148 
(7) DEATH CEREMONIES. 
Throughout the Tamil country all non-Brahman' 
castes which observe Hindu rites have the chank sounded 
as the body is being taken to the funeral pyre or to the 
burial ground. It is usual also to employ the conch- 
blower on the last day of the sraddh ceremonies in those 
castes which follow the orthodox ritual. Among the 
Telugus these same rites are largely followed, but it is 
said that Vaishnavites do not observe them. Among both 
races, the Brahmans do not have the conch blown at any 
period of the obsequies, — a sign that lends weight to the 
theory that the chank has been borrowed by Brahman- 
ism from another religion. 
In the Madura and Tinnevelly districts the conch- 
blowers at a funeral are Ambattans or barbers, the same 
caste as performs likewise at weddings. Among the 
Idaiyans of these and the neighbouring districts one 
part of the funeral rites consists in the son perambulating 
the pyre thrice with a pot of water on his shoulder ; at 
each turn the barber makes a hole in it with a shell when 
the head of the corpse is reached. Finally the pot is 
broken‘near the head. (Thurston, II, 362.) 
Further north in the East Coast districts ‘rom Tanjore 
and Salem to the Kistna River, the Panisavans are by 
caste custom the funeral conch-blowers : they may indeed 
be accounted the undertaker caste, as it is their duty to 
carry news of the death to the relations of the deceased. 
It is they who generally keep all the materials necessary 
for the funeral including the palanquin required for 
the conveyance of the corpse to the cremation ground. 
At the funeral, the Panisavan follows the corpse, blowing 
his conch. When the son goes round the corpse with 
a pot of water, the Panisavan accompanies him sounding 
his conch the while. On the last day of the death 
ceremonies (Karmandhiram) the Panisavan should also 
be present and blow his conch especially when the tali 
is removed from the widow's neck. (Thurston, VI. 56.) 
The insignia of the Panisavans are the chank and the 
tharal, a long straight trumpet. 
In Coimbatore district, the duty of sounding the 
death conch belongs to the members of an important 
sub-division of Paraiy ans, called on this account, Sankhu 
