The Khangars worship the usual Hindu deities and especially
venerate Dulha Deo, a favourite household godling in the northern
Districts. Pachgara Deo is a deity who seems to have been created
to commemorate the occasion when the Dangi distributed the marriage
cakes five times to the fugitive ancestress of the caste. His cult is
now on the decline, but some still consider him the most important
deity of all, and it is said that no Khangar will tell an untruth
after having sworn by this god. Children dying unmarried and persons
dying of leprosy or smallpox are buried, while others are buried or
burnt according as the family can afford the more expensive rite of
cremation or not. As among other castes a corpse must not be burnt
between sunset and sunrise, as it is believed that this would cause
the soul to be born blind in the next birth. Nor must the corpse be
wrapped in stitched clothes, as in that case the child in which it is
reincarnated would be born with its arms and legs entangled. The corpse
is laid on its back and some ghi, til, barley cakes and sandalwood,
if available, are placed on the body. The soul of the deceased is
believed to haunt the house for three days, and each night a lamp
and a little water in an earthen pot are placed ready for it. When
cremation takes place the ashes are collected on the third day and
the burning ground is cleaned with cowdung and sprinkled with milk,
mustard and salt, in order that a cow may lick over the place and the
soul of the deceased may thus find more easy admission into Baikunth or
heaven. Well-to-do persons take the bones of the dead to the Ganges, a
few from the different parts of the body being selected and tied round
the bearer's neck. Mourning is usually only observed for three days.