Final Rites of Passage & Rituals of the Dead of Halba Tribe

Halba tribal people are mainly Hindus and follow a lot of the rituals of the dead customary to any other Hindu ceremony. However, the Halba tribes have been more diverse when it comes to accommodating various rites of passage & rituals of death including options of cremation & burial of the dead.

Along with our own research into the Halba tribal customs of the rituals of the dead & various rites of passage, there is a very informative article Rituals and Practices Associated with the Megaliths of Bastar by Vinay Kumar that spots several customs related to the death in a Halba tribal community.

Other personal research based articles on various traditions, customs and rituals of the Halba tribal people of Chattisgarh published earlier that you should read:

• Birth rituals & Puberty Customs of Halba tribal people of Chattisgarh
• Marriage Rituals of Hallba Tribal people of Chattisgarh
• Unusual Marriage Customs of the Halba tribe of Chattisgarh

Some Halba follows Kabirpanth, who are known as Kabirhas, and abjure the consumption of flesh and alcoholic liquor. The others who indulge in these articles are known as Sakatha or Sakta, that is, a worshipper of Devi or Durga. The dead are always buried by the Kabirpanthis, usually by other Halbas, cremation being reserved by the latter as a special mark of respect for elders and heads of families.

A dead body is wrapped in a new white cloth and laid on an inverted cot. The Kabirpanthis lay plantain leaves at the sides of the cot and over the body to cover it. One of the mourners carry a burning cow dung cake with the party. It is customary of Halba men to wear a sacred thread around his waist. Before burial the thread, which every male wears round his waist, is broken. Then the clothes are taken off the corpse and donated to a janitor and the body is wrapped in the shroud and laid in the grave. Salt is sprinkled under and over the grave while the corpse is laid in it.

If the dead body is touched by any person of another caste, the deceased’s family has to pay a fine or give a penal caste-feast to the community. After the interment the mourners bathe and return to the deceased’s house in their wet clothes.

Before entering, they wash their feet in water, which is kept for that purpose at the door, and chew the leaves of the nim tree (Melia indica). They smoke their leaf-pipes and console the deceased’s family and then return home, washing their feet again and changing their clothes at their own houses.

On the third day, known as Tij Abakan, the male members of the family of the deceased along with the relatives and mourners walk to a river or any other pond nearby, where they are all shaved by a barber. The male children of the dead have the entire head and face cleared of hair, while in the case of other relatives, the scalp-lock and moustache may be left untouched. The mourning friends of the dead only shave their beard as an ordinary occasions.

For his services the barber receives a cow or substantial cash present, which he divides with his accompanying washer man. The washer man subsequently washes all clothes worn at the funeral.

Halba rituals to remember the dead

On the Akti festival, or commencement of the agricultural year, libations of water and offerings of urad (type of lentil) cakes are made to the spirits of ancestors. A feast is offered to women in honor of all departed female ancestors on the ninth day of the Pitripaksh or mourning fortnight of Kunwar (September), and feasts for male ancestors may be held on the same day of the fortnight as that on which they died at any other time of the year.

Such observances are practiced only by the well to do Halba families. Nothing is done for people who die before their marriage or without children, unless they were a troublesome member of the family and appear in a dream to demand that these honors be paid to them. The exception to this ritual is the situation of a major threat like an epidemic. During an epidemic, such as cholera, all funeral and mourning rituals are suspended and a general purification of the village takes place upon its conclusion.

Halba ritual to bring back the spirits of the dead

Like most other Indian tribal communities, the Halbas also live in small settlements, often risking their lives to wild animals. This has probably caused specific customs to bring down & tame the spirits of those who were killed by tigers.

If a person has been killed by a tiger, and if any remains of the body are found, these are burnt on the spot. The tribal ritual of Baiga is then invoked to bring back the spirit of the deceased. Baiga is performed with extreme precaution by the elders who have expertise & experience in this ritual.

In order to do this a copper ring is suspended from a long thread above a vessel of water and then burn butter and sugar on fire while chanting incanted black pulse. At the time of child birth or menstrual period of women, people sing songs and call on the spirit of the dead man to return. The thread swings to and fro and if & when the copper ring falls into the pot, it is taken as a sign that the spirit has descended and entered the vessel.

The mouth of the pot is immediately covered and it is buried or kept in some secure place. The Halba tribal people believe that unless the dead man’s spirit is secured it will accompany the tiger and lure solitary travellers into destruction. This is done by calling out and offering the spirits tobacco to smoke, and when they proceed in the direction of the voice the tiger springs out and kills them.

And they think that a terser directed in this manner grows fiercer and fiercer with every person whom it kills. When somebody has been killed by a tiger the relatives will not even remove the ornaments from the corpse, for they think that these would constitute a link by which its spirit would cause the tiger to track them down. The malevolence thus attributed to persons killed by tigers is explained by their bitter wrath at having encountered such an untimely death and consequent desire to entice others to the same.

Hallba’s rituals & customs in matters of the dead are also common to many such rites and similar rituals prescribed in the Hindu texts. However, they have adapted those rituals of passage to their living conditions, making them both believable and simple to follow.