Note 12 — Chapter XV · FUNERAL CEREMONIES

During or after the lamentation a ceremony is performed which is known as kachütthti12 (kach, cloth, ütthti or ütiti, he puts). The essential feature of this ceremony is that a cloth is given by a near relative of the dead person to those who have married into his family, and the cloth is placed on the dead body by the wives of those to whom it is given. This ceremony takes place at the funerals of both sexes and for members of all clans. It is an inconspicuous ceremony, and with one exception13 has escaped the observation of all those who have previously witnessed and recorded the procedure of Toda funerals. It takes place in the middle of a crowd, who gather round the corpse possibly while the lamentation is still going on or while other ceremonies are in progress. In the first funeral I witnessed the ceremony took place while dancing was going on, and I missed it entirely, though I was told afterwards that it had taken place as usual, and was able to obtain the names of the chief actors.