Note 11 — B

Methods of crime. 3. One of their specialities used to be disguising themselves as Brâhmans and Bairâgis and associating with pilgrims returning from the Ganges, for whom they used to perform mock religious ceremonies, and then stupefy with datûra or thorn apple, and rob.11 Their special deity is Kâli, to whom they offer goats as the Bâwariyas do. They eat game and vermin, such as foxes, jackals, and lizards. They believe that the use of jackal meat fortifies them against the inclemencies of winter.12 They were in the habit of making plundering expeditions, and before starting, shares in the expected booty were allotted, a special share being given to the widow and children of any person killed or dying during the expedition. A writer in the Asiatic Journal13 states that after the sacrifice they used to pray, “If it be Thy will, O, God! and thine, O Kâli! to prosper our undertaking for the sake of the blind and the lame, the widow and the orphan, who depend on our exertions, vouchsafe, we pray thee, the cry of the female jackal on our right.” One of the most famous exploits of Badhik dakaits was the murder of Mr. Ravenscroft, the Collector of Cawnpur, of which Colonel Sleeman gives an account.14