Note 78 — D. (continued 2)

Death ceremonies: Eastern Doms. 30. “According to Dr. Wise it is universally believed in Bengal that Doms do not burn or bury their dead, but dismember the corpse at night, like the inhabitants of Tibet, placing the pieces in a pot and sinking them in the nearest river or reservoir. This horrid idea probably arose from the old Hindu law which compelled the Doms to bury their dead at night.”78 This idea does not seem to prevail in these Provinces. The Doms appear to have no settled usage as regards the disposal of the corpse. Those who are fairly well off cremate the corpse, but unlike Hindus, take with them from the house the fire which is applied to the pyre. The poorer and vagrant Doms either bury, or sometimes cremate in a very rude and perfunctory way, or, when it is more convenient, throw the corpse into running water. Bodies of unmarried children are always thrown into a river or buried. The Magahiya Doms of Gorakhpur often leave the body in the jungle. Among the settled Doms of Mirzapur after a cremation they return to the house of the deceased, light a little oil in the courtyard and warm their feet in the smoke, the object apparently being to bar the return of the ghost. Some of them, once the corpse is burnt, do not take any trouble about the ashes, but leave them where the cremation took place. Others who are more scrupulous collect them on the third day and throw them into a neighbouring stream. Then they fix upon the bank a few blades of grass as a refuge for the wandering spirit, on which a little water is poured daily. Others lay out a little platter of food for the use of the departed during the days of mourning. On the tenth day they assemble at a tank, shave themselves, bathe, and offer three balls (pinda) of flour. At these ceremonies the sister’s husband of the chief mourner officiates as priest. This seems to be another survival of the matriarchate. The same rule applies in the Bihâr branch of the tribe:—“The son of a deceased man’s sister or of his female cousin officiates as priest at his funeral and recites appropriate texts (mantra), receiving a fee for his services when the inheritance comes to be divided. Some Doms, indeed, assured me that the sister’s son used formerly to get a share of the property, and that this rule had only recently fallen into disuse; but their statements did not seem to be definite enough to carry entire conviction, and I have met with no corroborative evidence bearing on the point. So also in marriage the sister’s son or occasionally the sister (suâsin) repeats mantras and acts generally as priest. Failing either of these the head of the household officiates. No other indications of an extinct custom of female kinship appear to exist, and the fact that in Western Bengal the eldest son gets an extra share on the division of an inheritance seems to show that kinship by males must have been in force for a very long time past.”79