Worship of the Birs^[*]

The lower end of the caste spectrum makes up the largest portion of Bir worshippers, from middle-ranked herdsmen, agriculturalists and artisans, and groups of aboriginal ancestry, to those considered "untouchable" or Harijan. These include Ahir, Gaderiya^[*] , Kunbi^[*] , Kurmi, Kumhar^[*] , Mali, Pasi, Bhar, Rajbhar^[*] , Kol, Gond, Manjhi^[*] , Mallah^[*] , Khatik^[*] , Teli, Dhobi, Dom^[*] , Chamar, Rai^[*] Das^[*] , and so forth. A small percentage of middle- and high-caste members, including Brahmins, are devotees of particular Bir Babas as well. This is especially true of older community shrines that house venerable local deities viewed as protectors of all rather than identified with particular castes or occupational groups. The uneducated are most numerous among Bir worshippers, but the reputation of certain shrines may draw considerable attendance from the ranks of the educated, including the more Westernized middle class.

Women are equal in number to men among the devotees, although they are less likely to hold priestly roles. The faith of women in Bir Babas is displayed most dramatically during the large religious fairs (melas) of regionally famous Birs, when female pilgrims attend in the tens of thousands and far outnumber the men present. This may be witnessed at the annual melas of both Bechu Bir (near Aharaura, Mirzapur) and Kedariya Bir (outside the city of Jaunpur). Fertility ranks high among female concerns, but many come also to work through or be relieved of ghost affliction.

Worshipped chiefly by the neighbors of a shrine, the urban Birs are attended most frequently on Tuesdays and Sundays and during seasons of festival activity. Individual petitioners approach the Birs privately with their special needs or desires (manauti^[*] ) with an initial offering when the deity is confronted with a request, and a vow (manauti manana^[*] ) to perform further services or ritual offerings if a wish is fulfilled (manauti puri^[*]ho jana^[*] ). The requests are familiar: the cure and prevention of illness, help with family problems and disputes, aid in finding a lost object, removal of the obstacles to fertility, the finding of a job, success in a court case or in the outcome of an exam. A supplicant will salute with folded hands (pranam^[*] ) or prostrate before the image, and offer sweets, flowers, incense, and dhar^[*] : a "cooling" mixture of

five dried and powdered fruits mixed with Ganges water and poured from a lota^[*] before the image. Substances of a more tamasik^[*] quality are also acceptable to the deity: camphor, cannabis, liquor, cut nutmegs or lemons (the simulacrum of blood sacrifice), and the slaughter of cock, pig, or goat. These latter substances are considered more potent and dangerous, and are offered by those who subscribe to "tantric methods" (tantrik paddhati se ) of pleasing and coercing the deity. The Bir^[*] Babas are said to accept these offerings (literally to "eat" them), and are especially fond of ganja, which is smoked frequently by men in the vicinity of some shrines. Numerous among the private petitioners are the healers and exorcists (ojha^[*], sokha^[*] , guni^[*] ) who depend upon the cooperation of the Bir Babas in their dealings with the spirit world.

It has become very popular of late to organize a varsik^[*]shringar^[*] , an "annual decoration" ceremony in imitation of the annual festivals of the city's major temples. The small shrines are whitewashed, painted, and elaborately decorated with flowers and strings of electric lights; arati^[*]puja^[*] , all-night performances of folk and devotional music, and even martial competitions among some of the city's wrestling akhara s^[*] are financed by neighborhood donations. Kumar notes an upsurge in the number of shringar s^[*] of small neighborhood shrines in recent years, evidence of the increasingly popular nature of public celebration (N. Kumar 1984:200–210). The annual shringar s of Bir temples are foremost among the occasions to celebrate neighborhood identity.