The mandir (or temple) of the math, if there is one in the village, is generally a conspicuous object. It has usually only one chamber, in which the thakur or image of the deity resides, and its ground section is a square of no great dimensions; but it is often carried up to a considerable height, and terminates in various, more or less, conoidal forms. In some districts it is acutely pointed, and presents very much the appearance of an English churchspire, as it is seen from a distance piercing the village mass of foliage.

There are also very frequently to be seen, in or about a village, mandirs which do not belong to any math; these commonly owe their origin to private dedication. There is seldom, however, any endowment attached to them, or, perhaps, just sufficient lakheraj land to maintain the attendant Brahman who performs the daily worship and keeps the place in order. More often the Brahman gets his living out of the offerings made to the thakur and the contribution of the orthodox, or is supported by the zamindar.

A shrine (dargah) or tomb of some holy Muhammadan fakir is often to be met with on the wayside, with the hut or homestead of its keeper near at hand. Passers-by of all creeds and denominations throw in their cowries and pice. And if the sanctity of the deceased be much out of the common, the tomb may even be a valuable source of revenue. In that case it is treated as a subject of property which passes by inheritance from owner to owner, and the keeper is paid by salary from the person entitled to it. Generally, however, the keeper of the place alone is interested in it, and transmits his humble effects to his heirs.

In a large village there will be a mandap, i.e. a spacious open-sided covered-in room, in a sense, a vestry-room, where the village púja festivals are celebrated and other village gatherings occur. Sometimes the mandap is a pakka structure, the roof being supported on brick-built pillars. But more often it is of bamboo and thatch. It is usually kept up by the zamindar.

V.

RURAL CRIME.

RURAL crime does not assume any very varied forms. One of the commonest is dacoity (dakaiti), i.e. gang robbery. The badmashes or bad characters of two or three adjoining villages are, to a certain extent, associated together. They are ostensibly ryots, or sons of ryots, and like everyone else about them are more or less dependent upon agricultural labour for their livelihood. Though it generally happens that they become to their neighbours the objects of a somewhat undefined suspicion, still, as a rule, they manage to maintain their social position whatever that may be. Their method of operation is very simple. Some one whose

reputation for accumulated wealth makes him worth attacking is selected. A dark or stormy night is taken for the purpose, and then the band assembles under a pīpal tree, or at some other convenient place of assignation. Each man wears a mask or is in some other manner disguised, and carries some weapon: lättees are the most common, but sometimes quaint old swords of an almost forgotten shape make their appearance; and instruments specially contrived for cutting open mat walls and probing thatch are brought out. From the place of assembling the gang proceeds to the victim's homestead, and surrounds it; next, at a signal, when all is ready, the more daring rush forward and break into the homestead by cutting through the matting, or forcing down a door, or climbing over the roof. The males who may be sleeping in the outside verandah are immediately seized and bound. Those who are inside are not always so easily disposed of, because they will probably have been aroused by the uproar before their assailants reach them. In a very few

seconds, however, as the attacking party is invariably greatly superior in force, and by no means scrupulous in the use of their weapons, these too succumb and are bound hand and foot or are otherwise secured.

Then commences the looting, which must be effected very hurriedly, for a little delay might suffice to bring the whole village down upon the robbers. A torch or two is lighted, pitaras forced open, every likely corner is searched.

The floor

of the huts is hastily probed or is dug up to discover the buried pot, which is a favourite form of safe for the custody of jewels or of spare cash when it happens that the ryot has any. Or perhaps the owner of the homestead is compelled by torture to reveal the place of his valuables: for instance he is rolled naked backwards and forwards over hot ashes, or a burning torch is held under his armpits, &c. All the booty which can in these modes be laid hold of is promptly carried off, each man loading himself with what he succeeds in putting his hands