The tribe worship Dulha Deo, the bridegroom god, and also make
offerings to their ploughs at the time of eating the new rice and
at the Holi and Dasahra festivals. They dance the _karma_ dance in
the months of Asarh and Kunwar or at the beginning and end of the
rains. When the time has come the Gaontia headman or the Baiga priest
fetches a branch of the _karma_ tree from the forest and sets it up in
his yard as a notice and invitation to the village. After sunset all
the people, men, women and children, assemble and dance round the tree,
to the accompaniment of a drum known as Mandar. The dancing continues
all night, and in the morning the host plucks up the branch of the
_karma_ tree and consigns it to a stream, at the same time regaling
the dancers with rice, pulse and a goat. This dance is a religious
rite in honour of Karam Raja, and is believed to keep sickness from
the village and bring it prosperity. The tribe eat flesh, but abstain
from beef and pork. Girls are tattooed on arrival at puberty with
representations of the _tulsi_ or basil, four arrow-heads in the form
of a cross, and the foot-ornament known as _pairi_.