ence to
their weapons of war, their swords and guns, or if they have not got
these, to knives and spears. They burn their dead, but children are
usually buried. They observe mourning for three days for a child and
for ten days for an adult, and on the 13th day the caste-fellows are
feasted. Their family priests, who are Jijhotia Brahmans, used formerly
to shave the head and beard when a death occurred among their clients
as if they belonged to the family, but this practice was considered
derogatory by other Brahmans, and they have now stopped it. The Dangis
perform the _shradhh_ ceremony in the month of Kunwar. The caste wear
the sacred thread, but it is said that they were formerly not allowed
to do so in Bundelkhand. They eat fish and flesh, including that of
wild boars, but not fowls or beef, and they do not drink liquor. They
take _pakki_ food or that cooked without water from Kayasths and
Gahoi Banias, and _katchi_ food, cooked with water, from Jijhotia
and Sanadhya Brahmans. Jijhotia Brahmans formerly took _pakki_ food
from Dangis, but have now ceased to do so. The Dangis require the
services of Brahmans at all ceremonies. They have a caste _panchayat_
or committee. A person who changes his religion or eats with a low
caste is permanently expelled, while temporary exclusion is awarded
for the usual delinquencies. In the case of the more serious offences,
as murder or killing of a cow, the culprit must purify himself by a
pilgrimage to a sacred river.

5. Occupation and character.

The Dangis were formerly, as already stated, of a quarrelsome
temperament, but they have now settled down and, though spirited,
are of a good disposition, and hard-working cultivators. They rank
slightly above the representative cultivating castes owing to their
former dominant position, and are still considered to have a good
conceit of themselves, according to the saying:

Tin men neh terah men,
Mirdang bajawe dere men,

or 'Though he belong neither to the three septs nor the thirteen septs,
yet the Dangi blows his own trumpet in his own house.' They are still,
too, of a fiery disposition, and it is said that the favourite dish
of gram-flour cooked with curds, which is known as _karhi_, is never
served at their weddings. Because the word _karhi_ also signifies
the coming out of a sword from its sheath, and when addressed to
another man has the equivalent of the English word 'Draw' in the