The pole is procured from Malabar through the Kurumbas. It is used at the funeral of males only of both the Teivaliol and Tartharol, and is burnt at the end of the azaramkedr.
In the only dance which I had the opportunity of seeing, the men danced within the circular wall surrounding the funeral hut. In this case the floor of the enclosure was below the general level of the ground. The men formed a circle and danced round in slow step; one man said the name of the slaughtered buffalo—in this case, Purkirsi—and another repeated this name; then the first man said “hau! hau!” which was repeated by the second man.
After a time one of the men took the tadri and they danced round in a similar way, taking the pole with them as they danced (i.e., they did not dance round the pole).
After the dancing is over, food is distributed to all the people present and most return to their homes, while the remainder wait at the funeral place till the following morning, when are held the final ceremonies, which are known as the azaramkedr.
The Azaramkedr
This is the name applied to the ceremonies connected with the final burning of the remains and burial of the ashes. After food has been distributed at the marvainolkedr, many of those attending the funeral return home. The remainder stay at the spot during the evening, those nearly related to the deceased lamenting in the usual fashion almost continuously. At a funeral attended by Samuel, the people took [[379]]the setting of Kadsht and the appearance of Keirt[3] as the indications that the final ceremonies were to begin, and this was about two o’clock on the following morning.
At every funeral place used for the marvainolkedr, there is a circle of stones, smaller than that in which the hut is built, with an opening which in some cases faces the east. This circle of stones is the azaram, and before the ceremonies begin, a man digs a hole by the opening in its side. The various objects to be burnt with the remains are now brought from the hut in which they had been placed on the previous day, and are laid outside the azaram and the narskedr is laid by their side. As the remains are removed from the hut, the wailing becomes louder and the people cry bitterly. Outside the stone circle a fire is made of the wood called kidmän,[4] upon which clarified butter is poured. This fire, which is known as the puntüt, is lighted by a man of the same clan as the deceased. At the funeral of a male, there is burnt on this fire the dairy vessel called ertatpun which had belonged to the dead man, and the imitation buffalo horns called petkuter, about ten in number for a man and five for a boy. At the funeral of a woman, I think that a majpatitthpun is burnt, viz., a vessel used for fetching buttermilk from the dairy, but I am not certain of this.
There now follows the ceremony called narsatipimi, i.e. “the nars we rub,” in which the leading part is taken by a person of the same sex as the deceased. I only have a full record of this ceremony at a woman’s funeral, and in this case a woman took the relics out of their covering, and threw away the pieces of bark in which they had been enclosed. She rubbed butter on the pieces of skull and the hair, put the hair between two pieces of skull, tied them together with thread, and replaced them in the ornamented cloak (pukuruputkuli). She then bowed down and touched the remains with her forehead, and then this salutation was performed by all those present.
At a funeral seen by Mr. Thurston,[5] this ceremony was performed on the previous day at the marvainolkedr, and in [[380]]this case the hair was burnt in an iron ladle before the clarified butter was applied.