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MEENAS.

donations. Some of the women are supposed to possess secrets of charms and live philtres, and the use of particular herbs; but in most cases they are like their husbands, idle and thievish, and in the lowest condition of poverty and degradation. Meenas profess to be Hindoos, but they are outcasts. Like all of the lowest converts from aboriginal tribes, they are worshippers of Kali or Devi (Bhowani); and that not of love or adoration, but of dread, and after a deprecatory fashion, which extends to Gram Deotas, evil spirits, and the like. They fear the ghosts of their dead, and make sacrifices for the peace of their spirits, observing with great care the ceremonies for that purpose, and employing Brahmins, where they can afford to pay them, for these rites; and they are abject believers in all sorts of apparitions and ghostly appearances. As a class, they are utterly ignorant and uneducated, and yet by no means deficient in natural intelligence, as evinced in conversation, demeanour, and aptitude for tilling the soil, watching the crops, the menial offices in which they can be employed, &c. &c. The reclamation of the entire tribe is perhaps impossible, owing to its being spread over so many independent states; and so long as it exists, portions of it will always be migratory, and in effect changeless. In appearance there is little to distinguish Meenas from other low Hindoos. They wear the same costume, both male and female; but in the female, there is not the same attention paid to decent covering of the body, as there is in classes of a higher grade. Meenas marry in their own caste exclusively, and are not, as a rule, polygamists. Their marriage ceremonies are conducted according to the Hindoo rites, and, as well as the naming of their chidren, are performed by Brahmins, if the parties are rich enough to afford their services; if not, according to simple caste rite of their own. In travelling they have no tents or grass huts, but contrive to get shelter in villages, in outer cloisters of temples. They are great frequenters of small fairs and village markets, where they have the best opportunities for the commission of petty thefts, or get small jobs of labour, by which they subsist. Meenas eat animal food of all kinds, except beef; and they drink spirits to excess, and smoke intoxicating drugs, when they have the means of purchasing them. But it is not often they are able to afford good food, especially when unsettled, and they live chiefly on meal and pulse, which their women beg in the bazars, aided by what small wages they can earn. Of the Meena tribes - and they are numerous - the Puriars are the chief, who affect a Rajpoot descent, and have been singularly intractable and mischievous in their predatory character. The peculiarities of this tribe will be detailed in their proper place.