Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Nashik District Gazetteer (1883))

LADS, [From materials supplied by Mr. Raghoji Trimbak Sanap. Lad was the name in common use for south Gujarat from the second to the thirteenth century. See Bombay Gazetteer, XII. 57 footnote.] the most important of the Vanjari subdivisions also found in the Baleghats near Ahmednagar and in Gwalior, are scattered over the whole district. In the town of Nasik there are about twenty houses with a population of sixty souls. In their appearance, dress, food, character, and occupation, they hardly differ from other Vanjaris. [ The Vanjari story of the great Durgadevi famine, which lasted from 1396 to 1407, is that it was named from Durga a Lad Vanjari woman, who had amassed great wealth and owned a million pack bullocks, which she used in bringing grain from Nepal, Burmah, and China. She distributed the grain among the starving people and gained the honourable title of ' Mother of the World, Jagachi Mata.] Their household gods are Khandoba, Bhairoba, Devi, and Ganpati, and they have also an image representing their ancestors vadilacha, tak. In villages where there is a temple to Maruti, the monkey god, they worship there daily. They wear the sacred thread and. eat, though they do not marry, with Khudane and Mehrune Vanjaris. As is the custom among the twice-born classes, the members of the same family stock, or gotra, do not marry. The two most important of their marriage ceremonies are telvan, or anointing, and devak. For the performance of telvan the bride and bridegroom are required to fast on the marriage day, till nine in the morning. A washerwoman plays the chief part in the ceremony. She ties some betel leaves to an arrow, dips them into oil, and sprinkles the oil on the bride and bridegroom. She then repeats the names of their ancestors, bings for a while, and, dipping two betelnnts into water, bores a hole through the nuts and ties them with a woman's hair one each on tile wrists of the bride and bridegroom. A dinner is then given to the assembled party. The devak ceremony takes place almost immediately after. It is performed by a married couple the hems of whose robes are tied together. The woman carries in a bamboo basket, sup, certain articles of food, sidha, and with them a cake made of wheat flour mixed with molasses and coloured yellow with turmeric powder, and the man carries an axe and a rope. The pair, followed by the marriage party, then walk to the temple of Maruti, a piece of broadcloth being held over their heads all the way. In the temple the ministering Gurav or his wife stands waiting for them with a bundle of small twigs of five trees, the mnngo, jambul, umbar, savdanti, and rut. The articles of food are kept, by the Gurav or his wife, but the cake is returned in the bamboo basket with the five twigs which are called panchpalvi. The twigs are held in great reverence and tied round a post in the marriage booth. When the twigs have been fastened to the post the marriage can be celebrated in spite of any obstacle, but, without the devak, marriage cannot take place. Though it generally takes place on the marriage day. the devak is sometimes performed earlier if there is reason to fear that anything may stand in the way of the marriage. [Births or deaths among relations or ceremonial impurity of the bride or bride-groom's mother are the obstacles meant.]

One custom, peculiar to them, though not uncommon, among the upper classes, is for she sister of the bridegroom to close the door of his house, and on his return with the bride, after the completion of the marriage, to ask her brother to give his daughter in marriage to her son. The bride promises to do this and the door is opened. Their death ceremonies hardly differ from, those of other Vanjaris, and, though burning is the rule, no objection is taken to the poor burying. Caste disputes are settled by a meeting of respectable members, under the presidency of the chief male member of the Sanap Chandarrao's family. If the accused is found guilty and is not able to pay a fine, he is made to stand before the caste meeting and crave pardon with his sandals on his head.

Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Poona District Gazetteer Part-I (1885))

Lohars, or Blacksmiths, are returned as numbering 258 and as found all over the district. They are divided into Maratha and Panchal Lohars who neither eat together nor intermarry. The Panchal Lohars do not differ from the other Panchals of whom an account is given under Jingars. The Maratha Lohars say that they came to the district during the Peshwa's supremacy from Ahmadnagar, Bombay, Khandesh, and Sholapur. Their surnames are Bhadke, Chavan, Gavli, Kamble, Malvadkar, Navngire, and Suryavanshi. Persons bearing the same surname do not intermarry. The names in common use among men are Lakshman, Narayan, Narsu, Ramkusha, Vishnu and Vithn; and among women Kashi, Lakshumi, Radha, and Rama. They look like Marathas, being dark, strong and regular-featured. Their home tongue is Marathi. The men wear the top-knot and the moustache and sometimes whiskers but never the beard. The women tie the hair in a knot behind, and mark their brow with redpowder. They live in middle-class houses with walls of mud and tiled roofs which they hire at 1s. to 2s. (Re. �-1) a month. Their goods include earthen vessels and they have neither cattle nor servants. Their working tools are the hatodi or hammer worth 6d. 10 4s. (Rs. �-2), the sandsi pincers worth 6d. to1s. (as.4-8),the pogar or carving tool worth h anna, the kanas or tile 3d. to 1s. (as.2-8), the airan or anvil worth 4s, to 10s. (Rs. 2-5), the bellows or bhata worth 1s, to 6s. (EF. 1-3), the ghan or sledge-hammer worth 2s. to 4s. (Rs. 1-2), and the shingada or anvil worth 10s. to �2 (Rs. 5-20). Their staple food is millet or wheat bread, split pulse, and vegetable. They also eat rice and occasionally fish and flesh. They drink to excess. Both men and women dress like Marathas; the men in a three-cornered turban, a waistcloth, coat, waistcoat, shouldercloth and shoes; and the women in a full Maratha robe and bodice, the skirt of the robe being passed back between the feet and tucked in at the waist behind. They rub their brows with redpowder but do not wear false hair or deck their head with flowers. They are hardworking, but thriftless, quarrelsome, dirty, and drunken. They work as blacksmiths, make and mend the iron work of ploughs and carts, make brass-bound boxes, and cups and saucers, plates, cement boxes, and looking-glass frames. They work from morning to evening and are not helped by their women. Their boys begin to learn at twelve and are expert workers at twenty. When learning the craft they blow the bellows and handle such tools as they can manage to work and are paid 1�d.to 6d. (57. (1-4 as.) a day. They worship the ordinary Hindu gods and have house images of Klumdoba, Bhavani, Babiroba, Mahadev, and Ganpati. Their priests are the ordinary Deshasth Brahmans, to whom they show great respect and whom they call to officiate at their houses during births, marriages, and deaths. They keep the usual Brahmanic fasts and feasts, and go on pilgrimage to Jejuri, Kondanpur, Alandi, and Pandharpur. Except in the following particulars their customs do not differ from those of Marathas. Their guardian or devak is the hammer or hatodi. During the marriage ceremony the boy and girl are made to stand face to face in bamboo baskets. When a girl comes of age she is fed on sweet dishes for fifteen days and on the sixteenth her lap is filled with wheat and plantains and betel packets. When a Maratha Lobar is on the point of death he is seated on a blanket leaning against a wall, and is supported on both sides by near relations and the name of Ram is repeated in his ear. When he is dead the body is laid on a bamboo bier and carried either to burning or to burial. They have no head-man and settle social disputes at mass meetings of adult castemen. They send their boys to school for a short time. They suffer from the competition of European hardware. Some have taken to day labour and to field work.

Other Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Nashik District Gazetteer (1883))

Other Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Satara District Gazetteer (1884))

Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Poona District Gazetteer Part-I (1885))

Lona'ris, or Lime-burners, are returned as numbering 885 and as found over the whole district. They say they have been in the district for more than a hundred years. They have no subdivisions. Their surnames are Dadare, Dhavekar, Dhone, and Gite. People bearing the same surname do not intermarry. They say they are Marathas, and eat and marry with them, and do not differ from them in appearance, language, dwelling, food, or dress. They are cement-makers, husbandmen, and labourers. They buy lime nodules from Hadapsar, Muhammadvadi, Phursangi, and Vadki at 1s. 6d. to 9,8. (Re. 3/4-1) a cart. They burn the nodules mixing them with charcoal and cowdung cakes in a circular brick kiln which takes three to six days to burn. Their boys do not begin to help them till they are sixteen, as the work requires strength. Their religion is the same as that of the Marathas and their priests are Deshasth Brahmans. Except that at the time of marriage the boy and girl are made to stand in bamboo baskets or shiptara, their customs are the same as Maratha customs. Their headman, who is called patil, settles social disputes at meetings of the castemen and with their consent. They send their boys to school. They complain that their calling is failing from the competition of well-to-do Parsis and Brahmans and of Mhars and Mangs.

Other Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Nashik District Gazetteer (1883))

Other Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Satara District Gazetteer (1884))

Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Kolhapur District Gazetteer(1886))

Linga'yats, [Detailed accounts of Lingayats are given in the Dharwar and Bijapur Statistical Accounts.] properly Lingyats or Ling Wearers, are returned as numbering 75,212 of whom 39,571 are males and 35,641 females. They are chiefly found in the Alta, Gadinglaj, and Shirol subdivisions. Of the whole number 27,148 or more than one-third are in Gadinglaj on the south-east bordering on Belgaum. The Lingayat sect rose to importance during the twelfth century. Basav, the founder of the sect was the son of an Aradhya or Shaiv Brahman of Ingleshvar near Bagevadi about twenty-two miles southeast of Bijapur. The worship of the ling as a home or shrine of Shiv is generally admitted to have belonged to the tribes who held the south of India before the arrival of the Brahmans. The Lingayats claim the ling as the earliest object of worship and look on Basav as the restorer not the author of the faith. It is not unlikely that like other guardian emblems or objects the ling has from very early times been worn by the people of the Deccan. [In Egypt, in Rome, and still in Italy a small ling or phalus is hung round a child's neck to ward off the evil eye. For the same reason a phalus was tied under a Roman warrior's triumphal car. The Brahman story of the origin of the wearing of the ling is that Brahma asked Ruthra or Shiv to plan a world, Rudra disappeared into the lower world and remained so long thinking how to devise an everlasting world that Brahma weary of waiting himself completed the universe. News came to Rudra that a world had been made. In a fit of passion he forced his way through the earth and determined to destroy all that Brahma had done. The gods prayed him to spare it and he relented. He took from the gods their power and made an animal with three horns one of Vishnu's power, one of his own, and the third of Brahma's. Rudra afterwards restored their power to Brahma and Vishnu and wore the third horn round his own neck calling it atma ling or soul-essence.] Guravs, not Brahmans, are the proper ministrants in Shaiv shrines, who often wear the ling, though most of them are not followers of the Lingayat faith. From them or some other local classes the Aradhya Brahmans seem to have adopted the practice of wearing the ling round the arm. This practice Basav extended to all members of his sect. His followers consider Basav an incarnation of Nandi or Shiv's bull. According to tradition his father was a worshipper of parthiu or earth lings, which he made daily with his own hands. Basav is said to have refused to be girt with the sacred thread, or, according to another account, refused to repeat the gayatri or. sun-hymn and was forced to leave his father's house. He went to Kalyan in the Nizam's country about a hundred miles north-west of Haidarabad then the seat of the usurper Vijjal or Bijjal of the Kalachuri family, who was a Jain by religion. Basav's cleverness attracted the notice of Baldev the prime minister, who gave him his daughter in marriage, and his advancement was further hastened by the beauty of his sister Akka Nagamma with whom king Bijjal fell in love. After the death of his father-in-law, Basav became prime minister, and in time rose to the command of the army and the control of the finances. When he rose to power Basav took great pains to spread his new religion. He filled all the offices of the State with adherents of the new sect. [According to Jain traditions Basav started his new religion because he had been put out of caste for taking food from the hands of a woman in her monthly sickness.] At length his power became so formidable that Bijjal determined to seize him. Basav fled, and gathering a large body of his followers turned on the king who was in pursuit of him and defeated him. This happened in 1168. He returned in triumph to Kalyan with the king as his prisoner. According to the Basav Puran, because the king had put out the eyes of two pious Lingayats, Basav ordered him to be killed. He cursed Kalyan and retired to Sangameshvar about ten miles north of Hungund in Bijapur, the meeting of the Malprabha and Krishna. When Basav heard that the king was dead he prayed Shiv to receive him, the ling opened and Basav passed into it. According to Jain histories after the murder of his king Basav was seized with panic. He fled from the king's son and sought refuge in Ulvi in North Kanara about twenty miles south of Supa. Finding that the town could not stand against the besieging army, Basav leapt into a well and perished. Lingayats still go on pilgrimage to Ulvi in Magh or January-February. After Basav's death the sect made rapid progress. According to the theory of the faith the wearers of the ling are equal and distinctions of caste cease. It is said that Basav allowed people of even the lowest classes to join the new sect. According to some accounts, the bulk of the early adherents were men of low caste. In support of this it is said that the bulk of Lingayat saints are outcastes and women and that there is not a Brahman among them. [Madras Journal of Literature and Science, II. 146.] Soon after Basav's death, the lower or impure classes were not allowed to join and all other classes who wished to join had to pass a term of proving before they were admitted to be members. Like the doctrine of the equality of believers many of Basav's other doctrines, if they over passed beyond theory, are no longer practised. One of his leading doctrines was that there was one God who required neither mediators, fasts, nor pilgrimages. The Kolhapur Lingayats worship several gods, among them Basav the founder of the faith whom they consider an incarnation of Nandi or Shiv's bull, Ganpati and Virbhadra the sons of Shiv, and Ganga and Parvati the wives of Shiv. Besides the members of Shiv's family Kolhapur Lingayats worship Yallamma of Hampi in Belari and Tuljabhavani of Tuljapur in the Nizam's country. The Kolhapur Lingayats fast on Shivratra or Shiv's Night in January-February, and make pilgrimages to Ulvi in North Kanara and Sangameshvar in Bijapur, and the Jamgam in practice is no less a mediator than the Brahman. One of the leading doctrines of Basav's faith was that nothing could make the bearer of the ling impure. To the true believer the observance of ceremonial impurity in consequence of a woman's monthly sickness, a birth, or a death was unnecessary. In practice the Kolhapur Lingayats are little less careful to observe ceremonial uncleanliness in connection with monthly sickness, births, and deaths than their Brahmanic neighbours. Another of Basav's leading doctrines was that as she wore the ling the Lingayat woman was the equal of the Lingayat man; that therefore she should not marry till she came of age; that she should have a say in the choice of her husband; and that she, equally with the man, might be a guru or Lingayat teacher. Lingayat women in Kolhapur are married in their childhood, they have nothing to say to the choice of their husband, and except that the widow's hair is not shaved and that she is not stripped of her bodice, her position differs in no way from the position of a widow in a Brahmanic Hindu household. According to the theory of the Lingayat faith the wearer of the ling is safe from all evil influences, neither stars nor evil spirits can harm him. In practice Kolhapur Lingayats consult astrologers and fear and guard against evil spirits little less constantly and carefully than their Brahmanic Hindu neigh bours. The chief points of difference between a Kolhapur Linga yat and Brahmanic Hindu is that the Lingayat worships fewer gods, that he has fewer fasts and feasts and fewer ceremonies especially death ceremonies and purifying ceremonies; that both men and women wear the ling and neither man nor woman the sacred thread; that both men and women rub their brows withcowdung ashes; that as a rule men shave the whole head, and that neither a widow's head nor a mourner's lip is shaved; that they neither eat animal food nor drink liquor; and that they show no respect to Brahmans and show high respect to Jangams their own priests. In having a ling-binding, an initiation for priests, and a purifying ceremony for all instead of the sixteen sacraments or sanskars, Lingayats differ both from Brahmanical and Jain Hindus. In their respect for life, in the strictness of their rules against the use of animal food and liquor, and in the little regard they show to the dead the Lingayats are like the Jains. [In connection with the Buddhist and Jain element in the Lingayats it is worthy of note that one of the latest buildings raised to Buddhist gods about 1095 was built at Dambal in Dharwar by traders of the Vira Balanja sect who afterwarads became great supporters of the Lingayat faith.]

Kolhapur Lingayats belong to four classes Jangams or priests, Vanis or traders, Panchams or Panchamsalis, [Panchamsalis seem to mean Jain weavers. The Panchams are the fifth or lowest class of Jains whom all who marry widows have to join. Compare the account of Lingayats in the Statistical Account of Dharwar.] craftsmen husbandmen and herdsmen, and a fourth unnamed class including servants barbers washermen and Mhars. The Lingayat priests of Kolhapur include five sects or schools Ekoramaradhya, Marularadhya, Panditaradhya, Revanaradhya, and Vishvaradhya. The founders of these schools Ekoram, Marul, Pandit, Revan, and Vishva, are believed to have sprung from the five mouths of Shiv and to have been great spreaders of the Lingayat faith.

They seldom meet and there is no show of rivalry. To laymen all Jangams are holy and they worship all without much inquiry as to their school. Each of the five schools includes thirteen divisions or bagis. The divisions or bagis of the Ekoramaradhya school are Bhasma, Chandragundi, Katiyemba, Khadgi, Khastak, Lambonemba, Mrityakanti, Rajyu, Ramgiri, Raupya, Shikhari, Triputi, and Vasam. The divisions of the Marularadhya school are Bilvasutra, Bhaitraya, Chakari, Kattar; Kavach, Koraban, Kuksha-kanta, Kutar, Malli, Masani, Nilkanti, Singi, and Svarnakauthi. The divisions of the Panditaradhya school are Bedadi, Bhagini, Danti, Gonikati, Jalkanti, Jathar, Keshkanti, Lallat, Lochan, Muktaguchha, Natija, Trigun, and Vijaprakanti. The divisions of the Revanaradhya school are Bhikti, Digambar, Mahni, Murath, Musadi, Nat, Pachhakanti, Padvidi, Puran, Shadga, Shori, Surgi, and Veni. The divisions of the Vishvaradhya school are Dash-mukh, Gagan, Gochar, Guhagra, Gurjarkanti, Kambli, Panchvaktu, Panchvani, Lagudi, Musali, Pashupati, Shitali, and Vrishabh. 

Jangams of the same school division or bagi do not intermarry. Jangams include five classes, Virakts or renouncers of worldly pleasures, Pattadevrus or head priests, Ayyas or teachers, Charantis or wanderers, and Maris or acolytes. [Virakt is from the Sanskrit vi without and ranj to please; Pattadevru is from the Sanskrit pat cloth through patt clothed hence honoured, and deo shining hence worshipful. Devru is the Kanarese plural of dev, Ayya means spiritual guide and is often applied to common teachers.] The Virakts wear the loincloth and short loose shirt, and spend most of their time in devotion and study. The Pattadevrus wear a waistcloth instead of a loincloth and are less retired than the Virakts. The Ayyas are married and live chiefly by begging. When begging they wear the bell-garter or Jang below the right knee, wear ochre-coloured clothes and carry a cane staff. [Kolhapur Lingayats do not carry the cobra-cane or nagbet and do not know why the cane carried by Bijapur Jangams is called nagbet or cobra-cane.] The Charantis or wanderers go from place to place and gather contributions from the Lingayat laity for the support of monasteries or maths. Maris or acolytes are celibates and wait on the Virakts. After the death of a Virakt, the most learned and fittest among his Maris or attendants is raised to his seat. Unlike Bijapur, Lingayats, Kolhapur Lingayats have no Ganacharis or monastery managers, Mathpatis or Lingayat beadles, and Chalvadis or Mhar standard-bearers. In Kolhapur the heads of small monasteries are called Mathadayyas. Vanis and Panchams or Panchamsalis can become Jangams but it is only when a Jangam has no child or relation that he adopts a boy from these classes. The boy must be unmarried and must not be the child of a widow by her second husband. Ayyas or married Jangams may take food from any Lingayat except from members of the barber washerman and Mhar classes, and in some cases from oilmen and ferrymen. When a Jangam gives a feast, all except these three classes come and eat together. The same freedom is observed when a feast is given in a monastery or math. In Kolhapur the word Jangam is generally applied to the Jangam's assistants, the Mathpatis or Lingayat beadles of Belgaum and other Kanarese districts, who in all religious ceremonies act under the Jangam's orders. In Kolhapur the head local Jangam is called svami or lord a title which in other districts belongs to the provincial high priest. The house in which the Mathadayya or local head priest, lives is called a math or monastery. In places where there are many Lingayats the monastery is a large building of stone or burnt brick, an open quadrangle generally shaded with trees among which the bel �gle marmelos is conspicuous. The four verandas of the quadrangle are covered with tiled roofs one of which is set apart as a ling shrine with a Nandi or bull in front, In the central hall a place is set apart for the svami or chief priest, whose authority extends over several villages. On the space set apart for the svami a cushion with pillows on three sides of it is always spread. Several small rooms are used as a cook-room for the svami, a worshipping-room, a study, and a sleeping-room. In the outer verandas a school is generally held where Kanarese and sometimes Sanskrit are taught. In the open ground behind the monastery are generally a well, and at some distance the tombs of previous svamis, cube-shaped stone structures with a ling on the top. The hindpart of the enclosure is generally surrounded with a wall. At each corner of the building is a stone called the lingmudrikallu or ling-marked stone. Lingayat strangers can almost always find a meal at a monastery. No Brahmanic Hindu can get a meal at a monastery and no Lingayat stranger can remain at a monastery more than two days. The income of the head of the monastery is generally partly paid by the State, most of it is collected from the local Lingayats chiefly on marriage and other festive occasions, from trade fees, and from gifts at religious ceremonies. The head of the monastery often gets presents of cloth from cloth dealers and grain from husbandmen and landowners. A stranger who visits the head of a monastery is generally requested to lay some silver coins before his feet. If the svami expresses a wish for anything his wish is promptly gratified by one of his followers. He generally takes his midday meal at a follower's house and sometimes takes a little at several houses; his evening meal he takes in the monastery. He has servants and attendants who exact prompt obedience from the svami's followers. The svami is always careful on all occasions to press on his followers the need of keeping their faith and of unquestioning obedience to all its rules. In the afternoon he generally reads some sacred book, old people almost always coming to hear. In Shravan or July-August the congregation is specially large and is generally chiefly composed of old women. The Puran is finished in Bhadrapad or August- September, when, the hearers give cash and clothes and a feast is held.

The class of Lingayats who rank next to Jangams are the Vanis or traders. They are divided into Shilvants or rule-keepers and Lokvants or common people. [Shilvant is said to come from the Sanskrit shil good disposition and to mean those who obey religious rules. The word Lokvant is from the Sanskrit lok people and means of the masses.] Shilvants rank next to Jangams and can become Jangams by passing the purifying Ceremony called diksha. Lokvants who rank next to Shilvants can also become-Jangams. Except when a Jangam is the host or when the feast is held in a religious house neither Shilvants nor Lokvants eat with members of the lower classes. The third division includes Panchams or Panchamsalis, oilmen or Telis, ferrymen or Ambis, cowherds or Gavlis, gardeners or Malis, and potters or Kumbhars. A Jangam may adopt a Pancham boy. The fourth or lowest class includes Nhavis or barbers, Parits or washermen, and Mhars.

The names in common use among men are generally taken from the names of Shiv as Rudrappa, and Shivlingappa, some from Basav and Guru as Basappa, Vir Basappa, and Gurusidhappa. If a woman has lost several children she gives her next child a mean name, as Kallappa from kallu (K.) stone and Kadappa from kad (K.) forest. The names in common use among women are Basavva from Basav, Gangavva from the heavenly Ganges, Kallavva from kallu (K.) stone, and Parvativva from Parvati the wife of Shiv. Their surnames, when they have surnames, are place and calling names as Lokapuri a dweller in Lokapur or Tenginkai a cocoanut seller. The lay followers of a guru or teacher adopt his family stock or gotra.

The Lingayats of Gadinglaj in the south speak correct Kanarese. The home tongue of the rest is a somewhat impure Kanarese spoken in a Marathi tone. Out of doors most speak a fairly correct Marathi. So large a body as the Lingayats, including persons of almost all callings differ considerably in appearance, height, and colour. Still, except that they are slighter and cleaner, Kolhapur Lingayats as a class differ little from Marathas. The men are dark-brown and the women are often fair and handsome. Their houses are simple and clean and are occasionally two-storeyed. They are divided into several dark and ill-aired rooms, a cooking and a store-room, a sitting and office room, and bed rooms. Near the cook-room are niches in the wall with folding doors where pickles and sun-dried pulse and rice called sandge papad are kept. A portion of the centre hall is set apart as a shrine where the Jangam is worshipped. No one but a Lingayat may go into the cook-room or into the Jangam shrine. Lingayats have a great dislike to leather. They allow no leather in their saddles; no shoe may be brought into the inner part of the house, and if any one touches a shoe he must wash. [The Lingayat dislike to leather is stronger than the Deccan Brahman's disliks When they go out well-to-do Deccan Brahman women put on shoes; and during her lying-in a Brahman woman with her shoes on is allowed to walk over great part of the house.] The privy, if there is a privy, is at some distance from the house. Cattle are not kept in the house but in a separate shed. A Lingayat's house goods include cots, low wooden stools, boxes, iron or brass tripods to hold dining plates, and metal and earthen vessels required for family use. Few have vessels enough for a caste feast. Givers of caste feasts borrow the public vessels from a monastery. Silver vessels are used by the rich, brass and copper vessels by middle class people, and wooden and earthen vessels by the poor. Lingayats never use animal food or spirituous drink. Their daily food includes rice, millet bread, pulse curry, vegetables, and milk, whey, curds, butter, and clarified butter. No one but a ling-wearer may touch or even see a Lingayat's food. On holidays and at small parties they have rich dishes. Their caste feasts are plain. The two chief dishes are huggi that is wheat and milk boiled together and seasoned with raw sugar and holagis or rolly-polies, that is wheat cakes stuffed with gram flour and raw sugar. A caste feast costs about 6d. (4 as.) a head. A Lingayat when alone or one of a small party sits to eat on a low wooden stool and generally eats his food off a brass plate set on an iron or brass tripod. Except in travelling when metal plates are not easily got and leaf plates are used, Lingayats never use leaf plates. At dinner, before he eats a Lingayat holds his ling in his left hand and bows to it. At caste dinners the guests sit on matting instead of on stools, and except Jangams lay the plate on, the ground not on a tripod. At caste dinners before guests have pat to it, tirth or holy water, that is water in which a Jangam's feet, have been washed, is poured over the guest's hands. The guests sip the holy water, shout Har Har Mahadev, and begin to eat. In eating the right hand is alone used. The small waterpot which must neven touch the lip is raised in the left hand. Women dine after the men, They sometimes sit on stools, never on mats, and generally lay their plates on the ground. Among Lingayats a young married couple never talk together in the presence of elders. Except a few who grow short topknots the men shave the whole head and face except the moustache and eyebrows. They mark the brow with white ashes called vibhuti literally the great power. [Among Kolhapur Lingayats, according to the time when they are used, the cowdung ashes have different degrees of holiness. The ashes which Lingayats rub without bathing are simple ashes, have no texts said over them, and can be touched by any Lingayat. The ashes rubbed after bathing are holier, have texts said over them, and can be touched only by Lingayats who have bathed. The ashes rubbed at the time of the ling worship are still holier, have many texts-said over them, and can be touched only at the time of ling worship.] The ashes which are rubbed on the brow are specially prepared by the Jangams or priests. Pure cowdung is dried and burnt and the ashes soaked in milk for six or seven days and rolled into balls about the size of a mango. Before they are used, the Jangam purifies the ball by sprinkling it with sacred water and saying texts over it. They cannot be sold by the person who gets them from the Jangam, and they cannot be passed to any one else. Virakt or unwed Jangams wear a loincloth hung from a waistband and ochre-coloured shoulder and head cloths. Laymen and married priests generally wear a somewhat scrimp waistcloth, a headscarf or a Brahman turban. They do not colour their clothes with ochre. Husbandmen generally wear a loincloth or short trousers, a blanket, and a headscarf. Lingayat women tie the hair in a knot at the back of the head but with less care than Brahman women. They never use false hair or deck their hair with flowers or ornaments. Their wives and widows wear the ordinary Maratha bodice with a back and short sleeves and the ends tied in front under the bosom. The robe is like the Maratha Brahman woman's robe except that the skirt falls like a petticoat and is seldom drawn back between the feet. Lingayat women are also more careful than Brahman women always to draw the upper end of the robe over the head. Like the men, women mark the brow with white cowdung ashes. Except that the women wear no head ornaments, the ornaments worn both by men and women are the same as those worn by Maratha Brahmans. On holidays Lingayat women dress and adorn themselves richly.

Lingayats are a quiet satisfied class wishing neither change nor power. Few are in the service of the State and almost none are messengers, constables, or soldiers. A large number of Lingayats are weavers, several are retail dealers, and some are husbandmen. In Gadinglaj and in the Kagal State a few rich traders have large dealings with Belgaum, Dharwar, and other Kanarese districts. A few estate-holders or jagirdars and proprietors and inamdars as the Desais of Terni and Bhodgaon, are Lingayats. Except the priests no Lingayat lives on alms, and few are labourers. A Lingayat rises early, marks his brow with ashes, and goes to the monastery to pay his respects to the lord or svami. He works till eleven, bathes, and, sitting on a white blanket in the central hall near the Jangam shrine, worships the ling for about half an hour. He then dines. After dinner, over which he spends twenty to thirty minutes, he washes his hands and mouth and chews betel. If well-to-do he rests after his dinner and goes back to work. In the evening he visits the monastery and bows to the head priest. [When a Lingayat layman pays his respects to his head priest, he prostrates himself before him; and when he meets an ordinary Jangam he places both his palms on his head and the head on the Jangam's feet. Neither the head priest nor an ordinary Jangam does or says anything. When a Lingayat layman meets another Lingayat layman, both of them join their hands, raise them to their heads and say Sharanarthi probably from sharanarthi that is asking refuge. When two Jangams meet they salute each other like laymen. Lay women do not salute each other; but if she meets a Jangam woman a laywoman salutes her as a layman salutes a Jangam. Like laywomen Jangam women do not salute one another. Before he starts on a journey a Lingayat prostrates himself before his gods and elders and his younger relations prostrate themselves before him. In a bargain a Lingayat buyer strikes the four fingers of his right hand on the four fingers of a Lingayat seller's right hand.] Priests and a few pious laymen worship the ling in the evening with the same details as in the morning. But the bulk of the laity simply wash their hands and feet and then wash the ling and eat their supper. After supper they chew betel, smoke tobacco, and talk for an hour or so and then go to bed. In theory as a fellow-wearer of the ling the Lingayat woman is equal to the Lingayat man. In practice her position in the family does not vary from the position of a woman in a Brahmanic Hindu family. She has no voice in choosing her husband. She is married about ten and contrary to book rules must be married before she comes of age. She rises early and marks her brow both with ashes and with redpowder. The higher class women do no work except minding the house. The wives of potters and weavers help their husbands at home, and the wives of husbandmen work in the fields and sell vegetables. Elderly women go in the morning to the monastery to pay their, respects to the svami. The three watehwords of the Lingayat faith are the ling the Jangam and the guru. The ling is the stone home of the deity, the jangam is the human abode of the deity, and the guru is the teacher who breathes the sacred spell into the disciple's ear. All Lingayats both men and women from childhood to death wear hung to a string passed round the neck a small slate-stone ling, a double disc with a small pea-like knob on the upper disc, hid under a betelnut-like coating of cowdung earth and marking-nut, and wound in a cloth or laid in a silver or rarely in a gold box. [The lings worn by Lingayats are generally of a light gray slate brought from Parvatgiri in North Arkot. The line which is turned on a lathe is of two discs one lower circular about an eighth of an inch thick the upper slightly elongated, each disc about three-quarters of an inch in diameter and separated by a deep groove about an eighth of an inch broad. From the centre of the upper disc, which like the lower disc is slightly rounded, rises a pea-like knob about a quarter of an inch high and three-quarters of an inch round, giving the stone ling a total height of nearly three quarters of an inch. This knob is called the ban arrow. The upper disc is called jalhari that is the water-drawer because this part of a fullsized ling is grooved for carrying off the water which is poured over the central knob. It is also called pith that is the seat and pithak the little seat. Over the stone ling to keep it from harm is plastered a black mixture of clay cowdung ashes and marking-nut juice. This coating, which is called kanthi or the cover, entirely hides the shape of the enclosed stone ling. It forms a smooth black slightly truncated cone, not unlike a dark betelnut, about three-quarters of an inch high and narrowing from three-quarters of an inch at the base to half an inch across the point which is cut flat and is slightly hollow. The simplest ling costs 1�d. (1 a.) and its usual price is 3s. (Rs. 1�). To the clay, ashes, and marking-nut juice the rich add powdered gold, silver, coral, pearls, even diamonds, raising the value of the ling sometimes to �5 (Rs. 50). Statistical Account of Bijapur.] A Lingayat is very careful not to lose his ling. In theory a man who loses his ling is degraded and cannot again become a Lingayat. In practice if the ling is accidentally lost the loser has to give a caste dinner, go through the ceremony of shuddhi [Details of shuddhi are given in the Bijapur Statistical Account.] or cleansing, and receive a new ling from the teacher or guru. Jangams or Lingayat priests are as much respected by Lingayats as Brahmans are by Brahmanic Hindus. They marry and bury Lingayats and conduct almost all Lingayat rites and ceremonies. The Jangam is succeeded by his son or near kinsman, or if he has no near kinsman by a disciple. The head Pontiff of the Lingayats is the Ayya or teacher of the Chitrakaldurga monastery in north-west Maisur. He is greatly respected and when he visits Kolhapur is received with enthusiasm. The guru is a married Jangam and seems to be the direct descendant either by birth or by adoption, of the first head of several families. The gotra or stock of these families and of their guru or teacher is the same and the families cannot intermarry. The guru or teacher is required to be present at every family ceremony. If he is not present his place is taken by an ordinary ayya who conducts the ceremony. Besides everybody's own ling which is worshipped by the wearer at least once a day, in Kolhapur almost every Lingayat. household has a wooden shrine for the house gods, who are worshipped every morning by a man of the house. The shrine is placed in majghar or central hall close to the Jangam shrine. The house gods are small brass images generally representing Shiv's family, Shiv himself, his two wives Ganga and Parvati, his two sons Ganpati and Virbhadra, and his bull the Nandi. The worshipper bathes, wears a silk, woollen, [Unlike Jains and like Brahmans Lingayats hold that silk and woollen cloths are not made impure in touch.] or freshly-washed cotton waistcloth, marks his brow with cowdung ashes, and begins the worship. He bathes the images in a brass or copper saucer, wipes them with a piece of cloth, and sets them on their proper seats in the shrine. He marks the images with cowdung ashes, lays flowers on them, throws coloured rice on their heads, burns frankincense before them, waves a small lamp fed with clarified butter about them, and offers them sugar, milk, or molasses. He repeats different texts during the different parts of the worship. The ling worship is performed close to the shrine of the house gods. The worshipper bathes, puts on a sacred cloth, marks his brow with cowdung ashes, and produces a cane basket. From the cane basket he takes a white blanket which is wrapped round a number of small worship pots, a number of large and small rudraksh bead strings, and a bag of cowdung ashes. He sits on the white blanket, marks his brow and generally smears his whole body with ashes, and in the small pots which are shaped to hold the different articles of worship, puts flowers, red rice, and other articles. He puts the rudraksh bead strings round his neck, wrists, ears, and arms, and a small string round the ling. He worships the ling in the same way as he worships his house gods. After worship he folds the pots, the bead strings, and the ash-bag in the white blanket, puts them in the cane basket, and places the cane basket in the niche. Except that she says no texts a woman in worshipping her ling goes through all the details given above. Most Kolhapur Lingayats, if they happen to pass by Ram's, Vithoba's, Maruti's or a boundary god's, or Lakshmi's or a village goddess' temple, bow to the deity. Lingayats fast on Shivratra in Magh in February. On Shravan or July-August Mondays they take only one evening meal. Most Kolhapur Liagayats go on pilgrimage to Kedarling on Jotiba's hill in Vadi-Ratnagiri about nine milea north-west of Kolhapur, to Nidsushi near Sankeshvarin Belgaum, to the math or monastery of Siddhgiri in Kadappa about six miles south of Kolhapur, and to Yedur in Chikodi in Belgaum. A few go to Gokarn in North Kanara and Ulvi twenty-five miles south of Supa in North Kanara. In theory the Lingayat has no good or bad. days. In practice Kolhapur Lingayats have a belief in good and bad luck and often consult Jangam astrologers to find a lucky day to perform a ceremony. They fast on eclipses and bathe before and after the eclipse. They openly consult astrologers and their Jangams study the same books as Brahmans and are consulted by Lingayats as much as Brahman astrologers are consulted by Brahmanic Hindus. Jangams and a few pious laymen pretend not to believe in ghosts and witchcraft, but women and ordinary people have a strong faith in witchcraft. Some Lingayats pretend to cure diseases by saying texts or mantras of Shiv over the diseased part and by tying on the person of the sick a magical design or yantra drawn on paper with the name of the god Dattatreya and some other letters on it. Unlike Brahmans Lingayats have no separate lying-in room, any suitable room in the house being used for the purpose. When a woman is in labour a Lingayat and in her absence a Jain or a Maratha midwife is sent for. If the labour is long and trying Jangams are called to say texts. After birth the room is purified by sprinkling water in which a Jangam's foot has been washed. The birth-time is noted and a Jangam astrologer is asked to prepare a birth paper and is paid according to the means of the family. If a birth takes place at an unlucky time, the evil stars are humoured with offerings. On the fifth day after the birth of a child a Jangam comes, repeats verses, takes a ling, winds it in a piece of silk cloth, and ties it round the child's neck or its upper right arm. The ling is soon after taken off and tied to the child's cradle. In the evening women neighbours come and perform rites in honour of Mother Sixth or Sati to keep off evil spirits. Sati is represented by a sickle with a bodicecloth wound round it. Near the goddess are laid a cocoanut, and a piece of blank paper, a pen, and an inkstand to write the destiny of the child. The paper pen and ink are kept there during the night. On the twelfth the child is laid in the cradle and named. Unlike Brahmans, among whom the, name is generally fixed by an astrologer Lingayats themselves fix the name of the child. It is generally chosen by the parents or by some elder of the family and is given by women neighbours who come to witness the ceremony. The women fill the mother's lap with wheat, betelnuts, a cocoanut, dry dates, and a bodicecloth; and the women are given betel and turmeric and vermilion paste to rub on their cheeks and mark their brows. Among priestly Lingayats when a boy is between seven and nine years old the initiation or aitan, [Full details are given in the Bijapur Statistical Account.] literally priest's state from the Kauarose ayya, priest and tan state, is performed. A Jangam astrologer is asked to choose a lucky day. The guru or teacher comes early in the morning of the day fixed, a square is made with a waterpot in the centre and one in each corner, each standing on a small heap of rice. White thread is passed round the necks of the pots. The boy's head is shared, and he is bathed and seated on a small wooden stool in front of the pot square, The teacher repeats several texts, whispers into the boy's ear, and makes him recite a short hymn. During the ceremony the pipe and drum are played and at the close a feast is given and alms are distributed. After his initiation the boy is a priest and may not eat food without bathing and performing regular ling worship. Diksha which means purification, may be undergone by any class of Lingayats except Jangams. A diksha raises a Pancham to be a Lokvant, a Lokvant to be a Shilvant, and a Shilvant to be a Jangam. By performing diksha girls of the Pancham, Lokvant, and Shilvant classes may marry into the classes above them. Many Lingayat men and women perform diksha before marriage or at any time before death to cleanse them from sin. As in aitan so, in diksha the day is fixed by a Jangam astrologer, and except that diksha texts are different from aitan texts, the ceremony differs little from aitan. Five metal jars are set on the ground four of them one at each corner of a square and the fifth in the centre each on a small heap of rice. A white thread is wound round the necks of the pots and betel and leaves and vermilion are set in their mouths. The man or the woman on whose account the ceremony is performed is bathed and made to sit on a woollen carpet in front of the pot square. The Jangam recites verses, and all present throw grains of rice mixed with vermilion over the person's head. The ceremony ends with a feast and the distribution of alms.

Girls are married before they come of age. When the parents of the boy and girl agree to marry their children, the marriage day is fixed by a Jangam astrologer and marriage booths are raised in front of the boy's and girl's houses. The first pole of the booth is driven in at a lucky moment. A marriage ceremony generally lasts for four days. On the first day comes the videghalne or betel-serving in token that the marriage settlement is made and is binding. The bride is decked with ornaments, and in the presence of Jangams and other respectable members of the caste is given pieces of sugarcandy. On the second day come the Ganpati worship, the turmeric-rubbing, and the gugul or bdellium gum ceremony in honour of Virbhadra. In the gum ceremony, which either the bride or bridegroom and their mothers must attend, two whitewashed earthen jars, in form and size like those in which women fetch water, are cut in two a little below the middle where they are widest. The upper halves are turned upside down standing on their mouths and into the upper half the lower half is dropped so that the open side is upward. The wide-mouthed vessels thus prepared are filled with ashes.. The ashes in the middle of each pot are damped and a stick about six inches long is fixed and wrapped round with a piece of cloth like a small torch. The two torches are lighted and the redpowders gulal and kunku, sandal-paste or gandh, and flower wreaths are thrown over them. Two Jangams or priests or two kinsmen dancing as they go carry the pots either in their hands or on their heads in procession, with pipes and drums, to a river or well outside of the village. When the pots are placed on the ground near the river or well, the head of the family washes the feet of the svami or monastery head who goes with the procession, puts flowers on his feet, gives him a cocoanut and money, and prostrates himself before him. After the svami worship the torches are put out and the pots are broken. Betel is served to all present and money is given to the priests or Jangams. The party go home silently without music. The gum or gugul ceremony was formerly performed only when a vow was made to Virbhadra, but in most Lingayat families it has become a regular part of the marriage ceremony. It is also performed by several Maratha and by a few Brahman families, [This gugul is interesting from the early character of its details. It seems to be an old spirit-scaring practice handed down from times before the higher ideas of Lingayatism or Brahmanism. The idea seems to be to collect evil influences in the torch and make it a scape-torch like the Jewish or early Hindu scapegoat or buffalo and carry the evil spirits beyond the village limits and leave them there. The device of asking the svami's blessing and paying him a fee seems to have saved the old practice fromperishing. The service is said to be in honour of Virbhadra an early spirit of the Kanarese country who has been identified with Shiv's son. The root of the fear of Virbhadra seems to be the fear of the Virs who are chiefly the angry ghosts of the unwed dead.] with the same details, except that in Maratha and Brahman gugul processions the pots are borne by kinsmen and no svami is worshipped. On the third day comes the devak or marriage guardian ceremony. All Lingayat families have the same devak. It is a winnowing bamboo basket containing rice, turmeric, betel leaves and nuts, and a closed earthen pot whose lid is tied on with cotton thread. The pot contains water and a few copper coins. Sometimes the devak ceremony takes place a day or two before the marriage. After the guardian is in his place the bridegroom is bathed and his brow is marked with ashes. He is dressed in rich clothes and a marriage coronet of bhend or water hemp is tied on his brow. An hour or two before the marriage which is generally in the evening, the bridegroom starts in procession with music for the bride's. In a Lingayat marriage no water-clock is set to note the exact time, and the proper time is guessed by one of the elders. At the bride's, the bride and bridegroom sit side by side on ordinary low wooden stools set in the centre of a square of metal pots like the square made for the purification or diksha. The bride is dressed in a simple white robe and her brow is decked with a bhend or water-hemp marriage coronet. The hems of the garments of the pair are tied together. The ayya hands rice mixed with vermilion to the guests, and recites verses. The guests throw the red rice on the pair's heads as long as the ayya recites verses. All this time music is played and muskets are fired. At the close of the recitation the lucky black glass bead string is tied round the bride's neck, the wedded pair are taken to bow to the house-gods, and the knot of their garments is loosened. On the fourth night the bridegroom goes to a math or monastery with his wife in a great procession both riding on the back of a bullock, or of late, though the change is a grief to the old and strict, on horseback. At the math or monastery the pair lay a cocoanut before the svami or head priest and prostrate themselves before him. From the math the procession goes to the bridegroom's house, where the ceremony ends with a feast and the distribution of alms. On the way they break cocoanuts at places supposed to be haunted by evil spirits and throw the spirits pieces of cocoanut. In a wealthy family a boy's marriage costs about �200 (Rs. 2000). Of this �100 (Rs. 1000) go in ornaments for the bride, �30 (Rs. 300) in clothing, �30 (Rs. 300) in charity, and �40 (Rs. 400) in food and other charges. In a middle class family a boy's marriage costs about �40 (Rs. 400) of which �20 (Rs. 200) go in ornaments, �10 (Rs. 100) in clothing, �2 10s. (Rs. 25) in charity, and �7 10s. (Rs. 75) in food and other things. In a poor family a boy's marriage costs about �20 (Rs. 200), of which �5 (Rs. 50) go in ornaments, �7 10s. (Rs. 75) in clothing, �1 (Rs. 10) in charity, and �6 10s. (Rs. 65) in food and other charges. A girl's marriage costs less than a boy's, the total varying from �2 10s. to �30 (Rs. 25-300). The charges include a dowry of �2 10s. to �5 (Rs. 25 - 50), a suit of clothes, and a necklace and ring to the bridegroom, robes and bodices for the bridegroom's mother and other kinswomen, and turbans for his father and brothers.

Widow marriage is forbidden among Jangams, Shilvants, and Lokvants. Panchams occasionally marry widows. Barbers, oilmen, potters, washermen, and Mhars allow and practise widow marriage. Unlike the high class Brahmanic widow the Lingayat widow may use a robe of any colour, continues to wear the bodice, is not shaven, and may wear ornaments except the nose-ring, the lucky neck-thread, and toe-rings. Still a widow is held unlucky and is not asked to marriage and other festive ceremonies.

When a Lingayat is on the point of death he is advised to distribute money in charity and present a Jangam with a cow. His body is covered with sacred ashes. If he is well-to-do, the dying man performs the vibhutiville or ashes and betel-giving at a cost of �2 to �2 10s. (Rs.20-25). This rite is believed to cleanse the sin of the performer and is generally performed by old men and women. If a performer survives the rite he or she has to leave his or her house and pass the rest of their lives in a math or monastery. Jangams are not required to undergo this rite as they are considered holy and not to need purifying. Sometimes a Jangam is asked to recite verses. A few minutes before death the dying person is laid on a white blanket and a little holy water is put into the mouth. After death the ornaments, if there are any, are removed from the body, and the body washed in cold water in an open space near the house, and is clad in full dress. The body is laid crosslegged slightly leaning against a wall for two to eight hours, or even longer if the dead is an old and influential person. During this time kinsmen and kinswomen sit near and bewail the dead. If the dead is a Jangatn or an old man or woman Jangams are asked to recite verses, and the recitation is accompanied with music. If the dead has a wife, his wife's lucky thread, glass bangles, and toe-rings are taken off her body and laid in the canopied chair specially prepared for the occasion. Plantain stems are tied to the upright poles of the chair, the leaves are fastened together into arches, and the whole chair is decorated with flower wreaths. The dead body is seated crosslegged in the chair, and the chair is borne by four friends or kinsmen. No fire is taken with the procession, and no women go with it. If the family is well-to-do, musicians play before the body; and music is always employed when a Jangam dies. As the body is borne to the grave the men in the procession cry out Shiv Shiv, or Har Har, and at intervals betel-leaves and copper coins are thrown on the road. Meanwhile the grave is being dug by labourers of any caste. The grave is 4� feet long 2� feet wide and three feet deep. In the east side of the grave a niche large enough to hold the dead body is cut, and the inside of the grave is cowdunged and purified with padodak that is water in which a Jangam's feet have been washed. On the outside of the grave, at each corner is set an earthen ling with an earthen bull in front of each ling. The dead is lowered into the grave by his friends and kinsmen, and laid in the niche facing west. The ling is taken out of its case, which is kept by the heirs, and laid in the body's left hand. The priest washes the ling, rubs ashes, and lays bel leaves on it. He hands bel leaves to all present, and drops some on the head of the dead and all drop their leaves after him. If the dead is a svami or head priest a note signed by his successor asking that the doors of heaven may be opened to let the dead into the presence of Shiv is tied round the neck. The grave is filled with salt and ashes till the body is covered, and then with earth, and over the earth one or two slabs of stone are laid. The priest stands on the stone and the mourners wash his feet, lay flowers and bel leaves on them, and give him money. Money is also given to beggars. When there is music the music goes on till after the priest's feet are worshipped. The whole party go to a river or well, bathe, and return in wet clothes to the house of mourning, where each of them sips a little karuna literally grace, which is of higher efficacy than padodak or foot-water and over which a larger number of texts have been repeated. Jangams are fed and alms are given to the poor. On the first and sometimes on the fifth the old clothes of the dead are given to priests and poor men. To the svami are given a cow, a pair of shoes, an umbrella, and pots. On the third, fifth, or seventh day after death Jangams and the near kinsmen of the dead are asked to dinner, and after this the family are considered pure, and strangers may take food in the house. No monthly or yearly mind-rites are performed in honour of the dead. If the family is well-to-do, a tomb is built with a masonry ling and nandi or bull on it, and the ling and the bull are worshipped daily by some member of the family. Lingayats are bound together by a strong fellow - feeling. Social disputes are referred to the svami or monastery head whose decision is generally accepted. An appeal lies to the head of the Kadappa math or monastery on a hill six miles south of Kolhapur, who is the head Jangam of the province. Kolhapur Lingayats have not begun to make much use of 'State schools, the total number of Lingayat boys in the Kolhapur schools in March 1883 was 1478. Girls are seldom sent to school. The Lingayat faith seems to keep its hold on the minds and affections of the people. They may have to be a little more careful than formerly in the punishments they inflict for caste rules, and with this exception the influence of the priests shows no sign of declining.