ls are much aggrieved if the exigencies of Government business
prevent them from obtaining leave. The obligation seems to be of
the same character as that which caused Fabius to leave the army in
order to attend his Gentile sacrifice at Rome. If he did not attend
the Gentile sacrifice he was not a member of the _gens_, and if a
Hindu did not attend the feast of his clan in past times perhaps he
did not remain a member of the clan. Among the Maratha Brahmans the
girl-bride eats with her husband's relations on this day only to mark
her admission into their clan, and among the Bengali Brahmans, when
the wedding guests are collected, the bride comes and puts a little
sugar on each of their leaf-plates, which they eat in token of their
recognition of her in her new status of married woman. The members
of the caste or subcaste also assemble and eat together on three
occasions: at a marriage, which will have the effect of bringing
new life into the community; at a death, when a life is lost; and
at the initiation of a new member or the readmission of an offender
temporarily put out of caste. It is a general rule of the caste feasts
that all members of the subcaste in the locality must be invited, and
if any considerable number of them do not attend, the host's position
in the community is impugned. For this reason he has to incur lavish
expenditure on the feast, so as to avoid criticism or dissatisfaction
among his guests. These consider themselves at liberty to comment
freely on the character and quality of the provisions offered to
them. In most castes the feast cannot begin until all the guests
have assembled; the Maheshri Banias and one or two other castes are
distinguished by the fact that they allow the guests at the _pangat_
or caste feast to begin eating as they arrive. Those who bear the host
a grudge purposely stay away, and he has to run to their houses and beg
them to come, so that his feast can begin. When the feast has begun
it was formerly considered a great calamity if any accident should
necessitate the rising of the guests before its conclusion. Even if
a dog or other impure animal should enter the assembly they would not
rise. The explanation of this rule was that it would be disrespectful
to Um Deo, the food-god, to interrupt the feast. At the feast each man
sits with his bare crossed knees actually touching those of the men
on each side of him, to show that they are one brotherhood and one
body. If a man sa