After the kachütthti ceremony the body is replaced on the wooden bier and borne to the methkudi, where the funeral pyre has been erected within the wood, usually at no great distance from the funeral hut.
The bier is laid by the side of the pyre, and the dead person is then supplied with the various necessaries for the other world. Many of the things are placed in the large pocket, or kudsh, between the two folds of the cloak in which the body is enclosed.
The things supplied are chiefly food, ornaments, and money. The food includes grain, rice, jaggery, limes, and honey. Some of the food is put directly into the kudsh, while some of the grain, rice, and honey are mixed together and put in a metal bowl. Tobacco, coconuts, ghi, or articles of food from the bazaar may be added.
A number of square boxes made of rattan and called pettei[15] are also placed on the bier. They are procured from Mitur in the Wainad, and are often called miturpettei or mitudpettei. Jaggery and other things are put into each of the boxes, and they are covered with cloth, tied with thread, and adorned with cowries.
The ornaments placed on the corpse included rings for the fingers, armlets, necklaces, and earrings.
The money is collected from all present and put in rolls into long purses, called tinkani. Most of the money used for this occasion is old with Arabic inscriptions and is known by the Todas as irajkars, the more recent coinage being called englishkars. In one collection of coins which [[362]]I was allowed to inspect many bore the date 1780, and among the more recent coins were included two Japanese yen. The rolls of coins are placed within the cloak, often near the feet of the dead person.
Meanwhile the pyre has been lighted. At the funeral of a man this must be done by means of fire made by friction. I have not recorded whether the fire is made by any special relative of the deceased or other special person. At the funeral of a woman, the fire is started by means of a lighted rag which has been soaked in ghi. The rag is lighted by a man, who at present uses matches for the purpose. Though lighted by a man the fire is applied to the funeral pyre by a woman, usually of the same clan as the dead person. The pyre is lighted on the top, where small pieces of wood have been placed, and butter is poured on the fire which gradually spreads downwards. The progress of the fire is very slow, and at every funeral at which I was present the fire was far from strong when the body was placed upon it.
At the funeral of a male, imitation buffalo horns of wood (tebkuter or petkuter, see [Fig. 35]) are placed on the fire and burnt. This was also done at the funeral of the girl Sinerani, but it seemed clear that this was unorthodox and was done by Kuriolv, the father of the dead girl, on account of his great sorrow at her death.
The body on the bier is now taken up and swung three times over the fire, while a small wooden framework resembling a miniature bier is held under the larger bier. As the body is swung over the fire in this way the bearers say:—
“Kedr Funeral tütth fire tâzâr over mud three tirk times tûkitth lifted tâthi.” must.