e so as to
avoid seeing the corpse. It is said that each person should throw
only five handfuls. Other people then come up and fill in the grave,
trampling down the surface as much as possible. For three days after a
death the bereaved family do not cook for themselves but are supplied
with food by their friends. These, however, do not give them any salt
as it is thought that the craving for salt will divert their minds
from dwelling on their loss. The tribe do not perform the _shraddh_
ceremony, but in the month of Kunwar, on the day corresponding to that
on which his father died, a man feeds the caste-fellows in memory of
him. And at this period he offers libations to his ancestors, pouring
a double handful of water on the ground for each one that he can
remember and then one for all the others. While doing this he stands
facing the east and does not turn to three different directions as the
Hindu custom is. The spirit of a man who has been killed by a tiger
becomes Baghia Masan or the tiger imp, and that of a woman who dies in
childbirth becomes a Churel. Both are very troublesome to the living.

9. Religion.

The principal deities of the Dhanwars are Thakur Deo, the god of
agriculture, and Dulha Deo, the deity of the family and hearth. Twice
a year the village Baiga or medicine-man, who is usually a Gond,
offers a cocoanut to Thakur Deo. He first consecrates it to the
god by placing it in contact with water and the small heap of rice
which lies in front of his shrine, and then splits it asunder on a
stone, saying, '_Jai Thakur Deo_,' or 'Victory to Thakur Deo.' When
any serious calamity befalls the tribe a goat is offered to the
deity. It must also be first consecrated to him by eating his rice;
its body is then washed in water and some of the sacred _dub_ [534]
grass is placed on it, and the Baiga severs the head from the body
with an axe. Dulha Deo is the god of the family and the marriage-bed,
and when a Dhanwar is married or his first son is born, a goat is
offered to the deity. Another interesting deity is Maiya Andhiyari,
or the goddess of the dark fortnight of the month. She is worshipped
in the house conjointly by husband and wife on any Tuesday in the
dark fortnight of Magh (January-February), all the relatives of the
family being invited. On the day of worship the husband and wife
observe a fast, and all the water which is required for use in the
house during the day and night must be brought into