They worship the ordinary Hindu gods and especially Devi, to whom they
offer female kids. During the months of Baisakh and Jeth (April-June)
those living in Betul and Chhindwara make a pilgrimage to the Nag Deo
or cobra god, who is supposed to have his seat somewhere on the border
of the two Districts. Every third year they also take their cattle
outside the village, and turning their faces in the direction of the
Nag Deo sprinkle a little water and kill goats and fowls. They worship
the Patel Deo or spirit of the deceased malguzar of the village only
on the occasion of marriages. They consider the service of the village
headman to be their traditional occupation besides agriculture, and
they therefore probably pay this special compliment to the spirit of
their employer. They worship their implements of husbandry on some
convenient day, which must be a Wednesday or a Sunday, after they
have sown the spring crops. Those who grow sugarcane offer a goat or
a cocoanut to the crop before it is cut, and a similar offering is
made to the stock of grain after harvest, so that its bulk may not
decrease. They observe the ordinary festivals, and like other Hindus
cease to observe one on which a death has occurred in the family,
until some happy event such as the birth of a child, or even of a
calf, supervenes on the same day. Unmarried children under seven
and persons dying of smallpox, snake-bite or cholera are buried,
and others are either buried or burnt according to the convenience
of the family. Males are placed on the pyre or in the grave on their
faces and females on their backs, with their feet pointing to the
south in each case. In some places the corpse is buried stark naked,
and in others with a piece of cloth wrapped round it, and two pice are
usually placed in the grave to buy the site. When a corpse is burnt
the head is touched with a bamboo before it is laid on the funeral
pyre, by way of breaking it in and allowing the soul to escape if it
has not already done so. For three days the mourners place food, water
and tobacco in cups for the disembodied soul. Mourning is observed for
children for three days and for adults from seven to ten days. During
this period the mourners refrain from luxurious food such as flesh,
turmeric, vegetables, milk and sweets; they do not wear shoes, nor
change their clothes, and males are not shaved until the last day of
mourning. Balls of rice are then offered to the dead, and the caste
people are feasted. Oblations of water are offered to ancestors in
the month of Kunwar (September-October).