THE BHOTIAS OF ALMORA AND BRITISH GARHWAL. 109 



been taken of the original husband's marriage expenses, and these have to be made good, 

 and it is only then that the white cloth is given which sets the woman free. An accom- 

 panying final ceremony is the waving of a fowl round the head of the woman and the 

 man, and the heads of the members of the pane hay at. There is no means by which a 

 wife can claim a divorce, and if a man takes a second wife, and refuses to release the 

 first, there is no way in which he can be compelled to release her however unhappy she 

 may be, and she cannot marry again unless she has been properly released. However, 

 in common practice a second wife is only taken with the concurrence of the first, general- 

 ly in cases of sterility, or on the definite understanding that the first wife will be released. 



A woman who has been married to a man and refuses to join him, and remains with 

 her father instead, must be formally divorced, her father paying all the husband's mar- 

 riage expenses, and the latter pays her a sum of money [pati or nakhsira ) and gives her 

 the white jujang. But should she die at her father's house before her formal release, her 

 husband must perform her funeral ceremonies, though, should her father agree, he can 

 give the formal divorce after her death, and before the time of the ceremonies. Great 

 importance is attached to this, because the father and her relations consider it an unholy 

 thing to mix her " bone " ( to be explained later ) kept after the death ceremonies with 

 the family bones, unless a proper divorce has taken place. 



Funeral ceremonies . — In regard to funeral ceremonies and customs a distinction is 

 drawn between little children and grown-up persons, the line of separation being the per- 

 manent teeth. As soon as the milk teeth are being replaced by the permanent ones a child 

 passes from the one category to the other. Little children are wrapped in wool and buried 

 facing the east, the head being to the north and the feet to the south, and little is done in the 

 way of ceremonial, though, should the child be on the point of getting its second teeth, 

 children of a similar age are feasted on boiled rice. The dead body of grown-up persons 

 is placed in a white cotton bag ( katro ) with the knees touching the chin, and not at 

 full length as is the practice of the Hindus : further, the bag is sewn with thread spun 

 contrary" to the usual way. The bier is the same as that used by Hindus, viz., two poles 

 with slats of wood across. The corpse is then placed on the bier with the face to the east 

 and is tied to the poles by a cord, and is carried head foremost in the procession. To 

 the front of the bier is fastened a piece of white cloth, cotton if the deceased is a man, and 

 woollen if a woman ( the latter being specially prepared by the womenfolk for them- 

 selves), which is carried by the deceased's sisters, nieces and daughters on their heads in 

 front of the bier, their ehuklas, or head-gear, being turned inside out. The cloth is known 

 as am lugara, am meaning a way and lugara cloth, the signification being that the 

 spirit or soul of the deceased can be thus easily guided forth. The procession is led by 

 a young boy or girl with fire in the hand for the funeral pyre ; next come the women hold- 

 ing the am lugara, the nearest relation going first and others behind her in order of 

 closeness ; then the bier carried by four men-relations, viz., one at each pole-end (it is 

 absolutely necessary that the leaders should be near relatives); and finally the villagers 

 with fuel for the cremation. On the way to the pyre all men- relations walk with their 

 caps doffed. 



The burning-place is usually on the bank of a river, or a brook, and the pyre is formed 



