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114 MR. C. A. SHERRING ON 



during the preceding night. After this the procession wends its way exactly in the same 

 way as on the first and second days. As it enters the village, the ya is fed by everybody 

 with rice and liquor, and the relations actually escort it to their own houses and feed it 

 there, and the myechame man who leads the ya comes in for his share of good things. 

 The men at the end of the procession discharge fire-arms as they move along, and throw 

 grain {phuru) over the ya. The final feeding is at the house of deceased, 

 where outsiders first give it food, and then, lastly, the family members. After this the 

 clothes are removed and conveyed inside the house with the bone in the ghost-boots. 

 Here a dummy figure, resembling the deceased, is prepared by pushing three sticks into a 

 reversed basket, the sticks being wide apart at the bottom and joined at the top. As one 

 stick is longer than the others, it serves for the neck and head. A fourth stick fastened 

 at right angles makes the arms. Over all these the clothes are placed and a rough re- 

 presentation of the deceased is made. The four walls of the room are hung with clothes 

 of every description on ropes going from corner to corner {chandan). The seyaktza 

 who is versed in the knowledge of the future world is seated by the figure, and forthwith 

 begins his stories of the ghost-world and tenders his advice to the departed soul as to 

 the dangers of the road that have to be encountered ; nor must the old man relax for a 

 moment in his duties during the whole of that day and all that night, be sleep never so 

 oppressive. 



The practice in Chaudans is slightly different, as the figure is made in a field, and one 

 field is set aside for the use of the whole village : the bone, however, is kept in the house, 

 and the seyaktza watches over it till midnight. 



All the relations of the deceased bring balls of rice which they place in front of the 

 dummy figure : these are kept for a while and are finally thrown away outside the 

 village, together with the tablet of accounts and the stone on which the spirit's daily food 

 has been placed. A place is set apart in the village (called mabang) where all the 

 villagers dance during the gwan days, and where they receive cakes {paris ) on this the 

 third day. Then comes the weird ceremony of the formal dance executed by all the men 

 of the village ( they are called garkhal ) in a long row. They come dancing up to the 

 deceased's house and are feasted, contributions of food being levied from all relations, 

 if the people of the house are not rich enough to incur this expense. The feasting is 

 called garkhal chhaku (rice). As this dance proceeds metal dishes and cooking-utensils 

 are taken out of the house and beaten by the men, while the girls carry torches in their 

 hands ; and finally all resort to the mabang, where the dancers go round in one direction and 

 the others in the opposite direction beating the vessels and holding torches, and throwing 

 different kinds of parched grain (pic ) and little pieces of cloth. This ceremony is called 

 the garja pas// 1 mo, the latter word meaning to go round ; and after this the men do not 

 doff their caps to the dead. 



The last day is ya pongmo ( rooting up of the ya), on which they get rid of the spirit 

 of the deceased. The venerable seyaktza having finished his last words of advice to the 

 soul, the clay figure is taken out and the clothes removed and put on the ya, the wooden 

 frame being cast away, and a myechame man leads forth the ya to a distant spot from the 

 village ; and, on this occasion, all the villagers beat the poor victim to drive it away, and 



