The Prabhus wear the sacred thread. In Bombay boys receive it a short
time before their marriage without the ceremonies which form part of
the regular Brahman investiture. On the fifth day after the birth
of a child, the sword and also pens, paper and ink are worshipped,
the sword being the symbol of their Kshatriya origin and the pens,
paper and ink of their present occupation of clerks. [451] The
funeral ceremonies, Mr. Enthoven writes, are performed during the
first thirteen days after death. Oblations of rice are offered every
day, in consequence of which the soul of the dead attains a spiritual
body, limb by limb, till on the thirteenth day it is enabled to start
on its journey. In twelve months the journey ends, and a _shraddh_
ceremony is performed on an extensive scale on the anniversary of
the death. Most of the Prabhus are in Government service and others
are landowners. In the Bombay Presidency [452] they had at first
almost a monopoly of Government service as English writers, and the
term Prabhu was commonly employed to denote a clerk of any caste who
could write English. Both men and women of the caste are generally
of a fair complexion, resembling the Maratha Brahmans. The taste of
the women in dress is proverbial, and when a Sunar, Sutar or Kasar
woman has dressed herself in her best for some family festival, she
will ask her friends, '_Prabhuin disto_,' or 'Do I look like a Prabhu?'