Five clans of the Tartharol possess special dairies, each with three rooms which are used as funeral huts. These buildings are habitually or occasionally used as dairies; but when a man of the clan dies his body is laid in the outermost of the three rooms, either on the day of the funeral or for two or three days before it. While a dead body is lying in the dairy, women are allowed to enter the outermost room just as they may go into any other funeral hut, but they may not pass beyond. Men are allowed to enter the middle room, but the innermost room is only entered by the dairyman, who carries on his dairy work as usual. [[340]]
The five villages at which these three-roomed dairies now exist are Nòdrs, Taradrkirsi (Kars), Keradr, Tim (Pan), and Akirsikòdri (Nidrsi). At Taradr a temporary funeral hut with three rooms is constructed within a circle of stones near the village. In the outermost room of this hut the corpse is placed, and women may only enter this room, while men may enter both outer and middle rooms as in the three-roomed dairies. In the innermost room the palikartmokh of the village places a vessel of the kind called mu, and he only is allowed to enter this room.
This temporary building is almost certainly the representative of a three-roomed dairy which at one time existed at this village; and it is probable that at other male Tarthar funeral places the funeral hut should be made with three rooms, though at present this is not done.
In every case the funeral hut which receives the body of a man is called pali, or dairy, and it is probable that at one time among the Tartharol it was the universal custom to place the body of a man in a dairy before the last rites. It is possible that the stone circle within which the funeral hut is built is the representative of the wall surrounding a dairy which formerly existed on the spot. Among the Teivaliol the funeral hut is also called pali, but there is no instance among them of an actual dairy being used to receive the dead.
At the funeral place of women a hut is specially built for the reception of the body, but it is always burnt down after each funeral. This hut is called ars, or house, and has a different name for each ceremony, being called nersars for the first funeral, and kursars for the second. Each kind of hut is constructed within a circle of stones, and the name seems to indicate that at one time the body of a woman was placed in the house of the village. Here again the stone circle may possibly be the representative of an actual house which once existed at the funeral place.
If, for any reason, the funeral of a person is not being held at the proper place, the funeral hut is not constructed within the circle of stones; thus at the funeral of a girl, Sinerani (see p. 392), the hut was placed by the side of the stone circle [[341]]because her funeral was being held at the kertnòdr of her father and not at that of her husband.
At every funeral place there should be a second circle of stones forming a tu, or buffalo-pen. These pens are now rarely, if ever, used, and are a relic of the time when the ceremonies of the marvainolkedr were prolonged over two days, the buffaloes being caught and penned on the first day, and killed on the second. A third ring of stones is the azaram, at the opening of which the ashes are buried at the final scene of the funeral rites.
There are specially appointed days for the funeral ceremonies. These days differ to some extent for different clans and for the two sexes. Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday are the most general days for the funerals of males, only two clans having Saturday as a funeral day for men. For females Thursday and Saturday are most frequently chosen, two clans only holding the funerals of women on Tuesdays. In no case could I find that funerals are performed on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday. These days are, on the other hand, the most usual days set apart as madnol or palinol,[1] and villages which have their madnol or palinol on Sunday or Tuesday do not appear to have their funerals on these days. The general rule is that a funeral must not take place on a madnol or palinol. In several cases I was told that if the mani, or sacred bell, were used, the funeral must be on one day of the week; thus for the Karsol, it must take place on Sunday; for the Kwòdrdoni people, on Tuesday. These obligatory days of the funeral ceremonies often involve the necessity of keeping the corpse for several days.
I did not make special inquiries into ceremonies of the deathbed, but Marshall states (p. 171) that a man who is not expected to recover is dressed in the ornaments and jewellery of his house, which he will wear till he dies or recovers; and Marshall mentions an instance of a man who had revived from what was thought to be his deathbed who paraded about, wearing the finery with which he had [[342]]been bedecked. In this case, it was said that he would be permitted to carry the ornaments till his death. Marshall also states that the relatives give the dying man milk to drink when on the point of death.
After death the body should be wrapped in a dark cloth called än, which is of the same material as the tuni worn by the palol and other dairymen, and, like the tuni, is procured from the Badagas of Jakaneri. It is doubtful, however, whether this custom of enwrapping the body in the än is now kept up with any regularity. Outside the än should be an ornamented mantle (pukuruputkuli) and then a mantle of the ordinary kind.