their custom
of celebrating marriages all the year round and neglecting the Hindu
close season of the four months of the rains. They travel about with
little huts made of matting, which can be rolled up and carried off
in a few minutes. If rain comes on they seek shelter in the nearest
village. [410] In some localities the caste eat no food cooked
with butter or oil. They are usually considered as an impure caste,
whose touch is a defilement to Hindus. Brahmans do not officiate at
their ceremonies, though the Pardhis resort to the village Joshi or
astrologer to have a propitious date indicated for marriages. They have
to pay for such services in money, as Brahmans usually refuse to accept
even uncooked grain from them. After childbirth women are held to be
impure and forbidden to cook for their families for a period varying
from six weeks to six months. During their periodical impurity they are
secluded for four, six or eight days, the Pardhis observing very strict
rules in these matters, as is not infrequently the case with the lowest
castes. Their caste meetings, Mr. Sewell states, are known as Deokaria
or 'An act performed in honour of God'; at these meetings arrangements
for expeditions are discussed and caste disputes decided. The penalty
for social offences is a fine of a specified quantity of liquor, the
liquor provided by male and female delinquents being drunk by the
men and women respectively. The punishment for adultery in either
sex consists in cutting off a piece of the left ear with a razor,
and a man guilty of intercourse with a prostitute is punished as if
he had committed adultery. The Pardhi women are said to be virtuous.

6. Ordeals

The Pardhis still preserve the primitive method of trial by ordeal. If
a woman is suspected of misconduct she is made to pick a pice coin out
of boiling oil; or a pipal leaf is placed on her hand and a red-hot
axe laid over it, and if her hand is burnt or she refuses to stand
the test she is pronounced guilty. Or, in the case of a man, the
accused is made to dive into water; and as he dives an arrow is shot
from a bow. A swift runner fetches and brings back the arrow, and if
the diver can remain under water until the runner has returned he is
held to be innocent. In Nimar, if an unmarried girl becomes pregnant,
two cakes of dough are prepared, a piece of silver being placed in one
and a lump of coal in the other. The girl takes one of the cakes, and
if it is foun