i_ or palm-juice
only from the _sindi_ palm (_Phoenix sylvestris_) and not from the
palmyra palm (_Borassics flabelliformis_). This is the occupation
of a separate caste, the Yatas, from whom the Segidis will not even
take water. At a Segidi marriage the bride is shown the polar star,
which is believed to be the wife of Rishi Vasishtha, the model of
conjugal excellence. She is then made to step on to a stone slab to
remind her how Ahalya, the beautiful wife of Rishi Gautama, was turned
to a stone for committing adultery. Widow-marriage is permitted, and,
by a very curious exception to the ordinary rule, a widow may marry
her deceased husband's elder brother but not his younger one. The
usual prohibition on a widow marrying her husband's elder brother is
based on the ground that he is looked on as her father; the Segidis
say, on the other hand, that his younger brother is as her son. If
an unmarried adult male dies, the ceremony of marriage is performed
between the corpse and a plantain tree; and if an unmarried woman dies
she is married to a sword. A corpse is always buried with the head to
the east and the feet to the west. This peculiar practice may be a
reminiscence of Vedic times, when the west was considered to be the
abode of the departed, the sun being the first mortal who died and
went to the west as recorded in the Rig-Veda. The Segidis are also
cultivators, traders or soldiers. They have a method of divining a
boy's proper calling in his infancy. When his mouth is touched with
grain as food for the first time, they put a sword, a pen, a book,
food and other articles, being the symbols of different professions,
on the ground and place the child in front of them. And his vocation
in life is held to be determined by the article which he touches first.

_Senapati_.--(General.) Honorific title of Sundi.

_Sendia_.--Title of caste headman of Panwar Rajput.

_Sendur_.--A section of Ahir or Rawat.

_Senduria_.--Subcaste of Nagasia. They mark the forehead of the bride
with vermilion (_sendur_).

_Sengar._--A clan of Rajputs belonging to Saugor and Jubbulpore.

_Sesodia_.--A famous clan of Rajputs.

_Seth_.--(Banker or moneylender.) A title of Bania.

_Setti_.--A corruption of the Sanskrit Shreshta, good. Title of
Komti caste.

_Sewak_.--(Servant.) The name given to an inferior class of Brahmans
who serve in Vaishnava temples.

_Shaikh, Sheikh_.--One of the four tribes of Muhammadans. A subcaste
of Mehtar.