The Audhelias venerate Dulha Deo and Devi, to whom they usually offer
pigs. Their principal festival is the Holi, at which their women were
formerly engaged to perform as professional dancers. They usually burn
their dead and remove the ashes on the third day, throwing them into
the nearest stream. A few of the bones are picked up and buried under
a pipal tree, and a pitcher with a hole in the bottom is hung on the
tree so that water may trickle down on to them. On the tenth day the
caste-people assemble and are shaved and bathe and rub their bodies
with oil under the tree. Unmarried men and persons dying of cholera
are buried, the head being placed to the north. They consider that if
they place the corpse in the reverse position it would be an insult
to the Ganges equivalent to kicking the holy river, as the feet of
the body would then be turned towards it.