| 1.17.5 Puberty |
| During first menstruation of a girl, she is separated from the family for the first eight days. During this polluted period she is not allowed to touch any household articles and no one touches her. She is confined in a separate room. Assisted by one small girl, she has to prepare her own food and clean the utensile herself. Daily in the morning she is asked to take bath and to wear washed clothes. On the ninth day the parents of the matured girl go to the temple and special `puja’ is performed with offerings. The house is washed and cleaned properly and the relatives are invited for a feast to celebrate the occasion. |
| During subsequent menstruation of the married or unmarried girls, abstaining from normal way of life is observed only for three days. During these three days as mentioned earlier, the mensturating lady or girl stays in a separate room and prepares food for herself. After the third day she joins her family members but she is not allowed to do heavy work or go to the forest alone for another seven days. |
| 1.17.6. Death |
| As experienced by every human society in this world, death among Uralis is considered as a bitter experience at the first instance of it. The fear of the spirit of the dead person which may return back and may do harm to the society force Uralis to do the rituals in order to appease the spirit. Especially in suicide and in death due to other unnatural causes, Uralis are very much worried about the spirit. There were instances when the house of the person who died a prematured death was totally demolished and a new house near the old one was constructed by the family members. Though spirit worship is not practised among Uralis, utmost respect is given to the departed soul out of fear. |
| When death occurs in a family, messengers are sent in different directions to villages to inform the relatives of the family about the death. Immediately mouth of the deceased is closed after putting a little raw rice and water. Hands and the legs are tied with a small piece of cloth. Dead body is given bath by the men of the same clan of the deceased. Even if the dead person is a female, only men will give bath to the dead body. New clothes are put on the body. Visiting relatives place garlands on the body. Incenses sticks and a kerosene lamp burn till the burial takes place. After making the said arrangements, the body is placed outside the house and the members of the bereved family sit around the body waiting till the burial is over. Irrespective of the time of the death, the funeral procession starts from the dead person’s house only by dusk towards the burial ground. |
| 1.17.6.1. Funeral Bed |
| Preparation of a funeral bed is a significant practice among Uralis. Without the funeral bed no dead body be carried to the burial ground. The wellwishers and the relatives of the deceased start preparing for the funeral. The funeral bed consists of four raw branches of a tree. Among the four branches, two are short and the other two are long. The two long sticks are placed parallel to each other and the short ones are fastened horizontally to the long parallel sticks. The whole basic construction resembles a railing. Above the sticks a beautiful saree is tied thus covering the upper portion of the two sticks leaving a hollow place below the saree where the dead body is made to lie down. The whole construction will be decorated with plantains and flowers. The dead body is placed inside the hollow space covered by the sarees |
