der to purify it. While they are there neither the owner nor any
member of his family may enter the house. The Panch then proceed to
the riverside and cook food, after driving the new convert across the
river by pelting him with cowdung. Here he changes his clothes and
puts on new ones, and coming back again across the stream is made to
stand in the _chauk_ and sip the urine of a calf. The _chauk_ is then
washed out and a fresh one made with lines of flour, and standing in
this the convert receives to drink the _dal_, that is, water in which
a little betel, raw sugar and black pepper have been mixed and a piece
of gold dipped. In the evening the Panch again take their food in
the convert's house, while he eats outside it at a distance. Then he
again sips the _dal_, and the Mahant or priest takes him on his lap
and a cloth is put over them both; the Mahant whispers the _mantra_
or sacred verse into his ear, and he is finally considered to have
become a full Kabirha Panka and admitted to eat with the Panch.

6. Other customs

The Pankas are strict vegetarians and do not drink liquor. A Kabirha
Panka is put out of caste for eating flesh meat. Both men and women
generally wear white clothes, and men have the garland of beads round
the neck. The dead are buried, being laid on the back with the head
pointing to the north. After a funeral the mourners bathe and then
break a cocoanut over the grave and distribute it among themselves. On
the tenth day they go again and break a cocoanut and each man buries
a little piece of it in the earth over the grave. A little cup made
of flour containing a lamp is placed on the grave for three days
afterwards, and some food and water are put in a leaf cup outside the
house for the same period. During these days the family do not cook
for themselves but are supplied with food by their friends. After
childbirth a mother is supposed not to eat food during the time that
the midwife attends on her, on account of the impurity caused by this
woman's presence in the room.

7. Occupation

The caste are generally weavers, producing coarse country cloth, and a
number of them serve as village watchmen, while others are cultivators
and labourers. They will not grow _san_-hemp nor breed tasar silk
cocoons. They are somewhat poorly esteemed by their neighbours, who say
of them, 'Where a Panka can get a little boiled rice and a pumpkin,
he will stay for ever,' meaning that he is satisfied wi