7. Religion.
The tribe worship the common village deities of Chhattīsgarh, and extend their veneration to Bura Deo, the principal god of the Gonds. They venerate their daggers, spears and arrows on the day of Dasahra, and every third year their tutelary goddess Vindhyabāsini is carried in procession from village to village. Mr. Miān Bhai gives the following list of precepts as forming the Binjhwār’s moral code:—Not to commit adultery outside the caste; not to eat beef; not to murder; not to steal; not to swear falsely before the caste committee. The tribe have gurus or spiritual preceptors, whom he describes as the most ignorant Bairāgis, very little better than impostors. When a boy or girl grows up the Bairāgi comes and whispers the Karn mantra or spell in his ear, also hanging a necklace of tulsi (basil) beads round his neck; for this the guru receives a cloth, a cocoanut and a cash payment of four annas to a rupee. Thereafter he visits his disciples annually at harvest time and receives a present of grain from them.