The Vidurs employ Maratha Brahmans for religious and ceremonial
purposes, while their _gurus_ are either Brahmans or Bairagis. They
have two names, one for ceremonial and the other for ordinary use. When
a child is to be named it is placed in a cradle and parties of women
sit on opposite sides of it. One of the women takes the child in her
arms and passes it across the cradle to another saying, 'Take the
child named Ramchandra' or whatever it may be. The other woman passes
the child back using the same phrase, and it is then placed in the
cradle and rocked, and boiled wheat and gram are distributed to the
party. The Vidurs burn the dead, and during the period of mourning
the well-to-do employ a Brahman to read the Garud Puran to them,
which tells how a sinner is punished in the next world and a virtuous
man is rewarded. This, it is said, occupies their minds and prevents
them from feeling their bereavement. They will take food only from
Maratha Brahmans and water from Rajputs and Kunbis. Brahmans will,
as a rule, not take anything from a Vidur's hand, but some of them
have begun to accept water and sweetmeats, especially in the case
of educated Vidurs. The Vidurs will not eat flesh of any kind nor
drink liquor. The Brahman Vidurs did not eat in kitchens in the
famine. Their dress resembles that of Maratha Brahmans. The men do not
usually wear the sacred thread, but some have adopted it. In Bombay,
however, boys are regularly invested with the sacred thread before
the age of ten. [720] In Nagpur it is stated that the Vidurs like
to be regarded as Brahmans. [721] They are now quite respectable
and hold land. Many of them are in Government service, some being
officers of the subordinate grades and others clerks, and they are
also agents to landowners, patwaris and shopkeepers. The Vidurs are
the best educated caste with the exception of Brahmans, Kayasths and
Banias, and this fact has enabled them to obtain a considerable rise
in social status. Their aptitude for learning may be attributed to
their Brahman parentage, while in some cases Vidurs have probably
been given an education by their Brahman relatives. Their correct
position should be a low one, distinctly beneath that of the good
cultivating castes. A saying has it, 'As the _amarbel_ creeper has no
roots, so the Vidur has no ancestry.' But owing to their education
and official position the higher classes of Vidurs have obtained a
social status not much below that of Kayasths. This rise in position
is assisted by their adherence in matters of dress, food and social
practice to the customs of Maratha Brahmans, so that many of them
are scarcely distinguishable from a Brahman. A story is told of a
Vidur Tahsildar or Naib-Tahsildar who was transferred to a District
at some distance from his home, and on his arrival there pretended to
be a Maratha Brahman. He was duly accepted by the other Brahmans, who
took food with him in his house and invited him to their own. After
an interval of some months the imposture was discovered, and it is
stated that this official was at a short subsequent period dismissed
from Government service on a charge of bribery. The Vidurs are also
considered to be clever at personation, and one or two stories are
told of frauds being carried out through a Vidur returning to some
family in the character of a long-lost relative.