[Religion.] 9. The Dharkârs call themselves Hindus but have a special pantheon of their own, the functions of which are exceedingly vague. Pahâr Pando is a sort of mountain god. Dûrasin is possibly a local development of Jarasandha, the deified King of Magadha. Banhiya Bîr (the hero of the arm—bânh) and Deonâth are deified tribal worthies. Angârmati Bhawâni (“the goddess of the blazing charcoal”) is a vague female divinity. Further north towards the Ganges they worship Birtiya, a vague deity who is apparently merely a guardian godling (Sans. vritti, “support, maintenance”), Dulha Deo, the god of marriage, and the five saints of Islâm (Pânchonpîr), especially Parihâr. Dulha Deo is worshipped on a Saturday in the light half of Kârttik or Baisâkh, when a castrated goat (khasi) is offered in the house and the worshippers consume the flesh. He is also propitiated with a loin-cloth dyed in turmeric: and when the worshipper puts this on he gets into a state of frenzy, shakes his head and announces oracles. If Dulha Deo is not worshipped he sends fever and sundry other diseases. The Pânchonpîr are worshipped with the sacrifice of a cock and cakes (rot); all who worship them keep a house shrine in their honour. In Oudh they worship Devi with an offering of a goat. 10. The more Southern Dharkârs worship the pantheon above described collectively every second or third year in the house. First they make a burnt sacrifice (hom) with butter and treacle, then offer a goat and cock, and pour spirits on the ground. Any one can do this worship, and no Brâhman or Baiga is employed. They worship the sainted dead at the Holi, Dasahra, and in the month of Kuâr. On these occasions they all get drunk and dance in a special way with rattling bangles (ghungru) attached to their ankles to the music of the tambourine (dafla) and the flute (bânsuli). Then they visit in procession the houses of the respectable people in the village, dance, and receive fees (phirihri). The usual allowance is a sieve (sûp) full of any kind of grain. They believe sunstroke to be due to the attack of Angârmati Bhawâni, who rides in her chariot through the sky in the hot weather. She is appeased on such occasions with a burnt offering (hom) and the sacrifice of a goat. All the collective godlings of their pantheon have their abode in a mud platform (chaura) erected in the dwelling house. Traces of tree worship are found in their adoration at marriages of a branch of the cotton tree which has the special name of Kalyâni or “the auspicious one.” Among the myriad ghosts which surround them they particularly fear the ghosts of drowned people (bûrna) who infest tanks where people have been drowned and push in unwary travellers.