Marriage. 4. The marriage ceremonies are of the most simple type. The boy’s father pays the bride price, and forthwith takes the girl home; and the marriage is recognised when a few of the clansmen have been fed.
Death. 5. Persons who die of cholera, small-pox, or snake-bite, are buried, because they are supposed to be under the direct influence of the deities who rule these diseases, and no purification by fire is necessary. Persons who die a natural death in other ways are cremated. They do not use a regular pyre, but make a thatch of bamboos, and under it light some wood; when the fire is well alight they put on it the body, covered with a white cloth, and let it burn. They have no special cremation places, but consume the corpse wherever it is most convenient, and pay no regard to the ashes, which are left on the site of the cremation.
Impurity. 6. Women remain impure after childbirth for seven days, and the person who sets fire to the pyre for three days. As long as a woman has not given birth to a child she is considered impure during her menses; but once she is a mother her menstruation is disregarded, and she is not kept apart or prevented from doing her ordinary house work.
Religion. 7. Bâjgis consider themselves to be Hindus. They chiefly reverence Devi, and her worship is carried on by a tribal subscription with which goats, rams, and spirits are bought and used in sacrifice. A little of the blood and spirits is poured upon the ground, and the rest is consumed by the worshippers. They have no priests or temples, but each household has a shelf, on which is placed a trident (trisûl) with an iron lamp and an earthenware vessel containing some beads, which represent the goddess. These articles serve as a representation of Nâga Râja, the serpent godling, who is regarded as their tribal deity. Nâga Râja is a [[132]]most powerful godling, and, unless he is propitiated, brings misfortune, disease, and death. The special offering to Nâga Râja and Devi is a goat, while Nar Sinh Deo is worshipped with the sacrifice of fowl. Any adult member of the tribe may make these offerings.
Festivals. 8. They have only two festivals, the Naurâtra and the Basant Panchami. Some of them regard Makar-ki-Sankrânt, or the passage of the sun into the sign of Capricornus, a holiday. On these days they eat meat and drink spirits. Of ancestor worship they know little; but they are, like similar races, in great dread of the spirits of the departed, and do not care to say much about them. Like the Doms of Dehra Dûn, they keep in their houses, as a sort of household guardian, some rude wooden images representing the five Pândavas—Yudhishthira, Bhîma, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. They know little of omens.
Oaths. 9. Their chief oath is on the cow; in less serious cases they swear on the bamboo. The violation of an oath is believed to cause the death of the eldest son of the perjurer.
Demonology. 10. They have the usual beliefs characteristic of races in the same phase of culture regarding dreams, the Evil-eye, and demoniacal possession, leading to disease and death.
Social rules. 11. They will not eat beef; but as to any other kind of food they have no scruples. Men and women eat apart. They will eat pakki and kachchi from any one but a Dom or a Chamâr. No other caste will eat or drink from their hands.
Occupation. 12. Their occupation is singing and dancing, and their women, as has been said already, act as midwives.
Bâlâhar, Bulâhar.—[44] A tribe found in parts of the Duâb and Bundelkhand. The name seems to mean “crier” or “summoner” (Hindi, bulâna, “to call”). In Cawnpur they are also known as Domar or Basor, which connect them with Doms and Bânsphors and Toraiha, because part of their business is to blow the long trumpet or “cholera horn” (turi, turai, turhi) at weddings. In Cawnpur they have four exogamous septs—Suyador, [[133]]Laungbasa, Kudkaha, and Banha—of the meaning of which they can give no explanation.