usually by an
image of Mahadeo. The caste eat the flesh of clean animals and of
fowls and wild pig, and drink liquor. Their rules about food are
liberal like those of the Rajputs, a too great stringency being no
doubt in both cases incompatible with the exigencies of military
service. They make no difference between food cooked with or without
water, and will accept either from a Brahman, Rajput, Tirole Kunbi,
Lingayat Bania or Phulmali.

The Marathas proper observe the _parda_ system with regard to their
women, and will go to the well and draw water themselves rather than
permit their wives to do so. The women wear ornaments only of gold
or glass and not of silver or any baser metal. They are not permitted
to spin cotton as being an occupation of the lower classes. The women
are tattooed in the centre of the forehead with a device resembling a
trident. The men commonly wear a turban made of many folds of cloth
twisted into a narrow rope and large gold rings with pearls in the
upper part of the ear. Like the Rajputs they often have their hair
long and wear beards and whiskers. They assume the sacred thread and
invest a boy with it when he is seven or eight years old or on his
marriage. Till then they let the hair grow on the front of his head,
and when the thread ceremony is performed they cut this off and let
the _choti_ or scalp-lock grow at the back. In appearance the men
are often tall and well-built and of a light wheat-coloured complexion.

7. Religion

The principal deity of the Marathas is Khandoba, a warrior incarnation
of Mahadeo. He is supposed to have been born in a field of millet
near Poona and to have led the people against the Muhammadans in
early times. He had a watch-dog who warned him of the approach of
his enemies, and he is named after the _khanda_ or sword which he
always carried. In Bombay [216] he is represented on horseback with
two women, one of the Bania caste, his wedded wife, in front of him,
and another, a Dhangarin, his kept mistress, behind. He is considered
the tutelary deity of the Maratha country, and his symbol is a bag
of turmeric powder known as _bhandar_. The caste worship Khandoba on
Sundays with rice, flowers and incense, and also on the 21st day of
Magh (January), which is called _Champa Sashthi_ and is his special
festival. On this day they will catch hold of any dog, and after
adorning him with flowers and turmeric give him a good feed and let
him go again. The Marat