_Bania, Asathi._--This subcaste numbers about 2500 persons in the
Central Provinces, belonging principally to the Damoh and Jubbulpore
Districts. They say that their original home was the Tikamgarh State
in Bundelkhand. They do not rank very high, and are sometimes said
to be the descendants of an Ahir who became a Bania. The great bulk
are Hindus and a small minority Jains. It is told of the Asathis that
they first bury their dead, in accordance presumably with a former
practice, and then exhume and burn the bodies; and there is a saying--
Ardha jale, ardha gare
Jinka nam Asathi pare,
or, 'He who is an Asathi is half buried and half burnt.' But this
practice, if it ever really existed, has now been abandoned.