The hut at the second funeral of a woman differs in name from that of the first funeral, being called kursars instead of nersars. After the second funeral the kursars is burnt down, but my notes do not make it clear whether the nersars is always burnt down after the first funeral, or whether it may not sometimes be kept for the second ceremony. The difference of name, however, makes this improbable.
If the marvainolkedr of two or more people are held simultaneously, a hut is built for the remains of each; thus, at the ceremony in January, 1903, there were two huts, one for Narskuti and the other for Tersveli.
The relics, now called the narskedr, are brought to the funeral place on a bier made of bamboo, and called kailpedrkudr instead of mänpedrkudr (wood bier) as at the first funeral. The narskedr is wrapped in an embroidered mantle (pukuruputkuli) and placed in the hut, and then all the women of the dead person’s division who are present cry together, forehead to forehead, in the usual manner. The chief things to be burnt with the remains are also placed within the hut.
At a funeral witnessed by Mr. Thurston the relics were taken from a hole cut at the base of a tree, and the hair was unwrapped from off the skull, burnt in an iron ladle, and anointed with clarified butter before being placed in its cloth. This was probably a ceremony which should have been performed on the following morning at the azaramkedr (see p. [379]).
As on the former occasion, a man’s funeral begins with the ceremony of earth-throwing, which is carried out in the same way as at the elvainolkedr. The narskedr is laid at the entrance of the buffalo pen, and earth is thrown into the pen and on the remains in the manner already described. There is nothing corresponding to the tiveri tur ceremony of the woman’s first funeral.
At the present time the driving, catching, and killing of the buffaloes are carried out in very much the same way as at the [[375]]etvainolkedr. At the funerals of Teivaliol the buffaloes are caught by Tartharol and killed by Teivaliol of a clan different to that of the deceased. At the funerals of the Tartharol the buffaloes are caught by Teivaliol, and killed by the wursol or by a Tarthar man of a different clan, according as they are of the sacred or ordinary kind.
As the buffalo dies, the narskedr is brought up and laid by the head of the animal, and the lamenting and saluting take place around the buffalo and the remains, exactly as at the first funeral.
Sometimes a ceremony occurs immediately before the buffalo is caught. A man takes a ring of the creeper called kakhudri and throws it at one of the driven buffaloes. It should fall on the horns or neck of one of the buffaloes, but it does not matter whether on a buffalo which is to be killed or on another.
This throwing of the creeper, which is called kakhudri erspimi, or kudri erspimi,[1] “we throw the creeper,” is done by the wursol at a Tarthar funeral, while at the funeral of the Teivaliol it is done by a palikartmokh of the same clan as the deceased. This ceremony used not to be performed at those funerals which lasted two days, when the buffaloes were shut into a pen on one day and killed on the next, but it should always be performed when the funeral ceremonies are limited to one day. It seems possible that the circular ring of creeper may be intended to represent the act of putting the animals in the circular pen, but the Todas could give me no information on this point. It seemed clear that it is only done at those funerals in which the buffaloes are not put into the pen.