after marriage and until her husband’s death she invariably
wears the Nath nose-ring.
A man can, and often does, have two or three wives.
A marriage is always accompanied by lavish expenditure.
The funeral ceremonies are on the analogy of the
Hindu rites. If a boy dies before the sacred thread
ceremony he is buried, and not burnt, and salt is put
into the grave with him, otherwise the usual custom
is cremation, and all sons and kinsmen shave the head,
moustache and beard.
Gold, called Hiran, is put into a dying man’s mouth,
and after death the body is tied in a coarse white
winding-sheet and fastened on to the bier, while over
all is thrown a silk shroud. The funeral procession
is composed of mourners who go bareheaded, preceded
by three boys or men, holding a strip of white cloth
one at each end and the third in the middle, a peculiar
custom which is unknown in Kumaon or Garhwal
amongst the ordinary hillmen, and is very similar to the
Tibetan practice noted above, which is also found
among the Eastern Bhotias.
At the pyre a head bone is kept to be thrown into
the holy lake of Mansarowar, or into the Ganges, and
until the opportunity for doing this may come it is
put aside with some gold in a small brass box in the
hollow of a tree or under a stone. All the mourners
present at the cremation bathe, and on their return are
purified with cow’s urine according to the practice of
orthodox Hinduism. A death in a village is considered
unlucky, and people avoid undertaking any particular
ceremonies from which they hope that success will ensue.
As is to be expected, we find that some of these
Hinduised Bhotias still worship Tibetan deities; for
instance, the Nikhurpas worship the god Dhurma.
This deity is specially sought after in the rainy season
when the people have tired of a long spell of wet
weather, and hope by propitiation of the god to effect
THE ROAD BELOW MILAM To Almora
a change in the climatic conditions prevailing. Two
poles are fastened in the ground; to the top of one is
fixed an . iron or brass trident surmounted by a yak’s
tail, and \ to the top of the other an image of a man’s
head. Throughout the ceremony of worship music is
played and finally a goat is slaughtered. Meanwhile
the. devotees are anxiously awaiting the moment when