The sweepers will freely admit outsiders into their community, and the
caste forms a refuge for persons expelled from their own societies
for sexual or moral offences. Various methods are employed for the
initiation of a neophyte; in some places he, or more frequently she,
is beaten with a broom made of wood taken from a bier, and has to give
a feast to the caste; in others a slight wound is made in his body and
the blood of another sweeper is allowed to flow on to it so that they
mix; and a glass of sherbet and sugar, known as the cup of nectar,
is prepared by the priest and all the members of the committee put
their fingers into it, after which it is given to the candidate to
drink; or he has to drink water mixed with cowdung into which the
caste-people have dipped their little fingers, and a lock of his
hair is cut off. Or he fasts all day at the shrine of Lalbeg and
in the evening drinks sherbet after burning incense at the shrine;
and gives three feasts, the first on the bank of a tank, the second
in his courtyard and the third in his house, representing his gradual
purification for membership; at this last he puts a little water into
every man's cup and receives from him a piece of bread, and so becomes
a fully qualified caste-man. Owing to this reinforcement from higher
castes, and perhaps also to their flesh diet, the sweepers are not
infrequently taller and stronger as well as lighter in colour than
the average Hindu.