CHAPTER XVI
FUNERAL CEREMONIES—continued
The Marvainolkedr
The second funeral may be held little more than a month after the etvainolkedr, or there may be an interval of a year or more, and in the case of a child both funeral ceremonies may be performed on one day. In the old days the marvainolkedr was a great occasion. The proceedings lasted for two whole days, and were prolonged till daybreak of the third. Many buffaloes were slaughtered; they were caught on the first day, when they were shut up in the circular pen and bells put on their necks. On the second day they were taken from the pen to the slaughtering place, and various ceremonies took place in connexion with and after their deaths. This kind of funeral was called tuütthkedr, meaning “the putting in buffalo-pen funeral.” In the old days this putting into the pen was sometimes omitted, especially in the case of poor or unimportant people, and the catching and killing of the buffaloes were both carried out on one day, and this kind of funeral was known as marppitkedr. At the present time the Todas only have the marppitkedr, owing to the restrictions on the number of buffaloes killed. The Todas seem now to believe that the Government have actually prohibited them from putting the buffaloes into the pen at the funerals, but I could not find that this was the case.
It is now the custom, and seems long to have been so, to hold the marvainolkedr of several people at the same time. The Government allows two buffaloes to be killed for each [[373]]person, and if two or more funerals are held simultaneously it gives an appearance of the olden times. So far as I could ascertain, however, the funerals of two or more people only take place together when they belong to the same clan.
In some cases, however, the funeral places of two or more clans are very near one another. In such a case there might be a certain amount of combination of the different ceremonies, but some of the rites would be carried out at different spots for each clan. Something of this kind appears to have happened at the funeral ceremonies recorded by Mr. Thurston (Bull. i., p. 176). Similarly the marvainolkedr of a man or woman of the same clan may be held simultaneously owing to the fact that the funeral places for the two sexes are usually close to one another. The buffaloes would, however, be killed at different places, and the remains would not be burnt and buried at the same azaram.
Owing to the custom of having the marvainolkedr of several people simultaneously, it has often been supposed that the Todas have a kind of anniversary ceremony for all those who have died during the year, but there is no doubt that this is wrong. There was a large marvainolkedr soon after I left the hills (in January, 1903), but it was a ceremony for two women only, Narskuti (63 and 56), and Tersveli (63 and 52), both belonging to the Kuudrol, and it was held at Kurkalmut, the proper funeral place for the women of Kuudr. It is quite possible that owing to the restrictions on the slaughter of buffaloes it may become more and more the custom to hold several marvainolkedr simultaneously, and that this custom may develop into an anniversary ceremony. This could only come about, however, by throwing over the custom that the funerals of each clan should be held at a definitely appointed place, and there is no doubt that this has not yet happened.
At the second funeral ceremony the relics are placed in a special hut, and at a man’s funeral the hut has the same name as at the etvainolkedr, and apparently it may sometimes happen that the same hut is used at both ceremonies. The second funeral is not always held, however, at the same place [[374]]as the first, and the interval between the two ceremonies may be so great that it may have become necessary to rebuild the hut. At the only marvainolkedr at which I was present a new hut had been built for the occasion.