The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-11-04

mortem examination, good many TURKS
get buried alive. When body, however,
is discovered to have moved in the grave, IL
is attributed to the struggles of the dead
with the evil spirits. No mourning badges
or change of dress are allowed by the Mo-
hammedan creed, and their resignation to
KtSnlet enables the Turks to regard the
loss of their dearest friends philosophicallv.
All that has been said of the Turks may
be taken, with unimportant differences, as
the burial customs of the Persians and other
Mohammedan races. A peculiar feature OF
Persia, however, is the big caravans Of the
dead, conveying corpses from all parts OF
the empire to the sacred cemeteries at
Meshed, Koom or Kerbella One some
times meets along the Meshed pilgrim trail
long strings of mules and camels, laden
with decaying corpses that tairt the air for
miles to leeward.
White is the mourning color of the Hin
docs, and the eldest son sits around with no
clothes on save white loin cloth. He in
dulges in but one meal day, and that OF
the meagerest food. He must not shave
either head or beard, nor trim his nails
After this season or mourning is over. comes
a period of festivities called the Sradh, in
honor of the dead. Ia no other part of the
world is a funeral so expensive as in India.
The feasting and festivities of the Sradh
last three days, and in the case OF rich
family, people flock to the Sradh in thous-
ands. At the death of wealthy rajahs as
much as half million rupees have been
spent on the Sradh. Costly presents are
lavished on hundreds of Brahmins and
Pundits, and handfuls of rupees distributed
to the crowds of mendicants and poor
people who flock from all the country side.
Unlimited quantities OF food are provided,
and huge tents and awnings erected for the
accommodation of the crowds. Instances
are current in India where tanks have been
filed with ghee and oil, and big mounds of
rice and pulse built up, so that to the
crowds of guests the mountains might be
food and the wells oil and ghee Bands of
musicians and singers are engaged, who
regale the company with the deafenlng
music of the tom toms, and the no less soul
narrowing efforts of the voice. Rival camps
of Pundts learned mem vary the music
and feasting by engaging in vociferous dis
cussions. Knotty points of Hindoo law,
poetry, grammar, theology, history, or
what not, rouse the Pundits to the highest
pitch of excitement. Warming to their
work the arena Of learning becomes pan
demonium indeed. Eyes flash fire, the s.
putants shout, gesticulate, and harangue
one another in a high key. From lofty
fights of the imagination, they not infre-
quently fall to personal abuse, and have
been known to end in pitching into one
another with the fists. At the end Of the
feasting, the eldest son of the deceased, and
his nearer relatives, produce painted log
of wood, with the figure of s.cred bull
carved thereon. This they solemnly carry
off and deposit in some retired spot hear by.
The ceremony of carrying the painted log
ends the mourning AID festivities, and all
dispense to their homes. AS among the
Mohammedans the sexes in India mourn
apart. In the feasting crowds beneath the
tents are no women These are all within
the seciusion of the Zenana