112 MR. C. A. S HERRING ON 



can take place either in June for those who have died during the preceding eight months, 

 or in October for those who have died since the June ceremony. In patti Darma there 

 can be more than one gwan, and there are generally two to four, the number depending 

 upon the means of the deceased's family. 



As the time for gwan draws near, the members of the family summon the village 

 elders to fix a date, and some time during the waning moon is chosen. The interval is 

 spent in making preparations : jan or spirit is brewed from rice and barley, and the 

 grain of the phapar is parched (phuru), and above all things sheep, goats or yaks are 

 sent for from Tibet. In the ceremony of the gwan an animal is always made to 

 represent the deceased and is called ya. In patti Chaudans and half of patti Byans a 

 yak is always chosen, and great care is taken to see that its forehead, back and tail are 

 marked with one continuous blaze of white. But in patti Darma and the remainder of 

 Byans, the influence of Hinduism has made the people give up yaks (except the Domras, 

 of whom later) on the ground that they are cows, and sheep and goats are selected 

 instead. The selection is left to the spirit of the deceased, which marks its approbation 

 by making the approved animal shake its tail, while the relations throw rice on it. 

 The sex of the animal follows the sex of the deceased. An indispensable part of the 

 ceremony is the presence of a scyaktza, who is an old man well-versed in the lore of the 

 future world, and it is his duty to remind his listeners, by the narration of old stories, 

 how the gwan and other funeral ceremonies arose, and to instruct the spirit of the late 

 deceased (nushimi, nu = new) as to the paths it should follow and the dangers it should 

 avoid in reaching heaven. The word nushimi is in contradistinction to yishimi (yi— 

 old) or spirit, whose giva?i ceremony has been performed. 



The ceremony can be performed in four days, but as the ceremonial of the first day 

 has to be performed on a different day by each family of relations in turn, the total 

 number of days depends upon the number of families concerned. Before the first day 

 there is a large amount of bread made by the women relatives and neighbours, and next 

 morning each family in the village receives one loaf i in exactly the same way as the rice- 

 balls were distributed (rham), the bread being put into the doka or basket and the am 

 lugara being used as before. 



The first day is known as shin gumo j'ya, or wood-collecting day, this being the 

 meaning of these three words in this very order, as large quantities of wood are collected 

 for cooking purposes and torches to be used on the subsequent days. The principal 

 ceremony on this day is known as ya shammo or the leading forth and bringing back of 

 the ya ( sha?nmo means go and come back). After a feast of rice the ya is taken to a 

 spot outside the village by the relations, who also take with them many kinds of parched 

 grain (pit), a suit of clothes and a few ornaments, and having reached the given spot the 

 girls give the men grain (pu), and the deceased's clothes are tied by a white cotton 

 cloth on to the ya. Grains of barley are thrown on the ya, and it is solemnly stated 

 that the ya represents the deceased, and old spirits, yishimis, are besought not to take the 

 food of the lately-departed spirit (nushimi). Then a solemn procession is formedi n 

 exactly the same way as when the corpse was taken out for cremation, viz., the am lugara, 

 or cotton cloth, is fastened to the horns of the ya and is carried by the girls first with 



