6. Kathi Kasham: The ‘‘ Soul-departure’’ Feast as prac- 
tised by the Tangkhul Nagas, Manipur, Assam, 
By Rev. WM. PETTIGREW, American Baptist Missionary Union. 
When any person, from the time they commence to suckle, 
dies, the spirit of such is said to leave the body and turn into an 
insect called ‘‘ kaha,” a kind of honey-bee, which flies to the 
spirit wishes 
to spread its wings outside, a hole is made in the roof directly 
over the bed of the deceased. In any case where the person 
dies away from home, and where there is a difficulty in getting 
ack—crossing a river for instance—the person is buried near 
the place of death, but the skull is brought to the village under 
the following conditions. The skull is cleaned, wrapped in a 
cloth, and brought inas far as the river. This obstacle presents 
a difficulty to the spirit, who is supposed to be travelling with 
the skull. However, it is got over by passing a thread across. 
It is necessary to inform the spirit of this new form of tight- 
i t 
corpse, plus a margin for top dressing of stones, ete. 
there are no family graves near the house. other graves can be 
Oo 
with the bones of the departed. Some years ago one man of 
the village was set apart for this particular work, but now 
bones are thrown in to help fill up the grave. The bottom of 
the grave is made circular to hold the corpse and the things 
buried with it. 
