Note 20 — Chapter XVI · FUNERAL CEREMONIES—continued

At first no Toda died. After a time a Piedr man died at the village of Erparskòdr. He died in his hut and the Todas took his body to the funeral place, but on the way they laid it by a heap of stones between Erparskòdr and Umgas. The stones are still to be seen, and are called Möditikars.20 While the body lay by these stones, some of the people were weeping bitterly; others were dancing and singing, and others were going to drive buffaloes. Teikirzi, who saw the people weeping, took pity and came to bring the dead man back to life. When she came to the place she found that though some of the people were crying, others seemed quite happy. She liked what she saw, and decided not to raise the dead man, so she went away and ordained that in the future some should cry at funerals and others should be happy, and her laws as to the conduct of the funeral ceremonies have been followed ever since.