nces, and the almost
invariable penalty for readmission is a feast to the caste-fellows. A
person, male or female, who has been convicted of adultery must have
the head shaved, and is then seated in the centre of the caste-fellows
and pelted by them with the leavings of their food. Basor women are
not permitted to wear nose-rings on pain of exclusion from caste.

6. Occupation.

The trade of the Basors is a very essential one to the agricultural
community. They make numerous kinds of baskets, among which may be
mentioned the _chunka_, a very small one, the _tokni_, a basket
of middle size, and the _tokna_, a very large one. The _dauri_
is a special basket with a lining of matting for washing rice in
a stream. The _jhanpi_ is a round basket with a cover for holding
clothes; the _tipanna_ a small one in which girls keep dolls; and the
_bilahra_ a still smaller one for holding betel-leaf. Other articles
made from bamboo-bark are the _chalni_ or sieve, the _khunkhuna_ or
rattle, the _bansuri_ or wooden flute, the _bijna_ or fan, and the
_supa_ or winnowing-fan. All grain is cleaned with the help of the
_supa_ both on the threshing-floor and in the house before consumption,
and a child is always laid in one as soon as it is born. In towns
the Basors make the bamboo matting which is so much used. The only
implement they employ is the _banka_, a heavy curved knife, with which
all the above articles are made. The _banka_ is duly worshipped at
the Diwali festival. The Basors are also the village musicians, and a
band of three or four of them play at weddings and on other festive
occasions. Some of them work as pig-breeders and others are village
watchmen. The women often act as midwives. One subcaste, the Dumar,
will do scavenger's work, but they never take employment as _saises_,
because the touch of horse-dung is considered as a pollution, entailing
temporary excommunication from caste.

Bedar

1. General notice.

_Bedar. [252]_--A small caste of about 1500 persons, belonging
to Akola, Khandesh and Hyderabad. Their ancestors were Pindaris,
apparently recruited from the different Maratha castes, and when the
Pindaris were suppressed they obtained or were awarded land in the
localities where they now reside, and took to cultivation. The more
respectable Bedars say that their ancestors were Tirole Kunbis, but
when Tipu Sultan invaded the Carnatic he took many of them prisoners
and ordered them to become Muh