At Shirgaon in the Máhim taluka of the Thána District some Hindus make vows to the local Pir and take part in the tábut procession. They pour water over the feet of the tábut bearers, and throw abir (black scented powder) and flowers on the tábuts. They also distribute to the fakirs Malinda, or Khichadi.[53]
The Mujáwar (priest) of the saint Walli Amir Shaha of Shahápur in the Thána District is a Marátha by caste.[54]
In the Kolhápur District Pirs are held in great reverence by Hindus. They make vows to the Pirs in order to get a son, and when their object is fulfilled they offer a preparation of Til (sesamum) and sugar called Rewadi, and other sweets called Chonge, Malinda and Pedhe at the time of Moharram. They also give Fakiri to their sons in the tábut season. Some of them even bring a tábut and Nál sáheb to their houses, and spend much money on them for illuminations, etc. They dance from one Nálpir to the other saying that the Nálpir has entered their bodies. While going through the streets they cry out very loudly the words ‘Yalli Dhulla’. The holiday of the Moharram is observed for ten days. On the tenth day the tábuts and the Nálpirs are taken to the river for the purpose of immersion. While returning home from the river with the bundle of the Patka of Nálpir on their heads they cry out loudly the following words: “Alabidáyo ála bidásha ya Husan bani alidosháke sultán albida”. On the third day after the immersion of tábuts into the river, the Pirs devotees kill a goat in the name of their patron Pir and make a preparation of the goat’s flesh called Konduri.[55]
The following rites are in vogue for the cure of barrenness in the village of Dábhol in the Ratnágiri District.—(1) Walking round the Pipal tree daily; (2) Observing a fast for sixteen successive Mondays; (3) Performing the worship of Shiva after observing the aforesaid fast.[56]
At Kálshe in the Málwan taluka of the Ratnágiri District a barren woman is required to walk round a Pipal tree every day in the morning, and if the barrenness be attributed to the disfavour of any deity or the attack of an evil spirit, the same deity or the evil spirit is invoked and worshipped by the woman herself, or through a medium who knows the appropriate mode of worship.[57]
To steal an earthen image of the God Ganpati, to make a cross or a Swástika on the bodies of children with marking nut, and the worship of the god Máruti or some other powerful deity at midnight in the no moon by a barren woman, after divesting herself of her clothes, are rural methods for the cure of barrenness observed at Anjarle and other places in the Dápoli taluka of the Ratnágiri District.[58]
At Bándivade in the Ratnágiri District copper amulets and black cotton strings are used to cure barrenness. Some people make vows to a particular deity, and some perform the rite of Nágabali.[59]
To walk round Pipal and Umbar trees, to circumambulate the temple of a particular deity, and to make vows to that deity, to recite or have recited the holy scripture Harivansha, are methods in practice for cure of barrenness at Achre in the Málwan taluka of the Ratnágiri District.[60]
At Vijayadurg in the Ratnágiri District, it is believed that beating a woman at the time of an eclipse is one of the surest methods of curing barrenness. Some people give charity, observe fasts, worship certain deities and make vows to them to obtain children.[61]
At Ubhádánda in the Ratnágiri District, stealing the idol of Krishna when it is being worshipped on the 8th day of the dark half of Shráwan (August), the birth day of the god Krishna, and putting a cocoanut or a betelnut in its place is believed to be the best method of curing barrenness.[62]