Note 7 — Chapter XXX · THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE TODAS
Reading edition
A funeral practice which is very widely spread in India is the breaking of a pot, and in some cases the pot so broken is one which has contained the water used to quench the fire. Among the Naickers and the Reddies of South India7 the body is bathed with water from an earthen pot, which is then dashed upon the ground, while in other places an earthen pot filled with water is carried round the body three times, after which the fire is lighted and later extinguished by water which runs from a perforation in the pot. The common Indian practice, according to Padfield,8 is for the chief mourner to throw a pot over his head behind him so that it is dashed in pieces.