would fulfil the omen, and the real death
would thus become unnecessary. In this case the belief would be that
the man's own spirit would pass into the young crow.

16. Religion

The principal deities of the caste are Maroti or Hanuman, Mahadeo or
Siva, Devi, Satwai and Khandoba. Maroti is worshipped principally on
Saturdays, so that he may counteract the evil influences exercised by
the planet Saturn on that day. When a new village is founded Maroti
must first be brought and placed in the village and worshipped, and
after this houses are built. The name Maroti is derived from Marut,
the Vedic god of the wind, and he is considered to be the son of
Vayu, the wind, and Anjini. Khandoba is an incarnation of Siva as a
warrior, and is the favourite deity of the Marathas. Devi is usually
venerated in her Incarnation of Marhai Mata, the goddess of smallpox
and cholera--the most dreaded scourges of the Hindu villager. They
offer goats and fowls to Marhai Devi, cutting the throat of the
animal and letting its blood drop over the stone, which represents
the goddess; after this they cut off a leg and hang it to the tree
above her shrine, and eat the remainder. Sometimes also they offer
wooden images of human beings, which are buried before the shrine
of the goddess and are obviously substitutes for a human sacrifice;
and the lower castes offer pigs. If a man dies of snake-bite they
make a little silver image of a snake, and then kill a real snake,
and make a platform outside the village and place the image on it,
which is afterwards regularly worshipped as Nagoba Deo. They may
perhaps think that the spirit of the snake which is killed passes
into the silver image. Somebody afterwards steals the image, but
this does not matter. Similarly if a man is killed by a tiger he
is deified and worshipped as Baghoba Deo, though they cannot kill a
tiger as a preliminary. The Kunbis make images of their ancestors in
silver or brass, and keep them in a basket with their other household
deities. But when these get too numerous they take them on a pilgrimage
to some sacred river and deposit them in it. A man who has lost
both parents will invite some man and woman on Akshaya Tritiya,
[35] and call them by the names of his parents, and give them a
feast. Among the mythological stories known to the caste is one of
some interest, explaining how the dark spots came on the face of the
moon. They say that once all the gods were going to a dinn