5. Next comes the wedding feast (byâh ka bhât). Unmarried boys among Dhobis do not eat boiled rice (bhât). They taste it first after they are married. The next day the bride goes off with her husband. On the third day is the panwpheri, when, if the two houses are near, the bride goes alone back to her father’s house and comes home by herself to her husband. Widows are married in the ordinary way by the sagâi or dharauna form and the levirate is allowed, but it is not compulsory on the widow to take the younger brother of her late husband. [Birth and death ceremonies.] 6. The ceremonies at birth and death are of the usual type common among tribes of the same social standing. The ceremonial shaving (mûnran) is not usually done unless the parents have been blessed with a son in answer to a vow (manauti). [Religion.] 7. Dhobis usually worship the Pânchonpîr and Devi. They are much given to the worship of ghosts, one of whom named Ghatoriya has a great reputation in Bundelkhand. They have a very strong tribal council and are very severe on breaches of caste custom. They rank of course very low in the social scale, and no respectable Hindu will take anything from their hands. He is the subject of many proverbs: Nai dhobiniya aweli, Chirkutwe sâbun laweli. “The new washerwoman will apply soap even to rags.” “A new broom sweeps clean.” Dhobi par Dhobi base, tab kapre par sâbun pare. “When many Dhobis compete, then only does soap reach the clothes.” [326] DISTRIBUTION OF DHOBIS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.