The following detailed process of purification had to be undergone
by a well-to-do Gond widow in Mandla who had been detected with a
man of the Panka caste, lying drunk and naked in a liquor-shop. The
Gonds here consider the Pankas socially beneath themselves. The ritual
clearly belongs to Hinduism, as shown by the purifying virtue attached
to contact with cows and bullocks and cowdung, and was directed by
the Panda or priest of Devi's shrine, who, however, would probably
be a Gond. First, the offending woman was taken right out of the
village across a stream; here her head was shaved with the urine
of an all-black bullock and her body washed with his dung, and she
then bathed in the stream, and a feast was given on its bank to the
caste. She slept here, and next day was yoked to the same bullock
and taken thus to the Kharkha or standing-place for the village
cattle. She was rolled over the surface of the Kharkha about four
times, again rubbed with cowdung, another feast was given, and she
slept the night on the spot, without being washed. Next day, covered
with the dust and cowdung of the Kharkha, she crouched underneath
the black bullock's belly and in this manner proceeded to the gate of
her own yard. Here a bottle of liquor and fifteen chickens were waved
round her and afterwards offered at Devi's shrine, where they became
the property of the Panda who was conducting the ceremony. Another
feast was given in her yard and the woman slept there. Next day the
woman, after bathing, was placed standing with one foot outside her
threshold and the other inside; a feast was given, called the feast
of the threshold, and she again slept in her yard. On the following
day came the final feast of purification in the house. The woman was
bathed eleven times, and a hen, a chicken and five eggs were offered
by the Panda to each of her household gods. Then she drank a little
liquor from a cup of which the Panda had drunk, and ate some of the
leavings of food of which he had eaten. The black bullock and a piece
of cloth sufficient to cover it were presented to the Panda for his
services. Then the woman took a dish of rice and pulse and placed a
little in the leaf-cup of each of the caste-fellows present, and they
all ate it and she was readmitted to caste. Twelve cow-buffaloes were
sold to pay for the ceremony, which perhaps cost Rs. 600 or more.