A Kawar is always permitted to become a Dhanwar, and a woman of
the Gond, Binjhwar and Rawat tribes, if such a one is living with a
Dhanwar, may be married to him with the approval of the tribe. She does
not enjoy the full status of membership herself, but it is accorded
to her children. When an outsider is to be admitted a _panchayat_
of five Dhanwars is assembled, one of whom must be of the Majhi
sept. The members of the _panchayat_ hold out their right hands, palm
upwards, one below the other, and beneath them the candidate and his
wife place their hands. The Majhi pours water from a brass vessel on
to the topmost hand, and it trickles down from one to the other on to
those of the candidate and his wife. The blood of a slaughtered goat is
mixed with the water in their palms and they sip it, and after giving
a feast to the caste are considered as Dhanwars. Permanent exclusion
from caste is imposed only for living with a man or woman of another
caste other than those who may become Dhanwars, or for taking food
from a member of an impure caste, the only ones which are lower than
the Dhanwars. Temporary exclusion for an indefinite period is awarded
for an irregular connection between a Dhanwar man and woman, or of
a Dhanwar with a Kawar, Binjhwar, Rawat or Gond; on a family which
harbours any one of its members who has been permanently expelled;
and on a woman who cuts the navel-cord of a newly-born child, whether
of her own caste or not. Irregular sexual intimacies are usually
kept secret and condoned by marriage whenever possible. A person
expelled for any of the above offences cannot claim readmission as a
right. He must first please the members of the caste, and to do this
he attends every caste feast without being invited, removes their
leaf-plates with the leavings of food, and waits on them generally,
and continually proffers his prayer for readmission. When the other
Dhanwars are satisfied with his long and faithful service they take
him back into the community. Temporary exclusion from caste, with the
penalty of one or more feasts for readmission, is imposed for killing
a cow or a cat accidentally, or in the course of giving it a beating;
for having a cow or bullock in one's possession whose nostrils or ears
get split; for getting maggots in a wound; for being beaten except by
a Government official; for taking food from any higher caste other
than those from whom food is accepted; and in the case of a woman
for saying her husband's name aloud. This list of offences shows that
the Dhanwars have almost completely adopted the Hindu code in social
matters, while retaining their tribal religion. A person guilty of one
of the above offences must have his or her head shaved by a barber,
and make a pilgrimage to the shrine of Narsingh Nath in Bodasamar
zamindari; after having accomplished this he is purified by one of
the Sonwani sept, being given water in which gold has been dipped
to drink through a bamboo tube, and he provides usually three feasts
for the caste-fellows.