nd eat the flesh,
burying the remains beneath the floor. On this occasion they also
drink liquor. Other Kabirpanthis venerate Brahma, Vishnu and Siva,
and light a lamp and burn camphor in their names, but do not make
idols of them. They will accept the cooked food offered to Vishnu as
Satnarayan and a piece of the cocoanut kernel offered to Devi, but not
the offerings to any other deities. And a number even of illiterate
Kabirpanthis appear to abstain from any kind of idol-worship.

9. Statistics of the sect.

About 600,000 Kabirpanthis were returned in the Central Provinces
in 1911, this being equivalent to an increase of 19 per cent since
the previous census. As this was less than the increase in the
total population the sect appears to be stationary or declining in
numbers. The weaving castes are usually Kabirpanthis, because Kabir was
a weaver. The Brahmans call it 'The weaver's religion.' Of the Panka
caste 84 per cent were returned as members of the sect, and this caste
appears to be of sectarian formation, consisting of Pans or Gandas
who have become Kabirpanthis. Other weaving castes such as Balahis,
Koris, Koshtis and Mahars belong to the sect in considerable numbers,
and it is also largely professed by other low castes as the Telis or
oilmen, of whom 16 per cent adhere to it, and by Dhobis and Chamars;
and by some castes from whom a Brahman will take water, as the Ahirs,
Kurmis, Lodhis and Kachhis. Though there seems little doubt that one
of the principal aims of Kabir's preaching was the abolition of the
social tyranny of the caste system, which is the most real and to the
lower classes the most hateful and burdensome feature of Hinduism,
yet as in the case of so many other reformers his crusade has failed,
and a man who becomes a Kabirpanthi does not cease to be a member of
his caste or to conform to its observances. And a few Brahmans who
have been converted, though renounced by their own caste, have, it
is said, been compensated by receiving high posts in the hierarchy of
the sect. Formerly all members of the sect took food together at the
conclusion of each Chauka or service conducted by a Mahant. But this
is no longer the case, and presumably different Chaukas are now held
for communities of different castes. Only on the 13th day of Bhadon
(August), which was the birthday of Kabir, as many Kabirpanthis as
can meet at the headquarters of the Guru take food together without
distinction of caste in