ABSTRACT
The dead members of the clan, dwelling in the company of the Persa Pen, form part of a community which remains a unit even though divided by the line between life and death. For according to the Gond world view this dividing line is not unsurmountable. The death of any villager results immediately in the automatic imposition of a taboo debarring all members of the community from going out to work in their fields. Death pollution, applying in varying degree to the chief actors, the participants in the ritual, and the villagers in general, lasts only as long as the mortuary rites are actually in progress. Siram Kesu proceeded to try to discover from the omens in the ashes what had caused the death of his soira, Kumra Chinu. Death pollution, applying in varying degree to the chief actors, the participants and the villagers in general, lasts only as long as the mortuary rites are actually in progress.
