The caste worship the principal Hindu deities. Either Bhagwan or
Parmeshwar is usually referred to as the supreme deity, as we speak
of God. Bhagwan appears to be Vishnu or the Sun, and Parmeshwar is
Siva or Mahadeo. There are few temples to Vishnu in villages, but
none are required as the sun is daily visible. Sunday or Raviwar
is the day sacred to him, and some people fast in his honour on
Sundays, eating only one meal without salt. A man salutes the sun
after he gets up by joining his hands and looking towards it, again
when he has washed his face, and a third time when he has bathed,
by throwing a little water in the sun's direction. He must not spit
in front of the sun nor perform the lower functions of the body in
its sight. Others say that the sun and moon are the eyes of God, and
the light of the sun is the effulgence of God, because by its light
and heat all moving and immobile creatures sustain their life and
all corn and other products of the earth grow. In his incarnations
of Rama and Krishna there are temples to Vishnu in large villages
and towns. Khermata, the mother of the village, is the local form of
Devi or the earth-goddess. She has a small hut and an image of Devi,
either black or red. She is worshipped by a priest called Panda, who
may be of any caste except the impure castes. The earth is worshipped
in various ways. A man taking medicine for the first time in an
illness sprinkles a few drops on the earth in its honour. Similarly
for the first three or four times that a cow is milked after the
birth of a calf the stream is allowed to fall on the ground. A man
who is travelling offers a little food to the earth before eating
himself. Devi is sometimes considered to be one of seven sisters, but
of the others only two are known, Marhai Devi, the goddess of cholera,
and Sitala Devi, the goddess of smallpox. When an epidemic of cholera
breaks out the Panda performs the following ceremony to avert it. He
takes a kid and a small pig or chicken, and some cloth, cakes, glass
bangles, vermilion, an earthen lamp, and some country liquor, which is
sprinkled all along the way from where he starts to where he stops. He
proceeds in this manner to the boundary of the village at a place where
there are cross-roads, and leaves all the things there. Sometimes
the animals are sacrificed and eaten. While the Panda is doing this
every one collects the sweepings of his house in a winnowing-fan and
throws them outside the village boundary, at the same time ringing a
bell continuously. The Panda must perform his ceremony at night and,
if possible, on the day of the new moon. He is accompanied by a few
other low-caste persons called Gunias. A Gunia is one who can be
possessed by a spirit in the temple of Khermata. When possessed he
shakes his head up and down violently and foams at the mouth, and
sometimes strikes his head on the ground. Another favourite godling
is Hardaul, who was the brother of Jujhar Singh, Raja of Orchha,
and was suspected by Jujhar Singh of loving the latter's wife,
and poisoned in consequence by his orders. Hardaul has a platform
and sometimes a hut with an image of a man on horseback carrying a
spear in his hand. His shrine is outside the village, and two days
before a marriage the women of the family visit his shrine and cook
and eat their food there and invite him to the wedding. Clay horses
are offered to him, and he is supposed to be able to keep off rain
and storms during the ceremony. Hardaul is perhaps the deified Rajput
horseman. Hanuman or Mahabir is represented by an image of a monkey
coloured with vermilion, with a club in his hand and a slain man
beneath his feet. He is principally worshipped on Saturdays so that he
may counteract the evil influences exercised by the planet Saturn on
that day. His image is painted with oil mixed with vermilion and has
a wreath of flowers of the cotton tree; and _gugal_ or incense made of
resin, sandalwood and other ingredients is burnt before him. He is the
deified ape, and is the god of strength and swiftness, owing to the
exploits performed by him during Rama's invasion of Ceylon. Dulha Deo
is another godling whose shrine is in every village. He was a young
bridegroom who was carried off by a tiger on his way to his wedding,
or, according to another account, was turned into a stone pillar by
a flash of lightning. Before the starting of a wedding procession the
members go to Dulha Deo and offer a pair of shoes and a miniature post
and marriage-crown. On their return they offer a cocoanut. Dulha Deo
has a stone and platform to the east of the village, or occasionally
an image of a man on horseback like Hardaul. Mirohia is the god
of the field boundary. There is no sign of him, but every tenant,
when he begins sowing and cutting the crops, offers a little curds
and rice and a cocoanut and lays them on the boundary of the field,
saying the name of Mirohia Deo. It is believed among agriculturists
that if this godling is neglected he will flatten the corn by a wind,
or cause the cart to break on its way to the threshing-floor.