Note 19 — Chapter IV · WORSHIP OF ANCESTORS AND SAINTS.

At Nágothane in the Pen taluka of the Kolába District some of the communities worship small images called tánks on the anniversary of their ancestors’ death; among the Shudras food is given to the crows on the last day of Bhádrapad. The custom of giving a grandfather’s name to the grandson prevails largely, and is due to the belief that the spirits of the dead are sometimes reborn in the same family.19 It is also said that in some of the Hindu communities, if a child cries continuously, ashes are applied to its forehead in the name of one of the ancestors in the family; and if the child sleeps quietly or stops crying, the name of that ancestor is given to it.20