35. In Gorakhpur, besides the worship described above, they also venerate their Guru who is said to have had his head-quarters at Bhojpur, in the Ballia District, and to his shrine they make occasional pilgrimages and make an offering of a pig at least four years old, wine, and flowers. To a goddess named Juthaiya Bhawâni, of whose functions they can give no account, they offer a young pig and some red lead, with a lock of their hair, a forehead spangle, and a cake of flour boiled with pulse. [Demonology.] 36. Their demonology is much of the usual type common to the lower castes by whom they are surrounded. They believe that trees are inhabited by evil spirits, and unless they bow down to trees of this kind, their ghosts revenge themselves by bringing disease and death upon them. To such malignant ghosts they offer a young pig, which is eaten by the worshippers. In Mirzapur the chief Dom festivals are the Kajari and Phagua or Holi. At the Kajari in the month of Sâwan they get drunk, dance, and sing. It is the regular woman’s saturnalia, and on this occasion gross sexual license is tolerated. At the Phagua or Holi the same is the case. In Gorakhpur, besides the Holi, they observe the Jiutiya on the eighth of the dark half of Kuâr, and the Khichari on the day the sun enters the sign of Makar. On the Jiutiya the women fast in order to ensure long life to their husbands, and the Khichari they beg boiled rice and pulse from door to door. 37. The Eastern Doms are particularly afraid of the ghosts of drowned people who are called Bûrna (bûrna “to be drowned”). These malignant ghosts drag under the water and drown boys who bathe in tanks and rivers infested by them. [350] Fields are in charge of Mari Masân, the deity which haunts cremation grounds, and Kukarmari, the dog goddess, already mentioned. They are ever in dread of the ghosts of the dead, which torment them in dreams if not propitiated with an annual sacrifice. If neglected they appear in their original shapes and demand a sacrifice. Women are tattooed on the arms, wrists, breasts, and cheeks. If a woman not tattooed attempt to enter heaven the gate-keeper of Parameswar pitches her down to the earth again. They have the usual omens of meeting. Many of their women, as in the case of all solitary and uncanny races such as they are, are said to practise witchcraft. One way such persons acquire influence over a man is by throwing a cowry shell at him. They believe firmly in the Evil Eye. When children have been overlooked and pine away, the cure is to wave some garlic and pepper pods round the child’s head on a Tuesday or Sunday, and then to throw them into the fire. The evil influence is supposed to pass away with the filthy smoke.