7. “The method of producing fire by the arani is as follows:—The base is formed of sami wood one cubit long, one span broad and eight finger breadths deep. In the block a small hole is made four finger breadths deep, emblematical of the female principle (sakti yoni). The middle arani is a shaft eighteen inches long and four finger breadths in diameter. An iron nail, one finger breadth long, is fixed to its end as an axis or pivot. The top arani, which is a flat piece of wood, is pressed on this nail, and two priests continue to press the bottom arani and maintain them in position. The point in the drill where the rope is applied to cause it to revolve, is called deva yoni. Before working the rope the gâyatri must be repeated, and a hymn from the Sâma Veda in honour of the fire god Agni. After repeating this hymn the fire produced by the friction is placed in a copper vessel, and powdered cowdung is sprinkled over it. When it is well alight it is covered with another copper vessel, and drops of water are sprinkled over it while the gâyatri is recited three times. The sprinkling is done with kusa grass. Again a Sâma Veda hymn in honour of Agni is recited. It is then formally consigned to the fire-pit. If the Agnihotri chance to let his fire go out he must get it from the pit of another Agnihotri, or produce it by means of the arani.” Agrahari: Agrehri.—A sub-caste of Banyas found in considerable numbers in the Allahâbâd, Benares, Gorakhpur, Lucknow, and Faizâbâd divisions. They claim partly a Vaisya and partly a Brâhmanical descent, and wear the sacred cord. Their name has been connected with the cities of Agra and Agroha. Mr. Nesfield derives it from the agara or aloe wood, which is one of the many things which they sell. There is no doubt that they are closely connected with the Agarwâlas, and Mr. Nesfield suggests that the two groups must have been “sections of one and the same caste which quarrelled on some trifling question connected with cooking or eating, and have remained separate ever since.” Mr. Sherring remarks that they, unlike the Agarwâlas, allow polygamy, and Mr. Risley [124] suggests that if this be true it may supply an explanation of the divergence of the Agraharis from the Agarwâlas. In Mirzapur they do allow polygamy, but with this restriction, that a man cannot marry a second wife in the lifetime of the first without her consent.