| caption: |
the after-life and land of the dead |
| text: |
We then sat down in the Thephong-ba morung and I asked about the fate of people after death. The deceased leaves Wakching soon after his burial and walks on the the "road of the dead" (Waklem) to Chingtang, across the Dikhu towards Chinlong, Chong-we and finally to Shoa. Then he goes under the earth to the land of the dead (Yim-pu). Halfway there he is expected by Toropa, the lord of the land of the dead. He sends him to a good place if the man has led a good life and has died a good death. People who have a bodily defect like blindness or deafness are sent on another way to a place less desirable as are bad people like thieves and robbers, and all those who have died a bad death. On his way the deceased will meet all human beings and animals he has killed in his lifetime. The slain enemies will fight again with him but they are beaten once more. Children take the same path as do the grownups. |
