11. Old-age ceremonies: Buraburi ja(n)ko.

Another set of samskara s that are not done by the Indo-Nepalese and are thus identified as Newar samskara s are the old-age ceremonies called the Buraburi ja(n)ko .^[50] They are done by lower-middle-level, middle-level, and upper-level thars . These are first celebrated by a married couple when the husband reaches the age of "seventy-seven years, seven months, seven days, seven ghaus and seven palas ."^[51] If a man or woman is widowed, the ja(n)ko takes place when he or she^[52] has reached that age. There are preliminary phases of purification and other preparatory ceremonies that may, for the upper-level thars , be elaborate, lasting for several days and requiring the work of several priests. The core of the ceremony comes when the couple (or the widow or widower) dressed in "royal" clothes (the man wearing a turban) enter a small chariot at the proper astrological sait and are pulled by their children and grandchildren around the courtyard adjoining the house. Sometimes the chariot is pulled around the twa :. The ceremony, called the "Bhima ratharohan ," the Bhima chariot ride, takes its name from this epi-

sode. When the chariot ride is finished, the couple leave the chariot and family members and friends make offerings to them, take prasada from them, wash, and bow down to their feet. All this treats the man and woman not only as royalty but as gods. They are considered as quasi-divine after the ceremony—progressively so if they live to undergo the subsequent ones—and this divinity is ideally associated with the relinquishing of active control over family affairs. Three more ceremonies, all making use of a chariot, may follow, one at the age of eighty-one years (at which time it is said that a person has seen the full moon 1,000 times) one at eighty-eight years, eight months, eight days, eight ghaus and eight palas , and again at ninety-two years. These three ja(n)kos are called, respectively the Candra, Deva, and Maha Ratharohans .

These ja(n)kos progressively move individuals out of ordinary social "per-sonhood," allowing others in the family to assume positions of authority, while compensating the old people with an increased ceremonial status. The ceremonies may also be thought of, in part, as a disentanglement from ordinary life in a preparation for dying and death, a preparation that culminates in the procedures immediately prior to death.