ABSTRACT
After the death and burial of his paternal grandmother, Muli and his relatives perform twelve days of ceremonies designed to purify themselves of death pollution, break the ties of the living with the dead, and prevent the dead spirit from returning to Muli’s house or village (see Appendix A for further details).
According to Muli, the Bauris historically buried their dead rather than cremate them like the higher castes. Muli’s explanation is economic: with barely enough money for food, they had no money to buy firewood for cremations. In 1952, acting on complaints that dogs and jackals were digging up Bauri corpses, high-caste leaders, without concern for the economic consequences, forced the Bauris to cremate their dead.
Muli describes not only the burial rituals for his grandmother, but also daily activities during the period of the death-pollution rituals. He gives memorable portraits of his own clumsiness in the stone quarries, his father’s criticisms of him at mealtime, and his frustrated teacher’s beatings of drama students after Muli refuses to find him a woman.
