The Kaikaris eat flesh, including pork and fowls, but not beef. In
Nimar the animals which they eat must have their throats cut by a
Muhammadan with the proper formula, otherwise it is considered as
murder to slaughter them. Both men and women drink liquor. They take
food cooked with water from Kunbis and Malis and take water from the
same castes, but not from Dhimars, Nais or Kahars. No caste will take
food from a Kaikari. Their touch is considered to defile a Brahman,
Bania, Kalar and other castes, but not a Kunbi. They are not allowed
to enter temples but may live inside the village. Their status is thus
very low. They have a caste panchayat or committee, and punishments
are imposed for the usual offences. Permanent exclusion from caste
is rarely or never inflicted, and even a woman who has gone wrong
with an outsider may be readmitted after a peculiar ceremony of
purification. The delinquent is taken to a river, tank or well, and
is there shaved clean. Her tongue is branded with a ring or other
article of gold, and she is then seated under a wooden shed having
two doors. She goes in by one door and sits in the shed, which is
set on fire. She must remain seated until the whole shed is burning
and is then allowed to escape by the other door. A young boy of the
caste is finally asked to eat from her hand, and thus purified she
is readmitted to social intercourse. Fire is the great purifier, and
this ceremony probably symbolises the immolation of the delinquent
and her new birth. A similar ordeal is practised among the Korvas of
Bombay, and this fact may be taken as affording further evidence of
the identity of the two castes. [256] The morals of the caste are,
however, by no means good, and some of them are said to live by
prostituting their women. The dog is held especially sacred as with
all worshippers of Khandoba, and to swear by a dog is Khandoba's
oath and is considered the most binding. The Kaikaris are of dark
colour and have repulsive features. They do not bathe or change their
clothes for days together. They are also quarrelsome, and in Bombay
the word Kaikarin is a proverbial term for a dirty shrew. Women are
profusely tattooed, because tattooing is considered to be a record
of the virtuous acts performed in this world and must be displayed
to the deity after death. If no marks of tattooing are found the soul
is sent to hell and punished for having acquired no piety.