burnt at the time of taking food and in temples, so that the smell
and smoke may keep off evil spirits. When professional exorcists are
called upon to clear any building, such as a hospital, supposed to be
haunted by spirits or the ghosts of the dead, they commence operations
by placing these sticks of incense at the entrance and setting them
alight as in a temple.

Audhelia

1. Origin.

_Audhelia (Audhalia)._--A small hybrid caste found almost exclusively
in the Bilaspur District, where they number about 1000 persons. The
name is derived from the word Udharia, meaning a person with
clandestine sexual intimacies. The Audhelias are a mixed caste and
trace their origin from a Daharia Rajput ancestor, by one Bhuri Bandi,
a female slave of unknown caste. This couple is supposed to have
resided in Ratanpur, the old capital of Chhattisgarh, and the female
ancestors of the Audhelias are said to have been prostitutes until
they developed into a caste and began to marry among themselves. Their
proper avocation at present is the rearing of pigs, while some of
them are also tenants and farm-labourers. Owing to the base descent
and impure occupation of the caste they are held in very low esteem,
and their touch is considered to convey pollution.

2. Marriage.

The caste have at present no endogamous divisions and still admit
members of other castes with the exception of the very lowest. But
social gradations exist to a certain extent among the members
according to the position of their male ancestors, a Daharia Audhelia,
for instance, being reluctant to eat or intermarry with a Panka
Audhelia. Under these circumstances it has become a rule among the
Audhelias not to eat with their caste-fellows excepting their own
relations. On the occasion of a caste feast, therefore, each guest
prepares his own food, taking only uncooked grain from his host. At
present seven _gotras_ or exogamous divisions appear to have been
formed in the caste with the names of Pachbhaiya, Chhahri, Kalkhor,
Bachhawat, Dhanawat, Bhainsa and Limuan. The following story exists as
to the origin of these _gotras_: There were formerly three brothers,
Sahasman, Budha and Mangal, who were Sansis or robbers. One evening
the three brothers halted in a forest and went to look for food. One
brought back a buffalo-horn, another a peacock's feather and the
youngest, Mangal, brought plums. The other brothers asked Mangal to
let them share his plums, t