Some Special Funeral Ceremonies
In the previous account certain ceremonies which may be performed by special individuals have been omitted. In general, at the funeral of a man, the part of chief mourner and director of the ceremonies is taken by a brother or son of the deceased. At the funeral of a woman the husband takes the chief place.
While the mourning is going on, a ceremony will have been performed if the dead person should be a man or woman whose spouse is still alive. The husband of a dead woman goes to one of his paiol, most commonly to his father-in-law, if he is living, and the paiol draws up the cloak of the widower so that it covers his head. The man who has his head covered in this way is called mad âr mitch nidvai, “head on covered who stands” (see [Fig. 61]). The widower keeps his head covered in this way as a sign of mourning and does not take off the cloak till the end of the second funeral. When the paiol has arranged the cloak of the mourner, the two men cry together with forehead to forehead.
Similarly the wife of a dead man has her cloak drawn over her head as a sign of mourning, and this is done for her by her own father or someone of his clan who takes his place. This ceremony is performed by a relative of the woman, whether it is husband or wife who is dead.
It is the duty of the widower or widow to mix the grain and honey which is put into a bowl on the bier. [[366]]
Other special ceremonies fall to the lot of the mokhthodvaiol or sedvaitazmokh of the dead person if there should be such. The mokhthodvaiol of a woman is the recognised lover whom she may have in addition to her husband or husbands. The sedvaitazmokh is the name of the woman in this Toda institution. The mokhthodvaiol of a dead woman goes to the funeral wearing his ring on the ring finger of the left hand. Before the buffalo is caught he pays the kalmelpudithti salutation to the father of the woman; bows down before him and raises each foot to his head. He then puts into the pocket of the cloak of the woman some limes, three handfuls (mudteir) of patcherski and one large piece of jaggery. He also puts a piece of the dark cloth called än into the pocket of the cloak, this act being called än kudshk it pudithti. The mokhthodvaiol asks the husband of the woman three times “än kudsh idukina?” (“Shall I put än into the kudsh?”) and the husband answers each time “idu!” In putting the various things into the pocket, the mokhthodvaiol has to use his left hand throughout.
When a man dies his sedvaitazmokh, if there be one, goes to the funeral ceremony wearing a ring on the ring finger of her left hand, and similarly puts limes, grain, jaggery, and a piece of än into the pocket of the dead man’s mantle. Before doing this the brothers of the dead man do kalmelpudithti to the father of the woman, and this was said to be done in order to obtain permission from him for his daughter to put things into the cloak.
At the funeral of a girl, or of a childless woman, there are performed the ceremonies of urvatpimi and pursütpimi which are usually performed during pregnancy. In life the urvatpimi, or hand-burning ceremony, is performed before that of pursütpimi, but after death the order may be reversed. These ceremonies are most frequently performed at the funerals of children, and a full description may be reserved till a later section (see p. [391]).
In the case of an adult the ceremony is only performed if it has not been performed in life. If a woman dies in the later months of pregnancy after these ceremonies have taken place, they would not be performed at the funeral. [[367]]