eparate group of their own, as Ahir Lingayats, Bania Lingayats
and so on, severing their connection with the parent caste. A third
division consists of members of unclean castes attached to the
Lingayat community by reason of performing to it menial service. A
marked tendency has recently been displayed by the community in Bombay
to revert to the original Brahmanic configuration of society, from
which its founder sought to free it. On the occasion of the census a
complete scheme was supplied to the authorities professing to show the
division of the Lingayats into the four groups of Brahman, Kshatriya,
Vaishya and Sudra.

In the Central Provinces Lingayats were not shown as a separate caste,
and the only return of members of the sect is from the Bania caste,
whose subcastes were abstracted. Lingayat was recorded as a subcaste by
8000 Banias, and these form a separate endogamous group. But members
of other castes as Gaolis, Malis, Patwas and the Telugu Balijas are
also Lingayats and marry among themselves. A child becomes a Lingayat
by being invested with the _lingam_ or phallic sign of Siva, seven
days after its birth, by the Jangam priest. This is afterwards carried
round the neck in a small casket of silver, brass or wood throughout
life, and is buried with the corpse at death. The corpse of a Lingayat
cannot be burnt because it must not be separated from the _lingam_,
as this is considered to be the incarnation of Siva and must not
be destroyed in the fire. If it is lost the owner must be invested
with a fresh one by the Jangam in the presence of the caste. It is
worshipped three times a day, being washed in the morning with the
ashes of cowdung cakes, while in the afternoon leaves of the _bel_
tree and food are offered to it. When a man is initiated as a Lingayat
in after-life, the Jangam invests him with the _lingam_, pours holy
water on to his head and mutters in his ear the sacred text, '_Aham
so aham_,' or 'I and you are now one and the same.' The Lingayats
are strict vegetarians, and will not expose their drinking water to
the sun, as they think that by doing this insects would be bred in it
and that by subsequently swallowing them they would be guilty of the
destruction of life. They are careful to leave no remains of a meal
uneaten. Their own priests, the Jangams, officiate at their weddings,
and after the conclusion of the ceremony the bride and bridegroom
break raw cakes of pulse placed on the other's back,