The great body of the caste worship the ordinary deities Devi,
Hanuman, Dulha Deo, and others, though of course they are not allowed
to enter Hindu temples. They principally observe the Holi and Dasahra
festivals and the days of the new and full moon. On the festival of
Nag-Panchmi they make an image of a snake with flour and sugar and
eat it. At the sacred Ambala tank at Ramtek the Mahars have a special
bathing-ghat set apart for them, and they may enter the citadel and
go as far as the lowest step leading up to the temples; here they
worship the god and think that he accepts their offerings. They are
thus permitted to traverse the outer enclosures of the citadel, which
are also sacred. In Wardha the Mahars may not touch the shrines of
Mahadeo, but must stand before them with their hands joined. They may
sometimes deposit offerings with their own hands on those of Bhimsen,
originally a Gond god, and Mata Devi, the goddess of smallpox.