sign of her admission to their clan, and returns
home. Divorce and the remarriage of widows are permitted.

3. Religion and worship of ancestors

The caste worship Viswakarma, the celestial architect, and on four
principal festivals they revere their trade-implements and the book
on architecture, by which they work. At Dasahra a pumpkin is offered
to these articles in lieu of a goat. They observe the _shraddh_
ceremony, and first make two offerings to the spirits of ancestors
who have died a violent death or have committed suicide, and to
those of relatives who died unmarried, for fear lest these unclean
and malignant spirits should seize and defile the offerings to the
beneficent ancestors. Thereafter _pindas_ or sacrificial cakes are
offered to three male and three female ancestors both on the father's
and mother's side, twelve cakes being offered in all. The Sansias eat
the flesh of clean animals, but the consumption of liquor is strictly
forbidden, on pain, it is said, of permanent exclusion from caste.

4. Occupation

In Sambalpur the caste are usually stone-workers, making cups, mortars,
images of idols and other articles. They also build tanks and wander
from place to place for this purpose in large companies. It is related
that on one occasion they came to dig a tank in Drug, and the Raja
of that place, while watching their work, took a fancy to one of the
Odnis, as their women were called, and wanted her to marry him. But
as she was already married, and was a virtuous woman, she refused. The
Raja persisted in his demand, on which the whole body of Sansias from
Chhattisgarh, numbering, it is said, nine lakhs of persons, left their
work and proceeded to Wararbandh, near Raj-Nandgaon. Here they dug
the great tank of Wararbandh [624] in one night to obtain a supply of
water for themselves. But the Raja followed them, and as they could
not resist him by force, the woman whom he was pursuing burnt herself
alive, and thus earned undying fame in the caste. This legend is
perpetuated in the Odni Git, a popular folk-song in Chhattisgarh. But
it is a traditional story of the Sansias in connection with large
tanks, and in another version the scene is laid in Gujarat. [625]

Savar

List of Paragraphs

1. _Distribution and historical notices_.
2. _Tribal legends_.
3. _Tribal subdivisions_.
4. _Marriage_.
5. _Death ceremonies_.
6. _Religion_.
7. _Occupation_.