Note 175 — K (continued 5)

It is recorded by Mr. F. Fawcett175 that “once after death, a propitiatory sacrifice is made of animals of the deceased to the Pidāri Pitta (ancestor) for the sake of the deceased’s spirit, which, after this festive introduction to the shades, must take its chance. A curious ceremony, which I do not remember seeing noted anywhere, is performed the day after death. Some boiled rice and a small fowl are taken to the burning place. The fowl is split down the breast, and placed on the spot; it is afterwards eaten, and the soul is invoked to enter a new-Aborn child.”