The caste worship Viswakarma, the celestial architect, and on four
principal festivals they revere their trade-implements and the book
on architecture, by which they work. At Dasahra a pumpkin is offered
to these articles in lieu of a goat. They observe the _shraddh_
ceremony, and first make two offerings to the spirits of ancestors
who have died a violent death or have committed suicide, and to
those of relatives who died unmarried, for fear lest these unclean
and malignant spirits should seize and defile the offerings to the
beneficent ancestors. Thereafter _pindas_ or sacrificial cakes are
offered to three male and three female ancestors both on the father's
and mother's side, twelve cakes being offered in all. The Sansias eat
the flesh of clean animals, but the consumption of liquor is strictly
forbidden, on pain, it is said, of permanent exclusion from caste.