e land and relegated to the performance of menial and servile
duties in the village, and they have formed a new set of divisions
into castes arising from the occupations they adopted. The Chadars
have two subcastes based on differences of religious practice, the
Parmesuria or worshippers of Vishnu, and Athia or devotees of Devi. It
is doubtful, however, whether these are strictly endogamous. They
have a large number of exogamous septs or _bainks_, which are named
after all sorts of animals, plants and natural objects. Instances of
these names are Dhana (a leaf of the rice plant), Kasia (bell-metal),
Gohia (a kind of lizard), Bachhulia (a calf), Gujaria (a milkmaid),
Moria (a peacock), Laraiya (a jackal), Khatkira (a bug), Sugaria
(a pig), Barraiya (a wasp), Neora (a mongoose), Bhartu Chiraiya (a
sparrow), and so on. Thirty-nine names in all are reported. Members
of each sept draw the figure of the animal or plant after which it
is named on the wall at marriages and worship it. They usually refuse
to kill the totem animal, and the members of the Sugaria or pig sept
throw away their earthen vessels if a pig should be killed in their
sight, and clean their houses as if on the death of a member of the
family. Marriage between members of the same sept is forbidden and
also between first cousins and other near relations. The Chadars say
that the marriages of persons nearly related by blood are unhappy, and
occasion serious consequences to the parties and their families. Girls
are usually wedded in the fifth, seventh, ninth, or eleventh year
of their age and boys between the ages of eight and sixteen. If an
unmarried girl is seduced by a member of the caste she is married
to him by the simple form adopted for the wedding of a widow. But
if she goes wrong with an outsider of low caste she is permanently
expelled. The remarriage of widows is permitted and divorce is also
allowed, a deed being executed on stamped paper before the _panchayat_
or caste committee. If a woman runs away from her husband to another
man he must repay to the husband the amount expended on her wedding
and give a feast to the caste. A Brahman is employed to fix the date
of a wedding and sometimes for the naming of children, but he is only
consulted and is never present at the ceremony. The caste venerate the
goddess Devi, offering her a virgin she-goat in the month of Asarh
(June-July). They worship their weaving implements at the Diwali
and Holi festivals,