Persons who have no children make a vow to Khandoba at Jejuri that the firstborn, male or female, shall be offered to him. The females, offered in fulfilment of such vows are called Muralis. They are married to the god Khandoba, and have to earn their livelihood by begging in villages. A male child thus offered to the god is called a Vághya. [736] There is a custom of offering children to the deities Yallamma and Khandoba in fulfilment of vows made in order to get a child. The child is taken to the temple of these deities, accompanied with music. The temple ministrant asks the child to stand on a wooden board on a heap of rice in front of the deity, and puts into its hands a paradi--a flat basket of bamboo, tying to its neck the darshana of the deity. A female child is married to the dagger--Katyár--of the deity. When once this ceremony has been performed, parents abandon their rights to such children. When these children come of age, the males can marry but the females cannot. The latter earns her livelihood begging jogava in the name of the goddess Amba with a paradi in her hand. A male child offered to the goddess Yallamma is called jogata, and a female, jogatin. Children dedicated to the goddess Máyáka are called Jogi and Jogin. Children offered to Firangái and Ambábái are called Bhutya (male) and Bhutin (female). [737] In the Konkan districts there is a class of women known as Bhávinis who are said to be married to Khanjir, i.e., a dagger belonging to the god. They are also called deva yoshita, i.e., prostitutes offered to the god. They have no caste of their own. They retain the name of the caste to which they originally belonged, such as Maráthe Bhávini, Bhandári Bhávini, Sutár Bhávini, etc. The following account is given of the origin of the sect of Bhávinis. A woman wishing to abandon her husband goes to the temple of a village deity at night, and in presence of the people assembled in that temple she takes oil from the lamp burning in the temple, and pours it upon her head. This process is called Deval righane, i.e., to enter into the service of the temple. After she has poured sweet oil from the lamp upon her head, she has no further connection with her husband. She becomes the maid servant of the temple, and is free to behave as she likes. Daughters of such Bhávinis who do not wish to marry, undergo the process of shesa bharane, and follow the occupation of their mothers. The sons of the Bhávinis have an equal right to the property of their mother, but any daughter who marries a lawful husband loses her share in the property of her mother. A Devali follows the occupation of blowing the horn or cornet, and is entitled to hold the torches in the marriage ceremonies of the people in the village. Many of them learn the art of playing upon the tabour--mrudunga--and are useful to Kathekaris, i.e., those who recite legends of the gods with music and singing. Some of them become farmers while others are unoccupied.