274 P. N. Bose — Ohluitlisgar : notes on its tribes, sects and castes. [No. 3, 
very interesting. The followers of the last named sect were not sepa- 
rately entered at the last census ; they are not, in fact, mentioned. 
This is an omission which it may be hoped, will not recur at the next 
census. In the districts of Raipur and Bilaspur the Kabirpanthis num- 
ber 230,526, and the Satnamis 356,533. At the last census the popula- 
tion of these districts including Hindus, and Aborigines, numbered nearly 
three millions. The Kabirpanthis and the Satnamis, therefore, together 
form about 24 per cent, of the entire population. The Kabirpanthis do 
not appear to believe in any God beyond their Guru to whom they accord 
divine honours. The Marars and the Bhuujiyas also did not express 
their belief in any God. They have stMpands in their houses for their 
ancestors to whom they give offerings periodically. 
The Satnamis are Monotheists, but like the Kabirpanthis they 
worship their Guru. The Man Bhans are Vaishnavas. 
All these sects, the Kabirpanthis, the Satnamis and the Man Bhans, 
abjure caste and eschew flesh and fish and spirituous liquors. A section 
of the Satndmis abstain even from smoking. 
Rice is the principal food of the people in the plain country, and 
kodo that of the Gonds and other tribes living in the jungles. Spiritu- 
ous liquor (prepared from mhowa flower) is indulged in chiefly by the 
Gonds, especially those who live in the jungles. 
The clothing of men is usually of the scantiest possible dimensions ; 
but, that of women is, as a rule, ample and decorous. In the interior, 
strong, coarse, indigenous cloth is still largely in use ; but with the ex- 
tension of railways it is to a large extent giving way to cheaper, more 
showy, though loss durable cloth of Manchester make. The fate of the 
weaving castes like that of the iron-smelters is sealed. 
There are certain practices which are common to most of the tribes 
and castes described in this paper, and which may bo conveniently men- 
tioned here. 
Re-mai’riage of widows is a general practice. A widow is allowed 
to wed herself to the younger brother of her deceased husband — a cus- 
tom which appears to have largely prevailed in ancient India. She 
can, however, marry almost anybody she pleases in her own caste. The 
essential part of the ceremony of such marriage consisting, I am told, 
in making presents of churis (thin glass or earthen bracelets) to the 
bride — who, in her widowed condition, remains without any ornaments 
whatever — is called churi marriage. Being inexpensive, it is often 
resorted to by impecunious wife-hunters in preference to regular mar- 
riage which’ is rather costly. Marriage is certainly not allowed to be a 
failure in Chhattisgar. A man can of course take to himself as many 
