Note 78 — Chapter VI · THE EVIL EYE AND THE SCARING OF GHOSTS.

All the members of the family of the dead have to observe mourning for ten days. They are purified on the eleventh day after taking a bath and sipping Panchgavya, or the five products of the cow. The son of the dead person, or one who performs the funeral rites of the dead is purified on the twelfth day after completing the rites of Sapindi. A man in mourning does not touch those who are not in mourning. If anybody touches him, both of them have to take a bath. The son of the deceased or, in the absence of a son, any male member belonging to the family is entitled to perform the funeral rites of the dead. These rites are performed during the first twelve days, beginning from the first day or from the 3rd, 5th, 7th or the 9th. One who performs these rites has to sleep on the ground during these twelve days. A person hearing of the death of a member of his family within the first ten days from the date of the death, becomes free from that mourning on the eleventh day. If he happens to hear it within one month of the death, he has to observe it for three days and after one month he has to observe it for one day only.78 The son, or one who performs the funeral rites of the deceased has to sleep on the ground, and has to take his meals only once a day till the end of the 13th day. He takes his bath in cold water. Sweet things are not prepared in the house during the days of mourning. During the period of mourning, every morning, a Bráhman comes to the mourner’s house and recites some passages from the Garud Purána, which relates to the state of the soul after death. On the eleventh day the house is besmeared with cowdung, and cow’s urine is sprinkled in the house. All the clothes are washed. Mourning is not observed in the case of a death of a Sanyási, and the Lingáyats do not observe any kind of mourning.79