Then her four brothers drop a coin apiece; her sister-in-law, whispering “It is for food” does likewise; also her mother with the words “choli patal” or “Tis a robe and bodice for thee";—­and so on until all the relatives have cast down their offerings,—­one promising a fair couch, another an umbrella, a third a pair of shoes, and little Moti, the dead woman’s eldest child, “a pair of bangles for my mother,” until in truth all the small luxuries that the dead woman may require in the life beyond have been granted.  Meanwhile the strange invocation proceeds.  All the dead ancestors of the family, who are represented by the quaint ghost-pegs in the gods’ room of Vishnu’s home, are solemnly addressed and besought to receive the dead woman in kindly fashion; and as each copper coin tinkles in the salver, Rama cries, “Receive this, Chandrabai, and hie thee to thy last resting-place.”

When the last offering has been made, the women again raise the salver and the party fares back to Vishnu’s house, where a rude shrine of Satvai (the Sixth Mother) has been prepared.  “For,” whispers our guide, “Chandrabai died without worshipping Satvai and her spirit must perforce fulfil those rites.”  Close to the shrine sits a midwife keeping guard over a new gauze cloth, a sari and a bodice, purchased for the spirit of Chandrabai; and on a plate close at hand are vermilion for her brow, antimony for her eyes, a nose-ring, a comb, bangles and sweetmeats, such as she liked during her life-time.  When the shrine is reached, one of the brothers steps forward with a winnowing-fan, the edge of which is plastered with ghi and supports a lighted wick; and as he steps up to the shrine, the relations and friends of the deceased again press forward and place offerings of fruit and flowers in the fan.  There he stands, holding the gifts towards the amorphous simulacrum of the primeval Mother, while Rama the hierophant beseeches her to send the spirit of the dead Chandrabai into the winnowing-fan.

And lo! on a sudden the ghostly flame on the lip of the fan dies out!  The spirit of Chandrabai has come!  Straightway Rama seizes the fan and followed by the rest dashes into the room where Krishna the medium is still sitting.  Four or five men commence a wild refrain to the accompaniment of brazen cymbals, and Rama passes the winnowing-fan, containing the dead woman’s spirit, over the head of the medium.  “Let the spirit appear” shrieks Rama amid the clashing of the cymbals.

“Let the spirit appear” he cries, as he blows a cloud of incense into Krishna’s face.  The medium quivers like an aspen leaf; the dead woman’s brothers crawl forward and lay their foreheads upon his feet; he shakes more violently as the spirit takes firmer hold upon him; and then with a wild shriek he rolls upon the ground and lies, rent with paroxysms, his face stretched upwards to the winnowing-fan.  Louder and louder crash the cymbals; louder rises the chant.  “Who art thou?” cries Rama.