ceremony at the marriage of a widow consists
in putting vermilion on the parting of her hair and bangles on her
wrists. Divorce is allowed on pain of a fine of Rs. 50 if the divorce
is sought by the husband, and of Rs. 25 if the wife asks for it. In
some localities divorce and also polygamy are said to be forbidden,
and in such cases a woman who commits adultery is finally expelled
from the caste, and a funeral feast is given to symbolise her death.

4. Religious and social customs.

The family god of the Agharias is Dulha Deo, who exists in every
household. On the Haraiti day or the commencement of the agricultural
year they worship the implements of cultivation, and at Dasahra
the sword if they have one. They have a great reverence for cows
and feed them sumptuously at festivals. Every Agharia has a _guru_
or spiritual guide who whispers the _mantra_ or sacred verse into
his ear and is occasionally consulted. The dead are usually burnt,
but children and persons dying of cholera or smallpox are buried,
males being placed on the pyre or in the grave on their faces and
females on their backs, with the feet pointing to the south. On
the third day the ashes are thrown into a river and the bones of
each part of the body are collected and placed under the pipal
tree, while a pot is slung over them, through which water trickles
continually for a week, and a lighted lamp, cooked food, a leaf-cup
and a tooth-stick are placed beside them daily for the use of the
deceased during the same period. Mourning ends on the tenth day,
and the usual purification ceremonies are then performed. Children
are mourned for a shorter period. Well-to-do members of the caste
feed a Brahman daily for a year after a death, believing that food
so given passes to the spirit of the deceased. On the anniversary of
the death the caste-fellows are feasted, and after that the deceased
becomes a _purkha_ or ancestor and participates in devotions paid
at the _shradhh_ ceremony. When the head of a joint family dies,
his successor is given a turban and betel-leaves, and his forehead
is marked by the priest and other relations with sandalwood. After a
birth the mother is impure for twenty-one days. A feast is given on
the twelfth day, and sometimes the child is named then, but often
children are not named until they are six years old. The names of
men usually end in _Ram_, _Nath_ or _Singh_, and those of women in
_Kunwar_. Women do not name their husba