Here on the third day after the Pola festival in the rains the women
of the caste bring the branches of a thorny creeper, with very small
leaves, and call it Marbod, and sweep out the whole house with it,
saying:
'Ira, pira, khatka, khatkira,
Khansi, kokhala, rai, rog,
Murkuto gheunja ga Marbod,'
or, 'Oh Marbod! sweep away all diseases, pains, coughs, bugs, flies
and mosquitoes.' And then they take the pot of sweepings and throw it
outside the village. Marbod is the deity represented by the branch of
the creeper. This rite takes place in the middle of the rainy season,
when all kinds of insects infest the house, and colds and fever are
prevalent Mr. H.R. Crosthwaite sends the following explanation given
by a Teli cultivator of an eclipse of the sun: "The Sun is indebted to
a sweeper. The sweeper has gone to collect the debt and the Sun has
refused to pay. The sweeper is in need of the money and is sitting
_dharna_ at the Sun's door; you can see his shadow across the Sun's
threshold. Presently the debt will be paid and the sweeper will go
away." The Telis of Nimar observe various Muhammadan practices. They
fast during the month of Ramazan, taking their food in the morning
before sunrise; and at Id they eat the vermicelli and dates which the
Muhammadans eat in memory of the time when their forefathers lived on
this food in the Arabian desert. Such customs are a relic of the long
period of Muhammadan dominance in Nimar, when the Hindus conformed
partly to the religion of their masters. Many Telis are also members
of the Swami-Narayan reforming sect, which may have attracted them
by its disregard of the distinctions of caste and of the low status
which attaches to them under Hinduism.