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THE TRIBES AND CASTES
OF THE
CENTRAL PROVINCES OF INDIA
ANI> CO, ,
T-ONDON - BOMBAY CALCUTTA
MAOKAS MKI^BOUKNK
THE M ACM ILL ANT <:OMPANV
NHW VOUK - BOSTON * OHIO AGO
jDAI~I*AS SAN FRANCISCO
THE MACMILI-AN CO* OF CANADA, L/ri>.
TORONTO
THE
TRIBES AND CASTES
OF THE
CENTRAL PROVINCES
OF INDIA
R. V. RUSSELL
OF THE INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE
SUPERINTENDENT OF ETHNOGRAPHY, CENTRAL PROVINCES
ASSISTED BY
RAI BAHADUR HlRA LAL
EXTRA ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER
PUBLISHED UNDER THE ORDERS OF THE CENTRAL
PROVINCES ADMINISTRATION
IN FOUR VOLUMES
VOL. IV
MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON
1916
COPYRIGHT
'CONTENTS OF VOLUME' IV
ARTICLES ON CASTES AND TRIBES OF THE CENTRAL
PROVINCES IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER
The articles which are considered to be of most crenet'al interest
are shown i?i capitals
PAGE
KUMHAR (Potter) ...... 3
KUNBI (Cultivator) . . . . . .16
Kunjra (Greengrocer) . , . . . .50
Kuramwar (Shepherd) . . . . . .52
KURMI (Cultivator) . . . . . -55
Lakhera (Worker in lac) . . n , . .104
Lodhi (Landowner a?id cttltivator} . . . ,,112
Lohar {Blacksmith} . . . . . .120
Lorha (G-rotvers of saxi-heirip) , . . - .126
Mahar ( Weai/jey and labourer) . . . . ,129
Mahli (Forest tribe) . . . . . .146
Majhwar (Forest tribe) . . . . . .149
M3\ (Forest tribe) . . . . . .153
Mala (Cotton-weaver and labourer') . . . .156
MALI (Gardener and vegetable-grower) . . . *59
Mallah (Boatman and fisherman) . . . .171
Mana (Forest tribe^ cultivator) . . . . .172
Manbhao (Religious mendicant) . . . .176
Mang" (Labourer and village musician) . . . .184
Mang-Garori (Criminal caste) . . . . .189
Manihar (Pedlar) . . . . . *93
Mannewar (Forest tribe) . . . . J 95
MARATHA (Soldier, cultivator and ' service)
Of^i U.
v i CONTENTS
PAGE
MEHTAR (Sweeper and scavenger) . . - .215
Meo (Tribe) ... 233
MTna or Deswali (Non-Aryan tribe^ cultivator) . . .235
Mirasi (Bard and genealogist) . . .242
MOCHI (Shoemaker) . . ,244
Mo war (Cultivator) . . - .250
Murha (Digger and navvy) . - ,252
Nagasia (Forest tribe) . - - ,257
Nahal (Forest tribe) . . - - .259
NAI (Barber) . . . - - - .262
Naoda (Boatman and fisherman) . . . ,283
-&**. (Acrobat) . ...- 2g6
Nuriia (Salt-refiner^ digger and navvy) . . . .294
Ojha (Augur and soothsayer) , . . - .296
ORAON (Forest tribe) . . . . .299
Paik (Soldier, cultivator) . . . . 3 21
Panka (Labourer and village watchman) , . .324
P ANWAR RAJPUT (Landowner and cultivator) . . ? 33
Pardhan (Minstrel and priest) . . . . 35 2
Pardhi (Hunter and foivler) . . . . -359
Parja (Forest tribe) . . . - 37 J
Pasi (Toddy-drawer and labourer) . . . .380
Patwa (Maker of silk braid and thread) . . .3^5
PINDARI (Freebooter) . . . . . .388
Prabhu ( Writer and clerk") . . . . 399
Raghuvansi (Cultivator) . . . . 4 3
Rajjhar (Agricultural labourer) , . . .405
RAJPUT (Soldier and landowner) . . .. ,410
RAJPUT CLANS
Baghel.
Chauhan.
Paik.
Bagri.
Dhakar.
Parihar.
Bais.
Gaharwar.
Rathor.
Baksaria.
Gaur.
Sesodia.
Banaphar.
Haihaya.
Solankhi.
Bhadauria.
Hiina.
Somvansi.
Bisen.
Kachhwaha.
Siirajvansi.
Bundela.
Nagvansl.
Tomara.
Chandel.
Nikunibh.
Yadu.
CONTENTS vii
PAGE
Raj war {Forest tribe} . . . . . .470
Ramosi {Village watchmen and labourer s^ for?nerly thieves} . 472
Rangrez (Dyer) . . . . . .477
Rautia (Forest tribe a?zd cultivators , formerly soldiers) . . 479
Sanaurhia (Criminal thieving caste) . . . .483
Sansia ( Vagrant criminal tribe) . . . .488
Sansia (Uria) (Mason and digger) . . . .496
Savar (Forest tribe) . , . . , .500
Sonjhara (Gold-washer) . . . , .509
Sudh ( Cultivator) . . . . . .514
SUNAR {Goldsmith and silversmith*} . . . 517
Sundi (Liquor distiller) . . , . -534
Tamera (Coppersmith) . , . . . 536
Taonla {Soldier and labourer) . , , . -539
TELI (Oilman) . . . . . .542
THUG (Criminal community of murderers by strangulation) . 558
Turi (Bamboo-worker) . . . . . .588
Velama (Cultivator) . . . . . -593
ViDUR (Village accountant^ clerk and writer) . . .596
Waghya (Religious mendicant) . . . .603
Yerukala (Criminal thieving caste) . . , .606
ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME iv
PAGE
97. Potter and his wheel ..... 4
98. Group of Kunbis . . . , . .16
99. Figures of animals made for Pola festival. . . 40
100. Hindu -boys' on stilts . . . . .42
1 01. Throwing stilts into -the water at the Pola festival , . 46
102. Carrying out the dead . . . . .48
103. Pounding rice ...... 60
104. Sowing ....... 84
105. Threshing ... ... 86
1 06. Winnowing . . . . . .88
107. Women grinding wheat and husking rice . . .90
1 08. Group of women in Hindustani dress . . .92
109. Coloured Plate : Examples of spangles worn by women on
the forehead . . . . . .106
110. Weaving: sizing the warp . . . .142
111. Winding thread . . . . . .144
112. Bride and bridegroom with marriage crowns . . 166
113. Bullocks drawing water with mot. . . .170
114. Mang musicians with drums . . . .186
115. Statue of Maratha leader, Bimbaji Bhonsla, in armour . 200
1 1 6. Image of the god Vishnu as Vithoba . . . 248
117. Coolie women with babies slung at the side . 256
1 1 8. Hindu men showing the choti or scalp-lock . . 272
119. Snake-charmer with cobras . . . .292
1 20. Transplanting rice ..... 340
121. Group of Pardhans . . 35 2
122. Little girls playing ..... 400
x ILL US TRA TIONS
PAGE
123. Gujarati girls doing figures with strings and sticks . 402
124. Ornaments . . . . . .524
125. Teli's oil-press , . . . . .544
126. The Goddess Kali . . . . .574
127. Waghya mendicants ..... 604
PRONUNCIATION
a has the sound of u in but or murrmtr.
a ,, ,, a in bath or tar.
e ,5 in &cart or ai in maid.
i ,, iin bi^ or (as a final letter) of y in sulky.
I ee in beet.
o 3, ,3 o in bore or bowL
u 3, u input or
ii ,, ,, oo \npoor or
The plural of caste names and a few common Hindustani words
is formed by adding ^ in the English manner according to ordinary
usage, though this is not, of course, the Hindustani plural.
NOTE. The rupee contains 16 annas, and an anna is of the same
value as a penny. A pice is a quarter of an anna, or a farthing.
Rs. 1-8 signifies one rupee and eight annas, A lakh is a hundred
thousand, and a krore ten million.
xi
PART II
ARTICLES ON CASTES AND TRIBES
KUMHAR YKMKALA
VOL. IV B
KUMHAR
LIST OF PARAGRAPHS
1. Traditions of origin. 6. Breeding pigs for sacrifices.
2. Caste subdivisions. 7. The goddess Demeter.
3. Social MS toms. 8. Estimation of the pig in India.
4. The Kumhar as a village 9. The buffalo as a corn-god.
menial. 10. The Dasahra festival.
5. Occupation. n. The goddess Dem.
Kumhar, Kumtohar. The caste of potters, the name i. iradi-
being derived from the Sanskrit kunibh. a water-pot The tlo , n ? of
orisfin.
Kumhars numbered nearly 120,000 persons in the Central
Provinces in 1911 and were most numerous in the northern
and eastern or Hindustani-speaking Districts, where earthen
vessels have a greater vogue than in the south. The caste
is of course an ancient one, vessels of earthenware having
probably been in use at a very early period, and the old
Hindu scriptures consequently give various accounts of its
origin from mixed marriages between the four classical
castes. " Concerning the traditional parentage of the caste,"
Sir H. Risley writes, 1 " there seems to be a wide difference
of opinion among the recognised authorities on the subject.
Thus the Brahma Vaivartta Purana says that the Kumbhakar
or maker of water-jars (kumbha), is born of a Vaishya woman
by a Brahman father ; the Parasara Samhita makes the father
a Malakar (gardener) and the mother a Chamar ; while the
Parasara Padhati holds that the ancestor of the caste was
begotten of a Till woman by a Pattikar or weaver of silk
cloth. Sir Monier Williams again, in his Sanskrit Dictionary,
describes them as the offspring of a Kshatriya woman by a
Brahman. No importance can of course be attached to
1 Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art Kumhar.
3
4 KUMHAR PART
such statements as the above from the point of view of actual
fact, but they are interesting as showing the view taken of
the formation of castes by the ,old Brahman writers, and
also the position given to the Kumhar at the time when they
wrote. This varies from a moderately respectable to a very
humble one according to the different accounts of his lineage.
The caste themselves have a legend of the usual Brahmanical
type : " In the Kritayuga, when Maheshwar (Siva) intended
to marry the daughter of Hemvanta, the Devas and Asuras l
assembled at Kailas (Heaven). Then a question arose as to
who should furnish the vessels required for the ceremony,
and one Kulalaka, a Brahman, was ordered to make them.
Then Kulalaka stood before the assembly with folded hands,
and prayed that materials might be given to him for making
the pots. So Vishnu gave his Sudarsana (discus) to be used
as a wheel, and the mountain of Mandara was fixed as a
pivot beneath it to hold it up. The scraper was Adi Kurrna
the tortoise, and a rain-cloud was used for the water-tub.
So Kulalaka made the pots and gave them to Maheshwar
for his marriage, and ever since his descendants have been
known as Kumbhakar or maker of water-jars."
2. Caste The Kumhars have a number of subcastes, many of
which > as mi ght be expected, are of the territorial type and
indicate the different localities from which they migrated to
the Central Provinces. Such are the Malwi from Malwa, the
Telenga from the Telugu country in Hyderabad, the Pardeshi
from northern India and the Maratha from the Maratha
Districts. Other divisions are the Lingayats who belong to
the sect of this name, the Gadhewal or Gadhere who make
tiles and carry them about on donkeys (gadha), the Bardia
who use bullocks for transport and the Sungaria who keep
pigs (suar). Certain endogamous groups have arisen simply
from differences in the method of working. Thus the
Hathgarhia 2 mould vessels with their hands only without
using the wheel ; the Goria 3 make white or red pots only
and not black ones ; the Kurere mould their vessels on a
stone slab revolving on a stick and not on a wheel ; while
the Chakere are Kumhars who use the wheel (chaK} in
1 Gods and demons. 2 H&th ^ hand an( j^ r ; m ^ to make Qr mould>
3 Gora, white or red, applied to Europeans.
LU
HI
I
I
or
ui
H
n SOCIAL CUSTOMS 5
localities where other Kumhars do not use It. The Chhutakia
and Rakhotia are illegitimate sections, being the offspring of
kept women.
Girls are married at an early age when their parents can 3- Social
afford it, the matches being usually arranged at caste feasts. customs -
In Chanda parents who allow a daughter to become adolesc
ent while still unwed are put out of caste, but elsewhere
the rule is by no means so strict The ceremony is of the
normal type and a Brahman usually officiates, but in Betul
it is performed by the Sawasa or husband of the bride's
paternal aunt, After the wedding the couple are given
kneaded flour to hold in their hands and snatch from each
other as an emblem of their trade. In Mandla a bride-
price of Rs. 50 is paid.
The Kumhars recognise divorce and the remarriage of
widows. If an unmarried girl is detected in criminal in
timacy with a member of the caste, she has to give a feast
to the caste-fellows and pay a fine of Rs. 1-4 and five locks
of her hair are also cut off by way of purification. The
caste usually burn the dead, but the Lingayat Kumhars
always bury them in accordance with the practice of their
sect They worship the ordinary Hindu deities and make
an offering to the implements of their trade on the festival
of Deothan Igaras. The village Brahman serves as their
priest. In Balaghat a Kumhar is put out of caste if a dead
cat is found in his house. At the census of 1901 the Kum
har was ranked' with the impure castes, but his status is
not really so low. Sir D. Ibbetson said of him : " He is a
true village menial ; his social standing is very low, far below
that of the Lohar and not much above the Chamar. His
association with that impure beast, the donkey, the animal
sacred to Sitala, the smallpox goddess, pollutes him and also
his readiness to carry manure and sweepings." As already
seen there are in the Central Provinces Sungaria and
Gadheria subcastes which keep donkeys and pigs, and these
are regarded as impure. But in most Districts the Kumhar
ranks not much below the Barhai and Lohar, that is in what
I have designated the grade of village menials above the
impure and below the cultivating castes. In Bengal the
Kumhars have a much higher status and Brahmans will
6 KUMHAR PART
take water from their hands. But the gradation of caste in
Bengal differs very greatly from that of other parts of India.
4 . The The Kumhar is not now paid regularly by dues from
^vmage aS ^e cultivators like other village menials, as the ordinary
menial. system of sale has no doubt been found more convenient in
his case. But he sometimes takes the soiled grass from the
stalls of the cattle and gives pots free to the cultivator in
exchange. On Akti day, at the beginning of the agricultural
year, the village Kumhar of Saugor presents five pots with
covers on them to each cultivator and receives* 2,\ Ibs, of
grain in exchange. One of these the tenant fills with water
and presents to a Brahman and the rest he reserves for his
own purposes. On the occasion of a wedding also the bride
groom's party take the bride to the Kumharin's house as
part of the sohag ceremony for making the marriage pro
pitious. The Kumhar seats the bride on his wheel and
turns it round with her seven times. The Kumharin
presents her with seven new pots, which are taken back to
the house and used at the wedding. They are filled with
water and are supposed to represent the seven seas. If any
two of these pots accidentally clash together it is supposed
that the bride and bridegroom will quarrel during their
married life. In return for this the Kumharin receives a
present of clothes. At a funeral also the Kumhar must
supply thirteen vessels which are known as ghats, and must
also replace the broken earthenware. Like the other village
menials at the harvest he takes a new vessel to the cultivator
in his field and receives a present of grain. These customs
appear to indicate his old position as one of the menials
or general servants of the village ranking below the cultivators.
Grant- Duff also includes the potter in his list of village
menials in the Maratha villages. 1
t1nn CCUpa " The potter is not P articula *" as to the clay he uses and
does not go far afield for the finer qualities, but digs it from
the nearest place in the neighbourhood where he can get it
free of cost. Red and black clay are employed, the former
being obtained near the base of hills or on high-lying land,
probably of the laterite formation, and the latter in the beds
of tanks or streams. When the clay is thoroughly kneaded
1 History of the Maratkas, edition 1878, vol. i. p. 26,
tion.
n OCCUPATION 7
and ready for use a lump of it Is placed on the centre of the
wheel. The potter seats himself in front of the wheel and
fixes his stick or chakrait .into the slanting hole in its upper
surface. With this stick the wheel is made to revolve very
rapidly, and sufficient impetus is given to it to keep it in
motion for several minutes. The potter then lays aside the
stick and with his hands moulds the lump of clay into the
shape required, stopping every now and then to give the
wheel a fresh spin as it loses its momentum. When satisfied
with the shape of his vessel he separates it from the lump
with a piece of string, and places it on a bed of ashes to
prevent it sticking to the ground. The wheel is either a
circular disc cut out of a single piece of stone about a yard
in diameter, or an ordinary wooden wheel with spokes forming
two diameters at right angles. The rim is then thickened
with the addition of a coating of mud strengthened with
fibre. 1 The articles made by the potter are ordinary circular
vessels or gharas used for storing and collecting water, larger
ones for keeping grain, flour and vegetables, and szirahis or
amphoras for drinking-water. In the manufacture of these
last salt and saltpetre are mixed with the clay to make them
more porous and so increase their cooling capacity. A very
useful thing is the small saucer which serves as a lamp, being
filled with oil on which a lighted wick is floated. These
saucers resemble those found in the excavations of Roman
remains. Earthen vessels are more commonly used, both for
cooking and eating purposes among the people of northern
India, and especially by Muhammadans, than among the
Marathas, and, as already noticed, the Kumhar caste musters
strong in the north of the Province. An earthen vessel is
polluted if any one of another caste takes food or drink from
it and is at once discarded. On the occasion of a death all
the vessels in the house are thrown away and a new set
obtained, and the same measure is adopted at the Holi festival
and on the occasion of an eclipse, and at various other cere
monial purifications, such as that entailed if a member of the
household has had maggots in a wound. On this account
cheapness is an indispensable quality in pottery, and there is
1 The above description is taken on Pottery and Glassware by Mr.
from the Central Provinces Monograph Jowers, p. 4.
8 KUMHAR VART
no opening for the Kumhar to improve his art Another
product of the Kumhar's industry is the chilam or pipe-bowl.
This has the usual opening for inhaling the smoke but no
stem, an impromptu stem being made by the hands and the
smoke inhaled through it. As the chilam is not touched by
the mouth, Hindus of all except the impure castes can smoke
it together, passing it round, and Hindus can also smoke it
with Muhammadans.
It is a local belief that, if an earthen pot is filled with
salt and plastered over, the rains will stop until it is opened.
This device is adopted when the fall is excessive, but, on
the other hand, if there is drought, the people sometimes
think that the potter has used it to keep off the rain,
because he cannot pursue his calling when the clay is very
wet. And on occasions of a long break in the rains, they
have been known to attack his shop and break all his
, vessels under the influence of this belief. The potter is
sometimes known as Prajapati or the 'The Creator/ in
accordance with the favourite comparison made by ancient
writers of the moulding of his pots with the creation of human
beings, the justice of which will be recognised by any one
who watches the masses of mud on a whirling wheel growing
into shapely vessels in the potter's creating hands.
6. Breed- Certain Kumhars as well as the Dhlmars make the
fof sacrl breeding of pigs a means of subsistence, and they sell these
pigs for sacrifices at prices varying from eight annas (8d.) to
a rupee. The pigs are sacrificed by the Gonds to their god
Bura Deo and by Hindus to the deity Bhainsasur, or the
buffalo demon, for the protection of the crops. Bhainsasur
is represented by a stone in the fields, and when crops are
beaten down at night by the wind it is supposed that Bhain
sasur has passed over them and trampled them down. Hindus,
' usually of the lower castes, offer pigs to Bhainsasur to pro
pitiate him and preserve their crops from his ravages, but
they cannot touch the impure pig themselves. What they
have to do, therefore, is to pay the Kumhar the price of the
pig and get him to offer it to Bhainsasur on their behalf.
The Kumhar goes to the god and sacrifices the pig and then
takes the body home and eats it, so that his trade is a profit
able one, while conversely to sacrifice a pig without partaking
n THE GODDESS DE METER g
of Its flesh must necessarily be bitter to the frugal Hindu
mind, and this indicates the importance of the deity who is
to be propitiated by the offering. The first question which
arises in connection with this curious custom is why pigs
should be sacrificed for the preservation of the crops ; and
the reason appears to be that the wild pig is the animal which,
at present, mainly damages the crops.
In ancient Greece pigs were offered to Demeter, the corn- 7. The
goddess, for the protection of the crops, and there is good
reason to suppose that the conceptions of Demeter herself
and the lovely Proserpine grew out of the worship of the
pig, and that both goddesses were in the beginning merely
the deified pig. The highly instructive passage in which Sir
J. G. Frazer advances this theory is reproduced almost in full: 1
" Passing next to the corn-goddess Demeter, and remembering
that in European folklore the pig is a common embodiment
of the corn-spirit, we may now ask whether the pig, which
was so closely associated with Demeter, may not originally
have been the goddess herself in animal form ? The pig was
sacred to her ; in art she was portrayed carrying or accom
panied by a pig ; and the pig was regularly sacrificed in her
mysteries, the reason assigned being that the pig injures the
corn and is therefore an enemy of the goddess. But after
an animal has been conceived as a god, or a god as an animal,
it sometimes happens, as we have seen, that the god sloughs
off his animal form and becomes purely anthropomorphic ;
and that then the animal which at first had been slain in the
character of the god, comes to be viewed as a victim offered
to the god on the ground of its hostility to the deity ; in
short, that the god is sacrificed to himself on the ground that
he is his own enemy. This happened to Dionysus and it
may have happened to Demeter also. And in fact the
rites of one ' of her festivals, the Thesmophoria, bear out the
view that originally the pig was an embodiment of the corn-
goddess herself, either Demeter or her daughter and double
Proserpine. The Thesmophoria was an autumn festival
celebrated by women alone in October, and appears to have
represented with mourning rites the descent of Proserpine
(or Demeter) into the lower world, and with joy her return
1 Golden Bough> ii. pp. 299, 301. -
I0 KUMHAR
from the dead. Hence the name Descent or Ascent
variously applied to the first, and the name Kalligeneia (fair-
born) applied to the third day of the festival. Now from
an old scholium on Lucian we learn some details about the
mode of celebrating the Thesmophoria, which shed important
light on the part of the festival called the Descent or the
Ascent, The scholiast tells us that it was customary at the
Thesmophoria to throw pigs, cakes of dough, and branches
of pine-trees into * the chasms of Demeter and Proserpine/
which appear to have been sacred caverns or vaults.
" In these caverns or vaults there were said to be serpents,
which guarded the caverns and consumed most of the flesh
of the pigs and dough-cakes which were thrown in. After
wards apparently at the next annual festival the decayed
remains of the pigs, the cakes, and the pine-branches were
fetched by women called * drawers/ who, after observing rules
of ceremonial purity for three days, descended into the
caverns, and, frightening away the serpents by clapping their
hands, brought up the remains and placed them on the altar.
Whoever got a piece of the decayed flesh and cakes, and
sowed it with the seed-corn in his field, was believed to be
sure of a good crop.
"To explain this rude and ancient rite the following
legend was told. At the moment when Pluto carried off
Proserpine, a swineherd called Eubuleus chanced to be
herding his swine on the spot, and his herd was engulfed
in the chasm down which Pluto vanished with Proserpine.
Accordingly, at the Thesmophoria pigs were annually thrown
into caverns to commemorate the disappearance of the swine
of Eubuleus. It follows from this that the casting of the
pigs into the vaults at the Thesmophoria formed part of the
dramatic representation of Proserpine's descent into the lower
world ; and as no image of Proserpine appears to have been
thrown in, we may infer that the descent of the pigs was not
so much an accompaniment of her descent as the descent
Itself, in short, that the pigs were Proserpine. Afterwards,
when Proserpine or Demeter (for the two are equivalent)
became anthropomorphic, a reason had to be found for the
custom of throwing pigs into caverns at her festival ; and
this was done by saying that when Pluto carried off Proser-
ii ESTIMATION OF THE PIG IN INDIA u
pine, there happened to be some swine browsing near, which
were swallowed up along with her. The story is obviously
a forced and awkward attempt to bridge over the gulf between
the old conception of. the corn-spirit as a pig and the new
conception of her as an anthropomorphic goddess. A trace
of the older conception survived in the legend that when the
sad mother was searching for traces of the vanished Proserpine,
the footprints of the lost one were obliterated by the foot
prints of a pig ; originally, we may conjecture, the footprints
of the pig were the footprints of Proserpine and of Demeter
herself. A consciousness of the intimate connection of the
pig with the corn lurks in the legend that the swineherd
Eubuleus was a brother of Triptolemus, to whom Demeter
first imparted the secret of the corn. Indeed, according to
one version of the story, Eubuleus himself received, jointly
with his brother Triptolemus, the gift of the corn from
Demeter as a reward for revealing to her the fate of Proser
pine. Further, it is to be noted that at the Thesmophoria
the women appear to have eaten swine's flesh. The meal,
if I am right, must have been a solemn sacrament or
communion, the worshippers partaking of the body of the
god."
We thus see how the pig in ancient Greece was wor- 8. Estima
shipped as a corn - deity because it damaged the crops and JhTpi
subsequently became an anthropomorphic goddess. It is India.
suggested that pigs are offered to Bhainsasur by the
Hindus for the same reason. But there is no Hindu
deity representing the pig, this animal on the contrary
being regarded as impure. It seems doubtful, however,
whether this was always so. In Rajputana on the stone
which the Regent of Kotah set up to commemorate the
abolition of forced taxes were carved the effigies of the sun,
the moon, the cow and the hog, with an imprecation on
whoever should revoke the edict 1 Colonel Tod says that
the pig was included as being execrated by all classes, but
this seems very doubtful. It would scarcely occur to any
Hindu nowadays to associate the image of the impure pig with
those of the sun, moon and cow, the representations of
three of his greatest deities. Rather it gives some reason for
1 Rajasthan, ii. p. 524.
in
12 KUMHAR PART
supposing that the pig was once worshipped, and the Rajputs
still do not hold the wild boar impure, as they hunt it and
eat its flesh. Moreover, Vishnu in his fourth incarnation
was a boar. The Gonds regularly offer pigs to their great
god Bura Deo, and though they now offer goats as well, this
seems to be a later innovation. The principal sacrifice of the
early Romans was the Suovetaurilia or the sacrifice of a pig,
a ram and a bull. The order of the words, M. Reinach
remarks, 1 is significant as showing the importance formerly
attached to the pig or boar. Since the pig was the principal
sacrificial animal of the primitive tribes, the Gonds and
Baigas, its connection with the ritual of an alien and at one
time hostile religion may have strengthened the feeling of
aversion for it among the Hindus, which would naturally be
engendered by its own dirty habits.
9. The It seems possible then that the Hindus reverenced the wild
boar in the past as one of the strongest and fiercest animals of
the forest and also as a destroyer of the crops. And they
still make sacrifices of the pig to guard their fields from his
ravages. These sacrifices, however, are not offered to any
deity who can represent a deified pig but to Bhainsasur," the
deified buffalo. The explanation seems to be that in former
times, when forests extended over most of the country, the
cultivator had in the wild buffalo a direr foe than the wild
pig: And one can well understand how the peasant, winning
a scanty subsistence from his poor fields near the 'forest, and
seeing his harvest destroyed in a night by the trampling of a
herd of these great brutes against whom his puny weapons
were powerless, looked on them as terrible and malignant
deities. The sacrifice of a buffalo would be beyond the
means of a single man, and the animal is now more or less
sacred as one of the cow tribe. But the annual joint sacri
fice of one or more buffaloes is a regular feature of the
Dasahra festival and extends over a great part of India. In
Betul and other districts the procedure is that on the Dasahra
day, or a day before, the Mang and Kotwar, two of the lowest
village menials, take a buffalo bull and bring it to the village
proprietor, who makes a cut on its nose and draws blood.
Then it is taken all round the village and to the shrines of
: P. 152.
ii THE DASAHRA FESTIVAL THE GODDESS DEVI 13
the gods, and in the evening it is killed and the Mang and
Kotwar eat the flesh. It is now believed that if the blood
of a buffalo does not fall at Dasahra some epidemic will
attack the village, but as there are no longer any wild
buffaloes except in the denser forests of one or two Districts,
the original meaning of the rite might naturally have been
forgotten. 1
The Dasahra festival probably marks the autumnal equinox 10. The
and also the time when the sowing of wheat and other j^^*
spring crops begins. Many Hindus still postpone sowing
the wheat until after Dasahra, even though it might be
convenient to begin before, especially as the festival goes by
the lunar month and its date varies in different years by
more than a fortnight. The name signifies the tenth day, and
prior to the festival a fast of nine days is observed, when the
pots of wheat corresponding to the gardens of Adonis are
sown and quickly sprout up. This is an imitation of the
sowing and growth of the real crop and is meant to ensure its
success. During these nine days it is said that the goddess
Devi was engaged in mortal combat with the buffalo demon
Mahisasur or Bhainsasur, and on the tenth day or the
Dasahra she slew him. The fast is explained as being
observed in order to help her to victory, but it is really
perhaps a fast in connection with the growing of the crops.
A similar nine days' fast for the crops was observed by the
Greeks. 2
Devi signifies 'the goddess * par excellence. She is often n. The
the tutelary goddess of the village and of the family, and is
held to have been originally Mother Earth, which may be
supposed to be correct. In tracts where the people of
northern and southern India meet she is identified with
Anna Purna, the corn - goddess of the Telugu country ;
and in her form of Gauri or ' the Yellow One ' she is perhaps
herself the yellow corn. As Gauri she is worshipped at
weddings in conjunction with Ganesh or Ganpati, the god of
Good Fortune ; and it is probably in honour of the harvest
colour that Hindus of the upper castes wear yellow at
1 The sacrifice is now falling into abeyance, as landowners refuse to supply
the buffalo.
2 PJT. Jevons, Introduction to the History of Religion^ p. 368.
I 4 KUMHAR
their weddings and consider it lucky. A Brahman also
prefers to wear yellow when eating his food. It has been
seen 1 that red is the lucky colour of the lower castes of
Hindus, and the reason probably is that the shrines of their
gods are stained red with the blood of the animals sacrificed.
High -caste Hindus no longer make animal sacrifices, and
their offerings to Siva, Vishnu and Devi consist of food,
flowers and blades of corn. Thus yellow would be similarly
associated with the shrines of the gods. All Hindu brides
have their bodies rubbed with yellow turmeric, and the
principal religious flower, the marigold, is orange - yellow.
Yellow is, however, also lucky as being the colour of Vishnu
or the Sun, and a yellow flag is waved above his great temple
at Ramtek on the occasion of the fair. Thus Devi as the
corn-goddess perhaps corresponds to Demeter, but she is not
in this form an animal goddess. The Hindus worshipping
Mother Earth, as all races do in the early stage of religion,
may by a natural and proper analogy have ascribed the gift of
the corn to her from whom it really comes, and have identi
fied her with the corn-goddess. This is by no means a full
explanation of the goddess Devi, who has many forms. As
Parvati, the hill-maiden, and Durga, the inaccessible one, she
is the consort of Siva in his character of the mountain-god of
the Himalayas ; as Kali, the devourer of human flesh, she
is perhaps the deified tiger ; and she may have assimilated
yet more objects of worship into her wide divinity. But
there seems no special reason to hold that she is anywhere
believed to be the deified buffalo ; and the probable explana
tion of the Dasahra rite would therefore seem to be that the
buffalo was at first venerated as the corn-god because, like
the pig in Greece, he was most destructive to the crops, and a
buffalo was originally slaughtered and eaten sacramentally
as an act of worship. At a later period the divinity attach
ing to the corn was transferred to Devi, an anthropomorphic
deity of a higher class, and in order to explain the customary
slaughter of the buffalo, which had to be retained, the story
became current that the beneficent goddess fought and slew
the buffalo-demon which injured the crops, for the benefit
of her worshippers, and the fast was observed and the
1 Vide article on Lakhera.
ii THE GODDESS DEVI 15
buffalo sacrificed In commemoration of this event It is
possible that the sacrifice of the buffalo may have been a
non-Aryan rite, as the Mundas still offer a buffalo to Deswali,
their forest god, in the sacred grove ; and the Korwas
of Sarguja have periodical sacrifices to Kali in which many
buffaloes are slaughtered. In the pictures of her fight with
Bhainsasur, Devi is shown as riding on a tiger, and the
uneducated might imagine the struggle to have resembled
that between a tiger and a buffalo. As the destroyer of
buffaloes and deer which graze on the crops the tiger may
even be considered the cultivator's friend. But in the rural
tracts Bhainsasur himself is still venerated in the guise of a
corn-deity, and pig are perhaps offered to him as the animals
which nowadays do most harm to the crops.
KUNBI
[This article is based on the information collected for the District Gazetteers
of the Central Provinces, manuscript notes furnished by Mr. A. K. Smith, C.S.,
and from papers by Pandit Pyare Lai Misra and Munshi Kanhya Lai. The
Kunbis are treated in the Poona and Khandesli volumes of the Bombay ^ Gazetteer.
The caste has been taken as typical of the Marathi-speaking Districts, and a
fairly full description of the marriage and other ceremonies has therefore been
given, some information on houses, dress and food being also reproduced from
the Wardha and Yeotmal District Gazetteers. ]
LIST OF PARAGRAPHS
1. Distribution of the caste and
origin of name.
2. Settlement in the Central Pro
vinces.
3. Sub castes.
4. The cultivating status.
5. Exogamous septs.
6. Restrictions on marriage of
relatives.
7. Betrothal and marriage,
8. Polygamy and divorce.
9. Widow-marriage.
I o. Customs at birth.
1 1 . Sixth- and twelfth-day cere-
monies.
1 2. Devices for procuring children.
13. Love charms.
1 4. Disposal of the dead.
15. Mourning.
1 6. Religion.
1 7 . The Pola festival.
1 8. Muhammadan tendencies of
Berdr Kunbis.
1 9. Villages and houses.
20. Furnitttre.
21. Food.
22. Clothes and ornaments.
23. The ^tnbi as cultivator.
24. Social and moral charac
teristics.
i. Distri
bution of
the caste
and origin
of name.
Kunbl. The great agricultural caste of the Maratha
country. In the Central Provinces and Berar the Kunbis
numbered nearly 1,400,000 persons in 1911 ; they belong
to the Nagpur, Chanda, Bhandara, Wardha, Nimar and
Betul Districts of the Central Provinces. In Berar their
strength was 800,000, or nearly a third of the total popula
tion. Here they form the principal cultivating class over
the whole area except in the jungles of the north and south,
but muster most strongly in the Buldana District to the
west, where in some taluks nearly half the population
16
CO
CD
z
D
LL
cc
PT. ii SETTLEMENT IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES 17
belongs to the Kimbi caste. In the combined Province
they are the most numerous caste except the Gonds. The
name has various forms in Bombay, being Kunbi or Kulambi
in the Deccan, Kulwadi in the south Konkan, Kanbi in
Gujarat, and Kulbi in Belgaum. In Sanskrit inscriptions
It is given as Kutumbika (householder), and hence it has
been derived from kutumba^ a family. A chronicle of the
eleventh century quoted by Forbes speaks of the Kutumbiks
or cultivators of the grams or small villages. 1 Another
writer describing the early Rajput dynasties says : 2 " The
villagers were Koutombiks (householders) or husbandmen
(Karshuks) ; the village headmen were Putkeels (patels)."
Another suggested derivation Is from a Dravidian root kul,
a husbandman or labourer ; while that favoured by the
caste and their neighbours is from kun, a root, or kan, grain,
and &i, seed ; but this Is too ingenious to be probable.
It Is stated that the Kunbis entered Khandesh from 2. Settle-
Gujarat in the eleventh century, being forced to leave ^Centra
Gujarat by the encroachments of Rajput tribes, driven Provinces.
south before the early Muhammadan Invaders of northern
India. 3 From Khandesh they probably spread into Berar
and the adjoining Nagpur and Wardha Districts. It seems
probable that their first settlement in Nagpur and Wardha
took place not later than the fourteenth century, because
during the subsequent period of Gond rule we find the offices
of Deshmukh and Deshpandia in existence in this area. '
The Deshmukh was the manager or headman of a circle of
villages and was responsible for apportioning and collecting
the land revenue, while the Deshpandia was a head patwari
or accountant. The Deshmukhs were usually the leading
Kunbis, and the titles are still borne by many families in
Wardha and Nagpur. These offices 4 belong to the Maratha
country, and it seems necessary to suppose that their intro
duction into Wardha and Berar dates from a period at least
as early as the fourteenth century, when these territories
were included in the dominions of the Bahmani kings of
Bijapur. A subsequent large influx of Kunbis into Wardha
1 Rasmala, i. p. 100. 4 Bombay Gazetteer, vol. i. part ii.
2 Ibidem, p. 241. p. 34.
3 Khdndesfi Gazetteer, p. 62.
VOL. IV
J8 KUNBI FART
and Nagpur took place in the eighteenth century with the
conquest of Raghuji Bhonsla and the establishment of the
Maratha kingdom of Nagpur. Traces of these separate
immigrations survive in the subdivisions of the caste, which
will now be mentioned.
3, Sub- The internal structure of the Kunbi caste in the Central
castes. Provinces shows that it is a mixed occupational body
recruited from different classes of the population. The Jhare
or jungly 1 Kunbis are the oldest immigrants arid have no
doubt an admixture of Gond blood. They do not break
their earthen vessels after a death in the house. With
them may be classed the Manwa Kunbis of the Nagpur
District ; these appear to be a group recruited from the
Manas, a primitive tribe who were dominant in Chanda
perhaps even before the advent of the Gonds. The Manwa
Kunbi women wear their cloths drawn up so as to expose
the thigh like the Gonds, and have some other primitive
practices. They do not employ Brahmans at their marriages,
but consult a Mahar Mohturia or soothsayer to fix the date
of the ceremony. Other Kunbis will not eat with the Man was,
and the latter retaliate in the usual manner by refusing
to accept food from them ; and say that they are superior
to other Kunbis because they always use brass vessels for
cooking and not earthen ones. Among the other subcastes
in the Central Provinces are the Khaire, who take their
name from the khair* or catechu tree, presumably because
they formerly prepared catechu ; this is a regular occupa
tion of the forest tribes, with whom it may be supposed that
the Khaire have some affinity. The Dhanoje are those who
took to the occupation of tending dhan 3 or small stock, and
they are probably an offshoot of the Dhangar or shepherd
caste whose name is similarly derived. Like the Dhangar
women they wear cocoanut-shell bangles, and the Manwa
Kunbis also do this ; these bangles are not broken when
a child is born, and hence the Dhanojes and Manwas are
looked down on by the other subcastes, who refuse to
remove their leaf-plates after a feast The name of the
a tree or shrub. 3 Dhan properly means wealth, cj.
the two meanings of the word stock
2 Acacia catechu* in English,
n SUB-CASTES 19
Khedule subcaste may be derived from kheda a village,
while another version given by Mr. Kitts l Is that it signifies
' A beardless youth/ The highest subcaste In the Central
Provinces are the Tlrole or Tilole, who now claim to be
Rajputs. They say that their ancestors came from Therol
In Rajputana, and, taking to agriculture, gradually became
merged with the Kunbis. Another more probable deriva
tion of the name is from the til or sesamum plant The
families who held the hereditary office of Deshmukh, which
conferred a considerable local position, were usually members
of the Tlrole subcaste, and they have now developed into a
sort of aristocratic branch of the caste, and marry among
themselves when matches can be arranged. They do not
allow the remarriage of widows nor permit their women to
accompany the wedding procession. The Wandhekars are
another group which also includes some Deshmukh families,
a,nd ranks next to the Tiroles In position. Mr. Kitts re
cords a large number of subcastes in Berar. 2 Among them
are some groups from northern India, as the Hindustani,
Pardesi, Dholewar, Jaiswar and Singrore ; these are prob
ably Kurmis who have settled In Berar and become
amalgamated with the Kunbis. Similarly the Tailanges
and Munurwars appear to be an offshoot of the great Kapu
caste of cultivators in the Telugu country. The Wanjari
subcaste Is a fairly large one and almost certainly repre
sents a branch of the Banjara caste of carriers, who have
taken to agriculture and been promoted into the Kunbi
community. The Lonhare take their name from Lonar
Mehkar, the well-known bitter lake of the Buldana District,
whose salt they may formerly have refined. The Ghatole
are those who dwelt above the ghats or passes of the
Saihadri range to the south of the Berar plain. The Baone
are an important subcaste both in Berar and the Central
Provinces, and take their name from the phrase Bawan Berar, 3
a term applied to the province by the Mughals because It
paid fifty-two lakhs of revenue, as against only eight lakhs
realised from the adjoining Jhadi or hill country in the
Central Provinces. In Chhindwara is found a small local
1 Berar Census Report (iSSi), para. 2 Ibidem.
I So. 3 >dwan = fifty-two.
20 KUNBI T>ART
subcaste called Gadhao because they formerly kept donkeys,
though they no longer do so ; they are looked clown on by
the others who will not even take water from their hands.
In Nimar is a group of Gujarati Kunbis who are considered
to have been originally Gujars. 1 , Their local subdivisions
are Leve and Karwa and many of them are also known as
Dalia, because they made the ddl or pulse of Burhanpur,
which had a great reputation under native rule. It is said
that it was formerly despatched daily to Sindhia's kitchen.
4 . The. It appears then that a Kunbi has in the past been
synonymous with a cultivator, and that large groups from
other castes have taken to agriculture, have been admitted
into the community and usually obtained a rise in rank,
In many villages Kunbis are the only ryots, while below
them are the village menials and artisans, several of whom
perform functions at weddings or on other occasions denot
ing their recognition of the Kunbi as their master or
employer ; and beneath these again are the impure Mahars
or labourers. Thus at a Kunbi betrothal the services of
the barber and washerman must, be requisitioned ; the
barber washes the feet of the boy and girl and places
vermilion on the foreheads of the guests. The washerman
spreads a sheet on the ground on which the boy and girl
sit. At the end of the ceremony the barber and washerman
take the bride and bridegroom on their shoulders and dance
to music in the marriage-shed ; for this they receive small
presents. After a death has occurred at a Kunbi's house
the impurity is not removed until the barber and washer
man have eaten in it. At a Kunbi's wedding the Gurao or
village priest brings the leafy branches of five trees, the
mango, jamunf uinar 3 and two others and deposits them at
Maroti's temple, whence they are removed by the parents of
the bride. Before a wedding again a Kunbi bride must go
to the potter's house and be seated on his wheel while it is
turned round seven times for good luck. At seed-time and
harvest all the village menials go to the cultivator's field
and present him with a specimen of their wares or make
obeisance to him, receiving in return a small present of
1 Bombay Gazetteer , Hindiis of 2 Eugenia jambolana.
Gujarat, p. 490, App. B, Gujar, 3 Ficus glomerata*
ii EXOGAMOUS SEPTS 21
grain. This state of things seems to represent the primitive
form of Hindu society from which the present widely
ramified system of castes may have expanded, and even
now the outlines of the original structure may be discernible
under all subsequent accretions.
Each subcaste has a number of exogamous septs or clans s> Ex -
which serve as a table of affinities in regulating marriage.
The vernacular term for these is kuL Some of the septs are
named after natural objects or animals, others from titles or
nicknames borne by the reputed founder of the group, or from
some other caste to which he may have belonged, while
others again are derived from the names of villages which
maybe taken to have been the original home of the sept or clan.
The following are some septs of the Tirole subcaste : Kole,
jackal; Wankhede, a village; Kadu, bitter; Jagthap, famous;
Kadam, a tree ; Meghe, a cloud ; Lohekari, a worker in iron ;
Ughde,a child who has been exposed at birth ; Shinde, a palm-
tree ; Hagre, one who suffers from diarrhoea ; Aglawe, an
incendiary; Kalamkar, a writer ; Wani (Bania), a caste ; Sutar,
a carpenter, and so on, A few of the groups of the Baone
subcaste are : Kantode, one with a torn ear ; Dokarmare, a
killer of pigs ; Lute, a plunderer ; Titarmare, a pigeon-killer ;
and of the Khedule : Patre, a leaf-plate; Ghoremare, one who
killed a horse ; Bagmare, a tiger-slayer ; Gadhe, a donkey ;
Burade, one of the Burud or Basor caste ; Naktode, one with
a broken nose, and so on. Each subcaste has a number of
septs, a total of 66 being recorded for the Tiroles alone.
The names of the septs confirm the hypothesis arrived at
from a scrutiny of the subcastes that the Kunbis are largely
recruited from the pre-Aryan or aboriginal tribes. Con
clusions as to the origin of the caste can better be made in
its home in Bombay, but it may be noted that in Canara,
according to the accomplished author of A Naturalist on the
Prowl, 1 the Kunbi is quite a primitive forest-dweller, who
only a few years back lived by scattering his seed on patches
of land burnt clear of vegetation, collecting myrobalans and
other fruits, and snaring and trapping animals exactly like
the Gonds and Baigas of the Central Provinces. Similarly
in Nasik it is stated that a large proportion of the Kunbi
1 See the article entitled { An Anthropoid.'
22 KUNBI PART
caste are probably derived from the primitive tribes. 1 Yet
in the cultivated plains which he has so largely occupied, he
is reckoned the equal in rank of the Kurmi and other culti
vating castes of Hindustan, who in theory at any rate are
of Aryan origin and of so high a grade of social purity that
Brahmans will take water from them. The only reasonable
explanation of this rise in status appears to be that the
Kunbi has taken possession of the land and has obtained the
rank which from time immemorial belongs to the hereditary
cultivator as a member and citizen of the village community.
It is interesting to note that the Wanjari Kunbis of Berar,
who, being as already seen Banjaras, are of Rajput descent
at any rate, now strenuously disclaim all connection with
the Banjara caste and regard their reception into the Kunbi
community as a gain in status. At the same time the refusal
of the Maratha Brahmans to take water to drink from Kunbis
may perhaps have been due to the recognition of their non-
Aryan origin. Most of the Kunbis also eat fowls, which
the cultivating castes of northern India would not usually do.
6. Restrio A man is forbidden to marry within his own sept or kul, or
marriage i n that ^ his mother or either of his grandmothers. He may
ofreiatives. marry his wife's younger sister but not her elder sister.
Alliances between first and second cousins are also prohibited
except that a sister's son may be married to a brother's
daughter. Such marriages are also favoured by the Maratha
Brahmans and other castes, and the suitability of the match
is expressed in the saying Ato ghari bhasi sun, or ' At a sister's
house her brother's daughter is a daughter-in-law.' The
sister claims it as a right and not unfrequently there are
'quarrels if the brother decides to give his daughter to some
body else, while the general feeling is so strongly in favour
of these marriages that the caste committee sometimes
imposes a fine on fathers who wish to break through the
rule. The fact that in this single case the marriage of near
relatives is not only permitted but considered almost as an
obligation, while in all other instances it is strictly prohibited,
probably points to the conclusion that the custom is a
survival of the matriarchate, when a brother's property would
pass to his sister's son. Under such a law of inheritance
1 Bombay Gazetteer, Nasik, p. 26.
n BETROTHAL AND MARRIAGE . 23
he would naturally desire that his heir should be united to
his own daughter, and this union might gradually become
customary and at length almost obligatory. The custom in
this case may survive when the reasons which justified it
have entirely vanished. And while formerly it was the
brother who would have had reason to desire the match for
his daughter, it is now the sister who insists on it for her son,
the explanation being that among the Kunbis as with other
agricultural castes, to whom a wife's labour is a valuable
asset, girls are expensive and a considerable price has to be
paid for a bride.
Girls are usually married between the ages of five and 7
eleven and boys between ten and twenty. The Kunbis still a nd
think it a mark of social distinction to have their daughters
married as young as possible. The recognised bride-price Is
about twenty rupees, but much larger sums are often paid.
The boy's father goes in search of a girl to be married to his
son, and when the bride-price has been settled and the match
arranged the ceremony of Mangni or betrothal takes place.
In the first place the boy's father proceeds to his future
daughter-in-law's house, where he washes her feet, smears her
forehead with red powder and gives her a present of a rupee
and some sweetmeats. All the party then eat together.
This is followed by a visit of the girl's father to the boy's
house where a similar ceremony is enacted and the boy is
presented with a cocoanut, a pagri and cloth, and a silver or
gold ring. Again the boy's relatives go to the girl's house
and give her more valuable presents of jewellery and clothing.
A Brahman Is afterwards consulted to fix the date of the
marriage, but the poorer Kunbis dispense with his services
as he charges two or three rupees. Prior to the ceremony
the bodies of the bride and bridegroom are well massaged
with vegetable oil and turmeric in their respective houses,
partly with a view to enhance their beauty and also perhaps
to protect them during the trying period of the ceremony
when maleficent spirits are particularly on the alert. The
marriage-shed is made of eleven poles festooned with leaves,
and inside it are placed two posts of the sdlek (Boswellia
serrata) or umar (Ficus glotnerata] tree, one longer than the
other, to represent the bride and bridegroom. Two jars
KUN8I
filled with water are set near the posts, and a small earthen
platform called baola is made. The bridegroom wears a
yellow or white dress, and has a triangular frame of bamboo
covered with tinsel over his forehead, which is known as
basing and is a substitute for the maur or marriage-crown of
the Hindustani castes. Over his shoulder he carries a pick
axe as the representative implement of husbandry with one
or two wheaten cakes tied to it. This is placed on the top
of the marriage -shed and at the end of the five days'
ceremonies the members of the families eat the dried cakes
with milk, no outsider being allowed to participate. The
bardt or wedding procession sets out for the bride's village,
the women of the bridegroom's family accompanying it except
among the Tirole Kunbis, who forbid the practice In order to
demonstrate their higher social position. It is received on
the border of the girl's village by her father and his friends
and relatives, and' conducted to the janwasa or temporary
lodging prepared for it, with the exception of the bridegroom,
who is left alone before the shrine of Maroti or Hanuman.
The bridegroom's father goes to the marriage-shed where he
washes the bride's feet and gives her another present of
clothes, and her relatives then proceed to Maroti's temple
where they worship and make offerings, and return bringing
the bridegroom with them. As he arrives at the marriage
pavilion he touches It with a stick, on which the bride's
brother who is seated above the shed pours down some water
and is given a present of money by the bridegroom. The
bridegroom's feet are then washed by his father-in-law and
he Is given a yellow cloth which he wears. The couple are
made to stand on two wooden planks opposite each other
with a curtain between them, the bridegroom facing east and
the bride west, holding some Akshata or rice covered with
saffron in their hands. As the sun sets the officiating Brahman
gets on to the roof of the house and repeats the marriage texts
from there. At his signal the couple throw the rice over
each other, the curtain between them is withdrawn, and they
change their seats. The assembled party applaud and the
marriage proper Is over. The Brahman marks their foreheads
with rice and turmeric and presses them together. He then
seats them on the earthen platform or baola, and ties their
n BETROTHAL AND MARRIAGE 25
clothes together, this being known as the Brahma Ganthi or
Brahman's knot. The wedding usually takes place on
the day after the arrival of the marriage procession and
another two days are consumed in feasting and worshipping
the deities. When the bride and bridegroom return home
after the wedding one of the party waves a pot of water
round their heads and throws it away at a little distance on
the ground, and after this some grain in the same manner.
This is a provision of food and drink to any evil spirits who
may be hovering round the couple, so that they may stop to
consume it and refrain from entering the house. The ex
penses of the bride's family may vary from Rs. 60 to Rs. 100
and those of the bridegroom's from Rs. 160 to Rs. 600. A
wedding carried out on a lavish scale by a well-to-do man is
known as Lai Biah or a red marriage, but when the parties
are poor the expenses are curtailed and it is then called
Safed Biah or a white marriage. In this case the bridegroom's
mother does not accompany the wedding procession and the
proceedings last only two days. The bride goes back with
the wedding procession for a few days to her husband's house
and then returns home. > When she arrives at maturity her
parents give a feast to the caste and send her to her husband's
house, this occasion being known as Bolvan (the calling).
The Karwa Kunbis of Nimar have a peculiar rule for the
celebration of marriages. They have a guru or priest in
Gujarat who sends them a notice once in every ten or twelve
years, and in this year only marriages can be performed. It
is called Singhast ki sal and is the year in which the planet
Guru (Jupiter) comes into conjunction with the constellation
Sinh (Leo). But the Karwas themselves think that there is
a large temple in Gujarat with a locked door to which there
is no key. But once in ten or twelve years the door unlocks
of itself, and in that year their marriages are celebrated. A
certain day is fixed and all the weddings are held on it
together. On this occasion children from infants in arms to
ten or twelve years are married, and if a match cannot be
arranged for them they will have to wait another ten or
twelve years. A girl child who is born on the day fixed for
weddings may, however, be married twelve days afterwards,
the twelfth night being called Mando Rat, and on this
26 KUNBI PART
occasion any other weddings which may have been unavoid
ably postponed owing to a death or illness in the families
may also be completed. The rule affords a loophole of
escape for the victims of any such contretemps and also
insures that every girl shall be married before she is fully
twelve years old. Rather than not marry their daughter in
the Singhast ki sal before she is twelve the parents will
accept any bridegroom, even though he be very poor or younger
than the bride. This is the same year in which the
celebration of marriages is forbidden among the Hindus
generally. The other Kunbis have the general Hindu rule
that weddings are forbidden during the four months from
the i ith Asarh Sudi (June) to the I ith Kartik Sudi (October).
This is the period of the rains, when the crops are growing
and the gods are said to go to-sleep, and it is observed more
or less as a time of abstinence and fasting. The Hindus
should properly abstain from eating sugarcane, brinjals,
onions, garlic and other vegetables for the whole four months.
On the 1 2th of Kartik the marriage of Tulsi or the basil
plant with the Saligram or ammonite representing Vishnu is
performed and all these vegetables are offered to her and
afterwards generally consumed. Two days afterwards, be
ginning from the I4th of Kartik, comes the Diwali festival
In Betul the bridal . couple are seated in the centre of a
square made of four plough yokes, while a leaf of the pipal
tree and a piece of turmeric are tied by a string round both
their wrists. The untying of the string by the local Brahman
constitutes the essential and binding portion of the marriage.
Among the Lonhare subcaste a curious ceremony is per
formed after the wedding. A swing is made, and a round
pestle, which is supposed to represent a child, is placed on
it and swung to and fro. It is then taken off and placed
in the lap of the bride, and the effect of performing this
symbolical ceremony is supposed to be that she will soon
become a mother.
8. Poly- Polygamy is permitted but rarely practised, a second wife
divorce? being only taken if the first be childless or of bad character,
or destitute of attractions. Divorce is allowed, but in some
localities at any rate a divorced woman cannot marry again
unless she is permitted to do so in writing by her first
" WIDO W-MARRIA GE 27
husband. If a girl be seduced before marriage a fine is
imposed on both parties and they are readmitted to social
intercourse, but are not married to each other. Curiously
enough, in the Tirole and Wandhekar, the highest sub-
castes, the keeping of a woman is not an offence entailing
temporary exclusion from caste, whereas among the lower
subcastes it is. 1
.The Kunbis permit the remarriage of widows, with the 9- Widow-
exception of the Deshmukh families of the Tirole subcaste marriage *
who have forbidden it. If a woman's husband dies she
returns to her father's house and he arranges her second
marriage, which is called choli-patal^ or giving her new
clothes. He takes a price for her which may vary from
twenty-five to five hundred rupees according to the age
and attractions of the woman. A widow may marry any
one outside the family of her deceased husband, but she
may not marry his younger brother. This union, which
among the Hindustani castes is looked upon as most suitable
if not obligatory, is strictly forbidden among the Maratha
castes, the reason assigned being that a wife stands in the
position of a mother to her husband's younger brothers.
The contrast is curious. The ceremony of widow-marriage
is largely governed by the idea of escaping or placating the
wrath of the first husband's ghost, and also of its being
something to be ashamed of and contrary to orthodox
Hinduism. It always takes place in the dark fortnight of the
month and always at night Sometimes no women are present,
and if any do attend they must be widows, as it would be
the worst of omens for a married woman or unmarried girl
to witness the ceremony. This, it is thought, would lead to
her shortly becoming a widow herself. The bridegroom
goes to the widow's house with his male friends and two
wooden seats are set side by side. On one of these a betel-
nut is placed which represents the deceased husband of the
widow. The new bridegroom advances with a small wooden
sword, touches the nut with its tip, and then kicks it off
the seat with his right toe. The barber picks up the nut
and burns it. This is supposed to lay the deceased husband's
spirit and prevent his interference with the new union.
1 This is the rule in the Nagpur District,
28 KUNBI PART
The bridegroom then takes the seat from which the nut has
been displaced and the woman sits on the other side to his
left He puts a necklace of beads round her neck and
the couple leave the house in a stealthy fashion and go to
the husband's village. It is considered unlucky to see
them as they go away because the second husband Is
, regarded in the light of a robber. Sometimes they stop
by a stream on the way home, and, taking off the woman's
clothes and bangles, bury them by the side of the stream.
An exorcist may also be called in, who will confine the late
husband's spirit in a horn by putting in some grains of
wheat, and after sealing up the horn deposit it with the
clothes. When a widower or widow marries a second time
and is afterwards attacked by illness, it is ascribed to
the illwill of their former partner's spirit The metal
image of the first husband or wife is then made and worn
as an amulet on the arm or round the neck. A bachelor
who wishes to marry a widow must first go through a
mock ceremony with an dkra or swallow-wort plant, as
the widow-marriage is not considered a real one, and it is
inauspicious for any one to die without having been properly
married once. A similar ceremony must be gone through
when a man is married for the third time, as it is held that
if he marries a woman for the third time he will quickly
die. The dkra or swallow- wort (Calotropis gigantea] is a
very common plant growing on waste land with mauve
or purple flowers. When cut or broken a copious milky
juice exudes from the stem, and in some places parents
are said to poison children whom they do not desire to keep
alive by rubbing this on their lips.
10. Cus- During her monthly impurity a woman stays apart and
birth/ ma y not co fc f r herself nor touch anybody nor sleep on
a bed made of cotton thread. As soon as she is in this
condition she will untie the cotton threads confining her
hair and throw them away, letting her hair hang down.
This is because they have become impure. But if there
is no other woman in the house and she must continue
to do the household work herself, she does not throw them
away until the last day. 1 Similarly she must not sleep on
1 From a note by Mr. A. K. Smith, C.S.
ii CUSTOMS AT BIRTH 29
a cotton sheet or mattress during this time because she would
defile it, but she may sleep on a woollen blanket as wool Is a
holy material and is not defiled. At the end of the period
she proceeds to a stream and purifies herself by bathing
and washing her head with earth. When a woman is with
child for the first time her women friends come and give her
new green clothes and bangles in the seventh month ; they
then put her Into a swing and sing songs. While she Is
pregnant she Is made to work in the house so as not to be
Inactive. After the birth of a child the mother remains
impure for twelve days. A woman of the Mang or Mahar
caste acts as midwife, and always breaks her bangles and
puts on new ones after she has assisted at a birth. If
delivery Is prolonged the woman is given hot water and
sugar or camphor wrapped in a betel-leaf, or they put a few
grains of gram Into her hand and then someone takes and
feeds them to a mare, as It is thought that the woman's
pregnancy has been prolonged by her having walked behind
the tethenng-ropes of a mare, which is twelve months in foal.
Or she is given water to drink In which a Sulaimani onyx
or a rupee of Akbar's time has been washed ; In the former
case the idea is perhaps that a passage will be made
for the child like the hole through the bead, while the
virtue of the rupee probably consists in Its being a silver
coin and having the image or device of a powerful king-
like Akbar, Or it may be thought that as the coin has
passed from hand to hand for so long, It will facilitate the
passage of the child from the womb. A pregnant woman
must not look on a dead body or her child may be still
born, and she must not see an eclipse or the child may be
born maimed. Some believe that if a child is born during
an eclipse it will suffer from lung-disease ; so they make a
silver model of the moon while the eclipse lasts and hang
it round the child's neck as a charm. Sometimes when
delivery is delayed they take a folded flower and place it in a
pot of water and believe that as its petals unfold so the womb
will be opened and the child born ; or they seat the woman
on a wooden bench and pour oil on her head, her forehead
being afterwards rubbed with it In the belief that as the oil
falls so the child will be born. If a child is a long time before
3 o KUNBI PART
learning to speak they give it leaves of the pipal tree to eat,
because the leaves of this tree make a noise by rustling in the
wind ; or a root which is very light in weight, because they
think that the tongue is heavy and the quality of lightness
will thus be communicated to it. Or the mother, when she
has kneaded dough and washed her hands afterwards, will
pour a drop or two of the water down the child's throat.
And the water which made her hands clean and smooth
will similarly clear the child's throat of the obstruction
which prevented it from speaking. If a child's neck is
weak and its head rolls about they make it look at a crow
perching on the house and think this will make its neck
strong like the crow's. If he cannot walk they make a little
triangle on wheels with a pole called ghurghuri, and make him
walk holding on to the pole. The first teeth of the child are
thrown on to the roof of the house, because the rats, who
have especially good and sharp teeth, live there, and it is
hoped that the child's second teeth may grow like theirs.
A few grains of rice are also thrown so that the teeth
may be hard and pointed like the rice ; the same word,
kani, being used for the end of a grain of rice and the
tip of a tooth. Or the teeth are placed under a water-pot
in the hope that the child's second teeth may grow as
fast as the grass does under water-pots. If a child is lean
some people take it to a place where asses have lain
down and rolled in ashes ; they roll the child in the ashes
similarly and believe that it will get fat like the asses are.
Or they may lay the child in a pigsty with the same
idea. People who want to injure a child get hold of its
coat and lay it out in the sun to dry, in the belief that
the child's body will dry up in a similar manner. In
order to avert the evil eye they burn some turmeric and
juari flour and hold the newly- born child in the smoke.
It is also branded on the stomach with a burning piece of
turmeric, perhaps to keep off cold. For the first day or
two after birth a child is given cow's milk mixed with
water or honey and a little castor oil, and after this it is
suckled by the mother. But if she is unable to nourish
it a wet-nurse is called in, who may be a woman of low
caste or even a Muhammadan. The mother is given no
ii SIXTH- AND TWELFTH-DAY CEREMONIES 31
regular food for the first two days, but only some sugar and
spices. Until the child is six months old its head and
body are oiled every second or third day and the body is
well hand -rubbed and bathed. The rubbing is meant to
make the limbs supple and the oil to render the child less
susceptible to cold. If a child when sitting soon after
birth looks down through its legs they think it is looking
for its companions whom it has left behind and that more
children will be born. It is considered a bad sign if a
child bites its upper teeth on its underlip ; this is thought to
prognosticate illness and the child is prevented from doing
so as far as possible.
On the sixth day after birth they believe that Chhathi n. Sixth-
or Satwai Devi, the Sixth-day Goddess, comes at midnight ^jf^
and writes on the child's forehead its fate in life, which day cere-
writing, it is said, may be seen on a man's skull when the monies -
flesh has come off it after death. On this night the women
of the family stay awake all night singing songs and eating
sweetmeats. A picture of the goddess is drawn with
turmeric and vermilion over the mother's bed. The door
of the birth-room is left open, and at midnight she comes.
Sometimes a Sunar is employed to make a small image of
Chhathi Devi, for which he is paid Rs. 1-4, and it is hung
round the child's neck. On this day the mother is given
to eat all kinds of grain, and among flesh-eating castes the
soup of fish and meat, because it is thought that every kind
of food which the mother eats this day will be easily digested
by the child throughout its life. On this day the mother is
given a second bath, the first being on the day of the birth,
and she must not bathe in between. Sometimes after child
birth a woman buys several bottles of liquor and has a bath
in it ; the stimulating effect of the spirit is supposed to
remedy the distension of the body caused by the birth. If
the child is a boy it is named on the twelfth and if a girl on
the thirteenth day. On the twelfth day the mother's bangles
are thrown away and new ones put on. The Kunbis are
very kind to their children, and never harsh or quick-tempered,
but this may perhaps be partly due to their constitutional
lethargy. They seldom refuse a child anything, but taking
advantage of its innocence will by dissimulation make it
32 KUNBI PART
forget what it wanted. The time arrives when this course
of conduct is useless, and then the child learns to mistrust the
word of its parents. Minute quantities of opium arc generally
administered to children as a narcotic.
12. Devices If a woman is barren and has no children one of the
for pro- remedies prescribed by the Sarodis or wandering soothsayers
is that she should set fire to somebody's house, going alone
and at night to perform the deed. So long as some small
part of the house is burnt it does not matter if the fire be
extinguished, but the woman should not give the alarm her
self. It is supposed that the spirit of some insect which is
burnt will enter her womb and be born as a child. Perhaps
she sets fire to someone else's house so as to obtain the
spirit of one of the family's dead children, which may be
supposed to have entered the insects dwelling on the house.
Some years ago at Bhandak in Chanda complaints were
made of houses being set on fire. The police officer 1 sent
to investigate found that other small fires continued to occur.
He searched the roofs of the houses, and on two or three
found little smouldering balls of rolled-up cloth. Knowing
of the superstition he called all the childless married women
of the place together and admonished them severely, and the
fires stopped. On another occasion the same officer's wife
was ill, and his little son, having fever, was sent , daily to the
dispensary for medicine in charge of a maid. One morning
he noticed on one of the soles of the boy's feet a stain of the
juice of the bhilawa^ or- marking -nut tree, which raises
blisters on the skin. On looking at the other foot he found
six similar marks, and on inquiry he learned that these were
made by a childless woman in the expectation that the boy
would soon die and be born again as her child. The boy
suffered no harm, but his mother, being in bad health, nearly
died of shock on learning of the magic practised against
her son.
Another device is to make a pradakshana or pilgrimage
round a pipal tree, going naked at midnight after worship
ping Maroti or Hanuman, and holding a necklace of tulsi
beads in the hand. The pipal is of course a sacred tree, and
is the abode of Brahma, the original creator of the world.
1 Circle Inspector Ganesh Prasad. 2 Semicarpiis anacardium*
ii DEVICES FOR PROCURING CHILDREN 33
Brahma has no consort, and It Is believed that while ail other
trees are both male and female the plpal is only male, and is
capable of impregnating a woman and rendering her fertile.
A variation of this belief is that plpal trees are inhabited by
the spirits of unmarried Brahman boys, and hence a woman
sometimes takes a piece of new thread and winds it round
the tree, perhaps with the idea of investing- the spirit of the
boy with the sacred thread. She will then walk round the
tree as a symbol of the wedding ceremony of walking round
the sacred post, and hopes that the boy, being thus brought
to man's estate and married, will cause her to bear a son.
But modest women do not go naked round the tree. The
Amawas or New Moon day, if it falls on a Monday, is
specially observed by married women. On this day they
will walk 1 08 times round a plpal tree, and then give 108
mangoes or other fruits to a Brahman, choosing a different
fruit every time. The number 108 means a hundred and a
little more to show there is no stint, ' Full measure and flow
ing over/ like the customary present of Rs. 1-4 instead of a
rupee. This is also no doubt a birth-charm, fruit being given
so that the woman may become fruitful. Or a childless woman
will pray to Hanuman or Mahabir. Every morning she will go
to his shrine with an offering of fruit or flowers, and every
evening will set a lamp burning there ; and morning and
evening, prostrating herself, she makes her continuous prayer
to the god : * Oh y Mahabir > Mahdrdj ! hamko ek batcha do,
sirf ek batcha do. 3 * Then, after many days, Mahabir, as
might be anticipated, appears to her in a dream and promises
her a child. It does not seem that they believe that Mahabir
himself directly renders the woman fertile, because similar
prayers are made to the River Nerbudda, a goddess. But
perhaps he, being the god of strength, lends virile power to
her husband. Another prescription is to go to the burying-
ground, and, after worshipping it, to take some of the bone-
ash of a burnt corpse and wear this wrapped up in an amulet
on the body. Occasionally, if a woman can get no children
she will go to the father of a large family and let him beget
a child upon her, with or without the connivance of her
husband. But only the more immodest women do this. Or
1 c Oh, Lord Mahabir, give me a child, only one child.*
VOL. IV D
34
KUNBI
she cuts a piece off the breast-cloth of a woman who has
children, and, after burning incense on it, wears it as an
amulet For a stronger charm she will take a piece of such
a woman's cloth and a lock of her hair and some earth which
her feet have pressed and bury these in a pot before Devi's
shrine, sometimes fashioning an image of the woman out of
them. Then, as they rot away, the child-bearing power of the
fertile woman will be transferred to her. If a woman's first
children have died and she wishes to preserve a later one, she
sometimes weighs the child against sugar or copper and dis
tributes the amount in charity. Or she gives the child a
bad name, such as Dagharia (a stone), Kachria (sweepings),
Ukandia (a dunghill).
13. Love If a woman's husband is not in love with her, a prescrip-
c arms. . Mohani or love-charm given by the wise women is
that she should kill an owl and serve some of its flesh to her
husband as a charm. " It has not occurred," Mr. Kipling
writes, " to the oriental jester to speak of a boiled owl in con
nection with intoxication, but when a husband is abjectly
submissive to his wife her friends say that she has given him
boiled owl's flesh to eat." l If a man is in love with some
woman and wishes to kindle a similar sentiment in her the
following method is given : On a Saturday night he should
go to a graveyard and call out, ' I am giving a dinner to
morrow night, and I invite you all to attend.' Then on the
Sunday night he takes cocoanuts, sweetmeats, liquor and
flowers to the cemetery and sets them all out, and all the
spirits or Shaitans come and partake. The host chooses a
particularly big Shaitan and calls to him to come near and
says to him, * Will you go with me and do what I ask you.'
If the spirit assents he follows the man home. Next night
the man again offers cocoanuts and incense to the Shaitan,
whom he can see by night but not by day, and tells him to
go to the woman's house and call her. Then the spirit goes
and troubles her heart, so that she falls in love with the man
and has no rest till she goes to him. If the man afterwards
gets tired of her he will again secretly worship and call up
the Shaitan and order him to turn the woman's inclination
1 Beast and Man in India, p. 44. Hindus do say, * Drunk as an owl '
But, according to the same writer, the and also ' Stupid as an owl.'
n DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD 35
away. Another method is to fetch a skull from a graveyard
and go to a banyan tree at midnight. There, divesting him
self of his clothes, the operator partially cooks some rice in
the skull, and then throws it against the tree ; he gathers
all the grains that stick to the trunk in one box and those
that fall to the ground in another box, and the first rice
given to the woman to eat will turn her inclination towards
him, while the second will turn it away from him. This is
a sympathetic charm, the rice which sticks to the tree having
the property of attracting the woman.
The Kunbis either bury or burn the dead. In Berar 14. Dis
sepulture is the more common method of disposal, perhaps in
imitation of the Muhammadans. Here the village has usually
a field set apart for the disposal of corpses, which is known
as Smashan. Hindus fill up the earth practically level with
the ground after burial and erect no monument, so that after
a few years another corpse can be buried in the same place.
When a Kunbi dies the body is washed in warm water and
placed on a bier made of bamboos, with a network of san-
hemp. 1 Ordinary rope must not be used. The mourners
then take it to the grave, scattering almonds, sandalwood,
dates, betel-leaf and small coins as they go. These are
picked up by the menial Mahars or labourers. Halfway to
the grave the corpse is set down and the bearers change their
positions, those behind going in front. Here a little wheat
and pulse which have been tied in the cloth covering the
corpse are left by the way. On the journey to the grave the
body is covered with a new unwashed cloth. The grave is
dug three or four feet deep, and the corpse is buried naked,
lying on its back with the head to the south. After the
burial one of the mourners is sent to get an earthen pot from
the Kumhar ; this is filled with water at a river or stream,
and a small piece is broken out of it with a stone ; one of
the mourners then takes the pot and walks round the corpse
with it, dropping a stream of water all the way. Having
done this, he throws the pot behind him over his shoulder
without looking' round, and then all the mourners go home
without looking behind them. The stone with which the
hole has been made in the earthen pot is held to represent
1 Crotalaria juncea.
3 6 KUNBI I'ART
the spirit of the deceased. It is placed under a tree or on
the bank of a stream, and for ten days the mourners come
and offer it pindas or balls of rice, one ball being offered on
the first day, two on the second, and so on, up to ten on the
tenth. On this last day a little mound of earth is made,
which is considered to represent Mahadeo, Four miniature
flags are planted round, and three cakes of rice are laid on it ;
and all the mourners sit round the mound until a crow
comes and eats some of the cake. Then they say that the
dead man's spirit has been freed from troubling about his
household and mundane affairs and has departed to the other
world. But if no real crow comes to eat the cake, they
make a representation of one out of the sacred kzisha grass,
and touch the cake with it and consider that a crow has
eaten it. After this the mourners go to a stream and put a
little cow's urine on their bodies, and dip ten times in the
water or throw it over them. The officiating Brahman
sprinkles them with holy water in which he has clipped the
toe of his right foot, and they present to the Brahman the
vessels in which the funeral cakes have been cooked and the
clothes which the chief mourner has worn for ten days. On
coming home they also give him a stick, umbrella, shoes, a
bed and anything else which they think the dead man will
want in the next world. On the thirteenth day they feed
the caste- fellows and the head of the caste ties a new pagri
on the chief mourner's head backside foremost ; and the chief
mourner breaking an areca-nut on the threshold places it in
his mouth and spits it out of the door, signifying the final
ejectment of the deceased's spirit from the house. Finally,
the chief mourner goes to worship at Maroti's shrine, and
the household resumes its ordinary life. The different rela
tives of the deceased man usually invite the bereaved family
to their house for a day and give them a feist, and if they
have many relations this may go on for a considerable time.
The complete procedure as detailed above is observed only
in the case of the head of the household, and for less im
portant members is considerably abbreviated. The position
of chief mourner is occupied by a man's eldest son, or in the
absence of sons by his younger brother, or failing him by
the eldest son of an elder brother, or failing male relations
ii MOURNING 37
by the widow. The chief mourner is considered to have a
special claim to the property. He has the whole of his head
and face shaved, and the hair is tied up in a corner of the
grave-cloth. If the widow is chief mourner a small lock of
her hair is cut off and tied up in the cloth. When the corpse
is being carried out for burial the widow breaks her mangal-
sutram or marriage necklace, and wipes off the kunku or ver
milion from her forehead. This necklace consists of a string
of black glass beads with a piece of gold, and is always placed
on the bride's neck at the wedding. The widow does not
break her glass bangles at all, but on the eleventh day
changes them for new ones.
The period of mourning for adults of the family is ten 15. Mourn-
days, and for children three, while in the case of distant mg '
relatives it is sufficient to take a bath as a mark of respect
for them. The male mourners shave their heads, the walls
of the house are whitewashed and the floor spread with cow-
dung. The chief mourner avoids social intercourse and
abstains from ordinary work and from all kinds of amuse
ments. He debars himself from such luxuries as betel-leaf
and from visiting his wife. Oblations are offered to the
dead on the third day of the light fortnight of Baisakh
(June) and on the last day of Bhadrapad (September). The
Kunbi is a firm believer in the action of ghosts and spirits,
and never omits the attentions due to his ancestors. On
the appointed day he diligently calls on the crows, who
represent the spirits of ancestors, to come and eat the food
which he places ready for them ; and if no crow turns up, he
is disturbed at having incurred the displeasure of the dead.
He changes the food and goes on calling until a crow comes,
and then concludes that their previous failure to appear was
due to the fact that his ancestors were not pleased with the
kind of food he first offered. In future years, therefore, he
changes it, and puts out that which was eaten, until a similar
contretemps of the non-appearance of crows again occurs.
The belief that the spirits of the dead pass into crows is no
doubt connected with that of the crow's longevity. Many
Hindus think that a crow lives a thousand years, and others
that it never dies of disease, but only when killed by violence.
Tennyson's * many- wintered crow ' may indicate some similar
38 KUNBI PART
idea in Europe. Similarly if the Gonds find a crow's nest
they give the nestlings to young children to eat, and think
that this will make them long-lived. If a crow perches in
the house when a woman's husband or other relative is away,
she says, i Fly away, crow ; fly away and I will feed you ' ;
and if the crow then flies away she thinks that the absent
one will return. Here the idea is no doubt that if he had
been killed his spirit might have come home in the shape of
the crow perching on the house. If a married woman sees
two crows breeding it is considered a very bad omen, the
effect being that her husband will soon die. It is probably
supposed that his spirit will pass into the young crow which
is born as a result of the meeting which she has seen.
Mr. A. K. Smith states that the omen applies to men
also, and relates a story of a young advocate who saw two
crows thus engaged on alighting from the train at some
station. In order to avert the consequences he ran to the
telegraph office and sent messages to all his relatives and
friends announcing his own death, the idea being that this
fictitious death would fulfil the omen, and the real death
would thus become unnecessary. In this case the belief
would be that the man's own spirit would pass into the
young crow.
16. Reii- The principal deities of the caste are Maroti or Hanu-
glon< man, Mahadeo or Siva, Devi, Satwai and Khandoba. Maroti
is worshipped principally on Saturdays, so that he may
counteract the evil influences exercised by the planet Saturn
on that day. When a new village is founded Maroti must
first be brought and placed in the village and worshipped,
and after this houses are built. The name Maroti is derived
from Marat, the Vedic god of the wind, and he is considered
to be the son of Vayu, the wind, and Anjini. Khandoba is
an incarnation of Siva as a warrior, and is the favourite
deity of the Marathas. Devi is usually venerated in her
incarnation of Marhai Mata, the goddess of smallpox and
cholera the most dreaded scourges of the Hindu villager.
They offer goats and fowls to Marhai Devi, cutting the
throat of the animal and letting its blood drop over the
stone, which represents the goddess ; after this they cut off*
a leg and hang it to the tree above her shrine, and eat the
ii RELIGION 39
remainder. Sometimes also they offer wooden images of
human beings, which are buried before the shrine of the
goddess and are obviously substitutes for a human sacrifice ;
and the lower castes offer pigs. If a man dies of snake
bite they make a little silver image of a snake, and then kill
a real snake, and make a platform outside the village and
place the image on it, which is afterwards regularly wor
shipped as Nagoba Deo. They may perhaps think that the
spirit of the snake which is killed passes into the silver
image. Somebody afterwards steals the image, but this
does not matter. Similarly if a man is killed by a tiger
he is deified and worshipped as Baghoba Deo, though they
cannot kill a tiger as a preliminary. The Kunbis make
images of their ancestors in silver or brass, and keep them
in a basket with their other household 'deities. But when
these get too numerous they take them on a pilgrimage to
some sacred river and deposit them in it. A man who has
lost both parents will invite some man and woman on
Akshaya Tritiya, 1 and call them by the names of his parents,
and give them a feast. Among the mythological stories
known to the caste is one of some interest, explaining how
the dark spots came on the face of the moon. They say
that once all the gods were going to a dinner-party, each
riding on his favourite animal or vdhan (conveyance). But
the vdhan of Ganpati, the fat god with the head of an
elephant, was a rat, and the rat naturally could not go
as fast as the other animals, and as it was very far from
being up to Ganpati's weight, it tripped and fell, and Ganpati
came off. The moon was looking on, and laughed so much
that Ganpati was enraged, and cursed it, saying, * Thy face
shall be black for laughing at me/ Accordingly the moon
turned quite black ; but the other gods interfered, and said
that the curse was too hard, so Ganpati agreed that only a
part of the moon's face should be blackened in revenge for
the insult. This happened on the fourth day of the bright
fortnight of Bhadon (September), and on that day it is said
that nobody should look at the moon, as if he does, his
reputation will probably be lowered by some false charge or
1 The 3rd Baisakh (May) Sudi, the The name means, 4 The day of immor-
commencement of the agricultural year. tality.'
40 KUNBI PART
libel being promulgated against him. As already stated, the
Kunbi firmly believes in the influence exercised by spirits,
and a proverb has it, ' Brahmans die of indigestion, Sunars
from bile, and ' Kunbis from ghosts ' ; because the Brahman
is always feasted as an act of charity and given the best
food, so that he over-eats himself, while the Sunar gets bilious
from sitting all day before a furnace. When somebody falls
ill his family get a Brahman's cast-off sacred thread, and
folding it to hold a little lamp, will wave this to and fro. If
it moves in a straight line they say that the patient is
possessed by a spirit, but if in a circle that his illness is due
to natural causes. In the former case they promise an
offering to the spirit to induce it to depart from the patient
The Brahmans, it is said, try to prevent the Kunbis from
getting hold of their sacred threads, because they think that
by waving the lamp in them, all the virtue which they have
obtained by their repetitions of the Gayatri or sacred prayer
is transferred to the sick Kunbi. They therefore tear up
their cast-off threads or sew them into clothes.
17. The , The principal festival of the Kunbis is the Pola, falling
festival. at aoout the middle of the rainy season, when they have a
procession of plough-bullocks. An old bullock goes first,
and on his horns is tied the makhar, a wooden frame with
pegs to which torches are affixed. They make a rope of
mango-leaves stretched between two posts, and the makhar
bullock is made to break this and stampede back to the
village, followed by all the other cattle. It is said that the
makhar bullock will die within three years. Behind him
come the bullocks of the proprietors and then those of the
tenants in the order, not so much of their wealth, but of their
standing in the village and of the traditional position held
by their families. A Kunbi feels it very bitterly if he is not
given what he considers to be his proper rank in this pro
cession. It has often been remarked that the feudal feelin^
of reverence for hereditary rights and position is as strong
among the Maratha people as anywhere in the world.
^ In Wardha and Berar the customs of the Kunbis show
madaT" in several respects the influence of Islam, due no doubt to
of n Be^ deS tile * n ^ P eriod *" Muhammadan dominance in the country.
Kunbis. To this may perhaps be attributed the prevalence of burial
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of the dead instead of cremation, the more respectable
method according to Hindu ideas. The Dhanoje Kunbis
commonly revere Dawal Malik, a Muhammadan saint, whose
tomb is at Uprai in Arnraoti District An urns or fair is
held here on Thursdays, the day commonly sacred to
Muhammadan saints, and on this account the Kunbis will
not be shaved on Thursdays. They also make vows of
mendicancy at the Muharram festival, and go round begging
for rice and pulse ; they give a little of what they obtain to
Muhammadan beggars and eat the rest. At the Muharram
they tie a red thread on their necks and dance round the
aldwa^ a small hole in which fire is kindled in front of the
tazias or tombs of Hussain. At the Muharram 1 they also
carry horseshoes of silver or gilt tinsel on the top of a stick
decorated with peacock's feathers. The horseshoe is a model
of that of the horse of Hussain. The men who carry these
horseshoes are supposed to be possessed by the spirit of the
saint, and people make prayers to them for anything they
want. If one of the horseshoes is dropped the finder will
keep it in his house, and next year if he feels that the spirit
moves him will carry it himself. In Wardha the Kunbis
worship Khwaja Sheikh Farid of Girar, and occasionally
Sheikh Fand appears to a Kunbi in a dream and places him
under a vow. Then he and all his household make little
imitation beggars 1 wallets of cloth and dye them with red
ochre, and little hoes on the model of those which saises use
to drag out horses' dung, this hoe being the badge of Sheikh
Farid. Then they go round begging to all the houses
in the village, saying, ' Dam? Sahib, dam? With the alms
given them they make cakes of inattda, wheat, sugar and
butter, and give them to the priest of the shrine. Sometimes
Sheikh Farid tells the Kunbi in the dream that he must buy
a goat of a certain Dhangar (shepherd), naming the price,
while the Dhangar is similarly warned to sell it at the same
price, and the goat is then purchased and sacrificed without
any haggling. At the end of the sacrifice the priest releases
the Kunbi from his vow, and he must then shave the whole of
his head and distribute liquor to the caste-fellows in order to
Furnished by Inspector Ganesh Prasad.
2 Dam : breath or life.
42 KUNB1 PART
be received back into the community. The water of the
well at Sheikh Panel's shrine at Girar is considered to
preserve the crops against insects, and for this purpose it is
carried to considerable distances to be sprinkled on them.
19. villages An ordinary Kunbi village 1 contains between 70 and
andhouses. g Q j louses or some ^QQ souls. The village generally lies on
a slight eminence near a nullah or stream, and is often
nicely planted with tamarind or pipal trees. The houses are
now generally tiled for fear of fire, and their red roofs may
be seen from a distance forming a little cluster on high-
lying ground, an elevated site being selected so as to keep
the roads fairly dry, as the surface tracks in black-soil
country become almost impassable sloughs of mud as soon
as the rains have broken. The better houses stand round
an old mud fort, a relic of the Pindari raids, when, on the
first alarm of the approach of these marauding bands, the
whole population hurried within its walls. The village
proprietor's house is now often built inside the fort It Is
an oblong building surrounded by a compound wall of
unbaked bricks, and with a gateway through which a cart
can drive. Adjoining the entrance on each side are rooms
for the reception of guests, in which constables, chuprassies
and others are lodged when they stay at night in the
village. Kothas or sheds for keeping cattle and grain stand
against the walls, and the dwelling-house is at the back.
Substantial tenants have a house like the proprietor's, of well-
laid mud, whitewashed and with tiled roof; but the ordinary
cultivator's house is one-roomed, with an angan or small
yard in front and a little space for a garden behind, in
which vegetables are grown during the rains. The walls
are of bamboo matting plastered over with mud. The
married couples sleep inside, the room being partitioned off
if there are two or more in the family, and the older persons
sleep in the verandahs. In the middle of the village by the
biggest temple will be an old pipal tree, the trunk encircled
by an earthen or stone platform, which answers to the
village club. The respectable inhabitants will meet here
while the lower classes go to the liquor-shop nearly every
1 These paragraphs are largely based on a description of a Wardha village bv
Mr. A. K. Smith, C.S.
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night to smoke and chat The blacksmith's and carpenter's
shops are also places of common resort for the cultivators.
Hither they wend in the morning and evening, often taking
with them some implement which has to be mended, and
stay to talk. The blacksmith in particular is said to be a
great gossip, and will often waste much of his customer's
time, plying him for news and retailing it, before he repairs
and hands back the tool brought to him. The village is
sure to contain two or three little temples of Maroti or
Mahadeo. The stones which do duty for the images are
daily oiled with butter or ght, and a miscellaneous store of
offerings will accumulate round the buildings. Outside the
village will be a temple of Devi or Mata Mai (Smallpox
Goddess) with a heap of little earthen horses and a string
of hens' feet and feathers hung up on the wall. The little
platforms which are the shrines of the other village gods
will be found in the fields or near groves. In the evening
the elders often meet at Maroti's temple and pay their
respects to the deity, bowing or prostrating themselves
before him. A lamp before the temple is fed by contribu
tions of oil from the women, and is kept burning usually up
to midnight. Once a year in the month of Shrawan (July)
the villagers subscribe and have a feast, the Kunbis eating
first and the menial and labouring castes after them. In
this month also all the village deities are worshipped by the
Joshi or priest and the villagers. In summer the cultivators
usually live in their fields, where they erect temporary sheds
of bamboo matting roofed with juari stalks. In these most
of the household furniture is stored, while at a little distance
in another funnel-shaped erection of bamboo matting is kept
the owner's grain. This system of camping out is mainly
adopted for fear of fire in the village, when the cultivator's
whole stock of grain and his household goods . might be
destroyed in a few minutes without possibility of saving
them. The women stay in the village, and the men and
boys go there for their midday and evening meals.
Ordinary cultivators have earthen pots for cooking
purposes and brass ones for eating from, while the well-to-
do have all their vessels of brass. The furniture consists of
a few stools and cots. No Kunbi will lie on the ground,
44 KUNBI PART
probably because a dying man is always laid on the ground
to breathe his last ; and so every one has a cot consisting of
a wooden frame with a bed made of hempen string or of
the root-fibres of the palds tree (Butea frondosa]. These
cots are always too short for a man to lie on them at full
length, and are in consequence supremely uncomfortable.
The reason may perhaps be found in the belief that a man
should always lie on a bed a little shorter than himself so
that his feet project over the end. Because if the bed is
longer than he is, it resembles a bier, and if he lies on
a bier once he may soon die and lie on it a second time.
For bathing they make a little enclosure in the compound
with mats, and place two or three flat stones in it. Hot
water is generally used and they rub the perspiration off
their bodies with a flat stone called Jhawar. Most Kunbis
bathe daily. On days when they are shaved they plaster
the head with soft black earth, and then wash it off and rub
their bodies with a little linseed or sesamum oil, or, if they
can afford it, with cocoanut oil.
21. Food. The Kunbis eat three times a day, at about eight in the
morning, at midday and after dark. The morning meal Is
commonly eaten in the field and the two others at home.
At midday the cultivator comes home from work, bathes
and takes his meal, having a rest for about two hours in all.
After finishing work he again comes home and has his
evening meal, and then, after a rest, at about ten o'clock he
goes again to the fields, if the crops are on the ground, and
sleeps on the mara or small elevated platform erected in the
field to protect the grain from birds and wild animals ;
occasionally waking and emitting long-drawn howls or
pulling the strings which connect with clappers in various
parts of the field. Thus for nearly eight months of the
year the Kunbi sleeps in his fields, and only during the
remaining period at home. Juari is the staple food of the
caste, and is eaten both raw and cooked. The raw pods of
juan were the provision carried with them on their saddles
by the marauding Maratha horsemen, and the description of
Sivaji getting his sustenance from gnawing at one of these
as he rode along is said to have struck fear into the heart
of the Nizam. It is a common custom among well-to-do
FOOD
45
tenants and proprietors to invite their friends to a picnic
in the fields when the crop is ripe to eat hurda or the pods
of juari roasted in hot ashes. For cooking purposes juari
is ground in an ordinary handmill and then passed through
a sieve, which separates the finer from the coarser particles.
The finer flour is made into dough with hot water and baked
into thick flat chapdtis or cakes, weighing more than half
a pound each ; while the coarse flour is boiled in water
like rice. The boiled pulse of arhar (jCajanus indicus] is
commonly eaten with juari, and the ckapdtis are either
dipped into cold linseed oil or consumed dry. The same
ness of this diet is varied by a number of green vegetables,
generally with very little savour to a European palate.
These are usually boiled and then mixed into a salad with
linseed or sesamum oil and flavoured with salt or powdered
chillies, these last being the Kunbi's indispensable condiment.
He is also very fond of onions and garlic, which are either
chopped and boiled, or eaten raw. Butter-milk when avail
able is mixed with the boiled juari after it is cooked, while
wheat and rice, butter and sugar are delicacies reserved for
festivals. As a rule only water is drunk, but the caste
indulge in country liquor on festive occasions. Tobacco
is commonly chewed after each meal or smoked in leaf
cigarettes, or in ckilams or clay pipe-bowls without a stem.
Men also take snuff, and a few women chew tobacco and
take snuff, though they do not smoke. It is noticeable that
different subdivisions of the caste will commonly take food
from each other in Berar, whereas in the Central Provinces
they refuse to do so. The more liberal usage in Berar is
possibly another case of Muhammadan influence. Small
children eat with their father and brothers, but the women
always wait on the men, and take their own food afterwards.
Among the Dali^ Kunbis of Nimar, however, women eat
before men at caste feasts in opposition to the usual practice.
It is stated in explanation that on one occasion when the
men had finished their meal first and gone home, the womer
on returning were waylaid in the dark and robbed of their
ornaments. And hence it was decided that they should
always eat first and go home before nightfall. The Kunbi
is fairly liberal in the matter of food. He will eat the flesh
46 KUNBI PART
of goats, sheep and deer, all kinds of fish and fowls, and
will drink liquor. In Hoshangabad and Nimar the higher
subcastes abstain from flesh and wine. The caste will take
food cooked without water from Brahmans, Banias and
Sunars, and that mixed with water only from Maratha
Brahmans. All castes except Maratha Brahmans will take
water from the hands of a Kunbi.
22. clothes The dress of the ordinary cultivator is most common -
pl ace an( i consists only of a loin-cloth, another cloth thrown
over the shoulders and upper part of the body, which except
for this is often bare, and a third rough cloth wound loosely
round the head. All these, originally white, soon assume a
very dingy hue. There is thus no colour in a man's every
day attire, but the gala dress for holidays consists of a red
pagri or turban, a black, coloured or white coat, and a white
loin-cloth with red silk borders if he can afford it The
Kunbi is seldom or never seen with his head bare ; this being
considered a bad omen because every one bares his head
when a death occurs. Women wear lugras^ or a single long
cloth of red, blue or black cotton, and under this the choli^
or small breast-cloth. They have one silk-bordered cloth for
special occasions. A woman having a husband alive must
not wear a white cloth with no colour in it, as this is the
dress of widows. A white cloth with a coloured border may
be worn. The men generally wear shoes which are open
at the back of the heel, and clatter as they move along.
Women do not, as a rule, wear shoes unless these are
necessary for field work, or if they go out just after their
confinement. But they have now begun to do so in towns.
Women have the usual collection of ornaments on all parts
of the person. The head ornaments should be of gold
when this metal can be afforded. On the finger they have
a miniature mirror set in a ring ; as a rule not more than
one ring is worn, so that the hands may be free for work.
For a similar reason glass bangles, being fragile, are worn
only on the left wrist and metal ones on the right. But the
Dhanoje Kunbis, as already stated, have cocoanut shell
bangles on both wrists. They smear a mark of red powder
on the forehead or have a spangle there. Girls are generally
tattooed in childhood when the skin is tender, and the
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operation is consequently less painful. They usually have
a small crescent and circle between the brows, small circles
or dots on each temple and on the nose, cheeks and chin,
and five small marks on the back of the hands to represent
flies. Some of the Deshmukh families have now adopted
the sacred thread ; they also put caste marks on the fore
head, and wear the shape of pagri or turban formerly dis
tinctive of Maratha Brahmans.
The Kunbi has the stolidity, conservative instincts, 23. The
dulness and patience of the typical agriculturist. Sir R.
Craddock describes him as follows : 1 " Of the purely agri
cultural classes the Kunbis claim first notice. They are
divided into several sections or classes, and are of Maratha
origin, the Jhari Kunbis (the Kunbis of the wild country)
being the oldest settlers, and the Deshkar (the Kunbis from
the Deccan) the most recent The Kunbi is certainly a
most plodding, patient mortal, with a cat-like affection for
his land, and the proprietary and cultivating communities,
of both of which Kunbis are the most numerous members,
are unlikely to fail so long as he keeps these characteristics.
Some of the more intelligent and affluent of the caste, who
have risen to be among the most prosperous members of the
community, are as shrewd men of business in their way as
any section of the people, though lacking in education. I
remember one of these, a member of the Local Board, who
believed that the land revenue of the country was remitted
to England annually to form part of the private purse of the
Queen Empress. But of the general body of the Kunbi
caste it is true to say that in the matter of enterprise,
capacity to hold their own with the moneylender, determina
tion to improve their standard of comfort, or their style of
agriculture, they lag far behind such cultivating classes as
the Kirar, the Raghvi and the Lodhi. While, however, the
Kunbi yields to these classes in some of the more showy
attributes which lead to success in life, he is much their
superior in endurance under adversity, he is more law-
abiding, and he commands, both by reason of his character
and his caste, greater social respect among the people at
large. The wealthy Kunbi proprietor is occasionally rather
1 Nagpur Settlement Report '; para. 45.
48 KUNBI PART
spoilt by good fortune, or, if he continues a keen culti
vator, is apt to be too fond of land-grabbing*. But these
are the exceptional cases, and there is generally no such
pleasing spectacle as that afforded by a village in which the
cultivators and the proprietors are all Kunbis living in
harmony together." The feeling 1 of the Kunbi towards
agricultural improvements has hitherto probably been some
thing the same as that of the Sussex farmer who said, * Our
old land, it likes our old ploughs ' to the agent who was
vainly trying to demonstrate to him the advantages of the
modern two-horse iron plough over-^the great wooden local
tool ; and the emblem ascribed to old Sussex a pig
couchant with the motto ' I wun't be druv ' would suit the
Kunbi equally well. But the Kunbi, too, though he could
not express it, knows something of the pleasure of the simple
outdoor life, the fresh smell of the soil after rain, the joy of
the yearly miracle when the earth is again carpeted with
green from the bursting into life of the seed which he has
sown, and the pleasure of watching the harvest of his labours
come to fruition. He, too, as has been seen, feels some
thing corresponding to (< That inarticulate love of the English
farmer for his land, his mute enjoyment of the furrow
crumbling from the ploughshare or the elastic tread of his
best pastures under his heel, his ever-fresh satisfaction at
the sight of the bullocks stretching themselves as they rise
from the soft grass."
24. Social Some characteristics of the Maratha people are noticed
character*- ^7 Sir R., Jenkins as follows : 2 " The most remarkable
istics. feature perhaps in the character of the Marathas of all
descriptions is the little regard they pay to show or cere
mony in the common intercourse of life. A peasant or
mechanic of the lowest order, appearing before his superiors,
will sit down of his own accord, tell his story without cere- -
mony, and converse more like an equal than an inferior ;
and if he has a petition he talks in a loud and boisterous
tone and fearlessly sets forth his claims. Both the peasantry
and the better classes are often coarse and indelicate in their
1 The references to English farming August 1908.
in this paragraph are taken from an 2 Report on the Territories of the
article in the Saturday Review of 22nd Raja of Nagpur.
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language, and many of the proverbs, which they are fond of
Introducing into conversation, are extremely gross. In
general the Marathas, and particularly the cultivators, are
not possessed of much activity or energy of character, but
they have quick perception of their own interest, though
their ignorance of writing and accounts often renders them
the dupes of the artful Brahmans." "The Kunbi," Mr,
Forbes remarks, 1 "though frequently all submission and
prostration when he makes his appearance in a revenue
office, is sturdy and bold enough among his own people.
He is fond of asserting his independence and the helpless
ness of others without his aid, on which subject he has
several proverbs, as : * Wherever it thunders there the Kunbi
is a landholder/ and c Tens of millions are dependent on the
Kunbi, but the Kunbi depends on no man.' " This sense of
his own importance, which has also been noticed among the
Jats, may perhaps be ascribed to the Kunbi's ancient status
as a free and full member of the village community. " The
Kunbi and his bullocks are inseparable, and in speaking of
the one it is difficult to dissociate the other. His pride in
these animals is excusable, for they are most admirably
suited to the circumstances in which nature has placed them,
and possess a very wide-extended fame. But the Kunbi
frequently exhibits his fondness for them in the somewhat
peculiar form of unmeasured abuse. c May the Kathis 2
seize you ! ' is his objurgation if in the peninsula of Surat ;
if in the Idar district or among the mountains it is there
( May the tiger kill you ! ' and all over Gujarat, < May your
master die!' However, he means by this the animal's
former owner, not himself; and when more than usually
cautious he will word his chiding thus < May the fellow
that sold you to me perish/ " But now the Kathis raid no
more and the tiger, though still taking good toll of cattle in
the Central Provinces, is not the ever-present terror that
once he was. But the bullock himself is no longer so sacro
sanct in the Kunbi's eyes, and cannot look forward with the
same certainty to an old age of idleness, threatened only by
starvation in the hot weather or death by surfeit of the new
y \. 242.
2 A freebooting tribe who gave their name to Kathiawar.
VOL. IV E
So KUNJRA
moist grass In the rains ; and when therefore the Kunbi's
patience is exhausted by these aggravating animals, his
favourite threat at present is, ' I will sell you to the Kasais '
(butchers) ; and not so very infrequently he ends by doing
so. It may be noted that with the development of the
cotton industry the Kunbi of Ward ha is becoming much
sharper and more capable of protecting his own interests,
while with the assistance and teaching which he now receives
from the Agricultural Department, a rapid and decided
improvement is taking place in his skill as a cultivator.
Kuiljpa. 1 A caste of greengrocers, who sell country
vegetables and fruit and are classed as Muhamrnadans. Mr.
Crooke derives the name from the Sanskrit kttnj\ c a bower or
arbour/ They numbered about 1600 persons in the Central
Provinces in 1911, principally in the Jubbulpore Division.
The customs of the Kunjras appear to combine Hindu and
Muhammadan rites in an indiscriminate medley. It is
reported that marriage is barred only between real brothers
and sisters and foster brothers and sisters, the latter rule
being known as Dudh bachdna, or ' Observing the tie of the
milk 3 At their betrothal presents are given to the parties,
and after this a powder of henna leaves is sent to the boy,
who rubs it on his fingers and returns it to the girl that she
may do the same. As among the Hindus, the bodies of the
bridal couple are anointed with oil and turmeric at their
respective houses before the wedding. A marriage-shed is
made and the bridegroom goes to the bride's house wearing
a cotton quilt and riding on a bullock. The barber holds
the umbrella over his head and must be given a present
before he will fold it, but the wedding is performed by the
KazI according to the Nikah ceremony by the repetition of
verses from the Koran. The wedding is held at four o'clock
in the morning, and as a preliminary to it the bride is pre
sented with some money by the boy's father, which is
known as the Meher or dowry. On its conclusion a- cup
of sherbet is given to the bridegroom, of which he drinks
1 Th ? S > rti le is partly based on Rao > Headmaster, Middle School,
papers by Nanhe Khan, Sub-Inspector Seoni-Chhapara.
of Police, Khurai, Saugor, and Kesho
n KUNJRA 51
half and hands the remainder to the bride. The gift of the
Meher Is considered to seal the marriage contract When
a widow is married the Kazi is also employed, and he simply
recites the Kalarna or Muhammadan profession of belief,
and the ceremony is completed by the distribution of dates
to the elders of the caste. Divorce is permitted and is
known as taldq. The caste observe the Muhammadan
festivals, and have some favourite saints of their own to
whom they make offerings of gulgula, a kind of pudding,
witli sacrifices of goats and fowls. Participation in these
rites is confined to members of the family. Children are
named on the day of their birth, the Muhammadan Kazi
or a Hindu Brahman being employed indifferently to
select the name. If the parents lose one or more children,
in order to preserve the lives of those subsequently born,
they will allow the choti or scalp-lock to grow on their heads
in the Hindu fashion, dedicating it to one of their Muham
madan saints. Others will put a hasli or silver circlet round
the neck of the child and add a ring to this every year ; a
strip of leather is sometimes also tied round the neck. When
the child reaches the age of twelve years the scalp-lock is
shaved, the leather band thrown into a river and the silver
necklet sold. Offerings are made to the saints and a feast is
given to the friends of the family. The dekd are buried,
camphor and attar of roses being applied to the corpse. On
the Tya and Chalisa, or third and fortieth days after a death, a
feast is given to the caste-fellows, but no mourning is observed,
neither do the mourners bathe nor perform ceremonies of
purification. On the Tya the Koran is also read and fried
grain is distributed to children. For the death of a child the
ordinary feasts need not be given, but prayers are offered
for their souls with those of the other dead once a year on
the night of Shab-i-Barat or the fifteenth day of the month
Shaban, 1 which is observed as a vigil with prayer, feasts
1 Literally c The Month of Separa- perform during the year ; and all the
tion.' It is the eighth month of the children of men who are to be horn and
Muhammadan year and is said to be die in the year are recorded. Though
so called because in this month the properly a fast, it is generally observed
Arabs broke up their encampments and with rejoicings and a display of fire-
scattered in search of water. On the works. Hughes' Dictionary of Islam,
night of Shab-i-Barat God registers all p. 570.
the actions of men which they are to
52 KURAMWAR
and Illuminations and offerings to the ancestors. Kunjra
men are usually clean-shaven with the exception of the
beard, which is allowed to grow long below the chin. Their
women are not tattooed. In the cities, Mr. Crooke remarks, 1
their women have an equivocal reputation, as the better-
looking girls who sit in the shops are said to use consider
able freedom of manners to attract customers. They are
also very quarrelsome and abusive when bargaining for the
sale of their wares or arguing with each other. This is so
much the case that men who become very abusive are
said to be behaving like Kunjras ; while in Dacca Sir H.
Risley states 2 that the word Kunjra has become a term of
abuse, so that the caste are ashamed to be known by it, and
call themselves Mewa-farosh, Sabzi-farosh or Bepari. When
two women are having an altercation, their husbands and
other male relatives are forbidden to interfere on pain of
social degradation. The women never sit on -the ground, but
on small wooden stools or pirhis. The Kunjras belong chiefly
to the north of the Province, and in the south their place is
taken by the Marars and Malis who carry their own produce
for sale to the markets. The Kunjras sell sugarcane, pota
toes, onions and all kinds of vegetables, and others deal in
the dried fruits imported by Kabuli merchants.
Kuramwar. 3 The shepherd caste of southern India,
who are identical with the Tamil Kurumba and the Telugu
Kuruba. The caste is an important one in Madras, but in
the Central Provinces is confined to the Chanda District
where it numbered some 4000 persons in ign. The Kuram-
wars are considered to be the modern representatives of the
ancient Pallava tribe whose kings were powerful in southern
India in the seventh century. 4
The marriage rules of the Kuramwars are interesting.
If a girl reaches adolescence while still single, she is finally
expelled from the caste, her parents being also subjected
to a penalty for readmission. Formerly it is said that such
a girl was sacrificed to the river-goddess by being placed in
a small hut on the river-bank till a flood came and swept
1 Tribes and Castes of the N. W.P., taken by Mr. Hira Lai and by Pyare
art. Kunjra. Lai Misra, Ethnographic clerk.
2 Tribes and Castes of Bengal i ibidem. 4 North Arcot Manual , vol. i. p.
3 This article is compiled from notes 220,
ii KURAMWAR 53
her away. Now she is taken to the river and kept In a hut,
while offerings are made to the river-goddess, and she may
then return and live in the village though she is out of caste,
In Madras, as a preliminary to the marriage, the bridegroom's
father observes certain marks or c curls ' on the head or
hair of the bride proposed. Some of these are believed to
forecast prosperity and others misery to the family into which
she enters. They are therefore very cautious in selecting
only such girls as possess curls (suit) of good fortune. The
writer of the North Arcot Manual^ after recording the above
particulars, remarks : " This curious custom obtaining among
this primitive tribe is observed by others only in the case of
the purchase of cows, bulls and horses." In the Central
Provinces, however, at least one parallel instance can be given
from the northern Districts where any mark resembling the
V on the head of a cobra is considered to be very inauspicious.
And it is told that a girl who married into one well-known
family bore it, and to this fact the remarkable succession of
misfortunes which has attended the family is locally attributed.
Among the Kuramwars marriages can be celebrated only on
four days in the year, the fifth day of both fortnights of
Phagun (February), the tenth day of the second fortnight of
the same month and the third day of Baisakh (April). At
the marriage the bride and bridegroom are seated together
under the canopy, with the shuttle which is used for weaving
blankets between them, and they throw coloured rice at each
other. After this a miniature swing is put up and a doll is
placed in it in imitation of a child and swung to and fro.
The bride then takes the doll out and gives it to the bride
groom, saying : * Here, take care of it, I am now going to
cook food ' ; while after a time the boy returns the doll to
the girl, saying, * I must now weave the blanket and go to
tend the flock/ The proceeding seems a symbolic enact
ment of the cares of married life and the joint tending of the
baby, this sort of symbolism being particularly noticeable in
the marriage ceremonies of the people of Madras. Divorce
is not permitted even though the wife be guilty of adultery,
and if she runs away to her father's house her husband
cannot use force to bring her back if she refuses to
1 Vol. i. p. 224.
54 KURAMWAR PART n
return to him. The, Kuramwars worship the implements of
their calling at the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi, and if any
family fails to do this it is put out of caste. They also
revere annually Mallaria Deva and Mallani Devi who guard
their flocks respectively from attacks of tigers and epidemics
of murrain. The shrines of these deities are generally built
under a banyan tree and open to the east. The caste are
shepherds and graziers and also make blankets. They are
poor and ignorant, and the Abbe Dubois l says of them :
" Being confined to the society of their woolly charge, they
seem to have contracted the stupid nature of the animal,
and from the rudeness of their nature they are as much
beneath the other castes of Hindus as the sheep by their
simplicity and imperfect instruction are beneath the other
quadrupeds." Hence the proverbial comparison ' As stupid
as a Kuramwar.' When out of doors the Kuramwar retains
the most primitive method of eating and drinking ; he takes
his food in a leaf and licks it up with his tongue, and sucks
up water from a tank or river with his mouth. They justify
this custom by saying that on one occasion their god had
taken his food out of the house on a leaf-plate and was pro
ceeding to eat it with his hands when his sheep ran away
and he had to go and fetch them back. In the meantime a
crow came and pecked at the food and so spoilt it It was
therefore ordained that all the caste should eat their food
straight off the leaf, in order to do which they would have to
take it from the cooking-pot in small quantities and there
would be no chance of leaving any for the crows to spoil.
The story is interesting as showing how very completely
the deity of the Kuramwars is imagined on the principle that
god made man in his own image. Or, as a Frenchman has
expressed the idea, < Dieu a fait Vhomme d son image, mais
thomme le lui a bien rendu? The caste are dark in colour
and may be distinguished by their caps made from pieces of
blankets, and by their wearing a woollen cord round the
waist over the loin-cloth. They speak a dialect of Canarese,
1 Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies.
KURMI
LIST OF PARAGRAPHS
1. Numbers and derivation of
name.
2. Functional character of the
caste.
3. Subcastes.
4. Exogamous groups.
5. Marriage rules. Betrothal.
6. The marriage-shed or pavil
ion.
J. The marriage cakes.
8. Customs at the 'wedding.
9. Walking round the sacred
post.
I o. Other ceremonies.
11. Poly gamy ) widow - marriage
and divorce.
1 2. Impurity of women.
1 3. Pregnancy rites.
1 4. Earth-eating.
i 5. Customs at birth.
1 6 . Treatment of mother and child.
17. Ceremonies after birth.
1 8 . Suckling children.
19. Beliefs about twins.
20. Disposal of the dead,
2 1 . Funeral rites.
22. Burning the dead.
23. Burial.
24. Return of the soul.
25. Mourning.
26. Shaving, and presents to Brah-
mans.
27. End of mourning.
28. Anniversaries of the dead.
29. Beliefs in the hereafter.
30. Religion. Village gods.
3 1 . Sowing theja'waras or gardens
of Adonis.
32. Rites connected with the crops.
Customs of cultivation.
33. Agricultural superstitions.
34. Houses.
35. Superstitions about houses.
36. Furniture.
37. Clothes.
38. Women 's clothes.
39. Bathing.
40. Food.
41. Caste feasts.
42. Hospitality.
43. Social customs. Tattooing.
44. Caste penalties.
45. 7%? cultivating status.
46. Occupation.
Appendix,
clans.
List of exogamous
Kurmi. 1 The representative cultivating caste of Hin- i. Num-
dustan or the country comprised roughly in the United derivation
Provinces, Bihar and the Central Provinces north of the of name.
1 In this article some account of the
houses, clothes and food of the Hindus
generally of the northern Districts has
been inserted, being mainly reproduced
from the District Gazetteers.
55
56 ' KURMI PART
Nerbudda. In 1911 the Kurmis numbered about 300,000
persons in the Central Provinces, of whom half belonged
to the Chhattlsgarh Division and a third to the Jubbulpore
Division ; the Districts in which they were most numerous
being Saugor, Damoh, Jubbulpore, Hoshangabad, Raipur,
Bilaspur and Drug. The name is considered to be
derived from the Sanskrit krishi> cultivation, or from
kurma, the tortoise incarnation of Vishnu, whether because
it is the totem of the caste or because, as suggested by
one writer, the Kurmi supports the population of India as
the tortoise supports the earth. It is true that many Kurmis
say they belong to the Kashyap gotra^ Kashyap being the
name of a Rishi, which seems to have been derived from
kachhap, the tortoise ; but many other castes also say they
belong to the Kashyap gotra or worship the tortoise, and if
this has any connection with the name of the caste it is
probable that the caste-name suggested the gotra-n&mt and
not the reverse. It is highly improbable that a large occu
pational caste should be named after an animal, and the
metaphorical similitude can safely be rejected. The name
seems therefore either to come from krishi y cultivation, or
from some other unknown source.
2. Func- There seems little reason to doubt that the Kurmis, like
actefoft^e the Kunbis ; are a functional caste. In Bihar they show
caste. traces of Aryan blood, and are a fine-looking race. But in
Chota Nagpur Sir H. Risley states : " Short, sturdy and of
very dark complexion, the Kurmis closely resemble in feature
the Dravidian tribes around them. It is difficult to distinguish
a Kurmi from a Bhumij or Santal, and the Santals will take
cooked food from them." 1 In the Central Provinces they
are fairly dark in complexion and of moderate height, and
no doubt of very mixed blood. Where the Kurmis and
Kunbis meet the castes sometimes amalgamate, and there is
little doubt that various groups of Kurmis settling in the
Maratha country have become Kunbis, and Kunbis migrating
to northern India have become Kurmis. Each caste has
certain subdivisions whose names belong to the other. It
has been seen in the article on Kunbi that this caste is of
very diverse origin, having assimilated large bodies of persons
1 Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Kurmi.
n S US CASTES 57
from several other castes, and is probably to a considerable
extent recruited from the local non-Aryan tribes ; if then the
Kurmis mix so readily with the Kunbis,the presumption is that
they are of a similar mixed origin, as otherwise they should
consider themselves superior. Mr. Crooke gives several names
of subcastes showing the diverse constitution of the Kurmis.
Thus three, Gaharwar, Jadon and Chandel are the names of
Rajput clans ; the Kori subcaste must be a branch of the low
weaver caste of that name ; and in the Central Provinces the
names of such subcastes as the Agaria or iron-workers, the
Lonhare or salt-refiners, and the Khaira or catechu-collectors
indicate that these Kurmis are derived from low Hindu castes
or the aboriginal tribes.
The caste has a large number of subdivisions. The 3- Sub-
Usrete belonged to Bundelkhand, where this name is found castes '
in several castes ; they are also known as Havelia, because
they live in the rich level tract of the Jubbulpore Haveli,
covered like a chessboard with large embanked wheat-fields.
The name Haveli seems to have signified a palace or head
quarters of a ruler, and hence was applied to the tract
surrounding it, which was usually of special fertility, and
provided for the maintenance of the chiefs establishment
and household troops. Thus in Jubbulpore, Mandla and
Betul we find the forts of the old Gond rulers dominating
an expanse of rich plain -country. The Usrete Kurmis
abstain from meat and liquor, and may be considered as one
of the highest subcastes. Their name may be derived from
a-sresktha, or not the best, and its significance would be that
formerly they were considered to be of mixed origin, like
most castes in Bundelkhand. The group of Sreshtha or
best-born Kurmis has now, however, died out if it ever
existed, and the Usretes have succeeded in establishing
themselves in its place. The Chandnahes of Jubbulpore
or Chandnahus of Chhattlsgarh are another large subdivision.
The name may be derived from the village Chandnoha in
Bundelkhand, but the Chandnahus of Chhattlsgarh say that
three or four centuries ago a Rajput general of the Raja
of Ratanpur had been so successful in war that the king
allowed him to appear in Durbar in his uniform with his
forehead marked with sandalwood, as a special honour.
KURMI
When he died his son continued to do the same, and on
the king's attention being drawn to it he forbade him.
But the son did not obey, and hence the king ordered the
sandalwood to be rubbed from his forehead in open Durbar.
But when this was done the mark miraculously reappeared
through the agency of the goddess Devi, whose favourite he
was. Three times the king had the mark rubbed out and
three times it came again. So he was allowed to wear it
thereafter, and was called Chandan Singh from chandan,
sandaiwood ; and his descendants are the Chandnahu Kurmis.
Another derivation is from Chandra, the moon. In Jubbul-
pore these Chandnahes sometimes kill a pig under the palan
quin of a newly married bride. In Bilaspur they are
prosperous and capable cultivators, but are generally reputed
to be stingy, and therefore are not very popular. Here
they are divided into the Ekbahinyas and Dobahinyas, or
those who wear glass bangles on one or both arms respect
ively. The Chandraha Kurmis of Raipur are probably a
branch of the Chandnahus. They sprinkle with water the
wood with which they are about to cook their food in order
to purify it, and will eat food only in the chauka or sanctified
place in the house. At harvest when they must take meals
in the fields, one of them prepares a patch of ground, clean
ing and watering it, and there cooks food for them all.
The Singrore Kurmis derive their name from Singror, a
place near Allahabad. Singror is said to have once been a
very important town, and the Lodhis and other castes have
subdivisions of this name. The Desha Kurmis are a group
of the Mungeli tahsil of Bilaspur. Desh means one's native
country, but in this case the name probably refers to Bundel-
khand. Mr. Gordon states * that they do not rear poultry
and avoid residing in villages in which their neighbours keep
poultry. The Santore Kurmis are a group found in several
Districts, who grow .swz-hemp, 2 and are hence looked down
upon by the remainder of the caste. In Raipur the Manwa
Kurmis will also do this ; Mana is a word sometimes applied
to a loom, and the Manwa Kurmis may be so called because
they grow hemp and weave sacking from the fibres. The
1 Indian Folk Tales, p. 8. Lorha for a discussion of the Hindus'
2 Crotatariajtincea. See article on prejudice against this crop.
ii EXOGAMOUS GROUPS 59
Pataria are an inferior group in Bilaspur, who are similarly
despised because they grow hemp and will take their food
in the fields in patris or leaf-plates. The Gohbaiyan are
considered to be an illegitimate group ; the name is said to
signify ' holding the arm,' The Bahargaiyan, or e those who
live outside the town,' are another subcaste to which children
born out of wedlock are relegated. The Palkiha subcaste of
Jubbulpore are said to be so named because their ancestors
were in the service of a certain Raja and spread his bedding
for him ; hence they are somewhat looked down on by the
others. The name may really be derived from palal, a kind
of vegetable, and they may originally have been -despised for
growing this vegetable, and thus placing themselves on a level
with the gardening castes. The Masuria take their name
from the masur or lentil, a common cold-weather crop in the
northern Districts, which is, however, grown by all Kurmis
and other cultivators ; and the Agaria or iron-workers, the
Kharia or catechu-makers, and the Lonhare or salt-makers,
have already been mentioned. There are also numerous
local or territorial subcastes, as the Chaurasia or those living
in a Chaurasi 1 estate of eighty -four villages, the Pardeshi
or foreigners, the Bundelkhandi or those who came from
Bundelkhand, the Kanaujias from Oudh, the Gaur from
northern India, and the Marathe and Telenge or Marathas
and Telugus ; these are probably Kunbis who have been
taken into the caste. The Gabel are a small subcaste in
Sakti State, who now prefer to drop the name Kurmi and
call themselves simply Gabel. The reason apparently is
that the other Kurmis about them sow ^72-hemp, and as
they have ceased doing this they try to separate themselves
and rank above the rest But they call the bastard group
of their community Rakhaut Kurmis, and other people speak
of all of them as Gabel Kurmis, so that there is no doubt
that they belong to the caste. It is said that formerly they
were pack-carriers, but have now abandoned this calling in
favour of cultivation.
Each subcaste has a number of exogamous divisions and 4- Exo-
these present a large variety of all types. Some groups have
1 There are several Chaurasis, a grant of an estate of this special size being
common under native rule.
6a KURMI
the names of Brahman saints as Sandil, Bharadwaj, Kausil
and Kashyap; others are called after Rajput septs, as
Chauhan, Rathor, Panwar and Solanki ; other names are of
villages, as Khairagarhi from Khairagarh, Pandariha from
Pandaria, Bhadaria, and Harkotia from Harkoti ; others are
titular, as Sondeha, gold-bodied, Sonkharchi, spender of gold,
Bimba Lohir, stick-carrier, Banhpagar, one wearing a thread
on the arm, Bhandari, a store-keeper, Kumaria, a potter, and
Shikaria, a hunter; and a large number are totemistic,
named after plants, animals or natural objects, as Sadaphal,
a fruit ; Kathail from kath or catechu ; Dhorha, from dhor,
cattle ; JKansia, the kans grass ; Karaiya, a frying-pan ;
Sarang, a peacock ; Samundha, the ocean ; Sindia, the date-
palm tree ; Dudhua from dudh, milk, and so on. Some
sections are subdivided ; thus the Tidha section, supposed to
be named after a village, is divided into three subsections
named Ghurepake, a mound of cowdung, Dwarparke, door-
jamb, and Jangi, a warrior, which are themselves exogamous.
Similarly the Chaudhri section, named after the title of the
caste headman, is divided into four subsections, two, Majhga-
wan and Bamuria, named after villages, and two, Purwa
Thok and Pascham Thok, signifying the eastern and
western groups! Presumably when sections get so large as
to bar the marriage of persons not really related to each
other at all, relief is obtained by subdividing them in
this manner. A list of the sections of certain subcastes so
far as they have been obtained is given at the end of the
article.
5. Mar- Marriage is prohibited between members of the same
sect i n and between first and second cousins on the mother's
side. But the Chandnahe Kurmis permit the wedding of a
brother's daughter to a sister's son. Most Kurmis forbid a
man to marry his wife's sister during her lifetime. The
Chhattisgarh Kurmis have the practice of exchanging girls
between two families. There is usually no objection to
marriage on account of religious differences within the pale
of Hinduism, but the difficulty of a union between a member
of a Vaishnava sect who abstains from flesh and liquor, and
a partner who does not, is felt and expressed in the following
saying :
^ Collo,, Derby
POUNDING RICE.
ii THE MARRIAGE-SHED OR PAVILION 61
Vaishncwa fiurush avaishnava nari
Unt beil kijot bichari,
or 'A Vaishnava husband with a non-Vaishnava wife is
like a camel yoked with a bullock/ Muhamtnadans and
Christians are not retained in the caste. Girls are usually
wedded between nine and eleven, but well-to-do Kurmis,
like other agriculturists, sometimes marry their daughters
when only a few months old. The people say that when a
Kurmi gets rich he will do three things : marry his daughters
very young and with great display, build a fine house, and
buy the best bullocks he can afford. The second and third
methods of spending his money are very sensible, whatever
may be thought of the first. No penalty is imposed for
allowing a girl to exceed the age of puberty before marriage.
Boys are married between nine and fifteen years, but the tend
ency is towards the postponement of the ceremony. The
boy's father goes and asks for a bride and says to the girl's
father, c I have placed my son with you,' that is, given him
in adoption ; if the match be acceptable the girl's father
replies, ' Yes, I will give my daughter to collect cowdung
for you ' ; to which the boy's father responds, ( I will hold
her as the apple of my eye.' Then the girl's father sends
the barber and the Brahman to the boy's house, carrying a
rupee and a cocoanut The boy's relatives return the visit
and perform the ( God bharnal or * Filling the lap of the
girl.' They take some sweetmeats, a rupee and a cocoanut,
and place them in the girl's lap, this being meant to induce
fertility. The ceremony of betrothal succeeds, when the
couple are seated together on a wooden plank and touch
the feet of the guests and are blessed by them. The auspi
cious date of the wedding is fixed by the Brahman and
intimation is given to the boy's family through the lagan or
formal invitation, which is sent on a paper coloured yellow
with powdered rice and turmeric. A bride-price is paid,
which in the case of well-to-do families may amount to as
much as Rs. 100 to Rs. 400.
Before the wedding the women of the family go out 6. The
and fetch new earth for making the stoves on which the ^^f
marriage feast will be cooked. When about to dig they pavilion.
worship the earth by sprinkling water over it and offering
62 KURMT PART
flowers and rice. The marriage-shed is made of the wood
of the sdleh tree, 1 because this wood is considered to be alive.
If a pole of saleh is cut and planted in the ground it takes
root and sprouts, though otherwise the wood is quite useless.
The wood of the kekar tree has similar properties and may
also be used. The shed is covered with leaves of the
mango or janiun 2 trees, because these trees are evergreen
and hence typify perpetual life. The marriage-post in the
centre of the shed is called Magrohan or Kham ; the women
go and worship it at the carpenter's house ; two pice, a
piece of turmeric and an areca-nut are buried below it in
the earth and a new thread and a toran or string of
mango-leaves is wound round it Oil and turmeric are
also rubbed on the marriage-post at the same time as on
the bride and bridegroom. In Saugor the marriage-post
is often a four-sided wooden frame or a pillar with four
pieces of wood suspended from it. The larger the marriage-
shed is made the greater honour accrues to the host, even
though the guests may be insufficient to fill it. In towns it
has often to be made in the street and is an obstacle to traffic.
There may be eight or ten posts besides the centre one.
The Another preliminary ceremony is the family sacrament
*" ^ e Meher or marriage-cakes. Small balls of wheat-flour
are kneaded and fried in an earthen pan with sesamum oil by
the eldest woman of the family. No metal vessel may be
used to hold the water, flour or oil required for these cakes,
probably because earthen vessels were employed before
metal ones and are therefore considered more sacred. In
measuring the ingredients a quarter of a measure is always
taken in excess, such as a seer 3 and a quarter for a seer of
wheat, to foreshadow the perpetual increase of the family.
When made the cakes are offered to the Kul Deo or house
hold god. The god is worshipped and the bride and bride
groom then first partake of the cakes and after them all
members of the family and relatives. Married daughters
and daughters-in-law may eat of the cakes, but not widows,
who are probably too impure to join in a sacred sacrament
Every person admitted to partake of the marriage-cakes
is held to belong to the family, so that all other members of
1 Boswellia serrata. 2 Eugenia jam Man a. 3 2 Ibs.
n CUSTOMS A T THE WEDDING 63
it have to observe impurity for ten days after a birth or
death has occurred in his house and shave their heads for a
death. When the family is so large that this becomes
irksome it is cut down by not inviting persons beyond seven
degrees of relationship to the Meher sacrament. This
exclusion has sometimes led to bitter quarrels and actions
for defamation. It seems likely that the Meher may be
a kind of substitute for the sacrificial meal, at which all the
members of the clan ate the body of the totem or divine
animal, and some similar significance perhaps once attached
to the wedding-cake in England, pieces of which are sent to
relatives unable to be present at the wedding.
Before the wedding the women of each party go and s. Customs
anoint the village gods with oil and turmeric, worshipping at th< ?
them, and then similarly anoint the bride and bridegroom at
their respective houses for three days. The bridegroom's
head is shaved except for his scalp-lock ; he wears a silver
necklet on his neck, puts lamp-black on his eyes, and is
dressed in new yellow and white clothes. Thus attired he
goes round and worships all the village gods and visits
the houses of his relatives and friends, who mark his fore
head with rice and turmeric and give him a silver piece.
A list of the money thus received is made and similar
presents are returned to the donors when they have
weddings. The bridegroom goes to the wedding either in a
litter or on a horse, and must not look behind him. After
being received at the bride's village and conducted to his
lodging, he proceeds to the bride's house and strikes a
grass mat hung before the house seven times with a reed-
stick. On entering the bride's house the bridegroom is
taken to worship her family gods, the men of the party
usually remaining outside. Then, as he goes through the
room, one of the women who has tied a long thread round
her toe gets behind him and measures his height with the
thread without his seeing. She breaks off the thread at
his height and doubling it once or twice sews it round the
top of the bride's skirt, and they think that as long as the
bride wears this thread she will be able to make her husband
do as she likes. If the girls wish to have a joke they
take one of the bridegroom's shoes which he has left
64 KURMI PART
outside the house, wrap It up in a piece of cloth, and place
it on a shelf or in a cupboard, where the family god
would be kept, with two lamps burning before it. Then
they say to the bridegroom, c Come and worship our household
god J ; and if he goes and does reverence to it they unwrap
the cloth and show him his own shoe and laugh at him.
But if he has been to one or t\vo weddings and knows
the joke he just gives it a kick. The bride's younger
brother steals the bridegroom's other shoe and hides it,
and will not give it back without a present of a rupee
or two. The bride and bridegroom are seated on wooden
seats, and while the Brahman recites texts, they make the
following promises. The bridegroom covenants to live with
his wife and her children, to support them and tell her all
his concerns, consult her, make her a partner of his religious
worship and almsgiving, and be with her on the night
following the termination of her monthly impurity. The
bride promises to remain faithful to her husband, to obey
his wishes and orders, to perform her household duties as
well as she can, and not to go anywhere without his
permission. The last promise of the bridegroom has refer
ence to the general rule among Hindus that a man should
always sleep with his wife on the night following the
termination of her menses because at this time she is most
likely to conceive and the prospect of a child being born
must not be lost. The Shastras lay it down that a man
should not visit his wife before going into battle, this
being no doubt an instance of the common custom of
abstinence from conjugal intercourse prior to some import
ant business or undertaking ; but it is stated that if on
such an occasion she should have just completed a period
of Impurity and have bathed and should desire him to come
in to her, he should do so, even with his armour on, because
by refusing, in the event of his being killed in battle, the
chance of a child being born would be finally lost. To
Hindu ideas the neglect to produce life is a sin of the same
character, though in a minor degree, as that of destroying
life ; and it is to be feared that it will be some time before
this ingrained superstition gives way to any considerations
of prudential restraint. Some people say that for a man
ii WALKING ROUND THE SACRED POST 65
not to visit his wife at this time is as great a sin as
murder.
The binding ceremony of the marriage is the walking 9 . walking
seven times round the marriage-post in the direction of the round the
sun. The post probably represents the sun and the walk post.
of the bridal couple round it may be an imitation of the
movement of the planets round the sun. The reverence
paid to the marriage-post has already been noticed. During
the procession the bride leads and the bridegroom puts his
left hand on her left shoulder. The household pounding-slab
is near the post and on it are placed seven little heaps of rice,
turmeric, areca-nut, and a small winnowing-fan. Each time
the bride passes the slab the bridegroom catches her right
foot and with it makes her brush one of the little heaps off
the slab. These seven heaps represent the seven Rishis or
saints who are the seven large stars of the constellation of
the Great Bear.
After the wedding the bride and bridegroom resume I0 _ Other
their seats and the parents of the bride wash their feet in a cere ;
brass tray, marking their foreheads with rice and turmeric. momes *
They put some silver in the tray, and other relations and
friends do the same. The presents thus collected go to the
bridegroom. The Chandnahu Kurmis then have a ceremony
known as palkachar. The bride's father provides a bed on
which a mattress and quilt are laid and the bride and bride
groom are seated on it, while their brother and sister sprinkle
parched rice round them. This is supposed to typify the
consummation of the marriage, but the ceremony is purely
formal as the bridal couple are children. The bridegroom
is given two lamps and he has to mix their flames, probably
to symbolise the mixing of the spirits of his wife and him
self. He requires a present of a rupee or two before he
consents to do so. During the wedding the bride is bathed
in the same water as the bridegroom, the joint use of the
sacred element being perhaps another symbolic mark of
their union. At the feasts the bride eats rice and milk with
her husband from one dish, once at her own house and once
after she goes to her husband's house. Subsequently she
never eats with her husband but always after him. She
also sits and eats at the wedding-feasts with her husband's
VOL. IV F
66 KURMI
relations. This Is perhaps meant to mark her admission
into her husband's clan. After the wedding the Brahmans
on either side recite Sanskrit verses, praising their respective
families and displaying their own learning. The competition
often becomes bitter and would end in a quarrel, but that
the elders of the party interfere and stop it.
The expenses of an ordinary wedding on the bridegroom's
side may be Rs. 100 in addition to the bride-price, and on
the bride's Rs. 200. The bride goes home for a day or two
with the bridegroom's party in Chhattlsgarh but not in the
northern Districts, as women accompany the wedding pro
cession In the former but not in the latter locality. If she
is too small to go, her shoes and marriage-crown are sent to
represent her. When she attains maturity the chauk or
gauna ceremony is performed, her husband going to fetch her
with a few friends. At this time her parents give her
clothes, food and ornaments in a basket called jhanpi or
tipara specially prepared for the occasion.
ii. Poly- A girl who becomes pregnant by a man of the caste
gamy, before marriage is wedded to him by the rite used for widows.
widow- ... a * r i
marriage If the man is an outsider she is expelled from the com-
a , nd munitv. Women are much valued for the sake of their
divorce. J , r
labour in the fields, and the transgressions of a wife are
viewed with a lenient eye. In Damoh it is said that a man
readily condones his wife's adultery with another Kurmi,
and if it becomes known and she is put out of caste, he will
give the penalty feasts himself for her admission. If she is
detected in a liaison with an outsider she is usually discarded,
but the offence may be condoned should the man be a
Brahman. And one instance is mentioned of a malguzar's
wife who had gone wrong with a Gond, and was forgiven
and taken back by her husband and the caste. But the
leniency was misplaced as she subsequently eloped with an
Ahir. Polygamy is usual with those who can afford to pay
for several wives, as a wife's labour is more efficient and she
is a more profitable investment than a hired servant. An
instance is on record of a blind Kurmi in Jubbulpore, who
had nine wives. A man who is faithful to one wife, and
does not visit her on fast-days, is called a Brahmachari or
saint and it is thought that he will go to heaven. The
ii IMPURITY OF WOMEN 67
remarriage of widows is permitted and is usual. The widow
goes to a well on some night in the dark fortnight, and
leaving her old clothes there puts on new ones which are
given to her by the barber's wife. She then fills a pitcher
with water and takes it to her new husband's house. He
meets her on the threshold and lifts it from her head, and
she goes into the house and puts bangles on her wrists. The
following saying shows that the second marriage of widows
is looked upon as quite natural and normal by the cultivating
castes :
"If the clouds are like partridge feathers it will rain,
and if a widow puts lamp-black on her eyes she will marry
again ; these things are certain." l
A bachelor marrying a widow must first go through the
ceremony with a ring which he thereafter wears on his finger,
and if it is lost he must perform a funeral ceremony as if a
wife had died. If a widower marries a girl she must wear
round her neck an image of his first wife. A girl who is
twice married by going round the sacred post Is called
Chandelia and Is most unlucky. She Is considered as bad
or worse than a widow, and the people sometimes make her
live outside the village and forbid her to show them her face.
Divorce Is open to either party, to a wife on account of the
Impotency or ill-treatment of her husband, and to a husband
for the bad character, ill-health or quarrelsome disposition
of his wife. A deed of divorce is executed and delivered
before the caste committee.
During her periodical impurity, which lasts for four or five 12. im-
days, a woman should not sleep on a cot She must not walk
across the shadow of any man not her husband, because it is
thought that if she does so her next child will be like that
man. Formerly she dI4 not see her husband's face for all these
days, but this rule was too irksome and has been abandoned.
She should eat the same kind of food for the whole period,
and therefore must take nothing special on one day which
she cannot get on other days. At this time she will let her
hair hang loose, taking out all the cotton strings by which
it Is tied up. 2 These strings, being cotton, have become
1 Elliot, Hoshangdbad Settlement 2 The custom is pointed out by Mr.
Report, p. 115. , A. K. Smith, C.S.
68 KURMI
impure, and must be thrown away. But if there is no other
woman to do the household work and she has to do it her
self, she will keep her hair tied up for convenience, and only
throw away the strings on the last day when she bathes.
All cotton things are rendered impure by her at this time,
and any cloth or other article which she touches must be
washed before it can be touched by anybody else ; but
woollen cloth, being sacred, is not rendered impure, and she
can sleep on a woollen blanket without its thereby becoming
a defilement to other -persons. When bathing at the end of
the period a woman should see no other face but her husband's;
but as her husband is usually not present, she wears a ring
with a tiny mirror and looks at her own face in this as a
substitute.
If a woman desires to procure a miscarriage she eats a
raw papaya fruit, and drinks a mixture of ginger, sugar,
bamboo leaves and milk boiled together. She then has her
abdomen well rubbed by a professional masseuse, who comes
at a time when she can escape observation. After a pro
longed course of this treatment it is said that a miscarriage
is obtained. It would seem that the rubbing is the only
treatment which is directly effective. The papaya, which is
a very digestible fruit, can hardly be of assistance, but may
be eaten from some magical idea of its resemblance to a
foetus. The mixture drunk is perhaps designed to be a
tonic to the stomach against the painful effects of the
massage.
13. Preg- As regards pregnancy Mr. Marten writes as follows : l " A
rites' 7 woman in pregnancy is in a state of taboo and is peculiarly
liable to the influence of magic and in some respects danger
ous to others. She is exempt from the observance of fasts,
is allowed any food she fancies, and is fed with sweets and
all sorts of rich food, especially in the fifth month. She
should not visit her neighbour's houses nor sleep in any open
place. Her clothes are kept separate from others. She is
subject to a large number of restrictions in her ordinary life
with a view of avoiding everything that might prejudice or
retard her delivery. She should eschew all red clothes or red
things of any sort, such as suggest blood, till the third or
1 Central Provinces Census Report (1911), p. 153.
n EARTH-EATING 69
fourth month, when conception is certain. She will be care
ful not to touch the dress of any woman who has had a mis
carriage. She will not cross running water, as it might
cause premature delivery, nor go near a she-buffalo or a
mare lest delivery be retarded, since a mare is twelve months
in foal. If she does by chance approach these animals she
must propitiate them by offerings of grain. Nor in some
cases will she light a lamp, for fear the flame in some way
may hurt the child. She should not finish any sowing, pre
viously begun, during pregnancy, nor should her husband
thatch the house or repair his axe. An eclipse is particularly
dangerous to the unborn child and she must not leave the
house during its continuance, but must sit still with a stone
pestle in her lap and anoint her womb with cowdung. Under
no circumstances must she touch any cutting instrument as
it might cause her child to be born mutilated.
" During the fifth month of pregnancy the family gods
are worshipped to avoid generally any difficulties in her
labour. Towards the end of that month and sometimes in
the seventh month she rubs her body with a preparation
of gram-flour, castor-oil and turmeric, bathes herself, and is
clothed with new garments and seated on a wooden stool in a
space freshly cleaned and spread with cowdung. Her lap is
then filled with sweets called pakwan made of cocoanut. A
similar ceremony called Boha Jewan is sometimes performed
in the seventh or eighth month, when a new sari is given to
her and grain is thrown into her lap. Another special rite
is the Pansavan ceremony, performed to remove all defects
in the child, give it a male form, increase its size and beauty,
give it wisdom and avert the influence of evil spirits."
Pregnant women sometimes have a craving for eating 14.
earth. They eat the earth which has been mixed with wheat eatm -
on the threshing-floor, or the ashes of cowdung cakes which
have been used for cooking. They consider it as a sort of
medicine which will prevent them from vomiting. Children
also sometimes get the taste for eating earth, licking it up
from the floor, or taking pieces of lime-plaster from the
walls. Possibly they may be attracted by the saltish taste,
but the result is that they get ill and their stomachs are
distended. The Panwar women of Balaghat eat red and
7 o KURMI
white clay in order that their children may be born with
red and white complexions.
15. cus- During the period of labour the barber's wife watches
toms at over t ke caSGj k ut as delivery approaches hands it over to a
recognised midwife, usually the Basorin or Chamarin, who
remains in the lying-in room till about the tenth day after
delivery. " If delivery is retarded/' Mr. Marten continues, 1
" pressure and massage are used, but coffee and other herbal
decoctions are given, and various means, mostly depending
on sympathetic magic, are employed to avert the adverse
spirits and hasten and ease the labour. She may be given
water to drink in which the feet of her husband 2 or her
mother-in-law or a young unmarried girl have been dipped,
or she is shown the swastik or some other lucky sign, or the
chakra-vyuha, a spiral figure showing the arrangement of the
armies of the Pandavas and Kauravas which resembles the
intestines with the exit at the lower end."
The menstrual blood of the mother during child-birth is
efficacious as a charm for fertility. The Nain or Basorin
will sometimes try and dip her big toe into it and go to her
house. There she will wash her toe and give the water to
a barren woman, who by drinking it will transfer to herself
the fertility of the woman whose blood it is. The women
of the family are in the lying-in room 1 and they watch her
carefully, while some of the men stand about outside. If
they see the midwife coming out they examine her, and if
they find any blood exclaim, ' You have eaten of our salt
and will you play us this trick ' ; and they force her back
into the room where the blood is washed off. All the stained
clothes are washed in the birth-room, and the water as well
as that in which the mother and child are bathed is poured
into a hole dug inside the room, so that none of it may be
used as a charm.
1 6. Treat- The great object of the treatment after birth is to pre-
mother vent ^ e mo *her and child from catching cold. They appear
and child, to confuse the symptoms of pneumonia and infantile lockjaw
in a disease called sanpat, to the prevention of which their
efforts are directed. A sigri or stove is kept alight under
the bed, and in this the seeds of ajwain or coriander are
1 C.P. Census Report (1911), p. 153. 2 Or his big toe.
n CEREMONIES AFTER BIRTH 71
burnt. The mother eats the seeds, and the child is waved
over the stove in the smoke of the burning ajwain. Raw
asafoetida is put in the woman's ears wrapped in cotton
wool, and she eats a little half-cooked. A freshly-dried
piece of cowdung is also picked up from the ground and
half-burnt and put in water, and some of this water is
given to her to drink, the process being repeated every day
for a month. Other details of the treatment of the mother
and child after birth are given in the articles on Mehtar and
Kunbi. For the first five days after birth the child is given
a little honey and calf's urine mixed. If the child coughs
it is given bans-lochan^ which is said to be some kind of
silicate found in bamboos. The mother does not suckle the
child for three days, and for that period she is not washed
and nobody goes near her, at least in Mandla. On the
third day after the birth of a girl, or the fourth after that of
a boy, the mother is washed and the child is then suckled
by her for the first time, at an auspicious moment pointed
out by the astrologer. Generally speaking the whole treat
ment of child-birth is directed towards the avoidance of
various imaginary magical dangers, while the real sanitary
precautions and other assistance which should be given to
the mother are not only totally neglected, but the treatment
employed greatly aggravates the ordinary risks which a
woman has to take, especially in the middle and higher
castes.
When a boy is born the father's younger brother or one J7 . cere-
of his friends lets off a gun and beats a brass plate to pro-
claim the event The women often announce the birth of
a boy by saying that it is a one-eyed girl. This is in case
any enemy should hear the mention of the boy's birth, and
the envy felt by him should injure the child. On the sixth
day after the birth the Chhathi ceremony is performed and
the mother is given ordinary food to eat, as described in the
article on Kunbi. The twelfth day is known as Barhon or
Chauk. On this day the father is shaved for the first time
after the child's birth. The mother bathes and cuts the
nails of her hands and feet ; if she is living by a river she
throws them into it, otherwise on to the roof of the house.
The father and mother sit in the chauk or space marked out
72 KURMI
for worship with cowdung and flour ; the woman is on the
man's left side, a woman being known as Bamangi or the
left limb, either because the left limb is weak or because
woman is supposed to have been made from man's left side,
as in Genesis. The household god is brought into the
chauk and they worship it. The Bua or husband's sister
brings presents to the mother known as bharti, for filling her
lap : silver or gold bangles if she can afford them, a coat
and cap for the boy ; dates, rice and a breast-cloth for the
mother ; for the father a rupee and a cocoanut. These
things are placed in the mother's lap as a charm to sustain
her fertility. The father gives his sister back double the
value of the presents if he can afford it. He gives her
husband a head-cloth and shoulder-cloth ; he waves two or
three pice round his wife's head and gives them to the
barber's wife. The latter and the midwife take the clothes
worn by the mother at child-birth, and the father gives them
each a new cloth if he can afford it. The part of the navel-
string which falls off the child's body is believed to have the
power of rendering a barren woman fertile, and is also
intimately connected with the child's destiny. It is there
fore carefully preserved and buried in some auspicious place,
as by the bank of a river.
In the sixth month the Pasni ceremony is performed,
when the child is given grain for the first time, consisting of
rice and milk. Brahmans or religious mendicants are invited
and fed. The child's hair and nails are cut for the first time
on the Shivratri or Akti festival following the birth, and are
wrapped up in a ball of dough and thrown into a sacred
river. If a child is born during an eclipse they think that
it will suffer from lung disease ; so a silver model of the
moon is made immediately during the eclipse, and hung
round the child's neck, and this is supposed to preserve it
from harm.
is. Suck- A Hindu woman will normally suckle her child for two
children. to three 5f ears after its birth, and even beyond this up to six
years if it sleeps with her. But they think that the child
becomes short of breath if suckled for so long, and advise
the mother to wean it And if she becomes pregnant again,
when she has been three or four months in this condition,
ii BELIEFS ABOUT TWINS DISPOSAL OF DEAD 73
she will wean the child by putting mm leaves or some other
bitter thing on her breasts. A Hindu should not visit his
wife for the last six months of her pregnancy nor until the
child has been fed with grain for the first time six months
after its birth. During the former period such action is
thought to be a sin, while during the latter it may have the
effect of rendering the mother pregnant again too quickly,
and hence may not allow her a sufficiently long period to
suckle the first child.
Twins, Mr. Marten states, are not usually considered to 19- Beliefs
be inauspicious. 1 " It is held that if they are of the same
sex they will survive, and if they are of a different sex one
of them will die. Boy twins are called Rama and Lachh-
man, a boy and a girl Mahadeo and Parvati, and two girls
Ganga and Jamuni or Slta and Konda. They should always
be kept separate so as to break the essential connection
which exists between them and may cause any misfortune
which happens to the one to extend to the other. Thus the
mother always sleeps between them in bed and never carries
both of them nor suckles both at the same time. Again,
among some castes In Chhattisgarh, when the twins are of
different sex, they are considered to be pap (sinful) and are
called Papi and Papin, an allusion to the horror of a brother
and sister sharing the same bed (the mother's womb)."
Hindus think that if two people comb their hair with the
same comb they will lose their affection for each other.
Hence the hair of twins is combed with the same comb to
weaken the tie which exists between them, and may cause
the illness or death of either to follow on that of the other.
The dead are usually burnt with the head to the north, 2 o. Dis-
Children whose ears have not been bored and adults who
die of smallpox or leprosy are buried, and members of poor
families who cannot afford firewood. If a person has died
by hanging or drowning or from the bite of a snake, his
body is burnt without any rites, but in order that his soul
may be saved, the horn sacrifice is performed subsequently
to the cremation. Those who live near the Nerbudda and
Mahanadi sometimes throw the bodies of the dead into
these rivers and think that this will make them go to heaven.
1 C.P. Census Report (1911), p. 158.
74 KURMI
The following account of a funeral ceremony among the
middle and higher castes in Saugor is mainly furnished by
Major W. D. Sutherland, I.M.S., with some additions from
Mandla, and from material furnished by the Rev. E. M.
Gordon : I " When a man is near his end, gifts to Brahmans
are made by him, or by his son on his behalf. These, if he
is a rich man, consist of five cows with their calves, marked
on the forehead and hoofs with turmeric, and with garlands
of flowers round their necks. Ordinary people give the
price of one calf, which is fictitiously taken at Rs. 3-4,
Rs. 1-4, ten annas or five annas according to their means.
By holding on to the tail of this calf the dead man will be
able to swim across the dreadful river Vaitarni, the Hindu
Styx. This calf is called Bachra Sankal or ' the chain-calf/
as it furnishes a chain across the river, and it may be given
three times, once before the death and twice afterwards.
When near his end the dying man is taken down from his
cot and laid on a woollen blanket spread on the ground,
perhaps with the idea that he should at death be in contact
with the earth and not suspended in mid-air as a man on a
cot is held to be. In his mouth are placed a piece of gold,
some leaves of the tulsi or basil plant, or Ganges water, or
rice cooked in Jagannath's temple. The dying man keeps
on repeating ' Ram, Ram, Sitaram.' "
21. Funeral As soon as death occurs the corpse is bathed, clothed
rltes * and smeared with a mixture of powdered sandal wood,
camphor and spices. A bier is constructed of planks, or if
this cannot be afforded the man's cot is turned upside down
and the body is carried out for burial on it in this fashion,
with the legs of the cot pointing upwards. Straw is laid on
the bier, and the corpse, covered with fine white cloth, is tied
securely on to it, the hands being crossed on the* breast,
with the thumbs and great toes tied together. When a
married woman dies she is covered with a red cloth which
reaches only to the neck, and her face is left open to the
view of everybody, whether she went abroad unveiled in her
life or not. It is considered a highly auspicious thing for a
woman to die in the lifetime of her husband and children,
and the corpse is sometimes dressed like a bride and
1 In Indian Folk Tales.
n BURNING THE DEAD 75
ornaments put on it. The corpse of a widow or girl is
wrapped in a white cloth with the head covered. At the
head of the funeral procession walks the son of the deceased,
or other chief mourner, and in his hand he takes smouldering
cowdung cakes in an earthen pot, from which the pyre will
be kindled. This fire is brought from the hearth of the
house by the barber, and he sometimes also carries it to
the pyre. On the way the mourners change places so that
each may assist in bearing the bier, and once they set the
bier on the ground and leave two pice and some grain where
it lay, before taking it up again. After the funeral each
person who has helped to carry it takes up a clod of earth
and with it touches successively the place on his shoulder
where the bier rested, his waist and his knee, afterwards
dropping the clod on the ground. It is believed that by so
doing he removes from his shoulder the weight of the corpse,
which would otherwise press on it for some time.
At the cremation-ground the corpse is taken from the 22. Burn-
bier and placed on the pyre. The cloth which covered it
and that on which it lay are given to a sweeper, who is
always present to receive this perquisite. To the corpse's
mouth, eyes, ears, nostrils and throat is applied a mixture
of barley-flour, butter, sesamum seeds and powdered sandal-
wood. Logs of wood and cowdung cakes are then piled on
the body and the pyre is fired by the son, who first holds a
burning stick to the mouth of the corpse as if to inform it
that he is about to apply the fire. The pyre of a man is
fired at the head and of a woman at the foot. Rich people
burn the corpse with sandalwood, and others have a little
of this, and incense and sweet-smelling gum. Nowadays
if the ram comes on and the pyre will not burn they use
kerosine oil. When the body is half-consumed the son
takes up a piece of wood and with it strikes the skull seven
times, to break it and give exit to the soul. This, however,
is not always done. The son then takes up on his right
shoulder an earthen pot full of water, at the bottom of which
is a small hole. He walks round the pyre three times in
the direction of the sun's course and stands facing to the
south, and dashes the pot on the ground, crying out in his
grief, * Oh, my father/ While this is going on mantras or
7 6 KURMI PART
sacred verses are recited by the officiating Brahman. When
the corpse is partly consumed each member of the assembly
throws the Panck lakariya (five pieces of wood or sprigs of
basil) on to the pyre, making obeisance to the deceased and
saying, 'Swargkojao? or 'Ascend to heaven/ Or they may
say, ' Go, become incarnate in some human being.' They
stay by the corpse for ij pahars or watches or some four
hours, until either the skull is broken by the chief mourner
or breaks of itself with a crack. Then they bathe and come
home and after some hours again return to the corpse, to see
that it is properly burnt If the pyre should go out and a
dog or other 1 animal should get hold of the corpse when it
is half-burnt, all the relatives are put out of caste, and have
to give a feast to all the caste, costing for a rich family
about Rs. 50 and for a poor one Rs. 10 to Rs. 15. Then
they return home and chew nim leaves, which are bitter and
purifying, and spit them out of their mouth, thus severing
their connection with the corpse. When the mourners have
left the deceased's house the women of the family bathe,
the bangles of the widow are broken, the vermilion on the
parting of her hair and the glass ornament (tikli) on her
forehead are removed, and she is clad in white clothing of
coarse texture to show that henceforth she is only a widow.
On the third day the mourners go again and collect the
ashes and throw them into the nearest river. The bones
are placed in a silken bag or an earthen pot or a leaf basket,
and taken to the Ganges or Nerbudda within ten days if
possible, or otherwise after a longer interval, being buried
meantime. Some milk, salt and calf s urine are sprinkled
over the place where the corpse was burnt. These will cool
the place, and the soul of the dead will similarly be cooled,
and a cow will probably come and lick up the salt, and this
will sanctify the place and also the soul. When the bones
are to be taken to a sacred river they are tied up in a little
piece of cloth and carried at the end of a stick by the chief
mourner, who is usually accompanied by several caste-fellows.
At night during the journey this stick is planted in the
ground, so that the bones may not touch the earth.
23. Burial. Graves are always dug from north to south. Some
people say that heaven is to the north, being situated in the
ii RETURN OF THE SOUL 77
Himalayas, and others that In the Satyug or Golden Age the
sun rose to the north. The digging of the grave only com
mences on the arrival of the funeral party, so there is of
necessity a delay of several hours at the site, and all who attend
a funeral are supposed to help In digging. It is considered
to be meritorious to assist at a burial, and there is a saying
that a man who has himself conducted a hundred funerals
will become a Raja in his next birth. When the grave
has been filled in and a mound raised to mark the spot, each
person present makes five small balls of earth and places
them In a heap at the head of the grave. This custom Is
also known as Pdnch lakariya> and must therefore be an
imitation of the placing of the five sticks on the pyre ; Its
original meaning in the latter case may have been that the
mourners should assist the family by bringing a contribution
of wood to the pyre, As adopted In burial it seems to have
no special significance, but somewhat resembles the European
custom of the mourners throwing a little dust into the grave.
On the third day the pindas or sacrificial cakes are 24. Return
offered and this goes on till the tenth day. These cakes of l e sou1 '
are not eaten by the priest or Maha-Brahman, but are thrown
into a river. On the evening of the third day the son goes,
accompanied by a Brahman and a barber, and carrying a
key to avert evil, to a pipal a tree, on whose branches he
hangs two earthen pots : one containing water, which trickles
out through a hole in the bottom, and the other a lamp.
On each succeeding night the son replenishes the contents
of these pots, which are intended to refresh the spirit of the
deceased and to light it on its way to the lower world. In
some localities on the evening of the third day the ashes of
the cooking-place are sifted, and laid out on a tray at night
on the spot where the deceased died, or near the cooking-
place. In the morning the layer of ashes is inspected, and
if what appears to be a hand- or footprint Is seen, It Is held
that the spirit of the deceased has visited the house. Some
people look for handprints, some for footprints, and some
for both, and the Nais look for the print of a cow's hoof,
which when seen is held to prove that the deceased In con
sideration of his singular merits has been reborn a cow. If
1 Ficus R.
7 3 KURMI PART
a woman has died in child-birth, or after the birth of a child
and before the performance of the sixth-day ceremony of
purification, her hands are tied with a cotton thread when
she is buried, in order that her spirit may be unable to rise
and trouble the living. It is believed that the souls of such
women become evil spirits or Churels. Thorns are also
placed over her grave for the same purpose.
25. Mourn- During the days of mourning the chief mourner sits
ing " apart and does no work. The others do their work but do
not touch any one else, as they are impure. They leave their
hair unkempt, do not worship the gods nor sleep on cots,
and abjure betel, milk, butter, curds, meat, the wearing of
shoes, new clothes and other luxuries. In these days the
friends of the family come and comfort the mourners with
conversation on the shortness and uncertainty of human life
and kindred topics. During the period of mourning when
the family go to bathe they march one behind the other in
Indian file. And on the last day all the people of the village
accompany them, the men first and after they have returned
the women, all marching one behind the other. They also
come back in this manner from the actual funeral, and the
idea is perhaps to prevent the dead man's spirit from follow
ing them. He would probably feel impelled to adopt the
same formation and fall in behind the last of the line, and
then some means is devised, such as spreading thorns in the
path, for leaving him behind.
26. shav- On the ninth, tenth or eleventh day the males of the family
mg, and ^ ^ f ron O f t j ie h ea( j f rom the crown, and the beard and
presents to
Brahmans. moustaches,shaved in token of mourning. The Maha-Brahman
who receives the gifts for the dead is shaved with them.
This must be done for an elder relation, but a man need not
be shaved on the death of his wife, sister or children. The
day is the end of mourning and is called Gauri Ganesh,
Gaurl being Parvati or the wife of Siva, and Ganesh the god
of good fortune. On the occasion the family give to the
Maha-Brahman l a new cot and bedding with a cloth, an
umbrella to shield the spirit from the sun's rays, a copper
vessel full of water to quench its thirst, a brass lamp to
guide it on its journey, and if the family is well-to-do, a
1 He is also known as Katia or Kattaha Brahman and as Mahapatra,
ii END OF MOURNING ANNIVERSARIES OF DEAD 79
horse and a cow. All these things are meant to be for the
use of the dead man in the other world. It is also the
Brahman's business to eat a quantity of cooked food, which
will form the dead man's food. It is of great spiritual
importance to the dead man's soul that the Brahman should
finish the dish set before him, and if he does not do so the
soul will fare badly. He takes advantage of this by stop
ping in the middle of the meal, saying that he has eaten all
he is capable of and cannot go on, so that the relations have
to give him large presents to induce him to finish the food.
These Maha-Brahmans are utterly despised and looked down
on by all other Brahmans and by the community generally,
and are sometimes made to live outside the village. The
regular priest, the Malai or Purohit, can accept no gifts from
the time of the death to the end of the period of mourning.
Afterwards he also receives presents in money according to
the means of his clients, which it is supposed will benefit the
dead man's soul in the next world ; but no disgrace attaches
to the acceptance of these.
When the mourning is complete on the Gauri-Ganesh 27 , End of
day all the relatives take their food at the chief mourner's mournin ^
house, and afterwards the fanchdyat invest him with a new
turban provided by a relative. On the next bazar day the
members of the panchayat take him to the bazar and tell him
to take up his regular occupation and earn his livelihood.
Thereafter all his relatives and friends invite him to take
food at their houses, probably to mark his accession to the
position of head of the family.
Three months, six months and twelve months after the as. Anni-
death presents are made to a Brahman, consisting of Sldha,
or butter, wheat and rice for a day's food. The anniversaries
of the dead are celebrated during Pitripaksh or the dark
fortnight of Kunwar (September-October). If a man died on
the third day of any fortnight in the year, his anniversary is
celebrated on the third day of this fortnight and so on. On
that day it Is supposed that his spirit will visit his earthly
house where his relatives reside. But the souls of women
all return to their homes on the ninth day of the fortnight,
and on the thirteenth day come the souls of all those who
have met with a violent death, as by a fall, or have been
8o KURMI PART
killed by wild animals or snakes. The spirits of such persons
are supposed, on account of their untimely end, to entertain
a special grudge against the living.
29. Beliefs As regards the belief in the hereafter Mr. Gordon writes : l
teeafter " That the ^ haVe tlle * dea f ^ aS * plaC6 f P Ullis]iment
may be gathered from the belief that when salt is spilt the
one who does this will in Fatal or the infernal region have
to gather up each grain of salt with his eyelids. Salt is for
this reason handed round with great care, and it is considered
unlucky to receive it in the palm of the hand ; it is therefore
invariably taken in a cloth or vessel. There is a belief that
the spirit of the deceased hovers round familiar scenes and
places, and on this account, whenever possible, a house in
which any one has died is destroyed or deserted. After the
spirit has wandered round restlessly for a certain time it is
said that it will again become incarnate and take the form
either of man or of one of the lower animals." In Mandla
they think that the soul after death is arraigned and judged
before Yama, and is then chained to a flaming pillar for a
longer or shorter period according to its sins. The gifts
made to Brahmans for the dead somewhat shorten the period.
After that time it is born again with a good or bad body
and human or animal according to its deserts.
3 o. Reii- The caste worship the principal Hindu deities. Either
gipn.^ Bhagwan or Parmeshwar is usually referred to as the supreme
gods. deity, as we speak of God. Bhagwan appears to be Vishnu
or the Sun, and Parmeshwar is Siva or Mahadeo. There
are few temples to Vishnu in villages, but none are required
as the sun is daily visible. Sunday or Raviwar is the day
sacred to him, and some people fast in his honour on Sundays,
eating only one meal without salt. A man salutes the sun
after he gets up by joining his hands and looking towards
it, again when he has washed his face, and a third time when
he has bathed, by throwing a little water in the sun's direc
tion. He must not spit in front of the sun nor perform the
lower functions of the body in its sight. Others say that
the sun and moon are the eyes of God, and the light of the
sun is the effulgence of God, because by its light and heat
all moving and immobile creatures sustain their life and all
1 Indian Folk Tales, p. 54.
ii RELIGION: VILLAGE GODS 81
corn and other products of the earth grow. In his incarna
tions of Rama and Krishna there are temples to Vishnu in
large villages and towns. Khermata, the mother of the
village, is the local form of Devi or the earth-goddess. She
has a small hut and an image of Devi, either black or red.
She is worshipped by a priest called Panda, who may be of
any caste except the impure castes. The earth is worshipped
in various ways. A man taking medicine for the first time
in an illness sprinkles a few drops on the earth in its honour.
Similarly for the first three or four times that a cow is milked
after the birth of a calf the stream is allowed to fall on the
ground. A man who is travelling offers a little food to the
earth before eating himself. Devi is sometimes considered
to be one of seven sisters, but of the others only two are
known, Marhai Devi, the goddess of cholera, and Sitala Devi,
the goddess of smallpox. When an epidemic of cholera
breaks out the Panda performs the following ceremony to
avert it. He takes a kid and a small pig or chicken, and
some cloth, cakes, glass bangles, vermilion, an earthen lamp,
and some country liquor, which is sprinkled all along the
way from where he starts to where he stops. He proceeds
in this manner to the boundary of the village at a place
where there are cross-roads, and leaves all the things there.
Sometimes the animals are sacrificed and eaten. While the
Panda is doing this every one collects the sweepings of his
house in a winnowing -fan and throws them outside the
village boundary, at the same time ringing a bell continu
ously. The Panda must perform his ceremony at night and,
if possible, on the day of the new moon. He is accompanied
by a few other low-caste persons called Gunias. A Gunia
is one who can be possessed by a spirit in the temple of
Khermata. When possessed he shakes his head up and
down violently and foams at the mouth, and sometimes
strikes his head on the ground. Another favourite godling is
Hardaul, who was the brother of Jujhar Singh, Raja of Orchha,
and was suspected by Jujhar Singh of loving the latter's
wife, and poisoned in consequence by his orders. Hardaul
has a platform and sometimes a hut with an image of a
man on horseback carrying a spear in his hand. His shrine
is outside the village, and two days before a marriage the
VOL. IV G
82 ' KURMI PART
women of the family visit his shrine and cook and eat their
food there and invite him to the wedding. Clay horses are
offered to him, and he is supposed to be able to keep off rain
and storms during the ceremony. Hardaul is perhaps the
deified Rajput horseman. Hanuman or Mahablr is repre
sented by an image of a monkey coloured with vermilion,
with a club in his hand and a slain man beneath his feet.
He is principally worshipped on Saturdays so that he may
counteract the evil influences exercised by the planet Saturn
on that day. His image is painted with oil mixed with ver
milion and has a wreath of flowers of the cotton tree ; &&&gugal
or incense made of resin, sandalwood and other ingredients is
burnt before him. He is the deified ape, and is the god of
strength and swiftness, owing to the exploits performed by
him during Rama's invasion of Ceylon. Dulha Deo is
another godling whose shrine is in every village. He was a
young bridegroom who was carried off by a tiger on his way
to his wedding, or, according to another account, was turned
into a stone pillar by a flash of lightning. Before the start
ing of a wedding procession the members go to Dulha Deo
and offer a pair of shoes and a miniature post and marriage-
crown. On their return they offer a cocoanut Dulha Deo
has a stone and platform to the east of the village, or
occasionally an image of a man on horseback like
Hardaul. Mirohia is the god of the field boundary. There
is no sign of him, but every tenant, when he begins sowing
and cutting the crops, offers a little curds and rice and a
cocoanut and lays them on the boundary of the field, saying
the name of Mirohia Deo. It is believed among agriculturists
that if this godling is neglected he will flatten the corn by
a wind, or cause the cart to break on its way to the threshing-
floor.
31. Sowing The sowing of the Jawaras, corresponding to the
jhwar gardens of Adonis, takes place during the first nine days
or Gardens of the months of Kunwar and Chait (September and
of Adonis. M arc h). The former is a nine days' fast preceding the
Dasahra festival, and it is supposed that the goddess Devi
was during this time employed in fighting the buffalo-
demon (Bhainsasur), whom she slew on the tenth day.
The latter is a nine days' fast at the new year, preceding
ii SO WING THE JA WARAS OR GARDENS OF ADONIS 83
the triumphant entry of Rama Into Ajodhia on the tenth
day on his return from Ceylon. The first period comes
before the sowing of the spring crop of wheat and other
grains, and the second is at the commencement of the harvest
of the same crop. In some localities the Jawaras are also
grown a third time In the rains, probably as a preparation
for the juari sowings, 1 as juari Is planted in the baskets
or * gardens 3 at this time. On the first day a small room
Is cleared and whitewashed, and Is known as the diwdla or
temple. Some earth Is brought from the fields and mixed
with manure In a basket, and a male member of the family
sows wheat In it, bathing before he does so. The basket is
kept in the diwdla and the same man attends on it through
out the nine days, fasting all day and eating only milk and
fruit at night. A similar nine days' fast was observed by
the Eleusinians before the sacramental eating of corn and
the worship of the Corn Goddess, which constituted the
Eleusinian mysteries. 2 During the period of nine days, called
the Naoratra, the plants are watered, and long stalks spring
up. On the eighth day the kom or fire offering Is performed,
and the Gunias or devotees are possessed by Devi. On the
evening of the ninth day the women, putting on their best
clothes, walk out of the houses with the pots of grain on
their heads, singing songs In praise of DevL The men
accompany them beating drums and cymbals. The devotees
pierce their cheeks with long iron needles and walk in the
procession. High-caste women, who cannot go themselves,
hire the barber's or waterman's wife to go for them. The
pots are taken to a tank and thrown in, the stalks of grain
being kept and distributed as a mark of amity. The wheat
which is sown in Kunwar gives a forecast of the spring
crops. A plant is pulled out, and the return of the crop
will be the same number of times the seed as It has roots.
The woman who gets to the tank first counts the number of
plants in her pot, and this gives the price of wheat in rupees
per mdni* Sometimes marks of red rust appear on the
plants, and this shows that the crop will suffer from rust.
The ceremony performed in Chait is said to be a sort of
1 Sorghum 'vtdgare, a large millet. History of Religion, p. 365.
2 Dr. Jevons, Introduction to the 3 A measure of 400 Ibs.
84 KURMI
harvest thanksgiving. On the ninth day of the autumn
ceremony another celebration called 'Jhinjhia' or 'Norta'
takes place in large villages. A number of young unmarried
girls take earthen pots and, making holes in them and
placing lamps inside, carry them on their heads through the
village, singing and dancing. They receive presents from
the villagers, with which they hold a feast At this a small
platform is erected and two earthen dolls, male and female,
are placed on it ; rice and flowers are offered to them and
their marriage is celebrated.
32. Rites The following observances in connection with the crops
connected are p rac ti s ed by the agricultural castes in Chhattisgarh :
Tos!^ The agricultural year begins on Akti or the 3rd day of
f Baisakh (April-May). On that day a cup made of palas 1
. j eaves and fiUed ^^ rice j s o ff erec } to Thakur Deo. In
some villages the boys sow rice seeds before Thakur Deo's
shrine with little toy ploughs. The cultivator then goes to
his field, and covering his hand with wheat-flour and turmeric,
stamps it five times on the plough. The malguzar takes
five handfuls of the seed consecrated to Thakur Deo and
sows it, and each of the cultivators also sows a little. After
this regular cultivation may begin on any day, though
Monday and Friday are considered auspicious days for the
commencement of sowing. On the Hareli, or festival of
the fresh verdure, which falls on the i$th day of Shrawan
(July- August), balls of flour mixed with salt are given to the
cattle. The plough and all the implements of agriculture
are taken to a tank and washed, and are then set up
in the courtyard of the house and plastered with cowdung.
The plough is set facing towards the sun, and butter and
sugar are offered to it. An earthen pot is whitewashed
and human figures are drawn on it with charcoal, one upside
down. It is then hung over the entrance to the house and
is believed to avert the evil eye. All the holes in the cattle-
sheds and courtyards are filled and levelled with gravel.
While the rice is growing, holidays are observed on five
Sundays and no work is done. Before harvest Thakur Deo
must be propitiated with an offering of a white goat or a
black fowl. Any one who begins to cut his crop before this
1 Butea frondosa.
CD
Z
o
CO
ii RITES CONNECTED WITH CROPS 85
offering has been made to Thakur Deo Is fined the price of
a goat by the village community. Before threshing his
corn each cultivator offers a separate sacrifice to Thakur
Deo of a goat, a fowl or a broken cocoanut. Each evening,
on the conclusion of a day's threshing, a wisp of straw is
rubbed on the forehead of each bullock, and a hair is then
pulled from its tail, and the hairs and straw made into a
bundle are tied to the pole of the threshing-floor. The
cultivator prays, * O God of plenty ! enter here full and go
out empty/ Before leaving the threshing-floor for the
night some straw is burnt and three circles are drawn with
the ashes, one round the heap of grain and the others
round the pole. Outside the circles are drawn pictures of
the sun, the moon, a lion and a monkey, or of a cart and a
pair of bullocks. Next morning before sunrise the ashes
are swept away by waving a winnowing- fan over them.
This ceremony is called anjan chadhana or placing lamp
black on the face of the threshing-floor to avert the evil
eye, as women put it on their eyes. Before the grain is
measured it must be stacked in the form of a trapezium with
the shorter end to the south, and not in that of a square or
oblong heap. The measurer stands facing the east, and
having the shorter end of the heap on his left hand. On
the larger side of the heap are laid the kalara or hook,
a winnowing-fan, the dauri^ a rope by which the bullocks
are tied to the threshing-pole, one or three branches of
the ber or wild plum tree, and the twisted bundle of straw
and hair of the bullocks which had been tied to the
pole. On the top of the heap are placed five balls of
cowdung, and the hom or fire sacrifice is offered to it The
first kdtha * of rice measured is also laid by the heap. The
measurer never quite empties his measure while the work
is going on, as it is feared that if he does this the god of
abundance will leave the threshing-floor. While measuring
he should always wear a turban. It .Is considered unlucky
for any one who has ridden on an elephant to enter the
threshing-floor, but a person who has ridden on a tiger
brings luck. Consequently the Gonds and Baigas, if
they capture a young tiger and tame it, will take it round
1 A measure containing 9 Ib. 2 oz. of rice.
86 KURMI
the country, and the cultivators pay them a little to give
their children a ride on it. To enter a threshing-floor
with shod feet is also unlucky. Grain Is not usually
measured at noon but in the morning or evening.
33 . Agri- The cultivators think that each grain should bear a
cultural hundredfold, but they do not get this as Kuvera, the treasurer
of the gods, or Bhainsasur, the buffalo demon who lives In
the fields, takes it. Bhainsasur is worshipped when the rice
is coming into ear, and if they think he is likely to be
mischievous they give him a pig, but otherwise a smaller
offering. When the standing corn in the fields is beaten
down at night they think that Bhainsasur has been passing
over it. He also steals the crop while It is being cut and
is lying on the ground. Once Bhainsasur was absent while
the particular field in the village from which he stole his
supply of grain was cut and the crop removed, and after
wards he was heard crying that all his provision for the
year had been lost. Sometimes the oldest man in the
house cuts the first five bundles of the crop, and they are
afterwards left in the field for the birds to eat And at the
end of harvest the last one or two sheaves are left standing
In the field, and any one who likes can cut and carry them
away. In some localities the last stalks are left standing
in the field and are known as barhona or the giver of increase.
Then all the labourers rush together at this last patch of
corn and tear it up by the roots ; everybody seizes as much
as he can and keeps it, the master having no share in
this patch. After the barhona has been torn up all the
labourers fall on their faces to the ground and worship
the field. In other places the barhona is left standing for
the birds to eat This custom arises from the belief
demonstrated by Sir J. G. Frazer In The Golden Bough that
the corn-spirit takes refuge in the last patch of grain, and
that when it is cut he flies away or his life is extinguished.
And the idea is supported by the fact that the rats and
other vermin, who have been living In the field, seek shelter
In the last patch of corn, and when this is cut have to
dart out In front of the reapers. In some countries it is
thought, as shown by Sir J. G. Frazer, that the corn-spirit
takes refuge in the body of one of these animals.
HOUSES
The house of a malguzar or good tenant stands in a 34-
courtyard or angan 45 to 60 feet square and surrounded by
a brick or mud wall.
below :
The plan of a typical house is shown
Dalan.
Dalan.
Cattle-shed (Sar).
Sar.
Living-room.
oJ
ed
*O
Living-room.
Veranda.
Living-rooms.
The ddldn or hall is for the reception of visitors. One
of the living-rooms is set apart for storing grain. Those
who keep their women secluded have a door at the back of
the courtyard for their use. Cooking is done in one of the
rooms, and there are no chimneys, the smoke escaping
through the tiles. They bathe either in the chauk or central
courtyard, or go out and bathe in a tank or river or at a
well. The family usually sleep inside the house in the
winter and outside in the hot weather. A poor malguzar
or tenant has only two rooms with a veranda in front, one
of which is used by the family, while cattle are kept in the
other ; while the small tenants and labourers have only one
room in which both men and cattle reside. The walls are
of bamboo matting plastered on both sides with mud, and
the roof usually consists of single small tiles roughly baked in
an improvised kiln. The house is surrounded by a mud wall
or hedge, and sometimes has a garden behind in which
88 KURMI PART
tobacco, maize or vegetables are grown. The interior is
dark, for light is admitted only by the low door, and the
smoke-stained ceiling contributes to the gloom. The floor
is of beaten earth well plastered with cowdung, the plastering
being repeated weekly.
35. Super- The following are some superstitious beliefs and customs
stitions about houses. A house should face north or east and not
houses. south or west, as the south is the region of Yama, the god
of death, who lives in Ceylon, and the west the quarter of
the setting sun. A Muhammadan's house, on the other
hand, should face south or west because Mecca lies to the
south-west. A house may have verandas front and back,
or on the front and two sides, but not on all four sides.
The front of a house should be lower than the back, this
shape being known as gai-mukh or cow-mouthed, and not
higher than the back, which is singh-mukh or tiger- mouthed.
The front and back doors should not be in a straight line,
which would enable one to look right through the house.
The angan or compound of a house should be a little longer
than it is wide, no matter how little. Conversely the build
ing itself should be a little wider along the front than it is
long from front to rear. The kitchen should always be on
the right side if there is a veranda, or else behind. When
an astrologer is about to found a house he calculates the
direction in which Shesh Nag, the snake on whom the
world reposes, is holding his head at that time, and plants
the first brick or stone to the left of that direction, because
snakes and elephants do not turn to the left but always to
the right. Consequently the house will be more secure and
less likely to be shaken down by Shesh Nag's movements,
which cause the phenomenon known to us as an earthquake.
Below the foundation-stone or brick are buried a pice, an
areca-nut and a grain of rice, and it is lucky if the stone
be laid by a man who has been faithful to his wife. There
should be no echo in a house, as an echo is considered to
be the voice of evil spirits. The main beam should be
placed in position on a lucky day, and the carpenter breaks
a cocoanut against it and receives a present. The width of
the rooms along the front of a house should be five cubits
each, and if there is a staircase it must have an uneven
m
V i 'y v,'".*< ' ''" ,V"| ' riM 1 , *"' '/'^feft-'
'. ' ij >? *r* J4sv*f !) ! ''^*lwJ
^^^/';'^W?to^l
." ^'"V '\ :''!!'|;|^;i'*r|llkWr!
o
z
o
1 1 S UPERS TITIONS ABO UT HO USES 89
number of steps. The door should be low so that a man
must bend his head on entering and thus show respect to
the household god. The floor of the verandas should be
lower than that of the room inside ; the Hindus say that
the compound should not see the veranda nor the veranda
the house. But this rule has of course also the advantage
of keeping the house-floor dry. If the main beam of a
house breaks it is a very bad omen, as also for a vulture
or kite to perch on the roof; if this should happen seven
days running the house will inevitably be left empty by
sickness or other misfortune. A dog howling in front of
the house is very unlucky, and if, as may occasionally
happen, a dog should get on to the roof of the house and
bark, the omen is of the worst kind. Neither the pipal nor
banyan trees should be planted in the yard of a house,
because the leavings of food might fall upon them, and this
would be an insult to the deities who inhabit the sacred
trees. Neither is it well to plant the nun tree, because the
nwn is the tree of anchorites, and the frequent contemplation
of it will take away from a man the desire of offspring 1 and
lead to the extinction of his family. Bananas should not
be grown close to the house, because the sound of this fruit
bursting the pod is said to be audible, and to hear it is most
unlucky. It is a good thing to have a gular^- tree in the
yard, but at a little distance from the house so that the
leavings of food may not fall upon it ; this is the tree of
the saint Dattatreya, and will cause wealth to increase in
the house. A plant of the sacred tulsi or basil is usually
kept in the yard, and every morning the householder pours
a vessel of water over it as he bathes, and in the evening
places a lamp beside it. This holy plant sanctifies the air
which passes over it to the house.
No one should ever sit on the threshold of a house ; this
is the seat of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, and to sit on
it is disrespectful to her. A house should never be swept
at twilight, because it is then that Lakshmi makes her
rounds, and she would curse it and pass by. At this time
a lamp should be lighted, no one should be allowed to sleep,
and even if a man is sick he should sit up on his bed. At
1 Fzcus glomerata.
90 KURMI PART
this time the grinding-mill should not be turned nor grain be
husked, but reverence should be paid to ancestors and to the
household deities. No one must sit on the grinding-mill ; it
is regarded as a mother because it gives out the flour by
which the family is fed. No one must sit on cowdung cakes
because they are the seat of Saturn, the Evil One, and their
smell is called Samckar ke bas. No one must step on the
chidha or cooking-hearth nor jar it with his foot, At the
midday meal, when food is freshly cooked, each man will take
a little fire from the hearth and place it in front of him, and
will throw a little of everything he eats on to the fire, and
some gkz as an offering to Agni, the god of fire. And he
will also walk round the hearth, taking water in his hand
and then throwing it on the ground as an offering to
Agni. A man should not sleep with his feet to the south,
because a corpse is always laid in that direction. He should
not sleep with his feet to the east, nor spit out water from
his mouth in the direction of the east.
36. Fumi- Of furniture there is very little. Carefully arranged in
tore. their pi aces are the brass cooking-pots, water-pots and
plates, well polished with mud and water applied with
plenty of elbow-grease by the careful housewife. Poor
tenants frequently only have one or two brass plates and
cups and an iron girdle, while all the rest of their vessels are
of earthenware. Each house has several chulhas or small
horseshoe erections of earth for cooking. Each person in
the house has a sleeping-cot if the family is comfortably off,
and a spare one is also kept. These must be put out and
exposed to the sun at least once a week to clear them of
fleas and bugs. It is said that the Jains cannot adopt this
method of disinfecting their beds owing to the sacrifice of
insect life thereby involved ; and that there are persons in
Calcutta who make it their profession to go round and offer
to lie on these cots for a time ; they lie on them for some
hours, and the little denizens being surfeited with their
blood subsequently allow the owner of the cot to have a
quiet night. A cot should always be shorter than a man's
length, so that his legs project over the end ; if it is so long
as to contain his whole length it is like a bier, and it is feared
that lying on a cot of this kind will cause him shortly to lie
LJ
ii CLOTHES 91
on a bier. Poor tenants do not usually have cots, but sleep
on the ground, spreading kodon- straw on it for warmth.
They have no bedding except a gudri or mattress made of
old rags and clothes sewn together. In winter they put it
over them, and sleep on it in summer. They will have a
wooden log to rest their heads on when sleeping, and this
will also serve as a seat for a guest. Malguzars have a
razai or quilt, and a doria or thick cloth like those used for
covering carts. Clothes and other things are kept mjhampis
or round bamboo baskets. For sitting on there are machms
or four-legged stools about a foot high with seats of grass
rope or pirhis, little wooden stools only an inch or two from
the ground. For lighting, wicks are set afloat in little
earthen saucers filled with oil.
Landowners usually have a long coat known as angarkha 37-
reaching to the knees, with flaps folding over the breasts and
tied with strings. The bandi is a short coat like this but
coming only to the hips, and is more popular with cultivators.
In the cold weather it is frequently stuffed with cotton and
dyed dark green or dark blue so as not to show the dirt.
For visits of ceremony a pair of paijamas are kept, but other
wise the dhoti or loin-cloth is commonly worn. Wearing the
dhoti pulled half-way up to the thighs is called * cultivator's
fashion. 3 A shirt may be worn under the coat ; but cultivators
usually have only one garment, nowadays often a sleeveless
coat with buttons in front. The proper head-dress is the
pagri, a piece of coloured cloth perhaps 30 feet long and a
foot wide, twisted tightly into folds, which is lifted on and
off the head and is only rarely undone. Twisting the pagri
is an art, and a man is usually hired to do it and paid four
annas. The pagris have different shapes in different parts
of the country, and a Hindu can tell by the shape of a man's
pagri where he comes from. But nowadays cultivators
usually wear a dupatta or short piece of cloth tied loosely
round the head. The tenant arranges his head-cloth with a
large projection on one side, and in it he carries his chilam
or pipe-bowl, and also small quantities of vegetables, salt or
condiments purchased at the bazar. In case of necessity he
can transform it into a loin-cloth, or tie up a bundle of grass
with it, or tie his lota to it to draw water from a well.
92 KURMI PART
1 What can the washerman do in a village where the people
live naked ? ' is a Chhattlsgarhi proverb which aptly indicates
that scantiness is the most prominent feature of the local
apparel. Here a cloth round the loins, and this usually of
meagre dimensions, constituted, until recently, the full dress
of a cultivator. Those who have progressed a stage farther
throw a cloth loosely over one shoulder, covering the chest,
and assume an apology for a turban by wrapping another
small rag carelessly round the head, leaving the crown
generally bare, as if this part of the person required special
sunning and ventilation. Hindus will not be seen out-of-
doors with the head bare, though the Gonds and other tribes
only begin to wear head-cloths when they are adopting
Hinduism. The Gondi fashion was formerly prevalent in
Chhattlsgarh. Some sanctity attaches to the turban,
probably because it is the covering of the head. To knock
off a man's turban is a great insult, and if it drops off or he
lets it fall, it is a very bad omen.
3 8. Women in the northern Districts wear a skirt made of
Women's coarse cloth, usually red or blue, and a shoulder-cloth of the
clothes. J J '
same material. Hand-woven cloth is still commonly used
In the interior. The skirt is sometimes drawn up through
the legs behind so as to give it a divided appearance ; this
is called kachhota. On the upper part of the body they
wear an angia or breast-cloth, that is a short, tight, sleeveless
jacket reaching only to below the breasts. The angia is
tied behind, while the Maratha choli, which is the same thing,
Is buttoned or tied in front. High-caste women draw their
shoulder-cloth right over the head so that the face cannot
be seen. When a woman goes before a person of position
she covers her head, as it is considered immodest to leave
it bare. Women of respectable families wear a sheet of fine
white, yellow, or red cloth drawn over the head and reaching
to the ankles when they go on a journey, this being known
as pichhora. In Chhattlsgarh all the requirements of fashion
among women are satisfied by one cloth from 8 to 1 2 yards
long and about a yard wide, which envelops' the person in
one fold from the waist to below the knee, hanging some
what loosely. It is tied at the waist, and the remaining half
is spread over the breast and drawn across the right shoulder,
BA THING FOOD
93
the end covering the head like a sheet and falling over the
left shoulder. The simplicity of this solitary garment dis
plays a graceful figure to advantage, especially on festival
days, when those who can afford it are arrayed in tasar silk.
When a girl is married the bridegroom's family give her
expensive clothes to wear at festivals and her own people
give her ordinary clothes, but usually not more than will last
a year. Whenever she goes back to her father's house after
her marriage, he gives her one or two cloths if he can afford
it. Women of the middle and lower classes wear ornaments
of bell-metal, a mixture of copper and zinc, which are very
popular. Some women wear brass and zinc ornaments, and
well-to-do persons have them of silver or gold.
Hot water is not used for bathing in Saugor, except by 39. Bath-
invalids, but is customary in Betul and other Districts. mg "
The bathing-place in the courtyard is usually a large square
stone on which the bather sits ; he has a big circular brass
vessel by him called gangal} and from this he takes water
either in a cup or with his hands and throws it over himself,
rubbing his body. Where there is a tank or stream people go
to bathe in it, and if there is none the poorer classes some
times bathe at the village well. Each man or woman has
two body- or loin-cloths, and they change the cloth whenever
they bathe going into the water in the one which they have
worn from the previous day, and changing into the other
when they come out ; long practice enables them to do this
in public without any undue exposure of the body. A good
tank or a river is a great amenity to a village, especially if it
has a ghat or flight of stone steps. Many people will spend
an hour or so here daily, disporting themselves in the water
or on the bank, and wedding and funeral parties are held by
it, owing to the facilities for ceremonial bathing.
People who do not cultivate with their own hands have 40. Food.
only two daily meals, one at midday and the other at eight
or nine in the evening. Agriculturists require a third meal
In the early morning before going out to the fields. Wheat
and the millets juari and kodon are the staple foods of the
cultivating classes in the northern Districts, and rice is kept
for festivals. The millets are made into thick cJiapatis or
1 From Ganga, or the Ganges, and ala a pot.
94
KURMI
cakes, their flour not being sufficiently adhesive for thin ones,
and are eaten with the pulses, lentils, arhar, 1 mung 2 and urad. 3
The pulses are split into half and boiled in water, and when
they get soft, chillies, salt and turmeric are mixed with
them. Pieces of chapdti are broken off and dipped into this
mixture. Various vegetables are also eaten. When pulse
is not available the chapdtis are simply dipped into butter
milk. If chapdtis cannot be afforded at both meals, ghorna
or the flour of kodon or juar boiled into a paste with water
is substituted for them, a smaller quantity of this being
sufficient to allay hunger. Wheat -cakes are fried in ghz
(clarified butter) as a luxury, and at other times in sesamum
oil. Rice or ground gram boiled in buttermilk are other
favourite foods.
In Chhattlsgarh rice is the common food : it is eaten
with pulses at midday and with vegetables cooked in ghi in
the evening. In the morning they drink a rice-gruel, called
bdsi, which consists of the previous night's repast mixed with
water and taken cold. On festivals rice is boiled In milk.
Milk is often drunk at night, and there is a saying, " He who
drinks water in the morning and milk at night and takes
harra before he sleeps will never need a doctor." A little
powdered Izarra or myrobalan acts as an aperient. The
food of landowners and tenants is much the same, except
that the former have more butter and vegetables, according
to the saying, Raja praja ka ekhi khdna} or ' The king and
peasant eat the same food/ Those who eat flesh have an
occasional change of food, but most Kurmis abstain from it.
Farmservants eat the gruel of rice or kodon boiled in water
when they can afford it, and if not they eat mahua flowers.
These are sometimes boiled in water, and the juice is then
strained off and mixed with half-ground flour, and they are
also pounded and made into chapdtis with flour and water.
The leaves of the young gram-plants make a very favourite
vegetable and are eaten raw, either moist or dried. In times
of scarcity the poorer classes eat tamarind leaves, the pith
of the banyan tree, the seeds of the bamboo, the bark of the
semar tree, 4 the fruit of the babul f and other articles. A
1 Cajanus indicus. 2 Phaseolus mungo. 3 Phaseohts radiatus.
4 Bomdax malabaricum* & Acacia arabica.
n CASTE-FEASTS 95
cultivator will eat 2 Ibs. of grain a day if he can get it, or
more in the case of rice. Their stomachs get distended
owing to the large quantities of boiled rice eaten at one
time. The leaves of the chirota or chakora, a little plant l
which grows thickly at the commencement of the rains near
inhabited sites, are also a favourite vegetable, and a resource
in famine time. The people call it ' Gaon ka thakur* or
' lord of the village/ and have a saying :
Amarbel aur kamalgata^
Gaon ka thakur^ gai ka matha^
Nagar sowasan, unmen milai^
Khaj\ dad, sehua mztjawe.
Amarbel is an endless creeper, with long yellow strings
like stalks, which infests and destroys trees ; it is called
amarbel or the immortal, because it has no visible root.
Kamalgata is the seed of the lotus ; gai ka matha is butter
milk ; nagar sowasan, ' the happiness of the town, 3 is
turmeric, because married women whose husbands are alive
put turmeric on their foreheads every day ; khaj\ dad and
sehua are itch, ringworm and some kind of rash, perhaps
measles ; and the verse therefore means :
" Eat amarbel, lotus seeds, chirota, buttermilk and
turmeric mixed together, and you will keep off itch, ring
worm and measles." Chirota is good for the itch.
At the commencement of a marriage or other ceremonial 41. Caste-
feast the host must wash the feet of all the guests himself. feasts<
If he does not do this they will be dissatisfied, and, though
they will eat at his house, will consider they have not been
properly welcomed. He takes a large brass plate and
placing the feet of his guest on it, pours water over them
and then rubs and dries them ; the water is thrown away
and fresh water poured out for the next guest unless they
should be brothers. Little flat stools about three inches
high are provided for the guests, and if there are not enough
of them a carpet is spread ; or baithkis or sitting-mats
plaited from five or six large leaves are set out These
serve as a mark of attention, as it would be discourteous to
make a man sit on the ground, and they also prevent the body-
1 Cassia tora*
96 KURMI PART
cloth from getting wet The guests sit in the chauk or yard
of the house inside, or in the angan or outside yard, either in
lines or in a circle ; members of the same caste sit with
their crossed knees actually touching those of the man on
either side of them to emphasise their brotherhood ; if a
man sat even a few inches apart from his fellows people
would say he was out of caste and this is how a man who
is put out of caste actually does sit. Before each guest may
be set two plates of leaves and eight donas or leaf-cups. On
the plates are heaped rice, cakes of wheat fried in butter,
and of husked urad pulse cooked with tilli or sesamum oil,
and the pulse of gram and lentils. In the cups will be
sugar, ghi) dahi or curded milk, various vegetables, pumpkins,
and besin or ground gram cooked with buttermilk. All the
male members of the host's family serve the food and they
take it round, heaping and pouring it into each man's plates
or cups until he says enough ; and they continue to give
further helpings as required. All the food is served at once
in the different plates and cups, but owing to the number of
guests a considerable time elapses before all are fully served,
and the dinner lasts about two hours. The guests eat all
the different dishes together with their fingers, taking a little
of each according to their fancy. Each man has his lota or
vessel of water by him and drinks as he eats. When the
meal is finished large brass plates are brought in, one being
given to about ten guests, and they wash their hands over
these, pouring water on them from their vessels. A fresh
carpet is then spread in the yard and the guests sit on it,
and betel-leaf and tobacco are distributed. The huqqa is
passed round, and chilams and chongis (clay pipe-bowls and
leaf-pipes) are provided for those who want them. The
women do not appear at the feast but stay inside, sitting in
the angan or inner court, which is behind the purda.
42. Hospi- The people still show great hospitality, and it is the
tahty. custom of many malguzars, at least in Chhattlsgarh, to afford
food and a night's rest to all travellers who may require it.
When a Brahman comes to the village such malguzars . will
give him one or two annas, and to a Pandit or learned man
as much as a rupee. Formerly it is said that when any
stranger came through the village he was at once offered a
ii SOCIAL CUSTOMS: TATTOOING 97
cup of milk and told to drink it or throw it away. But
this custom has died out in Chhattlsgarh, though one has
met with it once or twice in Sambalpur. When District
Officers go on tour, well-to-do landowners ask to be allowed
to supply free provisions for the whole camp at least for a
day, and it is difficult to refuse them gracefully. In Mandla,
Banias and malguzars in villages near the Nerbudda some
times undertake to give a pound of grain to every parikrama-
wasi or pilgrim perambulating the Nerbudda. And as the
number of these steadily increases in consequence, they
often become impoverished as a result of such indiscriminate
charity.
The Kurmis employ Brahmans for their ceremonies. 43. Social
They have gurus or spiritual preceptors who may be Brah- ^^^
mans or Bairagis ; the guru is given from 8 annas to Rs. 5
when he initiates a neophyte, as well as his food and a new
white cloth. The guru is occasionally consulted on some
religious question, but otherwise he does nothing for his
disciple except to pay him an occasional visit, when he
is hospitably entertained. The Kurmis of the northern
Districts do not as a rule eat meat and also abstain from
alcohol, but in Chhattlsgarh they eat the flesh of clean
animals and fish, and also of fowls, and drink country
liquor. Old men often give up flesh and wine as a mark
of piety, when they are known as Bhagat or holy. They
will take food cooked with water only from Brahmans, and
that cooked without water from Rajputs, Banias and
Kayasths as well. Brahmans and Rajputs will take water
from Kurmis in the northern Districts though not in
Chhattlsgarh. Here the Kurmis do not object to eating
cooked food which has been carried from the house to the
fields. This is called rengai roti^ and castes which will eat
it are considered inferior to those who always take their
food in the chauka or purified place in the house. They
say Ram, Ram ' to each other in greeting, and the Raipur
Kurmis swear by a dog or a pig. Generally they do not
plough on the new or full moon days. Their women are
tattooed after marriage with dots on the cheeks, marks of
flies on the fingers, scorpions on the arms, and other devices
on the legs.
VOL. IV H
98 KURMI PART
44. Caste Permanent expulsion from caste is inflicted for a change
penalties. o f re iigi onj taking food or having sexual intercourse with a
member of an impure caste, and for eating beef. For killing
a man, a cow, a buffalo, an ass, a horse, a squirrel, a cat or
a monkey a man must purify himself by bathing in the
Ganges at Allahabad or Benares and giving a feast to the
caste. It will be seen that all these are domestic animals
except the monkey, who is the god Hanuman. The squirrel
is counted as a domestic animal because it is always about
the house, and the souls of children are believed to go into
squirrels. One household animal, the dog, is omitted, and
he appears to be less sacred than the others. For getting
maggots in a wound the offender must bathe in a sacred
river, such as the Nerbudda or Mahanadi, and give a feast
to the caste. For eating or having intercourse with a
member of any caste other than the impure ones, or for a
liaison within the caste, or for divorcing a wife or marrying a
widow, or in the case of a woman for breaking her bangles
in a quarrel with her husband, a penalty feast must be
given. If a man omits to feast the caste after a death in
his family a second feast is imposed, and if he insults the
panchayat he is fined.
45. The The social status of the Kurmi appears to be that of
cultivating fa^, cultivator. He is above the menial and artisan castes
of the village and the impure weaving and labouring castes ;
he is theoretically equal to the artisan castes of towns, but
one or two of these, such as the Sunar or goldsmith and
Kasar or brass-worker, have risen in the world owing to the
prosperity or importance of their members, and now rank
above the Kurmi. The Kurmi's status appears to be that
of the cultivator and member of the village community, but
a large proportion of the Kurmis are recruited from the
non-Aryan tribes, who have obtained land and been
admitted into the caste, and this tends to lower the status
of the caste as a whole. In the Punjab Kurmis apparently
do not hold land and are employed in grass-cutting, weav
ing, and tending horses, and are even said to keep pigs. 1
Here their status is necessarily very low as they follow the
occupations of the impure castes. The reason why the
* Punjab Census Report (1881), p. 340.
ii THE CULTIVATING STATUS 99
Kurmi as cultivator ranks above the village handicraftsmen
may perhaps be that industrial pursuits were despised in
early times and left to the impure Sudras and to the castes
of mixed descent ; while agriculture and trade were the
occupations of the Vaishya. Further, the village artisans
and menials were supported before the general use of
current coin by contributions of grain from the cultivators
and by presents of grain at seed-time and harvest ; and
among the Hindus it is considered very derogatory to
accept a gift, a man who does so being held to admit his
social inferiority to the giver. Some exception to this is
made in the case of Brahmans, though even with them the
rule partly applies. Of these two reasons for the cultivator's
superiority to the menial and -artisan castes the former has
to a large extent lost its force. The handicrafts are no
longer considered despicable, and, as has been seen, some
of the urban tradesmen, as the Sunar and Kasar, now rank
above the Kurmi, or are at least equal to him. Perhaps
even in ancient times these urban artificers were not
despised like, the village menials, as their skill was held
in high repute. But the latter ground is still in full force
and effect in the Central Provinces at least ; the village
artisans are still paid by contributions from the cultivator
and receive presents from him at seed-time and harvest.
The remuneration of the village menials, the blacksmith,
carpenter, washerman, tanner, barber and waterman is paid
at the rate of so much grain per plough of land according
to the estimated value of the work done by them for the
cultivators during the year. Other village tradesmen, as
the potter, oilman and liquor-vendor, are no longer paid in
grain, but since the introduction of currency sell their wares
for cash ; but there seems no reason to doubt that in former
times when no money circulated in villages they were re
munerated in the same manner. They still all receive
presents, consisting of a sowing-basketful of grain at seed
time and one or two sheaves at harvest. The former are
known as Byphuti, or ' the breaking of the seed/ and the
latter as Khanvdr, or that which is left' In Bilaspur the
Kamias or village menials also receive as much grain as will
fill a winnowing-fan when it has been threshed. When the
ioo KURMT PART
peasant has harvested his grain all come and beg from him.
The Dhitnar brings waternut, the Kachhi or market-gardener
some chillies, the Teli oil and tobacco, the Kalar some liquor
if he drinks it, the Bania some sugar, and all receive grain
in excess of the value of their gifts. The village menials
come for their customary dues, and the Brahman, the Nat
or acrobat, the Gosain or religious mendicant, and the Fakir
or Muharnmadan beggar solicit alms. On that day the
cultivator is like a little king in his fields, and it is said that
sometimes a quarter of the crop may go in this way ; but
the reference must be only to the spring crop and not to the
whole holding. In former times grain must have been the
principal source of wealth, and this old custom gives us
a reason for the status of the cultivator in Hindu society.
There is also a saying :
Uttam kheti, madkyam bdn^
Kanisht chdkri^ bklk niddn^
or * Cultivation is the best calling, trade is respectable, service
is menial, and begging is degraded.'
46. Occu- The Kurmi is the typical cultivator. He loves his land,
pation. anc j to j ose j t j s to k rea k fae mainspring of his life. His land
gives him a freedom and independence of character which is
not found among the English farm-labourers. He is in
dustrious and plodding, and inured to hardship. In some
Districts the excellent tilth of the Kurmi's fields well portrays
the result of his persevering labour, which he does not grudge
to the land because it is his own. His wife is in no way
behind him ; the proverb says, " Good is the caste of the
Kurmin ; with a hoe in her hand she goes to the fields and
works with her husband." The Chandnahu Kurmi women
are said to be more enterprising than the men, keeping them
up to their work, and managing the business of the farm as
well as the household.
APPENDIX
LIST OF EXOGAMOUS CLANS
Sections of the Chandnahu subcaste :
Chdnwar bambar . Fly fan.
Sandil . . . . Name of a Rishi.
II
APPENDIX
101
Gaind
Sadaphal .
Sondeka
Sonkharchi
Katkail
Kashi
Dhorha
Sumer
Chatur Midalia .
Bharadwaj
Ko%t$il
Ish'war
Samund Karkari
Akalchuwa
Padel
Baghmar .
Hardiiba .
Kansia
Ghiu Sagar
Dkaram Dhurandar
Si?ignaha
Chimangarhia
Khairagarhia
Gotam
Kashyap
Pandarika
Paipakhar .
Banhpakhar
Chauria
Sand Sathi
Singhi
Agra Chandan
Tek Sanichar
Karaiya
Pukkaria .
DhubinJta .
Pa e wanbare
Modganga .
Ball.
A fruit.
Gold-bodied.
Spender of gold.
Keith, wood, or kaththa^ catechu.
Benares. The Desha Kurmis are all of this
gotra. It may also be a corruption of
Kachhap, tortoise.
Dhor, cattle.
A mountain.
Ckatitr^ clever.
After the Rishi of that name ; also a bird.
Name of a Rishi.
God.
A particle in an ocean.
Akal, famine.
Fallow.
Tiger-slayer.
Green grass.
Kans^ a kind of grass.
Ocean of ghf.
Most charitable.
Singh y a lion.
Belonging to Chimangarh.
Belonging to Khairagarh.
A Rishi.
A Rishi.
From Pandaria, a village.
One who washes feet.
One who washes arms.
Chaurai, a vegetable.
Sdnd^ bullock.
Singh^ lion or horn.
Sandal wood.
Saturday.
Frying-pan.
Pond.
Dhobi, a caste.
Pa'wan^ air.
Ganges.
Sections of the Gab el sub caste :
Gangajal .
Bimba Lohir
Sarang
Raja Rawat
Singar
Bank pagar
Samundha
Parasrdm .
Ganges water.
Bearer of a lathi (stick).
Peacock.
Royal prince.
Beauty.
With a thread on the arm.
Ocean.
Rishi.
102 KURMI
Katarmal . . . Katar^ dagger.
Chauhan , . . Sept of Rajpfits.
Patan . . . Village.
Gajmani . . . Elephant.
Deori Sumer . . Village.
Lahura Samudra . Srnall sea.
Hansbimbraon . . Hans^ goose.
Sunwani . . . Purifier.
Sections of the Santora subcaste :
Narvaria . . . Narwar, a town in Gwalior State.
Mundharia . . Mundhra, a village.
Naigaiyan . . . Naogaon, a town in Bundelkhand.
Pipraiya . . . Piparia, a village*
Dindoria . . . Dindori, a village in Mandla District.
Baheria . . .A village.
Bandha . . . Bandh, embankment.
KtmUsar . . . Wooden pestle.
Sections of the Tirole subcaste :
Baghele . ' . . Bagh, tiger, or a sept of Rajputs.
Rathor . . . Clan of Rajputs.
Panwar . . . Clan of Rajputs.
Solanki . . . Clan of Rajputs.
Aulia . . . Aonla, a fruit-bearing tree.
Sindia . . . Sindi^ date-palm tree.
Khusia . . . Khusi^ happiness.
Sanoria . . . San, hemp.
Gora . . . Fair-coloured.
Bkdkrya . . . Bkakar^ a thick bread.
Sections of the Gaur subcaste :
Bhandari . . . Storekeeper.
Dudhua . . . D&dh, milk.
Patele . . .A headman.
Lonta . . . Salt-maker.
Kumaria . . .A potter.
Sionta . . . Seoni town.
Chhaparia . . . Chhapara, a town.
Bijoria . . .A tree.
Simra . . .A village.
Ketharia . . . Keth, a fruit.
Usargaiyan . . Perhaps a village.
jBhadoria . . . Village.
Rurgaiyan. . . Village.
Musrele . . . Mnsar, a pestle.
Sections of the Usrete subcaste :
Stiikdre . , , Hunter.
JVd/iar . , , Tiger.
II
APPENDIX
103
Gursaraiyan
Bardia
Sandia
Sirwaiyan .
Itguhan
Sengaiyan wcSingaiyan
Harkotia .
Noria
Larent
Rabia
Lakhauria
Dhandkonya
Badgaiyan
Kotia
Bilwar
Thutha
Gursarai, a town.
A village.
Sandy a bull.
Sirwai, a village.
A village.
Sengai, a village.
Harkoti, a village.
Norai, a village.
Lareti, a village.
Rabai, a village.
(Lakori village. It is said that whoever
utters the name of this section early m
the morning is sure to remain hungry
the whole day, or at least will get into
some trouble that day.)
Dhandakna, to roll.
Badagaon, a large village.
Kot^ a fort.
Billi^ cat
Stump of a tree.
Sections of the Kanaujia subcaste :
7M** From Tidha, a village. This section is subdivided into
Z GlLreparke (of the cow-dung hill) ; (*) D^r P arke (of the
Chamanii- ^rom Chamyani (village). This is also
into :
(a) Gomarhya.
(b) Mathuria (Muttra town).
Chaudhri (caste headman). This is divided as follows :
(a) Majhgawan . - A village.
\b(purwthok. . - Eastern group.
\c\ Pashchim thok . . Western group.
Rawat
Malha
ChiloUan .
Dkanuiyan
) Bamurya
A village.
Title.
Perhaps sailor or wrestler.
Chiloli, a village.
Dhanu Kheda, a village.
LAKHERA
LIST OF PARAGRAPHS
1. General notice. 5- ^4 luc ty colour.
2. Social customs. 6. Vermilion and spangles.
3. The lac industry. 7- Red dye on the feet.
4. Lac bangles. 8. Red threads.
9. Lac toys.
i. General Lakhera, Laberi. The small caste whose members
notice. make bangles and other articles of lac. About 3000
persons were shown as belonging to the caste in the Central
Provinces in 1911, being most numerous in the Jubbulpore,
Chhindwara and Betul Districts. From Berar 150 persons
were returned, chiefly from Amraoti. The name is derived
from the Sanskrit laksha-kara^ a worker in lac. The
caste are a mixed functional group closely connected with
the Kacheras and Patwas ; no distinction being recognised
between the Patwas and Lakheras in some localities of the
Central Provinces. Mr. Baillie gives the following notice of
them in the Census Report of the North- Western Provinces
(1891): "The accounts given by members of the caste
of their origin are very various and sometimes ingenious.
One story is that like the Patwas, with whom they are
connected, they were originally Kayasths. According to
another account they were made from the dirt washed from
Parvatf before her marriage with Siva, being created by the
god to make bangles for his wife, and hence called Deobansi.
Again, it is stated, they were created by Krishna to make
bangles for the Gopis or milkmaids. The most elaborate
account is that they were originally Yaduvansi Rajputs,
who assisted the Kurus to make a fort of lac, in which
the Pandavas were to be treacherously burned. For this
104
PART ii SOCIAL CUSTOMSTHE LAC INDUSTRY 105
traitorous conduct they were degraded and compelled
eternally to work In lac or glass."
The bulk of these artisan and manufacturing castes tell 2. Social
stories showing that their ancestors were Kayasths and customs -
Rajputs, but no importance can be attached to such legends,
which are obviously manufactured by the family priests to
minister to the harmless vanity of their clients. To support
their claim the Lakheras have divided themselves like the
Rajputs into the Surajvansi and Somvansi subcastes or those
who belong to the Solar and Lunar races. Other sub
divisions are the Marwari or those coming from Marwar
in Raj pu tana, and the Tarkhera or makers of the large
earrings which low-caste women wear. These consist of a
circular piece of wood or fibre, nearly an inch across, which
is worked through a large hole in the lobe of the ear. It
is often the stalk of the ambdri fibre, and on the outer
end is fixed a slab decorated with little pieces of glass. The
exogamous sections of the Lakheras are generally named after
animals, plants and natural objects, and indicate that the
caste is recruited from the lower classes of the population.
Their social customs resemble those of the middle and lower
Hindustani castes. Girls are married at an early age when
the parents can afford the expense of the ceremony, but
no penalty is incurred if the wedding is postponed for want
of means. The remarriage of widows and divorce are per
mitted. They eat flesh, but not fowls or pork, and some of
them drink liquor, while others abstain. Rajputs and Banias
will take water from them, but not Brahmans. In Bombay,
however, they are considered to rank above Kunbis.
The traditional occupation of the Lakheras is to make 3. The lac
and sell bangles and other articles of lac. Lac is regarded m ustry '
with a certain degree of superstitious repugnance by the
Hindus because of its red colour, resembling blood. On
this account and also because of the sin committed in
killing them, no Hindu caste will propagate the lac insect,
and the calling is practised only by Gonds^Korkus and other
primitive tribes. Even Gonds will often refuse employment
in growing lac if they can make their living by cultivation.
Various superstitions attach to the propagation of the insects
to a fresh tree. This is done in Kunwar (September) and
io6 LAKHERA PART
always by men, the insects being carried in a leaf-cup and
placed on a branch of an uninfected tree, usually the kusiim}
It is said that the work should be done at night and the
man should be naked when he places the insects on the
tree. The tree is fenced round and nobody is allowed to
touch it, as it is considered that the crop would thus be
spoiled. If a woman has lost her husband and has to sow
lac, she takes her son in her arms and places the cup
containing the insects on his head ; on arriving at the tree
she manages to apply the insects by means of a stick, not
touching the cup with her own hands. All this ritual
attaches simply to the infection of the first tree, and after
wards in January or February the insects are propagated on
to other trees without ceremony. The juice of onions is
dropped on to them to make them healthy. The stick-lac
is collected by the Gonds and Korkus and sold to the
Lakheras ; they clear it of wood as far as possible and
then place the incrusted twigs and bark in long cotton bags
and heat them before a fire, squeezing out the gum, which
is spread out on flat plates so as to congeal into the shape
of a pancake. This is again heated and mixed with white
clay and forms the material for the bangles. They are
coloured with chapra> the pure gum prepared like sealing-
wax, which is mixed with vermilion, or arsenic and turmeric
for a yellow colour. In some localities at least only the
Lakheras and Patwas and no higher caste will sell articles
made of lac.
4. Lac The trade in lac bangles has now greatly declined, as
bangles. t k e y j iave k een SU ppl an ted by the more ornamental glass
bangles. They are thick and clumsy and five of them will
cover a large part of the space between the elbow and the
wrist. They may be observed on Banjara women. Lac
bangles are also still used by the Hindus, generally on
ceremonial occasions, as at a marriage, when they are pre
sented to and worn by the bride, and during the month of
Shrawan (July), when the Hindus observe a fast on behalf
of the growing crops and the women wear bangles of lac.
For these customs Mr. Hlra Lai suggests the explanation
that lac bangles were at one time generally worn by the
1 Schleichera trijuga.
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ii RED, A LUCKY COLOUR 107
Hindus, while glass ones are a comparatively recent fashion
introduced by the Muhammadans. In support of this it
may be urged that glass bangles are largely made by the
Muhammadan Turkari or Sisgar, and also that lac bangles
must have been worn prior to glass ones, because if the latter
had been known the clumsy and unornamental bracelet made
of lac and clay could never have come into existence. The
wearing of lac bangles on the above occasions would there
fore be explained according to the common usage of adhering
on religious and ceremonial occasions to the more ancient
methods and accessories, which are sanctified by association
and custom. Similarly the Holi pyre is often kindled with
fire produced by the friction of wood, and temples are
lighted with vegetable instead of mineral oil.
It may be noted, however, that lac bangles are not s- Red, a
always worn by the bride at a wedding, the custom being C oiour.
unknown in some localities. Moreover, it appears that glass
was known to the Hindus at a period prior to the Muham
madan invasions, though bangles may not have been made
from it. Another reason for the use of lac bangles on the
occasions noticed is that lac, as already seen, represents
blood. Though blood itself is now repugnant to the Hindus,
yet red is pre-eminently their lucky colour, being worn at
weddings and generally preferred. It is suggested in the
Bombay Gazetteer I that blood was lucky as having been the
first food of primitive man, who learnt to suck the blood
of animals before he ate their flesh. But it does not seem
necessary to go back quite so far as this. The earliest form
of sacrifice, as shown by Professor Robertson Smith, 2 was
that in which the community of kinsmen ate together the
flesh of their divine or totem animal god and drank its
blood. When the god became separated from the animal
and was represented by a stone at the place of worship and
the people had ceased to eat raw flesh and drink blood, the
blood was poured out over the stone as an offering to the
god. This practice still obtains among the lower castes
of Hindus and the primitive tribes, the blood of animals
offered to Devi and other village deities being allowed to
drop on to the stones representing them. But the higher
1 Hindus of Gujarat, App. } art. Vaghri, footnote. 2 Religion of the Semites,
io8 LAKHERA PART
castes of Hindus have abandoned animal sacrifices, and
hence cannot make the blood - offering. In place of it
they smear the stone with vermilion, which seems obviously
a substitute for blood, since it is used to colour the stones
representing the deities in exactly the same manner. Even
vermilion, however, is not offered to the highest deities of
Neo- Hinduism, Siva or Mahadeo and Vishnu, to whom
animal sacrifices would be abhorrent. It is offered to
Hanuman, whose image is covered with it, and to Devi and
Bhairon and to the many local and village deities. In past
times animal sacrifices were offered to Bhairon, as they still
are to Devi, and though it is not known that they were
made to Hanuman, this is highly probable, as he is the god
of strength and a mighty warrior. The Manbhao mendicants,
who abhor all forms of bloodshed like the Jains, never pass
one of these stones painted with vermilion if they can avoid
doing so, and if they are aware that there is one on their
road will make a circuit so as not to see it 1 There seems,
therefore, every reason to suppose that vermilion is a sub
stitute for blood in offerings and hence probably on other
occasions. As the places of the gods were thus always
coloured red with blood, red would come to be the divine
and therefore the propitious colour among the Hindus and
other races.
6. Ver- ' Among the constituents of the Sohag or lucky trousseau
mihonand without which no Hindu girl of good caste can be married
are sendur or vermilion, kunku or red powder or a spangle
(tiklfy and mahawar or red balls of cotton-wool. In
Chhattlsgarh and Bengal the principal marriage rite is usually
the smearing of vermilion by the bridegroom on the parting
of the bride's hair, and elsewhere this is commonly done as
a subsidiary ceremony. Here also there is little reason to
doubt that vermilion is a substitute for blood ; indeed, in
' some castes in Bengal, as noted by Sir H. Risley, the blood
of the parties is actually mixed. 2 This marking of the bride
with blood is a result of the sacrifice and communal feast of
kinsmen already described ; only those who could join in the
sacrificial meal and eat the flesh of the sacred animal god
1 Mackintosh, Report on the Man- 2 See articles on Khairwar and
Kewat.
n VERMILION AND SPANGLES 109
were kin to it and to each other ; but In quite early times the
custom prevailed of taking wives from outside the clan ;
and consequently, to admit the wife into her husband's kin,
it was necessary that she also should drink or be marked
with the blood of the god. The mixing of blood at marriage
appears to be a relic of this, and the marking of the fore
head with vermilion is a substitute for the anointing with
blood. Kunk^t, is a pink powder made of turmeric, lime-
juice and borax, which last is called by the Hindus ' the
milk of Anjini/ the mother of Hanuman. It seems to be a
more agreeable substitute for vermilion, whose constant use
has probably an injurious effect on the skin and hair. Kunku
is used in the Maratha country in the same way as vermilion,
and a married woman will smear a little patch on her fore
head every day and never allow her husband to see her
without it. She omits it only during the monthly period of
impurity. The tikli or spangle is worn in the Hindustani
Districts and not in the south. It consists of a small piece
of lac over which is smeared vermilion, while above it a piece
of mica or thin glass is fixed for ornament. Other adorn
ments may be added, and women from Rajputana, such as
the Marwari Banias and Banjaras, wear large spangles set
in gold with a border of jewels if they can afford it. The
spangle is made and sold by Lakheras and Patwas ; it is
part of the Sohag at marriages and is affixed to the girl's
forehead on her wedding and thereafter always worn ; as a
rule, if a woman has a spangle it is said that she does not
smear vermilion on her forehead, though both may occasionally
be seen. The name tikli is simply a corruption of tzka> which
means a mark of anointing or initiation on the forehead ; as
has been seen, the basis of the tikli is vermilion smeared on
lac-clay, and it is made by Lakheras ; and there is thus good
reason to suppose that the spangle is also a more ornamental
substitute for the smear of vermilion, the ancient blood-mark
by which a married woman was admitted into her husband's
clan. At her marriage a bride must always receive the glass
bangles and the vermilion, kunku, or spangle from her husband,
the other ornaments of the Sohag being usually given to her
by her parents. Unmarried girls now also sometimes wear
small ornamental spangles, and put kunku on their foreheads.
110
LAKHERA PART
But before marriage it is optional and afterwards compulsory.
A widow may not wear vermilion, kunku, or spangles.
7 . Red dye The Lakheras also sell balls of red cotton-wool known
on the feet. as m ^j mr fa guleli or mahawar. The cotton-wool is dipped in
the melted lac-gum and is rubbed on to the feet of women to
colour them red or pink at marriages and festivals. This
is done by the barber's wife, who will colour the feet of the
whole party, at the same time drawing lines round the
outside of the foot and inward from the toes. The
makdwar is also an essential part of the Sohag of marriage.
Instead of lac the Muhammadans use mehndi or henna, the
henna-leaves being pounded with catechu and the mixture
rubbed on to the feet and hands. After a little time it is
washed off and a red dye remains on the skin. It is supposed
that the similar custom which prevailed among the ancient
Greeks is alluded to in the epithet of ' rosy-fingered Aurora. 1
The Hindus use henna dye only in the month Shrawan
(July), which is a period of fasting ; the auspicious kunku and
mahdwar are therefore perhaps not considered suitable at
such a time, but as special protection is needed against evil
spirits, the necessary red colouring is obtained from henna.
When a married woman rubs henna on her hands, if the
dye comes out a deep red tinge, the other women say that
her husband is not in love with her ; but if of a pale yellowish
tinge, that he is very much in love.
s. Red The Lakheras and Patwas also make the kardora or
threads. wa ist-band of red thread. This is worn by Hindu men and
women, except Maratha Brahmans. After he is married, if
a man breaks this thread he must not take food until he has
put on a fresh one, and the same rule applies to a woman
all her life. Other threads are the rakhis tied round the
wrists for protection against evil spirits on the day of
Rakshabandhan, and the necklets of silk or cotton thread
wound round with thin silver wire, which the Hindus put on
at Anant Chaudas and frequently retain for the whole year.
The colour of all these threads is generally red in the first
place, but they soon get blackened by contact with the skin.
9. Lac Toys of lac are especially made during the fast of
toys * Shrawan (July). At this time for five years after her mar
riage a Hindu bride receives annually from her husband a
n LAC TOYS in
present called Shraoni, or that which Is given in Shrawan. It
consists of a chakri or reel, to which a string Is attached, and
the reel is thrown up into the air and wound and unwound
on the string ; a bhora or wooden top spun by a string ; a
bansuli or wooden flute ; a stick and ball, lac bangles and a
spangle, and cloth, usually of red chintz. All these toys are
made by the carpenter and coloured red with lac by the
Lakhera, with the exception of the bangles which may be
yellow or green. For five years the bride plays with the
toys, and then they are sent to her no longer as her childhood
has passed. It is probable that some, if not all of them, are
in a manner connected with the crops, and supposed to have
a magical influence, because during the same period It is the
custom for boys to walk on stilts and play at swinging them
selves ; and in these cases the original idea Is to make the
crops grow as high as the stilts or swing. As In the other
cases, the red colour appears to have a protective influence
against evil spirits, who are more than usually active at a
time of fasting.
LODHI
LIST OF PARAGRAPHS
I. Origin and traditions. 7. Widow-marriage and puberty
2. Position in the Central Pro- rite.
mnces. 8. Mourning impurity.
3. Subdivisions. 9. Social customs.
4. Exogamous groups. 10. Greetings and method of
5. Marriage customs. address.
6. The Gauna ceremony. Per- n. Sacred thread and social
tility rites. status.
i. Origin Lodhi, Lodha. An important agricultural caste resid-
' m S principally In the Vindhyan Districts and Nerbudda
valley, whence they have spread to the Wainganga
and the Khairagarh State of ChhattTsgarh. Their total
strength in the Province is 300,000 persons. The Lodhis
are immigrants from the United Provinces, in whose
Gazetteers it is stated that they belonged originally to the
Ludhiana District and took their name from it. Their proper
designation is Lodha, but it has become corrupted to Lodhi
In the Central Provinces. A number of persons resident in
the Harda tahsll of Hoshangabad are called Lodha and say
that they are distinct from the Lodhis. There is nothing to
support their statement, however, and it is probable that they
simply represent the separate wave of immigration which
took place from Central India Into the Hoshangabad and
Betul Districts in the fifteenth century. They spoke a
different dialect of the group known as Rajasthani, and hence
perhaps the caste-name did not get corrupted. The Lodhis
of the Jubbulpore Division probably came here at a later
date from northern India. The Mandla Lodhis are said to
have been brought to the District by Raja Hirde Sah of the
Gond-Rajput dynasty of Garha-Mandla in the seventeenth
PART n POSITION IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES 113
century, and they were given large grants of the waste land
in the interior in order that they might clear it of forest. 1
The Lodhis are a good instance of a caste who have obtained
a great rise in social status on migrating to a new area. In
northern India Mr. Nesfield places them lowest among the
agricultural castes and states that they are little better than
a forest tribe. He derives the name from lod> a clod, accord
ing to which Lodhi would mean clodhopper. 2 Another
suggestion is that the name is derived from the bark of the
lodh tree, 3 which is collected by the Lodhas in northern India
and sold for use as a dyeing agent In Bulandshahr they are
described as " Of short stature and uncouth appearance, and
from this as well as from their want of a tradition of immi
gration from other parts they appear to be a mixed class
proceeding from aboriginal and Aryan parents. In the
Districts below Agra they are considered so low that no one
drinks water touched by them ; but this is not the case in
the Districts above Agra." 4 In Hamirpur they appear to
have some connection with the Kurmis, and a story told of
them in Saugor is that the first Lodhi was created by Mahadeo
from a scarecrow in a Kurmi woman's field and given the
vocation of a farmservant But the Lodhis themselves
claim Rajput ancestry and say that they are descended from
Lava, the eldest of the two sons of Raja Ramchandra of
Ajodhya.
In the Central Provinces they have become landholders 2. Position
and are addressed by the honorific title of Thakur, ranking eSrai
with the higher cultivating castes. Several Lodhi land- Provinces,
holders in Damoh and Saugor formerly held a quasi-
independent position under the Muhammadans, and subse
quently acknowledged the Raja of Panna as their suzerain,
who conferred on some families the titles of Raja and Diwan.
They kept up a certain amount of state and small contingents
of soldiery, attended by whom they went to pay their respects
to the representative of the ruling power. "It would be
difficult," says Grant, 5 " to recognise the descendants of the
1 Colonel Ward's Mandla Settle- 4 Raja Lachman Singh's Btilandshakr
ment Report, p. 29. Memo, p. 182, quoted in Mr. Crooke's
2 Brief View of the Caste System, Tribes and Castes, art. Lodha.
p^ 4. 6 Narsinghpur Settlement Report
3 Symplocos racemosa. (1866), p. 28.
VOL. IV *
114 LODHI TART
peaceful cultivators of northern India in the strangely
accoutred Rajas who support their style and title by a score
of ragged matchlock-men and a ruined mud fort on a hill
side." Sir B. Fuller's Damoh Settlement Report says of
them : " A considerable number of villages had been for long
time past in the possession of certain important families,
who held them by prescription or by a grant from the ruling
power, on a right which approximated as nearly to the
English idea of proprietorship as native custom permitted.
The most prominent of these families were of the Lodhi
caste. They have developed tastes for sport and freebooting
and have become decidedly the most troublesome item in the
population. During the Mutiny the Lodhis as a class were
openly disaffected, and one of their proprietors, the Talukdar
of Hindoria, marched on the District headquarters and looted
the treasury." Similarly the Ramgarh family of Mandla
took to arms and lost the large estates till then held
by them. On the other hand the village of Imjhira in
Narsinghpur belonging to a Lodhi malguzar was gallantly
defended against a band of marauding rebels from Saugor.
Sir R. Craddock describes them as follows : " They are men
of strong character, but their constant family feuds and love
of faction militate against their prosperity. A cluster of
Lodhi villages forms a hotbed of strife and the nearest
relations are generally divided by bitter animosities. The
Revenue Officer who visits them is beset by reckless charges
and counter-charges and no communities are less amenable
to conciliatory compromises. Agrarian outrages are only
too common in some of the Lodhi villages." 1 The high
status of the Lodhi caste in the Central Provinces as
compared with their position in the country of their origin
may be simply explained by the fact that they here became
landholders and ruling chiefs.
3 . Sub- In the northern Districts the landholding Lodhis are
divisions. dj v j ded into a num ber of exogamous clans who marry with
each other in imitation of the Rajputs. These are the
Mahdele, Kerbania, Dongaria, Narwaria, Bhadoria and others.
The name of the Kerbanias is derived from Kerbana, a village
in Damoh, and the Balakote family of that District are the
1 Nagpur Settlement Report^ p. 24.
n SUBDIVISIONS 115
head of the clan. The Mahdeles are the highest clan and
have the titles of Raja and Diwan, while the others hold
those of Rao and Kunwar, the terms Diwan and Kunwar
being always applied to the younger brother of the head
of the house. These titles are still occasionally conferred
by the Raja of Panna, whom the Lodhi clans looked on
as their suzerain. The name of the Mahdeles is said to
be derived from the mehndi or henna plant. The above
clans sometimes practise hypergamy among themselves and
also with the other Lodhis, taking daughters from the latter
on receipt of a large bridegroom-price for the honour con
ferred by the marriage. This custom is now, however,
tending to die out. There are also several endogamous
subcastes ranking below the clans, of whom the principal
are the Singrore, Jarha, Jangra and Mahalodhi. The
Singrore take their name from the old town of Singraur
or Shrengera in northern India, Singrore, like Kanaujia,
being a common subcaste name among several castes. It
is also connected more lately with the Singram Ghat or
ferry of the Ganges in Allahabad District, and the title of
Rawat is said to have been conferred on the Singrore
Lodhis by the emperor Akbar on a visit there. The
Jarha Lodhis belong to Mandla. The name is probably a
form of Jharia or jungly, but since the leading members
of the caste have become large landholders they repudiate
this derivation. The Jangra Lodhis are of ChhattTsgarh,
and the Mahalodhis or < Great Lodhis ' are an inferior group
to which the offspring of irregular unions are or were
relegated. The Mahalodhis are said to condone adultery
either by a man or woman on penalty of a feast to the caste.
Other groups are the Hardiha, who grow turmeric (haldi), and
the Gwalhare or cowherds. The Lodhas of Hoshangabad
may also be considered a separate subcaste. They disclaim
connection with the Lodhis, but the fact that the parent
caste in the United Provinces is known as Lodha appears
to establish their identity. They abstain from flesh and
liquor, which most Lodhis consume.
This division of the superior branch of a caste Into large
exogarnous clans and the lower one into endogamous sub-
castes is only found, so far as is known, among the Rajputs
ii6 LODHI PART
and one or two landholding castes who have Imitated them.
Its origin is discussed in the Introduction.
4. Exo- The subcastes are as usual divided into exogamous
g rou P s f the territorial, titular and totemistic classes.
Among sections named after places may be mentioned the
Chandpuria from Chandpur, the Kharpuria from Kharpur,
and the Nagpuriha, Raipuria, Dhamonia, Damauha and
Shahgariha from Nagpur, Raipur, Dhamoni, Damoh and
Shahgarh. Two-thirds of the sections have the names of
towns or villages. Among titular names are Saulakhia,
owner of 100 lakhs, Bhainsmar, one who killed a buffalo ;
Kodonchor, one who stole kodon, 1 Kumharha perhaps from
Kumhar a potter, and Rajbhar and Barhai (carpenter),
names of castes. Among totemistic names are Baghela, tiger,
also the name of a Rajput sept ; Kutria, a dog ; Khajuria,
the date-palm tree ; Mirchaunia, chillies ; Andwar, from the
castor-oil plant ; Bhainsaiya, a buffalo ; and Nak, the nose.
5. Mar- A man must not marry in his own section nor in that of
na e his mother. He may marry two sisters. The exchange of
customs.
girls between families is only in force among the Bilaspur
Lodhis, who say, ' Eat with those who have eaten with you
and marry with those who have married with you/ Girls
are usually wedded before puberty, but in the northern
Districts the marriage is sometimes postponed from desire
to marry into a good family or from want of funds to pay a
bridegroom-price, and girls of twenty or more may be un
married. A case is known of a man who had two daughters
unmarried at twenty-two and twenty-three years old, because
he had been waiting for good partis^ with the result that one
of them went and lived with a man and he then married off
the other in the Singhast 2 year, which is forbidden among the
Lodhis, and was put out of caste. The marriage and other
ceremonies of the Lodhis resemble those of the Kurmis,
except in Chhattisgarh where the Maratha fashion is followed.
Here, at the wedding, the bride and bridegroom hold between
them a doll made of dough with 2,1 cowries inside, and as
the priest repeats the marriage texts they pull It apart like
a cracker and see how many cowries each has got. It Is
1 A small millet. Jupiter is in conjunction with the con-
2 Every twelfth year when the planet stellation Sinh (Leo).
ir THE GAUNA CEREMONY; FERTILITY RITES 117
considered auspicious if the bridegroom has the larger
number. The priest is on the roof of the house, and before
the wedding he cries out :
'Are the king and queen here?' And a man below
answers, 'Yes.'
' Have they shoes on their feet ? ' ' Yes.'
' Have they bracelets on their hands ? ' ' Yes.'
' Have they rings in their ears ? ' ' Yes.'
* Have they crowns on their heads ? ' f Yes.'
' Has she glass beads round her neck ? ' l Yes/
' Have they the doll in their hands ? ' ' Yes.'
And the priest then repeats the marriage texts and beats
a brass dish while the doll is pulled apart. In the
northern Districts after the wedding the bridegroom must
untie one of the festoons of the marriage-shed, and If he
refuses to do this, it is an indelible disgrace on the bride's
party. Before doing so he requires a valuable present, such
as a buffalo.
When the girl becomes mature the Gauna or going-away 6. The
ceremony is performed. In Chhattlsearh before leaving; her Gauna
1 . *-* ^ ceremony.
home the bride goes out with her sister and worships a palds Fertility
tree. 1 Her sister waves a lighted lamp seven times over it, ntes *
and the bride goes seven times round it in Imitation of the
marriage ceremony. At her husband's house seven pictures
of the family gods are drawn on a wall inside the house and
the bride worships these, placing a little sugar and bread on
the mouth of each and bowing before them. She Is then
seated before the family god while an old woman brings a
stone rolling-pin 2 wrapped up in a piece of cloth, which is
supposed to be a baby, and the old woman imitates a baby
crying. She puts the roller in the bride's lap saying, ' Take
this and give It milk.' The bride Is abashed and throws It
aside. The old woman picks it up and shows it to the
assembled women saying, ' The bride has just had a baby/
amid loud laughter. Then she gives the stone to the bride
groom who also throws it aside. This ceremony Is meant
to induce fertility, and it is supposed that by making believe
that the bride has had a baby she will quickly have one.
The higher clans of Lodhis in Damoh and Saugor pro-
1 Butea frondosa* 2 This is known as lodha.
nS
LODHI
PART
7. Widow-
marriage
and
puberty
rite.
8. Mourn
ing
impurity.
9. Social
customs.
hibit the remarriage of widows, but instances of it occur. It
is said that a man who marries a widow is relegated to the
Mahalodhi subcaste or the Lahuri Sen, an illegitimate group,
and the Lodhis of his clan no longer acknowledge his family.
But if a girl's husband dies before she has lived with him
she may marry again. The other Lodhis freely permit
widow-marriage and divorce. When a girl first becomes
mature she is secluded, and though she may stay in the
house cannot enter the cook-room. At the end of the period
she is dressed in red cloth, and a present of cocoanuts stripped
of their shells, sweetmeats, and a little money, is placed in
her lap, while a few women are invited to a feast. This rite
is also meant to induce fertility, the kernel of the cocoanut
being held to resemble an unborn baby.
The higher clans consider themselves impure for a period
of 12 days after a birth, and if the birth falls in the Mul
asterism or Nakshatra, for 27 days. After death they
observe mourning for 10 days ; on the loth day they offer
ten pindas or funeral cakes, and on the 1 1 th day make one
large pinda or cake and divide it into eleven parts ; on the
1 2th day they make sixteen/zW<&r and unite the spirit of the
dead man with the ancestors ; and on the 1 3th day they give a
feast and feed Brahmans and are clean. The lower subcastes
only observe impurity for three days after a birth and a death.
Their funeral rites are the same as those of the Kurmis.
The caste employ Brahmans for weddings, but not
necessarily for birth and death ceremonies. They eat flesh
and fish, and the bulk of the caste eat fowls and drink liquor,
but the landowning section abjures these practices. They
will take food cooked with water from Brahmans, and that
cooked without water also from Rajputs, Kayasths and
Sunars. In Narsinghpur they also accept cooked food from
such a low caste as Rajjahrs, 1 probably because the Rajjhars
are commonly employed by them as farmservants, and hence
have been accustomed to carry their master's food. A
similar relation has been found to exist between the Panwar
Rajputs and their Gond farmservants. The higher class
Lodhis make an inordinate show of hospitality at their
1 The Rajjhars are a low caste of farmservants and labourers, probably
an offshoot of the Bhar tribe.
ii GREETINGS AND METHOD OF ADDRESS 119
weddings. The plates of the guests are piled up profusely
with food, and these latter think it a point of honour never
to refuse it or say enough. When melted butter is poured
out into their cups the stream must never be broken as it
passes from one guest to the other, or it is said that they
will all get up and leave the feast. Apparently a lot of
butter must be wasted on the ground. The higher clans
seclude their women, and these when they go out must wear
long clothes covering the head and reaching to the feet.
The women are not allowed to wear ornaments of a cheaper
metal than silver, except of course their glass bangles. The
Mahalodhis will eat food cooked with water in the cook-room
and carried to the fields, which the higher clans will not do.
Their women wear the sari drawn through the legs and knotted
behind according to the Maratha fashion, but whenever they
meet their husband's elder brother or any other elder of the
family they must undo the knot and let the cloth hang down
round their legs as a mark of respect. They wear no breast-
cloth. Girls are tattooed before adolescence with dots on
the chin and forehead, and marks on one hand. Before she
is tattooed the girl is given sweets to eat, and during the
process the operator sings songs in order that her attention
may be diverted and she may not feel the pain. After she
has finished the operator mutters a charm to prevent evil
spirits from troubling the girl and causing her pain.
The caste have some strict taboos on names and on 10. Greet-
conversation between the sexes. A man will only address ^f^fof
his wife, sister, daughter, paternal aunt or niece directly. If address.
he has occasion to speak to some other woman he will
take his daughter or other female relative with him and do
his business through her. He will not speak even to his own
women before a crowd. A woman will similarly only speak
to her father, son or nephew, and father-, son- or younger
brother-in-law. She will not speak to her elder brother-in-
law, and she will not address her husband in the presence of
his father, elder brother or any other relative whom he
reveres. A wife will never call her husband by his name,
but always address him as father of her son, and, if she has
no son, will sometimes speak to him through his younger
brother. Neither the father nor mother will call their eldest
LOHAR
PART
son by his name, but will use some other name. Similarly
a daughter-in-law is given a fresh name on coming into the
house, and on her arrival her mother-in-law looks at her
for the first time through a guna or ring of baked gram-flour.
A man meeting his father or elder brother will touch his
feet in silence. One meeting his sister's husband, sister's
son or son-in-law, will touch his feet and say, ( Sahib, salaam!
ii. Sacred The higher clans invest boys with the sacred thread
thread and e {ther when they are initiated by a Guru or spiritual pre-
status. ceptor, or when they are married. The thread is made by a
Brahman and has five knots. Recently a large landholder
in Mandla, a Jarha Lodhi, has assumed the sacred thread
himself for the first time and sent round a circular to his
caste-men enjoining them also to wear it. His family priest
has produced a legend of the usual type showing how the
Jarha Lodhis are Rajputs whose ancestors threw away their
sacred threads in order to escape the vengeance of Parasurama.
Generally in social position the Lodhis may be considered
to rank with, but slightly above, the ordinary cultivating
castes, such as the Kurmis. This superiority in no way
arises from their origin, since, as already seen, they are a very
low caste in their home in northern India, but from the fact
that they have become large landholders in the Central
Provinces and in former times their leaders exercised quasi-
sovereign powers. Many Lodhis are fine-looking men and
have still some appearance of having been soldiers. They
are passionate and quarrelsome, especially in the Jubbulpore
District. This is put forcibly in the saying that ( A Lodhi's
temper is as crooked as the stream of a bullock's urine/
They are generally cultivators, but the bulk of them are not
very prosperous as they are inclined to extravagance and
display at weddings and on other ceremonial occasions.
: Legends Lofaap, KMti, Ghantpa, Ghisari, Panchal. The occu-
pational caste of blacksmiths. The name is derived from
the Sanskrit Lauha-kara> a worker in iron. In the Central
Provinces the Lohar has in the past frequently combined the
occupations of carpenter and blacksmith, and in such a
capacity he is known as Khati. The honorific designations
applied to the caste are Karigar, which means skilful, and
n LEGENDS OF THE CASTE I2 j
Mistri, a corruption of the English ' Master ' or c Mister.'
In 1911 the Lohars numbered about 180,000 persons in
the Central Provinces and Berar. The Lohar is indispens
able to the village economy, and the caste is found over
the whole rural area of the Province.
" Practically all the Lohars/' Mr. Crooke writes, 1 " trace
their origin to Visvakarma, who is the later representative
of the Vedic Twashtri, the architect and handicraftsman of
the gods, * The fashioner of all ornaments, the most eminent
of artisans, who formed the celestial chariots of the deities,
on whose craft men subsist, and whom, a great and immortal
god, they continually worship. 7 One 2 tradition tells that
Visvakarma was a Brahman and married the daughter of an
Ahir, who in her previous birth had been a dancing-girl of the
gods. By her he had nine sons, who became the ancestors
of various artisan castes, such as the Lohar, Barhai, Sunar,
and Kasera."
The Lohars of the Uriya country in the Central Pro
vinces tell a similar story, according to which Kamar, the
celestial architect, had twelve sons. The eldest son was
accustomed to propitiate the family god with wine, and one
day he drank some of the wine, thinking that it could not
be sinful to do so as it was offered to the deity. But for this
act his other brothers refused to live with him and left their
home, adopting various professions ; but the eldest brother
became a worker in iron and laid a curse upon the others
that they should not be able to practise their calling except
with the implements which he had made. The second
brother thus became a woodcutter (Barhai), the third a
painter (Maharana), the fourth learnt the science of vaccina
tion and medicine and became a vaccinator (Suthiar), the
fifth a goldsmith, the sixth a brass-smith, the seventh a
coppersmith, and the eighth a carpenter, while the ninth
brother was weak m the head and married his eldest sister,
on account of which fact his descendants are known as
Ghantra. 3 The Ghantras are an inferior class of blacksmiths,
1 Tribes and Castes of the N. W.P. course with another. The Ghantra
and O2idh) art. Lohar. Lohars are thus probably of bastard
2 Dowson, Classical Dictionary, s. &. origin, like the groups known as half-
3 In Uriya the term Ghantrabela castes and others which are frequently
means a person who has illicit inter- found.
122 LOHAR
PART
probably an offshoot from some of the forest tribes, who are
looked down on by the others. It Is said that even to the
present day the Ghantra Lohars have no objection to eating
the leavings of food of their wives, whom they regard as
their eldest sisters.
2. Social The above story is noticeable as indicating that the
of the n soc ^ a l position of the Lohar is somewhat below that of the
Lohar. other artisan castes, or at least of those who work in metals.
This fact has been recorded in other localities, and has been
explained by some stigma arising from his occupation, as in
the f( llowing passage : " His social position is low even for
a nu igl, and he is classed as an impure caste, in so far
that Jats and others of similar standing will have no social
communion with him, though not as an outcast like the
scavenger. His impurity, like that of the barber, washerman
and dyer, springs solely from the nature of his employment ;
perhaps because it is a dirty one, but more probably because
black is a colour of evil omen. It is not improbable that
the necessity under which he labours of using bellows made
of cowhide may have something to do with his impurity." l
Mr. Nesfield also says : " It is owing to the ubiquitous
industry of the Lohar that the stone knives, arrow-heads and
hatchets of the indigenous tribes of Upper India have been
so entirely superseded by iron-ores. The memory of the
stone age has not survived even in tradition. In con
sequence of the evil associations which Hinduism has
attached to the colour of black, the caste of Lohar has not
been able to raise itself Jo the same social level as the three
metallurgic castes which follow." The following saying also
indicates that the Lohar is of evil omen :
Ar, Dhar^ Chuchkar.
In tinon se bachawe Kartar.
Here Ar means an iron goad and signifies the Lohar ;
Dhdr represents the sound of the oil falling from the press
and means a Tell or oilman ; Chuckkdr is an imitation of
the sound of clothes being beaten against a stone and
denotes the Dhobi or washerman ; and the phrase thus runs,
* My Friend, beware of the Lohar, Teli, and Dhobi, for they
1 Punjab Census Report (1881), para. 624. (Ibbetson.)
ii CASTE SUBDIVISIONS 123
are of evil omen/ It Is not quite clear why this disrepute
should attach to the Lohar, because iron itself is lucky,
though its colour, black, may be of bad omen. But the
low status of the Lohar may partly arise from the fact of
his being a village menial and a servant of the cultivators ;
whereas the trades of the goldsmith, brass -smith and
carpenter are of later origin than the blacksmith's, and are
urban rather than rural industries ; and thus these artisans
do not commonly occupy the position of village menials.
Another important consideration is that the iron industry is
associated with the primitive tribes, who furnished the / vhole
supply of the metal prior to its importation from J^/ope :
and it is hence probable that the Lohar caste was originally
constituted from these and would thus naturally be looked
down upon by the Hindus. In Bengal, where few or no
traces of the village community remain, the Lohar ranks as
the equal of Koiris and Kurmis, and Brahmans will take
water from his hands ; l and this somewhat favours the
argument that his lower status elsewhere is not due to
incidents of his occupation.
The constitution of the Lohar caste is of a heterogeneous 3- Caste
nature. In some localities Gonds who work as blacksmiths divisions.
are considered to belong to the caste and are known as
Gondi Lohars. But Hindus who work in Gond villages
also sometimes bear this designation. Another subdivision
returned consists of the Agarias, also an offshoot of the
Gonds, who collect and smelt iron-ore in the Vindhyan and
Satpura hills. The Panchals are a^class of itinerant smiths
in Berar. The Ghantras or inferior blacksmiths of the
Uriya country have already been noticed. The Ghisaris
are a similar low class of smiths in the southern Districts
who do rough work only, but sometimes claim Rajput origin.
Other subcastes are of the usual local or territorial type, as
Mahulia, from Mahul in Berar ; Jhade or Jhadia, those living
in the jungles ; Ojha, or those professing a Brahmanical
origin ; Maratha, Kanaujia, Mathuria, and so on.
Infant-marriage is the custom of the caste, and the 4 ; Mar-
ceremony is that prevalent among the agricultural castes of ^te &n
the locality. The remarriage of widows is permitted, and customs.
1 Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art Lohar.
124 LOHAR PART
they have the privilege of selecting their own husbands, or
at least of refusing to accept any proposed suitor. A widow
is always married from her father's house, and never from
that of her deceased husband. The first husband's property
is taken by his relatives, if there be any, and they also
assume the custody of his children as soon as they are old
enough to dispense with a mother's care. The dead are
both buried and burnt, and in the eastern Districts some
water and a tooth-stick are daily placed at a cross-road for
the use of the departed spirit during the customary period
of mourning, which extends to ten days. On the eleventh
day the relatives go and bathe, and the chief mourner puts
on a new loin-cloth. Some rice is taken and seven persons
pass it from hand to hand. They then pound the rice, and
making from it a figure to represent a human being, they
place some grain in its mouth and say to it, * Go and
become incarnate in some human being/ and throw the
image into the water. After this the impurity caused by
the death is removed, and they go home and feast with
their friends. In the evening they make cakes of rice, and
place them seven times on the shoulder of each person who
has carried the corpse to the cemetery or pyre, to remove
the impurity contracted from touching it It is also said
that if this be not done the shouldei will feel the weight of
the coffin for a period of six months. The caste endeavour
to ascertain whether the spirit of the dead person returns to
join in the funeral feast, and in what shape it will be born
again. For this purpose rice-flour is spread on the floor of
the cooking-room and covered with a brass plate. The
women retire and sit in an adjoining room while the chief
mourner with a few companions goes outside the village,
and sprinkles some more rice-flour on the ground. They
call to the deceased person by name, saying, ' Come, come/
and then wait patiently till some worm or insect crawls on
to the floor. Some dough is then applied to this and it is
carried home and let loose in the house. The flour under
the brass plate is examined, and it is said that they usually
see the footprints of a person or animal, indicating the
corporeal entity in which the deceased soul has found a
resting-place. During the period of mourning members of
OCCUPATION
125
the bereaved family do not follow their ordinary business,
nor eat flesh, sweets or other delicate food. They may not
make offerings to their deities nor touch any persons outside
the family, nor wear head-cloths or shoes. In the eastern
Districts the principal deities of the Lohars are Dulha Deo
and Somlai or Devi, the former being" represented by a
knife set in the ground inside the house, and the latter by
the painting of a woman on the wall. Both deities are kept
in the cooking-room, and here the head of the family offers
to them rice soaked in milk, with sandal-paste, flowers,
vermilion and lamp-black. He burns some melted butter
in an earthen lamp and places incense upon it. If a man
has been affected by the evil eye an exorcist will place
some salt on his hand and burn it, muttering spells, and the
evil influence is removed. They believe that a spell can be
cast on a man by giving him to eat the bones of an owl,
when he will become an idiot
In the rural area of the Province the Lohar is still a 5. Occupa-
village menial, making and mending the iron implements of tlon *
agriculture, such as the ploughshare, axe, sickle, goad and
other articles. For doing this he is paid in Saugor a yearly
contribution of twenty pounds of grain per plough of land l
held by each cultivator, together with a handful of grain at
sowing-time and a sheaf at harvest from both the autumn
and spring crops. In Wardha he gets fifty pounds of grain
per plough of four bullocks or forty acres. For making new
implements the Lohar is sometimes paid separately and is
always supplied with the iron and charcoal. The hand-
smelting iron industry has practically died out in the
Province and the imported metal is used for nearly all
purposes. The village Lohars are usually very poor, their
income seldom exceeding that of an unskilled labourer. In
the towns, owing to the rapid extension of milling and
factory industries, blacksmiths readily find employment and
some of them earn very high wages. In the manufacture of
cutlery, nails and other articles the capital is often found by
a Bhatia or Bohra merchant, who acts as the capitalist and
employs the Lohars as his workmen. The women help their
husbands by blowing the bellows and dragging the hot iron
1 About 15 acres.
126 LORHA PART
from the furnace, while the men wield the hammer. The
Panchals of Berar are described as a wandering caste of
smiths, living in grass mat-huts and using as fuel the roots
of thorn bushes, which they batter out of the ground with the
back of a short-handled axe peculiar to themselves. They
move from place to place with buffaloes, donkeys and ponies
to carry their kit. 1 Another class of wandering smiths,
the Ghisaris, are described by Mr. Crooke as follows :
" Occasional camps of these most interesting people are to
be met with in the Districts of the Meerut Division. They
wander about with small carts and pack-animals, and, being
more expert than the ordinary village Lohar, their services
are in demand for the making of tools for carpenters, weavers
and other craftsmen. They are known in the Punjab as
Gadiya or those who have carts (gddi,gari). Sir D. Ibbetson 2
says that they come up from Rajputana and the North-
Western Provinces, but their real country Is the Deccan. In
the Punjab they travel about with their families and imple
ments in carts from village to village, doing the finer kinds
of Iron-work, which are beyond the capacity of the village
artisan. In the Deccan 8 this class of wandering black
smiths are called Saiqalgar, or knife-grinders, or Ghlsara, or
grinders (Hindi, gkisdna^ * to rub '). They wander about
grinding knives and tools."
Lorha. 4 A small caste of cultivators in the Hoshangabad
and Nimar Districts, whose distinctive occupation Is to grow
san -hemp (Crotalaria juncea) and to make sacking and
gunny-bags from the fibre. A very strong prejudice against
this crop exists among the Hindus, and those who grow It
are usually cut off from their parent caste and become a
separate community. Thus we have the castes known as
Kumrawat, Patblna and Dangur in different parts of the
Province, who are probably offshoots from the Kurmis and
Kunbis, but now rank below them because they grow this
crop ; and in the Kurmi caste itself a subcaste of Santora
(hemp -picking) Kurmis has grown up. In Bilaspur the
1 Ber&r Census Rep or t, 1881 (Kitts). 4 This article is partly based on
2 Puvjab Ethnography, para. 624. g** 6 ?^?, Mr ' P ' B - Tel ^S> M siff
y t> s ~y> F <+ Seom-Mcilwa, and Mr. Waman Rao
3 Bombay Gazetteer, xvi. 82. Mandloi, naib-tahslldar, Harda.
LORHA I27
Patharia Kurmis will grow san-hemp and ret it, but will not
spin or weave the fibre ; while the Atharia Kurmis will not
grow the crop, but will spin the fibre and make sacking.
The Saugor Kewats grow this fibre, and here Brahmans and
other high castes will not take water from Kewats, though
in the eastern Districts they will do so. The Narsinghpur
Mallahs, a branch of the Kewats, have also adopted the
cultivation of san-hemp as a regular profession. The basis
of the prejudice against the san-hemp plant is not altogether
clear. The Lorhas themselves say that they are looked
down upon because they use wheat-starch (lafsz) for smooth
ing the fibre, and that their name is somehow derived from
this fact. But the explanation does not seem satisfactory.
Many of the country people appear to think that there is
something uncanny about the plant because it grows so
quickly, and they say that on one occasion a cultivator went
out to sow hemp in the morning, and his wife was very late
in bringing his dinner to the field. He grew hungry and
angry, and at last the shoots of the hemp-seeds which he
had sown in the morning began to appear above the ground.
At this he was so enraged that when his wife finally came
he said she had kept him waiting so long that the crop had
come up in the meantime, and murdered her. Since then
the Hindus have been forbidden to grow san-hemp lest they
should lose their tempers in the same manner. This story
makes a somewhat excessive demand on the hearer's credulity.
One probable cause of the taboo seems to be that the process
of soaking and retting the stalks of the plant pollutes the
water, and if carried on in a tank or in the pools of a stream
might destroy the village supply of drinking-water. In
former times it may have been thought that the desecration
of their sacred element was an insult to the deities of rivers
and streams, which would bring down retribution on the
offender. It is also the case that the proper separation of
the fibres requires a considerable degree of dexterity which
can only be acquired by practice. Owing to the recent
increase in the price of the fibre and the large profits which
can now be obtained from hemp cultivation, the prejudice
against it is gradually breaking down, and the Gonds, Korkus
and lower Hindu castes have waived their religious scruples
128 LORHA PART 1 1
and are glad to turn an honest penny by sowing hemp either
on their own account or for hire. Other partially tabooed
crops are turmeric and dl or Indian madder {Morinda citri-
folia), while onions and garlic are generally eschewed by
Hindu cultivators. For growing turmeric and dl special
subcastes have been formed, as the Alia Eainbis and the
Hardia Malis and Kachhis (from haldi, turmeric), just as In
the case of ^Tz-hemp. The objection to these two crops is
believed to lie in the fact that the roots which yield the
commercial product have to be boiled, and by this process a
number of insects contained in them are destroyed. But the
preparation of the hemp-fibre does not seem to involve any
such sacrifice of insect life. The Lorhas appear to be a
mixed group, with a certain amount of Rajput blood in them,
perhaps an offshoot of the Kirars, with whose social customs
their own are said to be identical. According to another
account, they are a lower or illegitimate branch of the Lodha
caste of cultivators, of whose name their own is said to be
a corruption. The Nimar Gujars have a subcaste named
Lorha, and the Lorhas of Hoshangabad may be connected
with these. They live in the Seoni and Harda tahslls of
Hoshangabad, the ^/z-hemp crop being a favourite one in
villages adjoining the forests, because it is not subject to the
depredations of wild animals. Cultivators are often glad to
sublet their fields for the purpose of having a crop of hemp
grown upon them, because the stalks are left for manure and
fertilise the ground. String and sacking are also made from
the hemp -fibre by vagrant and criminal castes like the
Banjaras and Bhamtas, who formerly required the bags for
carrying their goods and possessions about with them.
MAHAR
LIST OF PARAGRAPHS
1. General notice. 7. Childbirth.
2. Length of residence in the 8. Names.
Central Provinces. 9. Religion.
3. Legend of origin. 10. Adoption of foreign religions.
4. Sub wastes. II. Superstitions.
5. Exogamous groups and mar- 12. Social rules.
riage customs. 13. Social subjection.
6. Funeral rites. 14. Their position improving.
1 5 . Occupation.
Mahap, Mehra, DhecL The impure caste of menials, i. General
labourers and village watchmen of the Maratha country, notlce -
corresponding to the Chamars and Koris of northern India.
They numbered nearly 1,200,000 persons in the combined
Province in 1911, and are most numerous in the Nagpur,
Bhandara, Chanda and Wardha Districts of the Central
Provinces, while considerable colonies are also found in
Balaghat, Chhindwara and Betul. Their distribution thus
follows largely that of the Marathi language and the castes
speaking it Berar contained 400,000, distributed over the
four Districts. In the whole Province this caste is third in
point of numerical strength. In India the Mahars number
about three million persons, of whom a half belong to
Bombay. I am not aware of any accepted derivation for
the word Mahar, but the balance of opinion seems to be
that the native name of Bombay, Maharashtra, is derived
from that of the caste, as suggested by Wilson. Another
derivation which holds it to be a corruption of Maha
Rastrakuta, and to be so called^after the Rashtrakuta Rajput
dynasty of the eighth and ninth centuries, seems less probable
because countries are very seldom named after ruling
TOL. IV 129 K
130 MAHAR PART
dynasties, 1 Whereas in support of Maharashtra ,as < The
country of the Mahars,' we have Gujarashtra or Gujarat, the
country of the Gujars, and Saurashtra or Surat, the country
of the Sauras. According to Platts' Dictionary, however,
Maharashtra means 'the great country/ and this is what the
Maratha Brahmans themselves say. Mehra appears to be
a variant of the name current in the Hindustani Districts,
while Dheda, or Dhada, is said to be a corruption of
Dharadas or hillmen. 2 In the Punjab it is said to be a
general term of contempt meaning ' Any low fellow/ 3
Wilson considers the Mahars to be an aboriginal or pre-
Aryan tribe, and all that is known of the caste seems to
point to the correctness of this hypothesis. In the Bombay
Gazetteer the writer of the interesting Gujarat volume
suggests that the Mahars are fallen Rajputs ; but there
seems little to support this opinion except their appearance
and countenance, which is of the Hindu rather than the
Dravidian type. In Gujarat they have also some Rajput
surnames, as Chauhan, Panwar, Rathor, Solanki and so on,
but these may have been adopted by imitation or may
indicate a mixture of Rajput blood. Again, the Mahars of
Gujarat are the farmservants and serfs of the Kunbis.
" Each family is closely connected with the house of some
landholder or pattiddr (sharer). For his master he brings
in loads from the fields and cleans out the stable, receiving
in return daily allowances of buttermilk and the carcases
of any cattle that die. This connection seems to show
traces of a form of slavery. Rich pattidars have always a
certain number of Dheda families whom they speak of as
ours (kamara), and when a man dies he distributes along
with his lands a certain number of Dheda families to each
of his sons. An old tradition among Dhedas points to some
relation between the Kunbis and Dhedas. Two brothers,
Leva and Deva, were the ancestors, the former of the
Kunbis, the latter of the Dhedas." 4 Such a relation as this
1 This derivation is also negatived 2 Bombay Gazetteer ^Gujarat Hindus >
by the fact that the name Maharatta p. 338.
was known in the third century B.C. 3 Ibbetson, Punjab Census Report
or long before the Rastrakutas became (1881).
prominent. * Bombay Gazetteer, I.e. text and
footnote by R. v. J. S. Taylor.
ii LENGTH OF RESIDENCE IN CENTRAL PROVINCES 131
in Hindu society would imply that many Mahar women
held the position of concubines to their Kunbi masters, and
would therefore account for the resemblance of the Mahar
to Hindus rather than the forest tribes. But if this is to
be regarded as evidence of Rajput descent, a similar claim
would have to be allowed to many of the Chamars and
sweepers. Others of the lowest castes also have Rajput
sept names, as the Pardhis and Bhlls ; but the fact can at
most be taken, I venture to think, to indicate a connection
of the ' Droit de Seigneur ' type. On the other hand, the
Mahars occupy the debased and impure position which was
the lot of those non-Aryan tribes who became subject to
the Hindus and lived in their villages ; they eat the flesh
of dead cattle and this and other customs appear to point
decisively to a non- Aryan origin.
Several circumstances indicate that the Mahar is recog- 2. Length
nised as the oldest resident of the plain country of Berar ^cein
and Nagpur. In Berar he is a village servant and is the the Central
referee on village boundaries and customs, a position imply
ing that his knowledge of them is the most ancient. At
the Holi festival the fire of the Mahars is kindled first and
that of the Kunbis is set alight from it. The Kamdar
Mahar, who acts as village watchman, also has the right of
bringing the toran or rope of leaves which is placed on the
marriage-shed of the Kunbis ; and for this he receives a
present of three annas. In Bhandara the Telis, Lohars,
Dhimars and several other castes employ a Mahar Mohturia
or wise man to fix the date of their weddings. And most
curious of all, when the Panwar Rajputs of this tract cele
brate the festival of Narayan Deo, they call a Mahar to
their house and make him the first partaker of the feast
before beginning to eat themselves. Again in Berar 1 the
Mahar officiates at the killing of the buffalo on Dasahra.
On the day before the festival the chief Mahar of the village
and his wife with their garments knotted together bring
some earth from the jungle and fashioning two images set
one on a clay elephant and the other on a clay bullock.
The images are placed on a small platform outside the
village site and worshipped ; a young he-buffalo is bathed
1 Kitts' Berar Census Report (1881), p. 143*
132
MAHAR
PART
3. Legend
of origin.
4. Sub-
castes.
and brought before the images as though for the same
object The Patel wounds the buffalo in the nose with a
sword and it is "then marched through the village. In the
evening it is killed by the head Mahar, buried in the
customary spot, and any evil that might happen during the
coming year is thus deprecated and, it is hoped, averted.
The claim to take the leading part in this ceremony is the
occasion of many a quarrel and an occasional affray or riot.
Such customs tend to show that the Mahars were the
earliest immigrants from Bombay into the Berar and Nagpur
plain, excluding of course the Gonds and other tribes, who
have practically been ousted from this tract. And if it is
supposed that the Panwars came here in the tenth century,
as seems not improbable, 1 the Mahars, whom the Panwars
recognise as older residents than themselves, must have been
earlier still, and were probably numbered among the subjects
of the old Hindu kingdoms of Bhandak and Nagardhan.
The Mahars say they are descended from Mahamuni,
who was a foundling picked up by the goddess Parvati on
the banks of the Ganges. At this time beef had not become
a forbidden food ; and when the divine cow, Tripad Gayatri,
died, the gods determined to cook and eat her body and
Mahamuni was set to watch the pot boiling. He was as
inattentive as King Alfred, and a piece of flesh fell out of
the pot. Not wishing to return the dirty piece to the pot
Mahamuni ate it ; but the gods discovered the delinquency,
and doomed him and his descendants to live on the flesh of
dead cows. 2
The caste have a number of subdivisions, generally of a
local or territorial type, as Daharia, the residents of Dahar
or the Jubbulpore country, Baonia (52) of Berar, Nemadya
or from Nimar, Khandeshi from Khandesh, and so on ; the
Katia group are probably derived from that caste, Katia
meaning a spinner ; the Barkias are another group whose
name is supposed to mean spinners of fine thread ; while
the Lonarias ,are salt-makers. The highest division are the
Somvansis or children of the moon ; these claim to have
taken part with the Pandavas against the Kauravas in the
1 See article on Panwar Rajput.
2 Berar Census Report (1881), p. 144.
ii EXOGAMOUS GROUPS AND MARRIAGE GROUPS 133
war of the Mahabharata, and subsequently to have settled
in Maharashtra. 1 But the Somvansi Mahars consent to
groom horses, which the Baone and Kosaria subcastes will
not do. Baone and Somvansi Mahars will take food together,
but will not intermarry. The Ladwan subcaste are supposed
to be the offspring of kept women of the Somvansi Mahars ;
and in Wardha the Dharmik group are also the descendants
of illicit unions and their name is satirical, meaning ' virtuous.'
As has been seen, the caste have a subdivision named Katla,
which is the name of a separate Hindustani caste ; and
other subcastes have names belonging to northern India, as
the Mahobia, from Mahoba in the United Provinces, the
Kosaria or those from Chhattlsgarh, and the Kanaujia from
Kanauj. This may perhaps be taken to indicate that bodies
of the Kori and Katia weaving castes of northern India
have been amalgamated with the Mahars in Districts where
they have come together along the Satpfira Hills and
Nerbudda Valley.
The caste have also a large number of exogamous 5-
groups, the names of which are usually derived from plants,
animals, and natural objects. A few" may be given as marriage
examples out of fifty-seven recorded in the Central Provinces,
though this is far from representing the real total ; all the
common animals have septs named after them, as the tiger,
cobra, tortoise, peacock, jackal, lizard, elephant, lark, scorpion,
calf, and so on ; while more curious names are Darpan,
a mirror ; Khanda Phari, sword and shield ; Undrimaria, a
rat-killer ; Aglavi, an incendiary ; Andhare, a blind man ;
Kutramaria, a dog-killer ; Kodu Dudh, sour milk ; Khobra-
gade, cocoanut-kernel ; Bhajikhai, a vegetable eater, and so on.
A man must not marry in his own sept, but may take
a wife from his mother's or grandmother's. A sister's son
may marry a brother's daughter, but not vice versa. A girl
who is seduced before marriage by a man of her own caste
or any higher one can be married as if she were a widow,
but if she has a child she must first get some other family to
take it off her hands. The custom of Lamjhana or serving
for a wife is recognised, and the expectant bridegroom will
live with his father-in-law and work for him for a period
1 Kitts' Berar Census Report, p. 144.
134 MAHAR PART
varying from one to five years. The marriage ceremony
follows the customary Hindustani or Maratha ritual - 1 as the
case may be. In Wardha the right foot of the bridegroom
and the left one of the bride are placed together in a new
basket, while they stand one on each side of the threshold.
They throw five handfuls of coloured rice over each other,
and each time, as he throws, the bridegroom presses his toe
on the bride's foot ; at the end he catches the girl by the
finger and the marriage is complete. In the Central Provinces
the Mohturia or cas f priest officiates at weddings, but
in Berar, Mr. Kitts states, 2 the caste employ the Brahman
Joshi or village priest But as he will not come to their
house they hold the wedding on the day that one takes place
among the higher castes, and when the priest gives the signal
the dividing cloth (Antarpat) between the couple is with
drawn, and the garments of the bride and bridegroom are
knotted, while the bystanders clap their hands and pelt the
couple with coloured grain. As the priest frequently takes
up his position on the roof of the house for a wedding it is
easy for the Mahars to see him. In Mandla some of the
lower class of Brahmans will officiate at the weddings of
Mahars. In Chhindwara the Mahars seat the bride and
bridegroom in the frame of a loom for the ceremony, and
they worship the hide of a cow or bullock filled with water.
They drink together ceremoniously, a pot of liquor being-
placed on a folded cloth and all the guests sitting round
it in a circle. An elder man then lays a new piece of
cloth on the pot and worships it. He takes a cup of
the liquor himself and hands round a cupful to every person
present.
In Mandla at a wedding the barber comes and cuts the
bride's nails, and the cuttings are rolled up in dough and
placed in a little earthen pot beside the marriage-post. The
bridegroom's nails and hair are similarly cut in his own
house and placed in another vessel. A month or two after
the wedding the two little pots are taken out and thrown
into the Nerbudda. A wedding costs the bridegroom's
party about Rs. 40 or Rs. 50 and the bride's about Rs. 25.
1 Described in the articles on Kurmi and Kunbi.
2 Loc. cit.
ii FUNERAL RITES 135
They have no goin'g-away ceremony, but the occasion of
a girl's coming to maturity is known as Bolawan, She
is kept apart for six days and given new clothes, and the
caste-people are invited to a meal. When a woman's
husband dies the barber breaks her bangles, and her anklets
are taken off and given to him as his perquisite. Her
brother-in-law or other relative gives her a new white cloth,
and she wears this at first, and afterwards white or coloured
clothes at her pleasure. Her hair is not cut, and she may
wear patelas or flat metal bangle^ on the forearm and
armlets above the elbow, but not* other ornaments. A
widow is under no obligation to marry her first husband's
younger brother ; when she marries a stranger he usually
pays a sum of about Rs> 30 to her parents. When the
price has been paid the couple exchange a ring and a bangle
respectively in token of the agreement When the woman
is proceeding to her second husband's house, her old clothes,
necklace and bangles are thrown into a river or stream and
she is given new ones to wear. This is done to lay the
first husband's spirit, which may be supposed to hang about
the clothes she wore as his wife, and when they are thrown
away or buried the exorcist mutters spells over them In
order to lay the spirit No music is allowed at the marriage
of a widow except the crooked trumpet called singdra. A
bachelor who marries a widow must first go through a mock
ceremony with a cotton-plant, a sword or a ring. Divorce
must be effected before the caste panchdyat or committee,
and if a divorced woman marries again, her first husband
performs funeral and mourning ceremonies as if she were
dead. In Gujarat the practice Is much more lax and
" divorce can be obtained almost to an indefinite extent
Before they finally settle down to wedded life most couples
have more than once changed their partners." * But here
also, before the change takes place, there must be a formal
divorce recognised by the caste.
The caste either burn or bury the dead and observe e. Funeral
mourning for three days, 2 having their houses whitewashed ntes -
and their faces shaved. On the tenth day they give a feast
1 Bombay Gazetteer, Gujarat Hindtts, 2 In Berar for ten days Kitts'
loc. cit. Berar Census Report, I.e.
136 MAHAR PART
to the caste-fellows. On the Akshaya Tritia 1 and the 3Oth day
of Kunwar (September) they offer rice and cakes to the crows
in the names of their ancestors. In Berar Mr. Kitts writes : 2
" If a Mahar's child has died, he will on the third day place
bread on the grave ; if an infant, milk ; if an adult, on the
tenth day, with five pice in one hand and five betel-leaves
in the other, he goes into the river, dips himself five times
and throws these things away ; he then places five lighted
lamps on the tomb, and after these simple ceremonies gets
himself shaved as though he were an orthodox Hindu."
7. Child- In Mandla the mother is secluded at childbirth in a
birth. separate house if one is available, and if not they fence in a
part of the veranda for her use with bamboo screens. After
the birth the mother must remain impure until the barber
comes and colours her toe-nails and draws a line round her
feet with red mahur powder. This is indispensable, and if
the barber is not immediately available she must wait until
his services can be obtained. When the navel-string drops
it is buried in the place on which the mother sat while giving
birth, and when this has been done the purification may be
effected. The Dhobi is then called to wash the clothes of
the household, and their earthen pots are thrown away. The
head of the newborn child is shaved clean, as the birth-hair
is considered to be impure, and the hair is wrapped up in
dough and thrown into a river.
s. Names. A child is named on the seventh or twelfth day after its
birth, the name being chosen by the Mohturia or caste head
man. The ordinary Hindu names of deities for men and
sacred rivers or pious and faithful wives for women are
employed ; instances of the latter being Ganga, Godavari,
Jamuna, Slta, Laxmi and Radha. Opprobrious names are
sometimes given to avert ill-luck, as Damdya (purchased for
eight cowries), Kauria (a cowrie), Bhikaria (a beggar), Ghusia
(from ghus, a mallet for stamping earth), Harchatt (refuse),
Akali (born in famine-time), Langra (lame), Lula (having an
arm useless) ; or the name of another low caste is given, as
Bhangi (sweeper), Domari (Dom sweeper), Chamra (tanner),
Basori (basket-maker). Not infrequently children are named
1 3rd Baisakh (April) Sudi, commencement of agricultural year.
3 Berar Census Report, L c.
ii RELIGION ADOPTION OF FOREIGN RELIGIONS 137
after the month or day when, they were born, as Pusau,
born In Pus (December), Chaitu, born In Chait (March),
Manglu (born on Tuesday), Buddhi (born on Wednesday),
Sukka (bora on Friday), Sanlchra (born on Saturday). One
boy was called Mulua or ' Sold ' (mol-dena). His mother
had no other children, so sold him for one pice (farthing) to
a Gond woman. After five or six months, as he did not get
fat, his name was changed to Jhuma or * lean/ probably as
an additional means of averting ill-luck. Another boy was
named Ghurka, from the noise he made when being suckled,
A child born in the absence of its father is" called Sonwa, or
one born in an empty house.
The great body of the caste worship the ordinary deities 9. Reii-
Devi, Hanuman, Dulha Deo, and others, though of course gloru
they are not allowed to enter Hindu temples. They princi
pally observe the Holi and Dasahra festivals and the days
of the new and full moon. On the festival of Nag-Panchml
they make an image of a snake with flour and sugar and eat
it At the sacred Ambala tank at Ramtek the Mahars have
a special bathing-ghat set apart for them, and they may
enter the citadel and go as far as the lowest step leading
up to the temples ; here they worship the god and think
that he accepts their offerings. They are thus permitted to
traverse the outer enclosures of the citadel, which are also
sacred. In Wardha the Mahars may not touch the shrines
of Mahadeo, but must stand before them with their hands
joined. They may sometimes deposit offerings with their
own hands on those of Bhimsen, originally a Gond god, and
Mata Devi, the goddess of smallpox.
In Berar and Bombay the Mahars have some curious io. Adop-
forms of belief. " Of the confusion which obtains In r ^
the Mahar theogony the names of six of their gods will religions,
afford a striking example. While some Mahars worship
Vithoba, the god of Pandharpur, others revere Varuna's
twin sons, Meghoni and Deghoni, and his four messengers,
Gabriel, Azrael, Michael and Anadin, all of whom they
say hail from Pandharpur." * The names of archangels thus
mixed up with Hindu deities may most probably have been
obtained from the Muhammadans, as they include Azrael ;
1 Berar Cenms Report, I.e.
138 MAHAR PART
but in Gujarat their religion appears to have been borrowed
from Christianity. "The Karia Dhedas have some rather
remarkable beliefs. In the Satya Yug the Dhedas say they
were called Satyas ; in the Dvapar Yug they were called
Meghas ; in the Treta Yug, Elias ; and in the Kali Yug,
Dhedas. The name Elias came, they say, from a prophet
Ella, and of him their religious men have vague stories ; some
of them especially about a famine that lasted for three years
and a half, easily fitting into the accounts of Elijah in the
Jewish Scriptures. They have also prophecies of a high
future in store for their tribe. The king or leader of the
new era, Kuyam Rai by name, will marry a Dheda woman and
will raise the caste to the position of Brahmans. They hold
religious meetings or ochhavas, and at these with great excite
ment sing songs full of hope of the good things in store for
them. When a man wishes to hold an ochhava he invites
the whole caste, and beginning about eight in the evening
they often spend the night in singing. Except perhaps for
a few sweetmeats there is no eating or drinking, and the
excitement is altogether religious and musical. The singers
are chiefly religious Dhedas or Bhagats, and the people join
in a refrain i Avore Kuyam Rai Raja>- Oh ! come Kuyam Rai,
our king.' " I It seems that the attraction which outside faiths
exercise on the Mahars is the hope held out of ameliorating
the social degradation under which they labour, itself an, out
come of the Hindu theory of caste. Hence they turn to Islam,
or to what is possibly a degraded version of the Christian
story, because these religions do not recognise caste, and hold
out a promise to the Mahar of equality with his co-religionists,
and in the case of Christianity of a recompense in the world
to come for the sufferings which he has to endure in this one.
Similarly, the Mahars are the warmest adherents of the
Muhammadan saint Sheikh Farld, and flock to the fairs held
in his honour at Girar in Wardha and Partapgarh in Bhandara,
where he is supposed to have slain a couple of giants. 2
1 Bombay Gazetteer, Gujarat' Hindus* and had been annexed by the Muham-
2 It was formerly suggested that the madan priests ; and the legend of the
fact of the Mahars being the chief giant, who might represent the demon-
worshippers at the shrines of Sheikh olatry of the aboriginal faith, being slain
Farld indicated that the places them- by the saint might be a parable, so to
selves had been previously held sacred, say, expressing this process. But in
ii SUPERSTITIONS I3g
In Berar 1 also they revere Muhammadan tombs. The
remains of the Muhammadan fort and tank on Pimpardol
hill in Jalgaon taluk are now one of the sacred places of
the Mahars, though to the Muhammadans they have no
religious associations. Even at present Mahars are inclined
to adopt Islam, and a case was recently reported when a body
of twenty of them set out to do so, but turned back on being
told that they would not be admitted to the mosque. 2 A
large proportion of the Mahars are also adherents of the
Kablrpanthi sect, one of the main tenets of whose founder
was the abolition of caste. And it is from the same point
of view that Christianity appeals to them, enabling European
missionaries to draw a large number of converts from this
caste. But even the Hindu attitude towards the Mahars is
not one of unmixed Intolerance. Once in three or four
years in the southern Districts, the Panwars, Mahars, Pankas
and other castes celebrate the worship of Narayan Deo or
Vishnu, the officiating priest being a Mahar. Members of
all castes come to the Panwar's house at night for the
ceremony, and a vessel of water is placed at the door in
which they wash their feet and hands as they enter ; and
when inside they are all considered to be equal, and they
sit in a line and eat the same food, and bind wreaths
of flowers round their heads. After the cock crows the
equality of status is ended, and no one who goes out of the
house can enter again. At present also many educated
Brahmans recognise fully the social evils resulting from the
degraded position of the Mahars, and are doing their best
to remove the caste prejudices against them.
They have various spells to cure a man possessed of an n. Super-
evil spirit, or stung by a snake or scorpion, or likely to be in stltlons -
danger from tigers or wild bears ; and in the Morsi taluk of
Berar it is stated that they so greatly fear the effect of an enemy
view of the way in which the Mehtars highly improbable that Sheikh Farid,
worship Musalman saints, it seems a well-known saint of northern India,
quite likely that the Mahars might do can ever have been within several
so for the same reason, that is, because hundred miles of either of the places
Islam partly frees them from the utter with which they connect him.
degradation imposed by Hinduism. ,
Both views may have some truth. As
regards the legends themselves, it is 2 C.P. Police Gazette.
140 MAHAR PART
writing their name on a piece of paper and tying it to a
sweeper's broom that the threat to do this can be used with
great effect by their creditors. 1 To drive out the evil eye
they make a small human image of powdered turmeric and
throw it into boiled water, mentioning as they do so the
names of any persons whom they suspect of having cast the
evil eye upon them. Then the pot of water is taken out at
midnight of a Wednesday or a Sunday and placed upside
down on some cross-roads with a shoe over it, and the
sufferer should be cured. Their belief about the sun and
moon is that an old woman had two sons who were invited
by the gods to dinner. Before they left she said to them
that as they were going out there would be no one to cook, so
they must remember to bring back something for her. The
elder brother forgot what his mother had said and took
nothing away with him ; but the younger remembered her
and brought back something from the feast. So when they
came back the old woman cursed the elder brother and said
that as he had forgotten her he should be the sun and scorch
and dry up all vegetation with his beams ; but the younger
brother should be the moon and make the world cool and
pleasant at night. The story is so puerile that it is only
worth reproduction as a specimen of the level of a Mahar's
intelligence. The belief in evil spirits appears to be on the
decline, as a result of education and accumulated experience.
Mr, C. Brown states that in Malkapur of Berar the Mahars say
that there are no wandering spirits in the hills by night of
such a nature that people need fear them. There are only
tiny pari or fairies, small creatures in human form, but
with the power of changing their appearance, who do no
harm to any one.
12. Social When an outsider is to be received into the community
m es ' all the hair on his face is shaved, being wetted with the urine
of a boy belonging to the group to which he seeks admission.
Mahars will eat all kinds of food including the flesh of
crocodiles and rats, but some of them abstain from beef.
There is nothing peculiar in their dress except that the men
wear a black woollen thread round their necks. 2 The
women may be recognised by their bold carriage, the
1 Kitts, Lc. 2 Ibidem.
ii SOCIAL RULES 141
absence of nose-rings and the large Irregular dabs of ver
milion on the forehead. Mahar women do not, as a rule,,
wear the choli or breast- cloth. An unmarried girl does not
put on vermilion nor draw her cloth over her head. Women
must be tattooed with dots on the face, representations of
scorpions, flowers and snakes on the arms and legs, and some
dots to represent flies on the hands. It Is the custom for a
girl's father or mother or father-in-law to have her tattooed
In one place on the hand or arm immediately on her marriage.
Then when girls are sitting together they will show this
mark and say, * My mother or father-in-law had this done, 3
as the case may be. Afterwards if a woman so desires
she gets herself tattooed on her other limbs. If an un
married girl or widow becomes with child by a man of the
Mahar caste or any higher one she Is subjected after delivery
to a semblance of the purification by fire known as
Agnikasht. She is taken to the bank of a river and there
five stalks of juari are placed round her and burnt. Having
fasted all day, at night she gives a feast to the caste-men and
eats with them. If she offends with a man of lower caste
she is finally expelled. Temporary exclusion from caste
Is Imposed for taking food or drink from the hands of a
Mang or Chamar or for being Imprisoned in jail, or on a
Mahar man if he lives with a woman of any higher caste ;
the penalty being the shaving of a man's face or cutting off
a lock of a woman's hair, together with a feast to the
caste. In the last case it is said that the man is not re
admitted until he has put the woman away. If a man touches
a dead dog, cat, pony or donkey, he has to be shaved and
give a feast to the caste. And if a dog or cat dies in his
house, or a litter of puppies or kittens is born, the house is
considered to be defiled ; all the earthen pots must be thrown
away, the whole house washed and cleaned and a caste feast
given. The most solemn oath of a Mahar Is by a cat or dog
and In Yeotmal by a black dog. 1 In Berar, the same paper
states, the pig Is the only animal regarded as unclean, and
they must on no account touch it. This is probably owing
to Muhammadan Influence. The worst social sin which a
Mahar can commit is to get vermin in a wound, which is
1 Stated by Mr. C. Brown.
142 MAHAR PART
known as Deogan or being smitten by God. While the
affliction continues he is quite ostracised, no one going to his
house or giving him food or water ; and when it is cured the
Mahars of ten or twelve surrounding villages assemble and
he must give a feast to the whole community. The reason
for this calamity being looked upon with such peculiar
abhorrence is obscure, but the feeling about it is general
among Hindus.
13. Social The social position of the Mahars is one of distressing
su jcction. ^gradation. Their touch is considered to defile and they live
in a quarter by themselves outside the village. They usually
have a separate well assigned to them from which to draw
water, and if the village has only one well the Mahars and
Hindus take water from different sides of it. Mahar boys
were not until recently allowed to attend school with Hindu
boys, and when they could not be refused admission to
Government schools, they were allotted a small corner of
the veranda and separately taught When Dher boys were
first received into the Chanda High School a mutiny took
place and the school was boycotted for some time. The
people say, ' Mahdr sarva jatzcha baharl or ' The Mahar is
outside all castes/ Having a bad name, they are also
given unwarrantably a bad character ; and ( Mahar jattcha ' is
a phrase used for a man with no moral or kindly feelings.
But in theory at least, as conforming to Hinduism, they were
supposed to be better than Muhammadans and other unbe
lievers, as shown by the following story from the Rasmala : l
A Muhammadan sovereign asked his Hindu minister
which was the lowest caste. The minister begged for leisure
to consider his reply and, having obtained it, went to where
the Dhedas lived and said to them : " You have given offence
to the Padishah. It is his intention to deprive you of caste
and make you Muhammadans." The Dhedas, in the greatest
terror, pushed off in a body to the sovereign's palace, and
standing at a respectful distance shouted at the top of their
lungs : " If we've offended your majesty, punish us in some
other way than that. Beat us, fine us, hang us if you like,
but don't make us Muhammadans." The Padishah smiled,
and turning to his minister who sat by him affecting to hear
1 Vol. ii. p. 237.
Bemrose* Cullo., "Derby*
WEAVING-SIZING THE WARP.
SOCIAL SUBJECTION 143
nothing, said, ' So the lowest caste Is that to which I belong.'
But of course this cannot be said to represent the general
view of the position of Muhammadans In Hindu eyes ; they,
like the English, are regarded as distinguished foreigners,
who, if they consented to be proselytised, would probably
In time become Brahmans or at least Rajputs. A repartee
of a Mahar to a Brahman abusing him Is : The Brahman,
* Jare Mahdrya* or l Avaunt, ye Mahar' ; the Mahar, * Kona
dmshi nezn tumchi goburya J or ' Some day I shall carry cow-
dung cakes for you (at his funeral) ' ; as in the Maratha
Districts the Mahar is commonly engaged for carrying fuel
to the funeral pyre. Under native rule the Mahar was
subjected to painful degradations. He might not spit on
the ground lest a Hindu should be polluted by touching it
with his foot, but had to hang an earthen pot round his neck
to hold his spittle. 1 He was made to drag a thorny branch
with him to brush out his footsteps, and when a Brahman
came by had to He at a distance on his face lest his shadow
might fall on the Brahman. In Gujarat 2 they were not
allowed fo tuck up the loin-cloth but had to trail it along
the ground. Even quite recently in Bombay a Mahar was
not allowed to talk loudly in the street while a well-to-do
Brahman or his wife was dining in one of the houses. In
the reign of Sidhraj, the great Solanki Raja of Gujarat, the
Dheras were for a time at any rate freed from such dis
abilities by the sacrifice of one of their number* 3 The great
tank at Anhilvada Patan in Gujarat had been built by the
Ods (navvies), but Sidhraj desired Jusma Odni, one of their
wives, and sought to possess her. But the Ods fled with
her and when he pursued her she plunged a dagger into
her stomach, cursing Sidhraj and saying that his tank should
never hold water. The Raja, returning to Anhilvada, found
the tank dry, and asked his minister what should be done
that water might remain In the tank. The Pardhan, after
consulting the astrologers, said that if a man's life were
sacrificed the curse might be removed. At that time the
Dhers or outcastes were compelled to live at a distance from
1 Bombay Gazetteer, vol. xii. p. 175. 3 The following passage is taken from
3 Rev, A. Taylor in ^jw^o^ Gazetteer, Forbes, Rdsmala, i. p. 112.
Gujarat Hindus, p. 341 f.
144
MAHAR
PART
14. Their
15. Occu
pation.
the towns ; they wore untwisted cotton round their heads
and a stag's horn as a mark hanging from their waists so
that people might be able to avoid touching them. The
Raja commanded that a Dher named Mayo should be
beheaded in the tank that water might remain. Mayo died,
singing the praises of Vishnu, and the water after that began
to remain in the tank. At the time of his death Mayo had
begged as a reward for his sacrifice that the Dhers should
not in future be compelled to live at a distance from the
towns nor wear a distinctive dress. The Raja assented and
these privileges were afterwards permitted to the Dhers for
the sake of Mayo.
From the painful state of degradation described above
the Mahars are gradually being rescued by the levelling and
liberalising tendency of British rule, which must be to these
depressed classes an untold blessing. With the right of
acquiring property they have begun to assert themselves,
and the extension of railways more especially has a great
effect in abolishing caste distinctions. The Brahman who
cannot afford a second-class fare must either not travel or
take the risk of rubbing shoulders with a Mahar in a
third-class carriage, and if he chooses to consider himself
defiled will have to go hungry and thirsty until he gets the
opportunity of bathing at his journey's end. The observance
of the rules of impurity thus becomes so irksome that they
are gradually falling into abeyance.
The principal occupations of the Mahars are the weaving
of coarse country cloth and general labour. They formerly
spun their own yarn, and their fabrics were preferred by the
cultivators for their durability. But practically all thread
is now bought from the mills ; and the weaving industry is
also in a depressed condition. Many Mahars have now
taken to working in the mills, and earn better wages than
they could at home. In Bombay a number of them are
employed as police-constables. 1 They are usually the village
watchmen of the Maratha Districts, and in this capacity
were remunerated by contributions of grain from the tenants,
the hides and flesh of animals dying in the village, and plots
of rent-free land. For these have now been substituted in
1 Bombay Gazetteer , vol. xi. p. 73.
ii OCCUPATION 145
the Central Provinces a cash payment fixed by Government.
In Berar the corresponding" official is known as the Kamdar
Mahar. Mr. Kitts writes of him : 1 As fourth balutedar
on the village establishment the Mahar holds a post of great
importance to himself and convenience to the village. To
the patel (headman), patwari and big men of the village he
acts often as a personal servant and errand-runner ; for a
smaller cultivator he will also at times carry a torch or act
as escort. He had formerly to clean the horses of travellers,
and was also obliged, if required, to carry their baggage. 2
For the services which he thus renders as pdndhewar the
Mahar receives from the cultivators certain grain -dues.
When the cut juari is lying in the field the Mahars go
round and beg for a measure of the ears (bhtk fay alt}. But
the regular payment is made when the grain has been
threshed. Another duty performed by the Mahar is the
removal of the carcases of dead animals. The flesh is eaten
and the skin retained as wage for the work. The patel and
his relatives, however, usually claim to have the skins of
their own animals returned ; and in some places where half
the agriculturists of the village claim kinship with the patel
the Mahars feel and resent the loss. A third duty is the
opening of grain-pits, the noxious gas from which sometimes
produces asphyxia. For this the Mahars receive the tainted
grain. They also get the clothes from a corpse which is
laid on the pyre, and the pieces of the burnt wood which
remain when the body has been consumed. Recent observa
tions in the Nagpur country show that the position of the
Mahars is improving. In Nagpur it is stated : 3 u Looked
down upon as outcastes by the Hindus they are hampered
by no sense of dignity or family prejudice. They are fond
of drink, but are also hard workers. They turn their hands
to anything and everything, but the great majority are
agricultural labourers. At present the rural Mahar is in
the background. If there is only one well in the village
he may not use it, but has to get his water where he can.
His sons are consigned to a corner in the village school, and
1 Bombay Gazetteer, vol. xL p. 73. 3 Nagpur Settlement Report (1899),
2 Grant Duff, History of the Mara- p. 29.
thas, vol. i. p. 24,
VOL. IV L
146 ' MAHLI PART
tKe schoolmaster, if not superior to caste prejudices, dis
courages their attendance. Nevertheless, Mahars will not
remain for years downtrodden in this fashion, and are
already pushing themselves up from this state of degrada
tion. In some places they have combined to dig wells, and
in Nagpur have opened a school for members of their own
community. Occasionally a Mahar is the most prosperous
man in the village. Several of them are moneylenders in
a small way, and a few are malguzars." Similarly in
Bhandara Mr. Napier writes that a new class of small
creditors has arisen from the Mahar caste. These people
have given up drinking, and lead an abstemious life, wishing
to raise themselves in social estimation. Twenty or more
village kotwars were found to be carrying on moneylending
transactions on a small scale, and in addition many of the
Mahars in towns were exceedingly well off.
i. Origin Mahli, Mahili. 1 A small caste of labourers, palanquin-
caste 6 bearers and workers in bamboo belonging to Chota Nagpur.
In 1911 about 300 Mahlis were returned from the Feudatory
States in this tract. They are divided into five subcastes :
the Bansphor-Mahli, who make baskets and do all kinds of
bamboo-work ; the Pahar-Mahli, basket-makers and culti
vators ; the Sulunkhi, cultivators and labourers ; the Tanti
who carry litters ; and the Mahli-Munda, who belong to
Lohardaga. Sir H. Risley states that a comparison .of the
totemistic sections of the Mahlis given in the Appendix to
his Tribes and Castes with those of the Santals seems to
warrant the conjecture that the main body of the caste are
merely a branch of the Santals. Four or five septs, Hansda
a wild goose, Hemron, Murmu the nilgai, Saren or Sarihin,
and perhaps Tudu or Turu are common to the two tribes.
The Mahlis are also closely connected with the Mundas.
Seven septs of the main body of the Mahlis, Dumriar the
wild fig, Gundli a kind of grain, Kerketa a bird, Mahukal
a bird (long-tail), Tirki, Tunduar and Turu are also Munda
septs ; and the three septs given of the Mahli-Munda sub-
caste, Bhuktuar, Lang Chenre, and Sanga are all found
1 This article consists of extracts caste in the Tribes and Castes of
from Sir H. Risley's account of the Bengal.
SOCIAL CUSTOMS
147
among the Mundas ; while four septs, Hansda a wild goose,
Induar a kind of eel, as well as Kerketa and Tirki, already
mentioned, are common to the Mahlis and Turis, who, are
also recognised by Sir H. Risley as an offshoot of the
Munda tribe with the same occupation as the Mahlis, of
making baskets. 1 The Santals and Mundas were no doubt
originally one tribe, and it seems that the Mahlis are derived
from both of them, and have become a separate caste owing
to their having settled in villages more or less of the open
country, and worked as labourers, palanquin-bearers and
bamboo-workers much in the same manner as the Turis.
Probably they work for hire for Hindus, and hence their
status may have fallen lower than that of the parent tribe,
who remained in their own villages in the jungles. Colonel
Dalton notes 2 that the gipsy Berias use Manjhi and Mahali
as titles, and it is possible that some of the Mahlis may
have joined the Beria community.
Only a very few points from Sir H. Risley's account of 2 . Social
the caste need be recorded here, and for further details the customs *
reader may be referred to his article in the Tribes and Castes
of Bengal. A bride-price of Rs, 5 is customary, but it varies
according to the means of the parties. On the wedding
day, before the usual procession starts to escort the bride
groom to the bride's house, he is formally married to a
mango tree, while the bride goes through the same ceremony
with a mahua. At the entrance to the bride's house the
bridegroom, riding on the shoulders of some male relation
and bearing on his head a vessel of water, is received by
the bride's brother, equipped in similar fashion, and the
two cavaliers sprinkle one another with water. At the
wedding the bridegroom touches the bride's forehead five
times with vermilion and presents her with an iron armlet.
The remarriage of widows and divorce are permitted.
When a man divorces his wife he gives her a rupee and
takes away the iron armlet which was given her at her
wedding. The Mahlis will admit members of any higher
caste into the community. The candidate for admission
must pay a small sum to the caste headman, and give a
1 See lists of exogamous septs of pendix to Tribes and Castes of Bengal*
Mahli, Sandal, Munda and Purl in Ap- 2 Ethnology of Bengal \ p. 326.
1 48 MAHLI PART ii
feast to the Mahlis of the neighbourhood, at which he must
eat a little of the leavings of food left by each guest on his
leaf-plate. After this humiliating rite he could not, of course,
be taken back into his own caste, and is bound to remain
a Mahli.
MAJHWAR
LIST OF PARAGRAPHS
1. Origin of the tribe. 4. Exogamy and totemism.
2. The Mirzapur Majhwars de- 5. Marriage customs.
rived from the Gonds. 6. Birth and funeral rites.
3. Connection with the Kaivars. 7. Religioits dance.
Majhwar, ManjM, Majhia. 1 A small mixed tribe who i. Origin
have apparently originated from the Gonds, Mundas and ^ e ie
Kawars. About 14,000 Majhwars were returned in 1911
from the Raigarh, Sarguja and Udaipur States. The word
Manjhi means the headman of a tribal subdivision, being
derived from the Sanskrit madhya, or he who is in the centre. 2
In Bengal Manjhi has the meaning of the steersman of a boat
or a ferryman, and this may have been its original applica
tion, as the steersman might well be he who sat in the centre. 3
When a tribal party makes an expedition by boat, the leader
would naturally occupy the position of steersman, and hence
it is easy to see how the term Manjhi came to be applied to
the leader or head of the clan and to be retained as a title
for general use. Sir H. Risley gives it as a title of the
Kewats or fishermen and many other castes and tribes in
Bengal. But it is also the name for a village headman
among the Santals, and whether this meaning is derived
from the prior signification of steersman or is of independent
origin is uncertain. In Raigarh Mr. Hira Lai states that
the Manjhis or Majhias are fishermen and are sometimes
classed with the Kewats. They appear to be Kols who
1 This article is based on papers by his Tribes and Castes.
Mr. Hira Lai and Suraj Baksh Singh, 2 Crooke, art. Majhwar, para. I.
Assistant Superintendent, Udaipur
State, with references to Mr. Crooke's 3 Tribes and Castes of Bengal^ art.
exhaustive article on the Majhwars in Manjhi.
MAJHWAR
2. The
Mirzapur
Majhwars
derived
from the
Gonds.
have taken to fishing and, being looked down on by the
other Kols on this account, took the name of Majhia or
Manjhi, which they now derive from Machh, a fish. " The
appearance of the Majhias whom I saw and examined was
typically aboriginal and their language was a curious mixture
of Mundari, Santal and Korwa, though they stoutly repudi
ated connection with any of these tribes. They could count
only up to three in their own language, using the Santal
words mit, baria^ pia. Most of their terms for parts of the
body were derived from Mundari, but they also used some
Santali and Korwa words. In their own language they
called themselves Hor, which means a man, and is the tribal
name of the Mundas."
On the other hand the Majhwars of Mirzapur, of whom
Mr. Crooke gives a detailed and interesting account, clearly
appear to be derived from the Gonds. They have five sub
divisions, which they say are descended from the five sons
of their first Gond ancestor. These are Poiya, Tekam,
Marai, Chika and Oiku. Four of these names are those of
Gond clans, and each of the five subtribes is further divided
into a number of exogamous septs, of which a large pro
portion bear typical Gond names, as Markam, Netam, Tekam,
Masham, Sindram and so on. The Majhwars of Mirzapur
also, like the Gonds, employ Patharis or Pardhans as their
priests, and there can thus be no doubt that they are mainly
derived from the Gonds. They would appear to have come
to Mirzapur from Sarguja and the Vindhyan and Satpura
hills, as they say that their ancestors ruled from the forts of
Mandla, Garha in Jubbulpore, Sarangarh, Raigarh and other
places in the Central Provinces. 1 They worship a deified
Ahir, whose legs were cut off in a fight with some Raja,
since when he has become a troublesome ghost. " He now
lives ou the Ahlor hill in Sarguja, where his petrified body
may still be seen, and the Manjhis go there to worship him.
His wife lives on the Jhoba hill in Sarguja. Nobody but a
Baiga dares to ascend the hill, and even the Raja of Sarguja
when he visits the neighbourhood sacrifices a black goat
Manjhis believe that if these two deities are duly propitiated
they can give anything they need." The story makes it
1 Crooke, Tribes and Castes of Bengal^ art, Manjhi, para. 4.
n t CONNECTION WITH THE KA WARS 151
probable that the ancestors of these Manjhis dwelt In
Sarguja. The Manjhis of Mirzapur are not boatmen or
fishermen and have no traditions of having ever been so.
They are a backward tribe and practise shifting cultivation
on burnt-out patches of forest. It is possible that they may
have abandoned their former aquatic profession on leaving
the neighbourhood of the rivers, or they may have simply
adopted the name, especially since it has the meaning of a
village headman and is used as a title by the Santals and
other castes and tribes. Similarly the term Munda, which
at first meant the headman of a Kol village, is now the
common name for^the Kol tribe in Chota Nagpur.
Again the Manjhis appear to be connected with the 3- Con-
Kawar tribe. Mr. Hlra Lai states that in Raigarh they will
take food with Kewats, Gonds, Kawars and Rawats or Ahlrs,
but they will not eat rice and pulse, the most important and
sacred food, with any outsiders except Kawars ; and this
they explain by the statement that their ancestors and those
of the Kawars were connected. In Mirzapur the Kaurai
Ahlrs will take food and water from the Majhwars, and these
Ahlrs are not improbably derived from the Kawars. 1 Here
the Majhwars also hold an oath taken when touching a
broadsword as most binding, and the Kawars of the Central
Provinces worship a sword as one of their principal deities. 2
Not improbably the Manjhis may include some Kewats, as
this caste also use Manjhi for a title ; and Manjhi is both
a subcaste and title of the Khairwars. The general con
clusion from the above evidence appears to be that the caste
is a very heterogeneous group whose most important con
stituents come from the Gond, Munda, Santal and Kawar
tribes. Whether the original bond of connection among the
various people who call themselves Manjhi was the common
occupation of boating and fishing is a doubtful point
The Manjhis of Sarguja, like those of Raigarh, appear 4. Exo-
to be of Munda and Santal rather than of Gond origin.
They have no subdivisions, but a number of totemistic septs.
Those of the Bhainsa or buffalo sept are split into the Lotan
and Singhan subsepts, lotan meaning a place where buffaloes
1 Cropke, Tribes and Castes of 'Bengal \ art. Manjhi, para. 63.
2 Jbidem> para. 54,
152 MAJHWAR
wallow and singh a horn. The Lotan Bhainsa sept
that their ancestor was born in a place where a buffalo had
wallowed, and the Singhan Bhainsa that their ancestor was
born while his mother was holding the horn of a buffalo.
These septs consider the buffalo sacred and will not yoke it
to a plough or cart, though they will drink its milk. They
think that if one of them killed a buffalo their clan would
become extinct. The Baghani Majhwars, named after the
bdgh or tiger, think that a tiger will not attack any member
of their sept unless he has committed an offence entailing
temporary excommunication from caste. Until this offence
has been expiated his relationship with the tiger as head of
his sept is in abeyance and the tiger will eat him as he
would any other stranger. If a tiger meets a member of
the sept who is free from sin, he will run away. When the
Baghani sept hear that any Majhwar has killed a tiger they
purify their houses by washing them with cowdung and
water. Members of the Khoba or peg sept will not make
a peg or drive one into the ground. Those of the Dumar *
or fig-tree sept say that their first ancestor was born under
this tree. They consider the tree to be sacred and never
eat its fruit, and worship it once a year. Members of the
sept named after the shiroti tree- worship the tree every
Sunday.
5. Mar- Marriage within the sept is prohibited and for three
riage generations between persons related through females.
customs. & , , ., , 111
Marriage is adult, but matches are arranged by the parents
of the parties. At betrothal the elders of the caste must
be regaled with cheora or parched rice and liquor. A bride-
price of Rs. 10 is paid, but a suitor who cannot afford this
may do service to his father-in-law for one or two years in
lieu of it. At the wedding the bridegroom puts a copper
ring on the bride's finger and marks her forehead with
vermilion. The couple walk seven times round the sacred
post, and seven little heaps of rice and pieces of turmeric
are arranged so that they may touch one of them with their
big toes at each round. The bride's mother and seven other
women place some rice in the skirts of their cloths and the
bridegroom throws this over his shoulder. After this he
* Ficus srlomerata,
and funeral
rites.
ii MAL 153
picks up the rice and distributes it to all the women present,
and the bride goes through the same ceremony. The rice
is no doubt an emblem of fertility, and its presentation to
the women may perhaps be expected to render them fertile.
On the birth of a child the navel-string is buried in front 6. Birth
of the house. When a man is at the point of death they
place a little cooked rice and curds in his mouth so that he
may not go hungry to the other world, in view of the fact that
he has probably eaten very little during his illness. Some
cotton and rice are also placed near the head of the corpse
in the grave so that he may have food and clothing in the
next world. Mourning is observed for five days, and at the
end of this period the mourners should have their hair cut,
but if they cannot get it done on this day, the rite may be
performed on the same day in the following year.
The tribe worship Dulha Deo, the bridegroom god, and 7. Reiigi-
also make offerings to their ploughs at the time of eating ous dance "
the new rice and at the Holi and Dasahra festivals. They
dance the karma dance in the months of Asarh and Kunwar
or at the beginning and end of the rains. When the time
has come the Gaontia headman or the Baiga priest fetches
a branch of the karma tree from the forest and sets it up
in his yard as a notice and Invitation to the village. After
sunset all the people, men, women and children, assemble
and dance round the tree, to the accompaniment of a drum
known as Mandar. The dancing continues all night, and in
the morning the host plucks up the branch of the karma
tree and consigns it to a stream, at the same time regaling
the dancers with rice, pulse and a goat. This dance is a
religious rite in honour of Karam Raja, and is believed to
keep sickness from the village and bring it prosperity. The
tribe eat flesh, but abstain from beef and pork. Girls are
tattooed on arrival at puberty with representations of the
tulsi or basil, four arrow-heads in the form of a cross, and
the foot-ornament known as pairi.
Mai, Male, Maler, Mai Paharia. 1 A tribe of the
Rajmahal hills, who may be an isolated branch of the
1 Based entirely on Colonel Dalton's and Sir H. Risley's in the Tribes and
account in the Ethnology of Bengal^ Castes of Bengal.
1 54 MAL PART
Savars. In 1911 about 1700 Mais were returned from
the Chota Nagpur Feudatory States recently transferred
to the Central Provinces. The customs of the Mais
resemble those of the other hill tribes of Chota Nagpur.
Sir H. Risley states that the average stature is low, the
complexion dark and the figure short and sturdy. The
following particulars are reproduced from Colonel Dalton's
account of the tribe :
" The hill lads and lasses are represented as forming-
very romantic attachments, exhibiting the spectacle of real
lovers * sighing like furnaces/ and the cockney expression
of keeping company ' is peculiarly applicable to their
courtship. If separated only for an hour they are miserable,
but there are apparently few obstacles to the enjoyment of
each other's society, as they work together, go to market
together, eat together, and sleep together ! But if it be
found that they have overstepped the prescribed limits of
billing and cooing, the elders declare them to be out of the
pale, and the blood of animals must be shed at their expense
to wash away the indiscretion and obtain their readmission
into society.
" On the day fixed for a marriage the bridegroom with
his relations proceeds to the bride's father's house, where
they are seated on cots and mats, and after a repast the
bride's father takes his daughter's hand and places it in that
of the bridegroom, and exhorts him to be loving and kind
to the girl that he thus makes over to him. The groom
then with the little finger of his right hand marks the girl
on the forehead with vermilion, and then, linking the same
finger with the little finger of her right hand, he leads her
away to his own house.
" The god of hunting is called Autga, and at the close
of every successful expedition a thank-offering is made to
him. This is the favourite pastime, and one of the chief
occupations of the Malers, and they have their game laws,
which are strictly enforced. If a man, losing an animal
which he has killed or wounded, seeks for assistance to find
it, those who aid are entitled to one-half of the animal when
found. Another person accidentally coming on dead or
wounded game and appropriating it, is subjected to a severe
11 MAL I55
fine. The Manjhl or headman of the village Is entitled to a
share of all game killed by any of his people. Any one
who kills a hunting dog is fined twelve rupees. Certain parts
of an animal are tabooed to females as food, and if they
infringe this law Autga is offended and game becomes scarce.
When the hunters are unsuccessful it is often assumed that
this is the cause, and the augur never fails to point out
the transgressing female, who must provide a propitiatory
offering. The Malers use poisoned arrows, and when they
kill game the flesh round the wound is cut off and thrown
away as unfit for food. Cats are under the protection of the
game laws, and a person found guilty of killing one is made
to give a small quantity of salt to every child in the village.
" I nowhere find any description of the dances and songs
of the Paharias. Mr. Atkinson found the Malers extremely
reticent on the subject, and with difficulty elicited that they
had a dancing-place in every village, but it is only when
under the influence of God Bacchus that they indulge in the
amusement. All accounts agree in ascribing to the Paharias
an immoderate devotion to strong drink, and Buchanan tells
us that when they are dancing a person goes round with
a pitcher of the home-brew and, without disarranging the
performers, who are probably linked together by circling
or entwining arms, pours into the mouth of each, male and
female, a refreshing and invigorating draught. The beverage
is the universal pachwai, that is, fermented grain. The grain,
either maize, rice or janera (Holcus sorghunt), is boiled and
spread out on a mat to cool. It is then mixed with a
ferment of vegetables called takar, and kept in a large
earthen vessel for some days ; warm water may at any time
be mixed with it, and in a few hours it ferments and is ready
for use."
When the attention of English officers was first drawn
to them in 1770 the Males of the Rajmahal hills were a
tribe of predatory freebooters, raiding and terrorising the
plain country from the foot of the hills to the Ganges. It
was Mr. Augustus Cleveland, Collector of Bhagalpur, who
reduced them to order by entering into engagements with
the chiefs for the prevention and punishment of offences
among their own tribesmen, confirming them in their estates
MALA
PART
and jurisdiction, and enrolling a corps of Males, which became
the Bhagalpur Hill Rangers, and was not disbanded till the
Mutiny. Mr. Cleveland died at the age of 29, having suc
cessfully demonstrated the correct method of dealing with
the wild forest tribes, and the Governor-General in Council
erected a tomb and inscription to his memory, which was
the original of that described by Mr. Kipling in The Tomb of
his Ancestors, though the character of the first John Chinn in
the story was copied from Outram. 1
Mala. A low Telugu caste of labourers and cotton-
weavers. They numbered nearly 14,000 persons in the
Central Provinces in 1911, belonging mainly to the Chanda,
Nagpur, Jubbulpore, and Yeotmal Districts, and the Bastar
State. The Marathas commonly call them Telugu Dhers,
but they themselves prefer to be known as Telangi Sadar
Bhoi, J which sounds a more respectable designation. They
are also known as Mannepuwar and Netkani. They are
the Pariahs of the Telugu country, and are regarded as
impure and degraded. They may be distinguished by their
manner of tying the head-cloth more or less in a square
shape, and by their loin-cloths, which are worn very loose
and not knotted. Those who worship Narsinghswami, the
man-lion incarnation of Vishnu, are called Namaddar, while
the followers of Mahadeo are known as Lingadars. The
former paint their foreheads with vertical lines of sandal-
paste, and the latter with horizontal ones. The Malas were
formerly zealous partisans of the right-handed sect in
Madras, and the description of this curious system of faction
given by the Abbe" Dubois more than a century ago may be
reproduced : 2
" Most castes belong either to the left-hand or right-hand
faction. The former comprises the Vaishyas or trading
classes, the Panchalas or artisan classes and some of the
low Sudra castes. It also contains the lowest caste, viz. the
Chaklas or leather-workers, who are looked upon as its chief
support. To the right-hand faction belong most of the
higher castes of Sudras. The Pariahs (Malas) are also its
1 See The Khandesh Bkfl Corps, by 2 fffafa Manners, Customs and
Mr. A. H. A. Simcox, p. 62. Ceremonies, ed. 1897, pp. 25, 26.
MALA
157
great support, as a proof of which they glory in the title of
Valangai Maugattar or Friends of the Right Hand. In the
disputes and conflicts which so often take place between
the two factions it is always the Pariahs who make the
most disturbance and do the most damage. The Brahmans,
Rajas and several classes of Sudras are content to remain
neutral and take no part in these quarrels. The opposition
between the two factions arises from certain exclusive
privileges to which both lay claim. But as these alleged
privileges are nowhere clearly defined and recognised, they
result in confusion and uncertainty, and are with difficulty
capable of settlement. When one faction trespasses on the
so-called right of the other, tumults arise which spread
gradually over large tracts of territory, afford opportunity
for excesses of all kinds, and generally end in bloody
conflicts. The Hindu, ordinarily so timid and gentle in
all other circumstances of life, seems to change his nature
completely on occasions like these. There is no danger
that he will not brave in maintaining what he calls his rights,
and rather than sacrifice a little of them he will expose
himself without fear to the risk of losing his life. The
rights and privileges for which the Hindus are ready to
fight such sanguinary battles appear highly ridiculous,
especially to a European. Perhaps the sole cause of the
contest is the right to wear slippers or to ride through the
streets in a palanquin or on horseback during marriage
festivals. Sometimes it is the privilege of being escorted -
on certain occasions by armed retainers, sometimes that of
having a trumpet sounded in front of a procession, or of
being accompanied by native musicians at public cere
monies." The writer of the Madras Census Report of 1871
states : I "It is curious that the females of two of the
inferior castes should take different sides to their husbands
in these disputes. The wives of the agricultural labourers
side with the left hand, while their husbands help in fighting
the battles of the right, and the shoemakers' wives also take
the side opposed to their husbands. During these festival
disturbances, the ladies who hold political views opposed to
those of their husbands deny to the latter all the privileges
1 Page 130.
MALA
PART II
of the connubial state." The same writer states that the
right-hand castes claimed the prerogative of riding on horse
back in processions, of appearing with standards bearing:
certain devices, and of erecting twelve pillars to sustain their
marriage booths ; while the left-hand castes might not have
more than eleven pillars, nor use the same standards as the
right The quarrels arising out of these small differences of
opinion were so frequent and serious in the seventeenth cen
tury that in the town of Madras it was found necessary to
mark the respective boundaries of the right- and left-hand
castes, and to forbid the right-hand castes in their processions
from occupying the streets of the left hand and vice versa.
These disturbances have gradually tended to disappear under
the influence of education and good government, and no
instance of them is known to have occurred in the Central
Provinces. The division appears to have originated among
the members of the Sakta sect or the worshippers of Sakti
as the female principle of life in nature. Dr. L. D. Barnett
writes : 1 " The followers of the sect are of two schools. The
' Walkers in the Right Way ' (Dakshinacharz) pay a service of
devotion to the deity in both male and female aspects, and
except in their more pronounced tendency to dwell upon the
horrific aspects of the deity (as Kali, Durga, etc), they differ
little from ordinary Saivas and Vaishnavas. The ' Walkers
in the Left Way ' ( Vamachari), on the other hand, concentrate
their thought upon the godhead in its sexually maternal aspect,
and follow rites of senseless magic and theoretically at least
promiscuous debauchery." As has been seen, the religious
differences subsequently gave rise to political factions.
1 Hinduism, in ' Religions Ancient and Modern ' Series, p. 26.
MALI
LIST OF PARAGRAPHS
1. General notice of the caste, 7. Widow-marriage^ divorce and
and its social position. polygamy.
2. Caste legend. 8. Disposal of the dead.
3. Flowers offered to the gods. 9. Religion.
4. Custom of wearing garlands. 10. Occupation.
5 . Subcastes. 1 1 . Traits and characters.
6. Marriage. 12. Other functions of the Mali.
1 3. Physical appearance.
Mali, Marar, Maral. 1 The functional caste of vegetable i. General
and flower-gardeners. The terms Mali and Marar appear to notlce of
tiie caste,
be used Indifferently for the same caste, the former being and its
more common in the west of the Province and the latter in
the eastern Satpura Districts and the Chhattlsgarh plain.
In the Nerbudda valley and on the Vindhyan plateau the
place of both Mali and Marar is taken by the Kachhi of
Upper India. 2 Marar appears to be a Marathi name, the
original term, as pointed out by Mr. Hira Lai, being Malal,
or one who grows garden-crops in a field ; but the caste is
often called Mali in the Maratha country and Marar in the
Hindi Districts. The word Mali is derived from the
Sanskrit mala, a garland. In 1911 the Malis numbered
nearly 360,000 persons in the present area of the Central
Provinces, and 200,000 in Berar. A German writer remarks
of the caste 3 that : " It cannot be considered to be a very
ancient one. Generally speaking, it may be said that flowers
have scarcely a place in the Veda. Wreaths of flowers, of
1 This article is based principally on 2 C.P. Census Report (1891), para.
Mr. Low's description of the Marars 180.
in the Balaghat District Gazetteer and 3 Schroder, Prehistoric Antiqziities>
on a paper by Major Sutherland, 121, quoted in Crooke's Tribes and
I. M.S. Castes., art. Mali.
159
160 MALI PART
course, are used as decorations, but the separate flowers and
their beauty are not yet appreciated. That lesson was first
learned later by the Hindus when surrounded by another
flora. Amongst the Homeric Greeks, too, in spite of their
extensive gardening and different flowers, not a trace of
horticulture is yet to be found." It seems probable that the
first Mails were not included among the regular cultivators
of the village but were a lower group permitted to take up
the small waste plots of land adjoining the inhabited area and
fertilised by its drainage, and the sandy stretches in the beds
of rivers, on which they were able to raise the flowers required
for offerings and such vegetables as were known. They still
hold a lower rank than the ordinary cultivator. Sir D.
Ibbetson writes l of the gardening castes : " The group now
to be discussed very generally hold an inferior position among
the agricultural community and seldom if ever occupy the
position of the dominant tribe in any considerable tract of
country. The cultivation of vegetables is looked upon as
degrading by the agricultural classes, why I know not, unless
it be that night-soil is generally used for their fertilisation ;
and a Rajput would say : What ! Do you take me for an
Arain ? ' if anything was proposed which he considered
derogatory." But since most Malis in the Central Provinces
strenuously object to using night-soil as a manure the
explanation that this practice has caused them to rank below
the agricultural castes does not seem sufficient. And if the
use of night-soil were the real circumstance which determined
their social position, it seems certain that Brahmans would
not take water from their hands as they do. Elsewhere Sir
D. Ibbetson remarks : 2 " The Malis and Sainis, like all
vegetable growers, occupy a very inferior position among the
agricultural castes ; but of the two the Sainis are probably
the higher, as they more often own land or even whole
villages, and are less generally mere market-gardeners than
are the Malis." Here is given what may perhaps be the true
reason for the status of the Mali caste as a whole. Again
Sir C. Elliot wrote in the Hoshangabdd Settlement Report :
" Garden crops are considered as a kind of fancy agriculture
and the true cultivator, the Kisan, looks on them with
1 Punjab Census Report (1881), para. 483. 2 Ibidem, para. 484.
ii GENERAL NOTICE OF THE CASTE 161
contempt as little peddling matters ; what stirs his ambition
is a fine large wheat-field eighty or a hundred acres in
extent, as flat as a billiard-table and as black as a Gond."
Similarly Mr. Low l states that in Balaghat the Panwars,
the principal agricultural caste, look down on the Marars
as growers of petty crops like sama and kutkl. In Wardha
the Dangris, a small caste of melon and vegetable growers,
are an offshoot of the Kunbis ; and they will take food
from the Kunbis, though these will not accept it from
them, their social status being thus distinctly lower than that
of the parent caste. Again the Kohlis of Bhandara, who grow
sugarcane with irrigation, are probably derived from an
aboriginal tribe, the Kols, and,, though they possess a number
of villages, rank lower than the regular cultivating castes.
It is also worth noting that they do not admit tenant-right
in their villages among their own caste, and allot the sugar
cane plots among the cultivators at pleasure. 2 In Nimar
the Mails rank below the Kunbis and Gujars, the good agri
cultural castes, and it is said that they grow the crops which
the cultivators proper do not care to grow. The Kachhis,
the gardening caste of the northern Districts, have a very
low status, markedly inferior to that of the Lodhis and Kurmis
and little if any better than the menial Dhlmars. Similarly, as
will be seen later, the Marars themselves have customs point
ing clearly to a non-Aryan origin. The Bhoyars of Betul,
who grow sugarcane, are probably of mixed origin from
Rajput fathers and mothers of the indigenous tribes ; they
eat fowls and are much addicted to liquor and rank below the
cultivating castes. The explanation seems to be that the
gardening castes are not considered as landholders, and have
not therefore the position which attaches to the holding
of land among all early agricultural peoples, and which in
India consisted in the status of a constituent member of the
village community. So far as ceremonial purity goes there is
no difference between the Malis and the cultivating castes, as
Brahmans will take water from both. It may be surmised
that this privilege has been given to the Malis because they
grow the flowers required for offerings to the gods, and
1 BalagJtdt District Gazetteer , para. 2 Mr. Napier's Bhandara Settlement
59. Report, quoted in article on Kohli.
VOL. IV M
1 62 MALI PART
sometimes officiate as village priests and temple servants ;
and their occupation, though not on a level with regular
agriculture, is still respectable. But the fact that Brahmans
will take water from them does not place the Malis on an
equality with the cultivating castes, any more than it does the
Nais (barbers) and Dhlmars (watermen), the contemned
menial servants of the cultivators, from whom Brahmans
will also take water from motives of convenience.
2. Caste The Malis have a Brahmanical legend of the usual type
legend. indicating that their hereditary calling was conferred and
ratified by divine authority. 1 This is to the effect that the
first Mali was a garland-maker attached to the household of
Raja Kansa of Mathura. One day he met with Krishna,
and, on being asked by him for a chaplet of flowers, at
once gave it. On being told to fasten it with string, he,
for want of any other, took off his sacred thread and tied
it, on which Krishna jnost ungenerously rebuked him for
his simplicity in parting with his paita^ and announced
that for the future his caste would be ranked among the
Sudras.
The above story, combined with the derivation of Mali
from mala, a garland, makes it a plausible hypothesis that the
calling of the first Malis was to grow flowers for the adorn
ment of the gods, and especially for making the garlands
with which their images were and still are decorated. Thus
the Malis were intimately connected with the gods and
naturally became priests of the village temples, in which
capacity they are often employed. Mr. Nesfield remarks of
the Mali : 2 "To Hindus of all ranks, including even the
Brahmans, he acts as a priest of Mahadeo in places where
no Gosain is to be found, and lays the flower offerings on
the lingam by which the deity is symbolised. As the Mali
is believed to have some influence with the god to whose
temple he is attached, none objects to his appropriating the
fee which is nominally presented to the god himself. In the
worship of those village godlings whom the Brahmans disdain
to recognise and whom the Gosain is not permitted to honour
the Mali is sometimes employed to present the offering. He
1 Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. 2 Brief View of the Caste System,
Mali. p. 15.
ir FLOWERS OFFERED TO THE GODS 163
is thus the recognised hereditary priest of the lower and
more ignorant classes of the population." In the Central
Provinces Malis are commonly employed in the temples of
Devi because goats are offered to the goddess and hence the
worship cannot be conducted by Brahmans. They also work
as servants in Jain temples under the priest They sweep
the temple, clean the utensils, and do other menial business.
This service, however, does not affect their religion and they
continue to be Hindus.
His services in providing flowers for the gods would be
remunerated by contributions of grain from the cultivators, the
acceptance of which would place the Mali below them in the
rank of a village menial, though higher than most of the
class owing to the purity of his occupation. His status was
probably much the same as that of the Guraos or village
priests of Mahadeo in the Maratha country. And though he
has now become a cultivator, his position has not improved
to the level of other cultivating castes for the reasons
already given. It was probably the necessity of regularly
watering his plants in order to obtain a longer and more
constant supply of blooms which first taught the Mali the
uses of irrigation.
Flowers are par excellence suited for the offerings and 3 . Flowers
adornment of the gods, and many Hindus have rose or other
plants in their houses whose flowers are destined to the house
hold god. There is little reason to doubt that this was the
purpose for which cultivated flowers were first grown. The
marigold, lotus and champak are favourite religious flowers,
while the tulsi or basil is itself worshipped as the consort
of Vishnu ; in this case, however, the scent is perhaps
the more valued feature. In many Hindu households all
flowers brought into the house are offered to the household
god before being put to any other use. A Brahman school
boy to whom I had given some flowers to copy in drawing
said that his mother had offered them to the god Krishna
before he used them. When faded or done with they should
be consigned to the sacred element, water, in any stream or
river. The statues of the gods are adorned with sculptured
garlands or hold them in their hands. A similar state of
things prevailed in classical antiquity :
1 64 MALI PART
Who are these coming to the sacrifice ?
To what green altar, mysterious priest,
LeacTst thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
And all her silken flanks with garlands drest ?
And,
Fairer than these, though temple thou hast none,
Nor altar decked with flowers,
Nor virgin choir to make delicious moan
Upon the midnight hours.
M. Fustel de Coulanges describes the custom of wearing
crowns or garlands of flowers in ancient Rome and Greece
as follows : " It is clear that the communal feasts were
religious ceremonies. Each guest had a crown on the head ;
it was an ancient custom to crown oneself with leaves or
flowers for any solemn religious act." " The more a man is
adorned with flowers/' they said, " the more pleasing he is to
the gods ; but they turn away from him who wears no crown
at his sacrifice." And again, ' A crown is the auspicious
herald which announces a prayer to the gods/ l
Among the Persians the flowers themselves are wor
shipped : 2 " When a pure Iranian sauntered through (the
Victoria Gardens in Bombay) ... he would stand awhile
and meditate over every flower in his path, and always as in
a vision ; and when at last the vision was fulfilled, and the
ideal flower found, he would spread his mat or carpet before
it, and sit before it to the going down of the sun, when he
would arise and pray before it, and then refold his mat or
carpet and go home ; and the next night, and night after
night, until that bright particular flower faded away, he
would return to it, bringing his friends with him in ever-
increasing numbers, and sit and sing and play the guitar or
lute before it and anon they all would arise together and
pray before it ; and after prayers, still sit on, sipping sherbet
and talking the most hilarious and shocking scandal, late
into the moonlight."
4. Custom From the custom of placing garlands on the gods as a
IrTands ng mar k f honour has no doubt arisen that of garlanding
guests. This is not confined to India but obtained in
1 La Cit antique, 2 1st ed., p. 181. Sir G. Birdwood (Society of Arts,
2 TheAntiquity of Oriental Carpets > 6th November 1908).
n SUJ3CASTES !65
Rome and probably in other countries. The word ( chaplet J l
originally -meant a garland or wreath to be worn on the
head ; and a garland of leaves with four flowers at equal
distances. Dryden says, c With chaplets green upon their
foreheads placed.' The word mala originally meant a garland,
and subsequently a rosary or string of beads. From this it
seems a legitimate deduction that rosaries or strings of beads
of a sacred wood were substituted for flower-garlands as orna
ments for the gods in view of their more permanent nature.
Having been thus sanctified they may have come to be
worn as a mark of holiness by saints or priests in imitation
of the divine images, this being a common or universal fashion
of Hindu ascetics. Subsequently they were found to serve as a
useful means of counting the continuous repetition of prayers,
whence arose the phrase f telling one's beads.' Like the Sans
krit mala, the English word rosary at first meant a garland of
roses and subsequently a string of beads, probably made from
rose- wood, on which prayers were counted. From this it may
perhaps be concluded that the images of the deities were
decorated with garlands of roses in Europe, and the develop
ment of the rosary was the same as the Indian mala. If
the rose was a sacred flower we can more easily understand
its importance as a badge in the Wars of the Roses.
The caste has numerous endogamous groups, varying in 5. Sub-
different localities. The Phulmalis, who derive their name from castes *
their occupation of growing and selling flowers (pkul\ usually
rank as the highest. The Ghase Malis are the only subcaste
which will grow and prepare turmeric in Wardha; but they will
not sell milk or curds, an occupation to which the Phulmalis,
though the highest subcaste, have no objection. In Chanda
the Kosaria Malis, who take their name from Kosala, the
classical designation of the Chhattlsgarh country, are the sole
growers of turmeric, while in Berar the Halde subcaste,
named after the plant, occupy the same position. The Kosaria
or Kosre subcaste abstain from liquor, and their women wear
glass bangles only on one hand and silver ones on the other.
The objection entertained to the cultivation of turmeric by
Hindus generally is said to be based ori the fact that when
the roots are boiled numbers of small insects are necessarily
1 The derivations of chaplet and rosary are taken from Ogilvy's Dictionary.
1 66 MALI PART
destroyed ; but the other Malis relate that one of the ancestors
of the caste had a calf called HarduKa, and one day he said
to his daughter, Haldi pakd, or ' Cook turmeric.' But the
daughter thought that he said cook Hardulia/ so she killed
and roasted the calf, and in consequence of this her father was
expelled from the caste, and his descendants are the Ghase or
Halde subcaste, Ever since this happened the shape of a
calf may be seen in the flower of turmeric. This legend has,
however, no real value and the meaning of the superstition
attaching to the plant is obscure. Though the growing of
turmeric is tabooed yet it is a sacred plant, and no Hindu
girl, at least in the Central Provinces, can be married without
having turmeric powder rubbed on her body. Mr. Gordon
remarks in Indian Folk-Tales-. "I was once speaking to a
Hindu gardener of the possibility of turmeric and garlic
being stolen from his garden. These two vegetables are
never stolen/ he replied, 'for we Hindus believe that he
who steals turmeric and garlic will appear with six fingers in
the next birth, and this deformity is always considered the
birth - mark of a thief.' " The Jire Malis are so named
because they were formerly the only subcaste who would
grow cumin (fira), but this distinction no longer exists as
other Malis, except perhaps the Phulmalis, now grow it.
Other subcastes have territorial names, as Baone from
Berar, Jaipuria, Kanaujia, and so on. The caste have also
exogamous septs or bargas^ with designations taken from
villages, titles or nicknames or inanimate objects.
5. Mar- Marriage is forbidden between members of the same sept
anc j between first and second cousins. Girls are generally
betrothed in childhood and should be married before maturity.
In the Uriya country if no suitable husband can be found for
a girl she is sometimes made to go through the marriage
ceremony with a peg of mahuawood driven into the ground and
covered over with a cloth. She is then tied to a tree in the
forest and any member of the caste may go and release her,
when she becomes his wife. The Marars of Balaghat and
Bhandara, have the lamjhana form of marriage, in which the
prospective husband serves for his wife ; this is a Dravidian
custom and shows their connection with the forest tribes. The
marriage ceremony follows the standard form prevalent in
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ii WIDOW-MARRIAGE, DIVORCE AND POLYGAMY 167
the locality. In Betul the couple go seven times round a
slab on which a stone roller is placed, with their . clothes
knotted together and holding in their hands a lighted lamp.
The slab and roller may be the implements used in powdering
turmeric. "Among the Marars of Balaghat 1 the maternal
uncle of the bridegroom goes to the village of the bride and
brings back with him the bridal party. The bride's party do
not at once cross the boundary of the bridegroom's village,
but will stay outside it for a few hours. Word is sent and
the bridegroom's party will bring out cooked food, which they
eat with the bride's party. This done, they go to the house
of the bridegroom and the bride forthwith walks five times
round a pounding-stone. Next day turmeric is applied to the
couple, and the caste people are given a feast. The essential
portion of the ceremony consists in the rubbing of vermilion
on the foreheads of the couple under the cover of a cloth.
The caste permit the practice of ralla-palla or exchanging
sisters in marriage. They are said to have a custom at
weddings known as kondia, according to which a young man
of the bridegroom's party, called the Sand or bull, is shut up
in a house at night with all the women of the bride's party ;
he is at liberty to seize and have intercourse with any of
them he can catch, while they are allowed to beat him as
much as they like. It is said that he seldom has much cause
to congratulate himself." But the caste have now become
ashamed of this custom and it is being abandoned. In
Chhattlsgarh the Marars, like other castes, have the forms of
marriage known as the Badi Shddi and Chhoti Shadi or great
and small weddings. The former is an elaborate form of
marriage, taking place at the house of the bride. Those who
cannot afford the expense of this have a 4 Small Wedding '
at the house of the bridegroom, at which the rites are
curtailed and the expenditure considerably reduced.
Widow - marriage is permitted. The widower, accom- 7 . widow-
panied by his relatives and a horn-blower, goes to the house ^^f e ge>
of the widow, and here a space is plastered with cowdung and and poiy-
the couple sit on two wooden boards while their clothes are gamy>
knotted together. In Balaghat 2 the bridegroom and bride
1 Balaghat District Gazetteer (C. E. Low), para. 59.
2 Ibidem^ loc, cit.
1 68 MALI PART
bathe in a tank and on emerging the widow throws away her
old cloth and puts on a new one. After this they walk five
times round a spear planted in the ground. Divorce is
permitted and can be effected by mutual consent of the
parties. Like other castes practising intensive cultivation
the Mai is marry several wives when they can afford it, in
order to obtain the benefit of their labour in the vegetable
garden ; a wife being more industrious and honest than a
hired labourer. But this practice results in large families
and household dissensions, leading to excessive subdivision
of property, and wealthy members of the caste are rare.
The standard of sexual morality is low, and if an unmarried
girl goes wrong her family conceal the fact and sometimes
try to procure an abortion. If these efforts are unsuccessful
a feast must be given to the caste and a lock of the woman's
hair is cut off by way of punishment A young hard-working-
wife is never 'divorced, however bad her character may be,
but an old woman is sometimes abandoned for very little
cause,
s. Disposal The dead may be either buried or burnt ; in the former
case t ^ ie cor P se * s ^^ w ^ ^ e f eet to ^ e ^ or th. Mourning
is observed only for three days and propitiatory offerings are
made to the spirits of the dead. If a man is killed by
a tiger his family make a wooden image of a tiger and
worship it.
9. Reii- Devi is the principal deity of the Malis. Weddings are
glon ' celebrated before her temple and large numbers of goats
are sacrificed to the favourite goddess at her festival in the
month of Magh (January). Many of the Marars of Balaghat
are Kablrpanthis and wear the necklace of that sect ; but
they appear none the less to intermarry freely with their
Hindu caste-fellows. 1 After the birth of a child it is stated
that all the members of the sept to which the parents belong
remain impure for five days, and no one will take food or
water from them.
10. Occu- The Mali combines the callings of a gardener and
pation. nurseryman. " In laying out a flower-garden and in arrang
ing beds," Mr. Sherring remarks, 2 "the Mali is exceedingly
1 Balaghat District Gazetteer -, para. 59.
2 Hindu Castes, vol. i. p. 327.
ii OCCUPATION 169
expert. His powers in this respect are hardly surpassed by
gardeners In England. He lacks of course the excellent
botanical knowledge of many English gardeners, and also
the peculiar skill displayed by them in grafting and crossing,
and in watching the habits of plants. Yet in manipulative
labour, especially when superintended by a European, he is,
though much slower in execution, almost if not quite equal
to gardeners at home. 33 They are excellent and very
laborious cultivators, and show much skill in intensive
cultivation and the use of water. Malis are the best sugar
cane growers of Betul and their holdings usually pa}^ a higher
rental than those of other castes. " In Balaghat," Mr. Low
remarks, 1 c< they are great growers of tobacco and sugarcane,
favouring the alluvial land on the banks of rivers. They
mostly irrigate by a dkekli or dipping lift, from temporary
wells or from water-holes in rivers. The pole of the lift has
a weight at one end and a kerosene tin suspended from the
other. Another form of lift is a hollowed tree trunk worked
on a fulcrum, but this only raises the water a foot or two.
The Marars do general cultivation as well ; but as a class are
not considered skilled agriculturists. The proverb about
their cultivating status is :
r^ Mali jote tali
Tali margayi^ dhare kudali,
or, ' The Marar yokes cows ; if the cow dies he takes to the
pickaxe 3 ; implying that he is not usually rich enough to
keep bullocks." The saying has also a derogatory sense, as
no good Hindu would yoke a cow to the plough. Another
form of lift used by the Kachhis is the Persian wheel. In
this two wheels are fixed above the well or tank and long
looped ropes pass over them and down into the well, between
which a line of earthen pots is secured. As the ropes move
on the wheels the pots descend into the well, are filled with
water, brought up, and just after they reach the apex of the
wheel and turn to descend again, the water pours out to a
hollow open tree-trunk, from which a channel conveys it to
the field. The wheel which turns the rope is worked by a
man pedalling, but he cannot do more than about three hours
1 BaldgTtat District Gazetteer., loc. cit.
17
MALI
PART
ii. Traits
character
12. Other
a day. The common lift for gardens is the mot or bag made
of the hide of a bullock or buffalo. This is usually worked
by a pair of bullocks moving forwards down a slope to raise
the mot from the well and backwards up the slope to let it
down when empty.
" It is necessary," the account continues, "for the Marar's
business for one member at least of his family to go to market
with his vegetables ; and the Mararin is a noteworthy feature
in all bazars, sitting with her basket or garment spread on the
ground, full of white onions and garlic, purple brinjals and
scarlet chillies, with a few handfuls of strongly flavoured green
stuff. Whether from the publicity which it entails on their
women or from whatever cause, the Mararin does not bear
the best of reputations for chastity ; and is usually con
sidered rather a bold, coarse creature. The distinctive
feature of her attire is' the way in which she ties up her
body-cloth so as to leave a tail sticking up behind ; whence
the proverb shouted after her by rude little boys : c Jump
from roof to roof, Monkey. Pull the tail of the Mararin,
Monkey/ She also rejoices in a very large tikli or spangle
on her forehead and in a peculiar kind of angia (waistcoat).
The caste are usually considered rather clannish and morose.
They live in communities by themselves, and nearly always
inhabit a separate hamlet of the village. The Marars of a
certain place are said to have boycotted a village carpenter
who lost an axe belonging to one of their number, so that
he had to leave the neighbourhood for lack of custom."
Many Malis live in the towns and keep vegetable- or
flower-gardens just outside. They sell flowers, and the
Mali girls are very good flower-sellers, Major Sutherland
says, being famous for their coquetry, A saying about
them is : " The crow among birds, the jackal among beasts,
the barber among men and the Malin among women ; all
these are much too clever." The Mali also prepares the
maur or marriage-crown, made from the leaves of the date-
palm, both for the bride and bridegroom at marriages. In
return he gets a present of a rupee, a piece of cloth and a
day's food. He also makes the garlands which are used
for presentation at entertainments, and supplies the daily
bunches of flowers which are required as offerings for
I
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cc
UJ
o
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DC
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CO
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o
o
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CD
n MALLAH 171
Mahadeo. The Mali keeps garlands for sale in the bazar,
and when a well-to-do person passes he goes up and puts
a garland round his neck and expects a present of a pice
or two.
" Physically," Mr. Low states, " the Marar is rather a 13. Physi-
poor-Iooking creature, dark and undersized ; but the women
are often not bad looking, and dressed up in their best at
a wedding, rattling their castanets and waving light-coloured
silk handkerchiefs, give a very graceful dance. The caste
are not as a rule celebrated for their cleanliness. A polite
way of addressing a Marar is to call him Patel."
Mallah, Malha. 1 A small caste of boatmen and fisher
men in the Jubbulpore and Narsinghpur Districts, which
numbered about 5000 persons in 1911. It is scarcely
correct to designate the Mallahs as a distinct caste, as in
both these Districts it appears from Inquiry that the term
is synonymous with Kewat. Apparently, however, the
Mallahs do form a separate endogamous group, and owing
to many of them having adopted the profession of growing
hemp, a crop which respectable Hindu castes usually refuse
to cultivate, it is probable that they would not be allowed
to intermarry with the Kewats of other Districts. In the
United Provinces Mr. Crooke states that the Mallahs,
though, as their Arabic name indicates, of recent origin,
have matured into a definite social group, including a
number of endogamous tribes. The term Mallah has
nothing to do with the Mulla or Muhammadan priest
among the frontier tribes, but comes from an Arabic
word meaning ' to be salt/ or, according to another deriva
tion, ' to move the wings as a bird.' 2 The Mallahs of the
Central Provinces are also, in spite of their Arabic name, a
purely Hindu caste. In Narsinghpur they say that their
original ancestor was one Bali or Baliram, who was a boat
man and was so strong that he could carry his boat to the
river and back under his armpit. On one occasion he
ferried Rama across the Ganges in Benares, and it is said
1 This article is based on papers Misra, Ethnographic clerk.
by Mr. Shyamacharan, B.A., B.L., 2 Crooke's Tribes and Castes of the
Pleader, Narsinghpur, and Pyare Lai N. W.P. and Oitdh, art. Mailah.
172 MAN A PART
that Rama gave him a horse to show his gratitude ; but
Baliram was so ignorant that he placed the bridle on the
horse's tail instead of the head. And from this act of
Bahrain's arose the custom of having the rudder of a boat
at the stern instead of at the bow. The Mallahs in the
Central Provinces appear from their family names to be
immigrants from Bundelkhand. Their customs resemble
those of lower-class Hindus. Girls are usually married
under the age of twelve years, and the remarriage of widows
is permitted, while divorce may be effected in the presence
of the panchdyat or caste committee by the husband and
wife breaking a straw between them. They are scantily
clothed and are generally poor. A proverb about them
says :
Jahan bethen Malao
Tahan lage
or, ' Where Mallahs sit, there is always a fire. 3 This refers
to their custom of kindling fires on the river-bank to protect
themselves from colcte In Narsinghpur the Mallahs have
found a profitable opening in the cultivation of hemp, a
crop which other Hindu castes until recently tabooed on
account probably of the dirty nature of the process of
cleaning out the fibre and the pollution necessarily caused
to the water-supply. They sow and cut hemp on Sundays
and Wednesdays, which are regarded as auspicious days.
They also grow melons, and will not enter a melon-field
with their shoes on or allow a woman during her periodical
impurity to approach it. The Mallahs are poor and
illiterate, but rank with Dhimars and Kewats, and Brahmans
will take water from their hands.
Mana. 1 A Dravidian caste of cultivators and labourers
belonging to the Chanda District, from which they have
spread to Nagpur, Bhandara and Balaghat. In 1911 they
numbered nearly 50,000 persons, of whom 34,000 belonged
to Chanda. The origin of the caste is obscure. In the
Ckanda Settlement Report of 1869 Major Lucie Smith
wrote of them : " Tradition asserts that prior to the Gond
1 This article is based on papers by Mr. Hira Lai and G. Padaya Naidu of
the Gazetteer Office.
" MAN A I?3
conquest the Manas reigned over the country, having their
strongholds at Surajgarh in Ahiri and at Manikgarh in the
Manikgarh hills, now of Hyderabad, and that after a troubled
rule of two hundred years they fell before the Gonds. In
appearance they are of the Gond type, and are strongly
and stoutly made ; while in character they are hardy, in
dustrious and truthful. Many warlike traditions still linger
among them, and doubtless in days gone by they did their
duty as good soldiers, but they have long since hung up
sword and shield and now rank among the best cultivators
of rice in Chanda." Another local tradition states that a
line of Mana princes ruled at Wairagarh. The names of
three princes are remembered : Kurumpruhoda, the founder
of the line ; Surjat Badwaik, who fortified Surjagarh ; and
Gahilu, who built Manikgarh. As regards the name Manik
garh, it may be mentioned that the tutelary deity of the
Nagvansi kings of Bastar, who ruled there before the
accession of the present Raj -Gond dynasty in the fourteenth
century, was Manikya Devi, and it is ppssible that the chiefs
of Wairagarh were connected with the Bastar kings. Some
of the Manas say that they, as well as the Gowaris, are
offshoots of the Gond tribe ; and a local saying to the
effect that ' The Gond, the Gowari and the Mana eat boiled
juari or beans on leaf-plates ' shows that they are associated
together in the popular mind. Hislop states that the Ojhas,
or soothsayers and minstrels of the Gonds, have a sub
division of Mana Ojhas, who lay claim to special sanctity,
refusing to take food from any other caste. 1 The Gonds
have a subdivision called Mannewar, and as war is only
a Telugu suffix for the plural, the proper name Manne
closely resembles Mana. It is shown in the article on the
Parja tribe that the Parjas were a class of Gonds or a tribe
akin to them, who were dominant in Bastar prior to the
later immigration under the ancestors of the present Bastar
dynasty. And the most plausible hypothesis as to the past
history of the Manas is that they were also the rulers of
some tracts of Chanda, and were displaced like the Parjas
by a Gond invasion from the south.
In Bhandara, where the Manas hold land, it Is related
1 Papers on the Aboriginal Tribes of the Central Provinces^ p. 6.
174 MANA PART
that In former times a gigantic kite lived on the hill of
Ghurkundi, near Sakoli, and devoured the crops of the
surrounding country by whole fields at a time. The king
of Chanda proclaimed that whoever killed the kite would be
granted the adjoining lands. A Mana shot the kite with an
arrow and its remains were taken to Chanda in eight carts,
and as his reward he received the grant of a zamlndari.
In appearance the Manas, or at least some of them, are
rather fine men, nor do their complexion and features show
more noticeable traces of aboriginal descent than those of
the local Hindus. But their neighbours in Chanda and
Bastar, the Maria Gonds, are also taller and of a better
physical type than the average Dravidian, so that their
physical appearance need not militate against the above
hypothesis. They retained their taste for fighting until
within quite recent times, and in Katol and other towns
below the Satpura hills, Manas were regularly enlisted as a
town guard for repelling the Pindari raids. Their descend
ants still retain the ancestral matchlocks, and several of
them make good use of these as professional shikaris or
hunters. Many of them are employed as servants by land
owners and moneylenders for the collection of debts or the
protection of crops, and others are proprietors, cultivators
and labourers, while a few even lend money on their own
account. Manas hold three zamlndari estates in Bhandara
and a few villages in Chanda ; here they are considered to
be good cultivators, but have the reputation as a caste of
being very miserly, and though possessed of plenty, living
only on the poorest and coarsest food. 1 The Mana women
are proverbial for the assistance which they render to their
husbands in the work of cultivation.
Owing to their general adoption of Maratha customs,
the Manas are now commonly regarded as a caste and not a
forest tribe, and this view may be accepted. They have
two subcastes, the Badwaik Manas, or soldiers, and the
Khad Manas, who live in the plains and are considered to
be of impure descent. Badwaik or c The Great Ones ' is a
titular term applied to a person carrying arms, and assumed
by certain Rajputs and also by some of the lower castes.
1 Rev. A. Wood in Chanda District Gazetteer, para. 96.
ii MANA 175
A third group of Manas are now amalgamated with the
Kunbis as a regular subdivision of that caste, though they
are regarded as somewhat lower than the others. They
have also a number of exogamous septs of the usual titular
and totemistic types, the few recognisable names being
Marathi. It is worth noticing that several pairs of these
septs, as Jamare and Gazbe, Narnari and Chudri, Wagh and
Rawat, and others are prohibited from intermarriage. And
this may be a relic of some wider scheme of division of the
type common among the Australian aborigines. The social
customs of the Manas are the same as those of the other
lower Maratha castes, as described in the articles on Kunbi,
Kohli and Mahar. A bride-price of Rs. 12-8 is usually
paid, and if the bridegroom's father has the money, he takes
it with him on going to arrange for the match. Only one
married woman of the bridegroom's family accompanies him
to the wedding, and she throws rice over him five times.
Four days in the year are appointed for the celebration of
weddings, the festivals of Shivratri and of Akhatij, and
a day each in the months of Magh (January) and Phagun
(February). This rule, however, is not universal. Brahmans
do not usually officiate at their ceremonies, but they employ
a Brahman to prepare the rice which is thrown over the
couples. Marriage within the sept is forbidden, as well as
the union of the children of two sisters. But the practice
of marrying a brother's daughter to a sister's son is a very
favourite one, being known as Mahunchar, and in this
respect the Manas resemble the Gonds. When a widow is
to be remarried, she stops on the way by the bank of a
stream as she is proceeding to her new husband's house, and
here her clothes are taken off and buried by an exorcist
with a view to laying the first husband's spirit and prevent
ing it from troubling the new household. If a woman goes
wrong with a man of another caste she is not finally cast
out, but if she has a child she must first dispose of it to
somebody else after it is weaned. She may then be re
admitted into caste by having her hair shaved off and giving
three feasts ; the first is prepared by the caste and eaten
outside her house, the second is prepared by her relatives
and eaten within her house, and at the third the caste
176 MANBHAO PART
reinstate her by partaking of food cooked by herself. The
dead are either buried or burnt ; in the former case a
feast is given immediately after the burial and no further
mourning is observed ; in the latter the period of mourning
is three days. As among the Gonds, the dead are laid with
feet to the north. A woman is impure for seven days after
child-birth.
The Manas have Bhats or genealogists of their own
caste, a separate one being appointed for each sept. The
Bhat of any sept can only accept gifts from members of that
sept, though he may take food from any one of the caste.
The Bhats are in the position of beggars, and the other
Manas will not take food from them. Every man must
have a Bhat for his family under penalty of being tempor
arily put out of caste. It is said that the Bhats formerly
had books showing the pedigrees of the different families,
but that once in a spirit of arrogance they placed their shoes
upon the books ; and the other Manas, not brooking this
insolence, burnt the books. The gravity of such an act may
be realised when it is stated that if anybody even threatens
to hit a Mana with a shoe, the indignity put upon him is so
great that he is temporarily excluded from caste and penal
ised for readmission. Since this incident the Bhats have to
address the Manas as ' Brahma/ to show their respect, the
Mana replying * Ram, Ram/ Their women wear short loin
cloths, exposing part of the thigh, like the Gonds. They
eat pork and drink liquor, but will take cooked food only
from Brahmans.
i. History Manbhao. 1 A religious sect or order, which has now
of thereof become a caste > belonging to the Maratha Districts of the
Central Provinces and to Berar. Their total strength in
India in 1911 was 10,000 persons, of whom the Central
Provinces and Berar contained 4000. The name would
appear to have some such meaning as ' The reverend
brothers/ The Manbhaos are stated to be a Vaishnavite
1 This article is compiled from notes burgh ; Captain Mackintosh's Account
on the caste drawn up by Colonel of the Manbhaos (India Office Tracts) ;
Mackenzie and contributed to the and a paper by Pyare Lai Misra,
Pioneer newspaper by Mrs. Hors- Ethnographic clerk.
ii HISTORY AND NATURE OF THE SECT 177
order founded in Berar some two centuries ago. 1 They
themselves say that their order is a thousand years old and
that it was founded by one Arjun Bhat, who lived at
Domegaon, near Ahrnadnagar. He was a great Sanskrit
scholar and a devotee of Krishna, and preached his doctrines
to all except the impure castes. Ridhpur, in Berar, is the
present headquarters of the order, and contains a monastery
and three temples, dedicated to Krishna and Dattatreya, 2
the only deities recognised by the Manbhaos. Each temple
is named after a village, and is presided over by a Mahant
elected from the celibate Manbhaos. There are other
Mahants, also known after the names of villages or towns
in which the monasteries over which they preside are
located. Among these are Sheone, from the village near
Chandur in Amraoti District ; Akulne, a village near
Ahrnadnagar ; Lasorkar, from Lasor, near Aurangabad ;
Mehkarkar, from Mehkar in Buldana ; and others. The
order thus belongs to Berar and the adjoining parts of
India. Colonel Mackenzie describes Ridhpur as follows :
" The name is said to be derived from ridh, meaning blood,
a Rakshas or demon having been killed there by Para-
surama, and it owes its sanctity to the fact that the god
lived there. Black stones innumerable scattered about the
town show where the god's footsteps became visible. At
Ridhpur Krishna is represented by an ever-open, sleeplessly
watching eye, and some Manbhaos carry about a small
black stone disk with an eye painted on it as an amuleL"
Frequently their shrines contain no images, but are simply
chdbutras or platforms built over the place where Krishna
or Dattatreya left marks of their footprints. Over the
platform is a small veranda, which the Manbhaos kiss,
calling upon the name of the god. Sukli, in Bhandara,
is also a headquarters of the caste, and contains many
Manbhao tombs. Here they burn camphor in honour of
Dattatreya and make offerings of cocoanuts. They make
pilgrimages to the different shrines at the full moons of
Chait (March) and Kartik (October). They pay reverence
to no deities except Krishna and Dattatreya, and observe
1 Berar Census Report (i%%i\?. 62. devotee who has been deified as an
2 Dattatreya was a celebrated Sivite incarnation of Siva.
VOL. IV N
I ;8 MANBHAO PART
the festivals of Gokul AshtamI in August and Datta-
Jayantri in December. They consider the month of Aghan
(November) as holy, because Krishna called it so in the
Bhagavat-Glta. This is their sacred book, and they reject
the other Hindu scriptures. Their conception of Krishna is
based on his description of himself to Arjun in the Bhaga-
vat-Glta as follows : " ' Behold things wonderful, never seen
before, behold in this my body the whole world, animate
and inanimate. But as thou art unable to see with these
thy natural eyes, I will give thee a heavenly eye, with which
behold my divine connection. 5
" The son of Pandu then beheld within the body of the
god of gods standing together the whole universe divided
forth into its vast variety. He was overwhelmed with
wonder and every hair was raised on end. c But I am not
to be seen as thou hast seen me even by the assistance of
the Vedas, by mortification, by sacrifices, by charitable gifts :
but I am to be seen, to be known in truth, and to be
obtained by that worship which is offered up to me alone :
and he goeth unto me whose works are done for me : who
esteemeth me supreme : who is my servant only : who hath
abandoned all consequences, and who liveth amongst all
men without hatred.' "
Again : " He my servant is dear to me who is free from
enmity, the friend of all nature, merciful, exempt from all
pride and selfishness, the same in pain and in pleasure,
patient of wrong, contented, constantly devout, of subdued
passions and firm resolves, and whose mind and under
standing are fixed on me alone."
2. Divi- The Manbhaos are now divided into three classes : the
sions of Brahmachari : the Gharbari ; and the Bhope. The Brahma-
the order. 3 y r .
chari are the ascetic members of the sect who subsist by
begging and devote their lives to meditation, prayer and
spiritual instruction. The Gharbari are those who, while
leading a mendicant life, wearing the distinctive black dress
of the order and having their heads shaved, are permitted
to get married with the permission of their Mahant or guru.
The ceremony is performed in strict privacy inside a temple.
A man sometimes signifies his choice of a spouse by putting
kisjholi or beggar's wallet upon hers; if she lets it remain
n DIVISIONS OF THE ORDER 179
there, the betrothal is complete. A woman may show her
preference for a man by bringing a pair of garlands and
placing one on his head and the other on that of the image
of Krishna. The marriage is celebrated according to the
custom of the Kunbis, but without feasting or music.
Widows are permitted to marry again. Married women
do not wear bangles nor toe-rings nor the customary neck
lace of beads ; they put on no jewellery, and have no choli
or bodice. The Bhope or Bhoall, the third division of the
caste, are wholly secular and wear no distinctive dress,
except sometimes a black head-cloth. They may engage
in any occupation that pleases them, and sometimes act as
servants in the temples of the caste. In Berar they
are divided into thirteen bas or orders, named after the
disciples of Arjun Bhat, who founded the various shrines.
The Manbhaos are recruited by initiation of both men
and women from any except the impure castes. Young
children who have been vowed by their parents to a reli
gious life or are left without relations, are taken into the
order. Women usually join it either as children or late in
life. The celibate members, male or female, live separately
in companies like monks and nuns. They do not travel
together, and hold services in their temples at different times.
A woman admitted into the order is henceforward the disciple
of the woman who initiated her by whispering the guru
mantra or sacred verse into her ear. She addresses her
preceptress as mother and the other women as sisters. The
Manbhaos are intelligent and generally literate, and they
lead a simple and pure life. They are respectable and are
respected by the people, and a guru or spiritual teacher is
often taken from them in place of a Brahman or Gosain.
They often act as priests or gurus to the Mahars, for whom
Brahmans will not perform these services. Their honesty
and humility are proverbial among the Kunbis, and are in
pleasing contrast to the character of many of the Hindu
mendicant orders. They consider it essential that all their
converts should be able to read the Bhagavat-Gita or a
commentary on it, and for this purpose teach them to read
and write during the rainy season when they are assembled
at one of their monasteries.
i8o
MANBHAO
PART
3. Religi
ous obser
vances
and
customs.
One of the leading tenets of the Manbhaos is a respect
for all forms of animal and even vegetable life, much on a
par with that of the Jains. They strain water through a
cloth before drinking it, and then delicately wipe the cloth
to preserve any insects that may be upon it. They should
not drink water in, and hence cannot reside in, any village
where animal sacrifices are offered to a deity. They will
not cut down a tree nor break off a branch, or even a blade
of grass, nor pluck a fruit or an ear of corn. Some, it is
said, will not even bathe in tanks for- fear of destroying
insect-life. For this reason also they readily accept cooked
food as alms, so that they may avoid the risk of the destruc
tion of life involved in cooking. The Manbhaos dislike the
din and noise of towns, and live generally in secluded places,
coming into the towns only to beg. Except in the rains
they wander about from place to place. They beg in the
morning, and then return home and, after bathing and
taking their food, read their religious books. They must
always worship Krishna before taking food, and for this
purpose when travelling they, carry an image of the deity
about with them. They will take food and water from the
higher castes, but they must not do so from persons of low
caste on pain of temporary excommunication. They neither
smoke nor chew tobacco. Both men and women shave the
head clean, and men also the face. This is first done on
initiation by the village barber. But the sendhi or scalp-
lock and moustaches of the novice must be cut off by his
guru, this being the special mark of his renunciation of the
world. The scalp-locks of the various candidates are pre
served until a sufficient quantity of hair has been collected,
when ropes are made of it, which they fasten round their
loins. This may be because Hindus attach a special efficacy
to the scalp-lock, perhaps as being the seat of a man's
strength or power. The nuns also shave their heads, and
generally eschew every kind of personal adornment. Both
monks and nuns usually dress in black or ashen-grey clothes
as a mark of humility, though some have .discarded black in
favour of the usual Hindu mendicant colour of red ochre.
The black colour is in keeping with the complexion of
Krishna, their chief god. They dye their cloths with
ir HOSTILITY BETWEEN MANBHAOS & BRAHMANS 181
lamp-black mixed with a little water and oil. They usually
sleep on the ground, with the exception of those who are
Mahants, and they sometimes have no metal vessels, but use
bags made of strong cloth for holding food and water.
Men's names have the suffix Boa, as Datto Boa, Kesho Boa,
while those of boys end in da, as Manoda, Raojfda, and
those of women in Bai, as Gopa Bai, Som Bai. The dead
are buried, not in the common burial-grounds, but in some
waste place. The corpse is laid on its side, facing the east,
with head to the north and feet to the south. A piece of silk
or other valuable cloth is placed on it, on which salt is
sprinkled, and the earth is then filled in and the ground
levelled so as to leave no trace of the grave. No memorial
is erected over a Manbhao tomb, and no mourning nor cere
mony of purification is observed, nor are oblations offered
to the spirits of the dead. If the dead man leaves any
property, it is expended on feeding the brotherhood for ten
days ; and if not, the Mahant of his order usually does this
in his name.
The Manbhaos are dissenters from orthodox Hinduism, 4. Hostility
and have thus naturally incurred the hostility of the Brah- Manbhaos
mans. Mr. Kitts remarks of them : 1 " The Brahmans hate and
the Manbhaos, who have not only thrown off the Brahmanical Bri - hmans -
yoke themselves, but do much to oppose the influence of
Brahmans among the agriculturists. The Brahmans repre
sent them as descended from one Krishna Bhat, a Brahman
who was outcasted for keeping a beautiful Mang woman as
his mistress. His four sons were called the Mang-bhaos
or Mang brothers. 15 This is an excellent instance of the
Brahman talent for pressing etymology into their service as
an argument, in which respect they resemble the Jesuits.
By asserting that the Manbhaos are descended from a Mang
woman, one of the most despised castes, they attempt to
dispose of these enemies of a Brahman hegemony without
further ado.
Another story about their wearing black or ashen-
coloured clothes related by Colonel Mackenzie is that
Krishna Bhat's followers, refusing to believe the aspersions
cast on their leader by the Brahmans, but knowing that
1 B&rar Cemus Report (iSSi), p. 62.
1 82 MANBHA PART
some one among them had been guilty of the sin imputed
to him, determined to decide the matter by the ordeal of
fire. Having made a fire, they cast into it their own clothes
and those of their guru, each man having previously written
his name on his garments. The sacred fire made short work
of all the clothes except those of Krishna Bhat, which it
rejected and refused to burn, thereby forcing the unwilling
disciples to believe that the finger of God pointed to their
revered guru as the sinner. In spite of the shock of thus
discovering that their idol had feet of very human clay, they
still continued to regard Krishna Bhat's precepts as good
and worthy of being followed, only stipulating that for all
time Manbhaos should wear clothes the colour of ashes, in
memory of the sacred fire which had disclosed to them their
gurrfs sin.
Captain Mackintosh also relates that "About A.D. 1780,
a Brahman named Anand Rishi, an inhabitant of Paithan on
the Godavari, maltreated a Manbhao, who came to ask for
alms at his door. This Manbhao, after being beaten, pro
ceeded to his friends in the vicinity, and they collected a
large number of brethren and went to the Brahman to
demand satisfaction ; Anand Rishi assembled a number
of Gosains and his friends, and pursued and attacked the
Manbhaos, who fled and asked Ahalya Bai, Rani of Indore,
to protect them ; she endeavoured to pacify Anand Rishi
by telling him that the Manbhaos were her gurus ; he said
that they were Mangs, but declared that if they agreed to
his proposals he would forgive them ; one of them was that
they were not to go to a Brahman's house to ask for alms,
and another that if any Brahman repeated Anand Rishi's
name and drew a line across the road when a Manbhao was
advancing, the Manbhao, without saying a word, must return
the road he came. Notwithstanding this attempt to prevent
their approaching a Brahman's house, they continue to ask
alms of the Brahmans, and some Brahmans make a point of
supplying them with provisions."
This story endeavours to explain a superstition still
observed by the caste. This is that when a Manbhao is
proceeding along a road, if any one draws a line across the
road with a stick in front of him the Manbhao will wait
IT HOSTILITY BETWEEN MANBHAOS &* BRAHMANS 183
without passing the line until some one else comes up and
crosses it before him. In reality this is probably a primitive
superstition similar to that which makes a man stop when a
snake has crossed the road in front of him and efface its
track before proceeding. It is said that the members of the
order also carry their sticks upside down, and a saying is
repeated about them :
Manbhao hokar kale kapre darhi 7nnchi mundhata hai^
Ulti lakri hath men pakri <woh kya Sahib milta haij
or,' C The Manbhao wears black clothes, shaves his face and
holds his stick upside down, and thinks he will find God that
way."
This saying is attributed to Kablr.
MANG
LIST OF PARAGRAPHS
1. Origin and traditions. 4. Widow-marriage.
2. Subdivisions. 5. Burial.
3. Marriage. 6. Occupation.
7. Religion and social status.
Origin Hang*. 1 A low impure caste of the Maratha Districts,
and W k ac t as village musicians and castrate bullocks, while
traditions, . _ _
their women serve as midwives. ihe Mangs are also some
times known as Vajantri or musician. They numbered
more than 90,000 persons in 1911, of whom 30,000
belonged to the Nagpur and Nerbudda Divisions of the
Central Provinces, and 60,000 to Berar. The real origin
of the Mangs is obscure, but they probably originated from
the subject tribes and became a caste through the adoption
of the menial services which constitute their profession. In
a Maratha book called the Shudra Kamlakar, 2 it is stated
that the Mang was the offspring of the union of a Vaideh
man and an Ambashtha woman. A Vaideh was the ille
gitimate child of a Vaishya father and a Brahman mother,
and an Ambashtha of a Brahman father and a Vaishya
mother. The business of the Mang was to play on the
flute and to make known the wishes of the Raja to his
subjects by beat of drum. He was to live in the forest or
outside the village, and was not to enter it except with the
Raja's permission. He was to remove the dead bodies of
strangers, to hang criminals, and to take away and appro
priate the clothes and bedding of the dead. The Mangs
themselves relate the following legend of their origin as
given by Mr. Sathe : Long ago before cattle were used for
1 This article is based partly on a Extra Assistant Commissioner.
paper by Mr. Achyut Sitaram Sathe, 2 P. 389.
184
PART ii SUBDIVISIONS 185
ploughing, there was so terrible a famine upon the earth
that all the grain was eaten up, and there was none left for
seed. Mahadeo took pity on the few men who were left
alive, and gave them some grain for sowing. In those days
men used to drag the plough through the earth themselves.
But when a Kunbi, to whom Mahadeo had given some seed,
went to try and sow it, he and his family were so emaciated
by hunger that they were unable, in spite of their united
efforts, to get the plough through the ground. In . this
pitiable case the Kunbi besought Mahadeo to give him
some further assistance, and Mahadeo then appeared, and,
bringing with him the bull Nandi, upon which he rode, told
the Kunbi to yoke it to the plough. This was done, and
so long as Mahadeo remained present, Nandi dragged the
plough peaceably and successfully. But as soon as the god
disappeared, the bull became restive and refused to work
any longer. The Kunbi, being helpless, again complained
to Mahadeo, when the god appeared, and in his wrath at
the conduct of the bull, great drops of perspiration stood
upon his brow. One of these fell to the ground, and im
mediately a coal-black man sprang up and stood ready to
do Mahadeo's bidding. He was ordered to bring the bull
to reason, and he went and castrated it, after which it
worked well and quietly ; and since then the Kunbis have
always used bullocks for ploughing, and the descendants of
the man, who was the first Mang, are employed in the office
for which he was created. It is further related that Nandi,
the bull, cursed the Mang in his pain, saying that he and
his descendants should never derive any profit from plough
ing with cattle. And the Mangs say that to this day none
of them prosper by taking to cultivation, and quote the
following proverb : ( Keli kheti, ZJidli matil or, ' If a Mang
sows grain he will only reap dust.'
The caste is divided into the following subcastes : 2 . Sub-
Dakhne, Khandeshe and Berarya, or those belonging to the dmsions -
Deccan, Khandesh and Berar; Ghodke, those who tend
horses ; Dafle, tom-tom players ; Uchle, pickpockets ;
Pindari, descendants of the old freebooters ; Kakarkadhe,
stone-diggers ; Holer, hide-curers ; and Garori The Garoris x
1 See also separate article Mang-Garori.
1 86 MANG PART
are a sept of vagrant snake-charmers and jugglers. Many
are professional criminals.
3. Mar- The caste is divided into exogamous family groups
riage - named after animals or other objects, or of a titular nature.
One or two have the names of other castes. Members of
the same group may not intermarry. Those who are well-
to-do marry their daughters very young for the sake of
social estimation, but there is no compulsion in this matter.
In families which are particularly friendly, Mr. Sathe
remarks, children may be betrothed before birth if the two
mothers are with child together. Betel is distributed, and
a definite contract is made, on the supposition that a boy
and girl will be born. Sometimes the abdomen of each
woman is marked with red vermilion. A grown-up girl
should not be allowed to see her husband's face before
marriage. The wedding is held at the bride's house, but if
it is more convenient that it should be in the bridegroom's
village, a temporary house is found for the bride's party,
and the marriage-shed is built in front of it. The bride
must wear a yellow bodice and cloth, yellow and red being
generally considered among Hindus as the auspicious colours
for weddings. When she leaves for her husband's house
she puts on another or going-away dress, which should be
as fine as the family can afford, and thereafter she may wear
any colour except white. The distinguishing marks of a
married woman are the mangal-sutram or holy thread, which
her husband ties on her neck at marriage ; the garsoli or
string of black beads round the neck ; the silver toe-rings
and glass bangles. If any one of these is lost, it must be
replaced at once, or she is likely soon to be a widow. The
food served at the wedding-feast consists of rice and pulse,
but more essential than these is an ample provision of liquor.
It is a necessary feature of a Mang wedding that the bride
groom should go to it riding on a horse.. The Mahars,
another low caste of the Maratha Districts, worship the
horse, and between them and the Mangs there exists a long
standing feud, so that they do not, if they can help it, drink
of the same well. The sight of a Mang riding on a horse is
thus gall and wormwood to the Mahars, who consider it a
terrible degradation to the noble animal, and this fact
ii WIDOW-MARRIAGE BURIAL OCCUPATION 187
Inflaming their natural enmity, formerly led to riots between
the castes. Under native rule the Mangs were public
executioners, and it was said to be the proudest moment
of a Mang's life when he could perform his office on a
Mahar.
The bride proceeds to her husband's house for a short
visit immediately after the marriage, and then goes home
again. Thereafter, till such time as she finally goes to live
with him, she makes brief visits for festivals or on other
social occasions, or to help her mother-in-law, if her assist
ance is required. If the mother-in-law is ill and requires
somebody to wait on her, or if she is a shrew and wants
some one to bully, or if she has strict ideas of discipline and
wishes personally to conduct the bride's training for married
life, she makes the girl come more frequently and stay
longer.
The remarriage of widows is permitted, and a widow 4 . Widow-
may marry any one except persons of her own family group marna s e -
or her husband's elder brother, who stands to her in the
light of a father. She is permitted, but not obliged, to marry
her husband's younger brother, but if he has performed the
dead man's obsequies, she may not marry him, as this act
has placed him in the relation of a son to her deceased
husband. More usually the widow marries some one in
another village, because the remarriage is always held in
some slight disrepute, and she prefers to be at a distance
from her first husband's family. Divorce is said to be per
mitted only for persistent misconduct on the part of the
wife.
The caste always bury the dead and observe mourning 5. Burial.
only for three days. On returning from a burial they all
get drunk, and then go to the house of the deceased and
chew the bitter leaves of the mm tree (Melia indicd). These
they then spit out of their mouths to indicate their complete
severance from the dead man.
The caste beat drums at village festivals, and castrate 6. Ocoipa-
cattle, and they also make brooms and mats of date-palm tlon -
and keep leeches for blood-letting. Some of them are
village watchmen and their women act as mldwives. As
soon as a baby is born, the midwife blows Into its mouth,
1 88 MANG PART
ears and nose in order to clear them of any impediments.
When a man is initiated by a guru or spiritual preceptor, the
latter blows into his ear, and the Mangs therefore say that
on account of this act of the midwife they are the gurus of
all Hindus. During an eclipse the Mangs beg, because the
demons Rahu and Ketu, who are believed to swallow the
sun and moon on such occasions, were both Mangs, and
devout Hindus give alms to their fellow-castemen in order
to appease them. Those of them who are thieves are said
not to steal from the persons of a woman, a bangle-seller, a
Lingayat Mali or another Mang. 1 In Maratha villages they
sometimes take the place of Chamars, and work in leather,
and one writer says of them : " The Mang is a village
menial in the Maratha villages, making all leather ropes,
thongs and whips, which are used by the cultivators ; he
frequently acts as watchman ; he is by profession a thief
and executioner ; he readily hires himself as an assassin,
and when he commits a robbery he also frequently murders."
In his menial capacity he receives presents at seed-time and
harvest, and it is said that the Kunbi will never send the
Mang empty away, because he represents the wrath of
Mahadeo, being made from the god's sweat when he was
angry.
7. ReK- The caste especially venerate the goddess Devi. They
. l apparently identify Devi with Saraswati, the goddess of
status. wisdom, and they have a story to the effect that once
Brahma wished to ravish his daughter Saraswati. She fled
from him and went to all the gods, but none of them would
protect her for fear of Brahma. At last in despair she carne
to a Mang's house, and the Mang stood in the door and
kept off Brahma with a wooden club. In return for this
Saraswati blessed him and said that he and his descendants
should never lack for food. They also revere Mahadeo, and
on every Monday they worship the cow, placing vermilion
on her forehead and washing her feet The cat is regarded
as a sacred animal, and a Mang's most solemn oath is sworn
on a cat. A house is defiled if a cat or a dog dies or a cat
has kittens in it, and all the earthen pots must be broken.
If a man accidentally kills a cat or a dog a heavy penance is
1 Berar Census Report (1881), p. 147.
n MANG-GARORI 189
exacted, and two feasts must be given to the caste. To kill
an ass or a monkey is a sin only less heinous. A man is
also put out of caste if kicked or beaten with a shoe by any
one of another caste, even a Brahman, or if he is struck with
the kathri or mattress made of rags which the villagers put
on their sleeping-cots. Mr. Gayer remarks * that " The
Mangs show great respect for the bamboo ; and at a
marriage the bridal couple are made to stand in a bamboo
basket. They also reverence the ntm tree, and the Mangs
of Sholapur spread haridli^ 1 grass and nim leaves on the
spot where one of their caste dies. 53 The social status of
the Mangs is of the lowest. They usually live in a separate
quarter of the village and have a well for their own use.
They may not enter temples. It is recorded that under
native rule the Mahars and Mangs were not allowed within
the gates of Poona between 3 P.M. and 9 A.M., because
before nine and after three their bodies cast too long a
shadow ; and whenever their shadow fell upon a Brahman
it polluted him, so that he dare not taste food or water until
he had bathed and washed the impurity away. So also no
low-caste man was allowed to live in a walled town ; cattle
and dogs could freely enter and remain but not the Mahar
or Mang. 3 The caste will eat the flesh of pigs, rats,
crocodiles and jackals and the leavings of others, and some
of them will eat beef. Men may be distinguished by the
senai flute which they carry and by a large ring of gold or
brass worn, in the lobe of the ear. A Mang's sign-manual
is a representation of his bhall-singara or castration-knife.
Women are tattooed before marriage, with dots on the
forehead, nose, cheeks and chin, and with figures of a date-
palm on the forearm, a scorpion On the palm of the hand,
and flies on the fingers. The caste do not bear a good
character, and it is said of a cruel man, c Mang-Nirdayi*
or c Hardhearted as a Mang. 5
Mangf-GaPOPl. This is a criminal subdivision of the
Mang caste, residing principally in Berar. They were not
1 Lectures on the Criminal Tribes 3 Dr. Murray Mitchell's Great Re~
of the Central Provinces y p. 79. ligions of India, p. 63.
2 Cynodon dactylon.
PART
190 MANG-GARORI
separately recorded at the census. The name Garorl appears
to be a corruption of Garudi, and signifies a snake-charmer. 1
Garuda, the Brahminy kite, the bird on which Vishnu rides,
was the great subduer of snakes, and hence probably snake-
charmers are called Garudi. Some of the Mang-Garoris
are snake-charmers, and this may have been the original
occupation of the caste, though the bulk of them now appear
to live by dealing in cattle and thieving. The following-
notice of them is abstracted from Major Gunthorpe's Notes
on Criminal Tribes? They usually travel about with small
pals or tents, taking their wives, children, buffaloes and
dogs with them. The men are well set up and tall.
Their costume is something like that worn by professional
gymnasts, consisting of light and short reddish -brown
drawers (chaddi\ a waistband with fringe at either end
(katckhe], and a sheet thrown over the shoulders. The
Naik or headman of the camp may be recognised by his
wearing some red woollen cloth about his person or a red
shawl over his shoulders. The women have short saris
(body-cloths), usually of blue, and tied in the Telugu fashion.
They are generally very violent when any attempt is made
to search an encampment, especially if there is stolen
property concealed in it. Instances have been known of
their seizing their infants by the ankles and swinging them
round their heads, declaring they would continue doing so
till the children died, if the police did not leave the camp.
Sometimes also the women of a gang have been known to
throw off all their clothing and appear in a perfect state of
nudity, declaring they would charge the police with violating
their modesty. Men of this tribe are expert cattle-lifters,
but confine themselves chiefly to buffaloes, which they steal
while out grazing and very dexterously disguise by trimming;
the horns and firing, so as to avoid recognition by their
rightful owners. To steal goats and sheep is also one of
their favourite occupations, and they will either carry the
animals off from their pens at night or kill them while out
grazing, in the following manner : having marked a sheep or
goat which is feeding farthest away from the flock, the thief
awaits his opportunity till the shepherd's back is turned,
1 From a note by Mr. Hira Lai. 2 Times p resSj Bombay, 1882.
ii MANG-GARORI
191
when the animal is quickly captured. Placing his foot on
the back of the neck near the head, and seizing- it under the
chin with his right hand, the thief breaks the animal's neck
by a sudden" jerk ; he then throws the body into a bush or
in some dip in the ground to hide it, and walks away,
watching from a distance. The shepherd, ignorant of the
loss of one of his animals, goes on leisurely driving his flock
before him, and when he is well out of sight the Mang-
Garori removes the captured carcase to his encampment.
Great care is taken that the skin, horns and hoofs should be
immediately burnt so as to avoid detection. Their ostensible
occupation is to trade in barren half-starved buffaloes and
buffalo calves, or in country ponies. They also purchase
from Gaoli herdsmen barren buffaloes, which they profess
to be able to make fertile ; if successful they return them
for double the purchase-money, but if not, having obtained
if possible some earnest-money, they abscond and sell the
animals at a distance. 1 Like the Bhamtas, the Mang-Garoris,
Major Gunthorpe states, make it a rule not to give a girl in
marriage until the intended husband has proved himself an
efficient thief. Mr. Gayer 2 writes as follows of the caste :
" I do not think Major Gunthorpe lays sufficient emphasis on
the part taken by the women in crimes, for they apparently
do by far the major part of the thieving. Sherring says the
men never commit house-breaking and very seldom rob on
the highway : he calls them c wanderers, showmen, jugglers
and conjurors/ and describes them as robbers who get their
information by performing before the houses of rich bankers
and others. Mang-Garori s women steal in markets and
other places of public resort. They wait to see somebody
put down his clothes or bag of rupees and watch till his
attention is attracted elsewhere, when, walking up quietly
between the article and its owner, they drop their petticoat
either over or by it, and manage to transfer the stolen pro
perty into their basket while picking up the petticoat. If
an unfavourable omen occurs on the way when the women
set out to pilfer they place a stone on the ground and dash
1 Kennedy, Criminal Classes of the 3 This passage is quoted by Mr.
Bombay Presidency ', p. 122. Gayer from the Supplement to the
2 Lzctzires. on some Criminal Tribes Central Provinces Police Gazette of
of India. 24th January 1905.
I92 MANG-GARORI PART
another on to it saying, < If the obstacle is removed, break ' ;
if the stone struck is broken, they consider that the obstacle
portended by the unfavourable omen is removed from their
path, and proceed on their way ; but if not, they return.
Stolen articles are often bartered at liquor-shops for drink,
and the Kalars act as receivers of stolen property for the
Mang-Garoris."
The following are some particulars taken from an old
account of the criminal Mangs : * Their leader or headman
was called the naik and was elected by a majority of votes,
though considerable regard was paid to heredity. The
ndi&s person and property were alike inviolable ; after a
successful foray each of the gang contributed a quarter of
his share to the naik, and from the fund thus made up were
defrayed the expenses of preparation, religious offerings and
the triumphal feast. A pair of shoes were usually given
to a Brahman and alms to the poor. To each band was
attached an informer, who was also receiver of the stolen
goods. These persons were usually bangle- or perfume-
sellers or jewellers. In this capacity they were admitted
into the women's apartments and so enabled to form a
correct notion of the topography of a house and a shrewd
guess as to the wealth of its inmates. Like all barbarous
tribes and all persons addicted to criminal practices the
Mangs were extremely superstitious. They never set out
on an expedition on a Friday. After the birth of a child
the mother and another woman stood on opposite sides of
the cradle, and the former tossed her child to the other,
commending it to the mercy of Jai Gopal, and waited to
receive it back in like manner in the name of Jai Govind.
Both Gopal and Govind are names of Krishna. The Mangs
usually married young in life. If a girl happened to hang
heavy on hand she was married at the age of puberty to
the deity. In other words, she was attached as a prostitute
to the temple of the god Khandoba or the goddess Yellama.
Those belonging to the service of the latter were wont in
the month of February to parade the streets in a state of
utter nudity. When a bachelor wished to marry a widow
1 Hutton's Thiigs^ Dacoits and 168, quoting an account by Captain
Gang-robbers of India (1857), pp. 164- Barr.
n MANIHAR 193
he was first united to a swallow- wort plant, and 'this was
Immediately dug" up and transplanted, and withering away
left him at liberty to marry the widow. If a lady survived
the sorrow caused by the death of two or three husbands she
could not again enter the holy state unless she consented to
be married with a fowl under her armpit ; the unfortunate
bird being" afterwards killed to appease the manes of her
former consorts.
Manihar. 1 A small caste of pedlars and hawkers. In
northern India the Manihars are makers of glass bangles,
and correspond to the Kachera caste of the Central Provinces.
Mr. Nesfield remarks 2 that the special Industry of the
Manihars of the United Provinces is the making of glass
bangles or bracelets. These are an Indispensable adjunct to
the domestic life of the Hindu woman ; for the glass bangle
Is not worn for personal ornament, but as the badge of the
matrimonial state, like the wedding-ring in Europe. But
In the Central Provinces glass bangles are made by the
Kacheras and the Muhammadan Turkaris or Sisgars, and
the Manihars are petty hawkers of stationery and articles
for the toilet, such as miniature looking-glasses, boxes,
stockings, needles and thread, spangles, and Imitation
jewellery ; and Hindu Jogis and others who take to this
occupation are accustomed to give their caste as Manihar.
In 1911 nearly 700 persons belonging to the caste were
returned from the northern Districts of the Central Provinces.
The Manihars are nominally Muhammadans, but they retain
many Hindu customs. At their weddings they erect a
marriage-tent, anoint the couple with oil and turmeric and
make them wear a kankan or wrist-band, to which Is attached
a small purse containing a little mustard-seed and a silver
ring. The mustard is intended to scare away the evil
spirits. When the marriage procession reaches the bride's
village it Is met by her people, one of whom holds a bamboo
In his hands and bars the advance of the procession. The
bridegroom's father thereupon makes a present of a rupee
1 This article is based on papers by Munshi Pyare L/al Misra of the
Rai Sahib Nanakchand, B.A., Head- teer office,
master, Saugor High School, and 2 Brief View* p. 30,
VOL. IV * ' " O
194 MANIHAR PART
to the village panchdyat, and his people are allowed to
proceed. When the bridegroom reaches the bride's house
he finds her younger sister carrying a kalds or pot of water
on her head ; he drops a rupee into it and enters the house.
The bride's sister then comes holding above her head a
small frame like a tazia 1 with a cocoanut core hanging
inside. She raises the frame as high as she can to prevent
the bridegroom from plucking out the cocoanut core, which,
however, he succeeds in doing In the end. The girl applies
powdered mehndi or henna to the little finger of the
boy's right hand, in return for which she receives a rupee
and a piece of cloth. The Kazi then recites verses from the
Koran which the bridegroom repeats after him, and the
bride does the same in her turn. This is the NIkah or
marriage proper, and before it takes place the bridegroom's
father must present a nose-ring to the bride. The parents
also fix the Meher or dowry, which, however, Is not a dowry
proper, but a stipulation that If the bridegroom should put
away his wife after marriage he will pay her a certain agreed
sum. After the Nikah the bridegroom is given some spices,
which he grinds on a slab with a roller. He must do the
grinding very slowly and gently so as to make no noise, or
It is believed that the married life of the couple will be
broken by quarrels. A widow Is permitted to marry the
younger brother of her deceased husband, but not his elder
brother. The caste bury their dead with the head to the
north. The corpse Is first bathed and wrapped In a new
white sheet, with another sheet over it, and Is then laid on
a cot or in a janaza or coffin. While It is being carried to
the cemetery the bearers are changed every few steps, so that
every man who accompanies the funeral may carry the corpse
for a short distance. When It Is lowered into the grave
the sheet Is taken off and given to a Fakir or beggar. When
the body Is covered with earth the priest reads the funeral
verses at a distance of forty steps from the grave. Feasts
are given to the caste-fellows on the third, tenth, twentieth
and fortieth days after the death. The Manihars observe
the Shabrat festival by distributing to the caste- fellows
1 The tsstas are ornamental repre- which the Muhammadans make at the
sentations of the tomb of Hussain, Muhanram festival.
u MANNE WAR 1 95
Iialua or a mixture of melted butter and flour. The Shabrat
Is the middle night of the month Shaban, and Muhammad
declared that on this night God registers the actions which
every man will perform during the following year, and all
those who are fated to die and the children who are to be
born. Like Hindu widows the Manihar women break their
bangles when their husband's corpse is removed to the
burial-ground. The Manihars eat flesh, but not beef or pork ;
and they also abstain from alcoholic liquor. If a girl Is
seduced and made pregnant before marriage either by a.
man of the caste or an outsider, she remains In her father's
house until her child has been born, and may then be
married either to her paramour or any other man of the
caste by the simple repetition of the Nlkah or marriage
verses, omitting all other ceremonies. The Manihars will
admit Into their community converted Hindus belonging
even to the lowest castes.
Mannewar. 1 A small tribe belonging to the south or
Telugu-speaking portion of the Chanda District, where they
mustered about 1600 persons In 1911. The home of the
tribe Is the Hyderabad State, where it numbers 22,000
persons, and the Mannewars are said to have once been
dominant over a part of that territory. The name Is
derived from a Telugu word mannem^ meaning forest, while
war Is the plural termination in Telugu, Mannewar thus
signifying f the people of the forest/ The tribe appear to
be the Inferior branch of the Koya Gonds, and they are
commonly called Mannewar Koyas as opposed to the Koya
Doras or the superior branch, Dora meaning c lord ' or
master. The Koya Doras thus correspond to the Raj-
Gonds of the north of the Province and the Mannewar
itoyas to the Dhur or * dust 5 Gonds. 2 The tribe Is divided
into three exoganious groups : the Nalugu Velpulu worship
ping four gods, the Ayidu Velpulu worshipping five, and the
Anu Velpulu six. A man must marry a woman of one of
the divisions worshipping a different number of gods from his
1 This article is based on a note 2 From a glossary published by Mr.
furnished by Mr. M, Aziz, Officiating Gupta, Assistant Director of Ethnology
Nalb-Tahsildar, Sironcha. for India.
1 96 MANNE WAR PART
own, but the Mannewars do not appear to know the names
of these gods, and consequently no veneration can be paid
to them at present, and they survive solely for the purpose
of regulating marriage. When a betrothal is made a day
is fixed for taking an omen. In the early morning the boy
who is to be married has his face washed and turmeric
smeared on his feet, and is seated on a wooden seat inside
the house. The elders of the village then proceed outside
it towards the rising sun and watch for any omen given by
an animal or bird crossing their path. If this is good the
marriage is celebrated, and if bad the match is broken off.
In the former case five of the elders take their food on
returning from the search for the omen and immediately
proceed to the bride's village. Here they are met by the
Pesamuda or village priest, and stay for three days, when the
amount of the dowry is settled and a date fixed for the
wedding. The marriage ceremony resembles that of the
low Telugu castes. The couple are seated on a plough-
yoke, and coloured rice is thrown on to their heads, and the
bridegroom ties the mangalya or bead necklace, which is
the sign of marriage, round the neck of the bride. If a girl
is deformed, or has some other drawback which prevents her
from being sought in marriage, she is given away with her
sister to a first cousin J or some other near relative, the two
sisters being married to him together. A widow may
marry any man of the tribe except her first husband's
brothers. If a man takes a widow to his house without
marrying her he is fined three rupees, while for adultery
with a married woman the penalty is twenty rupees. A
divorce can always be obtained, but if the husband demands
it he is mulcted of twenty rupees by the caste committee,
while a wife who seeks a divorce must pay ten rupees.
The Mannewars make an offering of a fowl and some liquor
to the ploughshare on the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi.
After the picking of the flowers of the mahua 3 they worship
that tree, offering to it some of the liquor distilled from the
new flowers, with a fowl and a goat This is known as the
Burri festival. At the Holi feast the Mannewars make two
human figures to represent Kami and Rati, or the god of
1 Generally the paternal aunt's son. 2 Bassia latifolia.
ii MANNEWAR 197
love and his wife. The male figure Is then thrown on to
the Holi fire with a live chicken or an egg. This may be
a reminiscence of a former human sacrifice, which was a
common custom in many parts of the world at the spring
festival The caste usually bury the dead, but are beginning
to adopt cremation. They do not employ Brahmans for
their ceremonies and eat all kinds of food, including the
flesh of pigs, fowls and crocodiles, but in view of their having
nominally adopted Hinduism, they abstain from beef.
MARATHA
LIST OF PARAGRAPHS
1 . Numerical statistics. 9. Nature of the Maratha insur-
2. Double meaning of the term reef ion.
Maratha. i o. Maratha women in past times*
3. Origin and position of the n. The Maratha horseman.
caste. 12. Cavalry in the field.
4. Exogamons dans. 1 3. Military administration.
5. Other subdivisions. 14. Sitting Dharna.
6. Social customs. 1 5. The infantry.
7. Religion. 16. Character of the Maratha
8. Present position of the caste. armies.
1. Numeri- Mapatha ? Mahratta. The military caste of southern
statistics I n dia which manned the armies of Sivaji, and of the Peshwa
and other princes of the Maratha confederacy. In the
Central Provinces the Marathas numbered 34,000 persons
in 1911, of whom Nagpur contained 9000 and Wardha
8ooo 3 while the remainder were distributed over Raipur,
Hoshangabad and Nimar. In Berar their strength was
60,000 persons, the total for the combined province being
thus 94,000. The caste is found in large numbers in
Bombay and Hyderabad, and in 1901 the India Census
tables show a total of not less than five million persons
belonging to it.
2. Double It is difficult to avoid confusion in the use of the term
theterm Maratha, which signifies both an inhabitant of the area in
Maratha. which the Marathi language is spoken, and a member of the
caste to which the general name has in view of their historical
importance been specifically applied. The native name for
the Marathi-speaking country is Maharashtra, which has
been variously interpreted as ' The great country ' or ' The
country of the Mahars. 1 x A third explanation of the name
1 Sir H. Risley's India Census Report (1901), Ethnographic Appendices, p. 93.
198
PART ii ORIGIN AND POSITION OF THE CASTE
199
Is from the Rashtrakuta dynasty which was dominant in
this area for some centuries after A.D. 750. The name
Rashtrakuta was contracted into Rattha,. and with the
prefix of Maha or Great might evolve into the term Maratha.
The Rashtrakutas have been conjecturally identified with
the Rathor Rajputs. The Ndsik Gazetteer 1 states that in
246 B.C. Maharatta is mentioned as one of the places to
which Asoka sent an embassy, and Maharashtraka is recorded
In a Chalukyan Inscription of A.D. 580 as Including three
provinces and 99,000 villages. Several other references are
given In Sir J. Campbell's erudite note, and the name Is
therefore without doubt ancient But the Marathas as a
people do not seem to be mentioned before the thirteenth or
fourteenth century. 2 The antiquity of the name would
appear to militate against the derivation from the Rashtra
kuta dynasty, which did not become prominent till much
later, and the most probable meaning of Maharashtra
would therefore seem to be * The country of the Mahars. 3
Maharatta and Maratha are presumably derivatives from
Maharashtra.
The Marathas are a caste formed from military service, 3. Origin
and It seems probable that they sprang mainly from the ^ ^ Sl ~
peasant population of Kunbls, though at what period they the caste.
were formed Into a separate caste has not yet been deter
mined. Grant - Duff mentions several of their leading
families as holding offices under the Muhammadan rulers
of Bfjapur and Ahmadnagar in the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries, as the NImbhalkar, Gharpure and Bhonsla ; 3 and
presumably their clansmen served In the armies of those
states. But whether or no the designation of Maratha had
been previously used by them, It first became prominent
during the period of SIvajTs guerilla warfare against Aurang-
zeb. The Marathas claim a Rajput origin, and several of
their clans have the names of Rajput tribes, as Chauhan,
Panwar, SolankI and Suryavansl. In 1836 Mr. Enthoven
states, 4 the Sesodla Rana of Udaipur, the head of the purest
Rajput house, was satisfied from Inquiries conducted by an
1 P. 48, footnote. but Bhonsla is adopted in deference
2 Nasik Gazetteer, ibidem., Elphin- to established usage.
stone's History * p. 246. 4 Bombay Census Report (1901),
3 The proper spelling Is Bhosle, pp. 184-185.
200 MARATHA
agent that the Bhonslas and certain other families had a
right to be recognised as Rajputs. Colonel Tod states that
Sivaji was descended from a Rajput prince Sujunsi, who was
expelled from Mewar to avoid a dispute about the succession
about A.D. 1300. Sivaji Is shown as 1 3th In descent
from Sujunsi. Similarly the Bhonslas of Nagpur were said
to derive their origin from one Bunbir, who was expelled
from Udaipur about 1541, having attempted to usurp the
kingdom. 1 As Rajput dynasties ruled In the Deccan for
some centuries before the Muhammadan conquest, it seems
reasonable to suppose that a Rajput aristocracy may have
taken root there. This was Colonel Tod's opinion, who
wrote : " These kingdoms of the south as well as the north
were held by Rajput sovereigns, whose offspring, blending
with the original population, produced that mixed race of
Marathas inheriting with the names the warlike propensities
of their ancestors, but who assume the names of their abodes
as titles, as the Nimalkars, the Phalkias, the Patunkars,
instead of their tribes of Jadon, Tilar, Pliar, etc." 2 This
statement would, however, apply only to the leading houses
and not to the bulk of the Maratha caste, who appear to be
mainly derived from the Kunbis. In Sholapur the Marathas
and Kunbis eat together, and the Kunbis are said to be
bastard Marathas. 3 In Satara the Kunbis have the same
division Into 96 clans as the Marathas have, and many
of the same surnames. 4 The writer of the Satara Gazetteer
says: 5 " The census of 1851 Included the Marathas with
the Kunbis, from whom they do not form a separate caste.
Some Maratha families may have a larger strain of northern
or Rajput blood than the Kunbis, but this Is not always the
case. The distinction between Kunbis and Marathas Is
almost entirely social, the Marathas as a rule being better
off, and preferring even service as a constable or messenger
to husbandry." Exactly the same state of affairs prevails
In the Central Provinces and Berar, where the body of the
caste are commonly known as Maratha Kunbis. In Bombay
the Marathas will take daughters from the Kunbis in mar
riage for their sons, though they will not give their daughters
1 Rtljasikdnj 1. 269. 2 Ibid&m^ li. 420, 3 Sholapur Gazetteer ; p. 87.
4 Safilra Gazetteer, p. 64. 5 Ibidem, p. 75.
STATUE OF MARATHA LEADER,
BHONSLA, IN ARMOUR.
" EXOGAMOVS CLANS 201
In return. But a Kunbi who has got on In the world and
become wealthy may by sufficient payment get his sons
married into Maratha families, and even be adopted as a
member of the caste. 1 In 1798 Colonel Tone, who com
manded - a regiment of the Peshwa's army, wrote 2 of the
Marathas : " The three great tribes which compose the
Maratha caste are the Kunbi or farmer, the Dhangar or
shepherd, and the Goala or cowherd ; to this original cause
may perhaps be ascribed that great simplicity of manner
which distinguishes the Maratha people."
It seems then most probable that, as already stated, the
Maratha caste was of purely military origin, constituted from
the various castes of Maharashtra who adopted military
service, though some of the leading families may have had
Rajputs for their ancestors. Sir D. Ibbetson thought that a
similar relation existed In past times between the Rajputs
and Jats, the landed aristocracy of the Jat caste being
gradually admitted to Rajput rank. The Khandaits or
swordsmen of Orlssa are a caste formed In the same
manner from military service. In the Imperial Gazetteer
Sir H. RIsley suggests that the Maratha people were of
Scythian origin :
" The physical type of the people of this region accords
fairly well with this theory, while the arguments derived
from language and religion do not seem to conflict with it.
. . On this view the wide-ranging forays of the Marathas,
their guerilla methods of warfare, their unscrupulous deal-
Ings with friend and foe, their genius for intrigue and their
consequent failure to build up an enduring dominion, might
well be regarded as inherited from their Scythian ancestors."
In the Central Provinces the Marathas are divided into 4
96 exogamous clans, known as the Chhanava Kule, which
marry with one another. During the period when the
Bhonsla family were rulers of Nagpur they constituted a
sort of Inner circle, consisting of seven of the leading clans,
with whom alone they intermarried ; these are known as the
Satghare or Seven Houses, and consist of the Bhonsla,
Gujar, Ahirrao, Mahadik, Sirke, Palke and Mohte clans.
1 Bombay Census Report (1907), 2 Letter on th& Marathas (India
ibidem. Office Tracts).
2O2
MARATHA
These houses at one time formed an endogamous group,
marrying only among themselves, but recently the restriction
has been relaxed, and they have arranged marriages with
other Maratha families. It may be noted that the present
representatives of the Bhonsla family are of the Gujar clan to
which the last Raja of Nagpur, Raghuji III., belonged prior
to his adoption. Several of the clans, as already noted,
have Rajput sept names ; and some are considered to be
derived from those of former ruling dynasties ; as Chalke,
from the Chalukya Rajput kings of the Deccan and Carnatic;
More, who may represent a branch of the great Maurya
dynasty of northern India ; Salunke, perhaps derived from
the Solanki kings of Gujarat ; and Yadav, the name of the
kings of Deoglrl or Daulatabad. 1 Others appear to be
named after animals or natural objects, as Sinde from sindi
the date-palm tree, Ghorpade from glwrpad the Iguana'; or
to be of a titular nature, as Kale black, Pandhre white,
Bhagore a renegade, Jagthap renowned, and so on. The
More, Nimbhalkar, Ghatge, Mane, Ghorpade, Dafle, Jadav
and Bhonsla clans are the oldest, and held prominent posi
tions In the old Muhammadan kingdoms of Bljapur and
Ahmadnagar. The Nimbhalkar family were formerly Panwar
Rajputs, and took the name of Nimbhalkar from their
ancestral village Nimbalik. The Ghorpade family are an
offshoot of the Bhonslas, and obtained their present name
from the exploit of one of their ancestors, who scaled a fort
In the Konkan, previously deemed Impregnable, by passing
a cord round the body of a ghorpad or iguana. 2 A notice
able trait of these Maratha houses is the fondness with
which they clung to the small estates or villages In the
Deccan In which they had originally held the office of a patel
or village headman as a *watan or hereditary right, even after
they had carved out for themselves principalities and states
In other parts of India. The present Bhonsla Raja takes
his title from the village of Deor in the Poona country. In
former times we read of the Raja of Satara clinging to the
watans he had Inherited from Sivaji after he had lost his
crown In all but the name ; Sindhla was always termed
1 Satara Gazetteer \ p. 75.
2 Grant-Duff, 4th edition (1878), vol. L pp. 70-72.
ii OTHER SUBDIVISIONSSOCIAL CUSTOMS 203
patel or village headman in the revenue accounts of the
villages he acquired in Nimar ; while it is said that Holkar
and the Pan war of Dhar fought desperately after the British
conquest to recover the pateli rights of Deccan villages
which had belonged to their ancestors. 1
Besides the 96 clans there are now in the Central smother
Provinces some local subcastes who occupy a lower position ^" sions>
and do not intermarry with the Marathas proper. Among
these are the Deshkar or ' Residents of the country } ; the
Waindesha or those of Berar and Khandesh ; the Gangthade
or those dwelling on the banks of the Godavari and Wain-
ganga ; and the Ghatmathe or residents of the Mahadeo
plateau in Berar. It is also stated that the Marathas are
divided into the Khasi or ' pure ' and the Kharchi or the
descendants of handmaids. In Bombay the latter are known
as the Akaraiashes or 1 1 masJuts> meaning that as twelve
mdshas make a tola, a twelfth part of them is alloy.
A man must not marry in his own clan or that of his 6. Social
mother. A sister's son may be married to a brother's cu
daughter, but not vice versa. Girls are commonly married
between five and twelve years of age, and the ceremony re
sembles that of the Kunbis. The bridegroom goes to the
bride's house riding on horseback and covered with a black
blanket When a girl first becomes mature, usually after
marriage, the Marathas perform the Shantik ceremony. The
girl is secluded for four days, after which she is bathed and
puts on new clothes and dresses her hair and a feast is given
to the caste-fellows. Sometimes the bridegroom comes and
is asked whether he has visited his wife before she became
mature, and if he confesses that he has done so a small
fine is imposed on him. Such cases are, however, believed
to be rare. The Marathas proper forbid widow-marriage,
but the lower groups allow it If a maiden is seduced by
one of the caste she may be married to him as if she were a
widow, a fine being imposed on her family ; but if she goes
wrong with an outsider she is finally expelled. Divorce
is not ostensibly allowed but may be concluded by agree
ment between the parties. A wife who commits adultery is
cast off and expelled from the caste. The caste burn their
1 Forsyth, Nimar Settlement Reprf.
204 MARATHA PART
dead when they can afford It and perform the shrdddh
ceremony in the month of Kunwar (September), when
oblations are offered to the dead and a feast is given to the
caste- fellows. Sometimes a tomb is erected as a memorial
to the dead, but without his name, and is surmounted usually
by an image of Mahadeo. The caste eat the flesh of clean
animals and of fowls and wild pig, and drink liquor. Their
rules about food are liberal like those of the Rajputs, a too
great stringency being no doubt in both cases incompatible
with the exigencies of military service. They make no
difference between food cooked with or without water, and
will accept either from a Brahman, Rajput, Tirole Kunbi,
Lingayat Bania or Phulmali.
The Marathas proper observe the parda system with
regard to their women, and will go to the well and draw
water themselves rather than permit their wives to do
so. The women wear ornaments only of gold or glass
and not of silver or any baser metal. They are not per
mitted to spin cotton as being an occupation of the lower
classes. The women are tattooed in the centre of the fore
head with a device resembling a trident. The men com
monly wear a turban made of many folds of cloth twisted
into a narrow rope and large gold rings with pearls in the
upper part of the ear. Like the Rajputs they often have
their hair long and wear beards and whiskers. They assume
the sacred thread and invest a boy with it when he is seven
or eight years old or on his marriage. Till then they let the
hair grow on the front of his head, and when the thread
ceremony is performed they cut this off and let the dioti or
scalp-lock grow at the back. In appearance the men are
often tall and well-built and of a light wheat-coloured
complexion.
7; Reii- The principal deity of the Marathas is Khandoba, a
gion. warr j or incarnation of Mahadeo. He is supposed to have
been born in a field of millet near Poona and to have led the
people against the Muhammadans in early times. He had a
watch-dog who warned him of the approach of his enemies,
and he is named after the khanda or sword which he always
carried. In Bombay * he is represented on horseback with
1 Bombay Gazetteer *, vol. xviii. part 1. pp. 413-414.
ii PRESENT POSITION OF THE CASTE 205
two women, one of the Banla caste, his wedded wife, In front
of him, and another, a Dhangarin, his kept mistress, behind.
He is considered the tutelary deity of the Maratha country,
and his symbol Is a bag of turmeric powder known as bhanddr.
The caste worship Khandoba on Sundays with rice, flowers
and Incense, and also on the 2ist day of Magh (January),
wiiich Is called Champa Sashthi and Is his special festival.
On this day they will catch hold of any dog, and after adorn
ing him with flowers and turmeric give him a good feed
and let him go again. The Marathas are generally kind to
dogs and will not Injure them. At the Dasahra festival the
caste worship their horses and swords and go out Into the
field to see a blue-jay in memory of the fact that the Maratha
marauding expeditions started on Dasahra. On coming back
they distribute to each other leaves of the shami tree
(Bauhinia racemosd) as a substitute for gold. It was formerly
held to be fitting among the Hindus that the warrior
should ride a horse (geldings being unknown) and the
zammdar or landowner a mare, as more suitable to a man
of peace. The warriors celebrated their Dasahra, and
worshipped their horses on the tenth day of the light fort
night of Kunwdr (September), while the cultivators held their
festival and worshipped their mares on the ninth day. It Is
recorded that the great Raghuji Bhonsla, the first Raja of
Nagpur, held his Dasahra on the ninth day, in order to
proclaim the fact that he was by family an agriculturist and
only incidentally a man of arms. 1
The Marathas present the somewhat melancholy spec- s. Present
tacle of an Impoverished aristocratic class attempting to
maintain some semblance of their former position, though
they no longer have the means to do so. They flourished
during two or three centuries of almost continuous war, and
became a wealthy and powerful caste, but they find a diffi
culty In turning their hands to the arts of peace. Sir
R. Craddock writes of them In Nagpur :
" Among the Marathas a large number represent connec
tions of the Bhonsla family, related by marriage or by
illegitimate descent to that house. A considerable propor
tion of the Government political pensioners are Marathas.
1 Elliott, ffos&angabad Settlement JReport.
2 o6 MARATHA
Many of them own villages or hold tenant land, but as a
rule they are extravagant in their living ; and several of the
old Maratha nobility have fallen very much in the \vorld,
Pensions diminish with each generation, but the expenditure
shows no corresponding decrease. The sons are brought
up to no employment and the daughters are married with
lavish pomp and show. The native army does not much
attract them, and but few are educated well enough for the
dignified posts in the civil employ of Government It is a
question whether their pride of race will give way before
the necessity of earning their livelihood soon enough for
them to maintain or regain some of their former position.
Otherwise those with the largest landed estates may be saved
by the intervention of Government, but the rest must gradu
ally deteriorate till the dignities of their class have become
a mere memory. The humbler members of the caste find
their employment as petty contractors or traders, private
servants, Government peons, sowars, and hangers-on in the
retinue of the more important families.
" What I little display his means afford a Maratha still
tries to maintain. Though he may be clad in rags at home,
he has a spare dress which he himself washes and keeps with
great care and puts on when he goes to pay a visit. He
will hire a boy to attend him with a lantern at night, or to
take care of his shoes when he goes to a friend's house and
hold them before him when he comes out Well-to-do
Marathas have usually in their service a Brahman clerk known
as divanji or minister, who often takes advantage of his
master's want of education to defraud him. A Maratha
seldom rises early or goes out in the morning. He will get
up at seven or eight o'clock, a late hour for a Hindu, and
attend to business if he has any or simply idle about chewing
or smoking tobacco and talking till ten o'clock. He will then
bathe and dress in a freshly-washed cloth and bow before
the family gods which the priest has already worshipped.
He will dine, chew betel and smoke tobacco and enjoy a
short midday rest Rising at three, he will play cards, dice
or chess, and in the evening will go out walking or riding or
1 The following description Is taken Sir H, H. Risley's India Census Report
from the Ethnographic Appendices to of 1901.
ii THE MARATHA HORSEMAN 207
pay a visit to a friend. He will come back at eight or nine
and go to bed at ten or eleven. But Marathas who have
estates to manage lead regular, fairly busy lives."
Sir D. Ibbetson drew attention to the fact that the rising 9. Nature
of the Marathas against the Muhammadans was almost the ^ e tha
only Instance In Indian history of what might correctly be insurrec-
called a really national movement In other cases", as that tlon *
of the Sikhs, though the essential motive was perhaps of
the same nature, it was obscured by the fact that its osten
sible tendency was religious. The gurus of the Sikhs did
not call on their followers to fight for their country but for a
new religion. This was only in accordance with the Hindu
intellect, to which the Idea of nationality has hitherto been
foreign, while its protests against both alien and domestic
tyrannies tend to take the shape of a religious revolt A
similar tendency is observable even in the case of the
Marathas, for the rising was from its Inception largely
engineered by the Maratha Brahmans, who on its success
hastened to annex for themselves a leading position In the
new Poona state. And it has been recorded that in calling
his countrymen to arms, Sivaji did not ask them to defend
their hearths and homes or wives and children, but to rally
for the protection of the sacred persons of Brahmans and
cows.
Although the Marathas have now in imitation of the 10.
Rajputs and Muhammadans adopted the farda system, this
is not a native custom, and women have played quite an past times.
Important part in their history. The women of the house
hold have also exercised a considerable Influence and their
opinions are treated with respect by the men. Several
Instances occur In which women of high rank have success
fully acted as governors and administrators. In the Bhonsla
family the Princess Baka Bai, widow of RaghujI II., Is a
conspicuous Instance, while the famous or notorious Rani of
Jhansi is another case of a Maratha lady who led her troops
In person, and was called the best man on the native side
In the Mutiny.
This article may conclude with one or two extracts to u. The
give an Idea of the way in which the Maratha soldiery took
the field. Grant Duff describes the troopers as follows :
208 MARATHA PART
"The Maratha horsemen are commonly dressed in a
pair of light breeches covering the knee, a turban which
many of them fasten by passing a fold of it under the chin,
a frock of quilted cotton, and a cloth round the waist, with
which they generally gird on their swords in preference to
securing them with their belts. The horseman is armed
with a sword and shield ; a proportion in each body carry
matchlocks, but the great national weapon is the spear, in the
use of which and the management of their horse they evince
both grace and dexterity. The spearmen have generally a
sword, and sometimes a shield ; but the latter is unwieldy
and only carried in case the spear should be broken. The
trained spearmen may always be known by their riding very
long, the ball of the toe touching the stirrup ; some of the
matchlockmen and most of the Brahmans ride very short
and ungracefully. The bridle consists of a single headstall
of cotton-rope, with a small but very severe flexible bit."
1 2. Cavalry The following account of the Maratha cavalry is given
J^ e in General Hislop's Summary of the Maratha and Pindari
Campaigns of 1817-1819:
" The Marathas possess extraordinary skill in horseman
ship, and so intimate an acquaintance with their horses, that
they can make their animals do anything, even in full speed,
in halting, wheeling, etc.; they likewise use the spear with
remarkable dexterity, sometimes in full gallop, grasping
their spears short and quickly sticking the point in the
ground ; still holding the handles, they turn their horse
suddenly round it, thus performing on the point of a spear
as on a pivot the same circle round and round again. Their
horses likewise never leave the particular class or body to
which they belong ; so that if the rider should be knocked
off, away gallops the animal after its fellows, never separating
itself from the main body. Every Maratha brings his own
horse and his own arms with him to the field, and possibly
in the interest they possess in this private equipment we
shall find their usual shyness to expose themselves or even
to make a bold vigorous attack But if armies or troops
could be frightened by appearances these horses of the
Marathas would dishearten the bravest, actually darkening
the plains with their numbers and clouding the horizon with
MILITAR Y ADMINISTRA TIOiV
209
dust for miles and miles around. A little fighting, however,
goes a great way with them, as with most others of the
native powers in India."
On this account the Marathas were called rasah-bazdn
or lance-wielders. One Muhammadan historian says : " They
so use the lance that no cavalry can cope with them. Some
20,000 or 30,000 lances are held up against their enemy
so close together as not to leave a span between their heads.
If horsemen try to ride them down the points of the spears
are levelled at the assailants and they are unhorsed. While
cavalry are charging them they strike their lances against
each other and the noise so frightens the horses of the
enemy that they turn round and bolt" * The battle-cries of
the Marathas were, Har, Har Mahadeo} and c Gopal> Gopdl! ~
An interesting description of the internal administration 13.
of the Maratha cavalry is contained in the letter on the Military
* admmis-
Marathas by Colonel Tone already quoted. But his account tration.
must refer to a period of declining efficiency and cannot
represent the military system at its best :
" In the great scale of rank and eminence which Is one
peculiar feature of Hindu institutions the Maratha holds a
very inferior situation, being just removed one degree above
those castes which are considered absolutely unclean. He
is happily free from the rigorous observances as regards
food which fetter the actions of the higher castes. He can
eat of all kinds of food with the exception of beef; can
dress his meal at all times and seasons ; can partake of all
victuals dressed by any caste superior to his own ; washing
and praying are not indispensable in his order and may be
practised or omitted at pleasure.' The three great tribes
which compose the Maratha caste are the Kunbi or farmer,
the Dhangar or shepherd and the Goala or cowherd ; to
this original cause may perhaps be ascribed that great
simplicity of manner which distinguishes the Maratha
people. Homer mentions princesses going in person to the
fountain to wash their household linen. I can affirm having
seen the daughters of a prince who was able to bring an
army into the field much larger than the whole Greek con-
1 Irvine's Army of tke Mughals, 2 fttdgm, p, 232. Gopal is a name
p. 82. of Krishna,
VOL. IV P
210 MARATHA -PART
federacy, making bread with their own hands and otherwise
employed In the ordinary business of domestic housewifery.
I have seen one of the most powerful chiefs of the Empire,
after a day of action, assisting in kindling a fire to keep
himself warm during the night, and sitting on the ground
on a spread saddle-cloth dictating to his secretaries.
" The chief military force of the Marathas consists in
their cavalry, which may be divided Into four distinct
classes : First the Khasi Pagah or household forces of the
prince ; these are always a fine well-appointed body, the
horses excellent, being the property of the Sirkar, who gives
a monthly allowance to each trooper of the value of about
eight rupees. The second class are the cavalry furnished
by the Silladars, 1 who contract to supply a certain number
of horse on specified terms, generally about Rs, 3 5 a month,
including the trooper's pay. The third and most numerous
description are volunteers, who join the camp bringing with
them their own horse and accoutrements ; their pay is
generally from Rs. 40 to Rs, 50 a month in proportion to
the value of their horse. There Is a fourth kind of native
cavalry called Pindaris, who are mere marauders, serve with
out any pay and subsist but by plunder, a fourth part
of which they give to the Sirkar ; but these are so very
licentious a body that they are not employed but in one or
two of the Maratha services.
l The troops collected in this manner are under no dis
cipline whatever and engage for no specific period, but quit
the army whenever they please ; with the exception of
furnishing a plcquet while In camp, they do no duty but in
the day of battle.
" The Maratha cavalry is always Irregularly and badly
paid ; the household troops scarcely ever receive money, but
are furnished with a daily allowance of coarse flour and
some other Ingredients from the bazar which just enable
them to exist The Silladar is very nearly as badly
1 Lit. armour - bearers. Colonel kind of coat - of- mail worn by the
Tone^ writes : ** I apprehend from the Maratha horsemen, known as a beuta,
meaning of this term that it was for- which resemhles our ancient hauberk ;
merly the custom of this nation, as It is made of chain work, interlinked
was the case in Europe, to appear in throughout, fits close to the body and
armour. I have frequently seen a adapts itself to all its motions."
1 1 MILITAR Y A D MINIS TRA TION 2 1 1
situated. In his arrangements with the State he has allotted
to him a certain proportion of jungle where he pastures his
cattle ; here he and his family reside, and his sole occupa
tion when not on actual service Is increasing his Pagah or
troop by breeding out of his mares, of which the Maratha
cavalry almost entirely consist. There are no people in the
world who understand the method of rearing and multiply
ing the breed of cattle equal to the Marathas. It Is by no
means uncommon for a Silladar to enter a service with one
mare and In a few years be able to muster a very respect
able Pagah. They have many methods of rendering the
animal prolific ; they back their colts much earlier than we
do and they are consequently more valuable as they come
sooner on the effective strength.
" When called upon for actual service the Silladar is
obliged to give muster. Upon this occasion it Is always
necessary that the Brahman who takes It should have a
bribe ; and Indeed the Hazri, as the muster Is termed. Is of
such a nature that It could not pass by any fair or honour
able means. Not only any despicable tattus are substituted
In the place of horses but animals are borrowed to fill up
the complement. Heel-ropes and grain-bags are produced
as belonging to cattle supposed to be at grass ; In short
every mode Is practised to Impose on the Sirkar, which
In turn reimburses Itself by Irregular and bad payments ;
for it Is always considered if the Silladars receive six
months' arrears out of the year that they are exceedingly
well paid. The Volunteers who join the camp are still
worse situated, as they have no collective force, and money
Is very seldom given in a Maratha State without being
extorted. In one word, the native cavalry are the worst-
paid body of troops In the world. But there Is another
grand error in this mode of raising troops which is pro
ductive of the worst effects. Every man in a Maratha
carnp Is totally independent ; he Is the proprietor of the
horse he rides, which he is never Inclined to risk, since with
out it he can get no service, This single circumstance
destroys all enterprise and spirit in the soldier, whose sole
business, instead of being desirous of distinguishing himself,
Is to keep out of the way of danger ; for notwithstanding
212 MARATHA PART
every horseman on entering a service has a certain value
put upon his horse, yet should he lose It even In action he
never receives any compensation or at least none propor
tioned to his loss. If at any time a Silladar Is disgusted
with the service* he can go away without meeting any
molestation even though in the face of an enemy. In fact
the pay is In general so shamefully irregular that a man is
justified In resorting to any measure, however apparently
unbecoming, to attain it. It is also another very curious
circumstance attending this service that many great Silladars
have troops in the pay of two or three chiefs at the same
time, who are frequently at open war with each other.
14. sitting " To recover an arrear of pay there is but one known
Dhama " mode which is universally adopted in all native services, the
Mughal as well as the Maratha ; this is called Dharna; 1
which consists in putting the debtor, be he who he will, into
a state of restraint or imprisonment, until satisfaction be
given or the money actually obtained. Any person in the
Sirkar's service has a right to demand his pay of the Prince
or his minister, and to sit in Dharna if it be not given ; nor
will he meet with the least hindrance in doing so ; for none
would obey an order that interfered with tjie Dharna, as it
is a common cause ; nor does the soldier incur the slightest
charge of mutiny for his conduct, or suffer in the smallest
manner in the opinion of his Chief, so universal is the
custom. The Dharna is sometimes carried to very violent
lengths and may either be executed on the Prince or his
minister indifferently, with the same effect ; as the Chief
always makes it a point of honour not to eat or drink while
his Diwan is in duress ; sometimes the Dharna lasts for
many days, during which time the party upon whom it is
exercised is not suffered to eat or drink or wash or pray, or
in short is not permitted to move from the spot where he
sits, which is frequently bare-headed in the sun, until the
money or security be given ; so general is this mode of
recovery that I suppose the Maratha Chiefs may be said to
be nearly one-half of their time in a state of Dharna.
1 In order to obtain redress by would be held to have committed a
Dharna the creditor or injured person mortal sin and would be haunted by his
would sit starving himself outside his ghost ; see also article on Bhat. The
debtor's door, and if he died the latter account here given must be exaggerated.
ii CHARACTER OF THE MARATHA ARMIES 213
"In the various Maratha services there are very little 15. The
more than a bare majority who are Marathas by caste, and mantr ^
very few Instances occur of their ever entering into the
infantry at all. The sepoys in the pay of the different
princes are recruited in Hindustan, and principally of the
Rajput and Purbia caste ; these are perhaps the finest race
of men in the world for figure and appearance; of lofty
stature, strong, graceful and athletic ; of acute feelings,
high military pride, quick, apprehensive, brave, prudent and
economic ; at the same time it must be confessed they are
impatient of discipline, and naturally inclined to mutiny.
They are mere soldiers of fortune and serve only for their
pay. There are also a great number of Musalmans who
serve in the different Maratha armies, some of whom have
very great commands.
" The Maratha cavalry at times make very long and 16. Char-
rapid marches, in which they do not suffer themselves to ^^
be interrupted by the monsoon or any violence of weather. Maratha
In very pressing exigencies it is incredible the fatigue a armies -
Maratha horseman will endure ; frequently many days pass
without his enjoying one regular meal, but he depends
entirely for subsistence on the different corn-fields through
which the army passes : a few heads of juari, which he
chafes in his hands while on horseback, will serve him for
the day ; his horse subsists on the same fare, and with
the addition of opium, which the Marathas frequently
administer to their cattle, is enabled to perform incredible
marches. 51
The above analysis of the Maratha troops indicates that
their real character was that of freebooting cavalry, largely
of the same type as, though no doubt greatly superior In tone
and discipline to the Pindaris. Like them they lived by
plundering the country. " The Marathas," Elphinstone re
marked, < are excellent foragers. Every morning at day
break long lines of men on small horses and ponies are seen
issuing from their camps in all directions, who return before
night loaded with fodder for the cattle, with firewood torn
down from houses, and grain dug up from the pits where It
had been concealed by the villagers ; while other detach
ments go to a distance for some days and collect propor-
214 MARATHA PART n
tionately larger supplies of the same kind." * They could
thus dispense with a commissariat, and being nearly all
mounted were able to make extraordinarily long marches,
and consequently to carry out effectively surprise attacks
and when repulsed to escape injury in the retreat. Kven at
Panipat where their largest regular force took the field under
Sadasheo Rao Bhao, he had 70,000 regular and irregular
cavalry and only 15,000 infantry, of whom 9000 were hired
sepoys under a Muhammadan leader. The Marathas were
at their best in attacking the slow-moving and effeminate
Mughal armies, while during their period of national ascend
ancy under the Peshwa there was no strong military power
in India which could oppose their forays. When they were
by the skill of their opponents at length brought to a set
battle, their fighting qualities usually proved to be distinctly
poor. At Panipat they lost the day by a sudden panic and
flight after Ibrahim Khan Gardi had obtained for them a
decided advantage ; while at Argaon and Assaye their per
formances were contemptible. After the recovery from
Panipat and the rise of the independent Maratha states, the
assistance of European officers was invoked to discipline
and train the soldiery. 2
1 Elphinstone's History, 7th ed. p. 748. 2 Ibidem^ p. 753.
MEHTAR
{Bibliography'. Mr. R. Greeven's Knights of the Broom, Benares ^ 1894
(pamphlet) ; Mr. Crooke's Tribes and Castes., art. Bhangi ; Sir H. Risley's
Tribes and Castes, art. Hari ; Sir E. Maclagan's Punjab C&tsus Report, 1891
(Sweeper Sects) ; Sir D. Ibbetson's Punjab Census Report, 1881 (art. Chuhra) ;
Bombay Gazetteer, Hindus of Gujarat, Mr. Bhimbhai Kirparam.]
LIST OF PARAGRAPHS
1 . Introductory notice. i o. Childbirth.
2. Caste subdivisions. 11. Treatment of the mother*
3. Soda! organisation* 1 2. Protecting the lives of children,
4. Caste punishments. 13. Infantile diseases.
5. Admission of outsiders. 14. Religion. Valnnki.
6. 31 arriage customs. 15. Lalbeg.
7. Disposal of the dead. 16. Adoption of foreign religions.
8. Devices for procuring children. 17. Social status.
9. Divination of sex. 1 8. Occupation.
19. Occupation (continued}.
Mehtap, Bhangi ? Hari, 1 Dom, Lalbegl. The caste of i. Intro-
sweepers and scavengers. In 1911 persons returning them- notice 7
selves as Mehtar, Bhangi and Dom were separately classified,
and the total of all three was only 30,000. In this
Province they generally confine themselves to their hereditary
occupation of scavenging, and are rarely met with outside
the towns and large villages. In most localities the supply
of sweepers does not meet the demand. The case is quite
different in northern India, where the sweeper castes the
Chuhra in the Punjab, the Bhangi in the United Provinces
and the Dom in Bengal are all of them of great numerical
strength. With these castes only a small proportion are
employed on scavengers' work and the rest are labourers
1 Some information has been obtained from a paper by Mr. Harbans Rai,
Clerk of Court, Damoh.
215
2i6 MEHTAR PART
like the Chamars and Mahars of the Central Provinces.
The present sweeper caste Is made up of diverse elements,
and the name Mehtar, generally applied to it, Is a title
meaning a prince or leader. Its application to the caste,
the most abject and despised In the Hindu community, is
perhaps partly ironical ; but all the low castes have honorific
titles, which are used as a method of address either from
ordinary politeness or by those requiring some service, on the
principle, as the Hindus say, that you may call an ass your
uncle if you want him to do something for you. The regular
caste of sweepers in northern India are the Bhangis, whose
name is derived by Mr. Crooke from the Sanskrit bhanga,
hemp, In allusion to the drunken habits of the caste. In
support of this derivation he advances the Beria custom of
calling their leaders Bhangi or hemp-drinker as a title of
honour. 1 In Mr. Greeven's account also, Lalbeg, the patron
saint of the sweepers, Is described as Intoxicated with the
hemp drug on two occasions. 2 Mr. Bhlmbhai KIrparam
suggests 3 that Bhangia means broken, and is applied to the
sweepers because they split bamboos. In Kaira, he states, the
regular trade of the Bhangias Is the plaiting of baskets and
other articles of split bamboo, and In that part of Gujarat if
a Koli Is asked to split a bamboo he will say, c Am I to do
Bhangla's work ? ' The derivation from the hemp-plant is,
however, the more probable. In the Punjab, sweepers are
known as Chuhra, and this name has been derived from
their business of collecting and sweeping up scraps (chura-
jhdrna). Similarly, in Bombay they are known as Olganas
or scrap-eaters. The Bengal name' Hari Is supposed to
come from haddi^ a bone ; the Hari Is the bone-gatherer, and
was familiar to early settlers of Calcutta under the quaint
designation of the c harry-wench.' 4 In the Central Provinces
sections of the Ghasia, Mahar and Dom castes will do
sweepers' work, and are therefore amalgamated with the
Mehtars. The caste Is thus of mixed constitution, and also
forms a refuge for persons expelled from their own societies
for social offences. But though called by different names,
1 Rajendra Lai Mitra, quoted In 3 Op. cit. p. 334.
art. on Beria. 4 Greeven, p. 66, quoting from
* Greeven, op. cit. pp. 29, 33. Echoes of Old Calcutta.
n CASTE SUBDIVISIONSSOCIAL ORGANISATION 217
the sweeper community in most provinces appears to have
the same stock of traditions and legends. The name of
Mehtar is now generally employed, and has therefore been
taken as the designation of the caste.
Mr. Greeven gives seven main subdivisions, of which 2. Caste
the Lalbegis or the followers of Lalbeg, the patron saint of
sweepers, are the most important The Rawats appear to
be an aristocratic subdivision of the Lalbegis, their name
being a corruption of the Sanskrit Rajputra, a prince. The
Shaikh Mehtars are the only real Muhamrnadan branch, for
though the Lalbegis worship a Musalman saint they remain
Hindus. The Haris or bone-gatherers, as already stated,
are the sweepers of Bengal. The Helas may either be
those who carry baskets of sweepings, or may derive their
name from hela, a cry ; and in that case they are so called
as performing the office of town-criers, a function which the
Bhangi usually still discharges in northern India. 1 The other
subcastes In his list are the Dhanuks or bowmen and the
Bansphors or cleavers of bamboos. In the Central Provinces
the Shaikh Mehtars belong principally to Nagpur, and
another subcaste, the Makhia, is also found in the Maratha
Districts and In Berar ; those branches of the Ghasia and
Dom castes who consent to do scavengers' work now form
separate subcastes of Mehtars In the same locality, and
another group are called Narnolla, being said to take their
name from a place called Narnol In the Punjab. The
Lalbegis are often considered here as Muhammadans rather
than Hindus, and bury their dead. In Saugor the sweepers
are said to be divided Into Lalbegis or Muhammadans and
Doms or Hindus, The Lalbegi, Dom or Dumar and the
Hela are the principal subcastes of the north of the Province,
and Chuhra Mehtars are found In Chhattlsgarh. Each sub-
caste is divided Into a number of exogamous sections named
after plants and animals.
In Benares each subdivision, Mr. Greeven states, has 3. Social
an elaborate and quasi -military organisation. Thus the
Lalbegi sweepers have eight companies or berhas^ consisting
of the sweepers working In different localities ; these are
the Sadar, or those employed by private residents In canton-
1 Crooke, op. /.
2i 8 MEHTAR PART
ments ; the Kali Paltan, who serve the Bengal Infantry ;
the Lai Kurti, or Red-coats, who are employed by the
British Infantry ; the Teshan (station), or those engaged at
the three railway stations of the town ; the Shahar, or
those of the city ; the Ramnagar, taking their name from
the residence of the Maharaja of Benares, whom they serve ;
the Kothlwal, or Bungalow men, who belong to residents
In the civil lines ; and lastly the Genereli, who are the
descendants of sweepers employed at the military head
quarters when Benares was commanded by a General of
Division. This special organisation is obviously copied
from that of the garrison and is not found in other localities,
but deserves mention for its own interest All the eight
companies are commanded by a Brigadier, the local head
of the caste, whose office is now almost hereditary; his
principal duty is to give two dinners -to the whole caste on
election, with sweetmeats to the value of fourteen rupees.
Each company has four officers a Jamadar or president, a
Munsif or spokesman, a Chaudhari or treasurer and a Naib
or summoner. These offices are also practically hereditary,
if the candidate entitled by birth can afford to give a dinner
to the whole subcaste and a turban to -each President of a
company. All the other members of the company are
designated as Sipahis or soldiers. A caste dispute is first
considered by the inferior officers of each company, who
report their view to the President ; he confers with the other
Presidents, and when an agreement has been reached the
sentence is formally confirmed by the Brigadier. When
any dispute arises, the aggrieved party, depositing a process-
fee of a rupee and a quarter, addresses the officers of his
company. Unless the question is so trivial that it can be
settled without caste punishments, the President fixes a time
and place, of which notice is given to the messengers of
the other companies ; each of these receives a fee of one
and a quarter annas and informs all the Sipahis in his
company.
4. Caste Only worthy members of the caste, Mr. Greeven con-
^ nlies > are allowed to sit on the tribal matting and smoke the
tribal pipe (huqqa). The proceedings begin with the out
spreading (usually symbolic) of a carpet and the smoking of
ii ADMISSION OF OUTSIDERS 219
a water-pipe handed In turn to each clansman. For this
purpose the members sit on the carpet In three lines, the
officers In front and the private soldiers behind. The parties
and their witnesses are heard and examined, and _a decision
Is pronounced. The punishments imposed consist of fines,
compulsory dinners and expulsion from the caste ; expulsion
being Inflicted for failure to comply with an order of fine or
entertainment. The formal method of outcasting consists
In seating the culprit on the ground and drawing the
tribal mat over his head, from which the turban Is removed ;
after this the messengers of the eight companies Inflict a
few taps with slippers and birch brooms. It is alleged that
unfaithful women were formerly tied naked to trees and
flogged with birch brooms, but that owing to the fatal
results that occasionally followed such punishment, as In
the case of the five kicks among Chamars (tanners) and the
scourging with the clothes line which used to prevail among
Dhobis (washermen), the caste has now found it expedient
to abandon these practices. When an outcaste is readmitted
on submission, whether by paying a fine or giving a dinner,
he is seated apart from the tribal mat and does penance by
holding his ears with his hands and confessing his offence.
A new huqqa, which he supplies, Is carried round by the
messenger, and a few whiffs are taken by all the officers and
SIpahls in turn. The messenger repeats to the culprit the
council's order, and informs him that should he again offend
his punishment will be doubled. With this warning he
hands him the water-pipe, and after smoking this the
offender Is admitted to the carpet and all Is forgotten In a
banquet at his expense.
The sweepers will freely admit outsiders Into their
community, and the caste forms a refuge for persons
expelled from their own societies for sexual or moral
offences. Various methods are employed for the Initiation
of a neophyte ; In some places he, or more frequently she.
Is beaten with a broom made of wood taken from a bier,
and has to give a feast to the caste; in others a slight
wound is made In his body and the blood of another sweeper
Is allowed to flow on to It so that they mix ; and a glass of
sherbet and sugar, known as the cup of nectar. Is prepared
220 MEHTAR PART
by the priest and all the members of the committee put
their fingers into it, after which it is given to the candidate
to drink; or he has to drink water mixed with cowdung
into which the caste-people have dipped their little fingers,
and a lock of his hair is cut off. Or he fasts all day at the
shrine of Lalbeg and in the evening drinks sherbet after
burning incense at the shrine ; and gives three feasts, the
first on the bank of a tank, the second in his courtyard and
the third in his house, representing his gradual purification
for membership ; at this last he puts a little water into
every man's cup and receives from him a piece of bread,
and so becomes a fully qualified caste-man. Owing to this
reinforcement from higher castes, and perhaps also to their
flesh diet, the sweepers are not infrequently taller and stronger
as well as lighter in colour than the average Hindu.
The marriage ceremony in the Central Provinces follows
*k e ordinary Hindu ritual " The lagan or paper fixing the
date of the wedding is written by a Brahman, who seats
himself at some distance from the sweeper's house and
composes the letter. This paper must not be seen by the
bride or bridegroom, nor may its contents be read to them,
as it is believed that to do so would cause them to fall ill
during the ceremony. Before the bridegroom starts for the
wedding his mother waves a wooden pestle five times over
his head, passing it between his legs and shoulders. After
this the bridegroom breaks two lamp-saucers with his right
foot, steps over the rice-pounder and departs for the bride's
house without looking behind him. The sawasas or relatives
of the parties usually officiate at the ceremony, but the well-
to-do sometimes engage a Brahman, who sits at a distance
from the house and calls out his instructions. When a
man wishes to marry a widow he must pay six rupees to
the caste committee and give a feast to the community.
Divorce is permitted for incompatibility of temper, or
immorality on the part of the wife, or if the husband
suffers from leprosy or impotence. Among the Lalbegis,
when a man wishes to get rid of his wife he assembles the
brethren and in their presence says to her, e You are as my
sister,' and she answers, c You are as my father and brother/ I
3 Crooke, op. cit. para. 52.
ii DEVICES FOR PROCURING CHILDREN 221
The dead are usually burled, but the well-to-do some- 7. Disposal
times cremate them. In Benares the face or hand of the
corpse is scorched with fire to symbolise cremation and it
is then buried. In the Punjab the ghosts of sweepers are
considered to be malevolent and are much dreaded ; and
their bodies are therefore always buried or burnt face
downwards to prevent the spirit escaping ; and riots have
taken place and the magistrates have been appealed to to
prevent a Chuhra from being buried face upwards. 1 In
Benares as the body is lowered into the grave the sheet is
withdrawn for a moment from the features of the departed
to afford him one last glimpse of the heavens, while with
Muhammadans the face is turned towards Mecca. Each
clansman flings a handful of dust over the corpse, and after
the earth is filled in crumbles a little bread and sugar-cake
and sprinkles water upon the grave. A provision of bread,
sweetmeats and water is also left upon it for the soul of the
departed. 2 In the Central Provinces the body of a man is
covered with a white winding-sheet and that of a woman
with a red one. If the death occurs during the lunar
conjunction known as Panchak, four human images of flour
are made and buried with the dead man, as they think
that if this is not done four more deaths will occur in the
family.
If a woman greatly desires a child she will go to a s. Devices
shrine and lay a stone on It which she calls the dharna or f^~
deposit or pledge. Then she thinks that she has put the children,
god under an obligation to give her a child. She vows that
If she becomes pregnant within a certain period, six or nine
months, she will make an offering of a certain value. If
the pregnancy comes she goes to the temple, makes the
offering and removes the stone. If the desired result does
not happen, however, she considers that the god has broken
his obligation and ceases to worship him. If a barren
woman desires a child she should steal on a Sunday or a
Wednesday a strip from the body-cloth of a fertile woman
when It Is hung out to dry ; or she may steal a piece of rope
from the bed In which a woman has been delivered of a
child, or a piece of the baby's soiled swaddling clothes or a
1 Ibbetson, of. dt. para. 227. 2 Greeven, op. cit. p. 21.
222 MEHTAR PART
piece of cloth stained with the blood of a fertile woman.
This last she will take and bury in a cemetery and the
others wear round her waist ; then she will become fertile
and the fertile woman will become barren. Another device
is to obtain from the midwife a piece of the navel-string of a
newborn child and swallow it. For this reason the navel-
string is always carefully guarded and its disposal seen to.
9. Divina- If a pregnant woman is thin and ailing they think a boy
tionof sex. w jjj be bom . faut - f fet and we jj that j t w jj be a gJrL j n
order to divine the sex of a coming child they pour a little
oil on the stomach of the woman ; if the oil flows straight
down it is thought that a boy will be born and if crooked a
girl. Similarly if the hair on the front of her body grows
straight they think the child will be a boy, but if crooked a
girl ; and if the swelling of pregnancy is more apparent on
the right side a boy is portended, but if on the left side a
girl. If delivery is retarded they go to a gunmaker and
obtain from him a gun which has been discharged and the
soiling of the barrel left uncleaned ; some water is put Into
the barrel and shaken up and then poured into a vessel and
given to the woman to drink, and it is thought that the
quality of swift movement appertaining to the bullet which
soiled the barrel will be communicated to the woman and
cause the swift expulsion of the child from her womb.
10. Child- When a woman is in labour she squats down with
birth. ker j e g s a p ar {- holding to the bed in front of her, while the
midwife rubs her back. If delivery is retarded the midwife
gets a broom and sitting behind the woman presses it on
her stomach, at the same time drawing back the upper
part of her body. By this means they think the child will
be forced from the womb. Or the mother of the woman in
labour will take a grinding-stone and stand holding it on
her head so long as the child is not born. She says to
her daughter, 'Take my name/ and the daughter repeats
her mother's name aloud. Here the idea is apparently that
the mother takes on herself some of the pain which has to
be endured by the daughter, and the repetition of her name
by the daughter will cause the -goddess of childbirth to
hasten the period of delivery in order to terminate the
unjust sufferings of the mother for which the goddess has
n PROTECTING THE LIVES OF CHILDREN 223
become responsible. The mother's name exerts pressure or
Influence on the goddess who is at the time occupied with
the daughter or perhaps sojourning In her body.
If a child Is born in the morning they will give the n. Treat-
mother a little sugar and cocoanut to eat In the evening, ""mothe
but if It is born In the evening they will give her nothing
till next morning. Milk is given only sparingly as it Is
supposed to produce coughing. The main idea of treat
ment in childbirth Is to prevent either the mother or child
from taking cold or chill, this being the principal danger
to which they are thought to be exposed. The door of the
birth chamber Is therefore kept shut and a fire Is continually
burning in It night and day. The woman is not bathed for
several days, and the atmosphere and general Insanitary
conditions can better be Imagined than described. With the
same end of preventing cold they feed the mother on a hot
liquid produced by cooking thirty-six Ingredients together.
Most of these are considered to have the quality of produ
cing heat or warmth In the body, and the following are a few
of them : Pepper, ginger, azgan (a condiment), turmeric,
nutmeg, ajwdin (aniseed), dates, almonds, raisins, cocoanut,
wild singdra or water-nut, cumin, chironji} the gum of the
babul* 1 or khairf asafoetlda, borax, saffron, clarified butter
and sugar. The mixture cannot be prepared for less than
two rupees and the woman Is fed on It for five days beginning
from the second day after birth, if the family can afford the
expense.
If the mother's milk runs dry, they use the dried bodies 12. Pro
of the little fish caught in the shallow water of fields and ^ n * f th
tanks, and sometimes supposed to have fallen down with the children.
rain. They are boiled In a little water and the fish and
water are given to the woman to consume. Here the Idea
Is apparently that as the fish has the quality of Hquidness
because it lives In water, so by eating it this will be
communicated to the breasts and the milk will flow again.
If a woman's children die, then the next time she is In labour
they bring a goat all of one colour. When the birth of
the child takes place and It falls from the womb on to the
1 The fruit of the achar (Buch&nania latifolia).
2 Acacia arabiccu 3 Acacia, catechu.
224 MEHTAR PART
ground no one must touch It, but the goat, which should if
possible be of the same sex as the child, is taken and passed
over the child twenty-one times. Then they take the goat and
the after-birth to a cemetery and here cut the goat's throat
by the halal rite and bury it with the after-birth. The
idea is thus that the goat's life is a substitute for that of
the child. By being passed over the child it takes the
child's evil destiny upon itself, and the burial in a cemetery
causes the goat to resemble a human being,- while the after
birth communicates to it some part of the life of the child.
If a mother is afraid her child will die, she sells it for a few
cowries to another woman. Of course the sale is only nominal,
but the woman who has purchased the child takes a special
interest in it, and at the naming or other ceremony she will
give it a jewel or such other present as she can afford. Thus
she considers that the fictitious sale has had some effect and
that she has acquired a certain interest in the child.
13. in- If a baby, especially a girl, has much hair on its body,
^ey nia ^ :e a ca ^ e ^ gram-flour and rub it with sesamum
oil all over the body, and this is supposed to remove the
hair.
If a child's skin dries up and it pines away, they think
that an owl has taken away a cloth stained by the child
when it was hung out to dry. The remedy is to obtain
the liver of an owl and hang it round the child's neck.
For jaundice they get the flesh of a yellow snake
which appears in the rains, and of the rohu fish which has
yellowish scales, and hang them to its neck ; or they
get a verse of the Koran written out by a Maulvi or
Muhammadan priest and use this as an amulet ; or they catch
a small frog alive, tie it up in a yellow cloth and hang it to
the child's neck by a blue thread until it dies. For tetanus
the jaws are branded outside and a little musk is placed
on the mother's breast so that the child may drink it with the
milk. When the child begins to cut its teeth they put
honey on the gums and think that this will make the teeth
slip out early as the honey is smooth and slippery. But
as the child licks the gums when the honey is on them they
fear that this may cause the teeth to grow broad and crooked
like the tongue. Another device is to pass a piece of gold
ii RELIGION: VALMIKI 225
round the child's gums. If they want the child to have
pretty teeth its maternal uncle threads a number of grains
of rice on a piece of string and hangs them round its neck,
so that the teeth may grow like the rice. If the child's
navel is swollen, the maternal uncle will go out for a walk
and on his return place his turban over the navel. For
averting the evil eye the liver of the Indian badger is worn
in an amulet, this badger being supposed to haunt ceme
teries and feed on corpses ; some hairs of a bear also form
a very favourite amulet, or a tiger's claws set in silver, or
the tail of a lizard enclosed in lac and made into a ring.
The religion of the sweepers has been described at 14. Reii-
length by Mr. Greeven and Mr. Crooke. It centres round
the worship of two saints, Lalbeg or Bale Shah and Balnek
or Balmlk, who is really the huntsman Valmiki, the reputed
author of the Ramayana. Balmlk was originally a low-
caste hunter called Ratnakar, and when he could not get
game he was accustomed to rob and kill travellers. But
one day he met Brahma and wished to kill him ; but he
could not raise his club against Brahma, and the god spoke
and convinced him of his sins, directing him to repeat the
name of Rama until he should be purified of them. But the
hunter's heart was so evil that he could not pronounce the
divine name, and Instead he repeated c Mara, Mara' (struck,
struck), but in the end by repetition this came to the same
thing. Mr. Greeven's account continues : "As a small spark
of fire burneth up a heap of cotton, so the word Rama
cleaneth a man of all his sins. So the words Ram, Ram, 1
were taught unto Ratnakar who ever repeated them for
sixty thousand years at the self- same spot with a heart
sincere. All Ms skin was eaten up by the white ants. Only
the skeleton remained. Mud had been heaped over the body
and grass had grown up, yet within the mound of mud the
saint was still repeating the name of Rama. After sixty
thousand years Brahma returned. No man could he see,
yet he heard the voice of Ram, Ram, rising from the mound
of mud. Then Brahma bethought him that the saint was
beneath. He besought Indra to pour down rain and to wash
away the mud. Indra complied with his request and the rain
washed away the mud. The saint came forth. Nought save
VOL. IV Q
226 MEHTAR PART
bones remained. Brahma called aloud to the saint. When
the saint beheld him he prostrated himself and spake:
Thou hast taught me the words " Ram, Ram," which have
cleansed away all my sins.' Then spake Brahma : * Hitherto
thou wast Ratnakar. From to-day thy name shall be Valmfki
(from valmik) an ant-hill). Noiv do thou compose a Rama-
yana in seven parts, containing the deeds and exploits of
Rama.' " Valmlki had been or afterwards became a sweeper
and was known as ' cooker of dog's food ' (Swapach), a name
applied to sweepers, 1 who have adopted him as their epony
mous ancestor and patron saint.
15. Lalbeg. Lalbeg, who is still more widely venerated, is considered
to have been Ghazi Miyan, the nephew of Sultan Muhammad
of Ghazni, and a saint much worshipped in the Punjab. Many
legends are told of Lalbeg, and his worship is described by
Mr. Greeven as folloivs : 2 " The ritual of Lalbeg is con
ducted in the presence of the whole brotherhood, as a rule
at the festival of the Diwali and on other occasions when
special business arises. The time for worship is after
sunset and if possible at midnight His shrine consists of a
mud platform surrounded by steps, with four little turrets at
the corners and a spire in the centre, in which is placed a
lamp filled with clarified butter and containing a wick of
twisted tow. Incense is thrown into the flame and offerings
of cakes and sweetmeats are made. A lighted huqqa is
placed before the altar and as soon as the smoke rises it is
understood that a whiff has been drawn by the hero." A
cock is offered to Lalbeg at the Dasahra festival When a
man is believed to have been affected by the evil eye they
wave a broom in front of the sufferer muttering the name of
the saint In the Darn oh District the guru or priest who is
the successor of Lalbeg comes from the Punjab every year
or two. He is richly clad and is followed by a sweeper
carrying an umbrella. Other Hindus say that his teaching
is that no one who is not a Lalbegi can go to heaven, but
those on whom the dust raised by a Lalbegi sweeping settles
acquire some modicum of virtue. Similarly Mr. Greeven
1 Some writers consider that Balmik, the sweeper-saint, and Valmiki, the author
of the Ramavana, are not identical.
2 Page 38.
