the blood runs out over the parts placed on the skin, and these parts are then moved about, so that they become smeared with blood, and are then placed on the stakes (ko), [[283]]and each ko with its part of the animal is stuck in the ground on one side of the skin. Some of the other parts when removed are rubbed in the blood on the skin.
When the different parts have been impaled in this manner, the palikartmokh cuts from each part a small piece of flesh called mîis and puts the pieces on a stake. From the ribs and sternum, he cuts a part called the tütmîis, much larger than the other fragments, and puts this on a stake. I could not ascertain exactly of what the tütmîis consisted, but it seemed to be the lower end of the sternum with some of the diaphragm attached to it.[3]
FIG. 41.—ROASTING THE PIECES OF THE CALF.
After cutting off the mîis, the palikartmokh begins to put the parts round the fire ([Fig. 41]), beginning with the mogâl, [[284]]which are placed, one on each side, about the middle of the fire, but rather nearer that end at which the head is to be placed later. The mogâl must be put in this position by the palikartmokh himself, but the other parts may be arranged in any order. While the palikartmokh is manipulating the parts first cut off and placing them round the fire, his assistants will be continuing the division of the animal. When the liver is taken out, the gall-bladder is cut from it and thrown on one side. The intestines are removed and put on stakes by transfixing every few inches of their length.
The small intestine is placed on more than one ko, while, so far as I could see, the large intestine is put on one stake. The urinary bladder is thrown on one side. The ribs are cut through nearer the back than the front, and the sternum and anterior parts of the ribs form one part, the mudri. It was from this part that the tütmîis was taken. The spleen is put on one side in order that it may be given to a cat, and its name is derived from this fact. The stomach when taken out of the body is filled with milk and in this state is called pâlvîr. Its contents are poured out and it then receives the name pâlvetâr.
As soon as the cutting up is completed and all the other parts have been placed round the fire, the head is put on a ko, and this is stuck in the ground at one end of the fire and about half a yard from it, and the four kwelthkh are placed on the ground round the head. Some of the parts placed round the fire may by this time have charred, and they are turned round so as to expose the opposite side to the flames.