Natives in Central India, 43 



their British rulers. They are totally uneducated ; the old man 

 giving me this information has never seen or heard of any one 

 who could read or write. Impressed with the belief, prevalent 

 throughout India, that the muscular system does not retain its 

 vigour after marriage, the Doomur or Bhatoo delays marrying 

 till middle-aged ; and then, owing to the great expense the cere- 

 monies when taking a young wife occasion, the Bhatoo usually 

 allies himself with a woman who, having been devoted to the 

 gods in her infancy, has now become too old to make a trade of 

 her charms, and too stiff to take a part in the athletic exhibi- 

 tions. Two or three hundred rupees are expended in marrying 

 a young wife ; but the ceremonies for the older women are com- 

 pleted in a day, and cost only ten or twelve rupees. Yet, not- 

 withstanding this mode of life, they are not unprolific, my in- 

 formant having seen five, six, seven, and even eight childrd^ 

 born of one woman who had been devoted in her infancy to 

 the gods. 



They never eat the hog, the cow, the bullock, or the horse. 

 They call themselves Mahrattas, but their religion seems essen- 

 tially different from the Hindus around them. They own attach- 

 mentto none of the three great divisions of the brahminical faith, 

 and when asked whom they worship, they reply, " Narayan," 

 the Spirit of God ; but the particular object the Bhatoo pays 

 his devotions to is the bamboo, with which all their feats are 

 performed. At the village of Thekoor, near Kittoor, the shrine 

 of the goddess Karewa has been erected on the summit of a 

 hill, around the base of which dense forests of bamboo grow. 

 One they select, and the attendants of the temple consecrate 

 it. It is now called " Gunnichari,'' Chief, and receives their 

 worship annually. To it, as to a human chief, all respect is 

 shewn ; and in cases of marriage, of disputes requiring arbitra- • 

 tion, or the occurrence of knotty points demanding consultation, 

 the gunnichari is erected in the midst of the counsellors or ar- 

 biters, and all prostrate themselves to it before commencing 

 the discussion of the subject before them. The Bhatoos do 

 not keep idols. 



All the dead are buried ; when they consign one of their 



