Aghor

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This article is an extract from

THE TRIBES and CASTES of BENGAL. By H.H. RISLEY, INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE, OFFICIER D'ACADÉMIE FRANÇAISE. Ethnographic Glossary. CALCUTTA: Printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press. 1891. .

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Aghor

A low and despised class of men in the Supul sub-division of Bhagalpur, who are said to have no caste and to eat food cooked by either Hindus or Mahomedans. Their number is small (43 in 1881), and most of them live by begging, though of late years a few have taken to cultivation, It is surmised that they may be Aghoris who have abandoned the distinctive prac¬tices of their sect. In support of this view it may be noticed that Aghori ascetics eat the Jhuta or leavings of all Hindu castes, and that the practice ascribed to the Aghors of Supul only goes a step further.