I24 PROCEEDINGS COTTESWOLD CLUB ~ 1905 
extensive. When opened, the remains of the dead have 
been found enclosed in coffins of massive timber, with 
gold and silver ornaments, and outside the coffin were 
placed various utensils, arms, and implements of agricul- 
ture, all doubtless intended for the use of the royal ghost 
in the world beyond the grave. In the same part of the 
country the Khamtis still build conical tumuli to cover 
their dead. These erections diminish from the base to 
the apex in a series of steps, the earth around each step 
being kept in position by bamboo matting." The same is 
the rule with other tribes of Bengal who are of the 
Dravidian or pre-Aryan family. Thus, among the Parghas 
and Binjhias this mode of burial is used in the case of 
those who perish by a violent death, and sometimes 
in addition to the piling of the tumulus, the precaution 
is taken of placing a bundle of thorns in the mouth 
of the grave.’ 
We thus reach the primitive conception of the tumulus 
—that its weight was intended to prevent the ghost from 
“walking.” 
The stone cairn we constantly see among the forest 
tribes of the Central Hills. Here it is, as a rule, com- 
memorative, or rather, if we explore deeper the psychology 
of the people who erect them, it is intended to provide 
an abiding place for the soul or ghost of the dead man, an 
edifice which he may permanently occupy, and there 
receive due sacrifice and honour from his descendants. 
Thus, it is very generally erected on the spot where 
a person has been slain by a tiger, and here the tribal 
priest periodically sacrifices a fowl and lights a lamp to 
appease the ghost. The idea is that the ghost of a person 
meeting his death in this way must naturally feel irritated 
at being so unceremoniously hustled out of this world, 
and is thus likely to be sulky and vicious in nature. 
1 Lbid, p. 10. 
2 Risley, “Tribes and Castes of Bengal,” i. 136, ii. 164. 
