thefts and burglaries committed by them in their efforts to provide their customary gifts." A recent report of a Police Inspector in the Bellary district states that "crimes are committed here and there, as this is Nagarapanchami time. Nagarapanchami festival is to be celebrated at the next Ammavasya or new-moon day. It is at that time the people keeping the prostitutes should pay their dues on that day; otherwise they will have their new engagements." In the Kurnool district, the Basavi system is practised by the Boyas, but differs from that in vogue in Bellary and Mysore. The object of making a Basavi, in these two localities, is to perpetuate the family when there is no male heir. If the only issue in a family is a female, the family becomes extinct if she marries, as by marriage she changes her sept. To prevent this, she is not married, but dedicated as a Basavi, and continues to belong to her father's sept, to which also any male issue which is born to her belongs. In the Kurnool district the motive in making Basavis is different. The girl is not wedded to an idol, but, on an auspicious day, is tied by means of a garland of flowers to the garuda kambham (lamp) of a Balija Dasari. She is released either by the man who is to receive her first favours, or by her maternal uncle. A simple feast is held, and a string of black beads tied round the girl's neck. She becomes a prostitute, and her children do not marry into respectable Boya families. "Basava women," Dr. E. Balfour writes, [65] "are sometimes married to a dagger, sometimes to an idol. In making a female child over to the service of the temple, she is taken and dedicated for life to some idol. A khanjar, or dagger, is placed on the ground, and the girl who is to undergo the ceremony puts a garland thereon. Her mother then puts rice on the girl's forehead. The officiating priest then weds the girl to the dagger, just as if he was uniting her to a boy in marriage, by reciting the marriage stanzas, a curtain being held between the girl and the dagger." In an account of the initiation ceremony of the Basavis of the Bellary district Mr. F. Fawcett writes as follows. [66] "A sword with a lime stuck on its point is placed upright beside the novice, and held in her right hand. It represents the bridegroom, who, in the corresponding ceremony of Hindu marriage, sits on the bride's right. A tray, on which are a kalasyam (vessel of water) and a lamp, is then produced, and moved thrice in front of the girl. She rises, and, carrying the sword in her right hand, places it in the god's sanctuary. Among the dancing-girls very similar ceremonies are performed. With them, the girl's spouse is represented by a drum instead of a sword, and she bows to it. Her insignia consist of a drum and bells." In a further note on the dedication of Basavis, Mr. Fawcett writes [67] that "a tali, on which is depicted the namam of Vishnu, fastened to a necklace of black beads, is tied round her neck.