| caption: |
to Lungkam; influence of Christianity on burial customs; gravestones |
| text: |
22nd. To Lungkam - Since I was last in the Ao country the use of grave stones has spread from the Xtians, who are buried, to the ancients who are laid out on a platform. These stones besides an inscription usually bear as emblems a sun, moon and star. I do not know why, and though the sun and moon in the upper corners of the stone are most strikingly suggestive of a Rajput memorial I feel certain that they are not derived from that source. |
| text: |
One Xtian grave was surmounted by an old topi on a stick and a cup placed on the top edge of the gravestone (they are all vertical not horizontal stones). I asked if a Xtian ghost had need of modhu and the answer was "no. Tea is put into that!" I tried for a lao to fill up the dead man's cup with something stronger, but no one with me had one handy. |
