272 



Statistics of tie 



[No. 38, 



ed 500 years before the Christian Era, but though not of that remote 

 date, they still are very ancient. Those dedicated to Vishnoo are of 

 much more modern time, than those of Mahadeo, and are prin- 

 cipally his incarnations of Vittul, Vithoba, and Ballajee ; Khundo- 

 ba and Masoba are favorite deities on the hills, and the monkey god 

 Maruti and Gunputtee, are every where ; occasionally temples are 

 dedicated to the various personifications of Bhowanee, and very ge- 

 nerally, throughout the province, are to be seen the tutelary gods of 

 the fields and homestead, called Pandoo, represented by five upright 

 stones, smeared with red lead and oil, occupying a prominent spot in 

 the fields. 



The daughter of a cultivator is married at about 12 

 Marriages. years of age, the son at about the same age or older, 

 through want, of means to provide the expense attending the ceremo- 

 ny, this varies for one in middling circumstances from twenty to fifty 

 Rupees, whilst the richer Koonbees will expend from three to five 

 hundred Rupees : the amount incurred by a son's marriage, always 

 doubling a daughter's. Lucky and unlucky days have much to do 

 in adjusting the period for making these contracts ; no marriage, no 

 giving in marriage takes place amongst good Hindoos, during the 

 year called Singust> which occurs every twelve years : the assigned 

 reason of which being, that at that period, the river Bhagiruttee is 

 supposed to pay a visit to the Godavery, and all Hindoos are then 

 expected and required to repair to the banks of the Godavery, and 

 practise ceremonies similar to those usually performed at funerals, 

 shaving their beards and mustachios, &c. , and as times of mourning 

 are not consistent with revelry and feasting, the two are never mixed 

 up together. The Branmins however have made the penance bear- 

 able, by mixing up with it the following year called Kurk, so that 

 four months of one alternate with four months of the other, and that 

 in those of Kurk it is feasible to marry ; a pardonable piece of sophis- 

 try on the Brahmin's part. This rule extends as far south as the 

 Krishna, beyond which it has no effect ; how far north, my informants 

 who were Brahmins, do not know, but believe to the Ganges. In 

 times of plenty, succeeding a scarcity, such as occurred in 1847, 

 marriages are very numerous. Widows do not marry otherwise 

 than by Paut. 



The attempt at obtaining trust-worthy returns of dis- 

 eases and deaths, has proved a total failure, and there- 

 fore abandoned, There does not appear any very great variety of fatal 



