Note 18 — A

Religion. 9. Most of the Agarwâlas are Vaishnavas; some are Jainas or Sarâogis. At the last Census 269,000 declared themselves as Hindus, and 38,000 as Jainas. A small minority are Saivas or Sâktas, but in deference to tribal feeling they abstain from sacrificing animals and using meat or liquor. As Mr. Risley says18:—“Owing, perhaps, to this uniformity of practice in matters of diet, these differences of religious belief do not operate as a bar to intermarriage; and when a marriage takes place between persons of different religions, the standard Hindu ritual is used. When husband and wife belong to different sects, the wife is formally admitted into her husband’s sect and must in future have her own food cooked separately when staying at her father’s house.” Their tribal deity is Lakshmi. They venerate ancestors at the usual Srâddha. They worship snakes at the Nâgpanchami in addition to the special tribal worship described in para. 3. Among trees they venerate the pîpal, kadam, sami and babûl. Their priests are generally Gaur Brâhmans. Some of them profess to abstain from wearing certain kinds of dress and ornaments, as they say, under the orders of their family Sati.