1 Moslem death observances.
2 I! the deceased was one of a well-to-do family and died a day or
3 two before Friday eve, his heirs engage some hdfiz or mullah to sit day
4 and night at his tomb and repeat verses until that night, it being th ought
5 that on that auspicious night he will not be called to account for his sins
6 and that afterwards too God will also show him mercy.
7 The brotherhood on the night after the death raise money by sub¬
8 scription and manage somehow to provide food for those who accompanied
9 the funeral to the burial-ground. This is called kauri wate di roll or
10 kauri roft which must not be confounded with mundr-ch/ior or immh-
11 cMar which is the food supplied to the bereaved family by its nearest
12 relation.
13 In KUngra the face of the dying person is turned towards Mecca.
14 If possible the corpse is buried on the day of death but when this cannot
15 be done the Qurdn is recited and a kuife placed upon the body to keep
16 off evil spirits.
17 In Gurg&on two classes of Muhammadans must lie distinguished.
18 The first includes the immigrant Shaikh, Sayid, Mughal, Fathfin and
19 Baloch and the second the indigenous Meo, Kli&nzdda and Rajputs con¬
20 verted to Isl&m by the former. But a large number of these converts
21 have now become assimilated to the former class, and owing to this many
22 Hindu customs have been adopted even by the immigrant classes though
23 in a somewhat altered form, and they are of course still observed by
24 Muhammadans who embraced Islam recently. Other Muhammadans of in¬
25 ferior rank found as tenants in villages are the Qagfu, Kunjra, Bln tiara,
26 Manhidr, Saqqa, Nai, Mir&si, Dhunna, Teli and Rangrez, who are depend¬
27 ants of the two groups mentioned above and being affected by their
28 ‘influence observe the same rites and ceremonies as they do. When a body
29 is taken to the graveyard the bier is set down at least once on the way.
30 This is called muqdm dena. At this spot the head is always kept to the
31 north. After the burial some grain and copper coins are given there in
32 alms.
33 The place where a person breathed his last and was washed is
34 called lahad and a lamp is kept burning there for 40 or at least 10 days.
35 A man always remains sitting on the lahad.
36 Washing the body.
37 The body is washed with various rites and by various agents. For
38 example in Gurg&on some of those present at the death who are ac¬
39 quainted With the doctrines of Islim wash the body with the heirs5
40 permission. If it be washed in a river or tank it will not require lahad,
41 but if washed inside the house a rectangular pit of the height of a man
42 and 4 or 5 feet deep called lahad must be made for it. A flat board
43 prepared from a public fund raised for this purpose is then put up over
44 the lahad. Then the body is laid on the board, with its face .to the east
45 and feet to the west. The clothes are removed and the private parts
46 covered with a piece of cloth. The garments of the deceased as well
47 as the clothes of the bed on which he died are given to beggars. After
48 this the washing is begun. First the dirt on the body is removed with
49 gram flour &c. A first bath is given with sandal water, the second with