and drink country liquor. Old men often give up flesh and wine as a
mark of piety, when they are known as Bhagat or holy. They will take
food cooked with water only from Brahmans, and that cooked without
water from Rajputs, Banias and Kayasths as well. Brahmans and Rajputs
will take water from Kurmis in the northern Districts though not in
Chhattisgarh. Here the Kurmis do not object to eating cooked food
which has been carried from the house to the fields. This is called
_rengai roti_, and castes which will eat it are considered inferior
to those who always take their food in the _chauka_ or purified
place in the house. They say 'Ram, Ram' to each other in greeting,
and the Raipur Kurmis swear by a dog or a pig. Generally they do not
plough on the new or full moon days. Their women are tattooed after
marriage with dots on the cheeks, marks of flies on the fingers,
scorpions on the arms, and other devices on the legs.

44. Caste penalties

Permanent expulsion from caste is inflicted for a change of religion,
taking food or having sexual intercourse with a member of an impure
caste, and for eating beef. For killing a man, a cow, a buffalo,
an ass, a horse, a squirrel, a cat or a monkey a man must purify
himself by bathing in the Ganges at Allahabad or Benares and giving
a feast to the caste. It will be seen that all these are domestic
animals except the monkey, who is the god Hanuman. The squirrel is
counted as a domestic animal because it is always about the house,
and the souls of children are believed to go into squirrels. One
household animal, the dog, is omitted, and he appears to be less
sacred than the others. For getting maggots in a wound the offender
must bathe in a sacred river, such as the Nerbudda or Mahanadi, and
give a feast to the caste. For eating or having intercourse with a
member of any caste other than the impure ones, or for a _liaison_
within the caste, or for divorcing a wife or marrying a widow, or in
the case of a woman for breaking her bangles in a quarrel with her
husband, a penalty feast must be given. If a man omits to feast the
caste after a death in his family a second feast is imposed, and if
he insults the _panchayat_ he is fined.

45. The cultivating status

The social status of the Kurmi appears to be that of the cultivator. He
is above the menial and artisan castes of the village and the impure
weaving and labouring castes; he is theoretically equal to the
artisan cas