Burial and Funeral system among MISING tribe

When death occurs in the community the news of the death is announced in a unique way. The person carrying the traditional drum of the community climbs up to the roof of the 'chang ghar'or stilt house,(traditional house of the Misings) beats the drum in a specific interval facing all the sides of the villages. The announcement reaches to all the people of the villages and the people come up to visit the grieved family. The body is then, packed up in the mat just with the head visible. The corpse is carried out with the help of the 'changi' from inside the kitchen and kept in the courtyard placing the head toward the west, along with fire burning and incense sticks and waits for people and faraway relatives to come and visit the dead for the last time. Amongst the Misings the dead body is not carried away soon, it is observed and kept for some time, by thus waiting for the far away relatives to see the dead for the last time. After prayer, the body is fully rolled up in the bamboo mat and is taken to the graveyard. Placed on top of the changi, the corpse is carried by four persons, either the deceased persons son or close members of the family to the grave. After the preparation of the grave, the dead is carried around the grave with hymn chanting in anticlockwise direction for 5 times. After this the deceased is placed in the 'roonkook' along with the bamboo mat. The villagers help in covering up the rest of the grave. After the grave is filled it is covered in white linen and the four corners of the sheets is stretched and fixed with the help of small bamboo nails. Sometimes the belongings of the deceased are left along in the graveyard. A lamp is lit on the grave in a bamboo stick and after a small prayer the people return to their homes. In the case of an unnatural death like accidents or suicide the deceased is not bought inside the house and all the rituals are observed in the courtyard of the house of the dead. In case of natural death, the body is kept in the kitchen with its head facing west. As the kitchen of the Mising community is considered a sacred place, and most of the rituals are performed in the kitchen only. The same applies in the wearing of clothes, and the dead is clothed in a reversed manner. On the 3 rd day of the dead, the 'Tiloni' is observed in the family of the deceased. Dodgang is mainly a feast in the name of the departed for the whole village and it is mandatory that the people are satisfactorily fed.