g spirits might
come to attach to the wood. The Panwars seldom resort to divorce,
except in the case of open and flagrant immorality on the part of
a wife. "They are not strict," Mr. Low writes, [398] "in the matter
of sexual offences within the caste, though they bitterly resent and
if able heavily avenge any attempt on the virtue of their women by an
outsider. The men of the caste are on the other hand somewhat notorious
for the freedom with which they enter into relations with the women
of other castes." They not infrequently have Gond and Ahir girls from
the families of their farmservants as members of their households.

9. Religion

The caste worship the ordinary Hindu divinities, and their household
god is Dulha Deo, the deified bridegroom. He is represented by a
nut and a date, which are wrapped in a cloth and hung on a peg in
the wall of the house above the platform erected to him. Every year,
or at the time of a marriage or the birth of a first child, a goat
is offered to Dulha Deo. The animal is brought to the platform and
given some rice to eat. A dedicatory mark of red ochre is made on
its forehead and water is poured over the body, and as soon as it
shivers it is killed. The shivering is considered to be an indication
from the deity that the sacrifice is acceptable. The flesh is cooked
and eaten by the family inside the house, and the skin and bones
are buried below the floor. Narayan Deo or Vishnu or the Sun is
represented by a bunch of peacock's feathers. He is generally kept
in the house of a Mahar, and when his worship is to be celebrated he
is brought thence in a gourd to the Panwar's house, and a black goat,
rice and cakes are offered to him by the head of the household. While
the offering is being made the Mahar sings and dances, and when the
flesh of the goat is eaten he is permitted to sit inside the Panwar's
house and begin the feast, the Panwars eating after him. On ordinary
occasions a Mahar is not allowed to come inside the house, and any
Panwar who took food with him would be put out of caste; and this
rite is no doubt a recognition of the position of the Mahars as the
earlier residents of the country before the Panwars came to it. The
Turukh or Turk sept of Panwars pay a similar worship to Baba Farid,
the Muhammadan saint of Girar. He is also represented by a bundle of
peacock's feathers, and when a goat is sacrificed to him a Muhammadan
kills it and is the first to partake of its fle