794 The Hodeswn (improperly called Kolehan), No. 104. 



It is common among the Koles for a friend of the family to wish 

 to stand namesake to the child, but when this occurs, the grain of 

 Oorid is still had recourse to, and if it sink at the godfather's name, 

 he is rejected. 



The namesake, or " sakee", binds himself to help the child in sick- 

 ness, distress, or poverty ; by sending goats, fowls, &c. to sacrifice in 

 the former case, or by lending him rice, &c. to be repaid without in- 

 terest in the latter, and this sponsorship ends in unbroken friendship 

 between the two, throughout after life. 



No kind of religion, or rites, or ceremonials are taught the children, 



but they pick them up as they can, by observing their elders. If 



a child die unnamed, it is not thought any particular misfortune on 



that score.* 



Funeral Rites. 



When a person is dead, the people of the house set up a howling, 

 or " keening," which continues till the news has been given to all 

 the relations, and the pile prepared, which it is in the yard of the 

 house; first thick logs are placed, then smaller transverse faggots, 

 on this a wide plank, along the edges of which sticks are laid ; 

 when this is prepared, the corpse is brought out foot foremost, bed 

 and all, with all its ornaments on, male or female, by the women of 

 the village and of the house. 



It is then placed, amid crying and howling, on the pile, the head 

 to the northward; rupees, to the amount that can be spared, are 

 put into the mouth, a lota on each side the body, a brass, or " p'hool," 

 kutora on the head, and one at the feet. Another board is then put 

 on, and above it more wood, by the women, who amid redoubled la- 

 mentations, set fire to the pile. 



When the whole is consumed it is sufi'ered to remain all night, 

 people going to and fro to watch it; next morning water is poured on 

 the ashes through peepul branches, and women pick out all the half- 

 consumed bones, which are dried, then sifted in a sieve, and then 

 put into a ghurra and covered with leaves, after which it is hung up 

 to the eaves at the back of the house. Eely is brewed on this day, and 



* The youngest born male is heir to the father's property, on the plea of his being 

 less able to help himself on the death of the parents than his elder brethren, who 

 have had their father's assistance in settling themselves in the world, during his life- 

 time. 



