gain, the rite of initiation or investiture with the sacred thread
appears to be the occasion of the admission of a boy to the caste
community. Before this he is not really a member of the caste and may
eat any kind of food. The initiation is called by the Brahmans the
second birth, and appears to be the birth of the soul or spirit. After
it the boy will eat the sacrificial food at the caste feasts and be
united with the members of the caste and their god. The bodies of
children who have not been initiated are buried and not burnt. The
reason seems to be that their spirits will not go to the god nor
be united with the ancestors, but will be born again. Formerly such
children were often buried in the house or courtyard so that their
spirits might be born again in the same family. The lower castes
sometimes consider the rite of ear-piercing as the initiation and
sometimes marriage. Among the Panwar Rajputs a child is initiated when
about two years old by being given cooked rice and milk to eat. The
initiation cannot for some reason be performed by the natural father,
but must be done by a _guru_ or spiritual father, who should thereafter
be regarded with a reverence equal to or even exceeding that paid to
the natural father.

84. Penalty feasts.

When a man is readmitted to caste after exclusion for some offence,
the principal feature of the rite is a feast at which he is again
permitted to eat with his fellows. There are commonly two feasts, one
known as the _Maili Roti_ or impure meal, and the other as _Chokhi_
or pure, both being at the cost of the offender. The former is eaten
by the side of a stream or elsewhere on neutral ground, and by it
the offender is considered to be partly purified; the latter is in
his own house, and by eating there the castemen demonstrate that no
impurity attaches to him, and he is again a full member. Some castes,
as the Dhobas, have three feasts: the first is eaten at the bank
of a stream, and at this the offender's hair is shaved and thrown
into the stream; the second is in his yard; and the third in his
house. The offender is not allowed to partake of the first two meals
himself, but he joins in the third, and before it begins the head
of the _panchayat_ gives him water to drink in which gold has been
dipped as a purificatory rite. Among the Gonds the flesh of goats is
provided at the first meal, but at the second only grain cooked with
water, which they now, in imitation of the