Abdâl.: -Abdâl.1 a group of low Mahomedans, believed to have been originally a subdivision of the Bediyâs, whom the orthodox do not recognise as members of the brotherhood of Islam. For this reason the Abdâl marry among themselves, and the community is virtually a caste. The characteristic occupation of the men is to castrate bullocks, and the females act as midwives.

Advichincher.: -They wander in Maharashtra in groups of 15-30 families with bullocks. They use tents. Some of them used to steal sheep, crops and break into houses. But they are specifically hunters and a nomadic sub-section of the Pardhis.

Agale.: -See Agris

Aghori.: -eat human ordure, bones, and filth of all kings, and extort alms by threatening to exhibit these practices or to pollute the bystanders. They sometimes carry staves set with human bones, and use the upper half of a skull as a water-pot. In 1881 one of those wretches was caught at Rohtak, in the Panjab, in the act of devouring the body of a newly buried child, which he had dug out. According to Lassen (Ind. Alt. III. 881, and IV, 629) the Aghoris of the present day are closely related to the Kâpâlika or Kâpâladhârin sect of the middle ages. who wore crowns and necklaces of skulls and offered human sacrifices to Châmundâ`, a horrible form of Devi or Pârvati. In support of this view it is observed that in Bhavabhuti's drama of Mâlati Mâdhava, written in the eighth century, the Kapâlikâ` sorcerer, from whom Mâlati is rescued as she is about to be sacrificed to Châmundâ, is euphemistically described as an Aghorakantha, from aghora , 'not terrible.' The Aghoris of the present day represent their filthy habits as merely giving practical expression to the abstract sect of Saivites, that "the whole universe is full of Brahman," and consequently that one thing is as pure as another. The mantra or mystic is believed by other ascetics to be very powerful, and to be capable of restoring to life the human victim offered to Devi and eaten by the officiating priest. The sect is regarded with disgust by all respectable , and is believed to be dying out. In 1881 it numbered 565 votaries in Bengal (all but two in Behar), 316 in the Panjab, and 93 in the Central Provinces.

Aghori.: -Aghorpanthi, Aughar.2 -(Sanskrit aghora " not terrific," a euphemistic title of Siva), the most disreputable class of Saiva mendicants. The headquarters of the sect are at Râmgarh, Benares. The founder of it was Kinna Râm, a Râjput by caste, who was born at Râmgarh, and was a contemporary of Balwant Sinh, Râja of Benares. When he was just a boy he retired to a garden near Benares and meditated on the problems of life and death. He became possessed of the spirit and his parents shut him up as a madman. When they tried to wean him from the life of an ascetic and arrange a marriage, he made his escape and retired to Jagannâth. Some time after, he was initiated by a Vaishnava Pandit from Ghâzipur. Then he went to Ballua Ghât at Benares and began to practice austerities. Some time later, one Kâlu came from Girnâr Hill, and Kinna Râm attended him for some years. One day he announced his intention of making a second pilgrimage to Jagannâth, when Kâlu said,-" If I bring Jagannâth before your eyes here will you give up your intention ?" Kinna Râm agreed, and then by his supernatural power Kâlu Râm did as he had promised to do. This shook the faith of Kinna Râm and he abandoned the Vaishnava sect and was initiated as a

1 See Risley 2. Based mainly on Crook's on a note by Pandit Râmgharib Chaube.

1 Saiva. From that time he became an Aughar or Aghori. Kâlu Râm gave him a piece of burning wood which he had brought from the Smasâna Ghât or cremation ground at Benares, and ordered him with this to maintain the perpetual fire. After this Kâlu Râm returned to Girnâr and Kinna Râm went to the garden where he had stayed at the opening of his life and erected a monastery there. He performed miracles and attracted a number of disciples out of his own tribe.

Some time after his own Guru, who had initiated him into the Vaishnava sect, came to see him. Kinna Râm directed him to go to , where a number of Sâdhus were then suffering imprisonment at the hands of the Muhammadan Emperor for their faith, and to procure their release by working miracles. The Guru went there and shared their fate. When the Guru did not return, Kinna Râm went himself to Delhi in order to effect his release. Kinna Râm, on his arrival, was arrested and sentenced to work at the flour-mills. He asked the Emperor if he would release him and the other Sâdhus, if he was able to perform a miracle. The Emperor agreed, and Kinna Ram worked the miracle. The Emperor was so impressed by his power that he released the Sâdhus and conferred estates on Kinna Râm. The Sâdhus whom he had released became his disciples, and he returned to Benares, where at Râmgarh he established the Aghori sect and became the first leader. He lived to a good old age, and was succeeded by one of the members elected by general vote of he society.

The form of initiation into the sect is as follows :- The candidate for initiation places a cup of liquor and a cup of bhang on the stone which covers the tomb of Kinna Râm. It is said that those who wish to became Aughars without losing caste drink only the bhang , while those who desire to be fully initiated drink both the bhang and spirits. Some say that when the candidate has perfect faith, the cups come to his lips of themselves. Then a sacrifice is performed in which various kinds of fruits are thrown into the fire which has been kept alight since it was lighted by Kinna Râm, and an animal, usually a goat, is sacrificed. It is believed that the animal thus sacrificed often comes to life again when the function is over. After this, the hair of the candidate is moistened in urine (preferably that of the head of the sect), and the candidate is shaved. Subsequently the candidate has to meditate on the precepts and teaching of Kinna Râm, which are recorded in a book known as the Bíjaka. Those who are illiterate have these read over to them by other Aughars. The initiation ceremony ends with a feast to all the disciples present, at which spirits and meat are distributed. This is followed by a probation term of twelve years, during which the initiated eats any kind of filthy food, the flesh of corpses being included. Their life is spent in drinking and smoking intoxication drug, and they are most abusive to those who will not give them alms. When they go to beg they carry a bottle either empty or full of spirits. They demand alms in the words Jây Kinna Râm ki , (Glory to Kinna Râm ). It is said that after leading this life for twelve years they abandon the use of spirits and only eat filthy food.

A great resort of this class of ascetics is the Asthbhuja hill near Bindhâchal in the Mirzapur District. According to Lassen, quoted by Mr. Risley , 1 the Aghoris of the present day are closely related to the Kapâlika or Kapâladhârin sect of the middle ages who wore crowns and necklaces of skulls and offered human sacrifices to Châmunda, a horrible form of Devi or Pârvati. In support of this view it is observed that in Bhavabhuti's Drama of Mâlati Mâdhava, written in the eight century, the Kapalikas orcerer, from whom Mâlati is rescued, as she is about to be sacrificed to Châmunda, is euphemistically described as an Aghorakantha, from aghora, " not terrible." The Aghoris of the present day represent their filthy habits as merely giving practical expression to the abstract doctrine of the Paramahansa sect of the Saivites that the whole universe is full of Brahma, and consequently that one thing is as pure as another. The mantra or mystic formula by which Aghoris are initiated is believed by other ascetics to be very powerful and to be capable of restoring to life the human victims offered to Devi and eaten by the officiating priest.' Not long since a member of the sect was punished in Budaun

1. Tribes and Castes, l, 10.

2 for eating human flesh in public. Of the Panjab Mr. MacLagan 1 writes :- " The only real sub- division of the Jogis which are commonly recognised are the well-known sects of Oghar and Kanphattas. The Kanphattas, as their name denotes, pierce their ears and wear in them large (mundra ) generally of wood, stone or glass ; the ears of the novice are pierced by the Guru, who gets a fee of Re. 1-4-0. Among themselves the word Kanphatta is not used ; but they call themselves Darshani or ' one who wears an ear-ring.' The Oghar, on the contrary, do not pierce their ears, but wear a whistle (nâdha ) of wood, which they blow at morning and evening and before meals. Kanpattas are called by names ending in Nâth, and the names of the Oghar end in Dâs. The Kanphattas are the more distinctive sect of the two, and the Oghars were apparently either their predecessors or seceders from that sect. One account says that the Kanphattas are the followers of Gorakhnâth, the pupil of Jalandharanâth, who sometimes appears in the legends as an opponent of Gorakhnâth. Another account would go further back and connect the two sects with a sub-division of the philosophy of Patanjali." The difference between the Aughar and Aghori does not seem to be very distinct ; the Aghori adds to the disgusting license of the Aughar in matters of food the occasional eating of human flesh and filth.

Aghori.: -Aghorpanthi.2 The most disreputable class of Saiva mendicants who feed on human corpses and excrement, and in past times practised cannibalism. The sect is apparently an ancient one, a supposed reference to it being contained in the Sanskrit drama Mâlati Mâdhava , the hero of which rescues his mistress from being offered as a sacrifice by one named Aghori Ghanta.3 According to Lassen, quoted by Sir H. Risley, the Aghoris of the present day are closely connected with the Kapâlika sect of the Middle Ages, who wore crowns and necklaces of skulls and offered human sacrifices to Châmunda, a form of Devi. The Aghoris now represent their filthy habits as merely giving practical expression to the abstract doctrine that the whole universe is full of Brahma, and consequently that one thing is as pure as another. By eating the most horrible food they utterly subdue their natural appetites, and hence acquire great power over themselves and over the forces of nature. It is believed that an Aghori can at will assume the shapes of a bird, an animal, or a fish, and that he can bring back to life a corpse of which he has eaten a part. The principal resort of the Aghoris appears to be at Benâres and at Girnar near Mount Abu, and they wander about the country as solitary mendicants. A few reside in Saugor, and they are occasionally met with in other places. They are much feared and disliked by the people owing to their practice of extorting alms by the threat to display their horrible practices before the eyes of their victims, and by throwing filth into their houses. Similarly they gash and cut their limbs so that the crime of blood may rest on those who refuse to give. "For the most part," Mr. Barrow states,4 the Aghorpanthis lead a wandering life, are without homes, and prefer to dwell in holes, clefts of rocks and burning-ghâts. They do not cook, but eat the fragments given them in charity, which they put into the cavity of the skull used as a begging-bowl. The bodies of chelas ( disciples ) who die in Benâres are thrown into the , but dead who die well off are placed in coffins. As a rule, Aghoris do not care what becomes of their bodies, but when buried they are placed in the grave sitting cross-legged. The Aghori gurus keep dogs, which may be of any colour, and are said to be maintained for purposes of protection. The dogs are not all pariahs of the streets, although some gurus are followed by three or four when on pilgrimage. Occasionally the dogs seem to be regarded with real affection by their strange masters. The Aghori is believed to converse with all the evil spirits frequenting the burning- ghâts, and funeral parties must be very badly off if they refuse to pay him something. In

1. Panjab Census Report, 115. 2 This article is mainly based on Russell a paper on Aghoris and Aghorpanthis by Mr. H. W. Barrow, in the Journal Anthr. Soc. Bombay, iii. p. 197. 3 Bhattachârya, Hindu Castes and Sects, p 392. 4 Aghoris and Aghorpanthis, pp. 224, 226.

3 former days he claimed five pieces of wood at each funeral in Benâres; but the Doms interfere with his perquisites, and in some cases only let him carry off the remains of the unburned wood from each pyre. When angered and excited, Aghoris invoke Kâli and threaten to spread devastation around them. Even among the educated classes, who should know better, they are dreaded, and as an instance of the terror which they create among the ignorant, it may be mentioned that in the Lucknow District it is believed that if alms are refused them the Aghoris will cause those who refuse to be attacked with fever. "On the other hand, their good offices may secure benefits, as in the case of a zamindâr of Muzaffarnagar, who at Allahâbâd refused to eat a piece of human flesh offered to him by an Aghori; the latter thereupon threw the at the zamíndâr's head, on which it stuck. The zamíndâr afterwards became so exceedingly wealthy that he had difficulty in storing his wealth."

It is believed that in former times the Aghoris used to kidnap strangers, sacrifice them to the goddess and eat the bodies, and Mr. Barrow relates the following incident of the murder of a boy:1 "Another horrible case, unconnected with magic and apparently arising from mere blood-thirst, occurred at Neirâd in June I878. An Aghori mendicant of Dwârka, staying at the temple of Sitârâm Lâldâs, seized a boy of twelve, named Shankar Râmdâs, who was playing with two other boys. The mendicant threw him down on the oatla of the temple, ripped open his abdomen, tore out part of his entrails, and according to the poor little victim's dying declaration, began to eat them. The other boys having raised an alarm, the monster was seized. When interrogated by the magistrate as to whether he had committed the crime in order to perform Aghorbidya, the prisoner said that as the boy was Bhakshan he had eaten his flesh. He added that if he had not been interrupted he would have eaten all the entrails. He was convicted, but only sentenced to incarceration for life. The High Court, however, altered the sentence and ordered the prisoner to be hanged." The following instance, quoted by Mr. Barrow from Rewah, shows how an Aghori was hoist with his own petard: "Some years ago, when Mahârâja Bishnâth Singh was Chief of Rewah, a man of the Aghori caste went to Rewah and sat dharna on the steps of the palace; having made ineffectual demands for alms, he requested to be supplied with human flesh, and for five days abstained from food. The Mahârâja was much troubled, and at last, in order to get rid of his unwelcome visitor, sent for Ghansiâm Dâs, another Aghori, a fakír, who had for some years lived in Rewah, Ghansiâm D¡âs went up to the other Aghori and asked him if it was true that he had asked to be supplied with human flesh. On receiving a reply in the affirmative, Ghansiâm Dâs said : 'Very well, I too am extremely partial to this form of food ; here is my hand, eat it and I will eat you'; and at the same time he seized hold of the other's hand and began to gnaw at it. The Aghori on this became much alarmed and begged to be excused. He shortly afterwards left Rewah and was not heard of again, while Ghansiâm Dâs rewarded for his services." The following recent instance of an Aghori devouring human corpses is reported from the :2 The loathsome story of a human ghoul from Patiâla shows that the influence of the Aghorpanthi has not yet completely died out in this country. It is said that for some time past human graves have been found robbed of their contents, and the mystery could not be solved until the day when police succeeded in arresting a man in the act of desecrating a child's grave, some forty miles distant from the capital (Patiâla). The ghoul not only did not conceal the undevoured portion of the corpse he had with him, but told his captors the whole story of his gruesome career. He is a low-caste Hindu named Râm Nâth, and is, according to a gentleman who saw him, a singularly mild and respectful-looking man, instead of a red- eyed and ravenous savage,' as he had expected to find him from the accounts of his disgusting propensities. He became an orphan at five and fell into the hands of two Sâdhus of his own caste, who were evidently Aghorpanthis. They taught him to eat human flesh, which formed the staple of their food. The meat was procured from the graves in the villages

1 page 208. 2. The Tribune (Lahore ), November 29. I898, quoted in Oman's Mystics, Ascots and Saints of , pp. I64, I65.

4 they passed through. When Râm Nâth was thoroughly educated in this rank the Sâdhus deserted him. Since then he had been living on human carrion only, roaming about the country like a hungry vulture. He cannot eat cooked food, and therefore gets two seers of raw meat from the State every day. It is also reported that the Mahârâja has now prohibited his being given anything but cooked food with a view to reforming him," Sir J. B. Fuller relates the following incident of the employment of an Aghori as a servant:1 There are actually ten thousand persons who at census time classed themselves as Aghoris. All of them do not practise cannibalism and some of them attempt to rise in the world. One of them secured service as a cook with a British officer of my acquaintance. My friend was in camp in the jungle with his wife and children, when his other servants came to him in a body and refused to remain in service unless the cook was dismissed, since they had discovered, that during the night-time he visited cemeteries and dug up the bodies of freshly buried children. The cook was absent, but they pointed to a box of his that emitted a sickening smell. The man was incontinently expelled but for long afterwards the family were haunted by memories of the curries they had eaten."

Agris.: -They live in Maharashtra, but they are from Rajasthan. In the past they were salt transporters. Nowadays many of them are farmers.

Ahar.: -A pastoral and cultivating tribe found principally in Rohikhand along the banks of the Râmganga and west of that river 2. These tracts are familiarly knows as Aharât. Sir II. M. Elliot 3 says that they smoke and drink, as do the Jâts and Gîjars, but disclaim all connection with Ahírs, whom they consider an inferior stock, and the Ahírs repay the compliment. Ahars say that they are descended from Jâdonbansi Râjputs; but I Ahírs say that they are the real Jâdonbansi, being descended in a direct line from Krishna, and that Ahars are descended from the cowherds in Krishna's service, and that the inferiority of Ahars is fully proved by their eating fish and milking cows. It seems probable that the name and origin of both tribes is the same. The Collector of Mathurâ reports that the names Ahír and Ahar appear to be used indiscriminately, and in particular in most cases the Ahír clans of Bhatti, Deswâr and Nugâwat appear to have been recorded as Ahars. To the east of the Province, Ahar appears to be occasionally used as a synonym for Aheriya, and to designate the class of bird-catchers known as Chiryâmâr.

At the last census the Ahars were recorded under the main sub-castes of Bâchar, or Bâchhar, Bhirgudi, Deswâr, Guâlbans, and Jâdubans. In the returns they were recorded under no less than 976 sub castes, of which the most numerous in Bulandshahr are the Nagauri and Rajauliya; in Bareilly the Alaudiya, Baheriya, Banjâra, Bharthariya, and Siyârmâr, or "Jackal killers;" in Budâun the Alaudiya, Baisgari, Bareriya, Bhagré, Chhakré, Doman, Goehhar, Ghosiya, Kara, Kathiya, Mahâpachar, Mahar, Murarkha, Ora, Rahmaniyân, Rajauriya, Sakariya, Sansariya and Warag; in Morâdâbâd the Alaudiya, Bagarha, Baksiya, Bhadariya, Bhosiya, Chaudhari, Janghâré, Mahar, Nagarha, Ora, Rajauriya, Râwat, Saila and Sakoriya; in Pilibhít the Bharthariya and Dhindhor. In manners and customs the Ahars appear to be identical with the Ahírs. They have traditions of sovereignty in Rohilkhand, and possibly enjoyed considerable power during the reign of the Tomars (700 to 1150 A.D.). 4

1. Studies of Indian and Sentiment, p. 44. 2 CRK Page No 35-36 3. Supplemental Glossary , s.v. 4. Morâdâbâd Settlement Report, 8.

5 Aheriya.: -(Sans. akhetika, a hunter.) 1 A tribe of hunters, fowlers, and thieves found in the Central Duab. Their ethnological ties have not as yet been very accurately ascertained. Sir H. M. Elliot describes them as a branch of the Dhanuks, from whom they are distinguished by not eating dead carcases, as the Dhanuks do. They are perhaps the same as the Hairi or Heri of the Hills, a colony of whom Baz Bahadur settled in the Tarai as guards. They (and some Mewatis who were settled there in a similar way) became pests to the country.2 At the same time Mr. Williams describes the Heri in Dehra Dun as aborigines and akin to the Bhoksas, with whom in appearance and character the Aheriyas of Aligarh and Etah seem to have little connection. They are almost certainly not the same as the Ahiriya or Dahiriya of the Gorakhpur Division, who are wandering cattle-dealers and apparently .3 In Gorakhpur, however, there is a tribe called Aheriya, said to be descended from Dhanuks, whose chief employment is the capture of snakes, which they eat. There is again a tribe in the Panjab known as Aheri, who are very probably akin to the Aheriyas of the North-West Provinces.4 They trace their origins to Rajputana, and especially Jodhpur and the prairies of Bikaner. ''They are vagrant in their habits, but not infrequently settle down in villages where they find employment. They catch and eat all kinds of wild animals, pure and impure, and work in reeds and grass. In addition to these occupations they work in the fields, and especially move about in gangs at harvest time in search of employment as reapers, and they cut wood and grass and work as general labourers on roads and other earthworks.'' Mr. Fagan describes them in Hissar as making baskets and winnowing fans and scutching wool. He thinks that the Jodhpuriya section, who appear to have been the ancestors of the tribe, may possibly have been Rajputs, and the other Aheris are probably descended from low castes who inter-married with them. In absence of any distinct anthropometrical evidence, the most probable theroy seems to be that the Aheriyas of these Provinces are connected with the Bhil and their congeners, the Baheliya, who are a race of jungle hunters and fowlers. In Aligarh, they distinctly admit that in former times, owing to a scarcity of women in the tribe, they used to introduce girls of other castes. This, they say, they have ceased to do in recent years , since the number of their females has increased. This being the case, it is very probable that a tribe of this character would become a sort of Cave of Adullam for everyone who was in debt, in distress, or discontented.

The Aligarh tradition. In Aligarh they seem to be known interchangably by the names of Aheriya, Bhil, or Karol. They call themselves the descendants of Raja Piryavart, who (though the Aheriyas know nothing about him) is probably identical with Priyavrata, who was one of the two sons of Brahman and Satarupa. According to the mythology he was dissatisfied that only half the earth was illuminated at one time by the sun's rays; so he followed the sun seven times round the earth in his own flaming car of equal velocity, like another celestial orb, resolved to turn night into day. He was stopped by Brahman, and the ruts which were formed by his chariot wheels were the seven oceans; thus the seven continents were formed. The Aheriyas say that the son of the solar hero, whose name has been forgotten, was devoted to hunting, and for the purpose of sport took up his abode on the famous hill of Chitrakut, in the Banda District. Here he became known as Aheriya, or ''sportsman,'' and was the ancestor of the present tribe. Thence they emigrated to Ajudhya, and, after the destruction of that city, spread all over the country. They say that they came to Aligarh from Cawnpur some seven hundred years ago. They still keep up this tradition of their origin by periodical pilgrimages to Chitrakut and Ajudhya.

1. W.Crooke, B.A.Tribes and Castes of the North western India, V.1 who base it on notes collected through Mr. J. H. Monks, Deputy Collector, Aligarh. 2. Atkinson, Himalaya Gazetter, II.,565,589,and 645. 3. Buchanan, Eastern India, II., Gorakhpur Gasetteer, 624. 4. Ibbetson,Panjab Ethnography, Section 576

6 Tribal council. They have a tribal council (panchayat), constructed party by election and partly by nomination among the members of the tribe. They decide all matters affecting the tribe, but are not empowered to take up social questions suo molu. They have a permanent, hereditary chairman(sarpanch ). If the son of a deceased chairman happens to be a minor, one of the members of the council is appointed to act for him during his minority. At the same time, if the new chairman, on coming of age, is found to be incompetent, he may be removed, and a new candidate selected by the votes of the council.

Marriage rules. They have no exogamous or endogamous prohibitions. The marriage of first cousins is prohibited, though, and a man cannot marry into a family to whom, in living memory, a bride from his own family has been married. Difference of religious beliefs is no bar to marriage, provided there has been no conversion to another faith, such as that of Christians or Muhammadans. They can have as many as four wives at the same time, and may marry two sisters together. An apparent survival of the marriage-by-capture tradition is found in the ceremony which follows marriage, when the new bride strikes her husband with a thin switch of the acacia (Babul ). She is then brought into the house, where her husband's relations give her presents for letting them see her face (munk-dikhai) . The senior wife rules the household, and those junior to her have to do her bidding. They live, as a rule, on good terms, and it is only under very exceptional circumstances that separate houses are provided for them. The age for marriage varies from seven to twenty. Any marriage is voidable at the wish of the parties with the approval of the tribal council. The match is arranged by some relation of the youth with the help of a Brahman and barber. When the betrothed are grown, their wishes are considered, but in the case of minors the match is arranged by their friends or guardians. There is no regular bride price; but if the girl's father is very poor the friends of the boy assist him to defray the cost of the marriage feast. In other cases the girl's father is supposed to give something as dowry (jahes) . There is no fixed rule for ownership of the gifts; but it is understood that the presents which the bride receives at the munk-dikhai ceremony become her private property. Leprosy, impotency, idiocy, or mutilation occurring after marriage are considered reasonable grounds for its annulment; but if any physical defects were disclosed before the marriage they are not held to be a ground for dissolving the union. Charges of adultery are brought before the tribal council, and, if proved, a divorce is declared. Divorced women can marry again by the karao form; but women divorced for adultery, though such a course is possible, are seldom remarried in the tribe. Children born of a father or mother who are not members of the tribe are called lendra , and are not admitted to caste privileges.

Widow marriage. When a man desires to marry a widow, he provides for her a suit of clothes, a set of glass bangles (churi) and a pair of toe-rings (bichhua) . The council is assembled and the woman is asked if she accepts her suitor. If she agrees, an auspicious day is selected by the advice of a Brahman, and the new husband dresses her in the clothes and jewelry and takes her home. After this he gives a feast to the brotherhood. In this form of marriage, known as karao or dhareja , there is no procession (barat) , and no walking round the sacred fire (bhanwar) . The levirate is enforced unless the younger brother of her late husband is already married, in which case the widow may live with an outsider. If she marries a stranger she loses her right to support from the estate of her first husband, and also the guardianship of his children, unless they are of tender age. There is no trace of the fiction that children of the levir are attributed to his deceased brother.

Birth ceremonies. When pregnancy is ascertained the caste men are assembled and some gram and wheat boiled molasses is distributed. Contratry to prevailing Hindu custom, the woman is

7 delivered on a bed with her feet turned towards the Ganges. The midwife is usually a sweeper woman, and after delivery her place as nurse is taken by a barber woman. When the child is born, molasses is distributed to friends; and women sing songs and play on a brass tray (thali) . On the sixth day after the birth(chhathi) they worship Sati, and throw little cakes and incense into the fire in her honour. On the twelfth day the mother is bathed, and seated in the court-yard inside a sacred square (chauk) made by a Brahman, with wheat-flour. He then names the child, and purifies the house by sprinkling water all about it and reciting texts (mantra) . The caste-men are feasted, and the women sing and dance. This is known as the Dashtaun. But if the child happens to be born in the asterism (nakshatra) of Mul the Dashtaun is performed on the nineteenth or twenty-first day. Leaves of twenty-one plants, such as the lime, mango, siras, jamun, pomegranate, nim, custard apple, etc., are collected. They also bring water from twenty-one wells, and little bits of lime stone (kankari) from twenty-one different villages. These things are all put into an earthen jar which is filled with water, and with this the mother is bathed. Grain and money are given to Brahmans, and the purification is concluded. If twins are born, the father and mother sit together inside the sacred square in the day of the Dashtaun, and the Brahman ties an amulet (rakhi) , made of thread, round the wrists of both to keep off ill-luck.

Adoption. On an auspicious day selected by a Pandit the father of the boy takes him over to the person adopting him. The adopter then dresses the boy in new clothes and gives him sweetmeats. A feast is then given to the clansmen. The child to be adopted must be under the age of ten.

Marriage ceremonies. The marriage ceremonies begin with the betrothal, which is finished by the boy eating some betel sent by the bride. It seems to be the custom in many cases to betrothe children in their infancy. Then comes the lagan, consisting of cash, clothes, a coconut and sweets sent by the father of the bride with a letter fixing the marriage day; inside this is placed somedub grass. The Brahman recites verses (mantra) as he gives these things to the boy seated in a square, while the women beat small drums and sing songs. This goes on the whole night (ratjaga) . Next follows the anointing (nbtana) of the bride and bridegroom. During this time the pair are not allowed to leave the house through fear of the Evil Eye and the attacks of malignant spirits. On the day fixed in the lagan , some mango and chhonkar leaves, some turmeric, and two pice are tied in bamboo, which is fixed in the court-yard by some relation of the female, or by the priest. He is given some money, cloth, or grain, which is called neg . Then a feast of food, cooked without butter, known as the marhwa or "pavilion," is given to the friends. The bridegroom is dressed in a coat (jama) of yellow-coloured cloth, and wears a head-dress (maur) made of palm leaves. When they reach the bride's village, they are received in a hut(janwansa), prepared for them. The bridegroom's father sends by a messenger (man), some sharbat to the bride, and she sends food in return: this is known as barauniya . After this the pair walk seven times round the sacred fire, and a fire sacrifice (homa) is offered. Then follows the "giving away" of the bride (kanyadan), and the pair are taken into an inner room, where they eat sweetmeats and rice together; this is known as sahkaur, or confarreatio. A shoe is tied up in cloth, and the women try to induce the boy to worship it as one of the local godlings. If he falls into the trap there is great merriment. The knot which has been tied in the clothes of the bride and bridegroom is then untied, his crown is taken off, and the marriage being over, he returns to the janwansa . Among poor people there is no lagan and no betrothal. Some money is paid to the bride's father, and the girl is taken to her husband's house and married there. No pavilion is erected, and the ceremony consists in making the girl and boy walk round the sacred fire, which is lighted in the court- yard. Girls that are stolen or seduced are usually married in this way, which is known as dolu.

8 Disposal of the dead. Rich people cremate the dead; poorer people bury, or condign the corpse to some river. The dead are buried face downwards to bar the return of the ghost; the feet face the north; some bury without a shroud. After cremation the ashes are usually taken to the Ganges, but some people leave them at the pyre. Fire is provided by a sweeper, who gets a small fee and the bamboos of the bier as his perquisite. After the cremation is over, some bathe on their way home, but this is not essential. After they bathe they collect a little kusa grass and throw it on the road by which the corpse was removed. Then they throw some pebbles in the direction of the pyre. The popular explanation of this practice is that, in order that "affection for the dead may come to an end" (moh chhut jawe) ; the real goal is to bar the return of the ghost. On the third or seventh day after the cremation, the son or person who has lighted the pyre shaves; then some large cakes (tikiya) are placed on a leaf of thedhak tree (butea frondosa ), and laid in a barley field for the ghost. The clansmen are feasted on the thirteenth day; thirteen pieces of betel-nut and thirteen pice are placed, one in each of thirteen pots, and this, with some grain, is divided among thirteen Brahmans. Then a fire-sacrifice is made. There is no regular sraddha; but they worship the souls of the dead collectively in the month of Kuar, and throw cakes to the crows, who represent the souls of the dead.

Ceremonial pollution. The pollution after a cremation or burial lasts for thirteen days; after child-birth for ten, and after menstruation for three days. The first two are removed by regular purification; the third by bathing and washing the hair of the head.

Religion. Devi is their special object of worship, but Mekhasur is the tribal godling. His name means "Ram demon," but they can give no account of him. His shrine is at Gangiri, in the Atraula Tahsil. He is worshipped on the eight and ninth of Baisakh, with sweets and an occasional goat. An takes the offering. Zahir Pir is the well known Guga. His day is the ninth of the dark half of Bhadon, and his offering is cloth, cloves, ghi and cash, which is taken by a Muhammadan Khadim. Miyan Sahib, the saint of Amroha, in the Moradabad District, is worshipped on Wednesday and Saturday with an offering of five pice, cloves, incense, and cakes, which are taken by the faqirs who are the attendants (mujawir) at his tomb. They also make a goat sacrifice known as kanduri, and consume the meat themselves. Jakhiya has a square platform at Karas, in the Iglas Tahsil, at the door of a sweeper's hut. His day is the sixth of the dark half of Magh, and his offering is two pice and some betel and sweets. These are taken by the sweeper officiant. They also sometimes sacrifice a pig, and the sweeper rubs a little of the blood on the children's foreheads in order to ward off evil spirits. Barai is a common village godling. He is represented by a few stones under a tree; his offering is a chhakka or six cowries, some betel and sweets, which are taken by a Brahman Panda. This godling is the special protector of women and children. His days are the seventh of the light half of Chait and the seventh of the light half of Kuar. Mata, the small-pox goddess, and Masani, the spirit of the burning ground, are represented by some stones placed on a platform under a tree. They are worshipped on the same days as Barai by women and children, and a Brahman takes the offerings. Chamar also has his abode under a tree, and is worshipped on the first Monday of every Hindu month. His offering is a wheat cake; and a ram is offered in serious cases, and consumed by the worshippers. When cattle are sick or lose their milk, a little unboiled milk is poured on the shrine. Burha Baba has his shrine at Chandausi, in the Khair Tahsil. His day is the third of the light half of Baisakh, and he is presented with cloth, betel, and sweets, which are taken by a Brahman. She Jamal, who appears to be one of the Panch Pir, has a shrine near the city of Aligarh. The offerings here are taken by a Muhammadan Khadim.

Patron Saint. Valmiki, the author of the , is a sort of patron saint of the tribe. According to the Aheriya legend Valmiki was a great hunter and robber. After he had taken many lives he

9 one day met the saint Narada Muni in the jungle. As he was aiming his arrow at the Rishi, Narada asked him if he knew what a sin he was committing. At last Narada convinced him of his wickedness and tried to teach him to say ! Rama ! but for a long time he could get no nearer it than Mara ! Mara ! (Kill ! Kill! ). Finally his devotion won him pardon, and he became learned enough to compose the Ramayana. Hence he is the saint of the Aheriyas.

House worship. Some make a house shrine dedicated to Mekhasur in a room set apart for this purpose. Conventionally married women are permitted to join in this worship, but unmarried girls and kardo wives are excluded. The sacrifices to these tribal godlings are done by some member of the family, not by a regular priest. In the case of Miyan Sahib and Jakhiya they sometimes release the offering after cutting its ear; in all other cases the animal is killed, and the flesh eaten by the worshippers. Most of their festivals are those common to all Hindus, which will be often mentioned. There is a curious survival of human sacrifice in the observance at the festival known as the Sakat Chauth, when they make the image of a human being of boiled rice, and at night cut it up and eat it. They venerate the pipal tree, and have a special worship of the aonla (phyllanthus emblica) on the eleventh of the light half of Phalgun. Women bow down before the tree and offer eight small cakes and water at noon. At the Nagpanchami women draw pictures of snakes on the walls of their houses and throw milk over them. Men take milk to the jungle and place it near the hole of a snake. Their favourite tattoo mark is Sita ki rasoi, or a representation of the cooking room of Sita, which is still shown on the Chitra Kuta hill. An oath is taken by swearing by the Ganges, and this is made more binding if the person taking it stands under a pipal tree or holds a leaf of it in his hand.

Social rules. They cannot eat or drink with any other castes; but they will eat kachchi cooked by Ahirs, Barhais, and Kahars; they eat pakki, cooked by a Nai, but he will not eat pakki cooked by them.

Industries. Their industries are what might have been expected from their partially nomad life. Like the Mushier of the Eastern Districts they make the leaf platters which Hindus use at meals (see Bari) . They also collect reeds for basket-making, etc., honey and gum from the dhak and acacia, which they sell in the towns. But the business which they chiefly carry on is burglary and highway robbery, and they are about the most active and determined criminals in the province. A band of Aheriyas, arrested for committing a highway robbery on the Grand Trunk Road, gave the following account of themselves to Colonel Williams1 :- "Our children require no teaching. At an early age they learn to steal. At eight or nine years of age they commence plundering from the fields, and as opportunities offer take brass vessels or anything they can pick up. So that by fifteen or sixteen they are quite expert, and fit to join in our expeditions. Gangs consist of from ten to twenty. Sometimes two gangs meet on the road and work together. I have known as many as forty in one highway robbery. Our leaders (Jamadar) are elected for their skill, intelligence, and daring. A good Jamadar has no Banyas to support his followers during the expedition, and families are never allowed to want while we are absent. We assemble in the village and start together, but disperse into groups of two or three to avoid observation, and generally state that we are Kachhis, Lodhas, or even Rajputs, going to Benares on pilgrimage. We do this as our tribe has a bad name. We also avoid putting up at sarais, and generally encamp 100 or 200 paces from the high road to watch travellers, carts, and vans passing. We all carry bludgeons, rarely weapons; one or two in the gang may have a sword. Our mode of proceeding in highway robberies is to look out for vans, carts, or camels laden with cloth: finding such as are likely to afford a booty, the members of the gang are warned to follow. The most expert proceed ahead to fix a spot for

1. Popers on Mina Dacoits and o†her Crininal Classes of India. I., sqq.

10 the attack. We have followed camels for three or four days before an opportunity offered. We commence by pelting the guards with pieces of limestone (kankar) or stones. This generally causes them to fly ; but, if not, we assemble and threaten them with our bludgeons. If they still resist, we give up the attack. We, however, rarely fail, and at the first shower of Kankar the guards all fly. If any of our gang are captured, no expense is spared to effect their release. We find the Police readily accessible. If separated, we recognise each other by the jackal's cry; but we have no peculiar terms or slang to distinguish each other. We read omens. Deer and Saras , cranes on the right, jackals, asses, and white birds on the left, while proceeding on an expedition, are highly propitious. Unfavourable omens cause the expedition to be deferred until they become otherwwise. On returning, if jackals, asses, and white birds appear on the left, or deer, saras, or owls in the right, we rejoice exceedingly, and fear no evil. Some of our Jamadars are so brave that they don't care for omens. We dispose of our booty through middlemen (arhatiya) , who sell it to the great Mahajans. Of course they know it is plundered property from the price they give; and how could we have silk and fine linen for sale if it weren't plundered? Our zamindars know we live by plunder, and take a fourth of the spoil. Sometimes they take such clothes as suit them. On returning from a highway robbery we use great caution, travelling all night. During the day the plunder is concealed in dry wells; we disperse and hide in the fields. Two or three of the sharpest of the gang go to the nearest village for food, generally prepared food. We soon become acquainted with all the sharp men on the road. A lone rogue readily finds a companion, and we thus get information of parties travelling and suitable booty. Though we pilfer and thieve wherever we can, we prefer highway robbery, as it is more profitable, and if the booty is cloth, easily disposed of. Always thieves by profession, we did not take to highway robbery till the great famine of 1833. Gulba and Suktua, Baheliyas, first opened the way for us, and taught us this easy mode of living. These two are famed men, and resided near Mirzapur, in Pargana Jalesar (now in the Etah District). The Baheliyas and Aheriyas of Mirzapur soon took a leading part, and were highly distinguished. They are noted among us as expert thieves and highway robbers. " Since this was written, the Aheriyas have made incursions as far as the Panjab, Central India, Begal, and Bombay. The Etah branch of the tribe is under the provisions of the Criminal Tribes Act. Curiously enough, they escaped record at the last Census.

Ahír.: -An important and widely-distributed caste of herdsmen and agriculturists, found in large numbers throughout the Province1 . According to the Brâhmanical tradition, as given by Manu, they are descended by a Brâhman from a woman of the Ambastha, or tribe of physicians. "In the Brahma Purâna it is said that they are descended from a Kshatriya father and a woman of the Vaisya caste; but the question of the descent of the various tribes remains unresolved, as the sacred books, as in many other matters, differ very much from each other, and none are to be implicitly trusted. This pastoral tribe of the Yâdubansi stock was formerly of much greater consideration in India than it is at present. In the Râmâyana and Mahâbhârata the Abhíras in the west are spoken of; and the Purânik Geography calls the country on the western coast of India, from the Tâpti to Devagarh, the Abhíra, or ":region of cowherds." When the Kattis arrived in Gujarât, in the eight century, they found the greater part of the country under occupation of the Ahírs. The name of Asirgarh, which Farishta and Khizâna Amíra say is derived from Asa, shows that the tribe was of some importance in the Dakkhin also, and there is no doubt that we have traces of the name in the Abiria of Ptolemy, which he locates above Patalene. Ahírs were also Râjas of Nepâl at the beginning of our era, and they are perhaps connected with the Pâla, or shepherd dynasty, which ruled in Bengal

1. CRK Page - 49 - 66 Based on enquiries at Mirzapur, and notes by Pandit Baldeo Prasâda, Deputy Collector, Cawnpur, and the Deputy Inspector of Schools, Agra.

11 from the 9th to the latter part of the 11th century, and which, if we may place trust in monumental inscriptions, were form some time the universal rulers of India,"1

Origin of the tribe. On the tribe to the east Mr. Risley writes2:- - "The traditions of the caste bear a highly imaginative character, and profess to trace their descent from the god Krishna, whose relations with the milk-maids of Brindâban play an important part in Hindu mythology. Krishna himself is supposed to have belonged to the tribe of Yâdavas, or descendants of Yadu, a nomadic race, who graze cattle and make butter, and are believed to have made an early settlement in the neighbourhood of Mathura. In memory of this tradition, one of their sub-castes, in the North-Western Provinces, is called Yadu, or Jadubansi, to the present day. Another story, quoted by Dr. Buchanan, makes out the Guâlas to be Vaisyas, who were degraded in consequence of having introduced castration among their herds, and members of the caste who are disposed to claim this distinguished ancestor may lay stress upon the fact that the tending of flocks and herds is mentioned by the authorities among the duties of the Vaisya order. Taken as a whole, the Guâla traditions can hardly be said to do more than render it probable that one of their earliest settlements was in the neighbourhood of Mathura, and that this part of the country was the centre of distribution of the caste. The large functional group known by the name Guâla seems to have been formed not merely by the dispersion along the Ganges valley of the semi-Aryan Guâlas of the North-Western Provinces, but also by the inclusion of some non-Aryan pastoral tribes. The great differences of characteristics and features which may be observed among the Guâlas seem to bear out this view, and to show that whatever may have been the original constituents of the caste, it is now comprised of several heterogeneous elements. Thus, even in a district so far from the original home of the caste as Sinhbhîm, we find Colonel Dalton remarking that the features of the Mathurâbâsi Guâlas are high, sharp and delicate, and that they are of a light brown complexion. Those of the Magadha sub-caste, on the other hand, are undefined and coarse. They are dark-complexioned, and have large hands and feet. Seeing the latter standing in a group with some Sinhbhîm Kols, there is no distinguishing one from the other. There has doubtless been much intermingling of blood. These remarks illustrate both of the processes to which the growth of the caste is due. They show how representatives of the original tribe have spread to districts very remote from their original centre, and how at the same time people of alien races who followed pastoral occupations have become attached to the caste, and are recognized by a sort of fiction as having belonged to it all along."

Another account represents them to be the descendants of the Abars, one of the Scything tribes who in the second or first century before Christ entered India from the northwest, or, and this is perhaps more probable, they are regarded as an old Indian or half-Indian race who were driven south before the Seythian invasion. That they were very early settlers in these Provinces and the neighbourhood is certain. The Nepâl legend3 states that the Kirâtas obtained possession of the valley after expelling the Ahírs. In the Hindu drama of the Toy- Cart,4 the successful usurper who overthrows Pâlaka, King of Ujjain, is Aryaka, of the cowherd caste; and similarly in the Buddhist chronicles Chandragupta is described as a cowherd of princely race. In Oudh they appear to have been early inhabitants, probably aboriginal, before the Râjput invasion. They are also said to be closely connected with the Bhars, and they attend in great numbers the fair at Dalmua in the Râe Bareli District. The celebration is held in honor of the Bhar hero Dal, who, in connection with that tribe has been

1. Sir H. M. Elliot, Supplementary glossary, s.v. 2. Tribes and Castes, I, 282. 3. Atkinson, Himalayan Gazetteer, II., 364. 4. Whoeler, History of India, Vol. III., 283, sqq.

12 shown to be mythical.1 General Cunningham2 assumes from the reference to them in Manu that they must certainly have been in India before the time of Alexander. As they are very numerous in the eastern districts of Mirzapur, Benares, and Shâhâbâd, he also assumes that unlike the Jâts and Gîjars they cannot possibly be identified with the Indo-scythians, whose dominions did not extend beyond the Upper Ganges. It in merely a hypothesis of Mr. Nesfield that the Kor or Kur sub-caste is derived from the Kols of the Vindhyan plateau.3

At the same time, as might have been expected, some of their traditions indicate a tendency to aspire to a higher origin than those which would associate them menial tribes such as the Bhars. Thus in Bulandshahr4 they claim to be Chauhân Râjputs. The Rohilkhand branch say they came from Hânsi Hissâr about 700 years ago. In Gorakhpur the Bargaha sub-caste provides wet-nurses in Rajput families5.. Others call themselves Jâts and relate their origins to Bharatpur, while they call themselves kshatriyas. There is again a very close connection between the Danwa sub-caste and the Bundela Râjputs for whom they provide wet-nurses.6 In Azamgarh7 they claim to have once been Kshatriyas who ruled the country; in Mainpuri8 They assert that they are descendants of Râna Katíra of Mewâr, who was driven from his own country by an invasion of the Muhammadans and took refuge with Digpâla, Râja of Mahâban. The Raja's daughter, Kânh Kunwar, married Râna Katíra's son, and by her became the ancestor of the Pâthak sub-caste. They are the highest clan in that part of the country, and there is a ridiculous legend in explanation of their name, that Râna Katíra was attacked by the King of Delhi, and that of the twelve gates (phâlak) of his capital only one held out to the end. When the enemy had retreated, the Râna, in order to commemorate the bravery shown by the guard of the twelfth gate, issued a decree that they and their descendants should be forever designated by the title of Pâthak of Phâtak.

Internal structure. At the last Census the Ahírs were recorded in eighteen main sub-castes Benbansi, the offspring of Raja Vena, the famous sinner of the mythology; Bhirgudi; Daub; Dhindhor; Gaddi; Gamel; Ghoreharha, "riders on horses;" Ghosi. or "Shouters;" Gîjar; Guâlbans; Jâdubans, "of the Yâdava race;" Kamariha; Khunkhuniya; Kur; Nandabans; "of the race of Nanda," the foster father of Krishna; Pâthak; Rajauriya, and Râwat. The internal classification of the Ahírs was very carefully worked out by Sir H. M. Elliot, who writes: "There appear to be three grand divisions among them, the Nandbans, the Jâdubans and the Guâlbans, which acknowledge no connection except that of being all Ahírs. Those of the Central Dub usually style themselves Nandbans; those to the west of the Jamming and the Upper Dub, Jâdubans; and those in the Lower Duâb and Benares, Guâlbans. The latter seem to have no sub- divisions or gotras. The principal gotras of the Nandbans are Samarphalla, Kishnaut, Bhagta, Bilchniya, Diswâr Nagauwa, Kanaudha, Dînr, Râwat, Tenguriya, Kur, Kamariya, Barausiya, Mujwâr, Dahima, Nirban, Kharkhari, Dirhor, Sitauliya, Jarwariya, Barothi, Gonda and Phâtak amounting in all to eighty-four. In Bighoto, besides many of these there are the Molak, Santoriya, Khosiya, Khalliya, Loniwâl, Gird, Bhamsara, Janjariya, Kankauriya and Niganiya, amounting in all to sixty-four. Many of the two last-named clans have been converted to the Muhammadan faith, and are known as Rângars. The two villages whence they derive their names are infamous in local legends for their turbulence and contumacy."

1. Elliot, Chronicles of Unâo, 20; Râe Barcli Settlement Report, 15. 2. Archaeological Reports, II., 81. 3. Brief View, 106. 4..Census Report, 1865, Appendix 21. 5. Buchanan, Eastern India, II., 467. 6. Gasetteer, North-Western Provinces, I., 160. 7. Settlement report, 33. 8. Growao, Mathura. 252.

13 Dihli ten paintís kos Kanhaur Nigâna; Apni boi âp khâen, hâkim ne na frm Dâna. "Thirty five kos from Delhi are Kanhaur and Nigâna. There the people eat what they sow, and do not give a grain to the Government."

Amongst these the Khoro rank first; but their claim to superiority is denied by the Aphiriya, who have certainly in modern times attained the highest distiction. They all, including the Khoro, intermarry on terms of equality, avoiding, like all other Ahírs, only the gotras of nearest relation. A man, for instance, cannot marry into his father's mother's paternal or maternal gotras; and no intermarriages may take place between distant clans. Thus those of the Duâb and Bighoto hold little or no personal intercourse, and each declares the other an inferior stock."

In Agra we find the Guâlbans, Nandbans, Kamariba and Ghusiya. The Nandbans call themselves the offspring of Nanda, the foster-father of Krishna, and the Guâlbans say that they are descended from the Gopis who danced with the god in the woods of Brindâban and Gokul. The Nandbans women wear bangles (chîri) of glass (Kâncha) and white clothes. Those of the Guâlbans wear lacquer bangles and coloured or embroidered dresses. All of them, at the time of marriage, except the Ghusiya, wear a nuptial crown (maur) made of paper. That of the Ghusiyas is made of the leaves of the palm (khajîr). The Kamariya sub- castes have a curious custom of hanging up cakes made of wheat-flour in the marriage pavilion while the ceremony is going on. All of them admit widow marriage, and these sub- castes are strictly endogamous. In Cawnpur the sub-castes are Nandbans, Jâdubans, Kishnaut, Kanaujiya, Ghosi, Guâlbans and Illahâbâsi, or residents of Allahâbâd. In the east of the province there is a different set of sub-castes. Thus in Mirzapur they are divided into the Churiya Guâl, who are so called because their women wear bangles (chîri); Mathiya, who wear brass rings (mâthi); Kishnaut; Maharwa, or Mahalwa; Dharora; Bhurtiya; and Bargâhi. The Kishnaut sub-caste allege that it was among them that the infant Krishna was nursed. The Maharwas or Mahalwas tell the following story to account for their name:- "Once upon a time there lived an Ahír at Agori, the famous fortress of the Chandel Râjputs, on the river Son. He was rich and devoted to gambling. The Râja of Agori also loved dice. One day they were playing, when the Ahír lost all his property, and staked his unborn child on the game. He lost this also. When the Ahír's wife brought forth a girl the Râja claimed her, and the Ahír was called Maharwa, because his daughter had to enter the harem (mâhal) of the Râja." Another version of the legend connects it with the celebrated Lorik cycle. The Ahír maiden is said to have been saved by the hero, and took the name of Maharwa because she was saved from the harem.

Another legend tells the origin of the Bhurtiyas in this way:- "Once upon a time Sri Krishna blew his flute in the forest and all the girls of Brindâban rushed to meet him. They were so excited at the prospect of meeting him that they did not wait to adjust their dress or jewelry. One of them appeared with brass rings (mâthi) on one wrist and lacquer bangles (chîri) on the other; so she was called by way of joke Bhurtiya or 'carelesss,' and the name has clung to her descendants ever since." In memory of this the women of this sub-caste wear both kinds of ornaments.

Bargâhi is said in Persian to mean "one who attends a royal court," and the name is derived from the fact that the women of this sub-caste used to serve as wet-nurses in the families of noblemen. Among these the Churiya and Maharwa intermarry; all the others are endogamous.

The detailed Census returns enumerate no less than 1,767 varieties of Ahírs. Of these, those most largely represented are in Bulandshahr, the Bhatti, Nirban and Ahar; in Aligarh, the Chakiya, Garoriya; in Mainpuri, the Girdharpuriya and Tulasi; in Etah, the Barwa, Bharosiya, Deswâr, Dholri, Kanchhariya, and Siyaré; in Bareilly, the Chaunsathiya or "sixty- fours;" in Morâdâbâd, the Deswâr; in Shâhjahânpur, the Bâchhar, which is the name of a

14 well-known Râjput sept, Bakaiya, Birhariya, Chanwar, Darswâr Dohar, Kharé, Katha, Katheriya, Manhpachchar, Râna, Rohendi and Sisariya; in Cawnpur, the Darswâr and Sakarwâr, the latter of which is the title of a Râjput sect; in Fatehpur, the Raghubansi; in Bânda, the Bharauniya; in Hamírpur, the Rautela; in Jhânsi, the Gondiya, Mewâr and Rautela; in Mirzapur, the Kishnaut; in Ballia, the Kanaujiya, Kishnaut, Majraut; in Gorakhpur, the Bargâh, Kanaujiya, Kishnaut, and Majnîn, in Basti, the Kanaujiya; in Lucknow, the Raghubansi; in Unâo, the Gel, Gokuliya, and Guâlbans; in Sítapur, the Rajbansi; in Hardoi, the Kauriya; in Sultânpur, the Dhuriya; in Partâbgarh, the Sohar; in Bârabanki, the Bâchhar, Dharbansi, Muriyâna and Râjbansi.

The Lorik legend. No account of the Ahírs would be complete without some reference to the famous tribal legend of Lorik, which is most popular among them and is sung at all their ceremonies. There are various renditions of it, and it is most voluminous and embodies a number of different episodes. In what is perhaps the most common form of the legend, Siudhar, an Ahír of the East country, marries Chandain, and is cursed with the loss of all passion by Parvati. His wife forms an attachment for a neighbour named Lorik and elopes with him. The husband pursues, fails to induce her to return, and fights Lorik, by whom he is defeated. The pair then go away and finally meet Mahâpatiya, a Dus¡dh, the chief of the gamblers. He and Lorik play till the latter loses everything, including his mistress. She urges that her jewels did not form part of the stake, and induces them to try another throw of the dice. She stands opposite Mahâpatiya and distracts his attention by exposing her person to him. Finally Lorik wins everything back. The girl then tells Lorik how she had been insulted by the low-caste man, who saw her exposed, and Lorik with his double-edged sword cuts off the gambler's head The head and the body are turned into stone, and are to be seen to this day. Lorik and Chandain then continued their wanderings, and he attacks and defeats the King of Hardui near Mongir. The Râja is afterwards assisted by the King of Challenge, defeats Lorik, and imprisons him in a dungeon, whence he is released by the intercession of the goddess Durga. He then recovers the kingdom and his mistress Chandain, and after some years of happiness returns to his native land.

Meanwhile the brother of Lorik, Semru, had been attacked and killed by the Kols and all his cattle plundered. Lorik takes a bloody revenge from the enemy. Before he left home with Chandain, Lorik had been betrothed to an Ahír girl named Satmanain, who by this time had become a handsome woman, who lived in the hope that Lorik would some day return and claim her. Lorik was anxious to test her fidelity, and when he came near home, concealed his identity. When she and the other woman came to sell milk in his camp he laid down a loin cloth at the entrance. All the other women stepped over it, but such was the delicacy of Satmanain that she refused. Lorik was pleased, and, without her knowledge, filled her basket with jewels, and covered them over with rice. When she returned, her sister found the jewels, and taxed her with receiving them as the price of her honour. She indignantly denied the accusation, and the son of Semru, the dead brother of Lorik, set out to avenge the insult to his aunt. Finally, the matter was cleared up, and Lorik reigned for many years in happiness with his wives Chandain and Satmanain. But the god Indra determined to destroy his virtue, and he induced Durga to take the form of his mistress and tempt him. When he gave way to the temptation and touched her she struck him so that his face turned completely round. Overcome by grief and shame he went to Kâsi (Benares), and there they were all turned into stone, and sleep the sleep of magic at the Manikarníka Ghât.1

Marriage rules. As has been already said, the sub-castes are endogamous. To the west the gotra system is in full force and marriage is barred in the four gotras of father, mother, grand-father, and grand-mother. To the east few of the rural Ahírs seem to know anything about their gotras.

1. Introduction to the Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India, 290, sqq.

15 They will not marry in a family to which a sister has been given in marriage until three generations have passed. In Behâr, according to Mr. Risley, "the Brâhmanical gotras are unknown, and marriage among the Guâlas is regulated by a very large number of exogamous groups (mîl) of the territorial type. In some places where the existing mîls have been found inconveniently large, and marriage has been rendered unduly difficult, certain mîls have broken up into purukhs, or sub-sections. Where this has taken place a man may marry within the mîl, but not within the purukh, the smaller and more convenient group." He goes on to explain at length how this rule of exogamy works in practice, and how it is necessary to supplement it by the standard formula of exogamy common to many of the lower tribes. Of this elaborate system no trace has been found as yet among the western Ahírs, but it is quite possible that further local enquiry may supply examples of this, or some analogous rule of exogamy prevailing in these Provinces.

Tribal council. The internal affairs of the caste are managed by a pnuchâyal or tribal council. In Mirzapur it is presided over by a permanent chairman (chaudhari) and, as a rule, meets only on the occasion of weddings and funeral ceremonies, when current business in brought before it. The cases heard are usually connected with immorality, eating with a prohibited caste, and family disputes about inheritance and property. The accused person during the hearing of the case in not allowed to sit on the tribal mat with his brethren. The president uses the members only as assessors, and after an enquiry announces the decision. A person found guilty of immorality is fined eight rupees, and has to supply two feasts for the brethren. Out of the fine the chairman receives one rupee, and the rest is spent in purchasing vessels and other furniture for use at the meetings. If a man is convicted of a liason with a woman of the tribe, he is fined only one rupee and has to give two dinners to the brotherhood. Any one who disobeys the orders of the chairman is beaten with shoes in the presence of the council and is excluded from all caste privileges until he submits. Instances of the contempt of the orders the council are seldom heard of.

Marriage. To the west of the Province polygamy is allowed, but it is discouraged. In Mirzapur it is said to be prohibited without the express sanction of the council, which is given only in exceptional cases, such as the hopeless illness or barrenness of the first wife, and if a man ventures to take a second wife without sanction, he is very severely dealt with. There seems to be very little doubt that along the banks of the Jumna polyandry prevails in the fraternal form. That it does exist among some of these tribes is shown by the common saying, Do khasam ki joru chausar ki got ("The wife of two husbands is no better than a draught in backgammon"). Among the Ahírs of this part of the country it has no doubt originated from the custom of one member of the family remaining away for long periods of time to graze cattle. It is very difficult to obtain information about it, as wherever it exists, the custom is strongly reprobated. The eastern Ahírs agree in denying its existence, and express the utmost horror at the very idea of such a family arrangement.

Marriage, except among the very poorest members of the caste, takes place in infancy. In the Mirzapur District , for example, the match is generally arranged by the brother-in law of the boy's father or by the brother-in-law of the latter. In all cases the assent of the parents on both sides is essential. The father of the boy pays as the bride-price two rupees in cash, two garments, and five sers of treacle and salt. No physical defect, which was disclosed at the time of the betrothal, is sufficient to invalidate the marriage. A husband may put away his wife for habitual infidelity; but a single lapse from virtue, provided the paramour be a member of the caste, is not seriously regarded. Widow marriage is permitted as well as the levirate; but if the widow does not take up with the younger brother of her late husband, she usually marries a widower. Children of virgin brides and re-married widows rank equally

16 for purposes of inheritance; but it has been judicially decided1 that the offspring of an adulterous connection is incapable of inheriting from his father. Widow marriages have no regular ceremonial; the bridegroom merely goes to the woman's guardian on a day fixed by the village pandit, offering two rupees and a cloth. He pays the bride price and the woman is dressed in the cloth. He eats that night with her family, and next morning takes his wife home, and she is recognized as duly married woman after the brotherhood has been feasted. If she marries outside the family of her late husband, his estate is bequeathed to his sons by her first marriage; if there be no sons, then to the brothers of her late husband. If she marries her husband's younger brother, he acts as guardian of his nephews and conveys to them the property of their father when they arrive at the age of discretion. There is no trace of the fiction of attributing the children of the second husband to the first.

Adoption. A man may adopt, if his only son is disqualified from succession by being permanently excluded from caste, or if he has lost his faith (dharm). Adoption while a son is alive is forbidden. A widower may adopt, but it is forbidden in the case of a woman, a bachelor, or a man who is blind, impotent, or crippled. A widow can adopt only with the express permission of her late husband, and not if her husband has adopted a son during his lifetime. A man may adopt his nephew at any age; but in the case of an outsider the child adopted must not be more than twelve years of age. The boy adopted must, in any case, be of the same gotra as his adoptive father. The adoption of a sister's son is prohibited; as a rule a man adopts the son of his brother or daughter. Adoption is performed in the presence of and with the advice and approval of the assembled brethren. The man and his wife take their seats in the assembly, and the wife takes the boy into her lap and acknowledges him as her own child. A distribution of food or sweetmeats follows and concludes the ceremony. There is no custom analogous to Beena marriage where the bridegroom is taken into the household of his father-in-law and serves for his bride. They follow, as a rule, the Hindu law of succession.

Domestic ceremonies. There are no observances during pregnancy. When the child is born the Chamârin midwife is called in; she cuts the umbilical cord and buries it on the spot where the birth occurred, lighting a fire and fixing up a piece of iron- a guard against evil spirits. The mother gets no food that day, and next morning she is given a mixture of ginger, turmeric and treacle. The Chamârin attends for six days, and after bathing the mother and child she is dismissed with a present of two-and -a-half sers of grain and two annas in cash. Then the barber's wife attends, who cuts the nails of the mother and child and dyes the soles of their feet with lac. The purification of the confinement room is done by the sister or the father of the child, who gets a present for the service. The father does not cohabit with his wife for two months after her delivery.

Marriage ceremonies. The following describes a marriage as carried out in the Mirzapur District. When the match is settled, the father of the boy pays a visit to the girl's father to make the final preparations. Next follows the betrothal (sa'at), which is carried out on a day fixed by the Pandit, who gets a fee of two annas. The father of the boy goes to the house of the bride to pay the bride price already described, eats there, and returns the next morning. Next follows the matmangar, or collection of the sacred earth, which is done exactly as in the case of the Dravidian , in the article on which the ritual is described. When the earth is brought back to the house it is placed under the sacred water vessel (kalsa) near the pole of siddh wood fixed up in the centre of the marriage shed. This vessel is decorated with lumps of cowdung stuck in a line all round it, and over these grains of barley are sprinkled. The mouth is filled with mango leaves, and over them is placed an earthen saucer (kosa) full of the sânwân millet or barley.

1. Daltp versus Ganpat Indian Law reports Allâhâbâd, VIII., 387.

17 When this is completed all the women present are given some parched grain, which they receive in the part of their cloth covering the breast.

When this is over the anointing (telhardi) of the bride and bridegroom commences. This goes on every evening until the day before the wedding (Bhatwân). The next morning the boy is bathed by the barber, and the water is carefully kept for use in bathing the bride. The boy is dressed in a yellow loin cloth and a red turban and coat. His mother takes him into her lap and five unmarried boys make him chew some caked folded up in mango leaves. Then he spits on the palm of his mother's hand and she licks it up. The father and mother, with their hands covered with a cloth so that no one may see them, grind some urad . This is made into lumps and offered to the sainted dead of the household with the prayer "Come and help us to bring the marriage to a successful issue!" Then the boy gets into the litter, while his mother waves a pestle over his head to drive off evil spirits. When the litter is raised the mother is obliged to creep beneath it, and as she attempts to do so the Kahârs put it down, and will not raise it until they receive a present. This present is called pilâi or "a drink." It is customary with them that the procession should reach the house of the bride after nightfall, a survival of marriage by capture. They then go to the house of the headman of the village and present him with five chhatânks of betel-nut and curd-- a possible sign of the commutation of the jus prima noctis, but more probably one of the ordinary dues taken by the village landlord at marriages. They stay some time at his door and dance and sing their own tribal song, the birha. Then they go to the reception place (janwânsa), which is usually arranged under a tree near the village. Then the bride's barber appears and washes the feet of the party, and a relative of the bride comes and feeds five boys of the bridegroom's gotra with curds and treacle. After this the boy's father sends the bride the water in which the bridegroom had been washed; in this she gets the marriage bath. This being done, the bridegroom goes to the house of the bride, and is received at the door by the mother of the bride, who waves over his head a piece of dough, on which is laid a silver coin and a lighted lamp. This is the parachhan ceremony and is intended to scare away the evil spirits, which are most dreaded at any major passage of life, such as marriage. Then the barber's wife brings out the bride, who is seated in the lap of her father. The pair worship gauri and Ganesa, of whom flour images are made. The father then gives away his daughter in the regular kangâdân form, holding a bunch of kusa grass, water, and rice, in his right hand. Then the bridegroom first performs the emblematical marriage with the siddh tree forming the central pole of the marriage shed, and he then marks the parting of the bride's hair. The pair must make five circuits round the siddh tree, and the ceremony ends with a salute to the officiating Brâhman.

Next the bridegroom walks with the bride into the retiring room (kohabar), an obvious survival of the custom still prevailing among some of the Dravidian tribes, where consummation follows immediately after the marriage ceremony. The sister-in-law of the bride attempts to obstruct his passage, and he is obliged to carry in the bride by force. The walls of the retiring room are decorated with rude drawings in red, of elephants and horses. Over these the bridegroom is made to pour a little butter. Then the women crack jokes with the boy. Pointing to a rice pestle they say "That is your father! salute him!" and taking up a lamp they say. "That is your mother! salute her!" On this he breaks the lamp with the pestle. Then the knot joining the clothes of the newlyweds is opened and the boy returns to his own party.

Next morning the bridegroom is brought with two or three other boys to go through the confarreatio or khichari rite. When he is asked to eat in the house of the bride he holds out for some time, and will not touch the food until he gets a present from his father-in-law; then his party are feasted. Next morning the boy goes again into the marriage shed, and his mother-in-law, as before, waves a pestle over his head and gives him a present. This done, his father shakes one of the poles of the shed and receives a present for so doing, which is known as mânro hiiâi. On this, the relations on both sides embrace, and the wedding party starts for home. If the bride is nubile she accompanies her husband; if not, in the first, third,

18 or fifth year there is the gauna, when she is brought to the house of her husband. After the party returns, a burnt offering (hom) is made in honour of the village godlings (dih), and the barber's wife takes the marriage jar (kalsa) to a neighbouring stream, where she washes it, and then, filling it with water, pours the contents over the head of the bridegroom's mother, and asks her if she feels refreshed, meaning thereby if she is satisfied with the marriage of her son. Of course she says that she is satisfied, and blesses him and his wife.

Death ceremonies. The married dead are cremated; children and those who die of epidemic disease are buried. The cremation is carried out in the orthodox way. After it is over the chief mourner plants by the side of a river or reservoir a bunch of the jurai grass, as an abode for the soul until the funeral rites are completed. He cooks for himself, and daily places on a dung-hill a leaf platter (dauna) full of food for the ghost of the dead man. On the tenth day he throws into a reservoir ten balls of rice boiled in milk (khír) in honour of the dead. During this the Brâhman repeats texts; and the relatives, after shaving, come home and offer a burnt offering. Clothes, vessels, a cow, and other articles are given to a Mahâ Brâhman in the belief that they will pass for the use of the dead man in the next world.

Religion. Ahírs are all Hindus, but are seldom initiated into any of the regular sects. To the east of the Province they worship, by preference, Mahâdeva. They also worship the Pânchonpír and Birtiya. The latter, they say, was one of their forefathers, who died in a fight at Delhi. He is worshipped in the month of Sâwan, or at the Holi festival, with a burnt offering, which is made either in the courtyard of the house where the churn is kept, or in the cow-house. They also pour spirits on the ground in his honour. They worship the Pânchonpír during the Naurâtri, or first nine days of Chaitra. Birtiya is regarded as the special guardian of cattle. The only one of the standard pantheon to whom they offer regular sacrifices is the Vindhyabâsini Devi, of Vindhyâchal, to whom they occasionally sacrifice a goat. In other parts of the Province they seem, as a rule, to worship Cevi. They are served by Brâhmans of all the ordinary priestly classes.

Worship of Kâsinâth. To the east of the province the worship of Kâsinâth is very popular. In most of their villages there is a man who is supposed to be possessed by this deity, who is generally a young, strong man, who lets his hair grow. Once or twice a year Kâsinâth "comes to his head," as the phrase is. Then he begins to move his hands and shakes his head, and in this state utters prophecies of the prospects of the crops and other matters affecting the village. Then they all assemble in some open ground, outside the village, and arrange for the worship of the godling. They light several fires in a row, and on each a pot of milk is set to boil. Opposite these a pile of parched barley (bahuri) is collected. As soon as the milk begins to boil over, the man possessed of the spirit of Kâsinâth, rushes up and pours the contents of all the pots in succession over his shoulders. It is said that he is never scalded. The rite concludes with the distribution of the barley among the worshippers.

Worship of Birnâth. In parts of the Mirzapur District, south of the River Son, you may occasionally notice on the side of the road a little platform (chaura), with one, three or five rude wooden images, about three feet high, with a representation of a human face and head at the top. These fetish posts are quite black with a continual application of oil or ghi. This is the shrine of Bírnâth, the Ahír cattle godling. He was an Ahír, who was allegedly killed by a tiger, and he has now become a godling, and is worshipped by the Ahírs of the jungle as the protector of cattle. People make occasional vows to him in seasons of sickness or distress, but his special function is to keep the cattle safe from beasts of prey. He has no special feast day, but is presented with occasional offerings of rice, milk, and cakes. The worshipper first bathes; then plasters the platform of the godling, and deposits his offering upon it and says "Bírnâth Bâba keep our

19 cattle safe, and you will get more!" This worship is always done in the morning, and particularly when the cattle are sent into the jungle in the hot weather, or when cattle disease is prevalent. The curious point about the worship is that it is part of the faith of the aboriginal tribes, with whom the Ahírs cannot be very closely connected. Thus Mr. S. Hislop1 writes:- "In the south of the Bhandâra District the traveller frequently meets with squared pieces of wood, each with a rude figure carved in front, set up somewhat close to each other. These represent Bangarâma, Bangara Bai, or Devi, who is said to have one sister and five brothers, the sister being styled Danteswari ("she with the teeth"), a name of Kâli and four out of the five brothers being known by the names of Ghantarâma, Champarâma, Nâikrâma and Potlinga. These are all deemed to possess the power of sending disease and death upon men, and under these or different names seem to be generally feared in the regional caste of the city of Nâgpur. I find the name of Bangara to occur among the Kols of Chaibasa, where he is regarded as the god of fever, and is associated with Gohem, Chondu, Negra and Dechali, who are considered respectively the gods of cholera, the itch, indigestion, and death. Bhím Sen is generally worshipped under the form of two pieces of wood, standing from three to four feet in length above the ground, like those set up in connection with Bangarâma's worship." There can be little doubt that from this form of worship the cult of Bírnâth has been developed. The quintet of the brethren may be a throwback to the Pândava legend, on which much of the Pânchonpír cycle is possibly based.

Festivals. The Ahírs observe the usual Hindu festivals, particularly the Holi, which is the occasion for much drinking and rude horse play. They have a special observance, which takes place a few days after the Diwâli, which is known as the Dâng or "club" Diwâli, or the Gobardhana, when the images of the cattle of Krishna are worshipped, and the herdsmen go round singing, playing, and dancing, and collect money from the owners of the cattle they tend. Connected with this is the Sohrâi, which takes place on the fifteenth of Kârttik, when a cow is made to run and dance. Sometimes a young pig is made to squeak near her calf, and the mother, followed by the whole herd, pursues it and gores it to death. Sometimes, according to Mr. Christian, 2 this cruel sport is humanely varied by dragging a large gourd or a black blanket, at which the cows run to butt. Hence the proverb Bîrh gâé sohrâi, ke sâdh -"An old cow, and longing to take part in the Sohrâi."

Social position and occupation. In Cawnpur they will eat kachchi and pakki with all Brâhmans; pakki with Râjputs and Banyas, and drink and smoke with none but members of their own caste. In Mirzapur they drink water from the hands of Brâhmans, Kshatriyas, and all Vaisyas, except Kalwârs. They will eat Kachchi cooked by a Brâhman, but only if they are well acquainted with him. In Behâr, according to Mr. Risley, they rank with Kurmis and similar castes, from whose hands a Brâhman can drink water. Towards Delhi, Sir H. M. Elliot states that they eat, drink, and smoke not only with Jâts and Gîjars, but also occasionally with Râjputs. In other places Râjputs would indignantly repudiate all connection with Ahírs. In rural beliefs the Ahír is a boor, faithless, greedy, and quarrelsome. Like Gadariyas and Gîjars, they are naturally dwellers in the jungle- Ahir, Gadariya, Gîjar, ye tínon châhen îjar. The other local proverbs are not much more complimentary to them-Ahír se jab gun niklé, jab bâlu se ghi-: "You can sooner get butter from sand than good from an Ahír." Ahír dekh Godariya mastâna : "If the Gadariya gets drunk he learns of it from the Ahír." Ahír ka pet gahir , Brâhman ka pet madar: "The Ahír's belly is deep, but the Brahman's a bottomless pit." Ahír ka kya jnjmân, aur lapsi ka kya pakwan : "Sooner consider gruel a delicacy as be an Ahír's client ." His primary business is tending cattle, making ghi, and selling milk. He

1. Papers 15, s.q. 2. Proverbs , 52.

20 is not above the suspicion of adulterating his ghi with substances which are an abomination to orthodox Hindus or Muslims. As a cultivator he is not ranked highly, as he depends more on his cattle than on his field, and in some places he is not free from the suspicion of cattle stealing.

Ahiwasi.: -In the past they transported goods along the Narmada valley. Nowadays they move from village to village as small retailers.

Alakhgir.: -Alakhnâmi, Alakhiya.1- A Saiva sect said to have been founded by a Chamâr, named Lâlgir. They are so called because when they beg they cry Alakh ! Alakh ! "the invisible God" (Sans. Alakshya ). They wear usually a blanket cloak hanging down to their heels, and a high conical cap. They come to a man's door and raise their characteristic cry. If their request is granted, they will accept alms; otherwise they go away at once. They are considered a quiet and harmless begging class. They are generally classed among Jogis. The rule of their founder was that charity was to be practised, the taking of life and use of meat as food forbidden, and asceticism eneouraged. The sole rewards he held out to his followers in this life were the attainment of purity, untroubled contemplation, and serenity. There is no future state: heaven and hell (that is, happiness and misery) are here within. All perishes with the body, which is finally dissolved into the elements, and man cannot gain immortality.

Andis.: -They live in Tamilnadu. They are religious begging communities. They usually sing religious songs and hymns.

Asurí.: -Asurí is the dialect spoken by the Asurs, a non-Aryan tribe of Chota Nagpur.2 As far as can be judged from their language, the Asurs are closely related to the Korwâs. Colonel Dalton connects the Asurs with the Asuras who, according to Mu∑πâ tradition, were destroyed by Sin••bon••ga, and Mr. Risley is inclined to think that they are the remnant of a race of earlier settlers who were driven out by the Mu∑πâs. The Rev. F. Hahn mentions that the Asurí dialect contains some Dravidian words which have possibly been borrowed from Kurukh, as well as some words which he cannot identify in related languages. This latter fact would point to the same conclusion as that arrived at by Messrs. Dalton and Risley. It will be shown, however, that at least some of the words which Mr. Hahn thinks are neither Kurukh nor Mu∑πâ are used in other related forms of speech. Moreover, Asurí grammar so closely resembles Santâlí and Mu∑πârí that there is no philological reason for separating the Asurs from other Mu∑πâ tribes. They believe in a god whom they apparently identify with Sin••bon••ga, the sun, and their religion is, so far as we know, of the common Mu∑πâ character. We are not in this place concerned with their origin. So far as philology is concerned, they are a Mu∑πâ tribe, pure and simple.

According to Mr. Hahn, "The tribe is divided into several sections, viz .,- the Agóriâ, the Brijiâ or Binjhiâ, the Lóharâ, the Kól, and the Pahâ®iâ-Asurs. These sub-tribes are again divided into totemistic sections, which are similar in name to those found among other Aborigines in Chota Nagpur. The chief occupation of the Asurs is smelting iron, and, in the case of the Lóharâ Asurs, the making of rude iron utensils and agricultural implements; they also till the jungle in a most primitive manner."

1 Crooke Page No 78-79 2 Linguistic Survey of India.

21 Number Of Speakers. According to information collected for the purposes of this Survey, Asurí was spoken in the following districts :-

Ranchi 8,025 Jashpur State 1,000 ------Total 9,025

The so-called Agóriâ or Agariâ have only been returned from Ranchi. No information has been available as to the number of speakers. The Census figures for the tribe are 1,616. The so-called Brijiâ dialect, which is also called Kórântí, is the dialect of 3,000 individuals in Palamau. The Brijiâs in Ranchi were included under the head of Agariâ. By adding these figures we arrive at the following total for Asurí:-

Asurí proper 9,025 Agóriâ 1,616 Brijiâ 3,000 ------Total 13,641

To this total should be added 6,000 speakers in the Raigarh State, 4,000 of whom were reported to speak Mâñjhí, while 2,000 were entered under the heading of Mu∑πârí. At the last Census of 1901, Mâñjhí and Brijiâ were reported instead. Mâñjhí is a common title among the Asurs, and the examples forwarded from Raigarh in the so-called Mu∑πârí and in the so- called Mâñjhí both represent a form of speech which is apparently most closely related to Asurí. See below. The following are then the revised figures:-

Asurí and sub-dialects 13,641 So-called Mâñjhí 4,000 So-called Mu∑πârí 2,000 ------Total 19,641

This total is considerably above the mark. The corresponding figures at the last Census of 1901 were as follows:-

Asurí- Jalpaiguri 553 Ranchi 2,482 Palamau 44 Chota Nagpur Tributary States 47 3,126 So-called Mâñjhí of Raigarh 22 Agariâ- Jalpaiguri 1 Ranchi 119 Palamau 161 Chota Nagpur Tributary States 42 323 Rrijiâ- Darjeeling 8 Ranchi 13 Palamau 1,052

22 Chota Nagpur Tributary States 304 Raigarh 20 Wardha 1 Sambalpur 25 1,423 ------Total 4,894

It will be seen that these forms of speech are rapidly dying out, and their total disappearance can only be a question of time.

Ateri.: -In Maharashtra they sell incense, scent, tooth powder and a pink powder. They are called Gandhi in Gujarat and Bukekari in Maharashtra.

Ayawar.: -See the Satanis.

Badhak.: -Badhik. 1-(Sans. Fadhaka, a murderer.) -A vagrant criminal tribe of whom the last census shows only a small number in Mathura and Pilibhít. But there can be little doubt that these returns are incorrect, or the present Badhiks have been classed in some other way. They appear to be closely allied to the Bâwariyas and Baheliyas. According to the earliest account of them by Mr. Shakespeare2 they were originally outcastes of Musalmân as well as Hindu, tribes, the majority, however, being Râjputs.

The Gorakhpur Colony. Of the Gorakhpur colony Mr. D.T. Roberts writes in a note prepared for the recent Police Commission:- "The notorious dacoits known as Badhiks were suppressed like the Thags by the capture and imprisonment of all their leaders. This done, a colony of them was settled on wasteland belonging to Government in the Gorakhpur District in 1844. They evidenced for a long time the greatest repugnance to honest work, and even now a good portion of the lands held by them are sublet at higher rates to other castes. The large proportion of their holdings are let at very low rates, but some land is taken up by them at the current rates of the neighbourhood. The net profits of the estate on which they are located are paid over to the family of the original dacoit leader. Surveillance, which at one time may have been very strict, has been much relaxed of late years, but there is a constable or two posted over them; a register is kept, and they require permission from the magistrate before they can leave the District. Dacoity has long been given up by them, or rather was never resumed at the colony. In 1871 the Deputy Inspector-General of Police visited them, and found the colony in a very backward state. In consequence of his reports the District authorities began to take more interest in them, and they have been fairly well looked after since. The number then was 209, and the Deputy Inspector-General remarked: "There is little doubt the tribe carries on thieving but no cases for some time past have been brought against them." Twenty years later, it may be said, that they are not even suspected of thieving. Though not a very advanced or industrious community, they may now be cited as a case of successful repression and reformation. Their number has not increased since 1971, and was, in 1890, 203 in all. One of their chief offences in the Gorakhpur colony used to be the illicit manufacture of spirits.

1 CRK Page No 100-102 2. Asiatic Rescarches, XIII, 282.

23 Methods of Crime. One of their specialities used to be disguising themselves as Brâhmans and Bairâgis and associating with pilgrims returning from the Ganges, for whom they used to perform mock religious ceremonies, and then stupefy with datîra or thorn apple, and rob. 1 Their special deity is Kâli, to whom they offer goats as the Bâwariyas do. They eat game and vermin, such as foxes, jackals, and lizards. They believe that the use of jackal meat fortifies them against the inclemencies of winter 2 They were in the habit of making plundering expeditions, and before starting, shares in the expected booty were allotted, a special share being given to the widow and children of any person killed or dying during the expedition. A writer in the Asiatic Journal 3 states that after the sacrifice they used to pray, "If it be Thy will, O, God! and thine, O Kâli! to prosper our undertaking for the sake of the blind and the lame, the widow and the orphan, who depend on our exertions, vouchsafe, we pray thee, the cry of the female jackal on our right." One of the most famous exploits of Badhik dacoits was the murder of Mr. Ravenscroft, the Collector of Cawnpur, of which Colonel Sleeman gives an account4.

There can be very little doubt that the tribe is of mixed origin, and is on the same grade as the Kanjars, Sânsiyas, and similar vagrants. It constitutes, in fact, a sort of Cave of Adullam for the reception of vagrants and bad characters of different tribes.

Badhak.: -Bâgri, Baoria.5 -A famous tribe of dacoits who flourished up to about 1850, and extended their depredations over the whole of Northern and Central India. The Bâgris and Baorias or Bâwarias still exist and are well known to the police as inveterate criminals; but their operations are now confined to ordinary burglary, theft and cheating, and their more interesting profession of armed gang-robbery on a large scale is a thing of the past. The first part of this article is entirely compiled from the Report on their suppression drawn up by Colonel Sleeman, 6 who may be regarded as the virtual founder of the Thuggee and Dacoity Department. Some mention of the existing Bâgri and Baoria tribes is added at the end.

The Badhak dacoits. The origin of the Badhaks is obscure, but they seem to have belonged to Gujarât, as their peculiar dialect, still in use, is a form of Gujarâti. The most striking feature is the regular substitution of kh for s. They claimed to be Râjpîts and were divided into clans with the well-known Râjpît names of Solanki, Panwâr, Dhundhel, Chauhân, Râthor, Gahlot, Bhatti and Châran. Their ancestors were supposed to have fled from Chitor on one of the historical occasions on which it was assaulted and sacked. But as they spoke Gujarâti it seems more probable that they belonged to Gujarât, a fertile breeding-place of criminals, and they may have been descended from the alliances of Râjpîts with the primitive tribes of this locality, the Bhíls and Kolis. The existing Bâgris are of short stature, one writer stating that none of them exceed five feet two inches in height ; and this seems to indicate that they have little Râjpît blood. It may be surmised that the Badhaks rose into importance and found scope for their predatory instincts during the period of general disorder and absence of governing authority through which northern India passed after the decline of the Mughal Empire. They lived and robbed with the connivance or open support of the petty chiefs and landholders, to

1. Report, Inspector-General, Police, N.W. P., 1860, page 121, sqq. 2. People of India , III., 113. 3. 3rd D. I., 469, sqq : III., 186, sqq. 4. Journey through Oudh, I., 112. 5 RUS Page No 49-68 6. Report on the Badhak or Bâgri Dacoits and the Measures adopted by the Government of India for their Suppression, printed in 1849.

24 whom they gave a liberal share of their booty. The principal bands were located in the Oudh forests, but they belonged to the whole of northern India, including the Central Provinces. As Colonel Sleeman's report, though of much interest, is now practically unknown, I have thought it not out of place to compile an article by means of short extracts from his account of the tribe. In 1822 the operations of the Badhaks were being conducted on such a scale that an officer wrote: "No District between the Brahmaputra, the Nerbudda, the Satlej and the Himalayas is free from them; and within this vast field hardly any wealthy merchant or manufacturer could feel himself secure for a single night from the depredations of Badhak dacoits. They had successfully attacked so many of the treasuries of our native sub-Collectors that it was deemed necessary, all over the North-Western Provinces, to surround such buildings with extensive fortifications. In many cases they carried off our public treasure from strong parties of our regular troops and mounted police; and none seemed to know whence they came or whither fled with the booty acquired."

Instances of dacoities. Colonel Sleeman thus described a dacoity in the town of Narsinghpur when he was in charge of that District: "In February 1822, in the dusk of the evening, a party of about thirty persons, with nothing seemingly but walking-sticks in their hands, passed the barricade of guards on the bank of the rivulet which separates the cantonment from the town of Narsinghpur. On being challenged by the sentries they said they were cowherds and that their cattle were following close behind. They walked up the street; and coming opposite the houses of the most wealthy merchants, they set their torches in a blaze by blowing suddenly on pots filled with combustibles, stabbed everybody who ventured to move or make the slightest noise, plundered the houses, and in ten minutes were away with their booty, leaving about twelve persons dead and wounded on the ground. No trace of them was discovered." Another well-known exploit of the Badhaks was the attack on the palace of the ex-Peshwa, Bâji Rao, at Bithîr near Cawnpore. This was accomplished by a gang of about eighty men, who proceeded to the locality in the disguise of Ganges waterfarers. Having purchased a boat and a few muskets to intimidate the guards, they crossed the Ganges about six miles below Bithîr, and reached the place at ten o' clock at night; and after wounding eighteen persons who attempted resistance they possessed themselves of the property, chiefly gold, to the value of more than two and a half lakhs of rupees; and retiring without loss made their way in safety to their homes in the Oudh forests. The residence of this gang was known to a British police officer in the King of Oudh's service, Mr. Orr, and after a long delay on the part of the court an expedition was sent which arrested some of the Badhaks. But none of the recovered property reached the hands of Bâji Rao and the prisoners were soon afterwards released. Again in 1839, a gang of about fifty men under a well-known leader, Gajrâj, scaled the walls of Jhânsi and plundered the Surâfa or banker's quarter of the town for two hours, obtaining booty to the value of Rs. 40,000, which they carried off without the loss of a man. The following is an account of this raid obtained by Colonel Sleeman from one of the robbers 1: "The spy (hirrowa ) having returned and reported that he had found a merchant's house in Jhânsi which contained a good deal of property, we proceeded to a grove where we read signs by the process of akît (counting of grains) and found the omens favourable. We then rested three days and settled the rates according to which the booty should be shared. Four or five men, who were considered too feeble for the enterprise, were sent back, and the rest, well armed, strong and full of courage, went on. In the evening of the fourth day we reached a place about a mile from the fort, where we rested to take a breath for an hour; about nine o'clock we got to the wall and remained under it till midnight, preparing the ladders from materials which we had collected on the road. They were placed against the wall and we entered and passed through the town without opposition. A marriage procession was going on before us and the people thought we belonged to it. We found the bankers' shops closed. Thâna and Saldewa, who carried the axes, soon broke them open, while Kulean lit up his torch. Gajrâj with twenty men entered, while the rest stood posted at the different avenues

1. Sleeman, p. 95.

25 leading to the place. When all the property they could find had been collected, Gajrâj hailed the god Hanumân and gave orders for the retreat. We got back safely to Mondegri in two and a half days, and then reposed for two or three days with the Râja of Narwar, with whom we left five or six of our stoutest men as a guard, and then returned home with our booty, consisting chiefly of diamonds, emeralds, gold and silver bullion, rupees and about sixty pounds of silver wire. None of our people were killed or wounded, but whether any of the bankers' people were I know not."

Further instances of dacoities. Colonel Sleeman writes elsewhere of the leader of the above exploit : "This Gajrâj had risen from the vocation of a bandarwâla (monkey showman) to be the Robin Hood of Gwâlior and the adjacent States; he was the governor-general of bandits in that country of bandits and kept the whole in awe; he had made himself so formidable that the Durbar appointed him to keep the ghâts or ferries over the Chambal, which he did in a very profitable manner to them and to himself, and none entered or quitted the country without paying blackmail." A common practice of the Badhaks, when in need of a little ready money, was to lie in wait for money- changers on their return from the markets. These men take their bags of money with them to the important bazârs at a distance from their residence and return home with them after dusk. The dacoits were accustomed to watch for them in the darkest and most retired places on the roads and struck them to the ground with their bludgeons. This device was often practised and usually succeeded. Of another Badhak chief, Meherbân, it is stated that he hired a discharged sepoy to instruct his followers in the European system of drill, that they might travel with him in the disguise of regular soldiers, well armed and accoutred. During the rains Meherbân's spies (hirrowa ) were sent to visit the great commercial towns and report on dispatches of money or other valuables which were to take place during the following open season. His own favourite disguise was that of a Hindu prince, while the remainder of the gang constituted his retinue and escort. On one occasion, assuming this character, he followed up a boat laden with Spanish dollars which was being sent from Calcutta to Benâres; and having attacked it in its moorings at Makrai, he killed one and wounded ten men of the guard and made off with 25,000 Spanish dollars and Rs. 2600 of the Company's coinage. A part of the band were sent direct to the rendezvous previously arranged, while Meherbân returned to the grove where he had left his women and proceeded with them in a more leisurely fashion to the same place. Retaining the character of a native prince he halted here for two days to celebrate the Holi festival. Marching thence with his women conveyed in covered litters by hired bearers who were changed at intervals, he proceeded to his bivouac in the Oudh forests; and at Seosâgar, one of his halting-places, he gave a large sum of money to a gardener to plant a grove of mango tress near a reservoir for the benefit of travellers, in the name of Râja Meherbân Singh of Gaur in Oudh; and promised him further alms on future occasions of pilgrimage if he found the work progressing well, saying that it was a great shame that travellers should be compelled as he had been to halt without shade for themselves or their families during the heat of the day. He arrived safely at his quarters in the forest and was received in the customary fashion by a procession of women in their best attire, who conducted him with dancing and music, like a victorious Roman Proconsul, to his fort.

Disguise of religious mendicants. But naturally not all the Badhaks could do things in the style of Meherbân Singh. The disguise which they most often assumed in the north was that of carriers of Ganges water, while in Central India they often pretended to be Banjâras travelling with pack-bullocks, or pilgrims, or wedding-parties going to fetch the bride or bridegroom. Sometimes also they took the character of religious mendicants, the leader being the high priest and all the rest his followers and disciples. One such gang, described by Colonel Sleeman, had four or five tents of white and dyed cloth, two or three pairs of nakkâras or kettle-drums and trumpets, but the bodies of the greater part were covered with nothing but ashes, paint and a small cloth waistband. But they always provided themselves with five or six real Bairâgis, whose

26 services they purchased at a very high price. These men were put forward to answer questions in case of difficulty and to bully the landlords and peasantry; and if the people demurred to the demands of the Badhaks, to intimidate them by tricks calculated to play upon their ignorant fears. They held in their hands a preparation of gunpowder resembling common ashes; and when they found the people very stubborn they repeated their mantras over this and threw it upon the thatch of the nearest house, to which it set fire. The explosion was caused by kind of fuse held in the hand which the people could not see, and taking it for a miracle they paid all that was demanded. Another method was to pretend to be carrying the bones of dead relatives to the Ganges. The bones or ashes of the deceased, says Colonel Sleeman, are carried to the Ganges in bags, coloured red for females and white for males. These bags are considered holy, and are not allowed to touch the ground upon the way, and during halts in the journey are placed on poles or triangles. The carriers are regarded with respect as persons engaged upon a pious duty, and seldom questioned on the road. When a gang assumed this disguise they proceeded to their rendezvous point in small parties, some with red and some with white bags, in which they carried the bones of animals most resembling those of the human frame. These were supported on triangles formed of the shafts on which the spear-heads would be fitted when they reached their destination and had prepared for action.

Countenance and support of landowners. It would have been impossible for the Badhaks to exist and flourish as they did without the protection of the landowners on whose estates they lived; and this protection they received in full measure in return for a liberal share of their booty. When the chief of Karauli was called upon to dislodge a gang within his territory, he expressed apprehension that the coercion of the Badhaks might cause a revolution in the State. He was not at all unique, says Colonel Sleeman, in his fear of exasperating this formidable tribe of robbers. It was common to all the smaller chiefs and the provincial governors of the larger ones. They everywhere protected and fostered the Badhaks, as did the landholders; and the highest of them associated with the leaders of gangs on terms of equality and confidence. It was very common for a chief or the governor of a district in times of great difficulty and personal danger to require from one of the leaders of such gangs a night-guard or palang ki chauki ; and no less so to engage large groups of them in the attack and defence of forts and camps whenever unusual courage and skill were required. The son of the Râja of Charda exchanged turbans with a Badhak leader, Mangal Singh, as a mark of the most intimate friendship. This episode recalls an alliance of similar character in Lorna Doone ; and indeed it would not be difficult to find several points of resemblance between the careers of the more enterprising Badhak leaders and the Doones of Bagworthy; but India produced no character on the model of John Ridd, and it was reserved for an Englishman, Colonel Sleeman, to achieve the suppression of the Badhaks as well as that of the Thugs. After the fortress and territory of Garhâkota in Saugor had been taken by the Mahârâja Sindhia, Zâlim Singh, a cousin of the dispossessed Bundela chief, collected a force of Bundelas and Pindâris and ravaged the country round Garhâkota in 1813. In the course of his raid he sacked and burnt the town of Deori, and 15,000 persons perished in the flames. Colonel Jean Baptiste, Sindhia's general, detained a number of Badhaks from Râjputâna and offered them a rich reward for the head of Zâlim Singh; and after watching his camp for three months they managed to come upon him asleep in the tent of a dancing-girl who was following his camp, and stabbed him in the heart. For this deed they received Rs. 20,000 from Baptiste with other valuable presents. Their reputation was indeed such that they were frequently employed at this period both by chiefs who desired to take the lives of others and by those who were anxious for the preservation of their own. When it happened that a gang was caught after a robbery in their native State, the custom was not infrequently to make them over to the merchant whose property they had taken, with permission to keep them in confinement until they should refund his money; and in this manner by giving up the whole or a part of the proceeds of their robbery they were enabled to regain their liberty. Even if they were sent before the courts, justice was at that time so corrupt as to permit easy avenues of escape for those who could afford to pay. Colonel Sleeman records the deposition

27 of a Badhak describing their methods of bribery: "When police officers arrest Badhaks, their old women surround them and give them large sums of money; and they either release them or get their depositions written so that their release shall be ordered by the magistrates. If they are brought to court, their old women, dressed in rags, follow them at a distance of three or four miles with a thousand or two thousand rupees upon ponies; and they distribute among the native officers of the court and get the Badhaks released. These old women first ascertain from the people of the villages who are the Nâzirs and Munshis of influence, and wait upon them at their houses and make their bargains. If the officials cannot effect their release, they take money from the old women and send them off to the Sadar Court, with letters of introduction to their friends, and advice as to the rate they shall pay to each according to his supposed influence. This is the way that all our leaders get released, and hardly any but useless men are left in confinement."

Pride in their profession. It may be noted that these robbers took the utmost pleasure in their calling, and were most averse to the idea of giving it up and taking to honest pursuits. "Some of the men with me," one magistrate wrote, 1 " have been in jail for twenty, and one man for thirty years, and still do not appear to have any idea of abandoning their illegal vocation; even now, indeed, they look on what we consider an honest means of livelihood with the most marked contempt; and in relating their excursions talk of them with the greatest pleasure, much in the way an eager sportsman describes a boar-chase or fox-hunt. While talking of their excursions, which were to me really very interesting, their eyes gleamed with pleasure; and beating their hands on their foreheads and breasts and muttering some ejaculation they bewailed the hardness of their lot, which now ensured their never again being able to participate in such a joyous occupation." Another Badhak, on being examined, said he could not recall a case of one of the community having ever given up the trade of dacoity. " None ever did, I am certain of it," he continued. "After having been arrested, on our release we frequently take lands, to make it appear we have left off dacoity, but we never do so in reality; it is only done as a feint and to enable our zamíndârs (landowners) to screen us." They sometimes paid rent for their land at the rate of thirty rupees an acre, in return for the countenance and protection afforded by the zamíndârs. "Our professions," another Badhak remarked, " has been a Pâdshâhi Kâm (a king's trade); we have attacked and seized boldly the thousands and hundreds of thousands that we have freely and nobly spent. We have been all our lives wallowing in wealth and basking in freedom, and find it hard to manage with the few copper pice a day we get from you." At the time when captures were numerous, and the idea was entertained of inducing the dacoits to settle in villages and supporting them until they had been trained to labour, several of them, on being asked how much they would require to support themselves, replied that they could not manage on less than two rupees a day, having earned quite that sum by dacoity. This amount would be more than twenty times the wages of an ordinary labourer at the same period. Another witness put the amount at one to two rupees a day, remarking, "We are great persons for eating and drinking, and we keep several wives according to our means." Of some of them Colonel Sleeman had a high opinion, and he mentions the case of one man, Ajít Singh, who was drafted into the native army and rose to be commander of a company. " I have seldom seen a man," he wrote, " whom I would rather have with me in scenes of peril and difficulty." However, an attempt of the King of Oudh to form a regiment of Badhaks ended in failure, as after a short time they mutinied, beat their commandant and other officers, and turned them out of the regiment, giving as their reason that the officers had refused to perform the same duties as the men. And they visited with the same treatment all the other British on the province of Allahâbâd being made over to the Company. Colonel Sleeman notes that they were never known to offer any other violence or insult to females than to make them give up any gold ornaments that they might have about their persons. "In all my inquiries into the character, habits and conduct of these gangs, I have never found an instance of a female having been otherwise

1. Sleeman, p. 127. This passage is from a letter written by a magistrate, Mr. Ramsay.

28 disgraced or insulted by them. They are all Hindîs, and this reverence for the sex pervades all Hindî society." According to their own account also they never committed murder; if people opposed them they struck and killed like soldiers, but this was considered to be in fair fight. It may be noted, nevertheless, that they had little idea of clan loyalty, and informed very freely against their fellows when this course was to their advantage. They also stated that they could not settle in towns; they had always been accustomed to living in the jungles and committing burglaries upon the people of the towns as a kind of shikâr (sport) ; they delighted in it, and they felt living in towns or among other men was a kind of prison, and got quite confused (ghabrâye ), and their women even more than the men.

Caste rules and admission of outsiders. The Badhaks had a regular caste organisation, and members of the different clans married with each other like the Râjpîts after whom they were named. They admitted freely into the community members of any respectable Hindu caste, but not the impure castes or Muhammadans. But at least one instance of the admission of a Muhammadan is given. The Badhaks were often known to the people as Siârkhawa or jackal-eaters, or Sabkhawa, "those who eat everything". And the Muhammadan in question was given jackal's flesh to eat, and having partaken of it was considered to have become a member of the community. This indicates that the Badhaks were probably accustomed to eating the flesh of a jackal at sacrificial meals, and hence that they worshipped the jackal, probably revering it as the deity of the forests where they lived. Such a veneration would account for the importance attached to the jackal's cry as an omen. Their eating jackals also points to the conclusion that the Badhaks were not Râjpîts, but a low hunting caste like the Pârdhis and Bahelias. The Pârdhis have Râjpît sect names as well as the Badhaks. No doubt a few outcaste Râjpîts may have joined the gangs and become their leaders. Others, however, said that they abstained from the flesh of jackals, snakes, foxes and cows and buffaloes. Children were frequently adopted, being purchased in large numbers in time of famine, and also occasionally kidnapped. They were brought up to the trade of dacoity, and if they showed sufficient aptitude for it were taken out on expeditions, but otherwise left at home to manage the household affairs. They were married to other adopted children and were known as Ghulâmi or Slave Badhaks, like the Jângar Banjâras; and like them also, after some generations, when their real origin had been forgotten, they became full Badhaks. It was very advantageous to a Badhak to have a number of children, because all plunder obtained was divided in regularly apportioned shares among the whole community. Men who were too old to go on dacoity also received their share, as did all children, even babies born during the absence of the expedition. The Badhaks said that this rule was enforced because they thought it an advantage to the community that families should be large and their numbers should increase; from which statement it must be concluded that they seldom suffered any hardship from lack of spoil. They also stated that a Badhak widow would go and find a second husband from among the regular population, and as a rule would sooner or later persuade him to join the Badhaks.

Religion : offerings to ancestors. Like other Indian criminals, the Badhaks were of a very religious and superstitious disposition. They considered the gods of the Hindu creed as favouring their undertakings so long as they were suitably propitiated by offering to their temples and priests, and the spirits of the most distinguished of their ancestors excercized a vicarious authority under these deities in guiding them to their prey and warning them of danger. The following is an account of a Badhak sacrifice given to Colonel Sleeman by the Ajít Singh already mentioned. It was in celebration of a dacoity in which they had obtained Rs. 40,000, out of which Rs. 4500 were set aside for sacrifices to the gods and charity to the poor. Ajít Singh said: "For offerings to the gods we purchase goats, sweet cakes and spirits; and having prepared a feast we throw a handful of the savoury food upon the fire in the name of the gods who have most assisted us; but of the feast so consecrated no female but a virgin can partake. The offering is made through the man who has successfully invoked the god on that particular occasion; and,

29 as my god had guided us this time, I was employed to prepare the feast for him and to throw the offering upon the fire. The offering must be taken up before the feast is touched and put upon the fire, and a little water must be sprinkled on it. The savoury smell of the food as it burns reaches the nostrils of the god and delights him. On this as on most occasions I invoked the spirit of Ganga Singh, my grandfather, and to him I made the offering. I considered him to be the greatest of all my ancestors as a robber, and him I invoked on this solemn occasion. He never failed me when I invoked him, and I have the greatest confidence in his aid. The spirits of our ancestors can easily see whether we shall succeed in what we are about to undertake; and when we are to succeed they order us on, and when we are not they make signs for us to desist." Their mode1 of ascertaining which of their ancestors involved himself most in their affairs was commonly this: that whenever a person talked incoherently in a fever or an epileptic fit, the spirit of one or another of his ancestors was supposed to be upon him. If they were in doubt as to whose spirit it was, one of them threw down some grains of wheat or coloured glass beads, a pinch at a time, saying the name of the ancestor he supposed the most likely to be at work and calling odd or even numbers as he pleased. If the number proved to be as he called it several times running while that name was repeated, they felt secure of their family god, and proceeded at once to sacrifice a goat or something else in his name. When they were being hunted down and arrested by Colonel Sleeman and his assistants, they ascribed their misfortunes to the anger of the goddess Kâli, because they had infringed her rules and disregarded her signs, and said that their forefathers had often told them they would one day be punished for their disobedience.

The wounded haunted by spirits. Whenever one of the gang was wounded and was taken with his bleeding wounds near a place haunted by a spirit, they believed the spirit got angry and took hold of him, 2 in the manner described here by Ajít Singh: "The spirit comes upon him in all kinds of shapes, sometimes in that of a buffalo, at others in that of a woman, sometimes in the air above and sometimes from the ground below but no one can see him except the wounded person he is angry with and wants to punish. Upon such a wounded person we always place a naked sword or some other sharp steel instruments, as spirits are very afraid of weapons of this kind. If there be any good conjurer at hand to charm away the spirits from the wounded person, he recovers, but nothing else can save him." In one case a dacoit named Ghísa had been severely wounded in an encounter and was seized by the spirit of a banyan tree as he was being taken away: "We made a litter with our ropes and cloaks thrown over them and on this he was carried off by four of our party; at half a mile distant the road passed under a large banyan tree and as the four men carried him along under the tree, the spirit of the place fell upon him and the men who carried him fell down with the shock. They could not raise him again, so much were they frightened, and four other men were obliged to lift him and carry him off." The man died of his wounds soon after they reached the halting-place, and in commenting on this Ajít Singh continued, "When the spirit seized Ghísa under the tree we had unfortunately no conjurer, and he, poor follow, died in consequence. It was evident that a spirit had got hold of him, for he could not keep his head upright; it always fell down upon his right or left shoulder as often as we tried to put it right; and he complained much of a pain in the region of the liver. We therefore concluded that the spirit had broken his neck and was consuming his liver."

Pious funeral observances. Like the pious Hindus they were, the Badhaks were accustomed, whenever it was possible, to preserving the bones of their dead after the body had been burnt, and carrying them to the Ganges. If this was not possible, however, and the exigencies of their profession obliged them to make away with the body without the performance of due funeral rites, they cut off

1. Sleeman, p. 110. 2. Sleeman, p. 205.

30 two or three fingers and sent these to the Ganges to be deposited instead of the whole body. 1 In one case a dacoit, Kundana, was killed in a fray, and the others carried off his body and thrust it into a porcupine's hole after cutting off three of the fingers. "We gave Kundana's fingers to his mother," Ajít Singh stated, "and she sent them with due offerings and ceremonies to the Ganges by the hands of the family priest. She gave this priest money to purchase a cow, to be presented to the priests in the name of her deceased son, and to distribute in charity to the poor and to holy men. She got from us for these purposes eighty rupees over and above her son's share of the booty, while his widow and children continued to receive their usual share of the takings of the gang so long as they remained with us."

Reading the omens. Before setting out on an expedition it was their regular custom to read the omens, and the following account may be quoted of the preliminaries to an expedition of the great leader Meherbân Singh, who has already been mentioned: "At the end of that year, Meherbân and his brother set out and assembled their friends on the bank of the Bisori river. There the rate at which each member of the party should share in the spoil was determined in order to secure for the dependants of any one who should fall in the enterprise their due share, as well as to prevent inconvenient disputes during and after the expedition. The party assembled on this occasion, including women and children, and two animals were sacrificed for the feast. Each leader and member of the gang dipped his finger in the blood and swore fidelity to his venture and his associates under all circumstances. The gathering feasted together and drank freely till the next evening, when Meherbân advanced with about twenty of the principal persons to a spot chosen a little way from the camp. On the road they said in supplication, "If it be thy will, O God, and thine, Kâli, to bless our undertaking for the sake of the blind and the lame, the widow and the orphan, who depend upon our exertions for subsistence, vouchsafe, we pray thee, the call of the female jackal." All his followers held up their hands in the same manner and repeated these words after him. They all then sat down and waited in silence for the reply or spoke only in whispers. Al last the cry of the female jackal was heard three times on the left, and believing her to have been inspired by the deity for their guidance, they rejoiced." The following was another, more elaborate, method of reading omens described by Ajít Singh: "When we speak of seeking omens from our gods or Devi Deota, we mean the spirits of those of our ancestors who performed great exploits in dacoity in their day, gained a great name and established lasting reputations. For instance, Mahâjít, my grandfather, and Sâhiba, his father, are called gods and admitted to be so to us all. We have all of us some such gods to be proud of among our ancestors. We sometimes propitiate the Sîraj Deota (sun god) and seek good omens from him. We gather two or three goats or rams, and sometimes even ten or eleven, at the place where we would take the omens, and having assembled the principal men of the gang we put water into the mouth of one of them and pray to the sun and to our ancestors thus: 'O thou sun God ! And O all ye other Gods! If we are to succeed in the enterprise we are about to undertake we pray you to cause these goats to shake their bodies.' If they do not shake them after the gods have been thus duly invoked, the enterprise must not be entered upon and the goats are not sacrificed. We then try the auspices with wheat. We burn frankincense and scented wood; and taking out a pinch of wheat grains, put them on a cloth and count them. If they come up odd the omen is favourable, and if even it is bad. After this, which we call the auspices of the Akît, we take that of the Siârni or female jackal. If it calls on the left it is good, but if on the right it's bad. If the omens turn out favourable in all three trials, then we have no fear whatever, but if they are favourable in only one trial of the three the enterprise must be given up."

Suppression of dacoity. Between 1937 and 1849 the suppression of the regular practice of armed dacoity was practically achieved by Colonel Sleeman. A number of officers were placed under his orders, and small bodies of military and police were set to hunt down different bands of dacoits,

1. Sleeman, p. 106.

31 following them all over India when necessary. And special Acts were passed to enable the offence of dacoity, wherever committed, to be tried by a competent court in any part of India as had been done in the case of the Thugs. Many of the Badhaks received conditional pardons, and were drafted into the police in different stations, and an agricultural labour colony was also formed, but does not seem to have been altogether successful. During these twelve years more than 1200 dacoits in all were brought to trial, while some were killed during the operations, and no doubt many others escaped and took to other vocations, or became ordinary criminals when their armed gangs were broken up. In 1825 it had been estimated that the Oudh forests alone contained from 4000 to 6000 dacoits, while the property stolen in 1811 from known dacoities was valued at ten lakhs of rupees.

The Badhaks or Baoris at the present time. The Badhaks still exist, and are well known as one of the worst classes of criminals, practising ordinary house-breaking and theft. The name Badhak is now less commonly used than those of Bâgri and Baori or Bâwaria, both of which were borne by the original Badhaks. The word Bâgri is derived from a tract of country in Mâlwa which is known as the Bâgar or 'hedge of thorns,' because it is surrounded on all sides by wooded hills. 1 There are Bâgri Jâts and Bâgri Râjpîts, many of whom are now highly respectable landholders. Bâwaria or Baori is derived from bânwar, a creeper, or the tendril of a vine, and hence a noose made originally from some fibrous plant and used for trapping animals. this being one of the primary occupations of the tribe. 2 The term Badhak singifies a hunter or fowler, hence a robber or murderer (Platts). The Bâgris and Bâwarias are sometimes considered to be separate communities, but it is doubtful whether there is any real distinction between them. In Bombay the Bâgris are known as Vâghris by the common change of b into v . A good description of them is contained in Appendix C to Mr. Bhimbhai Kirpârâm's volume Hindus of Gujarat . In the Bombay Gazetteer, he divides them into the Chunaria, or lime-burners, the Dâtonia, or sellers of twig tooth-brushes, and two other groups, and states that "They also keep fowls and sell eggs, catch birds and go as shikâris or hunters. They traffic in green parrots, which they buy from Bhíls and sell for a profit."

Lizard hunting. Their strength and powers of endurance are great, the same writer states, and they consider that these qualities are obtained by the eating of the goli and sândha, or iguana lizards, which a Vâghri prizes very highly. This is also the case with the Bâwarias of the Punjab, who go out hunting lizards in the rains and may be seen returning with baskets full of live lizards, which exist for days without food and are killed and eaten fresh by degrees. Their method of hunting the lizard is described by Mr. Wilson as follows: 3 " The lizard lives on grass, cannot bite severely, and is sluggish in his movements, so that he is easily caught. He digs a hole for himself of no great depth, and the easiest way to take him is to look out for the scarcely perceptible airhole and dig him out ; but there are various ways of saving oneself this trouble. One which I have seen, takes advantage of a habit the lizard has in cold weather (when he never comes out of his hole) of coming to the mouth for air and warmth. The Chîhra or other sportsman puts off his shoes and steals along the prairie till he sees signs of a lizard's hole. This he approaches on tiptoe, raising over his head with both hands a mallet with a round sharp point, and fixing his eyes intently upon the hole. When close enough he brings down his mallet with all his might on the ground just behind the mouth of the hole, and is often successful in breaking the lizard's back before he awakes to sense of his danger. Another plan, which I have not seen, is to tie a wisp of grass to long stick and move it over the hole so as to make a rustling noise. The Lizard within thinks, 'Oh, here's a snake! I may as well give in,' and comes to the mouth of the hole, putting out his tail first so that he may not see his executioner. The sportsman grabs his tail and snatches him out before he has

1. Malcolm's Memoir of Central India , ii, p. 479. 2. Crooke's Tribes and Castes , art. Bâwaria. 3. Sirsa Settlement Report.

32 time to learn his mistake." This common fondness for lizards is a point in favour of a connection between the Gujarât and the Punjab Bâwarias.

Social observances. In Sirsa the great mass of the Bâwarias are not given to crime, and in Gujarât also they do not appear to have special criminal tendencies. It is curios point, however, that Mr. Bhimbhai Kirpârâm emphasises the chastity of he women of the Gujarât Vâghris.1 "When a family returns home after a money-making tour to Bombay or some other-city, the women are taken before Vihât (Devi), and with the women is brought a buffalo or a sheep that is tethered in front of Vihât's shrine. They must confess all, even their slightest shortcomings, such as the following: 'Two weeks ago, when begging in Pârsi Bazâr-street, a drunken sailor caught me by the hand. Another day a Míyan or Musalmân ogled me, and forgive me, Devi, my looks encouraged him.' If Devi is satisfied the sheep or buffalo shivers, and is then sacrificed and provides a feast for the caste." 2 On the other hand, Mr. Crooke states3 that in northern India, "The standard of morality is very low because in Muzaffarnagar it is extremely rare for a Bâwaria woman to live with her husband. Almost invariably she lives with another man: but the official husband is responsible for the children." The great difference in the standard of morality is certainly surprising. In Gujarât 4 the Vâghris have gurus or religious preceptors of their own. These men take an eight-anna silver piece and whisper in the ear of their disciples "Be immortal." The Bhuvas or priest-mediums play an important part in many Vâghri ceremonies. A Bhuva is a male child born after the mother has made a vow to the goddess Vihât or Devi that if a son be granted to her she will devote him to the service of the goddess. No Bhuva may cut or shave his hair on pain of a fine of ten rupees, and no Bhuva may eat carrion or food cooked by a Muhammadan."

Criminal practices. The criminal Bâgris still usually travel about in the disguise of Gosains and Bairâgis, and are very difficult to detect except to real religious mendicants. Their house-breaking implement or jemmy is known as Gyân, but in speaking of it they always add Dâs , so that it sounds like the name of a Bairâgi. 5 They are usually very much afraid of the gyân being discovered on their persons, and are careful to bury it in the ground at each halting-place, while on the march it may be concealed in a pack-saddle. The means of identifying them, Mr. Kennedy remarks,6 is by their family deo or god, which they carry about when wandering with their families. It consists of a brass or copper box containing grains of wheat and the seeds of a creeper, both soaked in ghí (melted butter). The box with a peacock's feather and a bell is wrapped in two white and then in two red cloths, one of the white cloths having the print of a man's hand dipped in goat's blood upon it. The grains of wheat are used for taking the omens, a few being thrown up at sundown and counted afterwards to see whether they are odd or even. When even, two grains are placed on the right hand of the omen-taker, and if this occurs three times running the auspices are considered to be favourable.7 Mr. Gayer8 notes that the Badhaks have usually from one to three brands from a hot iron on the inside of their left wrist. Those of them who are hunters brand the muscles of the left wrist in order to steady the hand when firing their matchlocks. The custom of wearing a peculiar necklace of

1. It would appear that the Gujarât Vâghris are a distinct class from the criminal section of the tribe. 2. Bombay Gazetteer, Gujarât Hindus, p. 514. 3. Art. Bawaria, quoting from North Indian Notes and Queries, i. 51. 4. Bombay Gazetteer, Hindus of Gujarât , p. 574. 5. Gunthorpe's Criminal Tribes. 6. Criminal Classes in the Bombay Presidency , p. 151. 7. Gunthorpe's Criminal Tribes , art, Badhak. 8 C. P. Police Lectures , art. Badhak.

33 small wooden beads and a kind of gold pin fixed to the front teeth, which Mr. Crooke1 records as having been prevalent some years ago, has apparently been since abandoned, as they are not mentioned in more recent accounts. The Dehliwâl and Mâlpura Baorias have, Mr. Kennedy states,2 an interesting system of signs, which they mark on the walls of buildings at important corners, bridges and cross roads and on the ground by the roadside with a stick, if no building is handy. The most common is a loop, the straight line indicating the direction a gang or individual has taken :

The addition of a number of vertical strokes inside the loop signifies the number of males in a gang. If these strokes are enclosed by a circle it means that the gang is in the vicinity; while a square inside a circle and line means that property has been secured by friends who have left in the direction by the line. It is said that Baorias will follow one another up for fifty or even a hundred miles by means of these hieroglyphics. The signs are bold marks, sometimes even a foot or more in length, and are made where they will at once catch the eye. When the Mârwâri Baorias wish to indicate their route to others of their own caste, a member of the gang, usually a woman, trails a stick in the dust as she walks along, leaving a spiral track on the ground. Another method of indicating the route taken is to place leaves under stones at intervals along the road.3 The act of crime most popular among the ordinary Baoris is house-breaking by night. Their common practice is to make a hole in the wall beside the door through which the hand passes to raise the latch; and occasionally they dig a hole in the base of the wall to admit the passage of a man, while another favorite alternative is to break in through a barred window, the bars being quickly and forcibly bent and drawn out. 4 One class of Mârwâri Bâgris are also expert coiners.

Bagata.: - The Bagatas, Bhaktâs, or Baktas5 are a class of Telugu fresh-water fishermen, who are said to be very expert at catching fish with long spears. It is noted in the Madras Census Report, 1901, that "on the Dasara day they worship the fishing baskets, and also (for some obscure reason) a kind of trident." The trident is probably the fishing spear. Some of the Bagatas are hill cultivators in the Agency tracts of Vizagapatam. They account for their name by the tradition that they served with great devotion (bhakti) the former rulers of Golgonda and Mâdugula, who made grants of land to them in mokhâsa tenure. Some of them are heads of hill villages. The head of a single village is called a Padâl, and it may be noted that Padâla occurs as an exogamous sect of the Kâpus, of which caste it has been suggested that the Bagatas are an offshoot. The overlord of a number of Padâls calls himself Nâyak or Râju, and a Mokhâsadar has the title of Dora. It is recorded, in the Census Report, 1871, that "in the low country the Bhaktâs consider themselves to take the rank of soldiery, and rather disdain the occupation of ryots (cultivators). Here, however (in hill Mâdugulu in the Vizagapatam district), necessity has divested them of such prejudices, and they are compelled to delve for their daily bread. They generally, nevertheless, manage to get the Kâpus to work for them, for they make poor farmers, and are unskilled in husbandry."

It is recorded in the Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam district that "Matsya gundam (fish pool) is a curious pool on the Machéru (fish river) near the village of Matam, close under the great Yendrika hill, 5,188 feet above the sea. A barrier of rocks runs right across the river there, and the stream plunges into a great hole and vanishes beneath this, reappearing again about a hundred yards lower down. Just where it emerges from under the barrier, it forms a pool, which is crowded with mahseer of all sizes. These are wonderfully tame, the bigger ones

1. Art. Bâwaria, para. 12. 2. Criminal Classes in the Bombay Presidency , p. 179. 3. Kennedy, loc. cit. p. 208. 4. Kennedy, loc. cit. p. 185. 5 See Thurston.

34 feeding fearlessly from one's hand, and even allowing their backs to be stroked. They are protected by the Mâdgole zamindars- who on several grounds venerate all fish due to superstitious fears. Once, goes the story, a Brinjâri caught one and turned it into curry, whereon the king of the fish solemnly cursed him, and he and all his pack-bullocks were turned into rocks, which may be seen there until this day. At Sivarâtri, a festival occurs at the little thatched shrine nearby, the priest at which is a Bagata, and part of the ritual consists in feeding the sacred fish.

"In 1901, certain envious Bagatas looted one of the villages of the Konda Mâlas or hill Paraiyans, a set of traders, who are rapidly acquiring wealth and exalted notions, on the ground that they were becoming unduly arrogant. The immediate cause of the trouble was the fact that at a cockfight the Mâlas' birds had defeated the Bagatas'."

In a note on the Bagatas, Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao writes that the caste is divided into exogamous septs or intipérulu, some of which occur also among the Kâpus, Telagas and Vantaris. Girls are married either before or after puberty, and the custom, called ménarikan, which renders it a man's duty to marry his maternal uncle's daughter, is the general rule. An Oriya or Telugu Brâhman officiates at marriages, and the bride is presented with jewelry as a substitute for the bride-price (vóli) in money. It is noted, in the Census Report, 1901, that at a wedding, the bridegroom is struck by his brother-in-law, who is then presented with a pair of new clothes. The Bagatas are both Vaishnavites and Saivites, and the former get themselves branded on the arm by a Vaishnava guru, who lives in the Godâvari district. The Vaishnavites burn their dead, and the Saivites bury them in the customary sitting attitude. Sâtânis officiate for the former, and Jangams for the latter. Both sections perform the chinna and pedda rózu (big and little day) death ceremonies. The hill Bagatas observe the Itiga Ponduga festival, which is celebrated by the hill classes in vizagapatam.

Bagdi.: -Bâgdi, Mudi,1 a cultivating, fishing, and menial caste of Central and Western Bengal, who appear from their features and complexion to be of Dravidian descent, and closely akin to the tribes whom, for convenience of description, we may call aboriginal. A variety of more of less indelicate legends are current regarding the origin of the caste. One story tells how Parvati disguised herself as a fisherwoman and made advances to Siva with the object of testing his fidelity to herself. When the god had yielded to the temptation, Parvati revealed her identity, and Siva, out of pique at her triumph, ordained that the child to be born from her should be a Bâgdi and live by fishing. Another account lays the scene of this adventure in Kochh Behar, where Sive is represented as living with a number of concubines of the Kochh tribe. Parvati was moved by jealousy to come in the disguise of a fisherwoman and destroy the standing crops of the Kochhnis, and Siva could only induce her to depart by begetting on her a son and a daughter. These twins were afterwards married, and gave birth to Hamvir, the King of Bishanpur in Bankura. It is from his four daughters- Sântu, Netu, Mantu, and Kshetu- that the four sub-castes Tentuliâ, Duliâ, Kusmetiâ, and Mâtiâ, are descended.

Traditions of origin. According to a third tradition, the first Bâgdi was accidentally begotten by Râma on a widow maid-servant in attendance to Sita. After undergoing some persecution at the hands of his reputed father, the son was recompensed by the promise that he and his descendants should be palanquin-bearers, and in that capacity should be trusted to carry females of the highest classes. From Orissa comes the still more fantastical tale of how, once upon a time, at an assembly of the gods, a goddess suddenly gave birth to three sons, and feeling embarrassed by the situation, hid the first under a heap of tamarind (tentul ) pods, the second in an iron

1 See Risley.

35 pan, and the third under a hermit's staff (danda ). From these vicissitudes of their infancy the children got the names of Tentuliâ Bâgdi, Lohâr Mânjhi, and Dandâchhatra Mânjhi. It will, of course, be understood that these traditions are quoted here, not for any light that they may throw upon the origin of the Bâgdis, but as contributions to the modern science of folklore. Apart from any value they may possess as illustrations of the process of mythmaking among primitive folk, I may point out that all of these legends must have grown up after the Bâgdis had ceased to be a compact tribe. The last in particular furnishes an excellent example of a myth devised for the purpose of giving a respectable explanation of the totemistic name Tentuliâ. A parallel case will be found among the Kumhârs of Orissa.

Internal structure. In the district of Bankura, where the original structure of the caste seems to have been singularly well preserved, we find the Bâgdis divided into the following sub-castes:-(1) Tentuliâ, beâring the titles Bâgh, Sântrâ, Râi, Khân, Puilâ; (2) Kasâikuliâ, with the titles Mânjhi, Masâlchi, Palankhâi, Pherkâ; (3) Duliâ, with titles Sardâr and Dhârâ; (4) Ujhâ or Ojhâ; (5) Mâchhuâ, Mechhuâ, or Mecho; (6) Gulimânjhi; (7) Dandamânjhi; (8) Kusmetiâ, Kusmâtiâ, or Kusputra; (9) Mallametiâ, Mâtia, or Mâtiâl. Within these again are a number of exogamous sections, among which may be mentioned Kâsbak, the heron; Ponkrishi, the jungle cock; Sâlrishi or Sâlmâch, the sâl fish; Pâtrishi, the bean; and Kachchhap, the tortoise. The totem is taboo to the members of the section; that is, a Kâsbak Bâgdi may not kill or eat a heron; a Pâtrishi, like the Pythagoreans according to Lucian, may not touch a bean.

A Bâgdi may not marry outside the sub-castes, nor inside the section to which he belongs. Thus a Tentuliâ must marry a Tentuliâ, but a man of the Sâlrishi section, to whatever sub- caste he may belong, cannot marry a woman of that section. The section names go by the male side, and the rule prohibiting marriage within the section requires a separate set of rules, which to some extent overlap the rule of exogamy. Marriage with any person descended in a direct line from the same parents is forbidden as long as any relationship can be traced. To simplify the calculation of collateral relationship, the formula "Paternal uncle, maternal uncle, paternal aunt, maternal aunt- these four relationships are to be avoided in marriage," is in use. Ordinarily the prohibition extends only to three generations of the descending line; but if bhaiyâdi or mutual recognition of a relationship is kept up, intermarriage is barred for five or, as some say, seven generations. In counting generations the person under consideration is included.

In the more eastern districts the organization of the caste seems to be less elaborate, and has clearly been affected by closer contact with , inducing the adoption of Brahmanical customs. In the 24-Parganas only five sub-castes are found- Tentuliâ, Kusmetiâ, Trayodas, Mânjhi, Noda; while the sections are reduced to three- Kâsyapa, Râncho, and Dâsya-the members of which profess to be descended from Vedic Rishis, and have abandoned the totemistic observances which are common further west. Traces of totemism, however, still survive in the names of sub-castes. Tentuliâs admit that they are called after the tamarind tree, and Kusmetiâs that they take their name from the kusâ grass, but their neither show any reverence for the plants in question. The system of exogamy has also been developed in the direction of closer conformity with the usage of the higher castes.

Marriage. In Bankura, Manbhum, and the north of Orissa, where the examples of the aboriginal races are prominent, Bâgdis practise both infant and adult marriage equally. In the case of girls who are not married in infancy, sexual license before marriage is tacitly tolerated, it being understood that if a girl becomes pregnant she will find someone to marry her. Further away infant-marriage is the rule and adult-marriage the exception, while the Bâgdis of the 24- Parganas, Jessore, and Nadiya pretend ignorance of the custom of adult-marriage. Polygamy is permitted. In theory, a man may marry as many wives as he can afford to maintain:

36 practically, however, the standard of living of the caste limits him to two. He may also marry two sisters at the same time.

Marriage Ceremony. Among a mass of rituals borrowed from the Brahmanical system, the marriage ceremony (bibâha or byâh as opposed to sângâ ) of the Bâgdis of Western Bengal has preserved some interesting customs, which appear to belong to a different, and perhaps more primitive, symbolic canon. Early on the wedding morning, before the bridegroom starts the procession to the bride's house, he goes through a mock marriage to a mahuâ tree (Bâssia latifolia ). He embraces the tree and bedaubs it with vermilion; his right wrist is bound to it with thread, and after he is released from the tree this same thread is used to attach a bunch of mahuâ leaves to his wrist. The barât or procession of the bridegroom's party is usually timed so as to reach the bride's house about sunset. On arrival, the inner courtyard of the house is defended by the bride's friends, and a mimic conflict takes place, which ends in the victory of the barât. Symbolic capture having been thus effected, the bridegroom himself is seated with his face to the east on a wooden stool (pirâ ) placed under a bower of sâl leaves, having pots of oil, grain, and turmeric at the four corners, and a small pool of water in the centre. When the bride enters, she marches seven times round the bower, keeping it always on her right hand, and seats herself opposite to the bridegroom, the pool of water being between the pair. The right hands of the bride, the bridegroom, and the bride's eldest relative are tied together with thread by the officiating Brahman, who at the same time recites sacred texts (mantras), the purport of which is that the bride has been given by her people to the bridegroom and has been accepted by him. The priest then claims his fee, and after receiving it, unties the thread and knots together the scarves worn by the newly married couple. This part of the ceremony is called gotrântar, "the change of gotra," and is supposed to transfer the bride from her own section or exogamous group into that of her husband. It is followed by sindurdân, when the bridegroom takes a small cup of vermilion in his left hand and with his right hand smears the colour on the parting of the bride's hair. By the Bâgdis, as by most of the aboriginal tribes of Western Bengal, sindurdân is deemed to be the essential and binding portion of the marriage ceremony, and they know nothing of the "seven steps" of the Brahmanical rote. Garlands of flowers are then exchanged by the parties, and the rest of the night is spent in feasting. The married couple leaves for the bridegroom's house early the next morning. The knotted scarves are not untied until the fourth day after the wedding.

Widows. Aíl sub-castes, except the Tentuliâ Bâgdis, allow widows to marry again by the ceremony known as Sângâ, - a maimed rite, at which no Brahman officiates, 1 no mantras or Vedic texts are recited, and the sacred fire, which from the days of the Rig-Veda has formed the distinguishing feature of the marriage ritual, is not kindled. In the Sângâ ceremony as practised by the Bâgdis of Central Bengal, the bride and bridegroom sit face to face on a mat, and each daubs the other's forehead with paste of powdered turmeric and water. A sheet (châdar ) is then thrown over the heads of the pair, so as to cover them entirely, and under this the bridegroom puts an iron bracelet (lohâr khâru ) on the left wrist of the bride. The proceedings are finished by a feast to the caste brethren of the village. If the newly-married couple is too poor to afford a feast, they pay a fee of Rs. 1-4. A widow may marry her late husband's younger brother, but she is not compelled to do so.

Divorce. In the matter of divorce, the practice of the caste seems to vary in different parts of Bengal. Hinduised Bâgdis follow the example of the higher castes in denying that such a thing is possible. The general opinion, however, seems to be that a wife may be divorced for

1. Among the Ba`gdis of hte Tributary States of Orissa, I am informed that Brahmans do attend at the Sa`nga` ceremony for the purpose of chanting mantras and sanctifying by their touch the new cloth and iron bracelet which the bridegroom presents to the bride.

37 barrenness, unchastity, or disobedience, duly proved to the satisfaction of a council of elders of the caste. When the council has given their assent, the husband closes the proceedings by the symbolical act of breaking a straw in two, or by taking away the the iron bracelet which every married woman wears on her left wrist. A divorced wife is entitled to claim maintenance from her late husband for a period of six months after the divorce. She may marry again by the Sângâ form, and in some districts such marriages are exceedingly common. Cases, indeed, have come to my notice in which a wife has taken steps to get a divorce with the avowed intent of marrying another man. As a rule, however, the initiative is supposed to be taken by the husband.

Admission Of Outsiders. Like the Bauris, all sub-cases of Bâgdis, except the Tentuliâ, admit into their circle members of any caste higher than themselves in social standing. No regular ceremony is appointed for such occasions: the new member merely pays to the caste panchayat a sum of money, varying from Rs. 10 to Rs. 15, to be spent on a feast, in which for the first time he openly eats with his adopted caste brethren. When admitted into the Dulia sub-caste, he is made to take a palanquin onto his shoulder to signify his acceptance of the characteristic occupation of the body to which he has joined himself. The origin of this singular practice, which is entirely out of accord with the spirit of the caste system at the present day, is apparently to be sought in lax views of the Bâgdis and Bauris on the subject of sexual morality. In every other caste a woman who has an intrigue with an outsider is punished by expulsion from the caste; but Bâgdis and Bauris not only allow their women to live openly with men of other castes, but receive those men into their own community when, as frequently happens, they are outcasted by their own people for eating rice cooked by their mistresses.

Religion. The religion of the Bâgdis is compounded of elements borrowed from orthodox Hinduism and vestiges of the mingled Animism and Nature-worship which prevails among the aborigines of Western Bengal. Siva, Vishnu, Dharmarâj (Yama), Durgâ, the Saktis, and the myriad names of the modern Hindu Pantheon are worshipped in a more or less intelligent fashion under the guidance of the degraded (patit ) Brahmans who look after the spiritual welfare of the lower castes. Alongside these greater gods we find the Santâli goddess Gosâin Erâ, and Barpahâr, the "great mountain" god (Marang Buru) of the same tribe. According to the Bâgdis themselves, their favourite and characteristic deity is Manasâ, the sister of the Snake- king Vasuki, the wife of Jaratkâru and mother of Astikâ, whose intervention saved the snake race from destruction by Janmejaya.

Manasâ is worshipped within the caste with great pomp and circumstance. On the 5th and 20th of the four rainy months-Sâr, Srâban, Bhâdra, and Swin (middle of June to middle of October)-rams and male goats sacrified, rice, sweetmeats, fruit, and flowers are offered; and on the Nagpanchami (5th of the light half of Srâban= end of August), a four-armed effigy of the goddess, crowned by a tiara of snakes, grasping a cobra in each hand, and with her feet resting on a goose, is carried round the village with much discordant music, and finally thrown into a reservoir. The cult of Manasâ is of course by no means confined to the Bâgdis. In Eastern Bengal none are more strict in attending to the details of her worship than the Kulin Brahmans of Bikrampur in Dacca. Bâgdis, however, regard her with peculiar respect, and say that they alone among her votaries make images in her honour.

On the last day of Bhadra (middle of September) the Bâgdis of Manbhum and Bankura carry in procession the effigy of a female saint named Bhâdu, who is said to have been the favourite daughter of a former Râjâ of Pachete, and who died a virgin for the good of the people. The worship consists of songs and wild dances, in which men, women, and children take part. The story of its origin may well have some foundation in fact, it being notorious that the Râjâs of Pachete, like most of the pseudo-Rajput families of Chota Nagpur, find great difficulty in arranging suitable alliances for their daughters, and often have to keep them at

38 home unmarried until they have long passed the age of puberty. Regarded from this point of view, the legend adds one more to the numerous instances which may be cited in support of the theory propounded by Sir Alfred Lyall in his essay on the origin of Divine Myths in India. 1

Disposal Of The Dead. Bâgdis burn their dead and throw the ashes into a stream or tank. The bodies of persons who die of small-pox or cholera are either buried or exposed. Infants under three years are buried. In parts of Orissa the universal practice is to bury dead on the left side with the head towards the north. The srâddh ceremony is performed a month after death under the supervision of Brahman and in general conformity with the standard Hindu ritual.

Inheritance. Bâgdis profess to follow the Hindu law of inheritance, but their legal business, as with most of the lower castes, is of a very simple character, and is generally disposed of by their own caste councils (panchâyats`) without the intervention of the Courts. In dividing the property the eldest son gets an extra share (jeth-angs ), which seems to be intended to enable him to support the female members of the family, who remain under his care. A similar provision was recognised by early Hindu law, but it has since become obsolete, and entire equality of division is now the rule among all the higher castes, unless perhaps where some special family custom can be proved.

Occupation. Opinions differ regarding the original occupation of the caste. Some say fishing, others personal service, but the questions clearly is not one on which we can hope to arrive at any definite conclusion. At the present day the Tentuliâ and Kasâikuliâ Bâgdis work as masons, and also prepare the lime which is mixed with betel areca nut. Duliâ Bâgdis carry palanquins or dulis , and, in common with the other sub-castes, earn their livelihood by fishing, making gunny-bags, weaving cotton, and preparing the red powder (abír ) used in the Holi festival. The Bâgdi fisherman uses the ordinary circular cast-net described in the article on Mâlo, but swings the net round his head before casting it, a practice which the regular fishing castes of Bengal- Tiyar, Mâlo, and Kaibartta- consider to be peculiarly dishonourable. Most of the Bâgdis are also to some extent engaged in agriculture, usually as kurfa or under-raiyats, and comparatively few have attained the more respectable position of occupancy tenants. In Western Bengal we find large numbers of them working as landless day-labourers, paid in cash, or as nomadic cultivators, tilling other men's lands on the bhag- jot system, under which they are remunerated by a definite share of the produce- sometimes one-half, sometimes less, as may be arranged with their immediate landlord. I can recall no instance of a Bâgdi holding a zemindari, or even a superior tenure, such as patni or mukarari, of any importance; but some of the Manbhum zemindars, who now claim to be Rajputs, are said by Colonel Dalton to be really Bâgdis, and the conjecture is likely enough to be true. In the neighbouring district of Bankura, Bâgdis must have been among the earliest settlers, if not the actual aborigines, of that part of the country, for at the present time there are 14 Bâgdis holding the tenure of sardâr ghatuâl, 6 are sadiâls, 2 are village sardârs, 178 tâbidârs, and 117 châkrân chaukidars. In Mânbhum a Bâgdi holds a village sardâr's tenure, and four are employed as tâbidârs. In Central Bengal, Bâgdis are frequently chaukidârs.

Social Status. Their social rank is very low. They are usually classed with Bauris and Bhuiyâs as dwellers on the outskirts of Hinduism. Some Bâgdis eat beef and pork, and all indulge freely in flesh of other kinds, and are greatly addicted to drink. Tentuliâ Bâgdis, however, will not eat beef, and many members of this sub-caste have become Vaishnavas and abstain from all sorts of

1. Asiatic Studies, p. 30.

39 flesh. By abstaining from beef, they consider themselves to be raised above the Bauri, Muchi, and Oraon, and beef-eating members of their own caste.

Duliâ Bâgdis eat tortoises. In Western Bengal the Bâgdis eat and drink with the Mâl; in Orissa they eat rice with the Lohâr Mânjhi and sweetmeats with the Bhuiyâ.

Bagdis.: -A wandering tribe, they have a Totemic clan system. They are landless field labourers. They live in Rajasthan, Madiya Pradesh and Bengal.

Baheliya.: -(Sans. Vyadha, ''one who pierces or wounds,'' ''a hunter.'' Root,Vyadh, ''to pierce'').1- A class of hunters and fowlers. The Puranik tradition is that the father of the tribe was a barber, and the mother an Ahir of bad character. In Bengal, according to Mr. Risley,2''they insist on their title to be considered Dusadhs, and in Bengal, at any rate, the Baheliya and Dusadh eat and smoke together, and though they do not intermarry, behave generally as of they were branches of the same stock.'' This does not seem to be the case in these Provinces, where they usually call themselves a sub-casts of Pasis. Some Baheliyas in the western districts have a tradition that they are of Bhil descent. They say that they came from Chitrakut, in Banda, under their ancestor, the famous Valmiki, and were named Baheliyas by Krishna at Mathura. The Aheriyas, as will be seen by their account of themselves given in the article on that caste, profess to be identical to the Baheliyas. They are probably a relic of some non-Aryan tribe, which still adheres in a great measure to the primitive occupations of hunting, bird trapping, and collecting jungle produce. The Mirzapur legend of their origin tells that Ram Chandra in his wanderings once came across a stag of a golden colour which was really Maricha, the Rakshasa, the minister of Ravana. Ram Chandra pursued the animal, which escaped. In his anger the hero rubbed his hands together, and out of the dirt (wail) thus produced created a man, whom he appointed his chief hunter. From him the tribe of Baheliya are descended.

Internal structure. The Census returns give as the main sub-casts the Paso, in Mirzapur; the Chandel and Sribastab in Gorakhpur; the Lagiya and Rukmaiya of Gonda; the Chhatri and Sribastab of Bahraich, and the Bhongiya of Partabgarh. The Baheliyas of the eastern districts name seven or really eight endogamous sub-casts- Baheliya; Chiryamar or %bird-killers’ (chirya = %a bird’, marna = %to kill‘); Karaul, whose speciality is said to be stalking animals under cover of a tame ox used as a decoy. Mr. Sherring3 treats these as a separate castes and describes them as possessing five sub-casts:- Purabiya, or "Eastern"; Hazari or Hajari, %commanders of a thousand men;’ 4 Uttariya, or "Northern;" Koireriya, who are connected with the Koeri tribe, and Turkiya, or the Muhammadan branch. All these sub-castes are endogamous. Next, among the Baheliya proper, come the Kotiha, who are said to derive their name from being attendants at some king's palace (kot ); the Bajdhar or falconers (baz =%a falcon,’ dharna = %to hold’) ; the Turkiya, or Muhammandan branch, and the Surajbans or "descendants of the sun," who say they take their name from their original settlement, a village called Surajpur Bahlela. To these are sometimes added the Maskar or "providers of meat" (Manskara ) or, as the word is sometimes pronounced, Miskar, a corruption of Mir Shikar, "a chief huntsman."

1. W. Crooke, B. A,Tribes and castes of the North western India, V. I.,principally based on enquiries made at Mirzapur: a few notes on the Oudh branch of the tribe have been contributed by Babu Sanwal Das, Deputy Collector, Hardoi. 2. Hindu Tribes and Castes, I., 353. 3. Hidu Tribes Castes, I., 353. 4. There is a tradition at Chunar that Akbar garrisoned the fort with a body of Baheliyas under a Commander known as Hazari. The descendant of the last Hazari of Chunar is now a runner in the Government Tahail.

40 All the Mirzapur Baheliyas speak of Oudh as their original habitat. The Oudh Baheliyas give three sub-castes which are endogamous- Raghubansi, Pasiya, and Karaul.

Tribal council. Their tribal council ( panchayal ) is presided over by a hereditary chairman known as Sakhi, ''the person who gives testimony.'' They preside over cases of adultery, seduction, and branches of caste rules regarding food, etc. Offences, when proved, are punished by a fine ranging from five rupees down to paying for the refreshment served at the council meetings The standard refreshment is mirchwan , a mixture of bhang, chillies, sugar, and water. This has been recently substituted for liquor, either through some idea of teetotalism, or, as others say, on account of the poverty of the caste.

Marriage rules. The sub-castes already named are endogamous, and they observe, in the eastern districts, the ordinary formula of exogamy, which prohibits marriage in one's own family, or that of the maternal uncle or father's sister, as long as a relationship is remembered. In Oudh they will not give a bride to a family in which, within memory, a son has been married. A man cannot have two sisters as wives at the same time, but he may marry one sister upon the death of another. Similar occupation and the use of, or abstinence from, wine are carefully regarded in forming marriage connections. A man can take a second wife if the council gives him permission; but this is not usually granted unless the first wife is barren or incapacitated by some disease from cohabitation. If an unmarried girl is detected in an intrigue, her parents are fined five rupees, and have to feast the clansmen. Girls are usually married at the age of seven or eight. The negotiations are conducted by a Brahman and barber. Once concluded, no physical defect is a sufficient cause for the annulment of a marriage. Wives can be divorced by order of the council for adultery; but if the paramour be a member of the tribe, the offence is usually atoned for by a money fine. Widows can marry by sagai , but such marriages are generally made with widowers. The only ceremony is eating with the relations of the woman and making her put on new clothes and jewelry provided by her future partner. On his return home with his bride he is obliged to feast his clansmen.

Birth ceremonies. During pregnancy an old woman of the family waves a pice or a handful of grain round the head of the patient and vows to present an offering to a deified ghost called Kalu Bir, and Niman Parihar, who is one of the quintet of the Panchonpir, and is supposed to have some special connection with the use of spirituous liquors. The woman is attended by the Chamain midwife, who cuts the cord and buries it outside the house. At the entrance of the delivery room a fishing net, a branch of the thorny bel tree (Aegle marmelos ), and the family pestle are placed to keep off malignant spirits; and for the same reason a fire is kept alight there during the period of impurity. They have the usual dread of menstrual impurity common to all these races. On the day her child is born the mother gets no food, except a mixture of ginger and coarse sugar mixed up in water. On the next day she receives her usual portion of food. Those who have lost their children get the baby's ears bored before it leaves the delivery room. On the sixth day is the Chhathi, when mother and child are bathed. From this time forward the place of the midwife is taken by the barber's wife, who attends till the twelfth day, when the barahi ceremony is performed. The house is plastered and the earthen vessels replaced. The nails of the mother and all the family are cut, mother and child are bathed , and the clansmen are feasted on wine and cakes (puri ). When the mother first visits the well after her confinement she bows down to it and offers fried gram (ghughuri ) on the platform, which she also marks with a little red lead, a practice which may be a survival of some form of sacrifice , human or animal. If the child is a boy the midwife receives four annas and two sers of grain: for a girl, two annas and the same amount of grain. They so far practise the couvade that the husband does not work on the day his child is born . The original motive has been forgotten , and the explanation given is that he does

41 so to express his joy at his wife's safe delivery. At the age of five or seven the child's ears are bored, and this is considered an initiation into caste: after this the child must observe the caste regulations regarding food.

Marriage ceremonies. The marriage ceremonies are of the ordinary low-caste type . A Brahman is consulted as to whether the union is likely to be propitious (garna ganna ) . The betrothal is concluded by giving the bride's father a rupee or less to clench the bargain. Baheliyas appear invariably to marry their brides by the dola form , in which the ceremonies are performed at the house of the bridegroom . Some eight days before the wedding the bride is brought over to the bridegroom's house. Two or three days before the wedding day a pavilion (manro ) is erected , in the centre of which a ploughshare (haris ), the stalk of a plantain tree, and a bamboo are fixed . Under these are placed the family pestle and mortar and grindstone for spices. Beside these is placed a water jar (kalsa ) covered with a saucer (parai ) filled with barley and decorated with lumps of cowdung and splashes of red lead. The same evening the malmangar ceremony is performed in the usual way. The day before the wedding is the bhatwin, when the clansmen are feasted. On the wedding day the bridegroom is bathed, his nails are pared, and he is dressed in a red coat with a yellow loin cloth. He then parades in horseback through the village, and on his return sits down with his clansmen. At night he is called into the house, and he and the bride are seated in a square in a courtyard, when the bride's father washes their feet with water (panwpuha ). The brahman then recites the verses (mantra ), and the pair worship Gauri and Ganesa. The bride's father, then taking some kusa grass and water, gives his daughter to the bridegroom (kanyadan ). He next applies red lead to the parting of her hair: their clothes are knotted together, and they move five times round the centre pole of the pavilion, while parched maize is thrown over them(lawa parechhan ). The pair go into the retiring room (kohabar ), where his brother in law's wife (sarhaj ) plays jokes on the bridegroom by sitting on his back and refusing to release him until she receives a present. A lighted lamp with two wicks is placed there, and the bridegroom joins the two wicks together as an emblem of union with the bride. Next follows a feast to the clansmen, who return next day. After the marriage is concluded, Kalu Bir and Parihar are worshipped. On the fourth day after the wedding, the bride and bridegroom, accompanied by the barber's wife, go to a neighbouring tank or stream and then drown the sacred water jar (kalsa ) and the marriage festoons (bandanwar ). On their way home they worship the old fig trees of the village which are supposed to be the abode of evil spirits, with an offering of water and washed rice (achchhat ). Some offer also sweetmeats and grain. The binding part of the marriage ceremony is the washing of the bridegroom's feet by the bride's father, and the rubbing of red lead by the bridegroom, on the parting of the bride's hair.

Death ceremonies. When a man is dying he is taken into the open air and gold, Ganges water, and leaves of the lulasi (ocymum sanctum) are put into his mouth. If these things are not procurable, curds and coarse sugar are used. Four men carry the corpse to the cremation, where the body is washed, shrouded in new cloth, and the hair shaved. It is then laid on the pyre, with the legs turned towards the south. The next-of-kin walks round five times and burns the mouth with a torch of straw, and then fires the pyre. On their return home the mourners chew the leave of the bitter Nim tree, and pass their feet through the smoke of burning oil. Next day the Pandit gets the barber to hang a water jar from the branch of a pipal tree. That day the clansmen are fed. The period of mourning is ten days, during which the chief mourner keeps apart, and always carries a water vessel (lota ) and a knife to protect him from evil spirits. He cooks for himself, and, before eating, lays a little food outside the house for the use of the dead. He bathes daily and renews the water in the pot (ghant ) hung up for the dead man. On the tenth day the clansmen assemble at a tank, shave, bathe, and throw the rice balls (pinda ) in the water. The Mahabrahman receives the clothes and personal effects of the dead man, which he is supposed to pass on for his use in the next world. A feast to the

42 clansmen concludes the period of mourning. They make the usual offerings to the dead (sraddha) during the first fortnight of Kuar.

Religion. Baheliyas are seldom regularly initiated into any Hindu sect. Their clan deities, in the Eastern Districts, are Kalu Bir and Parihar, who are worshipped at the Kajari festival in the month of Sawan. To Kalu Bir a young pig is offered, and wine poured on the ground. Parihar receives a sacrifice of fowls and cakes. In Oudh they worship Hardeo or Hardaur Lala, the cholera godling. His offering consists of cakes, fruit, etc. To Lale Deo a goat is sacrificed, grain and milk are offered to the household snake at the Nagpanchami festival. They respect the Sun and Moon, bow to them, but do not give them any special worship. The ordinary low village Brahmans act as their priests at domestic ceremonies. They consume the animals they sacrifice, except pigs, from which most abstain. They have the usual Hindu festivals- the Phagua, Kajari and Dasami.

Social habits and customs. The women wear rings (nathiya), ear ornaments (karanphul), necklaces, bracelets (dharkaua), arm ornaments (baju)k and anklets (pairi, kara). Like other Hindus they give two names to their children. They swear by the Ganges, on their own heads, and on those of their sons. They believe in magic and witchcraft, but do not practise these arts themselves. They will not kill a cow, monkey, or squirrel; they will not touch a Bhangi, Dom, Dhori, or the wife of their younger brother or nephew. They drink liquor freely, and eat the flesh of fowls, goats, deer, and sheep, but not pork or beef. Men eat first, and women after them. They salute by the form pailaga or the ordinary salam ; Brahmans and Rajputs drink water from their hands; Banyas eat pakki cooked by them; Chamars and other menials eat kachchi.

Occupation. Their chief occupation is hunting and trapping birds. Those who live by bird-catching are often known as Miskar, said to be a corruption of shikar ''head huntsman,'' or maskar, ''eater of meat.'' They have a most ingenious mode of trapping birds with a series of thin bamboos, like a fishing rod, on which bird-lime (lasa) is smeared. This they push with great adroitness through the branches and leaves where a bird is sitting, and entangle his wings and feathers. They make excellent shikaris, and are noted for their skill in tracking game. Some work in the Mirzapur lac factories, and a few cultivate as non-occupancy tenants. They are a fine, active, manly race, but notoriously untrustworthy.

Bahna.: -Pinjâra, Dhunia.1- The occupational caste of cotton-cleaners. The Bahnas numbered 48,000 persons in the Central Provinces and Berâr in 1911. The large increase in the number of ginning-factories has ruined the Bahna's trade of cleaning hand-ginned cotton, and as there is no distinction to the name of Bahna it is possible that members of the caste who have taken to other occupations may have abandoned the name and represented themselves simply as Muhammadans. The three names Bahna, Pinjârs, and Dhunia appear to be used equally for the caste in this Province, though in other parts of India they are distinguished from one another. Pinjâra is derived from the word pinjan used for a cotton- bow, and Dhunia is from dhunna , to card cotton. The caste is also known as Dhunak Pathâni. Though professing the Muhammadan religion, they still have many Hindu customs and ceremonies, and in the matter of inheritance our courts have held that they are subject to Hindu and not Muhammadan law.2 In Raipur a girl receives half the share of a boy in the division of inherited property. The caste appears to be a mixed occupational group, and is split into many territorial subcastes named after the different parts of the country from which

1 RUS page No 69-76. This article is partly based on a paper by Munshi Kanhya Lâl of the Gazetteer office. 2 Sir B. Robertson's C . P . Census Report (1891), p. 203.

43 its members have come, as Badharia from Badhas in Mírzâpur, Sarsîtia from the Sâraswati river, Berâri of Berâr, Dakhni from the Deccan, Telangi from Madras, Pardeshi from northern India, and so on. Two groups are occupational, the Newâris of Saugor, who make the thick newâr tape used for the webbing of beds, and the Kanderas, who make fireworks and generally constitute a separate caste. There is considerable ground for supposing that the Bahnas are mainly derived from the caste of Telis or oil-pressers. In the Punjab Sir D. Ibbetson says1 that the Penja or cotton-scutcher is an occupational name applied to Telis who follow this profession; and that the Penja, Kasai and Teli are all of the same caste. Similarly, in Nâsik the Telis and Pinjâras are said to form one community, under the government of a single panchâyat. In cases of dispute or misconduct the usual penalty is temporary excommunication, which is known as the stopping of food and water.2 The Telis are an enterprising community of very low status, and would therefore be naturally inclined to take to other occupations; many of them are shopkeepers, cultivators and landholders, and it is quite probable that in past times they took up the Bahna's profession and changed their religion with the hope of improving their social status. The Telis are generally considered to be quarrelsome and talkative, and the Bahnas or Dhunias have the same characteristics. If one man abusing another lapses into obsceneties, the other will say to him, 'Hamko Julâha Dhunia neh jâno ,' or 'Don't talk to me as if I was a Julâha or a Dhunia.'

Marriage. Some Bahnas have exogamous sections with Hindu names, while others are without these, and simply regulate their marriages by rules of relationship. They have the primitive Hindu custom of allowing a sister's son to marry a brother's daughter, but not vice versa . A man cannot marry his wife's younger sister during her lifetime, nor her elder sister at any time. Children of the same foster-mother are also not allowed to marry. Their marriages are performed by a K¡âzi with an imitation of the Nikâh rite. The bridegroom's party sits under the marriage-shed, and the bride remains with the women of her party inside the house. The Kâzi selects two men, one from the bride's party, who is known as the Nikâhi Bâp or 'Marriage Father,' and the other from the bridegroom's who is called the Gowâh or 'Witness.' These two men go to the bride and ask her whether she accepts the bridegroom for her husband. She answers in the affirmative, and mentions the amount of the dowry which she is to receive. The bridegroom, who has hitherto had a veil (mukhna ) over his face, now takes it off, and the men go to him and ask him whether he accepts the bride. He replies that he does, and agrees to pay the dowry demanded by her. The Kâzi reads some texts and the guests are given a meal of rice and sugar. Many of the preliminaries to a Hindu marriage are performed by the more backward members of the caste, and until recently they erected a sacred post in the marriage-shed, but now they merely hang the green branch of a mango tree to the roof. The minimum amount of the mehar or dowry is said to be Rs. 125, but it is paid to the girl's parents as a bride-price and not to herself, as among the Muhammadans. A widow is expected, but not obliged, to marry her deceased husband's younger brother. Divorce is permitted by means of a written deed known as 'Fârkhati.'

Religious and other customs. The Bahnas venerate Muhammad, and also worship the tombs of Muhammadan saints or Pârs. A green sheet or cloth is spread over the tomb and a lamp is kept burning by it, while offerings of incense and flowers are made. When the new cotton crop has been gathered, they lay some new cotton by their bow and mallet and make an offering of malída or cakes of flour and sugar to it. They believe that two angels, one good and one bad, are perched continually on the shoulders of every man to record his good and evil deeds. And when an eclipse occurs they say that the sun and moon have gone behind a pinnacle or tower of the heavens. For exorcising evil spirits they write texts of the Korân on paper and burn them before the sufferer. The caste bury the dead with the feet pointing to the south. On the way

1 Punjab Census Report (1881), paras. 646, 647 2 Nâsik Gazetteer , pp. 84, 85.

44 to the grave each one of the mourners places his shoulder under the bier for a time, partaking of the impurity communicated by it. Incence is burnt daily in the name of a deceased person for forty days after his death, with the probable aim of preventing his ghost from returning to haunt the house. Muhammadan beggars are fed on the tenth day. Similarly, after the birth of a child a woman is unclean for forty days, and cannot cook for her husband during that period. A child's hair is cut for the first time on the tenth or twelfth day after birth, this being known as Jhâlar. Some parents let a lock of hair grow on the head in the name of the famous saint Saeikh Faríd, thinking that this will thus ensure a long life for the child. It is probably in reality a way of preserving the Hindu choti or scalp-lock.

Occupation. The hereditary calling1 of the Bahna is the cleaning or scutching of cotton, which is done by subjecting it to the agitation of a bow-string. The seed has been previously separated by a hand-gin, but the ginned cotton still contains much dirt, leaf-fibre and other rubbish, and to remove this is the Bahna's task. The bow is somewhat in the shape of a harp, the wide end consisting of a broad piece of wood over which the string passes, being secured to a strong wooden bar at the back. At the narrow end the bar and string are fixed to an iron ring. The string is made of the sinew of some animal, and this renders the implement objectionable to Hindus, and may account for the Bahnas being Muhammadans. The club or mallet is a wooden implement shaped like a dumb-bell. The bow is suspended from the roof so as to hang just over the pile of loose cotton; and the worker twangs the string with the mallet and then draws the mallet across the string, each three or four times. The string strikes a small portion of the cotton, the fibre of which is scattered by the impact and thrown off in a uniform condition of soft fluff, all dirt being at the same time removed. This is the operation technically known as teasing. Buchanan remarked that women frequently did the work themselves at home, using a smaller kind of bow called dhunkara . The clean cotton is made up into balls, some of which are passed onto the spinner, while others are used for the filling of quilts and the padded coats worn in the cold weather. The ingenious though rather clumsy methods of the Bahna have been superseded by the ginning-factory, and little or no cotton destined for the spindle is now cleaned by them. The caste have been forced to take to cultivation or field labour, while many have become cartmen and others are brokers, peons or constables. Nearly every house still has its pinjan or bow, but only a desultory use is made of this during the winter months. As it is principally used by a Muhammadan caste it seems a possible hypothesis that the cotton-bow was introduced into India by invaders of that religion. The name of the bow, pinjan , is, however, a Sanskrit derivative, and this is contrary to the above theory. It has already been seen that the fact of animal sinew being used for the string would make it objectionable to Hindus. The Bahnas are subjected to considerable ridicule on account of their curious mixture of Hindu and Muhammadan ceremonies, amounting in some respects practically to a caricature of the rites of Islâm; and further, they bear with the weaver class the contempt shown to those who follow a calling considered more suitable for women than men. It is related that when the Mughal general Asaf Khân first made an expedition into the north of the Central Provinces he found the famous Gond-Râjpît queen Durgâvati of the -Mandla dynasty governing with great success a large and prosperous state in this locality. He thought a country ruled by a woman should fall an easy prey to the Muhammadan arms, and to show his contempt for her power he sent her a golden spindle. The queen retorted with a present of a gold cotton-cleaner's bow, and this so enraged the Mughal that he proceeded to attack the Gond kingdom. The story indicates that cotton-carding is considered a Muhammadan profession, and also that it is held in contempt.

1 Crooke's Tribes and Castes , art. Bahna.

45 Proverbs about Bahnas. Various sayings show that the Bahna is not considered a proper Muhammadan, as Turuk to Turuk Aur Bahan Turuk , or 'A Muhammadan () is a Muhammadan and the Bahna is also a Muhammadan' ; and again- Achera ,1 Kachera , Pinjâra , Muhammad se dîr , Dín se niyâra , or 'The Kachera and Pinjâra are lost to Muhammad and far from the faith' ; and again- Adho Hindu adho Musalmân Tinkhon kahen Dhunak Pathân , or 'Half a Hindu and half a Muhammadan, that is he who is a Dhunak Pathân.' They have a grotesque imitation of the Muhammadan rite of halâl , or causing an animal's blood to flow onto the ground with the repetition of the kalma or invocation; thus it is said that when a Bahna is about to kill a fowl he addresses it somewhat as follows : Kîhe karkarât hai ? Kâhe barbarât hai ? K¡âhe jai jai logon ka dâna khât hâi ? Tor kiâmat mor niâmat Bismillâh hai tuch , or "Why do you cackle ? Why do you crow ? Why do you eat other people's grain ? Your death is my feast; I Touch you in the name of God." And saying this he puts a knife to the fowl's throat. The vernacular verse is a good imitation of the cackling of a fowl. And again, they slice off the top of an egg as if they were killing an animal and repeat the formula, "White dome, full of moisture, I know not if there is a male or female within; in the name of God I kill you." A person whose memory is not good enough to retain these texts will take a knife and proceed to one who knows them. The man will repeat the texts over the knife, blowing on it as he does so, and the Bahna considers that the knife has been sanctified and retains its virtue for a week. Others do not think this necessary, but have a special knife, which having once been consecrated is always kept for killing animals, and descends as an heirloom in the family, the use of this sacred knife being considered to make the repetition of the Kalma unnecessary. These customs are, however, practised only by the ignorant members of the caste in Raipur and Bilâspur, and are unknown in the more civilised tracts, where the Bahnas are rapidly conforming to ordinary Muhammadan usage. Such primitive Bahnas perform their marriages by walking round the sacred post, keep the Hindu festivals, and feed Brâhmans on the tenth day after a death. They have a priest whom they call their K¡âzi, but elect him themselves. In some places when a Bahna goes to the well to draw water he first washes the parapet of the well to make it ceremonially clean, and then draws his water. This custom can only be compared with that of the Râj-Gonds who wash the firewood with which they are about to cook their food, in order to make it more pure. Respectable Muhammadans naturally look down on the Bahnas, and they retaliate by refusing to take food or water from any Muhammadan who is not a Bahna. By such strictness the more ignorant think that they will enhance their ceremonial purity and hence their social consideration; but the intelligent members of the caste know better and are glad to improve themselves by learning from educated Muhammadans. The other menial artisan castes among the Muhammadans have similar ideas, and it is reported that a Rangrez boy who took food in the house of one of the highest Muhammadan officers of government in the Province was temporarily put out of his caste. Another saying about the Bahnas is- Sheikhon kí Sheikhi , Pathânon kí tarr , Turkon kí Turkshâhi , Bahnon kí bharakhi

1 The word Achera is merely a jingle put in to make the rhyme complete. Kachera is a maker of glass bangles.

46 or 'Proud as a Sheikh, obstinate as a Pathân, royal as a Turk, buzzing like a Bahna.' This refers to the noise of the cotton-cleaning bow, the twang of which as it is struck by the club is like a quail flying; and at the same time refers to the Bahna's loquacity. Another story is that a Bahna was once going through the forest with his cotton-cleaning bow and club or mallet, when a jackal met him on the path. The jackal was afraid that the Bahna would knock him on the head, so he said, "With thy bow on thy shoulder and thine arrow in thy hand, whither goest thou, O King of Delhi ?" The Bahna was exceedingly pleased at this and replied, 'King of the forest, eater of wild plums, only the great can recognise the great.' But when the jackal had got to a safe distance he turned round and shouted, "With your cotton-bow on your shoulder and your club in your hand, there you go, you sorry Bahna." It is said also that although the Bahnas as good Muhammadans wear beards, they do not cultivate them very successfully, and many of them only have a growth of hair below the chin and none on the under-lip, in the fashion known as a goat's beard. This kind of beard is thus proverbially described as 'Bahna kaisi dârhi ' or 'A Bahna's beard.' It may be repeated in conclusion that much of the ridicule attached to the Bahnas arises simply from the fact that they follow what is considered a feminine occupation, and the remainder because in their ignorance they parody the rites of Islâm. It may seem ill-natured to record the sayings in which they are lampooned, but the Bahnas cannot read English, and these have an interest as specimens of popular wit.

Bahrot.: -See Charan.

Bahurupia.: -They are wandering religious actors.

Bahurupias.: -They are actors and story-tellers. They also have plays of religious and mythological content. They are very skillful. They put on make up and dress as half man and half woman. During acting they turnaround so quickly as to give the impression of being two different actors. They used to be buffoons at the Rajas' courts.

Baidya.: -Vaidya 1 ( from Sansk. vid, to known ) Ambastha, Bhisak, Chikitsak, a well-known and highly respected caste, found only in Bengal Proper, whose features and complexion seem to warrant their claim to tolerably pure Aryan descent. There has been much controversy regarding their origin. The name Vaidya does not occur in Manu, but the Ambasthas there are said to be the offspring of a Brahman father and a Vaisya mother, and their profession to be the practice of medicine. According to this account the Baidyas are anulomaj ("born with the hair or grain," that is, in due order), the father being of higher caste than the mother. Another tradition describes them as begotten on a Brahman woman by one of the Aswini Kumaras, the light-bringing and healing twin-horsemen of Vedic mythology; and then, oddly enough, goes on to say that they were reckoned as Sudras because their mother was of superior rank to their father, and their generation was consequently pratilomaja, " against the hair, " or in the inverse order according to the succession of the castes. It would appear from this that the Aswini Kumaras were classed as Kshatriyas, and that, according to Brahmanical ideas, even the gods were not equal mates for a Brahman maiden.

1 Risley vol. I page 46-50 The term Baidya is not distinctive, and may denote either a member of the Baidya caste properly so called, or a man who practises medicine, whether a Brahman or a member of some lower caste. In Behar, where the Baidya caste is unknown, Sakadwipi Brahmans are the regular physicians.

47 An expanded version of the pedigree given by Manu is found in the Skanda Purana. This legend tells how Galava Muni, a pupil or son of Viswamitra, being greatly distressed by thirst while on a pilgrimage, was given a draught of water by a Vaisya girl named Birbhadra. The grateful sage blessed the maiden that she should soon have a son. Birbhadra demurred to this boon, on the ground that she was unmarried; but the rash oath, so characteristic of Indian mythology, could not be recalled, nor could Galava himself put matters straight by marrying the virgin whose kindness had involved her in so strange a difficulty. For, so it is explained, she had saved his life by the draught of water, and therefore he looked upon her in the light of a mother. A miracle was clearly in request. By the word of power of a Vedic mantra a wisp of kusa grass ( Poa Cynosuroides ) was transformed into a male child, variously known as Dhanvantari, Amrita Acharya, and Ambastha. He was the first of the Vaidyas, because to a Vedic (Vaidik ) text he owed his birth. He was also Ambastha because he had no father, and therefore belonged to the family of his mother (Amba ). A number of analogous myths have been collected by Bachofen in his two letters on 'Pueri juncini,' and his method of interpretation applied to the present case would lead to the conclusion that the tradition given in the Skanda Purana records an instance of female kinship.

Internal structure. The Baidyas are now divided into the following four subcastes:- (1) Rarhi, (2) Banga, (3) Barendra, and (4) Panchakoti, according to the parts of Bengal in which their ancestors resided. All of these are endogamous. A fifth endogamous group, which bears no distinctive name, comprises those Baidya families of the districts of Sylhet, Chittagong, and Tipperah who intermarry with Kayasths and Sunris, the children in each case following the caste of the father. This practice appears to be the only modern instance of intermarriage between members of different castes. It is said to have arisen from the reluctance of the Baidyas farther west to give their daughters to men who had settled in the country east of the Brahmaputra. Failing women of their own caste, the latter were compelled not only to marry the daughters of Kayasths, but to give their own daughters in return. This interchange of women is said to extend even to the comparatively degraded caste of Sunri, and it may be for this reason that the Chittagong, Tipperah, and Sylhet Baidyas are cut off from communal partaking of food with the other subcastes. The sections or exogamous groups in use among the Baidyas will be found in Appendix 1. All of them appear to be eponymous, the eponyms being Vedic Rishis or saints. The restrictions on intermarriage are the same as among Brahmans.

Legend of Ballal Sen. The evidence of inscriptions shows that a dynasty of Baidya Kings ruled over at least a portion of Bengal from 1010 to 1200 A. D. To the most famous of these, Ballal Sen, is ascribed the separation of the Baidyas into two divisions, one of which wore the sacred thread and observed fifteen days as the prescribed period of mourning, while with the other, investiture with the thread was optional, and mourning lasted for a month. Before his time, it is said, all Baidyas formed a single group, the members of which intermarried with one another, as all were equal in rank. All wore the thread and observed the term of mourning characteristic of the Vaisyas. Ballal Sen, however, insisted on marrying a ferryman's daughter, named Padmavati, of the Patni or Dom-Patni caste. His son, Lakshan Sen, followed by a majority of the caste, protested against the legality of the marriage, and, finding their remonstrances unheeded, tore off the sacred cord which all Baidyas then wore, and retired into a distant part of the country. These were the ancestors of the Banga and Barendra sub-castes of the present day, while the Rarhi Baidyas represent the remnant who condoned Ballal Sen's offence. It is difficult to reconcile this legend with the accepted tradition that in the course of his social reforms Ballal Sen separated the Baidyas into three classes-Rarhi, Barendra, and Banga- according to the place of their abode, and introduced the hypergamous divisions of Kulin, Bangsaj, and Maulik. A Kulin must marry his daughter to a Kulin, but he himself may marry either a Kulin or a Bangsaj women. If he marries a Maulik woman, his family is to a certain extent dishonoured, but the stain may be wiped out by marrying his sister or

48 daughter to a Kulin. Hence the saying, "Rising and falling is the Baidya's lot, provided the original stock remains sound." Ballal Sen is said to have distributed the Baidyas of his time into twenty-seven sthans or communes, beyond which no one could reside without losing caste priveledges. The principal settlements were at Senhati, Chandam Mahal, Daspara, Puigram, Karoria, Shendia, Itna, and Bhattapratap in Jessore; Poragachha in Bikrampur; and Dasora and Chand-pratap in Dacca. To him also is attributed the institution of the three classes-Siddha, sadhya, and Kashta, which, like the Kulinistic groups, have reference to social esteem or purity of lineage. They differ from the latter in being more rigid. Thus, a Siddha Baidya who takes a wife from the Sadhya or Kashta class sinks at once to their level, and his descendants cannot recover their status by marrying into a higher class.

The Samaj-pati, or presidency, of the Banga Baidyas, has for several generations been vested in the family of Raja Ballabh of Rajnagar, who reside on the south bank of the Padma river, and though now poor and dependent, the members are still consulted on matters affecting the caste. In the middle of the last century the influence of the family was much stronger, and a Raja of that time induced many of the Banga and Barendra Baidyas to resume the sacred thread which their ancestors had discarded. With reference to this tradition, Ward writes as if the entire caste had then for the first time obtained the right to wear thread by means of Raj Ballabh's influence. He says: “Raj Ballabh, a person of this [Baidya] class, steward to the Nawab of Murshedabad, about a hundred years ago first procured for Baidyas the honour of wearing the paita: He invited the Brahmans to a feast, and persuaded them to invest his son; from which time many Baidyas wear this badge of distinction.”

Marriage. Infant-marriage is the rule of the caste, rare exceptions being met with in highly-educated families, which have come under the influence of European ideas. Polygamy is permitted, but is not practised on a large scale. Divorce is unknown: a woman taken in adultery is simply turned adrift, and ceases to be a member of respectable Hindu society. Widows are not allowed to marry again, and the practice of sati was formerly very common. On this point Ward, writing in 1811, says: “Many Baidya widows ascend the funeral pyre. At Sonakhali, in Jessore, which contains many families of this order, almost all the widows are regularly burnt alive with the corpses of their husbands.”

The Baidya marriage ceremony does not differ materially from that in vogue among other groups, except that sometimes the Kusundika ceremony is performed on the marriage night. When equals marry, a curious custom is observed. A bond is proclaimed certifying that the bridegroom has received twelve rupees; should a second son marry, he executes a bond for twenty-four; and in the case of a third son the acknowledgment is for thirty-six. Beyond this it never goes, however many brothers the bridegroom may have older then himself.

Religion. The religion of the Baidyas is that of the orthodox high caste Hindu. All old Baidya families are Sakti Worshippers, but among the poorer classes Vaishnavas are occasionally found. Of late years many of the caste have joined the Brahma Samaj. Brahmans are employed for religious and ceremonial purposes; but it is doubtful whether these are of the highest rank, as they also officiate for the Nava-sakha. They have also ghataks of their own, who were formerly Brahmans, but for many years past members of their own caste have discharged this important social function. The innovation is ascribed to one Viswanath of Jessore, who is said to have been the first regular Baidya ghatak.

Occupation. Their primary occupation is the practice of medicine, according to the traditional Hindu method. It was no doubt the original profession of the Baidya caste. From the time of the Sen kings, however, the tendency has been towards the adoption of other vocations, and at the present day hardly one-third of the caste are believed to be engaged in their traditional

49 vocation. Those who remain are still in pretty high demand. Certain passages of the Shasrras regard the taking of medicine from a Baidya as a sort of sacramental act, and forbid resort to anyone not of that caste, so that some orthodox Hindus, when at the point of death, call in a Baidya to prescribe for them in the belief that by swallowing the drugs he orders for them they obtain absolution for their sins. Many Baidyas have distinguished themselves at the Bar, and as agents, managers, and school-masters, whilst others have taken to the study of English medicine and have entered Government service or engaged in private practice as medical men. Many again are found among the higher grades of land-holders, as zemindars, tenure-holders, and a few are occupancy raiyats. They will on no account hold the plough, or engage in any form of manual labour, and thus necessarily carry on their cultivation by means of hired servants paid in cash or by a share of the crop.

Social status. In point of social standing, Baidyas rank next to Brahmans and above Kayasths. Strictly speaking, they are inferior to Rajputs, but this point cannot be insisted on in practice, as there are comparatively few Rajputs in the area inhabited by Baidyas, and those are mostly immigrants from Upper India, who belong to a different social system from Bengalis. There has been some controversy between Baidyas and Kayasths regarding their relative rank, the leading points of which will be found in the article on Kayasths. Putting aside the manifest futility of the discussion, we may fairly conclude by saying that in point of general culture there is probably difference between the two castes, though the Baidyas have distinctly the best technical claim to precedence. On the other hand, it would, I think, strike most observers that the Kayasths are the more pliant and adaptive of the two, and have thereby drawn to themselves a larger share of official preferment then the more conservative Baidyas.

Baidyas eat boiled rice and food coming under that category only with members of their own caste. They will drink and smoke with the Nava Sakha and with castes ranking higher than that group, but will not use the same drinking vessel or the same hookah. Brahmans will eat sweetmeats in a Baidya's house, and will drink and smoke in their company, subject to the restriction noticed in last sentence as to not using the same pipe.

Baiga.: -A primitive Dravidian tribe1- whose home is on the eastern Satpîra hills in the Mandla, Bâlâghât and Bilâspur Districts. The number of the Baigas was only 30,000 in 1911. But the Binjhâls or Binjhwârs, a fairly numerous caste in the Chhattísgarh Division, and especially in the Sambalpur District, appear to have been originally Baigas, though they have dropped the original caste name, become Hinduised, and now disclaim connection with the parent tribe. A reason for this may be found in the fact that Sambalpur contains several Binjhwâr zamíndârs, or large landowners, whose families would naturally desire a more respectable pedigree than one giving them the wild Baigas of the Satpîras for their forefathers. And the evolution of the Binjhwâr caste is a similar phenomenon to the constitution of the Râj-Gonds, the Râj-Korkus, and other aristocratic subdivisions among the forest tribes, who have been admitted to a respectable position in the Hindu social community. The Binjhwârs, however, have been so successful as to cut themselves off almost completely from connection with the original tribe, owing to their adoption of another name. But in Bâlâghât and Mandla the Binjhwâr subtribe is still recognised as the most civilised subdivision of the Baigas. The Bhainas, a small tribe in Bilâspur, are probably another offshoot, Kath-Bhaina being the name of a subtribe of Baigas in that District, and Rai-Bhaina in Bâlâghât, though the Bhainas too no longer admit a common identity with the Baigas. A feature common to all three branches is that they have forgotten their original tongue, and

1. RUS Page No 76-92. This article is based largely on a monograph by the Rev. J. Lampard, missionary, Baihar, and also on papers by Muhammad Hanif Siddíqi, forest ranger, Bilaspur, and Mr. Muhammad Ali Haqqâni, B.A., Tahsíldâr, Dindori. Some extracts have been made form Colonel Ward's Mandla Settlement Report (1869), and form Colonel Bloomfield's Notes on the Baigas.

50 now speak a more or less corrupt form of the Indo-Aryan vernaculars current around them. Finally, the term Bhumia or 'Lord of the soil' is used sometimes as the name of a separate tribe and sometimes as a synonym for Baiga. The fact is that in the Central Provinces 1 Bhumia is the name of an office, that of the priest of the village and local deities, which is held by one of the forest tribes. In the tract where the Baigas live, they, as the most ancient residents, are usually the priests of the indigenous gods; but in Jubbulpore the same office is held by another tribe, the Bharias. The name of the office often attaches itself to members of the tribe, who consider it somewhat more respectable than their own, and it is therefore generally true that the people known as Bhumias in Jubbulpore are really Bharias, but in Mandla and Bilâspur they are Baigas.

In Mandla there is also found a group called Bharia-Baigas. These are employed as village priests by Hindus, and worship certain Hindu deities and not the Gond gods. They may perhaps be members of the Bharia tribe of Jubbulpore, originally derived from the Bhars., who have obtained the designation of Baiga, owing to their employment as village priests. But they now consider themselves a part of the and say they came to Mandla from Rewah. In Mandla the decision of a Baiga on a boundary dispute is almost always considered as final, and this authority is of a kind that commonly emanates from recognised priority of residence.2 There seems reason to suppose that the Baigas are really a branch of the primitive tribe of Chota Nâgpur, and that they have taken or been given the name of Baiga, the designation of village priest, on migration into the Central Provinces. There is reason to believe that the Baigas were once dominant in the Chhattisgarh plain and the hills surrounding it which adjoin Chota Nâgpur, the home of the Bhuiyas. The considerations in favour of this view are given in the article on Bhuiya.

Tribal legends The Baigas, however, are not without some conceit of themselves, as the following legend will show. In the beginning, they say, God created Nanga Baiga and Nangi Baigin, the first of the human race, and asked them by what calling they would choose to live. They at once said that they would make their living by felling trees in the jungle, and permission being accorded, have done so ever since. They had two sons, one of whom remained a Baiga, while the other became a Gond and a tiller of the soil. The sons married their own two sisters who were born afterwards, and while the elder couple are the ancestors of the Baigas, from the younger are descended the Gonds and all the remainder of the human race. In another version of the story, the first Baiga cut down two thousand old sâl 3 trees in one day, and God told him to sprinkle a few grains of kutki on the ashes, and then to retire and sleep for some months, when on his return he would be able to reap a rich harvest for his children. In this manner the habit of shifting cultivation is accorded divine sanction. According to Binjhwâr tradition Nanga Baiga and Nangi Baigin dwelt on the kajli ban pahâr, which being interpreted is the hill of elephants, and may well refer to the ranges of Mandla and Bilâspur. It is stated in the Ain-i-Akbari 4 that the country of Garha-Mandla abounded in wild elephants, and that the people paid their tribute in these and gold mohurs. In Mandla the Baigas sometimes hang from their houses a bamboo mat fastened to a long pole to represent a flag which they say once flew from the palace of the tribe which may have been in the Chhattísgarh plain and the hill-ranges surrounding it. A number of estates in these hills are held by landowners of tribes which are offshoots of the Baigas, such as the Bhainas and Binjhwârs. The point is further discussed in the article on Bhuiya. Most of the Baigas speak a corrupt form of the Chhattísgarhi dialect. When they first came under the detailed observation of English officers in the middle of the nineteenth century, the tribe was even

1. In Bengal the Bhumia or Bhumíj are an important tribe. 2. Colonel Ward's Mandla Settlement Report (1868-69), p. 153. 3. Shorea robusta. 4. Jarrett's Ain-i-Akbari, vol. ii. p. 196.

51 more solitary than at present. Their villages, it is said, were only to be found in places far removed from all cleared and cultivated country. No roads or well-defined paths connected them with ordinary lines of traffic and more thickly inhabited tracts. Tucked away in snug corners of the hills, and hidden by convenient projecting spurs and dense forests from the surrounding country, they could not be seen except when in very close proximity, and were seldom visited unless by occasional enterprising Banias and vendors of country liquor. Indeed, without a Baiga for a guide many of the villages could hardly be discovered, for nothing but occasional notches on the tress distinguished the tracks to them from those of the sâmbhar and other wild animals.

Tribal subdivisions. The following seven subdivisions or subtribes are recognised: Binjhwâr, Bharotia, Narotia or Nâhar, Raibhaina, Kathbhaina, Kondwân or Kundi, and Gondwaina. Of these the Binjhwâr, Bharotia and Narotia are the best-known. The name of the Binjhwârs is probably derived from the Vindhyan range, which in turn comes from the Sanskrit vindhya , "a hunter." The rule of exogamy is by no means strictly observed, and in Kawardha it is said that these three subcastes intermarry though they do not eat together, while in Bâlâghât the Bharotias and Narotias do both. In both places the Binjhwârs occupy the highest position, and the other two subtribes will take food from them. The Binjhwârs consider themselves Hindus and abjure the consumption of buffalo and cow flesh and rats, while the other Baigas will eat almost anything. The Bharotias partially shave their heads, and in Mandla are apparently known as Mundia or Mudia, or "shaven." The Gondwainas eat both cow flesh and monkeys, and are regarded as the lowest subcaste. As shown by their name, they are probably the offspring of unions between Baigas and Gonds. Similarly the Kondwâns apparently derive their name from the tract south of the Mahânadi, which is named after the Khond tribe, and was formerly owned by them.

Each subtribe is divided into a number of exogamous sects, the names of which are identical in many cases with those of the Gonds, as Markâm, Marâvi, Netâm, Tekâm and others. Gond names are found most frequently among the Gondwainas and Narotias, and these have adopted from the Gonds the prohibition of marriage between worshipers of the same number of gods. Thus the four sects above mentioned worship seven gods and may not intermarry. But they may marry among other sects such as the Dhurua, Pusâm, Bania and Mawâr who worship six gods. The Baigas do not appear to have assimilated the further division into worshippers of five, four, three and two gods which exists among the Gonds in some localities, and the system is confined to the lower subtribes. The meanings of the sect names have been forgotten and no instances of totemism are known. And the Binjhwârs and Bharotias, who are more or less Hinduised, have now adopted territorial names for their sects, as Lapheya from Lâpha zamíndâri, Ghugharia from Gond. Names and sects appears to indicate that Gonds were in former times freely admitted into the Baiga tribe; and this continues to be the case at present among the lower subtribes, so far that a Gond girl marrying a Baiga becomes a regular member of the community. But the Binjhwârs and Bharotias, who have a somewhat higher status than the others, refuse to admit Gonds, and are gradually adopting the strict rule of endogamy within the subtribe.

Marriage A Baiga must not take a wife from his own sect or from another one worshipping the same number of gods. But he may marry within his mother's sect, and in some localities the union of first cousins is permitted. Marriage is adult and the proposal comes form the parents of the bride, but in some places the girl is allowed to select a husband for herself. A price varying from five to twenty rupees is usually paid to the bride's parents, or in lieu of this the prospective husband serves his father-in-law for a period of about two years, the marriage being celebrated after the first year if his conduct is satisfactory. Orphan boys who have no parents to arrange their marriages for them often use the service of intermediaries for a wife. Three ceremonies should precede the marriage. The first, which may take place at any time

52 after the birth of both children, consists merely in the arrangement for their betrothal. The second is only a ratification of the first, feasts being provided by the boy's parents on both occasions. When the children approach marriageable age, the final betrothal or barokhi is held. They boy's father gives a large feast at the house of the girl and the date of the wedding is fixed. To ascertain whether the union will be auspicious, two grains of rice are dropped into a pot of water, after various preliminary solemnities to mark the importance of the occasion. If the points of the grains meet almost immediately it is considered that the marriage will be highly auspicious. If they do not meet, a second pair of grains are dropped in, and should these meet it is believed that the couple will quarrel after an interval of married life and that the wife will return to her father's house. While if neither of the two first essays are successful and a third pair is required, the regrettable conclusion is arrived at that the wife will run away with another man after a very short stay with her husband. But it is not stated that the betrothal is on that account annulled. The wedding procession starts form the bridegroom's house 1 and is received by the bride's father outside the village. It is considered essential that he should go out to meet the bride's party riding on an elephant. But as a real elephant is not within the means of a Baiga, two wooden bedsteads are lashed together and covered with blankets with a black cloth trunk in front, and this arrangement passes muster of an elephant. The elephant makes pretence to charge and trample down the marriage procession, until a rupee is paid, when the two embrace each other and proceed to the marriage-shed. Here the bride and bridegroom throw fried rice at each other until they are tired, and then walk three or seven times round the marriage-post with their clothes tied together. It is stated by Colonel Ward that the couple always retired to the forest to spend the wedding night, but this custom had now been abandoned. The expenditure on a marriage varies between ten and fifty rupees, of which only about five rupees fall on the bride's parents. The remarriage of widows is permitted, and the widow is expected, though not obliged, to wed her late husband's younger brother, while if she takes another husband he must pay her brother-in-law the sum of five rupees. The ceremony consists merely of the presentation of bangles and new clothes by the suitor, in token of her acceptance of which the widow pours some tepid water stained with turmeric over his head. Divorce may be effected by the husband and wife committee. If the woman remains in the same village and does not marry again, the husband is responsible for her maintenance and that of her children, while a divorced woman may not remarry without the sanction of the panchâyat so long as her husband is alive and remains single. Polygamy is permitted.

Birth and funeral rites. A woman is unclean for a month after childbirth, though for the Binjhwârs the period is eight days. At the ceremony of purification a feast is given and the child is named, often after the month or day of its birth, as Chaitu, Phâgu, Saoni, and so on, from the months of Chait, Phâgun and Shrâwan. Children who appear to be physically defective are given names accordingly., such as Langra (lame), or Bahira (deaf).

The dead are usually buried, the bodies of old persons being burnt as a special honour and to save them from the risk of being devoured by wild animals. Bodies are laid naked in the grave with the head pointing to the south. In the grave of a man of importance two or three rupees and some tobacco are placed. In some places a rupee is thrust into the mouth of the dying man, and if his body is burnt, the coin is recovered from the pyre by his daughter or sister, who wears it as an amulet. Over the grave a platform is made on which a stone is erected. This is called the Bhíri of the deceased and is worshipped by his relatives in time of trouble. If one of the family has to be buried elsewhere, the relatives go to the Bhíri of the great dead and consign his spirit to be kept in their company. At a funeral the mourners take one black and one white fowl to a stream and kill and eat them there, setting aside a portion for the dead man. Mourning is observed from two to nine days, and during this time

1. Colonel Ward gives the bride's house as among the Gonds. But inquiry in Mandla shows that if this custom formerly existed it has been abandoned.

53 labour and even household work are stopped, food being supplied by the friends of the family. When a man is killed by a tiger the Baiga priest goes to the spot and there makes a small cone out of the blood-stained earth. This must represent a man, either the dead man or one of his living relatives. His companions having retired a few paces, the priest goes on his hands and knees and performs a series of antics which are supposed to represent the tiger in the act of destroying the man, at the same time seizing the lump of blood-stained earth in his teeth. One of the party then runs up and taps him on the back with a small stick. This perhaps means that the tiger is killed or otherwise rendered harmless; and the Baiga immediately lets the mud cone fall into the hands of one of the party. It is then placed in an ant-hill and a pig is sacrificed over it. Then the dead man's name is written on its head with red ochre, and it is thrown back into the forest, the priest exclaiming, 'Take this and go home.' The ceremony is supposed to lay the dead man's spirit to rest and the at the same time prevent the tiger from doing any further damage. The Baigas believe that the ghost of the victim, if not charmed to rest, resides on the head of the tiger and incites him to further deeds of blood, rendering him also secure from harm by his preternatural watchfulness.1

They also think that they can shut up the tiger's dâr or jaws, so that he cannot bite them, by driving a nail into a tree. The forest track from Kânha to Kisli in the Banjar forest reserve of Mandla was formerly the haunt of man-eating tigers, to whom a number of the wood-cutters and Baiga coolies, clearing the jungle paths, fell victim every year. In a large tree, at a dangerous point in the track, there could recently be seen a nail,. driven into the trunk by a Baiga priest, at some height from the ground. It was said that this nail shut the mouth of a famous man-eating tiger of the locality and prevented him from killing any more victims. As evidence of the truth of the story there were shown on the trunk the marks of the tiger's claws, where he had been jumping up the tree in the effort to pull the nail out of the trunk and get his man-eating powers restored.

Religion. Although the Binjhwâr subcaste now profess Hinduism, the religion of the Baigas is purely animistic. Their principal deity is Bura Deo, 2 who is supposed to reside in a sâj tree (Terminalia tomentosa ); he is worshipped in the month of Jeth (May), when goats, fowls, coconuts, and the liquor of the new mahua crop are offered to him. Thâkur Deo is the god of the village land and boundaries, and is propitiated with a white goat. The Baigas who plough the fields have a ceremony called Bidri, which is performed before the breaking of the rains. A handful of each kind of grain sown is given by each cultivator to the priest, who mixes the grains together and sows a little beneath the tree where Thâkur Deo lives. After this he returns a little to each cultivator, and he sows it in the centre of the land on which crops are to be grown, while the priest keeps the reminder. This ceremony is believed to secure the success of the harvest. Dulha Deo is the god who averts disease and accident, and the offering made to him should consist of a fowl or goat of reddish colour. Bhímsen is the deity of rainfall, and Dharti Mâta or Mother Earth is considered to be the wife to Thâkur Deo and must also be propitiated for the success of the crops. The grain itself is worshipped at the threshing floor by sprinkling water and liquor on to it. Certain Hindu deities are also worshipped by the Baigas, but not in orthodox fashion. For example it would be sacrilege on the part of a Hindu to offer animal sacrifices to Nârâyan Deo, the sun-god, but the Baigas devote to him a special oblation of the most unclean animal, the pig. The animal to be sacrificed is allowed to wander loose for two or three years, and is then killed in a most cruel manner. It is laid across the threshold of a doorway on its back, and across its stomach is placed a stout plank of sâj -wood. Half a dozen men sit or stand on the ends of this, and the fore and hind feet of the pig are pulled backwards and forwards alternately over the plank until it is crushed to death, while all the men sing or shout a sacrificial hymn. The head and feet are cut off and offered to the deity, and the body is eaten. The forests are believed to be

1. Forsyth's Highlands of Central India , p. 377. 2. The Great God. The Gonds also worship Bura Deo, resident in a sâj tree.

54 haunted by spirits, and in certain localities pâts or shrines are erected in their honour, and occasional offerings are made to them. The spirits of married persons are supposed to live in streams, while tress afford a shelter to the souls of the unmarried, who become bhîts or malignant spirits after death. Nâg Deo or the cobra is supposed to live in an ant-hill, and offerings are made to him there. Demon possession is an article of faith, and a popular remedy is to burn human hair mixed with chilies and pig's dung near the person possessed, as the horrible smell thus produced will drive away the spirit. Mr. Low writes of the many strange articles which the Baiga's travelling scrip contains. Among these a dried bat has the chief place; this the Baiga says he uses to charm his nets with, that the prey may catch in them as the bat's claws catch in whatever it touches. As an instance of the Baiga's pantheism it may be mentioned that on one occasion when a train of the new Satpîra railway 1 had pulled up at a wayside forest station, a Baiga was found offering a sacrifice to the engine. Like other superstitious people they are great believers in omens. A single crow bathing in a stream is a sign of death. A cock which crows in the night should be instantly killed and thrown into the darkness, a custom which some would be glad to see introduced into much more civilised centres. The woodpecker and owl are birds of bad omen. The Baigas do not appear to have any idea of a fresh birth, and one of their marriage songs says, “O girl, take your pleasure in going round the marriage-post once and for all, for there is no second birth.” The Baigas are generally the priests of the Gonds, probably because being earlier residents of the country they are considered to have a more intimate acquaintance with the local deities. They have a wide knowledge of the medicinal properties of jungle roots and herbs, and are often successful in effecting cures when the regular native doctors have failed. Their village priests have consequently a considerable reputation as skilled sorcerers and persons conversant with the unseen world. A case is known of a Bhâhman transferred to a jungle station, who immediately after his arrival called in a Baiga priest and asked what forest gods he should worship, and what other steps he should take to keep well and escape calamity. Colonel Ward states that in his time Baigas were commonly called in to give aid when a town or village was attacked by cholera, and further that he had seen the greatest benefit to result from their visit, for the people had such confidence in their powers and ceremonies that they lost half their fright at once, and were consequently not so much predisposed to an attack of the disease. On such an occasion the Baiga priest goes round the village and pulls out a little straw from each house-roof, afterwards burning the whole before he also offers a chicken for each homestead. If this remedy fails goats are substituted for chickens, and lastly, as a forlorn hope, pigs are tried, and, as a rule, do not fail, because by this time the disease may be expected to have worked itself out. It is suggested that the chicken represents a human victim from each house, while the straw stands for the house itself, and the offering had the common idea of a substituted victim.

Appearance and mode of life. In stature the Baigas are a little taller than most other tribes, and though they have a tendency to the flat nose of the Gonds, their foreheads and the general shape of their heads are of a better mould. Colonel Ward states that the members of the tribe inhabiting the Maikal range in Mandla are a much finer race than those living nearer the open country.2 "Their figures are very nearly perfect," says Colonel Bloomfield, 3 "and their wiry limbs, unburdened by superfluous flesh, will carry them over very great distances and over places inaccessible to most human beings, while their compact bodies need no other nourishment than the scanty fare afforded by their native forests. They are born hunters, hardy and active in the chase, and exceedingly bold and courageous. In character they are naturally simple, honest and truthful, and when their fear of a stranger has been dissipated are most companionable folk." A small hut, 6 or 7 feet high at the ridge, made of split bamboo and

1. Opened in 1905. 2. Mandla Settlement Report (1864-69), p. 153. 3. Notes on the Baigas, p.4.

55 mud, with a neat veranda in front thatched with leaves and grass, forms the Baiga's residence, and if it is burnt down or abandoned during a disease epidemic, he can build another in the space of a day. A rough earthen vessel to hold water, leaves for plates, gourds for drinking-vessels, a piece of matting to sleep on, and a small axe, a sickle and a spear, exhaust the inventory of the Baiga's furniture, and the money value of the whole would not exceed a rupee. 1 The Baigas never live in a village with other castes, but have their huts some distance away from the village in the jungle. Unlike the other tribes, the Baiga prefers his house to stand alone and at some little distance from those of his fellow-tribesmen. While nominally belonging to the village near which they dwell, so separate and distinct are they from the village people that in the famine of 1897 cases were found of starving Baiga hamlets only a few hundred yards away from the village proper, in which ample relief was to be found. When asked why the Baigas had not been helped, the other villagers said, ' We did not remember them'; and when the Baigas were asked why they did not apply for relief, they said, ' We did not think it was meant for Baigas.'

Dress. Their dress is of the most simple description, a small strip of rag between the legs and another wisp for a headcovering sufficing for the men, though the women are decently covered from their shoulders to half-way between the thighs and knees. A Baiga may be known by his scanty clothing and tangled hair, and his wife by the way in which her single garment is arranged so as to provide a safe sitting-place in it for child. Baiga women have been seen at work in the field transplanting rice with babies comfortably seated in their cloth, one sometimes supported on either hip with their arms and legs out, while the mother was stooping low, hour after hour, handling the rice plants. A girl is tattooed on the forehead at the age of five, and over her whole body before she is married, both for the sake of ornament and because the practice is considered beneficial to the health. The Baigas are usually without blankets or warm clothing and in the cold season they sleep round a wood fire kept burning or smouldering all night, stray sparks from which may alight on their tough skins without being felt. Mr. Lampard relates that on one occasion a number of Baiga men were supplied by the Mission under his charge with large new cloths to cover their bodies and to make them presentable in church. On the second Sunday, however, they came with their cloths burnt full of small holes; and they explained that the damage had been done at night while they were sleeping round the fire.

A Baiga, Mr. Lampard continues, is speedily discerned in a forest village bazâr, and is the most interesting object in it. His almost nude figure and wild, tangled hair mark him out at once. He generally brings a few mats or baskets which he has made, or fruits, roots, honey, horns of animals, or other jungle products which he has collected for sale, and with the sum obtained (a few pice or annas at the most) he proceeds to make his weekly purchases, changing his pice into cowrie shells, of which he receives eighty for each one. He buys tobacco, salt, chillies and other sundries, besides as much of kodon, kutki, or perhaps rice, as he can afford, always leaving a trifle to be expended at the liquor shop before departing for home. The various purchases are tied up in the corners of the bit of rag twisted round his head. Unlike pieces of cloth known to civilisation, which usually have four corners, the Baiga's headgear appears to be nothing but corners, and when the shopping is done the strip of rag may have a dozen bundles tied up in it.

In Baihar or Bâlâghât buying and selling are conducted on perhaps the most minute scale known, and if a Baiga has one or two pice2 to lay out he will spend no inconsiderable time over it. Grain is sold in small measures holding about four ounces called baraiyas, but each of these has a layer of mud at the bottom of varying degrees of thickness, so as to reduce its capacity. Before a purchase can be made it must be settled by whose baraiya the grain is to

1. Mr. Lampard's monograph. 2. Farthings.

56 be measured, and the seller and purchaser each refuse the other's as being unfair to himself, until at length after discussion some neutral person's baraiya is selected as a compromise. Their food consists largely of forest produce and roots with a scanty allowance of rice or light millet, and they can go without nourishment for periods which appear extraordinary to civilised man. They eat the flesh of almost all animals, though the more civilised abjure beef and monkeys. They will take food from a Gond but not from a Brâhman. The Baiga dearly loves the common country liquor made from the mahua flower, and this is consumed as much as funds will permit at weddings, funerals and other social gatherings, and also if obtainable at other times. They have a tribal panchâyat or committee which imposes penalties for social offences, one punishment being the abstention from meat for a fixed period. A girl engaging in indiscretions with a man of the caste is punished by a fine, but cases of unchastity among unmarried Baiga girls are rare. Dancing is one of their chief pastimes, and in their favourite dance, known as karma, the men and women form long lines opposite, to each other with the musicians between them. One of the instruments, a drum called mândar, gives out a deep bass note which can be heard for miles. The two lines advance and retire, everybody singing at he same time, and when the dancers get fully into the rythym, the pace increases, the drums beat furiously, the voices of the singers rise higher and higher, and by the light of the bonfires which are kept burning, the whole scene is wild in the extreme.

Occupation. The Baigas formerly practised only shifting cultivation, burning down patches of jungle and sowing seeds on the ground fertilised by the ashes after the breaking of the rains. Now that this method has been prohibited in Government forest, attempts have been made to train them in regular cultivation, but with indifferent success in Bâlâghât. An idea of the difficulties may be obtained from the fact that in some villages the Baiga cultivators, if left unwatched, would dig up the grain which they had themselves sown as seed in their fields and eat it; while the plough-cattle which were given to them invariably developed diseases in spite of all precautions, as a result of which they found their way sooner or later to the Baiga's cooking-pot. But they are gradually adopting settled habits, and in Mandla, where a considerable block of forest was allotted to them in which they might continues their destructive practice of shifting sowings, it is reported that the majority have now become regular cultivators. One explanation of their refusal to till the ground is that they consider it a sin to lacerate the breast of their mother earth with a ploughshare. They also say that God made the jungle to produce everything necessary for the sustenance of men and made the Baigas kings of the forest, giving them wisdom to discover the things provided for them. To Gonds and others who had not this knowledge, the inferior occupation of tilling the land was left. The men never become serfs, but during the cultivating season they work for hire at uprooting the rice seedlings for transplantation; they do no other agricultural labour for others. Women do the actual transplantation of rice and work as harvesters. The men make bamboo mats and baskets, which they sell in the village weekly markets. They also collect and sell honey and other forest products with an axe, making excellent woodcutters. But they show no aptitude in acquiring the use of any other implement, and dislike steady continuous labour, preferring to do a few day's work and then rest in their homes for a like period before beginning again. Their skill and dexterity in hunting with and axe is extraordinary. Small deer, hares, and peacocks are often knocked over by throwing it at them, and panthers and other large animals are occasionally killed with a single blow. If one of two Baigas is carried off by a tiger, the survivor will almost always make a determined and often successful attempt to rescue him, with nothing more formidable than an axe or a stick. They are expert trackers, and are also clever at setting traps and snares, while, like Korkus, they catch fish by damming streams in the hot weather and throwing into the pool thus formed some leaf or root which stupefies them. Even in a famine year, Mr. Low says, a Baiga can collect a large basketful of roots in a single day; and if the bamboo seeds he is amply provided for. Nowadays Baiga cultivators may occasionally be met with who have taken to regular cultivation and become quite prosperous, owning a number of cattle.

57 Languages. As already stated, the Baigas have completely forgotten their own language, and in the Satpîra hills they speak a broken form of , though they have a certain number of words and expressions peculiar to the caste.

Baira¡¡gi.: - The Bairâgis1 are class of religious mendicants, who roam about all over India, and are for the most part recruited from North Indian castes. They are followers of Râmânand, who founded the order at the end of the fourteenth, or beginning of the fifteenth century. According to common tradition, the schism of Râmânand originated in resentment of an affront offered him by his fellow disciples, and sanctioned by his teacher. It is said that he had spent some time in travelling through various parts of India, after which he returned to the math, or residence of his superior. His brethren objected to him that in the course of his peregrinations it was impossible he could have observed that privacy in his meals which is a vital observance of the Râmânuja sect; and, as Râghavânand admitted the validity of the objection, Râmânand was condemned to feed in a place apart from the rest of the disciples. He was highly incensed at the order, and retired from the society altogether, establishing a schism of his own.2

The name Bairâgi is derived from the Sanskrit vairâgya (vi+râg), denoting "without desire or passion," and indicates an ascetic who has subdued his passions and liberated himself from worldly desires. The Bairâgis are sometimes called Bâvâji or Sâdhu. The Bairâgis are Vaishnavites, and bear the Tengalai Vaishnava mark (nâmam), made with sandal-paste or gópi, on the forehead. Bairâgis with a Vadagalai mark are very rare. The Bairâgis wear necklaces of tulsi (Ocimum sanctum) beads or lotus (Nelumbium speciosum ) seeds. Every Bairâgi cooks his food within a space cleansed with cow-dung water by himself or his disciple, and will not leave the space until he has finished his meal. The Bairâgis are not particular about screening the space from the public gaze. They partake of one meal daily, in the afternoon, and are abstainers from flesh. They live mainly on alms obtained in the bazars, or in choultries (rest-houses for travellers). They generally carry with them one or two brass vessels for cooking purposes, a sâlagrâma stone and a conch-shell for worship, and a chillum (pipe) for smoking ganja (Indian hemp) or opium. They are, as a rule, naked except for a small piece of cloth tied round the waist and passed between the thighs. Some wear more elaborate body-clothing, and a turban. They generally allow the beard to grow, and the hair of the head is long and matted, with sometimes a long tail of yak or human hair tied in a knot on the top of the head. Those who go about nearly naked smear ashes all over their bodies. When engaged in begging, some go through the streets, uttering aloud the name of some God. Others go from house to house, or remain at a particular spot, where people are expected to give them alms.

Some Bairâgis are celibates, and others married. They are supposed to be celibates, but, as Dr. T. N. Bhattacharjee observes,3 "the monks of this order have generally a large number of nuns attached to their convents, with whom they openly live as man and wife." The Bairâgis are very particular about the worship of the sâlagrâma stone, and will not partake of food without worshipping it. When so doing, they cover their head with a piece of cloth (Râm nâm ka safa), on which the name Râma is printed in Dévanâgiri characters. Their face and shoulders are stamped, by means of brass stamps, with the word Râma in similar characters. For the purpose of meditation, the Bairâgi squats on the ground, sometimes with a deer or tiger skin beneath him, and rests his hands on the cross-piece of his yógadandam, or bent stick. A pair of tongs is stuck in the ground on his right side, and sometimes fire is kept near

1 See Thurston. 2 H. H. Wilson, Essays and Lectures, chiefly on the Religion of the Hindus, 1862 3 Hindu Castes and Sects.

58 it. It is noted by Mr. J. C. Oman1 that "a most elaborate ritual has been laid down for the guidance of Bairâgis in the daily routine of the indispensable business and duties of life, prescribing in minute detail how, for example, the ascetic should wash, bathe, sit down, perform pranayam (stoppage or regulation of respiration), purify his body, purge his mind, meditate on Vishnu, repeat the Gâyatri (hymn) as composed for the special use of members of the sect, worship Râma, Sita, Lakshman, Bharata, and Satringah, together with Râma's bows and arrows, and, lastly, the monkey god Hanumân." The Bairâgis have a guru or priest, whom they call Mahant. Some visit the celebrated temple near Tirupati and pay their respects to the Mahant thereof.

Bairâgi.: -Sâdhu.2 -The general term for members of the Vishnuite religious orders, who formerly as a rule lived by mendicancy. The Bairâgis have now, however, become a caste. In 1911 they numbered 38, 000 persons in the Provinces, being distributed over all Districts and States. The name Bairâgi is supposed to come from the Sanskrit Vairâgya and to signify one who is free from human passions. Bairâga is also the term for the crutched stick which such mendicants frequently carry about and lean upon, either sitting or standing, and which in case of need would serve them as a weapon. Platts considers3 that the name of the order comes from the Sanskrit abstract term, and the crutch therefore apparently obtained its name from being used by members of the order. Properly, a religious mendicant of any Vishnuite sect should be called a Bairâgi. But the term is not generally applied to the more distinctive sects as the Kabírpanthi, Swâmi-Nârâyan, Satnâmi and others, some of which have almost separated from Hinduism, nor to the Sikh religious orders, nor to the Chaitanya sect of Bengal. A proper Bairâgi is one whose principal deity is either Vishnu or either of his great incarnations, Râma and Krishna.

The four Sampradâyas or main orders. It is generally held that there are four Sampradâyas or main sects of Bairâgis. These are- (a) The Râmânujis, the followers of the first prominent Vishnuite reformer Râmânuj in southern India, with whom are classed the Râmânandis, or adherents of his great disciple Râmânand in northern India. Both these are also called Sri Vaishnava, that is, the principal or original Vaishnava sect. (b) The Nímânandi, Nímât or Nímbaditya sect, followers of a saint called Nímânand. (c) The Vishnu-Swâmi or Vallabhachârya sect, worshippers of Krishna and Râdha. (d) The Mâdhavachârya sect of southern India.

It will be desirable to give a few particulars of each of these, mainly taken from Wilson's Hindu Sects and Dr. Bhattachârya's Hindu Castes and Sects.

The Râmânujis. Râmânuj was the first great Vishnuite prophet, and lived on a island in the Kâveri river near Trichinopoly. He preached the worship of a supreme spirit, Vishnu and his consort Lakshmi, and taught that men also had souls or spirits, and that matter was lifeless. He was a strong opponent of the cult of Siva, then predominant in southern India, and of phallic worship. He, however, admitted only the higher castes into his order, and cannot therefore be considered as the founder of the Râmânuja sect are called Achârya, and rank highest among the priests of the Vishnuite orders. The most striking feature in the practice of the Râmânujis is the separate preparation and scrupulous privacy of their meals. They must not eat in cotton garments, but must bathe, and then put on wool or silk. The teachers allow their select

1 The Mystics, Asceties, and Saints of India, 1903 2. RUS Page No 92-105. This article contains material from Sir E, Maclagan's Punjab Census Report (1891), and Dr. J. N.. Bhattachârya's Hindu Caster, and Sects (Thacker, Spink & Co., Calentta) 3. Dictionary , s.v.

59 pupils to assist them, but in general all the Râmânujis cook for themselves, and should the meal, during its preparation or consumption, attract even the look of a stranger, the operation is instantly stopped and the viands buried in the ground. The Râmânujis address each other with the salutation Dasoham, or 'I am your slave,' accompanied with the Pranâm or slight inclination of the head and the application of joined hands to the forehead. To the Achâryas or superiors the other members of the sect perform the Ashtanga or prostration of the body with eight parts touching the ground. The tilak or sect-mark of the Râmânujis consists of two perpendicular white lines from the roots of the hair to the top to the eyebrows, with a connecting white line at the base, and a third central line either of red or yellow. The Râmânujis do not recognise the worship of Râdha, the consort of Krishna. The mendicant orders of the Sâtanis and Dasaris of southern India are branches of this sect.

The Râmânandis. Râmânand, the great prophet of Vishnuism in northern India, and the real founder of the liberal doctrines of the cult, lived at Benâres at the end of the fourteenth century, and is supposed to have been a follower of Râmânuj. He introduced a great extension of his predecessor's gospel in making his sect, nominally open to all castes. He thus initiated the struggle against the social tyranny and exclusiveness of the caste system, which was carried to greater lengths by his disciples and successors, Kabír, Nânak, Dâdu, Rai Dâs and others. These afterwards proclaimed the worship of one unseen god who could not be represented by idols, and the religious equality of all men, their tenets no doubt being considerably influenced by their observance of Islâm, which had now become a principal religion of India. Râmânand himself did not go so far, and remained a good Hindu, inculcating the special worship of Râma and his consort Síta. The Râmânandis consider the Râmâyana as their most sacred book, and make pilgrimages to Ajodhia and Râmnath.1 Their sect-mark consists of two white lines down the forehead with a red one between, but they are continued on to the nose ending in a loop, instead of terminating at the line of the eyebrows, like that of the Râmânujis. The Râmânandis say that the mark on the nose represents the Singâsun or lion's throne, while the two white lines up the forehead are Râma and Lakhshman, and the centre red one is Síta. Some of their devotees wear ochre-coloured clothes like the Sivite mendicants.

The Nímânandis. The second of the four orders is that of the Nímânandis, called after a saint Nímânand. He lives near Mathura Brindâban, and on one occasion was engaged in religious controversy with a Jain ascetic till sunset. He then offered his visitor some refreshment, but the Jain could not eat anything after sunset, so Nímânand stopped the sun from setting, and ordered him to wait above a ním tree till the meal was cooked and eaten under the tree, and this direction the sun duly obeyed. Hence Nímânand, whose original name was Bhâskarachârya, was called by his new name after the tree, and was afterwards held to have been an incarnation of Vishnu or the Sun. The doctrines of the sect, Mr. Growse states,2 are of a very enlightened character. Thus their tenet of salvation by faith is thought by many scholars to have been directly derived from the gospels; while another article in their creed is the continuance of conscious individual existence in a future world, when the highest reward of the good will not be extinction, but the enjoyment of the visible presence of the divinity whom they have served on earth. The Nímânandis worship Krishna, and were the first sect, Dr. Bhattachârya states, 3 to associate Râdha with him as his divine consort, the chief partner of his illicit lives.

1. Sir E. Maclagan's Punjab Census Report (1891), p. 122. 2. Memoir of Mathura. 3. Hindu Castes and Sects, p. 449.

60 Their headquarters are at Muttra, and their chief festival is the Janam-Ashtami1 ,or Krishna's birthday. Their sect-mark consists of two lines down the forehead with a black patch in the centre, which is called Shiâmbindini. Shiâm means black, and is a name of Krishna. They also sometimes have a circular line across the nose, which represents the moon.

The Mâdhavachâryas. The third great order is that of the Mâdhavas, named after a saint called Mâdhavachârya India. He attempted to reconcile the warring Sivites and Vishnuites by combining the worship of Krishna with that of Siva and Pârvati. The doctrine of the sect is that the human soul is different from the divine soul, and its members are therefore called dualists. They admit a distinction between the divine soul and the universe, and between the human soul and the material world. They deny the possibility of Nirvâna or the absorption and extinction of the human soul in the divine essence. They destroy their thread at initiation, and also wear red clothes like the Sivite devotees, and like them also they carry a staff and water-pot. The Tilak of the Mâdhavachâryas is said to consist of two white lines down the forehead and continued on to the nose where they meet, with a black vertical line between them.

The Vallabhachâryas. The fourth main order is the Vishnu-Swâmi, which is much better known as the Vallabhachârya sect, called after its founder Vallabha, who was born in A.D. 1479. The god Krishna appeared to him and ordered him to marry and set up a shrine to the god at Gokul near Mathura (Muttra). The sect worships Krishna in his character of Bâla Gopâla, or the cowherd boy. Their temples are numerous all over India, and especially at Mathura and Brindâban, where Krishna was brought up as a cowherd. The temples at Benâres, Jagannâth and Dwârka are rich and important, but the most celebrated shrine is at Sri Nâthadwâra in Mewâr. The image is said to have transported itself thither from Mathura, when Aurângzeb ordered its temple at Mathura to be destroyed. Krishna is here represented as a little boy in the act of supporting the mountain Govardhan on his finger to shelter the people from the storms of rain sent by Indra. The image is splendidly dressed and richly decorated with ornaments to the value of several thousand pounds. The images of Krishna in the temples are commonly known as Thâkurji, and are of either stone or brass. At all Vallabhachârya temples there are eight daily services: the Mangala or Morning live`e, a little after sunrise, when the god is taken from in his jewels and seated on his throne; the Gwâla, when he is supposed to be starting to graze his cattle in the woods of ; the Râj Bhog or midday meal, which, after presentation, is consumed by the priests and votaries who have assisted at the ceremonies; the Uttâpan, about three o'clock, when the god awakes from his siesta; the Bhog or evening collation; the Sandhiya or disrobing at sunset; and the Sayan, or retiring to rest. The ritual is performed by the priests and the lay worshipper is only a spectator, who shows his reverence by the same forms as he would to a human superior.2

The priests of the sect are called Gokalastha Gosain or Mahârâja. They are considered to be incarnations of the god, and divine honours are paid to them. They always marry, and avow that union with the god is best obtained by indulgence in all bodily enjoyments. This doctrine has led to great licentiousness in some groups of the sect, especially on the part of the priests or Mahârâjas. Women were taught to believe that the service of and contact with the priest were the most real form of worshipping the god, and that intercourse with him was equivalent to being united with the god. Dr. Bhattachârya quotes3 the following tariff for the privilege of obtaining different degrees of contact with the body of the Mahârâja or priest:

1. Lit. the birth on the eighth day, as Krishna was born on the 8th of dark Bhâdon. 2. Mr. Crooke's Tribes and Castes , art. Vallabhachârya. 3. Hindu Castes and Sects, p. 457.

61 For homage by sight Rs. 5. For homage by touch Rs. 20. For the honour of washing the Mahârâja's foot Rs. 35. For swinging him Rs. 40. For rubbing sweet unguents on his body Rs. 42. For being allowed to sit with him on the same couch Rs. 60. For the privilege of dancing with him Rs. 100 to 200. For drinking the water in which he has bathed Rs. 17. For being closeted with him in the same room Rs. 50 to 500.

The public disapprobation caused by these practices and their bad effect on the morality of women culminated in the great Mahârâj libel suit in the Bombay High Court is 1862. Since then the objectionable features of the cult have to a large extent disappeared, while it has produced some priests of exceptional liberality and enlightenment. The tilak of the Vallabhachâryas is said to consist of two white lines down the forehead, forming a half-circle at its base and a white dot between them. They will not admit the lower castes into the order, but only those from whom a Brâhman can take water.

Minor sects. Besides the main sects as described above, Vaishnavism has produced many minor sects, consisting of the followers of some saint of special fame, and mendicants belonging to these are included in the body of Bairâgis. One or two legends concerning such saints may be given. A common order is that of the Bendiwâle, or "those who wear a dot." Their founder began putting a red dot on his forehead between the two white lines in place of the long red line of the Râmânandis. His associates asked him why he had dared to alter his tilak or sect- mark. He said that the goddess Jânki had given him the dot, and as a test he went and bathed in the Sarju river, rubbed his forehead with water, and all the sect-mark was rubbed out except the dot. So the others recognised the special intervention of the goddess, and he founded a sect. Another sect is called the Chaturbhuj or "four-armed", Chaturbhuj being an epithet of Vishnu. He was taking part in a feast when his loincloth came undone behind, and the others said to him that as this had happened, he had become impure at the feast. He replied, 'Let him to whom the dhoti belongs tie it up,' and immediately four arms sprang from his body, and while two continued to take food, the other two tied up his loin-cloth behind. Thus it was recognised that the Chaturbhuji Vishnu had appeared in him, and he was venerated.

The seven Akhâras. Among the Bairâgis, besides the four Sampradâyas, or main orders, there are seven Akhâras. These are military divisions or schools for training, and were instituted when the Bairâgis had to fight with the Gosains. Any member of one of the four Sampradâyas can belong to any one of the seven Akhâras, and a man can change his Akhâra as often as he likes, but not his Sampradâya. The Akhâras, with the exception of the Lasgaris, who change the red centre line of the Râmânandis into a white line, have no special sect-marks. They are distinguished by their flags or standards, which are elaborately decorated with gold thread embroidered on silk, or sometimes embellished with jewels, and cost two or three hundred rupees to prepare. These standards were carried by the Nâga or naked members of the Akhâra, who went in front and fought. Once in twelve years a great meeting of all the seven Akhâras is held at Allahâbâd, Nâsik, Ujjain or Hardwâr, where they bathe and wash the image of the god in the water of the holy rivers. The quarrels between the Bairâgis and Gosains usually occurred at the sacred rivers, and the point of contention was which sect should bathe first. The following is a list of the seven Akhâras : Digambari, Khâki, Munjia, Kathia, Nirmohi, Nirbâni or Niranjani and Lasgari.

The name of the Digamber or Meghdamber signifies sky-clad or cloud-clad, meaning naked. They do penance in the rainy season by sitting naked in the rain for two or three hours a day

62 with an earthen pot on the head and the hands inserted in two others so that they cannot rub the skin. In the dry season they wear only a little cloth round the waist and ashes over the rest of the body. The ashes are produced from burnt cowdung picked up off the ground, and not mixed with straw like that which is prepared for fuel.

The Khâki Bairâgis also rub ashes on the body. During the four hot months they make five fires in a circle, and kneel between them with the head and legs and arms stretched towards the fires. The fires are kindled at noon with little heaps of cowdung cakes, and the penitent stays between them till they go out. They also have a block of wood with a hole through it, into which they insert the reproductive organ and suspend it by chains in front and behind. They rub ashes on the body, from which they probably get their name of Khâki, or dust- coloured.

The Munjia Akhâra have a belt made of munj grass round the waist, and a little apron also of grass, which is hung from it, and passed through the legs. Formerly they wore no other clothes, but now they have a cloth. They also do penance between the fires.

The Kathias have a waist-belt of bamboo fibre, to which is suspended the wooden block for the purpose already described. Their name signifies wooden, and is probably given to them on account of this custom. The Nirmohi carry a lota or brass vessel and a little cup, in which they receive alms. The Nirbâni wear only a piece of string or rope round the waist, to which is attached a small strip of cloth passing through the legs. When begging, they carry a kawar or banghy, holding two baskets covered with cloth, and into this they put all their alms. They never remove the cloth, but plunge their hands into the basket at random when they want something to eat. They call the basket Kâmdhenu, the name of the cow which gave inexhaustible wealth. These Bairâgis marry and accumulate property. The Lasgari are soldiers, as the name denotes. 1 They wear three straight lines of sandalwood up the forehead. It is said that on one occasion the Bairâgis were suddenly attacked by the Gosains when they had only made the white lines of the sect-mark, and they fought as they were. In consequence of this, they have ever since worn three white lines and no red one.

The Dwâras. Others say that the Lasgari are a branch of the Digambari Akhâra, and that the Munjia three other Kathia are branches of the Khâki Akhâra. They give three other Akhâras-Níralankhi, Mahânirbâni and Santokhi-about which nothing is known. Besides the Akhâras, the Bairâgis are said to have fifty-two Dwâras, and every man most be a member of a Dwâra as well as of a Sampradâya and Akhâra. The Dwâras seem to have no special purpose, but in the case of Bairâgis who marry, they now serve as exogamous sections, so that members of the same Dwâra do not intermarry.

Initiation, appearance and customs. A candidate for initiation has his head shaved, is invested with a necklace of beads of the tulsi or basil, and is taught a mantra or text relating to Vishnu by his preceptor. The initiation text of the Râmânandis is said to be Om Râmâya Nâmah, or Om , Salutation to Râma. Om is a very sacred syllable, having much magical power. Thereafter the novice must journey to Dwârka in Gujarât and have his body branded with hot iron or copper in the shape of Vishnu's four implements: the chakra or discus, the guda or club, the shank or conch-shell and the padma or lotus. Sometimes these are not branded but are made daily on the arms with clay. The sect-mark should be made with Gopichandan or the milkmaid's sandalwood. This is supposed to be clay taken from a tank at Dwârka, in which the Gopis or milkmaids who had been Krishna's companions drowned themselves when they heard of his death. But as this can seldom be obtained, suitable whitish clay is used instead. The Bairâgis commonly

1. From laskkar, an army.

63 let their hair grow long, after being shaved at initiation by the old forest ascetics. If a man makes a pilgrimage on foot to some famous shrine he may have his head shaved there and make an offering of his hair. Others keep their hair long and shave it only at the death of their guru or preceptor. They usually wear white clothes, and if a man has a cloth on the upper part of the body it should be folded over the shoulders and knotted at the neck. He also has a chimta or small pair of tongs, and, if he can obtain it, the skin of an Indian antelope, on which he will sit while taking his food. The skin of this animal is held to be sacred. Every Bairâgi before he takes his food should dip a spring of tulsi or basil into it to sanctify it, and if he cannot get this he uses his necklace of tulsi -beads for the purpose instead. The caste abstains from flesh and liquor, but are addicted to the intoxicating drugs, gânja and bhâng , or preparations of Indian hemp. A Hindu on meeting a Bairâgi will greet him with the phrase 'Jai Sítârâm,' and the Bairâgi will answer, 'Sítârâm.' This word is a conjunction of the names of Râma and his consort Síta. When a Bairâgi receives alms he will present to the giver a flower and a spring of tulsi.

Recruitment of the order and its character. A man belonging to any caste except the impure ones can be initiated as a Bairâgi, and the order is to a large extent recruited from the lower castes. Theoretically all members of the order should eat together; but the Brâhmans and other high castes belonging to it now eat only among themselves, except on the occasion of a Ghosti or special religious assembly, when all eat in common. As a matter of fact the order is a very mixed assortment of people. Many persons who lost their caste in the famine or 1897 from eating in Government poor- houses, joined the order and obtained a respectable position. Debtors who have become hopelessly involved sometimes find in it a means of escape from their creditors. Women of bad character, who have been expelled from their caste, are also frequently enrolled as female members, and in monasteries live openly with the men. The caste is also responsible for a good deal of crime. Not only is the disguise a very convenient one for thieves and robbers to assume on their travels, but many regular members of the order are criminally disposed. Nevertheless large numbers of Bairâgis are men who have given up their caste and families from a genuine impulse of self-sacrifice, and the desire to lead a religious life.

Social position and customs. On account of their sanctity the Bairâgis have a fairly good social position,. and respectable Hindu castes will accept cooked food from them. Brâhmans usually, but not always, take water. They act as gurus or spiritual guides to the laymen of all castes who can become Bairâgis. They give the Râm and Gopâl Mantras, or the texts of Râma and Krishna, to their disciples of the three twice-born castes, and the Sheo Mantra or Siva's text to other castes. The last is considered to be of smaller religious efficacy than the others, and is given to the lower castes and members of the higher ones who do not lead a particularly virtuous life. They invest boys with the sacred thread, and make the sect-mark on their foreheads. When they go and visit their disciples they receive presents, but do not ask them to confess their sins nor impose penalties. If a mendicant Bairâgi keeps a woman without marrying her it is stated that he is expelled from the community, but this rule does not seem to be enforced in practice. If he is detected in a casual act of sexual intercourse a fine should be imposed, such as feeding two or three hundred Bairâgis. The property of an unmarried Bairâgi descends to a selected chela or disciple. The bodies of the dead are usually burnt, but those of saints specially famous for their austerities or piety are buried, and salt is put round the body to preserve it. Such men are known as Bhakta.

Bairâgi monasteries. The Bairâgis1 have numerous maths or monasteries, scattered over the country and usually attached to temples. The Math is comprised of a set of huts or chambers for the Mahant (the

1. This paragraph is taken from Professor Wilson's Account of Hindu Sects in the Asiatic Researches.

64 superior), and his permanent pupils, a temple and often the Samâdhi or tomb of the founder, or of some eminent Mahant, and a Dharmsâla or charitable hostel for the accommodation of wandering members of the order, and of other travellers who are constantly visiting the temple. Ingress and egress are free to all, and, indeed, a restraint on personal liberty seems never to have entered into the conception of any Hindu religious legislator. There are, as a rule, a small number of resident chelas or disciples who are scholars and attendants on the superiors, and also out-members who travel over the country and use the monastery as headquarters. The monastery has commonly some small land endowment, and the resident chelas go out and beg for alms for their common support. If the Mahant is married the headship may descend in his family; but when he is unmarried his successor is one of his disciples, who is commonly chosen by election at a meeting of the Mahants of neighbouring monasteries. Formerly the Hindu governor of the district would preside at such an election, but it is now, of course, left entirely to the Bairâgis themselves.

Married Bairâgis. Large numbers of Bairâgis now marry and have children, and have formed an ordinary caste. The married Bairâgis are held to be inferior to the celibate mendicants, and will take food from them, but the mendicants will not permit the married Bairâgis to eat with them in the chauka or place purified for the taking of food. The customs of the married Bairâgis resemble those of ordinary Hindu castes such as the Kurmis. They permit divorce and the remarriage of widows, and burn the dead. Those who have taken to cultivation do not, as a rule. plough with their own hands. Many Bairâgis have acquired property and become landholders, and others have extensive money lending transactions. Two such men who had acquired possession of extensive tracts of zamíndâri land in Chhattísgarh, in satisfaction of loans made to the Gond zamíndârs, and had been given the zamíndâri status by the Marâthas, were subsequently made Feudatory Chiefs of the Nândgaon and Chhuikhadan States. As a rule, the Bairâgi landowners and moneylenders are not found to be particularly good specimens of their class.

Bajania.: -They are nomads, and perform mainly as musicians at wedding celebrations.

Bajgi.: -They live in North India. They work as musicians. They are probably a sub- division of the Doms.

Bakarwal.: -They are shepherds living in Jammu Kashmir and are of Gujar stock.

Bâlasantósha.: -The Bâlasantósha or Bâlasanta Vândlu1 (those who please children) are described in the Kurnool Manual as "ballad reciters, whose chief stories are the Bobbili katha, or the story of the siege of the fort of Bobbili in Vizagapatam by Bussy; the Kurnool Nabob's katha or the story of the resumption of Kurnool by the English; and the tale of the quarrels between Ganga and Parvati, the two wives of Siva."

1 See Thurston.

65 Balija.: - The Balijas are described by Mr. Francis1 as being "The chief Telugu trading caste, scattered throughout all parts of the Presidency. It is said they have two main sub- divisions, Désa (or Kóta, a fort) and Péta (street). The first of these includes those, whose ancestors are supposed to have been the Balija (Nâyak) kings of Madura, Tanjore and Vijayanagar, or provincial governors in those kingdoms; and to the second belong those like the Gâzulu (bangle sellers) and Perike (salt sellers), who live by trade. In the Tamil districts Balijas are known as Vadugans (Telugu people) and Kavarais. The descendants of the Nâyak or Balija Kings of Madura and Tanjore claim to be Kshatriyas and of the Kâsyapa (a rishi) gótra, while the Vijayanagar Râis say they are lineal descendants of the sage Bhâradwâja. Others trace their ancestry to the Kauravas of the Mahâbhârata. This Kshatriya descent is, however, not admitted by other castes, who say that Balijas are an offshoot of the Kammas or Kâpus, or that they are a mixed community recruited from these and other Telugu castes. None of the members of the caste now wear the sacred thread, or follow the Védic ritual. The name Kartâkkal (governors) was returned by those who claim to be descendants of the Nâyak Kings of Madura and Tanjore."

In a letter submitted from Coimbatore to Mr. Francis in connection with the census of 1901, it was stated that "the Balija people are Kshatriyas of the Lunar Race, as can be proved by a reference to the Bahgavatham, Vishnupurânam, and Brahmandapurâman, etc. In this connection, it will be interesting to note that one Sevappa Naidu married Murthiammal, sister-in-law to Achuta Déva Royulu of Narapathi Samasthanam of Vijayanagar, and as a marriage portion or dowry received the territory of Tanjore, over which he ruled as king for a long period. It was at this time that the celebrated Tirumalay Naidu of Madura took as wife one of the daughters of Sevappa Naidu's family. Tirumalay's grandson, one Chockalinga Naidu, married Mangammal, daughter of Vijiaragavulu Naidu, a grandson of the said Tanjore Sevappa Naidu. It will thus be seen that the Naidu rulers of Tanjore, Trichinopoly, and Madura, were all relations of Narapathi Samasthanaam of Vijianagar. That these Narapathies of Vijianagaram were Kshatriyas of the Lunar Race can be clearly seen by a reference to Manucharithra, Pârijâthâpaharanam, Prouda Prabanda Kavi Charitra, etc., and that they were direct descendants of the great Andra Kings can be proved with equal satisfaction by referring to Colonel Mackenzie's MSS., in the introduction of A. D. Campbell's Telugu Grammar, and James Prinsep's "Useful Tables of Andra Kings" will show that the Andras were immediate descendants of the well-known Yayathi Râja of the Lunar Race." "The Balijas," Mr. H. A. Stuart writes,2 "are the trading caste of the Telugu country, but they are now found in every part of the Presidency. Concerning the origin of this caste several traditions exist, but the most probable is that which represents them as a recent offshoot of the Kâpu or Reddi caste. The caste is rather a mixed one, for they will admit, without much scruple, persons who have been expelled from their proper caste, or who are the result of irregular unions. The bulk of the Balijas are now engaged in cultivation, and this accounts for so many having returned Kâpu as their main caste, for Kâpu is also a common Telugu word used for a ryot (farmer). It is not improbable that there was once a closer connection than now between the Kâpus and the Balijas, and the claim of the Balijas to belong to the Kâpu caste may have a foundation in fact. In their customs there is very little difference between the Kâpus and Balijas. Their girls are married both before and after puberty. The re- marriage of widows is forbidden. They eat flesh, and alcohol is said to be freely indulged in [There is a proverb 'If a man be born a Balija, he must crack the arrack bottle']. Like the Bógams and Sânis, the Balija females usually wear a petticoat instead of the long robe of ordinary Hindus. The general name of the caste is Naidu." "The Balija Naidu," it has been said,3 "is to be met with in almost every walk of life: railway station-masters, head coolies, bakers, butlers, municipal inspectors, tappal (post) runners, hawkers, and hotel-keepers. The

1 See Thurston. Madra Census Report, 1901. 2 Madras Census Report, 1891. 3 A Native ; Pen and Ink Sketches of South India.

66 title Chetti is by some used in preference to Naidu." It is noted in the Bellary Manual that the Balijas "have by common consent obtained a high place in the social system of South India. Some are land-owners, residing on and working their own property with the help of members of inferior castes; but the majority live by trade." At Tirupati, a number of Balija families are engaged in the red sandres wood (pterocarpus santalinus ), carving industry. Figures of swâmis (deities), mythological figures, elephants, and miniature temples with flying cherubs and winged horses are most abundantly carved; but domestic utensils in the shape of chembus, kinnis, plated cups, etc., are turned on the lathe. Large vessels are sometimes made of the wood of vépi or âchamaram (hardwickia binata ), which resembles red sanders wood, but is more liable to crack. The carved figures are sold to pilgrims and others who visit Tirupati, and are also taken to Conjeeveram, Madura, and other places, at times when important temple festivals are celebrated. Vessels made of red sanders wood carry no pollution, and can be used by women during the menstrual period, and taken back to the house without any purification ceremony. For the same reason, Sanyâsis (ascetics) use such vessels for doing pîja.

The name Balija is said to be derived from the Sanskrit bali (a sacrifice) and ja (born), signifying that the Balijas owe their origin to the performance of a yâgam. The current legend is that on one occasion Siva wanted his consort Parvati to appear before him in all her glory. But, when she stood before him fully decorated he laughed, and said that she was not as charming as she might be. On this, she prayed that Siva would help her to become so. From his braid of hair Siva created a being who descended on the earth, bearing a number of bangles and turmeric paste, with which Parvati adorned herself. Siva, being greatly pleased with her appearance, told her to look at herself in a looking-glass. The being, who brought the bangles, is believed to have been the ancestor of the Gâzula Balijas. According to another version of the legend, Parvati was not satisfied with her appearance when she saw herself in the looking-glass, and asked her father to tell her how she was to make herself more attractive. He accordingly prayed to Brahma, who ordered him to perform a severe penance (thapas). From the sacrificial fire, kindled in connection therewith, arose a being leading a donkey laden with heaps of bangles, turmeric, palm leaf rolls for the ears, black beads, sandal powder, a comb, perfumes, etc. From this Maha Purusha who thus sprang from a sacrifice (bali), the Balijas derived their origin and name. To him, in token of respect, were given flags, torches, and certain musical instruments.

The Désâyis, or leaders of the right-hand faction, are said to be Balijas by caste. In former days they had very great influences, and all castes belonging to the fight-hand faction would obey the Désâyi chetti. Even at the present day, the Oddés and others refer their disputes to the Désâyi, and not to their own caste headman. In former times there were three principal Désâyis, who had their headquarters at Conjeeveram, Cuddalore, and Walajapet. The head Désâyi possesses a biruthu (insignia of office) in the form of a large brass ladle with a bell attached to it. On the occasion of Balija marriages and funerals, this is sent through the Chalavathi (a pariah), who is the servant of the Désâyi, and has the right of allu eduththal (taking a handful) when he goes to the bazaar, where he receives meat from the butcher, vegetables, etc., as his perquisite. The Désâyi's ladle is kept in the custody of the Chalavathi (See Désâyi).

The Balijas, Mr. Stuart writes,1 "employ Brâhmans and Sâtânis as their priests. The chief object of their worship is Gauri, their caste deity. It is said that the Mâlas are the hereditary custodians of the idol of Gauri and her jewels, which the Balijas get from them whenever they want to worship her. The following story is told to account for this. The Kâpus and Balijas, molested by the Muhammadan invaders on the north of the northern Pennâr, migrated to the south when the Pennâr was in full flood. being unable to cross the river, they invoked their deity to make a passage for them, for which it demanded to sacrifice of a first-born child.

1 Madras Census Report, 1891

67 While they stood at a loss what to do, the Mâlas who followed them boldly offered one of their children to the goddess. Immediately the river divided before them, and the Kâpus and Balijas deposited the images of Gauri the bull and Ganésa, which they worhipped, in the house of a Mâla. I am credibly informed that the practice of leaving these images in the custody of Mâlas is even now observed in some parts of the Cuddapah district and elsewhere." Of the numerous sub-divisions of the Balijas, the following may be noticed:

Gâzula, [glass bangles. Valaiyal or vala (bangle)] Chetti is the Tamil equivalent. By some, the sight of a Gâzula Balija with his pile of bangles on his back is considered a good omen. In recent years, a scare has arisen in connection with an insect, which is said to take up its abode in imported German glass bangles, which compete with the indigenous industry of the Gâzulas. The insect is believed to lie low in the bangle till it is purchased, when it comes out and nips the wearer, after warning her to get her affairs in order before succumbing. A specimen of a broken bangle, from which the insect is stated to have burst forth and stung a girl in the wrist, was sent to me. But the insect was not forthcoming.

Gandavallu, [or Gundapodi vândlu.] Go about the villages, hawking turmeric, kunkumam (colour powder), kamela (mallotus philippinensis ) dye powder, beads, combs, cosmetics, and other articles. Supposed to have been originally Kómatis.

Other Sub-divisions: Kavarai, Tamil synonym for Balija. Longa. Panchama. Telugu or Telaga. A synoym for Balija in the Northern Circars. Râjamâhendram or Mîsu Kamma. The former denotes the town of Rajahmundry, and the latter a special ear ornament worn by women. Tóta, garden. Ralla, precious stones. Pagadala, coral Pîsa, beads. Râcha, royal. Vyâsa, a sage (rishi) or hunter, whom the hunting classes claim as their ancestor.

Other sub-divisions, classified as Balijas at the census of 1901 were: Jakkulas, among whom it was (at Tenali in the Kistna district) formerly customary for each family to give up one girl for prostitution. Under the influence of social reform, a written agreement was a few years ago entered into to give up the practice. Ádapâpa. Female attendants on the ladies of the families of Zamindars, who, as they are not allowed to marry, lead a life of prostitution. Their sons call themselves Balijas. In some places, e.g., the Kistna and Godâvari districts, this class in known as Khasa or Khasavandlu. Santa Kavarai, recorded as Balijas in the Chingleput district. Ravut, returned in the Salem district, said to have formerly been soldiers under the Poligars.

Like other telugu castes, the Balijas have exogamous septs (intipéru) and gótras. Of the former, the following are examples:

Tup¡akala, musket. Samudram. ocean. Pappu, split pulse. Gantla, bell. Puli, tiger. Balli, lizard. Ávula, cow.

68 Gandham, sandal paste or powder. Jilakard, cummin seeds. Miriyâla, pepper. Mutyâla, pearls. Nârikélla, cocoanut. Nemili, peacock. Pagadâla, coral. Pattindla, silk house. Ratnâla, precious stones. Ungarâla. rings. Yenumala, buffalo.

There is a saying that a Balija who has no gótra must take the name of the Pasuleti, or Pasupuleti gótra. In like manner, a Brâhman orphan, whose gótra cannot be traced, is made to adopt the Vathsa gótra. Among the Mîsu Kammas, the consent of both the maternal uncle and elder sister's husband must be obtained before a girl is given in marriage. At the betrothal ceremony, the future bridegroom's relations proceed to the house of the girl, carrying the following articles on an odd number of trays beneath a cloth canopy (ulladam): mustard, fenugreek (Trigonella Foenumgroecum ) cummin seeds, curds, jaggery, dhâl (Caajanus indicus ), balls of condiments, tamarinds, pepper, twenty-one cakes, eleven coconuts, salt, plantains, flowers, a new cloth, black beads, a palm-leaf roll for the earlobe, turmeric, a comb, and kunkuman (Colour powder). A few rupees, called kongu mudi, to be given to the future mother-in-law, are also placed on the tray. The contracting parties exchange betel and a coconut, of which the latter is taken away by a member of the bridegroom's party, tied up in his body-cloth. The girl is seated on a plank, goes through the ceremony (nalagu) of being anointed with oil and paste, and is presented with a new cloth. Wearing this, she sits on the plank, and betel, flowers, jewels, etc., are placed in her lap. A near female relation then ties a string of black beads round her neck. Among the Mîsu Kammas, the milk-post, consisting of a green bamboo, with sometimes a branch of Odeon Wodier, must be set up two days before the commencement of the marriage ceremonies. It is worshipped, and to it are tied an iron ring, a string of cotton and wool twisted together (ulladam), and given to married couples closely related to the bridegroom, who fetch water, and place the pots on the dais. Some married women pour rice on a clean white cloth spread onto the floor, and rub off the bran with their hands while they sing songs. The cloth to be worn by the bridegroom is dipped in turmeric water by these women and dried. the Balijas are very particular about the worship of their female ancestors (pérantâlu) and no auspicious ceremony can be commenced until pérantâlu pîja has been performed. Among the M`îsu Kammas, five women who are closely related to the bridal couple take only one meal a day, and try to keep free from pollution of all sorts. They go through the nalagu ceremony, and are presented with new cloths. Among other sections, the wall is simply painted with turmeric dots to represent the ancestors. The ancestor worship concluded, the finger and toe-nails of the bridegroom are cut, and a Mîsu Kamma bridegroom is conducted to a temple of Vignéswara (Ganésaº, if there is one near at hand. By other sections it is considered sufficient, if Vignéswara worship is performed at the marriage place. The Mîsu Kamma bridegroom is dressed up at the temple, and a bashingam (chaplet) tied on his waist-cloth. It is said that in olden times the Balijas used to worship the dagger, and sacrifice sheep or goats at marriages. The bridegroom is next brought to the house where the wedding is being celebrated, and his brother-in-law washes his feet, and, after throwing flowers and rice over them, puts toe-rings and shoes thereon. The Brâhman puróhit lights the sacred fire (hómam), and pours ghí (clarified butter) therein, while he utters some verses, Védic or other. He then ties the kankanam (thread) on the bridegroom's wrist. The parents of the bride next proceed with the dhârâdhattam (gift of the girl) by pouring water and grains of rice into the hands of the bridegroom. Vignéswara is then worshipped, and the bottu (marriage badge) is blessed by those assembled, and handed to the bridegroom. He, placing his right foot on that of the bride, who is separated from him

69 by a screen, ties it round her neck. The couple then exchange seats, and rice is thrown in front of them. They go thrice round the dais and milk-post, and, at the end of the first and second rounds, the foot of the bride is placed on a grinding stone. After the third round they gaze at the pole-star (Arundati). Into one of the marriage post are put a pap-bowl, ring, and bracelet, which are picked out by the couple. If the pap-bowl is first got hold of by the bridegroom, the first-born child will be a boy ; if the ring, it will be a girl. This rite concluded, the bridegroom makes a mark on the bride's forehead with collyrium. On the second day, the bridegroom makes a pretence of being angry, and stays in a garden or house near that in which the marriage ceremonies are conducted. The bride, and some of her relations, go to him in procession, and, treating him with great respect, bring him back. The sacred fire is lighted, and the bride enters the room in which the marriage pots (aravéni) are kept. The bridegroom is stopped at the entrance thereto by a number of married women, and has to call his wife by her name, and pay a small sum of money for the ârathi (coloured water), which is saved by the women, to ward off the evil eye. In some places, the sister of the bridegroom extracts a promise that his coral (daughter)shall be given in marriage to her pearl (son). He is then permitted to enter the room. On the third day, after hómam has been performed by the Brâhman priest, the newly married couple go through a burlesque imitation of domestic life, after they have worshipped the posts of the booth and perform a mimic ploughing ceremony, the bridegroom stirring up some earth in a basket with a stick of miniature plough. This, in some places, his sister tries to prevent him from doing by covering the basket with a cloth, and he has to say "I will give my coral to your pearl." His brother-in-law tries to squeeze his fingers between a pair of sticks called kitti, which was, in former times, a very popular from of torture as a means of extracting confession. The bride gives her husband some conji (rice-gruel) to refresh him after his pretended labour.

At a marriage among the Perikes (q.v.), a gunny bag is said to be worshipped before the bottu is tied. A quantity of rice is measured on the first day of the ceremonies and tied up in a cloth. On the third day, the cloth is opened, and it is considered an auspicious sign if the quantity of rice exceeds that which was originally put into it. Among the Râjamâhendram Balijas, just before the nalagu ceremony, the knees, shoulders, and cheeks of the bride and bridegroom are touched with a pestle, while the names of their septs are called out. On the third day, the same process is repeated, but in the reverse order. A Gâzula Balija bride must, when the bottu is tied, be dressed in a white cloth with red stripes, called sanna pappuli. With other sections, a white cloth dyed with turmeric is de rigeur. Balija, it may be noted, is in the North Arcot Manual returned as a division of Dâsaris and Ïdigas. The better classes of Médaras (cane-splitters and mat makers) are also taking to calling themselves Balijas, and assume the title Chetti. Oddés and Upparas Balija. They belong to the right-hand section, which is headed by the Désayi, who is a Balija, and so describe themselves as belonging to the Setti or Chetti samayam (section). Some members of the Mila and Vâda fishing castes have adopted Óda or Vâda (boat) Balija as their caste name.

Jakkula.: - Described1 as an inferior class of prostitutes, mostly of the Balija caste; and as wizards and as a dancing and theatrical caste. At Tenali, in the Kistna district, it was customary for each family to give up one girl for prostitution. She was "married" to any chance comer for one night with the usual ceremonies. Under the influence of social reform, the members of the caste, in 1901, entered into a written agreement to give up the practice. A family went back on this, so the head of the caste prosecuted the family and the "husband" for disposing of a minor for the purpose of prostitution. The records state that it was resolved in 1901 that they should not keep the females unwed, but should marry them before they attain puberty. "As the deeds of the said girls not only brought discredit on all of us, but their association gives our married women also an opportunity to contract bad habits, and, as all of our castemen thought it good to give up henceforth the custom now in vogue of leaving girls unmarried, all of us convened a public meeting in the Tenali village, considered

1 Madras Census report, 1901 ; Nellore Manual.

70 carefully the pros and cons, and entered into the agreement herein mentioned. If any person among us fails to marry the girls in the families before puberty, the managing members of the families of the girls concerned should pay Rs. 500 to the three persons whom we have selected as the headmen of our caste, as penalty for acting in contravention of this agreement. If any person does not pay the headmen of the caste the penalty, the headmen are authorised to recover the amount through Court. We must abstain from taking meals, living, or intermarriage with such families as do not now join with us in this agreement, and continue to keep girls unmarried. We may take meals or intermarry with those that are now included in this agreement, but not with those who hereafter act in contravention of it. If any of us act in contravention of the terms of the two last paragraphs, we should pay a penalty of Rs. 50 to the headmen.

Bandar.: -See Kadera.

Bangâli.: -Bengâli. 1- A resident of Bengal, Vanga or Bang Desa. It is not quite clear whether some of these recorded in the census lists are not the familiar Bengâli Bâbu who were not recorded in his regular caste, Brâhman, Kâyasth, etc. At any rate there is a recognised tribe of vagrants known as Bengâli, Muslim Bengâli or Singiwâla, the last because they use a kind of horn in cupping.

From reports of the District Superintendents of Police at Sahâranpur, Meerut, and Aligarh, it appears that these people wander all over the Upper Duâb and the Panjab and Native States. They disclaim any direct connection with Nats, Kanjars, and similar vagrants; but they are obviously closely related. Among the Hindu branch there appear to be at least three exogamous sections, Negiwâla, Teli, and Jogeli. The Census returns show 54 sections of the Hindu and four of the Muhammadan branch, but it is impossible to say how many of these belong to the vagrant Bengâlis. The Hindu branch call themselves the descendants of one Siwâi Râm, Râjput, who was a Bengâli and elephant driver, and in the time of Aurangzeb learnt the art of bleeding and cupping from a native physician or Hakím, and taught it to his descendants. The Muhammadan branch usually call themselves Lodi Pathâns from Bengal. They do not admit outsiders to their caste. If they are Muhammadans, they marry in the usual form-- through the Kâzi, but as might have been expected, their religious practices are vague. The Muhamadans are said to be circumcised, and they as well as the Hindus worship Devi and Zâhir Pír.

From Meerut it is reported that the Hindu branch will eat meat of all kinds, the flesh of cloven or uncloven footed animals, fowls, all kinds of fish and crocodiles, and the leftovers of other people. Though this is quite certain, it would appear that the Muhammadan branch generally abstains from pork.

The Bengâli is a loafer and vagabond, prone to commit petty theft, a beggar, and a rustic surgeon as far as bleeding and cupping go. In their manner of life they much resemble the Mâl and Bediya of Bengal, and, if there is anything in the name, the tribes are possibly kin.

Bangâli, Bengâli. - One of the great divisions of Brâhmans recorded at the last census. According to Mr. Risley, who has given an elaborate account of them, 2 the Bengal Brâhmans belong are divided into five main sub-castes: Rârhi, Barendra, Vaidik, Saptasati and Madhyasrani. As already stated, it is impossible to say how many of the 58 sections

1 CRK Page No 143-149. 2. Tribes and Castes, I., 144, sqq.

71 recorded in the census refer to the Brâhman branch, and how many to the tribe of vagrants of the same name.

The Rârhi Brâhmans. The Rârhi Brahmans derive their name from the Rârh, or the high-lying alluvial tract on the west bank of the river Bhagírathi. Their claim to be of comparatively pure Aryan descent is to some extent borne out by the results of anthropometric enquiries. The current tradition is that early in the eleventh century A.D. Adisvara or Adisvara, King of Bengal, finding the Brâhmans, then settled in Bengal, too ignorant to perform for him certain Vedic ceremonies, applied to the Râja of Kanauj for priests thoroughly conversant with the sacred ritual of the Aryans. In answer to this request five Brâhmans of Kanauj were sent to him, Bhatta Nârâyana, of the Sândilya section, or gotra ; Daksha, of the Kasyapa gotra ; Vedagarbha or Vidagarbha, of the Vatsa gotra , or, as others say, from the family of Bhrigu ; Chandra of Chhandara, of the Savarna gotra ; and Sri Harsa of the Bhâradvâja gotra. They brought with them their wives, their sacred fire and their sacrificial implements. It is said that Adisura was at first disposed to treat them with disrespect, but he was soon compelled to acknowledge his mistake, and to beg the Brâhmans to forgive him. He then made over to them five populous villages, where they lived for a year. Meanwhile the king was so impressed with the superhuman virtue of Bhatta Nârâyana who was a son of Kshitisa, King of Kanauj, that he offered him several more villages. The Brâhman, however, declined to take these as a gift, but bought them (so the story goes) at a low price.

Although the immigrant Brâhmans brought their wives with them, tradition says that they contracted second marriages with the women of Bengal, though that their children by the latter, claim to represent the offspring from the original Hindustâni wives, and allege that the Rârhi Brâhmans themselves have sprung from the alliances contracted in Bengal.

By the middle of the eleventh century, when Ballâl Sen, the second of the Sen Kings of Bengal, instituted his famous enquiry into the personal endowments of the Rârhi Brâhmans, their numbers seem to have increased greatly. They were divided into fifty-six villages (gâin), the headships of which were reserved for them, and might not be encroached on by Brâhmans of other orders.

It is interesting to trace in Ballâl Sen's enquiry the survival or reassertion of the principle that the Brâhmanhood of the Brâhmans depended not merely on birth but upon personal endowments. It is a question of virtue, not a question of descent. Ballâl Sen, of course, could not go as far as this. The time had long passed when a Kshatriya could transform himself into a Brâhman by penance and self-denial. But the Sen Monarch sought to reaffirm the ancient principle, so far as was then possible, by testing the qualifications of each Rârhi family for the priestly office, and classifying them, in the order of their virtue, according to the results of this examination. Thus two grades of sacerdotal virtue were formed, the Kulin being those who had observed the entire nine counsels of perfection, and the Srotiya, who, though regular students of the Vedas, had lost status by intermarrying with families of inferior birth. The Srotiya were again divided into Siddha or 'perfect,' Sâdhya or 'capable of attaining purity,' and Kashta or 'difficult.' The last-named group was also called Ari or 'enemy,' because a Kulin marrying a daughter of that group was disgraced.

The Barendra Brâhmans. As above stated, there is a difference of opinion as to their origin. "The sub-caste takes its name from the tract of country known as Barendra, lying north of the river Padma and corresponding roughly to the Districts of Pabna, Râjshâhi, and Bogra. Of these there are three hypergamous classes- Kulin, Suddha or 'pure,' Srotiya and Kashta, or 'bad Srotiya.'" Of their rules of intermarriage Mr. Risley gives full details.

72 The Vaidik Brâhmans. Concerning the origin of the Vaidik Brâhmans, some differences of opinion exist. All agree in honouring them for their adherence to Vedic rites, their zeal for Vedic study, their social independence, and their rejection of polygamy. From the fact that some of the most important settlements of the sub-caste are formed in the outlying districts of Orissa and Sylhet, some authorities are led to describe them as descendants of the original Brâhmans of Bengal, who refused to accept the reforms of Ballâl Sen, and took refuge in regions beyond his jurisdiction. The theory that they came from Kanauj derives support from Mr. Sherring's statement that the Kanaujiya Brâhmans of Benares recognise the Vaidik as a branch of their own the tribe, who settled in Bengal. There are two main divisions of Vaidik Brahmans- Pasehâtya or 'Western,' claiming to have come from Kanauj, and Dakshinatya or 'Southern,' tracing their origin to the original Bengal stock.

The Saptasati Brâhmans. According to popular tradition, the Saptasati Brâhmans are descended from the seven hundred ignorant Brâhmans sent by Adisur to the Court of Kanauj for the purpose of learning their priestly duties. Others trace their origin to certain Brâhmans who were exiled beyond the Brahmaputra river for resisting the innovations of Ballâl Sen. It seems to be certain that they are peculiar to Bengal, and that they cannot claim connection with any of the ten standard Brâhmanical tribes. Men of education and respectability are reluctant to admit that they belong to this sub-caste, as all distinctive practices are being abandoned, and the entire group likely to be absorbed in the Srotiya of Rârhi Brâhmans.

The Madhyasreni Brâhmans. The Madhyasreni Brâhmans profess to derive their name from the fact that their original settlement was in the District of Midnapur, lying midway (Madhyadesa) between Bengal and Orissa. the Rârhi, Utkal, and Saptasati sub-castes, who for some reason broke off from their own classes, settled in an outlying district, and in the ourse of time formed a new sub-caste.

Banjâra.: -Wanjâri, Labhâna, Mukeri1. The caste of carriers and drivers of pack- bullocks. In 1911 the Banjâras numbered about 56,000 persons in the Central Provinces and 80,000 in Berâr, the caste being in greater strength here than in any part of India except Hyderâbâd, where their total is 174,000. Bombay comes next with a figure approaching that of the Central Provinces and Berâr, and the caste belongs therefore rather to the Deccan than to northern India. The name has been variously explained, but the most probable derivation is from the Sanskrit banijya kara, meaning "a merchant." Sir H.M. Elliot held that the name Banjâra was of great antiquity, quoting a passage from the Dasa Kumara Charita of the eleventh or twelfth century. But it was subsequently shown by Professor Cowell that the name Banjâra did not occur in the original text of this work2. Banjâras are supposed to be the people mentioned by Arrian in the fourth century B.C., as leading a wandering life, dwelling in tents and letting out for hire their beasts of burden3. But this passage merely proves the existence of carriers and not of the Banjâra caste. Mr. Crooke states 4 that the first mention of

1 See Russel. This article is based principally on a Monograph on the Banjåra Clan, by Mr. N.F. Cumberlege of the Berår Police , believed to have been first written in 1869 and reprinted in 1882 ; notes on the Banjåras written by Colonel Mackenzie and printed in the Berår Census Report ( 1881) and the Pioneer newspaper ( communicated ) by Mrs. Horsburgh) ; Major Gunthorpe's Criminal Tribes ; papers by Mr. M.E.Khare, Extra-Assistant Commissioner , Canada; Mr. Mukund Rao, Tahr., Betul ; Mr. Narrayan Rao, Manger, Pachmarhi Estate ; and information on the caste collected in Yeotmal and Nimår 2 Mr. Crooke's Tribes and Castes, art Banjåra, para. I. 3 Berår Census Report ( 1881), p. 150. 4 Ibidem, para. 2. quoting Dowson's Elliot, v.100.

73 Banjâras in Muhammadan history is in Sikandar's attack on Dholpur in A.D. 15041. It seems improbable, therefore, that the Banjâras accompanied the different Muhammadan invaders of India, as might have been inferred from the fact that they came into the Deccan in the wake of the forces of Aurângzeb. The caste has indeed two Muhammadan sections, the Tîrkia and Mukeri2. But both of these have the same Râjpît clan names as the Hindu branch of the caste, and it seems possible that they may have embraced Islam under the proselytising influence of Aurângzeb, or simply owing to their having been employed with the Muhammadan troops. The great bulk of the caste in southern India are Hindus, and there seems no reason for assuming that its origin was Muhammadan,

Banjáras Derived From The Chârans Or Bhât It may be suggested that the Banjâras are derived from the Châran or Bhât caste of Râjputâna. Mr. Cumberlege, whose Monograph is one of the best authorities on the caste in Berâr, states that of the four divisions existing there the Chârans are the most numerous and by far the most interesting class3. In the article on Bhât it has been explained how the Chârans, or bards, owing to their readiness to kill themselves rather than give up the property entrusted to their care, became the best safe conduct for the passage of goods in Râjputâna. The name Châran is generally held to mean 'Wanderer ', and in their capacity as bards the Chârans were accustomed to travel from court to court of different chiefs in quest of patronage. They were first protected by their sacred character and afterwards by their custom of trâga or chândi, that is, of killing themselves when attacked and threatening their assailants with the dreaded fate of being haunted by their ghosts. Mr. Bhimbhai Kirparam4 remarks: "After Parâsurama's dispersion of the Kshatris the Chârans accompanied them in their southward flight. In those troubled times the Chârans took charge of the supplies of the Kshatri forces and so fell to their present position of cattle - breeders and grain-carriers..." Most of the Chârans are grazers, cattle-sellers and pack-carriers. Colonel Tod says5: "The Chârans and Bhâts or bards and genealogists are the chief carriers of these regions(Mârwâr); their sacred character overawes the lawless Râjpît chief, and even the savage Koli and Bhîl and the plundering Sahrai of the desert dread the anathema of these singular races, who conduct the caravans through the wildest and most desolate regions." In another passage Colonel Tod identifies the Chârans and Banjâras6 as follows: "Murlâh is an excellent township inhabited by a community of Chârans of the tribe Cucholia (Kacheli), who are Banjâris (carriers) by profession , though poets by birth. The alliance is a curious one, and would appear incongruous were not mutual gain the object of both parties. It was the sanctity of their office which converted our bardais (bards) into bunjârris, for their persons being sacred, the immunity extended likewise to their goods and saved them from all imposts; so that in time they became the free traders of Râjputâna. I was highly gratified with the reception I received from the community, which collectively advanced to meet me at some distance from the town. The procession was headed by the village elders and all the fair Châranis, who, as they approached, gracefully waved their scarves over me until I was fairly made captive by the muses of Murlâh! It was a novel and interesting scene. The manly persons of the Chârans, clad in the flowing white robe with the high loose-folded turban inclined on one side, from which the mâla or chaplet was gracefully suspended; and the naiques or leaders, with their massive necklaces of gold, with the image of the pitriswar (manes ) engraved thereon, gave the whole scene an air of opulence and dignity. The

1 Khan Bahadur Fazlullah Lutfullah Faridi in the Bombay Gazetteer ( Muhammadans of Gujråt, p.86) quoting from General Briggs (Transactions Bombay Literary Society, vol. i. 183) says that " as carriers of grain for Muhammadan armies the Banjåras have figured in history from the days of Muhammad Tughlak ( a A.D. 1340) to those of Aurangzeb". 2 Sir H.M. Elliot's Supplemental Glossary. 3 Monograph on the Banjåra Clan , p,8. 4 Hindus of Gujråt, p. 214 el seq. 5 Rajasthan, i. 602. 6 Ibidem, ii, 570,573.

74 females were uniformly attired in a skirt of dark-brown camlet, having a bodice of light- coloured stuff, with fold ornaments worked into their fine black hair; and all had the favourite chîris or rings of hâthidânt ( elephant's tooth) covering the arm from the wrist to the elbow, and even above it," A little later, referring to the same Châran community, Colonel Tod writes: "The tânda or caravan consisting of four thousand bullocks, has been kept up amidst all the evils which have beset this land through Mughal and Marâtha tyranny. The unity of these caravans as general carriers to conflicting armies and as regular tax-paying subjects has proved their safeguard, and they were too strong to be pillaged by any petty marauder, as any one who has seen a Banjâri encampment will be convinced. They encamp in a square, and their grain-bags piled over each other breast-high, with interstices left for their matchlocks, make no contemptible fortification . Even the ruthless Tîrk, Jamshîd Khân, set up a protecting tablet in favour of the Chârans of Murlâh, recording their exemption from dînd contributions, and that there should be no increase in duties, with threats to all who should injure the community. As usual, the sun and moon are appealed to as witness of good faith, and sculptured on the stone. Even the forest Bhîl and mountain Mair have set up their signs of immunity and protection to the chosen of Hingâz (tutelary deity); and the figures of a cow and its kairi (calf ) carved in rude relief speak the agreement that they should not be slain or robbed within the limits of Murlâh".

In the above passage the community described by Colonel Tod were Chârans, but he identified them with Banjâras, using the names interchangably. He mentions their large herds of pack-bullocks, for the management of which the Chârans, who were grazers as well as bards, would naturally be adapted; the name given to the camp, tânda , is that generally used by the Banjâra; the women wore ivory bangles, which the Banjâra women wear1. In commenting on the way in which the women threw their scarves over him, making him a prisoner, Colonel Tod remarks: "This community had enjoyed for five hundred years the privilege of making prisoner any Râna of Mewâr who may pass through Murlâh, and keeping him in bondage until he gives them a got or entertainment. The patriarch ( of the village) told me that I was in jeopardy as the Râna's representative, but not knowing how I might have relished the joke had it been carried to its conclusion, they let me escape." Mr. Ball notes a similar custom of the Banjâra women far away in the Bastar State of the Central Provinces:2 "Today I passed through another Banjâra hamlet, from whence the women and girls all hurried out in pursuit, and a brazen faced powerful-looking lass seized the bridle of my horse as he was being led by the sais in the rear. The sais and chaprâsi were both Muhammadans, and the forward conduct of these females perplexed them not a little, and the former was fast losing his temper at being thus assaulted by a woman." Colonel Mackenzie in his account of the Banjâra caste remarks:3 "It is certain that the Chârans, whoever they were, first rose to the demand created by the great armies of Northern India, combatting in countries far from their basis of supply, regarding the need of a fearless and reliable transport service. The vocation which the Chârans then acquired they retain among Banjâras to this day, though in very much diminished splendour and position. As they themselves relate, they were originally five brethren, Râthor, Turi, Panwâr, Chauhân and Jâdon. But fortune particularly smiled on Bhîka Râthor, as his four sons, Mersi, Multâsi, Dheda and Khâmdâr, great names among the Chârans, rose immediately to eminence as commissariat transporters in the north. And not only under the Delhi Emperors, but under the Satâra, subsequently the Poona Râj, and the Subâhship of the Nizâm, several of their descendants rise to consideration and power." It thus seems a reasonable hypothesis that the nucleus of the Banjâra caste was constituted by the Chârans or bards of Râjputâna.

1 This custom does not necessarily indicate a special connection between the Banjåras and Chårans, as it is common to several castes in Råjputåna ; but it indicates that the Banjåras came from Råjputåna. Banjåra men also frequently wear the hair long, down to the neck, which is another custom of Råjputåna. 2 Jungle Life in India , p. 517. 3 Berår Census Report ( 1881),p.

75 Mr. Bhimbhai Kirparâm 1 also identifies the Chârans and Banjâras, and following notice2 by Colonel Tone is of interest in this connection: "The vast consumption that characterises a Marâtha army demands great amounts of supplies; yet, notwithstanding this, the native powers never concern themselves about providing for their forces, and have no idea of a grain and victualling department, which forms so great an object in a European campaign. The Banias or grain-sellers in an Indian army have always sent their servants ahead of the troops on the line of the march, to purchase in the surrounding country whatever necessities are required. Articles of consumption are never wanting in a native camp, though they are generally twenty-five percent more expensive than in the town bazârs; but independent of this mode of supply the Vanjâris or itinerant grain merchants furnish large quantities, which they bring on bullocks from an immense distance. These are a very peculiar race, and appear to be a marked and distinctly different people from any other I have yet seen in this country. Formerly they were considered so sacred that they passed in safety in the midst of contending armies; of late, however, this reverence for their character is much abated and they have been frequently plundered, particularly by Tipu."

The reference to the sacred character attached to the Banjâras a century ago appears to be strong evidence in favour of their derivation from the Chârans. For it could scarcely have been obtained by any body of commissariat agents coming into India with the Muhammadans. The fact that the example of disregarding it was first set by a Muhammadan prince points to the same conclusion. Mr. Irvine describes the Banjâras with the Mughal armies in similar terms :3 "It is by this people that the Indian armies in the field are fed, and they are never injured by either army. The grain is taken from them, but invariably paid for. They encamp for safety every evening in a regular square formed of the bags of grain of which they construct a breastwork. They and their families are in the centre, and the oxen are made fast outside . Guards with matchlocks and spears are placed at the corners, and their dogs do duty as advanced posts. I have seen them with droves of 5000 bullocks. They do not move above two miles an hour, as their cattle are allowed to graze as they proceed on the march." It may be hypothesized that the Chârans, having acted as carriers for the Râjpît chiefs and courts both in times of peace and in their continual internal feuds, were pressed into service when the Mughal armies entered Râjputâna and passed through it to Gujarât and the Deccan. In adopting the profession of transport agents for the imperial troops, they may have been amalgamated into a fresh caste with other Hindus and Muhammadans doing the same work, just as the camp language formed by the superimposition of a Persian vocabulary on to a grammatical basis of Hindi became or Hindustâni. The readiness of the Chârans to commit suicide rather than give up property committed to their charge was not, however, copied by the Banjâras, and so far as I am aware there is no record of men of this caste taking their own lives, though they had little scruple with those of others.

Châran Banjâras Employed With The Mughal Armies. The Châran Banjâras, Mr. Cumberlege states4 first came to the Deccan with Asaf Khân in the campaign which closed with the annexation by the Emperor Shâh Jahân of Ahmadnagar and Berâr about 1630. Their leaders or Nâiks were Bhangi and Jhangi or the Râthor5 and Bhagwân Dâs of the Jâdon clan. Bhangi and Jhangi had 180,000 pack-bullocks, and Bhagwân Dâs 52,000. It was naturally an object with Asaf Khân to keep his commissariat well stocked for his force, and as Bhangi and Jhangi made difficulties about the supply of grass and water to their cattle, he gave them an order engraved on copper in letters of gold to the following effect :

1 Bombay Gazetteer , Hindus of Gujråt. 2 Letter on the Marathas ( 1798), p. 67. India Office Tracts. 3 Army of the Indian Mughals, p.192. 4 Monograph, p. 14, Berår Census Report (1881) (Kitts), p. 151. 5 These are held to have been descendants of the Bhika Råthor referred to by Colonel Mackenzie above.

76 Ranjan kâ pâni Chhappar kâ ghâs Din ke tîn khîn umuâf ; Aur jahân Asaf Jâh ke ghore Wahân Bhangi Jhangi ke bail. which may be rendered as follows: "If you can find no water elsewhere you may even take it from the pots of my followers; grass you may take from the roofs of their huts; and I will pardon you up to three murders a day, provided that wherever I find my cavalry, Bhangi and Jhangi's bullocks shall be with them". This grant is still in the possession of Bhangi Nâik's descendant who lives at Musi, near Hingoli. He is recognised by the Hynerâbâd Court as the head Nâik of the Banjâra caste, and on his death his successor receives a Khillat or dress of honour from His Highness the Nizâm. After Asaf Khân's campaign and settlement in the Deccan, a quarrel broke out between the Râthor clan, headed by Bhangi and Jhangi, and the Jâdons under Bhagwân Dâs , owing to the fact that Asaf Khân had refused to give Bhagwân Dâs a grant like that quoted above. Both Bhangi and Bhagwân Dâs were slain in the feud and the Jâdons captured the standard, consisting of eight thans (lengths) of cloths, which was annually presented by the Nizâm to Bhangi's descendants. When Mr. Cumberlege wrote (1869), this standard was in the possession of Hatti Nâik, a descendant of Bhagwân Dâs, who had an estate near Muchi Bunder, in the Madras Presidency. Colonel Mackenzie states that the leaders of the Râthor clan became so distinguished as men of war that the Emperors recognised their carrying distinctive standards, which were known as dhal by the Râthors themselves. Jhangi's family was also represented in the person of Ramu Nâik, the patel or headman of the village of Yaoli in the Yeotmâl District. In 1791-92 the Banjâras were employed to supply grain to the British army under the Marquis of Cornwallis during the siege of Seringapatam1, and the Duke of Wellington in his Indian campaigns regularly engaged them as part of the commissariat staff of his army. On one occasion he said of them: "The Banjâras I look upon in the light of servants of the public, of whose grain I have a right to regulate the sale, always taking care that they have a proportionate advantage2 ."

Nternal Structure. Mr. Cumberlege gives four main divisions of the caste in Berâr, the Chârans, Mathurias, Labhânas and Dhâris. Of these the Chârans are by far the most numerous and important, and included all the famous leaders of the caste mentioned above. The Chârans are divided into the five clans, Râthor, Panwâr, Chauhân, Puri and Jâdon or Burthia, all of these being the names of leading Râjpît clans; and as the Châran bards themselves were probably Râjpîts, the Banjâras, who are descended from them, may claim the same lineage. Each clan or sect is divided into a number of subsects; thus among the Râthors the principal subsect is the Bhurkia, called after the Bhika Râthor already mentioned; and this is again split into four groups, Mersi, Multâsi, Dheda and Khâmdâr, named after his four sons. As a rule, members of the same clan, Panwâr Râthor and so on, may not intermarry, but Mr. Cumberlege states that a man belonging to the Bânod or Bhurkia subsects of the Râthors must not take a wife from his own subsect, but may marry any other Râthor girl. It seems probable that the same rule may hold with the other subsects, as it is most unlikely that intermarriage should still be prohibited among so large a body as the Râthor Chârans have now become. It may be supposed therefore that the division into subsects took place when it became to inconvenient to prohibit marriage throughout the whole body of the sect, as has happened in other cases. The Mathuria Banjâras take their name from Mathura or Muttra and appear to be Brâhmans. “They wear the sacred thread3 know the Gayatri Mantra, and to the present day abstain from meat and liquor, subsisting entirely on grain and vegetables. They always had a

1 General Briggs quoted by Mr. Faridi in Bombay Gazetteer, Muhammadens of Gujaråt, p. 86 2 A. Wellesley (1800), quoted in Mr. Crooke's edition of Hobson Jobson, Art. Brinjarry. 3 Cumberlege, loc. cit.

77 sufficiency of Chârans and servants (Jânjar ) in their villages to perform all necessary manual labour, and would not themselves work for a remuneration otherwise than by carrying grain, which was and still is their legitimate occupation; but it was not considered undignified to cut wood and grass for the household. Both Mathuria and Labhâna men are fairer than the Chârans; they wear better jewellery and their loin-cloths have a silk border, while those of the Chârans are of rough, common cloth.” The Mathurias are sometimes known as Ahiwâsi, and may be connected with the Ahiwâsis of the Hindustâni Districts, who also drive pack- bullocks and call themselves Brâhmans. But it is naturally a sin for a Brâhman to load the sacred ox, and any one who does so is held to have derogated from the priestly order. The Mathurias are divided according to Mr. Cumberlege into four groups called Pânde, Dube, Tiwari and Chaube, all of which are common titles of Hindustâni Brâhmans and signify a man learned in one, two, three and four Vedas respectively. It is probable that these groups are exogamous, marrying with each other, but this is not stated. The third division, the Labhânas, may derive their name from lavana, salt, and probably devoted themselves more especially to the carriage of this staple. They are said to be Râjpîts, and to be descended from Mota and Mola, the cowherds of Krishna. The fourth subdivision are the Dhâris or bards of the caste who rank below the others. According to their own story1 , their ancestor was a member of the Bhât caste, who became a disciple of Nânak, the Sikh apostle, and with him attended a feast given by the Mughal Emperor Humayun. Here he ate the flesh of a cow or buffalo and in consequence became a Muhammadan and was circumcised. He was employed as a musician at the Mughal court, and his sons joined the Chârans and became the bards of the Banjâra caste . "The Dharis," Mr. Cumberlege continues, "are both musicians and mendicants they sing in praise of their own and the Châran ancestors and of the old kings of Delhi; while at certain seasons of the year they visit Vharan hamlets, when each family gives them a young bullock or a few rupees. They are Muhammadans, but worship Sârasvati and at their marriages offer up a male goat to Gâji and Gandha, the two sons of the original Bhât, who became a Muhammadan. At burials a Fakir is called to read the prayers".

Minor Subcastes . Besides the above four main divisions, there are a number of others, the caste being now of a very mixed character. Two principal Muhammadan groups are given by Sir H. Elliot, the Tîrkia and Mukeri. The Tîrkia have thirty-six sects, some with Râjpît names and others with territorial or titular ones. They seem to be a mixed group of Hindus who may have embraced Islam as the religion of their employers. The Mukeri Banjâras assert that they derive their name from Mecca (Makka), which one of their Nâiks, who had his camp in the vicinity, assisted Father Abraham in building2 . Mr. Crooke thinks that the name may be a corruption of Makkeri, meaning "a seller of maize." Mr. Cumberlege says of them: “Mîltanis and Mukeris have been called Banjâras also , but have nothing common with the caste; the Mîltanis are carriers of grain and the Mukeris of wood and timber, and hence the confusion may have arisen between them. ” But they are now held to be Banjâras by common usage; in Saugor the Mukeris also deal in cattle. From Chânda a different set of subcastes is reported called Bhîsarjin, Ladjin , Saojin and Kanhejin; the first may take their name from bhîsa,, the chaff of wheat, while Lad is the term used for people coming from Gujrât, and Sao means a banker. In Sambalpur again a class of Thuria Banjâras is found, divided into the Bandesia, Atharadesia, Nafadesia and Chhadesia, or the men of the 52 districts, the 18 districts, the 9 districts and the 6 districts respectively. The first and last two of these take food and marry with each other. Other groups are the Guâr Banjâras, apparently from Guâra or Gwâla, a milkman, the Gîguria Banjâras, who may, as Mr. Hira Lâl suggests, take their name from trading in gîgar , a kind of gum, and the Bahrîp Banjâras, who are Nats or acrobats. In Berâr also a number of the caste have become respectable cultivators and now call themselves Wanjâri, disclaiming any connection with the Banjâras, probably on account of the bed reputation for crime attached to the latter. Many of the Wanjâris have been allowed to rank

1 Cumberlege, pp. 28, 29 2 Elliot's Races, quoted by Mr. Crooke Ibidem.

78 with the Kunbi caste, and call themselves Wanjâri Kunbis in order the better to dissociate themselves from their parent caste. The existing caste is therefore of a very mixed nature, and the original Brâhman and Châran strains, though still perfectly recognisable, cannot have maintained their purity.

Marriage: Betrothal. At a betrothal in Nimâr the bridegroom and his friends come and stay in the village next to that of the bride. The two parties meet on the boundary of the village, and here the bride- price is fixed , which is often a very large sum, ranging from Rs. 200 to Rs. 1,000. Until the price is paid the father will not let the bridegroom into his house. In Yeotmâl, when a betrothal is to be made, the parties go to a liquor-shop and there a betel-leaf and a large handful of sugar are distributed to everybody. Here the price to be paid for the bride amounts to Rs. 40 and four young bullocks. Prior to the wedding the bridegroom goes and stays for a month or so in the house of the bride's father, and during this time he must provide a supply of liquor daily for the bride's male relatives. The period was formerly longer, but now extends to a month at the most. While he resides at the bride's house the bridegroom wears a cloth over his head so that his face cannot be seen. Probably the prohibition against seeing him applies to the bride only, as the rule in Berâr is that between the betrothal and marriage of a Châran girl she may not eat or drink in the bridegroom's house, or show her face to him or any of his relatives. Mathuria girls must be wedded before they are seven years old, but the Chârans permit them to remain single until after adolescence.

Marriage. Banjâra marriages are frequently held in the rains, a season forbidden to other Hindus, but naturally the most convenient to them, because in the dry weather they are usually travelling. For the marriage ceremony they pitch a tent in lieu of the marriage - shed, and on the ground they place two rice-pounding pestles, round which the bride and bridegroom make the seven turns. Others substitute for the pestles a pack-saddle with two bags of grain in order to symbolise their camp life. During the turns, the girl's hand is held by the Joshi, or village priest, or some other Brâhman, in case she should fall; such an occurrence being probably a very unlucky omen. Afterwards, the girl runs away and the Brâhman has to pursue and catch her. In Bhandâra the girl is clad only in a light skirt and breast-cloth, and her body is rubbed all over with oil in order to make his task more difficult. During this time the bride's party pelt the Brâhman with rice, turmeric and areca-nuts and sometimes even with stones; and if he is forced to cry with the pain, it is considered lucky. But if he finally catches the girl, he is conducted to a dais and sits there holding a brass plate in front of him, into which the bridegroom's party drop presents. A case is mentioned of a Brâhman having obtained Rs. 70 in this manner. Among the Mathuria Banjâras of Berâr the ceremony resembles the usual Hindu type1 .Before the wedding the families bring the branches of eight or ten different kinds of trees, and perform the hom or fire sacrifice with them. A Brâhman knots the clothes of the couple together, and they walk round the fire. When the bride arrives at the bridegroom's hamlet after wedding, two small brass vessels are given to her; she fetches water in these and returns them to the women of the boy's family, who mix this with other water previously drawn, and the girl, who up to this period was considered of no caste at all, becomes a Mathuria2 . Food is cooked with this water, and the bride and bridegroom are formally received into the husband's kuri or hamlet. It is possible that the mixing of the water may be a survival of the blood covenant, whereby a girl was received into her husband's clan on her marriage by her blood being mixed with that of her husband3, or it may be simply symbolical of the union of the families. In some localities,

1 Cumberlege, pp. 4, 5. 2 Cumberlege, l.c. 3 This custom is noticed in the article on Khairwar.

79 after the wedding, the bride and bridegroom are made to stand on two bullocks,which are driven forward, and it is believed that whichever of them falls off first will be the first to die.

Widow Remarriage. Owing to the scarcity of women in the caste a widow is seldom allowed to go out of the family, and when her husband dies she is taken either by his elder or younger brother; this is in opposition to the usual Hindu practice, which forbids the marriage of a woman to her deceased husband's elder brother, on the ground that as successor to the headship of the joint family he stands to her, at least potentially, in the light of a father. If the widow prefers another man and runs away to him, the first husband's relatives claim compensation, and threaten, in the event of its being refused, to abduct a girl from this man's family in exchange for the widow. But no case of abduction has occurred in recent years . In Berâr the compensation claimed in the case of a woman marrying out of the family amounts to Rs. 75, with Rs. 5 for the Nâik or headman of the family. Should the widow elope without her brother-in-law's consent, he chooses ten or twelve of his friends to go and sit dharna (starving themselves) before the hut of the man who has taken her. He is then bound to supply these men with food and liquor until he has paid the customary sum, when he may marry the widow1 . In the event of the second husband being too poor to pay monetary compensation, he gives a goat, which is cut into eighteen pieces and distributed to the community2 .

Birth And Death. After the birth of a child the mother is unclean for five days, and lives apart in a separate hut. On the sixth day she washes the feet of all the children in the kuri, feeds them and then returns to her husband's hut. When a child is born in a moving tânda or camp, the same rule is observed, and for five days the mother walks alone after the camp during the daily march. The caste bury the bodies of unmarried persons and those dying of smallpox and burn the others. Their rites of mourning are not strict, and are observed only for three days The Banjâras have a saying: "Death in a foreign land is to be preferred, where there are no kinsfolk to mourn, and the corpse is a feast for birds and animals"; but this may perhaps be taken rather as an expression of philosophic resignation to the fate which must be in store for many of them, than a real preference, as with most people the desire to die at home almost amounts to an instinct.

Religion : Banjára Devi. One of the tutelary deities of the Banjâras is Banjâri Devi, whose shrine is usually located in the forest. It is often represented by a heap of stones, a large stone smeared with vermilion being placed on the top of the heap to represent the goddess. When a Banjâra passes the place he casts a stone upon the heap as a prayer to the goddess to protect him from the dangers of the forest. A similar practice of offering bells from the necks of cattle is recorded by Mr. Thurston 3" It is related by Moor that he passed a tree on which were hanging several hundred bells. This was a superstitious sacrifice of the Banjâras (Lambâris), who, passing this tree, are in the habit of hanging a bell or bells upon it, which they take from the necks of their sick cattle, expecting to leave behind them the complaint also. Our servants particularly cautioned us against touching these diabolical bells, but as a few of them were taken for our own cattle, several accidents which happened were imputed to the anger of the deity to whom these offerings were made; who, they say, inflicts the same disorder on the unhappy bullock who carries a bell from the tree, as that from which he relieved the donor."

1 Cumberlege, p.18 2 Mr. Hira Lal Suggests that this custom may have something to do with the phrase Athara jat ke gay, or 'She has gone to the eighteen castes,' used of a woman who has been turned out of the community. The phrase seems, however, to be an euphemism, eighteen castes being a term of indefinite multitude for any or no caste. The number eighteen may be selected from the same unknown association which causes the goat to be cut into eighteen pieces. 3 Ethnographic Notes in Southern India, p.344, quoting from Moor's Narrative of Little's Detachment .

80 In their houses the Banjâri Devi is represented by a pack-saddle set on high in the room, and this is worshipped before the caravans set out on their annual tours .

Mîthu Bhîkia. Another deity is Mîthu Bhîkia, an old freebooter, who lived in the Central Provinces; he is venerated by the dacoits as the most clever dacoit known in the annals of the caste, and a hut was usually set apart for him in each hamlet, a staff carrying a white flag being planted before it . Before setting out for a dacoity, the men engaged would assemble at the hut of Mîthu Bhîkia, and, burning a lamp before him, ask for an omen; if the wick of the lamp dropped the omen was propitious, and the men present then set out at once on the raid without returning home. They might not speak to each other nor answer if challenged for if any one spoke the charm would be broken and the protection of Mîthu Bhîkia removed; and they should either return to take the omens again or give up that particular dacoity altogether1. It has been recorded as a characteristic trait of Banjâras that they will, as a rule, not answer if spoken to when engaged on a robbery, and the custom probably arises from this observance; but the worship of Mîthu Bhîkia is now frequently neglected. After a successful dacoity a portion of the spoil would be set apart for Mîthu Bhîkia, and of the balance the Nâik or headman of the village received two shares if he participated in the crime; the man who struck the first blow or did most towards the common object also received two shares, and all the rest one share. With Mîthu Bhîkia's share a feast was given at which thanks were returned to him for the success of the enterprise, a burnt offering of incense being made in his tent and a libation of liquor poured over the flag staff. A portion of the food was sent to the women who were not allowed to share in the worship of Mîthu Bhîkia nor to enter his hut.

Siva Bhâia. Another favourite deity is Siva Bhâia, whose story is given by Colonel Mackenzie2 as follows: "The love borne by Mâri Mâta, the goddess of cholera, for the handsome Siva Râthor, is an event of our own times (1874) she proposed to him, but his heart being pre-engaged he rejected her; and in consequence his earthly bride was smitten sick and died, and the hand of the goddess fell heavily on Siva himself, thwarting all his schemes and blighting his fortunes and possessions, until at last he gave himself up to her. She then possessed him and caused him to prosper exceedingly, gifting him with supernatural power until his fame was proclaimed abroad, and he was venerated as the saintly Siva Bhâia or great brother to all women, being himself unable to marry. But in his old age the goddess capriciously wished him to marry and have issue, but he refused and was slain and buried at Pohur in Berâr. A temple was erected over him and his kinsmen became priests of it, and hither large numbers are attracted by the supposed efficacy of vows made to Siva, the most sacred of all oaths being that taken in his name." If a Banjâra swears by Siva Bhâia, placing his right hand on the bare head of his son and heir, and grasping a cow's tail in his left, he will fear to perjure himself, lest by doing so he should bring injury on his son and a murrain on his cattle 3.

Worship Of Cattle. Naturally also the Banjâras4 worshipped their pack-cattle. “When sickness occurs they lead the sick man to the feet of the bullock called Hâtadiya5 . On this animal no burden is ever laid, but he is decorated with streamers of red-dyed silk, and tinkling bells with many brass chains and rings on neck and feet, and silken tassels hanging in all directions; he moves

1 Cumberlege, p.35, VOL. II 2 Berår Census Report, 1881. 3 Cumberlege, p. 21 4 The following instance is taken from Mr. Balfour's article. 'Migratory Tribes of Central India,' in J.A.S.B., new series, vol. XIII, quoted in Mr. Crooke's Tribes and Castes. 5 From the Sanskrit Hatya adhya, meaning ' That which it is most sinful to slay' (Balfour).

81 steadily at the head of the convoy, and at the place where he lies down when he is tired they pitch their camp for the day; at his feet they make their vows when difficulties overtake them, and in illness, whether of themselves or their cattle, they trust to his worship for a cure”.

Connection With The Sikhs. Mr. Balfour also mentions in his paper that the Banjâras call themselves Sikhs, and it is noticeable that the Châran subcaste say that their ancestors were three Râjpît boys who followed Guru Nânak, the prophet of the Sikhs. The influence of Nânak appears to have been widely extended over northern India, and to have been felt by large bodies of the people other than whose who actually embraced the Sikh religion. Cumberlege states1 that before starting his marriage procession the bridegroom ties a rupee in his turban in honour of Guru Nânak which is afterwards expended in sweetmeats. But otherwise the modern Banjâras do not appear to retain any Sikh observances.

Witchcraft. The Banjâras, Sir A. Lyall writes2 “are terribly vexed by witchcraft, to which their wandering and precarious existence especially exposes them in the shape of fever, rheumatism and dysentery”. Solemn inquiries are still held in the wild jungles where these people camp out like gypsies, and many an unlucky 'witch' has been strangled by sentence of their 'secret tribunals' The business of magic and witchcraft was in the hands of two classes of Bhagats or magicians, one good and the other bad3 who may correspond to the European practitioners of black and white magic. The good Bhagat is called Nimbu-kâtna or lemon -cutter, a lemon speared on a knife being a powerful averter of evil spirits. He is a total abstainer from meat and liquor, and fasts once a week on the day sacred to the deity whom he venerates, usually Mahâdeo; he is highly respected and never panders to vice. But the Jânta, the 'Wise or Cunning Man, ' is of a different type, and the following is an account of the devilry often enacted when a deputation visited him to inquire into the cause of a prolonged illness, a cattle murrain, a sudden death or other misfortune. A woman might often be called a Dâkun or witch in spite, and when once this word had been used the husband or nearest male relative would be regularly bullied into consulting the Jânta. Or if some woman had been ill for a week, an avaricious4 husband or brother would begin to whisper foul play. Witchcraft would be mentioned, and the wise man called in. He would give the sufferer a quid of betel, muttering an incantation, but this rarely effected a cure, as it was against the interest of all parties that it should do so. The sufferer's relatives would then go to their Nâik, tell him that the sick person was bewitched, and ask him to send a deputation to the Jânta or witch-doctor. This would be at once despatched, consisting of one male adult from each house in the hamlet, with one of the sufferer's relatives. On the road the party would bury a bone or other article to test the wisdom of the witch-doctor. But he was not to be caught out, and on their arrival he would bid the deputation rest, and come to him for consultation on the following day. Meanwhile, during the night the Jânta would be thoroughly coached by some accomplice in the party. Next morning, meeting the deputation, he would tell every man all the particulars of his name and family, name the invalid, and tell the party to bring materials for consulting the spirits, such as oil, vermilion, sugar, dates, coconut, chironiji 5 and sesamum. In the evening, holding a lamp, the Jânta would be possessed by Mâriai, the goddess of cholera; he would mention all particulars of the sick man's illness, and indignantly inquire why they had buried the bone on the road, naming it and describing the place . If this did not satisfy the deputation, a goat would be brought, and he would name its

1 Monograph, p.12 2 Asiatic Studies, i. p. 118 (ed. 1899). 3 Cumberlege, p, 23 et seq. The description of witchcraft is wholly reproduced from his Monograph. 4 His motive being the fine inflicted on the witch's family. 5 The fruit of Bhuchanania Latifolia.

82 sex with any distinguishing marks on the body. The sick person's representative would then produce his nazar or fee, formerly Rs. 25, but lately the double of this or more. The Jânta would now begin a sort of chant, introducing the names of the families of the kuri other than that containing her who was to be proclaimed a witch, and heap on them all kinds of abuse. Finally , he would assume an ironic tone, extol the virtues of a certain family, become facetious, and praise its representative then present. This man would then question the Jânta on all points regarding his own family, his own family, his connections, worldly goods, and what gods he worshipped, ask who was the witch, who taught her sorcery, and how and why she practised it in this particular instance. But the witch doctor, having taken care to be well coached, would answer everything correctly and fix the guilt onto the witch. A goat would be sacrifice and eaten with liquor, and the deputation would return. The punishment for being proclaimed a Dâkun was formerly death to the woman and a fine to be paid by her relatives to the bewitched person's family. The woman's husband or her sons would be directed to kill her, and if they refused, other men were deputed to murder her, and bury the body at once with all the clothing and ornaments then on her person, while a further fine would be exacted from the family for not doing away with her themselves. But murder for witchcraft has been almost entirely stopped, and nowadays the husband, after being fined a few head of cattle, which are given to the sick man, is turned out of the village with his wife. It is quite possible, however, that an obnoxious old hag would even now not escape death, especially if the money fine were not forthcoming, and an instance is known in recent times of a mother being murdered by her three sons. The whole village combined to screen these amiable young men, and eventually they made the Jânta the scapegoat, and he got seven years, while the murderers could not be touched. Colonel Mackenzie writes that "Curious to relate, the Jântas, known locally as Bhagats, in order to become possessed of their alleged powers of divination and prophecy , must travel to Kazhe, beyond Surat, there to learn and be instructed by low-caste Koli impostors". This is interesting, as an instance of the powers of witchcraft being attributed by the Hindus or higher race to the indigenous primitive tribes, a rule which Dr. Tylor and Dr. Jevons consider to hold good generally in the history of magic .

Human Sacrifice. Several instances are known also of the Banjâras having practised human sacrifice. Mr. Thurston states : 1 “In former times the Lambâdis, before setting out on a journey, used to procure a little child and bury it in the ground up to the shoulders, and then drive their loaded bullocks over the unfortunate victim. In proportion to the bullocks thoroughly trampling the child to death, so their belief in a successful journey increased.” The Abbey Dubois describes another form of sacrifice:2 “The Lambâdis are accused of the still more atrocious crime of offering up human sacrifices. When they wish to perform this horrible act, it is said, they secretly carry off the first person they meet. Having conducted the victim to some lonely spot, they dig a hole in which they bury him up to the neck. While he is still alive, they make a sort of lamp of dough made of flour, which they place on his head; this they fill with oil, and light four wicks in it. Having done this, the men and women join hands and, forming a circle , dance round their victim, singing and making a great noise until he expires”. Mr. Cumberlege records3 the following statement of a child kidnapped by Banjâra caravan in 1871. After explaining how he was kidnapped and the tip of his tongue cut off to give him a defect in speech, the Kunbi lad, taken from Sâhungarhi in the Bhandâra District, went on to say that “The tânda ( caravan ) encamped for the night in the jungle. In the morning a woman named Gangi said that the devil was in her and that a sacrifice must be made. On this four men and three women took the boy to a place they had made for pîja (worship). They fed him with milk, rice and sugar, and then made him stand up, when Gangi drew a sword and approached the child, who tried to run away; he was caught and

1 Ethnographic Notes in Southern India, p. 507, quoting from Rev. J. Cain, Ind. Ant. viii (1879). 2 Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, p.70 3 Monograph, p19

83 brought back to this place, Gangi, holding the sword with both hands and standing on the child's right side, cut off his head with one blow. Gangi collected the blood and sprinkled it on the idol; this idol is made of stone, is about 9 inches high, and has something sparkling in its forehead. The camp marched that day, and for four or five days consecutively, without another sacrifice; but on the fifth day a young woman came to the camp to sell curds, and having bought some, the Banjâras asked her to come in the evening and eat with them. She did come, and after eating with the women slept in the camp. Early next morning she was sacrificed in the same way as the boy had been, but it took three blows to cut off her head; it was done by Gangi , and the blood was sprinkled on the stone idol. About a month ago Sitârâm, a Gond lad, who had also been kidnapped and was in the camp, told me to run away as it had been decided to offer me up in sacrifice at the next Jiuti festival, so I ran away”. The child having been brought to the police, a searching and protracted inquiry was held, which, however, determined nothing,though it did not disprove his story.

Admission Of Outsiders; Kidnapped Children And Slaves . The Banjâra caste is not closed to outsiders, but the general rule is to admit only women who have been married to Banjâra men. Women of the lowest and impure castes are excluded, and for some unknown reason the Patwas1 and Nunias are classified with these. In Nimâr it is stated that formerly Gonds, Korkus and even Balâhis2 might become Banjâras, but this does not happen now, because the caste has lost its occupation of carrying goods, and there is therefore no inducement to enter it. In former times they were much addicted to kidnapping children. These were carried off or enticed away whenever an opportunity presented itself during their expeditions. The children were first put into the gonis or grain bags of the bullocks and so carried for a few days, being made over at each halt to the care of a woman, who would pop the child back into its bag if any stranger passed by the encampment. The tongues of boys were sometimes slit or branded with hot gold, this last being the ceremony of initiation into the caste still used in Nimâr. Girls, if they were as old as seven, were sometimes disfigured for fear of recognition, and for this purpose the juice of the marking- nut3 tree would be smeared on one side of the face, which burned into the skin and entirely altered the appearance. Such children were known as Jângar. Girls would be used as concubines and servants of the married wifves, and boys would also be employed as servants. Jângar boys would be married to Jângar girls, both remaining in their condition of servitude. But sometimes the more enterprising of them would abscond and settle down in a village. The rule was that for seven generations the children of Jângars or slaves continued in that condition, after which they were recognised as proper Banjâras. The Jângar could not draw in smoke through the stem of the hookah when it was passed round in the assembly, but must take off the stem and inhale from the bowl. The Jângar also could not eat off the bell-metal plate of his master, because these were liable to pollution, but must use brass plates. At one time the Banjâras conducted a regular traffic in female slaves between Gujarât and Central India, selling in each country the girls whom they had kidnapped in the other4 .

Dress. Up to twelve years of age a Châran girl only wears a skirt with a shoulder-cloth tucked into the waist and carried over the left arm and the head. After this she may have anklets and bangles on the forearm and a breast-cloth. But until she married she may not have the wânkri or curved anklet, which marks that estate, nor wear bone or ivory bangles on the upper arm5. When she is ten years old a Labhâna girl is given two small bundles containing a nut, some cowries and rice, which are knotted to two corners of dupatta or shoulder cloth

1 The Patwas are weavers of silk thread and the Nunias are masons and navvies. 2 An impure caste of weavers, ranking with the Mahars. 3 Semecarpus Anacordium. 4 Malcolm, Memoir of Central India, ii. p.296 5 Cumberlege, p. 16.

84 and hung over the shoulder, one in front and one behind. This denotes maidenhood. The bundles are considered sacred, are always knotted to the shoulder-cloth in use, and are only removed to be tucked into the waist at the girl's marriage, where they are worn till death. These bundles alone distinguish the Labhâna from Mathuria woman. Women often have their hair hanging down beside the face in front and woven behind with silver thread into a plait down the back. This is known as Anthi, and has a number of cowries at the end. They have large bell-shaped ornaments of silver tied over the head and hanging down behind the ears, the hollow part of the ornament being stuffed with sheep's wool dyed red; and to these are attached little bells, while the anklets on the feet are also hollow and contain little stones or balls, which tinkle as they move. They have skirts, and separate short cloths drawn across the shoulders according to the northern fashion, usually red or green in colour, and along the skirt-borders, double lines of cowries are sewn. Their breast-cloths are profusely ornamented with needlework embroidery and small pieces of glass sewn into them, and are tied behind with cords of many colours whose ends are decorated with cowries and beads. Strings of beads, ten to twenty thick, threaded on horse-hair, are worn round the neck. Their favourite ornaments are cowries1 and they have these on their dress, in their houses, and on the trappings of their bullocks. On the arms they have ten or twelve bangles of ivory, or in default of this lac, horn or coconut shell. Mr. Ball states that he was "at once struck by the peculiar costumes and brilliant clothing of these Indian gypsies. They recalled to my mind the appearance of the gypsies of the Lower Danube and Wallachia"2. The most distinctive ornament of a Banjâra married woman is, however, a small stick about 6 inches long made of the wood of the khair or catechu. In Nimâr this is given to a woman by her husband at marriage, and she wears it afterwards placed upright on the top of the head, the hair being wound around it and the head-cloth draped over it in a graceful fashion. Widows leave it off, but on remarriage adopt it again. The stick is known as chunda by the Banjâras, but outsiders call it singh or horn. In Yeotmâl instead of one, the women have two little sticks fixed upright in the hair .The rank of the woman is said to be shown by the angle at which she wears this horn3 . The dress of the men presents no features of special interest. In Nimâr they usually have a necklace of coral beads, and some of them carry, slung on a thread round the neck, a tin tooth-pick and ear-scraper, while a small mirror and comb are kept in the head-cloth so that toilet can be performed anywhere. Mr. Cumberlege4 notes that in former times all Châran Banjâras, when carrying grain for an army, placed a twig of some tree, the sacred nîm 5when available, in their turban to show

1 Small double shell which are still used to a slight extent as a currency in backward tracts. this would seem an impossibly cumbrous method of carrying money about nowadays, but I have been informed by a comparatively young official that in his father's time change for a rupee could not be had in Chhattisgarh outside the two principal towns. As the cowries were a form of currency they were probably held sacred, and then hence sewn on to clothes as a charm, jut as gold and silver are used for ornaments. 2 Jungle Life in India, p.516. 3 Brewe's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable contains the following notice of horns as an article of dress: " Mr. Buckingham says of a Tyrian lady, 'She wore on her had a hollow silver horn rearing itself up obliquely from the forehead. It was some four inches in diameter at the root and pointed at the extremity. This peculiarity reminded me forcibly of the expression of the psalmist: " Lift not up your horn on high; speak not with a stiff neck. All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off, but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted" (Ps.lxxv.5,10).' Bruce found in Abyssinia the silver horns of warriors and distinguished men. In the reign of Henry V, the horned headgear was introduced into England and from the effigy of Beatrice Countess of Arundel, at Arundel church, who is represented with the horns outspread to a great extent, we may infer that the length of the head horn, like the length of the shoe point in the reign of Henry VI etc., marked a degree of rank. To cut off such horns would be to degrade; and to exult and extend such horns would be to add honour and dignity to the wear." Webb (Heritage of Dress, p.117) writs: "Mr. Elworthy in a paper to the British Association at Ipswich in 1865 considered the crown to be a development from horns of honour. He maintained that the symbols found in the head of the gold Serapis were the elements from which were formed the composite head- dress called crown into which horns entered to a very great extent." This seems a doubtful speculation, but still it may be quite possible that the idea of distinguishing by a crown the leader of the tribe was originally taken from the antlers of the leader of the herd. The helmets of the Vikings were also, I believe, decorated with horns. 4 Monograph, p. 40 5 Melia Indica.

85 that they were on the war-path; and that they would do the same now if they had occasion to fight to the death on any social matter or under any supposed grievance.

Social Customs. The Banjâras eat all kinds of meat, including fowls and pork, and drink liquor. But the Mathurias abstain from both flesh and liquor. Major Gunthorpe states that the Banjâras are accustomed to drink before setting out for a dacoity or robbery and, as they smoke after drinking, the remains of leaf-pipes lying about the scene of action may indicate their handiwork. They rank below the cultivating castes, and Brâhmans will not take water to drink from them.. When engaged in the carrying trade, they usually lived in kuris or hamlets attached to such regular villages as had considerable tracts of wasteland belonging to them. When the tânda or caravan started on its long carrying trips, the young men and some of the women went with it with the working bullocks, while the old men and the remainder of the women and children remained to tend the breeding cattle in the hamlet. In Nimâr they generally rented a little land in the village to give them a footing, and paid also a carrying fee on the number of cattle present. Their spare time was constantly occupied in the manufacture of hempen twine and sacking, which was much superior to that obtainable in towns. Even in Captain Forsyth's1 time (1866) the construction of railways and roads had seriously interfered with the Banjâras' calling, and they had perforce taken to agriculture. Many of them have settled in the new ryotwâri villages in Nimâr as Government tenants. They still grow tilli 2in preference to other crops, because this oilseed can be raised without much labour or skill, and during their former nomadic life they were accustomed to sow it on any poor strip of land which they might rent for a season. Some of them are also accustomed to leaving a part of their holding untilled in memory of their former and more prosperous life. In many villages they have not yet built proper houses, but continue to live in mud huts thatched with grass. They consider it unlucky to inhabit a house with a cement or tiled roof; this being no doubt a superstition arising from their camp life. Their houses must also be built so that the main beams do not cross, but the beams may be parallel. The same rule probably governed the arrangement of tents in their camps. In Nimâr they prefer to live at some distance from water, probably that of a tank or river; and this seems to be a survival of a usage mentioned by the Abbe Dubois:3" Among other curious customs of this odious caste is one that obliges them to drink no water which is not drawn from springs or wells. The water from rivers and tanks being thus forbidden, they are obliged in case of necessity to dig a little hole by the side of a tank or river and take the water filtering through, which, by this means, is supposed to become spring water." It is possible that this rule may have had its origin in a sanitary precaution. Colonel Sleeman notes4 that the Banjâras on their carrying trips preferred by-paths through jungles to the high roads along cultivated plains, as grass, wood and water were more abundant along such paths; and when they could not avoid the high roads, they commonly encamped as far as they could from villages the towns, and upon the banks of rivers and streams, with the same object of obtaining a sufficient supply of grass, wood and water. Now it is well known that the decaying vegetation in these hill streams renders the water noxious and highly productive of malaria. And it seems possible that the perception of this fact led the Banjâras to dig shallow wells by the sides of the streams for their drinking-water, so that the supply thus obtained might be in some degree filtered by percolation through the intervening soil and freed from its vegetable germs. And the custom may have grown into a taboo, its underlying reason being unknown to the bulk of them, and be still practised, through no longer necessary when they do not travel. If this explanation be corrected it would be an interesting conclusion that the Banjâras anticipated so

1 Author of the Nimår Settlement Report. 2 Sesamum. 3 Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, p. 21. 4 Report of the Badhak or Bagri Dacoits, p. 310.

86 far as they were able the sanitary precaution by which our soldiers are supplied with portable filters when on the march.

The Nâik Or Headman Banjâra Dogs. Each kuri (hamlet ) or tânda (caravan) had a chief or leader with the designation of Nâik, a Telugu word meaning 'lord' or 'master'. The office of Nâik1 was only partly hereditary, and the choice also depended on ability. The Nâik had authority to decide all disputes in the community. As already seen, the Nâik received two shares if he participated in a robbery or other crime, and a fee on the remarriage of a widow outside her family and on the discovery of a witch. Another matter in which he was specially interested was pig-sticking. The Banjâras have a particular breed of dogs, and with these they were accustomed to hunt wild pig on foot, carrying spears. When a pig was killed, the head was cut off and presented to the Nâik or headman, and if any man was injured or gored by the pig in the hunt, the Nâik kept and fed him without charge until he recovered.

The following notice of the Banjâras and their dogs may be cited2: "They are brave and have the reputation of great independence, which I am not disposed to allow to them. The Wanjâri indeed is insolent on the road, and will drive his bullocks up against a Sâhib or any one else; but at any disadvantage he is abject enough. I remember one who rather enjoyed seeing his dogs attack me, whom he supposed alone and unarmed , but the sight of a cocked pistol made him very quick in calling them off and very humble in praying for their lives, which I spared, less for his entreaties than because they were really noble animals. The Wanjâris are famous for their dogs, of which there are three breeds. The first is a large, smooth dog, generally black, sometimes fawn-coloured, with a square heavy head, most resembling the Danish boar hound. This is the true Wanjâri dog. The second is also a large, square-headed dog, but shaggy, more like a great underbred spaniel than anything else. The third is an almost tail-less greyhound, of the type known all over India by the various names of Lât Polygar, Râmpîri, etc. They all run both by sight and scent, and with their help the Wanjâris kill a good deal of game, chiefly pigs; but I think they usually keep clear of the old fighting boars. Besides sport and their legitimate occupations the Wanjâris seldom stickle at supplementing their resources by theft, especially of cattle; and they are often suspected of infanticide."

The Banjâras are credited with great affection for their dogs, and the following legend is told about one of them: Once upon a time a Banjâra, who had a faithful dog, took a loan from a Bania (moneylender) and pledged his dog with him as security for payment. And some time afterwards, while the dog was with the moneylender, a theft was committed in his house, and the dog followed the thieves and saw them throw the property into a tank. When they went away the dog brought the Bania to the tank and he found his property. He was therefore very pleased with the dog and wrote a letter to his master, saying that the loan was repaid, and tied it round his neck and said to him, 'Now, go back to your master.' So the dog started back, but on his way he met his master, the Banjâra, coming to the Bania with the money for the repayment of the loan. And when the Banjâra saw the dog he was angry with him, not seeing the letter, and thinking he had run away, and said to him, 'Why do you come, betraying your trust?' and he killed the dog in a rage. And after killing him he found the letter and was very grieved, so he built a temple to the dog's memory, which is called the Kukurra Mandhi. And in the temple is the image of a dog. This temple is in the Drîg District, five miles from Bâlod. A similar story is told of the temple of Kukurra Math in Mandla.

Criminal Tendencies Of The Caste.

1 Colonel Mackenzie's Notes. 2 Mr. W. F. Sinclair, C.S., in Lad. Ani. iii p. 184 (1874)

87 The following notice of Banjâra criminals is taken from Major Gunthorpe's interesting account: 1"In the Palmy days of the tribe dacoities were undertaken on the most extensive scale. Gangs of fifty to a hundred and fifty well-armed men would go long distances from their tânda or encampments for the purpose of attacking houses in villages,or treasure parties or wealthy travellers on the high roads. The more intimate knowledge which the police have obtained concerning the habits of this race, and the detection and punishment of many criminals through informers, have aided in stopping the heavy class of dacoities formerly prevalent, and their operations are now on a much smaller scale. In British territory arms are scarcely carried, but each man has a good stout stick (gedi ), the bark of which is peeled off so as to make it look whitish and fresh. The attack is generally commenced by stone-throwing and then a rush is made, the sticks being freely used and the victims almost invariably struck about the head or face. While plundering, Hindustâni is sometimes spoken, but as a rule they never utter a word, but grunt signals to one another. Their loin-cloths are braced up, nothing is worn on the upper part of the body, and their faces are generally muffled. In house dacoities men are posted at different corners of streets, each with a supply of well- chosen round stones to keep off any people coming to the rescue. Banjâras are expert cattle- lifters, sometimes taking as many as a hundred head or even more at a time. This kind of robbery is usually practised in hilly or forest country where the cattle are sent to graze. Secreting themselves they watch for the herdsman to have his usual midday doze and for the cattle to stray to a little distance. As many as possible are then driven off to a great distance and secreted in ravines and woods. If questioned they answered that the animals belong to landowners and have been given into their charge to graze, and as this is done every day the questioner thinks nothing more of it. After a time the cattle are quietly sold to individual purchasers or taken to markets at a distance.

Their Virtues. The Banjâras, however, are far from being wholly criminal, and the number who have adopted an honest mode of livelihood is continually on the increase. Some allowance must be made for their having been deprived of their former calling by the cessation of the continual wars which distracted India under native rule, and the extension of roads and railways which has rendered their mode of transport by pack-bullocks almost entirely obsolete. At one time practically all the grain exported from Chhattîsgarh was carried by them. In 1881 Mr. Kitts noted that the number of Banjâras convicted in the Berâr criminal courts was lower in proportion to the strength of the caste than that of Muhammadans, Brâhmans, Koshtis or Sunârs,2though the offences committed by them were usually more heinous. Colonel Mackenzie had quite a favourable opinion of them: "A Banjâra who can read and write is unknown. But their memories, from cultivation, are marvellous and very retentive. They carry in their heads, without slip or mistake, the most varied and complicated transactions and the share of each in such, striking a debtor and creditor account as accurately as the best kept ledger, while their history and ongs are all learnt by heart and transmitted orally from generation to generation. On the whole, and taken rightly in their clannish nature, their virtues preponderate over their vices. In the main they are truthful and very brave, be it in war or the chase, and once gained over are faithful and devoted adherents. With the pride of high descent and with the right that might gives in unsettled and troublous times, these Banjâras habitually lord it over the settled inhabitants of the plains. And now, not having read the warnings given by a yearly diminishing occupation, which slowly has taken their bread away, it is a bitter pill for them to sink into the ryot class or oftener still, under stern necessity to become the ryot's servant. But they are settling to their fate, and the time must come when all their peculiar distinctive marks and traditions will be forgotten".

1 Notes on Criminal Tribes frequenting Bombay, Berår and the Central Provinces (Bombay, 1882). 2 Berår Census Report (1881), p.151.

88 Bansohor.: -They live in Maharashtra. They make bamboo baskets, ropes, mats and chairs.

Bânsphor.: -(Bâns , "bamboo," phorna , "to split").1- A subcaste of doms who may be considered separately as they have been separately enumerated at the last Census. Those in Murzapur represent themselves to be immigrants from a place called Bisurpur or Birsupur in the Native State of Panna, which, according to some, is identical with Birsinhpur, a place north-west of the town of Ríwa. In Gorakhpur they call themselves Gharbâri, or "settled" Doms, in contrast to the Magahiya, or vagrant branch of the tribe. Their immigration from the west is said in Mirzapur to have commenced some four generations ago and still continues. They profess to undertake occasional pilgrimages to their old settlement to worship a local Mahâdeva. In Gorakhpur they have a story that they are the descendants of one Supach Bhagat, who was a votary of Râmchandra. He had two wives, Mân Devi and Pân Devi, the first of whom was the ancester of the Bânsphors. Like other doms, they freely admit outsiders into the caste, and this generally as the result of an intrigue with one of their women. The applicant for admission has to give a feast of rice, pulse, pord, and spirits to the brotherhood, and when he has drunk with them he is admitted to full caste rights.

Internal organization. The sub-caste being a purely occupational offshoot from the original Dom tribe, their internal organization is rather vague. Thus at the last Census they were recorded under one main sub-caste, the Dhânuk, who, though possibly allied to the Dom race, are generally treated as distinct, and the Benbansi of Gonda. In Bhâgalpur, according to Mr. Risley,2 They have a number of exogamous sections (pangat ); but other Bânsphors on the Nepâl frontier regulate their mariages by local sections (dih); while others in the town of Bhâgalpur have neither pangat nor dih . In Mirzapur they enumerate tight exogamous sections: Mahâwati, Chamkel, Gausel, Samudra, Nahar, Kalai, Magariha, and Saraiha ; and they reinforce the rule of section exogamy prohibiting mariages with the daughter of the maternal uncle, of their father's sister, and of their own sister; also they do not intermarry with a family into which one of these relations has married, until at least one or two generations have passed. Similarly, in Hardoi, where they have no sub-castes or sections, they are reported to prohibit marriage with first cousins on both the father's and mother's sides. In Gorakhpur they name, like so many castes of this social grade, seven endogamous sub-castes: Bânsphor; Mangta, or "begging" Doma; Dharkâr, which has been treated as a separate caste; Nâtak, or dancers; Tasiha; Halâlkhor, one to whom all food is lawful; and Kînchbandhiya, or makers of the brushes used by weavers for cleaning the thread.

Tribal Council. The Bânsphors on the whole agree with the customs of the Doms and Dhardars, of whom an account has been sepatately given; but, as might be expected from their living a more settled life than the vagrant Doms, they are more completely Hinduised. Their caste council, under a hereditary president (Chaudhari ), is a very powerful and influential body, the members of which are, however, only advisors to the president, who, after consultation with them, gives any orders he pleases. If a man is caught in an intrigue with a Dhobin or Domin he is permanently excommunicated, and the same rule applies to a women detected in an amour with a man of either of these castes. Intrigues with persons of more respectable castes involve expulsion only until the necessary feasts of expiation are given to the brethren. In addition to the feast, the offender has always, in Mirzapur, to pay a cash fine of one-and-a-quarter rupees. Monogamy is the rule, but there is no restriction against a man having as many

1 See Crooke Based on enquiries at Mirzapur, and notes received through Mr. W. Hocy, C. S., Gorakhpur, and Bâbu Sînwal Dâs, hardoi. 2 Tribes and Castes , I, 60.

89 wives as he can marry and support. Concubinage with a woman of another caste is prohibited, and the caste look on the very idea of polyandry with such horror that it is more than doubtful it could ever have been a tribal institution. If an unmarried girl is detected in an intrigue with a clansman she is married to him by order of the council, and her father has to give a dinner to the brethren. When a married woman offends in this way, both her husband and father have to give a feast; but, as among all these tribes, inter-tribal infidelity is lightly regarded; a woman is not condemned except on the actual evidence of eye- witnesses.

Marriage rules. Marriage takes place usually in infancy; and, in Mirzapur, if a girl is not married by the time she comes to puberty, her parents are put out of caste. Marriages are arranged by the brother-in-law of the boy's father, and the bride-price is fixed in Mirzapur by tribal custom at four-and-a-quarter rupees, four annas being added as siwâi for good luck. If a wife habitually commits adultery, eats with a low-caste person, or give her husband food in an impure dish, she is put away with the sanction of the council. A woman is allowed to leave her husband only if he be put out of caste. It is said, in Murzapur, that a divorced wife cannot marry again. This is true, so far as that she cannot go through the regular service which is restricted to virgin brides; but she can live with a man by the sagâi form, and the connetion, after it has been ratified by a feast, is binding, and her children are legitimate. Widows are married by the sagâi , or dharauna form, generally to a widower, and their children are recognised as heirs. The only ceremony is that the husband gives the woman a new suit of clothes, which are put on her inside the house at night, in secret, and he then eats with the family of his father-in-law. The next day he takes his bride home, and feeds his clansmen, on which the union is recognised. The levirate prevails under the usual restrictions. Even if a widow be taken over by the younger brother, her children by the first marriage inherit the estate of the of their father. A man may adopt his brother's, or daughter's son, but not that of his sister. A woman can adopt if there be no one in her husband's family to support her.

Birth ceremonies. In their birth ceremonies the Bânsphors resemble the Dharkârs. The mother, during her confinement is, in Mirzapur, attended by a woman of the Basor caste. There is no rite performed on the sixth day, and the mother is impure until the twelfth day (barahi). They have the usual dread of the menstrual and parturition impurity. On the twelfth day a hog is sacrificed to the deceased ancestors of the family, and the brethren eat the flesh boiled with rice. The woman has to worship the well from which water is drawn for the use of the family by walking five times around it in the course of the sun and marking it with red lead. A man does not cohabit with his wife for two months after her confinement. The only approach to a puberty ceremony is the ear-boring, which takes place at the age of three or five, but in some cases is delayed to a later date, and it marks a movement to Hinduism that they ask the Pandit to fix a lucky time for its perfromance. From that time the child is regarded as a member of the tribe and must conform to caste usages regarding food.

Marriage. In the same way the Pandit draws auspices (ganana ganna ) of marriages. The betrothal is settled by the father of the boy exchanging with the girl's father a leaf platter full of liquor in which a rupee is placed, and the brother-in-law of the bridegroom ties a turban on the head of the bride's father. The marriage ceremony resembles that of Dharkârs (q. v. ). It is preceded by the matmangara ceremony. The earth is dug by the bridegroom's mother, who offers a burnt sacrifice (Homa ) to the village deities (dih ). In the center of the marriage shed (mânro ) is fixed up a branch of the fig tree (gîlar ) and the cotton tree (semal ). The usual anointing precedes the marriage. The bride's nails are solemnly cut (nahchhu ) and her feet are coloured with lac (mahâwar ). The usual waving ceremony (parachhan ) is done with a pestle (mîsar ). At the bride's door her father makes a mark (líka ) on the forehead of the bridegroom with rice and curds. The bride's father washes the feet of the birde and

90 bridegroom in a square in the court-yard. They sit facing east, and the bride's father worships the fig tree branch, and then, in imitation of Hindus, Gauri and Ganesa. Then holding some kusa grass in his hand he formally gives away the bride (kanyâdâna ). The clothes of the pair are knotted together, and they walk five times round the fig and cotton branches, while at each revolution the girl's brother sprinkles a little parched rice into a sieve which the bridegroom holds. this he scatters on the ground, and the ceremony ends by the bridegroom marking the girl's head with red lead, which is the binding portion of the ceremony. Then they go into the retiring room (kohabar ), where jokes are played on the bridegroom, and he receives a present from his mother-in-law. As is usual with these tribes, they have the ceremony of plunging the wedding jars (kalsa dubâna ) into water a day or two after the wedding.

Death ceremonies. The dead are cremated, except young children or those who die of epidemic diseases, whose bodies are thrown into a river or buried. After the cremation they chew leaves of the ním tree as a mark of mourning. The death pollution lasts ten days, during which the mourner every night lays out a platter of food on the road by which the corpse was removed. On the tenth day the chief mourner throws five lumps of rice (pinda ) boiled in milk (khír ) into water in the name of the dead, and, on returning home, sacrifices a hog in the name of the deceased, which is boiled with rice and eaten by the clansmen. No Brâhmans are employed at any of these ceremonies. In the festival of the dead (pitripaksha ) in Kuâr they pour water on the ground every day for fifteen days in honour of deceased ancestors; and on the ninth day they offer cakes (pîri ), sweet rice(bakhír ), and pork to their ancestors. These are laid out in the court-yard for their use. On the fifteenth day they offer rice, pulse, bread, and pork, if obtainable, in the same way. Any senior member of the family presents the offering.

Religion. Their chief deity in Mirzapur is the Vindhyâbâsini Devi, of Bindhâchal, whom they worship on the ninth day of Chait, with hogs, goats, cakes (pîri ), and pottage (lapsi ). They honour the village gods (dih ) with the sacrifice of a hog or goat; butter, barley, and treacle are burnt in a fire offering. On the fifth day of Sâwan they lay milk and parched rice near a snake's hole. They respect the pípal tree, and will not cut or injure it. In Gorakhpur they worship Kâlika and Samai. The former is worshipped at marriages, child-birth, etc., with and offering of a young pig, one-and-a-quarter jars of liquor, flowers, and ground rice boiled in treacle and milk (pithi). To Samai is offered a yearling pig. Maidens and widows married by the Sagâi form are not permitted to join in this worship, which takes place in a corner of the house set apart for the purpose. They do not employ Brâhmans in their domestic ceremonies, which are carried out by some old man (syâna ) of the family. In Hardoi their tribal deity is Kâla Deo, whose image is painted on the wall of the house, and worshipped at any event, such as marriage, birth, etc., in the family. They also sometimes sacrifice a goat or sheep to Devi, and the worshippers consume the offerings. Their holidays are the Phagua or Holi, at which they get drunk and eat choice food; the Râmmaumi, of the ninth of Chait, when they worship the Vundhyabâsini Devi; the Tíj, on the third of Sâwan, when women pray for the long life of their husbands, and the Kajari, on the third of Bhâdon, when women get drunk, and all rules of sexual morality are ignored. In Hardoi, on the Karwa Chauth feast, the women fast and worship the moon by pouring water out of an earthen pot (karwa), whence comes the name of the restival. At the Guriya feast girls make dolls of rags, which are beaten with sticks by boys on the banks of a tank. The dolls are believed to represent snakes, and the feast is in commemoration of the destruction of serpents by Garuda. They worship the dead by laying out food in seven leaf platters and letting the children or crows eat it. They have a great respect for the village shrine, and never dare to tread on the pieces of earthenware horses, etc., with which it is decorated. They also, as is shown in the birth ceremonies, worship wells. The sainted dead specially delight in the flavour of pork, and give trouble if not honoured with this sacrifice.

91 Social customs. Women wear in the ears the ornaments known as utarna and karnphîl , bead necklaces (kharkauwa ), and bangles (chîri) on the arms : anklets (pairi), and brass rings on their fingers. Boys and girls have two names, one for ordinary use and one kept secret. They swear on the sun or the heads of their children. Those who break an oath become smitten with leprosy or lose their property. Disease, generally due to demon possession, is treated by the Ojha, who is also called in cases of the Evil-eye. they will not eat beef, nor touch a Dom, Dhobi, the wife of a younger brother, the wife of the elder brother-in-law, or the wife of their sister's son. They will not mention their eldest son by his name. To do so is regarded a sin. They eat pork, fowls, goats, and other animals, but not the cow, monkey, alligator, snake, lizard, jackal, or rat. Men eat before women. They salute their caste men in the form "Râm! Râm!"

Occupation. Women work as ordinary day-labourers, but their business is making fans, baskets, and boxes of bamboo. Some work as sweepers and remove night-soil. No other caste will touch food or water from their hands.

Barwâr.: -A notorious criminal tribe found in Northern Oudh1. There is much difference of opinion as to the meaning of the word. According to one theory it means "a bearer of burdens" (bârwâla ); according to others it comes from the Hindi Baryara in the sense of "violent."

Traditional Origin. The story the Barwârs tell of themselves is as follows: Some centuries ago the ancestor of the tribe, a Kurmi by caste, lived at the village of Yahyapur, which is said to be situated in the Sâran District, east of the river Nârâyani. One day he was ploughing his field near the river when the wife of a rich Mahâjan came down to bathe. She took off her pearl necklace and stepped into the water. A kite swooped down, and, carrying it off, dropped it in the field where the Kurmi was ploughing. When he saw the treasure he began to think that it was easier to live by thieving than by farming. From that time his prosperity increased, and his clan became known as Suvarna or golden. They began then to be known as Barwâr or men of violence. It happened one day that a Kingariya or musician attended the death ceremony of a Barwâr at Yahyapur, and was given an empty purse as a present by the relatives of the deceased. By chance the Kingariya came to the village where the purse with two gold coins had been stolen. the owner recognized it; and after enquiries proving that the theft had been committed by the Barwârs, they were expelled from Yahyapur. After this they divided into two sections. One went to Basti, in the North-Western Provinces, and settled at Barauli, which is four miles west of Basti. The other gang went to Hardoi, in Oudh, and settled there. After their arrival in Hardoi they were given the name of Gânjar, which is said to mean "hoarders," and by which they are still known. In Barauli the Barwârs lived for some two centuries, and supported themselves by thieving. At last, one day, they robbed the camp of the Râja of Basti, and he had them expelled from his territory. They then came to Gonda and settled at Dhanipur, thirteen miles north of Gonda. They now occupy fifty-four villages in the Gonda District. They were again at one time forced to change their quarters by the influence of a money-lender named Sobha Sukl, whose name is still held in abhorrence among them. Another legend makes the Barwârs to be the descendants of a woman of low caste named Goli, by a Kurmi father. There seems nothing improbable in the story that they are a branch of the Kurmis, who separated from the parent stock either owing to their bad character or for some other reason. That much is admitted on all sides. The

1 See Crooke. Based chiefly on Notes by Mirza Ihfân Ali Beg, Deputy Collector, in charge of the tribe, and a report (date and author not given) entitled "Etymology (sic ) of the Barwârs of Gonda and the Sanaurhiyas of Nagpur .'

92 Barwârs, in former times, were certainly in the habit of recruiting their numbers by kidnapping young children of various castes. These became a separate class known either as Ghulâm, an Arabic term meaning "slave," or Tahla, a Hindi word meaning "one who walks about in attendance," "a follower." In contrast to this servile class, the pure Barwâr calls himself Swâng, which in their slang means "Master." It would appear that the recruitment of these Ghulâms has ceased in recent years, and that the pure Barwârs and the Ghulâms no longer intermarry. While the custom prevailed among the Gonda branch, the other divisions of the tribe would not intermarry with them. At present it is said that they neither give their daughters in marriage nor take girls from the Ghulâms, who have become themselves an endogamous section. Below the Ghulâms again is another section known as Tilâms or Talâms, who are the descendants of children kidnapped by the Ghulâms. These ostracised Ghulâms and Tilâms are the only members who have been as yet allowed by the tribe to enlist in the Police force. Ghulâms will eat food prepared by Barwârs, but the latter will not touch a dish prepared by the former. Male Ghulâms and Tilâms both get their equal share of plunder from the thieving gangs they join. A dowry is given with the Ghulâm bride, but not with the bridegroom. The Tilâms possess the same privileges in every way as their kidnappers, the Ghulâms. The Ghulâms are still believed occasionally to seduce girls of other castes, such as Brâhmans, Chhatris, Kurmis, Ahírs and Kahârs. These are received and adopted into the community. The more respectable Barwârs are also known as Thakuriya in Gonda.

Marriage Rules. The marriage of two sisters is permitted, provided the elder sister is married before the younger. The custom of exchanging girls in marriage does not prevail among them. The bride is admitted into the family of her husband without any special ceremony: but it is significant that every Barwâr, on marrying, is obliged to give to the landlord four hundred betel leaves or the equivalent value in money, which looks as if it were a commutation of the jus primae noctis , if it be not one of the ordinary dues levied by a landlord on his tenants. They may take two wives at one time. the favourite wife for the time being rules the household. Concubinage with women of the tribe is allowed; polyandry is prohibited. Marriage is both adult and infant. Divorce is permitted in case of infidelity on the part of the woman. The husband merely assembles the clansmen, and announces to them the fact of the divorce. Divorced wives cannot be re-married; but they may be kept as concubines by other men in the caste. They have a peculiar rule of inheritance by which the property is divided, half going to the children of the regularly married wife or wives, and the other half to the children of the concubines, provided they belong to the Barwâr caste. The offspring of a woman of a strange tribe have no rights of inheritance. When a pure Barwâr marries or keeps a woman of another caste he is excommunicated and sinks to the rank of a Ghulâm. Illicit intrigues within the caste are also punished by expulsion; but the offending parties can be restored on giving a tribal feast. Widow marriage is allowed. The only ceremony is that the man puts a set of bangles (chîri ) on the woman and feeds the community. The levirate is permitted, not enforced, and the widow may, if she pleases, accept an outsider. In such cases she loses the right of guardianship over the children of the first marriage, and has no rights of succession to the estate of her first husband.

Birth Ceremonies. The mother is attended by a woman of the Kori caste, who acts as midwife. She attends for five days and then the barber's wife acts as nurse for eight days. On the twelfth day after a birth the father purchases spirits and treats the brotherhood, and puts silver and gold ornaments on the child. This is supposed to bring luck in thieving. If a Barwâr fails to bring home plunder he is taunted by his comrades that his father did not perform the twelfth-day ceremony. If a child is thus initiated, he gets his share of the spoil; but if born after the Dasahra of Jeth he does not share till the next Dasahra of Kuâr. Similarly, during the rainy season, each man keeps his own plunder and has to share only with those who are incapacitated from thieving by blindness, old age, or some physical defect. But, as a rule,

93 they seldom thieve in the rains from the Dasahra of Jeth to the Dasahra of Kuâr; and after the latter date the partnership of the whole community is revived, and every soul becomes entitled to a share in the spoil whether he goes on a thieving excursion or remains at home. Widows and women who live in retirement get no share; but if a Barwâr is in prison his share goes to his wife.

Betrothal. The girl's father goes with some friends to the house of the boy, and pays his father a couple of rupees. He entertains his guests and sends to the bride some curds, fish, sweetmeats and a bottle of liquor. This settles the betrothal. This generally takes place when the girl is between three and seven.

Marriage Ceremonies. The marriage ceremonies begin with the lagau or fixing of the wedding day, which is carried out in the ordinary way. The actual ceremonies are of the usual type. The binding portions of the ritual are the kanyâdân or the giving away of the bride, the pairpîja, or worship of the feet of the bridegroom by his future father-in-law, and the bhanwar, or walking of the pair around the sacred fire.

Funeral Ceremonies. The young are buried; adults are cremated, or the corpse is thrown into a river. After the cremation is over, they bathe and then plant a piece of kusâ grass in the ground to act as a refuge for the spirit until the funeral rites are completed. The man who fired the pyre pours water on this for nine days; on the tenth day he is shaved on the eleventh the Mahâbrâhmans are feasted; on the twelfth day the friends and relatives are fed; on the thirteenth the Brâhmans are fed. After this, one Brâhman is fed for a year on the day of each month when the death occurred. On the anniversary there is a feast, and at this the family priest (purohit ) receives five articles of clothes: a jacket (angarkha ); a loin cloth (dhoti ); a turban (sâfa ); a sheet (châdar ); bedding (bistar ); and five cooking utensils: a pot(lota ), a tray (thâli ), a cooking pot (batloi ), tongs (dastpanah ), and a spoon (karchhul ). Besides these things he gets a cot (chârpâi ); wooden sandals (kharaun ); a pair of shoes (jîta ); and a stool (pírha ). When the corpse cannot be found, the ceremonies are performed on an effigy made of barley and Sânwan .

Religion. Their special deity is Bhâgawati. The household sacrifice is held on the third or fifth day of the first half of Bhâdon, when the master sacrifices a fowl and bakes thin cakes called lubra . These, with cooked gram, are given to a Muhammadan beggar as an offering to the Pânch Pír. They make an annual pilgrimage to the tomb of Bâla Pír, at Bahrâich, and offer a banner. They also worship Devi-Bhawâni; but in their depredations spare only the tomb at Bahrâich and the temple at Jagannath. When a goat is sacrificed to Bhâgawati, the head is given to a gardener (mâli), and the rest of the meat is eaten by the worshippers. Sometimes a pumpkin (lauki) is substituted for a goat.

Festivals. They observe all the ordinary Hindu festivals, and also some which are not so common- the Bahura on the fourth light half of Bhâdon, when the girls eat curdled milk and cucumbers; on the Barka Itwâr or "great Sunday," the last Sunday of Bhâdon, they fast and drink milk at night; on the Sakat Chauts, or fourth light half of Mâgh, they eat sweet potatoes, sesamum, and new raw sugar. No spirits or intoxicating drugs of any kind are used at the Barka Itwâr, but at the other festivals they are freely consumed.

Omens. Omens are highly regarded on their expeditions. Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday are lucky days, and sometimes Thursday. The ass is a lucky animal, and so is a dead body met on the

94 road, a washerman, a woman, or a Pandit. Tuesday is, however, regarded by some as an unlucky day, and a jackal, a Gusâín, an oilman, are also unlucky. A jackal or fox crossing the road from right to left is lucky the reverse is unlucky. When they go out to thieve they prefer to wear good clothes and a turban. When children are unhealthy they are given opprobrious names as a protection.

Taboos. When worship is being done to keep off evil spirits, children are not allowed to be present, any intercourse between the husband's father and the wife's relations is taboo. The husband does not name his wife, and vice versâ . A father will not call his eldest son by his name, nor a disciple his Guru.

Social Rules. They eat the flesh of sheep and goats; they reject fowls, and will eat fish. Flesh of monkeys, beef, pork, crocodiles, snakes, jackals, rats, or other vermin are not eaten. Spirits are freely drunk; they will eat the leftovers of no one but a parent. Men and women eat apart. Before they eat they say Jay Thâkurji , "Glory to the Lord!" To Brâhmans they use the salutation Pâ lagan , to Banyas, Kalwârs, etc., Râm ! Râm !; Sâdhs Pranâm and Namaskâr; to Gusâíns Nâmonârâyan ; to Aughars, Dandivat , Elders bless their juniors with Jiyo , "Long may you live." Juniors say to their seniors Pâ lagan . Those who are equal in rank say Râm ! Râm ! .

Occupation. Of those who have been brought under the Criminal Tribes Act some are cultivators and some field labourers. Like the Sanaurhiyas, they do not commit dacoity, theft with burglary, theft at night, or cattle-lifting. The Sanaurhiya leaders are known as Nal, and those of the Barwârs, Sahua. The leaders of the Barwârs enjoy no rights or privileges from their zamíndârs, unlike the Sanaurhiyas. The Barwârs consult astrologers and go on predatory expeditions after the Dasahra; the Sanaurhiyas after the Diwâli. Among the Sanaurhiyas, if any one renounce the profession of thieving, he is debarred from marrying in the caste, but a Barwâr under similar circumstances is debarred only from a share in the booty. The Sanaurhiyas associate with the children of any caste, even Chamârs, but the Barwârs jealously exclude outsiders. The Sanaurhiya gangs consist of not less than forty or fifty men; those of the Barwârs form twenty to fifty. The Sanaurhiyas teach their children thieving, and punish them if they forget their slight of hand; but the Barwârs leave their children to learn for themselves. The Sanaurhiyas have an umpire called Nahri, who settles disputes and divides the plunder. This is not the case with the Barwârs. The Sanaurhiyas administer oaths to each other to prevent misappropriation of stolen property; the Barwârs do not do this, but excommunicate the offender. The Sanaurhiyas go in for zamíndâri and cultivation, of which the Barwârs do little. In emergencies the leader is expected to feed his gang; but he usually stays at home and looks after the families, and whatever property is acquired is left to the Sahua or actual commander to be divided. The Sahua is generally a Barwâr, but he may be A Brâhman or Râjput, and is often the headman of the Village. Another official is the Dhebra or Naliha (a term also applied to a Barwâr who gives up thieving and is excommunicated). He carries a spade, a knife, or dagger, and some leaf-platters, on which he serves meals to the gang. He receives three rupees per mensem in addition to his share of the spoil. He does not join in thieving. Some go out in smaller gangs, and these are usually more successful than those who go in large bodies. If a single Barwâr brings in plunder he keeps it for himself, and any articles of clothing he acquires are his own at whatever season he gets them. During the rains they engage in drinking and amusement and do not work, the house and farm work being done by the women. A Barwâr who hoards property which should go to the gang is called Kabkatta. If he readily surrenders his spoils he is known as Khiliya . One who holds an influential position in the community is called Jîsar, and one who, from poverty, is obliged to take service is called Rih. A person in ordinary circumstances is Rotikhâha. If within a year a Barwâr does not secure property of some value he does not return home for shame. Each man has a bag of netting secured at both ends with

95 a strong cotton string. It is kept tied to the waist and holds jewelry and valuables. It is so carefully concealed that it often escapes detection. The slang phrase for the mode of tying this bag is langri bigâna . The women are usually employed in service with the village zamíndârs, and receive very petty remuneration. If a Barwâr is dissatisfied or suspects misappropriation on the part of his Sahua, he can leave his gang or can discharge his Dhebra from his service, provided in the month of Asârh he clears up accounts with both Sahua and Dhebra.

Morality. As might have been expected, when the women are left to themselves for a large part of the year adultery is very prevalent. If a woman is detected in a lonely or retired place or in a field or jungle in sexual intercourse with a man, whether it be coerced or by consent, no Barwâr will take offence at it, nor will the woman be excluded from the brotherhood, and a child born in adultery is not considered illegitimate, but admitted to all rights and privileges as if it were legitimate. But if detected otherwise in the act of adultery, both the woman and her paramour are excommunicated, and are re-admitted only after giving a feast to the community.

Modes Of Theft. When they get booty, they return in November or December. When they go to a fair they always sojourn in the vicinity and some dress as devotees, Brâhmans, Mahâjans, soldiers, tradesmen, etc. Some mark their foreheads, wear the Brâhmanical thread, wear the dress, beads, etc., of learned Brâhmans, and shave their beards and moustaches. They generally keep a brass vessel with a string tied to it, and a stone pot tied up in a cloth. They generally go about with some meal or dry grain in a bag and a stick in their hands. Thus they stroll about in a simple, dejected way intended to evoke compassion. When interrogated, they claim to be Brâhmans or Râjputs, and when arrested call themselves Kurmis, Bâris, or Tamolis, and say that they are going on a pilgrimage to some famous shrine. They never divulge their real names. When they see valuable goods in a shop they pretend to barter or buy. If they observe the shop-keeper to be suspicious, they say Biroh hai budah rahé deo , "He is on his guard; let him alone." When they conceal some article and say Buthahr hai khokar, pherai kar laé,- "The shop keeper is suspicious; take off the booty," then those who are near snatch up the article and run away, while those who are at the shop pretend to disagree about the bargain and leave. If a Barwâr wishes to call his friends to his aid he waves his handkerchief, or puts as many fingers to his cheek as he wants Barwârs to help him. At this signal those in the neighbourhood collect. When he wishes his confederate to carry off an article he puts his hand on his neck. In fact they have a more complete signs language than any other thieving fraternity. When a Barwâr sees a man bathing with his clothes on the bank he puts his own bundle of rags close to it and changes his articles for it. Sometimes another Barwâr assists, and in this case the signal is Teri¡ âi dâl ,-"Leave your own bundle and take his." For a single garment the signal is Roto,-"Leave your own cloth and take his." Whenever they see a crowd and property scattered in different places two of them join the crowd, while a third keeps watch. The signal is Anchri sahâike chânsi râg lâi ,- "Throw the covering of your sheet over the property and make off with it." They tell how a soldier once concealed some jewelry under his shield and sat upon it. A Barwâr with studied inadvertence dropped two gold coins hear him, and as the soldier stretched out his hand to seize them a confederate carried off the jewels. Another plan is to get up a mock fight among themselves in a bâzâr, under cover of which thefts are committed. The Barwâr women also frequent fairs like Ajudhya, Devi Pâtan etc., and in rich dresses attend shrines and rob the worshippers. They also adopt the disguise of Brâhman women, and thus gaining admission to the private apartments of native ladies, commit depredations. Barwârs freely use the railway, and fob travellers.

96 Disposal Of The Booty. Formerly they always used to take the stolen property home; but this has been in a great measure discontinued, since the police began to make searches and the tribe has come under special supervision. Some is left with accomplices in the chief places frequented by them. With some they come home after sunset, and sleep that night at their houses, and the next 3 1 day make it over to the Sahua for distribution. First a deduction is made of 3 percent.- 1 for 4 4 1 Mahâbír or Hanumân, 1 for Deviji. Out of the remainder, 28 percent is made over to the 4 Barwâr who stole the property, and the balance is equally divided among the whole clan, including the thief himself. Out of the 28 percent paid to the thief, the Sahua appropriates half, and also receives his own share as a member of the gang. Thus the gains of the thief and Sahua are equal. It is also a rule that if a Barwâr returns with gold Muhars the Sahua pays him R 12 for each, and retains them himself. The rate is the same whatever the value of the coin may be, and this R 12 is divided. Again, for silver bullion the Sahua pays only 10 annas for each coin. Cloth and arms are the property of the thief. As to coral beads, one-sixth is given to the thief and five-sixths to the Sahua, who pays one anna for each bead; and this sum is divided among the clan, including the thief and the Sahua. For pearls, the Sahua pays R 1-4-0 for each lot of 24, and the sum is divided. Then when the spoils are divided, the Sahua produces his account and charges from R1-S-0 to R1-12-0 for each rupee he has advanced to the thief's family during his absence. For any balance due the Sahua takes a bond for a year at 100 percent. All Barwârs are always in debt to the Sahua. The zamíndârs of villages in which Barwârs live extract form them a poll-tax of R1-8-0 per head, known as subhâi , and 3 percent , on the value of property known as chaunâi . They also get R1 per house known as mînr-ginni. Besides this, the zamíndâr gets presents after a successful raid, and on special occasions or births, marriages, etc., in his family. This tribute is known as kavaila . In the same way the zamíndír takes fees for bailing a Barwâr. This account has been mainly taken from a report prepared shortly after the Mutiny on the methods of the Barwârs. Their criminality has much diminished since they have been brought under the Criminal Tribes Act; but the details are so interesting from an ethnographical point of view that they deserve mention.

Thieves' Patois Of The Barwârs. The following list has been prepared by M. Karam Ahmad, Deputy Collector of Gonds, with the assistance of the police officers at present in charge of the tribe. It would be easy to show that many or most of the words are corrupted Hindi:-

Sahua- the leader of a gang. Dhebra- the attendant of a gang. Kabkatta- a man who conceals part of the property. Khiliya, Nalhiya- a man who faithfully gives up all he steals. Jîsara- a rich Barwâr. Rih, Sajurha- one who works for wages. Roti khâha- one in ordinary circumstances. Langri bigâna- to tie a purse round the waist. Nal budâna- to fix a lucky day for a journey. Phânr chhîrna- to put on the Brâhmanical thread. Lît âi ao khankhur âte hain- clear out; the police are coming. Bhînk âi âo- disperse. Langri lagâo- conceal the goods in your belt. Wahi tir mâl dabâva hai- let us go where there is much to gain. Akauti na kurais- don't betray your companions. Murih ka asrâi deo- I am caught; give up hope for me. Mâti lai- roll on the ground.

97 Chhâwa kuchâyo na nehti na kíno, nahín tau uthai jâo gâj- do not reveal anything or you will be put to death. Anchari sahâike châns râg lâe- throw your sheet over the goods and escape. Pohina hai khâli lâi na- let us dig the property from the ground. Subâi- tax paid by the Barwârs to the zamíndâr. Chaunâi- tax paid on value of stolen property. Mînr ginni-house- tax paid by Barwârs. Kavaila- presents given to zamíndârs at marriages. Namut- man. Bân- woman. Bahub- Barwâr man. Bahuban- Barwâr woman. Kiryâr- son. Chhâwa- grandson. Tiryâr- boy of another tribe. Dhîchar- old man. Dhîchari- old woman. Chhâi- Barwâr's Kîsar- Brâhman. Tenwâr- Râjput. Phairu- Musulmân. Chorka- British officer. Baijarâi- a Râja. Sahâjan- a merchant. Muskâr- a Kâyasth. Sîgha- a goldsmith. Savat- a Bhât. Kitiha- a blacksmith. Lîdukha- a confectioner. Kârikha- a torch-bearer. Maskâta- a barber. Chipta- an oil-man. Matiha- a potter. leduha- a Kurmi or Lodha. Sisuha- a washerman. Bamâr- a sweeper; tanner; shoe-maker. Suldaha- a bearer. Guvaha- a cowherd. Benu- a tailor. pîtaha- a liquor seller. Aluhya- beggar. Satîrya- a dancing girl. Benâri- prostitute. Lumit- a Kurmi or Barwâr. Bisni- valuable property. Guga- various kinds of Barwârs. Pachhâdha- " " ". Auhiriya- " " ". Udh- " " ". Ruh- a poor Barwâr. Siyâhi- a money-changer. Kula dhânsu- officer in charge of a police station. Nahkiar- a head police officer. Churga- a constable. Chuktahwa- a peon.

98 Bingar- a slave. Pân- one acquainted with the Barwâr language. Bantikhat- a handsome woman. Karchhi- a cowry. Beng- pice; a Barwâr's fees. Chikain- a gold Muhar . Bikâsu- four annas. Telahi- eight annas. Kinâra- ten or fifteen rupees. Sît- twenty rupees. Bhíta bhâri- one hundred rupees. Audh durgani- fifty or five hundred rupees. Bajâr- a thousand rupees. Ganda- twenty-four rupees. Kajari- night. Kaira- a garden Díp- day. Nehâi- a fair; collection of people. Dari- a highway. Bepur- an unfrequented road. Butahar- simple, careless. Birah- wide awake. Mudhar- not on guard. Thîk- a gang. Tikhurki- valuable things. Ghavar- an army. Chhulu- be silent. Bel- head. Bîl- face. Chandrukh- eyes. Pâul- hand. Sunghni- nose. Gavana- shoe, foot. Lutakha- breast. Thâru- grove, timber. Chanduph- wood. Sukhar- river. Laupju- water, fish. Keli- fire. Bhâbhi- box, well, pit. Sonra- chair, stool. Tinra- bundle. Basuth- book. Benâcha- looking-glass. Gudars- shrine, bathing place. Sunrhi- boat, elephant. Nât- temple. Pheru swâmi- mosque. Belâcha- Hindu temple. Songala- European bungalow. Mâr- dwelling-house. Chivâri- thatch, cot. Sullu- gate, Aijhâpu- priest. Kalhâri- wheeled carriage.

99 Dehânu- bribe. Chikâri- cattle. Putâi- lamp. Kunkhar- village watchman. Chânsu, khalna, Milavi- theft. Lenin- plunder. Uthai dâlna- to murder. Tipaha- murder by poison. Khurkana- kidnapping of children. Kailiyâna- arson. Bumv- riot. Jhumni- flogging. Chamgaya- imprisonment. Díp- term of imprisonment. Benbi- cohabitation. Urso- comfortable sleep. Gudhana - to eat. Gânth- to drink. Díb- to sit. Nusi- to plunder. Phona baikali- to dig property out of the ground. Lutiâna- to come hastily. Bhaunkana- to leave the road. Debidina- to conceal stolen property. Gainjai lâna- to call up the whole gang. Kachhana- to be afraid of. Patâkhu- a gun. Dharâr- a sword or other weapon. Khopuri- a shield. Unâva- corn. Churki- milk, butter. Pitâri- pepper. Phurvâni- garlic, onion. Lang- meal. Dutar- intoxicating liquor. Bhagâvati- meat. Chupra- butter, oil. Pharoti- pickles, vegetables. Rasosi- salt. Gurni- rice, bread, and pulse. Lingi- parched grain. Digna- to smoke and chew tobacco. Lurhi- a camel. Phînk- bullock, a buffalo. Nikílha, Dautâra- a horse. Chukarahwa- a mule or ass. Sînha- a tiger, a wolf. Nemi- a ship, a goat, Sithâi- sweetmeats. Bakalsithâi- coarse sweetmeats. Sethar- pearls, precious stones. Chuksar- silver. Rih- copper. Sul, Bakhil- bell metal. Dharârwâla- Iron.

100 Phoridata- corn. Kharâi dâlna- to sell stolen property. Nikra- gold and silver ornaments. Phîdiha- pearl or coral necklace. Sunhi, Banthi- gold bead necklace. Tungani- nose ring. Betâl- gold necklace. Tevaki- a bangle. gulchimmi, Putpata- an ear ornament. Gîna- a wrist ornament. Bisendhi- metal plates, etc. Chunti- a lota. Bugna- a tub. Dagana- a hookah. Ghaigha- a large metal vessel. Biguli- a metal dish. Kadenla- a vessel Munhlagani- grass. Bhambhi- a bucket. Kaili- a metal box. chihu- a large metal pot. Bijra- cloth. Lamaicha- apparel. Phutkan- a turban or waistband. Chappar- a sheet. Dîna, Agasi- a cap. Tilauthi- a waist cloth. Sirki, Sulga- a small cloth worn over the head. Padangarer- trousers. Banri- a woman's head dress. Salaicha- a woollen carpet. Datta- a handkerchief. Murghumana- a petticoat. Thâphu, baklas- a quilt. Tikhuri- rich clothes. Selva- a small bag. Kulahi- a large bag for cash. Basíth- a bundle of cloth. Davaiwâla- a carpet. Chín- brocade. Bambu- tents. Sînvi- a double shawl. Betachha- an umbrella. Rutika- gold and silver articles. Lugra- money offered to the gods.

Barwâr: -A sect of Râjputs of whom Mr. Carnegy writes1 "They are said to be an offshoot of the Bais, and to have come from Dundiyakhera, about three hundred years ago, under two leaders, Baryâr Sinh, from whom they take their name, and Châhu Sinh, whence comes the Châhu clan. These two brothers were imprisoned by the Emperor Akbar at Delhi. The elder of the two brothers, during his incarceration, had a dream at night in which he saw

1 Faisâbad Settlement Report , 280, sq.

101 a diety who announced himself as Kariya Deota, and promised them deliverance and future greatness, and at the same time pointed out the spot where his effigy was buried in the earth. Soon after, on their release, they sought for and found the effigy and carried it off to the village of Chitâwan in Pargana Pachhimrâth, where they set it up as the object of their domestic adoration, and where it is still worshipped by both branches. Their sacred place is Râmghât at Begamganj, which was selected by their chieftain, Dilâsi Sinh, in consequence of their being excluded form Ajudhya by the enmity of the Sîrajbansi Thâkurs. Another account makes them an offshoot of the Bais who came form Mîngipâtan or Parhânpru, south- west of Jaypur, where their râja Salivâhana, had a fort. Thence they came to Chitâwan Kariya and expelled the Bhars. There is a romantic legend describing how ten heroes of the clan carried off Padmani, the lovely queen of Kanauj, and made her over to the Emperor of Delhi, who in return gave them rent-free lands fourteen kos in circumference. These Barwârs were notorious for the practice of infanticide. Two daughters of the chief of the family who were permitted to live have married, one the Janwâr ex-Râja of Gonda, and the other the Raikwâr Raja of Râmnagar Dhimari, in the Bârabanki District; the Barwârs generally selected wives from the Palwâr, Kachhwâha, Kausik, and Bais sects, which is curious, as they claim Bais origin. These Barwârs are probably of equivocal aboriginal descent, and the heroic legend given above has probably been appropriated from some other clan." The Barwârs of Ballia are reported to take brides from the Ujjaini, Haihobans, Narwâni Kunwâr, Nikumbh, Sengar, and Khâti, and to give girls to the Haihobans, Ujjanini, Narwâni, Nikumbh, Kunwâr, Bais Bisen, and Raghubansi. Their Gotra is Kasyapa.

They are elsewhere known under the name of Birwâr and Bersâr. In Ghâzipur they say they first came from Delhi, and take their name form Bernagar, their leading village. They are said to have come under the auspices of the Narauliyas, whom they helped to expel the .1 There is a sect of them in the Chhapra District. In Azamgarh2 they are said to be both Chhatris and Bhuínhârs, and not to rank high among either. "Each set ignores the origin of, or any connection with, the others. The Bhuínhârs can only say that they came from the west. The Chhatris say they are tomars, and were led from Bernagar, near Delhi, to Azamgarh, by a chief, Garak Deo, who lived between 1336 and 1455 A. D. The Chhatri and Bauínhâr branches are of the same origin, as at marriages and other feasts they refuse to take from their hosts or offer to their guests broken cakes of pulse (bara ). The origin of the custom is said to have been that at a feast to which a number of the Birwârs had been invited by another clan, their treacherous hosts, on the password bara khanda chalâo (khanda means "a sword" as well as "broken" ), slaughtered the Birwârs. Their name is probably connected with this custom. The Brâhman ancestor of the sect is said to have come from Kanauj; but its different branches are not clear as to his name or pedigree, or how they came to Azamgarh."

Basdewa.: -Wasudeo, Harbola, Kaparia, Jaga, Kapdi.3 -A wandering beggar caste of mixed origin, who also call themselves Sanâdhya or Sanaurhia Brâhmans. The Basdewas trace their origin to Wasudeo, the father of Krishna, and the term Basdewa is a corruption of Wasudeo or Wasudeva. Kaparia is the name they bear in the Anterved, or country between the Ganges and Jumna, whence they claim to have come. Kaparia has been derived from kapra , cloth, owing to the custom of the Basdewas of having several dresses, which they change rapidly like the Bahrîpia, making themselves up in different characters as a show. Harbola is an occupational term, applied to a class of Basdewas who climb trees in the early morning and thence vociferate praises of the deity in a loud voice. The name is derived from Har, God, and bolna, to speak. As the Harbolas wake people up in the morning they are

1 Oldham, Memo ., 61, sq . 2 Settlement Report , 30. 3. See Russel. This article is compiled from papers by Mr. W. N. Maw, Deputy Commissioner, Damoh, and Murlídhar, Munsiff of Khurai in Saugor.

102 also called Jaga, or "Awakener." The number of Basdewas in the Central Provinces and Berâr in 1911 was 2500, and they are found principally in the northern Districts and in Chhattísgarh. They have several territorial subcastes, as Gangâputri or those who dwell on the banks of the Ganges; Khaltia or Deswâri, those who belong to the Central Provinces; Parauha, from para , a male buffalo calf, being the dealers in buffaloes; Harbola, or those who climb trees and sing the praises of God; and Wasudeo, the dwellers in the Marâtha Districts who marry only among themselves. The names of the exogamous divisions are very varied, some being taken from Brâhman gotras and Râjpît septs, while others are the names of villages, or nicknames, or derived from animals and plants. It may be concluded from these names that the Basdewas are a mixed occupational group recruited from high and low castes, though they themselves say that they do not admit any outsiders except Brâhmans into the community. In Bombay 1 the Wasudevas have a special connection with Kumhârs or potters, whom they address by the term of kâka or paternal uncle, and at whose houses they lodge on their travels, presenting their host with the two halves of a cocoanut. The caste does not observe celibacy. A price of Rs. 25 is usually given for a bride, and a Brâhman is employed to perform the ceremony. At the conclusion of this the Brâhman invests the bridegroom with a sacred thread, which he thereafter continues to wear. Widow marriage is permitted, and widows are commonly married. If a wife dies, the husband shaves his moustache and beard, if any, in mourning and a father likewise for a daughter-in-law; this is somewhat peculiar, as other Hindus do not shave for a wife or daughter-in-law. The Basdewas are wandering mendicants. In the Marâtha Districts they wear a plume of peacock's feather, which they say was given to them as a badge by Krishna. In Saugor and Damoh instead of this they carry, during the period from Dasahra to the end of Mâgh, or from September to January, a brass vessel called matuk bound on their heads. It is topped by a brass cone and adorned with mango-leaves, cowries and a piece of red cloth, and with figures of Râma and Lakshman. Their stock-in-trade for begging consists of two kartâls or wooden clappers, which are struck against each other; ghungrus or jingling ornaments for the feet, worn when dancing; and a paijna, or kind of rattle, consisting of two semicircular iron wires bound at each end to a piece of wood with rings slung on to them. This is simply shaken in the hand and gives out a sound from the movement of the rings against the wires. They worship all these implements as well as their beggar's wallet on the Janam-Ashtami or Krishna's birthday, the Dasahra, and the full moon of Mâgh (January). They rise early and beg only in the morning from about four till eight, and sing songs in praise of Sarwan and Karan. Sarwan was a son renowned for his filial piety; he maintained and did service to his old blind parents to the end of their lives, much against the will of his wife, and was unmovable against all her machinations to induce him to abandon them. Karan was a proverbially charitable king, and all his family had the same virtue. His wife gave away daily rice and pulse to those who required it, his daughter gave them clothes, his son distributed cows as alms and his daughter-in-law cocoanuts. The king himself gave only gold, and it is related of him that he was accustomed to expend a maund and a quarter2 weight of gold in alms-giving before he washed himself and paid his morning devotions. Therefore the Basdewas sing that he who gives early in the morning acquires the merit of Karan; and their presence at this time affords the requisite opportunity to anybody who may be desirous of emulating the king. At the end of every couplet they cry 'Jai Ganga' or 'Har Ganga,' invoking the Ganges.

The Harbolas each have a territory of a certain number of villages which must not be infringed upon by the others. Their method is to ascertain the name of some well-to-do person in the village. This done, they climb a tree in the early morning before sunrise, and continue chanting his praises in a loud voice until he is sufficiently flattered by their eulogies or wearied by their importunity to throw down a present of a few pice under the tree, which the Harbola, descending, appropriates. The Basdewas of the northern Districts are now commonly engaged in the trade of buying and selling buffaloes. They take the young male

1. Bombay Gazetteer , xvii. p. 108. 2. About 100 Ibs.

103 calves from Saugor and Damoh to Chhattísgarh, and there retail them at a profit for rice cultivation, driving them in large herds along the road. For the capital which they have to borrow to make their purchases, they are charged very high rates of interest. The Basdewas have here a special veneration for the buffalo as the animal from which they make their livelihood, and they object strongly to the calves being taken to be tied out as tiger bait, refusing, it is said, to accept payment if the calf should be killed. Their social status is not high, and none but the lowest castes will take food from their hands. They eat flesh and drink liquor, but abstain from pork, fowls and beef. Some of the caste have given up animal food.

Basdewa.: -or Harbola. They are nomads who travel from place to place and beg. In the morning they can be heard praying loudly and noisily.

Bashara.: -See Beshara.

Basor.: -A tribe found only in the Bundelkhand Division, and usually regarded as a sub-caste of Doms1-. Some of them are occasional visitors to Mirzapur and other towns, where the men work as musicians and basket-makers, and the women as midwives. The name of the tribe seems to mean "worker in the bamboo," and to be the same as Bânsphor (q. v.). The Basors have large number of exogamous sections, of which locally the most important are: in Hamírpur, the Bâhmangot, Dhuneb, Gotela, Katahriya, Parauniya, Sakarwâr. Samangot, Sarmoriya, Sonach, and Sîpa or Supach Bhagat, the Dom hero; in Jhânsi the Barâr, Basgarh, Basobiya, and Dhânuk; in Jâlaun, the Beghela, Balâhar Khangrela, and in Lalitpur the Barâr, Morel, and Purabiya. In Mirzapur they name four exogamous sections: Kulpariya, Katariya (named from the katâri or curved knife used in splitting bamboo); Neoriya, which is also a section of Dharkârs (q. v. ), and takes its name from newar, a young, soft bamboo and Bamhíls, who say that they are so called because they had once some connection with Brâhmans. In Jhânsi the Basors are also known as Barâr and Dhânuk. Barâr is apparently derived from the Sanskrit varataka kâra , "a maker of string." Dhânuk is from the Sanskrit dhanushka, "a bow." When a Basor abandons his regular occupation of working in bamboo and takes service with a land-owner as messenger or drum-beater, he becomes known in Jhânsi by the name of Barâr, and the Dhânuks seem to have been an offshoot from the original Basor stock, who took to the profession of bow-making. They now, however, work as much in bamboo as the regular Basors do; and all three- Basors, Dhânuks, and Barârs- intermarry and eat and drink together. In Jhânsi they have no traditions of their origin, but believe themselves indigenous to that part of the country. They name in Jhânsi, like so many of these menial castes, seven exogamous sections, Jhitiya, Loleri, Rasmel, Saina, Astiya, Bhardela, and Gursariya: of the origin and explanation of these names they can give no explanation. A man must marry in Jhânsi in a section different from his own; he will not give his daughter in marriage into a section from which his own wife has come; but he can take wives for his sons, brothers, and brothers' sons, etc., from that section. The prohibition against intermarriage lasts only for three generations. In Mirzapur the stray visitors who occasionally come are said to be governed by the same rule of exogamy as in the case of the Dharkârs (q. v. ). As far as religion goes, the only bar to intermarriage is conversion to another creed, such as Islâm or Christianity. A man may have as many wives as he can afford to keep, and some in Jhânsi have as many as three or four. The first wife, known as Biyâhta or Jethi, manages the house, and the others are subordinate to her. Furthermore, the Basors admit the introduction of a woman of another tribe; but it is asserted that she is not

1 See Crooke. Based on enquiries made at Mirzapur, and a note by M. Karam Ahmad, Deputy Collector Jhânsi.

104 allowed, at any rate at first, complete caste privileges, and if she comes of a caste lower than the Basor, such as the Bhangi, she is never so admitted. If she be of any superior caste, she is admitted to full tribal privileges if her husband give a feast (roti ) to the clansmen.

Marriage Rules. Women are allowed full freedom before marriage, and fornication, if it does not become a public seandal, and particularly if the woman's paramour be a fellow caste-man, is lightly regarded. They usually marry their girls at puberty at the age of then or twelve; if they are orphans, they settle the marriage themselves, and in any case a considerable freedom of choice seems to be allowed. This choice, curiously enough, is always notified through a female relation, sister, mother, or aunt of the boy or girl, an she notifies it to the tribal council, who, if they agree, permit the marriage to proceed. Widows and widowers living by themselves have full freedom of choice. Some small sum of money, or some vessels, clothes, etc., are usually given by the parents of the bride as dowry, and these become the property of the husband. There is no regular divorce, but if a pair does not agree, or if the husband is dissatisfied with the conduct of his wife, they can separate at any time, and re-marry or take a partner by the sagâi form within the caste. If the parties agree to separate, the case need not necessarily come before the tribal council unless there is some dispute about the property, or the woman protests against the charge brought against her and challenges her husband to prove it in the presence of the assembled brethren. In such case it appears to be the rule that no circumstantial evidence of adultery is accepted; if there are no actual eye-witnesses, the charge will be dismissed. Any child born by any woman or by any form of connection recognised by tribal usage is admitted as legitimate, and ranks as an heir to any property, which is seldom much, that may be left by his father. If a Basor woman has a child by a man of a higher caste, such children will not be allowed to intermarry with a Basor of pure blood, but must find a husband or wife from among families which suffer from the same prohibition. On the contrary, if a Basor keeps a woman of a higher caste than his own, he has seldom any difficulty, particularly if he be a man of standing and substance in the tribe, in marrying his children into a family of pure blood.

Widow Marriage. As a rule all widows of marriageable age find a new partner. Such connection is fully recognised, and is known in Mirzapur as sagâi , and in Bundelkhand as dharauna or baithâna , "making her sit in the house." There is no particular ceremony in widow marriage, except the announcement of the connection and the giving of a feast to the brethren. The levirate is recognised, but is not compulsory. In a recent case at Jhânsi the tribe excommunicated a man who formed a connection with the widow of his younger brother, and expressed extreme horror at such an act. If the children of a widow are very young she generally takes them with her to the house of her new husband, who adopts them as his own, and is held responsible for getting them married and starting them in the world. In this case they lose all rights to the property of their own father. But if the children are grown up they usually stay with the family of their late father, and are heirs to his estate. If the widow is old and does not form a new connection, she is entitled to a life maintenance in the house of her late husband. If a widow forms a connection with the younger brother of her late husband, he takes all the property and adopts his nephew or nieces as his own. In Mirzapur there is a regular bride-price fixed by tribal custom: this is nine and a half rupees in cash, liquor to the value of three rupees, two sheets, three sers of coarse sugar, and two sers of sweetmeats. More or less than this cannot be given without leave of the council. An outsider marrying a virgin widow has to pay twenty-two rupees, and it is a peculiarity among them that the man, as in other castes, does not go to the fetch his wife, but her relatives bring her, realise the marriage fee, and then make her over to her new partner.

Birth Customs. A woman during delivery is attended by a woman of the tribe. With the umbilical cord a few pice are buried, and at the door of the delivery room a broken shoe or the horn of some

105 animal is burnt to ward off evil from mother and child; the foul smelling smoke thus produced is supposed to be particularly offensive to evil spirits. They have the usual sixth (chhathi ) and twelfth day (barahi ) ceremony, and on the latter a young pig is sacrificed in the name of some godling, about whom they are most reluctant to give any information or even to mention him by name. After the purification the mother worships the family well by rubbing red lead on the platform and pouring some water and a few grains of rice near it. Children have their ears bored and ceremonially shaved at the age of five of six.

Marriage Ceremonies. In Mirzapur the betrothal is arranged by the husband of the boy, possibly a survival of the matriarchate. The betrothal (mangni ) is concluded by sending a skirt (ghaghri ) and a sheet (arhni ) with some liquor and treacle for the bride, after which the clansmen are feasted on pork and liquor. Some time after is a second ceremony in which the two fathers exchange leaf-platters filled with water or spirits, into one of which the boy's father drops a rupee or two. In Jhânsi the marriage is first arranged by the women, and then day is fixed on which the friends of the bride send a turban and a rupee for the bridegroom. This is received in the presence of the brethren, who are entertained with tobacco and spirits, which last in the case of poor people is replaced by sharbat. When the present has once been accepted, the engagement is held final, and either party repudiating it is suitably dealt with by the tribal council. Then follows the matmangara ceremony common to all low castes in the Eastern Districts. Among the Basors the earth, on this occasion, is dug by the brother-in-law of the boy's father and the father of the bride, in which, again, we seem to find a survival of the matriarchate. In the centre of the marriage shed is a bamboo, and some wooden images of parrots are fixed up, with a jar full of water covered with a saucer filled with rice. Then one of the senior men of the tribe makes a fire offering (hom ) in honour of the deceased ancestors, and the clothes of the pair are knotted together, and they are made to walk seven times round the sacred fire. In Jhânsi an old man says this prayer: "Ye godliness (deota ), stand witness that this pair are joined by the knot. Keep them as closely joined in love as the knot which ties their raiment." On the fourth day is the chauthi chhorna , when the marriage pitchers (kalsa ) are thrown into water by the mother of the bridegroom. The binding part of the ceremony is the giving away of the bride (kanyâdâu ) by the bridegroom.

Death Ceremonies. When they can afford it, they burn the dead in the usual way; poor people simply fling the corpse into running water; if no river be convenient, it is buried. Some sacrifice a hog in the name of the dead man; some do not. After six months the brethren are feasted. Some kill a pig, cut off its legs, and bury the trunk (thînth ,thîthan ) in the courtyard, in the belief that this prevents the ghost of the dead from giving annoyance to the survivors. In Mirzapur it appears that, as among the Doms, the sister's son of the dead man acts as priest at his obsequies; but this is denied at Jhânsi. At any rate it is quite certain that no Brâhman officiates, and that all the ceremonies are performed by some old man of the tribe. The death impurity lasts only three days, and is then removed by bathing.

Religion. The tribal deities are Kâli-Bhawâni and Ganga Mâi, or Mother Ganges. To the east of the Province they offer sacrifices of pigs to Vindhyabâsini Devi, at Bindhâchal. In Jhânsi they offer to Kâli or Jagadamba Devi, during the Naurâtra or Chait and Kuâr, or in other months, on a Monday or Friday, cocoanuts, sweets, spirits, betel leaves, and sometimes a goat. In jhânsi they also worship various deified persons who are called Bâba. Thus there is Gusâín Bâba, who has a platform under a pípal tree near Moth Tahsíl, in his ascetic costume in the neighbourhood, who sometimes speaks to people. Nat Bâba has no special shrine; but his platform is to be seen in many villages with a little niche for holding a light, which is occasionally lighted in his honour. Many curious tales of this worthy are told, one being that after his death he attended the marriage of his grand-daughter, and made all the arrangements for the reception of the guests. Mahton Bâba is the ghost of some celebrated

106 village headman of the olden time, of whom little is known except that he is now a guardian of villages, and wards off famine and pestilence from men and cattle if he be duly propitiated with some sweets and cocoanuts. The Sayyid, or Shahíd Mard, is some Muhammadan martyr, whom they greatly revere, and another worthy of the same class, Jíwan Shâh Bâba, is also much respected. In no part of this worship are the services of Brâhmans required; but the joshi or village astrologer is occasionally consulted to select lucky days for weddings and the like. Their holidays are the Phagua or Holi, the Kajarí, the Panchaiyân, Naumi, and Dasmi, at all of which they get drunk, if they can afford to do so. They are much afraid of the ghosts of those who die a violent death by drowning or some other accident. Such ghosts haunt the scene of the accident, and need careful propitiation. They have a very vague idea of afterlife. They believe in a sort of hell into which evil-doers are flung and fall into a pit full of human ordure and urine.1 This place they call Narak, of which Manu enumerates twenty- one varieties. Some of them who are becoming more enlightened have now begun to perform some rude kind of srâddha . Women who are tattooed on the arms, wrists, breast, and bellow the knee, become holy, and the door-keepers of Bahgwân admit them into his paradise

Social Customs. The women wear noes-rings (nathya , phurhur ), ear-rings (bâli ), ear ornaments (karanphîl), bangles (chîri , kara), ankle ornaments (pairi , sânkar ). They swear by the Ganges, Kâli- Bhawâni, and on their sons' heads. They will eat almost any meat, including beef and pork, and all kinds of fish, but not monkeys, vermin, and the like. They will not eat other people's leftovers, nor food touched by a Musahar, Dom, Chamâr, Dhobi, Halâlkhor, or Dharkâr. Like all of the Dom race, they have a hatred for Dhobis, and consider them the vilest of all castes. They have the usual taboos. They will not touch their younger brother's wife, their child's mother-in-law (samdhin ), nor will they mention their wives by name. They elder brother's wife can eat out of the same dish as her husband's younger brother; but no wife or younger brother's wife will eat with a husband or his elder brother or father. Their salutation is Râm ! Râm ! and the juniors touch the feet of their elders. Women seem, on the whole, to be fairly well treated; But they are soundly beaten if they misbehave themselves. No one, not even a Dom or Mehtar, will drink water from their hands. They will eat food cooked by a Nâi or any higher caste.

Occupation. They live by making baskets and other articles manufactured out of bamboo, and playing on the flute (bânsuli ) or the tambourine (dafla ) at marriages. Their women are midwives.

Baul.: -They are a wandering group of mystics of Bengal. They were strongly influenced by the Sufi movement and Kabir teachings. Their spirituality is called Sahajiya. They sing, accompanying themselves with the Ektara, sacred texts and hymns.

Bauri.: -A cultivating, earth working, and palanquin-bearing caste of Behar whose features and complexion, says Risley, label them of non-Aryan descent, although evidence is wanting to affiliate them to any particular tribe now in existence 2.

According to one of their own stories, they were degraded for attempting to steal food from the banquet of the gods; another professes to trace them back to a mythical ancestor, Bahak Rishi (the bearer of burdens) and tells how, while returning from a marriage procession,

1 On this idea of holl see Bhuiyâr , 16. 2 See T.C. Crawford.

107 they stole the palanquin they had been hired to carry, got drunk on the proceeds and assaulted their guru, who cursed them for the sacrilege and condemned them to rank thenceforth among the lowest castes of the community.

There are nine sub-castes which are endogamous:- (1) Mullabhumia, (2) Sikharia or Goharia, (3) Panchakoti, (4) Mola or Mulo, (5) Dhulia or Dhulo, (6) Malua, (7) Jhatia, (8) Kathuria, and (9) Pathuria.

Risley thinks some of these may perhaps be nothing more than different local names for what was originally the same sub-caste, but adds that they are distinct at the present day. Most of the sub-castes are found in Manbhum and will not intermarry.

Marriage between members of the same gotra is not forbidden, but the ban applies to relatives for so long as the relationship is remembered. The absence of compact exogamous groups among the Bauris has been attributed to their close contact with Hindus due to their profession of palanquin bearers, but there are still distinct traces of totemism which, as has been seen, usually marches hand-in-hand with the exogamous group. The red-backed heron and the dog are reverenced, the former being looked upon as the emblem of the tribe, which may not be killed or molested on pain of expulsion from the tribe. As for the dog, Colonel Dalton was informed by certain elders that as they killed and ate cows and most other animals, they deemed it right to fix on some beast which should be as sacred to them as the cow is to Brahmans and they selected the dog, "because it was a useful animal while alive, and not very nice to eat when dead- a neat reconciliation of the twinges of conscience and cravings of appetite!" This ingenious explanation, as Risley points out, shows that their own customs become unintelligible to the Bauris themselves, and serves to illustrate the tendency to imitate Brahmanical usage. The horse also probably was a totem of the tribe, for they exhibit a great reluctance towards cleaning up a stable, and may not take up the occupation of syce, without suffering expulsion from the caste.

Bauris, like the Bagdis, admit into their caste members of any caste higher than themselves in social standing. Risley attributes this singular practice, which is entirely out of accord with the spirit of the caste system ,to the lax views of these two castes on the subject of sexual morality. In every other caste a woman who has an intrigue with an outsider is expelled from the caste; the Bauris and Bagdis, however, welcome the outsider who is, of course, usually outcaste for the liaison.

Marriage among the Bauris is either infant or adult, the former being considered more respectable. Widows may marry again and are usually expected to marry their deceased husband's younger brother. Divorce is recognised and is effected by the husband taking away the iron ring which every married woman wears and proclaiming to the panchaiyat the fact that he has divorced her. Divorced wives may always marry again.

The marriage ceremony is of the usual low caste Hindu type, sindurdan being deemed to be the essential part of the ceremony.

Bauris profess to be Hindus of the Sakta sect; But in Behar and Orissa, their connection with Hinduism is of the slenderest description. They worship Manasa, Bhadu, Barpahari and other local deities. Manasa is the sister of the great snake-king Vasuki and is worshipped on the

108 5th and 20th of the four rainy months, Asar, Sraban, Bhadra and Aswin. The great day is Nagpanchami, the 5th of the light half of Sraban, towards the end of August, when a four- armed effigy of the goddess, grasping a cobra in each hand is carried found the village with much music and finally thrown into a tank. Bhadu is a female saint supposed to have been a daughter of the Raja of Pachete who sacrificed herself for the good of the people. She is worshipped on the last day of Bhadra. Barpahari or "great mountain" is our familiar friend "Marang Buru" of the Mundas and Santals and inhabits the highest peak in the locality. The Bauris have no Brahmans, but their own priests officiate at all public worship, and are called Laya or Degharia. Some land is usually set aside for the Laya which he holds rent free (layali jami )

In most districts, the Bauris cremate their dead; in Bankura they bury, with the head to the north and face downwards, the object of this attitude being to prevent the spirit from getting out and giving trouble to the living. A rude funeral ceremony is performed on the eleventh day after death, when the relations feast together and the nearest relative of the deceased has his head shaved

The Bauris make excellent agricultural labourers. In Manbhum and Bankura several hold service tenures in return for Police and Chaukidari services. They were well known as workers in Indigo Factories and are among the best labourers in the Coal Mines. They prefer agricultural labour, however, and consequently freely emigrate to Tea Gardens.

The Bauris enumerated in Assam are 43,000 and are all either extra Garden Coolies or employed on Tea Estates. They still unfortunately exhibit signs of the taints which, according to their own legends, caused their downfall, and indulge freely in lal pani and the "sport of theft" !

Bauri.: -a cultivating, earth-working, and palanquin-bearing caste of Western Bengal,1 whose features and complexion stamp them as of non-Aryan descent.

Internal Structure. The Bauris are divided into the following nine sub-castes:- (1) Mallabhumia, (2) Sikharia or Gobaria, (3) Panchakoti, (4) Mola or Mulo, (5) Dhulia or Dhalo, (6) Malua or Malua, (7) Jhatia or jhetia, (8) Kathuria, (9) Pathuria. Some of these may perhaps be nothing more than different local names for what was originally the same sub- caste, but this point is not really very material, by reason of the marked reluctance of the lower castes to intermarry with families living at a distance. Assuming, for example, that Mola of Mulo and Malla bhumia, two sub-castes of Bauris found in the 24-Parganas and Murshedabad, are really the same as the Malua or Malua sub-caste common in Manbhum, it would by no means follow that the eastern and western members of this sub-caste would be willing to intermarry. And if there were no intermarriage, the groups would rightly be treated as true sub-castes. On the whole therefore, in spite of the suspicious similarity of some of the names, I am inclined to think that the nine groups listed above are really distinct at the present day, whatever may have been the case some generations back. As for the origin of the sub-castes, the names Mallabhumia, Malua, and perhaps Mola, denote a group originally residing in Pergunnah Manbhum or in the country south of the Kasai; the Dhulia sub-caste is supposed to have come from Dhalbhum; and the Sikharia from Sikharbhum, the tract between the Kasai and Barakar rivers, which includes the Pachete estate. Panchakoti again denotes the central portion of the Pachete estate. Gobaria is said to refer to a domestic custom of cleaning up the remnants of meals with cowdung, which has somehow come to be deemed a characteristic of the Sikharia sub-caste; while Jhatia is explained as denoting a group who

1 See H.H. Risley

109 simply sweep away the fragments of a meal without washing the place where it had been spread.

Exogamy. The few exogamous subdivisions which we find among the Bauris have clearly been borrowed dignitatis causa from the higher castes, and are inoperative for matrimonial purposes, as marriage between members of the same gotra is not forbidden. They profess to observe the standard formula mamers, chachera, etc., and in addition to prohibit marriage between persons descended from the same ancestors within seven degrees on the male and three degrees on the female side; but the caste is extremely illiterate: there is no machinery among them for maintaining genealogies, and thus guarding against consanguineous marriages, and in actual practice such marriages are believed to be far from uncommon.

The absence of compact exogamous groups, such as we find among tribes apparently closely akin to the Bauris, may possibly be due to the latter having adopted the profession of palanquin-bearing, and thus having been brought into closer contact with Hindus then was the case with their more independent congeners. Traces of totemism,, however, still survive in their reverence for the red-backed heron and the dog, and perhaps in their strong objection to touching horse-dung. The heron is looked upon as the emblem of the tribe, and may not be killed or molested on pain of expulsion from the caste. Dogs also are sacred. A Bauri will on no account kill a dog or touch a dead dog's body, and the water of a tank in which a dog has been drowned cannot be used until an entire rainy season has washed the impurity away. "In regard to dogs," says Colonel Dalton , "I was gravely informed by some of their elders that as they killed and ate cows and most other animals, they deemed it right to fix on some beast which should be as sacred to them as the cow to the Brahman, and they selected the dog, because it was a useful animal while alive, and not very nice to eat when dead- a neat reconciliation of the twinges of conscience and cravings of appetite. "This ingenious explanation, however valueless in itself, shows that their own customs had become unintelligible to the Bauris themselves, and serves to illustrate the tendency to imitate Brahmanical usage.

Admission Of Outsiders. Like the Bagdis, Bauris admit into their caste members of any caste higher than themselves in social standing. No regular ceremony is appointed for such occasions; the new member merely pays to the caste panchayat a sum of money, varying from Rs. 10, to be spent on a feast, in which for the first time he openly eats with his adopted caste brethren. The origin of this singular practice, which is entirely out of accord with the spirit of the caste system at the present day, is apparently to be sought in the lax views of the Bauris and Bagdis on the subject of sexual morality. In every other caste a woman who has an intrigue with an outsider is punished by expulsion from the caste; but Bagdis and Bauris not only allow their women to live openly with men of other castes, but receive those men into their own community when, as frequently happens, they are outcaste by their own people for eating rice cooked by their mistresses.

Marriage. Marriage among the Bauris is either infant or adult, the tendency being for those who can afford it to marry their daughters as infants. Polygamy is permitted: a man is allowed to have as many wives as he can afford to maintain. Widows may marry again, and usually expected to marry their deceased husband's younger brother. No ceremony is performed; the bridegroom pays Re. 1-4 to the bride's father, and gives a feast to the members of the caste. Divorce is recognised. It is effected by the husband taking away from his wife the iron which every married woman wears, and proclaiming to the paramanik and panchayat of his having divorced her. In some districts a wife may divorce her husband for ill-treatment, desertion, or adultery. Divorced wives may always marry again. The marriage ceremony in use among the Bauris of Western Bengal differs little from that of the Bagdis, except that there

110 is no pool of water in the middle of the marriage bower, and the bride sits on the left of the bridegroom instead of facing him. In districts further east an attempt is made to follow the standard Hindu ritual, and the interchange of garlands is held to be the binding portion of the procedure.

Religion. Bauris profess to be Hindus of the Sakta sect, but in Western Bengal, at any rate, their connection with Hinduism is of the slenderest kind, and their favourite objects of worship are Manasa, Bhadu, Mansingh, Barpahari, Dharmaraj, and Kudrasini. The cult of the two former deities has been described in the article on the Bagdis. Goats are sacrificed to Mansingh, and fowls to Barpahari, which is another name for the "great mountain" (Marang Buru ) of the Santals. Pigs, fowls, rice, sugar and ghee are offered to Kudrasini on Saturdays and Sundays at the akhra or dancing place of the village through the medium of a Bauri priest, who abstains from the flesh of fish on the day preceding the sacrifice. The priest gets as his fee the fowls that are offered and the head or leg of the pig; the worshippers eat the rest. It should be mentioned here that in Western Bengal Bauris have not yet attained the dignity of having Brahmans of their own. Their priests are men of their own caste, termed Lava or Degharia, some of whom hold layali land rent-free or at a nominal rent as remuneration for their services. The headman of the village (paramanik) may also officiate as priest. The Bauris of Eastern Bengal employ a low class of Barna Brahmans. Kali and Visvakarma are their favourite deities. In most districts Bauris have adopted the Hindu practice of burning their dead; but in Bankura corpses are buried with the head to the north and face downward, the object of this attitude being to prevent the spirit from getting out and giving trouble to the living. A rude funeral ceremony is performed on the eleventh day after death, when the relations feast together and the nearest relative of the deceased has his head shaved .

Occupation. Agricultural labour and palanquin-bearing are supposed to be the original occupations of the caste, and this tradition corresponds pretty closely to the facts as we now find them. They work also as wood-cutters and masons, and in Bardwan a few have risen to be traders and money-lenders. In some respects they are more particular than would be expected, considering the low social position they hold. A Bauri who takes to curing leather, works as a syce, or keeps a liquor shop, is turned out of the caste. Comparatively few Bauris are raiyats with occupancy rights, most are probably under-raiyats or landless day-labourers. They were well known as indigo-cultivators and workers in the vats in the prosperous days of Bengal indigo, and nomadic tillage of char lands is one of their characteristics. In Manbhum and Bankura many of them hold substantial tenures on terms of police service- a fact which lends colour to the view that they are among the earliest settlers in thet part of the country. Thus in Manbhum we find two sadials, one digwar, two naib digwars , 17 village sardars , and 49 tabidars of the caste; while in Bankura the Bauris are represented by 14 sardar ghatwals, 16 sadials , 8 digwars , 375 chakran chaukidars .

Social Status. The social rank of Bauris is very low. Members of the higher castes will not take water from their hands, and they themselves eat with Bagdis, , Lohars, and the non-Aryan Kurmis of Western Bengal. They are, in fact, hardly distinguishable from the Haris of Bengal and the Ghasis of Chota Nagpur, and are despised everywhere except in Manbhum and Birbhum, where they are allowed by the Hindus to do certain menial offices which are usually done by people of higher castes. With few exceptions, they are entirely indifferent to the nice scruples regarding food, which have so important a bearing on the status of the average Hindu, for they eat beef, pork, fowls, all kinds of fish, and rats, and are much addicted to strong drink. Nevertheless they pride themselves on not eating snakes and lizards, like the Oraons.

111 Bauri.: -Found in the Madras Presidency are nomad gangs of Bauris or Bawariyas1, who are described2 as "one of the worst criminal tribes of India. The sphere of their operations extends throughout the length and breadth of the country. They not only commit robberies, burglaries and thefts, but also practice the art of manufacturing and passing counterfeit coins. They keep with them a small quantity of wheat and sandal seeds in a small tin or brass case, which they call Devakadana or God's grain, and a tuft of peacock's feathers, all in a bundle. They are very superstitious, and do not embark on any enterprise without first ascertaining by omens whether it will be attended with success or not. This they do by taking at random a small quantity of grains out of their Devakadana and counting the number of grains, the omen being considered good or bad according to whether the number of seeds is odd or even. For a detailed record of the history of this criminal class, and the methods employed in the performance of criminal acts, I would refer the reader to the accounts given by Mr. Paupa Rao3 and Mr. W. Crook.4

Bavuris.: -or Bauris, are a low class of Oriya basket-makers, living in Ganjam, and are more familiarly known as Khodalo5. They are a polluting class, living in separate quarters, and occupy a position lower then the Samantiyas, but higher then the Kondras, Dandasis, and Haddis. They claim that palanquin (dhooly or duli) bearing is their traditional occupation, and consequently call themselves Boyi. "According to the story," Risley writes,6 "they were degraded for attempting to steal food from the banquet of the gods; another professes to trace them back to a mythical ancestor named Bahak Rishi (the bearer of burdens), and tells how, while returning from a marriage procession, they sold the palanquin they had been hired to carry, got drunk on the proceeds, and assaulted their guru (religious preceptor), who cursed them for the sacrilege, and condemned them to rank thenceforward among the lowest castes of the community." The Bavuris are apparently divided into endogamous sections, viz., Dulia and Khandi. The former regard themselves as superior to the latter, and prefer to be called Khodalo. Some of these have given up eating beef, call them selves Dasa Khodalos, and claim descent from one Balliga Doss, a famous Bavuri devotee, who is said to have worked wonders analogous to those of Nandan of the Paraiyan community. To this section the caste priests belong. At Russelkonds, a woman, when asked if she was a Bavuri, replied that the caste is so called by others, but that its real name is khodalo. Others, in reply to a question whether they belonged to the Khandi section, became angry, and said that the Khandis are inferior, because they eat frogs. The Bavuris gave the name of two gotras, saptha bhavunia and naga, which are said to be exogamous. The former offer food to the gods on seven leaves of the white gourd melon, Benincasa cerifera (kokkara), and the latter on jak (Artocarpus integrifolia : panasa ) leaves. All over the Oriya country there is a general belief that house-names or bamsams are foreign to the Oriya castes, and only possessed by the Telugus. But some genuine Oriya castes, e.g ., Haddis, Dandasis and Bhondaris, have exogamous bamsams. For every group of villages (muttah), the Bavuris apparently have a headman called Behara, who is assisted by Naikos or Dolo Beharas, or, in some places, Dondias or Porichas, who hold sway over a smaller number of villages. Each village has its own headman, called Bhollobhaya (good brother), to whose notice all irregularities are brought. These are either settled by him or referred to the Behara and Naiko. In some villages, in addition to the Bhollobhaya, there is a caste servant called Dangua or Dogara. For serious offences, a council-

1 See Thurston. 2 M. Paupa Rao Naidu. The Criminal Tribes of India. No.111, Madras, 3 Op. cit . 4 Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh. Bawariya, 1906. 5 See Thurston. 6 Tribes and Castes of Bengal, 1891 .

112 meeting is convened by the Behara, and at tended by the Bhollobhayas, Naikos, and a few leading members of the community. The meeting is held in an open plain outside the village. Once in two or three years, a council-meeting, called mondolo, is held, at which various matters are discussed and decided. The expenses of meetings are defrayed by the inhabitants of the villages in which they take place. Among the most important matters to be decided by tribunals are adultery, eating with lower castes, the re-admission of convicts into the caste, etc. Punishment takes the form of a fine, and trial by ordeal is apparently not resorted to. A man who is convicted of committing adultery or eating with a member of a lower caste is received back into the caste on payment of the fine. A woman, who has been proven guilty of such offences, is not taken back. It is said that when a member of a higher caste commits adultery with a Bavuri woman, he is sometimes received into the Bavuri caste. The Behara receives a small fee annually from each village or family, and also a small present of money for each marriage. Girls are married either before or after puberty. The festivities last for four days, whereas, at an infant marriage, they are extended over seven days. When a young man's parents have selected a girl for him, they consult a Brahman, and if he decides that the marriage will be auspicious, they proceed to the girl's home, and ask that a day be fixed for the betrothal. On the appointed day the amount of money which is to be paid by the bridegroom is fixed. One or two new cloths must be given to the girl's grandmother, and the man's party must announce the number of feasts they intend to give to the castemen. If the family is poor, the feasts are mentioned, but do not actually take place. The marriage ceremony is always celebrated at night. On the evening of the day prior thereto, the bride and bridegroom's people proceed to the temple of the village goddess (Takurani), and, on their way home, go to seven houses of members of their own or some higher caste, and ask them to give them water, which is poured into a small vessel. This vessel is taken home, and hung over the bedi (marriage dais). The water is used by the bride and bridegroom on the following morning for bathing. On the marriage day, the bridegroom proceeds to the bride's village, and is met on the way by her party, and escorted by his brother-in-law to the dais. The Bhollobhava enquires whether the bride's party has received everything as arranged, and, when he has been assured on this point, the bride is brought to the dais by her maternal uncle. She carries with her in her hands a little salt and rice; and, after throwing these over the bridegroom, she sits by his side. The grandfather of the contracting couple, or a priest called Dhiyani, officiate. Their palms are placed together, and the hands united by a string dyed with turmeric. The union of the hand is called hasthagonti, and is the binding portion of the ceremony. Turmeric water is poured over the hands seven times from a chank or sankha shell. Seven married women then throw over the heads of the couple a mixture of Zizyphus Jujuba (borkolipathro) leaves, rice smeared with turmeric, and Cynodon Dactylon (dhuba) culms. This rite is called bhondaivaro, and is performed at all auspicious ceremonies. The fingers of the bridal pair are then linked together, and they are led by the wife of the bride's brother seven times round the bedi. The priest then proclaims that the soot can soon be wiped off the cooking-pot, but the connection brought about by the marriage is enduring, and relationship is secured for seven generations. The pair are taken indoors and fed. The remaining days of the marriage ceremonies are given up to feasting. The remarriage of widows is permitted. A widow is expected to marry the younger brother of her deceased husband, or, with his permission, may marry whom she likes.

When a girl a attains maturity, she is seated on a new mat, and Zizyphus Jujuba leaves are thrown over her. This ceremony is sometimes repeated daily for six days, during which sweets, ect., are given to the girl, and women who bring presents are fed. On the seventh day, the girl is taken to a pond and bathed.

The dead are either buried or burnt. The corpse is, at the funeral, borne in the hands, or on a bier, by four men. Soon after the village boundary has been crossed, the widow of the deceased throws rice over the eyes of the corpse. She usually carries with her a pot and ladle, which she throws away. If an elderly woman dies, these rites are performed by her daughter-

113 in-law. At the burial-ground, the corpse is taken seven times around the grave, and, as it is lowered into it, those present say "Oh! trees, Oh! sky, Oh! earth, we are laying him in. It is not our fault." When the grave has been filled in, the figures of a man and woman are drawn on it, and all throw earth over it, saying "You were living with us; now you have left us. Do not trouble the people." On their return home, the mourners sprinkle cowdung water about the house and over their feet, and toddy is partaken of. On the following day all the old pots are thrown away, and the mourners eat rice cooked with margosa (Melia Azadirachta) leaves. Food is offered to the dead person, either at the burial-ground or in the backyard of the house. On the tenth day, the Dhiyani, as the priest is called, is sent for, and arrives with his drum (dhiyani). A small hut is erected on a tank bund (embankment ), and food cooked seven times, and offered seven times on seven fragments of pots. A new cloth is spread, and on it food, fruits, a chank shell, etc., are placed, and offered to the deceased. The various articles are put into a new pot, and the son, going into the water up to his neck, throws the pot into the air and breaks it . The celebrants of the rite then return to the house and stand in a row in front thereof. They are there purified by means of milk smeared over their hands by the Dhiyani. On the twelfth day, food is offered on twelve leaves.

The Bavuris do not worship Jagannathaswami, or any other of the higher deities, but reverence their ancestors and the village goddesses or Takuranis. Like other Oriya classes, the Bavuris name their children on the twenty-first day. Opprobrious names are common among them, e,g., Ogadu (dirty fellow ), Kangali (wretched fellow ), Haddia ( Haddi, or sweeper caste ).

Bawariya.: -A hunting and criminal tribe practically found only in Muzaffarnagar and Mirzapur.1 Various explanations have been given of the name. Colonel Dalton would connect it with the Sanskrit barbara, varvara, which appears to be the Greek barbaros, and applied to any outcaste who cannot speak Sanskrit. Others, take to be another form of the Hindi Baola, baora (Sanskrit, ratula, "inflamed with wind"). It is most probably derived from the Hindi banwar,, " a creeper"(Sanskrit Bhramara ), in the sense of a noose made originally from some fibrous plant and used for trapping animals, which is one of the primary occupations of the tribe. The Bawariyas in these provinces seem to fall into two branches- those resident in the Upper Duab, who still retain some of their original customs and manners, and those to the east, who assert a more respectable origin, and have abandoned their original predatory life.

The Western Bawariyas. The best account of the western branch is that given by Mr. J. Wilson2- " The Bawariyas of Sirsa are divided into four sections- (1) the Bidawati from Bikaner territory, claiming connection with the Bidawat Rajputs, giving Chithor as their place of origin; (2) The Deswali, living in the country about Sirsa; (3) the Kapriya to the west about Delhi; (4) the Kalkamaliya, or "black blanket people," who (especially to women) wear black blankets, and are found chiefly among the Sikhs of the jungle and Malwa country. These four sections do not eat together or intermarry; but say they all came originally from the country about Bikaner. They are most numerous in Rajputana and the districts bordering it, but extend up the Satlaj to Firozpur and Lahore. The name of the tribe seems to be derived from the banwar, or snare, with which they catch wild animals, but many of them despise this their hereditary occupation; and, indeed, it seems now to be practised only by the Kalkamaliya or Panjabi section. The Bawariyas are seemingly an aboriginal tribe, being of a dark complexion and inferior physique, though resembling the Bagri Jats. Many of them are fond of a wandering life, living in wretched huts, and feeding upon lizards, foxes and other jungle animals, but

1 See W. Crooke.Based on enquiries at Mirzapur and a note by the Deputy Inspector of Schools , Bijnor. 2 Sirsa Settlement Report, 123.

114 they say they will not eat fish. In other districts they are known as a criminal tribe, but here many of them are fairly respectable cultivators, some are employed as village watchmen, and many of them are skilled in tracking. They are divided into clans (got, nak ) with Rajput names, such as Chauhan, Panwar Bhati. The Bawariayas who live among the Sikhs (Kalkamaliya) wear the hair long (kes ), and have received the pahul. The black blanket Bawariyas speak Panjabi, and the Bidawati Bagri; but they also have a dialect peculiar to them, which is not understood by the ordinary peasants. Bawariyas consider themselves good Hindus, and say that regular Brahmans officiate at their marriage ceremonies- the same Brahmans as officiate for Jats and Banyas. They hold the cow sacred and will not eat beef; they burn their dead and send their ashes to the Ganges. They are said sometimes to admit men of other tribes to there fraternity, and an instance is given in which a Banya for love of a Bawariya woman became a Bawariya himself.

Manner Of Hunting Practised By The Western Bawariyas. Whole families of Bawariyas come South in the rains for a lizard hunt, and may by seen returning with baskets full of their game, which live for days without food, and thus supply them with a succession of fresh meat. The lizard has a soft fat body and a broad tail with spikes along each side. He lives on grass, cannot bite severely, and is sluggish in his movements, so that he is easily caught. He digs an hole for himself of no great depth, and the easiest why to catch him is to look out for the scarcely perceptible air-hole and dig him out; but there are various ways of saving oneself this trouble. One, which I have seen, takes advantage of a habit the lizard has in cold weather (when he never comes out of his hole ) of coming to the mouth for air and warmth. The or other sportsman puts off his shoes and steals along the prairie till he sees signs of a lizard's hole. This he approaches on tiptoe, raising over his head with both hands a mallet with a round, sharp point, and fixing his eyes intently upon the hole. When close enough, he brings down his mallet with all his might on the ground just behind the mouth of the hole, and is often successful in breading the lizard's back before he awakens to sense of his danger. Another plan, which I have not seen, is to tack a wisp of grass to a long stick and move it over the hole, so as to make a rustling noise. The lizard within thinks “Oh here's a snake! I may as well give in,” and comes to the mouth of the hole, putting out his tail first that he may not see his executioner. The sportsman seizes his tail and snatches him out before he has time to learn his mistake.

Again, a body of them, men and women, and go out into the prairie in search of game. When they have sighted a herd of antelope in the distance, they choose a favourable piece of ground and arrange their Banwars, which are a series of many running nooses of raw hide tied together and fastened loosely to the ground by pegs; from the Banwars they rapidly make two lines of bogies by sticking bits of straw with black rags tied to them into the ground at distances of a foot or two apart. These lines widen away from the snares so as to enclose a V-shaped piece of ground with sides perhaps a mile in length, the unsuspecting herd of antelope being enclosed within the V, at the pointed end of which are the snares. All this in arranged in a wonderfully short space of time, and when it is all ready, the main body of hunters , who have meanwhile gone round the herd of antelope and formed a line across the open mouth of the V, suddenly start up, and by unearthly yells drive the herd inwards towards the point. The first impulse of the antelopes is to rush directly away from their tormentors, but they soon come to the long lines of fluttering bits of rag which forms one line of the V. They are thus directed into the place occupied by the snares . It is interesting as one of the methods by which an ignorant tribe with the simplest means can by their superior cunning circumvent the swift antelope on his native prairies.

Dialect Of The Western Bawariyas. The Bawariyas have a dialect of their own, which has sometimes been considered a sort of thieves' slang kept up to facilitate their combination for purposed of crime; but the great mass of the Bawariyas in this district are not at all given to crime, and have no desire to conceal their dialect; moreover it is spoken most generally by the women and children, while the

115 men, at all events in their intercourse with their neighbours, speak in ordinary Bagri of Panjabi. It seems probable that it is simply the dialect of the country of their origin, preserved by them in their wanderings. I had not much time to make much enquiry about it, but was given the following as their names for the numbers by their leading men-ek bai, tren, char, panch chhau hat nau, daukh, (20) and the following words - khakhra for susra (father - in -law), khakhu for sasu (mother- in- law), hando for sando (lizard), manukh (man) , charo (antelope), haru (snake), laukra (fox), nauri (jackal), jamna (right hand), dava (left hand) . Some of this words may be Bagri, and they are not much to go upon, but the use of h, for s , and the peculiar kh for the Sanskrit palatal sibilant should afford some clue to the origin of the dialect; for this kh sound, like the Arabic kh in khawind, is not found in any dialect indigenous in this part of India. The numerals are obviously of Sanskrit origin, and so are most of the words.

The Bawariyas Of The North-Western Provinces . A body of Bauriyas or Bawariyas who were, many years ago, interrogated as to their customs and kindred, gave the following account of themselves 1 :-“The Mugins and Baguras who reside in Malwa and on the Chambal river commit dacoity, burglary, and theft; they stick at nothing. They go in large parties (kafila ), sometimes as carriers of Ganges water, sometimes as Brahmans, with the sacred string around their necks. The Haburas commit theft. The Gujars call us Gidiyas, and the Jats call us Bauris. Gidiya is merely a local name of our tribe; there is no distinct class of people of that name. The Sansiyas are not of our tribe; they are a distinct class; they are thieves, but seldom ascend to dacoity- [this is certainly incorrect]. The Kanjars are all thieves; they cut grass and make thatches, and bivouac in suburbs under huts of long grass (sirki ), but always thieve. Our caste was originally Rajput, and our ancestors came from Marwar. We have seven clans (got ) - Punwar, Soharki, Dabas, alias Dabi, Chauhan, Tunwar, Dhandara, alias Dhandal or Koli, and Gordhi, with the Chami, making eight in all. Two or three centuries ago, when the Emperor of Delhi attacked the fortress of Chithor and besieged it for years for the sake of the Princess Padmani, the country became desolate, and we were obliged to emigrate in search of employment, and disperse. Those that came into the Delhi territory were called Bauris; those that went into the Gwalior territory were called Mugins and Baguras. To the east they were called Baddhiks, and in Malwa, Haburas. We are not people of yesterday; we are of ancient and illustrious descent. When Ravana took away the wife of the god Rama, and Rama wanted to recover her, men of all castes went to fight for him in the holy cause. Among the rest was a leader of the Bauris called Pardhi. When Rama vanquished his enemy and recovered sits he asked Pardhi what he could do for him. 'Grant,' said Pardhi, 'that I may attend your majesty, mount guard, and hunt in the intervals of leisure, and I shall have all that my heart wishes'. The god granted him his request, and his occupation has come down to us . If any Prince happens to have an enemy that he wishes to have made away with, he sends for some of our tribe and says, 'Go and bring so and so's head.' We go, steal into his sleeping apartments, and take off the person's head without any other person knowing anything about it. If a Prince wanted not the head of his enemy, but the gold tassels of the bed on which he lay asleep, we brought them to him. In consequence of our skill on those matters we were held everywhere in high esteem, and we served Princes and had never occasion to labour at tillage. This was before the emigration and dispersion of the tribe. We, who have come to the Delhi territory and are called Bauris, took to the trade of thieving. Princes still employed us to take off the heads of their enemies and rob them of their valuables. At present the Bauris confine themselves almost exclusively to robbing tents; they do not steal cattle or break into houses, but they will rob a cart on the highway occasionally; an other trade than robbery they never take to. They reside in or near villages under the protection of landlords, and while out for long period at their vocation, they leave their wives and children under their care. They give them the means of subsistence, and for these advances we are often indebted to them in the amount of three hundred or four hundred rupees by the time we return. When we are about to set out

1 Selections from the Records of Government, Western Provinces, 1., 886 North Indian Notes and queries , 1., 66 .

116 on our expeditions we get a loan of twenty or thirty rupees from the landholders or merchants of the place, and two days before starting we sacrifice a goat and make burnt offerings to the goddess Devi, sometimes to her of the fiery furnace of Jawala, in the Himalaya, and sometimes to our old tutelary god of Chithor. We present sweetmeats and vow unceasing devotions if we are successful. After this we take our auspices thus: we go in the evening into the jungle, and there in silence await the call. If the partridge or jackal calls on the left we set out without further ceremony; even the bark of a fox will do. If any of them call on the right, we return home and try again the following day. As soon as we get a good omen we set out. If we take it in the morning it must be before sunrise, and the fox, partridge, or jackal must cry on the right to be good. If a deer crosses from the left to the right it is a good omen. We have a couplet on this subject signifying that if the crow and the deer cross from the left to the right and the blue jay from left to right, even the wealth that has gone from us will come back.”

Present Condition In The Upper Duab. The Census returns give the sections as Badniyar, Banwar, Bardhia, Barmar, Chauhan, Dale, Dhandin, Dyas, Garali, Gaur, Kori, Madniyariya, Pahari, Panwar, Rajput, Solankhi, Saurangi, and Topiwal. Those best known in the Upper Duab are Turai, Pachhada, or "Western," Gola Kori, and Khagi. These gotras , as they are called, are exogamous, but the Turai marry only with the Pachhada and the Gola with the Khagi. This rule of exogamy they reinforce with the rather vague formula that marriage with relatives by blood (duds ke natedar) is prohibited. They can marry two sisters in succession. They have now settled down and abandoned their wandering habit of life. They admit strangers into the caste. The only ceremony is that the convert has to eat and drink with his new clansmen. Some say that candidates for admission must be of high caste themselves; but they do not appear to be very particular, and these new admissions are treated at the outset with some contempt, and are not all at once admitted into full tribal privileges. Marriage usually takes place in infancy. The standard of morality is very low, because in Muzaffarnagar1 it is extremely rare for a Bawariya woman to live with her husband. Almost invariably she lives with another man; but whoever he may be, the official husband is responsible for the children. Divorced wives may marry in the clan by the karao from, and a man can have two or three wives at a time. The marriage ceremony is carried out by the brother-in-law (dhiyana ) of the bride, and he makes them walk round the marriage shed, and promise to be faithful to each other. The relatives, in fact, does all their religious and quasi-religious ceremonies. Infidelity, contraction of a fatal disease, and loss of religion and caste warrant either husband or wife giving up cohabitation, and if the separation is approved of by the clansmen, the woman can re-marry by the karao form. It is also said that a wife can be discarded when she loses her good looks.

Religion And Customs Of The Western Bawariyas. They are Hindu by religion and worship Kali-Bhawani and Zahir Diwan. The women in particular worship Kali-Bhawani. As already stated, they do not employ Brahmans, but get their religious business done by the brother-in-law. They usually burn the adult dead, and bury those who have not been married. They are in constant fear of the ghosts of the dead, and lay out food for them in platters made of leaves. They now principally live by catching birds of all kinds. Those that are edible, they sell, others they take to the houses of rich Jain merchants, and make an income by releasing them from their cages. They do not prostitute their married women or girls. They will eat almost any kind of meat except beef, and indulge freely in liquor. They will eat and drink from the hands of any Hindu except Nats and the regular outcaste tribes.

The Eastern Bawariyas Of The North-Western Provinces.

1 North Indian Notes and Queries, 1., 51

117 In direct contrast to this disreputable branch of the tribe are the Eastern Bawariyas of Mirzapur. They are very possibly an offshoot of the Bauris of Western Bengal, of whom Mr. Risley writes1 : "They are a cultivating, earth-working, and palanquin-bearing race, whose features and complexion stamp them as being of non-Aryan descent, although evidence is wanting to affiliate them to any particular tribe now in existence. Their meagre folklore throws no light on their origin. According to one story they were degraded for attempting to steal food from the banquet of the gods; another professes to trace them back to a mythical ancestor named Bahak Rishi (the bearer of burdens), and tells how while returning from a marriage procession, they sold the palanquin they had been hired to carry, got drunk on the proceeds, and assaulted their Guru, who cursed them for the sacrilege, and compelled them to rank thenceforward among the lowest castes of the community. Another name for this ancestor is Rik Muni, the same as the eponym of the Musahars and Bhuiyas; but it would be straining conjecture to infer from this any connection between the Bauris and the Bhuiyas." At any rate the Mirzapur Bawariyas admit no connection with such people. According to their own account they were originally Bais Chhatris, and come from Baiswara, a tract of country which Sir H.M. Elliot defines as lying between Cawnpur on the west, and the Chhuanb rivulet on the south, and Dikhtan, or the land of the Dikhit Rajputs, on the north.

They tell their story as follows: There were two Chhatri brothers named Sure and Bire, who left Baiswara in search of employment, and went to Chayanpur, in the Shahabad District. There they took service with a Raja who had a lovely daughter. When her suitor, a neighbouring Raja, came to woo her, the two brothers challenged his wrestlers. To show their prowess they took a well-burnt tile and crushed it into dust, with which they rubbed their bodies as athletes do before they enter the arena. Then they tore up a great tamarind tree by the roots, and the rival wrestlers ran away in fear. This so pleased their master that he gave them a village called Bawari or Chan Bawari, from whence they take their name. They appear now to be fully recognised as Chhatris, and marry in the Chauhan, Juthi, and Gaharwar clans.

They have now no landed property, but settle as tenants wherever they can find land. They do not admit outsiders into the tribe. Their marriage rules are of the type common to the more respectable tribes, but their special worship of Dulha Deo at marriages suggests a connection with some of the non-Aryan races. This is done on the eve of the marriage. The house kitchen is plastered, and the oldest woman of the family draws a lota full of water from the well, but in doing this she must use only her right hand. A burnt offering is then made with one-and-a-quarter sers of butter, and the water is poured on the floor in honour of the godling. Widow marriage is forbidden, and a woman caught in adultery must be discarded. They are generally initiated into either the Saiva or Sakta sect, and specially worship Dulha Deo and Sinha Baba, who was a Nanak Shahi . To him is made a burnt offering of sugar and butter once a year; the butter must be of the weight of one piece and the sugar one quarter piece. A goat is also sometimes offered in the house court-yard. The priests of the clan are known as the Panres of Machhiawan, who have come with them from their original settlement. Their death ceremonies are such as are performed by the higher castes. They abstain from spirits, and their women are kept under careful control. They eat the flesh of deer and goats, and all kinds of fish except the gunch or Gangetic shark. Brahmans will eat pakki from their hands, and they will eat kachchi cooked by their Brahman spiritual guides. They smoke only with their clansmen. Lower castes, like Kanars and Nais will eat both kachchi and pakki from their hands.

The Criminal Bawariyas. The Western Bawariyas of these Provinces are best known to District Officers as a criminal tribe. When they go on their predatory excursions, which extend over a large part of Northern India, they usually assume the garb of fakirs, and the only way of finding them

1 Tribes and Castes of Bengal, 1., 78.

118 out is by a peculiar necklace of small wooden beads, which they fixed to their front teeth.1 It seems, however doubtful whether this last test is always conclusive. In cases of doubt their mouths should be examined, for under their tongues a hollow is formed by constant pressure from their younger days, in which they can secure from fifteen to twenty silver bits. The women are believed to possess secrets for charms and medicines, and sell the roots and herbs which they collect in the jungles. They are said to be expert in making patchwork quilts, which they sell. Whenever they wander they sleep on a bed and not on the ground. One peculiarity about their thieving is that, like the Alagiris of Madras,2 when they enter a house they take with them some dry grain, which they throw about in the dark, so as to be the ascertain the position of brass vessels and other metal articles. In Central India they are said to be greatly wanting in intelligence and timid in their intercourse with their fellow men. They are there divided into five tribes-the Rathaur or Mewara, Chauhan, Sawandiya, Korbiyar, Kodiyar; and each tribe has a separate hunting ground. They are governed by Chiefs called Hauliya, whose office is hereditary.

“Booty is divided into three shares- one for the god of the wilds, one for the god of the river, and the remainder is divided among those present at the capture. At the Holi festival they all assemble at the Hauliya's residence, when he collects his income, one rupee per head. For the first five years after the beard first appears, it and the hair are cut once a year; but ever after that they wear both unshorn, and their long shaggy locks add to their uncouth appearance. Few attain sixty years of age, and ten is the greatest number of children they have known one woman to bear. They call themselves a branch of the , or shepherd class.”3

Bazigar.: -They are a sub-division of the Nats.

Bedar.: -Boya 4 "Throughout the hills," Buchanan writes,5 "northward from Capaladurga, are many cultivated spots, in which, during Tippoo's government, were settled many Baydaru or hunters, who received twelve pagodas (L 4 5 s.) a year, and served as irregular troops whenever required. Being accustomed to pursue tigers and deer in the woods, they were excellent marksmen with their match-locks, and indefatigable in following their prey; which, in the time of war, was the life and property of every helpless creature that came in their way. During the wars of Hyder and his son, these men were chief instruments in the terrible depredations committed in the lower Carnatic. They were also frequently employed with success against the Poligars (feudal chiefs), whose followers were of a similar description." In the Gazetteer of the Anantapur district it is noted that "the Boyas are the old fighting caste of this part of the country, whose exploits are so often recounted in the history books. The Poligars' forces, and Haidar Ali's famous troops were largely recruited from these people, and they still retain a keen interest in sport and manly exercises."

In his notes on the Boyas, which Mr. N. E. Q. Mainwaring has kindly placed at my disposal, many a Boya served in the ranks of our Native army, being entered in the records thereof either under his caste title of Naidu, or under the heading of Gentu,6 which was largely used in old day military records, yet this congenial method of earning a livelihood has now been swept away by a Government order, which directs that in the future on Telegas shall be enlisted into the Indian army. That the Boyas were much prized as fighting men in the

1 Report, inspector General of Police, N.W.P., 1868, p. 13. 2 Mullaly, Notes on Criminal Tribes, 10. 3 Balfour, Journal Asiatic Society, Bengal, Vol. XIII . 4 See E. Thurston. 5 Journey through Mysore, Canara and Malabar, 1807. 6 Gentu or Gentoo is " corruption of the Portuguese Gentio, gentile or heathen, which they applied to the Hindus in contradistinction to the Moros or Moors, i. e., Mahommedans. It is applied to the Telugu-speaking Hindus specially, and to their language." Yule and Burnell, Hobson-Jubson.

119 stirring times of the eighteenth century is spoken to in the contemporaneous history of Colonel Wilks.1 He speaks of the brave armies of the Poligars of Chitteldroog, who belonged to the Beder or Boya race in the year 1755. Earlier, in 1750 Hyder Ali, who was then only a Naik in the service on the Mysore Raja, used with great effect his select corps of Beder peons at the battle of Ginjee. Five years after this battle, when Hyder was rising to great eminence, he augmented his Beder peons, and used them as scouts for the purpose of ascertaining the whereabouts of his enemies, and for poisoning with the juice of the milkhedge (Euphorbia Tirucalli ) all wells in use by them, or in their line of march. The historian characterises them as being 'brave and faithful thieves.' In 1751, the most select army of Morari Row of Gooty consisted chiefly of Beder peons, and the accounts of their deeds in the field, as well as their defence of Gooty fort, which only feel after the meanness of device had been resorted to, prove their bravery in time gone by beyond doubt. There are still a number of old weapons to be found amongst the Boyas, consisting of swords, daggers, spears, and matchlocks. None appear to be purely Boya weapons, but they seem to have assumed the weapons of either Muhammadans or Hindus, according to which race held sway at the time. In some districts, there are still Boya poligars, but, as a rule, they are poor, and unable to maintain any position. Generally, the Boyas live at peace with their neighbours, only occasionally committing a grave dacoity (robbery ).2

"In the Kurnool district, they have a bad name, and many are on the police records as habitual thieves and housebreakers. They seldom stoop to lesser offences. Some are carpenters, others blacksmiths who manufacture all sorts of agricultural implements. Some, again, are engaged as watchmen, and others make excellent snares for fish out bamboo. But the majority of them are agriculturists, and most of them work on their own putta lands. They are now a hard-working, industrious people, who have become thrifty by dint of their industry, and whose former predatory habits are being forgotten. Each village, or group of villages, submits to the authority of a headman, who is generally termed the Naidu, or less commonly Dora. In some parts of Kurnool, the headmen are called Simhasana Boyas. The headman presides over all functions, and settles with the assistance of the elders any disputes that may arise in the community regarding division of property, adultery, and other matters. The headman has the power to inflict fines, the amount of which is regulated by the status and wealth of the defaulter. But it is always arranged that the penalty shall be sufficient to cover the expense of feeding the panchayatdars (members of council ), and leave a little over to be divided between the injured party and the headman. In this way, the headman gets paid for his services, and practically fixes his own remuneration.

It is stated in the Manual of the Bellary district that "of the various Hindu castes in Bellary, the Boyas (called in Canarese Bedars, Byedas, or Buadas are by far the most numerous. Many of the Poligars whom Sir Thomas Munro found in virtual possession of the country when it was added to the Company belonged to this caste, and their irregular levies, and also a large proportion of Haidar's formidable force where of the same breed. Harpanahalli was the seat of one of the most powerful Poligars in the district in the eighteenth century. The founder of the family was a Boya taliari, who, on the subversion of the Vijayanagar dynasty, seized on two small districts near Harpanahalli. The Boyas are perhaps the only people in the district who still retain any aptitude for manly sports. They are now for the most part cultivators and herdsmen and are engaged under the Government as constables, peons, village watchmen (taliaris), and so forth. Their community provides an instructive example of the growth of caste sub-divisions. Both the Tillage-speaking Boyas and the Canarese speaking Bedars are split into the two main divisions of Uru or village men, and Myasa or grass-land men, and each of these division is again sub-divided into a number of exogamous Bedagas. Four of the best known of these sub-divisions are Yemmalavaru or "buffalo-men;" Mandalavaru or "men of the herd;" Pulavaru or "flower-men," and Minalavaru or "fish-men." They are in no way

1 Historical Sketches of the South of India : Mysore, 1810-17. 2 By law, to constitute dacoity, there must be five or more in the gang committing the crime. Yule and Burnell, op cit.

120 totemistic. Curiously enough, each Bedagu has its own particular god, to which its members pay special reverence. But these Bedagas bear the same names among both the Boyas and the Bedars, and also among both the Uru and Myasa divisions of both Boyas and Bedars. It thus seems clear that, at some distant period, all the Boyas and all the Bedars must have belonged to one homogeneous caste. At present, although Uru Boyas will marry with Uru Bedars and Myasa Boyas with Myasa Bedars, there is no intermarriage between Urus and Myasas, whether they be Boyas or Bedars. Even if Urus and Myasas dine together, they sit in different rows, each division by themselves. Again, the Urus (whether Boyas or Bedars) will eat chicken and drink alcohol, but the Myasas will not touch a fowl or any form of strong drink, and are so strict on this last matter that they will not even sit on mats made of the leaf of the date-palm, the tree which in Bellary provides all the toddy. The Urus, moreover, celebrate their marriages with the ordinary ceremonial of the halu-kamba or milk-post and the surge, or bathing of the happy pair; the bride sits on a flour-grinding stone, and the bridegroom stands on a basket full of cholam (millet), and they call in Brahmans to officiate. But the Myasas have a simpler itual, which omits most of these points, and dispenses with the Brahman. Other differences are that the Uru women wear ravikkais or tight-fitting bodices, while the Myasas tuck them under their waist-string. Both divisions eat beef, and both have a hereditary headman called the ejaman, and hereditary Dasaris who act as their priests."

In the Madras Census Report, 1901, it is stated that the two main divisions of Boyas are called also Pedda (big) and Chainna (small) respectively, and, according to another account, the caste has four endogamous sections, Pedda, Chinna, and Myasa. Sadaru is the name of a sub- division of Lingayats, found mainly in the Bellary and Anantapur districts, where they are largely engaged in cultivation. Some Bedars who live amidst those Lingayats call themselves Sadaru. According to the Manual of the North Arcot district, the Boyas are a "Telugu hunting caste, chiefly found above the ghats. Many of the Poligars of that part of the country used to belong to the caste, and proved themselves so lawless that they were dispossessed. Now they are usually cultivators. They have several divisions, the chief of which are the Mulki Boyas and the Pala Boyas, who cannot intermarry." According to the Mysore Census Reports, 1891 and 1901, "the Bedas have two distinct divisions, the Kannada and Telugu, and own some twenty sub-divisions, of which the following are the chief: Halu, Machi or Myasa, Nayaka, Pallegar, Barika, Kannaiyyanajati, and Kirataka. The Machi or Myasa Bedas comprise a distinct sub-division, also called the Chunchus. They live mostly in hills, and outside inhabited places in temporary huts. Portions of their community had, it is alleged, been coerced into living in villages, with whose descendants the others have kept up social intercourse. They do not, however, eat fowl or pork, but partake of beef; and the Myasa Bedas are the only Hindu class among whom the rite of circumcision is performed1 on boys of ten or twelve years of age. These customs, so characteristic of the Musulmans, seem to have been absorbed when the members of this sub-caste were included in the hordes of Haidar Ali. Simultaneously with the circumcision, other rites, such as the panchagavyam, the burning of the tongue with a nim (Melia Azadirachta ) stick, etc. (customs pre-eminently Brahmanical), are likewise practised prior to the youth being received into communion. Among their other peculiar customs are the exclusion from their ordinary dwellings of women in child-bed and in periodical sickness. The Myasa Bedas are said to scrupulously avoid liquor or every kind, and eat the flesh of only two kinds of birds viz., gauja (grey partridge), and lavga (rock-bush quail)." Of circumcision among the Myasa Bedars it is noted, in the Gazetteer of the Bellary district, that they practise this rite found about Rayadrug and Gudekota. "These Myasas seem quite proud of the custom, and scorn the idea of marrying into any family in which it is not the rule. The rite is performed when a boy is seven or eight. A very small piece of the skin is cut off by a man of the caste, and the boy is then kept for eleven days in a separate hut, and touched by no one. His food is given him on a piece of stone. On the twelfth day he is bathed, given a new cloth, and brought back to the house, and his old cloth and the stone on which his food was served are thrown away. His relations in a body then take him to a

1 Circumcision is practised by some Kallans of the Tamil country .

121 tangedu (Cassia auriculata ) bush, to which are offered cocoanuts, flowers, and so forth, and which is worshipped by them and him. Girls on attaining puberty are similarly kept for eleven days in a separate hut, and afterwards made to do worship to a tangedu bush. This tree also receives reverence at funerals."

The titles of the Boyas are said to be Naidu or Nayudu, Naik, Dora, Dorabidda (children of chieftains), and Valmiki. They claim direct lineal descent from Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana. At times of census in Mysore, some Bedars have set themselves up as Valmiki Brahmans. The origin of the Myasa Bedas is accounted for in the following story. A certain Bedar woman had two sons, of whom the elder, after taking his food, went to work in the fields. The younger son, coming home, asked his mother to give him food, and she give him only cholam (millet) and vegetables. While he was partaking thereof, he recognised the smell of meat, and was angry because his mother had given him none, and beat her to death. He then searched the house, and, on opening a pot from which the smell of meat emanated, found that it only contained the rotting fibre-yielding bark of some plant. Then cursing his luck, he fled to the forest, where he remained, and became the forefather of the Myasa Bedars.

For the following note on the legendary origin of the Bedars, I am indebted to Mr. Mainwaring. " Many stories are told of how they came into existence, each story bringing out the name which the particular group may be known by. Some call themselves Nishadulu, and claim to be the legitimate descendants of Nishadu. When the great Venudu, who was directly descended from Brahma, ruled over the universe, he was unable to procure a son and heir to the throne. When he died, his death was regarded as an irreparable misfortune. In grief and doubt as to what was to be done, his body was preserved. The seven ruling planets, then sat in solemn conclave, and consulted together as to what they should do. Finally they agreed to create a being from the right thigh of the deceased Venudu, and they accordingly fashioned and gave life to Nishudu. But their work was not successful, for Nishudu turned out to be not only deformed in body, but repulsively ugly. It was accordingly agreed, at another meeting of the planets, thet he was not a fit person to be placed on the throne. So they set to work again, and created a being from the right shoulder of Venudu. Their second effort was crowned with success. They called their second creation Chakravati, and, as he gave general satisfaction, he was placed on the throne. This supersession naturally caused Nishudu, the first born, to be discontented, and he sought a lonely place. There he communed with the gods, begging of them the reason why they had created him, if he was not to rule. The gods explained to him that he could not now be put on the throne, since Chakravati had already been installed, but that he should be a ruler over the forests. In this capacity, Nishudu begot the Koravas, Chenchus, Yanadis, and Boyas. The Boyas were his legitimate children, while the others were all illegitimate. According to the legend narrated in the Valmiki Ramayana, when king Vishwamitra quarrelled with the Rishi Vashista, the Kamadenu belonging to the latter grew angry, and shook herself. From her body an army, which included Nishadulu, Turka ( Muhammadans ), and Yevannudu ( Yerukalas ) at once appeared.

"A myth related by the Boyas in explanation of their name Valmikudu runs as follows. In former days, a Brahman, who lived as a highwayman, murdering and robbing all the travellers he came across, kept a Boya female, and begot children by her. One day, when he went out to carry on his usual avocation, he met the seven Rishis, who were the incarnations of the seven planets. He ordered them to deliver their property, or risk their lives. The Rishis consented to give him all their property, which was little enough, but warned him that one day he would be called to account for his sinful deeds. The Brahman, however, haughtily replied that he had a large family to maintain, and as they lived on his plunder, they would have share the punishment that was inflicted upon himself. The Rishis doubted this and advised him to go and find out from his family if they were willing to suffer an equal punishment with him for his sins. The Brahman went to his house and confessed his

122 misdeeds to his wife, explaining that it. was through them that he had been able to keep the family in luxury. He then told her of his meeting with the Rishis, and asked her if she would share his responsibility. His wife and children emphatically refused to be in any way responsible for his sins, which they declared were entirely his business. Being at his wit's end, he returned to the Rishis, told them how unfortunate he was in his family affairs, and begged advice of them as to what he should do to be absolved from his sins. They told him that he should call upon the god Rama for forgiveness. But, owing to his bad upbringing and his misspent youth, he was unable to utter the god's name. So the Rishis taught him to say it backwards by syllables, thus:- ma ra, ma ra, ma ra which, by rapid repetition a number of times, gradually grew into Rama. When he was able to call on his god without difficulty, the Brahman sat at the scene of his graver sins, and did penance. White-ants came out of the ground, and gradually enveloped him in a heap. After he had been thus buried alive, he became himself a Rishi, and was known as Valmiki Rishi, valmiki meaning an ant-hill. As he had left children by the Boya woman who lived with him during his prodigal days, the Boyas claim to be descended from these children and call themselves Valmikudu"

The Bedars, whom I examined at Hospet in the Bellary district, used to go out on hunting expeditions, equipped with guns, deer or hog spears, nets like lawn-tennis nets used in drives for young deer or hares. Several men had cicatrices, as the result of encounters with wild boars during hunting expeditions, or when working in the sugar plantations. It is noted in the Bellary Gazetteer that "the only caste which goes in for manly sports seems to be the Boyas, or Bedars, as they are called in Canarese. They organise drives for pig, hunt bears in some parts in a fearless manner, and are regular attendants at the village gymnasium (garidimane), a building without any ventilation often constructed partly underground, in which the ideal exercise consists in using dumbbells and clubs until a profuse perspiration follows. They get up wrestling matches, tie a band of straw round one leg, and challenge all and sundry to remove it, or back themselves to perform feats of strength, such as running up the steep Joladarasi hill near Hospet with a bag of grain of their back." At Hospet wrestling matches are held at a quiet spot outside the town, which crowds of hundreds gather to watch. The wrestlers, who performed before me, had the hair shaved clean so that the adversary could not seize them by the back hair, and the moustache was trimmed short for the same reason. Two young wrestlers, whose measurements I place on record, were splendid specimens of youthful muscularity.

cm cm Height 163.2 163 Shoulders 41.8 42.8 Chest 84 82 Upper arm, flexed 28 29 Thigh 47 51

In the Gazetteer of Anantapur it is stated that the Telugu New Year's day is the great occasion for driving pigs, and the Boyas are the chief organisers of the beats. All except children, the aged and infirm, join in them, and, since to have good sport is held to be the best of omens for the coming year, the excitement aroused is almost ludicrous in its intensity. It runs so high that the parties from rival villages have been known to use their weapons upon one another, instead of upon the beasts of the chase. In an article entitled "Boyas and bears"1 a European sportsman gives the following graphic description of a bear hunt: "we used to sleep out on the top of one of the hills on a moonlight night. On the top of every hill round, a Boya was watching for the bears to come home at dawn, and frantic signals showed when one had been spotted. We hurried off to the place, to try and cut the bear off from his residence among the boulders, but the country was terribly rough, and the hills were covered with a peculiarly persistent wait-a-bit-thorn. This, however, did not daunt the Boyas. Telling me to

1 Madras Mail, 1902.

123 wait outside the jumble of rocks, each man took off his turban, wound it round his left forearm, to act as a shield against attacks from the bear, lit a rude torch, grasped his long iron- headed spear, and coolly walked into the inky blackness of the enemy's stronghold, to turn him out for me to shoot at. I used to feel ashamed of the minor part assigned to me in the entertainment, and asked to be allowed to go inside with them. But this suggestion was always respectfully, but very firmly put aside. On could not shoot in such darkness, they explained, and if one fired, smoke hung so long in the still air of the caves that the bear obtained an unpleasant advantage, and finally, bullets fired at close quarters into naked rock were apt to splash or re-bound in an uncanny manner. So I had to wait outside until the bear appeared with a crowd of cheering and yelling Boyas after him." Of a certain cunning bear the same writer records that, unable to shake the Boyas off, " he had at last taken refuge at the bottom of a sort of dark pit, 'four men deep' as the Boyas put it, under a ledge of rock, where neither spears nor torches could reach him. Not to be beaten, there of the Boyas at length clambered down after him, and unable otherwise to get him to budge from under the mass of rock beneath which he had squeezed himself, fired a cheap little nickel-plated revolver one of them had brought twice into his face. The bear then concluded that his refuge was after all an unhealthy spot, rushed out, knocking one of the three men against the rocks as he did so with a force which badly barked one shoulder, clambered out of the pit, and was thereafter kept straight by the Boyas until he got to the entrance of his residence, where I was waiting for him."

Mr. Mainwaring writes that "the Boyas are adepts at shikar (hunting). They use a bullock to stalk antelope, which they shoot with matchlocks. Some keep a tame buck, which they let loose in the vicinity of a herd of antelope, having previously fastened a net over his horns. As soon as the tame animal approaches the herd, the leading buck will come forward to investigate the intruder. The tame buck does not run away, as he probably would if he had been brought up from infancy to respect the authority of the buck of the herd. A fight naturally ensues, and the exchange of a few butts finds them fastened together by the net. It is then only necessary for the shikaris to rush up, and finish the strife with a knife." Among other occupations, the Boyas and Bedars collect honey-combs, which, in some places, have to be gathered from crevices in overhanging rocks, which have to be skilfully manipulated from above or below. The Bedar men whom I saw during the rainy season wore a black woollen kambli (blanket) as a body-cloth, and it was also held over the hand as a protection against the driving showers of the south-west monsoon. The same cloth does double duty as a basket for bringing back to the town heavy loads of grass. Some of the men wore a garment with the waist high up in the chest, something like an English rustic's smock frock. Those who worked in the fields carried steel tweezers on a string round to loins, with which to remove babul (Acacia arabica ) thorns, twigs of which tree are used as a protective hedge for fields under cultivation. As examples of charms worn by men the following may be cited: string tied around the upper arm with a metal talisman box attached to it drives away devils, as does a strong round anklet; quarter-anna rolled up in cotton cloth, and worn on the upper arm while performing a vow. Necklaces of coral and ivory beads are worn as a vow to the Goddess Huligamma, whose shrine is in Hyderabad, and other necklaces of ivory beads and a gold disc with the Vishnupad (feet of Vishnu) engraved on it are purchased from religious mendicants to bring good luck. A man, who had dislocated his shoulder when a lad, had been tattooed with a figure of Hanuman (the monkey god) over the deltoid muscle to remove the pain.

Myasa Bedar women are said1 to be debarred from wearing toe-rings. Both Uru and Myasa women are tattooed on the face, and on the upper extremities with elaborate designs of scorpions, centipedes, Sita's jade (plaited hair), Hanuman, parrots, etc. Men are branded by the priest of a Hanuman shrine on the shoulders with the emblem of the chank shell (Turbinella rapa ) and chakram (wheel of the law) in the belief that it enables them to go the

1 Mysore Census Report, 1901.

124 Swarga (heaven). When a Myasa man is branded, he has to purchase a cylindrical basket called gopala made by a special Medara woman, a bamboo stick, fan, and a winnow. Female Bedars who are branded become Basavis (dedicated prostitutes), and are dedicated to a male deity, and called Gandu Basavioru (male Basavis). They are thus dedicated when there happens to be no male child in a family; or, if a girl falls ill, a vow is made to the effect that, if she recovers, she shall become a Basavi. If a son is born to such a woman, he is affiliated with her father's family. Some Bedar women, whose house deities are goddesses instead of gods, are not branded, but a string with white bone beads strung on it, and a gold disc with two feet (Vishnupad) impressed on it, is tied round their neck by a Kuruba woman called Pattantha Ellamma (priestess to Uligamma). When Bedar girls whose house deities are females are dedicated as Basavis, they use a similar necklace, but with black beads, tied round the neck, and are called Hennu Basavis (female Basavis). For the ceremony of dedication to a female deity, the presence of the Madiga goddess Matangi is necessary. The Madigas bring a bent iron rod with a cup at one end, and twigs of Vitex Negundo to represent the goddess, to whom goats are sacrificed. The iron rod is set up in front of the doorway, a wick and oil are placed in the cup, and the impromptu lamp is lighted. Various cooked articles of food are offered, and partaken of by the assembled Bedars. Bedar women sometimes live in concubinage with Muhammadans. And some Bedars, at the time of the Mohurram festival, wear a thread across the chest like Muhammadans, and may not enter their houses till they have washed themselves.

According to the Mysore Census Report, 1901, the chief deity of the Bedars is " Tirupati Venkataramana-swami worshipped locally under the name of Tirumala-devaru, but offerings and sacrifices are also made to Mariamma. Their guru is known as Tirumalatatacharya, who is also a head of the Srivaishnava Brahmans. The Uru Boyas employ Brahmans and jangams as priests." In addition to the deities mentioned, the Bedars worship a variety of minor gods, such as Kanimiraya, Kanakarayan, Uligamma, Palaya, Poleramma, and others, to whom offerings of fruits, vegetables, and sacrifices of sheep and goats are made. The Dewan of Sandur informs me that, in recent times, some Myasa Bedars have changed their faith, and are now Saivas, showing special reverence to Mahadeva. They were apparently converted by Jungams, but not to the fullest extent. The guru is the head of the Ujjani Lingayat matt (religious institution) in the kudligi taluk of Bellary. They do not wear the lingam. In the Madras Census Report, 1901, the patron deity of the Boyas is said to be Kanya Devudu. Concerning the religion of the Boyas, Mr. Mainwaring writes as follows: "They worship both Siva and Vishnu, and also different gods in different localities. In the North Arcot district, they worship Tirupatiswami. In Kurnool, it is Kanya Devudu. In Cuddapah and Anantapur, it is Chendrugadu, and many, in Anantapur, worship Akkamma, who is believed to be the spirit of the seven virgins. At Uravakonda, in the Anantapur district, on the summit of an enormous rock, is a temple dedicated to Akkamma, in which the seven virgins are represented by seven small golden pots or vessels. Cocoanuts, rice, and dal (Cajanus indicus ) form the offerings of the Boyas. The women, on the occasion of the Nagalasauthi or snake festival, worship the Nagala swami by fasting, and pouring milk into the holes of white-ant hills. By this, a double object is fulfilled. The ant heap is a favourite dwelling of the naga or cobra, and it was the burial-place of Valmiki, so homage is paid to the two at the same time. Once a year, a festival is celebrated in honour of the deceased ancestors. This generally takes place about the end of November. The Boyas make no use of Brahmans for religious purposes. They are only consulted for the auspicious hour at which to tie the tali at a wedding. Though the Boya finds little use for the Brahman, there are times when the latter needs the services of the Boya. The Boya cannot be dispensed with, if a Brahman wishes to perform Vontigadu, a ceremony by which he hopes to induce favourable auspices under which to celebrate a marriage. The story has it that Vontigadu was a destitute Boya, who died from starvation. It is possible that Brahmans and Sudras hope in some way to ameliorate the sufferings of the race to which Vontigadu belonged, by feeding sumptuously his modern representative on the occasion of performing the Vontigadu ceremony. On the morning of the day on which the ceremony is performed for which favourable auspices are required, a Boya

125 is invited to the house. He is given a present of gingelly (Sesamum ) oil, where-with to anoint himself. This done, he returns, carrying in his hand a dagger, on the point of which a lime has been stuck. He is directed to the cowshed, and there given a good meal. After finishing the meal, he steals from the shed, and dashes out of the house uttering a piercing yell, and waving his dagger. He on no account looks behind him. The inmates of the house follow for some distance, throwing water wherever he has trodden. By this means, all possible evil omens for the coming ceremony are done away with "

I gather1 that some Boyas in the Boyas in the Bellary district "enjoy inam (rent free) lands for propitiating the village goddesses by a certain rite called bhuta bali. This takes place on the last day of the feast of the village goddess, and is intended to secure the prosperity of the village. The Boya priest gets himself shaved at about midnight, sacrifices a sheep or a buffalo, mixes its blood with rice, and distributes the rice thus prepared in small balls throughout the limits of the village. When he starts out on this business, the whole village bolts its doors, as it is not considered auspicious to see him then. He returns early in the morning to the temple of the goddess which he started, bathes, and receives new cloths from the villagers." At Hospet the Bedars have two buildings called chavadis, built by subscription among members of their community, which they use as a meeting place, and where caste councils are held. At Sandur the Uru Bedars submit their disputes to their guru, a srivaish-nava Brahman, for settlement. If a case ends in a verdict of guilty against an accused person, he is fined, and purified by the guru with thirtham (holy water). In the absence of the guru, a caste headman (Kattaintivadu) sends a Dasari holding office under the guru to invite the castemen and the guru's representative (Samaya) to a caste meeting. The Dasari may or may not be a Bedar. The Samayas are the pujaris at Hanuman and other shrines, and perform the branding ceremony, called chakrankitam. The Myasa Bedars have no guru, instead, pujaris belonging to their own caste are in charge of the affairs of certain groups of families. Their caste messenger is called Dalavai. The following are examples of exogamous septs among the Boyas, recorded by Mr. Mainwaring: Mukkara, nose or ear ornament. Puchakayala, Citrullus colocynthis. Majjiga, butter-milk. Gandhapodi, sandal powder. Kukkala, dog. Pasula, cattle. Pula, flowers. Chinthakayala, Tamarindus indica. Pandhi, pig. Chilakala, Paroquet. Avula, cow. Hastham, hand, Udumala, lizard ( Varanus ) Yelkameti, good rat. Pulagam, cooked rice and dhal. Misala, whiskers. Boggula, charcoal. Nemili, peacock. Midathala, locust. Pegula, intestines. Potta, abdomen. Mijam, seed. Utla, swing for holding pots. Uttareni, Achyranthes aspera. Rottala, bread. Chimpiri, rags. Panchalingala, five lingams. Kotala, fort. Gudisa, hut. Chapa, mat. Tota, garden. Guntala, pond. Lanka, island. Thappata, drum. Bilpathri, Agle Marmelos. Bellapu, jaggery. Kodi-kandla, fowl's eyes Chimala, ants. Gadidhe-kandla, donkey's eyes. Genneru, Nerium odorum. Joti, light. Pichiga, sparrows. Namala, the Vaishnavite namam. Uluvala, Dolichos biflorus. Geddam, beard.

1 Madras Mail, 1905.

126 Nagellu, plough. Eddula, bulls. Ulligadda, onions. Cheruku, sugar-cane. Jinkala, gazelle. Pasupu, turmeric. Dandu, army. Aggi, fire. Kattelu, sticks or faggots. Mirapakaya, Capsicum frutescens. Mekala, goat. Janjapu, sacred thread. Nakka, jackal. Sankati, ragi or millet pudding. Chevvula, ear. Jerripothu, centipede. Guvvala, pigeon. Many of this sects are common to the Boyas and other classes, as shown by the following list: Avula, cow-Korava. Boggula, charcoal- Devanga Cheruku, sugar-Jogi, Odde. Chevvula, ear-Golla. Chilakala, paroquet-Kapu, Yanadi. Chimala, ants-Tsakala. Chinthakayala, tamarind fruit-Devanga. Dandu, army-Kapu. Eddula, bulls-Kapu. Gandhapodi, sandal powder-a sub-division of Balija. Geddam, beard-Padma Sale. Gudisa, hut-Kapu. Guvvala, pigeon-Mutracha. Jinkala, gazelle-Padma Sale. Kukkala, dog-Orugunta Kapu. Lanka, island-Kamma. Mekala, goat-Chenchu, Golla, Kamma, Kapu, Togata, Yanadi. Midathala, locust-Madiga. Nakkala, jackal-Dudala, Golla, Mutracha. Nemili, peacock-Balija. Pichiga, sparrow-Devanga. Pandhi, pig-Asili, Gamalla. pasula, cattle-Madiga, Mala. Puchakaya, colocynth-Komati, Viramusnti. Pula, flowers-Padma Sale, yerukala. Tota, garden-Chenchu, Mila, Mutracha, Bonthuk Savara. Udumala, lizard-Kapu, Tottiyan, Yanadi. Ulligadda, onions-Korava. Uluvala, horse-gram--Jogi Utla, swing for holding pots- Padma Sale.

At Hospet, the preliminaries of a marriage among the Myasa Bedars are arranged by the parents of the parties concerned and the chief men of the keri (street). On the wedding day, the bride and bridegroom sit on a raised platform, and five married men place rice stained with turmeric on the feet, knees, shoulders, and head of the bridegroom. This is done three times, and five married women then perform a similar ceremony on the bride. The bridegroom takes up the tali, and, with the sanction of the assembled Bedars, ties it around the bride's neck. In some places kit is handed to a Brahman priest, who ties it instead of the bridegroom. The unanimous consent of those present is necessary before the tali tying is proceeded with. The marriage ceremony among the Uru Bedars is generally performed at the bride's house, whither the bridegroom and his party proceed on the eve of the wedding. A feast, called thuppathuta or ghi (clarified butter) feast, is held, towards which the bridegroom's parents contribute rice, cocoanuts, betel leaves and nuts, and make a present of five bodices (ravike). At the conclusion of the feast all assemble beneath the marriage pandal (booth), and betel is distributed in a recognised order of precedence, commencing with the

127 guru and the god. On the following morning four big pots, smeared with turmeric and chunam (lime) are placed in four corners, so as to have a square space (irani square) between them. Nine turns of cotton thread are wound round the pots. Within the square the bridegroom and two young girls seat themselves. Rice is thrown over them, and they are anointed. They and the bride are then washed by five women called bhumathoru. The bridegroom and one of the girls are carried in procession to the temple, followed by the five women, one of whom carries a brass vessel with five betel leaves and a ball of sacred ashes (vibuthi) over its mouth, and another a woman's cloth on a metal dish, while the remaining three women and the bridegroom's parents throw fice. Cocoanuts and betel are offered to Hanuman, and lines are drawn on the face of the bridegroom with the sacred ashes. The party then return to the house. The lower half of a grinding mill is placed beneath the pandal, and a Brahman priest invites the contracting couple to stand thereon. He then takes the tali, and ties it on the bride's neck, after it has been touched by the bridegroom. Towards evening the newly married couple sit inside the house, and close to them is placed a big brass vessel containing a mixture of cooked rice, jaggery (crude sugar) and curds, which is brought by the women already referred to. They give a small quantity thereof to the couple, and go away. Five Bedar men come near the vessel after removing their head-dress, surround the vedssel, and place their left hands thereon. With their right hands they shovel the food into their mouths. This ceremony is called bhuma idothu, or special eating, and is in some places performed by both men and women. All those present watch them eating, and, if any one chokes while devouring the food, or falls ill within a few months, it is believed to indicate that the bride has been guilty of irregular behaviour. On the following day the contracting couple go through the streets, accompanied by Bedars, the brass vessel and female cloth, and red powder is scattered broadcast. On the morning of the third and two following days, the newly married couple sit on a pestle, and are anointed after rice has been showered over them. The bride's father presents his son-in-law with a turban, a silver ring, and a cloth. It is said that a man may marry two sisters, provided that he marries the elder before the younger.

The following variant of the marriage ceremonies among the Boyas is given by Mr. Mfainwaring. "When a Boya has a son who should be settled in life, he nominally goes in search of a bride for him, though it has probably been known for a long time who the boy is to marry. However, the formality is gone through. The father of the boy, on arrival at the home of the future bride, explains to her father the object of his visit. They discuss each other's families, and, if satisfied that a union would be beneficial to both families, the father of the girl asks his visitor to call again, on a day that is agreed to, with some of the village elders. On the appointed day, the father of the lad collects the elders of his village, and proceeds with them to the house of the bride-elect. He carries with him four moottus (sixteen seers) of rice, one seer of dhal (cajanus indicus ), two seers of ghi (clarified butter), some betel leaves and areca nuts, a seer of fried gram, two lumps of jaggery (molasses), five garlic bulbs, five dried dates, five pieces of turmeric, and a female jacket. In the evening, the elders of both sides discuss the marriage, and, when it is agreed, the money has to be paid at once. The cost of a bride is always 101 madas, or Rs. 202 Towards this sum, sixteen rupees are counted out, and the total is arrived at by counting areca nuts. The remaining nuts articles which were brought by the party of the bridegroom are then placed on a brass tray, and presented to the bride-elect, who is requested to take three handfuls of nuts and the same quantity of betel leaves. On some occasions, the betel leaves are omitted. Betel is then distributed to the assembled persons. The provisions which were brought are next handed over to the parents of the girl, in addition to two rupees. These are to enable her father to provide himself with a sheet, as well as to give a feast to all those who are present at the betrothal. This is done on the following morning, when both parties breakfast together, and separate. A purohit is consulted as to the auspicious hour at which the tali or bottu should be tied. This having been settled, the bridegroom goes on the day fixed to the bride's village, or sometimes the bride goes to the village of the bridegroom. Supposing the bridegroom to be the visitor, the bride's party carries in procession the provisions which are to form the meal for

128 the bridegroom's party, and this will be served on the first night. As the auspicious hour approaches, the bride's family leave her in the house, and go and fetch the bridegroom, who is brought in procession to the house of the bride. On arrival, he is made to stand under the pandal which has been erected. A curtain is tied therein from north to south. The bridegroom then stands on the east of the curtain, and faces west. The bride is brought from the house, and placed on the west of the curtain, facing her future husband. The bridegroom then takes up the bottu, which is generally a black thread with a small gold bead upon it. He shows it to the assembled people, and asks permission to fasten it on the bride's neck. The permission is accorded with acclamations. He then fastens the bottu on the bride's neck, and she in return ties round the right wrist of the bridegroom a thread from a black cumbly (blanket) on which a piece of turmeric has been threaded. After this, the bridegroom takes some seed, and places it in the bride's hand. He then puts some pepper-corns with the seed, and forms his hands into a cup over those of the bride. Her father then pours milk into his hand, and the bridegroom, holding it, swears to be faithful to his wife until death. After he has taken the oath, he allows the milk to trickle through into the hands of the bride. She receives it, and lets it drop into a vessel placed on the ground between them. This is done three times, and the oath is repeated with each performance. Then the bride goes through the same ceremony, swearing on each occasion to be true to her husband until death. This done, both wipe their hands on some rice, which is placed close at hand on brass trays. In each of these trays there must be five seers of rice, five pieces of turmeric, five bulbs of garlic, a lump of jaggery, five areca nuts, and five dried dates. When their hands are dry, the bridegroom takes as much of the rice as he can in his hands, and pours it over the bride's head. He does this three times, before submitting to a similar operation at the hands of the bride. Then each takes a tray, and upsets the contents over the other. At this stage, the curtain is removed, and, the pair standing side by side, their cloths are knotted together. The knot is called the knot of Brahma, and signifies that it is Brahma who has tied them together. They now walk out of the pandal, and make obeisance to the sun by bowing, and placing their hands together before their breasts in the reverential position of prayer. Returning to the pandal, they go to one corner of it, where five new and gaudily painted earthenware pots filled with water have been previously arranged. Into one of these pots, one of the females present drops a gold nose ornament, or a man drops a ring. The bride and bridegroom put their right hands into the pot, and search for the article. Whichever first finds it takes it out, and showing it, declares that he or she has found it. This farce is repeated three times, and the couple then take their seats on a cumbly in the centre of the pandal, and await the preparation of the great feast which closes the ceremony. For this, two sheep are killed, and the friends and relations who have attended are given as much curry and rice as they can eat. The next morning, the couple go to the bridegroom's village, or, if the wedding took place at his village, to that of the bride, and stay there three days before returning to the marriage pandal. Near the five water-pots already mentioned, some white-ant earth has been spread at the time of the wedding, and on this some paddy (unhusked rice) and dhal seeds have been scattered on the evening of the day on which the wedding commenced. By the time the couple return, these seeds have sprouted. A procession is formed, and the seedlings, being gathered up by the newly married couple, are carried to the village well, into which they are thrown. This ends the marriage ceremony. At their weddings, the Boyas indulge in much music. There dresses are gaudy, and suitable to the occasion. The bridegroom, if he belongs to either of the superior gotras, carries a dagger or sword placed in his cummerbund (loinband). A song which is frequently sung at wedding is known as the song of the seven virgins. The presence of a Basavi at a wedding is looked on as a good omen for the bride, since a Basavi can never become a widow."

In some places, a branch of Ficus religiosa or Ficus bengalensis is planted in front of the house as the marrage milk-post. If it withers, it is thrown away, but if it takes root, it is reared. By some Bedars a vessel is filled with milk, and into it a headman throws the nose ornament of a married woman, which is searched for by the bride and bridegroom three times. The milk is then poured into a pit, which is closed up. In the North Arcot Manual it is

129 stated that the Boya bride, "besides having a golden tali tied to her neck, has an iron ring fastened to her wrist with black string, and the bridegroom has the same. Widows may not remarry or wear black bangles, but they wear silver ones."

"Divorce," Mr. Mainwaring writes, "is permitted. Grounds for divorce would be adultery and ill-treatment. The case would be decided by a panchayat (council). A divorced woman is treated as a widow. The remarriage of widows is not permitted, but there is nothing to prevent a widow keeping house for a man, and begetting children by him. The couple would announce their intertion of living together by giving a feast to the caste. If this formality was omitted, they would be regarded as outcastes until it was complied with. The offspring of such unions are considered illegitimate, and they are not taken or given in marriage to legitimate children. Here we come to further social distinctions. Owing to promiscuousness, the following classes sprang into existence: 1. Swajathee Sumpradayam. Pure Boyas, the offspring of parents who have been properly married in the proper divisions and sub-divisions. 2. Koodakonna Sumpradayam. The offspring of a Boya female, who is separated or divorced from her husband who is still alive, and who cohabits with another Boya. 3. Vithunthu Sumpradayam. The offspring of a Boya widow by a Boya. 4. Arsumpradayam. The offspring of a Boya man or woman, resulting form cohabitation with a member of some other caste. The Swajathee Sumpradayam should only marry among themselves. Koodakonna Sumpradayam and Vithunthu Sumpradayam may marry among themselves, or with each other. Both being considered illegitimate, they cannot marry Swajathee Sumpradayam, and would not marry Arsumpradayam, as these are not true Boyas, and are nominally outcasted, who must marry among themselves."

On the occasion of a death among the Uru Bedars of Hospet, the corpse is carried on a bier by Uru Bedars to the burial-ground, with a new cloth thrown over, and flowers strewn thereon. The sons of the deceased each place a quarter-anna in the mouth of the corpse, and pour water near the grave. After it has been laid therein, all the agnates throw earth into it, and it is filled in and covered over with a mound, on to the head end of which five quarter-anna pieces are thrown. The eldest son, or a near relation, takes up a pot filled with water, and stands at the head of the grave, facing west. A hole is made in the pot, and after going thrice round the grave, he throws away the pot behind him, and goes home without looking back. This ceremony is called the lagolu, and if a person dies without any heir, the individual who performs it inherits such property as there may be. On the third day the mound is smoothed down, and three stones are placed over the head, abdomen, and legs of the corpes, and whitewashed. A woman brings some luxuries in the way of food, which are mixed up in a winnowing tray divided into three portions, and placed in the front of the stones for crows to partake of. Kites and other animals are driven away, if they attempt to steal the food. On the ninth day, the divasa ceremony is performed. At the spot where the deceased died is placed a decorated brass vessel representing the soul of the departed, with five betel leaves and a ball of sacred ashes over its mouth. Close to it a lamp is placed, and a sheep is killed. Two or three days afterwards, rice and vegetables are cooked. Those who have been branded carry their goods, represented by the cylindrical bamboo basket and stick already referred to, to a stream, wash them therein, and do obeisance. On their return home, the food is offered to their gods, and served first to the Dasari, and then to the others, who must not eat until they have received permission from the Dasari. When a Myasa Bedar who has been branded dies, his basket and stick are thrown into the grave with the corpse.

In the Mysore Census Report, 1891, the Mysore Bedars are said to cremate the dead, and on the following day to scatter the ashes on five tangedu (Cassia auriculata ) trees.

130 It is noted by Buchanan1 that the spirits of Baydaru men who die without having married become Virika (heroes), and to their memory have small temples and images crected, where offerings of cloth, rice, and the like, are made to their names. If this be neglected, they appear in dreams, and threaten those who are forgetful of their duty. These temples consist of a heap or cairn of stones, in which the roof of a small cavity is supported by two or three flags; and the image is a rude shapeless stone, which is occasionally oiled, as in this country all other images are. "

Bedar.: -A small caste of about 15,500 persons, belonging to Akola, Khandesh and Hyderabad2. Their ancestors were Pindaris, apparently recruited from the different Maratha castes, and when the Pindaris were suppressed they obtained or were awarded land in the localities where they now reside, and took to cultivation. The more respectable Bedars say that their ancestors were Tirole Kunbis, but when Tipu Sultan invaded the Carnatic he took many of them prisoners and ordered them to become Muhammadans. In order to please him they took food with Muhammadans, and on this account the Kunbis put them out of caste until they could purify themselves. But as there were a large number of them, they did not do this, and have remained a separate caste. The real derivation of the name is unknown, but the caste say that it is be-dar or 'without fear and was given to them on account of their bravery. They have now obtained a warrant from the descendant of Shankar Acharya, or the high priesty of Sivite Hindus, permitting them to describe themselves as Put Kunbi or purified Kunbi. The community is clearly of a most mixed nature, as there are also Dher or Mahar Bedars. They refuse to take food from other Mahars and consider themselves defiled by their touch. The social position of the caste also presents some peculiar features. Several of them have taken service in the army and police, and have risen to the rank of native officer; and Rao Sahib Dhonduji, a retired Inspector of Police, is a prominent member of the caste. The Raja of Surpur, near Raichur, is also said to be a Bedar, while others are ministerial officials occupying a respectable position. Yet of the Bedars generally it is said that they cannot draw water freely from the public wells, and in Nasik Bedar constables are not considered suitable for ordinary duty, as people object to their entering houses. The caste must therefore apparently have higher and lower groups, differing considerably in position.

Sub-Divisions And Marriage Customs. They have three subdivisions, the Maratha, Telugu and Kande Bedars. The names of their exogamous sections are also Marathi. Nevertheless they retain one or two northern customs, presumably acquired from association with the Pindaris. Their women do not tuck the body- cloth in behind the waist, but draw it over the right shoulder. They wear the choli or Hindustani breast-cloth tied in front, and have a hooped silver ornament on the top of the head, which is known as dhora.. They eat goats, fowls and the flesh of the wild pig, and drink liquor, and will take food from a Kunbi or a Phulmali, and pay little heed to the rules of social impurity. But Hindustani Brahmans act as their priests. Before a wedding they call a Brahman and worship him as a god, the ceremony being known as Deo Brahman. The Brahman then cooks food in the house of his host. On the same occasion a person specially nominated by the Brahman, and known as Deokia, fetches an earthen vessel from the potter, and this is worshipped with offerings of turmeric and rice, and a cotton thread is tied round it. Formerly it is said they worshipped the spent bullets picked up after a battle, and especially any which had been extracted from the body of a wounded person.

1 Op. cit. 2 See Russel based on a paper by Rao Sahib. Mr Aduram Chaudhri of the Gazetteer Dhonduji, retired Inspector of Police, office Akola.

131 Funeral Rites. When a man is about to die they take him down from his cot and lay him on the ground with his head in the lap of a relative. The dead are buried, a person of importance being carried to the grave in a sitting posture, while others are laid out in the ordinary manner. A woman is buried in a green cloth and a breast-cloth. When the corpse has been prepared for the funeral they take some liquor, and after a few drops have been poured into the mouth of the corpse the assembled persons drink the rest. While proceeding to the grave they beat drums and play on musical instruments and sing religious songs; and if a man dies during the night, since he is not buried till the morning, they sit in the house playing and singing for the remaining hours of darkness. The object of this custom must presumably be to keep away evil spirits. After the funeral each man places a leafy branch of some tree or shrub on the grave, and on the thirteenth day they put food before a cow and also throw some on to the roof of the house for the crows.

Bediya.: -Bediya, the generic name of a number of vagrant gipsy-like groups1, of whom it is difficult to say whether they can properly be described as castes. The following groups are included under the followinfg names:

Babajiya, Lava, or Patwa, Peddlers and mountebanks professing to be Mahommedans, but singing songs in praise of Rama and Lakshmana, and exhibiting painted scrolls representing the exploits of Hanumân. Their women have the reputation of being skillful in the treatment of childrens' diseases and the removal of nervous and rheumatic pains. They also tattoo, but are not so expert in this art as the Nat women.

Bâzigar, Kabutari, Bhanumati, Dorâbâz, Acrobats and conjurors, probably closely akin to the Nata and Kanjars of Hindustan. As acrobats the women and girls are the chief performers: the men play tricks with balls and knives. The women also dabble in medicine, prescribe for children suffering from fever or indigestion, practise massage for rheumatism and succeed in curing toothache.

Mâl, also called Ponkwah Named for their dexterity in extracting worms from the teeth. They appear to be a possibly a Hinduised offshoot of the Male`. It seems at any rate more reasonable to suppose that the tribal name Mâl may be a variant of Male`, a man, that to derive it from Mâla, a hillman, or Malla, a wrestler. Mâls do not now intermarry with other Bediyâs, and repudiate any connexion with them: for further particulars, see the article Mâl.

Mir-shikâr or Chirimâr, Hunters and fowlers, they take birds with bird-lime or horse-hair nooses and the Sâtnali or light lance divided into sections like a fishing rod. Some of the animals which the Mir-shikâr catch are highly prized for medicinal purposes or for charms. The flesh of the scaly ant-eater, Banrahu or Bajrakit (Manis pentadactyla ), is believed to restore virile energy, it scales bound on the arm cure palpitations of the heart, and worn on the finger in the form of a ring are a sovereign prophylactic against venereal diseases. the flesh of the crow pheasant (mahokha or pân-kori ) killed on a Tuesday or Saturday, cures enlargement of the spleen and puerperal disorders. The claws and droppings of the spotted owlet (penchâ ) if pounded up with betel- nut are a powerful and certain love-potion, and the dried flesh of the dâuk (Gallinula phaenicura ) is very beneficial in rhcumatism.

1 See Risley.

132 Sâmperia, Snake-charmers, hawkers of miscellancous goods, and makers of fish-hooks and such like articles. According to Dr. Wise, the snakes usually exhibited are the cobra; the light and dark varieties of the Ophiophagus Elaps, named by them Dudh-raj and Mani-raj; the python; a whip-snake, with red, black, and yellow spots, called Udaya Sâmp; and a large brown snake with black stripes on its neck, known as Ghâr-bânkâ, from the singular way it bends before striking. The Sâmperia catches a snake by pinning it to the ground with a forked stick, and seizing it by the neck, the thumb being held over the first vertebra. If the snake be a poisonous one, the fangs are torn out, but the poison bag is carefully preserved. Snake poison is highly valued by Hindu physicians for the treatment of diseases, and fetches in the market from fifteen to sixteen rupees per bhari or 179 grains. Another valuable prize is the tick (kilní), occasionally found on the hood of the black cobra, about which many fabulous stories are told. One of these parasites is worth a large sum, as it is popularly believed to be a certain preservative against snake-bites and poisons in general. The Sâmperia feeds his snakes with fish, frogs, and mice. Sâmperias have no specific antidote for snake-bite, but each man carries as a charm the root of the Bhatrâj, a forest creeper. The popular idea is that the bud (mâlatí) of the Bhatrâj is a specific, but the Sâmperias deny this. When anyone is bitten by a poisonous animal, the Sâmperia ties a string round the limb, sucks the wound, bathes the extremity in hot water, and covers the bite with the leaves of the Bhatrâj. One of the company then recites Hindustâní matras or incantations, which are usually utter gibberish.

Members of this caste are in great request at the festival of Manasâ Devi, their patron deity in the month of Srâvan (July-August), being engaged by Brahmans to exhibit their collection and make the snakes crawl in front of the idol. On such occasions the Sâmperia plays on a pipe, while his wife or child chants a monotonous Hindustâní song, and induces the reptile to strike. The Sâmperia also tames jungle cocks to entrap wild ones, and the Kora (Gallicrex cristatus ), a bird famous for its pugnacity. When he hunts this particular bird he tethers the decoy near a marsh, arranging a low screen with three movable leaves from which horse-hair nooses hang. The wild bird advancing to test the courage of the captive, gets entangled and falls an easy prey to the Sâmperia, who is lying concealed close by. Like other Bediyâs, the Sâmperias keep tame cormorants to drive fish into the net, but they do not sell what they catch. They are keen sportsmen, and when an opportunity offers itself they stalk deer, and shoot partridges, paddy-birds, and egrets.

The Shândârs They have the reputation of being the most orderly and industrious of the Bediya divisions. Their name is derived from the Persian Shânah, a comb. This comb, or more correctly reed, through which the warp threads pass, is in great demand by Tântís and Julâhas for their looms, and no one can make them so cheaply and neatly as the Shândâr. The frame-work of the comb (dhangi ) is made of split bamboo, and the teeth (gaibi ) of well-seasoned wood. The latter are fixed at equal distances apart by strong cotton thread. The Shândâr is also a Manihâr, or peddler, retailing in the villages beads and trinkets; waist-strings (Kardhaní ) bought from the Patwâ; and needles, thread, and tape, procured from Mughuliyâ shops. Shândârs are expert divers, and, when anchored in suitable localities, gather the common bivalve shells (sípí), and sell them to the Chunâri, or lime-burner. They also use the sât-nali, or bamboo rod of seven joints, tipped with bird-lime, catching bulbuls and other small birds. Like the Sâmperia, they keep tame koras, jungle cocks, and cormorants, and, if they can afford to do so, take out a gun license to shoot game. Of late years they have all become converts to Islam, but Mahommedans do not admit them into their society, and refuse to intermarry, to eat, and to pray with them.

Rasia Bediyas The use boats of curious construction, only half covered over, while the tilt is cocoon, or bottle- shaped, tapering gradually towards the stern, where there is a small round opening through

133 which a man can crawl with difficulty. These Bediyas work with zinc, which is bought in pigs, melted, and run into moulds. From the similarity in colour of zinc and mercury (rasa ), the division has derived its distinctive name from the latter metal. The Rasias make anklets, bracelets, and collars for the neck (hansli ), which are worn by all Hindu and Mahommedan females of the lower orders. At their homes they are cultivators, and being strict Farazís are accepted as members of the Mahommedan community. Their social standing, however, is so precarious that prolonged absence from home or a manifest partiality for boat life is punished by expulsion from society.

Godna.-Godnâ-wâlí, She is a female tattooer. In Eastern bengal, according to Dr. Wise, Bediya women travel about the country with a bag, containing a variety of drugs, a cupping horn (Singa `) , and a scarificator (Nâran ). They attract attention by bawling "To tattoo, to cup, and to extract worms from decayed teeth!" They also prescribe for female disorders. It is said that small grubs are kept in a bamboo tube, and while the patient's attention is occupied by the talk of the operator, a maggot is presented as if it had been extracted from the hollow tooth. For this trick the Godnâ-wâli receives a suitable fee.

In tattooing the juice of the Bhangra plant (Indigofera linifolia ) and woman's milk are the materials used, and the punctures are made with needles or the thorns of the Karaundâ (Carissa Carandas ). While the operation is being performed, a very equivocal mantra is recited to alleviate pain and prevent any subsequent inflammation. In respectable Hindu families an old nurse usually tattoos the girls. Nowadays the ordinary tattoo design, either circular or stellate, is made at the top of the nose of the centre of the forehead; formerly the fashionable stain (Ullikhí) was at the same spot, but a line extended along the bridge of the nose, branching out into two curves over each ala. Tattoo marks were originally distinctive of Hindu females, but Muhammadan women copied them, and it is only since the Farazí revival that they have discontinued the habit. Chandâl women are often employed to cure goitre by tattooing. A circular spot on the most prominent part of the swelling is punctured with a bamboo spike, and common ink mixed with the sap of the Kâli Koshijia rubbed in.

Beldâr.: -(One who works with the bel or mattock).1 A general term for the aggregate of low Hindu tribes who make their living by earth-work. But, besides these, there seems to be a real endogamous group of this name found chiefly in Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Basti, and Pilibhít. Mr. Risley 2 describes under the same name a wandering Dravidian caste of earth-workers and navvies in Bihâr and Western Bengal, many of whom are employed in the coal mines of Râniganj and Barâkar. "Both men and women labour, the former digging the earth and the latter removing it in baskets carried on the had. The Beldârs regard this mode of carrying earth as distinctive of themselves, and will on no account carry earth in baskets slung from the shoulders." Whatever may be the case in Bengal, in these provinces at least, the practice of carrying earth and other burdens on the head and not on the back or shoulders is habitual among all the castes who do this kind of labour.

Internal Organization. The Beldârs of these provinces classified themselves at the last Census under three sub- castes-Bâchhal, Chauhân, and Kharot. The two former are, of course, well known Râjput tribes. The Kharot appear to take their name from khar (Sanskrit, khata ), "grass." They are described as a tribe of mat-makers in Basti, and a number have entered themselves

1. See Crooke work from a note by Pandit Râm Bakhsh Chaube of Gorakhpur. 2. Tribes and Castes, l., 86.

134 separately at the last census. Besides these, among the most important local sub-castes, we find the Mahul and Orh of Bareilly; the Desi, Kharébind, and Sarwariya, or "dwellers beyond the Sarju," of Gorakhpur; and the Kharébind and Maskhauwa, or "flesh-casters," of Basti. The Census returns give 186 sub-castes of the usual type. Some are taken from the names of existing well-known tribes, such as Bachgoti, Bâchhal, Baheliya, Bindwâr, Chauhân, Dikhit, Gaharwâr, Gaura, Gautam, Ghosi, Kurmi, Luniya, Orh, Râjput, Thâkur; others, local terms of the usual type, like Agarwâl, Agrabansi, Ajudhyabâsi, Bhadauriya, Dehliwâl, Gangapâri, Gorakhpuri, Kanaujiya, Kashiwâla, Purabiya, Sarwariya, and Uttarâha. The Beldârs have no definite traditions of their origin, save that they were once Râjput who were compelled by some Râja to work as navvies, and were in consequence degraded. There can, however, be little doubt that they are an occupational offshoot from the great Luniya, Orh, or Bind tribe, who are certainly to a large extent of non-Aryan origin.

Occupation And Status. Besides their trade of doing earth-work, they also make their living by fishing. They are very fond of field rats, which they dig out of the rice fields after the harvest is over, and boil down with the grain which they have collected in their granaries. They also eat pork, but in spite of this it is reported from Gorakhpur that Brâhmans and Kshatriyas drink water from their hands. Their widows marry by the sagâi form, and a man may discard his wife for adultery; but if she marries her paramour, the council compels him to repay the original cost of her marriage to her first husband.

Religion. To the east of the province they worship the Pânchonpír, to whom they offer a turban (patuka ) and a sheet (patau ) made of coarse country cloth, and occasionally a fowl. The sheets are marked by a streak of red before being offered. Another form of offering is what is known as ka`ra , which is made of flour and urad pulse. Some worship Mahâdeva once a year in the month of Phâlgun or at the Sivarâtri.

Béldâr.: -Od, Sonkar, Raj, Larhia Karigar, Matkuda, Chunkar, Munurwar, Thapatkari, Vaddar, Pathrot, Takari1. The term Beldar is generically applied to a number of occupational groups of more or less diverse origin, who work as masons or navvies, build the earthen embankments of tanks or fields, carry lime and bricks and in former times refined salt. Beldar means "one who carries a bel," a hoe or mattock. In 1911 a total of 25.000 Beldars were returned from the Central Provinces, being most numerous in the Nimar, Wardha, Nagpur, Chanda and Raipur districts. The Nunia, Murha and Sansia (Uriya) castes, which have been treated in separate articles, are also frequently known as Beldar, and cannot be clearly distinguished from the main caste. If they are all classed together the total of the earth and stone-working castes comes to 35.000 persons.

It is probable that the bulk of the Beldars and allied castes are derived from the non-Aryan tribes. The Murhas or navvies of the northern Districts appear to be an offshoot of the Bind tribe; the people known as Matkuda (earth-digger) are usually Gonds or Pardhans; the Sansias and Larhias or Uriyas or Chhattisgarh and the Uriya country seem to have originated from the Kol, Bhuiya and Oraon tribes, the Kols especially making excellent diggers and masons; the Oddes or Vaddars of Madras are a very low caste, and some of their customs point to a similar origin, though the Munurwar masons of Chanda appear to have belonged originally to the Kapu caste of cultivators. The term Raj, which is also used for the Beldars in the northern Districts, has the distinctive meaning of a mason, while Chunkar signifies a lime-burner. The Sonkars were formerly

1 See Russell. His article is based on papers by Mr. A. K. Smith, C. S., Mr. Khande Rao, Superintendent of Land Records, Raipur, and Munshi Kanhiya Lal, of the Gazetteer office.

135 occupied in Saugor in carrying lime, bricks and earth on donkeys, but they have now abandoned this calling in Chhattisgarh and taken to growing vegetables, and have been given a short separate notice. In Hoshangabad some Muhammadan Beldars are now also found.

Beldars Of The Northern Districts. The Beldars of Saugor say that their ancestors were engaged in refining salt from earth. A divine saint named Nona Rishi (non, salt) came down on earth, and while cooking his food mixed some saline soil with it. The bread tasted much better jin consequence, and he made the earth into a ball or goli and taught his followers to extract the salt from it, whence their descendants are known as Goli Beldars. The customs of these Beldars are of the ordinary low- caste type. The wedding procession is accompanied by drums, fireworks and, if means permit, a nautch-girl. If a man puts away his wife without adequate cause the caste panchayat may compel him to support her so long as she remains of good conduct. The party seeking a divorce, whether husband or wife, has to pay Rs. 7 to the caste committee and the other partner Rs. 3, irrespective of where the blame rests, and each remains out of caste until he or she pays. These Beldars will not take food from any caste but their own, and will not take water from a Brahman, though they will accept it from Kurmis, Gujars and similar castes. Sir H. Risley notes that their women always remove earth in baskets on the head. "The Beldars regard this mode of carrying earth as distinctive of themselves, and will on no account transport it in baskets slung from the shoulders. They work very hard when paid by the pice, and are notorious for their skill in manipulating the pillars (sakhi, witness) left to mark, work done, so as to exaggerate the measurement. On occasion while working for me on a large lake at Govindpur, in the north of the Manbhum District, a number of Beldars transplanted an entire pillar during the night and claimed payment for several thousand feet of imaginary earthwork. The fraud was most skilfully carried out, and was only detected by accident."1 The Beldars are often dishonest in their dealings, and will take large advances for a tank or embankment, and then abscond with the money without doing the work. During the open season parties of the caste travel about in camp looking for work, their furniture being loaded on donkeys. They carry grain in earthen pots encased in bags of netting, neatly and closely woven, and grind their wheat daily in a small mill set on a goat-skin. Butter is made in one of their pots with a churning-stick, consisting of a cogged wheel fixed on to the end of a wooden rod.

Odias Of Chhattisgarb. The Beldars of Chhattisgarh are divided into the Odia or Uriya, Larhia, Kuchbandhia, Matkuda and Karigar groups. Uriya and Larhia are local names, applied to residents of the Uriya country and Chhattisgarh respectively. Odia is the name of a low madras caste of masons, but whether it is a corruption of Uriya is not clear. Karigar means a workman, and Kuchbandhia is the name of a separate caste, who make loom-combs for weavers. The Odias pretend to be fallen Rajputs. They say that when Indra stole the sacrificial horse of Raja Sagar and kept it in the underworld, the Raja's thousand sons dug great holes through the earth to get it. Finally they arrived at the underworld and were all were reduced to ashes by the Rishi Kapil Muni, who dwelt there. Their ghosts besought him for life, and he said that their descendants should always continue to dig holes in the earth, which would be used as tanks; and that whenever a tank was dug by them, and its completion celebrated with a sacrifice, the savour of the sacrifice would descend to the ghosts and would afford them sustenance. The Odias say that they are the descendants of the Raja's sons, and unless a tank is dug and its completion celebrated by them it remains impure. These Odias have their tutelary deity in Rewah State, and at his shrine is a flag which none but an Odia of genuine descent from Raja Sagar's sons can touch without some injury befalling him. If any Beldar therefore claims

1 Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Beldar

136 to belong to their caste they call on him to touch the flag, and of he does so with impunity they acknowledge him as a brother.

Other Chhattisgarhi Beldars. The other groups of Chhattisgarhi Beldars are of lower status, and clearly derived from the non-Aryan tribes. They eat pigs, and at intervals of two or three years they celebrate the worship of Gosain Deo with a sacrifice of pigs, the deity being apparently a deified ascetic or mendicant. On this occasion the Dhimars, Gonds, and all other castes which eat pig's flesh join in the sacrifice, and consume the meat together after the fashion of the sacrifice at Jagannath's temple, which all castes may eat together without becoming impure. These Beldars use asses for the transport of their bricks and stones, and on the Diwali day they place a lamp before the ass and pay reverence to it. They say that at their marriages a bride-price of Rs. 100 or Rs. 200 must always be paid, but they are allowed to give one or two donkeys and value them at Rs 50 apiece. They make grindstones (chakki ), combs for straightening the threads on the loom, and frames for stretching the threads. These frames are called dongi, and are made either wholly or partly from the horns of animals, a fact which no doubt renders them impure.

Munurwar And Telenga. Telugus, who are also known as Thapatkari (tapper or chiseller), Telenga Kunbi and Munurwar. They occupy a higher position then the ordinary Beldar, and Kunbis will take water from them and sometimes food. They say they came into Chanda from the Telugu country along the Godavari and Pranhita rivers to build the great wall of Chanda and the palaces and tombs of the Gond kings. There is no reason to doubt that the Munurwars are a branch of the Kapu cultivating caste of the Telugu country. Mr. A. K. Smith states that they refuse to eat the flesh of an animal which has been skinned by a Mahar, a Chamar, or a Gond; the Kunbis and Marathas also consider flesh touched by a Mahar or Chamar to be impure, but do not object to a Bond. Like the Berar Kunbis, the Telengas prefer that an animal should be killed by the rite of halal as practised by Muhammadan butchers. The reason no doubt is that the halal is a method of sacrificial slaughter, and the killing of the animal is legitimised even though by the ritual of a foreign religion. The Thapatkaris appear to be a separate group, and their original profession was to collect and retail jungle fruits and roots having medicinal properties. Though the majority have become stone and earth- workers some of them still do this.

Vaddar. The Vaddars or Wadewars are a branch of the Odde caste of Madras. They are almost an impure caste, and a section of them are professional criminals. Their women wear glass bangles only on the left arm, those on the right arm being made of brass or other metal. This rule has no doubt been introduced because glass bangles would get broken when they were supporting loads on the head. The men often wear an iron bangle on the left wrist, which they say keeps off the lightning. Mr, Thurston states that "women who have had seven husbands are much respected among the Oddes, and their blessing on a bridal pair is greatly prized. They work in gangs on contract, and every one, except very old and very young, shares in the labour. The women carry the earth in baskets, while the men use the pick and spade. The babies are usually tied up in cloth, which are suspended, hammock-fashion, from the boughs of trees. A woman found guilty of immorality is said to have to carry a basketful of earth from house to house before she is readmitted to the caste. The stone-cutting Vaddars are the principal criminals, and by going about under the pretence of mending grindstones they obtain much useful information as to the houses to be looted or parties of travellers to be attacked. In committing a highway robbery or dacoity they are always armed with stout sticks."1

1 The Castes and Tribes of Southern India, art. Odde.

137 Pathrot. In Berar, besides the regular Beldars two castes of stone workers are found, the Pathrawats or Pathrots (stone-breakers) and the Takaris, who should perhaps be classed as separate castes. Both make and sharpen millstones and grindstones, and they are probably only occupational groups of recent formation. The Takaris are connected with the Pardhi caste of professional hunters and fowlers and may be a branch of them. The social customs of the Pathrots resemble those of the Kunbis. "They will take cooked food from a Sutar or a Kumbhar. Imprisonment, the killing of a cow or criminal intimacy of a man with a woman of another caste is punished by temporary outcasting, readmission involving a fine of Rs. 4 or Rs. 5. Their chief deity is the Devi of Tuljapur and their chief festival Dasahra; the implements of the caste are worshipped twice a year, on Gudhi Padwa and Diwali. Women are tattooed with a crescent between the eyebrows and dots on the right side of the nose, the right cheek, and the chin, and a basil plant or peacock is drawn on their wrists."1

Takari. "The Takaris take their name from the verb takne, to reset or rechisel. They mend the handmills (chakkis ) used for grinding corn, and occupation which is sometimes shared with them by the Langoti Pardhis. The Takari's avocation of chiselling grindstones gives him excellent opportunities for examining the interior economy of houses, and the position of boxes a cupboards, and for gauging the wealth of the inmates. They are the most inveterate house-breakers and dangerous criminals. A form of crime favoured by the Takari, in common with many other criminal classes, is that of decoying into a secluded spot outside the village the would-be receiver of stolen property and robbing him of his cash; a trick which carries a wholesome lesson with it."2 The chisel with which they chip the grindstones furnishes, as stated by Mr. D. A. Smyth, D. S. P., an excellent implement for breaking a hole through the mud wall of house.

Be¡¡lda¡¡ri¡¡.: -Béldâr3 literally means one who works with the bél or mattock. It is a general term for the aggregate of low Hindu¡¡ tribes who make their living by earth work. The number of Be¡¡ldârs returned at the Census of 1911 was as follows:

Bengal 9,294 Bihar and Orissa 88,92 Bombay 12,398 Central Provinces and Berar 25,616 United Provinces 39,035 Central India Agency 26,378 Elsewhere 3,787 ------Total 205,420

The majority of these Béldârs probably speak the same dialect as their surroundings. According to Sir Herbert Risley the Béldârs of Bihar and Western Bengal form a separate wandering caste of Dravidian origin. The same is perhaps also the case in some other districts. The word Béldâr is accordingly used in two different senses denoting sometimes a distinct caste, sometimes all low caste earth-workers. It is impossible to decide how many of the Béldârs enumerated at the last Census in the various provinces belong to either group.

1 Akola District Gazetteer ( Mr. C. Brown ), PP. 132, 133. 2 Amraoti District Gazetter ( Messrs Nelson and Fitzgerald ), p. 146. 3 See G. A. Grierson, Linguistic Survey of India.

138 During the preliminary operations of this Survey a dialect called Béldâri¡ was returned from Rajputana, Berar and Bombay. The estimated numbers of speakers were as follows:

Rajputana, Jaisalmir State 100 Berar- Amraoti 800 Ellichpur 500 Buldana 585 ------1,885

Bombay Presidency- Thana 2,560 Satara 350 Satara Agency, State Aundh 15 Satara Agency, state Phaltan 40 Kolhapur State 50 Southern Maratha Jaghirs 200 ------3,155 ------Total 5,140

The returns of the last Census do not furnish us with materials for checking these figures. Specimens of the so-called Béldârí have been received from Ellichpur and Buldana, from the Jaisalmir State, and from the Ramdurg State. Though the dialect differs in the different districts, being more or less influenced by the prevailing languages, there are some characteristic features which recur everywhere, and it is accordingly possible to speak of a separate dialect. Béldârí is not, however, a fixed form of speech with consistent features. Like Óπkí it is a mixture. The prevailing elements are Mar¡â†hí and Eastern Râjasthâní. To the former language belongs forms such as the plurals bé†é , sons (Ramdurg); nâπé , tanks (Jaisalmir); daís , to a father (Buldana); ma∑sân , to a man (Ramdurg); danât , in days (Ramdurg); the oblique bases in â of weak nouns such as dishâ-su§§, from a direction (jaisalmir); utha∑π-panâ-sé, in riotousness (Ellichpur); the genitive termination châ in the Jaisalmir and Ramdurg specimens, the common termination lâ of the past tense, and so forth. Râjasthâní elements are forms of strong bases such as po¡¡ryâ , sons; chhó†ó , small (Ellichpur); ghó®ó , house (jaisalmir) (but also kuttâ ,dog; compare also ghó®é , horses; gho¡®iyê , mares); the dative suffixes -né ( Amraoti , Ramdurg, Jaisalmir); -nê , nu§§ (Jaisalmir); -ké (Buldana) and -ku (Ellichpur); compare Mâlví -né , -ké , -ku§§; the genitive suffix -kó ,-kâ ,-kí (Ellichpur, Buldana); Compare Méwâtí, Jaipurí and Mâlví -kó , -kí; the ablative suffixes -sé and -su§§; compare Mâlví -sé , -su§§; the past tense in yó , ó , which is used by side with forms in -lâ; forms such as maru§ , I die; kahu§§ , I may say (Ellichpur); maré-hé , I am dying (Jaisalmir); kahus , I shall say ( Buldana) and so forth. It would also be possible to compare some of the l - forms of the past with O®iyâ, and the common mór , móra , my, mine, seems connected with forms in Eastern languages. It is accordingly likely that there is also an admixture of Eastern vernaculars. The chief components of Béldârí are, however, of the same kind as in Óπkí. With that form of speech there are also other points of agreement; thus the pronoun tudâ thy; conjunctive participles such as kartí , having done, and so forth. Note the curious form méré- ku , me, an idiom frequent in Dakhiní Hindósthâní, and also finding parallels in Eastern languages, as in the Bihârí hamara¡-ke¡ , with the same meaning.

Bépâri.: -Bépâri1 is, in the Madras Census Report, described as "a caste allied to the Lambâdia. Its members worship a female deity called Banjâra, speak the Bépâri or Lambâdi

1 See Thurston,

139 language, and claim to be Kshatriyas." Bhonjo, the title of the Râjâh of Gumsîr, was recorded as a sub-caste. The Rev. G. Gloyer1 correctly makes the name Boipari synonymous with Brinjâri, and his illustration of a Boipari family represents typical Lambâdis or Brinjâris. Répâri and Boipari are forms of Vyapâri or Vépâri, meaning a trader. The Bépâris are traders and carriers between the hills and plains in the Vizagapatam Agency tracts. Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao informs me that "They regard themselves as immune from the attacks of tigers, if they take certain precautions. Most of them have to pass through places infested with these beasts, and their favourite precaution is taken when they encamp at a place, and they level a square bit of ground and light fires in the middle of it, round which they pass the night. It is their firm belief that the tiger will not enter the square, from fear lest it should become blind, and eventually be shot. I was once travelling towards Malkangiri from Jeypore, when I fell in with a party of these people encamped in the manner described. At that time, several villages about Malkangiri were being ravaged by a nototious man-eater (tiger).

Beria.: -. 2 A caste of gipsies and thieves who are closely connected with the Sansias. In 1891 they numbered 906 person in the Central Provinces, distributed over the northern Districts; in 1901 they were not separately classified but were identified with the Nats." They say that some generations ago two brothers resided in the Bhartpur territory, one of whom was named Sains Mul and the other Mullanur. The descendants of Sains Mul are the Sansias and those of Mullanur the Berias or Kolhatis, who are vagrants and robbers by hereditary profession, living in tents or huts of matting, like Nats or other vagrant tribes, and having their women in common without any marriage ceremonies or ties whatsoever. Among themselves or their relatives the Sansias or descendants of Sains Mul, they are called Dholi or Kolhati. The descendants of the brothers eat, drink and smoke together, and join in robberies, but never intermarry." So Colonel Sleeman wrote in 1849, and other authorities agree on the close connection or identity of the Berias and Sansias of Central India. The Kolhatis belong mainly to the Deccan and are apparently a branch of the Berias, named after the Kolhan or long pole with which they perform acrobatic feats. The Berias of Central India differ in many respects from those of Bengal. Here Sir H. Risley considers Beria to be "the generic name of a number of vagrant, gipsy-like groups"; and a description or them has been given by Babu Rajendra Lal Mitra, who considers them to resemble the gipsies of Europe. "They are noted for a light, elastic, wiry make, very uncommon in the people of this country. In agility and hardness they stand unrivalled. The men are of a brownish colour, like the bulk of Bengalis, but never black. The women are of lighter complexion and generally well- formed; some of them have considerable claims to beauty, and for a race so rude and primitive in their habits as the Berias, there is a sharpness in the features of their women which we see in no other aboriginal race in India. Like the gipsies of Europe they are noted for the symmetry of their limbs; but their offensive habits, dirty clothing and filthy professions give them a repulsive appearance, which is heightened by the reputation they have of kidnapping children and frequenting burial-grounds and places of cremation. Familiar with the use of bows and arrows and greatly adept in laying snares and traps, they are seldom without large supplies of game and flesh of wild animals of all kinds. They keep the dried bodies of a variety of birds for medical purposes; mongoose, squirrels and flying- foxes they eat with avidity as articles of luxury. Spirituous liquors and intoxicating drugs are indulged in to a large extent, and the chief of each clan assume the title of Bhangi or drinkers of hemp (bhang ) as a mark of honour. In lying, thieving and knavery the Beria is not a whit inferior to his brother gipsy of Europe. The Beria woman deals in charms for exorcising the devil and palmistry is her special vocation. She also carries with her a bundle of herbs and other real or pretended charms against sickness of body and mind; and she is much sought

1 Jeypore. Breklum, 1901. 2 See Russell V. II pp. 220-224.

140 after by village maidens for the sake of the philtre with which she restores to them their estranged lovers; while she foretells the date when absent friends will return and the sex of unborn children. They practise cupping with buffalo horns, pretend to extract worms from decayed teeth and are commonly employed as tattooers. At home the Beria woman makes mats of palm-leaves, while her lord alone cooks. Beria women are even more circumspect then European gipsies. If a wife does not return before the jackal's cry is heard in the evening, she is subject to severe punishment. It is said that a faux pas among her own kindred is not considered reprehensible; but it is certain that no Berini has ever been known to be at fault with any one not of her own caste." This last statement is not a little astonishing, inasmuch as in Central India and in Bundelkhand Berni is an equivalent term for a prostitute. A similar diversity of conjugal morality has been noticed between the Bagris of northern India and the Vaghris of Gujarat. 1

Criminal Tendencies In The Central Provinces. In other respects also the Berias of Bengal appear to be more respectable then the remainder of the caste, obtaining their livelihood by means which, if disreputable, are not actually dishonest; while in Central India the women Berias are prostitutes and the men house- breakers and thieves. These latter are so closely connected with the Sansias that the account of that caste is also applicable to the Berias. In Jubbulpore, Mr. Gayer states, the castes are expert house-breakers, bold and daring, and sometimes armed with swords and matchlocks. They sew up stolen property in their bed-quilts and secrete it in the hollow legs of their sleeping-cots, and the women habitually conceal jewels and even coins in the natural passages of the body for which purpose they make special saos or receptacles by practice. The Beria women go about begging, and often break open the doors of unoccupied houses in the daytime and steal anything they can find.2 Both Sansia and Beria women wear a laong or clove in the left nostril.

Social Customs. As already stated, the women are professional prostitutes but these do not marry, and on arrival at maturity they choose the life which they prefer. Mr. Crooke states,3 however, that regular marriages seldom occur among them, because nearly all the girls are reserved for prostitution, and the men keep concubines drawn from any fairly respectable caste. So far is this the rule that in some localities if a man marries a girl of the tribe he is put out of caste or obliged to the tribal council. This last rule does not deem to obtain in the Central Provinces, but marriages are uncommon. In a colony of Berias in Jubbulpore 4 numbering sixty families it was stated that only eight weddings could be remembered as having occurred in the last fifty years. The boys therefore have to obtain wives as best they can; sometimes orphan girls from other castes are taken into the community, or any outsider is picked up. For a bride from the caste itself a sum of Rs. 100 is usually demanded, and the same has to be paid by a Beria man who takes a wife from the Nat or Kanjar castes, as is sometimes done. When a match is proposed they ask the expectant bridegroom how many thefts he has committed without detection; and if his performances have been inadequate they refuse to give him the girl on the ground thet he will be unable to support a wife. At the betrothal the boy's parents go to the girl's house, taking with them a pig and a potful of liquor round which a silver ring is placed. The ring is given to the girl and the head of the pig to her father, while the liquor and the body of the pig provide a feast for the caste. They consult Brahmans at their birth and marriage ceremonies. Their principal deities appear to be their ancestors, whom they worship on the same day of the month and year as that on which their death took place. They make an offering of a pig to the goddess Dadaju or Devi before starting on their annual

1 See article on Badhak. 2 Kennedy, p. 247. 3 Crooke, art. Beria. 4 The following particulars are taken from a note by Mr. K. N. Date, Deputy Superintendent, Reformatory School, Jubbulpore.

141 predatory excursions. Some rice is thrown into the animal's ear before it is killed, and the direction in which it turns its head is selected as the one divinely indicated for their route. Prostitution is naturally not regarded as a disgrace, and the women who have selected this profession mix on perfectly equal terms with those who are married. They occupy, in fact, a more independent position, as they dispose absolutely of their own earnings and property, and on their death it devolves on their daughters or other female relatives, males having no claim to it, in some localities at least. Among the children of married couples daughters inherit equally with sons. A prostitute is regarded as the head of the family so far as her children are concerned. Outsiders are freely admitted into the caste on giving a feast to the community. In Saugor the women of the caste, known as Berni, are the village dancing-girls, and are employed to give performances in the cold weather, especially at the Holi festival, where they dance the whole night through, fortified by continuous potations of liquor. This dance is called rai, and is accompanied by most obscene songs and gestures.

Beriya.: -Bediya.- A caste of vagrants found in various parts of the Province1. They are very closely allied of not identical with the Sansi, Kanjar, Habura, Bhantu, etc In Bengal the term is applied to a number of vagrant, gypsy-like groups, of whom it is difficult to say whether they can properly be described as castes. Of these Bengal Beriyas a very full account has been given by Babu Rajendra Lala Mitra.2 According to him, they show no tendency to obesity, and are noted for "a light, elastic, wiry make, very uncommon in the people of this country. In agility and hardiness they stand unrivalled. The men are of a brownish colour like the bulk of Bengalis, but never Black. The women are of lighter complexion, and generally well formed; some of them have considerable claims to beauty, and for a race so rude and primitive in their habits as the Beriyas, there is a sharpness in the features of their women which we see in no other aboriginal race in India. Like the gypsies of Europe, they are noted for the symmetry of their limbs, but their offensive habits, dirty clothing, and filthy professions, give them a repulsive appearance, which is heightened by the reputation they have of kidnapping children and frequenting burial grounds and places of cremation. Their eyes and hair are always black, but their stature varies much in different individuals. They are a mixed race and many outcastes join them. Some of them call themselves Mal, and live by snake-catching and sale of herbs. Though known as Bediyas, they keep distinct, and do not intermarry or mix with the pure Bediyas, who, unlike European gypsies, keep themselves distinct. They seldom build houses, or take to agriculture, but wander about with a few miserable wigwams. Like all gypsies, they dress like the people of the country. They cook in a pipkin in common. Their women and children eat promiscuously, except when placed among Bengalis, when the women eat separately. They eat whatever they can get, and nothing comes amiss to them, whether it be a rotten Jackal or a piece of beef or mutton." Familiar with the use of bows and arrows, and great adepts in laying snares and traps, they are seldom without large supplies of game and flesh of wild animals of all kinds. A variety of birds they keep dried for medical purposes; mongooses, squirrels, and flying foxes they eat with avidity as articles of luxury. Spirituous liquors and intoxication drugs are indulged in to a large extent, and chiefs of clans assume the title of Bhangi or drinkers of hemp (bhang ) as a mark of honour." They practise all the usual gypsy trades. "In lying, thieving, and knavery he is not a whit inferior to his brother of Europe, and he practises everything that enables him to pass an easy life without submitting to any law of civilized Government or the amenities of social life." The women deal in charms for exorcising the devil, love phylters, palmistry, cupping with buffalo horns, administering moxas and drugs for spleen and rheumatism. She has a charm for extracting worms from various teeth by repeating indecent verses. They are the only tattooers. At home she makes mats of palm leaves, while her lord alone cooks. Bediyas have no talent for music: Nats and Banjaras have. Firdausi says this was the reason

1 See Crooke. His article is based on notes by M. Gopal Prasad, Naib Tahsildar, Phaphund, Etawab District, and the Deputy Inspector of Schools, Farrukhabad. 2 Memoirs, Anthropological Socicty of London, 111., 122, sqq.

142 they were exiled to Persia. Bediya women are even more circumspect than European gypsies. If she does not return before the jackal's cry is heard in the evening, she is subject to severe punishment. It is said that a faux pas among her own kindred is not considered reprehensible. Certain it is that no Bediyani has ever been known to be at fault with any one not of her own caste. They are fond husbands, kind parents, affectionate children, and unswerving friends. Attachment to their nationality is extreme, and no Bediya has ever been known to denounce his race. Whenever a Bediya is apprehended by a police officer, his clansmen do their best to release him, and if condemned to imprisonment or death, they invariably support his family. He is a Hindu or Musalman according to the population he lives in. Some are Deists, some Kabirpanthis, or Sikhs; some take the disguise of Jogis, Faqirs, Darveshes, Santons, etc. Hence he is called Panchpiri. His dead are usually buried, and his marriage contract is solemnized over country arrack without the intervention of priests, the only essential being the consent of the elders of the clan. Marriage is restricted to his own clan; but kidnapped children brought up in camp are not prohibited. He is very sparing of ceremony; in reply to the exhortations of the bride's relatives to treat her kindly, he simply declares, 'This women is my wedded wife,' marking her head at the same time with red lead. The bride replies,- 'This man is my husband.' Incestuous marriages are believed to be common among them. It is said that all Bediyas, whether professing Hinduism or Muhammadism, worship Kali. Like the gypsies, they never go to court. Their chiefs (sardars) have supreme power, and manage their affairs with the help of tribal councils (panchayal). The punishments are fines, stripes with a shoe, and expulsion from caste. The fines are spent in liquor. The office of chief is generally hereditary, and he is invested with authority over his clansmen, wherever they may be located. This is possible, as the Bediya, though a vagrant, is much attached to his birthplace, and often returns there. "

The Beriyas Of The North-Western Provinces And Oudh. The Beriyas of these Provinees are in a much more degraded condition than their brethren in Bengal. At the last Census they recorded themselves under three main sub-castes: Chauhan and Raghubansi, the titles of well known Rajput sub-division, and Kamchor or "loafers." But in the Central Duab, like so many of the tribes of the same social rank, they pretend to have seven sub-castes. By one enumeration these are given as Khalkhur, Chhahari, Bhains, Gunnar, Naritor, Rattu, and Kachhar. Another list adds Mahish. The complete returns show 250 sections of the Hindu, and 12 of the Muhammadan branch. These are of the usual type, many taken from the names of existing castes, such as Bais, Banya, Bangali, Chauhan, Chhatri, Gaur, Ghosiya, Janwar, Kachhwaha, Kanhpuriya, Raghubansi, Rawat, Teli, and Thakur; others of local origin like Amrapuriya, Baiswari, Ghadauriya, Deswal, Jaiswar, Mainpuriya, Multanwari; others again common to them and similar vagrant and prostitute tribes, such as Brijbasi, Dhanuk, Gandharb, Gidhmar ("kite-killers"), Jangali, Kuchbandhiya, Kapariya Karnataki, Nat, Paturiya, Rajnat, and Tawaif. They believe themselves indigenous to the Central Duab, and profess to have some unexplained connection, like their kinsmen the Haburas, with the old ruined city of Nohkhera, in the north of Pargana Jalesar, in the Etah District. All the camps (gol ) which frequent that part of the country meet there during the rainy season, and hold tribal councils at which marriages and all matters affecting the caste are settled. Regular marriages seldom occur among them, because nearly all the girls are reserved for prostitution, and the men keep concubines drawn from any fairly respectable caste. So far is this the rule, that in Farrukhabad, it is alleged that if a man marry a girl of the tribe, he is put out of caste; and in Etawah, if a man marry a girl who has been prostituted, he is obliged to pay a fine to the tribal council. This is a good example of what Sir John Lubbock1 calls "Communal marriage." " In many cases," he says, "the exclusive possession of a wife could only be legally acquired by a temporary recognition of the pre-existing communal rights." While, however, concubinage is a tribal institution, connections with a woman of the menial tribes, such as Chamar, Bhangi, Kori, or Dhanuk, are prohibited; and a man offending in this way is expelled from the caste. The only ceremony in selecting a

1 Origin of civilisation, 126; Westermarck, History of Human Marriage, 72 sqq.

143 concubine is presenting to her a suit of clothes, and eating with her and the clansmen. There seems, however, to be an increasing tendency towards the more respectable form of marriage, and some of them not only profess to have a law of exogamy to this extent that they will not give their boys to, or take a bride from, a family with which within memory they have been allied by marriage, but they also pretend to allow the levirate under the usual restrictions, and permit widow marriage. When they do marry in the caste continence is compulsory on the wife, and her husband can put her away for infidelity proved to the satisfaction of the tribal council.

Domestic Ceremonies. During pregnancy the mother generally vows that if she gets over her confinement in safety, she will have the head of the child shaved at some shrine. She is attended at delivery by the Chamarin midwife, and after that by the women of her family. All Beriyas do the chhathi or sixth day ceremony after delivery; some do the barahi or twelfth day rite as well, and if the child be a boy, feed the tribesmen. Adoption is common among them; usually a sister's son is adopted. There is no ceremony except the distribution of sweets to the kinsmen, and formal announcement that the adoption has taken place. There is no initiation rite for males; but when a girl reaches puberty, and is prostituted for the first time, the money she earns is spent in drinking and in feeding the other unmarried girls of the tribe, while Satya Narayana is worshipped, and verses in honour of him are recited. In a marriage of a virgin girl of the caste, which is very unusual, they follow the orthodox form; when they get hold of some other woman or of a widow there is no ceremony except feeding the clansmen, and until this is done the husband cannot eat the food cooked by her.

The caste is in the intermediate stage between burial and ceremation. In Farrukhabad they touch the left foot of the corpse with fire and then bury it. In Etawah they ceremate the dead and collect the ashes, which they put into an earthen pot, and then bury this in the ground, raising over it a small earthen platform. When they can afford it they offer at this place some cakes in honour of the dead, which they subsequently consume themselves. They do not employ the Mahabrahman; all the death ceremonies are done by the sister's son or son-in-law of the deceased. They have no regular sraddha; but once a year, on any convenient date, they offer up cakes in the name of their dead ancestors in general, and invite a few of the brethren to a feast.

Religion. Their tribal deities are Devi, Kaliji, and Jwalamukhi. Many of them also worship a deity called Sayyid, which they understand to represent Muhammad, the prophet. Others visit the shrine of Madar Sahib. They seem to depend more on ancestor worship than on any other form of belief. They hardly employ Brahmans at all except for giving omens at marriages, and it is, of course, only the very lowest Brahmans who serve them.

Occupation And Social Status. The Beriya, as we have seen, supports himself to a large extent by prostituting his women. His women loaf about villages and procure information about valuable property of their male relations. He is a pilferer and petty thief, and will steal crops from fields and any uncared-for property which he can find lying about. He makes almost a speciality of stealing the clothes and brass vessels of men who labour in the fields, and a camp of these people is such a pest in a neighbourhood they would meet with short shrift from the villagers if they were not protected by some landowners, who entertain themselves with their women, and by goldsmiths and others, who receive stolen property from them. They have also been known to commit more serious crimes and attack camel carts and wedding parties at night. They usually begin the attack on a travelling party with a shower of stones, and if this fail to compel them to abandon their goods, they assail them with their bludgeons. In Farrukhabad the Gunnar sub-caste carry the regular Kanjar spud (khanti) with which they dig out young jackals and pass them off as wolf cubs for the sake of the government reward. They have a

144 vague tradition that they were once Rajputs, and were forced to take to their present means of living by the Muhammadans after the siege of Chithor. But their appearance and physique certainly indicate that they are a branch of the Indian gypsy race, and closely allied to the Sansiya and his kinsfolk. The women who are prostitutes salute with the word salam; those who are married use Ram ! Ram ! When they take an oath they turn to the river and swear by mother Ganges. They are steady believers in the demoniacal theory of disease. When a person falls sick they call in a wizard (syana ), who smokes a huqqa, and with a few incoherent words waves a broom over the patient, and thus scares the ghost. When a patient is attacked by the Evil-eye, they put some thorns of the Babul (acacia arabica ) in an earthen pot face downwards; then a shoe is waved over it, and they call out "Evil glance! Leave the sick Man!" They eat mutton, goat's flesh, and pork; not beef, fowls, fish, vermin, or the leftovers of other people. But there is reason to believe that when in camps by themselves they are much more orthodox in their diet. No respectable caste will eat from their hands, they will eat both kachchi and pakki from the hands of all but the very lowest menials.

Beshara.: -or Bashara. They are Muslim Mendicants.

Bhaina.: -A primitive tribe peculiar to the Central Provinces1 and found principally in the Bilâspur District and the adjoining area, that is, in the wild tract of forest country between the Satpíra range and the south of the Chota Nâgpur plateau. In 1911 about 17,000 members of the tribe were reported. The tribe is of mixed descent and appears to have been derived principally from the Baigas and Kawars, having probably served as a city of refuge to persons expelled from these and other tribes and the lower castes for irregular sexual relations. Their connection with the Baigas is shown by the fact that in Mandla the Baigas have two subdivisions, which are known as Rai or Râj-Bhaina, and Kath, or catechu-making Bhaina. The name therefore would appear to have originated with the Baiga tribe. A Bhaina is also not infrequently found to be employed in the office of village priest and magician, which goes by the name of Baiga in Bilâspur. And a Bhaina has the same reputation as a Baiga for sorcery, it being said of him- Mainhâr ki mânjh Bhaina ki pâng or ' The magic of a Bhaina is as deadly as the powdered mainhâr fruit,' this fruit having the property of stupefying fish when thrown into the water, so that they can easily be caught. This reputation simply arises from the fact that in his capacity of village priest the Bhaina performs the various magical devices which lay the ghosts of he dead, protect the village against tigers, ensure the prosperity of the crops and son on. But it is always the older residents of any locality who are employed by latter settlers in this office, because they are considered to have a more intimate acquaintance with the local deities. And consequently we are entitled to assume that the Bhainas are older residents than their neighbours, the Gonds and Kawars. There is other evidence to the same effect; for instance, a chief of this tribe is remembered as having ruled in Bilaigarh; they are also to have been dominant in Pendra, where they are still most numerous, though the estate is now held by a Kawar; and it is related that the Bhainas were expelled from Phuljhar in Raipur by the Gonds. Phuljhar is believed to be a Gond State of long standing, and the Râja of Raigarh and others claim to be descended from its ruling family. A manuscript history of the Bhaina king when the Gonds invaded it comes from Chânda. The Bhaina with his soldiers took refuge in a hollow underground chamber with two exits. But the secret of this was betrayed to the Gonds by an old Gond woman, and they filled up the openings of the chamber with grass and burnt the Bhainas to death. On this account the tribe will not enter Phuljhar territory to this day, and

1. See Russell. His article is based principally on a paper by Panna Lâl, Revenue. Inspector, Bilâspur, and also on papers by Mr. Syed Sher Ali, Nâib-Tahsíldâr, Mr. Hira Lâl and Mr. Adurâm Chaudhri of the Gazetteer office.

145 say that it is death to a Bhaina to do so. The Binjhwârs are also said to have been dominant in the hills to the east of Raipur district, and they too are a civilised branch of the Baigas. And in all this area the village priest is commonly known as Baiga, the deduction from which is, as already stated, that the Baigas were the oldest residents.1 It seems a legitimate conclusion, therefore, that prior to the immigration of the Gonds and Kawars, the ancient Baiga tribe was spread over the whole hill country east and north of the Mahânadí basin.

Closely Connected With The Kawars. The Bhainas are also closely connected with the Kawars, who still own many large estates in the hills north of Bilâspur. It is said that formerly the Bhainas and Kawars both ate in common and intermarried, but at present, though the Bhainas still eat rice boiled in water from the Kawars, the latter do not reciprocate. But still, when a Kawar is celebrating a birth, marriage or death in his family, or when he takes in hand to make a tank, he will first give food to a Bhaina before his own caste-men eat. And it may safely be assumed that is a recognition of the Bhaina's position as having once been lord of the land. A Kawar may still be admitted into the Bhaina community, and it is said that the reason of the rupture of the former equal relations between the two tribes was the disgust felt by the Kawars for the rude and uncouth behaviour of the Bhainas. For on one occasion a Kawar went to ask for a Bhaina girl in marriage, and as the men of the family were away, the women undertook to entertain him. And as the Bhainas had no axes, the daughter proceeded to crack the sticks on her head for kindling a fire, and for grass she pulled out a wisp of thatch from the roof and broke it over her thigh, being unable to chop it. This so offended the delicate susceptibilities of the Kawar that he went away without waiting for his meal, and from that time the Kawars ceased to marry with the Bhainas. It seems possible to attribute the story to the period when the primitive Bhainas and Baigas did not know the use of iron and to the introduction of this metal by the later-coming Kawars and Gonds. It is further related that when a Kawar is going to make a ceremonial visit he always likes to take with him two or three Bhainas, who are considered as his retainers, though not being so in fact. This enhances his importance, and it is also said that the stupidity of the Bhainas acts as a foil, through which the superior intelligence of the Kawar is made more apparent. All these details point to the same conclusion that the primitive Bhainas first held the country and were supplanted by the more civilised Kawars, and bears out the theory that the settlement of the Munda tribes was prior to those of the Dravidian family.

Internal Structure: Totemism. The tribe has two subdivisions of a territorial nature, Laria or Chhattísgarhi, and Uriya. The Uriya Bhainas will accept food cooked without water from the Sawaras or Saonrs, and these also from them; so that they have probably intermarried. Two other subdivisions recorded are the Jhalyâra and Ghantyâra; the former being so called because they live in jhâlas or leaf huts in the forest, and the latter, it is said, because they tie a ghanta or bell to their doors. This, however, seems very improbable. Another theory is that the word is derived from ghât, a slope or descent, and refers to a method which the tribe have of tattooing themselves with a pattern of lines known as ghât. Or it is said to mean a low or despised section. the Jhalyâra and Ghatyâra divisions comprise the less civilised portion of the tribe, who still live in the forests; and they are looked down on by the Uriya and Laria sections, who belong to the open country. The exogamous divisions of the tribe show clearly enough that the Bhainas, like other subject races, have quite failed to preserve any purity of blood. Among the names of their gots or septs are Dhobia (a washerman), Ahera (cowherd), Gond, Mallin (gardener), Panika (from a Panka or Ganda) and others. The members of such septs pay respect to any man belonging to the caste after which they are named and avoid picking a quarrel with him. They also worship the family gods of this caste. The tribes also have a number of totem septs, named after animals or plants. Such are Nâg the cobra, Bâgh the tiger, Chitwa the leopard, Gidha the vulture, Besra the hawk, Bendra the monkey, Kok or

1. For the meaning of the term Baiga and its application to the tribe, see also article on Bhuiya.

146 Lodha the wild dog, Bataria the quail, Durgachhia the black ant, and so on. Members of a sept will not injure the animal after which it is named, and if they see the corpse of the animal or hear of its death, they throw away an earthen cooking-pot and bathe and shave themselves as for one of the family. Members of the Baghchhâl or tiger sept will, however, join in a hunt for tiger though they are reluctant to do so. At weddings the Bhainas have a ceremony known as the gotra worship. The bride's father makes an image in clay of the bird or animal of the groom's sept and places it beside the marriage-post. The bride-groom worships the image, lighting a sacrificial fire before it, and offers to it the vermilion which he afterwards smears upon the forehead of the bride. At the bridegroom's house a similar image is made of the bride's totem, and on returning there after the wedding she worships this. Women are often tattooed with representations of their totem animal, and men swear by it as their most sacred oath. A similar respect is paid to the inanimate objects after which certain septs are named. Thus members of the Gawad or cowdung sept will not burn cowdung cakes for fuel; and those of the Mircha sept do not use chillies. One sept is named after the sun, and when an eclipse occurs these perform the same formal rites of mourning as the others do on the death of their totem animal. Some of the groups have two divisions, male and female, which practically rank as separate septs. Instances of these are the Nâgbans Andura and the Nâgbans Mai or male and female cobra septs; the Karsayâl Singhâra and Karsayâl Mundi or stag and doe deer septs; and the Baghchhâl Andura and Baghchhâl Mai or tiger and tigress septs. These may simply be instances of subdivisions arising owning to the boundaries of the sept having become too large for convenience.

Marriage. The tribe consider that a boy should be married when he has learn to drive the plough, and a girl when she is able to manage her household affairs. When a father wants to arrange a marriage, he goes to the girl's village, taking with him ten or fifteen cakes of bread and a bottle of liquor. He stays with some relative and sends someone to ask the girl's father if he will give his daughter to the inquirer's son. If the former agrees, the bread and liquor are sent over to him, and he drinks three cups of the spirit as a pledge of the betrothal, the remainder being distributed to the company. This is known as Tatia kholna or 'the opening of the door,' and is followed some days afterwards by a similar ceremonial which constitutes the regular betrothal. On this occasion the father agrees to marry his daughter within a year and demands the brideprice, which consists of rice, a goat and other articles, the total value being about five rupees. A date is fixed for the wedding, and two knotted strings are given to each party, with a knot for each day up to that on which the anointings with oil and turmeric will commence at the bridegroom's and bride's houses. Every day one knot is untied at each house up to that on which the ceremonies begin, and thus the correct date for them is known. The invitations to the wedding are given by distributing rice coloured yellow with turmeric to all members of the caste in the locality, with the intimation that the wedding procession will start on a certain day and that they will be invited to attend. During the four days that they are being anointed the bride and bridegroom dance at their respective houses to the accompaniment of drums and other instruments. For the wedding ceremony a number of Hindu rites have been adopted. The eldest sister of the bridegroom or bride is known an the sawâsin and her husband as the sawâsa, and these persons seem to act as the representatives of the bridal couple throughout the marriage and to receive all presents on their behalf. The custom is almost universal among the Hindus, and it is possible that they are intended to act as substitutes and to receive any strokes of evil fortune which may befall the bridal pair at a season at which they are peculiarly liable to it. The couple go round the sacred post, and afterwards the bridegroom daubs the bride's forehead with red lead, she has become a married woman. After the wedding the bridegroom's parents say to him, "Now your parents have done everything they could for you, and you must manage your own house." The expenditure on an average wedding is about fifteen or twenty rupees. A widow is usually taken in marriage by her late husband's younger brother or Dewar, or by one of his relatives. If she marries an outsider, the Dewar receives twelve rupees from him in compensation for her loss. But if there is no Dewar this sum is not payable to her first

147 husband's elder brother or her own father, because they could not have married her and hence are not held to be injured by a stranger doing so. If a woman is divorced and another man wishes to marry her, he must make a similar payment of twelve rupees to the first husband, together with a goat and liquor for the penal feast. The Bhainas bury or burn the dead as their means permit.

Religious Superstitions. Their principal deity in Bilâspur is Nakti Devi 1 or the 'Noseless Goddess.' For her ritual rice is placed on a square of the floor washed with cowdung, and ghí, or preserved butter is poured on it and burnt. A hen is made to eat the rice, and then its head is cut off and laid on the square. The liver is burnt on the fire as an offering to the deity and the head and body of the animal are then eaten. After the death of a man a cock is offered to Nakti Devi and a hen after that of a woman. The fowl is made to pick rice first in the yard of the house, then on the threshold, and lastly inside the house. Thâkur Deo is the deity of cultivation and is worshipped on the day before the autumn crops are sown. On this day all the men in the village go to his shrine, taking a measure of rice and a ploughshare. At the same time the Baiga or village priest goes and bathes in the tank and is afterwards carried to the assembly on a man's shoulders. Here he makes an offering and repeats a charm, and with them kneeling down strikes the earth seven times with the ploughshare, and sows five handfuls of rice, sprinkling water over the seed. After him the villagers walk seven times round the altar of the god in pairs, one man sowing and watering the seed. While this is going on the Baiga sits with his face covered with a piece of cloth, and at the end the villagers salute the Baiga and go home. When a man wishes to do an injury to another he makes an image of him with clay and daubs it with vermilion and worships it with an offering of a goat or a fowl and liquor. Then he prays to the image that his enemy may die. Another way of injuring an enemy is to take rice coloured with turmeric, and after muttering charms throw it in the direction in which the enemy lives.

Admission Of Outsiders And Caste Offences. Outsiders are not usually admitted, but if a Bhaina forms a connection with a woman of another tribe, they will admit the children of such a union, though not the woman herself. For they say: 'The seed is ours and what matters the field on which it was sown.' But a man of the Kawar tribe having intimacy with a Bhaina woman may be taken into the community. He must wait for three or four months after the matter becomes known and will beg for admission and offer to give the penalty feast. A day is fixed for this and invitations are sent to members of the caste. On the appointed day the women of the tribe cook rice, pulse, goat's flesh and cakes fried in oil, and in the evening the people assemble and drink liquor and then go to take their food. The candidate for admission serves water to the men and his prospective wife to the women, both being then permitted to take food with the tribe. Next morning the people come again and the woman is dressed in a white cloth with bangles. The couple stand together supported by their brother-in-law and sister-in-law respectively, and turmeric dissolved in water is poured over their heads. they are now considered to be married and go round together and give the salutation or Johâr to the people, touching the feet of those who are entitled to this mark of respect, and kissing the others.

Among the offences for which a man is temporarily put out of caste is getting the ear torn either accidentally or otherwise, being beaten by a man of very low caste, growing san-hemp (Crotalaria juncea ), rearing tasar silk-worms or getting maggots in a wound. This last is almost as serious an offence as killing a cow, and, in both cases, before an offender can be reinstated he must kill a fowl and swallow a drop or two of its blood with turmeric. Women commonly get the lobe of the ear torn through the heavy ear-rings which they wear; and in a

1. It is or was, of course, a common practice for a husband to cut off his wife's nose if he suspected her of being unfaithful to him. But whether the application of the epithet to the goddess should be taken to imply anything against her moral character is not known.

148 squabble another woman will often seize the ear-ring maliciously in order to tear the ear. A woman injured in this way is put out of caste for a year in jânjgir. To grow turmeric or garlic is also an offence against caste, but a man is permitted to do this for his own use and not for sale. A man who gets leprosy is said to be permanently expelled from caste. The purification of delinquents is conducted by members of the Sonwâni (gold-water) and Patel (headman) septs, whose business it is to give the offender water to drink in which gold has been dipped and to take over the burden of his sins by first eating food with him. But others say that the Hâthi or elephant sept is the highest, and to its members are delegated these duties. And in Jânjgir again the president of the committee gives the gold-water, and is hence known as Sonwân; and this office must always be held by a man of the Sonwân; and this office must always be held by a man of the Bandar or monkey sept.

Social Customs. The Bhainas are a comparatively civilised tribe and have largely adopted Hindu usages. They employ Brâhmans to fix auspicious days for their ceremonies, though not to officiate at them. They live principally in the open country and are engaged in agriculture, though very few of them hold land and the bulk are farm-labourers. They now disclaim any connection with the primitive Baigas, who still prefer the forests. But documents in place of a signature or use for a brand on cattle, is a bow, and this shows that they retain the recollection of hunting as their traditional occupation. Like the Baigas, the tribe has forgotten their native dialect and now speak bad Hindi. They will eat pork and rats, and almost anything else they can get, eschewing only beef. But in their intercourse with other castes they are absurdly strict, and will take boiled rice only from a Kawar, or from a Brâhman if it is cooked in a brass and not in an earthen vessel, and this only from a male and not from a female Brâhman; while they will accept baked chapâtis and other food from a Gond and a Gond and a Râwat. But in Sambalpur they will take this from a Savar and not from a Gond. They rank below Gonds, Kawars and Savars or Saonrs. Women are tattooed with a representation of their sept totem; and on the knees and ankles they have some figures of lines which are known as ghâts. These they say will enable then to climb the mountains leading to heaven in the other world, while those who have not such marks will be pierced with spears on their way up the ascent. It has already been suggested that these marks may have given rise to the name of the Ghatyâra division of the tribe.

Bhâmta.: -or Bhâmtya.1 _ A cast numbering 4000 persons in the Central Provinces, nearly all of whom reside in the Wardha, Nâgpur and Chânda Districts of the Nâgpur Division. The Bhâmtas are also found in Bombay, Berâr and Hyderâbad. In Bombay they are known by names of Uchla or 'Lifter' and Ganthachor of 'Bundle-thief.'2 The Bhâmtas were and still are notorious thieves, but many of the caste are now engaged in the cultivation of hemp, from which they make rope, mats and gunny-bags. Formerly it was said in Wardha that a Bhâmta girl would not marry unless her suitor had been arrested not less than fourteen times by the police, when she considered that he had qualified as a man. The following description of their methods does not necessarily apply to the whole caste, though the bulk of them are believed to have criminal tendencies. But some colonies of Bhâmtas who have taken to the manufacture of sacking and gunny-bags from hemp-fibre may perhaps be excepted. They steal only during the daytime, and divide that part of the Province which they frequent into regular beats or rages. They adopt many disguises. Even in their own cottages one dresses as a Mârwâri Bania, another as a Gujarât Jain, a third as a Brâhman and a fourth as a Râjpít. They keep to some particular disguise for years and often travel hundreds of miles entering and stealing from the houses of the classes of persons whose dress they adopt, or taking service with a merchant or trader, and having gained their employer's confidence,

1. See Russel. 2. Bombay Gazettcer (Campbell), from a paper by Pyâre Lâl Misra, xviii. p. 464. Ethnographic Clerk.

149 seize an opportunity to abscond with some valuable property. Sometimes two three Bhâmtas visit a large fair, and one of them dressed as a Brâhman mingles with the crowd of bathers and worshippers. The false Brâhman notices some ornament deposited by a bather, and while himself entering the water and repeating sacred verses, watches his opportunity and spreads out his cloth near the ornament, which he then catches with his toes, and dragging it with him to a distance as he walks away buries it in the sand. The accomplices meanwhile loiter near and when the owner discovers his loss the Brâhman sympathises with him and points out the accomplices as likely thieves, thus diverting suspicion from himself. The victim follows the accomplices, who make off, and the real thief meanwhile digs the ornament our of the sand and escapes at his leisure. Women often tie their ornaments in bundles at such bathing-fairs, and in that case two Bhâmtas will go up to her, one on each side, and while one distracts her attention the other makes off with the bundle and buries it in the sand. A Bhâmta rarely retains the stolen property on his person while there is a chance of his being searched, and is therefore not detected. They show considerable loyalty to one another, and never steal from or give information against a member of the caste. If stolen property is found in a Bhâmtas house, and it has merely been deposited there for security, the real thief comes forward. An escaped prisoner does not come back to his friends lest he should get them into trouble. A Bhâmta is never guilty of house-breaking or gang-robbery, and if he take part in this offence he is put out of caste. He does not steal from the body of a person asleep. He is, however, expert at the theft of ornaments from the person. He never steals from a house in his own village, and the villagers frequently share directly or indirectly in his gains. The Bhâmtas are now expert railway thieves.1 Two of them will get into a carriage, and, engaging the other passengers in conversation, find out where they are going, so as to know the time available for action. When it gets dark and the travellers go to sleep, one of the Bhâmtas lies down on the floor and covers himself with a large cloth. He begins feeling some bag under the seat, and if he cannot open it with his hands, takes from his mouth the small curved knife which all Bhâmtas carry concealed between their gum and upper lip, and with this he rips up the seams of the bag and takes out what he finds; or they exchange bags, according to a favourite device of English railway thieves, and then quickly either leave the train or get into another carriage. If attention is aroused they throw the stolen property out of the window, marking the place and afterwards go back to recover it. Another device is to split open the pockets of people in a crowd. Besides the knife they often have a needle and thread and an iron nut-cutter.

Members of other castes, as Chhatri, Kanjar, Râwat and others, who have taken to stealing, are frequently known as Bhâmtas, but unless they have been specially initiated do not belong to the caste. The Bhâmtas proper have two main divisions, the Chhatri Bhâmtas, who are usually immigrants from Gujarât, and those of the Marâtha country, who are often known as Bhâmtis. The former have a dialect which is a mixture of Hindi, Jarâhi and Gujarâti, while the latter speak the local form of Marâthi. The sections of the Chhatri Bhâmtas are named after Râjpír septs, as Badgíjar, Chauhân, Gahlot, Bhatti, Kachhwâha and others. They may be partly of Râjpír descent, as they have regular and pleasing features and a fair complexion, and are well built and sturdy. The sections of the Bhâmtis are called by Marâtha surnames, as Gudekar, Kaothi, Bailkhade, Sâtbhaia and others. The Chhatri Bhâmtas have northern customs, and the Bhâmtis those of the Marâtha country. Marriage between persons of the same gotra or surname is prohibited. The Chhatris avoid marriage between relations having a common great-grandparent, but among the Bhâmtis the custom of Mehunchâr is prevalent, by which the brother's daughter is married to the sister's son. Girls are usually married at ten and eleven years of age or later. The betrothal and marriage customs of the two subcastes differ, the Chhatris following the ceremonial of the northern Districts and the Bhâmtis that of the Marâtha country. The Chhatris do not pay a bride-price, but the Bhâmtis usually do. Widow-marriage is allowed, and while the Chhatris expect the widow to marry her deceased husband's brother, the Bhâmtis do not permit this. Among both subdivisions a price is paid

1. The following particulars are taken from Colonel portman's Report on the Bhâmtas of the Deccan (Bombay, 1887).

150 for the widow to her parents. Divorce is only permitted for immoral conduct on the part of the wife. A divorced woman may remarry after giving a feast to the caste panchâyat or committee and obtaining their consent.

The goddess Devi is the tutelary deity of the caste, as of all those who ply a disreputable profession. Animals are sacrificed to her or let loose to wander in her name. The offerings are appropriated by the village washerman. In Bombay the rendezvous of the Bhâmtis is the temple of Devi at Konali, in Akalkot State, near Sholapur, and here the gangs frequently assemble before and after their raids to ask the goddess that luck may attend them and to thank her for success obtained,1 They worship their rope-making implements on the Dasahra day. They both bury and burn the dead. Ghosts and spirits are worshipped. If a man takes a second wife after the death of his first, the new wife wears a putli or image of the first wife on a piece of silver on her neck, and offers it the hom sacrifice by placing some ghi on the fire before taking a meal. In cases of doubt and difficulty she often consults the putli by speaking to it, while any chance stir of the image due to the movement of her body is interpreted as approval or disapproval. In the Central Provinces the Bhâmtis say that they do not admit outsiders into the caste, but this is almost certainly untrue. In Bombay they are said to admit all Hindus2 except the very lowest castes, and also Muhammadans. The candidate must pass through the two ceremonies of admission into the caste and adoption into a particular family. For the first he pays an admission fee, is bathed and dressed in new clothes, and one of the elders drops turmeric and sugar into his mouth. A feast follows, during which some elders of the caste eat out of the same plate with him. This completes the admission ceremony, but in order to marry in the caste a candidate must also be adopted into a particular family. The Bhâmta who has agreed to adopt him invites the caste people to his house, and there takes the candidate on his knee while the guests drop turmeric and sugar into his mouth. The Bhâmtas eat fish and fowl but not pork or beef, and drink liquor. This last practice is frequently made a caste offence by the Bhâmtis. They take cooked food from Brâhmans and Kunbis and water from Gonds. The keeping of concubines is also an offence entailing temporary excommunication. The morality of the caste is somewhat low and their women are addicted to prostitution. The occupation of the Bhâmta is also looked down on, and it is said, Bhâmta ka kâm sub se nikâm, or 'The Bhâmta's work is the worst of all.' This may apply either to his habits of stealing or to the fact that he supplies a bier made of twine and bamboo sticks at a death. In Bombay the showy dress of the Bhâmta is proverbial. Women are tattooed before marriage on the forehead and lower lip, and on other parts of the body for purposes of adornment. The men have the head shaved for three inches above the top of the forehead in front and an inch higher, behind, and they wear the scalp lock much thicker than Brâhmans do. They usually have head-cloths.

Bhâm†í.: -The Bhâm†âs3 are a criminal class who are especially active as railway thieves. It seems probable that their original home was the Telugu-speaking country. At the present day, however, settlements are to be found in several of the districts and native states in and bordering on the Bombay Presidency. At the Census of 1911, 4,270 Bhâm†âs were recorded from the Central Provinces and Berar and none from elsewhere. They do not lead a gipsy life but settle in some village from which their gangs start on their thieving expeditions. They are known under several different names such as Ga∑†hachórs , Uchliâs , Vaπarís , and so forth. The home tongue of most of them is Vaªdarí, a debased form of Telugu. They also speak Marâ†hí, Hindóstâní , and Kanarese. In speaking Kanarese they drop their h's. The home language of some of the Ga∑†hachórs of the Bijapur District is Kanarese. Those of Nagpur in the Central Provinces speak a broken mixture of Dakhiní

1. Portman, loc. cit 2. Bombay Gazetteer (Campbell),' xviii. p. 465. 3 G.A. Grierson, Linguistic Survey Of India.

151 Hindóstâní and Jaipur Râjasthâní. Only fourteen speakers of this Bhâm†í were reported from the Central Provinces.

Bhând.: -Bhânr. 1-(Sanskrit, Bhanda , a jester.) -The class of story-tellers, buffoons, and jesters. They are sometimes known by the Muhammadan title of Naqqâl, or actor. The Bhând is sometimes employed in the courts of Râjas and native gentlemen of rank, where, at entertainments, he amuses the company with his buffoonery and imitations of European and Native manners, much of which is of a very coarse nature. The Bhând is quite separate from and of a lower professional rank than the Bahrípiya. They appear now to be practically all Muhammadans, but retain numerous Hindu usages. There are two recognised endogamous sub-castes-the Chenr, which seems to mean little (Hindu, chenra ), and the Kashmíri. The former trace their origin to the time of Taimírlang, who, on the death of his son, gave himself over to mourning for twelve years. Then one Sayyid Hasan, a courtier of the Emperor, composed a humorous poem in Arabic which gained him the title of Bhânr. Sayyid Hasan is regarded as the founder of the caste. Though he was a Sayyid, the present Bhânrs are either Shaikhs or Mughals; and the difference of faith, Sunni and Shiah, is a bar to intermarriage. The Kashmíri Bhânrs are said to be of quite recent origin, having been invited to Kashmír by Nasír-un-din Haidar, King of Oudh. The Chenr Bhânrs fix their headquarters at Karra in Allahâbâd, and Lucknow. In Farrukhâbad they profess to have twelve-and-a-half sub- divisions, all of which, except the half sub-division, intermarry. Many of these are derived from the names of castes from which they are, or pretend to be, sprung: thus Kaithela (Kâyasth); Bamhaniya (Brâhman); Kamarhas; Ujharha; Banthela; Gujarha (Gíjar); Nonela (Luniya); Karraha (from Karra); Pitarhanda. The Census returns give the sub-caste of the Hindu Bhânrs as Baraha, Nakhatiya, and Shâhpure, and of the Muhammadan branch as Bakarha, Bhandela, Burkiya, Desi, Gâorâni, Hasanpuri, Kathiya, Jaroha, Jaroyân, Kaithla, Kâyasth, Kâniwâla, Kashmíri, Kathiya, Katila, Qawwâl, Kha, Kharya, , Kheti, Monkhra, Musalmâni, Naqqâl, Naumuslim, Pathân, , Purablya, Râwat, Sadíqi, Shaikh, and Târâkiya.

Girls are married at the age of twelve or fourteen, and unlimited polygamy is allowed. Widows re-marry generally in the family of their late husband, and if a match then is impossible, they marry an outsider, and the levirate in the usual form prevails. A wife can be put away for infidelity, and cannot then marry again in the caste. The marriage ceremonies are conducted in the standard Musalmân form. Bhânrs are generally Sunnis, except in Lucknow, where they are mostly Shiahs, and respect the Pânchonpír (of whom the most regarded is Ghâzi Miyân) and Sayyid Hasan. To the Pânchonpír are offered cakes (malída ), sharbat, garlands of flowers, and perfumes. Sayyid Hasan receives cakes, sweetmeats, flowers, and perfumes, at any time during the year. Food is offered to the sainted dead at the Shab-i-barât festival. The chief offering consists of the halwa sweetmeats, and cakes. The Chenr Bhânrs play on the small drum (dholak ), and Kashmíris on the drum (labla ) and fiddle (sârangi ). A popular proverb describes the Bhânr to be as essential at an entertainment as a tiger in a forest, -Mahfil vírân jahân Bhânr na bâshad; Jangal vírân jahân sher na bâshad. They are notoriously exacting and abusive if offended. A proverb runs,- Rânr, Bhânr, Sânr, bigré, buré,- "The rage of a widow, a Bhânr, and a bull is terrible." Another classes them with the monkey, "jaisé Lakkho bandariya vaisé Manva Bhânr: "Lakkho, the monkey, is like Manva, the actor"-"six of one and half a dozen of the other." Dr. Buchanan quaintly describes them as "impudent fellows who make wry faces, squeak like pigs, bark like dogs, and perform many other ludicrous feats. They also dance and sign, mimicking and turning into ridicule the dancing boys and girls, on whom they likewise pass many jokes, and are employed on great occasions. " 2

1. See Croke, chiefly based on enquiries at Mirzapur and short notes from Munshi Bhagwati Dayâl Sinh, Tahsildâr, Chhibraman, Farrukhâbâd, and Bâbu Chhote Lâl. Archaeological Survey, Lucknow. 2. Eastern India, II., 248.

152 .: -See also they are known by this name in Kashmir.

Bhântu.: -Bhâtu. -A criminal tribe found chiefly in Rohil-khand and Oudh1. They are merely one branch of the Sânsiya tribe, known elsewhere as Beriya, or Kanjar. The derivation of the word is uncertain. Some connect it with Bhât, as some Sânsiyas act as bards or genealogists to some Râjputs and Jâts: others say it comes from bhânti (Sanskrit, bhinna, "broken"),with reference to the miscellaneous elements of which they are composed. There is a tribe of the same name in Central India who are also known as Dumar or Kolhâti, who are wandering athletes and worship Nârâyan and the bamboo, with which all their feats are accomplished. When they bury their dead they place rice and oil at the head of the grave, and draw the happiest omens for the estate of the departed from crows visiting the spot.2 The Bhântus of these Provinces follow exactly the customs of the kindred tribes of Beriya, Hâbíra and Sânsiya.

Bhar.: -A caste of apparently Dravidian origin found in the eastern parts of the United Provinces. 3 They are also known as Râjbhar, Bharat, and Bharpatwa. The word Bhar is derived by the Pandits from the Sanskrit root bhri, to nourish, but this is improbable, and it is more likely to be of non-Aryan origin. Dr. Oppert4 indulges in some curious speculations on the subject. He suggests their connection with the Barrhai of Ptolemy (VII-2-20), and with the Bharatas, a mountain tribe mentioned in connection with the Sabaras and with the Barbara, Varvara, or Barbarian. The derivation of large numbers of local names in Upper India from the same source, such as Bihâr, Bahrâich, Bârabanki, Bareilly, Barhaj, Barhar and even or Benares, etc., must be accepted with the greatest caution.

Traditions. This tribe has given rise to much wild speculation. In Gorakhpur they claim to be the descendants of, and named from, an early Kshatriya Râja named Bhâradwâja, whose sons strayed from the ancient way of life and took to the use of meat and wine. Their descendant Surha settled in the village of Surauli, and wishing to marry a high caste Râjput girl, was murdered by her relations, and became an evil spirit, who does much damage still if he is not duly propitiated. That they claim to have been once a dominant race in the castern part of Oudh and the North-Western Provinces is certain. Thus Sir C. Elliott writes: "The scene before us in Oudh at the fall of the historic curtain is an uninhabited forest country and a large colony of Sírajbansis occupying Ajudhya as their capital. When the curtain rises again we find Ajudhya destroyed, the Sírajbansis utterly banished, and a large extent of country ruled over by aborigines, called Cheros in the Far East, Bhars in the Centre, and Râjpâsis in the West. This great revolution seems to be satisfactorily explained by the conjecture that the Bhars, Cheros, etc., were the aborigines whom the Aryans had driven to the hills, and who, swarming down from thence not long after the beginning of our era, overwhelmed the Aryan civilisation even in Ajudhya itself, drove the Sírajbansis under Kanaksen to emigrate into distant Gujarât, and spread over all the plain between the Himalayas and that spur of the

1 See Crooke. 2. Balfour; Journal Asictic society of Bengal, N. S. XIII.; Gunthorpe, Notes on Criminal Tribes, 46, sqq ; Rowney, wild Tribes, 21. 3. See Crooke, based on information collected at Mirzapur and not s received through Mr.H.E.'. P.Ddupernex, C.S., Azamgarh, and from Munshi Chhedi lâl. Deputy Inspector of Schools, Gorakhpur. 4. Original Inhabitants of Bharatavarsa, 37, sqq.

153 Vindhya range which passes through the south of Mirzapur."1 Again we read that the primitive inhabitants of Sultânpur are said to have been Bhars. "Their character is painted in the most sombre colours. They are represented to have been dark-complexioned, ill- favoured, and of mean stature, intemperate in their habits, and not only devoid of any religious belief themselves, but addicted to the persecution of those who ventured to profess any. They are said to have possessed a few scattered and detached fortresses to serve as rallying points; but to have been otherwise of nomadic and predatory habits, while their numbers are said to have barely sufficed to furnish a scanty population to the tract they occupied."2 In support of these pretensions to have been a ruling race in the eastern part of the Province, numerous old stone forts, embankments, wells, and subterraneous caverns are attributed to them. Thus the Chiraiyakot fort, in Ghâzipur, is said to have been their work.3 The same is the case with numerous ruing in the Basti and Ghâzipur Districts.4 The present town of Bahrâich is said to take its name from them and to have been their oldest abode, from which they spread southward into Faizâbâd and Sultânpur. Similarly they are said to have left their name in the Bhadohi and Barhar parganas of Mirzapur.5 Two other fortresses of the Bhars are said to have been Zahurâbâd and Lakhnesar, in Ghâzipur.6 In Gorakhpur they are said to have been ousted by the Kausik Râjputs. Mr. Sherring considers their capital in Mirazapur to have been Pampapura; Bindhâchal, where extensive ruins and a curious series of bearded stone figures are attributed to them.7 In fact, throughout Oudh and the eastern part of the North-West Provinces every town the name of which does not end in pur, âbâd, or man is assigned to them.8

Historical Evidence. An attempt has been made to support these traditions by historical evidence. On the evidence of two inscriptions from Ajaygarh and Kalinjar, in Bandelkhand, and a passage from Farishta, Mr. W. C. Benett9 argues "that a man whose name is not given, but who is described as the founder of his family, possessed himself of the fort of Ajaygarh. One of his descendants was Malika, whose brother, Dalki, on the overthrow of the last Kanauj King, conquered the whole of the Duâb; and Farishta records the utter defeat and destruction of Dalki and Malki, who had royal forts at Kalinjar and Karra and held the whole country as far as Mâlwa in their possession, by Nasir-ud-din Muhammad, the King of Delhi, in 1246 A.D. The universal tradition of Southern Oudh proves that these princes were really Bhars, and that the whole of the south of the province as far as the Ghâgra was included in their dominions." This theory, however, has failed to stand further investigation, and the Princes Dalki and Malki are identified by General Cunningham with the Bagher Râjas Dalakeswar and Malakeswar.10 It is probable that out of the same legend has arisen the worship of Râja Bal, who is specially venerated by Bhars and Ahírs. His worship is connected with protection from snake-bite. He is said to have been one of two Bhar brothers who ruled at Dalmau and Râé Bareli, and were slain by the Muhammadans in the time of Ibrahim Sharqi of Jaunpur. In their memory, it is said that the Bharautiya section of Ahirs in time of mourning abstain from wearing anklets. Bal Râja is chiefly worshipped in Râé Bareli, Basti, and Eastern Oudh. He has 76,395 followers. The evidence, then, for an extensive bhar kingdom in the eastern

1. Chronicles of Unao, 27. 2. Settlement Report, 87, sq. 3. Cunningham, Archaeological Survey, XXII., 107. 4. Buehanan, Eastern India, II., 370; Oldham, Memoir, I., 15-26. 5. Elliott, Chronicles of Unqo, 26. 6. Oldham, Memoir, I., 46. 7. Hindu Tribes and Castes, I., 350, sqq. 8. Chronicles of Unao, 26; Lucknow Settlement Report, 62, 116. For other Instances see sherring, loc. I., 357, sqq. 9. Oudh Gazetteer, Introduction, XXXV., sq.; India Antiquary, I., 265, sq.; Clans of Rae Bareli, 2. 10. Archaeological Survey, XXI., 105; Census Report, North-West Provinces, 1891, p.220.

154 part of the Province rests almost entirely on the so-called Bhar dihs or ancient mounds and forts which abound all over the country, and on the so-called Bhar tanks, which are distinguished from those of a later date by being Surajbedi or longer from east to west, while modern tanks are Chandrabedi or lie north and south. Who may have been the builders of these monuments, our existing knowledge hardly entitles us to say with certainty. But that the identification of these monuments with the Bhars is not in every case to be trusted is proved by the fact that two buildings at Bihâr, in Partâbgarh, which are confidently ascribed to the Bhars by a writer in the Oudh Gazetteer,1 are proved by General Cunningham to be genuine Buddhist stupas.2 Similarly, the identification of the Bhars with the early rulers of the country presents many features of difficulty. Their identification with the Ubarae of Pliny and the Barrhai of Ptolemy3 is little more than conjectural. As Sir H .M. Elliot pointed4: "It is strange that no trace of Bhars is to be found in the Purânas, unless we may consider that there is an obscure indication of them in the Braham Purana, where, it is said, that among the descendants of Jayadhwaja are the Bhâratas, who, it is added, are not commonly specified on account of their great number, or they may perhaps be the Bhargas of the Mahâbhârata subdued by Bhimsen on his Eastern expedition." To this it has been replied by Mr. Sherring5 that, first, Brâhmanical writers generally speak of the Dasyus and Asuras with superciliousness and contempt, and, secondly, the abandonment of a considerable tract of country by the Aryans was dishonourable and not likely to be mentioned. It is, perhaps, possible that the Bhars, like the Doms, may have established a fairly advanced civilisation prior to their downfall. But, as Dr. Tylor remarks: "Degeneration probably operates even more actively in the lower than the higher culture,"6 and we must be cautious in identifying the race of fort and tank builders with the existing Bhars mainly on the uncertain evidence of popular tradition. Whoever these people were, they probably succumbed before the eastern emigration of the Râjput tribes contemporaneous with the fall of Kanauj and the invasion of Shâhabuddín Ghori. In Azamgarh and Ghâzipur they were driven out by the Sengar tribe, who reckon fifteen generations since their immigration; in Mirzapur and the adjoining part of Allahâbâd by the Gaharwâr; in Bhadohi, north of the Ganges, by the Monas, and further west, in Allahâbâd, by the Bais, Sonak, Tissyâl, Bisen, Nanwak and; in Faizâbâd and Eastern Oudh by the Bais; and in Gorakhpur by the Kausik. "The overthrow of the Bhars was followed by the establishment, much as we find them now, of the principal clements of modern Oudh society. The country was divided into a number of small chieftainships, ruled over by clans who, whatever their real origin may have been, all professed themselves to be of the ruling caste of Chhatris. Many of these, such as the Kânhpuriyas of Partâbgarh, the Gaurs of Hardoi, and their offshoot the Amethiyas of Râe Bareli are probably descendants of men or tribes who flourished under the low caste government."7 How far this process may have gone on is one of the problems connected with the Râjput Ethnology of the castern part of the Province. Mr. Carnegy was of the opinion that the more respectable and influential Râjput clansmen may have fled before the then dominant rulers of the serpent race or of the followers of Buddha; but the mass of the Chhatris remained and were in fact none other than the Bhars, Cheros, and the like, and that the final overthrow of these degraded races after the fall of Delhi was neither more nor less than the restoration of Râjput influence in those parts where it had been dormant, and the social reclamation of the Bhars.8 He again believes them to have been Jains, and Mr. Millett thinks them to be probably of Seythic origin, and that the

1. I., 306. 2. Archaeological Survey, XI., 67. 3. Mr. J.W.McCrindle, Indian Antiquary, Vi., 339; XIII., 380. 4. Supplemental Glossary, s.v. 5. Journal Royal Asiatic Society, N. S., V., 376. On the Bharatas, see Oppert, Original Inhabitavrsha, 578. sqq. 6. Prumitive Culture, I., 46. 7. Oudh Gazetteer, Introduction, XXXV. 8. Notes,19.

155 termination of their influence coincided with the first Aryan invasion.1 The most probable supposition is that the Bhars were a Dravidian race closely allied to the Kols, Cheros, and Scoris, who at an early date succumbed to the invading Aryans. This is borne out by their appearance and physique, which closely resemble that of the undoubtedly non-Aryan aborigines of the Vindhyan Kaimír plateau.

Internal Structure. The last Census classes the Bhars under the main sub-castes of Bhâradwâj, Kanaujiya, and Râjbhar. We find among the locally more important sub-castes the Hela of Benares, the Goriya of Jaunpur; in Ghâzipur, the Baltent, Dhelphor, Dhongiya, Kharwâra, Khutant,, Kinwâr, Kuntel, Maunas, Pataun, Sarpos; in Ballia, the Dhelphor and Kulwant; in Faizâbâd, the Bhagta, Gangoha, and Râédâs, and in Bahrâich, the Patolbans. The Bhars of Mirzapur name three endogamous sub-divisions: Bhar, Bhuínhâr, and Dusâdha. The local Pâsis represent the Bhars as merely a sub-caste of their tribe; but this is denied by the Bhars themselves. The Bhar Bhuínhâr assert that they are the remnant of the ruling race among the Bhars. In support of this they wear the sacred thread, and have begun generally to call themselves Sírajbansi Râjputs. The other Bhars, they say, are the descendants of a single pregnant woman who escaped the general massacre of the the Turks or Muhammadans. The Dusâdha Bhars are not acknowledged by the Dusâdhs themselves, but the Bhars claim them as a regular sub-caste.

Exogamy. Bhars have the usual rule of exogamy, that is they will not intermarry in their own family or in that of their maternal uncle and father's sister until four or five generations have elapsed. They prefer to marry in those families with whom they have been accustomed for generations to eat and smoke. In Gorakhpur the usual sevenfold division is made up of the Bhar, Râjbhar, Godiya, Chain, Patiwân, and Tiyar, in which we have several different, but possibly originally cognate tribes mixed up. In Azamgarh2 they name several Sub-castes: Bhar, Râjbhar, Biyâr, Patiwân, Bind, and Jonkaha or "leech-finders." Of these the Bind and Biyâr are practically independent castes, and have here been accordingly treated separately. In Azamgarh the Bhars are reckoned outcasts, but the Râjbhar are counted among Hindus. There the special title of the Râjbhars is Patait, and of the common Bhars Khuntait. The latter rear pigs, which the former do not. These divisions intermarry, but the families who do not keep pigs will not marry with those who do. Intercourse between the sexes is regulated by no strict rule. If an unmarried girl has an affair with a clansman they are married after a fine is exacted from the girl's father by the tribal council. A man may take a second wife in the lifetime of the first, with her consent, which is generally given, as it relieves her of household work.3 In Azamgarh the tendency seems to be towards monogamy, and a second marriage is allowed only when the first wife is barren, insane, or hopelessly diseased. When a second wife is taken she is usually a younger sister or close relation of the first. Concubinage is not permitted. They have a strong representative council (panchâyat), which is presided over by a chairman (chaudhari),, whose office is hereditary. The council deals with offences in connection with marriage and caste usages. Illegitimate children by women of other castes follow the caste of the father, but are not are not allowed to eat, smoke, or intermarry with legitimate Bhars. Widow marriage is permitted. Widows generally marry widowers. The levirate is permitted but not enforced.

Rules Of Marriage. In the marriage of a widow by sagâi the bridegroom, accompanied by his friends, goes to the house of the widow, where he pays a nominal sum as the bride-price. They are all entertained on pork, boiled rice, and pulse. The bride is dressed in ornaments and clothes

1. Journal Asiatic Society of Benga, 1877. 2. Settlement Reoirt, 33. 3. See instances of this in Westermarck, History of Human Marriage, 496.

156 provided by her suitor. Next morning he brings her home and announces the union by feeding his clansmen. If he be not a widower he has to perform a special ceremony. The bride and bridegroom sit opposite each other, and a silver ring is placed between them. The Pandit repeats some verses, during the recital of which the bridegroom marks the ring five times with red lead. He then puts on the ring, and never takes it off during his life. Girls are usually married at the age of five of seven. In Azamgarh marriages are reported to take place usually when the girl is nine years of age. A girl above ten is known as rajaswâli , and it is a disgrace not to have married. The bride-price payable by the friends of the bridegroom is two-and-a-half rupees and a sheet for the bride. In Azamgarh no bride-price is paid, and if the bridegroom's family is poor his friends contribute something to the marriage expenses, which is known as tilak. Any serious physical defect appearing in either party after marriage is recognised as a valid ground for divorce. A wife cannot be divorced excerpt for adultery with a stranger to the caste. The divorce must be with the leave of the tribal council, who will accept no evidence short of that of actual eye-witnesses. Marriage negotiations are carried on by the maternal uncle of the boy. When the match is settled the bride's father goes to the boy's house and gives him a rupee. Then on a fixed day he returns with some of his clansmen "to drink water" (pâni píni kâ din). A square (Chauk) is formed in the court-yard, in which the boy and his future father-in-law sit opposite each other. The bride's father marks the boy's forehead with rice and curds, and he and his party are entertained on rice, pork, goat's flesh, and wine. On this day, with the approval of the Pandit, the wedding day is fixed. The ritual is of the usual type. It begins with the matmangar, or collection of earth, as practised by allied castes. then the pavilion (mânro) is set up at both houses, in which a plough-share and plantain stems are fixed, near which the family rice-pounder and corn-mill are placed. That day the Pandit makes the boy wear an amulet to keep off evil spirits. This contains some mango leaves, an iron ring, and some mustard seed. Next follows the anointing (ubtnni), and the sacrifice of a young pig to Agwân Deva, the Pânchonpír, and Phílimati Devi. At the last Census 25,069 people recorded themselves as worshippers of Agwân Deva. According to Mr. Baillie the word means "a leader and may be the priest (Pujâri) in any temple. One District note states that Agwân is a disease godling, the son of Râja Ben, and, therefore, brother to the seven small-pox sisters." With many of the lower castes to the east of the province he seems to be connected with the worship of fire (agni) in the form of the homa. The higher class Bhars sacrifice a goat instead of a pig to the Pânchonpír. As the procession starts the usual incantation ceremony (parachhan) is done by the boy's mother. The rest of the ritual is of the usual type. At the bride's door the Pandit worships Gauri and Ganesa, and the pair, with their clothes knotted together, moves five times round the centre pole of the shed. Next follows the ceremony in the retiring room (kohabar), where jokes are played on the boy by the bride's father's sister who will not desist until she gets a present. The rest of the ceremonial is of the customary type.

Birth Ceremony. During pregnancy the oldest woman in the family waves a pice or a handful of grain over the woman's head, and vows to offer a pig to Birtiha (who is regarded as a village deity, dih), and to Phílmati Devi, if the confinement is easy. The Chamâin midwife cuts the cord with a sickle and buries it in the delivery room: a fire is lighted over it, and kept burning the period of pollution. After the sixth day ceremony (chhathi) the barber's wife takes the place of the midwife. The birth pollution ceases on the twelfth day (barahi) when the father offers a pig and some wine to Birtiha Deva. On her first visit to the well the mother worships it and lays little washed rice (achhat) on the platform. The husband does not cohabit with his wife for six months after her confinement.1 The only initiation ceremony is the usual ear-boring (kanchhedan, kanbedha), which is done at the age of five or six. After this the child must observe the caste rules of food.

Death Ceremonies.

1. On this see Westermarck, History of Human Marriage, 483, sq.

157 The dead, except those who are unmarried or those who died of cholera or small-pox, are cremated. The others are buried or their corpses thrown into running water. Within six months they are cremated in effigy with the usual ritual. The death pollution lasts ten days, during which, daily, the chief mourner pours water on a bunch of kusa grass fixed in the ground on the edge of a tank as a dwelling place for the disembodied spirit. He also daily lays out a little food for the ghost. They shave on the tenth day and offer sacred balls (pinda) in the usual way. On that day uncooked grain (sídha) is given to Brâhmans, and the clansmen are fed on pork, boiled rice and wine.

Religion. Bhars are hardly ever initiated into any one of the regular Hindu sects. Their tribal deities are Agwân Deva, Phílmati Bhawâni, the Pânchonpír, generally represented by Parihâr, and a deitied ghost Know as Bânru Bír. The Pânchonpír are worshipped in the months if Jeth or Kuâr with fowls and cakes (malída). The other deities require the sacrifice of a pig or goat and an oblation of wine. In Gorakhpur the tribal godlings are Kâlika and Kâshi Dâs Bâba, a deified Bhít. His platform is in a jungle in the Deoriya Tahsíl. There they go once a year to worship him with an offering of cakes, rice, milk, and curds. Kâlika is worshipped in the house or in the field when it is ready for the sowing of the sowing of the spring crop. Her favourite offering is a young, fat pig. According to Mr. Baillie, Kâshi Dâs is particularly worshipped by Ahírs in the Eastern Districts. It is uncertain whetain whether in life he was a Brâhman or an Ahír. His votaries number, according to the last Census returns, 172,599.1 They have the usual feast to the dead in Kuâr. Their religious duties are done by Brâhmans of the low village class. They observe the festivals of the Phagua, Dasami, Diwâli, Kajari, Khichari, and Tíj. A special sacrifice of a pig is made to the evil spirits who reside in the old fig trees of the village. This is done in Aghan. Some go to Gaya to Perform the srâddha ceremony. The pípal tree is regarded as the abode of Vasudeva, and women bow and cover their faces as they pass it.

Social Customs. Women are tattooed on the arms. A pig or an ass is regarded as a lucky meeting omen. Women wear glass bangles(chíri) on the bead necklaces, nose rings, (nathiya), ear ornaments (Karanphíl), and anklets (pairs). Men wear a gold coin (mohar) round the neck. Children have two names, one given by the Pandit, which is kept secret, and other, for ordinary use, selected by the parents. They swear on Ganges water, on the head of a son, and standing in water, and in the phrases Râma kriya, Râma duhâi, Ganga mâi kriya, Bhawâni kriya. They believe in magic and witchcraft, but do not practice these arts themselves. They believe in demoniacal possession and the Evil-eye, and in such cases call in an Ojha to treat the patient. They will not kill the cow. They will not touch a Dhobi, Hela, Dom, or Dharkâr, nor the younger brother's wife, nor the wife of the senior brother-in-law. they will not call their wives by their name. They drink liquor freely and eat the flesh of goats, sheep, deer, etc, but they will not eat the meat of the cow, crocodile, monkey, horse, jackal, or fowls. During the fortnight in Kuâr sacred to the worship of the sainted dead (pitra pakiha), they abstain from meat. Among themselves they use the salutation salâm, and address other low castes in the form Râm! Râm! which is also used to the father-in-law if their daughters. Women who assist the men in work are treated fairly well. They eat Kachchi and pakki cooked by Halwâis or Chhatris, and, in fact, all Vaisyas, except, Kalwârs Doms, Dharkârs, and similar menials, etc kachchi cooked by them.

Occupation. They are usually employed as day labourers and ploughmen. A few are tenants without occupancy rights. Some of them have rather an equivocal reputation. They are occasionally burglars and field thieves, and they have been known to combine for road robbery and dacoity. The Bhars of Bhadohi, in the Mirzapur District, are nothing short of a pest to their

1. A further sccount of him is given under Bind, 9.

158 respectable neighbours at harvest time, and much of the labour spent on field watching is due to their depredations. Of the Oudh Bhars1 it is said --"In appearance they resemble low caste Hindus, Koris, and Chamârs, and I have not noticed any Mongolian traits in their physionomy. they have, however, one striking peculiarity in common with the Thârus-- their hatred of the cultivated plain. When land has attained a certain pitch of cultivation they always leave it for some less hospitable spot, and their lives are spent in wandering from jungle to jungle . They commence the struggle with nature, and after the first and most difficult victory over disease and wild beasts, leave it to the Kurmis and Ahírs to gather the fruits of their desultory energy. They are very timid, very honest and keen sportsmen, untiring in pursuit, and excellent shots with their long guns. They show the influence of orthodox Hinduism in sparing the nilgâi, but are fond of the flesh of pigs, washing down their feasts with copious draughts of spirits of rice or mahua." They offer goats to Samai, and decapitate chickens before the snake god Kâré Deo. Their worship of Banspati Mâi is more Hindu in its character, and their pure offering of grain and clarified butter are handed over to be eaten by a Brâhman. The worshippers of Banspati Mâi according to the last Census returns amounted to 16,489 persons. Marriages are contracted without the intervention of a Pandit, and with the rites in use among other low castes, such as Koris and Chamârs. With a magnificent assumption of rights not recognised by our law, a bride's father makes over in gift (sankalap) to the bridegroom a small patch of forest to clear and cultivate.2

Bharatri.: -They are wandering bards, actors, singers and dancers.

Bharbhunjas.: -They sell and transport grains but also tobacco and fireworks. In Chhattisgarh they are called Dhuri. See Bhunjas.

Bharia.: -Bharia - Bhumia.3 - A Dravidian tribe numbering about 50,000 persons and residing principally in the Jubbulpore district, which contains half of the total number. The others are found in Chhindwâra and Bilâspur. The proper name of the tribe is Bharia, but they are often called Bharia-Bhumia, because many of them hold the office of Bhumia or priest of the village gods and of the lower castes in Jubbulpore, and the Bharias prefer the designation of Bhumia as being the more respectable. The term Bhumia or 'Lord of the soil' is an alternative for Bhuiya, the name of another Dravidian tribe, and no doubt came to be applied to the office of village priest because it was held by members of this tribe; the term Baiga has a similar signification in Mandla and Bâlâghât, and is applied to the village priest though he may not belong to the Baiga tribe at all. The Bharias have forgotten their original affinities, and several stories of the origin of the tribe are based on far-fetched derivations of the name. One of these is to the effect that Arjun, when matters were going badly with the Pândavas in their battle against the Kauravas, took up a handful of bharru grass and, pressing it, produced a host of men who fought in the battle and became the ancestors of the Bharias. And there are others of the same historical value. But there is no reason to doubt that Bharia is the contemptuous form of Bhar, as Telia for Teli, Jugia for Jogi, Kuria for Kori, and that the Bharias belong to the great Bhar tribe who were once dominant in the eastern part of the United Provinces, but are now at the bottom of the social scale, and relegated by their conquerors to the degrading office of swineherds. The Râjjhars, who appear to have formed a separate caste as the landowning subdivision of the Bhars, like the Râj-Gonds, are

1. Oudh Gasetteer, I., 341. 2. On this custom see Lubbook, Origin of Civilisation, 465; and compare Korw0. a, para. 1 3. See Russell. This article is complied from notes taken by Mr. Hira Lâl, Assistant Gazatter superintendent in Jubbul- pore, and from a paper by Râm Lâl sharma, schoolmaster, Bilâspur.

159 said to be the descendants of a Râja and a Bharia woman. The Râjjhars form a separate caste in the Central Provinces, and the Bharias acknowledge some connection with them but refuse to take water from their hands, as they consider them to be of impure blood. The Bharias also give Mahoba or Bândhogarh as their former home, and these places are in the country of the Bhars. According to tradition Râja Karna Deva, a former king of Dâhal, the classical name of the Jubbulpore country, was a Bhar, and it may be that the immigration of the Bharias into Jubbulpore dates from his period, which is taken as 1040 to 1080 A.D. Which then it may be considered as fairly certain that the Bharias are merely the Bhar tribe with a variant of the name, it is clear from the titles of their family groups, which will shortly be given, that they are an extermely mixed class and consist largely of the descendants of members of other castes, who having lost their own social position, have taken refuge among the Bharias at the bottom of the social scale. Mr. Crooke says of the Bhars:1 "The most probable supposition is that the Bhars were a Dravidian race closely allied to the Kols, Cheros and Seoris, who at an early date succumbed to the invading Aryans. This is born out by their appearance and physique, which closely resemble that of the undoubted non-Aryan aborigines of the Vindhyan-Kaimír plateau." In the Central Provinces the Bharias have been commonly considered to belong to that tribe. Thus Mr. Drysdale says of them:2 'The Bharias were the wildest of the wild Gonds and were inveterate dhayâ3 cutters.' Although, however, they have to some extent intermarried with the Gonds, the Bharias were originally quite a distinct tribe, and would belong to the Kolarian or Munda group but that they have entirely forgotten their own language and speak only Hindi, though with a peculiar intonation especially noticeable in the case of their women.

The structure of the tribe is a very loose one, and though the Bharias say that they are divided into subsets, there are none in reality. Members of all castes except the very lowest may become Bharias, and one Bharia will recognise another as a fellow-tribesman if he can show relationship to any person admitted to occupy that position. But a division is in process of formation in Bilâspur based on the practice of eating beef, from which some abstain, and in consequence look down on the others who are regular eaters of it, and call them Dhur Bharias, the term dhur meaning cattle. The abstainers form beef now refuse to marry with the others. The tribe is divided into a number of exogamous groups, and the names of these indicate the very heterogeneous clements of which it consists. Out of fifty-one groups reported not less than fifteen or sixteen have names derived form other castes or clans, showing almost certainly that such groups were formed by a mixed marriage or the admission of a family of outsiders. Such names are: , from the Agarias or iron-workers: this clan worships Loha-Sur, the god of the Agarias; Ahirwâr, or the descendants of an Ahír: this clan worships the Ahír gods; Bamhania, born of a Brâhman ancestor; Binjhwâr or Binjha, perhaps from the tribe of the name; Chandel, from a Râjpít clan; Dagdoha, a synonym of Basor: persons of this sept hang a piece of bamboo and a curved knife to the waist of the bride at their marriages; Dhurua, born of a Dhurua Gond; Kuânpa, born of an Ahír subcaste of that name; Kurka, of Korku parentage; Marâvi, the named of Gond clan; Râthor from a Râjpít clan; Samarba from a Chamâr; and Yarkara, the name of a Gond clan. These names sufficiently indicate the diverse elements of which the tribe is made up. Other group names with meanings are: Gambhele, or those who seclude their women in a separate house during the menstrual period; Kaitha, from the kaith tree (Feronia clephantum): Karondiha, from the karonda plant (Carissa Carandas); Magarha, from magar a crocodile: members of this group worship an image of a crocodile made with flour and fried in oil; Sonwâni, from sona gold: members of this group perform the ceremony of re-admission of persons temporarily put out of caste by sprinkling on them little water in which gold has been dipped. Any person who does not know his clan name calls himself a Chandel, and this group, though bearing the name of a distinguished Râjpít clan, is looked upon as the lowest. But although the rule of

1. Tribes and Castes fo the N.W.P., art. Bhar. 2. C.P. Census Report, 1881, p. 188. 3. Dhayâ means the system of shifting scltivation, which unil prohibited was so injurious to the forests.

160 exogamy in marriage is recognised, it is by no means strictly adhered to, and many cases are known in which unions have taken place between members of the same clan. So long as people can recollect a relationship between themselves, they do not permit their families to intermarry. But the memory of the Bharia does not extend beyond the third generation.

Marriages are adult, and the proposal comes from the boy's father, who has it conveyed to the girl's father through some friend in his village. If a betrothal is arranged the bride's father invites the father and friends of the bridegroom to dinner; on this occasion the boy's father brings some necklaces of lac beads and spangles and presents them to the bride's female relatives, who then come out and tie the necklaces round his neck and those of his friends, place the spangles on their foreheads. and then, catching hold of their cheeks, press and twist them violently. Some turmeric powder is also thrown on their faces. This the binding portion of the betrothal ceremony. The date of marriage is fixed by a Brâhman, this being the only purpose for which he is employed, and a bride-price varying from six to twelve rupees is paid. On this occasion the women draw caricatures with turmeric or charcoal on the loin-cloth of the boy's father, which they manage to purloin. The marriage ceremony follows generally the Hindu form. The bride-groom puts on women's ornaments and carries with him an iron nut-cracker or dagger to keep off evil spirits. After the wedding, the midua, a sort of burlesque dance, is held. The girl's mother gets the dress of the boy's father and puts it on, together with a false beard and moustaches, and dances, holding a wooden ladle in one hand and a packet of ashes in the other. Every time she approaches the bridegroom's father on her rounds she spills some of the ashes over him, and occasionally gives him a crack on the head with her ladle, these actions being accompanied by bursts of laughter from the party and frenzied playing by the musicians. When the party reach the bridegroom's house on their return, his mother and the other women come out and burn a little mustard and human hair in a lamp, the unpleasant smell emitted by these articles being considered potent to drive away evil spirits. Every time the bride leaves her father's house she must weep, and must cry separately with each one of her caste-sisters when taking leave of them. When she returns home she must be weeping loudly on the boundary of the village, and continue doing so until she has embraced each of her relatives and friends, a performance which in a village containing a large number of Bharias may take from three to six hours. These tears are, however, considered to be a manifestation of joy, and the girl who cannot produce enough of them is often ridiculed. A prospective son-in-law who serves for his wife is known as Gharjiân. The work given him is always very heavy, and the Bharias have a saying which compares his treatment with that awarded to an ox obtained on hire. If a girl is seduced by a man of the tribe, she may be married to him by the ceremony prescribed for the remarriage of a widow, which consists merely in the placing of bangles on the wrists and a present of a new cloth, together with a feast to the caste-fellows. Similarly if she is seduced by a man of another caste who would be allowed to be a Bharia, she can be married as a widow to any man of the tribe. A widow is expected to marry her late husband's younger brother, but no compulsion is exercised. If a bachelor espouses a widow, he first goes through the ceremony of marriage with a ring to which a twig of the date-palm is tied, by carrying the ring seven times round the marriage post. This is necessary to save him from the sin of dying unmarried, as the union with a widow is not reckoned as a true marriage. In Jubbulpore divorce is said to be allowed only for conjugal misbehaviour, and a Bharia will pass over three transgressions on his wife's part before finally turning her out of his house. A woman who wishes to leave her husband simply runs away from him and lives with somebody else. In this case the third party must pay a goat to the husband by way of compensation and give a feast to the cast-fellows.

The carelessness of the Bharias in the matter of child birth is notorious, and it is said that mothers commonly went on working up to the moment of childbirth and delivered children in the fields. Now, however, the woman lies up for three days, and come ceremonies of purification are performed. In Chhattísgarh infants are branded on the day of their birth, under the impression that this will cause them to digest the food they have taken in the

161 womb. The child is named six months after birth by the father's sister, and its lips are then touched with cooked food for the first time.

The tribe both burn and bury the dead, and observe mourning for an adult for then days, during which time they daily put out a leaf-cup containing food for the use of the deceased. In the third year after the death, the mangan or caste beggar visits the relatives of the deceased, and receives what they call one limb (ang), or half his belongings; the ang consists of a loin-cloth, a brass vessel and dish, an axe, a scythe and a wrist-ring.

The Bharias call themselves Hindus and worship the village deities of the locality, and on the day of Diwâli offer a black chicken to their family god, who may be Bura Deo, Dílha Deo or Karua, the cobra. For this snake they profess great reverence, and say that he was actually born in a Bharia family. As he could not work in the fields he was usually employed on errands. One day he was sent to the house, and surprised one of his younger brother's wives, who had not heard him coming, without her veil. She reproached him, and he retired in dudgeon to the oven, where he was presently burnt to death by another woman, who kindled a fire under it not knowing that he was there. So he has been deified and is worshipped by the tribe. The Bharias also venerate Bâgheshwar, the tiger god, and believe that no tiger will eat a Bharia. On the Diaw¡li day they invite the tiger to drink some gruel which they place ready for him behind their houses, at the same time warning the other villagers not to stir out of doors. In the morning the display the empty vessels as a proof that the tiger has visited them. They practise various magical devices, believing that they can kill a man by discharging at him a míth or handful of charmed objects such as lemons, vermilion and seeds of urad. This ball will travel through the air and, descending on the house of the person at whom it is aimed, will kill him outright unless he can avert its power by stronger magic, and perhaps even cause it to recoil in the same manner on the head of the sender, They exorcise the Sudhiniyas or the drinkers of human blood. A person troubled by one of these is seated near the Bharia, who places two pots with their mouths joined over a fire. He recites incantations and the pots begin to boil, emitting blood. This result is obtained by placing a herb in the pot whose juice stains the water red. The blood-sucker is thus successfully exorcised. To drive away the evil eye they burn a mixture of chillies, salt, human hair and the husks of kokon, which emits a very evil smell. Such devices are practised by members of the tribe who hold the office of Bhumia or village priest. The Bharias are well-known thieves, and they say that the dark spots on the moon are caused by a banyan tree, which God planted with the object of diminishing her light and giving thieves a chance to ply their trade. If a Bhumia wishes to detect a thief, he sits clasping hands with a friend, while a pitcher is supported on their hands. An oblation is offered to the deity to guide the ordeal correctly, and the names of suspected persons are recited one by one, the name at which the pitcher topples over being that of the thief, But before employing this method of detection the Bhumia proclaims his intention of doing so on a certain date, and in the meantime places a heap of ashes in some lonely place and invites the thief to deposit the stolen article in the ashes to save himself from exposure. By common custom each person in the village is required to visit the heap and mingle a handful of ashes with it, and not infrequently the thief, frightened at the Bhumia's powers of detection, takes the stolen article and buries it in the ash-heap where it is duly found, the necessity for resorting to the further method of divination being thus obviated. Occasionally the Bharia in his character of a Hindu will make a vow to pay for a recitation of the Satya Nârâyan Katha or some other holy work. But the understands nothing of it, and if the Bhâhman employed takes a longer time than he had bargained for over the recitation he becomes extremely bored and irritated.

The scantiness of the Bharia's dress is proverbial, and the saying is 'Bharia bhwâka, pwânda langwâta,' or 'The Bharia is verily a devil, who only covers his loins with a strip of cloth.' But lately he has assumed more clothing. Formerly an iron ring carried on the wrist to exorcise the evil spirits was his only ornament. Women wear usually only one coarse cloth dyed red, spangles on the forehead and ears, bead necklaces, and cheap metal bracelets and anklets.

162 Some now have Hindu ornaments, but in common with other low castes they do not usually wear a nose-ring, out of respect to the higher castes. Women, though they work in the fields, do not commonly wear shoes; and if these are necessary to protect the feet from thorns, they take them off and carry them in the presence of an elder or a man of higher caste. They are tattooed with various devices, as a cock, a crown, a native chair, a pitcher stand, a sieve and a figure called dhandha, which consists of six dots joined by lines, and appears to be a representation of a man, one dot standing for the head, one for the body, two for the arms and two for the legs. This device is also used by other castes, and they evince reluctance if asked to explain its meaning, so that it may be intended as a representation of the girl's future husband. The Bharia is considered very ugly, and a saying about him is: "The Bharia came down from the hills and got burnt by a cinder, so that his face is black." He does not bathe for months on end, and lives in a dirty hovel, infested by the fowls which he loves to rear. His food consists of coarse grain, often with boiled leaves as a vegetable, and he consumes much whey, mixing it with his scanty portion of grain. Members of all except the lowest castes are admitted to the Bharia community on presentation of pagri and some money to the headman together with a fast to the caste-fellows. The Bharias do not eat monkey, beef or the leftovers of others, but they freely consume fowls and pork. They are not considered as impure, but rank above those castes only whose touch conveys pollution. For the slaughter of a cow the Bilâspur Bharias inflict the severe punishment of nine daily feasts to the caste, or one for each limb of the cow, the limbs being held to consist of the legs, ears, horns and tail. They have an aversion for the horse and will not remove its dung. To account for this they tell a story to the effect that in the beginning God gave them a horse to ride and fight upon. But they did not know how to mount the horse because it was so high. The wisest man among them then proposed to cut notches in the side of the animal by which they cold climb up, and they did this. But God, when he saw it, was very angry with them, and ordered that they should never be soldiers, but should be given a winnowing-fan and broom to sweep the grain out of the grass and make their livelihood in that way.

The Bharias are usually farm servants and field-labourers, and their services in these capacities are in much request. They are hardy and industrious, and so simple that it is an easy matter for their masters to involve them in perpetual debt, and thus to keep them bound to service from generation to generation. They have no understanding of accounts, and the saying, 'Pay for the marriage of a Bharia and he is your bond-slave for ever,' sufficiently explains the methods adopted by their employers and creditors.

Bhat.: -Rao, Jasondhi.: -The caste of bards and Geneslogists1. In 1911 the Bhâts numbered 29,000 persons in the Central Provinces and Berâr, being distributed over all Districts and States, with a slight preponderance in large towns such as Nâgpur, Jubbulpore and Amraoti. The name Bhât is derived form the Sanskrit Bhatta, a lord. the origin of the Bhâts has been discussed in detail by Sir H. Risley. Some, no doubt, are derived from the Brâhman caste as stated by Mr. Nesfield: "They are an offshoot from those secularised Brâhmans who frequented the courts of princes and the camps of warriors, recited their praises in public, and kept records of their genealogies. Such, without much variation, is the function of the Bhât at the present day. The Mahâbhârata speaks of a band of bards and eulogists marching in front of Yudishthira as he made his progress from the field of Kurukshetra towards Hastinapur. But these very men are spoken of in the same poem as Brâhmans. Naturally as time went on these courtier priests become hereditary bards, receded from the parent stem and founded a new caste." "The best modern opinion," Sir H. Risley states,2 "seems disposed to find the germ of the Brâhman caste in the bards, ministers and family priests, who were attached to the king's household in Vedic times. The characteristic

1 See Russell 2 Tribes and Castes of Bengal , art. Brâhman.

163 profession of the Bhâts has an ancient and distinguished history. The literature of both Greece and India owes the preservation of its oldest treasures to the singers who recited poems in the households of the chiefs, and doubtless helped in some measure to shape the masterpieces which they handed down. Their place was one of marked distinction. In the days when writing was unknown, the man who could remember many verses was held in high honour by the tribal chief, who depended upon the memory of the bard for his personal amusement, for the record of his own and his ancestors' prowess, and for the maintenance of the genealogy which established the purity of his descent. The bard, like the herald, was not lightly to be slain, and even Odysseus in the heat of his vengeance spares the aot∂o`s Phemius, 'who sang among the wooers of necessity."1

Bhâts and Chârans. There is no reason to doubt that the Birm or Baram Bhâts are an offshoot of Brâhmans, their name being merely a corruption of the term Brâhman. But the caste is a very mixed one, and another large section, the Chârans, are almost certainly derived from Râjpîts. Malcolm states that according to the fable of their origin, Mahâdeo first created Bhâts to attend his lion and bull; but these could not prevent the former from killing the latter, which was a source of infinite vexation and trouble, as it compelled Mahâdeo to create new ones. He therefore formed the Châran, equally devout with the Bhât, but of bolder spirti, and gave him in charge these favourite animals. From that time no bull was ever destroyed by the lion.2 This fable perhaps indicates that while the peaceful Bhâts were Brâhmans, the more warlike Chârans were Râjpîts. It is also said that some Râjpîts disguised themselves as bards to escape the vengeance of Parasurâma.3 The Mâru Chârans intermarry with Râjpîts, and their name appears to be derived from Mâru, the term for the Râjputâna desert, which is also found in Mârwâr. Malcolm states4 that when the Râjpîts migrated from the bands of the Ganges to Râjputâna, their Brâhman priests did not accompany them in any numbers, and hence the Chârans arose and supplied their place. They had to understand the rites of worship, particularly of Siva and Pârvati, the favourite deities of the Râjpîts, and were taught to read and write. One class became merchants and travelled with large convoys of goods, and the others were the bards and genealogists of the Râjpîts. Their songs were in the rudest metre, and their language was the local dialect, understood by all. All this evidence shows that the Chârans were a class of Râjpît bards.

Lower-class Bhâts. But besides the Birm or Brâhman Bhâts and the Râjpît Chârans there is another large body of the caste of mixed origin, who serve as bards of the lower castes and are probably composed to a great extent of members of these castes. These are known as the Brid-dhari or begging Bhâts. They beg from such castes as Lodhis, Telis, Kurmis, Ahírs and so on, each caste having a separate section of Bhâts to serve it; the Bhâts of each caste take food from the members of the caste, but they also eat and intermarry with each other. Again, there are Bairâgi Bhâts who beg from Bairâgis, and keep the genealogies of the temple-priests and their successors. Yet another class are the Dasaundhis or Jasondhis, who sing songs in honour of Devi, play on musical instruments and practise astrology. These rank below the cultivating castes and sometimes admit members of such castes who have taken religious vows.

Social Status of the Caste. The Brâhman or Birm-Bhâts form a separate subcaste, and the Râjpîts are sometimes called Râjbhât. These wear the sacred thread, which the Brid-Bhâts and Jasondhis do not. The social status of the Bhâts appears to vary greatly. Sir. H. Risley states that they rank immediately

1 Malcola, Central India , ii. p. 132. 2 Art. Bhât. 3 Râjasthân , ii, p. 406. 4 Malcolm, ii. p. 135

164 below Kâyasths, and Brâhmans will take water from their hands. The Chârans are treated by the Râjpîts with the greatest respect;1 The highest ruler rises when one of this class enters or leaves an assembly, and the Châran is invited to eat first at a Râjpît feast. He smokes from the same huqqa as Râjpîts, and only caste-fellows can do this, as the smoke passes through water on its way to the mouth. In past times the Châran acted as a herald, and his person was inviolable. He was addressed as Mahârâj,2 and could sit on the Singhâsan or Lion's Hide, the ancient term for a Râjpît throne, as well as on the hides of the tiger, panther and black antelope. The Râjpîts held him in equal estimation with the Brâhman or perhaps even greater.3 This was because they looked to him to enshrine their heroic deeds in his songs and hand them down to posterity. His sarcastic references to a defeat in battle or any act displaying a want of courage inflamed their passions as nothing else could do. On the other hand, the Brid-Bhâts, who serve the lower castes, occupy an inferior position. This is because they beg at weddings and other feasts, and accept cooked food from members of the caste who are their clients. Such an act constitutes an admission of inferior status, and as the Bhâts eat together their position becomes equivalent to that of the lowest group among them. Thus if other Bhâts eat with the Bhâts of Telis or Kalârs, who have taken cooked food from their clients, they are all in the position of having taken food from Telis and Kalârs, a thing which only the lowest castes will do. If the Bhât of any caste, such as the Kurmis, keeps a girl of that caste, she can be admitted into the community, which is therefore of a very mixed character. Such a caste as the Kurmis will not even take water from the hands of the Bhâts who serve them. This rule applies also where a special section of the caste itself act as bards and minstrels. Thus the Pardhâns are the bards of the Gonds, but rank below ordinary Gonds, who give them food and will not take it from them. And the Sânsias, the bards of the Jâts, and the Mirâsis, who are employed in this capacity by the lower castes, occupy a very inferior position, and are sometimes considered impure.

Social Customs. The customs of the Bhâts resemble those of other castes of corresponding status. The higher Bhâts forbid the remarriage of widows, and expel a girl who becomes pregnant before marriage. They carry a dagger, the special emblem of the Chârans, in order to be distinguished from low-class Bhâts. The Bhâts generally display the chaur or yak-tail whisk and the chhadi or silver-plated rod on ceremonial occasions, and they worship these emblems of their calling on the principal festivals. The former is waved over the bridegroom at a wedding, and the latter is borne before him. The Brâhman Bhâts abstain from flesh of any kind and liquor, and other Bhâts usually have the same rules about food as the caste whom they serve. Brâhman Bhâts and Chârans alone wear the sacred thread. The high status sometimes assigned to this division of the caste is shown in the saying: Age Brâhman píchhe Bhât tâke píchhe aur jât, Or, 'First comes the Brâhman, then the Bhât, and after them the other castes.'

The Bhât's Business. The business of a Bhât in former times is thus described by Forbes:4 "When the rainy season closes and traveling becomes practicable, the bard sets off on this yearly tour from his residence in the Bhâtwâra or bard's quarter of some city or town. One by one he visits each of the Râjpît chiefs who are his patrons, and from whom he has received portions of land or annual grants of money, timing his arrival, if possible, to suit occasions of marriage or other domestic festivals. After he has received the usual courtesies he produces the Wai, a book written in his own crabbed hieroglyphics or in those of his father, which contains the descent

1 Râjasthân , ii. pp. 133, 134. 2 Great Kung, the ordinary method of address to Brâhmans. 3 Râjasthân , ii. p. 175. 4 Râsmâla , ii. pp. 261, 262

165 of the house from its founder, interspersed with many a verse or ballad, the dark sayings contained in which are chanted forth in musical cadence to a delighted audience, and are then orally interpreted by the bard with many an illustrative anecdote or tale. The Wai, however, is not merely a source for the gratification of family pride or even of love of song; it is also a record by which questions of relationship are determined when a marriage is in prospect, and disputes relating to the division of ancestral property are decided, intricate as these last necessarily are form the practice of polygamy and the rule that all the sons of a family are entitled to a share. It is the duty of the bard at each periodical visit to register the births, marriages and deaths which have taken place in the family since his last circuit, as well as to chronicle all the other events worthy of remark which have occurred to affect the fortunes of his patron; nor have we ever heard even a doubt suggested regarding the accurate, much less the honest fulfilment of this duty by the bard. The manners of the bardic tribe are very similar to those of their Râjpît clients; their dress is nearly the same, but the bard seldom appears without the katâr or dagger, a representation of which is scrawled beside his signature, and often rudely engraved upon his monumental stone, in evidence of his death in the sacred duty of trâga (suicide)."1

Their Extortionate Practices. The Bhât thus fulfilled a most useful function as registrar of births and marriages. But his merits were soon eclipsed by the eviis produced by his custom of extolling liberal patrons and satirising those who gave inadequately. The desire of the Râjpîts to be handed down to fame in the Bhât's songs was such that no extravagance was spared to satisfy him. Chand, the great Râjpît bard, sang of the marriage of Prithwi Râj, king of Delhi, that the bride's father emptied his coffers in gifts, but he filled them with the praises of mankind. A lakh of rupees2 was given to the chief bard, and this became a precedent for similar occasions. "Until vanity suffers itself to be controlled," Colonel Tod wrote,3 "and the aristocratic Râjpîts submit to republican simplicity, the evils arising from nuptial profusion will not cease. Unfortunately those who should check it find their interest in stimulating it, namely, the whole crowd of mângtas or beggars, beggars, bards, minstrels, jugglers, Brâhmans, who assemble on these occasions, and pour forth their epithalamiums in praise of the volume of precedent is always resorted to by citing the liberality of former chiefs; while the dread of their satire4 shuts the eyes of the chief to consequences, and they are only anxious to maintain the reputation of their ancestors, though fraught with future ruin." Owing to this insensate liberality in the desire to satisfy the bards and win their praises, a Râjpît chief who had to marry a daughter was often practically ruined; and the desire to avoid such obligations led to the general practice of female infanticide, formerly so prevalent in Râjputâna. The importance of the bards increased their voracity; Mr. Nesfield describes them as "Rapacious and conceited mendicants, too proud to work but not too proud to beg." The Dholis 5 or minstrels were one of the seven great evils which the famous king Sidhrâj expelled from Anhilwâda Pâtan in Gujarât; the Dâkans or witches were another.6 Malcolm states that "They give praise and fame in their songs to those who are liberal to them, while they visit those who neglect or injure them with satires in which the victims are usually reproached with illegitimate birth and meanness of

1 See later in this article. 2 This present of a lakh of rupees is known as Lâkh Pasâru, and it is not usually given in cash but in kind. It is made up of grain, land, carriages, jewellery, horses, camels and elephants, and varies in value from Rs. 30,000 to Rs 70,000. A living bard, Mahamahopadhyaya Murar Dâs, has received three Lakh Pasârus from the Râjas of Jodhpur and has refused one from the Râna of Udaipur in view of the fact that he was made ayachaka by the Jodhpur Râja. Ayachaka means literally 'not a beggar,' and when a bard has once been made ayachaka he cannot accept gifts from any person other than his own patron. An ayachaka was formerly known as polpat , as it became his bounden duty to sing the praises of his patron constantly form the gate (pol ) of the donor's fort or castle. (Mr. Híra Lâl ) 3 Râjasthân , ii. p. 548. 4 Viserva , lit. poison. 5 From dhol , a drum. 6 Râjasthân , ii. p. 184.

166 character. Sometimes the Bhât, if very seriously offended, fixes an effigy of the person he desires to degrade on a long pole and appends to it a slipper as a mark of disgrace. In such cases the song of the Bhât records the infamy of the object of his revenge. This image usually travels the country till the party or his friends purchase the cessation of the curses and ridicule thus entailed. It is not deemed in these countries within the power of the prince, much less any other person, to stop a Bhât or even punish him for such a proceeding. In 1812 Sevak Râm Seth, a banker of Holkar's court, offended one of these Bhâts, pushing him rudely out of the shop where the man had come to ask alms. The man made a figure1 of him to which he attached a slipper and carried it to court, and everywhere sang the infamy of the Seth. The latter, though a man of wealth and influence, could not prevent him, but obstinately refused to purchase his forbearance. His friends after some months subscribed Rs. 80 and the Bhât discontinued his execrations, but said it was too late, as his curses had taken effect; and the superstitious Hindus ascribe the ruin of the banker, which took place some years afterwards, to this unfortunate event." The loquacity and importunity of the Bhâts are shown in the saying, 'Four Bhâts make a crowd'; and their insincerity in the proverb quoted by Mr. Crooke, "The bard, the innkeeper and the harlot have no heart; they are polite when customers arrive, but neglect those leaving (after they have paid)"2 The Bhât women are as bold, voluble and ready in retort as the men. When a Bhât woman passes a male caste fellow on the road, it is the latter who raises a piece of cloth to his face till the woman is out of sight.3

The Jasondhis. Some of the lower classes of Bhâts have become religious mendicants and musicians, and perform ceremonial functions. Thus the Jasondhis, who are considered a class of Bhâts, take their name from the jas or hymns sung in praise of Devi. They are divided into various sections, as the Nakíb of flag-bearers in a procession, the Nâzir or ushers who introduced visitors to the Râja, the Nagâria or players on kettle-drums, the Karaola who pour sesamum oil on their clothes and beg, and the Panda, who serve as priests of Devi, and beg carrying an image of the goddess in their hands. There is also a section of Muhammadan Bhâts who serve as bards and genealogists for Muhammadan castes. Some Bhâts, having the rare and useful qualification of literacy so that they can read the old Sanskrit medical works, have, like a number of Brâhmans, taken to the practice of medicine and are known as Kavirâj.

The Chârans as Carriers. As already stated, the persons of the Chârans in the capacity of bard and herald were sacred, and they travelled from court to court without fear of molestation from robbers or enemies. It seems likely that the Chârans may have united the breeding of cattle to their calling of bard; but in any case the advantage derived from their sanctity was so important that they gradually became the chief carriers and traders of Râjputâna and the adjoining tracts. They further, in virtue of their holy character, enjoyed a partial exemption form the perpetual and harassing imposts levied by carry petty State on produce entering its territory; and the combination of advantages thus obtained was such as to give them almost a monopoly in trade. They carried merchandise on large droves of Bullocks all over Râjputâna and the adjoining countries; and in course of time the carriers restricted themselves to their new profession, splitting off from the Chârns and forming the caste of Banjâras.

Suicide and the Fear of Ghosts. But the mere reverence for their calling would not have sufficed for a permanent safeguard to the Chârans from destitute and unscrupulous robbers. They preserved it by the customs of Chandi or Trâga and Dharna . These consisted in their readiness to mutilate, starve or kill themselves rather than give up property entrusted to their care; and it was a general belief that their ghosts would then haunt the persons whose ill deeds had forced them to take their

1 Lit. putli or doll. 2 Tribes and Castes , art. Bhât. 3 Ibidem , Veiling the face is a sing of modesty.

167 own lives. It seems likely that this belief in the power of a suicide or murdered man to avenge himself by haunting any persons who had been responsible for his death may have had a somewhat wide prevalence and been partly accountable for the reprobation attaching in early times to the murderer and the act of self-slaughter. The haunted murderer would be impure and would bring ill-fortune on all who had to do with him, while the injury which a suicide would inflict on his relatives in haunting them would cause this act to be regarded as a sin against one's family and tribe. Even the ordinary fear of the ghosts of people who die in the natural course, and especially of those who are killed by accident, is so strong that a large part of the funeral rites is devoted to placating and laying the ghost of the dead man; and in India the period of observance of mourning for the dead is perhaps in reality that time during which the spirit of the dead man is supposed to haunt his old abode and render the survivors of his family impure. It was this fear of ghosts on which the Chârans relied, nor did they hesitate a moment to sacrifice their lives in defence of any obligation they had undertaken or of property committed to their care. When plunderers carried off any cattle belonging to the Chârans, the whole community would proceed to the spot where the robbers resided; and in failure of having their property restored would cut off the heads of several of their old men and women. Frequent instances occurred of a man dressing himself in cotton-quilted cloths steeped in oil which he set on fire at the bottom, and thus danced against the person against whom trâga was performed until the miserable creature dropped down and was burnt to ashes. On one occasion a Cutch chieftain, attempting to escape with his wife and child from a village, was overtaken by his enemy when about to leap a precipice; immediately turning he cut off his wife's head with his scimitar and, flourishing his reeking blade in the face of his pursuer, denounced against him the curse of the trâga which he had so fearfully performed.1 In this case it was supposed that the wife's ghost would haunt the enemy who had driven the husband to kill her.

Instances of Haunting and Laying Ghosts. The following account in the Râsmâla2 is an instance of suicide and of the actual haunting by the ghost: A Châran asserted a claim against the chief of Siela in Kâthiawâr, which the latter refused to liquidate. The bard thereupon, taking forty of his caste with him, went to Siela with the intention of sitting Dharna at the chief's door and preventing any one from coming out or going in until the claim should be discharged. However, as they approached the town, the chief, becoming aware of their intention, caused the gates to be closed. The bards remained outside and for three days abstained from food; on the fourth day they proceeded to perform trâga as follows: some hacked their own arms; others decapitated three old women of the party and hung their heads up at the gate as a garland; certain of the women cut off their own breasts. The bards also pierced the throats of four of their old men with spikes, and they took two young girls by the heels, and dashed out their brains against the town gate. The Châran to whom the money was due dressed himself in clothes wadded with cotton which he steeped in oil and then set on fire. He thus burned himself to death. But as he died he cried out, "I am now dying; but I will become a headless ghost (Kuvís ) in the palace, and will take the chief's life and cut off his posterity." After this sacrifice the rest of the bards returned home. On the third day after the Châran's death his Bhît (ghost) threw the Râni downstairs so that she was very much injured. Many other persons also beheld the headless phantom in the palace. At last he entered the chief's head and set him trembling. At night he would throw stones at the palace, and he killed a female servant outright. At length, in consequence of the various acts of oppression which he committed, none dared to approach the chief's mansion even in broad daylight. In order to exorcise the Bhît, Jogis, Fakírs and Brâhmans were sent for from many different places; but whoever attempted the cure was immediately assailed by the Bhît in the chief's body, and that so furiously that the exorcist's courage failed him. The Bhît would also cause the chief to tear the flesh of his own arms with his teeth. Besides this, four or five persons died of injuries received from the Bhît; but nobody had the

1 Postans, Cutch , p. 172. 2 Vol. ii. pp. 392-394.

168 power to expel him. At length a foreign Jyotishi (astrologer) came who had a great reputation for charms and magic, and the chief sent for him and paid him honour. First he tied all round the house threads which he had charged with a charm; then he drove a charmed iron nail into the ground at each corner of the mansion, and two at the door. He purified the house and continued his charms and incantations for forty-one days, every day making sacrifices at the cemetery to the Bhît's spirit. The Joshi lived in a room securely fastened up; but people say that while he was muttering his charms stones would fall and strike the windows. Finally the Joshi brought the chief, who had been living in a separate room, and tried to exorcise the spirit. The patient began to be very violent, but the Joshi and his people spared no pains in thrashing him until they had rendered him quite docile. A sacrificial fire- pit was made and a lemon placed between it and the chief. The Joshi commanded the Bhît to enter the lime. The possessed, however, said, 'Who are you; if one of your Deos (gods) were to come, I would not quit this person.' thus they went on from morning till noon. At last they came outside, and, burning various kinds of incense and sprinkling many charms, the Bhît was got out into the lemon. When the lemon began to jump about, the whole of the spectators praised the Joshi, crying out: "The Bhît has gone into the lemon! The Bhît has gone into the lemon!" The possessed person himself, when he saw the lemon hopping about, was perfectly satisfied that the Bhît had left his body and gone out into the lemon. The Joshi then drove the lemon outside the city, followed by drummers and trumpeters; if the lemon left the road, he would touch it with his stick and put it into the right way again. One the track they sprinkled mustard and salt and finally buried the lemon is a pit seven cubits deep, throwing into the hole above it mustard and salt, and over these dust and stones, and filling in the space between the stones with lead. At each corner, too, the Joshi drove in an iron nail, two feet long, which he had previously charmed. The lemon buried, the people returned home, and not one of them ever saw the Bhît thereafter. According to the recorder of the tale, the cure was effected by putting quicksilver into the lemon. When a man is attacked with fever or becomes speechless or appears to have lockjaw, his friends conclude from these indications that he is possessed by a Bhît.

In another case some Bhâts had been put in charge, by the chief of a small State, of a village which was coveted by a neighbouring prince, the Râna of Dânta. The latter sent for the Bhâts and asked them to guard one or two of his villages, and having obtained their absence by this pretext he raided their village, carrying off hostages and cattle. When the Bhâts got back they collected to a hundred of their own people and began to perform Dharna against the Râna. They set out from their village, and at every two miles as they advanced they burned a man, so that by the time they got to the Râna's territory seven or eight men had been burnt. They were then pacified by his people and induced to go back. The Râna offered them presents, but they refused to accept them, as they said the guilt of the death of their fellows who had been burned would thereby be removed form the Râna. The Râna lost all the seven sons born to him and died childless, and it was generally held to be on account of this sin.1

The Chârans as Sureties. Such was the certainty attaching to the Châran's readiness to forfeit his life rather than prove false to a trust, and the fear entertained of the offence of causing him to do so and being haunted by his ghost, that his security was eagerly coveted in every kind of transaction. "No traveller could journey unattended by these guards, who for a small sum were satisfied to conduct him in safety.2 The guards, called Valâvas, were never backward in inflicting the most grievous wounds and even causing the death of their old men and women if the robbers persisted in plundering those under their protection; but this seldom happened, as the wildest Koli, Kâthi or Râjpît held the person of a Châran sacred. Besides becoming safeguards to travellers and goods, they used to stand security to the amount of many lakhs of rupees.

1 Râsmâla , ii. p. 143,144 2 Bombay Gazetteer , Hindus of Gujarât , Mr. Bhimbhai Kirparâm, pp. 217, 219.

169 When rents and property were concerned, the Râjpîts preferred a Châran's bond to that of the wealthiest banker. They also gave security for good behaviour, called châlu zâmin , and for personal attendance in court called hâzar zâmin. The ordinary trâga went no farther than a cut on the arm with the katâr or crease; the forearms of those who were in the habit of becoming security had generally several cuts from the elbow downwards. the Chârans, both men and women wounded themselves, committed suicide and murdered their relations with the most complete self-devotion. In 1812 the Marâthas brought a body of troops to impose a payment on the village of Pânchpipla.1 The Chârans resisted the demand, but finding the Marâthas determined to carry their point, after a remonstrance against paying any kind of revenue as being contrary to their occupation and principles, they at last cut the throats of ten young children and threw them at the feet of the Marâthas, exclaiming, 'These are our riches and the only payment we can make.' The Chârans were immediately seized and confined in irons at Jambusar." As was the cast with the Bhât and the Brâhman, the source of the Châran's power lay in the widespread fear that a Châran's blood brought ruin on him who caused the blood to be spilt. It was also sometimes considered that the Châran was possessed by his deity, and the caste were known as Deoputra or sons of God, the favourite dwelling of the guardian spirti.

Suicide as a Means of Revenge. Such a belief enhanced the guilt attaching to the act of causing or being responsible for a Châran's death. Suicide from motives of revenge has been practised in other countries. "Another common form of suicide which is admired as heroic in China is that committed for the purpose of taking revenge upon and enemy who is otherwise out of reach-according to Chinese ideas a most effective mode of revenge, not only because the law throws the responsibility of the deed on him who occasioned it, but also because the disembodied soul supposed to be better able than the living man to persecute the enemy."2 Similarly, among the Hos or Mundas the suicide of young married women is or was extremely common, and the usual motive was that the girl, being unhappy in her husband's house, jumped down a well or otherwise did away with herself in the belief that she would take revenge on his family by haunting them after her death. The treatment of the suicide's body was sometimes directed to prevent his spirit from causing trouble. "According to Jewish custom persons who had killed themselves were left unburied till sunset, perhaps for fear lest the spirit of the deceased otherwise might find its way back to the old home."3 At Athens the right hand of a person who had taken his own life was struck off and buried apart form the rest of the body, evidently in order to make him harmless after death.4 Similarly, in England suicides were buried with a spike through the chest to prevent their spirits from rising, and at cross-roads, so that the ghost might not be able to find its way home. This fear appears to have partly underlain the idea that suicide was a crime or an offence against society and the state, though, as shown by Dr. Westermarck, the reprobation attaching to it was far from universal; while in the cultured communities of ancient Greece and Rome, and among such military peoples as the Japanese suicide was considered at all times a legitimate and, on occasion, a highly meritorious a praiseworthy act.

That condition of mind which leads to the taking of one's own life from motives of revenge is perhaps a fruit of ignorance and solitude. The mind becomes distorted, and the sufferer attributes the unhappiness really caused by accident or his own faults or defects to the persecution of a malignant fate or the ill-will of his neighbours and associates. And long brooding over his wrongs eventuates in his taking the extreme step. The crime known as "running amok" appears to be the outcome of a similar state of mind. Here too the criminal

1 In Broach. 2 Westermarck, Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas , ii. p. 242. 3 Westermarck ibidem , p. 246. 4 Westermarck ibidem , p. 248

170 considers his wrongs or misery as the result of injury or unjust treatment from his fellow-men, and, careless of his own life, determines to be revenged on them. Such hatred of one's kind is cured by education, leading to a truer appreciation of the circumstances and environment which determine the course of life, and by the more cheerful temper engendered by social intercourse. All these crimes of vengeance tend to die out with the advance of civilisation.

Dharan. Analogous to the custom of trâga was that of Dharna , which was frequently and generally resorted to for the redress of wrongs and offences at a time when the law made little provision for either. The ordinary method of Dharna was to sit starving oneself in front of the door of the person from whom redress was sought until he gave it from fear of causing the death of the suppliant and being haunted by his ghost. It was, naturally, useless unless the person seeking redress was prepared to go to extremes, and has some analogy to the modern hunger-strike with the object of getting out of jail. Another common device was to thrust a spear-blade through both cheeks, and in this state to dance before the person against whom Dharna was practised. The pain had to be borne without a sign of suffering, which, if displayed, would destroy its efficacy. Or a creditor would proceed to the door of his debtor and demand payment, and if not appeased would stand up in his presence with an enormous weight upon his head, which he had brought with him for the purpose, swearing never to alter his position until satisfaction was given and denouncing at the same time the most horrible execrations on his debtor, should he suffer him to expire in that situation. This seldom failed to produce the desired effect, but should he actually die while in Dharna , the debtor's house was razed to the earth and he and his family sold for the satisfaction of the creditor's heirs. Another and more desperate form of Dharna , only occasionally resorted to, was to erect a large pile of wood before the house of the debtor, and after the customary application for payment had been refused the creditor tied on the top of the pile a cow or a calf, or very frequently an old woman, generally his mother of other relation, swearing at the same time to set fire to it if satisfaction was not instantly given. All the time the old woman denounced the bitterest curses, threatening to persecute the wretched debtor both here and hereafter.1

The word dharna Means 'to place or lay on,' and hence 'a pledge.' Mr. Híra Lâl suggests that the standing with a weight on the head may have been the original form of the penance, from which the other and severer methods were subsequently derive. Another custom known as dharna is that of a suppliant placing a stone on the shrine of a god or tomb of a saint. He makes his request and, laying the stone on the shrine, says, "Here I place this stone until you fulfil my prayer; if I do not remove it, the shame is on you." If the prayer is afterwards fulfilled, he takes away the stone and offers a cocoanut. It seems clear that the underlying idea of this custom is the same as that of standing with a stone on the head as described above, but it is difficult to say which was the earlier or original form.

Casting out Spirits. As a general rule, if the guilt of having caused a suicide was at a man's door, he should expiate it by going to the Ganges to bathe. When a man was haunted by the ghost of anyone whom he had wronged, whether such a person had committed suicide or simply died of grief at being unable to obtain redress, it was said of him Brahm laga , or that Brahma had possessed him. The spirit of a Br¡ahman boy, who has died unmarried, is also accustomed to haunt any person who walks over his grave in an impure condition or otherwise defiles it, and when a man is haunted in such a manner it is called Brahm laga . Then an exorcist is called, who sprinkles water over the possessed man, and this burns the Brahm Deo or spirit inside him as if it were burning oil. The spirit cries out, and the exorcist orders him to leave the man. Then the spirit states how he had been injured by the man, and refuses to leave him. The exorcist asks him what he requires on condition of leaving the man, and he asks for

1 The above account of Dharna is taken from Colonel Tone's Letter on the Marâthas (India Office Tracts)

171 some good food or something else, and is given it. The exorcist takes a nail and goes to a pípal tree and orders the Brahm Deo to go into the tree. Brahm Deo obeys, and the exorcist drives the nail into the tree and the spirit remains imprisoned there until somebody takes the nail out, when he will come out again and haunt him. The Hindus think that the god Brahma lives in the foots of the pípal tree, Siva in its branches, and Vishnu in the choti or scalp-knot, that is the topmost foliage.

Sulking. Going Bankrupt. Another and mild form of Dharna is that known as Khâtpâti . When a woman is angry with her husband on account of his having refused her some request, she will put her bed in a corner of the room and go and lie on it, turning her face to the wall, and remain so, not answering when spoken to nor taking food. The term Khâtpâti signifies keeping to one side of the bed, and there she will remain until her husband accedes to her request, unless indeed he should decide to beat her instead. This is merely and exaggerated form of the familiar display of temper known as sulking. It is interesting to note the use of the phrase turning one's face to the wall, with something of the meaning attached to it in the Bible. A custom similar to that of Dharna was called Diwâla nikâlna or going bankrupt. When a merchant had had heavy losses and could not meet his liabilities, he would place the lock of his door outside, reversing it, and sit in the veranda with a piece of sackcloth over his head. Or he wrapped round him the floor-carpet of his room. When he had displayed these signs of ruin and self-abasement his creditors would not sue him, but he would never be able to borrow money again.

Bhât Songs. In conclusion a few specimens of Bhât songs may be given. The following is an account of the last king of Nâgpur, Raghuji III., commonly known as Bâji Rao: They made a picture of Bâji Rao; Bâji Rao was the finest king to see; The Brâhmans told lies about him, They sent a letter from Nâgpur to Calcutta, They made Bâji Rao go on a pilgrimage. Brothers! the great Sirdârs who were with him, They brought a troop of five hundred horses! The Tuesday fair in Benâres was held with fireworks, They made the Ganges pink with rose-petals. Bâji Rao's gifts were splendid, His turban and coat were of brocaded silk, A pair of diamonds and emeralds He gave to the Brâhmans emeralds Oh brothers! the Râja sat in a covered howdah bound on an elephant ~ Many fans waved over his head; How charitable a king he was !

In the above song a note of regret is manifest for the parade and display of the old court of Nâgpur, English rule being less picturesque. The next is a song about the English: The English have taken the throne of Nâgpur, The fear of the English is great. In a moment's time they conquer countries. The guns boomed, the English came strong and warlike, They give wealth to all They ram the ramrods in the guns. They conquered also Tippoo's dominions, The English are ruling in the fort of Gâwilgarh.

The following is another song about the English, not quite so complimentary:

172 The English became our kings and have made current the kaldâr (milled) rupee. The menials are favoured and the Bhâts have lost their profession, The mango has lost its taste, the milk has lost its sweetness, The rose has lost its scent. Bâji Rao of Nâgpur he also is gone, No longer are the drums beaten at the place gate. Poona customs have come in. Brâhmans knowing the eighteen Purâns have become Christians; The son thinks himself better than his father, The daughter-in-law on longer respects her mother-in law, The wife fights with her husband. The English have made the railways and telegraph; The people wondered at the silver rupees and all the country prospered.

The following is a song about the Nerbudda at Mandla, Rewa being another name for the river: The stream of the world springs out breaking apart the hills; The Rewa cuts her path through the soil, the air is darkened with her spray. All the length of her banks are the seats of saints; hermits and pilgrims worship her. On seeing the holy river a man's sins fall away as wood is cut by a saw; By bathing in her he plucks the fruit of holiness. When boats are caught in her flood, the people pray: 'We are sinners, O Rewa, bring us safely the bank !' When the Nerbudda is in flood, Mandla is an island and the people think their end has come: The rain pours down on all sides, earth and sky become dark as smoke, and men call on Râma. The bard says: 'Let it rain as it may, some one will save us as Krishna saved the people of Brindâwan !'

This is a description of a beautiful woman:

A beautiful woman is loved by her neighbours, But she will let none come to her and answers them not. They say: 'Since God has made you so beautiful, open your litter and let yourself be seen!' He who sees her is struck as by lightning, she shoots her lover with the darts of her eyes, invisible herself. She will not go to her husband's house till he has her brought by the Government. When she goes her father's village is left empty. She is so delicate she faints at the sight of a flower, Her body cannot bear the weight of her cloth, The garland of jasmine-flowers is a burden on her neck, The red powder on he feet is too heavy for them.

It is interesting to note that weakness and delicacy in a woman are emphasised as an attraction, as in English literature of the eighteenth century. The last is a gentle intimation that poets, like other people, have to live:

It is useless to adorn oneself with sandalwood on an empty belly, Nobody's body gets fat from the scent of flowers; the singing of songs excites the mind, But if the body is not fed all these are vain and hollow.

All Bhâts recite their verses in a high-pitched sing-song tone, which renders it very difficult for their hearers to grasp the sense unless they know it already. The Vedas and all other sacred verses are spoken in this manner, perhaps as a mark of respect and to distinguish

173 them from ordinary speech. The method has some resemblance to intoning. Women use the same tone when mourning for the dead.

Bhat.: -Bhât (Sansk. bhatta, a title of respect, probably connected with bhartri, a 'supporter or master'), a caste of genealogists1 and family bards usually supposed to have spring from the intercourse of a Kshatriya with a Brahman widow. Others believe them to be the modern representatives of the Mâgadha spoken of in Manu, x, 17, as the off-spring of a Vaisya father and a Kshatriya mother. Lassen regards this mythical pedigree as merely a theoretical explanation of the fact the professional singers of the praises of great men had come by Manus time to be looked upon as a distinct class. 2 Zimmer, on the other hand, seems to take the tradition more seriously, and speaks of the Mâgadha as a "mixed caste, out of which, as we learn from numerous passages in later writings, a guild of singers arose, who, devoting themselves to the deeds of the Kosala-Videha and Kuru-Panchâla, may have laid the foundation of the epic poems." 3 Other authorities say that they were produced to amuse Parvati from the drops of sweat on Siva's brow, but as they chose to sing his praises rather that hers, they were expelled from heaven and condemned to live a wandering life as bards on earth. Sir John Malcolm, Central India, vol. ii, p. 132, says: "According to the fable of their origin, Mahâdeva first created Bhâts to attend his lion and bull; but the former killing the latter every day gave him infinite vexation and trouble in creating new ones. He therefore formed the Châran, equally devout as the Bhât, but of bolder spirit, and gave him in charge these favourite animals. From that period no bull was ever destroyed by the lion."4

Mr. Nesfield's theory. In his brief view of the caste system of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, Mr, J. C. Nesfield propounds the original view that the Bhâts are an offshoot "from those secularised Brahmans who frequented the courts of princes and the camps of warriors, recited their praises in public, and kept records of their genealogies. Such without much variation, is the function of the Bhât at the present day. The ancient epic knows as the Mahâbhârata speaks of a band of bards and eulogists marching in front of Yudhishthira as he made his progress from the field of Kuru-Kshetra towards Hastinâpur. But these very men are spoken of in the same poem as Brahmans. Nothing could be more natural than that, as time went on, these courtier priests should have become hereditary bards, who receded from the parent stem and founded a new caste bound together by mutual interests and sympathies." In support of this theory of the origin of the caste Mr. Nesfield refers to the facts that one of the sub-castes is called Baram- Bhât; that some Gaur-Brahmans still act as bards and genealogists; that the Bhât still wears the sacred thread, and is addressed by the lower classes as Mahârâj-an honour generally only accorded to Brahmans; and lastly, that by an obvious survival of Brahmanical titles the Bhât's employer is called jajmân,, 'he who gives the sacrifice,' while the Bhât himself is called jagwâ`, jâjak, or jâchak, ' the priest by whom the sacrifices is performed.'

Supported by Dr. Wise. Strong testimony in favour of Mr. Nesfield's view comes to us from Eastern Bengal, where, according to Dr. Wise, the Bhâts repudiate the traditional descent from a Kshatriya and Brahman widow, and claim to be the offspring of the aboriginal Brahmans employed as ghataks or marriage-brokers by the other members of the sacred order. They say that they retired or were driven to the borders of Bengal for refusing to accept the reforms of Ballâl Sen.

1 See Risley. 2. Lassen, Ind. Alt. i, 777. 3. Zimmer, Alt-Indisches Leben, 35, quoting Weber, Ind, Stud. i, 185. 4. Elliot's Glossary, vol. i. p. 18.

174 In Silhet the Rârhi Brahmans still eat with the Bhâts, but in Dacca the latter are reckoned unclean; and in Tipperah, having fallen in rank, they earn a precarious livelihood by making umbrellas. It is a curious fact that the Bhât would consider himself dishonoured by acting as a pujâri or priest of a temple, or as a purohit.

Further discussion Admitting the force of this evidence, and fully recognising how great an advance Mr. Nesfield has made on the traditional methods of dealing with such questions, I find some difficulty in reconciling his theory as stated above with the internal structure of the Bhât caste. If the Bhâts of the present day are descended solely from a class of degraded Brahmans- if, in other words, they are a homogeneous offshoot from the priestly caste- how do they come to have a number of sections, which are certainly not Brahmanical, and which appear rather to resemble the territorial exogamous groups common among the Rajputs? Brahmans, however degraded, hold fast to their characteristic series of eponymous sections, and I know of no case in which it can be shown that they have adopted section-names of a different type. On the other hand, there is nothing specially improbable in the conjecture that Rajputs may have taken up the profession of bard of the chiefs of their tribe, and this may in course of time have become incorporated in the Bhât caste. It will be seen that this solutions of the difficulty in no way conflicts with Mr. Nesfield's view, but merely modifies it by introducing a second factor into the formation of the caste. Mr. Nesfield regards the Bhâts as a homogenous functional group thrown off by the Brahmans. I look upon them as a heterogeneous group made up of Brahmans and Rajputs welded together into one caste in virtue of their exercising similar functions. I may add, however, that the inviolability of the Bhât's person, which was admitted in Western India towards the end of the last century, makes rather for Mr. Nesfield's view that for mine; while the theory of Roth and Zimmer, that the first germ of the Brahman caste is to be sought in the singers of Vedic times, may perhaps be deemed to support in same conclusion. 1

Internal Structure. The sections of the caste are shown in Appendix I. A man may not marry a woman of his own section, nor any one descended from his sister, paternal aunt, paternal grandmother, aunt, maternal grandfather, and maternal great-grandfather (mother's mother's father) as long as any relationship can be traced. The endogamous divisions of the caste are somewhat obscure. Two sub-castes appear to be known in Behar-Râjbhât and Baram-Bhât. To these may be added the Turk-Bhât, who are converts to Islâm and perform the same functions in Mahommedan households as the Hindu Bhâts for men of their own religion. The wives of Mahommedan Bhâts sing in public on certain occasions. There seems to be no marked difference of occupation between the Râjbhâts and Baram-Bhâts, but I understand that they do not intermarry. Regarding the Bhâts of the North-West Provinces Sir Henry Elliot says: "By some tribes the Bhât and Jâga are considered synonymous; but those who pretend to greater accuracy distinguish them by calling the former Birmbhât or Badi`, and the latter Jâgabhât. The former recite the deeds of ancestors at weddings and other festive occasions; the latter keep the family record, particularly of Rajputs, and are entitled by right of succession to retain the office, whereas the Birmbhâts are hired and paid for the particular occasion. Jâgabhâts pay visits to their constituents every two or three years, and receive the perquisites to which they are entitled. After having recorded all the births which have taken place since their last tour, they are remunerated with rupees, cattle, or clothes, according to the ability of the registering party." In another place Sir Henry Elliot mentions a number of subdivisions of the caste, which are shown in a note in the Appendix.

Marriage. Bhâts usually marry their daughters between the ages of nine and twelve; but in exceptional cases, where a girl's parents are poor, it may happen that she is not married until after the

1. Zimmer, Alt-Indisches Leben, p. 168. See also art. Brahman below.

175 age of puberty. The marriage ceremony is of the orthodox type, and kanyâdân , or the presentation of the bride to the bridegroom and his acceptance of the gift, is reckoned to be the essential and binding portion of the ritual. Polygamy is not supposed to be allowed, but a man may take a second wife if the first is barren or suffers from an incurable disease. Widows are not allowed to marry again, nor is divorce recognised. An adulterous wife is turned out of the caste and ceases thenceforth to be a member of respectable society.

Succession. In questions concerning the devolution of property, the caste are guided for the most part by the standard Hindu law recognised in the area where they live; that is to say, in Bengal they follow the Dâyabhâga, and in Behar the Mitâksharâ Code. In one point, however, they observe a peculiar usage of their own. Where under the ordinary law a daughter's son would succeed, Bhât custom holds him to be excluded by the nearest male relative of the same section. It is remarkable that this customs should have survived, as the Bhâts are not governed by panchâyat or caste councils to the same extent as the lower castes, and thus lack the most effective machinery for preserving peculiar usages, which the courts tend on the whole to destroy.

Religion. The religion of the Bhâts of Behar differs little from that of the average middle-class Hindu. Representatives of all the regular sects are found among their numbers, and caste cannot be said to favour the tenets of any particular body. In Eastern Bengal, on the other hand, they are said to be mostly Sakti worshippers, and to be greatly inclined to intemperance. They employ Brahmans for religious and ceremonial purpose, who are received on equal terms by other members of the sacred order. Their minor gods are Bandi or Sanvardhir and Bariji, who are worshipped on the 22nd Srâvan and the 24th Chait with offerings of he-goats, wheaten cakes, ilchauri made molasses, coloured cloths, and vermilion. The eatable portion of the offerings is divided among the ceremony of srâddh is performed on the thirteenth day after death.

Social Status. In point of social precedence Bhâts rank immediately below Kâyasths. Their own rules concerning diet are the same as are observed by the higher castes, and, like them, they will take water and certain sweetmeats from Kurmis, Kahars, and castes of corresponding status.

Occupation. The characteristic profession of the Bhâts has an ancient and distinguished history. The literature of both Greece and India owes the preservation of its oldest treasures to the singers, who recited poems in the households of the chief, and doubtless helped in some measure to shape the masterpieces which they handed down. Their place was one of marked distinction. In the days when writing was unknown, the man who could remember many verses was held in high honour by the tribal chief, who depended upon the memory of his bard for his personal amusement, for the record of his own and his ancestors' prowess, and for the maintenance of the genealogy which established the purity of his descent. The bard, like the herald, was not lightly to be slain, and even Odysseus, in the heat of his vengeance, spares the aoido`s Phemius, "who sang among the wooers of necessity."1 Possibly the duties of bard and herald may often have been discharged by the same person. However this may be, it is curious to find that about the middle of the sixteenth century the person of a Bhât was deemed inviolable by highway robbers in Rajputana and Guzerat, so that a member of that caste could protect a caravan of traders from attack by threatening to kill himself if they were molested; while as late as 1775 many of them made their living by pledging themselves as

1. Odyssey , xxii, 331.

176 hostages for the payment of revenue, the performance of treaties and bonds, and the general good behaviour of princes of private individuals.1 In most parts of modern India, except perhaps in Rajputana, the Bhâts have fallen from their former state, and are now the tawdriest parody on the Homeric âoido`s. Mr. Nesfield describes them as "rapacious and conceited mendicants, too proud to work, but not proud to beg." Mr. Sherring says they "are notorious for their rapacity as beggars, and are much dreaded by their employers on account of the power they have of distorting family history at public recitations if they choose to do so, and of subjecting any member to general ridicule." Dr. Wise's notes contain a telling sketch of the Bhâts of Eastern Bengal: "In January they leave their homes, travelling to all parts of eastern Bengal, and, being in great request, are fully engaged during the subsequent Hindu matrimonial season. Each company receives a fixed yearly sum from every Hindu household within a definite area, amounting usually to eight annas. In return they are expected to visit the house and recite Kavitâs, or songs extolling the worth and renown of the family. Satirical songs are great favourites with Hindus, and none win more applause than those laying bare the foibles and well-intentioned vagaries of the English rule or the eccentricities and irascibility of some local magnate. Very few bards can sing extemporary songs, their effusions, usually composed by one and learned by heart by the others, being always metrical, often humorous, and generally seasoned with puns and equivocal words. Their sole occupation is the recital of verses, unaccompanied by instrumental music. They are met with everywhere when Hindu families celebrate a festival or domestic event, appearing on such occasions uninvited, and exacting by their noisy importunity a share of the food and charity that is being doled to the poor. Their shamelessness in this respect is incredible. During the Durgâ Pu`gâ they force their way into respectable houses and make such a horrid uproar with singing that the residents gladly pay something to be rid of them. Should this persecution have no effect on the rich man inside, they by means of a brass o`tâ and an iron rod madden the most phlegmatic Bâbu, who pays iberally for their departure. The Bengali Bhât is as a rule uneducated, and very few know Sanskrit."

At weddings in Behar it is one of the duties of the Bhât to march out several miles to meet the bridegroom's procession, bearing with him a letter of welcome from the bride's father, and to conduct them to the bride's house. For these services, and for reciting verses and making himself generally useful, he receives presents of money and clothes. In some Behar districts and in parts of Chota Nagpur, Bhâts hold small parcels of land, usually about three or four bighâs in extent, rent-free under the tenure known as bhâtottar. Such grants are mostly of rather ancient date, and are regarded with disfavour by the landholders of to-day, who look more to Government as the fountain of honour, and do not make much account of the Bhâts. A few Bhâts have risen to be zamindars or tenure-holders, but the bulk of the caste are occupancy raiyats, cultivating by means of hired labourers and disdaining to touch the plough themselves.

Bhatiya.: -A tribe of money-dealers and traders found in these Provinces only in Mathura2 . Of those in the Panjâb Mr. Ibbetson writes:3 "The Bhatiyas are a class of Râjputs, originally coming from Bhatner, Jaysalmer, and the Rajputâna Desert, who have taken to domestic pursuits. The name would seem to show that they were Bhâtis (called Bhatti in the Panjâb); but be that as it may, their Râjput origin seems to be unquestioned. They are numerous in Sindh and Gujarât, where they appear to form the leading mercantile element, and to hold the place which the Aroras occupy higher up the Indus. They have spread into the Panjâb along the lower valleys of the Indus and Sutlej, and up the whole length of the

1. Yule, Anglo-Indian Glossary , s.v. Bha`t. 2 See Crooke, entirely based on a note by Munshi Atma Râm, Head Master, High School, Mathura 3 Panjâb Ethnography, 297.

177 Chenâb as high as its debouchure into the plains, being indeed most numerous in Siâlkot and Gujarât. They stand distinctively below the Khatri, and perhaps below the Arora, and are for the most part engaged in petty shop-keeping, though the Bhatiyas of Dehra Ismail Khân are described as belonging to a widely-spread and enterprising mercantile community. They are often supposed to be , and in Jahlam they are said to follow the Khatri divisions of Bhari, Bunjâhi, Dhâighar, Chârzâti, etc. They are very strict Hindus, far more so than the other trading classes of the Western Punjâb; and eschew meat and liquor. They do not practise widow-marriage."

Tribal Tradition Of The Mathura Bhatiyas. The Bhatiyas Mathura claim to be descended from a personage called Bhâti Sinh, from whom they take their name. He was the founder of the city and kingdom of Jaysalmer. It is related that the Yaduvansis, or descendants of Yadu, engaged in a deadly internal quarrel, and of them only two escaped the general destruction- Odhu and Bajarnâbh. The latter lived at the time at the house of his maternal grandfather, Râja Bânâsura. In return for the services which Sri Krishna, himself a Yaduvansi, had once rendered to Râja Parikshit, in protecting him while still in his mother's womb, the latter brought Bajarnâbh from Bânsura's house and delivered to him the kingdom of Mathura and Indraprastha. Bajarnâbh ruled wisely and protected his subjects, and raised a temple in honor of Sri Krishna at Dwârika. Eighty of his successors ruled in succession at Mathura; but during the reign of the last, Râja Jay Sinh, Râja Ajaypâl of Biyâna invaded Mathura, and, in the battle which ensued, Jay Sinh was killed, and his three sons, Bijaypâl, Ajây Râj, and Bijay Râj, fled to Karauli. Bijaypâl, the eldest of the three, gained the kingdom of Karauli, but he quarrelled with his brothers, and they retired to a forest in the neighbourhood of Karauli, where they devoted themselves to the worship of Ambâmâna Devi. At the end of a year of devotion, when they failed to propitiate the goddess they determined to gain her favour by offering their heads to her in a furnace (bhatti). Pleased with this final act of piety the deity appeared to them and desired them to request a boon of her. They answered that as Kshatriyas they needed a kingdom. Whereupon the Devi ordered Ajay Râj to go towards the West and found a kingdom in the Rajputâna Desert, and henceforth to call himself Bhâti Sinh, as he had been saved from the burning fiery furnace. He followed the orders and founded the kingdom of Jaysalmer, and there established his tribe under the name of Bhattis or Bhatiyas.

Here it may be noted that the Jaysalmer tradition is different from this.1 "Pryâg or Allahâbâd was the cradle of the race, after which Mathura remained the seat of the Yaduvansi power for a long period. On the death of Sri Krishna, the deified leader of the Jâdons, from whom the Bhatti Râjputs claim descent, the tribe became dispersed; Many of them abandoned Hindustân, among them two of the sons of Krishna, who proceeded northward along the Indus, and settled there. Some time after this, one of their descendants was defeated and killed in a battle, and the tribe was driven southward into the Panjâb, where Sâlivâhana, son of Gag, founded a town called after his name, and conquered the whole region. His grandson was named Bhatti, and he was a great warrior and conquered many of the neighbouring princes, and from him the patronymic was changed, and the tribe was changed, and the tribe was henceforth distinguished by his name. Shortly after this the tribe was again driven southward by the King of Ghazni, and crossing the Sutlej found refuge in the Indian Desert, which was henceforth to be their home. This traditional account may represent in outline the early migrations of the Bhatti tribe, which may be supposed to have entered India from the north-west under heroic leaders now deified as the sons of Krishna, and to have settled for some time in the Panjâb. One of the grand expeditions of Mahmíd of Ghazni was against the city of Bhattia, also called Bhera, which place is said to have been on the left bank of the Jahlam, opposite the Salt Range. Mr. E. Thomas considers that the four last Hindu Kings of Kâbul, before the Ghaznavis, may have been Bhatiya Râjputs."

1 Râjputana Gazetteer , II., 170.

178 Internal Organisation. The Mathura story tells that when the Bhatiyas left their Western home and came to Mathura they had considerable difficulty in finding alliances for their children, because having by this time taken to trade the Râjputs of the neighbourhood were unwilling to intermarry with them. They accordingly convened a meeting of the caste at Multân, and there consulted learned Brâhmans and the books of the law, and it was after great discussion decided that a man might marry within his own tribe in a family removed from himself by forty-nine degrees, and that the families thus removed should each form a unkh or exogamous group. These nukhs were designated after some person, village, or occupation, such as the nakh Râéhariya was named after Râé Hari Singh; Râé Gajariya after the village Gajariya, and Râé Tâmbol after Tâmboli or seller of betel. This story describes in a very interesting way the manner in which new exogamous and endogamous groups are formed.

The following are the names of the Mathura gotras with the nukhs which each includes: (1) Parâsara gotra including twenty-three nukhs: Râé Gajariya: Râé Panchloriya: Râé Gagla; Râé Sarâki; Râé Soni: Râé Suphla; Râé Jiya; Râé Mogaya; Râé Ghaga; Râé Ríka; Râé Jaydhan; Râé Korhaiya; Râé Kova; Râé Rariya; Râé Kajariya; Râé Sijballa; Râé Jiyâla; Râé Malan; Râé Dhava; Râé Dhíran; Râé Jagta; Râé Nisât. (2) Sanras gotra containing eleven nukhs as follows: Râé Dutaya; Râé Jabba; Râé Nâgobabla ' Râé Suâra; Râé Dhawan; Râé Danda; Râé Dhaga; Raé Kandhiya; Râé Udesi; Râé Bâdhícha; Râé Balâyé. (3) Bhâradwâj gotra with the following eighteen nukhs: Râé Hariya; Râé Padamshi; Râé Maidaya; Râé Chandan; Râé Khiyâra; Râé Thula; Râé Sodhiya; Râé Bora; Râé Mochha; Râé Tâmbol; Râé Lakhanbanta; Râé Dahkkar; Râé Bhudariya; Râé Mota; Râé Anghar; Râé Dhadhâl; Degchanda; Râé Asar. (4) Sudharvans gotra with the following eight nukhs: Râé Sapta; Râé Chhachhaiya; Râé Parmala; Râé Potha; Râé Ponrdhagga; Râé Mathura. (5) Madhobadhas gotra including the following eleven unkhs: Râé Ved; Râé Surya; Râé Gugalgandhi; Râé Nâégandhi; Râé Panchal; Râé Phurâsgândhi; Râé Parégândhi; Râé Jujargândhi; Râé Praima; Râé Bibal; Râé Povar. (6) Devdâs gotra including the following nine nukhs: Râé ; Râé Pawâr; Râé Râja; Râé Parijiya; Râé Kapír; Râé Gurugulâb; Râé Dhâdhar; Râé Kartari; Râé Kukaur. (7) Rishivans gotra consisting of the following four nukhs: Râé Multâni; Râé Chamuja; Râé Daiya; Râé Karangona.

The Census Returns supply them with a set of sections most of which are of the Banya type, such as Agarwâla, Belwâr, Bhâlé, Bhorâr, Bhudi, Bohar, Gaur, Jaysalmer, Kain, Mâdkul, Maheswari, Mârwâri, Oswâl, Pallwâl, Râhtu, Sahasri.

Marriage Rules. Marriages may take place between members of the same gotra , but not of the same nukh . There is no exact formula of exogamy; but a man cannot marry among his near relations on the father's or mother's side, and the same rule applies to women. Differences of religion, provided both parties are followers of some form of hinduism, and changes of occupation are not a bar to intermarriage; but differences of local or geographical position are a bar. Thus intermarrinages between Bhatiyas of Bombay, Kachh, and Gujarât, and those of the Panjâb, Sindh, and the North-Western Provinces, are not permitted. Thus Bhatiyas may be divided into the following two endogamous groups based on geographical position: The first group consists of Kâchhis, Halâis, Paijas, Kathiâwâris and Bhatiyas of Dhârangânw. The second group consists of Bhatiyas of Jaysalmer, Sindh, the Panjâb, and the North-Western Provinces. As a rule no Bhatiya can take a second wife in the lifetime of the first, unless she be barren or unfaithful to her husband, in which case she will be expelled from caste. In no case can the number exceed two, and that limit is seldom reached. When a Bhatiya happens to have two wives they live under the same roof and enjoy the same privileges in every respect. In the case of girls, marriage must be performed before the age of twelve: there is no time fixed in

179 the case of males. Marriage is arranged by the friends in both sides, and there are no marriage brokers. The children of both marriages, should a man have two wives, rank equally for purposes of inheritance. Widow marriage is not allowed, and the offspring of an illicit connection are not admitted into the caste, and do not rank as heirs to the estate of their father. An unfaithful wife is excommunicated, and so is a man who openly keeps a concubine.

Marriage Ceremonies. At the betrothal the father of the girl sends what is called the sagun , consisting of one rupee, a cocoanut, and some coarse sugar, for the boy, which is given to him in the presence of the brethren, who are invited to be in attendance, and the betrothal is thus complete. The ceremony presupposes the mutual consent of the parents of the parties. Betrothal is generally not reversible, and is not annulled except on the discovery of some very serious physical defect in either bride or bridegroom and, if annulled, the expenses are repaid by the party breaking the engagement, though there is no distinct rule on the subject. Betrothal may take place any time before marriage. The marriage ceremony is of the orthodox type, and the binding part of it is the giving away of the bride (kanyâdâu ) and the circling (pheron phirna ) of the sacred fire. The marriage is complete and irreversible when the fourth circuit is finished. Pokhagné Brâhmans act as priests at marriage and other ceremonies.

The chief occupation of the Bhatiyas is money-lending, and to this they add trade of all kinds: agriculture, landholding, and Government service. Many of them go on expeditions to Arabia, Kâbul, Bokhâra, and other distant places on business. Many in Bombay carry on trade with Zanzibar, Java, and the Malay Peninsula. Their religion continues to be mainly Vedik; but some have become followers of Vallabhachârya. The Bhatiyas of these Provinces in appearance, customs, and dress, strongly resemble Khatris; but between the two castes there seems to be no real connection.

Bhatra.: -A primitive tribe of the Bastar State and the south of Raipur District, akin to the Gonds1. They numbered 33,000 persons in 1891, and in subsequent enumerations have been amalgamated with the Gonds. Nothing is known of their origin except a legend that they came with the Râjas of Bastar from Warangal twenty-three generations age. The word Bhatra is said to mean a servant, and the tribe are employed as village watchmen and household and domestic servants. They have three divisions, the Pít, Amnâit and Sân Bhatras, who rank one below the other, the Pít being the highest and the Sân the lowest. The Pít Bhatras base their superiority on the fact that they decline to make grass mats, which the Amnâit Bhatras will do, while the Sân Bhatras are considered to be practically identical with the Muria Gonds. Members of the three groups will eat with each other before marriage, but afterwards they will take only food cooked without water from a person belonging to another group. They have the usual set of exogamous septs named after plants and animals. Formerly, it is said, they were tattooed with representations of the totem plant and animal, and the septs named after the tiger and snake ate the flesh of these animals at a sacrificial meal. These customs have fallen into disuse, but still if they kill their totem animal they will make apologies to it, and break their cooking-pots, and bury or burn the body. A man of means will distribute alms in the name of the deceased animal. In some localities members of the Kâchhun or tortoise sept will not eat a pumpkin which drops from a tree because it is considered to resemble a tortoise. But if they can break it immediately on touching the ground they may partake of the fruit, the assumption being apparently that it has not had time to become like a tortoise.

Admission Of Outsiders.

1 See Russell. This is article is compiled from papers drawn up by Rai Bahâdur Panda Baijnâth, Superintendent, Bastar State ; Mr. Ravi Shankar, Settlement Officer, Bastar ; and Mr. Gopâl Krishna, Assistant Superintendent, Bastar.

180 Outsiders are not as a rule admitted. But a women of equal or higher caste who enters the house of a Bhatra will be recognised as his wife, and a man of the Panâra, or gardener caste, can also become a member of the community if he lives with a Bhatra woman and eats from her hand.

Arrangement Of Marriages. In Raipur a girl should be married before puberty, and if no husband is immediately available, they tie a few flowers into her cloth and consider this a marriage. If an unmarried girl becomes pregnant she is debarred from going through the wedding ceremony, and will simply go and live with her lover or any other man. Matches are usually arranged by the parents, but if a daughter is not pleased with the prospective bridegroom, who may sometimes be a well-to-do man much older than herself, she occasionally runs away and goes through the ceremony on her own account with the man of her choice. If no one has asked her parents for her hand she may similarly select a husband for herself and make her wishes known, but in that case she is temporarily put out of caste until the chosen bridegroom signifies his acquiescence by giving the marriage feast. What happens if he definitely fails to respond is not stated, but presumably the young woman tries elsewhere until she finds herself accepted.

The Counter Of Posts. The date and hour of the wedding are fixed by an official known as the Meda Gantia, or Counter of Posts. He is a sort of illiterate village astrologer, who can foretell the character of the rainfall, and gives auspicious dates for sowing and harvest. He goes through some training, and as a test of his capacity is required by his teacher to tell at a glance the number of posts in an enclosure which he has not seen before. Having done this correctly he qualifies as a Meda Gantia. Apparently the Bhatras, being unable at one time to count themselves, acquired and exaggerated reverence for the faculty of counting, and thought that if a man could only count far enough he could reckon into the future; or it might be thought that as he could count and name future days, he thus obtained power over them, and could tell what would happen on them just as one can obtain power over a man and work him injury by knowing his real name.

Marriage Customs. At a wedding the couple walk seven times round the sacred post, which must be of wood of the mahus1 tree, and on its conclusion the post is taken to a river or stream and consigned to the water. The Bhatras, like the Gonds, on doubt revere this tree because their intoxication liquor is make from its flowers. The couple wear marriage crowns make from the leaves of the date palm and exchange these. A little turmeric and flour are mixed with water in a plate, and the bride, taking the bridegroom's right hand, dips it into the coloured paste and strikes it against the wall. The action is repeated five times, and then the bridegroom does the same with the bride's hand. By this rite the couple pledge to each other reciprocative behavior during married life. From the custom of making an impression of the hand on a wall in token of a vow may have arisen that of clasping hands as a symbol of a bargain assented to, and hence of shaking hands, by persons who meet, as a pledge of amity and the absence of hostile intentions. Usually the hand is covered with red ochre, which is probably a substitute for blood; and the impression of the hand is made on the wall of a temple in token of a vow. This may be a survival of the covenant made by the parties dipping their hands in the blood of the sacrifice and laying them on the god. A pit about a foot deep is dug close to the marriage shed, and filled with mud or wet earth. The bride conceals a nut in it and the bridegroom has to find it, and the hiding and finding are repeated by both parties. This rite may have the signification of looking for children. The remainder of the day is spent in eating, drinking and dancing. On the way home after the wedding the bridegroom has to shoot a deer, the animal being represented by a branch of a tree thrown across the path by

1 Bassia latifolia .

181 one of the party. But if a real deer happens by any chance to come by he has to shoot this. The bride goes up to the real or sham deer and pulls out the arrow, and presents her husband with water and a tooth-pick, after which he takes her in his arms and they dance home together. On arrival at the house the bridegroom's maternal uncle or his son lies down before the door covering himself with a blanket. He is asked what he wants, and says he will have the daughter of the bridegroom to wife. The bridegroom promises to give a daughter if he has one, and if he has a son to give him for a friend. The tribe consider that a man has a right to marry the daughter of his maternal uncle, and formerly if the girl was refused by her parents he abducted her and married her forcibly. The bride remains at her husband's house for a few days and then goes home, and before she finally takes up her abode with him the gauna or going-away ceremony must be performed. The hands of the bride and bridegroom are tied together, and an arrow is held upright on them and some oil poured over it. The foreheads of the couple are marked with turmeric and rice, this rite being known as tíka or anointing, and presents are given to the bride's family.

Propitiation Of Ghosts. The dead are buried, the corpse being laid on its back with the head to the north. Some rice, cowrie-shells, a winnowing-far and other articles are placed on the grave. The tribe probably consider the winnowing-fan to have some magical property, as it also forms one of the presents given to the bride at the betrothal. If a man is killed by a tiger his spirit must be propitiated. The priest ties strips of tiger-skin to his arms, and the feathers of the peacock and blue jay to his waist, and jumps about pretending to be a tiger. A package of a hundred seers (200 lbs.) of rice is made up, and he sits on this and finally takes it away with him. If the dead man had any ornaments they must all be given, however valuable, lest his spirit should hanker after then and return to look for them in the shape of the tiger. The large quantity of rice given to the priest is also probably intended as a provision of the best food for the dead man's spirit, lest it be hungry and come in the shape of the tiger to satisfy its appetite upon the surviving relatives. The laying of the ghosts of persons killed by tigers is thus a very profitable business for the priests.

Religion. Ceremonies At Hunting. The tribe worship the god of hunting, who is known as Mâti Deo and resides in as separate tree in each village. At the Bíjphítni (threshing) or harvest festival in the month of Chait (March) they have a ceremonial hunting party. All the people of the village collect, each man having a bow and arrow slung to his back and hatchet on his shoulder. They spread out a long net in the forest and beat the animals into this, usually catching a deer, wild pig or hare, and quails and other birds. They return and cook the game before the shrine of the god and offer to him a fowl and a pig. A pit is dug and water poured into it, and a person from each house is soaked in the mud, and after the feast is over this person is taken and returned to the householder with words of abuse, a small present of two or three pice being received from him. The seed is no doubt thus consecrated for the next sowing. The tribe also have joint ceremonial fishing excursions. Their ideas of a future life are very vague, and they have no belief in a place of reward or punishment after death. They propitiate the spirits of their ancestors on the 15th of Asârh (June) with offerings of a little rice and incense.

Superstitious Remedies. To cure the evil eye they place a little gunpowder in water and apply it to the sufferer's eyes, the idea perhaps being that the fiery glance from the evil eye which struck his is quenched like the gunpowder. To bring on rain they perform a frog marriage, tying two frogs to a pestle and pouring oil and turmeric over them as in a real marriage. The children carry them round begging from door to door and finally deposit them in water. They say that when rain falls and the sun shines together the jackals are being married. Formerly a woman suspected of being a witch was tied up in a bag and thrown into a river of tank at various places set apart for the purpose. If she sank she was held to be innocent, and if she floated, guilty. In the latter case she had to defile herself by taking the bone of a cow and the tail of a ping in

182 her mouth, and it was supposed that this drove out the magic-working spirit. In the case of illness in their children or cattle, or the failure of crops, they consult the Pujâri or priest and make an offering. He applies some flowers or grains of rice to the forehead of the deity, and when one of these falls down he diagnoses from it the nature of the illness, and gives it to the sufferer to wear as a charm.

Occupation. The tribe are cultivators and farmservants, and practise shifting cultivation. They work as village watchmen and also as the Mâjhi or village headman and the Pujâri or village priest. These officials are paid by contributions of grain form the cultivators. And as already seen, the Bhatras are employed as household servants and will clean cooking vessels. Since they act as village priests, it may perhaps be concluded that the Bhatras like the Parjas are older residents of Bastar than the bulk of the Gonds, and they have become the household servants of the Hindu immigrants, which the Gonds would probably disdain to do. Some of them wear the sacred thread, but in former times the Bastar Râja would invest any man with this for a fee of four or five rupees, and the Bhatras therefore purchases the social distinction. They find it inconvenient, however, and lay it aside when proceeding to their work or going out to hunt. If a man breaks his thread he must wait till a Brâhman comes round, when he can purchase another.

Names. Among a list of personal names given by Mr. Baijnâth the following are of some interest: Pillu, one of short stature; Matola, one who learnt to walk late; Phagu, born in Phâgun (February); Ghinu, dirty-looking; Dasru, born on the Dasahra festival; Ludki, one with a fleshy ear; Dalu, big-bellied; Mudi, a ring, this name having been given to a child which cried much after birth, but when its nose was pierced and a ring put in it stopped crying; Chhi, given to a child which sneezed immediately after birth; Nunha, a posthumous child; and Bhuklu, a child which began to play almost as soon as born. The above instances indicate that it is a favourite plan to select the name from any characteristic displayed by the child soon after birth, or from any circumstance or incident connected with its birth. Among names of women are: Cherangi, thin; Fundi, one with swollen cheeks; Kandri, one given to crying; Mahína (Month), a child born a month late; Batai, one with large eyes; Gaida, fat; Pakli, of fair colour; Boda, one with crooked legs; Jhunki, one with small eyes: Rupi, a girl who was given a nose-ring of silver as her brothers had died; Paro, born on a field- embankment; Dango, tall. A women must not call by their names her father-in-law, mother- in-law, her husband's brothers and elder sisters and the sons and daughters of her husband's brothers and sisters.

Bhatrâzu.: -The Bhâts, Bhatrâzus, or Bhatrâjus1 are described, in the Mysore Census Reports, 1891 and 1901, as musicians and ballad-reciters, who "speak Telugu, and are supposed to have come from the Northern Circars. They were originally attached to the courts of the Hindu princes as bards or professional troubadours, reciting ballads in poetry in glorification of the wondrous deeds of local princes and heroes. Hyder Ali, although not a Hindu, delighted to be constantly preceded by them, and they are still an appendage to the state of Hindu and Mussalman Chiefs. They have a wonderful faculty in speaking improvisatore, on any subject proposed to them, a declamation in measures, which may be considered as a sort of medium between blank verse and modulated verse. But their profession is that of chanting the exploits of former days in front of the troops while marshalling them for battle, and inciting them to emulate the glory of their ancestors. Now many of them are mendicants." In the Madras Census Report, 1871, the Bhat Râjahs are said to "wear the pavitra or sacred thread. They are the bards and minstrels, who sing the praises of the Kshatriya race, or

1 See Thurston.

183 indeed of great men in general, and especially of those who liberally reward the singers. They are a wandering class, gaining a living by attaching themselves to the establishments of great men, or in chanting the folklore of the people. They are mostly Vishnu worshippers, and in only one district is it reported that they worship village deities." In the Madras Census Report, 1891, the Bhatrâzus are summed up as being "a class of professional bards, spread all over the Telugu districts. They are the representatives of the Bhat caste of other parts of India. They are called Râzus, because they are supposed to be the offspring of a Kshatriya female by a Vaisya male. They are well versed in folklore, and in the family histories and legends of the ancient Rajahs. Under the old Hindu Râjahs the Bhatrâzus were employed as bards, eulogists, and reciters of family genealogy and tradition. Most of them are now cultivators, and only a few are ballad-reciters. They will eat with the Kâpus and Velamas. Their ceremonies of birth, death and marriage are more or less the same as those of the Kâpus. Râzu is the general name of the caste."

The Bhatrâzus, Mr. W. Francis writes,1 "are also called Bhâts or Mâgadas. They have two endogamous sub-divisions, called Vandi, Râja or Telagânya, and Mâgada, Kani or Agrahârekala. [Some Bhatrâzus maintain that Vandi and Mâgada were individuals who officiated as heralds at the marriage of Siva.] Each of these is again split up into several exogamous septs or gótras, among which are Atréya, Bhâradwâja, Gautama, Kâsyapa and Kaundinya. All of these are Brâhmanical gótras, which goes to confirm the story in Manu that the caste is the offspring of a Vaisya father and a Kshatriya mother. Bhatrâzus nevertheless do not all wear the sacred thread now-a-days, or recite the gâyatri.2 They employ Brahman priests for their marriages, but Jangams and Sâtânis for funerals, and in all these ceremonies they follow the lower or Purânic instead of the higher Védic ritual. Widow marriage is strictly forbidden, but they eat fish, mutton and pork, though not beef. These contradictions are, however, common among Oriya castes, and the tradition is that the Bhatrâzus were a northern caste which was first invited south by King Pratâpa Rîdra of the Kshatriya dynasty of Wârangal (1295-1323 A. D.). After the downfall of that kingdom they seem to have become court bards and panegyrists under the Reddi and Velama feudal chiefs, who had by that time carved out for themselves small independent principalities in the Telugu country. As a class they were fairly educated in the Telugu literature, and even produced poets such as Râmarâja Bhîshana, the author of the well-known Vasu-Charitram. Their usual title is Bhat, sometimes with the affix Râzu or Mîrti."

Of the Bhatrâzus in the North Arcot district, Mr. H. A. Stuart states3 that "they now live by cultivation, and by singing the fabulous traditions current regarding the different Sîdra castes at their marriages and other ceremonies, having probably invented most of them. They profess to be Kshatriyas. But it is known that several are Musalmans or members of other castes, who, possessing an aptitude for extemporeneous versification, were taken by Rajahs to sing their praises, and so called themselves Bhatturâzus. They resemble the Râzus in their customs, but are said to bury their dead." In the Gazetteer of Anantapur, the Bhatrâzus are described as touring round the villages, making extemporeneous verses in praise of the principal householders, and being rewarded by gifts of old clothes, grain, and money. It is stated in the Kurnool Manual that "the high-caste people (Kammas) are bound to pay the Batrâjulu certain fees on marriage occasions. Some of the Batrâjas have shotriems and inâms." Shotriem is land given as a gift for proficiency in the Vedas or learning, and inâm is land given free of rent.

In connection with the special attachment of the Bhatrâzus to the Velama, Kamma, and Kâpu castes, the following story is narrated. Once upon a time there was a man named Pillala Marri Bethâla Reddi, who had three sons, of whom two took to cultivation. The third son

1 Madras Cdnsus Report, 1901. 2 Sanskrit hymn rejpeated a number of times during daily ablutions. 3 Manual of the North Arcot district.

184 adopted a military life, and had seventy-four sons, all of whom became commanders. On one occasion during the reign of Pratâpa Rîdra, when they were staying at the fort of Wârangal, they quarrelled among themselves, and became very rebellious. On learning this, the king summoned them to his court. He issued orders that a sword should by tied across the gate. The commanders were reluctant to go under a sword, as it would be a sign of humiliation. Some of them ran against the sword, and killed themselves. A Bhatrâzu, who witnessed this, promised to help the remaining commanders to gain entrance without passing under the sword. He went to the king, and said that a Brahman wished to pay him a visit. An order was accordingly issued that the sword should be removed. The services of the Bhatrâzu greatly pleased the commanders, and they came to regard the Bhatrâzus as their dependants, and treated them with consideration. Even at the present day, at a marriage among the Kâpus, Kammas, and Velamas, a Bhatrâzu is engaged. His duties are to assist the bridegroom in his wedding toilette, to paint sectarian marks on his forehead, and to remain as his personal attendant throughout the marriage ceremonies. He further sings stanzas from the Râmayana of Mahâbhârata, and songs in praise of Brahmans and the caste to which the bridal couple belong. The following was sung at a Kâpu wedding. "Anna Vema Reddi piled up money like a mountain, and, with his brother Pinna Brahma Reddi, constructed agrahârams. Gone Buddha Reddi spent large sums of money for the reading of the Râmayana, and heard it with much interest. Panta Malla Reddi caused several tanks to be dug. You, their descendants, are all prosperous, and very charitable." In the houses of Kammas, the following is recited, "Of the seventy-seven sons, Bobbali Narasanna was a very brave man, and was told to go in search of the kamma (an ornament) without using abusive language. Those who ran away are Velamas, and those who secured it Kammas."

In their ceremonial observances, the Bhatrâzus closely follow the standard Telugu type. At marriages, the bridal couple sit on the dais on a plank of juvvi (Ficus Tsiela ) wood. They have the Telugu Janappans as their disciples, and are the only non-Brahman caste, except Jangams and Pandârams, which performs the duties of guru or religious instructor. The badge of the Bhatrâzus, a Conjeeveram, is a silver stick.1 In the Madras Census Report, 1901, Bhâto, Kani Râzu, Kannâji Bhat and Padiga Râju appear as synonyms, and Annâji Bhat as a sub-caste of Bhatrâzus. The following account of a criminal class, calling themselves Batturâjas or Battu Turakas, was published in the Police Weekly Circular, Madras, in 1881.2 "They are known to the Cuddapah and North Arcot Police as criminals, and a note is made whenever an adult leaves his village; but, as they commit their depredations far from home, and convert their spoil into hard cash before they return, it is difficult to get evidence against them. Ten or twelve of these leave home at once; they usually work in parties of three or four, and they are frequently absent for months together. They have methods of communicating intelligence to their associated when separated from them, but the only one of these methods that is known is by means of their leaf plates, which they sew in a peculiar manner, and leave after use in certain places previously agreed upon. These leaf plates can be recognised by experts, but all that these experts can learn from them is that Battu Turakas have been in the neighbourhood recently. On their return to their village, an account of their proceedings is rendered, and their spoil is divided equally among the whole community, a double share , however, is given to the actual thief or thieves. They usually disguise themselves as Brahmans, and, in the search of some of their houses silk cloths worn only by Brahmans were found together with other articles necessary for the purpose of disguise (rudrâksha necklaces, sâlagrâma stones, etc.). They are also instructed in Sanskrit, and in all the outward requistes of Brâhmanism. A Telugu Brahman would soon find out that they are not Brahmans, and it is on this account that they confine their depredations to the Tamil country, where allowance is made for them as rude uncivilized Telugus. They frequent choultries (travellers' resting- places), where their very respectable appearance disarms suspicion, and watch for

1 J. S. F. Mackenzie, Ind. Ant . IV 1875. 2 See F. S. Mullaly. Notes on Criminal Classes of the Madras Presidency.

185 opportunities of committing thefts, substituting their own bags of bundles (filled with rubbish) for those they carry off." To this account Mr. M. Paupa Rao Naidu adds1 that "it is during festivals and feasts that they very often commit thefts of the jewels and cloths of Persons bathing in the tanks. They are thus known as Kolamchuthi Pâpar, meaning that they are Brahmins that live by stealing around the tanks. Before the introduction of railways, their depredations were mostly confined to the choultries and tanks."

Concerning the Bhattu Turakas of the North Arcot district, Mr. H. A. Stuart writes 2 that "a few of this very intelligent and educated criminal class are fund in the north of punganîr. They are really Muhammadans, but never worship according to the rules of that religion, and know little about its tenets. They have no employment save cheating, and in this they are incomparably clever. They speak several languages with perfect fluency, have often studied Sanskrit, and are able to impersonate any caste. Having marked down a well-to-do householder, they take an opportunity of entering his service, and succeed at last in gaining his confidence. They then they abuse it by absconding with what they can lay hands upon. They often take to false coining and forgery, pretend to know medicine, to have the power of making gold or precious stones, or of turning currency notes into others of higher value."

Bhavaiya.: -They move around Gujarat. They are religious actors of dramas and comedies.

Bhíl.: -(Sanskrit, Bhilla )3 _ We have in these Provinces only a few fragments of the great Bhíl race of Central India. Professor Lassen identifies them with the Phyllitæ of Ptolemy, whom Colonel Yule classes with the Pulinda, a general term for various aboriginal races. According to Dr. Caldwell the name Bhilla (vil, bil ) means "a bow."4 There is a curious early Hindu legend, which, however, in not found in the Mahâbhârata, which tells how Drona, the preceptor of the Pândavas, was jealous of the skill of the Bhíl Râja in archery, and ordered him and his subjects to cut off the forefinger of the right hand.5 Another story tells that Mahâdeva was one day reclining sick in the forest, when a beautiful damsel appeared, the first sight of whom effected a cure for all his pain. The result of their meeting was the birth of many children, one of whom, distinguished for his ugliness, slew the favourite bull of Mahâdeva, for which crime he was expelled to the woods and mountains, and his descendants have been the outcast Bhíls, They still call themselves "thieves of Mahâdeva."6 There can be little doubt that they are a branch of the great Dravidian race which is found along the mountains of Central India, and are akin to the Gonds, Kharwârs, Mânjhis, Cheros, and Santâls, who live further to the east. Sir J. Malcolm7 thinks that they have emigrated from Jodhpur and Udaypur to their present territory, and as a proof that they were originally lords of the land, he points to the fact of their giving the tíka to some of the existing Râjput princes. The most solemn form of oath among them is mixing cowdung, salt, and the jawâri millet, and lifting the mixture over their heads.8 They have, like many of the indigenous tribes,

1 History of Railway Thieves, Madras, 1904. 2 Manual of the North Arcot district.. 3 See Crooke 4 Indian Antiquary , XIII., 361. General Cunningham takes Phyllitæ to correspond to parna and to mean " leaf clad" like the Juangs up to the present day. Dr. Oppert seems to consider Phyllitæ as derived from Bhîl. Original Inhabitants of Bharatavarsa , 80, sq 5 Wheeler, History of India , (., 84, sq ; Westminster Review , 1868, page 387. 6 Captain Hunter, Journal Royal Asiatic Society , VIII., 181 : Malcolm, Central India . I., 526. 7 Ibid , I., 519. 8 Forsyth, Highlands of Central India , 127.

186 some relations with the local gods, and are priests to one of the most ancient temples in Omkâr. According to Sir A. Lyall1 they are divided into a variety of distinct groups, a few based on a reputed common descent, but most of them apparently muddled together by simple contiguity of habitation, or the natural banding together of the number necessary for maintaining and defending themselves. Sir J. Malcolm says that the Bhíl women are invariably the advocates of the cause of good order. They have much influence, and the principal hope of an enemy's escape lies in the known humanity of the women. They worship peculiarly Sítala, the small-pox goddess, and Mahâdeva, from whom they claim descent.2 The chief historical tradition regarding them in these Provinces is that they were formerly rulers in Rohilkhand, whence they were expelled by the Janghâra Râjputs.3 The clans recorded at the last Census in these Provinces were the Guranawa, Jaiswâr, Karâwai, Majhûraya, Munaharbhâl, Râma, and Râwat.

Manners And Customs. The best available account of the manners and customs of the real Bhíls is that given by a writer in the Rajputâna Gazetteer: 4 "All Bhíls go about armed with the tribal weapons, bows and arrows; except the headmen and others of consequence, who carry swords. They are a dirty race. The men wear their hair long, and hanging in uncombed masses from their shoulders. Their women are small and ugly, those of rank being distinguishable by the number of brass rings on their legs, often extending from the ankle to the knee. They kill and eat kine and are much addicted to spirits, vast quantities of which are consumed on festive occasions, which frequently end in quarrels and bloodshed. Fond of fighting, they resort to their weapons on the slightest provocation, but their most serious frays arise out of cattle-lifting and the abduction of women. If a Bhíl run away with a betrothed girl, a feud will frequently ensue, which will not end till the villages of both sides have been burnt and many lives lost. As a rule they keep tolerably quiet in the winter and the rainy season; but in the summer, between the gathering in of the last harvest and the sowing of the next, they begin raiding on each other; and even the richest think this time, which hangs heavily on their hands, favourable for paying off old scores. There are sixty different sections of the Bhíl tribe in Bânswâra.

Marriage. "Bhíl children are not betrothed by their parents in their childhood. A Bhíl girl is often unmarried up to the age of twenty or twenty-five. Her father can take no steps of his own accord for his daughter's marriage; were he to do, suspicion would be aroused that there was something wrong with the girl. His friends can take steps on his behalf, but he himself must wait for a proposal from the father of some eligible lad, which he can entertain or not as he pleases. Should he accept the proposal, the lad's father, having provided himself with a couple of pots of liquor, will return to complete the ceremony of betrothal (sagari ), sitting down under some large tree or other cool spot in the village. The girl's father and his friends join them, and the question as to the amount of money to be paid by the father of the lad to the father of the girl is there and then disposed of. This amount varies according to the means and status of the parties concerned from thirty to sixty rupees. When this is settled, the father of the boy makes a cup of leaves of the Dhâk tree (Butea frondosa ), and placing it on the top of the pot of liquor, puts inside it two annas worth of copper coins. The girl's brother or some other boy among her relations then takes the coins and turns the cup of leaves upside down. The betrothal is then complete; and nothing remains but to drink the liquor, which is done on the spot. The girl's father then kills a goat and gives a feast to his future son-in-law and his father, after which the latter return home.

1 Asiatic Studies . 160. 2 Ibid , II., 180, sq . 3 Bareilly Settlement Report , 19 : Gazetteer , North-West Provinces , V., 578, sq . 4 I., 177, sqq ; III., 64, 114

187 "Some four or six months after this, the betrothal arrangements for the wedding are made. The boy's father takes a present of clothes, a cloth (sâri ), a petticoat, and a corset for the girl, who at once puts them on. Her father, if well off, kills a buffallo, or if he's poor, a goat, and gives a feast to all the village, and to the boy's father and all his friends. On this occasion a Brâhman is called in, and on receipt of four annas from each father, fixes some auspicious day for the wedding. Half the amount previously fixed upon is now paid to the girl's father in cash, and the remainder in kind, in the shape of a bullock, etc. On the day fixed by the Brâhman for the wedding, the boy, after being well annointed with pít, a mixture of turmeric, flour, etc., proceeds to the girl's house accompanied by all his friends and relations. They halt at the borders of the village, whither the girl's father, with all his friends, and accompanied by drummers and women singing, proceeds to meet them; and after performing the ceremony of tilak- that is, marking the boy on the forehead with saffron- escorts them into the village, and settles them down under some large tree or in some other convenient spot. The girl's father then returns to his house, and the boy's father pays certain customary dues. "On the evening of the wedding day a great feast is given by the bride's father; and the bride and bridegroom are provided with a separate hut for the night, while their friends get drunk. The next morning the bride's father presents his daughter with a bullock or a cow, or with any other worldly goods with which he may wish to endow her, and after presenting the boy's father with a turban gives him leave to depart.

Funeral Rites. "The following are the ceremonies said to be performed by the Bhíls on occasions of death. When a man dies a natural death, his corpse is covered with white cloths, and a supply of food in the shape of flour, clarified butter and sugar, uncooked (called sâra), is placed by his side for use on his journey to the next world. They are afterwards thrown into the water by the side of which he is burnt. A small copper coin is also thrown on the ground when the corpse in burnt, apparently as a sort of fee for the use of the ground for the purpose. Three days after the body has been burnt, the ashes are thrown into the water, and a cairn is raised on the spot by the people present, who wring out their clothes over the stones after bathing. On the twelfth day after death, all friends, far and near, assemble for the kâta or mortuary feast, for which the heir of the deceased, if he was well-to-do in the world, will have provided some two hundred rupees worth of spirits. In the morning the ceremony of the arad is commenced, and lasts generally throughout the day. "The Bhopa, or witch-finder of the village, is seated on a wooden platform, and places near him a big earthen pot with a brass dish over the mouth of it. A couple of Bhíls beat this with drum sticks, at the same time singing funeral dirges. The spirit of the deceased is now supposed to enter the heart of the Bhopa, and through him to demand whatever it may want. Should the man have died a natural death, the spirit will call for milk, ghi, etc., and will repeat through the Bhopa the words he said just before his death. Whatever is demanded is at once supplied to the Bhopa, who smells the articles given to him and puts them down by his side. Should the deceased have died a violent death, the Bhopa generally calls for a bow and arrows, or for a gun, whichever the deceased was killed with, and works himself up into much excitement, going through the motions of firing, shouting the war cry, etc. The spirits of the ancestors of the deceased are also called up by the Bhopa, and the same ceremonies are gone through with them. In the evening the Bhíl Jogi appears on the scene and goes through various ceremonies. He is first of all provided with twelve sers of wheat flour and five sers maize flour, which he places in front of the bier of the deceased. The Jogi then plants his brass image of a horse on the top of the flour and sticks an arrow in front of it, and also some small copper coins. Two empty jars, the mouths tied up, one with red and the other with white cloth, are also placed by him in front of the horse. A rope is next tied round the horse's neck. The Jogi then calls out the names of the ancestors of the deceased, at the same time signifying to the heir that now is the time for him to give alms or religious grants to the memory of his father or ancestors, which appeal is generally responded to; and a cow is given to the Jogi. The heir after this directs the Jogi to provide the deceased with food. The Jogi cooks some rice and milk and pours it into a hole he has dug in the ground. He also pours in

188 an ewer full of liquor and drops in a copper coin and then fills up the hole again with earth. Other mystic rites follow; the heir makes presents to the Jogi, and the family friends give presents to the heir. The ceremonies conclude with some hard drinking. The next day the relatives of the deceased give a feast to the village, each relation providing something towards this feast: one rice, another ghi, and so forth. The honour of providing a buffalo belongs to the son-in-law of the deceased and failing him, the brother-in-law and the brother.

Widow Marriage. "The widow of the deceased, if young, is now asked by all the relatives whether she wishes to remain in her late husband's house or to be married again in a ceremony called nâtra . As she generally does wishes to be married again, she replies that she will return to her father's house. If the deceased has a younger brother, he will at once step forward and assert that he will not allow her to go away to any other man's house; and going up to her he throws his cloak over the widow, who thus becomes his wife, and is taken away by him to his house there and then. Eight days afterwards, when she in supposed to have done mourning for her late husband, her new husband supplies her with a set of armlets in the place of those given by her former lord, which are taken off. The nâtra is then complete. The younger brother is not, however, compelled to keep his brother's widow should he not wish to do so, but it is such a point of honour that a boy even will claim and exercise the right. Should the deceased have no younger brother, then the widow is taken away by her father or relations eight days after the kâta . She will remain at her father's house for a month or two, when either she will be given away in nâtra to some man with her father's consent or she will run off and take up her quarters in some man's house without his consent. The man she flies to may not wish her to come, and may have no idea of her intention to do so; but nevertheless, once she has placed herself under his protection he is in honour bound to keep her, and she remains as his wife. The widow can go to any man she pleases provided he be of a different section to that of her father." Should the father have given his widowed daughter away in nâtra, her late husband's heir will at once pick a quarrel and demand satisfaction from him. As a preliminary step the heir generally attacks the widow's father and burns down his house, after which, in course of time, a committee (panchâyat) is generally appointed to settle the dispute, when a sum of money, varying from fifty to two hundred rupees, according to the means of the parties, is awarded to the heir in compensation. The father will then in his turn demand repayment from his son-in-law, and should the latter refuse to pay up, he proceeds to burn down his house and make himself otherwise objectionable till his claim is satisfied. Should the widow run off, as she generally does, without her father's or relatives' consent, her deceased husband's heir will at once attack the man to whose protection she has gone. "Should some unmarried and unbetrothed girl take a fancy to and run off with some young man, her father and brother, as soon as they have found out where she has gone to, at once attack and burn his house, or in the event of their being unable to do that they burn any house in the village which comes handy. This most probably is resented and retaliated, and the quarrel may be prolonged for some time, but, as a rule, a panchâyat is sooner or later appointed to settle the dispute. The compensation awarded to the girl's father never exceeds one hundred rupees. A hole is dug in the ground and filled with water. The girl's father and his son-in-law then each drop a stone into it, and their quarrel is finally settled. The panchâyat and party then consume some liquor at the son-in-law's expense, and depart in peace. "Should an unmarried and unbetrothed girl refuse to run off with a man when asked to do so, the man will generally shout out in the village that he has taken so-and-so's daughter's hand, and woe to him who dares to marry her. A panchâyat is then assembled, and the father generally gives his daughter to the man, receiving double the compensation that would have been awarded had the girl consented to marry him in the first instance. Should an unmarried girl who has been betrothed, run off with somebody else, the man to whom she was betrothed at once attacks and possibly kills the man whom she has run off with, and burns both his and the girl's father's huts. The quarrel often goes on for years, and leads to

189 retaliation, till the entire village community on either side are drawn into the quarrel and turn out and attack each other. "Should a wife run away from her husband to somebody else, the injured husband and his friends often burn the whole of the village in which the recipient of the faithless wife's paramour lives. Eventually, when a panchâyat is formed, the wife is often given up and taken back by her husband, any children that she may have borne in the meantime being left with their father. Should the man refuse to give her up, then some two hundred rupees is awarded to the husband in compensation by the panchâyat, not to mention the liquor required by the latter during their consultation.

Death Customs. "The Bhíls erect stone tablets in memory of their male dead (never to deceased women) and, as a rule, the figure of the deceased is carved on the stone. He is often represented on horseback with sword, lance, or shield, sometimes on foot, but invariably clothed in the best of long clothes and armed with a sword and shield, a style of dress he was quite unaccustomed to in the flesh. Tablets are also erected to boys who have died while still minors; but instead of a figure of the deceased, a large hooded snake is carved on the stone.

Religion. "Bhíls will eat the flesh of all animals, even that of a dead camel. Bhíls and Mínas having no order of priesthood, resort to the Guru of the Chamârs. These Gurus assume the appellations and badges of Brâhmans. They do not adopt disciples; but the office is hereditary, descending from the father to all the sons. The minstrel of the Bhíls is called Kamriya. The principal deities of the Bhíls and Mínas are Mâtâji and Devi. They also worship Agru. The Chauhân warrior-saint Gûgaji is much worshipped in Sirohi as a protector from the bite of the nâg sânp or cobra.1 He is worshipped under the form of a warrior on horseback and also under the form of a cobra."

Bhíl.: -The Bhíls, a kolarian tribe2. An indigenous or non-Aryan tribe which has been much in contact with the Hindus and is consequently well known. The home of the Bhíls is the country in the hill ranges comprised of Khândesh, Central India and Râjputâna, west from the Strpíras to the sea in Gujarât. The total number of Bhíls in India exceeds a million and a half, of which the great bulk belong to Bombay, Râjputâna and Central India. The Central Provinces have only about 28,000, practically all of whom reside in the Nimâr district, on the hills forming the western end of the Satpíra range and adjoining the Râjpipla hills of Khândesh. As the southern slopes of these hills lie in Berâr, a few Bhíls are also found there. The name Bhíl seems to occur for the first time about A. D. 600. It is supposed to be derived from the Dravidian word for a bow, which is the characteristic weapon of the tribe. It has been suggested that the Bhíls are the Pygmies referred to by Ktesias (400 B.C.) and the Phyllitae of Ptolemy (A.D. 150). The Bhíls are recognised as the oldest inhabitants of southern Râjputâna and parts of Gujarât, and are usually spoken of in conjunction with the Kolis, who inhabit the adjoining tracts of Gujarât. The most probable hypothesis of the origin of the Kolis is that they are a western branch of the Kol or Munda tribe who have spread from Chota Nâgpur, through Mandla and Jubbulpore, Central India and Râjputâna to Gujarât and the sea. If this is correct the Kolis would be a Kolarian tribe. The Bhíls have lost their own language, so that it cannot be ascertained whether it was Kolarian or Dravidian. But there is nothing against its being Kolarian in Sir G. Grierson's opinion; and in view of the length of residence of the tribe, the fact that they have abandoned their own language and their

1 Some account of Gûga, known also as Zâhir Diwân, will be found in the Introduction to Popular Religion and Folklore , 133. At the last Census 122,991 persons returned themselves as his votaries. 2 See Russell. The principal authorities on the Bhíls are, An Account of the Mewâr Bhíls , by Major P. H. Hendley, J. A. S. B. Vol. xliv., pp. 347-385 ; the Bombay Gazetteer , Vol. ix., Hindus of Gujarât ; and notices in Colonel Tod's Râjasthân , Mr. A. L. Forbes's Râsmâla , and The Khândesh Bhíl Corps , by Mr. A. H. A. Simcox , C. S.

190 association with the Kolis, this view may be taken as generally probable. The Dravidian tribes have not penetrated so far west as Central India and Gujarât in appreciable numbers.

Râjpîts Deriving Their Title To The Land From The Bhíls. The Râjpîts still recognise the Bhíls and the former residents and occupiers of the land by the fact that some Râjpît chiefs must be marked on the brow with a Bhíl's blood on accession the Gaddi or regal cushion. Tod relates how Goha,1 the eponymous ancestor of the Sesodia Râjpîts, took the state of Idar in Gujarât from a Bhíl: "At this period Idar was governed by a chief of the savage race of Bhíls. The young Goha frequented the forests in company with the Bhíls, whose habits better assimilated with his daring nature than those of the Brâhmans. He became a favourite with these vena-putras or sons of the forest, who resigned to him Idar with its woods and mountains. The Bhíls having determined in sport to elect a king, their choice fell on Goha; and one of the young savages, cutting his finger, applied the blood as the badge (kíka ) of sovereignty to his forehead. What was done in sport was confirmed by the old forest chief. The sequel fixes on Goha the stain of ingratitude, for he slew his benefactor, and no motive is assigned in the legend for the deed."2 The legend is of course a euphemism for the fact that the Râjpîts conquered and dispossessed the Bhíls of Idar. But it is interesting as an indication that they did not consider themselves to derive a proper title to the land merely from the conquest, but wished also to show that it passed to them by the designation and free consent of the Bhíls. The explanation is perhaps that they considered the gods of the Bhíls to be the tutelary guardians and owners of the land, whom they must conciliate before they could hope to enjoy it in peace and prosperity. This token of the devolution of the land from its previous holders, the Bhíls, was till recently repeated on the occasion of each succession of a Sesodia chief. "The Bhíl landholders of Oguna and Undri still claim the privilege of performing the tíka for the Sesodias. The Oguna Bhíl makes the mark of sovereignty on the chief's forehead with blood drawn from his own thumb, and then takes the chief by the arm and seats him on the throne, while the Undri Bhíl holds the salver of spices and sacred grains of rice used in making the badge.3 The story that Goha killed the old Bhíl chief, his benefactor, who had adopted him as heir and successor, which fits in very badly with the rest of the legend, is probably based on another superstition. Sir J. G. Frazer has shown in The Golden Bough that in ancient times it was a common superstition that any one who killed the king had a right to succeed him. The belief was that the king was the god of the country, on whose health, strength and efficiency its prosperity depended. When the king grew old and weak it was time for a successor, and he who could kill the king proved in this manner that the divine power and strength inherent in the late king had descended to him, and he was therefore the fit person to be king.4 An almost similar story is told of the way in which the Kachhwâha Râjpîts took the territory of Amber State from the Mína tribe. The infant Râjpít prince had been deprived of Narwar by his uncle, and his mother wandered forth carrying him in a basket, till she came to the capital of the Minas, where she first obtained employment in the chiefs kitchen. But owing to her good cooking she attracted his wife's notice and ultimately disclosed her identity and told her story. The Mína chief then adopted her as his sister and the boy as his nephew. This boy, Dhola Rai, on growing up obtained a few Râjpít adherents and slaughtered all the Mínas while they were bathing at the feast of Diwâli, after which he usurped their country.5 The repetition both of the adoption and the ungrateful murder shows the importance attached by the Râjpîts to both beliefs as necessary to the validity of their succession and occupation of the land.

1 The old man name of the Sesodia clan, Gahlot, is held to be derived from this Goha. See the article Râjpît Sesodia for a notice of the real origin of the clan. 2 Râjasthân , i. p. 184 3 Ibidem , p. 186 4 Reference may be made to The Golden Bough for the full explanation and illustration of this superstition. 5 Râjasthân , ii. pp. 320, 321

191 The position of the Bhíls as the earliest residents of the country was also recognised by their employment in the capacity of village watchmen. One of the duties of this official is to know the village boundaries and keep watch and wars over them, and it was supposed that the oldest class of residents would know them best. The Bhíls worked in the office of mânkar, the superior village watchman, in Nimâr and also in Berâr, Grant Duff states1 that the Râmosi or Bhíl was employed as village guard by the Marâthas, and the Râmosis were a professional caste of village policemen, probably derived from the Bhíls and Kolis.

Historical Notice. The Râjpîts seem at first to have treated the Bhíls leniently. Intermarriage was frequent, especially in the families of Bhíl chieftains, and a new caste called Bhilâla2 has arisen, which is composed of the descendants of mixed Râjpít and Bhíl marriages. Chiefs and landholders in the Bhíl country now belong to this caste, and it is possible that some pure Bhíl families may have been admitted to it. The Bhilâlas rank above the Bhíls, on a level with the cultivating castes. Instances occasionally occurred in which the children of a Râjpít by a Bhíl wife became Râjpîts. When Colonel Tod wrote, Râjpîts would still take food with Ujla Bhíls or those of pure aboriginal descent, and all castes would take water from them.3 But as Hinduism came to be more orthodox in Râjputâna, the Bhíls decended to the position of outcastes. Their custom of eating beef had always caused them to be much despised. A tradition is related that one day the god Mahâdeo or Siva, sick and unhappy, was reclining in a shady forest when a beautiful woman appeared, the first sight of whom effected a cure of all his complaints. An intercourse between the god and the strange female was established, the result of which was many children; one of whom, from infancy distinguished alike by his ugliness and vice, slew the favourite bull of Mahâdeo, for which crime he was expelled to the woods and mountains, and his descendants have ever since been stigmatised by the names of Bhíl and Nishâda.4 Nishâda is a term of contempt applied to the lowest outcastes. Major Hendley, writing in 1875, states: "Sometime since a Thâkur (chief) cut off the legs of two Bhíls, eaters of the sacred cow, and plunged the stumps into boiling oil."5 When the Marâthas began to occupy Central India they treated the Bhíls with great cruelty. A Bhíl caught in a disturbed part of the country was without inquiry flogged and hanged. Hundreds were thrown off high cliffs, and large bodies of them, assembled under promise of pardon, were beheaded or shot with guns. Their women were mutilated or smothered by smoke, and their children smashed to death against the stones.6 This treatment may to some extent have been deserved owing to the predatory habits and cruelty of the Bhíls, but its result was to make them utter savages with their hand against every man, as they believed that every one's was against them. From their strongholds in the hills they laid waste the plain country, holding villages and towns to ransom and driving off cattle; nor did any travellers pass with impunity through the hills except in convoys too large to be attacked. In Khândesh, during the disturbed period of the wars of Sindhia and Holkar, about A. D. 1800, the Bhíls betook themselves to highway robbery and lived in bands either in mountains or in villages immediately beneath them. The revenue contractors were unable or unwilling to spend money in the maintenance of soldiers to protect the country, and the Bhíls in a very short time became so bold as to appear in bands of hundreds and attack towns, carrying of either cattle or hostages, for whom they demanded handsome rensoms.7 In Gujarât another writer described the Bhíls and Kolis as hereditary and professional plunderers- 'Soldiers of the

1 History of the Marâthas , i. p. 28 2 See article. 3 Râjasthân , ii. p. 466 4 Malcolm, Memoir of central India , i. p. 518 5 An Account of the Bhíls , J. A. S. B . (1875), p. 369 6 Hyderâbâd Census Report (1891), p. 218. 7 The Khândesh Bhíl Corps , by Mr A. H. A. Simcox,

192 night,' as they themselves said they were.1 Malcolm said of them, after peace had been restored to Central India:2 "Measures are in progress that will, it is expected, soon complete the reformation of a class of men who, believing themselves doomed to be thieves and plunderers, have been confirmed in their destiny by the oppression and cruelty of neighbouring governments, increased by an avowed contempt for them as outcasts. The feeling this system of degradation has produced must be changed; and no effort has been left untried to restore this face of men to a better sense of their condition than that which they at present entertain. The common answer of a Bhíl when charged with theft or robbery is, 'I am not to blame; I am the thief of Mahâdeo'; in other words, 'My destiny as a thief has been fixed by God.'" The Bhíl chiefs, who were known as Bhumia, exercised the most absolute power, and their orders to commit the most atrocious crimes were obeyed by their ignorant but attached subjects without a conception on the part of the latter that they had an option when he whom they termed their Dhunni (Lord) issued the mandates.3 Firearms and swords were only used by the chiefs and headmen of the tribe, and their national weapon was the bamboo bow having the bowstring made from a thin strip of its elastic bark. The quiver was a piece of strong bamboo matting, and would contain sixty barbed arrows a yard long, and tipped with an iron spike either flattened and sharpened like a knife or rounded like a nail; other arrows, used for knocking over birds, had knob-like heads. Thus armed, the Bhíls would lie in wait in some deep ravine by the roadside, and an infernal yell announced their attack to the unwary traveller.4 Major Hendley states that according to tradition in the Mahâbhârata the god Krishna was killed by a Bhíl's arrow, when he was fighting against them in Gujarât with the Yâdavas; and on this account it was ordained that the Bhíl should never again be able to draw the bow with the forefinger of the right hand. "Times have changed since then, but I noticed in examining their hands that few could move the forefinger without the second finger; indeed the fingers appeared useless as independent members of the hands. In connection with this may be mentioned their apparent inability to distinguish colours or count numbers, due alone to their want of words to express themselves."5

General Outram And The Khândesh Bhíl Corps. The reclamation and pacification of the Bhíls is inseparably associated with the name of Lieutenant Sir James Outram, later knighted Sir James. The Khandesh Bhíl Corps was first raised by him in 1825, when Bhíl robber bands were being hunted down by small parties of troops, and those who were willing the surrender were granted a free pardon for past offences, and given grants of land for cultivation and advances for the purchase of seed and bullocks. When the first attempts to raise the corps were made, the Bhíls believed that the object was to link them in line like galley-slaves with a view to extirpate the race, that blood was in high demand as a medicine in the country of their foreign masters, and so on. Indulging the wild men with feasts and entertainments, and delighting them with his matchless urbanity, Captain Outram at length contrived to draw over to the cause nine recruits, one of whom was a notorious plunderer who had a short time before successfully robbed the officer commanding a detachment sent against him. This infant corps soon became strongly attached to the person of their new chief and entirely devoted to his wishes; their goodwill had been won by his kind and conciliatory manners, while their admiration and respect had been thoroughly roused and excited by his prowess and valour in the chase. On one occasion, it is recorded, word was brought to Outram of the presence of a panther in some prickly-pear shrubs on the side of a hill near his station. He went to shoot it with a friend, Outram being on foot and his friend on horseback searching through the bushes. When they closed in on the animal, Outram's friend fired and missed, on which the panther

1 Forbes, Râsmâla, i. p. 104. 2 Memoir of Central India , i. pp. 525,526. 3 Ibidem , i. p. 550 4 Hobson-Jobson , art. Bhíl. 5 An Account of the Bhíls , p. 369.

193 sprang forward roaring and seized Outram, and they rolled down the hill together. Being released from the claws of the furious beast for a moment, Outram with great presence of mind drew a pistol which he had with him, and shot the panther dead. The Bhíls, on seeing that he had been injured, were one and all loud in their grief and expressions of regret, when Outram quieted them with the remark, 'What do I care for the clawing of a cat?' and this saying long remained a proverb among the Bhíls.1 By his kindness and sympathy, listening freely to all that each single man in the corps had to say to him, Outram at length won their confidence, convinced them of his good faith and dissipated their fears of treachery. Soon the ranks of the corps became full, and for every vacant place there were numbers of applicants. The Bhíls freely hunted down and captured their friends and relations who continued to create disturbances, and brought them in for punishment. Outram managed to check their propensity for liquor by paying them every day just enough for their food, and giving them the balance of their pay at the end of the month, when some might have a drinking bout, but many preferred to spend the money on ornaments and articles of finery. With the assistance of the corps the marauding tendencies of the hill Bhíls were suppressed and tranquillity restored to Khândesh, which rapidly became one of the most fertile parts of India. During the Mutiny the Bhíl corps remained loyal, and did good service in checking the local outbursts which occurred in Khândesh. A second battalion was raised at this time, but was disbanded three years afterwards. After this the corps had little or nothing to do, and as the absence of fighting and the higher wages which could be obtained by ordinary labour ceased to render it attractive to the Bhíls, it was finally converted into police in 1891.2

Subdivisions. The Bhíls of the Central Provinces have now only two subdivisions, the Muhammadan Bhíls, who were forcibly converted to Islâm during the time of Aurângzeb, and the remainder, who though retaining many animistic beliefs and superstitions, have practically become Hindus. The Muhammadan Bhíls only number about 3000 out of 28,000. They are known as Tadvi, a name which was formerly applied to a Bhíl headman, and is said to be derived from tâd, meaning a separate branch or section. These Bhíls marry among themselves and not with any other Muhammadans. They retain many Hindu and animistic usages, and are scarcely Muhammadan in more than name. Both classes are divided into groups or septs, generally named after plants or animals to which they still show reverence. Thus the Jâmania sept, named after the jâman tree,3 will not cut or burn any part of this tree, and at their weddings the dresses of the bride and bridegroom are taken and rubbed against the tree before being worn. Similarly the Rohini sept worship the rohan 4 tree, the Avalia sept the aonla 5 tree, the Meheda sept the bahera 6 tree, and so on. The Mori sept worship the peacock. They go into the jungle and look for the tracks of a peacock, and spreading a piece of red cloth before the footprint, lay their offerings of grain upon it. Members of this sept may not be tattooed, because they think the splashes of colour on the peacock's feathers are tattoo-marks. Their women must veil themselves if they see a peacock, and they think that if any member of the sept irreverently treads on a peacock's foot-prints he will fall ill. The Ghodmârya (Horse- killer) sept may not tame a horse nor ride one. The Masrya sept will not kill or eat fish. The Sanyân or cat sept have a tradition that one of their ancestors was once chasing a cat, which ran for protection under a cover which had been put over the stone figure of their goddess. The goddess turned the cat into stone and sat on it, and since then members of the sept will not touch a cat except to save it from harm, and they will not eat anything which has been touched by a cat. The Ghattaya sept worship the grinding mill at their weddings and also on

1 The Khândesh Bhíl Corps , p. 71. 2 Ibidem , p. 275 3 Eugenia jambolana . 4 Soymida febrifuga . 5 Phyllanthus emblica . 6 Terminalia belerica .

194 festival days. The Solia sept, whose name is apparently derived from the sun, are split up into four subsepts: the Ada Solia, who hold their weddings at sunrise; the Japa Solia, who hold them at sunset; the Taria Solia, who hold them when stars have become visible after sunset; and the Tar Solia, who believe their name is connected with cotton thread and wrap several skeins of raw thread round the bride and bridegroom at the wedding ceremony. The Moharia sept worship the local goddess at the village of Moharia in Indore State, who is known as the Moharia Mâta; at their weddings they apply turmeric and oil to the ringers of the goddess before rubbing them on the bride and bridegroom. The Maoli sept worship a goddess of that name in Barwâni town. Her shrine is considered to be in the shape of a kind of grain-basket known as kilia , and members of the sept may never make or use baskets of this shape, nor may they be tattooed with representations of it. Women of the sept are not allowed to visit the shrine of the goddess, but may worship her at home. Several septs have the names of Râjpít clans, as Sesodia, Panwâr, Mori, and appear to have originated in mixed unions between Râjpîts and Bhíls.

Exogamy And Marriage Customs. A man must not marry in his own sept nor in the families of his mothers and grandmothers. The union of first cousins is thus prohibited, nor can girls be exchanged in marriage between two families. A wife's sister may also not be married to the same man during the wife's lifetime. The Muhammadan Bhíls permit a man to marry his maternal uncle's daughter, and though he cannot marry his wife's sister he may keep her as a concubine. Marriages may be infant or adult, but the former practice is becoming prevalent and girls are often wedded before they are eleven. Matches are arranged by the parents of the parties in consultation with the caste panchâyat; but in Bombay girls may select their own husbands, and they have also a recognised custom of elopement at the Tosina fair in the month of the Mahi Kântha. If a Bhíl can persuade a girl to cross the river there with him he may claim her as his wife; but if they are caught before getting across he is liable to be punished by the bride's father.1 The betrothal and wedding ceremonies now follow the ordinary ritual of the middle and lower castes in the Marâtha country.2 The bride must be younger then the bridegroom except in the case of a widow. A bride-price is paid which may vary from Rs. 9 to 20; in the case of Muhammadan Bhíls the bridegroom is said to give a dowry of Rs. 20 to 25. When the ovens are made with the sacred earth they roast some of the large millet juâri3 for the family feast, calling this Juâri Mâta or the grain goddess. Offerings of this are made to the family gods, and it is partaken of only by the members of the bride's and bridegroom's septs respectively at their houses. No outsider may even see this food being eaten. the leftovers of food, with the leaf-plates on which it was eaten, are buried inside the house, as it is believed that if they should fall into the hands of any outsider the death or blindness of one of the family will ensue. When the bridegroom reaches the bride's house he strikes the marriage-shed with a dagger or other sharp instrument. A goat is killed and he steps in its blood as he enters the shed. A day for the wedding is selected by the priest, but it may also take place on any Sunday in the eight fine months. If the wedding takes place on the eleventh day of Kârtik, that is, on the expiration of the four rainy months when marriages are forbidden, they make a little hut of eleven stalks of Juâri with their cobs in the shape of a cone, and the bride and bridegroom walk around this. The services of a Brâhman are not required for such a wedding. Sometimes the bridegroom is simply seated in a grain basket and the bride in a winnowing-fan; then their hands are joined as the sun is half set, and the marriage is completed. The bridegroom takes the basket and fan home with him. On the return of the wedding couple, their kankans or wristbands are taken off at Hanumân's temple. The Muhammadan Bhíls perform the same ceremonies as the Hindus, but at the end they call in the Kâzi or registrar, who repeats the Muhammadan prayers and records the dowry agreed

1 Bombay Gazetteer, Hindus of Gujarât , p. 309. 2 See article Kunbi. 3 Sorghum vulgare .

195 upon. The practice of the bridegroom serving for his wife is in force among both classes of Bhíls.

Window Marriage, Divorce And Polygamy. The remarriage of widows is permitted, but the widow may not marry any relative of her first husband. She returns to her father's house, and on her remarriage they obtain a bride-price of Rs. 40 or 50, a quarter of which goes in a feast to the tribesmen. The wedding of a widow is held on the Amâwas or last day of the dark fortnight of the month, or on a Sunday. A wife may be divorced for adultery without consulting the panchâyat . It is said that a wife cannot otherwise be divorced on any account, nor can woman divorce her husband, but she may desert him and go and live with a man. In this case all that is necessary is that the second husband should repay to the first as compensation the amount expended by the latter on his marriage with the woman. Polygamy is permitted, and a second wife is sometimes taken in order to obtain children, but this number is seldom of ever exceeded. It is stated that the Bhíl married women are generally chaste and faithful to their husbands, and any attempt to tamper with their virtue on the part of an outsider is strongly resented by the man.

Religion. The Bhíl worship the ordinary Hindu deities and the village godlings of the locality. The favourite both with Hindu and Muhammadan Bhíls is Khande Rao or Khandoba, the war-god of the Marâthas, who is often represented by a sword. The Muhammadans and the Hindu Bhíls also to a less extent worship the Pírs or spirits of Muhammadan saints at their tombs, of which there are a number in Nimâr. Major Hendley states that in Mewâr the seats or sthâns of the Bhíl gods are on the summits of high hills, and are represented by heaps of stones, solid or hollowed out in the centre, or mere platforms, in or near which are found numbers of clay or mud images of horses.1 In some places clay lamps are burnt in front of the images of horses, from which it may be concluded that the horse itself is or was worshipped as a god. Colonel Tod states that the Bhíls will eat nothing white in colour, as a white sheep or goat; and their grand adjuration is 'By the white ram.2' Sir A. Lyall3 says that their principal oath is 'by the dog.' The Bhíl sepoys told Major Hendley that they considered it of little use to go on worshipping their own gods, and the power of these had declined since the English became supreme. They thought the strong English gods were too much for the weak deities of their country, hence they were desirous of embracing Brâhmanism, which would also raise them in the social scale and give them a better chance of promotion in regiments where there were Brâhman officers.

Witchcraft And Amulets. They wear charms and amulets to keep off evil spirits; the charms are generally pieces of blue string with seven knots in them, which their witch-finder or Badwa ties, reciting an incantation on each; the knots were sometimes covered with metal to keep them undefiled and the charms were tied on at the Holi, Dasahra or some other festival.4 In Bombay the Bhíls still believe in witches as the agents of any misfortunes that may befall them. If a man was sick and thought some woman had bewítched him, the suspected woman was thrown into a stream or swung from a tree. If the branch broke and the woman fell and suffered serious injury, or if she could not swim across the stream and sank, she was considered to be innocent and efforts were made to save her. But if she escaped without injury she was held to be a witch, and it frequently happened that the woman would admit herself to be one either from fear of the infliction of a harder ordeal, or to keep up the belief in her powers as a witch, which often secured her a free supper of milk and chickens. She would then admit that she had really bewitched the sick man and undertake to cure him on some sacrifice being made.

1 loc . cit . p. 347. 2 Western India . 3 Asiatic Studies , first series, p. 174. 4 Asiatic Studies , first series, p. 352

196 If he recovered, the animal named by the witch was sacrificed and its blood given her to drink while still warm; either from fear or in order to keep up the character she would drink it, and would be permitted to stay on in the village. If, on the other hand, the sick person died, the witch would often be driven into the forest to die of hunger or to be devoured by wild animals.1 These practices have now disappeared in the Central Provinces, though occasionally murders of suspected witches amy still occur. The Bhíls are firm believers in omens, the nature of which is much the same as among the Hindus. When a Bhíl is persistently unlucky in hunting, he sometimes says 'Nat laga ,' meaning that some bad spirit is causing his ill-success. Then he will make an image of a man in the sand or dust of the road, or sometimes two images of a man and woman, and throwing straw or grass over the images set it alight, and pound it down of them with a stick with abusive yells. This he calls killing his bad luck.2 Major Hendley notes that the men danced before the different festivals and before battles. The men danced in a ring holding sticks and striking them against each other, much like the Baiga dance. Before battle they had a war-dance in which the performers were armed and imitated a combat. To be carried on the shoulders of one of the combatants was a great honour, perhaps because it symbolised being on horseback. The dance was probably in the nature of a magical rite, designed to obtain success in battle by going through an imitation of it beforehand. The priests are the chief physicians among the Bhíls, though most old men were supposed to know something about medicine.3

Funeral Rites. The dead are usually buried lying on the back, with the head pointing to the south. Cooked food is placed on the bier and deposited on the ground half-way to the cemetery. Upon returning, each family of the sept brings a wheaten cake to the mourners and these are eaten. On the third day they place on the grave a thick cake of wheaten flour, water in an earthen pot and tobacco or any other stimulant which the deceased was in the habit of using in his life.

Social Customs. The Hindu Bhíls say that they do not admit outsiders into the caste, but the Muhammadans will admit a man of any but the impure castes. The neophyte must be shaved and circumcised, and the Kâzi gives him some holy water to drink and teaches him the profession of belief in Islâm. If a man is not circumcised, the Tadvi or Muhammadan Bhíls will not bury his body. Both classes of Bhíls employ Brâhmans at their ceremonies. The tribe eat almost all kinds of flesh and drink liquor, but the Hindus now abjure beef and the Muhammadans pork. Some Bhíls now refuse to take the skins off dead cattle, but others will do so. The Bhíls will take food from any caste except the impure ones, and none except these castes will now take food from them. Temporary or permanent exclusion from caste is imposed for the same offences as among the Hindus.

Appearance And Characteristics. The typical Bhíl is small, dark, broad-nosed and ugly, but well built and active. The average height of 128 men measured by Major Hendley was 5 feet 6.4 inches. The hands are somewhat small and the legs fairly developed, those of the women being the best. "The Bhíl is an excellent woodsman, knows the shortest cuts over the Bhíls, can walk the roughest paths and climb the steepest crags without slipping or feeling distressed. He is often called in old Sanskrit works Venaputra, 'child of the forest,' or Pâl Indra, 'lord of the pass.' These names well describe his character. His country is approached through narrow defiles (pâl ), and through these none could pass without his permission. In former days he always levied rakhwâli or blackmail, and even now native travellers find him quite ready to assert what he deems his just rights. The Bhíl is a capital huntsman, tracking and marking down tigers,

1 Bombay gazetteer , Hindus of Gujarât , p. 302. 2 Bombay Gazetteer , vol. xii. p 87. 3 An Account of the Bhíls , pp. 362, 363.

197 panthers and bears, knowing all their haunts, the best places to shoot them, the paths they take and all those points so essential to success in big-game shooting; they will remember for years the spots where tigers have been disposed of, and all the circumstances connected with their deaths. The Bhíl will himself attack a leopard, and with his sword, aided by his friends, cut him to pieces."1 Their agility impressed the Hindus, and an old writer says: "Some Bhíl chieftains who attended the camp of Sidhrâj, king of Gujarât, astonished him with their feats of activity; in his army they seemed as the followers of Hanumân in attendance upon Râm."2

Occupation. The Bhíls have now had to abandon their free use of the forests, which was highly destructive in its effects, and their indiscriminate slaughter of game. Many of them live in the open country and have become farmservants and field labourers. A certain proportion are tenants, but very few own villages. Some of the Tadvi Bhíls, however, still retain villages which were originally granted free of revenue on condition of their keeping the hill-passes of the Satpíras open and safe for travellers. These are known as Hattiwâla. Bhíls also serve as village watchmen in Nimâr and the adjoining tracts of the Berâr Districts. Captain Forsyth, Writing in 1868, described the Bhíls as follows; "The Muhammadan Bhíls are with few exceptions a miserable lot, idle and thriftless, and steeped in the deadly vice of opium-eating. The unconverted Bhíls are held to be tolerably reliable. When they borrow money or stock for cultivation they seldom abscond fraudulently from their creditors, and this simple honesty of theirs tends, I fear, to keep numbers of them still in a state little above serfdom."3

Language The Bhíls have now entirely abandoned their own language and speak a corrupt dialect based on the Aryan vernaculars current around them. The Bhíl dialect is mainly derived from Gujarâti, but it is influenced by Mârwâri and Marâthi; In Nimâr especially it becomes a corrupt form of Marâthi. Bhíli, as this dialect is called, contains a number of non-Aryan words, some of which appear to come from the Mundâri, and others from the dravidian languages; but these are insufficient to form any basis for a deduction as to whether the Bhíls belonged to the Kolarian or Dravidian race.4

Bhíl.: -or Khândés`í dialects. The border country between Rajputâna, Central India, the Central Provinces, and the Bombay Presidency is inhabited by many tribes known under various names, such as Bhíls and so forth.

Area Within Which Bhil is Spoken. Their home may be described as an irregularly shaped triangle, with the apex in the Aravalli Hills, and the base roughly corresponding to the south-eastern frontier of the district of Khandesh. The frontier line goes south-westwards from the Aravalli Range, including the south-eastern corner of Sirohi, and, farther to the south, including Mahikantha and the eastern portion of Rewakantha. The population of the Surat District and the Surat Agency, and of the Nawsari division of the Baroda State, is mostly Bhíl, and we also find them in Thana and Jawhar, and even further south, in Ahmednagar. From the south of Dharampur, in the Surat Agency, the frontier of the Bhíl-Ahír country proper turns first eastward and then northward including the north-western strip of the district of Nasik. It then crosses Nasik, leaving the greater southern part of that district to Marâ†hí, follows the south-eastern frontier of Khandesh, includes a strip of the Melkapur Taluka of Buldana and the Burhanpur Tahªªsªªíl of Nimar.

1 Account of the Mewâr Bhíls , pp. 357, 358 2 Forbes , Râsmâla , i. p. 113. 3 Nimâr settlement Report , pp. 246. 4 Sir G. Grierson, Linguistic Survey of India , vol. ix. part iii. pp. 6-9.

198 Thence it turns northwards to the Nerbudda. In Bhopawar, however, Nimârí is spoken in a large, circular, area to the west of the Nimar district. The frontier line then follows the Nerbudda towards the east, and then goes northwards to the Vindhya, where it turns westwards up to near the town of Indore, whence it runs in an irregular bow up to the Aravalli Hills, including the western portion of Jhabua and Ratlam, Banswara and the west of Partabgarh, Dungarpur and the hilly tracts of the Mewar State. Outside of this territory we find Bhíl tribes in various districts of Berar, and similar dialects are spoken by wandering tribes in the Punjab, the United Provinces, and even in the Midnapore district of Bengal. Ahírs are found all over Northern India, but it is only in Cutch that their dialect resembles that spoken by the various Bhíl tribes and by the inhabitants of Khandesh.

Number Of Speakers. The number of speakers of the various dialects will be given in detail in the following pages. We shall here only state the general results. They are as follows:

Bhíl dialects 2,689,109 Khândâs``í (and its sub-dialects) 1,253,066 ------Total 3,942,175

Linguistic Boundaries. The dialects in question are mostly bounded towards the north and east by the various dialects of Râjasthâní, towards the south by Marâ†hí, and towards the west by Marâ†hí and Gujarâtí.

Relation To Other Indo-Aryan Vernaculars. Among the dialects spoken within the territory sketched above there is one, viz ., Khândés``í, which has hitherto been classed as a form of Marâ†hi. The ensuing pages will show, however, that on the one side, the so-called Bhíl dialects gradually merge into the language of Khandesh, on the other that Khândés``í itself is not a Marâ†hí dialect. Several suffixes, it is true, are identical with those used in Marâ†hí. But most suffixes and the basic form of the language more closely resemble Gujarâtí. The northern and eastern dialects connect Gujarâtí with Râjasthâní, while, in the west, there runs a continuous line of dialects southwards towards the broken Marâ†hí dialects of Thana. The influence of Marâ†hí increases as we go southwards, and these forms of speech are thus a link between that language and Gujarâtí. This latter language is, however, everywhere the original base, and the gradual approaching the principles of Marâ†hí in structure and inflexional system seems to be due to a secondary development. It should, however, be remembered that the inner Indo-Aryan languages and those of the outer circle have, at an early date, met and influenced each other in Gujarat and the adjoining districts.

Bhílí or Bhilóπí The Bhíls are known under a bewildering variety of names. On account of their dark colour they are often called Kâ¬í paraj , the black people. The only comprehensive name is, however, Bhíl , from the Sanskrit Bhilla .1 Ethnographically they are sometimes stated to be Dravidians, and sometimes to belong to the Mu∑πâ stock. Accounts of the various tribes are found in the Census Reports and the District Gazetteers. In this place we have only to do with their language. Whatever their original speech may have been, there can be no doubt that, at the present day, they speak an Aryan dialect, closely related to Gujarâtí and Râjasthâní.

Number Of Speakers. Bhílí has been reported from the following localities:

1 It is not impossible that Bhilla itself is really a Prakrit corruption of Abhíra , which has been adopted again, inthis form, by Sanskrit.

199 No. of speakers. Mewar State 101,500 Banswara and Kushalgarh 136,700 Dungarpur 67,000 Partabgarh 26,000 Western Malwa Agency 56,000 Bhopawar Agency 440,500 Mahikantha 10,200 The Dangs 970 Nasik 37,000 Ahmednagar 1,000 Panch Mahals 108,300 Rewakantha 101,000 Khandesh 55,000 Buldana 575 Ellichpur 252 Basim 375 Nimar 12,500 ------Total 1,163,872

To this total must be added the speakers of several minor dialects which have been honoured with separate names. The details will be found under the single dialects.

The general facts are as follows:-

Name of dialect Where spoken No. of speakers Ahírí Cutch 30,500 Anârya (i . e . 'Non-Aryan') or Pahâπí Rewakantha 34,500 Bâorí Punjab, Rajputana, and United Provinces 34,000 Barél Chhota Udaipur 1,000 Châ®a∑í Panch Mahals and Thana 1,200 Chódharí Surat and Nawsari 121,258 Déhâwalí Khandesh 45,000 ¸hóπiâ Surat and Thana 60,000 ¸ublí Thana and Jawhar 14,050 Gâma†í Surat and Nawsari 48,715 Girâsiâ Marwar and Sirohi 90,700 Hâbî®â United Provinces 2,596 Kón••ka∑í Nawsari, Surat, Surgana, Nasik, Khandesh. 232,613 Kó†lí Khandesh 40,000 Magarâ kí bólí Merwara 44,500 Mâwachí Merwara 30,000 Nâharí or Bâglaní Nasik and Surgana 13,000 Nâkaπí Rewakantha, Panch Mahals, and Surat 12,100 Panchâlí Buldana 560 Pâradhí Berar and Chanda 5,410 Pâwarí Khandesh 25,000 Ranâwat Nimar 500 Râní Bhíl Nawsari 87,540

200 Râ†haví Rewakantha 8,000 Siyâlgír Midnapore 120 Wâgaπí Rajputana, Central India, and Bombay Presidency. 525,375 Total 1,526,237

By adding these figures to those given above we arrive at the following grand total:- Bhílí 1,163,872 Minor Dialects 1,525,237 ------Total 2,689,109

Bhíl Dialects. The territory occupied by the Bhíl tribes is a rather extensive one, and there are, as might be expected, differences of dialect in the different parts of the Bhíl country. Towards the north and east the dialects of the Bhíls gradually merge into the various forms of Râjasthâní. In the west and south the influence of Marâ†hí gradually increases. Thus the southern forms of Kó©∑í are almost Marâ†hí and gradually merge into some broken dialects of the Northern Konkan, such as Vâralí, Phuπagí, Sâmvédí, and Vâπaval, which have now become real Marâ†hí dialects, though their original base must have resembled Bhílí. More towards the east the Bhíl dialects gradually approach Khândés``í, and at the Khandesh frontier, in Northern Nasik and in the Dangs, they are almost pure Khândés``í. The Bhíl dialects, therefore, form a continuous chain, between Râjasthâní, through Gujarâtí and Khândâs``í, and Marâ†hí. In most cases, however, the Marâ†hí influence is only of a quite superficial kind, and the general character of the dialect remains Gujarâtí. In Nimar, the Bhílí seems to have been more strongly influenced by Marâ†hí than elsewhere.

Non- Aryan Element. It should be borne in mind that the Bhíls are not of Aryan origin, and that they have, accordingly, adopted a foreign tongue. We cannot under such circumstances expect the same consistency as in the case of the genuine Aryan vernaculars, and as a matter of fact we often meet with a state of affairs that reminds us of the mixed languages of other aboriginal tribes, which have, in the course of time, adopted the speech of their Aryan neighbours. The Bhíls have sometimes been considered as originally a Dravidian race, and sometimes as belonging to the Mu∑πâ stock. We are not as yet in a position to settle the question. The various Bhíl dialects contain several words which do not appear to be of Aryan origin. Some of them seem to be Mu∑πâ; thus, †âhí , a cow; bódó , back. Compare Mu∑πârí tâhi , to milk a cow; Kha®iâ bód , back. In other cases there is apparently a certain connexion between Bhílí and Dravidian. Compare talpâ , head; †ó¬í , a cow; âkhaló , a bull; with Tamil taleí , head; G¡ó∑πí †âlí , a cow; Kanarese âka¬u , a cow, and so forth. It would not, however, be safe to base any conclusion on such stray instances of correspondence. We have not, as yet, sufficient insight into the relationship between the vocabularies of the Dravidian and Mu∑πâ families. There can be no doubt that both have several words in common, especially in those districts where the two families meet. We are not, however, justified on concluding from such facts that these forms of speech are derived from the same base. It seems much more probable that they are both to some extent mixed languages, representing the dialects of the different races which have, in the course of time, invaded India. Each new race to some extent absorbed the old inhabitants, whose language left its mark in the grammar and vocabulary of the new invaders. We must, therefore, leave the question about the origin of the non-Aryan element in Bhílí vocabulary open until further investigations have thrown more light upon the relationship of the different linguistic families of India. There are, on the other hand, a few points in Bhílí grammar which apparently show some connexion with Dravidian forms of speech. They are not, however, numerous and quite insufficient to prove a closer connexion. The principal ones are as follows. Soft aspirated

201 letters are commonly hardened. Thus, khóró , a horse; phâí , a brother. A similar hardening of unaspirated soft letters occurs in some Bhíl dialects. See below. This state of affairs can perhaps be compared with the hardening of initial soft consonants in Dravidian. Compare, for example, Telugu kâramu , Sanskrit gharma , heat.

The neuter gender is sometimes used to denote female beings, just as is the case in Telugu, Gó∑πí, etc. Thus, bairu™™ , a wife; bairê , wives. The same is also the case in the Marâ†hí dialects of the coast where Dravidian influence is probably. In this connexion we may also note the fact that the pronoun hâ , this, has the same form for the feminine and neuter singular, just as is the case with the demonstrative pronouns in Telugu. The pronoun du , this, can further be compared with Tamil a -du ,that i -du , this, and similar forms in other Dravidian languages. Finally, we may note the suffix n of the past tense. It is, of course, quite possible that this suffix is identical with the Aryan l in Marâ†hí and other languages. On the other hand, it can also be compared with the Dravidian suffix n . Compare Tamil óπu -nén, I ran. The Dravidian n -suffix has, in other dialects, a very wide use, and this fact can perhaps be adduced in order to explain the occurrence of the n -suffix in Bhílí in other tenses than the past. The Aryan l -suffix is, however, also used outside the past tense and was originally a common derivative suffix. It would not be safe to urge such points. They are not of sufficient importance to furnish a conclusive proof. We should, however, remember that the Bhíls belong to Western India where we might reasonably expect to find remnants of the old Dravidian population, and such strong grammatical characteristics as have just been mentioned make the supposition the more plausible that the Bhíls have once spoken a Dravidian dialect. It is even possible that their original language was a Mu∑πâ form of speech, Which was in its turn superseded by a Dravidian tongue.

Bhilâla.: - A small caste found in the Nimâr and Hoshangâbâd Districts of the Central Provinces and in Central India 1. The total strength of the Bhilâlas is about 150,000 persons, most of whom reside in the Bhopâwâr Agency, adjoining Nimâr. Only 15,000 were reported from the Central Provinces in 1911. The Bhilâlas are commonly considered, and the general belief may in their case be accepted as correct, to be a mixed caste sprung from the alliances of immigrant Râjputs with the Bhíls of the Central India hills. The original term was not improbably Bhílwâla, and may have been applied to those Râjpît chiefs, a numerous body, who acquired small estates in the Bhil country, or to those who took the daughters of Bhíl chieftains to wife, the second course being often no doubt a necessary preliminary to the first. Several Bhilâla families hold estates in Nima¡r and Indore, and their chiefs now claim to be pure Râjpîts. The principal Bhilâla houses, as those of Bhâmgarh, Selâni and Mandhâta, do not intermarry with the rest of the caste, but only among themselves and with other families of the same standing in Mâlwa and Holkar's Nimâr. On succession to the Gaddi or headship of the house, representatives of these families are marked with a tíka or badge on the forehead and are sometimes presented with a sword, and the investiture may be carried out by custom by the head of another house. Bhilâla landholders usually have the title of Rao or Râwat. They do not admit that a Bhilâla can now spring from intermarriage between a Râjpît and a Bhíl. The local Brâhmans will take water from them and they are occasionally invested with the sacred thread at the time of marriage. The Bhilâla Rao of Mandhâta is hereditary custodian of the great shrine of Siva at Onkâr Mandhâta on an island in the Nerbudda. According to the traditions of the family, their ancestor Bhârat Singh was a Chauhân Râjpít, who took Mandhâta from Nâthu Bhíl in A. D. 1165, and restored the worship of Siva to the island, which had been made inaccessible to pilgrims by the terrible deities, Kâli and Bhairava, devourers of human flesh. In such legends may be recognised the propagation of Hinduism by the Râjpít adventurers and the reconsecration of the aboriginal

1 See Russel. This article is based mainly on Captain Forsyth's Nimâr Settlement Report , and a paper by Mr. T. T. Korke, Pleader, Khandwa.

202 shrines to its deities. Bhârat Singh is said to have killed Nâthu Bhíl, but it is more probable that he only married his daughter and founded a Bhilâla family. Similar alliances have taken place among other tribes, as the Korku chiefs of the Gâwilgarh and Mahâdeo hills, and the Gond princes of Garha Mandla. The Bhilâlas generally resemble other Hindus in appearance, showing no marked signs of aboriginal descent. Very probably they have all an infusion of Râjpît blood, as the Râjpîts settled in the Bhíl country in some strength at an early period of history. The caste have, however, totemistic group names; they will eat fowls and drink liquor; and they bury their dead with the feet to the north, all these customs indicating a Dravidian origin. Their subordinate position in past times is shown by the fact that they will accept cooked food from a Kunbi or a Gíjar; and indeed the status of all except the chiefs families would naturally have been a low one, as they were practically the offspring of kept women. As already stated, the landowning families usually arrange alliances among themselves. Below these comes the body of the caste and below them is a group known as the Chhoti Tad or bastard Bhilâlas, to which are relegated the progeny of irregular unions and persons expelled from the caste for social offences.

Marriage. The caste, for the purpose of avoiding marriages between relations, are also divided into exogamous groups called kul or kuri , several of the names of which are of totemistic origin of derived from those of animals and plants. Members of the Jâmra kuri will not cut or burn the jâmun 1 tree; those of the Saniyâr kuri will not grow san -hemp, while the Astaryas revere the sona 2 tree and the pipalâday, the pípal tree. Some of the kuris have Râjpît sept names, as Mori, Baghel and Solanki. A man is forbidden to take a wife from within his own sept or that of his mother, and the union of first cousins is also prohibited. The customs of the Bhilâlas resemble those of the Kunbis and other cultivating castes. At their weddings four cart-yokes are arranged in a square, and inside this are placed two copper vessels filled with water and considered to represent the Ganges and Jumna. When the sun is half set, the bride and the bridegroom clasp hands and then walk seven times round the square of cart-yokes. The water of the pots is mixed and this is considered to represent the mingling of the bride's and bridegroom's personalities as the Ganges and Jumna meet at Allahâbâd. A sum of about Rs. 60 is usually paid by the parents of the bridegroom to those of the bride and is expended on the ceremony. The ordinary Bhilâlasl have, Mr. Korke states, a simple form of wedding which may be gone through without consulting a Brâhman on the Ekâdashi or eleventh of Kârtik (October); this is the day on which the gods awake from sleep and marks the commencement of the marriage season. A cone is erected of eleven plants of juâri, roots and all, and the couple simply walk round this seven times at night, when the marriage is complete. The remarriage of widows is permitted. The woman's forehead is marked with cowdung by another widow, probably as a rite of purification, and the cloths of the couple are tied together.

Social Customs. The caste commonly bury the dead and erect memorial stones at the heads of graves which they worship in the month of Chait (April), smearing them with vermilion and making an offering of flowers. This may either be a Dravidian usage or have been adopted by imitation from the Muhammadans. The caste worship the ordinary Hindu deities, but each family has a Kul-devi or household god, Mr. Korke remarks, to which they pay special reverence. The offerings made to the Kul-devi must be consumed by the family alone, but married daughters are allowed to participate. They employ Nimâri Brâhmans as their priests, and also have gurus or spiritual preceptors, who are Gosains or Bairâgis. They will take food cooked with water from Brâhmans, Râjpîts, Munda Gíjars and Tirole Kunbis. The last two groups are principal agricultural castes of the locality and the Bhilâlas are probably employed by them as farmservants, and hence accept cooked food from their masters in accordance with a common

1 Eugenia jambolana . 2 Bauhinia racemosa .

203 custom. The local Brâhmans of the Nâgar, Nâramdeo, Baísa and other subcastes will take water from the hand of a Bhilâla. Temporary excommunication from caste is imposed for the usual offences, such as going to jail, getting maggots in a wound, killing a cow, a dog, or a squirrel, committing homicide, being beaten by a man of low caste, selling shoes at a profit, committing adultery, and allowing a cow to die with a rope round its neck; and further, for touching the corpses of a cow, cat or horse, or a Barhai (carpenter) or Chamâr (tanner). They will not swear by a dog, a cat or a squirrel, and if either of the first two animals dies in a house, it is considered to be impure for a month and a quarter. The head of the caste committee has the designation of Mandloi, which is a territorial title borne by several families in Nimâr. He receives a share of the fine levied for the Sarni or purification ceremony, when a person temporarily expelled in readmitted into caste. Under the Mandloi is the Kotwâl whose business is to summon the members to the caste assemblies; he also is paid out of the fines and his office is hereditary.

Occupation And Character. The caste are cultivators, farmservants and field-labourers, and Bhilâla also usually held the office of Mânkar, a superior kind of Kotwâr or village watchman. The Mânkar did no dirty work and would not touch hides, but attended on any officer who came to the village and acted as a guide. Where there was a village sarai or rest-house, it was in charge of the Mânkar, who was frequently also known as zamíndâr. This may have been a recognition of the ancient rights of the Bhilâlas and Bhíls to the country.

Character. Captain Forsyth, Settlement Officer of Nimâr, described the Bhilâlas as proverbial for dishonesty in agricultural engagements and worse drunkards than any of the indigenous tribes.1 This judgment was probably somewhat too severe, but they are poor cultivators, and a Bhilâla's field may often be recognised by its slovenly appearance.2 A century ago Sir J. Malcolm also wrote very severely of the Bhilâlas: "The Bhilâla and Lundi chiefs were the only robbers in Mâlwa who, under no circumstances, travellers could trust. There are oaths of a sacred but obscure kind among those that are Râjpîts or who boast their blood, which are almost a disgrace to take, but which, they assert, the basest was never known to break before Mandrup Singh, a Bhilâla, and some of his associates, plunderers on the Nerbudda, set the precedent. The vanity of this race has lately been flattered by their having risen into such power and consideration that neighbouring Râjpît chiefs found it their interest to forget their prejudices and to condescend so far as to eat and drink with them. Hatti Singh, Grassia chief of Nowlâna, a Khíchi Râjpît, and several others in the vicinity cultivated the friendship of Nâdir, the late formidable Bhilâla robber-chief of the Vindhya range; and among other sacrifices made by the Râjpîts, was eating and drinking with him. On seeing this take place in my camp, I asked Hatti Singh whether he was not degraded by doing so; he said no, but that Nâdir was elevated."3

Bhopa.: -They go around singing about religion, myths and stories of gods and heroes. In Rajasthan they use scrolls of cloth (4’-6’ wide and 10’ to 20’ long) painted with mineral and herbal colours, to show the main scenes of the epics which they sing whole night. Their 'sacrificium laudis' keeps away diseases and epidemics.

1 Settlement Report (1869), para. 411. 2 Mr. Montgomerie's Nimâr Settlement Report . 3 Memoir of Central India , ii. p. 156.

204 Bhot.: -Bot, Bhotiya1--(Sanskrit, Bhota). --A tribe originally of Hill origin. In the Panjâb, those who in the Spiti and Lahîl Districts returned themselves as Bot, merely imply that they are Tibetans. The proper mane of the tract of Chinese territory, which we call Tibet, is Bodyul, or Bod land, and the people Bodpas, corrupted by the Indians into Bhotiyas--a name now applied to the Tibetans living on the borders between India and Tibet, while the people of Tibet Proper are called Buniyas, and the country Hundes. Boti is the name for the language, and Bot for the people; but they rarely apply it to themselves. "If they did," says Mr. Diack, "it would be like a Panjâbi describing himself as an Asiatic." There they consist of four classes--Jocho, Loupa, Chhazang, Loban.2 In these Provinces a tribe of the same name is found in small numbers in the Kumaun Division. There they usually call themselves Raghubansi Râjputs, and trace their origin to Bhutwal in Nepâl. They fix their emigration into Northern Oudh in the reign of Nawâb Asaf-ud-daula (1775-1797). They now present a curious instance of a tribe of non-Aryan origin who have in a very short time become completely Brahmanised. Among some of them the rule of exogamy is that they do not marry their sons into families to which, within the memory of man, they have given daughters as brides. But others have adopted the complete Hindu law of exogamy, and the creation of a full set of Brâhmanical gotras is probably only a question of time.

Marriage Ceremonies. These are of the usual Hindu type. When the bride's palanquin arrives at the house of her husband the gods are worshipped, and then she is admitted into the house. Some rice, silver, or gold, is put in the hands of the bridegroom, which he passes on to the bride. She places them in a winnowing fan, and makes them over as a present to the wife of the barber. This ceremony is known as Karja bharna. A man can have three wives and no more. The wife of the first marriage is the head wife, and she receives by inheritance a share one-tenth in excess of that given to the other wives. Marriage is generally performed under the age of fifteen, but no special age is fixed. No price is paid on either side. Concubinage and the levirate are allowed. There is no form of divorce, and though a man or woman is excommunicated if detected in illicit intercourse, they can be restored to caste on giving a tribal feast. The marriage ceremonies are in the standard form. Respectable people marry by the common charhana ritual, which begins with the ceremonies at the door of the bride's house (darwâza châr or duâr châr). When they come to the marriage shed (mânro), the officiating Brâhman does the usual worship. The bride's younger brother sprinkles parched grain over the pair, and receives from the father of the bride a sheet, which is known as lâi bhujuâ, or the remuneration for parching rice. Then the bridegroom rolls a stone over the parched rice on the ground, and this is known as the "line of the stone" (patthar kí lakír), which is the binding part of the ceremony. Then follows the tying of the clothes (ganth bandhan), and the circumambulation of the fire (bhanwari). Next comes the pâsa sâr, where the bride and bridegroom exchange jewels--a survival of the gambling custom which appears in the standard ritual. Then follows the feeding of the bridegroom (bâsi khilâna), and the feast to the clansmen. After the marriage is over, on an auspicious day, the grass used as thatch for the wedding shed and other things are thrown into a river or tank by the women. This is called maur serwâna, "the setting afloat of the marriage crown." The lower kind of marriage is called pair pîjna, in which all the ceremonies are done at the house of the husband. The last form, dharaua, is simple concubinage. Persons who have not been married till they are of advanced years very often keep a woman in this way.

Disposal Of The Dead. Children and those who die of cholera or snake-bite, are buried; others are cremated. There is no fixed burial-ground, and no ceremonies are performed at the time of burial. Richer people keep the ashes for removal to some sacred stream; others bury them. After the

1. See Crooke. Chiefly based on notes by Munshi Badri Nath, Deputy collector, Kheri, and Munshi Mahadeo Prasâd, Head Master, Zillah School, Pilibhit. 2. Panjâb Consus report, 1891, page 295, sq.

205 cremation a stalk of kusa grass is fixed in the ground near a tank, and water and sesamum is poured upon it for ten days so as to convert it into a refuge for the spirit until the rites are completed.

Religion. They employ Brâhmans as priests. Their chief object of worship is Devi, to whom goats are sacrificed. Young pigs are also occasionally offered to her. The worshippers make the sacrifice and consume the meat themselves. They observe the festivals. On the Barsâti Amâwas, on the fifteenth of Jeth, women worship a banyan tree by walking round it and tying a thread round the trunk. This they do to increase the life of their husbands. Women fast on the Tíja, or third day of Bhâdon. At the Godiya, on the fifth of Kârttik, they worship the dragon, Nâg Deota, and girls offer dolls to Devi and Mahâdeva. The care of malignant spirits is the business of the exorcisor (nâwat). Women revere the bargad or banyan tree, because its name (bargad) is supposed to be connected with their husbands (bar).

Social Customs. They do not eat turnips (shalgham). They will not touch a Dhobi, Bhangi, Chamâr, or Kori. They eat the flesh of goats, sheep, hare, deer, water-birds, and fish; they will not eat monkeys, cows, pigs, fowl, crocodiles, snakes, lizards, rats, or other vermin. Intoxicating liquors are forbidden; bhang and gânja are used, but excess is reprobated.

Occupation. Their occupation is agriculture; they do not hold land as zamíndârs but as tenants, and some work as field labourers. They practice no handicraft.

Bhotiya.: -See Bhot

Bhuiya.: -Bhuinhâr, Bhumia. 1 - The name of a very important tribe of Chota Nâgpur, Bengal and Orissa. The Bhuiyas numbered more than 22,000 persons in the Central Provinces in 1911, being mainly found in the Sargîja and Jashpur States. In Bengal and Bihâr the Bhuiyas' actual number is about half a million persons, while the Mîsahar and Khandait castes, both of whom are mainly derived from the Bhuiyas, total together well over a million. The name Bhuiya means 'Lord of the soil,' or 'belonging to the soil,' and is a Sanskrit derivative. The tribe have completely forgotten their original name, and adopted this designation conferred on them by the immigrant Aryans. The term Bhuiya, however, is also employed by other tribes and by some Hindus as a title for landholders, being practically equivalent to zamíndâr. And hence a certain confusion arises, and classes or individuals may have the name of Bhuiya without belonging to the tribe at all. "In most parts of Chota Nâgpur," Sir H. Risley says, " there is a well-known distinction between a Bhuiya by tribe and a Bhuiya by title. The Bhuiyas of Bonai and Keonjhar described by Colonel Dalton belong to the former category; the Bhuiya Mundas and Oraons to the latter. The distinction will be made somewhat clearer if it is explained that every ' tribal Bhuiya' will as a matter of course describe himself as Bhuiya, while a member of another tribe will only do so if he is speaking with reference to a question of land, or desires for some special reason to lay stress on his status as land-holder or agriculturist."

1. See Russell. This article is compiled partly from Colonel Dalton's Ethnology of Bengal and Sir H. Risley's Tribes and Castes of Bengal ; a monograph has also been furnished by Mr. B. C. Mazumdâr, pleader, Sambalpur, and papers by Mr. A. B. Napier, Deputy Commissioner, Raipur, and MR. Híra Lâl.

206 We further find in Bengal and Benâres a caste of landholders known as Bhuinhâr or Bâbhan, who are generally considered as a somewhat mixed and inferior group of Brâhman and Râjpît origin. Both Sir H. Risley and Mr. Crooke adopt this view and deny any connection between the Bhuinhârs and the Bhuiya tribes. Bâbhan appears to be a corrupt form of Brâhman. Mr. Mazumdâr, however, states that Bhuiya is never used in Bengali as an equivalent for zamíndâr or landholder, and he considers that the Bhuinhârs and also the Bârah Bhuiyas, a well-known group of twelve landholders of Eastern Bengal and Assam, belonged to the Bhuiya tribe. He adduces from Sir E. Gait's History of Assam the fact that the Chutias and Bhuiyas were dominant in that country prior to its conquest by the Ahoms in the thirteenth century, and considers that these Chutias gave their name to Chutia or Chota Nâgpur. I am unable to express any opinion on Mr. Mazumdâr's argument, and it is also unnecessary as the question does not concern the Central Provinces.

Distribution Of The Tribe. The principal home of the Bhuiya tribe proper is the south of the Chota Nâgpur plateau, comprised in the Gângpur, Bonai, Keonjhar and Bâmra States. "The chiefs of these States," Colonel Dalton says," now call themselves Râjpîts; if they be so, they are strangely isolated families of Râjpîts. The country for the most part belongs to the Bhuiya sub-proprietors. They are a privileged class, holding as hereditary the principal offices of the State, and are organised as a body of militia. The chiefs have no right to exercise any authority till they have received the tilak or token of investiture from their powerful Bhuiya vassals. Their position altogether renders their claim to be considered Râjpîts extremely doubtful, and the stories told to account for their acquisition of the dignity are palpable, though they certainly do not look like Râjpîts." Members of the tribe are the household servants of the Bâmra Râja's family, and it is said that the first Râja of Bâmra was a child of the Patna house, who was stolen from his home and anointed king of Bâmra by the Bhuiyas and Khonds. Similarly Colonel Dalton records the legend that the Bhuiyas twenty-seven generations ago stole a child of the Moharbhanj Râja's family, brought it up amongst them and made him their Râja. He was freely admitted to intercourse with Bhuiya girls, and the children of this intimacy are the progenitors of the Râjkuli branch of the tribe.. But they are not considered first among Bhuiyas because they are not of pure Bhuiya descent. Again the Râjas of Keonjhar are always installed by the rules of Chota Nâgpur and are recognised as the oldest inhabitants of the country. From this centre they have southern Bihâr, where large numbers of Bhuiyas are encountered on whom the opprobrious designation of Mîsahar or 'rat-eater' has been conferred by their Hindu neighbours. Others of the tribe who travelled south from Chota Nâgpur experienced more favourable conditions, and here the tendency has been for the Bhuiyas to rise rather than to decline in social status. "Some of their leading families," Sir H. Risley states, "have come to be chiefs of the petty States of Orissa, and have now sunk the Bhuiya in the Khandait or swordsman, a caste of admitted respectability in Orissa and likely in course of time to transform itself into some variety of Râjpît."

Example Of The Position Of The Aborigines In Hindu Society. The varying status of the Bhuiyas in Bihâr, Chota Nâgpîr and Orissa is a good instance of the different ways in which the primitive tribes have fared in contact with the immigrant Aryans. Where the country has been completely colonised and populated by Hindus, as in Bihâr, the aboriginal residents have commonly become transformed into village drudges, relegated to the meanest occupations, and despised as impure by the Hindu cultivators, like the Chamârs of northern India and the Mahârs of the Marâtha Districts. Where the Hindu immigration has only been partial and the forests have not been cleared, as in Chota Nâgpur and the Central Provinces, they may keep their old villages and tribal organisation and be admitted as a body into the hierarchy of caste, ranking above the impure castes but below the Hindu cultivators. This is the position of the Gonds, Baigas and other tribes in these tracts. While, if the Hindus come only as colonists and not as rulers, the indigenous residents may retain the overlordship of the soil and the landed proprietors among them may be formed into a caste

207 ranking with the good cultivating castes of the Aryans. Instances of such are the Khandaits of Orissa, the Binjhwârs of Chhattísgarh, and the Bhilâlas of Nimâr and Indore.

The Bhuiyas A Kolarian Tribe. The Bhuiyas have now entirely forgotten their own language and speak Hindu, Uriya and Bengali accordingly, as each is the dominant vernacular of their Hindu neighbours. They cannot therefore on the evidence of language be classified as a Munda or Kolarian or as a Dravidian tribe. Colonel Dalton was inclined to consider them as Dravidian:1 "Mr. Stirling in his account of Orissa classes them among the Kols; but there are no grounds that I know of for so connecting them. As I have said above, they appear to me to be linked with the Dravidian rather than with the Kolarian tribes." His account, however, does not appear to contain any further evidence in support of this view; and, on the other hand, he identifies the Bhuiyas with the Savars or Saonrs. Speaking of the Bendkars or Savars of Keonjhar, he says: "It is difficult to regard them other than as members of the great Bhuiya family, and thus connecting them we link the Bhuiyas and Savaras and give support to the conjecture that the former are Dravidian." But it is now shown in the Linguistic Survey that the Savars have a Munda dialect. In Chota Nâgpur this has been forgotten, and the tribe speak Hindi or Uriya like the Bhuiyas, but it remains in the hilly tracts of Ganjâm and Vizagapatâm.2 The Savaras must therefore be classed as a Munda or Kolarian tribe, and since Colonel Dalton identified the Bhuiyas with the Savars of Chota Nâgpur, his evidence appears really to be in favour of the Kolarian origin of the Bhuiyas. He notes further that the ceremony of naming children among the Bhuiyas is identical with that of the Mundas and Hos. 3 Mr. Mazumdâr writes: "Judging from the external appearances and general physical type one would be sure to mistake a Bhuiya for a Munda. Their habits and customs are essentially Mundâri. The Bhuiyas who live in and around the District of Mânbhîm are not much ashamed to admit they are Kol people; and Bhumia Kol is the name that has been given them there by the Hindus. The Mundas and Larka-Kols of Chota Nâgpur tell us that they first established themselves there by driving out the Bhuiyas; and it seems likely that the Bhuiyas formed the first batch of the Munda immigrants in Chota Nâgpur and became greatly Hinduised there, and on that account were not recognised by the Mundas as people of their kin." If the tradition of the Mundas and Kols is that they came to Chota Nâgpur after the Bhuiyas be accepted, and tradition on the point of priority of immigration is often trustworthy, then it follows that the Bhuiyas must be a Munda tribe. For the main distinction other than that of language between the Munda and Dravidian tribes is that immigrants. The claim of the Bhuiyas to be the earliest residents of Chota Nâgpur is supported by the fact that they officiate as priests in certain temples. Because in primitive religion the jurisdiction of the gods is entirely local, foreigners bringing their own gods with them are ignorant of the character and qualities of the local deities, with which the indigenous residents are, on the other hand, well acquainted. Hence the tendency of later settlers to employ these latter in the capacity of priests of the godlings of the earth, corn, forests and hills. Colonel Dalton Writes:4 "It is strange that these Hinduised Bhuiyas retain in their own hands the priestly duties of certain old shrines to the exclusion of Brâhmans. This custom has no doubt descended in Bhuiya families from the time when Brâhmans were not, or had obtained no footing amongst them, and when the religion of the land and the temples were not Hindu; they are now indeed dedicated to Hindu deities, but there are evidences of the temples having been originally occupied by other images. At some of these shrines human sacrifices were offered every third year and this continued till the country came under British rule." And again of the Pauri Bhuiyas of Keonjhar: "The Pauris dispute with the Juângs the claim to be the first settlers in Keonjhar, and boldly aver that the country belongs to them. They assert that the

1. Ethnology of Bengal , p. 140. 2. Linguistic Survey , vol. xiv. Munda and Dravidian Languages , p. 217. 3. Page 142. 4. Ibidem, p. 141.

208 Râja is of their creation and that the prerogative of installing every new Râja on his accession is theirs, and theirs alone. That the Hindu population of Keonjhar is in excess of the Pauris is admitted by all; even Brâhmans and Râjpîts respectfully acknowledge it, and the former by the addition of Brâhmanical rites to the wild ceremonies of the Bhuiyas affirm and sanctify their installation." In view of this evidence it seems a probable hypothesis that the Bhuiyas are the earliest residents of these parts of Chota Nâgpur and that they are a Kolarian tribe.

The Baigas And The Bhuiyas. Chhattísgarh, The Home Of The Baigas. There appears to be considerable reason for supposing that the Baiga tribe of the Central Provinces are really a branch of the Bhuiyas. Though the Baigas are now mainly returned from Mandla and Bâlâghât, it seems likely that these Districts were not their original home, and that they emigrated from Chhattísgarh into the Satpîra hills on the western borders of the plain. The hill country of Mandla and the Maikal range of B¡âlâghât form one of the wildest and most inhospitable tracts in the Province, and it is unlikely that the Baigas would have made their first settlements here and spread thence into the fertile plain of Chhattísgarh. Migration in the opposite direction would be more natural and probable. But it is fairly certain that the Baiga tribe were among the earliest if not the earliest residents of the Chhattísgarh plain and the hills north and east of it. The Bhaina, Bhunjia and Binjhwâr tribes who still reside in this country can all be recognised as offshoots of the Baigas. In the article on Bhaina it is shown that some of the oldest forts in Bilâspur are attributed to the Bhainas and a chief of this tribe is remembered as having ruled in Bilaigarh south of the Mahânadi. They are said to have been dominant in Pendra where they are still most numerous, and to have been expelled from Phuljhar in Raipur by the Gonds. The Binjhwârs or Binjhâls again are an aristocratic subdivision of the Baigas, belonging to the hills east of Chhattísgarh and the Uriya plain country of Sambalpur beyond them. The zamíndârs of Bodâsâmar, Râmpur, Bhatgaon and other estates to the south and east of the Chhattísgarh plain are members of this tribe. Both the Bhainas and Binjhwârs are frequently employed as priests of the village deities all over this area, and may therefore be considered as older residents than the Gond and Kawar tribes and the Hindus. Sir G. Grierson also states that the language of the Baigas of Mandla and Bâlâghât is a form of Chhattísgarhi, and this is fairly conclusive evidence of their first having belonged to Chhattísgarh. 1 It seems not unlikely that the Baigas retreated into the hills round Chhattígarh after the Hindu invasion and establishment of the Haihaya Râjpît dynasty of Ratanpur, which is now assigned to the ninth century of the Christian era; just as the Gonds retired from the Nerbudda valley and the Nâgpur plain before the Hindus several centuries later. Sir H. Risley states that the Binjhia moved from Ratanpur twenty generations ago.2

Baiga And Bhuiyas In Chhattísgarh. But the Chhattísgarh plain and the hills north and east of it are adjacent to and belong to the same tract of country as the Chota Nâgpur States, which are the home of the Bhuiyas. Sir H. Risley gives Baiga as a name for a sorcerer, and as a synonym or title of the Khairwâr tribe in Chota Nâgpur, possibly having reference to the idea that they, being among the original inhabitants of the country, are best qualified to play the part of sorcerer and propitiate the local gods. It has been suggested in the article on Khairwâr that the tribe is a mongrel offshoot of the Santâls and Cheros, but the point to be noticed here is the use of the term Baiga in Chota Nâgpur for a sorcerer; and a sorcerer may be taken as practically equivalent for a priest of the indigenous deities, all tribes who act in this capacity being considered as sorcerers by the Hindus. If the Bhuiyas of Chota Nâgpur had the title of Baiga, it is possible that it may have been substituted for the proper tribal name on their migration tot he central Provinces. Mr. Crooke distinguishes two tribes in Mírzâpur whom he calls the Bhuiyas and Bhuiyârs. The Bhuiya of Mírzâpur seem to be clearly a branch of the Bhuiya tribe of Chota

1. In the article on Binjhwâr, it was supposed that the Baigas migrated east from the Satpîra hills into Chhattísgarh. But the evidence adduced above appears to show that this view is incorrect. 2. Tribes and Castes , art. Binjhia.

209 Nâgpur, with whom their section-name establish their identity. 1 Mr. Crooke states that the Bhuiyas are distinguished with very great difficulty from the Bhuiyârs with who they are doubtless very closely connected.2 Of the Bhuiyârs3 he writes that the tribe is also known as Baiga, because large numbers of the aboriginal local priests are derived from this caste. He also states that "Most Bhuiyârs are Baigas and officiate in their own as well as allied tribes; in fact, as already stated, one general name for the tribe is Baiga."4 It seems not unlikely that these Bhuiyârs are the Baigas of the Central Provinces and that they went to Mírzâpur from here with the Gonds. Their original name may have been preserved or revived there, while it has dropped out of use in this Province. The name Baiga in the Central provinces is sometimes applied to members of other tribes who serve as village priests, and, as has already been seen, it is used in the same sense in Chota Nâgpur. The Baigas of Mandla are also known as Bhumia, which is only a variant of Bhuiya, having the same meaning of "lord of the soil" or "belonging to the soil." Both Bhuiya and Bhumia are in fact nearly equivalent to our word 'aboriginal,' and both are names given to the tribe by the Hindus and not originally that by which its members called themselves. It would be quite natural that a branch of the Bhuiyas, who settled in the Central provinces and were commonly employed as village priests by the Hindus and Gonds should have adopted the name of the office, Baiga, as their tribal designation; just as the title of Munda or village headman has become the name of one branch of the Kol tribe, and Bhumij, another term equivalent to Bhuiya, of a second branch. Mr. A. F. Hewitt, Settlement Officer of Raipur, considered that the Buniyas of that District were the same tribe as the Bhuiyas of the Garhjât States. 5 By Buniya he must apparently have meant the Bhunjia tribe of Raipur, who as already stated are an offshoot of the Baigas. Colonel Dalton describes the dances of the Bhuiyas of Chota Nâgpur as follows:6 " The men have each a wide kind of tambourine. They march round in a circle, beating these and singing a very simple melody in a minor key on four notes. The women dance opposite to them with their heads covered and bodies much inclined, touching each other like soldiers in line but not holding hands or wreathing arms like the Kols." This account applies very closely to the Sela and Rína dances of the Baigas. The Sela dance is danced by men only who similarly march round in a circle, though they do not carry tambourines in the Central Provinces. Here, however, they sometimes carry sticks and march round in opposite directions, passing in and out and hitting their sticks against each other as they meet, the movement being exactly like the grand chain in the Lancers. Similarly the Baiga women dance the Rína dance themselves, standing close to each other and bending forward, but not holding each other by the hands and arms, just as described by Colonel Dalton. The Gonds now also have the Sela and Rína dances, but admit that they are derived from the Baigas. Another point of some importance is that the Bhuiyas of Chota Nâgpur and the Baigas and the tribe derived from them in the Central Provinces have all completely abandoned their own language and speak a broken form of their Hindu neighbours. As has been seen, too, the Bhuiyas are commonly as priests in Chota Nâgpur, and there seems therefore to be a strong case for the original identity of the two tribes.7 Both the Baigas and Bhuiyas, however, have now become greatly mixed with the surrounding tribes, the Baigas of Mandla and Bâlâghât having a strong Gond element.

1. Crooke, Tribes and Castes , art. Bhuiya, para. 4. 2. Ibidem , para. 3. 3. Ibidem, art. Bhuiyâr, para. l. 4. Ibidem, para. 16. 5. Dalton, p. 147. 6. Page 142. 7. The question of the relation of the Baiga tribe to Mr. Crooke's Bhuiyârs was first raised by Mr. E. a. Blunt, Census Superintendent, United Provinces.

210 Tribal Subdivisions. In Singhbhîm the Bhuiyas call themselves Pâwan-bans or 'The Children of the Wind,' and in connection with Hanumân's title of Pâwan-ka-pît or 'The Son of the Wind,' are held to be the veritable apes of the Râmâyana who, under the leadership of Hanumân, the monkey-god, assisted the Aryan hero Râma on his expedition to Ceylon. This maybe compared with the name given to the Gonds of the Central Provinces of Râwanbansi, or descendants or Râwan, the idea being that their ancestors were the subjects of Râwan, the demon king of Ceylon, who was conquered by Râma. "All Bhuiyas," Air H. Risley states, "affect great reverence for the memory of Rikhmun or Rikhiasan, whom they regard, some as a patron deity, others as a mythical ancestor, whose name distinguishes one of the divisions of the tribe. It seems probable that in the earliest stage of belief Rikhmun was the bear-totem of a sept of the tribe, that later on he was transformed into an ancestral hero, and finally promoted to the rank of a tribal god." The Rikhiasan Mahatwâr subtribe of the Bhuiyas in the Central Provinces are named after this hero Rikhmun; the designation of Mahatwâr signifies that they are the Mahtos or leaders of the Bhuiyas. The Khandaits or Pâiks are another subcaste formed from those who became soldiers; in Orissa they are now, as already stated, a separate caste of fairly high rank. The Parja or 'subject people' are the ordinary Bhuiyas, probably those living in Hindu tracts. The Dhur or 'dust' Gonds, and the Parja Gonds of Bastar may be noted as a parallel in nomenclature. The Rautadi are a territorial group, taking their name from a place called Raotal. The Khandaits practise hypergamy with the Rautadi, taking daughters from them, but not giving their daughters to them. The Pâbudia or Mâdhai are the hill Bhuiyas, and are the most wild and backward portion of the tribe. Dalton writes of them in Keonjhar: "They are not bound to fight for the Râja, though they occasionally take up arms against him. Their duty is to attend on him and carry his loads when he travels about, and so long as they are satisfied with his person and his rule, no more willing or devoted subjects could be found. They are then in Keonjhar, as in Bonai, a race whom you cannot help liking and taking an interest in from the primitive simplicity of their customs, their amenability and their anxiety to oblige; but unsophisticated as they are they wield an extraordinary power in Keonjhar, and when they take it into their heads to use that power, the country may be said be governed by an oligarchy composed of the sixty chiefs of the Pawri Desh, the village in the name of the sixty chiefs throws the entire country into commotion, and the order verbally communicated in connection with it is as implicitly obeyed as if it emanated from the most potent despot." This knotted string is known as Gânthi. The Pâbudias say that their ancestors were twelve brothers belonging to Keonjhar, of whom eight went to an unknown country, while the remaining four divided among themselves all the territory of which they had knowledge, this being comprised in the four existing states of Keonjhar, Bâmra, Palahâra and Bonai. Any Pâbudia who takes up his residence permanently beyond the boundaries of these four states is considered to lose his caste, like Hindus in former times who went to dwell in the foreign country beyond the Indus. 1 But if the wandering Pâbudia returns in two years, and proves that he has not drunk water from any other caste, he is taken back into the fold. Other subdivisions are the Kâti or Khatti and the Bâthudia, these last being an inferior group who are said to be looked down on because they have taken food from other low castes. No doubt they are really the offspring of irregular unions.

Exogamous Septs. In Raigarh the Bhuiyas appear to have no exogamous divisions. When they wish to arrange a marriage they compare the family gods of the parties, and if these are not identical and there is no recollection of a common ancestor for the three generations, the union is permitted. In Sambalpur, however, Mr. Mazumdâr states, all Bhuiyas are divided into the following twelve septs: Thâkur, or the clan of royal blood; Saont, from sâmanta, a viceroy; Padhân, a village headman; Nâik, a military leader; Kâlo, wizard or priest; Dehri, also a priest; Chatria, one who carried the royal umbrella; Sâhu, a moneylender; Mâjhi, a headman; Behra,

1. Mr. Mazumdâr's monograph.

211 manager of the household; Amâta, counsellor; and Dandsena, a police official. The Dehrin sept still worship the village gods on behalf of the tribe.

Marriage Customs. Marriage is adult, but the more civilised Bhuiyas are gradually adopting Hindu usages, and parents arrange matches for their children while they still young. Among the Pâbudias some primitive customs survive. They have the same system as the Oraons, by which all the bachelors of the village sleep in one large dormitory; this is known as Dhângarbâsa, dhângar meaning a farmservant or young man, or Mândarghar, the house of the drums, because these instruments are kept in it. " Some villages," Colonel Dalton states, "have a Dhângaria bâsa, or house for maidens, which, strange to say, they are allowed to occupy without any one to look after them. They appear to have very great liberty, and slips of morality, so long as they are confined to the tribe, are not much heeded." This intimacy between boys and girls of the same village does not, however, commonly end in marriage, for which a partner should be sought from another village. For this purpose the girls go in a body, taking with them some ground rice decorated with flowers. They lay this before the elders of the village they have entered, saying, 'Keep this or throw it into the water, as you prefer.' the old men pick up the flowers, placing them behind their ears. In the evening all the boys of the village come and dance with the girls, with intervals for courtship, half the total number of couples dancing and sitting out alternately. This goes on all night, and in the morning any couples who have come to an understanding run away together for a day or two. The boy's father must present a rupee and a piece of cloth to the girl's mother, and the marriage is considered to be completed. Among the Pâbudia or Madhai Bhuiyas the bride-price consists of two bullocks or cows, one of which is given to the girl's father and the other to her brother. The boy's father makes the proposal for marriage, and the consent of the girl is necessary. At the wedding turmeric and rice are offered to the sun; some rice is then placed on the girl's head and turmeric rubbed on her body, and a brass ring is placed on her finger. The bridegroom's father says to him, "This girl is ours now: if in future she becomes one-eyed, lame or deaf, she will still be ours." The ceremony concludes with the usual feast and drinking bout. If the boy's father cannot afford the bride-price the couple sometimes run away from home for two or three days, when their parents go in search of them and they are brought back and married in the boys house.

Widow-Marriage And Divorce. A widow is often taken by the younger brother of the deceased husband, though no compulsion is exerted over her. But the match is common because the Bhuiyas have the survival of fraternal polyandry, which consists in allowing unmarried younger brothers to have access to an elder brother's wife during his lifetime. 1 Divorce is allowed for misconduct on the part of the wife or mutual disagreement.

Religion. The Bhuiyas commonly take as their principal deity the spirit of the nearest mountain overlooking their village, and make offerings to it of butter, rice and fowls. In April they present the first-fruits of the mango harvest. They venerate the sun as Dharam Deota, but no offerings are made to him. Nearly all Bhuiyas worship the cobra, and some of them call it their mother and think they are descended from it. They will not touch or kill a cobra, and do not swear by it. In Rairakhol they venerate a goddess, Rambha Devi, who may be a corn- goddess, as the practice of burning down successive patches of jungle and sowing seed on each for two or three years is here known as rambha . They think that the sun and moon are sentient beings, and that fire and lightning are the children of the sun, and the stars the children of the moon. One day the moon invited the sun to dinner and gave him very nice food, so that the sun asked what it was. The moon said she had cooked her own children, and on this the sun went home and cooked all his children and ate them, and this is reason

1. From Mr. Mazumdâr's monograph.

212 why there are no stars during they day. But his eldest son, fire, went and hid in a rengal tree, and his daughter, the lightning, darted hither and thither so that the sun could not catch her. And when night came again, and the stars came out, the sun saw how the moon had deceived him and cursed her, saying that she should die for fifteen days in every month. And this is the reason for the waxing and waning of the moon. Ever since this event fire has remained hidden in a rengal tree, and when the Bhuiyas want him they rub two pieces of its wood together and he comes out. This is the Bhuiya explanation of the production of fire from the friction of wood.

Religious Dancing. In the month of Kârkit (October), or the next month, they bring from the forest a branch of the karm tree and venerate it and perform the karma dance in front of it. They think that this worship and dance will cause the karma tree, the mango, the jack-fruit and the mahua to bear a full crop of fruit. Monday, Wednesday and Friday are considered the proper days for worshipping the deities, and children are often named on a Friday.

Funeral Rites And Inheritance. The dead are either buried or burnt, the corpse being placed always with the feet pointing to its native village. On the tenth day the soul of the dead person is called back to the house. But if a man is killed by a tiger or by falling from a tree no mourning is observed for him, and his soul is not brought back. To perish from snake-bite is considered a natural death, and in such cases the usual obsequies are awarded. This is probably because they revere the cobra as their first mother. The Pâbudia Bhuiyas throw four to eight annas' worth of copper on to the pyre or into the grave, and if the deceased had a cow some ghí or melted butter. No division of property can take place during the lifetime of either parent, when both have died the children divide the inheritance, the eldest son taking two shares and the others one equal share each.

Physical Appearance And Occupation. Colonel Dalton describes the Bhuiyas as "A dark-brown, well-proportioned race, with black, straight hair, plentiful on the head, but scant on the face, of middle height, figures well knit and capable of enduring great fatigue, but light-framed like the Hindu rather than presenting the usual muscular development of the hillman." Their dress is scanty, and in the Tributary States Dalton saves that the men and women all wear dresses of brown cotton cloth. This may be because white is a very conspicuous in the forests. They wear ornaments and beads, and distinctive in that neither men nor women practise tattooing, though in some localities this rule is not observed. In Bâmra the Bhuiya still practise shifting cultivation, for which they burn the forest growth from the hillsides and sow oilseeds in the fresh soil. This method of agriculture is called locally Khasrathumi. They obtain their lands free from the Râja in return for acting as luggage porters and coolies. In Bâmra they will not serve as farm- servants or labourers for hire, but elsewhere they are more docile.

Social Customs. A woman divorced for adultery is not again admitted to caste intercourse. Her parents take her to their village, where she has to live in a separate hut and earn her own livelihood. If any Bhuiya steals from a Kol, Gânda or Ghasia he is permanently put out of caste, while for killing a cow the period of expulsion is twelve years. The emblem of the Bhuiyas is a sword, in reference to their employment as soldiers, and this they affix to documents in place of their signature.

Bhulas.: -Originally they were hunters. A sub - section of the Doshadhs (see Risley). In Bihar Bhulas is another name of the Baheliyas.

213 Bhumij.: -Bhumij, a non-Aryan tribe of Manbhum, Singbhum1, and Western Bengal, classed by Dalton and others, mainly on linguistic grounds, as Kolarian. There can be no doubt that the Bhumij are closely, allied to, if not identical with, the Mundas; but there is little to show that they ever had a distinct language of their own. In 1850 Hodgson published a short vocabulary 2 prepared by Captain Haughton, then in political charge of Singbhum; but most of the words in this appear to be merely Ho. The most recent observer, Herr Nottrott, of Gossner's Mission, says 3 that the Bhumij resemble the Mundas most closely in speech and manners, but gives no specimens of their language, and does not say whether it differs sufficiently from Mundâri to be regarded as a separate dialect.

Origin. I am inclined myself to believe that the Bhumij are nothing more than a branch of the Mundas, who have spread to the east, mingled with the Hindus, and thus for the most part severed their connexion with the parent tribe. This hypothesis seems on the whole to be borne out by the facts observable at the present day. The Bhumij of Western Manbhum are beyond doubt pure Mundas. They inhabit the tract of the country which lies on both sides of the Subarnarakhâ river, bounded on the west by the edge of the Chota Nagpur plateau, on the east by the hill range of which Ajodhyâ is the crowning peak, on the south by the Singbhum hills, and on the north by the hills forming the boundary between Lohardagâ, Hazaribagh, and Manbhum districts. This region contains an enormous number of Mundâri graveyards, and may fairly be considered one of the very earliest settlements of the Munda race. The present inhabitants use the Mundâri language, call themselves Mundas, and observe all the customs current among their brethren on the plateau of Chota Nagpur proper. Thus, like all the Kolarians, they build no temples, but worship Buru in the form of a stone smeared with vermillion. A sarna is invariably composed of purely jungle trees, such as sâl and others, and can therefore be recognised with certainly as a fragment of the primeval forest, left standing to form an abiding place for the aboriginal deities. They observe the sarhul festival at the same time and in the same way as their kindred in Lohardagâ and Singbhum, and the lâyâ or priest is a recognised village official. Marriages take place when both parties are of mature age, and the betrothal of children is unknown. Like the Mundas of the plateau, they first burn their dead and then bury the remains under gravestones, some of which are of enormous size. On certain feast days small supplies of food and money are placed under these big stones to regale the dead, and are extracted early the next morning by low-caste Hindus.

On the eastern side of the Ajodhya range, which forms a complete barrier to ordinary communication, all is changed. Both the Mundâri and the title of Munda have dropped out of use, and the aborigines of this eastern tract call themselves Bhumij or Sardâr, and talk Bengali. The physical characteristics of the race, however, remain the same; and although they have adopted Hindu customs and are fast becoming Hindus, there can be no doubt that they are the descendants of the Mundas who first settled in the country, and were given the name of Bhumij (autochthon) by the Hindu immigrants who found them in possession of the soil. The early history of the tribe and its general characteristics are sketched by Colonel Dalton 4 in the following passages:

Early History. The Bhîmij of the Jungle Mahâls were once, under the nickname of chuâr (robbers), the terror of the surrounding districts, and their various outbreaks were called chuâris. On several

1 See Risley. 2. Bengal Journal, vol. xviii, part II, p. 967; Essays, vol. ii, p. 97. 3. Grammatik der Kolh-Sprache, p. 4. 4. Ethnology of Bengal, p. 174.

214 occasions since they came under the British rule they have shown how readily a chuâri may be improvised on very slight provocation. I do not know that on any occasion they rose, like the Mundâris, simply to redress their own wrongs. It was sometimes in support of a turbulent chief ambitious of obtaining power to which, according to the courts of law, he was not entitled; and it was sometimes to oppose the Government in a policy which they did not approve, though they may have had very little personal interest in the matter. Thus, in the year A.D. 1798, when the Pânchet estate was sold for arrears of revenue, they rose and violently disturbed the peace of the country till the sale was cancelled. After hostilities had continued for some time, in reply to a very pacific message sent to them by the officer commanding the troops, they asked if the Government of any one of the Bhîmij Jungle Mahâls was effected without a fight. In Dhalbhîm the Râjâ resisted the interference of the British power, and the Government set up a rival; but after various failures to establish authority they set him aside and negotiated terms with the rebel. In Barâbhîm there was at one time a disputed succession. The courts decided that the eldest born of Râjâ Vivikâ Nârâyan, though the son of the second wife, should succeed in preference to the son of the first wife, the Pât, Râní. The Bhîmij did not approve of the decision, and it was found necessary to send a military force to carry it out. This was the origin of the last disturbance, known as Gangâ Nârâyan's rebellion, which broke out in 1832. Laksman, the son of the Pât Râní alluded to above, continuing to oppose his brother, was arrested, and died in jail, leaving a son, Gangâ Nârâyan. On the death of Râjâ Raghunâth Sinh he also was succeeded by the son of his second Râní, who was declared by the Supreme Court to be heir, in opposition to a claim again set up by Mâdhab Sinh, the younger son, but the son of the Pât Râní; but failing in his suit, Mâdhab Sinh resigned himself to his fate, and was consoled by being appointed díuân, or prime minister, to his brother. In this capacity he made himself thoroughly unpopular, more especially an usurious money-lender and extortionate grain- dealer, and soon Gangâ Nârâyan found that, in opposing a man so detested, a majority of the people would side with him. Accordingly, in the month of April 1832 he, at the head of a large force of ghâtwâls, made an attack on Mâdhab Sinh and slew him. This foul crime was committed with great deliberation, cunning, and cruelty. Mâdhab was seized and carred off to the hills to be sacrificed. Gangâ Nârâyan himself first smote him with his battle-axe, then each sardâr ghâtwâl was compelled to discharge an arrow at him, and thus all the leading ghâtuâls became implicated in the plot. A system of plundering was then commenced, which soon drew to his standard all the chuârs -that is, all the Bhîmij of Barâbhîm and adjoining estates. He attacked Barâbâzâr, where the Râjâ lived, burned the Munsif's kâchâri and the police station, from which the police had fled, but three unfortunate peons (runners) of the Munsif's court were caught and killed. The officials and the police fell back on Bardwan, and for some time Gangâ Nârâyan had the country at his mercy. He sacked every place worth plundering; but in November following a force was collected, consisting of three regiments of Native Infantry and eight guns, and military operations against the insurgents commenced. They were soon driven to take refuge in the hills, but being pressed there also Gangâ Nârâyan fled into Singbhîm, and endeavoured to enlist in his favour the reputed invincible and irrepressible Larkâs. They were just then at issue with one of the chiefs, who claimed supremacy over a portion of them, the Thâkur of Kharsâwân; and though they were not unwilling to join in the row, they wished, before they committed themselves to Gangâ Nârâyan's leadership, to test his capacity to lead. They therefore demanded that he should in the first place make an attack on the fort of the Thâkur of Kharsâwân. In complying with this request he was killed, and the Thâkur had the pleasure of sending his head to Captain Wilkinson with a letter quite in the style of Falstaff.

"I have not been able to discover that the Bhîmij possess any independent traditions of migrations. Those who live in proximity to Chutiâ Nâgpur recognise no distinction between themselves and the Mundas. They intermarry and associate and coalesce in all matters indicating identity of race; for, though it may be said that they are not much troubled with caste prejudices, there is no portion of the old Indian population which is quite free from it. The Bhîmij farther east have become too Hinduised to acknowledge the caste attitudes, and

215 will not admit that they are in any way connected with the Mundas, Hos, or Santâls. It is pretty certain that the zamindârs of all these estates are of the same race as their people, though the only man among them whom I found sensible enough to acknowledge this was the Râjâ of Bâghmîndí; the others all call themselves Kshattriyas or Rajputs, but they are not acknowledged as such by any true scion of that illustrious stock. In claiming to be Rajputs they do not attempt to connect themselves with any of the recognised of miraculous production. The family legend of the Râjâ of Barâbhîm may be given as a specimen of their skill in making pedigrees:-"Nath Varâha and Kes Varâha, two brothers, quarrelled with their father, the Râjâ of Virât, of Virât, and settled at the Court of Vikramâditya. (This has some connection with the tradition of the adjoining estate of Pâtkum, the Râjâ of which claims descent from Vikramaditya.) Kes, the younger brother, was sawn into two pieces; and with his blood Vikram gave a tikâ or mark on the forehead to the elder brother, and a pair of umbrellas, and told him that all the country he could ride round in a day night should be his. Nath mounted his steed and accomplished a circuit of eight yojanas within the time specified in what is now Barâbhîm; and this must be all true, as the prints of his horse's hoofs are still visible. All the ghâtuâls (captains of the border and their men) of the Bhîmij part of Mânbhîm and Singbhîm districts are Bhîmij, which is a sure indication of their being the earliest settlers. They were the people (like the Mundârí Bhîinhârs in Chutiâ Nâgpur, the Bhuiyâs in Bonâi, Gângpur, Keunjhar, Keunjhar, etc., and Gonds in Sargîjâ and Udaipur) to whom the defence of the country was entrusted. The Bhîmij ghâtuâls in Mânbhîm have now, after all their escapades, settled down steadily to work as guardians of the peace. The Râjâ of the extensive zamindâri of Dhalbhîm is no doubt of Bhîmij extraction, but for him the Heralds' College of the period failed to manipulate a Râjput descent. His ancestor was a washerman, who afforded refuge to the goddess Kâlí when, as Rankíní, she fled from a demon in Pânchet. The goddess, in gratitude, gave the washerman a young Brâhmaní, a ward of her own to wife, and the Râjâs of Dhalbhîm are the descendants of this union. The origin of the story appears to be that a Bhîmij chief of Dhalbhîm, probably at the instigation of a Brâhman, stole from its shrine in Pânchet an image of was abstracted is shown at the village of Pârâ, near Puruliâ in Mânbhîm, and it became the popular object of worship in Dhalbhîm for all classes of people there. Rankíní especially rejoiced in human sacrifices. It is freely admitted that in former years children were frequently kidnapped and sacrificed at her shrine; and it cannot be very positively asserted that the practice of offering such victim has long been discontinued. At the shrine of this goddess a very cruel scene was enacted every year till 1865, when, with the concurrence of the zamíndâr , it was put a stop to. It was called the Bindaparab; and Gangâ Nârâyan probably had it in his mind when he so cruelly disposed of Mâdhab Sinh. At this parab two male buffaloes are driven into a small enclosure, and on a raised stage adjoining and overlooking it the Râjâ and suite take up their position. After some ceremonies the Râjâ and his purohit or family priest discharge arrows at the buffaloes, others follow their example, and the tormented and enraged beasts fall to and gore each other, whilst arrow after arrow is discharged. When he animals are past doing very much mischief, the people rush in and hack at them with battle-axes till they are dead. The Santâls and wild Kharriâs, it is said, took delight in this festival; but I have not heard a murmur at its discontinuance and this shows it had no great hold on the minds of the people. Many of the Bhîmij tribe are well off. Some of them, who are sardâr ghâtwâls, are in virtue of their proprietors of estates, comprising each from one to twenty manors; but as the most substantial tenants under them are also hereditary ghâtwâls rendering service and paying besides but a very low fixed rent, these ghâtwâlí estates are not so valuable to the proprietor as villages on the ordinary tenure would be. The Bhîmij live in commondious, well-built houses, and have all about them the comforts to which the better class of cultivators in Bengal are accustomed. Those who live quite amongst the Bengalis have retained few of their ancient customs; none, perhaps, except the great notional amusement, the gay meetings for dance and song both at their villages and jâtras, which are characteristic of all Kols. In appearance they are inferior to the Hos of Singbhîm and to the best of the Mundas of Chutiâ Nâgpur. They are short of stature, but strongly built, and, like the Santâls, rather inclined to fleshiness. In complexion they are variable, like the Mundas, ranging from a dark chocolate

216 to a light brown colour; they observe many of the Hindu festivals, but retain their sacred groves, in which they still sacrifice to the old gods. They have generally left off eating cow's flesh, in which their unreformed brethren in Singbhîm and Chutia Nâgpur indulge, but eat fowls. The Bhîmij have in a great degree lost the simplicity and truthfulness of character for which their cognates are generally distinguished. They have acquired from the Bengalí Hindus the propensity to lie, but they have not same assurance or powers of invention; and their lies are so transparent that they are easily detected."

Internal Structure. The internal structure of the Bhumij tribe is shown in Appendix I. The sub-tribes are numerous, and vary greatly in different districts. With the possible exception of the iron- smelting Shelo in Manbhum, the names of these groups seem to have reference to their supposed original settlements. It deserves notice that the tendency to form endogamous divisions seems to be stronger in outlying districts than it is at the recognised head-quarters of the tribe. Thus in Manbhum and Singbhum we find only one sub-tribe Shelo, which obviously got detached from the parent group by reason of its members adopting, or perhaps declining to abandon, the comparatively degraded occupation of iron-smelting. In Midnapur, or the other hand, the Bhumij settlements are of comparatively functional group of Shelo. The reason seems to be that when the stream of emigration is not absolutely continuous, successive sections of immigrants into distant parts of the country are affected in various degrees by the novel social influences to which they are exposed. Some groups become more rapidly Hinduised than others, and thus there arise divergences of usage in matters of food and drink, which constitute a bar to intermarriage, and in time lead to the formation of sub- tribes. these divisions often outlast the differences of custom and ritual from which they took their origin, and in some cases the prohibition of intermarriage comes to be withdrawn, and the names alone remain to show that such a prohibition was once on force. The exogamous divisions of the tribe are totemistic, and closely resemble those met with among the Mundas. The rule of exogamy is simple.

Marriage. A man may not marry a woman of his own sept, nor a woman who comes within the standard formula for reckoning prohibited degrees, calculated as a rule to three generations in the descending line, but sometimes extended to five where bhaiyâdi or mutual recognition of kinship has been maintained between the families. The aboriginal usage of adult-marriage still holds its ground among the Bhumij, though the wealthier members of the tribe prefer to marry their daughters as infants. The extreme view of the urgent necessity of early marriage is unknown among them, and it is thought no shame for a man to have a grown-up daughter unmarried in his house. Sexual intercourse before marriage is more or less recognised, it being understood that if a girl becomes pregnant arrangements will at once be made to marry her to the father of her child. Brides are bought for a price ranging usually from Rs. 3 to Rs. 12, and the wedding may take place, according to arrangement, at the house of either party. When, as is more usual, it is celebrated at the bride's house, a square space (marua ) is prepared in the courtyard (angan ) by daubing the ground with rice-water. In the centre of this space branches of mahuâ and sidha trees are planted, bound together with five cowrie shells (Cyproea moneta ) and five pieces of turmeric, and at the corners are set four earthen water-vessels connected by a cotton thread, which marks the boundary of the square. Each vessel is half filled with pulse, and covered with a concave lid, in which a small lamp burns. On the arrival of the bridegroom with his following of friends, he is led at once to the marwa and made to the sit on a bit of board (pira ). The bride is then brought in and given a similar seat on his left hand. A sort of mimic resistance to the introduction of the bride is often offered by her more distant female relatives and friends, who receive trifling presents for allowing her to pass.

After the bride has taken her seat and certain mantras or mystic formulae have been pronounced by the priest, usually a Bengal Brahman, the bridegroom proceeds to light the

217 lamps at the corners of the square. As fast as each lamp is lighted the bride blows it out, and this is repeated three, five, or seven times, as the case may be. The couple then return to their seats, and the bride is formally given to the bridegroom, appropriate mantras being recited at the time, and their right hands joined together by the officiating priest. Last of all, the bridegroom smears vermilion on the bride's forehead, and his clothes are knotted to hers, the knot being kept intact for three, four, five, or ten days, according to the custom of the family. At the end of that time they must rub themselves with turmeric and bathe, and the knot solemnly untied in the presence of the bridegroom's relations. No priest is present on this occasion. The Bhumij recognise polygamy, and in theory at least impose no limitation on the number of wives a man may have. The tribe, however, are for the most part poor, and their meagre standard of living proves an effectual bar to excessive indulgence in the luxury of polygamy. When a man has no children by his first wife, he usually marriages again if he can afford to do so; and it frequently happens that the second wife is a young widow, whom he marriages by the sanga ritual, paying a nominal bride-price and incurring far less expenditure than would be necessary in the event of his marrying a virgin.

Widow-marriage. Widow-marriage is freely permitted by the sanga ritual, in which a widow smears on the bride's forehead vermilion which the bridegroom has previously touched with his great toe. It is deemed right for a widow to marry her late husband's younger brother or cousin, if such an arrangement be feasible; and in the event of her marrying an outsider, she forfeits all claim to a share in her late husband's property and to the custody of any children she had with the first husband. The aversion to the practice of widow-marriages may perhaps be discerned in the fact that the children of widows by their second husbands experience some difficulty in getting married, and tend rather to form a class by themselves.

Divorce. The Bhumij of Manbhum allow divorce only when a woman has been guilty of adultery. A council of relations is called, who hear the evidence and determine whether the charge has been proved. If their finding is against the woman, her husband solemnly takes from her wrist the iron ring which is the visible sign of wedlock. Water is then poured on a sâl leaf, and the husband tears the wet leaf in two to symbolise separation. This ceremony is called pât pâni chirâ, 'the wet leaf rent,' and besides making the divorce absolute, relieves the husband from any claim by the wife for maintenance. He is himself socially impure after the ceremony until he has shaved and performed certain expiatory rites, the most important of which appears to be giving a feast to the relatives who came together to adjudicate on the case. A woman has no right to divorce her husband; and if neglected or ill-treated her only remedy is to run away with another man. Divorced wives may marry again by the sanga ritual, but their offspring by their second husband are at the same social disadvantage in respect of marriage as has been noticed above in referring to the children of widows. In both cases the sentiment is unquestionably due to the influence of Hinduism in modifying the original usages of the tribe.

Succession. In matters of inheritance ad succession the tribe usually affect to follow the school of Hindu law in vogue in their neighbourhood, and hardly any vestiges of special tribal custom can now be traced. Almost all Bhumij, however, give the eldest son an extra share (jethangs or bara angs ) when the property is divided; and the ghatuâli members of the tribe follow the local custom of primogeniture, the younger sons being provided for by small maintenance grants. If a man leaves no children, his widow takes a life-interest on the property.

Religion. The religion of the Bhumij ia flexible within certain limits, according to the social position and territorial status of the individuals concerned. Zamindars and well-to-do tenure-holders

218 employ Brahmans as their family priests, and offer sacrifices to Kali or Mahâmâyâ. The mass of the people revere the sun under the names of Sing-Bonga and Dharm, as the giver of harvests to men and the cause of all changes of seasons affecting their agricultural fortunes. They also worship a host of minor gods, among whom the following deserve special mention: (1) Jâhir-Buru, worshipped in the sacred grove of the village (jâhir-thân ) with offerings of goats, rice, and ghee at the Sarhul festival in the months of Baisakh (April-May) and Phâlgun (January-February). The lâyâ presides at the sacrifice, and the offerings are divided between him and the worshippers. Jâhir-Buru is supposed to be capable of blasting the crops if not duly propitiated, and her worship is a necessary preliminary to the commencement of the agricultural operations of the year. (2) Kârâkâtâ, (Kârâ = 'buffalo,' and Kâtâ = 'to cut') another agricultural deity, to whom buffaloes and goats are offered towards the commencement of the rains. The skin of the buffalo is taken by the worshippers; the horns form the perquisite of the lâyâ; while the Doms, who make music at the sacrifice, are allowed to carry off the flesh. In the case of goats, the lâyâ's share is one-third of the flesh. If Kârâkâtâ is neglected, it is believed there will be a failure of the rains. The cult of this deity, however, is not so universal as that of Jâhir-Buru. (3)Bâghut or Bâgh-Bhut, who protects his votaries from tigers, is worshipped in Kartick, (October-November) on the night of the Amâbasyâ or the day preceding it. The offerings are goats, fowls, ghee, rice, etc., which may be presented either in the homestead or on the high land (tânr ) close to the village. In the former case the head of the family officiates as priest; in the latter the lâyâ's services are enlisted, and he can claim a share of the offerings. (4)Grâm-Deota and Deoshâli, gods of village life, who ward off sickness and watch over the supply of water for drinking and irrigation of the crops. They are propitiated in Áshâr (July-August) with offerings of goats, fowls, and rice, at which lâyâs preside. (5)Buru, a mountain deity associated with many different hills throughout the Bhumij country, and worshipped for recovery from sickness and general prosperity on the first or second Mâgh. The head of the family or a lâyâ serves as priest. (6) Kudra and Bisaychandi are malignant ghosts of cannibalistic propensities, whom the lâyâs propitiate in the interests of the community. Private individuals do not worship them. (7) Pânchbahini and Bâradelâ are local deities worshipped by the Bankura Bhumij in much the same fashion as Jahir-Buru, the chief difference being that the offerings to Pânchbahini are she-goats and a kind of scent called mâthâghashâ, while only fowls are presented to Bâradelâ.

Festival With the Bhumij, as with only other non-Aryan tribes of Chota Nagpur, the Karam festival, Colonel Dalton's description of which is quoted in the article Oraon, seems to be especially popular. The Bhumij of Bankura district celebrate this feast in the latter half of the month Bhâdra corresponding roughly to the first half of September. A branch of the karam-tree (Nauclea parvifolia ) is planted by the lâyâ in the centre of the village dancing ground (âkhrâ ). At the foot of this, on the day of the festival, the unmarried girls of the villages throw various kinds of seed grain. These are carefully tended and watered from time to time so as to germinate by the Sankrânti or last day of the month, when the girls give the sprouting blades to each other, and wear them in their hair at the dance, which usually lasts the whole of the night.

Priests. The sacerdotal arrangements of the tribe have already been incidentally referred to. The upper classes employ Brahmans of their own, and ignore the cult of the earlier gods; while the mass of the tribe are guided in their regular observances by the teachings of the lâyâs or priests of the forest gods, and only call in the assistance of Brahmans on the comparatively rare occasions when it is deemed necessary to propitiate one of the standard Hindu deities. But the Brahman who serves the Bhumij zamindar or tenure-holder as a family priest takes a higher place in the local community of Brahmans than the casual Brahman who ministers to the spiritual needs of the ordinary cultivator. The former will call himself a Rarhi Kulin, and will be received on equal terms by all other members of the sacred order; while the latter

219 belongs to a much lower class, and associates with the comparatively degraded Brahmans who work for Kurmis and Dhobas.

Disposal of he dead. The funeral rites of he Bhumij are characteristic of, and lend strong support to the opinion that the tribe is merely a branch of the Mundas. On the death of a Bhumij his body is laid with the head to the south. The pyre is set well alight, the males go home, and the wife, sister, or other female relative of the deceased comes to the burning-place, carrying an earthen vessel of water. There she waits till the fire has burned down, quenches the ashes with water, and picks out and places in the vessel the fragments of bone left unconsumed. Some of these fragments are interred at the foot of a tulsi plant (Ocymum sanctum ) in the courtyard of the dead man's house, others are taken in the vessel to the original cemetery of his family.1 There a hole is dug and the vessel of bones placed inside, supported by three stones. The earth is then filled in, and a large flat stone over all, on which a fowl is sacrificed to ensure the repose of the dead. The spirits of those whose bones rest in the same place are solemnly informed that another has been added to their number, and are enjoined not to quarrel, but to abide peacefully in the land of the dead. The survivors then partake of a feast of rice dâl, and other vegetables prepared by the more distant relatives of the deceased. This strictly non-Aryan ritual has of late years been to some extent overlaid by observances borrowed from the regular Hindu srâddh. On the tenth day the mourners are shaved, and on the eleventh balls (pinda ) of rice, sesamum, molasses, and plantain are offered to ancestors under the supervision of a Brahman, who receives such presents as the means of the family permit them to give. A more primitive mode of appeasing the departed spirit is met with among the Shelo Bhumij. On the eleventh day after death the chief mourner beats a metal drinking- vessel with a stick, while another relation, standing by his side, calls loudly on the name of the dead. After a while a third man, unconnected with the family, and often a lâyâ, comes forward to impersonate the deceased, by whose name he is addressed, and asked what he wants to eat. Acting thus as the dead man's proxy, he mentions various articles of food, which are put before him. After making a regular meal he goes away, and the spirit of the deceased is believed to go with him. The relatives then finish the food prepared for the occasion.

Mention is made in the article on the Mundas of the custom by which the graves of the bhuinhârs, or representatives of these who first cleared the soil and founded the village, are marked by an upright stone pillar in addition to the horizontal slab which covers the bones of an ordinary man not descended from one of these pioneer families. Precisely the same distinction is made among the Bhumij ghatuâls of Manbhum between village sardârs, or holders of entire ghatwâli tenures, and the tâbidârs, or rural constables, who make up the rank and file of the ghatuâli force. The graves of the former are invariably distinguished by an upright monolith.

Police service. This singular correspondence of funeral usage, coupled with the fact that many of the Manbhum ghatwâls call themselves by the title bhuinhâr or bhuinyâ, suggests the conjecture that the ghatuâli tenures in the south of that district are a survival under different names and changed conditions of the ancient tribal holdings known in Lohardagâ as bhuinhâri. Personal service of various kinds is one of the oldest incidents of the bhuinhâri tenure, and it is not difficult to see how in a border district like Manbhum the character of this

1. The theory is that the bones should be taken to the village in which the ancestors of the deceased had the deceased had the status of bhuinhârs or first clearers of the soil; but this is not invariably acted up to and the rule is held to be sufficiently have been settled for a tolerably long time. It deserves notice that the Tamârhiâ Bhumij of Midnapur transport the bones of their dead to the great Munda cemetery at Chokahatu, the place of the burning in pargana Tamârh of Lohardagâ. No stronger proof could well be given of the identity of the Bhumij with the Mundas. The Desi Bhumij of Midnapur go to Kuchong, is Singbhum, and some of the Singbhum Bhumij to Suisa, in Bagmundi of Manbhum.

220 service might gradually be changed in accordance with local necessities until it came to take the form of the petty police functions which the ghatuâls perform, or are supposed to perform, at the present day. Their duties, it is true, are now discharged under the orders of Government, and not at the will of the zamindar, but this change has been brought about gradually, and is due partly to local disturbances, in which the Bhumij took the lead, and partly to the fact that the zamindars of Barabhum, originally the heads of the Bhumij community, have within the last hundred years assumed the style of Rajputs, and have spared no effort to sever their connexion with their own tribe. The antagonism thus set up between the chief and his retainers showed itself on his side by constant endeavours to resume their privileged tenures, and on theirs by steady resistance to his authority and assertion of their direct subordination to the Magistrate of the district. Thus in course of time it has come about that a number of very ancient tenures, representing in their inception the tribal rights of the first clearers of the soil, have been transformed into police jâgirs, and have recently been surveyed and demarcated at the cost of Government in the interest of the executive administration of the Manbhum district.

Occupation. The original occupation of the Manbhum Bhumij is believed by themselves to have been military service, and there can be little doubt that the bands of Chuârs or plunderers, who repeatedly overran the Midnapur district towards the end of last century, were largely recruited from this tribe. The circumstance, however, that they took a more or less prominent part in a series of marauding attacks on an unarmed and unwarlike population affords no ground for a belief in the existence among them of any real military instinct; and in fact they are conspicuous for the dislike of discipline, which is one of the prominent characteristics of the Kolarian races. For many years agriculture has been the sole profession of all the sub tribes except the iron-smelting Shelo. A few have engaged in petty trade, and some have emigrated to the tea districts of Assam. Their relations to the land are various. The zamindars of Barabhum, Dhalbhum, Manbhum, Patkum, and Bagmundi probably belong to the Bhumij tribe, though they now call themselves Rajputs. Next to them rank the sardar ghatwals of the large service-tenures known in Manbhum as tarafs. Three of these admit themselves to be Bhumij, while the fourth, Manmohan Singh, of Taraf Satarakhâni, now claims to be a Rajput, regardless of the fact that a few years ago his grandfather wrote an illustration of the facility with which brevet rank as a self-made Rajput may be obtained. Manmohan Singh keeps a Brahman to support his pretensions, and professes to be very particular in all matters of ceremonial observance. His descendants will doubtless obtain unquestioning recognition as local Rajputs, and will intermarry with families who have undergone the same process of transformation as themselves. The great bulk of the Bhumij, who are simple cultivators and labourers, stand on a far lower social level that the landholding members of the tribe. They rank somewhat below the Kurmi, and members of the higher castes will not take water from their hands. In their turn the Bhumij, though eating fowls and drinking spirituous liquors, look down upon Bauris, Bagdis, Doms, and Ghasis as more unclean feeders then themselves.

Bhumij.: -A dialect which is almost identical with Mu∑πârí is also spoken by the Bhumij tribe1 of Singbhum and neighbourhood. According to Mr. Risley, the Bhumij are probably 'nothing more than a branch of the Mu∑πâs who have spread to the east, mingled with the Hindîs, and thus for the most part severed their connection with the parent tribe.' According to information collected for the purposes of this survey they speak a separate dialect in the west of Singbhum, in the Orissa Tributary States, and in the Chota Nagpur Tributary States. At the last Census of 1901, speakers have also been returned from

1 Linguistic Survey of India

221 mindnapore and Manbhum, and, in small numbers, also from some other distracts of the Bengal Presidency. No information is available regarding the dialect of the Bhumij of Midnapore. It is probably Santâlí, and it is spoken in the west of the district. In Manbhum they are found in the west, and, according to Mr. Risley, speak Mu∑πârí. The Bhumij on the eastern side of the Ajodhya range speak Bengali. The Tamariâs are a sub-tribe of the Bhumij, who were originally settled in Pargana Tamar of Ranchi. Their dialect does not differ from that of the Bhumij proper. Other Tamariâs speak a dialect of Magahí. See Vol. v, Part ii, pp. 166 and ff. The number of speakers of Bhumij has been estimated for the purposes of this Survey as follows:- Orissa Tributary States- Morbhanj 39,693 Nayagarh 1,681 Nilgiri 321 ------41,695 Singbhum 30,000 Chota Nagpur Tributary States- Sarai Kala 5,900 Bonai 75 ------5,975 ------Total 77,660

Forty-three out of the 75 speakers in the Bonai State have been reported to speak Ku®mi Bhumij. No specimens have been forwarded from the State. It is, however, not probable that the different denomination connotes a difference of dialect. With regard to the Ku®mi caste compare Dr. Grierson's paper On the Kurmís of Bihâr , chutiâ Nâgpur , and Orissa . Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. lxvii, Part iii, 1893, pp. 110 and f. The following are the revised figures for the so-called Tamariâ Bhumij as estimated of this Survey:- Orissa Tributary States- Morbhanj 832 Nilgiri 586 ------Total 1,418

By adding these figures to those given above for Bhumij proper we arrive at the following total as estimated for this Survey:-

Bhumij proper 77,660 Tamariâ Bhumij 1,418 ------Total 79,078

The number of speakers returned at the Census of 1901 was follows:-

Midnapore 23,272 Hoogly 7 24-Parganas 963 Jalpaiguri 7 Pabna 206 Sonthal Parganas 1 Balasore 356

222 Manbhum 2,340 Singbhum 25,624 Orissa Tributary States 53,12 Chota Nagpur Tributary States 5,314 Assam 94 ------Total 111,304

This total includes the figures returned under the head of Tamariâ Bhumij, viz .:-

Singbhum 4,016 Orissa Tributary States 2,705 Chota Nagpur Tributary States 799 Assam 52 ------Total 7,572

It will be seen that Bhumij has been returned from several districts where the information collected for the purposes of the Linguistic Survey does not make any mention of such a dialect. The obvious reason is that Bhumij is not the name of a dialect but of a tribe, and it has not formerly been separately returned in districts where the Bhumij speak the same dialect as their neighbours. In the Orissa Tributary States, Singbhum, and the Chota Nagpur Tributary States, on the other hand, the principal Mu∑πâ languages are Santâlí and Hó, while the members of the Bhumij tribe mostly speak a dialect which is almost identical with Mu∑πârí. Some of them, however, apparently use the current Mu∑πâ language of their district. Thus the Bhumij vocabulary published by Hodgson in 1850 and prepared by Captain Haughton in Singbhum, is mainly Hó. The figures given above are therefore far from being certain, as in other similar cases when the name of a tribe has been used as the denomination of a dialect.

Bhunjia.: -A small Dravidian tribe residing in the Bindrânawâgarh and Khariâr zamíndâris of the Raipur District, and numbering about 7000 persons 1 . The tribe was not returned outside this area in 1911, but Sherring mentions them in a list of the hill tribes of the Jaipur zamíndâri of Vizagapatam, which touches the extreme south of Bindrânawâgarh. The Bhunjias are divided into two branches, Chaukhutia and Chinda, and the former have the following legend of their origin. On one occasion a Bhatra Gond named Bâchar cast a net into the Pairi river and brought out a stone. He threw the stone back into the river and cast his net again, but a second and yet a third time the stone came out. So he laid the stone on the bank of the river and went back to his house, and that night he dreamt that the stone was Bura Deo, the great God of the Gonds. So he said: 'If this dream be true let me draw in a deer in my net to -morrow for a sign,; and the next day the body of a deer appeared in his net. The stone then called upon the Gond to worship him as Bura Deo, but the Gond demurred to doing so himself, and said he would provide a substitute as a devotee. To this Bura Deo agreed, but said that B¡âchar, the Gond, must marry his daughter to the substituted worshipper. The Gond then set out to search for somebody, and in the village of Lafandi he found a Halba of the name of Konda, who was a cripple, deaf and dumb, blind, and a leper. He brought Konda to the stone, and on reaching it he was miraculously cured of all his ailments and gladly began to worship Bura Deo. He afterwards married the Gond's daughter and they had a son called Chaukhutia Bhunjia, who was the ancestor of the Chaukhutia division of the tribe. Now the term Chaukhutia in Chhattísgarhi signifies a bastard, and the story related above is obviously intended to signify that the Chaukhutia

1 See Russel. This article is based on papers by Mr. Híra Lâl, Mr. Gokul Prasâd, Tahsíldâr, Dhamtarí, Mr. Pyâre Lâl Misra of the Gazetteer office, and Munshi Ganpati Gíri, Superintendent, Bindrânawâgarh estate.

223 Bhunjias are of mixed descent form the Gonds and Halbas. It is clearly with this end in view that the Gond is made to decline to worship the stone himself and promise to find a substitute, an incident which is wholly unnatural and is simply dragged in to meet the case. The Chaukhutia subtribe especially worship Bura Deo, and sing a song relating to the finding of the stone in their marriage ceremony as follows: Johâr, Jhâr Thâkur Deota , Tumko lâgon , Do matia ghar men díne tumhâre nâm . Johâr , johâr Konda , Tumko lâgon , Do matia ghar men , etc . Johâr , johâr Bâchar jhâkar Tumko lâgon , etc . Johâr , johâr Bîdha Râja Tumko lâgon , etc . Johâr , johâr Lafandi Mâti Tumko lâgon , etc . Johâr , johâr Ánand Mâti Tumko lâgon , etc . which may be rendered: I make obeisance to thee, O Thâkur Deo, I bow down to thee ! In thy name have I placed two pots in my house (as a Mark of respect). I make obeisance to thee, O Konda Pujâri , I bow down to thee ¡ In thy name have I placed two pots in my house. I make obeisance to thee, O Bâchar Jhâkar ! In thy name have I placed two pots in my house. I make obeisance to thee, O Bîdha Râja ! In thy name have I placed two pots in my house. I make obeisance to thee, O Soil of Lafandi ! In thy name have I placed two pots in my house. I make obeisance to thee, O Happy to thee, O Happy Spot ! In thy name have I placed two pots in my house.

The song refers to the incidents in the story. Thâkur Deo is the title given to the divine stone, Konda is the Halba priest, and Bâchar the Gond who cast the net. Bîdha Râja, otherwise Singh Sei, is the Chief who was ruling in Bindrânawâgarh at the time. Lafandi the village where Konda Halba was found, and the Ánand Mâti or Happy Spot is that where the stone was taken out of the river. The majority of the sept-names returned are of Gond origin, and there seems no doubt that the Chaukhutias are, as the story says, of mixed descent form the Halbas and Gonds. It is noticeable, however, that the Bhunjias, though surrounded by Gonds on all sides, do not speak Gondi but a dialect of Hindi, which Sir G. Grierson considers to resemble that of the Halbas, and also describes as "A form of Chhattísgarhi which is practically the same as Baigâni. It is a jargon spoken by Binjhwârs, Bhumias and Bhunjias of Raipur, Raigarh, Sârangarh and Patna in the Central Provinces."1 The Binjhwârs also belong to the country of the Bhunjias, and one or two estates close to Bindrânawâgarh are held by members of this tribe. The Chinda division of the Bhunjias have a saying about themselves: 'Chinda Râja Bhunjia Pâik'; and they say that there was originally a Kamâr ruler of Bindrânawâgarh who was dispossessed by Chinda. The Kamârs are a small and very primitive tribe of the same locality. Pâik means a foot-soldier, and it seems therefore that the Bhunjias formed the levies of this Chinda, who may very probably have been one of themselves. The term Bhunjia may perhaps signify one who lives on the soil, from bhîm, the earth, and jia, dependent on. The word Birjia, a synonym for Binjhwâr, is similarly a corruption of bewar jia , and means one who is dependent on dahia or patch cultivation. Sir H. Risley gives Birjia, Binjhia and Binjhwâr2 as synonymous terms, and Bhunjia may be another corruption of the same sort. The Binjhwârs are a Hinduist offshoot of the ancient Baiga tribe, who may probably have been in possession of the hills bordering the Chhattísgarh plain as well as of the Satpîra range before the advent of the Gonds, as the term

1 From the Index of Languages and Dialects , furnished by Sir G. Grierson for the census. 2 Tribes and Castes of Bengal , art. Binjhia.

224 Baiga is employed for a village priest over a large part of this area. It thus seems not improbable that the Chinda Bhunjias may have been derived from the Binjhwârs, and this would account for the fact that the tribe speaks a dialect of Hindi and not Gondi. As already seen, the Chaukhutia subcaste appear to be of mixed origin from the Gonds and Halbas, and as the Chindas are probably descended from the Baigas, the Bhunjias may be considered to be an offshoot from these three important tribes.

Subdivisions. Of the two subtribes already mentioned, the Chaukhutia are recognised to be of illegitimate descent. As a consequence of this they strive to obtain increased social estimation by a ridiculously strict observance of the rules of ceremonial purity. If any man not of his own caste touches the hut where a Chaukhutia cooks his food, it is entirely abandoned and a fresh one built. At the time of the census they threatened to kill the enumerator if he touched their huts to affix the census number. Pegs had therefore to be planted in the ground a little in front of the huts and marked with their numbers. The Chaukhutia will not eat food cooked by other members of his own community, and this is a restriction found only among those of bastard descent, where man is suspicious of his neighbour's parentage. He will not take food from the hands of his own daughter after she is married; as soon as the ceremony is over her belongings are at once removed from the hut, and even the floor beneath the seat of the bride and bridegroom during the marriage ceremony is dug up and the surface earth thrown away to avoid any risk of defilement. Only when it is remembered that these rules are observed by people who do not wash themselves from one week's end to the other, and wear the same wisp of cloth about their loins until it comes to pieces, can the full absurdity of such customs as the above be appreciated. But the tendency appears to be of the same kind as the intense desire for respectability so often noticed among the lower classes in England. The Chindas, whose pedigree is more reliable, are far less particular about their social purity.

Marriage. As already stated, the exogamous divisions of the Bhunjias are derived from those of the Gonds. Among the Chaukhutias it is considered a great sin if the signs of puberty appear in a girl before she is married, and to avoid this, if no husband has been found for her, they perform a Kând Byâh. or 'Arrow Marriage': the girl walks seven times round an arrow fixed in the ground, and is given away without ceremony to the man who by previous arrangement has brought the arrow. If a girl of the Chinda group goes wrong with an outsider before marriage and becomes pregnant, the matter is hushed up, but she is a Chaukhutia, and it is said that she is finally expelled from the community, the same severe course being adopted even when she is not pregnant, if there is reason to suppose that the offence has been committed. A proposal for marriage among the Chaukhutias is made on the boy's behalf by two men who are known as Mahâlia and Jangâlia, and are supposed to represent a Nai (barber) and Dhímar (water-carrier), though they do not actually belong to these castes. As among the Gonda, the marriage takes place at the bridegroom's village, and the Mahâlia and Jangâlia act as stewards of the ceremony, and are entrusted with the rice, pulse, salt, oil and other provisions, the bridegroom's family having no function in the matter except to pay for them. The provisions are all stored in a separate hut, and when the time for the feast has come they are distributed raw to all the guests, each family of whom cook for themselves. The reason for this is, as already explained, that each one is afraid of losing status by eating with other members of the tribe. The marriage is solemnised by walking round the sacred post, and the ceremony is conducted by a hereditary priest known as Dânwâri, a member of the tribe, whose line it is believed will never become extinct. Among the Chinda Bhunjias the bride goes away with her husband, and in a short time returns with him to her parent's house for a few days, to make an offering to the deities. But the Chaukhutias will not allow her, after she has lived in her father-in-law's house, to return to her home. In future if she goes to visit her parents she must stay outside the house and cook her food separately. Widow-marriage and divorce are permitted, but a husband will often overlook transgressions on the part of his wife and only put her away when her conduct has

225 become an open scandal. In such a case he will either quietly leave house and wife and settle alone in another village, or have his wife informed by means of a neighbour that if she does not leave the village he will do so. It is not the custom to bring cases before the tribal committee or to claim damages. A special tie exists between a man and his sister's children. The marriage of a brother's son or daughter to a sister's daughter or son is considered the most suitable. A man will not allow his sister's children to eat the leavings of food on his plate, though his own children may do so. This is a special token of respect to his sister's children. He will not chastise his sister's children, even though they deserve it. And it is considered especially meritorious for a man to pay for the wedding ceremony of his sister's son or daughter.

Religion. Every third year in the month of Chait (March) the tribe offers a goat and a cocoanut to Mâta, the deity of cholera and smallpox. They bow daily to the sun with folded hands, and believe that he is of special assistance to them in the liquidation of debt, which the Bhunjias consider a primary obligation. When a debt has been paid off they offer a cocoanut to the sun as a mark of gratitude for his assistance. They also pay great reverence to the tortoise. They call the tortoise the footstool (pídha ) of God, and have adopted the Hindu theory that the earth is supported by a tortoise swimming in the midst of the ocean. Professor Tylor explains as follows how this belief arose:1 "To man in the lower levels of science the earth is a flat plain over which the sky is placed like a dome as the arched upper shell of the tortoise stands upon the flat plate below, and this is why the tortoise is the symbol or representative of the world." It is said that Bhunjia women are never allowed to sit either on a footstool or a bed-cot, because these are considered to be the seats of the deities. They consider it disrespectful to walk across the shadow of any elderly person, or to step over the body of any human being or revered object on the ground. If they do this inadvertently, they apologise to the person or thing. If a man falls from a tree he will offer a chicken to the tree-spirit.

Social Rules. The tribe will eat pork, but abstain from beef and the flesh of monkeys. Notwithstanding their strictness of social observance, they rank lower than the Gonds, and only the Kamârs will accept food from their hands. A man who has got maggots in a wound is purified by being given to drink water mixed with powdered turmeric, in which silver and copper rings have been dipped. Women are secluded during the menstrual period for as long as eight days, and during this time they may not enter the dwelling-hut nor touch any article belonging to it. The Bhunjias take their food on plates of leaves, and often a whole family will have only one brass vessel, which will be reserved for production on the visit of a guest. But no strangers can be admitted to the house, and a separate hut is kept in the village for their use. Here they are given uncooked grain and pulse, which they prepare for themselves. When the women go out to work they do not leave their babies in the house, but carry them tied up in a small rag under the arm. They have no knowledge of medicine and are too timid to enter a Government dispensary. Their panacea for most diseases is branding the skin with a hot iron, which is employed indifferently for headache, pains in the stomach and rheumatism. Mr. Pyâre Lâl notes that one of his informants had recently been branded for rheumatism on both knees and said that he felt much relief.

The Bhunjia also live in Maharashtra where their population is 1940 (1981 census).

Biloch.: -Baloch, Biluch. 2- Identified by Professor Max Müller with the Sanskrit mlechchha, "a foreigner, outcaste, non Aryan." The enumeration at the Census has failed to

1 Early History of Mankind , p. 341 2 See Crooke.

226 discriminate between two different though probably originally-allied races: the ordinary Biloch and the predatory Biloch or Rind of the Districts of the Upper Duâb. Another theory of the origin of he name is given by Colonel Möckler in a paper published in the Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal for 1893: "This paper is mainly concerned with the Rind, one of the tribes or clans inhabiting Balochistân. Their name signifies 'a turbulent, reckless, daring man.' They have never acknowledged the authority of any ruler in the country. The claim to be the true Baloch, and assert that they originally came from 'Alaf,' which is supposed by themselves and most other people to be Haleb or Aleppo, in Syria. They say that they are Arabs of the tribe of Quraish, and were driven out from Alaf by Yezid I., for assisting Husain, the martyr nephew of the Prophet Muhammad in 61 Hijrah. It is much more probable that they are the descendants of a certain Al Harith Al Alafi, that is, of Harith of the Alafi tribe, and of the Kahtauic stock of Arabs. He was the father of men, who, according to Tabary, in a blood feud killed an officer who had been appointed by Al Hajjâj, the Governor of Irâq, to take charge of Makran, in 65 Hijrah. They had come from Uman, and the murder took possession of Makran. Subsequently, about 86 Hijrah, they retired before a punitive force of All Hajjâj into Sindh, where their name is conspicuous in the annals of the country for the next 200 years or so. This, and other facts show that the Rinds really are of Arab descent, but that they did not come from Aleppo, but are descended from a man of the Alafi tribe who came from Uman; and that they are not of the Quraish but the Kahtan stock. On account of their undoubted Arab descent, the Rinds are held in very high respect by the other clans of Baluchistân who, therefore, all claim to be related to them, through one Jalâl Khân, an ancestor of the Rinds. With regard to the name Baloch, colonel Möckler suggests its identity with the Gedrosii of the Greeks. He says that the Baloch themselves explain their name by the phrase 'Baloch Badroch' (or Badrosh ). Here bad means 'evil,' and roch or rosh means 'day.' In Pahlavi or Zend qad is synonymous with bad; therefore Badrosh= gadrosh or gadros, whence the Greek Gedrosii. By the interchange of the liquids r and l, badroch would become badloch, out of which the d must naturally drop leaving the Baloch = the Gadrosii, or on the other hand, the proverbial expression (Badroch Baloch) may have been current in the time of the Greeks in the form of Baloch Gadrosh, and the Greeks confused the epithet with the name.

The latter would then be derived from Belus, King of Babylon, a derivation which is adopted by Professor Rawlinson."

The Ordinary Biloch. Of the ordinary Biloch Mr. Ibbetson writes1: "The Biloch presents in many respects a very strong contrast with his neighbour, the Pathân. The political organisation of each is tribal: but while the one yields a very large measure of obedience to a chief who is a sort of limited monarch, the other récognises no authority save that of a council of the tribe. Both have most of the virtues and many of the vices peculiar to a wild and semi-civilized life. To both hospitality is a sacred duty and the safety of the guest inviolable; both look upon the exaction of blood as the first duty of man; both strictly follow a code of honour of their own, though one very different from that of modern Europe; both believe in one God whose name is Allâh, and whose Prophet is Muhammad. But the one attacks his enemy from the front, the other behind; the one is bound by his promise, the other by his interests; in short the Biloch is less turbulent, less treacherous, less blood-thirsty, and less fanatical than the Pathân; he has less of God in his creed, and less of the devil in his nature. His frame is shorter and more spare and wiry than that of his neighbour to the north, though generations of independence have given to him a bold and manly bearing. Frank and open in his manners and without servility, fairly truthful when not corrupted by our looking upon courage as the highest virtue, the true Biloch of the Derajât frontier is one of the pleasantest men we have to deal with in the Panjâb. As a revenue-payer he is not so satisfactory, his want of industry and the

1. Panjab Ethnography , 193.

227 pride at which he looks upon manual labour as degrading, making him a poor husbandman. He is an expert rider; horse-racing is his national amusement, and the Biloch breed of horses is celebrated through-out Northern India. He is a thief by tradition and descent; but he has become much more honest under the civilising influences of our rule.

"His face is long and oval, his features finely cut, and his nose aquiline; he wears his hair long and usually in oily curls, and lets his bread and whiskers grow, and he is very filthy in person, considering cleanliness as a mark of effeminacy. He usually carries a sword, knife and shield, he wears a smock frock reaching to his heels and pleated about the waist, loose drawers and a long cotton scarf: and all these must be as white or as near it as possible, insomuch that he will not enter our army because he would there be obliged to wear a coloured uniform. His wife wears a sheet over her head, a long sort of nightgown reaching to her ankles, and wide drawers; her clothes may be red or white; and she plaits her hair in a long queue. As the true Biloch is nomad in his habits, he does not seclude his women, but he is extremely jealous of female honour. In cases of detected adultery the man is killed, and the woman hangs herself by order. Even on the war trail the women and children of his enemy are safe from him. The Biloch of the Hills lives in huts or temporary camps, and wanders with his herds from place to place. In the plains he has settled in small villages; but the houses are of the poorest possible description. When a male child is born to him, ass's dung in water, symbolical of pertinacity, is dropped from the point of a sword into his mouth before he is given the breast. A tally of lives is kept between the various tribes or families; but when the account grows complicated it can be settled by betrothals, or even by payment of cattle. The rules of inheritance do not follow the Islâmic law, but tend to keep the property in the family by confining succession to agnates. The tribes of the frontier they claim to be Quraishi Arabs by origin, while some hold them to be of Turkomân stock: their customs are said to support the latter theory; their features certainly favour the former."

The Criminal Biloch Of The North-Western Provinces. In the Muzaffarnagar District they are also known as Rind. "They originally emigrated from the Panjâb; that they are professional thieves of a dangerous character is now well established. They depart on their predatory tours assuming the character of faqírs, physicians, and teachers of he Qurân, and carry on their depredations at great distances as far southward as Ajmere and westward as Lahore. Some few in the Muzaffarnagar District have acquired landed property; but the rest may be said to have no ostensible means of livelihood and to be habitually absent. Their mode of robbery is not by violence, but by picking locks with needles. One thief makes an entry, receiving two-thirds of the property as his share, while his confederate, who sits outside to watch, receives one-third." 1 The same people there called Biloch are found in Ambâla and Karnâl. "During the rainy season the whole country is inundated for months. A more suitable strong-hold for a criminal tribe could not be imagined. They are almost certainly of true Biloch origin, and still give their tribal names as Rind, Lashari, Jatoi, and Korai. But they are by their habits quite distinct from both the land- owing Biloch and the camel-driver who is so commonly called Biloch simply because he is a camel-driver. They are described as coarse-looking men of a dark colour, living in a separate quarter, and with nothing to distinguish them from the scavenger caste except a profusion of stolen ornaments and similar property. They say that their ancestors once lived beyound Kasîr, in the Lahore District, but still keep camels and cultivate a little land as their ostensible occupation; but during a great part of the year they leave the women, who are strictly secluded at home, and wander about disguised as Fakirs or as butchers in search of sheep for sale, extending their excursions to great distances, and apparently to almost all parts of India."2

1. Report, Inspector-General of Police, North-Western Provinces, 1867 page 94 sq. 2. Ibbetson, loc. cit., para. 583.

228 Bind.: -Bind, Bin, Bhind, Bindu, a large non-Aryan caste of Behar in Œpper India1, employed in agriculture, earthwork, fishing, hunting, making saltpetre, and collecting indigenous drugs. Traditions current among the caste profess to trace their origin to the Vindhya Hills of Central India; and one of these legends tells how a traveller passing by the foot of the hills heard a strange flute-like sound coming out of a clump of bamboos. He cut a shoot and took from it a fleshy substance, which afterwards grew into a man, the supposed ancestor of the Binds. They myth seems to be of a totemistic character, but other traces of totemism are not forthcoming. Another story says that the Binda and Nuniâs were formerly all Binds, and that the present Nuniâs are the descendants of a Bind who consented to dig a grave for a Mahomedan king and was outcasted for doing so. Mr. Sherring treats the Binds as a branch of the Nuniâs; others regard the Nuniâs as a sub-caste of the Binds. The two castes are probably related in some way, but the evidence at present available does not enable us to determine with any approach to certainty which should be considered the parent group. It seems not improbable that the Binds may be a true aboriginal tribe, and the Nuniâs a functional group differentiated by taking to the manufacture of earth-salt. But this is mainly conjecture.

Marriage. The Binds of Behar are divided into two sub-castes-Khariât and Gondh. These again broken up into the mula or sections shown in the Appendix. The sections go by the male side, and the rule which forbids a man to marry a woman of his own section is supplemented by the standard formula mamerâ, chacherâ, etc., prohibiting intermarriage within certain degrees of collateral relationship. Binds admit both infant and adult-marriage, but the former is deemed more respectable, and all who can afford to do so endeavour to get their daughters married before they attain the age of puberty. Polygamy is permitted, but only to the limited extent that a man may marry a second wife in the event of the first proving barren. A widow is allowed to marry again, by the sagai form, but is expected to marry her deceased husband's younger brother or younger cousin, should such a relative exist. Under no circumstances may she marry her late husband's elder brother or elder cousin. For the rest she is subject to the same table of prohibited degrees that would have regulated her marriage as a virgin. Divorce is not allowed. If a woman goes wrong with a man of another caste, she is summarily turned adrift and becomes a prostitute, turns Mahomedan, or joins some religious sect of dubious morality. Indiscretions within the caste are, however, more leniently dealt with, and may be atoned for by certain modes of penance. In such cases the woman, after having made amends for her offence, returns to her husband. It should be added that the morals of the Bind woman are said to be by no means above reproach.

The marriage ceremony of the Binds presents no features of special interest, and has obviously been modelled in most points on the orthodox Hindu ritual. After the first negotiations have passed between the parents of the bride and bridegroom, the headman (manjan ) and the caste council (panchâyat) are consulted on the important question of prohibited degrees. This being settled, the next step is ghardekhi, an exchange of visits, at which the bridegroom's people see the bride, and vice versâ. In the course of the ghardekhi a date is fixed for tilak, when the bride's relatives come to the bridegroom's house and present to him a rupee, a new cloth, some cooking utensils, some betel leaves and areca-nut, and fix in the presence of the headman and some representatives of the caste council an auspicious date for the celebration of the marriage. The ceremony itself is substantially the same as hat described by Mr. Grierson at pages 362 seq, of Bihâr Peasant Life.

Religion. The religion of the Binds, so far as it is concerned with the greater gods of the Hindu pantheon, is equally wanting in individual character, and differs in no material particulars from the vulgar Hinduism of the lower castes of Behar. The external observances of

1 See Risley.

229 Brahmanism have been copied more of less accurately, while the esoteric doctrine, on which the whole body of symbolism depends, is entirely unknown to the votaries of the popular religion. Brahmans of the Maithil sub-caste preside at the worship of Siva as Bhagavat and of his consort as Jagadamba. Hanumân and the Narsingh avatâr of Vishnu are also held in reverence. But these greater gods are worshipped at comparatively rare intervals, and far greater attention is paid to rural godlings, such as Bandi, Sokhâ and Goraiyâ, to whom goats, boiled rice, cakes, and sweetmeats of various kinds are offered every Wednesday by the men of each household; the offerings being eaten afterwards by the members of the family and the deodi relatives who are connected with the family by reason of their sharing the same domestic worship. On Mondays and Fridays, in the months of Baisakh and Asâr, the earth- god Bhuia is appeased with sacrifices of goats, sheep, and rice boiled in milk. In Srâvan the Pânch Pir receive cakes and rice from the men, women, and children of the caste. Widows, however, may take no part in this rite. Mirâ Sâhib, a Mahomedan saint, and Lukmâyi, a vengeful goddess, who burns men's houses with fire, are also worshipped in due season. Twice a year the entire caste make offerings to Tarturwârâ of achchhat rice, flowers, betel leaves, and sweetmeats, which are afterwards divided among the caste brethren. The kul devatâ, or patron deity of all Binds is Kâsi Bâba, about whom the following story is told: A mysterious epidemic was carrying off the herds on the banks of the Ganges, and the ordinary expiatory sacrifices were ineffectual. One evening a clownish Ahir on going to the river saw a figure rinsing its mouth from time to time and making an unearthly sound with a conch shell. The lout, concluding that this must be the demon causing he epidemic, crept up and clubbed the unsuspecting bather. Kâsí Nâth was the name of the murdered Brahman; and as the cessation of the murrain coincided with his death, the low Hindustani caste have ever since regarded Kâsi Bâba as the maleficent spirit that sends disease among their cattle. Nowadays he is propitiated by the following curious ceremony: as soon as an infectious disease breaks forth, the village cattle are massed together and cotton seed sprinkled over them. The fattest and sleekest animal being singled out is severely beaten with rods. The herd, scared by the noise, scamper off to the nearest shelter, followed by the scape bull; and by this means it is thought the murrain is stayed. In ordinary times the Binds worship Kâsi Bâba in a simper fashion, each man in his own house, by presenting flowers, perfumes, and sweetmeats. The latter, after having done duty before the god, are eaten by his votary. Kâsi Bâba no doubt was a actual person who came by his end, if not exactly as told in the legend, at least in some tragic fashion which led to his being elevated to the rank of a god. In some of the other objects of the rural worship we may perhaps see survivals of the primitive animism which formed the religion of the aborigines of India before their insensible conversion to Brahmanism. Some of the tribal deities were, as we know, promoted to seats in the Hindu pantheon; others, whose position was less prominent and whose hold on the mind of the people was weaker, got thrust into the background as patrons of various rural events.

Occupation. Some of the Binds in Behar possess occupancy holdings, but for the most part they are non- occupancy raiyats or landless day-labourers paid in cash or kind. Fishing, well-sinking, building mud walls, mat and basket-making, preparing saltpetre, and doing earthwork on roads and tanks, are among their chief occupations. A few of the more enterprising members of the caste have risen to be traders, and visit Bengal during the cold season with boat-loads of wheat, pulse, and gram. Binds, or Râwats as they are commonly addressed, rank socially with Koiris, Gangotas, etc., and have Maithil Brahmans for their priests. In Ghazipur, says Dr. Wise, they are considered a pure caste, and in Shâhâbâd they are employed by Brahmans as water-carriers. Their status, however, in relation to Brahmans as regards water and pakki articles of food seems to vary in different districts. In Champâran and Chota Nagpur, for example, I am informed that Brahmans will take water and sweetmeats from the hands of Bind, while in Shâhâbâd and Gya this appears not to be the case. In view of the fact that Binds freely indulge in spirit-drinking, eat crocodiles and field-rats like the Musahars, and are very fond of pork when they can get it, I think it likely that the rule is for them to be deemed impure.

230 Binds in Eastern Bengal. Scattered colonies of Binds are also found along the great rivers of Central and Eastern Bengal. In Dacca they recognise three subdivisions-Jutaut Binds, Nîn Binds, and Bin. The first is the most aristocratic, while those belonging to the second are degraded from working as palanquin-bearers, manufactures of salt (nîn), diggers, and, it is said, grave-diggers. Representatives of the Bin division are rarely met with, and I am inclined to doubt its existence. These settlers, who are distinguished by the title Chaudhri, lead an irregular life, eating pork and drinking spirits freely. Being debarred by reason of having settled in Bengal from intermarriage with the Binds of Behar and Upper India, they often find it difficult to procure wives from the small expatriated communities along the Padma. Some cultivate the soil, others kill mullet with the harpoon or catch them with sirki screens , like the beruâ. Another occupation is cutting tamarisk (jhâu ) on the sandbanks to the Padma and selling it for fire wood. By Binds, too, are made the best mud brasiers or chîlhâs, used on board all native boats for cooking. Many are cunning sportsmen, and during December and January net great numbers of wild fowl and snipe. After the rice harvest the Binds wander about the country, digging up the stores of rice accumulated by field-rats in their burrows. From four to six pounds of grain are usually found, but even this quantity is sometimes exceeded. It is said that the Binds feast on the rats; but this they deny, explaining that to do so would be to reduce the next year's find of grain.

A Dasnâmi Gosâin periodically visits the Dacca Binds, acting as their Guru, while a degraded Kanaujia Brahman officiates as purohit. Many of the Bengali Binds belong to the Panch Piriya sect, others worship Siva, and at the Mahâbalí festival sacrifice ram instead of the usual he- goat. At the Ganga Pîja a swine is offered to Jalka Devi, the popular goddess of the Chamârs. Kârâmat Ali and the Farazí Maulavís have of late years converted many of these outcaste Binds, but the village Muhammadans will not as yet associate with them. These converts are usually styled by the peasantry Chayli, from the Bengali word for the berâ, or fish-trap.

Binds.: -They live in the North of India. They are considered a pre-Aryan caste. They work as agricultural casual labour, fishermen and basket-makers.

Bírhâ®.: -literally means 'Forest-man.'1 According to Mr. Risley, they are 'a small Draviπian tribe of Chota Nagpur who live in the jungle in tiny huts made of branches of trees and leaves, and out a miserable living by snaring hares and monkeys, and collecting jungle products, especially the bark of the chob creeper (Bauhinia scandens), from which a coarse kind of rope is made. They claim to be of the same race as the Kharwars.' According to information collected for the purpose of this survey, a dialect called Bírhâ® was spoken in Hazaribagh, Ranchi, and Singbhum. Two hundred speakers were also returned from Palamau, but they have since left the district. No estimates of the number of speakers were forwarded from Hazaribagh and Singbhum, and the Census figures for the tribe have, therefore, been taken instead. It was also stated that the dialect was spoken by 500 individuals in the Jashpur State. The specimen forwarded from that State has, however, turned out to be written in Kha®iâ, and the Bírhâ® dialect of Jashpur will therefore be dealt with in connexion with that form of speech. At the last Census of 1901, some speakers of Bírhâ® were also returned from Manbhum. The numbers are everywhere small. The revised figures are as follows:

Hazaribagh 717

1 See Linguistic Survey of India.

231 Ranchi 504 Singbhum 13 ------Total 1,234

The corresponding figures at the Census of 1901 were as follows:

Hazaribagh 180 Ranchi 129 Manbhum 44 Singbhum 173 ------Total 526

Some few Bírhâ®s are also found in other districts, such as the Sonthal Parganas, but no estimates are available, and their number is unimportant.

The dialect of the Bírhâ®s is not the same in all places. In Ranchi it does not differ much from Mu∑πârí; in the Sonthal Parganas it has come under the influence of Santâlí and its sub- dialects. On the whole, however, Bírhâ® is more closely connected with Mu∑πârí than with Santâlí. The tribe has probably been more numerous in former days than it is now, and it is probably only a question of time when the Bírhâ® dialect will cease to exist.

Pronunciation.- The cerebral ® is commonly changed to r in the Sonthal Parganas; thus, Har man; órak ', house; dîrîp ', sit. Compare Kârmâlí and Mâhlé.

Inflexional system.- The declension of nouns and pronouns is the same as in Mu∑πârí. The suffix of the dual is kín; thus, âpót-kín, 'two fathers.' The inanimate form of the genitive suffix is sometimes used when the governing noun denotes an animate being, and vice versâ . Thus, míat ' hâ®â -ak ' bâreâ kó®â (hapan-kíntâhi-ken-â-kín , 'one of two male children were.' Note also the suffix riních ' in the list; tímín din-riních ', 'of how many days?' 'how old ?' íñ-riních , (and íñ-iních '), 'my.' It is formed from the locative suffix ré by adding n and ích '. In Santâlí the suffix rinich has got the special meaning of 'wife'; thus, Paªª∑πu-rinich ', Pa∑πu's wife. The conjugation of verbs is mainly the same as in Mu∑πârí. The copula or verb substantive is tan and kan in Ranchi, and kan in the Sonthal Parganas. The present tense of finite verbs is given in the list only; thus, rî-y-atâ-e , he strikes. In the specimen we find forms such as πubâo-até-e , he wasted; mo†râ-atâ-e , he gathered. The suffix is atâ , corresponding to Santâlí aka . The suffix of the past tense is et ', passive en and len . Thus, rî-y-et'-â-ñ , I struck; sén-en-â-ñ , I went; sén-len-â-ñ , I had gone. The corresponding suffixes in the specimen are ed , ad , passive en, ân , and yan . Thus, nam-ed-e-â-e , he found him; his-âd¡¡-kin-â-e , he divided to them; âd-en , lost; rin••ge-ân-â , a famine arose; khisâo-yan-â-e , he got angry. The suffixes ed and ad correspond to Santâlí et' and at '. Ad is, however, occasionally also used before what we would call a direct object. Thus, nam-ruâ®-ad-e-â-bu , we found him again. In a similar way the suffix ked is sometimes used in cases where we would say that there is an indirect and not a direct object. Thus, kahí-kích'-â-e , he said to him. Other forms of the past tense are kul-tach'-â-e , he sent him; âyum-la ( k ')-é , he herd; torâyâ , he went; chaba-âkad-chí , having finished; mo†hâo-âkan , fatted, and so forth. The negative particle is kâ as in Mu∑πârí.

232 Birhor.: -In the past they were nomads of the jungle. Now they live in Bihar, Madiya Prodesh, Orissa and West Bengal. See Birhar.

Birhor.: -Birhor, 'wood-man,' a small Dravidian tribe of Chota Nagpur1, who live in the jungle in tiny huts made of branches of trees and leaves, and eke out a miserable living by snaring hares and monkeys, and collecting jungle products, especially the bark of the chob creeper (Banhinia scandens), from which a coarse kind of rope is made.

Origins They claim to be of the same race as the Kharwârs, and to come from Khairagarh in the Kaimur hills, but this legend, like similar stories told by the Santâls and Oraons, can hardly be deemed to possess any historical value, and probably refers to a migration of comparatively recent date. A list of the Birhor septs is given in Appendix I. Two at least are totemistic; the others appear to be local or territorial. One of them, Hemrom, is found also among the Santâls, but with them it means a horse, while the Birhors say it is a king of fish.

Marriage. Primitive as the habits of the Birhors are, they seem to have been to some extent affected by the influence of Hindu ideas. Marriage is a case in point. The free courtship in vogue among the compact Dravidian tribes has fallen into disuse, and parents arrange the marriage of their daughter at an early age. Three rupees is the standard bride-price. The tribe does not employ Brahmans, nor have they any special priests of their own. The marriage ceremony is therefore very simple, its essential and binding portion consisting in the process of drawing blood from the little fingers of the bride and bridegroom and smearing it on each of them. The bride stays two days in her husband's hut, and then goes back to her father's until she is grown up.

Religion. The Birhor religion is, as might be expected, a mixture of Animism and Hinduism. If questioned on the subject, the Birhors themselves will endeavour in their replies to give prominence to the Hindu elements, and to make themselves out more orthodox than they are, and with singular ingenuity they seek to harmonize the two systems by assigning to Devi the chief place in their Pantheon, and making out the animistic godlings, to borrow Mr. Ibbetson's expressive word, to be her daughters and granddaughters. Thus, according to Colonel Dalton, an oblong piece of wood, painted red, stands, for Mahâ Mâyâ, Devi's daughter; a small piece of white stone daubed with vermilion for her granddaughter, Buria Mâi, and an arrow head for Dudha Mâi, Buriâ's daughter. A trident, painted red, represents Hanumân, who carried out Devi's orders. the minor gods, whose animistic character has not as yet been disguised by any veneer of Hinduism, are Biru Bhut, worshipped in the form of a raised semi-globe of earth, and Darhâ, a Mundâri-Oraon deity, represented by a piece of split bamboo some three feet high, stuck slantwise in the ground. The latter is also known as the sipahi or sentry, a term not uncommonly applied to minor gods of this type, and is supposed to be the immediate guardian of the place. A small round piece of wood about a foot long, with the upper part painted red, is called Banhi, goddess of the jungles. Another similar emblem stands for Sugu, a big hill in the south of the Hazaribagh district. Sets of these symbols are placed on either side of their huts to scare off evil spirits, snakes, tigers, and misfortune generally. When a Birhor dies, his body is burned and the remains thrown, as Birhors say, into the Ganges, but really into any stream that may happen to be handy. For ten days the relatives show their grief by not shaving. On the eleventh they shave and have

1 See Risley.

233 a feast. Birhors have been accused of eating their dead relations, but the evidence on this point is not convincing, and Colonel Dalton says he has no faith in story.

Bonthuk.: -The Bonthuks or Bonthuk Savaras are scattered about the Kistna and Gungîr districts, and lead a nomad life1, carrying their small dwelling-huts with them as they shift from place to place. They are called Bonthuk Savaras to distinguish them from the Pothra (stone) Savaras, who dwell further north. By Telugu people they are called Chenchu or Bontha Chenchu, though they have no connection with the Chenchus who inhabit the hills in Kurnool, and other parts of the Telugu country. The Bonthuks, however, like the Chenchus, claim Ahobila Narasimha as their tribal deity. The Bonthuks speak the Oriya language, and they have a Mongoloid type of features, such as are possessed by the Savaras of Ganjam and Vizagapatam. Their house-names, or intipéralu, however, are Telugu. These consititute exogamous septs, and seem to be as follows: Pasupuretti, Simhâdri (the god at Simhachalam near Vizagapatam). Konéti, Dâsaparti, Gédala (buffaloes), Kudumala (cakes), Ákula (leaves), Sunkara, and Tóta (garden). At marriages, individuals of the Pasupuretti sept officiate as priests, and members of the Konéti sept as drummers and musicians. Men belonging to the Gédalu sept are considered as equivalent to shepherds.

The Bonthuks have a very interesting way of naming their children. If a child is born when an official or person of some distinction happens to be near their encampment, it is named after him. Thus such names as Collector, Tahsildar, Kolnol (Colonel), Governor, Innes, Superintendent, and Acharlu (after one Sukracharlu) are met with. Sometimes children are named after a town or village, either because they were born there, or in the performance of a vow to some place of pilgrimage. In this way, such names as Hyderabad, Channapatam (Madras), Bandar (Masulipatam), Nellore, and Tirupati arise. A boy was named Tuyya (parrot), because a parrot was brought into the settlement at the time of his birth. Another child was called Beni because, at its birth, a bamboo flute (beni) was played.

Every settlement is said to have a headman, called Bichâdi, who, in consultation with several elders of the tribe, settles disputes and various affairs affecting the community. If an individual has been fined, and does not accept the punishment, he may appeal to another Bichâdi, who may enhance the fine. Sometimes those who do not agree to abide by the decision of the Bichâdi have to undergo a trial by ordeal, by taking out an areca nut from a pot of boiling cowdung water. The dimensions of the pot, in height and breadth, should not exceed the span of the hand, and the height of the cowdung water in the pot should be that of the middle finger from the base to the tip. If, in removing the nut from the pot, the hand is injured, the guilt of the individual is proved. Before the trial by ordeal, a sum of ten rupees is deposited by both complainant and accused with the Bichâdi, and the person under trial may not live in his dwelling-hut. He lives in a grove or in the forest, watched by two members of the Pasupuretti sept. The Bonthuks are engaged in collecting bamboos, and selling them after straightening them by heating them in the fire. Before the bamboos are placed in carts, for conveyance to the settlement, a goat and fowls are sacrificed to Satyamma, Dodlamma, Muthyalamma, and Pothurâju, who are represented by stones. Girls are married before puberty, and, if a girl happens to be mated only after she has reached maturity, there is no marriage ceremonial. The marriage rites last over five days, on the first of which a brass vessel, with a thread tied round its neck, and containing turmeric water and the oyila takka or tonko (bride's money), is carried in procession to the bride's hut on the head of a married girl belonging to a sept other than those of the contracting couple. She has on her head a hood decorated with little bells, and the vessel is supported on a cloth pad. When the hut is reached, the bride's money is handed over to the Bichâdi, and the

1 See Thurston.

234 tumeric water is poured on the ground. The bride's money is divided between her parents and maternal uncle, the Bichâdi, and the caste men. A pig is purchased, and carried by two men on a pole to the scene of the marriage. The caste people, and the married girl carrying a brass vessel, go round the animal, to the accompaniment of music. The girl, as she goes round, pours water from the vessel on the ground. A thread is tied round the neck of the pig, which is taken to the bridegroom's hut, and cut up into two portions, for the parties of the bridegroom and bride, of which the former is cooked and eaten on the same day. At the homes of the bride and bridegroom, a pandal (booth) and dais are erected. The materials for the former are brought by seven women, and for the latter by nine men. The pandal is usually decorated with mango and Eugenia Arnottiana leaves. After supper, some relations of the contracting couple go to an open space, where the Bichâdi, who has by him two pots and two bashingams (chaplets) of arka (Calotropis gigantea ) flowers, is seated with a few man. The fathers of the bride and bridegroom ask the Bichâdi to give them the bashingams, and this he does after receiving an assurance that the wedding will not be attended by quarrelling. The bride and bridegroom take their seats on the dais at the home of the latter, and the officiating priest ties the bashingams on their foreheads. Nine men and seven women stand near the dais, and a thread is passed round them seven times. This thread is cut up by the priest, and used for the kankanams (wrist threads) of the bride and bridegroom. These are removed at the close of the marriage festivities, on the fifth day.

When a girl attains maturity, she is under pollution for nine days, at the conclusion of which the Bichâdi receives a small present of money from her parents. Her husband, and his agnates (people of his sept) also have to observe pollution, and, on the ninth day, the cooking pots which they have used are thrown away, and they proceed to the Bichâdi, to whom they make a present of money, as they have probably broken the tribal rule that smoking is forbidden when under pollution. On the ninth day, the girl and her husband throw water over each other, and the marriage is consummated.

Death Rites The dead are usually buried, lying on the left side. On the second day, food is offered to crows and Brâhmani kites. On the eleventh day, a mat is spread on the floor of the hut, and covered with a clean sheet, on which balls of food are placed. The dead person is invoked by name, as the various people deposit the food offering. The food is finally put into a winnowing basket, and taken to the bank of a tank (pond). A small hut is made there, and the food is placed therein on two leaves, one of which represents the Yama Dutas (servants of the god of death), the other the deceased.

Bot.: -See Bhot

Budubdikids.: -They live in Maharashtra. They are religious beggars and fortune-tellers.

Budubudiké.: -The Budubudiké or Budubududala1 are described in the Mysore Census Report as being "gipsy beggars and fortune-tellers from the Marâta country, who pretend to consult birds and reptiles to predict future events. They are found in every district of Mysore, but only in small numbers. They use a small kind of double-headed drum, which is sounded by means of the knotted ends of strings attached to each side of it. The operator turns it deftly and quickly from side to side, when a sharp and weird sound is emitted,

1 See Thurston.

235 having a rude resemblance to the warbling of birds. This is done in the mornings, when the charlatan soothsayer pretends to have divined the future fate of the householder by means of the chirping of birds, etc., in the early dawn. They are generally worsippers of Hanumantha." The name Budubudiké is derived from the hour-glass shaped drum, or budbudki.

For the following account of the Budubudukalas, I am indebted to a recent article1 :- A huge partly-coloured turban, surmounted by a bunch of feathers, a pair of ragged trousers, a loose long coat, which is very often out at the elbows, and a capacious wallet underneath his arm, ordinarily constitute the Budubudukala's dress. Occasionally, if he can afford it, he indulges in the luxury of wearing a tiger or cheetah (leopard) skin, which hangs down his back, and contributes to the dignity of his calling. Add to this an odd assortment of clothes suspended on his left forearm, and the picture is as grotesque as it can be. He is regarded as being able to predict the future of human beings by the flight and notes of birds. His predictions are couched in the chant which he recites. The burden of the chant is invariably stereotyped, and purports to have been gleaned from the warble of the feathered songsters of the forest. It prognosticates peace, plenty and prosperity to the house, the birth of a son to the fair, lotus- eyed house-wife, and worldly advancement to the master, whose virtues are as countless as the stars, and have the power to annihilate his enemies. It also holds out a tempting prospect of coming joy in an unknown shape from an unknown quarter, and concludes with an appeal for a cloth. If the appeal is successful, well and good. If not, the Budubudukala has the patience and perseverance to repeat his visit the next day, the day after that, and so on until, in sheer disgust, the householder parts with a cloth. The drum, which has been referred to above as having given the Budubudukala his name, is not devoid of interest. In appearance it is an instrument of diminutive size, and is shaped like an hour-glass, to the middle of which is attached a string with a knot at the end, which serves as the percutient. Its origin is enveloped in a myth of which the Budubudukala is naturally very proud, for it tells him of his divine descent, and invests his vocation with the halo of sanctity. According to the legend, the primitive Budubudukala who first adorned the face of the earth was a belated product of the world's creation. When he was born or rather evolved, the rest of humankind was already in the field, struggling for existence. Practically the whole scheme was complete, and, in the economy of the universe, the Budubudukala found himself one too many. In this quandary, he appealed to his goddess mother Amba Bhavani, who took pity upon him, and presented him with her husband the god Parameswara's drum with the blessing 'My son, there is nothing else for you but this. Take it and beg, and you will prosper.' Among beggars, the Budubudukala has constituted himself a superior beggar, to whom the handful of rice usually doled out is not acceptable. His demand, in which more often that not he succeeds, is for clothes of any description, good, bad or indifferent, new or old, torn or whole. For, in the plenitude of his wisdom, he has realised that a cloth is a marketable commodity, which, when exchanged for money, fetches more than the handful of rice. The Budubudukala is continually on the move, and regulates his movements according to the seasons of the year. As a rule, he pays his visit to the rural parts after the harvest is gathered, for it is then that the villagers are at their best, and in a position to handsomely remunerate him for his pains. But, in whatever corner of the province he may be, as the Dusserah approaches, he turns his face towards Vellore in the North Arcot district, where the annual festival in honour of the tribal deity Amba Bhavani is celebrated." The insignia of the Budubudiké, as recorded at Conjeeveram, is said2 to be a pearl-oyster. The Oriya equivalent of Budubudiké is stated3 to be Dubaduba.

1 Madras Mail, 1907. 2 J. S. F. Mackenzie, Ind. Ant., IV, 1875. 3 Madras Census Report, 1901.

236 Bukekari.: -See Ateri.

Bukka.: -Described1, in the Madras Census Report of 1901 as a "sub-caste of Balija. They are sellers of saffron (turmeric), red powder, combs, etc., and are supposed to have been originally Kómatis." They are described by the Rev. J. Cain as travelling about selling turmeric, opium, and other goods. According to the legend, when Kanyakamma threw herself into the fire-pit (see Komâti), they, instead of following her example, presented to her bukka powder, turmeric, and kunkuma. She directed that they should live apart from the faithful Kómatis, and live by the sale of the articles which they offered to her.

Chabel.: -See Jabel

Châi.: -Châin, Châini.2 -- A cultivating, fishing, and thieving caste found in Oudh and the Eastern Districts. Nothing certain is known as to the origin of the name. It has been suggested that they are the representatives of the Chârya,3 a degraded Vaisya class, or that the word is totemistic (meaning the seed of a tamarind; Sanskrit, Chârmika, "leather"). Mr. Risley4 writes of them: "They are probably an offshoot from some non-Aryan tribe. They are found in Oudh, where Mr. Nesfield connects them with the Thâru, Râji, Nat, and other broken and gypsy-like tribes inhabiting the base of the Himâlayas, and traces in their physiognomy features peculiar to Mongolian races. Mr. Sherring, again, in one place speaks of them as a sub-caste of Mallâhs; in another as a class of jugglers, thimble riggers, and adventurers, who attend fairs and other festivals like men of the same profession in England. A sub-caste of the Nuniyas bears the Name Châin, but the Nuniyas do not admit any affinity. Mr. C.F. Magrath, in his Memorandum on the Tribes and Castes of Bihâr, published in the Bengal Census Report of 1872, says they closely resemble Binds in their occupation, being chiefly boatman, who also engage in fishing. Châins are thickest south of the Ganges, while Binds are most numerous in North Bihâr. Mr. Magrath adds that their reputation as thieves, impostors, and swindlers, is in his experience not altogether deserved, as the men whom the common people, and even the police of Bihâr, describe as Châins, usually turn out on enquiry to be Maghaiya Doms, Nats, or Rajwârs." Their customs, according to Mr. Risley's account, do not differ from those of Mallâhs.

In Oudh, according to Mr. Carnegy,5 They live chiefly by fishing, cultivation, and making reed mats. They smoke with but do not eat with Mallâhs. They frequent the neighbourhood of lakes and rivers, and are divided into the Eastern and Western branches, which do not intermarry. In January they go to the hills to collect catechu (khair). They worship the monkey-god Mahâbír, Satnârâyan, and Devi Pâtan: to the first they offer rice-milk (khir) in October; to the second a mixture of cooked rice and vetch (urad), called phâra; to the third, cakes (pîri); and new rice, coriander, and molasses to Mahâbír. They eat pork and drink spirits. A woman who sins with one of her own tribe may be absolved by feeding the brethren; but not so if her paramour is of another caste. They are thimble-riggers, ornament-snatchers, swindlers, and impostors. According to Mr. Risley they rank with Binds, Nuniyas, and Pâsis, but

1 See Thurston. 2 See Crooke. From enquiries at Mirzapur and a note by Bâbu Badri Nâth, Deputy Collector, Kheri. 3 Manu, Institutes, X, 23. 4 Tribes and Castes, I, 166. 5 Notes, 15.

237 nowhere do they rise to the distinction which Binds and Nuniyas sometimes attain, of giving water and certain kinds of sweetmeats to Brâhmans. In Kheri the rule of exogamy bars the line of the maternal uncle and father's sister. They can marry two sisters in succession, but polygamy is forbidden. Infidelity, even intertribal, is reprobated. Marriage takes place at the age of ten or twelve, and is settled by the caste Chaudhari. No money is paid by the relations of either party. Widow-marriage is prohibited; but they can live with a man of the tribe, the phrase used being ghar-baithna. The children of such connections are recognised as legitimate, but they are not admitted to full caste privileges. The levirate on the usual terms is permitted. There is no custom of adoption or initiation into caste. Betrothals are made in infancy, and the marriage ceremony is of the standard type, the bhanwari or walking round the sacred fire being the binding portion of it. They worship Mahâdeva, Sîrajnârâyan, and Kâli, who receive sacrifices of goats and rams on a Monday. They will not take any food or water from, or smoke with, any other caste. They have given up their occupation of mat-making, and now live by fishing and thieving at fairs. In the returns of the last Census they are classed as a subcaste of Mallâh. The Châin is what is known as an Uchakka, Uthaigíra, or Jebkatra: one who picks pockets and cuts with a little knife or sharp piece of glass the knots in their cloths in which natives tie up their valuables. They frequent fairs and bathing places, and the boys are put on to steal, while the men act as "fences" and engage the attention of the victim, or facilitate the escape of the thief.

Chain.: -Chain, Châi, Barchâin, a cultivating and fishing caste of Behar and Central Bengal,1 probably an offshoot from some non-Aryan tribe. The Châins are found in Oudh, where Mr. Carnegy connects them with Thâru, Raji, Nat, and other broken and gypsy-like tribes inhabiting the base of the Himalayas, and traces in their physiognomy features peculiar to Mongolian races. Mr. Sherring, again, in one place speaks of them as a sub-caste of Mallâhs, in another as a class of 'jugglers, thimble-riggers, and adventurers, who attend fairs and other festivals like men of the same profession in England.' A sub-caste of the Nunias bears the name Chain, but the Nunias do not admit any affinity. Mr. G.F. Magrath, in his Memorandum on the Tribes and Castes of Behar, published in the Bengal Census Report of 1872, says they closely resemble Binds in their occupations, being chiefly boatmen, who also engage in fishing. Châins are thickest south of the Ganges, while Binds are most numerous in North Behar. Mr. Magrath adds that their reputation as thieves, impostors, and swindlers is in his experience not altogether deserved, as the men whom the common people, and even the police of Behar, describe as Châins usually turned out on inquiry to be Maghayâ Doms, Nats, or Rajwârs. The term Châi-panâ, however, is a common expression for stealing among Hindi-speaking natives, while throughout Bengal individuals belonging to the caste are watched with great suspicion.

Internal Structure And Marriage. The muls or exogamous sections of the Châins in Behar throw no light on the origin of the caste, as with one exception they appear to have been borrowed from the Brahmanical. Châins practise adult as well as infant-marriage, but the latter is considered more respectable. Polygamy is permitted if the first wife is barren, and widows may marry again. Through not compelled to marry her deceased husband's younger brother, it is deemed right and proper for her to do so if such a relative exists. The standard of female morality appears to be lax, and sexual indiscretions are leniently dealt with, provided that they occur within the limit of the caste. If a woman gives rise to scandal by an intrigue with a member of the caste, she may either obtain absolution by giving a feast to the brethren, or her husband may apply to the caste council for a divorce. In the latter case she may marry her lover. For offences outside the circle of the caste, no mode of atonement is appointed; and a woman who goes

1 See Risley

238 wrong with a member of either a higher or a lower caste is turned out of the Châin community, and generally becomes a public prostitute.

Religion. As among other impure castes, a Dasnami Gosain acts as guru, a degraded Maithil Brahman as purohit. In Oudh the Châins worship Mahâbira, the monkey-god, Sat Narâyana, and Devi Pâtan, while they drink spirits and feast on pork. Those whom we find in Behar, like other fisher tribes, are followers of the Pânch Piri`ya creed, while the Bengal members of the caste worship Koila Bâba. Both freely indulge in spirits whenever a favourable opportunity presents itself.

Social Status And Occupation. In point of social standing Châins rank with Binds, Nuniâs, and Pasis; but nowhere do they rise to the distinction, which Binds and Nuniâs sometimes attain, of giving water and certain kinds of sweetmeats to Brahmans. In Behar and Central Bengal they are cultivators holding lands as occupancy or, more frequently, non-occupancy raiyats. Others, again, are landless day-labourers or boatmen and fishermen, catching mullet with weirs of sirki` mat, as the Binds do. In Oudh and the North-Western Provinces they are cultivators, and prepare khair or catechu. In Eastern Bengal they appear as traders in grain and pulse.

Chamar.:-Chamâr, the tanner caste of Behar and Upper India1, found also in all parts of Bengal as tanners Châmâr, or Charmakâr. According to the Purânas, the Chamârs are descended from a boatman and a Chandâl woman; but if we are to identify them with the Kârâvara or leather-worker mentioned in the tenth chapter of Manu, the father of the caste was a Nishâda and the mother a Vaideha. The Nishâda, again, is said to be the offspring of a Brâhman and Sîdra mother, and the Vaideha of a Vaisya father and Brâhman mother. In one place, indeed, Mr. Sherring seems to take his mythical genealogy seriously, and argues that the "rigidity and exclusiveness of caste prejudices among the Chamârs are highly favourable to the supposition" that Manu's account of them is the true one, and consequently that the Chamârs being "one-half of Brahmanical, one-fourth of Vaisya, and one-fourth of Sîdra descent," may "hold up their heads boldly in the presence of the superior castes." States in this form, the argument verges on the grotesque; but it appears from other passages that Mr. Sherring was strongly impressed with the high-caste appearance of the Chamâr caste, and thought it possible that in this particular instance the traditional pedigree might contain an element of historical truth-similar testimony to the good looks of the Chamârs in certain parts of India comes to us from the Central Provinces, where they are said to be lighter in colour than the members of other cultivating castes, while some of the men and many of the women are remarkably handsome. In Eastern Bengal, again, Dr. Wise describes the caste as less swarthy that the average Chandâl, and infinitely fairer, with a more delicate and intellectual cast of features than many Srotriya Brâhmans. On the other hand, Sir Henry Elliot, writing of the North-West Provinces, says: "Chamârs are reputed to be a dark race, and a fair Chamâr is said to be as rare an object as a black Brâhman. Kariâ Brahman ger Chamâr Inke sâth na vtariye pâr. -that is, do not cross a river in the same boat with a black Brâhman or a fair Chamâr; both objects being considered of evil omen." Mr. Nesfield thinks the Chamâr "may have sprung out of several different tribes, like the Dom, Kanjar, Habura Cheru, etc., the last remains of whom are still outside the pale of Hindu society. Originally he appears to have been an impressed labourer or begâr, who was made to hold the plough for his master and received in return space for building his mud hovel near the village, a fixed allowance of grain for every working day, the free use of wood and grass on the village lands, and the skins and bodies of all the animals that died. This is very much the status of the Chamâr at the present

1 See Risley.

239 day. He is still the field slave, the grass-cutter, the remover of dead animals, the hide- skinner, and the carrion-eater of the Indian villages." Lastly, it should be observed that Mr. Hewitt, whose report on the settlement of the Râipur district is the locus classicus for the Chamârs of the Central Provinces, clearly regards them as to some extent an exceptional type, and lays stress to the fact that they present the same degraded appearance as their brethren in other parts of India.

Origin Chamârs trace their own pedigree of Ravi Dâs, the famous disciple of Râmânanda at the end of the fourteenth century, and whenever Chamâr is asked what he is, he replies a Ravi Dâs, Another tradition current among them alleges that their original ancestor was the youngest of four Brâhman brethren who went to bathe in a river and found a cow struggling in a quicksand. They sent the youngest brother in to rescue the animal, but before he could get to the spot it had been drowned. He was compelled therefore by his brothers to remove the carcass, and after he had done this they turned him out of their caste and gave him the name of Chamâr. Looking at the evidence as a whole, and allowing that there are points in it which seem to favour the conjecture that the Chamârs may be in part a degraded section of a higher race, I do not consider these indications clear enough to override the presumption that a caste engaged in a filthy and menial occupation must on the whole have been recruited from among the non-Aryan races. It may be urged, indeed, that the early Aryans were well acquainted with the use of leather, and were free from those prejudices which lead the modern Hindu to condemn the art of the tanner as unclean. The degradation of the Chârmamnâ of Vedic times into the outcaste Chamâr of to-day may thus have been a slow process, carried out gradually as Brahmanical ideas gained strength, and the 'fair Chamâr' whom the proverb warns men to beware of may be simply an instance of reversion to an earlier Aryan type, which at one time formed an appreciable proportion of the caste. All this, however, is pure conjecture, and counts for little in face of the fact that the average Chamâr is hardly distinguishable in point of features, stature, and complexion from the members of those non-Aryan races from whose ranks we should prima facie expect the profession of leather-dresser to be filled. Occasional deviations from this standard type may be due either to liaisons with members of the higher castes or to some cause which cannot now be traced.

Internal structure. Like all large castes, the Chamârs are broken up into a number of endogamous groups. These are shown in Appendix I, but I am doubtful whether the enumeration is complete. The Dhusiâ sub-caste alone appears to have exogamous divisions of the territorial or local type, while in the other sub-castes marriages are regulated by the usual formula for reckoning prohibited degrees calculated to seven generations in the descending line. Chamârs profess to marry their daughters as infants; but in practice the age at which a girl is married depends mainly upon the ability of her parents to defray the expenses of the wedding, and no social penalty is inflicted upon a man who allows his daughter to grow up unmarried. Polygamy is permitted, and no limit appears to be set to the number of wives a man may have.

Marriage. Like the Doms, and unlike most other castes, Chamârs forbid the marriage of two sisters to the same husband. In the marriage ceremony an elder of the caste presides, but a Brahman is usually consulted to fix an auspicious day for the event. The father of the bride receives a sum of money for his daughter, but this is usually insufficient to meet the expenses of the wedding. During the marriage service the bridegroom sits on the knee of the bride's father, and the bridegroom's father receives a few ornaments and a cup of spirits, after which each of the guests is offered a cup. No marua or wedding bower is made, but a barber prepares and whitewashes a chauk, within which the couple sit. He also stains the feet of the bride an bridegroom with cotton soaked in lac dye (âlta), and is held responsible that all the relative and friends are invited to the marriage. The caste elder, who officiates as priest, binds mango

240 leaves on the wrists of the wedded pair, and chants mantras or mystic verses; while the bridegroom performs sindurdân by smearing vermilion on the bride's forehead and the parting of her hair. This is deemed the valid and binding portion of the ceremony. Widows are permitted to marry again. Usually when an elder brother dies childless the younger brother must marry the widow within a year or eighteen months, unless they mutually agree not to do so, in which ease she returns to her father's house, where she is free to remarry with anyone. If there are children by the first marriage, it is deemed the more incumbent on the widow to marry. T˙e custody of the children, however, remains with their paternal uncle, and the widow forfeits all claim to share in her late husband's estate. On her remarriage the family of her first husband cannot claim any compensation for the bride-price which they paid for her on her marriage. Before a widow marries again her relatives go through the form of consulting the panchâyat, with the object, it is said, of deciding whether the marriage is well- timed or not. Divorce is permitted with the sanction of the panchâyat of the caste. Divorced wives may marry again.

Religion in Bengal. By far the most interesting features of the Chamâr caste, says Dr. Wise, are their religious and social customs. They have no purohit; their religious ceremonies, like those of the Doms, being directed by one of the elders of the caste. But gurus, who give mantras to children, are found, and a Hindustani Brahman is often consulted regarding a lucky day for a wedding. Chamârs have always exhibited a remarkable dislike to Brahman and Hindu ritual. They nevertheless observe many rites popularly supposed to be of Hindu origin, but which are more probably survivals of the worship paid to the village gods for ages before the Aryan invasion. The large majority of Bengali Chamârs profess the deistic Sri-Nârâyani creed. Sants, or professed devotees, are common among them, and the Mahant of that sect is always regarded as the religious head of the whole tribe. A few Dacca Chamârs belong to the Kabir- Panth, but none have joined any of the Vaishnava sects.

Festivals. The principal annual festival of the Chamârs is the Srípanchamí, celebrated on the fifth day of the lunar month of Mâgh (January-February), when they abstain from work for two days, spending them in alternate devotion at the Dhâmghar, or conventicle of the Sri-Nârâyani sect, and in intoxication at home. The Dhâmghar is usually a thatched house consisting of one large room with verandahs on all sides. At one end is a raised earthen platform, on which the open Grantha 1 garlanded with flowers is laid, and before this each disciple makes obeisance as he enters. The congregation squats all round the room, the women in one corner, listening to a few musicians chanting religious hymns and smoking tobacco and gânja, indifferent to the heat, smoke, and stench of the crowded room. The Mahant, escorted by the Sants carrying their parwânas or certificates of membership, enters about 1 A.M., when the service begins. It is of the simplest form. The Mahant, after reading a few sentences in Nâgarí, unintelligible to most listeners, receives offerings of money and fruit. The congregation then disperses, but the majority seat themselves in the verandahs and drink spirits. If the physical endurance of the worshippers be not exhausted, similar services are held as held on several successive nights, but the ordinary one only lasts two nights. On the "Nauamí," or ninth lunar day of Aswin (September-October), the day preceding the Dasharâ, the worship of Deví is observed, and offerings of swine, goats, and spirits made to

1. The Grantha or scriptures of the Sri-Nârâyani or siva-Nârâyani sect are believed by them to have existed for eleven hundred and forty-five years, but to have been unintelligible until Sítala, na inspired Sannyâsí, translated it in compliance with a divine command. The translation, consisting of several works in the Devanâgarí character, is the undoubted composition of the Rajput Sivanârâyana of Ghazípîr, who wrote it about A. d. 1735. The most important of these works are the Guru-nyâsa and Sânta-vilâsa. The former, compiled from the Purânas, gives an account of the ten Avatârs of Vishnu, or Narâyana, and is subdivided into fourteen chapters, of which the first six treat of the author, of faith, of the punishment of sinners, of virtue, of a future state, and of discipline. the latter is a treaties on moral sentiments. The opening lines are,-"The love of God, and His knowledge is the only true understanding."

241 the dread goddess. On this day the old Dravidian system of demonolatry, or Shamanism, is exhibited, when one of their numbers, working himself up into a frenzy, becomes possessed by the demon and reveals the future. The Chamârs place great value on the answers given, and vary few are so contented with their lot in life as not to desire an insight into the future. A few days before the Dasharâ the Châmaíns perambulate the streets, playing and singing, with a pot of water in the left hand, a spring of ním of the right, soliciting alms for the approaching Deví festival. Money or grain must be got by begging, for they believe the worship would be ineffectual if the offerings had to be paid for. Another of their festivals is the Râmanauamí, or birth-day of Râma, held on the ninth lunar day of Chaitra (March-April), when they offer flowers, betel-nut, and sweetmeats to their ancestor, Ravi Dâs. When sickness or epidemic diseases invade their homes, the women fasten a piece of plantain leaf round their necks and go worship Deví, Sítalâ, or Jalka Deví, at a piece of ground marked off and smeared with cowdung. A fire being lighted, and ghí and spirits thrown on it, the worshipper makes obeisance, bowing her forehead to the ground and muttering certain incantations. A swine is then sacrificed, and the bones and offal being buried, the flesh is roasted and eaten, but no one must take home with him any scrap of the victim. Jalka Deví seems identical with the Rakshyâ Kâlí of Bengal villages, and is said to have sisters, who are worshipped on special occasions.

Religion in Behar. The Chamârs of Behar are more orthodox in matters of religion than their brethren of Eastern Bengal, and appear to conform in the main to the popular Hinduism practised by their neighbours. Some of them indeed have advanced so far in this directions as to employ Maithil Brahmans for the worship of the regular Hindu gods, while others content themselves with priests of their own caste. In the Santâl Parganas such priests go by the name of puri, and the story is that they are Kanaujia Brahmans, who were somehow degraded to be Chamârs, Lokesari, Rakat Mâlâ, Mansarâm, Lâlâ, Kâru Dânâ, Masnâ, Mamiâ, and Jalpait are the special minor gods of the caste, but Bandi, Goraiyâ, and Kâli are also held in reverence. Some hold that Ravi Dâs ranks highest of all, but he seems to be looked upon as a sort of deity, and not as the preacher of a deistic religion. The offerings to all of these gods consist of sheep, goats, milk, fruit, and sweetmeats, of which the members of the household afterwards partake. According to Mr. Nesfield, the caste also worship the râpi, or tanner's knife, at the Diwâli festival. It is a curious circumstance, illustrating the queer reputation borne by the Chamârs, that throughout Hindustan parents frighten naughty children by telling them that Nona Chamâín will carry them off. This redoubtable old witch is said by the Chamârs to have been the mother or grandmother of Raví Dâs; but why she acquired such unenviable notoriety is unknown. In Bengal her name is never heard of, but a domestic bogey haunts each household. In one it is the Burhí, or old woman; in another, Bhîta, a ghost; in a third, Pretní, a witch; and in a fourth, Galâ-Kâfir, literally, the 'infidel with his throat gashed.'

Funerals. In Behar the dead are burned in the ordinary fashion; and srâddh performed on the tenth or, according to some, the thirteenth day after death. Libations of water (tarpan) and balls of rice (pinda) are offered to the spirit of ancestors in general in the month of Áswin. Sants of the Sri- Nârâyani sect are objects of special reverence, and whenever one dies in a strange place the Sants on the spot subscribe and bury him. The funeral procession is impressive, but very noisy. The corpse, wrapped in a sheet with a roll of cloth wound round the head, is deposited on a covered litter. Red flags flutter from the four corners, and a white cloth acts as a pall. With discordant music the body is carried to the grave, dug in some waste place, where it is laid flat, not sitting as with the Jugis.

Social status. By virtue if his occupation, his habits, and his traditional descent, the Chamâr stands condemned to rank at the very bottom of the Hindu social system; and even the non-Aryan tribes who have of recent years sought admission into the Hindu communion are speedily

242 promoted over his head. His ideas on the subject of diet are in keeping with his degraded position. He eats beef, pork, and fowls, all unclean to the average Hindu, and, like the gypsies of Europe, has no repugnance to cooking the flesh of animals which have died a natural death. Some say that they only eat animals which have died a natural death, but this may be merely a device to avert the suspicion of killing cattle poison, which naturally attaches to people who deal in hides and horns. Despised, however, as he is by all classes of orthodox Hindus, the Chamâr is proud and punctilious on certain special points, never touching the leaving of a Brahman's meal, nor eating anything cooked by a Bengali Brahman, though he has no objection to take food from a Brahman of Hindustan. Chamars are, says Dr. Wise, inconceivably dirty in their habits, and offend others besides the Hindu by their neglect of all sanitary norms. Large droves of pigs are bred by them, and it is no uncommon sight to witness children and pigs wallowing together in the mire. Hides in various stages of preparation hang about their huts, yet, strange to say, the women are very prolific, and, except in a fisher settlement, nowhere are so many healthy-looking children to be seen as in a filthy Chamâr village. Mr. Beames, however, mentions in a note to his edition of Sir Henry Elliot's Glossary that Chamârs, from their dirty habits, are peculiarly liable to leprosy, and that the name of the Kori or Korhi sub-caste probably refers to this fact.

Occupation. Chamârs are employed in tanning leather, making shoes and saddlery, and grooming horses. In Eastern Bengal the Chamrâ-farosh hire them to preserve hides, but there is such bitter enmity between them and the allied caste to Muchi or Rishí, that they are rarely engaged to skin animals, lest the perquisites of the latter group should seem to have been interfered with. To some extent the distinctions between the various sub-castes seem to be based upon differences of occupation. Thus the Dhusia sub-caste adhere to the original occupation of leather-dressing, and also make shoes and serve as musicians at wedding and other domestic festivities, their favourite instruments being the dhol or drum, the cymbals (jhânjh), the harp (ektâra), and the tambourine (khanjari). Most of these occupations are also followed by the Dhârh, who besides carry palanquins and eat the flesh of animals that have died a natural death, except only the horse. The Guria are cultivators; some few holding occupancy rights, and others being landless day-labourers, who wander about and work for hire at harvest time. The Jaiswâra work as syces; the Dohar are cobblers, using only leather string, and not cotton thread, to mend rents; the Sikhariâ are cultivators and shoemakers; the Chamâr Tanti work as weavers, and will not touch carrion; and the Sârki, many of whom have emigrated from into Chumparan, are both butchers and hide-dressers. Some Chamârs burn lime, but this occupation has not become the badge of a sub-caste, though those who follow it call themselves Chunihârâ. In Behar the Chamâr is a village functionary like the Chaukidar or Gorait. He holds a small portion of village land, and is invariably called to post up official notices, and to go round with his drum proclaiming public announcements.

Châmar Women The Chamâíns, or female Châmars, says Dr, Wise, are distinguished throughout Bengal by their huge inelegant anklets (pâírí) and bracelets (bangrí), made of bell-metal. The former often weigh from eight to ten pounds, the latter from two to four, and both closely resemble the corresponding ornaments worn by Santâl women. They also wear the tikli, or spangle, on the forehead, although in Bengal it is regarded as a tawdry ornament of the lowest and most immoral women. Chamâíns consider it a great attraction to have their bodies tattooed; consequently their chests, foreheads, arms, and legs are disfigured with patterns of fantastic shape. In Hindustan the Natní is the great tattooer; but as members of this caste are seldom met with in Eastern Bengal, the Chamâíns are often put to great straits, being frequently obliged to pay a visit to their original homes for the purpose of having the fashionable decoration indelibly stained on their bodies. Chamârs women are ceremonially unclean for ten days subsequent to childbirth, when after bathing, casting away all old cooking utensils, and buying new ones, a feast, called Bârahiya, is celebrated, upon which she resumes her usual household duties. They still observe the pleasing custom of Bhâíphotâ on the last day

243 of the Hindu year, when sisters present their brothers with a new suit of clothes and sweetmeats, and make with a paste of red sandal wood a dot on their foreheads; a similar usage, known as Bhrâtrí-dvitíyâ, is practised by Bengalis on the second day after the new moon of Kârtik.

Chamâíns are the midwives of India, and are generally believed, though erroneously, to be skilled in all the mysteries of parturition. The have no scruples about cutting the navel string, as other Hindus have; but in the villages of the interior, where no Chamâíus reside, the females of the Bhîinmâlí, Chandâl, and Ghulâm Kâyath caste act as midwives, and are equally unscrupulous. It is a proverbial saying among Hindus that a household becomes unclean if a Chamâr woman has not attended at the birth of any child belonging to it.

Champa.: -Changpa. They live in Jammu Kashmir. Their language belongs to the Bhotia group. They are shepherds. The wool they sell to the government co-operatives is by far the best in the world.

Changars.: -Originally they are a vagrant tribe from Jammu. They use to wander near the cities in search of work. They speak their own dialect.

Chapparband.: - The Chapparbands1 are manufacturers of spurious coin, who hail from the Bombay Presidency, and are watched for by the police. It is noted, in the Police Report, 1904, that good work was done in Ganjam in tracing certain gangs of these coiners, and bringing them to justice.

For the following note I am indebted to a report2 by Mr. H.N.Alexander of the Bombay Police Department. The name Chapparband refers to their calling, chapa meaning an impression or stamp. "Among themselves they are known as Bhadoos, but in Hindustan, and among Thugs and cheats generally, they are known as Khoolsurrya, i.e., false coiners. while in their villages, they cultivate that fields, rear poultry and breed sheep, and the women make quilts which the men sell while on their tours. But the real business of this class is to make and pass off false coin. Laying aside their ordinary Muhammadan dress, they assume the dress and appearance of fakirs of the Muddar section, Muddar being their Pir, and, unaccompanied by their women, wander from village to village. Marathi is their language, and in addition, they have a peculiar slang of their own. Like all people of this class, they are superstitious, and will not proceed on an expedition unless a favourable omen is obtained. The following account is given, showing how the false coin is manufactured. A mould serves only once, a new one being required for every rupee or other coin. It is made of unslaked lime and a kind of yellow earth called shedoo, finely powdered and sifted, and patiently kneaded with water to about the consistency of putty. One of the coins to be imitated is then pressed with some of the preparation, and covered over, and, being cut all round, is placed in some embers. After becoming hardened, it is carefully laid open with a knife, and, the coin being taken out, its impression remains. The upper and lower pieces are then joined together with a kind of gum, and, a small hole being made on one side, molten tin is poured in and thus an imitation of the coin is obtained, and it only remains to rub it over with dirt to give it the appearance of old money. The tin is purchased in any bazaar, and the false money is prepared on the road as the gang travels along. Chapparbands adopt several ways of getting rid of their false coin. They enter shops and make purchases, showing true rupees in the first

1 See Thurston. 2. Madras Pelice Gazette, 1092.

244 instance, and substituting false ones at the time of payment. They change false rupees for copper money, and also in exchange for good rupees of other currencies. Naturally, they look out for women and simple people, though the manner of passing off the base coin is clever, being done by sleight of hand. The false money is kept in pockets formed within the folds of their langutis (loincloths), and also hidden in the private parts."

The following additional information concerning Chapparbands is contained in the Illustrated Criminal Investigation and Law Digest1:--"They travel generally in small gangs, and their women never follow them. They consult omens before leaving their villages. They do not leave their villages dressed as fakirs. They generally visit some place far away from their residence, and there disguise themselves as Madari fakirs, adding Shah to their names. They also add the title Sahib, and imitate the Sawals, a sing-song begging tone of their class. Their leader, Khagda, is implicitly obeyed. He is the treasurer of the gangs, and keeps with him the instruments used in coining, and the necessary metal pieces. But the leader rarely keeps the coins with him. The duty of passing the false coins belongs to the Bhondars. A boy generally accompanies a gang. He is called Handiwal. He acts as a handy chokra (youngster), and also as a watch over the camp when the false coins are being prepared. They generally camp on high ground in close vicinity to water, which serves to receive the false coins and implements, should danger be apprehended. When moving from one camp to another, the Khagda and his chokra travel alone, the former generally riding a small pony. The rest of the gang keep busy passing the coins in the neighbourhood, and eventually join the pair in the pre-arranged place. If the place be found inconvenient for their purpose, another is selected by the Khagda, but sufficient indication is given to the rest that the rendezvous might be found out. This is done by making a mark on the chief pathway leading to the place settled first, at a spot where another pathway leads from it in the direction he is going. The mark consists of a mud heap on the side of the road, a foot in length, six inches in breadth, and six in height, with an arrow mark pointing in the direction taken. The Khagda generally makes three of these marks at intervals of a hundred yards, to avoid the chance of any being effaced. Moulds are made of Multâni or some sticky clay. Gopichandan and badap are also used. The clay, after being powdered and sifted, is mixed with a little water and oil, and well kneaded. The two halves of the mould are then roughly shaped with the hand, and a genuine coin is pressed between them, so as to obtain the obverse on one half and the reverse impression in the other. The whole is then hardened in an extempore oven, and the hole to admit the metal is bored. The halves are then separated, and the genuine rupee is tilted out; the molten alloy of tin or pewter is poured in, and allowed to cool. According to the other method, badap clay brought from their own country is considered the most suitable for the moulds, though Multâni clay may be used when they run out of badap. Two discs are made from clay kneaded with water. These discs are then highly polished on the inner surface with the top of a jvari stalk called danthal. A rupee, slightly oiled, is then placed between the discs, which are firmly pressed over it. The whole is then thoroughly hardened in the fire. The alloy used in these moulds differs from that used in the others, and consists of an alloy of lead and copper. In both cases, the milling is done by hand with a knife or a piece of shell. The Chapperbands select their victims carefully. They seem to be fairly clever judges of persons from their physiognomy. They easily find out the duffer and the gull in both sexes, and take care to avoid persons likely to prove too sharp for them. They give preference to women over men. The most common method is for the Bhondar to show a quantity of copper collected by him in his character of beggar, and ask for silver in its place. The dupe produces a rupee, which he looks at. He then shakes his head sadly, and hands back a counterfeit coin, saying that such coins. are not current in his country, and moves on to try the same trick elsewhere. Their dexterity in changing the rupees is very great, the result of long practice when a Handiwal."

1. I. No. 4. 1908, Vellore.

245 Further information in connection with the Chapparbands has recently been published by Mr. M.Paupa Rao Naidu, from whose account1 the following extract is taken. "Chapperbands, as their name implies, are by profession builders of roofs, or in a more general term, builders of huts. They are Sheikh Muhammadans, and originally belonged to the Punjab. During the Moghul invasion of the Carnatic, as far back as 1687-88, a large number of them followed the great Moghul army as builders of huts for the men. They appear to have followed the Moghul army to Aurangabad, Ahmednagar, and Seringapatam until the year 1714, when Bijapur passed into the hands of the Peshwas. The Chapperbands then formed part of the Peshwa's army in the same capacity, and remained as such till the advent of the British in the year 1818, when it would appear a majority of them, finding their peculiar profession not much in demand, returned to the north. A part of those who remained behind passed into the Nizam's territory, while a part settled down in the Province of Talikota. A legendary tale, narrated before the Superintendent of Police, Raipur, in 1904, by an intelligent Chapperband, shows that they learnt this art of manufacturing coins during the Moghul period. He said 'In the time of the Moghul Empire, Chapperbands settled in the Bijapur district. At that time, a fakir named Pir Bhai Pir Makhan lived in the same district. One of the Chapperbands went to this fakir, and asked him to intercede with God, in order that Chapperbands might be directed to take up some profession or other. The fakir gave the man a rupee, and asked him to take it to his house quickly, and not to look backwards as he proceeded on his way. As the man ran home, some one called him, and he turned round to see who it was. When he reached his house, found the rupee had turned into a false one. The man returned to the fakir, and complained that the rupee was a false one. The fakir was much enraged at the man's account of having looked back as he ran, but afterwards said that Chapperbands would make a living in future by becoming coiners of false money.' On every Sunday, they collect all their false rupee moulds, and other implements, and, placing these in front of them, they worship Pir Makhan, also called Pir Madar. They sacrifice a fowl to him, take out its eyes and tail, and fix them on three thorns of the trees bâbul, bir, and thalmakana; and, after the worship is over, they throw them in the direction in which they intend to start. The Chapperbands conceal a large number of rupees in the rectum, long misusage often forming a cavity capable of containing ten to twenty rupees. So also cavities are formed in the month below the tongue." In a case recorded by Mr. M.Kennedy,2 "when a Chapperband was arrested on suspicion, on his person being examined by the Civil Surgeon, no less than seven rupees were found concealed in a cavity in his rectum. The Civil Surgeon was of opinion that it must have taken some considerable time to form such a cavity." A similar case came before the Sessions Judge in South Canara a few years ago.

Chapparbands.: -Many of them tend to refer to Bijapur as their district of origin, but they move all over the Indian country. Originally they are from Punjab. They specialise in the forgery of metals and have criminal inclinations. They also trade forged coins and are, thus, called Fakir coiners.

Charan.: -A section of a grop of Bards. They are singers of sacred prayers and hymns. They are known under different names.

1. Criminal Tribes of India, No III, 1907. 2. Criminal Classes in the Bombay Presidency.

246 Charau.: -Charau is the name of a caste analogous to, or identical with, the Bhât1, following the profession of bards, heralds, and genealogists, and held in like estimation; so that their personal security is considered sufficient for engagements of the most important description, the breach of which involves the death of the guarantor or of some of his family. They also subsist by carrying grain, salt, groceries, and the like.

Chetti.: -It is noted2 in the Census Report of 1891, that "the name Chetti is used both to denote a distinct caste, and also a title, and people bearing this title describe themselves loosely as belonging to the Chetti caste, in the same way as a Vellâla will say that he is a Mudali. This use of Chetti has caused some confusion in the returns, for the sub-divisions show that many other castes have been included as well as Chetti proper." Again, in the Census Report of 1901, it is recorded that "Chetti means trader, and is one of those titular or occupational terms, which are often loosely employed as caste names. The weavers, oil pressers, and others use it as a title, and many more tack it on to their names, to denote that trade is their occupation. Strictly employed, it is nevertheless the name of a true caste." The Chettis are so numerous, and so widely distributed, that their many sub-divisions differ very greatly in their ways. The best known of them are the Béri Chettis and the Nagarattu Chettis. Of these, the Béri and Nâttukóttai Chettis are dealt with in special articles. The following divisions of Chettis, inhabiting the Madura district, are recorded in my notes:- (a) Men with head clean-shaven:- Ilavagai or Karnakudi. Thedakóttai. Sundaraththan. Periyakóttai-vellân. Ariyîr. Puliyangudi. Malampatti. Vallam or Tiruvappîr. Pâlayapattu. Kurungalîr. (b) Men with kudumi (hair knot):- Puvaththukudi or Mannagudi. Mârayakkâra. Kiramangalam. Pandukudi or Manjapaththu. Vallanâttu. Of these, the Puvaththukudi Chettis, who receive their name from a village in the Tanjore district, are mostly itinerant petty traders and money-lenders, who travel about the country. They carry on their shoulders a bag containing their personal effects, except when they are cooking and sleeping. I am informed that the Puvaththukudi women engage women, presumably with a flow of appropriate language ready for the occasion, to abuse those with whom they have a quarrel. Among the Puvaththukudi Chettis, marriages are, for reasons of economy, only celebrated at intervals of many years. Concerning this custom, a member of the community writes to me as follows. "In our village, marriages are performed only once in ten or fifteen years. My own marriage was celebrated in the year Nandana (1892-93). Then seventy or eighty marriages took place. Since that time, marriages have only taken place in the present year (1906). The god at Avadaiyar kóvil (temple) is our caste god. For marriages, we must receive from that temple garlands, sandal, and palanquins. We pay to the temple thirty-five rupees for every bridegroom through our Nagaraththar (village headmen). The expenses incurred in connection with the employment of washermen, barbers, nâgasaram (musical instrument) players, talayâris, (watchmen), carpenters, potters, blacksmiths, gurukkals (priests), and garland-makers, are borne collectively and shared by the families in which marriages are to take place." Another Chetti writes that this system of Puvaththukudi and Mannagudi, and that the marriages of all girls of about seven years of age and upwards are celebrated. The marriages are performed in batches, and the marriage season lasts over several months.

1 See Risley. 2 See Thurston,

247 Palayasengadam in the Trichinopoly district is the head-quarters of a section of the Chettis called the Pannirendâm (twelfth) Chettis. "These are supposed to be descended from eleven youths who escaped long ago from Kâvéripatnam, a ruined city in Tanjore. A Chola king, says the legend, wanted to marry a Chetti; whereupon the caste set fire to the town, and only these eleven boys escaped. They rested on the Ratnagiri hill to divide their property; but however they arranged it, it always divided itself into twelve shares instead of eleven. The god of Ratnagiri then appeared, and asked them to give him one share in exchange for a part of his litter. They did so, and they now call themselves the twelfth Chettis from the number of the shares, and at their marriages they carry the bridegroom round in a litter. They are said to be common in Coimbatore district."1

At the census, 1871, some of the less fortunate traders themselves as "bankrupt Chettis." The following castes and tribes are recorded as having assumed the title Chetti, or its equivalent Setti: Balija. Telugu trading caste. Bant. Tulu cultivating caste. Bilimagga, Dévânga, Patnîlkârân, Sâliyan, Sédan, Seniyan. All weaving classes. Dhóbi. Oriya washermen. Gâniga. Oil pressers. Gamalla. Telugu toddy-drawers. Gauda. Canarese cultivators. Gudigar. Canarese wood-carvers. Jain. Janappan. Said to have been originally a section of the Balijas, and manufactures of gunny-bags. Kavarai. Tamil equivalent of Balija. Kómati. Telugu traders. Koracha. A nomad tribe. Kudumi. A Travancore caste, which does service in the houses of Konkani Brâhmans. Mandâdan Chetti. Médara. Telugu become splitters and mat makers. Nâyar. Occupational title of some Nâyars of Malabar. Pattanavan. Tamil fishermen. Pattapu. Fishermen in the Telugu country. Sénaikkudaiyân. Tamil betel-vine growers of the Tamil country. Sonar. Goldmiths. Toreya. Canarese fishermen. Uppiliyan. Salt-workers. Some style themselves Karpura (camphor) Chetti, because they used to manufacture camphor. Vâniyan. Tamil oil-pressers. Wynaadan Chetti.

Of proverbs relating to Chettis,2 the following may be quoted:- He who thinks before he acts is a Chetti, but he who acts without thinking is a fool. When the Chetti dies, his affairs will become public. She keeps house like a merchant caste woman, i.e., economically. Though ruined, a Chetti is a Chetti, and, though torn, silk is still silk. The Chetti reduced the amount of advance, and the weaver the quantity of silk in the border of the cloth. From his birth a Chetti is at enmity with agriculture.

1. Gazetteer of the Trichinopoly district. 2. Rev. h. Jensen, Classified Collection or Tamil proverbs, 1897.

248 In a note on secret trade languages Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao writes as follows:1 "The most interesting of these, perhaps, is that spoken by petty shopkeepers and cloth merchants of Madras, who are mostly Moodellys and Chettis by caste. Their business mostly consists in ready-money transactions, and so we find that they have a regular table of numerals. Numbers one to ten have been given definite names, and they have been so long in use that most of them do not understand the meaning of the terms they use. Thus madi (mind) stands for one, mind being always represented in the Hindu shastras as a single thing. Vené (act or deed) stands for two, for vené is of two kinds only, nalvené and thivené or good and bad acts. Konam (quality) stands for three, since three different sorts of qualities are recognised in Hindu metaphysics. These are râjasam, thâmasam, and sâthmíkam. Shuruthi stands for four, for the Srutis or Védas are four in numbers. Sara (arrow) stands for five, after Panchasara, the five-arrowed, a well known name of Manmatha, the Indian Cupid. Matha represents six, after the shan mathams or six systems of Hindu philosophy. Théré stands for seven, after the seven oceans recognised by the Sanskrit geographers. Giri (mountain) represents eight, since it stands for ashtagiri or the eight mountains of the Hindus. Mani stands for nine, after navamani, the nine different sorts of precious stones recognised by the Hindus. Thisai represents ten, from the ten points of the compass. The common name for rupee is vellé or the white thing. Thangâm vellé stands for half a rupee, pinji vellé for a quarter of a rupee, 2 and pî vellé for an eighth of a rupee. A fanam (or 1 annas) is known as shulai. The 4 principal objects with which those who use this language have to deal with are padi or measure, vellé or rupee, and madi anâ, one anna, so that madi padi means one measure, madi vellé one rupee, and madi anâ, one anna. Similarly with the rest of the numerals. The merchants of Trichinopoly have nearly the same table of numerals, but the names for the fractions of a rupee vary considerably. Mîndri anâ is, with them, one anna; é anâ is two annas; pî anâ is four annas; pani anâ is eight annas and mîna anâ is twelve annas. Among them also vellé stands for a rupee. They have besides another table of numerals in use, which is curious as being formed by certain letters of the Tamil alphabet. Thus pína stands for one, lâna for two, laina for three, yâna for four, lína for five, mâna for six, vâna for seven, nâna for eight, thína for nine, and thuna for ten. These letters have been strung into the mnemonic phrase Pillayalam Vanthathu, which literally means 'the children have come.' This table is also used in connection with measures, rupees, and annas. Dealers in coarse country-made cloths all over Madras and the Chingleput district have a table of their own. It is a very complete one from one pie to a thousand rupees. Occasionally Hindu merchants are found using a secret language based on Hindustani. This is the case in one part of Madras city. With them pâv khâné stands for one anna, ada khâné for two annas, pâvak ruppé for one rupee, and so on. Brokers have terms of their own. The Tamil phrase padiya par, when used by them, means ask less or say less, according to how it is addressed to the purchaser or seller. Similarly, mudukka par means ask a higher price. When a broker says Sivan thâmtram, it is to be inferred that the price given out by the seller includes his own brokerage. Telugu brokers have similar terms. Among them, the phrase Malasu vakkâdu and Nâsi vakkâdu respectively increase the rate, and decrease the rate stated."

Chisaris.: -They are blacksmiths using their own technology which is quite superior to the technology of village blacksmiths. They move around Punjab, Gujarat and Karnataka. Their language is kin to Gujarati.

1. Madras Mail, 1904.

249 Chitrakathi.: -Hardas.1 - A small caste of religious mendicants and picture showmen in the Marâtha Districts. In 1901 they numbered 200 persons in the Central Provinces and 1500 in Berâr, being principally found in the Amraoti District. The name, Mr. Enthover writes2 is derived from chitra, a picture, an katha, a story, and the professional occupation of the caste is to travel about exhibiting pictures of heroes and gods, and telling stories about them. The community is probably of mixed functional origin, for in Bombay them have exogamous section-names taken from those of the Marâthas, as Jâdhow, More, Powâr and so on, while in the Central Provinces and Berâr an entirely different set is found. Here several sections appear to be named after certain offices held or functions performed by their members at the caste feasts. Thus the Atak section are the caste headmen; the Mânkari appear to be sort of substitute for the Atak or their grand viziers, the word Mânkar being primarily a title applied to Marâtha noblemen, who held an official position at court, the Bhojin section serve the food at marriage and other ceremonies; the Kâkra arrange for the lighting; the Kothârya are store-keepers; and the Ghoderao (from ghoda, a horse) have the duty of looking after the horses and bullock-carts of the castemen who assemble. The Chitrakathis are really no doubt the same caste as the Chitâris or Chitrakârs (painters) of the Central Provinces, and like them, a branch of the Mochis (tanners), and originally derived from the Chamârs. But as the Berâr Chitrakathis are migratory instead of settled, and in other respects differ from the Chitâris, they are treated in a separate article. Marriage within the section is forbidden, and, besides this, members of the Atak and Mânkari sections cannot intermarry as they are considered to be related, being divisions of one original section. The social customs of the caste resemble those of the Kunbis, but they bury their dead in a sitting posture, with the face to the east, and on the eighth day erect a platform over the grave. At the festival of Akhatíj (3rd of light Baisâkh)3 they worship a vessel of water in honour of their dead ancestors, and in Kunwâr (September) they offer oblations to them. Though not impure, the caste occupy a low social position, and are said to prostitute their married women and tolerate sexual licence on the part of unmarried girls. Mr. kitts4 describes them as "Wandering mendicants, sometimes suspected of associating with Kaikâris for purposes of crime; but they seem nevertheless to be a comparatively harmless people. They travel about in little huts like those used by the Waddars; the men occasionally sell buffaloes and milk; the women beg, singing and accompanying themselves on the thâli. The old men also beg, carrying a flag in their hand, and shouting the name of their god, Hari Vithal (from Which they derive their name of Hardâs). They are fond of spirits and, when drunk, become troublesome." The thâli or plate on which their women play is also known as sarthâda, and consists of a small brass dish coated with wax in the centre; this is held on the thigh and a pointed stick is move in a circle so as to produce a droning sound. The men sometimes paint their own pictures, and in Bombay they have a caste rule that every Chitrakathi must have in his house a complete set of sacred pictures; this usually includes forty representations of Râma's life, thirty-five of that of the soons of Arjun, forty of the Pândavas, forty of Síta and Râwan, and forty of Harishchandra. The men also have sets of puppets representing the above and other deities, and enact scenes with them like a Punch and Judy show, sometimes aided by ventriloquism.

Chitrakathi.: -It is a group similar to the Bhopa. They mainly perform in Maharashtra.

1. See Russell. This article is partly based on a paper by Mr. Bijai Bahadur, Naib Tahsíldâr, Bâlâghât 2. Bombay Ethnographic Survey, draft article on Chitrakathi. 3. May- June, The Akhatíj is the beginning of the agricultural year. 4. Berâr Census Report (1881), paragraph 206. The passage is slightly altered and abridged in reproduction.

250 Chunaris.: - They are a sub-section of the Binds. See Binds.

Chunkar.: -See Od.

Cutchi.: -Meman, Kachhi Muamim.1 - A class of Muhammadan merchants who come every year from Gujarât and Cutch to trade in the towns of the Central Provinces, where they reside for eight months, returning to their houses during the four months of the rainy season. In 1911 they numbered about 2000 persons, of whom five-sixths were men, this fact indicating the temporary nature of their settlements. Nevertheless, a large proportion of the trade of the Province is in their hands. The caste is fully and excellently described by Khân Bahâdur Fazalullah Lutfullah Farídi, Assistant collector of Customs, Bombay, in the Bombay, Gazetteer.2 He remarks of them: "As shopkeepers and miscellaneous dealers Cutchis are considered to be the most successful of Muhammadans. They owe their success in commerce to their freedom from display and their close and personal attention to and keen interest in business. The richest Meman merchant does not disdain to do what Pârsi in his position would leave to his clerks. Their hope and courage are also excellent endowments. They engage without fear in any promising new branch of trade and are daring in their ventures, a trait partly inherited from their Lohâna ancestors, and partly due to their faith in the luck which the favour of their saints secures them." Another great advantage arises form their method of trading in small corporations or companies of a number of persons either relations or friends. Some of these will have shops in the great centres of trade, Bombay and Calcutta, and others in different places in the interior. Each member then acts as correspondent and agent for all the others, and puts what business he can in their way. Many are also employed as assistants and servants in the shops; but at the end of the season, when all return to their native Gujarât, the profits from the different shops are pooled and divided among the members in varying proportion. By this method they obtain all the advantages which are recognised as attaching to co-operative trading.

According to Mr. Farídi, from whose description the remainder of this article is mainly taken, the Memans or more correctly Muamins or 'Believers' are converts from the Hindu caste of Lohânas of Sind. They venerate especially Maulâna Abdul Kâdir Gílâni who died at Baghdâd in A.D. 1165. His sixth descendant, Syed Yîsufuddín Kordiri, was in 1421 instructed in a dream to proceed to Sind and guide its people into the way of Islâm. On his arrival he was received with honour by the local king, who was converted, and the ruler's example was followed by one Mânikji, the head of one of the nukhs or clans of the Lohâna community. He with his three sons and seven hundred families of the caste embraced Islâm, and on their conversion the title of Muamin or 'Believer' was conferred on them by the saint. It may be noted that Colonel Tod derives the Lohânas from the Râjpîrs, remarking of them:3 "This tribe is numerous both in Dhât and Talpîra; formerly they were Râjpîts, but betaking themselves to commerce have fallen into the third class. They are scribes and shopkeepers, and object to no occupation that will bring a subsistence; and as to food, to use the expressive idiom of this region where hunger spurns at law, 'Excepting their cats and their cows they will eat anything." In his account of Sind, Postans says of the Lohânas: "The Hindu merchants and bankers have agents in the most remote parts of Central Asia and could negotiate bills upon Candahâr, Khelât, Câbul, Khiva, Herât, Bokhâra or any other parts of that country. These agents, in the pursuit of their calling, leave Sind for many years, quitting

1 See Russell. 2. Vol. ix. part. ii. Muhammadans of Gujarât, p. 57. 3. Râjasthân. ii. p. 292.

251 their families to locate themselves among the most savage and intolerant tribes." This account could equally apply to the Khatris, who also travel over Central Asia, as shown in the article on that caste; and if, as seems not improbable, the Lohânas and Khatris are connected, the hypothesis that the former, like the latter, are derived from Râjpîts would receive some support.

The present Pír, or head of the community, is Sayyid Jâfir Shâh, who is nineteenth in descent from Yîsufuddíd and lives partly in Bombay and partly in Mundra of South Cutch. "At an uncertain date," Mr. Farídi continues, "the Lohâna or Cutchi Memans passed from Cutch south through Kâthiâwâr to Gujarât. They are said to have been strong and wealthy in Surat during the period of its prosperity (1580-1680). As Surat sank the Cutchi Memans moved to Bombay. outside Cutch and Kâthiâwâr, which may be considered their homes, the Memans are scattered over the cities of north and south Gujarât and other Districts of Bombay. Beyond that Presidency they have spread as traders and merchants and formed settlements in Calcutta, Madras, the Malabar Coast, South Burma, Siam, Singapore and Java; in the ports of the Arabian Peninsula, except Muscat, where they have been ousted by the Khojas; in Mozambique, Zanzibar and the East African Coast."1 They have two divisions in Bombay, known as Cutchi or Kachhi and Halai.

Cutchis and Memans retain some non-Muhammadan usages. The principal of these is that they do not allow their daughters and widows to inherit according to the rule of Muhammadan law.2 They conduct their weddings by the Nikâh form and the mehar or dowry is always the same sum of a hundred and twenty-five rupees, whatever may be the position of the parties and in the case of widows also. They say that either party may be divorced by the other for conjugal infidelity, but the mehar or dowry must always be paid to the wife in the case of a divorce. The caste eat flesh and fowls and abstain from liquor. Most of them also decline to eat beef as a consequence of their Hindu ancestry, and they will not take food from Hindus of low caste.

Dafalis.: -They exorcise evil spirits with music. They live in North India. See Nagarchis.

Dakots.: - They are a begging caste of Rajasthan.

Dandasis.:- In the past robbery, probably, was their main occupation. They have many stories of gods and goddesses to explain their name. But in fact Danda means a %man with a stick’ and normally thieves move around with sticks. They live in Orissa and other regions.

1. Bombay Gazetteer, l.c. 2. In recording this point Mr. Rarídi gives the following note: "In 1847 a case occurred which shows how firmly the Memans cling to their original tribal customs. The widow of Hâji Nîr Muhammad of the Lakariya family demanded a share of her deceased husband's property according to Muhammadan law. The jamâ-at or community decided that a widow had no claim to share her husband's estates under the Hindu law. Before the High Court, in spite of the ridicule of other Sunnis, the elders of the Cutchi Memans declared that their cast rules denied the widow's claim, The matter caused and is still (1896) causing agitation, as the doctors of the Sunni law at Mecca have decided that as the law of inheritance is laid down by the holy Korân, a wilful departure from it is little short of apostasy. The Memans are contemplating a change, but so far they have not found themselves able to depart from their tribal practices."

252 Darveshis.: - A wandering group. They put up shows with bears and tigers. They are Sunni Muslim.

Dâsari.: - "Dâsari to Tâdan," 1Mr. H.A. Stuart writes,2 "is a mendicant caste of Vaishnavas, the reputed descendants of a wealthy Sîdra of one of the northern districts, who, being devoid of offspring, vowed that, should he be blessed with children, he would devote one to the service of his god. He subsequently had many sons, one of whom he named Dâsan(servant), and placed entirely at the service of the deity. Dâsan forfeited all claim to participate in his father's estate, and his offspring are therefore all beggars.

"The caste, like that of the Sâtânis, is reinforced by idle members of the lower Sîdra classes, who, being branded by the gurus of Tirupati and other shrines, become Dâsaris thereby. They usually wander about, singing hymns to a monotonous accompaniment upon a leather instrument called tappai (tabret). Some Sîdra castes engage them thus to chant in front of the corpse at funerals, and many, accompanying bands of pilgrims travelling to Tirupati, stimulate their religious excitement by singing sacred songs. A few, called Yerudândis, (q.v.) take possession of young bulls that have been devoted to a swâmi, and teach them to perform tricks very cleverly. The bulls appear to understand what is said to them, and go through various antics at the word of command. Some Dâsaris exhibit what is called the Panda Sérvai performance, which consists in affecting to be possessed by the spirit of the deity, and beating themselves all over the body with a flaming torch, after covering it probably with some protecting substance. In such modes do they wander about and receive alms, each wearing as a distinction a garland of beads made of tulasi (Ocimum sanctum) wood. Every Dâsari is a Tengalai. They have six sub-divisions, called Balija, Janappa, Palli, Valluva, Gangeddula, and Golla Dâsaris, which neither eat together nor intermarry. As these are the names of existing and distinct castes, it is probable that the Dâsaris were formerly members of those classes, who, through their vagabond tastes, have taken to a mendicant life. Beyond prohibiting widow remarriage, they have no social restrictions."

Concerning the mendicants of Anantapur, Mr. W. Francis writes3 that "the beggars who are most in evidence are the Dâsaris. This community is recruited from several castes, such as the Kâpus, Balijas, Kurubas, Bóyas, and Mâlas, and members of it who belong to the last two of these(which are low in the social scale) are not allowed to dine with the others. All Dâsaris are Vaishnavites, and admission to the community is obtained by being branded by some Vaishnavite guru. Thence-forward the novice becomes a Dâsari, and lives by begging from door to door. The profession is almost hereditary in some families. The five insignia of a Dâsari are the conch shell, which he blows to announce his arrival; the gong which he strikes as he goes his round; the tall iron lamp (with a cocoanut to hold the oil for replenishing it) which he keeps lighted as he begs; the brass or copper vessel (sometimes with the nâmam painted on it) suspended from his shoulder, in which he places the alms received; and the small metal image of Hanumân, which he hangs round his neck. Of these, the iron lamp is at once the most conspicuous and the most indispensable. Is said to represent Venkatésa, and it must be burning, as an unlighted lamp is inauspicious. Dâsaris also subsist by doing pîja (worship) at ceremonial and festival occasions for certain of the Hindu castes. "In the Kurnool district, when a girl is dedicated as a Basavi (dedicated prostitute), she is not, as in some other parts of the country, married to an idol, but tied by means of a garland of flowers to the tall standard lamp (garudakambham) of a Dâsari, and released by the man who is to receive her first favours, or by her maternal uncle."

1 See Thurston. 2 Manual of the North Arcot district. 3 Gazetteer of the Anantapur district.

253 The Dâsaris in Mysore are described in the Mysore Census Report of 1901, as "mendicants belonging to different classes of Sîdras. They become Dâsas or servants dedicated to the God at Tirupati by virtue of a peculiar vow, made either by themselves or their relatives, at some moment of anxiety or danger, and live by begging in His name. Dâsaris are always Vaishnavites, as the vows are taken only by those castes which are worshippers of that deity. Dâsaris are invited by Sîdras on ceremonial days, and feasted. Properly speaking, Dâsari is not a caste, but simply an occupational division. Among certain castes, the custom of taking a vow to become a Dâsari prevails. In fulfilment of that vow the person becomes a Dâsari, and his eldest son is bound to follow suit, the others taking to other walks of life. The following castes take the vow of becoming Dâsari: Telugu Banajiga, Holeya, Tigala, and Vakkaliga. The duty of a Dâsari requires that he should daily bathe his head, and take care that, while eating with the profane, their victuals do not get mixed with his. Every Saturday, after bathing and praying for some hours, he must cook his own food in a clean pot. They go about the streets singing some Hari Keerthanams, with a gong and conch to relieve the dull monotony of their mumblings."

Concerning the synonym Tâdan, this is stated1 to be "a corruption of the Sanskrit dâsa which, with the Tamil termination an, stands for dâsan. The word is often used in this form, but often as Dâsari. The word is applied to Vaishnava mendicants. They go out every morning, begging for alms of uncooked rice, and singing ballads or hymns. They play on a small drum with their fingers, and often carry a conch shell, which they blow. They are given to drinking." In the Nellore Manual, the Dâsrivandlu are summed up as scissor-theft." The mendicant Dâsaris, who are dealt with in the present note, are stated by Mr. S. M. Natesa Sastri2 to be called Gudi Dâsari, as the gudi or temple is their home and to be a set of quiet, innocent and simple people, leading a most idle and stupid life. "Quite opposed." he adds, "to the Gudi Dâsaris in every way are the Donga Dâsaris or thieving Dâsaris. They are the most dreaded of the criminal classes in the Bellary district. These Donga Dâsaris are only Dâsaris in name." (See Donga Dâsari)

Some Dâsaris are servants under Vaishnave Brâhmans, who act as gurus to various castes. It is their duty to act as messengers to the guru, and carry the news of his arrival to his disciples. At the time of worship, and when the guru approaches a village, the Dâsari has to blow a long brass trumpet (târai). As the Brâhman may not approach or touch his Paraiyan disciples, it is the Dâsari who gives them the holy water (thirtham). When a Paraiyan is to be branded, the Brâhman heats the instruments bearing the devices of the chank and chakaram, and hands them to the Dâsari, who performs the operation of branding. For councils, settlement of marriage, and the decision of other social matters, the Dâsaris meet, at times of festivals, at well-known places such as Tirutani, Tirupati or Tiruvallîr.

At the annual festival at the temple at Kâramadi in the Coimbatore district, which is visited by very large numbers, belonging for the most part to the lower orders, various vows are fulfilled. These include the giving of kavalam to Dâsaris. Kavalam consists of plantain fruits cut up into small slices, and mixed with sugar, jaggery (crude sugar), fried grain, or beaten rice. The Dâsaris are attached to the temple, and wear short drawers, with strings of small brass bells tied to their wrists and ankles. They appear to be possessed, and move wildly about to the beating of drums. As they go about, the devotee puts some of the kavalam into their mouths. The Dâsaris eat a little, and spit out the remainder into the hands of the devotees, who eat it. This is believed to cure all diseases, and to give children to those who partake of it. In addition to kavalam, some put betel leaves into the mouths of the Dâsaris, who, after chewing them, spit them into the mouths of the Devotees. At night the Dâsaris carry large torches made of rags, on which the devotees pour ghí (clarified butter). Some say that, many years ago, barren women used to take a vow to visit temple at the festival time,

1 Manual of the Tanjore district. 2 Calcutta Review, 1905.

254 and, after offering kavalam, have sexual intercourse with the Dâsaris. The temple authorities, however, profess ignorance of this practice.

When proceeding on a pilgrimage to the temple of Subramanya Swâmi at Palni, some devotees pierce their cheeks with a long silver skewer, which traverses the mouth cavity; pierce the tongue with a silver arrow, which is protruded vertically through the protruded organ; and place a silver shield (mouth-lock) in front of the mouth. Some Dâsaris have permanent holes in their cheeks, into which they insert skewers when they go about the country in pursuit of their profession.

For the following note on Dâsaris in the Vizagapatam district, I am indebted to Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao. The caste is an endogamous unit, the members calling themselves Sankhu (or conch-blowing) Dâsaris, and is divided into numerous exogamous septs. The ménarikam custom, according to which a man should marry his maternal uncle's daughter, is followed. The remarriage of widows is permitted, but divorce is forbidden. The dead are cremated, and the chinna (small day) and pedda rózu (big day) death ceremonies are observed. These Dâsaris profess the Tengalai form of Vaishnavism, and get themselves branded. The caste is more secular, and less religious than in the southern districts. A Dâsaris of the North Arcot or Anantapur type, with conch-shell, metal going, iron lamp, copper vessel, and metal image of Hanumân on his neck, is scarcely met with. The Vizagapatam Dâsaris are the most popular among ballad-singers, and sing songs about heroes and heroines, of which the following are the most appreciated:--

1. Bobbilipâta, which describes the siege and conquest of Bobbili by Bussy in 1757. 2. Ammi Nâyudupâta, which describes the tyrannical behaviour of one Ammi Nâyudu, a village headman in the Pâlkonda tâluk, who was eventually murdered, to the great relief of those subject to him, by one of his dependents. 3. Lakshmammapâta, which relates the life and death of Lakshmamma, a Velama woman, who went against the ménarikam custom of the caste, and was put to death by her husband. 4. Yerakammapérantâla-pâta, which recounts the story of one Yerakamma, who committed sati.

Yerakamma is the local goddess at Srungavarapukóta in the Vizagapatam district. The ballads sung about her say that she was the child of Dâsaris parents, and that her birth was foretold by a Yerukala woman (whence her name), who prophesied that she would have the gift of second sight. She eventually married, and one day she begged her husband not to go to his field, as she was sure he would be killed by a tiger if he did. Her husband went notwithstanding, and was slain as she had foreseen. She committed sati on the spot where her shrine still stands, and at this there is a festival at Sivarâtri.

As ballad-singers, two Dâsaris generally travel about together, begging from house to house, or at the weekly market, one singing, while the other plays, and joins in the chorus. The titles of these Dâsaris are Anna and Ayya. Dâsari has been recorded as an exogamous sept of the Koravas, Mâlas, and Yerukalas.

Dasari.: - See also the Satanis

Dasnami.: - See Gasain and Gosain

255 Dewâr.: - (Derived from Devi, whom they worship, or from Diâbâr, 'One who lights a lamp,' because they always practise magic with a lighted lamp)1. A Dravidian caste of beggars and musicians. They numbered about 2500 persons in 1911 and are residents of the Chhattísgarh plain. The Dewârs themselves trace their origin from a Binjhia named Gopâl Rai, who accompanied Râja Kalyân of Ratanpur on a visit to the Court of Delhi in Akbâr's time. Gopâl Rai was a great wrestler, and while at Delhi he seized and held a mast elephant belonging to the Emperor. When the latter heard of it he ordered a wrestling match to be arranged between Gopâl Rai and his own champion wrestler. Gopâl Rai defeated and killed his opponent, and Kalyân Sai ordered him to compose a triumphal song and sing it in honour of the occasion. He composed his song in favour of Devi Maha Mai, or Devi the Great Mother, and the composition and recitation of similar songs has ever since been the profession of his descendants the Dewârs. The caste is, as is shown by the names of its sections, of mixed origin, and its members are the descendants of Gonds and Kawars reinforced probably by persons who have been expelled from their own caste and have become Dewârs. They will still admit persons of any caste except the very lowest.

The caste has two principal divisions according to locality, named Raipîria and Ratanpîria, Raipur and Ratanpur having been formerly the two principal towns of Chhattísgarh. Within these are several other local subdivision, e.g. Navâgarhia or those belonging to Nawâgarh in Bilâspur, Sonâkhania from Sonâkhân south of the Mahânadi, Châtarrâjiha from Châter Râj, in Raipur, and Sârangarhia from Sârangarh State. Some other divisions are either occupational or social; thus the Baghurra Dewârs are those who tame tigers and usually live in the direction of Bastar, the Baipâri Dewârs are petty traders in brass or pewter ornaments which they sell to Banjâra women, and the Lohâr and Jogi Dewârs may be so called either because their ancestors belonged to these castes, or because they have adopted the profession of blacksmiths and beggars respectively. Probably both reasons are partly applicable. These subdivisions are not strictly endogamous, but show a tendency to become so. The two main subcastes, Raipîria and Ratanpîria, are distinguished by the musical instruments which they play on while begging. That of the Raipîrias is a sort of rude fiddle called sârangi, which has a cocoanut shell as a resonator with horsehair strings, and is played with a bow. The Ratanpîrias have an instrument called dhungru, which consists of a piece of bamboo about three feet long with a hollow gourd as a resonator and catgut strings. In the latter the resonator is held uppermost and rests against the shoulder of the player, while in the former it is at the lower end and is placed against his waist. The section names of the Dewârs are almost all of Dravidian origin. Sonwânia, Markâm, Marai, Dhurwa, Ojha, Netâm, Salâm, Katlâm, and Jagat are the names of well-known Gond septs which are also possessed by the Dewârs, and Telâsi Karsayal, Son-Mungir and others are Kawar septs which they have adopted. They admit that their ancestors were members of these septs among the Gonds and Kawars. Where the name of the ancestor has a meaning which they understand, some totemistic observances survive. Thus the members of the Karsayal sept will not kill or eat a deer. The septs are exogamous, but there is no other restriction on marriage and the union of first cousins is permissible.

Marriage Customs Adult marriage is usual, and if a husband cannot be found for a girl who has reached maturity she is given to her sister's husband as a second wife, or to any other married person who will take her and give a feast to the caste. In some localities the boy who is to be married is sent with a few relatives to the girl's house. On arrival he places a pot of wine and a nut before the girl's father, who, if he is willing to carry out the marriage, orders the nut to be pounded up. This is always done by a member of the Sonwâni sept, a similar respect being paid to this sept among some of the Dravidian tribes. The foreheads of the betrothed couple are smeared with the nut and with some yellow-coloured rice and they bow low to the elders

1. See Russell. This artic is partly based on a note By Mr> Gokul Parsâd. Tahsíldâr. Dhamtri.

256 of the caste. Usually a bride-price of Rs. 5 or 10 is then paid to the parents of the girl, together with two pieces of cloth intended for their use. A feast follows, which consists merely of the distribution of uncooked food, as the Dewârs, like some other low castes, will not take cooked food from each other. Pork and wine are essential ingredients in the feast or the ceremony cannot be completed. If liquor is not available, water from the house of a Kalâr (distiller) will do instead, but there is no substitute for pork. This, however, is as a rule easily kept as nearly all the Dewârs keep pigs, which are retailed to the Gonds for their sacrifices. The marriage ceremony is performed within three or four months at most after the betrothal. Before entering the Mandwa or marriage shed the bridegroom must place a jar of liquor in front of his prospective father-in-law. The bridegroom must also place a ring on the little finger of the bride's right hand, while she resists him as much as she can, her hand having previously been smeared with castor oil in order to make the task more difficult. Before taking the bride away the new husband must pay her father Rs. 20, and if he cannot do this, and in default of arrangements for remission which are sometimes made, must remain domiciled in his house for a certain period. As the bride is usually adult, there is no necessity for a gauna ceremony, and she leaves for her husband's house once and for all. Thereafter when she visits the house of her parents she does so as a stranger, and they will not accept cooked food at her hands nor she at theirs. Neither will her husband's parents accept food from her, and each couple with their unmarried children form an exclusive group in this respect. Such a practice is found only among the low castes of mixed origin where nobody is certain of his neighbour's standing. If a woman has gone wrong before marriage, most of the ceremonies are omitted. In such a case the bridegroom catches hold of the bride by the hair and gives her a blow by way of punishment for her sin, and they then walk seven times round the sacred pole, the whole ceremony taking less than a hour. The bride-price is under these circumstances reduced to Rs. 15. Widow-marriage is permitted, and while in some localities the new husband need give nothing, in others he must pay as much as Rs. 50 to the relatives of the deceased husband. If a woman runs away from her husband to another man, the latter must pay to the husband double the ordinary amount payable for a widow. If he cannot afford this, he must return the woman with Rs. 10 as compensation for the wrong he has done. The Dewârs are also reported to have the practice of mortgaging their wives or making them over temporarily to a creditor in return for a loan. Divorce is allowed for the usual causes and by mutual consent. The husband must give a feast to the caste, which is looked on as the funeral ceremony of the woman so far as he is concerned; thereafter she is dead to him and he cannot marry her again on pain of the permanent exclusion of both from the caste. But a divorced woman can marry any other Dewâr. Polygamy is freely allowed.

Religious Rites The Dewârs especially worship Devi Maha Mai and Dîlha Deo. To the former they offer a she-goat and to the latter a he-goat which must be of a dark colour. They worship their dhungru or musical instrument on the day of Dasahra. They consider the sun and the moon to be brother and sister, and both to be manifestations of their deity. They bury their dead, but those who are in good circumstances dig up the bones after a year or two and burn them, taking the ashes to a sacred river. Mourning lasts for seven or ten days according as the deceased is unmarried or married, and during this time they abjure flesh and oil. Their social rules are peculiar. Though considered impure by the higher castes, they will not take cooked food from a Brâhman, whom they call a Kumhâti Kída, or an insect which effects the metamorphosis of others into his own form, and who will therefore change them into his own caste. Nor will they take cooked food from members of their own caste, but they accept it from several of the lower castes including Gonds, whose leftovers they will eat. This is probably because they beg from Gonds and attend their weddings. They keep pigs and pork is their favourite food, but they do not eat beef. They have a tribal council with a headman called Gaontia or Jemâdar, who always belongs either to the Sonwâni or Telâsi section. Among offences for which a man is temporarily put out of caste is that of naming his younger brother's wife. He must also abstain from going into her room or touching her clothers. This rule does not apply to an elder brother's wife.

257 The Dewârs are professional beggars, and play on the musical instruments called dhungru and sârangi which have already been described. The Ratanpîrias usually celebrate in an exaggerated style the praise of Gopâl Rai, their mythical ancestor. One of his exploits was to sever with a single sword-stroke the stalk of a plantain inside which the Emperor of Delhi had caused a solid bar of iron to be placed. The Raípîrias prefer a song, called Gujrígít, about curds and milk. They also sing various songs relating how a woman is beloved by a Râja who tries to seduce her, but her chastity is miraculously saved by some curious combination of circumstances. They exorcise ghosts, train monkeys, bears and tigers for exhibition, and sell ornaments of base metal. In Raipur the men take about performing monkeys and the women do tattooing, for which they usually receive payment in the shape of an old or new cloth. A few have settled down to cultivation, but as a rule they are wanderers, carrying from place to place their scanty outfit of a small tent and mattress, both made of old rags, and a few vessels. They meet at central villages during the Holi festival. The family is restricted to the parents and unmarried children, separation usually taking place on marriage.

Dewar Pardhan.: - A section of Bards. They were genealogists. Nowadays they move around playing musical instruments. They are also snake charmers and perform with tamed monkeys.

Dhadi.: - They live in North India. They are actors, musicians, singers and dancers. In the past they used to sing songs for the Army.

Dhangar.: - They are shepherds who live in the Himalayas. They make blankets and sell wool and milk.

Dhangar.: - The Marâtha caste of shepherds and blanket-weavers, numbering 96,000 persons in the Central Provinces and Berâr1 . They reside principally in the Nâgpur, Wardha, Chânda and Nimâr Districts of the Central Provinces and in all Districts of Berâr. The are a very numerous caste in Bombay and Hyderâbâd. The name is derived either from the Sanskrit dhenu, a cow, or more probably from dhan,2 wealth, a term which is commonly applied to flocks of sheep and goats. It is said that the first sheep and goats came out of an ant-hill and scattering over the fields began to damage the crops of the cultivators. They, being helpless, prayed to Mahâdeo to rescue them from this pest and he thereupon created the first Dhangar to tend the flocks. The Dhangars consequently revere an ant-hill, and never remove one from their fields, while they worship it on the Diwâli day with offerings of rice, flowers and part of the ear of a goat. When tending and driving sheep and goats they ejaculate 'Har, Har,' which is a name of Mahâdeo used by devotees in worshipping him. The Dhangars furnished a valuable contingent to Sivaji's guerilla soldiery, and the ruling family of Indore State belong to this caste. It is divided into the following subcastes: Varâdi or Barâde, belonging to Berâr; Kânore or Kânade, of Kanara; Jhâde, or those belonging to the Bhandâra, Bâlâghât and Chhindwâra Districts, called the Jhâdi or hill country; Lâdse, found in Hyderâbâd; Gâdri, from Gâdar, a sheep, a division probably consisting of northerners, as the name for the cognate caste of shepherds in Hindustân is Gadaria; Telange, belonging to the Telugu country; Marâthe, of the Marâtha country; Mâhurai from Mâhur in

1 See Russel. Compiled mainly from a paper by Kanhya Lâl, clerk in the Gazetteer office. 2 Cr. The two meanings of the word 'stock' in English.

258 Hyderâbâd, and one or two others. Eleven subcastes in all are reported. For the purposes of marriage a number of exogamous groups or septs exist which may be classified according to their nomenclature as titular and totemistic, many having also the names of other castes. Examples of sept names are: Powâr, a Râjpît sept; Dokra, and old man, an old Mârte, a murderer or slayer; Sarodi, the name of a caste of mendicants; Mhâli, a barber; Kaode, a crow; Chambhâde, a Chamâr, Gîjde, a Gîjar; Juâde, a gambler; Lamchote, long-haired; Bodke, bald-headed; Khatík, a butcher; Chândekar, from Chânda; Dambhâde, one having pimples on the body; Halle, a he-buffalo; Moya, a grass, and others. The sept names show that the caste is a functional one of very mixed composition, party recruited from members of other castes who have taken to sheep-tending and generally from the non-Aryan tribes.

Marriage A man must not marry within his own sept or that of his mother, nor may he marry a first cousin. He may wed a younger sister of his wife during her lifetime, and the practice of marrying a girl and boy into the same family, called Anta Sânta or exchange, is permitted. Occasionally the husband does service for his wife in his father-in-law's house. In Wardha the Dhangars measure the heights of a prospective bride and bridegroom with a piece of string and consider it a suitable match if the husband is taller than the wife, whether he be older or not. Marriages may be infant or adult, and polygamy is permitted, no stigma attaching to the taking of a second wife. Weddings may be celebrated in the rains up to the month of Kunwâr (September), this provision probably arising from the fact that many Dhangars wander about the country during the open season, and are only at home during the rainy months. Perhaps for the same reason the wedding may, if the officiating priest so directs, be held at the house of a Brâhman. This happens only when the Brâhman has sown an offering of rice, called Gâg, in the name of the goddess Râna Devi, the favourite deity of the Dhangars. On his way to the bride's house the bridegroom must be covered with a black blanket. Nowadays the wedding is sometimes held at the bridegroom's house and the bride comes for it. The caste say that this is done because there are not infrequently among the members of the bridegroom's family widows who have remarried or women who have been kept by men of higher castes or been guilty or adultery. The bride's female relatives refuse to wash the feet of these women and this provokes quarrels. To meet such cases the new rule has been introduced. At the wedding the priest sits on the roof of the house facing the west, and the bride and bridegroom stand below with a curtain between them. As the sun is half set he claps his hands and the bridegroom takes the clasped hands of the bride within his own, the curtain being withdrawn. the bridegroom ties round the bride's neck a yellow thread of seven strands, and when this is done she is married. Next morning a black bead necklace is substituted for the thread. The expenses of the bridegroom's party are about Rs. 50, and of the bride's about Rs. 30. The remaining procedure follows the customary usage of the Marâtha Districts. Widows are permitted to marry again, but must not take a second husband from the sept to which the first belonged. A considerable price is paid for a widow, and it is often more expensive to marry one than a girl. A Brâhman and the mâlguzâr (village proprietor) should be present at the ceremony. If a bachelor marries a widow he must first go through the ceremony with a silver ring, and if the ring is subsequently lost or broken, its funeral rites must be performed. Divorce is allowed in the presence of the caste panchâyat at the instance of either party for sufficient reason, as the misconduct or bad temper of the wife or the impotency of the husband.

Religion. Mahâdeo is the special deity of the Dhangars, and they also observe the ordinary Hindu festivals. At Diwâli they worship their goats by dyeing their horns and touching their feet. One Bahrâm of Nâchangaon near Pulgaon is the tutelary deity of the Wardha Dhangars and the protector of their flocks. On the last day of the month of Mâgh they perform a special ceremony called the Deo Pîja. A Dhímar acts as priest to the caste on this occasion and fashions some figures of idols out of rice to which vermilion and flowers are offered. He then distributes the grains of rice to the Dhangars who are present, pronouncing a benediction.

259 The Dhímar receives his food and a present, and it is essential that the act of worship should be performed by one of this caste. In their houses they have Kul-Devi and Khandoba the Marâtha hero, who are the family deities. But in large families they are kept only in the house of the eldest brother. Kul-Devi or the goddess of the family is worshipped at weddings, and a goat is offered to her in the month of Cahit (March). The head is buried beneath her shrine inside the house and the body is consumed by members of the family only. Khandoba is worshipped on Sundays and they identify him with the sun. Vithoba, a form of Vishnu, is revered on Wednesdays, and Bâlâji, the younger brother of Râma, on Fridays. Many families also make a representation of some deceased bachelor relative, which they call Munjia, and of some married woman who is known as Mairni or Sâsin, and worship them daily.

Birth Death And Social Status. The Dhangars burn their dead unless they are too poor to purchase wood for fuel, in which case burial is resorted to. Unmarried children and persons dying form smallpox, leprosy, cholera and snake-bite are also buried. At the pyre the widow breaks her bangles and throws her glass beads onto her husband's body. On returning from the burning ghât the funeral party drink liquor. Some gânja, tobacco and anything else which the deceased may have been fond of during his life are left near the grave on the first day. Mourning is observed during ten days on the death of an adult and for three days for a child. Children are usually named on the twelfth day after birth, the well-to-do employing a Brâhman for the purpose. On this day the child must not see a lamp, as it feared that if he should do so he will afterwards have a squint. Only one name is given as a rule, but when the child comes to be married, if the Brâhman finds that its name does not make the marriage auspicious, he substitutes another and the child is afterwards known by this new name. The caste employs Brâhmans for ceremonies at birth and marriage. They eat flesh including fowls and wild pig, and drink liquor, but abstain from other unclean food. They will take food from a Kunbi, Phîlmâli or a Sunâr. and water from any of the good cultivating castes. A Kunbi will take water from them. The women of the caste wear bracelets of lead or brass on the right wrist and glass bangles on the left. Permanent or temporary excommunication from caste is imposed for the usual offences, and among those visited with the minor penalty are selling shoes, touching the carcass of a dog or cat, killing a cow or buffalo. or allowing one to die with a rope round its neck. No food is cooked for five weeks in a house in which a cat has died. The social standing of the caste is low.

Occupation. The traditional occupation of the Dhangars is to tend sheep and goats, and they also sell goats' milk make blankets from the wool of sheep, and sometimes breed and sell stock for slaughter. they generally live near tracts of wasteland where grazing is available. Sheep are kept in the open and goats in roofed folds. Like English shepherds. they carry sticks or staffs and have dogs to assist in driving the flocks, and they sometimes hunt hares with their dogs. Their dress consists frequently only of a loin-cloth and a blanket, and having to bear exposure to all weathers, they are naturally strong and hardy. In appearance they are dark and of medium size. They eat three times a day and bathe in the evening on returning from work, though their ablutions are sometimes omitted in the cold weather.

Dhanwâr.: -Dhanuhâr.1 -A primitive tribe living in the wild hilly country of the Bilâspur zamíndâri estates, adjoining Chota Nâgpur. They numbered only 19,000 persons in 1911. The name Dhanuhâr means a bowman, and the bulk of the tribe have until recently been accustomed to obtain their livelihood by hunting with bow and arrows. The name is thus merely a functional term and is analogous to those of Dhângar, or labourer, and Kisân, or

1. See Russell. This article is bases almost entirely on a monograph by Mr. Jeorâkhan Lâl, Deputy Inspector of Schools, Bilâspur.

260 cultivator, which are applied to the Oraons, and perhaps Halba or farmservant, by which another tribe is known. The Dhanwârs are almost certainly not connected with the Dhânuks of northern India, though the names have the same meaning. They are probably an offshoot of either the Gond or the Kawar tribe or a mixture of both. Their own legend of their origin is nearly the same as that of the Gonds, while the bulk of their sept or family names are identical with those of the Kawars. Like the Kawars, the Dhanwârs have no language of their own and speak a corrupt form of Chhattísgarhi Hindi. Mr. Jeorâkhan Lâl writes of them: "The word Dhanuhâr is a corrupt form of Dhanusdhâr, or 'a holder of a bow.' The bow consists of a piece of bamboo and the arrow is made of wood from the dhâman tree.1 The pointed end is furnished with a piece or a nail of iron called phani, while to the other end are attached feathers of the vulture or peacock with a tasar silk. Dhanuhâr boys learn the use of the bow at five years of age, and kill birds with it when they are seven or eight years old. At their marriage ceremony the bridegroom carries an arrow with him in place of a dagger as among the Hindus, and each household has a bow which is worshipped at every festival."

Origin According to their own legend the ancestors of the Dhanuhârs were two babies whom a tigress unearthed from the ground when scratching a hole in her den, and brought up with her own young. They were named Nâga Lodha and Nâga Lodhi, Nâga meaning naked and Lodha being the Chhattísgarhi word for a wild dog. Growing up they lived for some time as brother and sister, until the deity enjoined them to marry. But they had no children until Nâga Lodha, in obedience to the god's instructions, gave his wife the fruit of eleven trees to eat. From these she had eleven sons at a birth, and as she observed a fortnight's impurity for each of them the total period was five and a half months. In memory of this, Dhanuhâr women still remain impure for five months after delivery, and do not worship the gods for that period. Afterwards the couple had a twelfth son, who was born with a bow and arrows in his hand, and is now the ancestral hero of the tribe, being named Karankot. One day in the forest when Karankot was not with them, the eleven brothers came upon a wooden palisade, inside which were many deer and antelope tended by twelve Gaoli (herdsmen) brothers with their twelve sisters. The Lodha brothers attacked the place, but were taken prisoners by the Gaolis and forced to remove dung and other refuse form the enclosure. After a time Karankot went in search of his brothers and, coming to the place, defeated the Gaolis and rescued them and carried off the twelve sisters. The twelve brothers subsequently married the twelve Gaoli girls, Karankot himself being wedded to the youngest and most beautiful, whose name was Maswâsi. From each couple is supposed to be descended one of the tribes who live in this country, as the Binjhwâr, Bhumia, Korwa, Mâjhi, Kol, Kawar and others, the Dhanuhârs themselves being the progeny of Karankot and Maswâsi. The bones of the animals killed by Karankot were thrown into ditches dug round the village and form the pits of chhui mithi or white clay now existing in this tract.

Exogamous Septs. The Dhanuhârs, being a small tribe, have no endogamous divisions, but are divided into a number of totemistic exogamous septs. Many of the septs are called after plants or animals, and members of the sept refrain from killing or destroying the animal or plant after which it is named. The names of the septs are generally Chhattísgarhi words, though a few are Gondi. Out of fifty names returned twenty are also found in the Kawar tribe and four among the Gonds. This makes it probable that the Dhanuhârs are mainly an offshoot from the Kawars with a mixture of Gonds and other tribes. A peculiarity worth noticing is that one or two of the septs have been split up into a number of others. The best instance of this is the Sonwâni sept, which is found among several castes and tribes in Chhattísgarh; its name is perhaps derived from Sona pâni (Gold water), and its members have the function of readmitting those temporarily expelled from social intercourse by pouring on them a little water into which a piece of gold has been dipped. Among the Dhanuhârs the Sonwâni sept

1. Grewia vestita.

261 has become divided into the Son-Sonwâni, who pour the gold water over the penitent; the Rakat Sonwâni, who give him to drink a little of the blood of the sacrificial fowl; the Hardi Sonwâni, who give turmeric water to the mourners when they come back from a funeral; the Kâri Sonwâni, who assist at this ceremony; and one or two others. The totem of the Kâri Sonwâni sept is a black cow, and when such an animal dies in the village members of the sept throw away their earthen pots. All these are now separate exogamous septs. The Deswârs are another sept which has been divided in the same manner. They are, perhaps, a more recent accession to the tribe, and are looked down on by the others because they will eat the flesh of bison. The other Dhanwârs refuse to do this because they say that when Síta, Râma's wife, was exiled in the jungles, she could not find a cow to worship and so revered a bison in its stead.. And they say that the animal's feet are grey because of the turmeric water Síta poured on them, and that the depression on its forehead is the mark of her hand when she placed a tíka or sign there with coloured rice. The Deswârs are also called Dui Duâria or 'Those having two doors,' because they have a back door to their huts which is used only by women during their monthly period of impurity and kept shut at all other times. One of the septs is named Manakhia, which means 'man-eater,' and it is possible that its members formerly offered human sacrifices. Similarly, the Rakat-bund or 'Drop of blood Deswârs' may be so called because they shed human blood. A member of the Telâsi or 'Oil ' sept, when he has killed a deer, will cut off the head and bring it home; placing it in his courtyard, he suspends a burning lamp over the head and places grains of rice on the forehead of the deer; and he then considers that he is revering the oil in the lamp. Members of the Sîrajgoti or sun sept are said to have stood as representatives of the sun in the rite of the purification of an offender.

Marriage. Marriage within the sept is prohibited, and usually also between first cousins. Girls are commonly married a year or two after they arrive at maturity. The father of the boy looks out for a suitable girl for his son and sends a friend to make the proposal. If this is accepted a feast is given, and is known as Phîl Phulwâri or 'The bursting of the flower.' The betrothal itself is called Phaldân or 'The gist of the fruit'; on this occasion the contract is ratified and the usual presents are exchanged. Yet a third ceremony, prior to the marriage, is that of the Barokhi or inspection, when the bride and bridegroom are taken to see each other. On this occasion they exchange copper rings, placing them on each other's finger, and the boy offers vermilion to the earth, and then rubs it on the bride's forehead. When the girl is mature the date of the wedding is fixed, a small brideprice of six rupees and a piece of cloth being usually paid. If the first signs of puberty appear in the girl during the bright fortnight of the month, the marriage is held during the dark fortnight and vice versa. The marriage-shed is built in the form of a rectangle and must consist of either seven or nine posts in three lines. the bridegroom's party comprises from twenty to forty persons of both sexes. When they arrive at the bride's village her father comes out to meet them and gives them leaf-pipes to smoke. He escorts them inside the village where a lodging has been prepared for them. The ceremony is based on that of the local Hindus with numerous petty variations in points of detail. In the actual ceremony the bride and bridegroom are first supported on the knees of two relatives. A sheet is held between them and each throws seven handfuls of parched rice over the other. They are then made to stand side by side; a knot is made of their cloths containing a piece of turmeric, and the bride's left hand is laid over the bridegroom's right one, and on it a sendhaura or wooden box for vermilion is placed. The bride's mother moves seven times round the pair holding a lighted lamp, at which she warms her hand and then touches the marriage-crowns of the bride and bridegroom, seven times in succession. And finally the couple walk seven times round the marriage-post, the bridegroom following the bride. The marriage is held during the day, and not, as is usual, at night or in the early morning. Afterwards, the pair are seated in the marriage-shed, the bridegroom's leg being placed over that of the bride, with their feet in a brass dish. The bride's mother then washes their great toes with milk and the rest of their feet with water. The bridegroom applies vermilion seven times to the marriage-post and to his wife's forehead and the parting of her

262 hair. The couple are fed with rice and pulses one after the other out of the same leaf-plates, and the parties have a feast. Next morning, before their departure, the father of the bride asks the bridegroom to do his best to put up with his daughter, who is thievish, gluttonous and so slovenly that she lets her food drop on to the floor; but if he finds he cannot endure her, to send her home. In the same manner the father of the boy apologises for his son, saying that he cares only for mischief and pleasure. The party then returns to the bridegroom's house.

Festivities of the women of the bridegroom's party. During the absence of the wedding party the women of the bridegroom's house with others in the village sing songs at night in the marriage-shed constructed at his house. These are known as Dindwa, a term applied to a man who has no wife, whether widower or bachelor. As they sing, the women dance in two lines with their arms interlaced, clapping their hands as they move backwards and forwards. the songs are of a lewd character, treating intrigues in love mingled with abuse of their relatives and of their men who may be watching the proceedings by stealth. No offence is taken on such occasions, whatever may be said. In Upper India, Mr. Jeorâkhân, Lâl states such songs are sung at the time of the marriage and are called Naktoureki louk or the ceremony of the useless or shameless ones, because women, however shy and modest, become at this time as bold and shameless as men are at the Holi festival. The following are a few lines from one of these songs:

The wheat-cake is below and the urad-cake is above. Do you see my brother' s brother-in-law watching the dance in the narrow lane.1

A sweetmeat is placed on the wheat-cake; a handsome young blackguard has climbed on to the top of the wall to see the dance.

When a woman sees a man from afar he looks beautiful and attractive: but when he comes near she sees that he is not worth the trouble.

I went to the market and came back with my salt. Oh, I looked more at you than at my husband who is wedded to me.

Conclusion Of The Marriage. Several of the ceremonies are repeated at the bridegroom's house after the return of the wedding party. On the day following them the couple are taken to a tank walking under a canopy held up by their friends. Here they throw away their marriage-crowns, and play at hiding a vessel under the water. When they return to the house a goat is sacrificed to Dulha Deo and the bride cooks food in her new house for the first time, her husband helping her, and their relatives and friends in the village are invited to partake of it. After this the conjugal chamber is prepared by the women of the household, and the bride is taken to it and told to consider her husband's house as her own. The couple are then left together and the marriage is consummated.

Widow-Marriage And Divorce. The remarriage of widows is permitted but it is not considered as a real marriage, according to the saying: "A woman cannot be anointed twice with the marriage oil., as a wooden cooking-vessel cannot be put twice on the fire." A widow married again is called a Churiyâhi Dauki or 'Wife made by bangles,' as the ceremony may be completed by putting bangles on her wrists. When a woman is going to marry again she leaves her late husband's house and goes and lives with her own people or in a house by herself. The second husband makes his proposal to her through some other women. If accepted, he comes with a party of his male friends, taking with him a new cloth and some bangles. They are received by the widow's

1. The term brother's brother-in-law is abusive in the same sense as brother-in-law (sâla ) said by a man.

263 guardian, and they sit in her house smoking and chewing tobacco while some woman friend retires with her and invests her with the new cloth and bangles. She comes out and the new husband and wife bow to all the Dhanwârs, who are subsequently regaled with liquor and goats' flesh, and the marriage is completed. Polygamy is permitted but is not common. A husband may divorce his wife for failing to bear him issue, for being ugly, thievish, shrewish or a witch, or for an intrigue with another man. If a married woman commits adultery with another man of the tribe they are pardoned with the exaction of one feast. If her paramour is a Gond, Râwat, Binjhwâr or Kawar, he is allowed to become a Dhanwâr and marry her on giving several feasts, the exact number being fixed by the village Baiga or priest in a panchâyat or committee. With these exceptions a married woman having an intrigue with a man of another caste is finally expelled. A wife who desires to divorce her husband without his agreement is also turned out of the caste like a common woman.

Childbirth. After the birth of a child the mother receives no food for the first and second, and fourth and fifth days, while on the third she is given only a warm decoction to drink. On the sixth day the men of the house are shaved and their impurity ceases. But the mother cooks no food for two months after bearing a female child and for three months if it is a male. The period has thus been somewhat reduced from the traditional one of five and a half months,1 but it must still be highly inconvenient. At the expiration of the time of impurity the earthen pots are changed and the mother prepares a meal for the whole household. During her monthly period of impurity a woman cooks no food for six days.. On the seventh day she bathes and cleans her hair with clay, and is then again permitted to touch the drinking water and cook food.

Disposal Of The Dead. The tribe bury the dead. The corpse is wrapped in an old cloth and carried to the grave on a cot turned upside down. On arrival there it is washed with turmeric and water and wrapped in a new cloth. The bearers carry the corpse seven times round the open grave, saying, 'This is your last marriage,' that is, with the earth. The male relatives and friends fill in the grave with earth, working with their hands only and keep their backs turned to the grave so as to avoid seeing the corpse. It is said that each person should throw only five handfuls. Other people then come up and fill in the grave, trampling down the surface as much as possible. For three days after a death the bereaved family do not cook for themselves but are supplied with food by their friends. These, however, do not give them any salt as it is thought that the craving for salt will divert their minds from dwelling on their loss. The tribe do not perform the shrâddh ceremony, but in the month of Kunwâr, on the day corresponding to that on which his father died, a man feeds the caste-fellows in memory of him. And at this period he offers libations to his ancestors, pouring a double handful of water on the ground for each one that he can remember and then one for all the others. While doing this he stands facing the east and does not turn to three different directions as the Hindu custom is. The spirit of a man who has been killed by a tiger becomes Baghia Masân or the tiger imp, and that of a woman who dies in childbirth becomes a Churel. Both are very troublesome to the living.

Religion. The principal deities of the Dhanwârs are Thâkur Deo, the god of agriculture, and Dîlha Deo, the deity of the family and hearth. twice a year the village Baiga or medicine-man, who is usually a Gond, offers a cocoanut to Thâkur Deo. He first consecrates it to the god by placing it in contact with water and the small heap of rice which lies in front of his shrine, and then splits it asunder on a stone, saying, 'Jai Thâkur Deo,' or 'Victory to Thâkur Deo.' When any serious calamity befalls the tribe a goat is offered to the deity. It must also be first consecrated to him by eating rice; its body is then washed in water and some of the sacred

1. See commencement of this article.

264 dîb 1 grass is placed on it, and the Baiga severs the head from the body with an axe. Dîlha Deo is the god of the family and the marriage-bed, and when a Dhanwâr is married or his first son is born, a goat is offered to the deity. Another interesting deity is Maiya Andhiyâri, or the goddess of the dark fortnight of the month. She is worshipped in the house conjointly by husband and wife on any Tuesday in the dark fortnight of Mâgh (January-February), all the relatives of the family being invited. On the day of worship the husband and wife observe a fast, and all the water which is required for use in the house during the day and night must be brought into it in the early morning. A circular pit is dug inside the house, about three feet deep and as many wide. A she-goat which has borne no young is sacrificed to the goddess in the house in the same manner as in the sacrifice to Thâkur Deo. The goat is skinned and cut up, the skin, bones and other refuse being thrown into the hole. The flesh is cooked and eaten with rice and pulse in the evening, all the water including that used for cooking, and the new earthen pots used to carry water on that day are thrown into the pit. The mouth of the pit is then covered with mud with great care to prevent a child falling into it; as it is held that nothing which has once gone into the pit may be taken out, even if it were a human being. It is said that once in the old days a man who happened to fall into the pit was buried alive, its mouth being covered over with planks of wood; and he was found alive when the pit was reopened next year. This is an instance of the sacrificial meal, common to many primitive peoples, at which the sacred animal was consumed by the worshippers, skin, bones and all. But now that such a course has become repugnant to their more civilised digestions, the refuse is considered sacred and disposed of in some such manner as that described. The goddess is also known as Rât Devi or the goddess of he night; or Rât Mai, the night mother. The goddess Maswâsi was the mythical ancestress of the Dhanwârs, the wife of Karankot, and also the daughter of Maiya Andhiyâri or Rât Mai. She too is worshipped every third year in the dark fortnight of the month of Mâgh on any Tuesday. Her sacrifice is offered in the morning hours in the forest by men only, and consists also of a black she-goat. A site is chosen under a tree and cleaned with cowdung, the bones of animals being placed upon it in a heap to represent the goddess. The village Baiga kills the goat with an axe and the body is eaten by the worshippers. Maswâsi is invoked by the Dhanwârs before they go hunting, and whenever they kill a wild boar or a deer they offer it to her. She is thus clearly the goddess of hunting. The tribe also worship the spirits of hills and woods and the ghosts of the illustrious dead. The ghosts of dead Baigas or medicine-men are believed to become spirits attending on Thâkur Deo, and when he is displeased with the Dhanwârs they intervene to allay his anger. The brothers of Maswâsi, the twelve Gaolis, are believed to be divine hunters and to haunt the forests, where they kill beasts and occasionally men. Six of them take post and the other six drive the beasts or men towards these through the forest, when they are pierced as with an arrow. The victim dies after a few days, but if human he may go to a sorcerer, who can extract the arrow, smaller than a grain of rice, from his body. In the month of Aghan (November), when the grass of the forests is to be cut, the members of the village collectively offer a goat to the grass deity, in order that none of the grass-cutters may be killed by a tiger or bitten by a snake or other wild animal.

Magic and witchcraft. The Dhanwârs are fervent believers in all kinds of magic and witchcraft. Magic is practised both by he Baiga, the village priest or medicine-man, who is always a man and who conducts the worship of the deities mentioned above, and by the tonhi, the regular witch, who may be a man or woman. Little difference appears to exist in the methods of the two classes of magicians, but the Baiga's magic is usually exercised for the good of his fellow-creatures, which indeed might be expected as he gets his livelihood from them, and he is also less powerful than the tonhi. The Baiga cures ordinary maladies and the bites of snakes and scorpions by mesmeric passes fortified by the utterance of charms. He raises the dead in much the same manner as a witch does, but employs the spirit of the dead person in casting out other evil spirits by which his clients may be possessed. One of the miracles performed

1. Cynodon Dactylon.

265 by the Baiga is to make his wet cloth stand in the air stiff and straight, holding only the two lower ends. He can cross a river walking on leaves, and change men onto beasts. Witches are not very common among the Dhanwârs. A witch, male or female, may be detected by a sunken and gloomy appearance of the eyes, a passionate temperament, or by being found naked in a graveyard at night, as only a witch would go there to raise a corpse from the dead. The Dhanwârs eat nearly all kinds of food except beef and the leftovers of others. They will take cooked food from the hands of Kawars, and the men also from Gonds, but not the women. In some places they will accept food from Brâhmans, but not everywhere. They are not an impure caste, but usually live in a separate hamlet of their own, and are lower than the Gonds and Kawars, who will take water from them but not food. They are a very primitive people, and it is stated that at the census several of them left their huts and fled into the jungle, and were with difficulty induced to return. When an elder man dies his family usually abandon their hut, as it is believed that his spirit haunts it and causes death to any one who lives there.

Social Rules. A Kawar is always permitted to become a Dhanwâr, and a woman of the Gond, Binjhwâr and Râwat tribes, if such a one is living with a Dhanwâr, may be married to him with the approval of the tribe. She does not enjoy the full status of membership herself, but it is accorded to her children. When an outsider is to be admitted a panchâyat of Dhanwârs is assembled, one of whom must be of the Mâjhi sept. The members of the panchâyat hold out their right hands, palm upwards, one below the other, and beneath them the candidate and his wife place their hands. The Mâjhi pours water from a brass vessel on to the topmost hand, and it trickles down from one to the other on to those of the candidate and his wife. The blood of a slaughtered goat is mixed with the water in their palms and they sip it, and after giving a feast to the caste are considered as Dhanwârs. Permanent exclusion from caste is imposed only for living with a man or woman of another caste other than those who may become Dhanwârs, or for taking food from a member of an impure caste, the only ones which are lower than the Dhanwârs. Temporary exclusion for an indefinite period is awarded for an irregular connection between a Dhanwâr man and woman, or of a Dhanwâr with a Kawar, Binjhwâr, Râwat or Gond; on a family which harbours any one of its members who has been permanently expelled; and on a woman who cuts the navel-cord of a newly-born child, whether of her own caste or not. Irregular sexual intimacies are usually kept secret and redressed by marriage whenever possible. A person expelled for any of the above offences cannot feast without being invited, removes their leaf-plates with the leftovers of food, and waits on them generally, and continually proffers his prayer for readmission. When the other Dhanwârs are satisfied with his long and faithful service they take him beck into the community. Temporary exclusion from caste, with the penalty of one or more feasts for readmission, is imposed for killing a cow or a cat accidentally, or in the course of giving it a beating; for having a cow or bullock in one's possession whose nostrils or ears get split; for getting maggots in a wound; for being beaten except by a Government official; for taking food from any higher caste other than those from whom food is accepted; and in the case of a woman for saying her husband's name aloud. This list of offences shows that the Dhanwârs have almost completely adopted the Hindu code in social matters, while retaining their tribal religion. A person guilty of one of the above offences must have his or her head shaved by a barber, and make a pilgrimage to the shrine of Narsingh Nâth in Bodâsâmar zamíndâri; after having accomplished this he is purified by one of the Sonwâni sept, being given water in which gold has been dipped to drink through a bamboo tube, and he provides usually three feasts for the caste-fellows.

Dress And Tattooing. The tribe dress in the somewhat primitive fashion prevalent in Chhattísgarh, and there is nothing distinctive about their clothing. Women are tattooed at their parents' house before or just after marriage. It is said that the tattoo marks remain on the soul after death, and that she shows them to God, probably for purposes of identification. There is a saying, 'All other

266 pleasures are transient, but the tattoo marks are my companions through life.' A Dhanwâr will not take water from a woman who is not tattooed.

Names Of Children. Children are named on the chathi or sixth day after birth, and the parents always ascertain from a wise man whether the soul of any dead relative has been born again in the child so that they may name it after him. It is also thought that the sex may change in transmigration, for male children are sometimes named after women relatives and female after men. Mr. Híra Lâl notes the following instance named after his grandfather; the second was called Bhâlu or bear, as his maternal uncle who had been eaten by a bear was reborn in him; the third was called Ghâsi, the name of a low caste of grass-cutters, because the two children born before him had died; and the fourth was called Kausi, because the sorcerer could not identify the spirit of any relative as having been born again in him. The name Kausi is given to any one who cannot remember his sept, as in the saying, 'Bhîle bisâre kausi got,' or 'A man who has got no got belongs to the Kausi got.' Kausi is said to mean a stranger. Bad names are commonly given to avert ill-luck; Marha, a corpse; or after some physical defect as Lati, one with clotted hair; Petwa, a stammerer; Lendra, shy; Ghundu, one who cannot walk; Ghunari, stunted; or from the place of birth, as Dongariha or Pahâru born on a hill; Banjariha, born in brushwood, and so on. A man will not mention the names of his wife, his son's wife or his sister's son's wife, and a woman will not name her husband or his elder brother or parents. As already stated, a woman saying her husband's name aloud is temporarily put out of caste, the Hindu custom being thus carried to extremes, as is often the case among the lower castes.

Occupation. The tribe consider consider hunting to have been their proper calling, but many of them are now cultivators and labourers. They also make bamboo matting and large baskets for storing grain, but they will not make small bamboo baskets or fans, because this is the calling of the Turis, on whom the Dhanwâr looks down. The women collect the leaves of sâl 1 tress and sell them at the rate of about ten bundles for a pice (farthing) for use as chongis or leaf-pipes. As already stated, the tribe have no language of their own, but speak a corrupt form of Chhattísgarhi.

Russel R. V. and Hiralal, The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India (London; Macmillan and Co., 1916; rpt. 1975. Delhi: Cosmo Publications), vol. ll.

Dharhi.: - They live in Central India. They are dancers and singers.

Dhârhi.: - (possibly from Sans. dhrista, "impudent"),2 a tribe of dancers and singers of whom there is a Hindu and a Muhammadan branch. They have been described under one of their many names, Kingariya or Kingriya, in another place. Another name for them is Pâwariya or Pâwanriya (from the foot pânw) carpet (pânwara) they use. In the hills, though socially ranked with Doms, they do not belong to them, for they properly include only those Khasiyas who have been put out of caste for some offence or other and their offspring form a new caste with the special avocation of singing and dancing.

Internal Structure. The Census lists show forty sections. Many of these are local as Audhiya, Balrâmpuri, Chaurasiya, Desi Gujarâti, Jaunpuri, Haripuriya, Kanaujiya, Madhesiya, Pachhwâhan, and

1. Shorca robusta. 2 See Crooke.

267 Sarwariya. Others connect them with well-known castes or tribes, as Bânsphor, Boriya, Dhelphor, Dusâdh, Ghosi, .

Occupation. The Dhâhi has two distinct functions. In the first place he is a musician and singer, and appears at houses on occasions of festivity, such as a marriage or when a woman is purified after the birth pollution and rejoins the household. He and the women who accompany him, who are usually of equivocal reputation, sing and play the double drum (mridang) or the guitar (tambîra), for which he gets presents of grain, money or clothes. Secondly, the Hindu Dhârhi keeps swine and acts in many villages as the priest of the god (Gânwdeotal deohâr). He cleans and plasters his platform, and takes anything in the way of an offering which is not consumed by the worshippers themselves.

Social Rules. The Dhârhi from his habits of begging and going about with women of bad character has rather an unsavoury reputation, and socially ranks very little above the Chamâr. They permit widow-marriage, divorce and remarriage of divorced women, but if a woman separates from her husband without cause she must repay through her second husband any charges which may have been incurred in her first marriage. Muhammadan Dhârhis have their marriages done, if they are well-off, by the Qâzi; if they are poor, by the village Dafâli.

The Hindu Dhârhis seldom or never employ a Brâhman except to take the auspices and fix a lucky day for the wedding. Two common proverbs show the opinion generally held of the Dhârhi-Dena lena kâm Dom Dhârhiyon ka, muhabbat dusri chíz hai -"Taking presents is the way of pimps and buffoons; true love is quite a different thing. "Randi ki kamâi, ya khâe Dhârhi, ya khâe gâri.- "The prostitute's earning go to the pimp or cabman."

Dhoba.: - small caste belonging to the Mandla District and apparently an offshoot from one of the primitive tribes1. They have never been separately classified at the census but always amalgamated with the Dhobi or washerman cast. But the Mandla Dhobas acknowledge no connection with Dhobis, nor has any been detected. One Dhoba has indeed furnished a story to the Rev. E. Price that the first ancestor of the caste was a foundling boy, by appearance of good lineage, who was brought up by some Dhobis, and, marrying a Dhobi girl, made a new caste. But this is not sufficient to demonstrate the common origin of the Dhobas and Dhobis. The Dhobas reside principally in a few villages in the upper valley of the Burhner River, and members of the caste own two or three villages. They are dark in complexion and have, though in a less degree, the flat features, coarse nose and receding forehead of the Gond; but they are taller in stature and not so strongly built, and are much less capable of exertion.

Exogamous Divisions. The caste has twelve exogamous septs, though the list is probably not complete. These appear to be derived from the name of villages. Marriage is forbidden between the Bâghmâr and Bâghcharia septs, the Mârâtha and Khatnâgar and Marâlwati septs and the Sonwâni and Sonsonwâni septs. These septs are said to have been subdivided and to be still related. The names Bâghmâr and Bâghcaria are both derived from the tiger; Sonwâni is from Sona-pâni or gold-water, and the Sonsonwâni sept seems therefore to be the aristocratic branch of the Sonwânis. The children of brothers and sisters may marry but not those of two sisters, because a man's maternal aunt or mausi is considered as equivalent to his mother. A man may also marry his step-sister on the mother's side, that is, the daughter of his own mother by another husband either prior to or subsequent to his father, the step-sister being of a different

1 See Russell. This article is partly based on an account of the caste furnished by Mr. H F. E Bull and drawn up by Mr. F. R. R Rudman in the Mandla District Gazetteer.

268 sept. This relaxation may have been permitted on account of the small numbers of the caste and the consequent difficulty of arranging marriages.

Marriage Customs. The bridegroom goes to the bride's house for the wedding which is conducted according to the Hindu ritual of walking round the sacred post. The cost of a marriage in a fairly well-to-do family, including the betrothal, may be about Rs. 140, of which a quarter falls on the bride's people. Divorce and the remarriage of widows are permitted. A pregnant woman stops working after six months and goes into retirement. After a birth the woman is impure for five or six days. She does not appear in public for a month, and takes no part in outdoor occupations or field-work until the child is weaned, that is six months after its birth.

Funeral Rites. The dead are usually buried, and all members of the dead man's sept are considered to be impure. After the funeral they bathe and come home and have their food cooked for them by other Dhobas, partaking of it in the dead man's house. On the ninth, eleventh or thirteenth day, when the impurity ends, the male members of the sept are shaved on the bank of a river and the hair is left lying there. When they start home they spread some thorns and two stones across the path. Then, as the first man steps over the thorns, he takes up one of the stones in his hand and passes it behind him to the second, and each man successively passes it back as he steps over the thorns, the last man throwing the stone behind the thorns. Thus the dead man's spirit in the shape of the stone is separated from the living and prevented from accompanying them home. Then a feast is held, all the men of the dead man's sept sitting opposite to the panchâyat at a distance of three feet. Next day water in which gold has been dipped is thrown over the dead man's house and each member of the sept drinks a little and is pure.

Caste Panchâyat And Social Penalties. The head of the caste is always a member of the Sonwâni sept and is known as Râja. It is his business to administer water in which gold has been dipped (sona-pâni) to offenders as a means of purification, and from this the name of the sept is derived. The Raja has no deputy, and officiates in all ceremonies of the caste; he receives no contribution from the caste, but a double share of food and sweetmeats when they are distributed. The other members of the Panch he is at liberty to choose from any got or sept he likes. When a man has been put out of caste for a serious offence he has to give three feasts for readmission. The first meal consists of a goat with rice and pulse, and is eaten on the bank of a stream; on this occasion the head of the offender is shaved clean and all the hair thrown into the stream. The second meal is eaten in the yard of his house, and consists of cakes fried in butter with rice and pulse. The offender is not allowed to partake of either the first or second meal. On the third day the Râja gives the offender gold-water, and he is then considered to be purified and cooks food himself, which the caste-people eat with him in his house. A man is not put out of caste when he is sent to jail, as this is considered to be an order of the Government. A man keeping a woman of another caste is expelled and not reinstated until he has put her away, and even then it is said that they will consider his character before taking him back. A man who gets maggots in a wound may be readmitted to caste only during the months of Chait and Pîs.

Occupation And Social Customs. The Dhobas act as priests of the Gonds and are also cultivators. Their social position is distinctly higher than that of the Gonds and some of them have begun to employ Brâhmans for their ceremonies. They will eat the flesh of most animals, except those of the cow-tribe, and also field-mice, and most of them drink liquor, though the more prominent members have begun to abstain. The origin of the caste is very obscure, but it would appear that they must be an offshoot of one of the Dravidian tribes. In this connection it is interesting to note that Chhattísgarh contains a large number of Dhobis, though the people of this tract have until recently worn little in the way of clothing, and usually wash it themselves only when

269 this operation is judged necessary. Many of the Dhobis of Chhattísgarh are cultivators, and it seems possible that a proportion of them may also really belong to this Dhoba caste.

Dholis.: - They are from Rajasthan and move from village to village to sing.

Dhunia.: - They clean and card cotton.

Dhuri.: - See Bharbhunjas.

Dhuri.: - A caste belonging exclusively to Chhattísgarh,1 which numbered 3000 persons in 1911. Dhuri is an honorific abbreviation from Dhuriya as Bâni from Bania. The special occupation of the caste is rice-parching, and they are an offshoot from Kahârs, though in Chhattísgarh the Dhuris now consider the Kahârs as a subcaste of their own. In Bengal the Dhuriyas are a subcaste of the Kândus or Bharbhîjas. Sir H. Risley states that "the Dhurias rank lowest of all the subcastes of Kândus, owing either to their having taken up the comparatively menial profession of palanquin-bearing or to their being a branch of the Kahâr caste who went in for grain-parching and thus came to be associated with in Kândus."2 The caste has immigrated to Chhattísgarh from the United Provinces. In Kawardha they believe that the Râja of that State brought them back with him on his return from a pilgrimage. In Bilâspur and Raipur they say they came from Bâdhâr, a pargana in the Mírzâpur District, adjoining Rewah. Badhâr is mentioned in one of the Râjim inscriptions, and is a place remembered by other castes of Chattísgarh as their ancestral home. The Dhuris of Chhattísgarh relate their origin as follows: Mahâdeo went once to the jungle and the damp earth stuck to his feet. He scraped it off and made it into a man, and asked him what caste he would like to belong to. The man said he would leave it to Mahâdeo, who decided that he should be called Dhuri from dhîr, dust. The man then asked Mahâdeo to assign him an occupation, and Mahâdeo said that as he was made from dust, which is pounded earth, his work should be to prepare cheora or pounded rice, and added as a special distinction that all castes including Brâhmans should eat the pounded rice prepared by him. All castes do eat cheora because it is not boiled with water. The Dhuris have two subcastes, a higher and a lower, but they are known by different names in different tracts. In Kawardha they are called Râj Dhuri and Cheorâkîta, the Râj Dhuris being the descendants of personal servants in the Râja's family and ranking above the Cheorâkîtas or rice-pounders. In Bilâspur they are called Badhâria and Khawâs, and in Raipur Badhâria and Desha. The Khawâs and Desha subcastes do menial household service and rank below the Badhârias, who are perhaps later immigrants and refuse to engage in this occupation. The names of their exogamous sections are nearly all territorial as Naugahia from Naogaon is Bilâspur District, Agoria from Agori, a pargana in Mízâpur District, Kâshi or Benâres, and a number of other names derived form villages in Bilâspur. But the caste do not strictly enforce the rule forbidding marriage within the gotra or section, and are content with avoiding three generations both on the father's and mother's side. They have probably been driven to modify the rule on account of the scarcity of their numbers and the difficulty of arranging marriages. For the same reason perhaps they look with indulgence on the practice, as a rule strictly prohibited, of marriage with a woman

1. See Russell. This article is mainly compiled from papers by Mr. Gokul Prasâd, Naib-Talisildâr, Dhamtari, and Pyâre Lâl Misra, a clerk in the Gazetter office. 2. Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Kându.

270 of another caste of lower social rank, and will admit the children of such a marriage into the caste, though not the woman herself.

Marriage. Infant-marriage is in vogue, and polygamy is permitted only if the first wife be barren. The betrothal is cemented by an exchange of betel-leaves and arec-nuts between the fathers of the engaged couple. A bride-price of from ten to twenty rupees is usually paid. Some rice, a pice coin, 21 cowries and 21 pieces of turmeric are placed in the hole in which the marriage post is erected. When the wedding procession arrives at the girl's house the bridegroom goes to the marriage-shed and pulls out the festoons of mango leaves, the bride's family trying to prevent him by offering him a winnowing-fan. He then approaches the door of the house, behind which his future mother-in-law is standing, and slips a piece of cloth through the door for her. She takes this and retires without being seen. The wedding consists of the bhânwar ceremony or walking round the sacred pole. During the proceedings the women tie a new thread round the bridegroom's neck to avert the evil eye. After the wedding the bride and bridegroom, in opposition to the usual custom, must return to the latter's house on foot. In explanation of this they tell a story to the effect that the married couple were formerly carried in palanquin. But on one occasion when a wedding procession came to a river, everybody began to catch fish, leaving the bride deserted, and the palanquin-bearers, seeing this, carried her off. To prevent the recurrence of such a mischance the couple now have to walk. Widow-marriage is permitted, and the widow usually marries her late husband's younger brother. Divorce is only permitted for misconduct on the part of the wife.

Religious Beliefs. The Dhuris principally worship the goddess Devi. Nearly all members of the cast belong to the Kabírpanthi sect. They believe that the sun on setting goes through the earth, and that the Milky Way is the path by which the elephant of the heavers passes from south to north to feed on the young bamboo shoots, of which he is very fond. They think that the constellation of the Great Bear is a cot with three thieves tied to it. The thieves came to steal the cot, which belonged to an old woman, but God caught them and tied them down there for ever. Orison is the plough left by one of the Pândava brothers after he had finished tilling the heavens. The dead are burnt. They observe mourning during nine or ten days for an adult and make libations to the dead at the usual period in the month of Kunwâr (September-October).

Occupation And Social Status. The proper occupation of the caste is to parch rice. The rice is husked and then parched in an earthen pan, and subsequently pounded with a mallet in a wooden mortar. When prepared in this manner it is called cheora. The Dhuris also act as khidmatgârs or household servants, but the members of the Badharia subcaste refuse to do this work. Some members of the caste are fishermen, and others grow melons and sweet potatoes. Considering that they live in Chhattísgarh, the caste are somewhat scrupulous in the matter of food, neither eating fowls nor drinking liquor. The Kawardha Dhuris, however, who are later immigrants than the others, do not observe these restrictions, the reason for which may be that the Dhuris think it necessary to be strict in the matter of food, so that no one may object to taking parched rice from them. Râwats and Gonds take food from their hands in some places, and their social status in Chhattísgarh is about equivalent to that of the Râwats or Ahírs. A man of the caste who kills a cow or gets vermin in a wound must go to Amârkantak to bathe in the Nerbudda.

Dom.: - Domra; Domahra (Sans. Doma; Dama; Domba),1 a Dravidian menial caste found scattered throughout these Provinces, regarding whose origin and ethnological affinities

1. See Crooke. For the Eastern Doms the valuable note by Mr. J. Kennedy, C. S., has been ;largely used, and that of Pandit Juala Dat Joshi for the Hill Doms. In addition to these, notes by Mr. H. D. Ferard, C. S., Banda : M. Chhedi Lal,

271 there has been much speculation. To the east of the Province they are usually known as Dom, but are sometimes called Jallad, "executioner," Hatyara, "murderous, blood-thirsty," or Supach, which is, as we shall see, traditionally the name of the founder of the tribe, and who also enters into the legends of the Bhangis. The name seems to represent the Svapaka or "cooker of dogs," a man of a degraded and outcast tribe, the son of an Ugra woman by a Kshatriya. He is required to live outside towns like the Chandala, to eat his food in broken vessels, to wear the clothes of the dead, and to be excluded from all intercourse with other tribes; he can possess no other property than asses and dogs and his only office is to act as public executioner or to carry out the bodies of those who die without kindred. His kinsman, the Chandala, according to Manu,1 ranks in impurity with the town boar, the dog, a woman in her courses, and an eunuch, none of whom must a Brahman allow to see him when eating. According to Dr. Caldwell1 they are the surviving representatives of an older, ruder, and blacker race who preceded the Dravidians in India. Sir H. M. Elliot2 considers them to be "one of the original tribes of India. Tradition fixes their residence to the north of the Ghagra, touching the Bhars on the east in the vicinity of the Rohini. Several old forts testify to their former importance, and still retain the names of their founders, as, for instance, Domdiha and Domingarh, in the Gorakhpur District. Ramgarh and Sahnkot, on the Rohini, are also Dom forts." Attempts have also been made to connect them in some way with the Domkatar or Domtikar Rajputs or Gorakhpur, and with the Domwar Bhuinhars.3 All this discussion is, as Mr. Risley says, somewhat profitless: but out of it seems to emerge "a general consensus of opinion that the Doms belong to one of the races whom, for convenience of expression, we may call the aborigines of India. Their personal appearance bears out this opinion. Mr. Beames4 describes the Doms of Champaran as "small and dark, with long tresses of unkempt hair, and the peculiar glassy eye of the non-Aryan autochthon," and Mr. Sherring1 remarks that "dark-complexioned, low of stature, and somewhat repulsive in appearance, they are readily distinguished from all the better castes of Hindus." "The type, however," Mr. Risley adds, "as is the case with most widely-diffused castes, seems to display appreciable variations. In Eastern Bengal, according to Dr. Wise, the Dom's hair is long, black, and coarse, while his complexion is oftener of a brown than a black hue; and among the Magahiya Doms, whom I have seen in Bihar, only a small portion struck me as showing any marked resemblance to the aborigines of Chota Nagpur, who are, I suppose, among the purest specimens of the non- Aryan races of India. On the whole, however, the prevalent type of physique and complexion seems to mark the caste as not of Aryan descent, although evidence is wanting to connect it with any compact aboriginal tribe of the present day. The fact that for centuries they have been condemned to the most menial duties, and have served as the helots of the entire village community, would, of itself, be sufficient to break down whatever tribal spirit they may once have possessed, and to obliterate all structural traces of their true origin."

To this must be added another point which cannot be left out of consideration in dealing with these menial races. The tribes of scavengers, such as the Bhangi and Dom, have for many generations formed a sort of Cave of Adullam for the outcastes of the higher races, and the notorious immoral character of the women of these tribes must have had a powerful effect in modifying the physique and appearance of castes such as these. If the Dom varies in physical character from one part of the Province to another, it is only what might naturally be expected. On the whole it may perhaps be safer to regard the Doms, not as a single,

Deputy Inspector, Schools, Gorakhpur, and the Deputy Inspector of Schools, Bijnor and Dehra Dun have been consulted. 1 . Institutes, III , 239. 1. Grammar of the Dravidian Languages, 546, quoted by Risley, Tribes and Castes, I, 240 2. Supplemental Glossary, s.v. 3. Buchanan, Eastern India, II., 353 : Archaeological reports, XXII, 65, sq : Carnegy, Notes, 24. 4. races of the North-Western Provinces, 85. 1 . Windu Tribes and Castes, I, 401.

272 individual aggregate, but as a more or less mixed body of menials, who have been for ages in a state of the utmost degradation, and whose appearance and physique have been largely modified by the rigour of their occupation and environment.

Tradition Of Origin Eastern Doms. 3. The origin of the Dom to the east of the Province is thus told by themselves. In the good old times all people were equally well-to-do and happy. The Brahmans had no property and built no houses for themselves. When Parameswar desired to appear in the world he took the form of a Brahman. Then intending to divide men into castes, he went about begging as a Brahman, wishing to ascertain what occupation each family followed. As he begged for alms no man gave him aught but silver and gold. At last he reached the house of a man who had killed a cow and was preparing to feed on the beef. He begged for alms. and the cow-killer brought from his house a handful of gold coins. Parameswar refused the money and asked for a little barley. the Domin, or woman of the house, went inside and found a place in the courtyard which had been trampled into mud by the feet of the cow in her death struggle, and there a few of barley had suddenly sprouteed up. The woman plucked the grain and offered it to Parameswar, who asked her where she had found it. She told him how the grain had sprouted in her courtyard. Parameswar asked where was the cow which had prepared the ground in which the grain had grown. She replied that it had been killed by her husband. Then Parameswar was wroth and cursed her husband: "Thou and thy posterity shall kill animals and remain beggars for ever." Then the Domin cursed Parameswar in the form of a Brahman---

Jahan Brahman jawe, Char dhakka khawe, Ek pichhari, chhattis gantha.

"Wherever the Brahman goes he shall receive four pushes. Thirty-six knots in a single sheet." So ever since Doms are beggars and slayers of animals, and Brahmans are poor and live on alms. This legend, of course, cannot be of any great antiquity, as the feeling of respect for the cow is of comparatively modern origin.

According to the Panjab legend the ancestor of the Doms was a Brahman named Malludant. He was the youngest of the family, and his elder brothers expelled him. One day the calf of their cow died, and they asked Malludant to take away the carcass and bury it. When he did so he was treated as an outcast, and was obliged ever after to make his living by skinning and burying dead animals. This legend, under a slightly different form, is told also in connection with the Bhangis.

Another story, again, makes the Doms the descendants of Raja Ben or Vena, and from him their sub-castes have taken the name Benbansi. The legend of this king suggests that he was some early reformer who was made obnoxious to Brahmans. When he became king he issued a proclamation, "Men must not sacrifice nor give gifts nor present oblations. Who else but myself is the object of sacrifice? I am for ever the lord of offerings." The sages remonstrated respectfully with him, but in vain. They admonished him in sterner terms, and when he persisted in his piety they slew him with blades of the sacred kusa grass. After his death the sages beheld clouds of dust, and on inquiry found that they arose from the bands of men who had taken to plundering because the land was left without a king. As Vena was childless, the sages rubbed his thigh, and from it there came a man "like a charred log, with flat face and extremely short." The sages told him to sit down (nishada). He did so, and hence was called Nishada, from whom sprang the saying, "Nishadas dwelling in the Vindhyan mountains, distinguished by their wicked deeds." It may be noted that Benbans is the title of a modern Rajput sept which is of obvious Kharwar origin. By another account the name is derived by the Doms from their trade in making fans (bena, Sans. vyajana).

273 Internal Structure. As might have been expected in the case of a tribe which is obviously composed of various elements, their internal structure is most intricate. Under the general term Dom there are in these Provinces at least three distinct classes of people. There are, first, the wandering race of houseless thieves and vagrants who infest Bihar and the eastern districts of the North-Western Provinces. Some of these have gradually raised themselves above the degraded status of their vagabond brethren. Some of them have settled down on the outskirts of towns and villages, and have taken to scavengering or industries connected with cane-work and basket- making. Such are the Dharkar and Bansphor or Basor, whom it is more convenient to discuss separately. Next come the Doms of the Himalayan districts, who deny all connection with the eastern branch of the tribe, and have gained a fairly respectable position as husbandmen and artisans. Lastly come the Dom or Dum , who are singers and musicians, and are treated of under the head Mirasi.

The Doms Of The Eastern Districts. Like so many of the lower castes the Eastern Doms profess to have seven endogamous sub- castes. According to the Mirzapur enumeration these are Magahiya; Bansphor; Litta; Domra or Domra or Domahra; Jallad or Hatyara; Dharkar; and Harehanni; which take their name from the famous Raja Harischandra, whose legend is given in connection with the Bhangis. Again, in Banda, we have a list of so-called exogamous sections or gotras inasmuch as they will not give a bride to a section from which in memory they have taken a bride. These sections are Tarkiya; Gepar; Gemar or Gaymar; Pesadeli, Barhel; Hazariya; Usarbarsa; Kundahor; Dharkal or Dharkar; Chamrel; Chureliya; Satchuliha; Samand; Asrent; Mahtama; Nagarband; Dhaunsiya; Birha; Sarkhiya; Baksariya; Gujariya; Lungtaya or Langotiya. Some of these names probably denote some connection with other tribes, as the Chamrel with Chamars, Kaithel with Kayasths, and Gujariya with Gujrat. Others are perhaps occupational or totemistic; but we know at present too little of the origin or metamorphosis of these section names to make any speculations as to their meaning of any value.

From Gorakhpur, again, we have another enumeration which is thus described by Mr. J. Kennedy: "The Doms say that they formerly cultivated and owned the land, but when pressure came the Magahiyas divided into two great sub-divisions--the Magahiyas and the Bansphors. The Magahiyas took to thieving, while the Bansphors were content to weave baskets and cultivate what land they could. These two sub-divisions do not intermarry, and it must be remembered that my notes relate to the thieving class alone, Magahiyas proper, who count themselves the true, original stock. They always describe themselves as subdivided into seven distinct families; but excluding the Bansphors, of whom I have spoken, there are really six: Sawant; Balgai; Chaudhari; Chauhan; Bihari, and Hazari. Most of these names are taken from the Hindus, and as Hazari is a Muhammadan title of honour, this division into families is probably of a comparatively recent date. Chaudhari and Chauhan are evidently also meant as honorific titles, and at the time the division was first made it must have been purely artificial. The families have no recollection of any common ancestor, nor have they any cult in memory of the founder. The Bansphors, I am told, have no such sub-divisions. The recent and artificial origin of the six sub-divisions is, therefore, tolerably certain; they are imitations of Hinduism, and the only use to which they are put is to regulate marriage. Neither Magahiyas nor Bansphors can marry their first cousins by blood, and this was probably the original rule. Besides this no Sawant can marry a Sawant or a Balgai, but any of the six families can intermarry with any other. The wandering gangs of Magahiyas are composed indiscriminately of men belonging to each clan family; but each gang has its own leader and the office is hereditary in the leader's family. An outsider is never selected unless the family stock has failed." At the same time it may be urged that this form of sectional exogamy is probably much more primitive than Mr. Kennedy is disposed to believe. It is, of course, possible that the names of the exogamous sections may have been changed under Hindu or Muhammadan influence, but it seems also certain that this form of exogamy is one of the primitive institutions of the caste.

274 The Magahiya Doms take their name from the ancient kingdom of Magadha or South Bihar. Curiously enough the Mirzapur Magahiyas have lost all traditions on any connection with Magadha, and say that their name means "vagrant" from the Hindi mag, Sanskrit marga, "a road." They have been identified with the Maccocalingae of Pliny,1 and they are found as far south as Madras.2 In their original state the Magahiyas are vagrants pure and simple, who have not even mats or tents to cover themselves in rainy or cold weather. In this respect they are in a lower grade than nomads like the Sansyas or Haburas. They frequent the jungles, but seem to have no aptitude for hunting or fishing. They live by burglary and theft, while the women prostitute themselves. In dry weather they sleep under trees, and in the rains or chill of winter they slink into outhouses or crouch under a thatch or any other shelter they can find. In their depredations they never use the sabari or "jemmy" used by the ordinary Indian burglar. Their characteristic weapon is the curved knife (banka), with which they are supposed to split bamboo for making baskets, which with begging are their ostensible occupations. But this knife is generally used for making holes beside doorposts (baghli). In cold weather they carry about at night an earthen pot full of hot coals, over which they crouch and warm themselves; and this when closely beset, they fling with great accuracy at their assailants, often causing severe wounds.

Various attempts have been made to reform this branch of the tribe. To quote a note by Mr. D.T. Roberts, prepared for the last Police Commission: "In Gorakhpur almost every scheme possible to think of has been considered over and over again and rejected as hopeless, the prevailing opinion being that nothing short of confinement between four walls would do any good. In 1873, and again in 1880, the question of bringing them under the Criminal Tribes Act was considered, and the conclusion come to in 1880 was that no special measures for the reclamation of this tribe seem likely to be successful, and there was no use proclaiming them under the Act, because they have no means of earning their livelihood honestly, and the only thing to be done was to keep them under unceasing surveillance, and to punish with severity on commission of crime."

In 1884, Mr. Kennedy, the Magistrate of Gorakhpur, again applied himself to the task. Some of the Doms were collected in the city and employed as sweepers, taught brick-making, and made to work on the roads, and others were settled in larger or smaller groups in different villages, and received assignments of land, and up to date this scheme, supported by an annual grant of Rs. 1,500, is being carried on. Some Doms do regular work as sweepers; none of brick-making. No work can be got out of them except under incessant supervision. Their fields are cultivated only when some one is standing over them, and when assistance is rendered by other cultivators.

"Nevertheless, on a comparison of the earlier with the later reports, a certain advance is observable. The Doms no longer skulk in fields and forests. They are all settled in some village or another which they recognise as their home. Doms said that they take kindly enough to living in houses, and will complain, not of ghosts, but of the roof leaking. It is something to have restrained their wandering propensities to this extent, and to have given them some appreciation of a settled and civilised life.'

Eastern Doms:Tribal Traditions. According to one story, Mahadeva and Parvati invited all the castes to a feast. Supach Bhagat, the ancestor of the tribe, came late; and being very hungry ate the leftovers of the others. Since that time they have degraded, and eat the leftovers of the other people. Another legend connects them with Raja Ramchandra, in whose camp one of their ancestors committed theft; hence the deity cursed them with a life of theiving and depravity.

1 . Mecrindle, Indian Antiquary, VI, 337. 2 Mnllaly, Notes, 70, sqq.

275 A third legend tells that once upon a time the gods held a council where they refreshed themselves with the nectar of the gods. A demon came and stole some of the nectar and was detected by Vishnu, who severed his head from his body; but as the demon had eaten the nectar he had become immortal, the two pieces of his body became the demons, Rahu and Ketu, who periodically devour the moon and cause eclipses. As the Doms, who worship these demons, are able to induce them to release the moon, pious people give alms to this caste at eclipses in order to secure their good offices to release the moon. By another story Ramchandra once blessed Supach Bhagat, and said that if any one were cremated with fire, received from him or any of his descendants he would go straight to heaven. Since then the descendants of Supach supply fire at cremation grounds. Lastly, a story explains the hatred of the Magahiya Doms for Dhobis. Supach Bhagat once put up at the house of a Dhobi who, when he was drunk, fed his guest on the dung of his ass. Supach Bhagat cursed him and his kin for ever, and since that time no Dom will touch an ass or a Dhobi. In the form of the legend, as told by Mr. Risley, Supach Bhagat had a quarrel with a Dhobi who killed and ate his ass. He subsequently cursed the Dhobi. Mr. Risley suggests that the legend may perhaps be a distorted version of some primitive taboo in which Dhobis and donkeys somehow played a part, but it is perhaps equally possible that the story may have been invented to explain why the general Hindu taboo against the Dhobi and his ass is followed by a caste so unscrupulous as the Dom.

The Bansphor Doms. The Bansphor branch of the Eastern Doms forms the subject of a special article, and they need not be discussed more specially here.

The Litta Doms. The Litta branch of the Doms are said to derive their name from some word which means "wanderer." They may perhaps be connected with the Doms. These people have no home and live by begging.

The Domra Branch Of The Eastern Doms. The term Domra or Domahra, which is applied to the whole tribe, is also apparently sometimes used in the more restricted sense as a designation.

The Jallad Or Hatyara Branch Of The Eastern Doms. The term Jallad, which is an Arabic term for "a public flogger," and Hatyara (sans. hatya, "murder") is more specially applied to those Doms who are employed in cities to kill ownerless dogs and to act as public executioners.

The Dharkar Branch Of The Eastern Doms. The Dharkar branch of the Eastern Doms has been treated in a separate article.

The Harebanni Branch Of The Eastern Doms. The Harchanni branch of the Eastern Doms claim their name and descent from the celebrated Raja Harischandra who, as told in connection with the Bhangis, gave away all his wealth in charity and was reduced to become the slave of a Dom. In return for the kindness of his master the Raja converted the whole tribe to his religion, which they followed ever since.

The Tribal Council Of The Eastern Doms. Writing of the Magahiyas of Gorakhpur Mr. Kennedy says: "All disputes are settled by the panchayat, but the longest term of exclusion from the brotherhood is twelve years. During that period no companionship can be held with the outlaw even in a theft. Outlawry is, however, redeemable by a fine and feast. The abduction of a Domra girl by force and the introduction of foreign women into the camp are a frequent causes of panchayats. I am told that murder of any human being or of a cow is also severely punished; but this is about the

276 boundary line of Domra morality with regard to outsiders. Strangers are occasionally adopted by the Magahiyas. Two or three Chamars, a Muhammadan, an Ahir, and a Teli, who had turned Domras, were lately among the inmates of the jail. It is the women who chiefly attract these recruits." Another frequent cause of meetings of the Domra council is interference with the begging beat of one camp. These beats are carefully regulated, and are sometimes given as a dowry at marriage. Any strange Domra who begs or steals in the beat of another is liable to excommunication, and the Domra of that beat will have no hesitation in giving up to the Police a stranger of the tribe who steals within his jurisdiction.

Marriage Rules. Among the Doms of Mirzapur the endogamous sub-castes have exogamous sections, some of which are territorial or titular, and some apparently totemistic; but no Dom can give even an approximately correct list of his sections. If he is asked all he says is, "The Panch knows." This rule of exogamy is reinforced by the prohibition of marriage in the family of the maternal uncle, the father's sister, or their own sisters, as long as there is any memory of relationship, which is usually about three or perhaps four generations. Polygamy is prohibited except the first wife be barren, in which case a man, with the previous sanction of the council, may take a second wife. Bur there seems no restriction in regard to concubinage. Sahay, the famous Dom executioner at Gorakhpur, used to keep four women. In Mirzapur if an unmarried girl is detected in an intrigue with a member of the tribe, her lover has to pay a fine of five rupees and a sheet to her father, and he then takes her over as his recognised wife with the sanction of the council. They practise adult marriage, the usual age for the marriage of a girl being eleven or twelve. The marriage is arranged by the Chharidar or "wandsman," who is the assistant of the Chaudhari or headman. The consent of the parents is said to be necessary, but runaway matches appear not to be uncommon. The bride-price among the settled Doms of Mirzapur is five rupees, five sers of treacle, a sheet five lumps of tobacco, and five packets of betel leaf. The persons of both bride and bridegroom are carefully examined, and any physical defects which may subsequently appear are not sufficient grounds for annulling the marriage. After betrothal if the bride's friend refuse to make her over they are obliged to refund the bride-price, and if the man fail to perform the engagement he is severely punished by the council. Divorce is allowed when habitual adultery is proved to the satisfaction of the council, but, as rule, only the direct evidence of eye-witnesses is considered sufficient. Divorced women can marry again by the lower or Sagai form. Bastard children follow the caste of the tribe, if the union has not been recognised, must pay a fine of two-and-a-half rupees and give a feast of pork and rice to the clansmen. Widows can marry by the Sagai, form and are generally married to widowers. The bridegroom has to make over eight rupees and one hundred cakes (puri) to the father of the woman. He then gives a feast to the clansmen, in the course of which the relatives of the deceased husband come forward and claim the woman. Then the assembled clansmen direct the woman's father to make over the compensation he has received to the relatives of her first husband. When this is done the man takes the woman home, puts red lead on the parting of her hair and palm leaf ornaments (tarki) in her ears. After he does this and feeds the clansmen on rice and pork the marriage is considered valid. The levirate under the usual restrictions is admitted; but there is no fiction that the children of the levir are attributed to the deceased brother. Adoption is, of course, unusual; but if a man adopts, he generally adopts the son of his brother.

In Gorakhpur it appears that the bride-price is always spent on the marriage, and it is alleged that if either party become blind, crippled, or leprous, the marriage may be annulled.

Fastern Doms: Birth Ceremonies. Among the Doms of Mirzapur the mother is attended by the Chamarin midwife and the ceremonies of purification common to the menial castes are performed. On the twelfth day after birth the hair of the baby is shaved by the senior man in the family. When a man's children have died in succession the next baby is sold to someone for a nominal sum; and

277 then is called Pachkauri, Chhakauri, " he that was sold for five or six cowries," or by some other opprobrious epithet. In Gorakhpur the services of the Chamarin midwife are dispensed with on the sixth day. The Barahi or twelfth-day ceremony is done on the tenth day. The mother and child are bathed; her hair is smeared with vermilion, and the relatives are feasted, then a little liquor is sprinkled over the woman, and after that she is considered pure.

Of the Magahiyas of Gorakhpur Mr. Kennedy writes: "The birth of a Domra is always celebrated by a sacrifice to Gandak and Samaiya. Marriages are contracted when the boy is about ten years old. The matter is settled by a go-between. The boy's father pays for the marriage feast and gives presents to the father of the girl; but the Magahiyas deny that there is any idea of purchase. No religious ceremony accompanies the marriage. A panchayat is assembled, a feast held, and the girl henceforth resides with her father-in-law. A man is not restricted in the number of his wives, and concubinage is also permitted, but the concubine is held in somewhat less esteem than the wife. A woman is apparently allowed to leave her husband and transfer herself to another; but in that case she becomes a concubine. The panchayat will not restore a wife who has decamped, but they will give back any property she took away. The frequent residence of the Magahiyas in jail often obliges women to transfer themselves to other husbands for support, and makes polygamy advantageous. Polyandry is unknown.

Marriage Ceremonies: Eastern Doms. In Mirzapur the marriage is arranged by the sister's husband of the boy's father. The betrothal (barrekhi) is done in the usual way by the interchange of two leaf platters full of liquor, into one of which the boy's father puts a couple of rupees, which he passes on to the representative of the bride. They have the ordinary matmangara ceremony, with the difference that the lucky earth brought from the village claypit is used for constructing a large fireplace with a single opening on which the women of the family cook a mess of rice and pulse, which is placed on a leaf mat in the place where the marriage is performed. This is an offering to the Manes, and the Phrase used is pitr charhana. The usual anointing of bride and bridegroom follows, which is begun by the two fathers, who sprinkle a little turmeric and oil on the marriage to bring it to a successful conclusion. It is a peculiarity of the tribe that both men and women join in the marriage procession. No Brahman is employed. The boy's father repeats the names of his ancestors for five generations, and the father of the bride does the same for her. Then the pair are seated close together on a mat made of leaves. The husband of the sister of the bride's father drops water on her hands and says:-"Bar kanya chiranjiva rahen " -"May the bride and bridegroom live long." This is done five times . The prominent part taken by the sister's husband is possibly a survival of the matriarchate. Then the garments of the pair are knotted together, and they walk round a branch of the cotton tree (semal), planted in the middle of the company, five times. After this the boy puts red lead on the parting of the bride's hair, and this constitutes the binding part of the ceremony. They then go into a retiring room (kohabar) or behind some bushes close by, and there a good deal of coarse merriment goes on--an obvious survival of the habit of immediate consummation of the marriage. Besides this, the respectable form of marriage among the settled Doms, which is known as charhauwa, there is another form called gurawal, where two persons exchange sisters, and a still lower form of the dola type, where the girl is merely taken by her father to the house of her husband and lives with him as his wife after a dinner has been given to the brethren. The temporary connections of women whose husbands are in jail with other men are also fully recognised. In addition to this almost any kind of runaway match is allowed; in fact it would be hard to say what form sexual intercourse is not recognised as a marriage.

Death Ceremonies: Eastern Doms. "According to Dr. Wise it is universally believed in Bengal that Doms do not burn or bury their dead, but dismember the corpse at night, like the inhabitants of Tibet, placing the pieces

278 in a pot and sinking them in the nearest river or reservoir."1 This idea does not seem to prevail in these Provinces. The Doms appear to have no settled usage as regards the disposal of the corpse. Those who are fairly will off cremate the corpse, but unlike Hindus, take with them from the house the fire which is applied to the pyre. The poorer and vagrant Doms either bury, or sometimes cremate in a very rude and perfunctory way, or, when it is more convenient, throw the corpse into running water. Bodies of unmarried children are always thrown into a river or buried. The Magahiya Doms of Gorakhpur often leave the body in the jungle. Among the settled Doms of Mirzapur after a cremation they return to the house of the deceased, light a little oil in the courtyard and warm their feet in the smoke, the object apparently being to bar the return of the ghost. Some of them, once the corpse is burnt, do not take any trouble about the ashes, but leave them where the cremation took place. Others who are more scrupulous collect them on the third day and throw them into a neighbouring stream. Then they fix upon the bank a few blades of grass as a refuge for the wandering spirit, on which a little water is poured daily. Others lay out a little platter of food for the use of the departed during the days of mourning. On the tenth day they assemble at a tank, shave themselves, bathe, and offer three balls (pinda) of flour. At these ceremonies the sister's husband of the chief mourner officiates as priest. This seems to be another survival of the matriarchate. The same rule applies in the Bihar branch of the tribes: "The son of a deceased man's sister or of his female cousin officiates as priest at his funeral and recites appropriate texts (mantra) receiving a fee for his services when the inheritance to be divided. Some Doms, indeed, assured me that the sister's son used formerly to get a share of the property, and that rule had only recently fallen into disuse; but their statements did not seem to be definite enough to carry entire conviction, and I have met with no corroborative evidence bearing on the point. So also in marriage the sister's son or occasionally the sister (snasins) repeats mantras and acts generally as priest. Failing either of these the head of the household officiates. No other indications of an extinct custom of female kinship appear to exist, and the fact that in Western Bengal the eldest son gets an extra share on the division of an inheritance seems to show that kinship by males must have been in force for a very long time past." 1

Religion Eastern Doms. The religious practices of the tribe very with the social status of the sub-castes, and there is no standard type of worship because they are not controlled by Brahmans. Of the Magahiya Doms of Gorakhpur Mr. Kennedy writes: "The Magahiya Doms have two special divinities of their own; the chief is Gandak, whose grave is to be found at Karmaini Garhi, two day's journey to the east of Motihari, in Bengal. According to their traditions Gandak was hanged for theft a long time ago, and when dying he promised always to help the Magahiyas in trouble. He is worshipped by the whole tribe and is invoked on all important occasions; but he is pre-eminently the patron god of thefts. A successful theft is always celebrated by a sacrifice and feast in his honour. They also worship Samaiya, a female divinity. She is without any special history, and there is no sharp distinction between her sphere and Gandak's. Her functions apparently relate chiefly to birth and illness, etc. The Magahiyas sacrifice young pigs and wine with sugar and spices to these two deities. Every Magahiya is capable of performing the sacrifice, and the remains are divided among the company, when a vow is made to Samaiya, e.g., on the birth of a child or when it is teething, or in the occasion of an illness a special pig is chosen and devoted to her, and is sacrificed in the fulfilment of the vow. The Magahiyas have neither altars nor idols, nor do they erect any platform (chabutra) for worship. A spot is cleared and plastered in the middle of a field, and the sacrifice is then offered. The Magahiyas naturally believe in ghosts and spirits. When a man dies, my informant told me, he turns into an evil spirit (shaitan). The godlings (deola) also, he added, were innumerable. In most villages of this district there is a special altar for all the local ghosts and deities, which may reside within the village boundaries, and the Magahiyas

1 . Risley, Tribes and Castes, I. 248. 1 . Risley, loc cit.

279 are always ready to share in the sacrifices of the villagers to them. They also revere trees and platforms consecrated by Hindus in passing, by pay no further homage. They acknowledge Kali and sometimes sacrifice to her; but the sacrifices do not differ from those of the Hindus. They do not acknowledge Mahadeva or any other divinity, but they share the general Hindu belief in Parameswar, the giver and destroyer of life and the author of good and evil. He created the Magahiyas, they say, and ordered them to be filth and outcasts among the Hindus. They somehow resort to a Brahman for the reading of the Vedas (katha). My informant had given a katha in this way on the last occasion of his release from jail. In these cases the Magahiyas go to the Brahman's house, but I could not find any other trace of special reverence for the Brahmans, nor have they any necessity for them."

In Mirzapur, Doms of the better class worship Bhawani, to whom at the Nauratra of Chait they make an offering of hogs, cakes (puri), gruel (lapsi), and wreaths of flowers. The Bhawani, if appeased, keeps off illness from her votaries. They have a vague idea of an all- powerful deity, Parameswar, who punishes the guilty, and of a hell, but what it is and how sinners are punished they know not. The scavenger Doms, like the Jallad, have a special female deity called Kukarmari, "the killer of dogs," to whom a sacrifice of a young pig and some spirits is offered outside the village as a propitiation for the death of these animals. In the same way when a Dom hangman is tying the rope round the neck of a criminal, he shouts out Dohai Maharani, Dohai Sarkar, Dohai Judge Sahib. "Help O great Queen! Government! Help Mr. Judge!' in order to free himself from any guilt attaching to the death. They worship the collective local gods (deohar) at marriages; but the wandering, vagrant habits of the tribe prevent them possessing any real respect for the village deities. Women have no worship special to themselves. On the last day of the first fortnight of Kuar they make ten lumps (pinda) of flour and throw them into a river, and when they come home they put some cakes and sweetened rice on a leaf-platter, and lay it in a field to propitiate the dead. Some fast on Sunday in the name of the Sun god Suraj Narayan, but these practises prevail only among the more Hinduised Domes in the neighbourhood of towns.

In Gorakhpur, besides the worship described above, they also venerate their Guru who is said to have had his headquarters at Bhojpur, in the Ballia District, and to his shrine they make occasional pilgrimages and make an offering of a pig at least four years old, wine, and flowers. To a goddess named Juthiaya Bhawani, of whose functions they can give no account, they offer a young pig and some red lead, with a lock of their hair, a forehead spangle, and a cake of flour boiled with pulse.

Demonology. Their demonology is much of the usual type common to the lower castes by whom they are surrounded. They believe that trees are inhabited by evil spirits, and unless they bow down to tress of this kind, their ghost revenge themselves by bringing disease and death upon them. To such malignant ghosts they offer a young pig, which is eaten by the worshippers. In Mirzapur the chief Dom festivals are the Kajari and Phagua or Holi. At the Kajari in the month of Sawan they get drunk, dance, and sing. It is the regular woman's saturnalia, and on this occasion gross sexual license is tolerated. At the Phagua or Holi the same is the case. In Gorakhpur, besides the Holi they observe the Jiutiya on the eighth of the dark half of Kuar, and the Khichari on the day sun enters the sign of Makar. On the Jiutiya the women fast in order to ensure long life to their husbands, and the Khichari they beg boiled rice and pulse from door to door.

The Eastern Doms are particularly afraid of the ghosts of drowned people who are called Burna (burna " to be drowned"). These malignant ghosts drag under the water and drown boys who bathe in tanks and rivers infested by them.1 Fields are in charge of Mari Masan, the deity which haunts cremation grounds, and Kukarmari, the dog goddess, already

1 On this see Tylor, Primitive Culture, I 109.

280 mentioned. They are ever in dread of the ghosts of the dead, which torment them in dreams if not propitiated with an annual sacrifice. If neglected they appear in their original shapes and demand a sacrifice. Women are tattooed on the arms, wrists, breasts, and cheeks. If a woman not tattooed attempts to enter heaven the gate-keeper of Parameswar pitches her down to the earth again. They have the usual omens of meeting. Many of their women, as in the case of all solitary and uncanny races such as they are, said to practise witchcraft. One way such persons acquire influence over a man is by throwing a cowry shell at him. They believe firmly in the Evil Eye. When children have been overlooked and pine away, the cure is to wave some garlic and pepper pods round the child's head on a Tuesday or Sunday, and then to throw them into the fire. The evil influence is supposed to pass away with the filthy smoke.

Occupations And Social Position Of The Eastern Doms. The occupation and social position of the Eastern Doms differ much according to the sub- castes. One duty of the ordinary Dom is to supply fire for cremation. Mr. Sherring1 describes the custom at Benares as follows: "On the arrival of the dead body at the steep stairs (ghat) called the Burning Ghat, leading down from of the streets above to the bed of the River Ganges, the Dom supplies five logs of wood, which he lays in order upon the ground, the rest of the wood being given by the family of the deceased. When the pile is ready for burning, a handful of lighted fire is brought by the Dom, and applied by the one of the chief members of the family to the wood. The Dom is the only person who can furnish the light for this purpose; and if, from any circumstance, the services of one cannot be obtained, great delay and inconvenience are apt to occur. The Dom exacts his fee for three things, namely, first, for the five logs, secondly, for the bunch of straw, and thirdly, for the light." There is no fixed fee, and as the Dom naturally makes the best of his position and raises his demands according to the position and wealth of his customers, this class of Dom, who is known as Kashiwala or "he of Benares," has a bad reputation for insolence and extortion.

From by all his business and environment the Dom is, of course, regarded by all respectable Hindus with contempt, fear, and abhorrence. No one will touch food or water from his hands. the Magahiya Dom of Gorakhpur will eat anything except the flesh of the monkey, serpent, and lizard. Mr. Kennedy says that they eat most things, including carrion; but certain animals, beasts of prey, cats, and dogs, etc., they will not eat. In Mirzapur I have seen them squabbling over the carcass of a dead horse in an obvious condition of advanced decomposition. They are always on the look out for tiger flesh, but they say that they stew it down more than once, as it is very healthy. They will, as already stated, refuse the leavings of a Dhobi, and to this the more settled Doms of Mirzapur add those of the Hela, Musahar, and Chamar. Doms who have adopted more clean occupations than their vagrant and scavenger brethren, such as basket-making, are naturally becoming more Hinduised and more careful in matters of diet. Those Doms who have settled down, like the Bansphor and the Dharkar, to working in cane, and the Jallad to scavenging and acting as public executioners, are fairly respectable, industrious people. Those who work in cane use a peculiar curved knife known as banki. They make fans (bena), baskets, (dauri), boxes (petara), scales (tarazu), winnowing fans (sup), lampstands (diwat), irrigation baskets (dala), and betel boxes (belhara). These workers in cane are known in cities by the Persian title of Bedbaf 1 (Pers. bed, " cane; " baftan " to weave"). They split the cane into eight strips (tar), with an instrument (taraunthi) like a lemon-slicer. The outside cuttings he sells to barkers for making the mould (sancha) used for applying cakes to the walls of the ovens. The Bedbaf weaves the backs and seats of chairs and makes baskets, etc. The Bansphor makes baskets, but works only in bamboo. He splits the bamboo into strips (patta), which are socked and woven into baskets. The allied people known as Kori Chhapparband make door-screens (chiq, tatti) and thatches (chappar). They work in bamboos and the reed grass knows as

1 Hindu Tribes and Castes, I. 401. 1 For a good sccount of this industry, see Hoey, Monograph on Tribes 72.

281 sentha (saccharum sara). The Parchhatti and Gudariya make stools (mondha), and the Dharkar fine furniture, fine door-screens, baskets, fans, etc., from bamboo, but he works in bamboo and they in reed.

Of the Gorakhpur Magahiyas Mr. Kennedy writes; "They eat cow's flesh readily, but they will not kill the cow. They also offer milk, like Hindus, to snakes at the Nagpanchami, but have no reverence for tigers or other animals. They express some reverence for the great rivers, Ganga and Narayani, etc. This, I suspect, nearly marks the extent to which they have been Hinduised. The pipal is the only sacred tree, and no Magahiya will pluck its leaves. They hold this superstition so firmly that I suspect it is aboriginal. No reverence is paid to the banyan or any other sacred Hindu tree or plant. They have a special superstition about iron, and will not use it for certain purposes. A Magahiya who commits burglary with an iron instrument will not only be excluded from the brotherhood, but his eyes will some day start out of his head. Their most solemn oath is taken in the following fashion: A piece of ground is cleared and plastered as if for sacrifice. A piece of iron, a dish of water, some leaves of the papal, and a particular kind of Tarai grass with some lighted charcoal are all put separately on the ground. On the top a pice is placed, and the oath is taken over it. An oath by the Dhobi is also particularly binding."

Others oaths of the Eastern Doms are on the alter of the deities they worship, on a pipal leaf, on a knife stuck in the ground, with fingers of the right hand resting on a vessel full of spirits, or with some cow-dung fixed on the horn of a dead cow. They use none of the ordinary forms of salutation, but simply join their hands as a mark of respect.

The Doms Of The Himalayas. The Doms of Kumaun have been thought to be akin to the aboriginal Rajis; but the latter repudiate the idea and profess the very greatest contempt for the Doms; so that if one of that class enter the Dwelling of a Raji, the place must be purified with water brought from twenty- two different sources. They are supposed to be the original inhabitants of the country, corresponding to the Dhiyar, the ore-smelters of Jammu, the Batal of the Kashmir Valley, the Bem of Ladakh, the Newar of Nepal. In Garhwal they appear to have been enslaved by the immigrant Khasiyas. Under the name of Dum they are described in Jammu1 as "dark in colour, small in limb, and their countenance is of a much lower type than that of the Dogras generally, though one sees exceptions, due no doubt to a mixture of blood, for, curiously, the separation of them from the daily life of the others does not prevent an occasional intercourse that tends in some degree to assimilate the races." In the Himalayan Districts of these Provinces the Dom has been recognised as a descendant of the Dasyus of the Veda, who are supposed to have held Upper India before the advent of the Naga or Khasa race.

Sub-Castes Of The Himalayan Doms. The complete Census Returns show as the main sections of the Hill Doms the Auji, Badhai, Bera, Baroda, Chamar, , , Das Dhaki, Dhobi, Dholi, Dhunar, Kamar, Koli, Lohar, , Nath, Pahariya, Sahiya, Tamoli, Tamta, and Teli, most of which are occupational. In Garhwal, according to Mr. Atkinson,1 they are divided in popular estimation into four classes. To the first belong the Kolis, Tamotas, Lohars, Orhs, and Dharhis. The Kolis weave cloth, keep pigs and fowls, and are agricultural labourers. The Tamotas or Tamtas represent the Thatheras of the plains, and are workers in brass and copper. The Lohars are workers in iron. The Orhs comprise both masons and carpenters. Dharhis, though socially ranked with Doms, do not belong to them, for they properly include only those Khasiyas who have been put out of caste for some offence, and their offspring form a new caste with the addition of the fresh avocation. To the second class belong the Bhuls, Chunyaras, Ruriyas, Agaris, and Pahris. The Bhuls represent the Telis of the plains, but also do field work. They

1 Loc cit, II., 319. 1 . Himalayan Gazetteer, III, 277, sq.

282 are also called Baryas. The Chunyaras are turners, and make wooden vessels and the bottoms of huqqas. The Ruriyas make various kinds of bamboo baskets and sieves. The Agaris are iron smelters, and must be carefully discriminated from the Dravidian Agariyas of Mirzapur. They are Doms attached to the service of the mines by the former Rajas, but are gradually exchanging a very ill-paid and dangerous avocation for that of road-making and other profitable work. The Pahris are village messengers, and are the same as the Chamar village watchmen of the plains. To the third class belong the Mallahs, Daryas, and Chamars. The Mallahs are also called Dhunars, and are for the most part engaged in agriculture. The Daryas are village sorcerers, and conjure away hailstorms and the like, for which service they receive annual dues of grain. The Chamar call themselves Bairsawa, and will never acknowledge the name of Chamar. They sew leather and perform all the usual service duties of the Dom.

The fourth class includes the professional beggars and vagrant musicians of the Hills: the Badi, Hurkiya, Darzi, and Dholi. The Badi is the village musician; in the plains he is considered to be a Nat. He plays on various instruments and sings at festivals. He goes from village to village begging from door to door, and belongs to the Class of sturdy beggars who, if they do not get what they expect, lampoon the people of the house and abuse them. For these reasons they are, to some extent, feared, and are also to maintain themselves at the expense of their neighbours. They also snare fowl and fish. The Hurkiya are so called from the small double drum (huruk, huruka) shaped like an hourglass which he carries. This is an archaic musical instrument like the damaru, which is one Siva's emblems. They never take to agriculture, and wander about with their women, who dance and sing. The Darzi, also called Auji and Suji, live by tailoring, though often solely by agriculture. To the Darzi class belongs the Dholi so called from beating the drum(dholak). This is done by way of incantation to cause sprites and ghosts to enter or leave the person of any one, and so induce that person to give money to the performer. The Darya, Badi, Hurkiya, and Dholi are all Doms, and "are in the hills the recognised priests of the malignant spirits of the hill and glen, whose aid is always sought after before anything serious is undertaken or any difficult task is attempted. It is the Doms who preserve to the present day the pure demonism of the aborigines, while the Khasiyas temper it with the worship of the village deities, the named local divine entities, and furnish from their ranks the priests. Most of the Barhais belong to the Orh division oft he Doms, and the Chunapaz or lime-burners belong to the Agari and Lohar branches of the Doms. Finally there is a class known as Domjogi, who are beggars. The portion of the village site assigned to Doms is in the hills known as Domaura or Domtola, like the Chamrauti where the Chamars of the plains congregate."

Most of these division of the Doms of the hills are thus purely occupational, and, as might have been expected, the enumeration varies. Thus Pandit Juala Dat Joshi writing of the Doms of Kumaun says that Doms usually do not use the term Dom in speaking of themselves, but call themselves Bairsawa, or Tallijati or Baharjati, "outcasts," or they call themselves by their occupation Orh, Lohar, and so on. He enumerates the Kumaun Doms under the heads of Sarki Dotiwala, who work in leather; Tamta, workers in brass; Lohar, workers in iron; Orh and Barele, masons; Tirua, who do tinning and making of horse shoes; Bhul, oilmen; Mochi, workers in leather; Koli, cloth-weavers; Baruri, makers of bamboo baskets, Dhuni, Dhuni Dom, and ordinary Doms who are said to be a mixed race of men, and ordinary Hill Doms who work as ploughmen and day labourers; Dholi, who play on drums at festivals; Hurkiya, who play and sing and prostitute their women; Chamar, who skin animals; Badi, who play on drums and work as tailors. He adds that the reason of the increase of this caste is that they admit outcaste from the superior tribes. The Baura are separate from the Dom, and say that they were originally Jats.

According to the same authority, the Orh, Tamta, Lohar, Bare, Bhul, Tirua, Mochi, Dhuni, Koli, and Baruri are exogamous, but as they advance in wealth, they show a tendency to break up into endogamous groups. The Chamar, Dholi, Badi, and Hurkiya are endogamous,

283 and will eat kachchi and pakki only from members of their own sub-caste. Their rule of exogamy is simply that the recognised descendants of one common ancestor will not intermarry. Some of them, as they are becoming more Hinduised, have adopted the rule of not intermarrying within five generations on the side of the mother and seven on the side of the father. They can marry as many wives as they please, of whom the youngest and best- looking is regarded as head. He says that the Doms do not prostitute their women before marriage; but that among the Bhotiyas it used to be the habit for young men and girls to meet in a special house in the village, where, after drinking, each youth selected a girl and cohabited with her in perfect freedom. The custom is now disappearing. We have here a good example of that form of promiscuity before marriage, of which Dr. Westermarck has collected numerous instances.

Girls, he goes on to say, are married between the age of eight or ten. When the parties are of that age, their relatives arrange the marriage for them; but when a girl has passed the age of puberty she may choose a husband for herself. There are two recognised forms of marriage, the superior, in which the father of the bride gives her away with a dowry, and the less respectable form in which the relatives of the bridegroom pay one-third of the expenses of the marriage.

They put away a woman when she is attacked with leprosy, becomes a lunatic or loses caste. A divorced woman, provided she has not been divorced on account of disease, may be taken on as a concubine, but she cannot be married again by any of the regular forms. The levirate and widow-marriage are recognised, and the children of a widow regularly married and of a widow rank equally; but the children of a concubine hold a lower rank, as they cannot join in the worship of deceased ancestors. A widow taken over by a man is known as rakhui, and it is said to be the custom of widows not to live with a man unless they have no one to support them.

Domestic Ceremonies: Himalayan Doms. When a woman comes to the seventh month of pregnancy she is forbidden to cook for her family or to perform the domestic worship. When the child is born, a lump of coarse sugar is distributed to those present; the child is bathed, and red powder (rori) applied to its head and to that of the mother and all the women of the house. For eleven days the male members of the family are considered impure. In the case of the birth of twins, they perform a propitiatory ceremony.

The marriage ceremony is in the form usual among the lower castes. No Brahman officiates, and his place is taken by the sister's son who receives a fee for his services. The binding portion of the ceremony is the feeding of the brethren.

They burn their dead and dispose of the ashes into a neighbouring stream. In this case also the sister's son or the son-in-law of the dead man officiates and is given a loin cloth and some money. The death impurity lasts for eleven days.

Religion Of The Himalayan Doms. According to Mr. Atkinson,1 "their montane and non-Brahmanical origin is sufficiently shown by the names of the deities worshipped by them- Ganganathe, Bholanath, Masan Khabish, Goril, Kshetrpal, Saim, Airi Kalbisht or Kaluwa, Chaumu, Badhan, Haru, Latu, Bheliya, the Katyrui Rajas, Runiya, Balchan, Kalchan, Bhausi, Chhurmal. Ganganath is the favourite deity of the Doms and his origin is thus accounted for. The son of Bhabieland, Raja of Doti, quarrelled with his family and became a religious mendicant. In the course of his wanderings he arrived at Adoli, a village in Patti Salam, and there saw and fell in love with the wife of one Krishna Joshi. This Joshi was a servant at Almora, and the Jogi disguised

1 Loc cit., II. 319.

284 himself and took service in the house in which the woman lived. When Krishna heard of the intrigue, he set out for Adoli, and, with the aid of one Jhaparna Lohar, murdered his wife and her lover. Like Bholanath and his companions, the Jogi, his mistress, and the unborn child became goblins and vexed the people so that they built a temple and instituted a regular service in honour of the three sprites. From Adoli the cult Ganganath spread over Kumaun, and at Takuriya Lwali and Narai in his home we have temples in his honour. He is supposedly especially to harass the young and beautiful, if they do not propitiate him. When any one is aggrieved by the wicked or powerful, he goes to Ganganath for aid, who invariably punishes the evil-doer. He sometimes possesses a follower, and through him promises all that they desire to those who offer the following articles: to Ganganath himself a kid, cakes, sweetmeats, beads, a bag and a pair of Jogi's ear rings; to his mistress, a petticoat, a sheet, and a nose ring; and to the child a coat and amulets- altogether forming a fair spoil to the Ghantuwa or astrologer who conducts the ceremonies.

"The current legend regarding the origin of the local deity Bholanath and his consort Barhini forms one of the connecting links between the Brahmanical system of the present day and the universal hierarchy of sprites and goblins common to all mountainous countries. With the better classes Bholanath is recognised as a form of Mahadeva, and Barhini as a form of his Sakti, thus meeting the requirements of the popular worship and the demands of the orthodox school, but it is evident that the idea of deifying mortals is an old one, and in this case merely localised to explain the origin of a class of temples which are acknowledged not to belong to the orthodox forms of Mahadeva. One story tells us how Uday Chand, Raja of Almora, had two queens, each of whom bore him a son. When the children arrived at man's estate, the elder of the two took to evil courses and was disinherited and left Kumaun. The younger in course of time succeeded his father as Gyan Chand, and his administration gave great satisfaction and relief to the people. Gyan Chand had been some years on the throne when his elder brother returned to Almora, and took up his quarters there in the guise of a religious mendicant. In spite of his disguise several recognised the disinherited prince, and conveyed the news of his arrival to his brother Gyan Chand. He became alarmed and gave orders for the assassination of his brother which was carried out by a man of the Bariya or gardener caste. The elder prince and his pregnant mistress were both slain near the temple of Sitala devi. The mistress was the wife of a Brahman, and her connection with the Chand prince was considered something more than adulterous. After death the elder brother became a bhut. A small iron trident is sometimes placed in the corner of a cottage as an emblem of Bholanath, and is usually resorted to when any sudden or unexpected calamity attacks the residents.

"The demon Masan is usually found at burning grounds. He is supposed to be of black colour and hideous appearance. He comes from the remains of a funeral pyre and chases people passing by who sometimes die of fright, others linger for a few days and some even go mad. When a person becomes possossed by Masan, the people invoke the beneficent spirit of the house to come and take possession of some member of the family, and all begin to dance. At length some one works himself into a state of frenzy and commences to torture and belabour the body of the person possessed by Masan, until at length a cure is effected or the patient perishes under this drastic treatment.

"Khabish resembles Masan in his malignant nature and fondness for charnel grounds. He is also met with in dark glens and forests in various shapes. Sometimes he imitates the bellow of a buffalo, or the cry of a goat-herd or neat-hard, and sometimes he grunts like a wild pig. At other times he assumes the guise of a religious mendicant and joins travellers on their way, but his conversation (like that of all the Indian bhuts who speak through their nose) is always unintelligible. Like Masan he often frightens people and sometimes possesses unfortunate travellers who get benighted."

285 Goril, Goriya, Gwall or Gol is another delfied mortal of whom the legend is given by Mr. Atkinson. He was beaten out of Grahwal by Sudarsan Sah. The idea that a bhut can be driven out by beatings embodies in two well-known Hindi proverbs-Mar ke age bhut bhagta hai, "A thrashing makes a bhut run;" and Laton ke bhut baton se nahin mante, "Goblins that want kicking won't mind words."

Khetrpal is the same as Bhumiya, the protector of field and homestead, extensively worshipped in the western districts. Saim or Sayam, "the black one" (Sans. shyama) is another form of the same deity. He sometimes possesses people, and his sign is that the hair of the scalp-lock becomes hopelessly entangled.

Kalbisht or Kaluwa is said to have been a shepherd who lived some two hundred years ago. His enemies persuaded his brother-in-law Himmat to drive a peg into the hoof of one of Kalibisht's buffaloes, intending that he should be killed in attempting to extract it, but no harm ensued. Himmat next-attacked him from behind with an axe, and so wounded him on the neck that he died, but not before he had torn the treacherous Himmat limb from limb. He has now become a benevolent sprite, and his name is used by herdsmen as a charm against wild beasts, and oppressed persons resort to his temple for justice against their oppressors.

Chaumu is also a deified mortal and a god of cattle; so is Badhin. On the eleventh day after the birth of a calf his linga is washed first with water and then milk and cakes, rice and milk are offered at his temples. Haru is the deified Haris Chandra Raja of Champawat who built the sacred bathing place at Hardwar. Latu was his brother. The Katyuri Rajas are the deified last independent Rajas of Katyr. Runiya is a malignant bhut who wanders from village to village on coursers formed of huge boulders, and at night especially exercises his noisy steeds. He attacks only females, and should any woman attract his attentions she invariably wastes away, haunted by her ghostly lover and joins him in the spirit land. Balchan, Kalchan, Bhasni, and Chhurmal are malignant bhuts of the same kind.

Religious And Social Customs Of The Himalayan Doms. To quote again Mr. Atkinson's excellent account of this caste: "Doms do not wear the sacred thread or the bracelet (rakhi) nor do they have caste marks nor wear, as a rule, the top-knot (sikha) and in a rough way they imitate the customs of the better classes, especially those who have made money in their contracts with Government. Their offerings to deceased ancestors (sraddha) when made at all, are performed at the Amawas or last day of the Kanyagat of Kuar. The sister's son younger sister's husband or son-in-law act as Brahmans on the occasion and receive gifts as such. Doms eat the flesh of all animals, use their skins, and eat food from all classes except the Bhangi, Musalman, and Christian. There is no fixed time for marriage. When an elder brother dies the younger takes the widow to wife whether she has children or not; hence the proverb Mal bhir adhari ber, talai chir men onchhi "when the upper walls fall they come in the lower wall." When the elder brother dies, the burden falls upon the younger. The elder brother cannot, however, take to wife the widow of a deceased younger brother, and contracts a stain if even her shadow crosses his path. He transfers her to some other of the brotherhood, but if during the lifetime of her second husband he or she be dissatisfied, another may take her by paying the cost of her marriage. This may be repeated several times."

To this may be added from the notes of Pandit Juala Dat Joshi that their greatest oath is to place the hand on the head of their son; others say: "If I swear falsely may I eat your flesh." They also swear by placing their hands on the grain mortar (okhli), flour mill (chakki) or paper and holding it on the head of a son recite the words which run as follows: "If the land in dispute be mine may I and my children enjoy it, if it be not mine Parameswar prevent me from enjoying it." They believe in the Evil Eye and remove it by waving some mustard over the patient and then burning it near him in a pan. They fully believes in the demonical

286 theory of disease, and patients are treated by an exorcisor known as Gannua. They salute one another by the term palagan; Brahmans by the word seva and English and Musalman by salam. Many of them in addition cultivate and some practise a kind of nomadic cultivation by burning down patches of jungle.

Connection Between The Doms And Gypsies. There seems reason to believe that some at least of the Gypsy tribes of Europe are akin to the Magahiya Doms; and a connection has been traced between their languages. Much speculation has been devoted to the term Romani, the designation of the European gypsies. According to one theory it means Roman or Roumanian. According to another "the word Rom in all the gypsy dialects of Europe has a twofold meaning signifying " man" and "husband" as well as "gypsy." A satisfactory connection has still to be found for it, that connected with Rama, the incarnate Vishnu of the Hindus being discountenanced by the authority of Professor Ascoli of Milan. By a curious and unexplained coincidence the identical word Rom or Rome occurs with the meaning "man" in modern Coptic, and according to Herodotus belonged also to the language of the ancient Egyptians. Although this isolated fact in no way affects the general bearing of the question, it is worth noting as an etymological curiosity. It is not impossible that among the original elements of the Aryan mother speech may have existed a root or or rom, expressive of power, the survival of which we can discern in the Greek rome, 'strength,' the Latin robur, and perhaps in the illustrious name of Rome itself." On the other hand, Dr. Schrader1 suggests that the word robur in the sense of "oak" is the equivalent of arbor "a tree." At the same time there seems some reason for believing that Romani in the sense of "a gypsy" may be connected with our Indian terms Dom and Domra.2

Dom.: - Domra, sometimes called Chandal1 by outsiders, a Dravidian menial caste of Bengal, Behar, and the North-Western Provinces, regarding whose origin much has been said. Dr. Calwell2 considers the "Doms and other Chandanlas of Northern India and the Pareiyas and other low tribes of the Peninsula" to be the surviving representatives of an older, ruder, and blacker race, who preceded the Dravidians in India. Some of these were driven by the Dravidian invasion to take refuge in mountain refuges and postilential jungles, while others were reduced to perpetual servitude like the Doms of Kumaon, whom Mr. Atkinson3 describes as having been for ages the slaves of the Khasiyas- thought less of than the cattle, and, like them, changing hands from master to master. Sir Henry Elliot4 says they "seem to be one of the aboriginal tribes of India. Tradition fixes their residence to the north of the Gogra, touching the Bhars on the east, in the vicinity of Rohini. several old forts testify to their former importance, and still retain the names of their founders; as, for instance, Domdiha and Domangarh5 Ramgarh and Sahankot on the Rohini are also Dom forts. Mr.

1. Prehistoric Antiquities, 272. 2 . Edinburgh Review, 1878,p. 140 ; Grierson, Indian Antiquary, XV. 14, sq. XVI. 35, sqq. Encyclopadia Britannia, 9th edition, article Gypsies : Leland, Academy, 19th June 1875. In the life of Edward Henry Palmer by Walter Besant ( p. 184), Mr. Leland writes-" Several times I interviewed, in his company in London, a native of India who had been a Rom, that is to say, a gypsy. Palmer examined the man long and closely in his native language, that is to say as a shrewd lawyer would examine a man whose assertions he wished to discredit. The result of the interview was that there is, in Palmer's opinion, one distinctive race of gypsies, who call themselves Rom, who speak a language which is identical with any Indian tongue, though much like Panjabi, but which is identical with Romany. The man assured me subsequently that hewould never have knows from his language that Palmer was not a born Hindu." 1 See Risley. 2. Grammar of the Dravidian Languages, p. 546. 3. North-Western Provinces Gazetteer. vol. xi, p. 370. 4. Races of the North-Western Provinces, i, 84. 5. Buchanan, Eastern India, ii, p. 353, calls this the " Domingar or the castle of the Dom lady." It should be noted that Sir henry Elliot misunderstands Buchanan, who nowhere gives it as his own opinion that the Doms are the same as the

287 Carnegy1 observes that the fort of Domangarh was the stronghold of the Domar, a degenerate clan of Rajputs, and suggests in a note that these Domar or Donwar may themselves have been a family of Doms who had risen to power locally and got themselves enrolled in "the conveniently elastic fraternity of Rajputs." In support of this theory he refers to the case of Ali Baksh Dom, who became Governor of Ramlabad, one of the districts of Oudh, and mentions that it was not uncommon for men of this class to rise to high office under kings by whom they were employed as musicians.

Out of this somewhat profitless discussion there seems to emerge a general consensus of opinion that the Doms belong to one of the races whom, for convenience of expression, we may call the aborigines of India. Their personal appearance bears out this opinion. Mr. Beames describes the Magahiya Doms of Champaran as "small and dark, with long tresses of unkempt hair, and the peculiar glassy eye of the non-Aryans;"2 and Mr. Sherring remarks that "dark-complexioned, low of stature, and somewhat repulsive in appearance, they are readily distinguishable from all the better castes of Hindus."3 The type, however, as is the case with most widely-diffused castes, seems to display appreciable variations. In Eastern Bengal, according to Dr. Wise, the Dom's hair is long, black, and coarse, while his complexion is oftener of a brown rather than a black hue; and among the Magahiya Doms whom I have seen in Behar only a small proportion struck me as showing any marked resemblances to the aborigines of Chota Nagpur, who are, I suppose, among the purest specimens of the non- Aryan of India. On the whole, however, the prevalent type of physique and complexion seems to mark the caste as not Aryan descent, although evidence is wanting to connect it with any compact aboriginal tribe of the present day. The fact that for centuries past they have been condemned to the most menial duties, and have served as the helots of the entire Hindu community, world of itself be sufficient to break down whatever tribal spirit they may once have possessed, and to obliterate all structural traces of their true origin.

Internal Structure: Endogamy. The Dom community is a large one, and the intricacy of its internal organization is doubtless due for the most part to the large area over which the caste is distributed. The sub-castes and sections are given in a tabular form in Appendix I. About most of these there is very little to be said. Enquiry into the origin of sub-castes is usually a difficult and unfruitful process, and it is attended with peculiar difficulties in the case of a caste regarded by all Hindus with extreme repulsion, and destitute of the social pride which delights to recall the reasons for minute internal divisions. The Magahiya Doms of Behar have a legend that once upon a time Mahadeva and Parvati invited all the castes to a feast. Supat Bhakat, the ancestor of the Doms, came late, and being very hungry, mixed up and ate the food which the others had left. His behaviour was deemed so scandalous that he and his descendants were straightway degraded and condemned to eat the leavings of all other castes. Even at the present day if a Dom who comes to beg is asked to what caste he belongs, the answer will invariably be "Jhuta-khai," or eater of leavings. This myth is unknown to the Doms of Central and Western Bengal, who trace their origin to a common ancestor called Kalubir, the son of a Chandal woman by her Let4 husband. From his four sons, Pranbir, Manbir, Bhanbir, and Shanbir, the sub-castes Ankuria, Bisdelia, Bajunia, and Magahiya are said to be descended. The two elder sons, Pranbir and Manbir, it is said, were sent out to gather flowers for a sacrifice. Pranbir, who was lazily inclined, tore the flowers from the tress with a bamboo hook (ankuli) and picked them up as they fell on the ground; while Manbir climbed tress and gathered flowers carefully from branch to branch. The flowers brought in by Manbir were accepted,

Domkatar section of the Babhan caste, though he mentions (ii, 471) without comment a popular tradition to that effect. 1. Notes on the Races of Avadh ( Oudh),p.24. 2. Races of the North-Western Provinces, p. 85. 3. Hindu Tribes and Castes, i,401. 4. Let is a sub-caste of the Bagdis in Murshedabad.

288 and he received the title of Bisdelia (his, 'twenty,' and dal, 'a branch'), because he had climbed twenty branches in the service of the gods. The elder brother's offering was rejected as unclean, and he and his descendant were named Ankuria in reference to the hook. On hearing this decision the third brother was greatly pleased, and drummed on his stomach in token of satisfaction. He and his offspring therefore were entitled Bajunia, or musician Doms. The Dhakal Dhesia or Tapaspuria Doms, who remove dead bodies and dig the cross trench which forms the base of the funeral pyre, also claim descent from Kalubir. One of his sons, they say; was sent by Mahadeva to fetch water from the Ganges. At the river bank he found a dead body waiting to be burned, and was tempted by offers of money from the friends of the deceased to dig the necessary trench. On his return to Mahadeva the god cursed him and his descendants to minister to the dead for all time. No special legend is given to account for the name Magahiya, which doubtless originally denoted the Doms of south Behar. The Sai sub-caste owe their name to the circumstance that their women act as midwives in parts of the country where Chamains are not numerous enough to perform this function. The men are day-labourers. The Bansphor or 'bamboo-splitter' sub-caste derive their name from the material out of which they make baskets; while the Chapariya seem to be so called from building the bamboo frame-work by which a roof (chapar) is supported. The Uttariya Doms of South Behar work in sirki, and regard this as an important distinction between themselves and the Magahiya, who in that part of the country till the soil and make mats and baskets of bamboo.

Internal Structure: Exogamy. The exogamous sections of the caste are very numerous. In Behar they seem to be territorial or titular; while in Bankura the names are totemistic, and the members of particular sections refrain from injuring the animals after which they are called. In Central Bengal traces of totemism may perhaps be found, but the tendency is to borrow the Brahmanical gotras, while in the eastern districts all exogamous groups seem to have disappeared, and marriages are regulated by the more modern system of counting prohibited degrees down to and including the fifth generation in descent from a common ancestor. The Magahiya Doms of Behar affect to observe a very elaborate method of working the rule of exogamy. They lay down that a man may not marry a woman belonging to the same section as his own (1) father, (2) paternal grandmother, (3) paternal great-grandmothers, (4) paternal great-great-grand- mothers, (5) mother, (6) maternal grandmother, (7) maternal great-grandmothers. In applying the rule to a particular case, all the sections on both sides are taken into account in the manner described in the article on Bais, so that a marriage would be barred if one of the great-grandmothers of the proposed bride happened to have belonged to the same section as one of the great-great-grandmothers of the proposed bridegroom, even though the parties themselves belonged to different muls. This mode of calculation appears to be confined to Behar; and in Bengal wherever sections exist, the only rule observed is that a man may not marry a woman of the same section as himself. The standard formula for reckoning prohibited degrees is in general use. In Bankura it is ordinarily calculated to three generations in the descending line; but where bhaiadi, or mutual recognition of relationship, has been kept up between two families, the prohibition extends to five generations. The Doms of the 24-Parganas affect to prohibit marriage between sapindas, but this is a palpable imitation of the customs of the higher castes. Members of other castes may be received into the Dom community by paying a fee to the panchayat and giving a feast to the Doms of the neighbourhood. At this feast the proselyte is required to wait upon his new associates and to eat with them. He must also have his head shaved and undergo a sort of baptism with water at the hands of the caste panchayat in token of his adoption of the Dom religion. Instances of men of other castes thus joining themselves to the Doms are very rare, and occur only when a man has been ejected from his own caste for living with a Dom woman. Some say, however, that in these cases the proselyte, though ordinarily spoken of as a Dom, is not admitted to complete equality with the original members of the caste. His children, however, will be Doms of the same sub-caste as their mother.

289 Marriage. In Central Eastern Bengal Doms, following the example of the higher castes, nearly always marry their daughters as infants, and regard it as wrong for a girl over ten years of age to remain unmarried in her fathers house. A small bride-price (pan), varying from Rs. 5 to Rs. 10, is paid to the parents of the girl. In Behar and Western Bengal adult-marriage still holds its ground for those who cannot afford the more fashionable practice, and sexual intercourse before marriage is said to be tolerated. Among the Doms of the Dacca district the marriage service is peculiar. The guests being assembled on a propitious day fixed by a Brahman, the bridegroom's father takes his son on his knee, and, sitting down in the centre of the "Marocha" opposite the bride's father, who is holding his daughter in a similar posture, repeats the names of his ancestors for seven generations, while the bride's father runs over his for three. They their call God to witness the ceremony, and the bridegroom's father addressing the other asks him, "Have you lost your daughter?" The answer being in the affirmative, a similar interrogation and reply from the opposite party terminates the service. The boy-bridegroom then advances, smears the bride's forehead with sindur or red lead- the symbol of married life- and takes her upon his knee, and finally carries her indoors. Like all aboriginal races, Doms are very fond of gaudy colours; the bridal dress consisting of yellow or red garments for the female, and a yellow cloth with a red turban for the male.

In the 24-Parganas a more Hinduised ritual is in vogue. The marriage takes place on a raised earthen platform (bedi), to which a branch of a banian-tree is fixed. An earthen vessel full of Ganges water is placed in the centre. On this vessel the bride and bridegroom lay their hands, one above the other, and the ceremony is completed by exchanging garlands of flowers. The Dom priest, Dharma-Pandit, presides and mutters words which purport to be sacred texts, and the actual marriage service is preceded by offerings to ancestors and the worship of Surya, Ganesa, Durga, Mahadeva, and Anti Kuldevata. Further west again, in the districts of Bankura and Manbhum, the ritual appears to differ little from that already described in the article on the Bagdi caste. There is, however, no marriage with a tree and no symbolic capture of the bride, as in the case of the Bagdis; while in the joining of the hands which precedes sindurdan, the bride presents her right hand if she is given away by a male, and her left if by a female relative. On the night before the wedding the ceremony of adhibas is performed in the houses of both parties by anointing the body with turmeric and oil and tying a thread soaked in this mixture and knotted with a few blades of durva grass on the right wrist of the bridegroom and the left wrist of the bride. The ritual followed in Behar is of the simplest character, consisting mainly of sindurdan, which is often performed in the open air under a tree. The wealthier Doms, however, erect a wedding canopy (marwa), and a generally copy the Hindu ceremony with more or less accuracy of detail.

Polygamy is everywhere permitted, and poverty forms the only restriction on the number of wives a man may have. The standard of living, however, is low, and it is unusual to find a Dom with more than two wives, and most men content themselves with one. A widow may marry again, and in Behar it is deemed right for her to marry her late husband's younger brother; but a widow may marry any one she pleases provided that she does not infringe the prohibited degrees binding on her before her first marriage. The ritual (sanga or sagai) observed at the marriage of a widow consists mainly of sindurdan and the present of a new cloth. A pan is rarely paid, and never exceeds a rupee or two. In Murshedabad there is no sindurdan, and a formal declaration of consent before representatives of the caste is all that is required. Considerable license of divorce is admitted, and in some districts at any rate it can be exercised by either husband or wife; so that a woman, by divesting herself of the iron bracelet given to her at marriage, can rid herself of a husband who ill-treats her or is too poor to maintain her properly. Dom women have a reputation for being rather masterful, and many of them are conspicuous for their powerful physique. It may be by virtue of their characteristics that they have establishes a right very rarely conceded to women in Bengal. A husband, on the other hand, can divorce his wife for infidelity or persistent ill-temper. In either case the action of the individual required the confirmation of the panchayat, which

290 however is usually given as a matter of course, and is expressed in Bhagalpur by solemnly pronouncing the pithy monosyllable jao. In North Bhagalpur the husband takes in his hand a bundle of rice straw and cuts it in half before the assemblage as a symbol of separation. Divorced wives may marry again by the same ritual as widows. Their children remain in the charge of their first husband. In Monghyr the second husband must give the panchayat a pig to form the basis of a feast, and if convicted of having seduced the woman away from her first husband must pay the latter Rs. 9 as compensation. A husband, again, who divorces his wife had to pay a fee of 10 annas to the panchayat for their trouble in deciding the case.

Most of the sub-castes seem to have a fairly complete organization for deciding social questions. The system of panchayats is everywhere in full force, and in Behar these are presided over by hereditary headmen, variously called sardar, pradhan, manjhan, marar, gorait, or kabiraj, each of whom bears rule in a definite local jurisdiction, and had under him a chharidar or rod-bearer to call together the panchayat and to see that its orders are carried out.

Religion. The religion of the Doms varies greatly in different parts of the country, and may be described generally as a chaotic mixture of survivals from the elemental or animistic cults characteristic of the survivals from the elemental observances borrowed in a haphazard fashion from whatever Hindu sect happens to be dominant in a particular locality. The composite and chaotic nature of their belief is due partly to the great ignorance of the caste, but mainly to the fact that as a rule they have no Brahmans, and thus are without any central authority or standard which would tend to mould their religious usages into conformity with a uniform standard. In Behar, for instance, the son of a deceased man's sister or of his female cousin officiates as priest at his funeral and recites appropriate mantras, receiving a fee for his services when the inheritance comes to be divided. Some Doms, indeed, assured me that the sister's son used formerly to get a share of the property, and that this rule had only recently fallen into disuse; but their statements did not seem to be definite enough to carry bearing on the point. So also in marriage the sister's son, or occasionally the sister (sawasin), repeats mantras, and acts generally as priest. Falling either of these, the head of the household officiates. The possible significance of these facts in relation to the early history of the caste need not be elaborated here. No other indications of an extinct custom of female kinship are now traceable, and the fact that in division of an inheritance seems to show that kinship by males must have been in force for a very long time past. In Bengal the sister's son exercises no priestly functions, these being usually discharged by a special class of Dom, known in Bankura as Degharia, and in other districts as Dharma-Pandit. Their office is hereditary, and they wear copper rings on their fingers as a mark of distinction. In Murshedabad, on the other hand, most Doms, with the exception of the Banukia sub-caste and some of the Ankurias, have the services of low Brahmans, who may perhaps be ranked as Barna- Brahmans. The same state of things appears to prevail in the north of Manbhum. In the Santal Parganas barbers minister to the spiritual wants of the caste.

In Bengal. With such a motley array of amateur and professional priests, it is clearly out of the question to look for any unity of religious organization among the Doms. In Bankura and Western Bengal generally they seem on the whole to lean towards Vaishnavism, but in addition to Radha and Krishna they worship Dharam or Dharma-raj in form of a man with a fish's tail on the last day of Jaishtha with offerings of rice, molasses, plantain, and sugar, the object of which is said to be to obtain the blessing of the sun on the crops of the season. Every year in the month of Baisakh the members of the caste go into the jungle to offer sacrifices of goats, fruits, and sweetmeats to their ancestral deity Kalubir; and at the appointed season they join in the worship of the goddess Bhadu, described in the article on the Bagdi caste. At the time of the Durga Puja, Bajunia Doms worship the drum, which they regard as the symbol of their craft. This usage has clearly been borrowed from the artisan castes among the Hindus. In

291 Central Bengal, Kali appears to be their favourite goddess; and in Eastern Bengal many Doms follow the Panth, or path of Supat, Supan, or Sobhana Bhagat, who is there regarded as a guru rather than as the progenitor of the caste. Others again call themselves Haris Chandis, from Raja Haris Chandra, who was so generous that he gave away all his wealth in charity, and was reduced to such straits that he took service with a Dom, who treated him kindly. In return the Raja converted the whole tribe to his religion, which they have faithfully followed ever since.1

The principal festival of the Doms in Eastern Bengal is the Sravannia Puja, observed in the month of that name, corresponding to July and August, when a pig is sacrificed and its blood caught in a cup. This cup of blood, along with one of milk and three of spirits are offered to Narayan. Again, on a dark night of Bhadra (August) of tobacco, and a little Indian hemp to Hari Ram, after which swine are slaughtered and a feast celebrated. A curious custom followed by all castes throughout Bengal is associated with the Dom, and may perhaps be a survival from times when that caste was the recognised priests of the elemental deities worshipped by the non-Aryan races. Whenever an eclipse of the sun or moon occurs, every Hindu householder places at his door a few copper coins, which, though now claimed by the Acharji Brahman, were until recently regarded as the exclusive perquisite of the Dom.

In Behar. Similar confusion prevails in Behar under the regime of the sister's son, only with this difference, that the advance in the direction of Hindusim seems to be on the whole less conspicuous than in Bengal. Mahadeva, Kali, and the river Ganges receive, it is true, sparing and infrequent homage, but the working deities of the caste are Syam Singh, whom some hold to be the deified ancestor of all Doms, Rakat Mala, Ghihal or Gohil, Goraiya, Bandi, Lakeswar, Dihwar, Dak, and other ill-defined and primitive shapes, which have not yet gained admission into the orthodox pantheon. At Deodha, in Darbhanga, Syam Singh has been honoured with a special temple; but usually both he and the other gods mentioned above are represented by lumps of dried clay, set up in a round space smeared with cow- dung inside the house, under a tree or at the village boundary. Before these them, pigs are sacrificed and strong drink offered up at festivals, marriages, and when disease threatens the family or its live-stock. The circle of these godlings, as Mr. Ibbetson has excellently called them, is by no means an exclusive one, and a common custom shows how simply and readily their number may be added to. If a man dies of snake-bite, say the Magahiya Doms of the Gya district, we worship his spirit as a Samperiya, lest he should come back and give us bad dreams; we also worship the snake who bit him, lest the snake-god should serve us in like fashion. Any man therefore conspicuous enough by his doings in life or for the manner of his death to stand a chance of being dreamed of among a tolerably large circle is likely in course of time to take rank as a god. Judging, indeed, from the antecedents of the caste, Syam Singh himself may well have been nothing more than a successful dacoit, whose career on earth in some sudden or tragic fashion, and who lived in the dreams of his brethren long enough to gain a place in their rather disreputable pantheon. Systematic robbery is so far a recognised mode of life among the Magahiya Doms that it has impressed itself on their religion, and a distinct ritual is ordained for observance by those who go forth to commit a burglary. The

1. This is the form of the legend current among the Doms of Dacca. It will be observed that the Chandala of the Markandeya Purana has been turned into a Dom, and the pious king into a religious reformer. According to Dr. Wise Haris Chandra is a well-known figure in the popular mythology of Bengal, and it is of him that native tell the following story, strangely like that narrated in the xviiith chapter of the Koran regarding Moses and Joshua. He and his Rani, wandering in the forest, almost starved, caught a fish and boiled it on a wood fire. She took it to the river to wash off the ashes, but on touching the water the fish revived and swam away. At the present day a fish called kalbosa ( Labeo calbasu), of black colour and yellow flesh, is identified with the historical one, and no low-caste Hindu will touch it. In Hindustan the following couplet is quoted concerning a similar disaster which befell the gambler Nala, the moral being the same as that of the English proverb-" Misfortunes never come singly :-

" Raja Nal par bihat pare, Bhune machhle jal men tire."

292 object of veneration on these occasions is Sansari Mai, whom some hold to be a form of Kali, but who seems rather to be the earth-mother known to most primitive religions. No image, not even the usual lump of clay, is set up to represent the goddess: a circle one span and four fingers in diameter is drawn on the ground and smeared smooth with cowdung. squatting in front of this the worshipper gashes his left arm with the curved Dom knife (katari), and daubs five streaks of blood with his finger in the centre of the circle, praying in a low voice that a dark night may aid his designs; that his booty may be ample; and that he and his gang may escape detection.1

"Labra movet metuens andiri: pulchra Laverna, Da mihi fallere, da justo sanctoque videri, Noctem peccatis et fraudibus objice nubem." 2

Funeral ceremonies. According to Dr. Wise it is universally believed in Bengal that Doms do not bury or burn their dead, but dismember the corpse at night, like the inhabitants of Tibet, placing the pieces in a pot and sinking them in the nearest river or reservoir. This horrid idea probably originated from the old Hindu law which compelled the Doms to bury their dead at night. The Doms of Dacca say that the dead are cast into a river, while the bodies of the rich or influential are buried. When the funeral is ended each man bathes, and successively touches a piece of iron, a stone, and a lump of dry cowdung, afterwards making offerings of rice and spirits to the manses of the deceased, while the relatives abstain from flesh and fish for nine days. On the tenth day a swine is slaughtered, and it flesh cooked and eaten, after which quantities of raw spirits are drunk until everybody is intoxicated. In Western Bengal and Behar the usual practice is to burn the dead and present offerings to the spirit of the deceased on the eleventh day, or, as some say, on the thirteenth. Burial is occasionally resorted to, but is not common, except in the case of persons who die of cholera or small-pox and children under three years of age. In these cases the body is laid in the grave face downward with the head pointing to the north.

Habits And Customs. "By all classes of Hindus," says Dr. wise, "the Dom is regarded with both disgust and fear, not only on account of his habits being abhorrent and abominable, but also because he is believed to have no humane or kindly feelings. To those, however, who view him as a human being, the Dom appears as an improvident and dissolute man, addicted to sensuality and intemperance, but often an affectionate husband and indulgent father. As no Hindu can approach a Dom, his peculiar customs are unknown, and are therefore said to be wicked and accursed. A tradition survives among the Dacca Doms, that in the days of the Nawabs their ancestors were brought form Patna for employment as executioners (jallad) and disposers of the dead- hateful duties, which they perform at the present day. On the paid establishment of each magistracy a Dom hangman is borne, who officiates whenever a sentence of death is carried out. On these occasions he is assisted by his relatives, and as the bolt is drawn shouts of 'Dahai Maharani!' or 'Dohai Judge Sahib!' are raised to exonerate them from all blame."

Attend Hindu Funerals. The peculiar functions which the caste performs at all Hindu funerals may be observed by all visitors to Benares, and are described by Mr. Sherring as follows: "On the arrival of the dead body at the place of cremation, which in Benares is at the base of one of the steep stairs or ghats, called the Burning ghat, leading down from the streets above to the bed of the river Ganges, the Dom supplies five logs of wood, which he lays in order upon the ground, the rest

1. The whole of this business was acted before me in the Buxar Central Jail by a number of Magahiya Doms undergoing sentence there. Several of them had their left arms scarred from the shoulder to the wrist by assiduous worship of the tribal Laverna. 2. Horace, Epist. i. 16, 60.

293 of the wood being given by the family of the deceased. When the pile is ready for burning, a handful of lighted straw is brought by the Dom, and is taken from him and applied by one of the chief members of the family to the wood. The Dom is the only person who can furnish the light for the purpose; and if from any circumstance the services of one cannot be obtained, great delay and inconvenieuce are apt to arise. The Dom exacts for his fee three things, namely, first, for the five logs; secondly, for the bunch of straw; and thirdly, for the light." It should be added that the amount of the fee is not fixed, but depends upon the rank and circumstances of the deceased. In Eastern Bengal, according to Dr. Wise, the services of the Dom at the funeral pyre are not now absolutely essential. Of late years, at any rate in Dacca, household servants carry the corpse to the burning ghat, where the pyre constructed by them is lighted by the nearest relative.

Social Status. The degraded position forced upon all Doms by reason of the functions which some of them perform is on the whole acquiesced to by the entire caste, most of whom, however, follow the comparatively clean occupation of making baskets and mats. Taking food as the test of social status, it will be seen that Doms eat beef,1 pork, horse-flesh, fowls, ducks, field-rats, and the flesh of animals which have died a natural death. All of them, moreover, except the Bansphor and Chapariya sub-castes, will eat the leftovers of men of other castes. To this last point one exception must be noted. No Dom will touch the leavings of a Dhobi,2 nor will he take water, sweetmeats of any sort. The reason is obscure. Some people say the Dhobi is deemed impure because he washes women's clothes after childbirth; but this fact, though conclusive enough for the average Hindu, would not, I imagine, count for much with a Dom. Moreover, the Doms themselves say nothing of the kind, but tell a very singular story to account for their hatred of the Dhobis. One upon a time, they say, Supat Bhakat, the ancestor of the Doms, was returning tired and hungry a long journey. On his way he met a Dhobi going along with a donkey carrying a bundle of clothes, and asked him for food and drink. The Dhobi would give him nothing and abused him into the bargain, whereupon Supat Bhakat fell upon the Dhobi, drove him away blows, killed his donkey, and cooked and ate it on the spot. After he had eaten, he repented of what he had done, and seeing that it was all the Dhobi's fault declared him and his caste to be accursed for the Doms for ever, so that a Dom should never take food from a Dhobi or eat in his house. The legend may perhaps be a distorted version of the breach of some primitive taboo in which Dhobis and donkeys somehow played a part. Doms will not touch a donkey, but the animal is not regarded by the caste in the light of a totem. In this connection I may mention the curious fact, that the Ankuria and Bisdelia Doms of Birbhum will not hold a horse or kill a dog, nor will they use a dao with a wooden handle, explaining that their ancestors worked with handleless daos, and that they are bound to adhere to the ancient custom. The prejudice against killing a dog seems at first sight to suggest some connexion with the Bauris; but it may equally arise from the fact that one of the duties of scavenging Doms in towns in to kill ownerless dogs.

Occupation. Doms believe their original profession to be the making of baskets and mats, and even menial and scavenging sub-castes follow these occupation to some extent. About half of the caste are believed to have taken to agriculture, but none of these have risen above the rank of occupancy raiyats, and a large proportion are nomadic cultivators and landless day-labourers. In the south of Manbhum a small number of rent-free tenures, bearing the name sibottar, and supposed to be set apart for the worshiip of the god Siva, are now in the possession of Doms- a fact of which I can suggest no explanation. The Bajunia sub-caste are employed to make highly discordant music at marriages and festivals. His women-folk, however, only perform as musicians at the wedding of their own people, it being considered highly

1. In Murshedabad and Eastern Bengal they profess to abstain from beef and hold themselves superior to Muchis and Bauris for so doing. In Assam buffalo meat is also forbidden. 2. Some Doms say they will not eat the leavings of Dosadhs and Chamars, but this refinement is not general.

294 derogatory for them to do so for children. At home the Domni manufactured baskets and rattles for children. A single wandering branch of the Magahiya sub-caste has earned for itself a reputation which has extended to the whole of that group. "The Magahiya Doms of Champaran," says Mr. Beames, "are a race of professional thieves. They extend their operations into the contiguous districts of Nepal. They are rather dainty in their operations, and object to committing burglary by digging through the walls of houses: they always enter a house by the door; and if it is dark, they carry a light. Of course all this is merely done by way of bravado. Magahiyas never live long in one place. They move about constantly, pitching their ragged little reed tents or sirkis outside a village or on a grassy patch by the roadside, like our gipsies, till they have done all the plundering that offers itself in the neighbourhood, when they move off again." The popular belief that all Magahiya Doms are habitual criminals is, however, a mistake. Burglary is followed as a profession only by the wandering members of that sub-caste. The Magahiyas of Gya are peaceable basket-makers and cultivators, who regard thieving with as much horror as their neighbours, and know nothing of the Laverna cult of Sansari Mai, whom they identify with Jagadamba, the small- pox goddess, one of group of seven sisters presiding over various diseases. There seems, indeed, reason to believe that the predatory habits of the gipsy Magahiyas of Champaran are due rather to force of circumstances than to an inborn criminal instinct; and the success of the measures introduced for their reclamation by Mr. E.R. Henry while Magistrate of Champaran affords grounds for the hope that they may in course of time settle down as peaceable cultivators.

¸óm.: - The ¸óms are a menial caste1 belonging to what Sir Herbert Risley calls the Dravidian type. It is not uniform but comprises several variations and sub-castes. Some ¸óms supply fire at cremation or act as executioners; others are scavengers, and some have taken to basket and cane working. The ¸óms in the Himalayan districts have gained a fairly respectable position as husbandmen and artisans, while the wandering Magahiyâ ¸óms of Bihar are professional thieves.

The ¸óms are numerous in Assam, Bengal, the United Provinces and Kashmir. The following are the figures returned at the Census of 1911:- Assam 30,412 Bengal 173,991 Bihar and Orissa 241,903 Central Provinces and Berar 9,344 Panjab 79,916 United Provinces 333,781 Kashmir State 52,099 Elsewhere 4,374 total 925,820

To these may be added the following, shown in the Census under the names of Bansphór and Basór:- Central Provinces and Berar 52,947 United Provinces 23,095 Baroda State 9 Central India Agency 52,465 total 128,516 Giving a grand total for ¸óms under all names of 1,054,336.

1 Motilal Banarsidass ,Gipsy Languages, In Linguistic Survey Of India,G. A. Grierson, Vol. Xi Page 143-146.

295 Name. The common name of the caste is ¸óm or ¸óm®â, a word of uncertain origin. According to the Brahmavaivartapurâ∑a a ¸ama is the son of a lé†a and a châ∑πâlí, and ¸ama is perhaps the same word as ¸óma. The πómas or πómbas are mentioned in Sanskrit literature as living by singing and music. The form πómba seems to be the oldest one, It occurs in Varâhamihira's B®ihatsam•hitâ (lxxvii. 33), which belongs to the sixth century, and several times in Sanskrit works hailing from Kashmir such as the Kathâsaritsâgara of Sómadéva and the Râjatara©gi∑¡ of Kalha∑a. There cannot be any doubt that these πómbas are identical with the ¸óms, and the name of the caste is accordingly old. The base from which it is derived is perhaps onomatopoeic; compare Sanskrit πam, to sound; πamaru, drum. It is probably not Aryan.

The late Professor Hermann Brockhaus of Leipzig was the first to suggest that the word πóm might be identical with the name róm, which the European Gipsies use to denote themselves.1 This suggestion has been adopted by Charles G. Leland2 and Sir George Grierson, 3 and it may now be considered as established, after we have learnt to know that the Nawar or Zutt, a Gipsy tribe of Palestine, call themselves ¸óm and their language ¸ómârí. 4

Language. So far as can be judged from the materials available, the ¸óms do not possess a dialect of their own, but use the speech of their neighbours. The words and phrases given by Abdul Ghafur belong to an argot of the same kind as that used by the Sêís. A similar remark applies to the ¸óm dialect mentioned by Dr. Leitner. Neither his materials nor the sentences published by Abdul Ghafur are, however, sufficient for ju•dging with certainly. According to information collected for the purposes of this Survey a dialect called ¸óm®â was spoken in the following districts of Bilhar and Orissa:--

Saran 9,500 Champaran 4,000 total 13,500

These figures refer to the argot of the Magahiyâ ¸óms, who derive their name Magahiyâ from Magah, Magadha, where they assert that their original home was, or from mâg, road. They are notoriously bad characters and do not cultivate or labour if they can help it. Their women only make occasional basket work as a pretence, their part being that of the spy, informer and disposer of stolen property.

These estimates of the number of speakers of ¸óm•râ in Saran are certainly exaggerated. At the Census of 1911 the ¸óms of Saran numbered only 8,606, and only a portion of these used the ¸óms of Champaran numbered 7,662, and the estimates for that district are perhaps correct.

¸óms is an argot based on the current Bhójpurí of the districts, with a tissue of Râjasthâní and Hindóstâní. To the latter belong forms such as the case suffixes, dative kó, genitive kâ, kí,

1. See A. F. Pott, Die Zigeuner in Europa und Asien , Vol. i. Halle, 1844, p. 42 ; Chr. Lassen, Indische. Alterthumskunde, Vol. i, Second edition, p. 460, note 1; Franz Miklosich, Ueber die Mundarten und die Wanderungen der Zigeuner Europas, viii, p. 57= Denkschriften der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-historische Classe, Vol. xxvii. Vienna, 1810. 2. Academy, Vol. vii, 1875, p. 637. 3. Indian Antiquary, Vol. xv, 1886. p. 15. 4. See R. A. Stewart Macalister, The Language of the Nawar or Zutt, the Nomad Smiths of Palestine. Gipsy Lore-Society. Monographs, No. 3. Edinburgh, 1914.

296 ké; strays verbal forms such as kihuas-nâ, say; tikuné-sé, from eating; kahâ, said; lagâ, began etc. Of Râjasthâní similarities we may note the termination â in the oblique singular and in the plural of strong masculine bases; thus, kâjwâ-ké du ché†â, two sons a man. Most verbal forms and, generally speaking, the whole grammatical system, however, are Bhójpurí. Compare forms such as khuré, am; karulí, I did; kahlak, said; kahab, shall say; birurab, we shall became; tiguarihé, they will see, and the common base bar, bâr, to be

As in the case of other similar argots there is a certain number of peculiar words. Such are: buu®â, boy; †épar, cloth; kâjwâ, cultivator; ruguar, dead; tigun, eating; †awâ, went; khîrkâ, horse; πaulâ, house; bhóth, chóchkâ, a ¸óm; bhubhur, pig; ghóméyâ, óban, rupee; gém, thief, and so forth. Commonly, however, ordinary Aryan words are used but disguised by means of various changes and additions. Occasionally we find transposition of letters, as in πhanarphul=karanphul, eardrop. More commonly we see that a consonant is prefixed or substituted for the beginning of a word. The gutturals k and kh are used in this way; thus, kóg-âg, fire; kóhath=hâth, hand; kâhathí=hâthí, elephant; khék-ék, one; khakâl=kâl, famine; khi©gîr=sindîr, red lead; khikuar-ké=nikâl-ké, having taken out; khuré, khóré=rahé, am. It will be seen that the original word is sometimes also abbreviated and changed in other ways at the same time.

The palatals ch and chh are most frequently substituted for labials; thus, chap-khaiê=pâp, sin; chagrí, pagrí; ché†â=bé†â, son; chaiku∑†h=baiku∑†h, heaven; châchhrí=machhlí, fish; chibantu=ban, forest; chhiruarké=phir, again, etc. Sometimes, however, ch is also used before or instead of other sounds; compare chabhí=kabhí, ever; chayâ=dayâ, compassion; chókarkhaiê=naukar, servant; chiró†í=ró†í, bread. πh is used as a substitute in words such as πhanarphul=karanphul, eardrop; πhasilí=kasailí, betel nut; πhasbin=harlot; πhém=gém, thief; πhasí=kha∆í, goat.

N is used in several words such as nó†, coat; nétkaiê=khét, fields; naui†hê=gó™e†hâ, cowdung; nutâ=jutâ, shoe; narí=darí, carpet; néwâní=pâní, water; nahar=shahr, town, etc.

Finally we find r in words such as rópí=†ópí, hat; rélí=téií, oilman, and so forth.

In addition to such devices the Magahiyâ ¸óms show a marked predilection for changing their words by means of additions after them. The numerals two and following thus add an ém, and we get dulém, two tidrém, four; pañchém, five; chhalém, six; satém, seven; cha†ém, eight; navém, nine; dasém, ten; bisém, twenty. Gó is also commonly added to numerals; thus, khégó,one; dulémgó, two; salémgó, hundred.

A common addition is also tu; thus, górtu, foot; jaπatu, cold, winter; níraklu=chirâgh, lamp; jawabtu, an answer; dhantu, property; chicharty=bichâr, deliberation; baptu=bâp, father; naléhatu=∆alâ÷, counsel. Compare Sêsí tâ.

Other common additions are khaiê, khaih§e in the Saran specimen, and hilâ, hilé in the Champaran texts. Thus, nétkhaiê=khét, field; chumkhaiê=chumâ, kissed; chapkhaiã=pâp, sin; bhaikhaiê, brother; sa©gkhaiê, with; samankhaih§e=sâmné, before; chaskha§e=pâs, towards; bapkhailâ=bâp, father; chétkhailâ, sense; nétkhailâ=khét, field; garahilâ=galâ, neck; jutahilâ and nótahilâ=jutâ, shoe; sa©gahilâ, with; sunahilâ, heard; samanahil¡é, before. Note the frequent abbreviation of the vowel of the original word in such cases.

Many different additions are made to verbal bases, and the conjugation of verbs therefore has a very puzzling appearance. If we abstract from stray forms such as khasuaitâ=âtâ, comes; charsaitâ=barsâtâ, it rains; déghluarsé=diyé, gave; tigun-gharuaré, ate, and others, the most characteristic addition is u. This u can be added alone; thus, kih-u-âté, I will say; kar-u-lí, I did; keh-u-lé and kah-u-alak, said; kir-u-wé, to make; kih-uw-és, kih-u-as, kih-u-ésâ, said.

297 In other cases it is preceded by an s; thus, di-su, gave; li-su, took; di-su-âtâ, gives; kha-su-âté, coming; kha-su-sitâ, comes (with kh added in front); ki-swu-até, have done; a-su-ân, a-su- âné, a-su-âel, and kha-su-ân, came; chal-so-âel, went; di-suw-é, had given; di-suw-és, gavest; di-suw-as, gave; di-su-alan, gave; di-su-alin, gavest.

A very common addition is uar; thus, char-uar-é, to graze; kah-uar-é, to say; dékh-uar-ké, having seen, cha†-uar (disu), dividing (gave); rah-uar-â, remained; ho-wr-é, it may be; mar- nar-thí, I am dying; kir-nar-té, I did; di-suar-tahâ, gave; chah-uar-tarhâ, he was wishing; rah- uar-†wâ, rah-uar-ªoâel, stayed; rah-uar-al, was; bach-uar-al, was saved; lag-uar-alé, began; tar- uar-lí, I transgressed; rah-uar-alhâ, was; chuchh-uar-alak, asked; mar-uar-alas, has beaten, and so forth; compare Kanjarí wâr, bâr, etc.

The l-suffix of many of these forms is the suffix of the past participle. It also occurs in the present in forms such as bar-u-ala, is; hó-war-al, am, is; khó-war-lí, we are; sul-war-al, sleeps, and so on. Compare Bhóhójpurí.

The preceding remarks only explain the most common ¸óm devices for disguising common words. There are probably numerous similar ones.

Domb.: - The name Domb or Dombo1 is said to be derived from the word dumba, meaning devil, in reference to the thieving propensities of the tribe. The Dombas, Mr. H. A. Stuart writes,2 "are a Dravidian caste of weavers and menials, found in the hill tracts of Vizagapatam. This caste appears to be an offshoot of the Dom caste of Bengal, Behar, and the North-Western Provinces. Like the Doms, the Dombas are regarded with disgust, because they eat beef, pork, horse-flesh, rats, and the flesh of animals which have died a natural death, and both are considered to be Chandalas or Pariahs by the Bengalis and the Uriyas. The Dombs weave the cloths and blankets worn by the hill people but, like the Pariahs of the plains, they are also labourers, scavengers, etc. Some of them are extensively engaged in trade, and they have, as a rule, more knowledge of the world than the ryots who despise them. They are great drunkards." In the Census Report of 1871, it was noted that "in many villages, the Doms carry on the occupation of weaving, but, in and around Jaipur, they are employed as horse-keepers, tom-tom beaters, scavengers, and in other menial duties. Notwithstanding their abject position in the social scale, some signs of progress may be detected amongst them. They are assuming the occupation, in many instances, of petty hucksters, eking out a livelihood by taking advantage of the small difference in rates between market and market."

"The Dombs," Mr. F. Fawcett writes,3 "are an outcast jungle people, who inhabit the forests on the high lands fifty to eighty or a hundred miles from the east coast, about Vizagapatam. Being outcast, they are never allowed to live within a village, but have their own little hamlet adjoining a village proper, inhabited by people of various superior castes. It is fair to say that the Dombs are akin to the Panos of the adjoining Khond country, a Pariah folk who live amongst the Khonds, and used to supply the human victims for the Meriah sacrifices. Indeed, call them Dombas as a sort of alternative title to Panos. The Paidis of the adjoining Savara or Saora country are also, doubtless, kinsmen of the Dombs. [The same man is said to be called Paidi by Telugus, Dombo by the Savaras, and Pano by the Khonds. It is noted in the Census Report, 1881, that the Pano quarters in Khond villages are called Dombo Sai.] In most respects their condition is a very poor one. Though they live in the best part of the Presidency for game, they know absolutely nothing of hunting, and cannot even handle a

1 See E. Thurston. 2. Madras Census Report, 1891. 3. Man., 1901.

298 bow and arrow. They have, however, one respectable quality: industry, and are the weavers, traders, and money-lenders of the hills, being very useful as middlemen between the Khonds, Sauras, Gadabas, and other hill people on the one hand, and the traders of the plains on the other. I am informed, on good authority, that there are some Dombs who rise higher than this, but cannot say whether these are, or are not crosses with superior races. Most likely they are, for most of the Dombs are thieves. It was this propensity for thieving, in fact, which had landed some hundreds of them in the jail at Vizagapatam when I visited that place, and gave me an opportunity of recording their measurements.' The averages of the more important of these measurements are as follows:-

cm. Stature 161.9 Cephalic length 18.8 Cephalic breadth 14.3 Cephalic index 75.6 Nasal index 86.5

In is noted by the Missionary Gloyer1 that the colour of the skin of the Dombs varies from very dark to yellow, and their height from that of an Aryan to the short stature of an aboriginal, and that there is a corresponding variation in facial type.

For the following note on the Dombs, I am indebted to Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao. They are the weavers, traders, musicians, beggars, and money-lenders of the hills. Some own cattle, and cultivate. The hill people in the interior are entirely dependent on them for their clothing. A few Domb families are generally found in each village. They act as middlemen between the hill people and the Komati traders. Their profits are said to be large, and their children are, in some places, found attending hill schools. As musicians, they play on the drum and pipe. They are the hereditary musicians of the Maharaja of Jeypore. A Domb beggar, when engaged in his professional calling, goes about from door to door, playing on a little pipe. Their supposed powers over devils and witches result in their being consulted when troubles appear. Though the Dombs are regarded as a low and polluting class, they will not eat at the hands of Komatis, Bhondaris, or Ghasis. Some Dombs have become converts to Christianity through missionary influence.

In the Madras Census Report, 1891, the following sections of the Dombs are recorded: Onomia, Odia, Mandiri, Mirgam, and Kohara. The sub-divisions, however, seem to be as follows: Mirigani, Kobbiriya, Odiya, Sodabisiya, Mandiri, and Andiniya. There are also various septs, of which the following have been recorded among the Odiyas:-Bhag (tiger), Balu (bear), Nag (cobra), Hanuman (the monkey god), Kochchipo (tortoise), Bengri (frog), Kukra (dog), Surya (sun), Matsya (fish), and Jaikonda (lizard). It is noted by Mr. Fawcett that "monkeys, frogs, and cobras are taboo, and also the sunari tree (Ochna squarrosa). The big lizards, cobras, frogs, and the crabs which are found in the paddy fields may not be eaten."

When a girl reaches puberty, she remains outside the hut five days, and then bathes at the nearest stream, and is presented with a new cloth. In honour of the event, drink is distributed among her relatives. Girls are usually married after puberty. A man can claim his paternal aunt's daughter in marriage. When a proposal of marriage is to be made, the suitor carries some pots of liquor, usually worth two rupees, to the girl's house, and deposits them in front of it. If her parents consent to the match, they take the pots inside, and drink some of the liquor. After some time has elapsed, more liquor, worth five rupees, is taken to the girl's house. A reduction in the quantity of liquor is made when a man is proposing for the hand of his paternal aunt's daughter, and, on the second occasion, the liquor will only be worth three rupees. A similar reduction is made in the jholla tonka, or bride price. On the

1. Jeypore, Breklum, 1901.

299 wedding day the bridegroom goes, accompanied by his relations, to the bride's home, where, at the auspicious moment fixed by the Desari, his father presents new cloths to him and the bride, which they put on. They stand before the hut, and on each is placed a cloth with a myrabolam (Terminalia) seed, rice, and a few copper coins tied up in it. The bridegroom's right little finger is linked with the left little finger of the bride, and they enter the hut. On the following day, the newly married couple repair to the home of the bridegroom. On the third day, they are bathed in turmeric water, a pig is killed, and a feast is held. On the ninth day, the knots in the cloths, containing the myrabolam, rice, and coins, are untied, and the marriage ceremonies are at an end. The remarriage of widows is permitted, and a younger brother usually marries the widow of his elder brother.

It is noted, in the Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam district, that "some of the Dombus of the Parvatipur Agency follow many of the customs of the low-country castes, including menarikam (marriage with the maternal uncle's daughter), and say they are the same as the Paidis (or Paidi Malas) of the plains adjoining, with whom they intermarry."

The corpses of the more prosperous Dombs are usually cremated. The wood of the sunari tree and relli (Cassia fistula) may not be used for the pyre. The son or husband of a deceased person has his head, moustache, and armpits shaved on the tenth day.

Domb women, and women of other tribes in the Jeypore Agency tracts, wear silver ear ornaments called nagul, representing a cobra just about to strike with tongue protruded. Similar ornaments of gold, called naga pogulu (cobra-shaped earrings), are worn by women of some Telugu castes in the plains of Vizagapatam.

Concerning the religion of the Dombs, Mr. Fawcett notes that "their chief god- probably an ancestral spirit- is called Kaluga. There is one in each village, in the headman's house. The deity is represented by a pie piece (copper coin), placed in or over a new earthen pot smeared with rice and turmeric powder. During worship, a silk cloth, a new cloth, or a wet cloth may be worn, but one must not dress in leaves. Before the mangoes are eaten, the first-fruits are offered to the moon, at the full moon of the month Chitra."

"When," Gloyer writes, "a house has to be built, the first thing is to select a favourable spot, to which few evil spirits (dumas) resort. At this spot they put, in several places, three grains of rice arranged is such a way that the two lower grains support the upper one. To protect the grains, they pile up stones round them, and the whole is lightly covered with earth. When, after some time, they find on inspection that the upper grain has fallen off, the spot is regarded as unlucky, and must not be used. If the position of the grains remains unchanged, the omen is regarded as auspicious. They drive in the first post, which must have a certain length, say of five, seven, or nine ells, the ell being measured from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow. The post is covered on the top with rice straw, leaves, and shrubs, so that birds may not foul it, which would be regarded as an evil omen. [In Madras, a story is current with reference to the statue of Sir Thomas Munro, that he seized upon all the rice depots, and starved the people to death by selling rice in egg-shells at one shell for a rupee, and, to punish him, the Government erected the statue in an open place, so that the birds of the air might insult him by polluting his face.] In measuring the house, odd numbers play an important part. The number four (pura, or full number), however, forms the proper measurement, whereby they measure the size of the house, according to the pleasure of the builder. But now the Dissary (Desari) decides whether the house shall be built on the Nandi, dua, or tia system, nandi signifying one, dua two, and tia three. this number of ells must be added to the measurement of the house. Supposing that the length of the house is twelve ells, then it will be necessary to add one ell according to the nandi system, so that the length amounts to thirteen ells. The number four can only be used for stables."

300 "The Dumas," Gloyer continues, "are represented as souls of the deceased, which roam about without a home, so as to cause to mankind all possible harm. At the birth of a child, the Duma must be invited in a friendly manner to provide the child with a soul, and protect it against evil. For this purpose, a fowl is killed on the ninth day, a bone (deinknochen) detached, and pressed into the hand of the infant. The relations are seated in solemn silence, and utter the formula: 'When grandfather, grandmother, father, or brother comes, throw away the bone, and we will truly believe it.' No sooner does the sprawling and excited infant drop the bone, than the Dumas have arrived, and boisterous glee prevails. The Dumas occasionally give vent to their ghostly sounds, and cause no little consternation among the inhabitants of a house, who hide from fear. Cunning thieves know how to rob the superstitious by employing instruments with a subdued tone (dumpftonende), or by emitting deep sounds from the chest. The yearly sacrifice to a Duma consists of a black fowl and strong brandy. If a member of a family falls ill, an extraordinary sacrifice has to be offered up. The Duma is not regarded only as an evil spirit, but also as a tutelary deity. He protects one against the treacherous attacks of witches. A fishing net, wherein he lives, is prepared for him in the door-hinge, and is placed over the door. The witches must count all the knots of the net before they can enter. Devil worship is closely connected with that of the Duma. The devil's priests, and in rare cases priestesses, effect communion between the people and the Dumas by a sort of possession, by which the spirit enters into them. This condition, which is produced by intoxicating drink and the fumes of burning incense, gives rise to revolting effects. In this state, they are wont to communicate what sacrifices the spirits require. On special occasions, they fall into a frenzied state, in which they cut their flesh with sharp instruments, or pass long, thin iron bars through the tongue and cheeks, during which operation no blood must flow. For this purpose, the instruments are rubbed all over with some blood-congealing material or sap. They also affect sitting on a sacred swing, armed with long iron nails. The devil called Jom Duto, or 'messenger of the going,' is believed to be a one-eyed, limping, black individual, whose hair is twisted into a frightfully long horn, while one foot is very long, and who makes his appearance at the death-bed in order to drag his victim to the realm of torture.'

Children are supposed to be born without souls, and to be afterwards chosen as an abode by the soul of an ancestor. The coming of the ancestor is signalised by the child dropping a chicken bone which has been thrust into its hand, and much rejoicing follows among the assembled relations.1

Mr. Paddison tells me that some Dombs are reputed to be able to pour blazing oil over their bodies, without suffering any hurt; and one man is said to have had a miraculous power of hardening his skin, so that any one could have a free shot at him, without hurting him. He further narrates that, at Sujanakota in the Vizagapatam district, the Dombs, notwithstanding frequent warnings, put devils into two successive schoolmasters.

Various tattoo devices, borne by the Dombs examined by Mr. Fawcett, are figured and described by him. "These patterns," he writes," were said to be, one and all, purely ornamental, and not in any way connected with totems, or tribal emblems." Risley, however,2 regards "four out of the twelve designs as pretty closely related to the religion and mythology of the tribe; two are totems and two have reference to the traditional avocations. Nos. 11 and 12 represent a classical scene in Dom folk-lore, the story of King Haris-Chandra, who was so generous that he gave all he had to the poor and sold himself to a Dom at Benares, who employed him to watch his cremation ground at night. While he was thus engaged, his wife, who had also been sold for charitable purposes, came to burn the body of her son. She had no money to pay her fees, and Haris-Chandra, not knowing her in the darkness, turned her away. Fortunately the sun rose; mutual recognition followed; the

1. Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam district. 2. Ma., 1902.

301 victims of promiscuous largesse were at once remarried, and Vishnu intervened to restore the son to life. Tatu No. 11 shows Haris-Chandra watching the burning-ground by moonlight; the wavy line is the Ganges; the dots are the trees on the other side; the strokes on either side of the king are the logs of wood, which he is guarding. In No. 12 we see the sun rising, its first ray marked with a sort of fork, and the meeting of the king and queen."

It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam district, that "throughout the Jeypore country proper, the Dombus (and some Ghasis) are by far the most troublesome class. Their favourite crime is cattle-theft for the sake of the skins, but in 1902, a Dombu gang in Naurangpur went on a crime spree in the country, and defied all attempts at capture for some months. The loss of their cattle exasperated the other hill folk to the last degree, and, in 1899, the Naiks (headmen) of sixteen villages in the north of Jeypore Taluk headed an organized attack on the houses of the Dombus, which, in the most deliberate manner, they razed to the ground in some fifteen villages. The Dombus had fortunately got scent of what was coming, and made themselves scarce, and no bloodshed occurred. In the next year, some of the Naiks of the Ramagiri side of Jeypore Taluk sent round a jack branch, a well-recognised form of the fiery cross, summoning villagers other than Dombus to assemble at a fixed time and police. The Agent afterwards discussed the whole question with the chief Naiks of Jeypore and Naurangpur. They had no opinion of the deterrent effects of mere imprisonment on the Dombus. "You fatten them, and send them back," they said, and suggested that a far better plan would be to cut off their right hands. [It is noted, in the Vizagapatam Manual, 1869, that in cases of murder, the Rajah of Jeypore generally had the man's hands, nose, and ears cut off, but, after all that, he seldom escaped the deceased's relatives.] They eventually proposed a plan of checking the cattle-thefts, which is now being followed in much of that country. The Baranaiks, or heads, of groups of villages, were each given brands with distinctive letters and numbers, and required to brand the skins of all animals which had died a natural death or been honestly killed; and the possession by Dombus, skin merchants, or others, of unbranded skins is now considered a suspicious circumstance, the burden of explaining which lies upon the possessor. Unless this, or some other way of checking the Dombus' depredations proves successful, serious danger exists that the rest of the people will take the matter into their own hands and, as the Dombus in the Agency number over 50,000, this would mean real trouble." It is further recorded1 that the Paidis (Paidi Malas), who often commit dacoities on the roads, "are connected with the Dombus of the Rayagada and Gunupur taluks, who are even worse. These people dacoit houses at night in armed gangs of fifty or more, with their faces blacked to prevent recognition. Terrifying the villagers into staying quiet in their huts, they force their way into the house of some wealthy person (for choice the local Sondi, liquor-seller and sowcar, usually the only man worth looting in an agency village, and a shark who gets little pity from his neighbours when forced to disgorge). tie up the men, rape the women, and go off with everything of value. Their favourite method of extracting information regarding concealed property is to sprinkle the houseowner with boiling oil."

Dommara.: – The Dommaras2 are a tribe of tumblers, athletes, and mountebanks, some of whom wander about the country, while others have settled down as agricultural labourers, or make combs out of the wood of Elaodendron glaucum, Ixora parviflora, Pavetta indica, Ficus bengalensis, etc., which they sell to wholesale merchants. They are, Mr. H. A. Stuart writes,3 "a nomad class of acrobats, who, in many respects, recall the gipsies to mind, and raise the suggestion that their name may possibly be connected with the Doms of Northern India. They speak Telugu, Marathi, and Hindustani, but not generally Tamil. They are skilful jugglers, and both men and women are very clever tumblers and

1. Ibid. Money-lender. 2 See E. Thurston. 3. Madras Census Report, 1891 ; Manual of the North Arcot district.

302 tight-rope dancers, exhibiting their feats as they travel about the country. Some of them sell date mats and baskets, some trade in pigs, while others, settled in villages, cultivate lands. In social position they rank just above the Pariahs and Madigas. They profess to be Vaishnavites [and Saivites]. Infant marriage is not practiced. Widow remarriage is freely allowed, and polygamy is common. Their marriage tie is very loose, and their women practice prostitution. They are a predatory class, great drunkards, and of most dissolute habits. The dead are generally buried, and [on the day of the final death ceremonies] cooked rice is thrown out to be eaten by crows. In the matter of food, they eat all sorts of animals, including pigs, cats, and crows." When a friend was engaged in making experiments in connection with snake venom, some Dommaras asked for permission to unbury the corpses of snakes and mongooses for the purpose of food.

The Dommaras are, in the Mysore Census Report, 1901, summed up as being buffoons, tumblers, acrobats, and snakecharmers, who travel from place to place, and earn a precarious living by their exhibitions. In the Madras Census Report, 1901, Domban, kalaikuttadi (pole- dancer), and Aryan Kuttadi, are given as synonyms of Dommara. The Kuttadi are summed up, in the Tanjore Manual, as vagabond dancers, actors, pantomimists, and marionette exhibitors, who hold a very low position in the social scale, and always perform in public streets and bazaars.

By Mr. F. S. Mullaly1 the Dommaras are divided into Reddi or Kapu (i.e., cultivators) and Aray (Maratha). "The women," he writes, "are proficient in making combs of horn and wood, and implements used by weavers. These they hawk about from place to place, to supplement the profits they derive from their exhibitions of gymnastic feats. In addition to performing conjuring tricks, rope-dancing and the like, the Dommaras hunt, fish, make mats, and rear donkeys and pigs. The head of the tribe is called the Mutli Guru. He is their high priest, and exercises supreme jurisdiction over them both in spiritual and temporal matters. His head-quarters is Chitvel in the Cuddapah district. The legend regarding the office of the Mutli Guru is as follows. At Chitvel, or as it was then known Mutli, there once lived a king, who called together a gathering of all the gymnasts among his subjects. Several classes were represented. Polerigadu, a Reddi Dommara, so pleased the king that he was presented with a ring, and a royal edict was passed that the wearer of the ring and his descendants should be the head of the Dommara class. The ring given is said to be the same that is now worn by the head of the tribe at Chitvel, which bears an inscription in Telugu declaring that the wearer is hereditary. The dwellings of the Dommaras are somewhat similar to those of the Koravars and Joghis, made of palmyra leaves plaited into mats with seven strands. These huts, or gudisays, are located on the outskirts of villages, and carried on the backs of donkeys when on the march. Stolen cloths, unless of value, are not as a rule sold, but concealed in the packs of their donkeys, and after a time worn. The Dommaras are addicted to dacoity, robbery, burglary, and thefts. The instrument used by them is unlike those used by other criminal classes; it is of iron, about a foot long, and with a chisel-shaped point. As cattle and sheep lifters they are expert, and they have their regular receivers at most of the cattle fairs throughout the Presidency."

It is noted, in the Nellore Manual, that the Dommaras "are stated by the Nellore Tahsildar to possess mirasi rights in some villages; that I take to mean that there is, in some villages, a customary contribution for tumblers and mendicants, which according to Wilson, was made in Mysore the pretext for a tax named Dombar-lingada-vira-kaniki. This tax, under the name Dombar tafrik, was levied in Venkatagiri in 1801." In the Madura district, Dommaras are found in some villages formerly owned by zamindars, and they call themselves children of the zamindars, by whom they were probably patronised.

1. Notes on the Criminal Classes of the Madras Presidency.

303 Being a criminal class, the Dommaras have a thief's language of their own, of which the following are examples:–

Bidam vadu, Dommara. Dasa-masa, prostitute. Poothi, policeman. Kopparam, salt. Marigam, pig. Kaljodu, goldsmith. Goparam, seven.

The Dommaras are said to receive into their community children of other castes, and women of doubtful morals, and to practice the custom of making Basavis (dedicated prostitutes).

The Telugu Dommaras give as their gotra Salava patchi, the name of a mythological bird. At times of marriage, they substitute a turmeric-dyed string consisting of 101 threads, called bondhu, for the golden tali or bottu. The marriage ceremonies of the Dommaras are supervised by an old Basavi woman, and the golden marriage badge is tied round the bride's neck by a Basavi.

A Dommara, whom I interviewed at Coimbatore, carried a cotton bag containing a miscellaneous assortment of rubbish used in his capacity as medicine man and snake- charmer, which included a collection of spurious jackal horns (nari kompu), the haris round which were stained with turmeric. To prove the genuineness thereof, he showed me not only the horn but also the feet with nails complete, as evidence that the horns were not made from the nails. Being charged with manufacturing the horns, he swore, by placing his hand on the head of a child who accompanied him, that he was not deceiving me. The largest of the horns in his bag, he gravely informed me, was from a jackal which he dug out of its hole on the last new moon night. The possessors of such horns, he assured me, do not go out with the pack, and rarely leave their holes except to feed on dew, eld, rats, etc. These spurious horns are regarded as a talisman, and it is believed that he who owns one can command the realisation of every wish (see Kuruvikkaran.). An iron ring, which the Dommara was wearing on his wrist, was used as a cure for hernia, being heated and applied as a branding agent over the inguinal region. Lamp oil is then rubbed over the burn, and a secret medicine, mixed with fowl's egg, administered. The ring was, he said an ancestral heirloom, and as such highly prized. To cure rheumatism in the big joints, he resorted to an ingenious form of dry cupping. A small incision is made with a piece of broken glass over the affected part, and the skin damped with water. The distal end of a cow's horn, of which the tip has been removed, and plugged with wax, does duty for the cup. A hole is pierced through the wax with an iron needle, and, the horn being placed over the seat of disease, the air is withdrawn from it by suction with the mouth, and the hole in the wax stopped up. As the air is removed from the cavity of the horn, the skin rises up within it. To remove the horn, it is only necessary to readmit air by once more boring a hole through the wax. In a bad case, as many as three horns may be applied to the affected part. The Pitt Rivers Museum at Oxford possesses dry- cupping apparatus, made of cow horn, from Mirzapur in Northern India and from Natal, and of antelope horn from an unrecorded locality in India. In cases of scorpion sting the Dommara rubbed up patent boluses with human milk or milk of the milk-hedge plant (Euphorbia Tirucalli), and applied them to the part. For chest pains he prescribed red ochre, and for infantile diseases myrabolam (Terminalia) fruits mixed with water. In cases of snake-bite, a black stone, said to be made of various drugs mixed together, and burnt, is placed over the site of the bite, and will, it was stated, drop off of its own accord as soon as it has absorbed all the poison. It is then put into milk or water to extract the poison, and the fluid is thrown away as being dangerous to life if swallowed. As a remedy for the bite of a mad dog, a plant, which is kept a secret, is mixed with the milk of a white goat, pepper, garlic, and other ingredients, and administered internally. A single does is said to effect a cure.

At Tarikeri in Mysore, a wandering troupe of Are (Maratha) Dommaras performed before me. The women were decorated with jewels and flowers, and carried bells on their ankles. The

304 men had a row of bells attached all round the lower edge of their short drawers. Before the performance commenced, a Pillayar (Ganesa) was made with cowdung, and saluted. The entertainment took place in the open air amid the beating of drums, whistling, singing, and dialogue. The jests and antics of the equivalent of the circus clown were a source of much joy to the throng of villagers who collected to witness the tamasha (spectacle). One of the principal performers, in the breaks between his turns, played the drum, or took a suck at a hooka (tobacco pipe) which was passed round among the members of the troupe. The entertainment, in which both men women took part, consisted of various acrobatic feats, turning summer-saults and catherine wheels, stilt-walking, and clever feats on the tight rope. Finally a man, climbing up a lofty bamboo pole, spun himself rapidly round and round on the top of it by means of a socket in an iron plate tied to his loin cloth, into which a spike in the pole fitted.

Dudekulas.: - They are cotton cleaners of South India and Tamil Nadu.

Durgimurgiwala.: - They live in Southern India. They are nomads and sacred beggars. They move around carrying the images of the Gods.

Fakir Ciners.: -See Charpparbands

Gadabâ.: -Gadabâ is spoken by about 35,000 individuals.1 The dialect is not identical in all places. It has not, however, been possible to procure trustworthy materials illustrating its various forms. I am only able to give a superficial account of the dialect as spoken in the Bastar State.

Home Of The Tribe. The Gadabâ tribe is found everywhere in Vizagapatam and the Vizagapatam Agency, and also in the Ganjam Agency, all of which are in the Madras Presicency. Some few Gadabâs have also been returned from the Bastar State and Kalahandi. They do not form the prevailing part of the population in any district. They are most numerous in the Vizagapatam Agency, where 232 in every 10,000 of the population speak Gadabâ. In Vizagapatam only 72 in every 10,000 are in the same position, and in other districts the relative number of speakers in quite unimportant. I have no information about the distribution of the Gadabâs on the various Taluks of the Vizagapatam Agency. In the Bastar State they are found in the east, on the frontier towards Vizagapatam. Their occupation is hunting and agriculture.

Number of speakers. According to information collected for the purposes of this Survey Gadabâ was spoken by 6,419 individuals in the Bastar State. At the Census of 1891, 29,141 speakers were returned from the Madras Presidency. We thus arrive at the following total for the dialect:-

Bastar State 6,419 Madras Presidency 29,414 ------Total 35,833

1 Linguistic Survey of India.

305 The corresponding figures at the Census of 1901 were as follows:

Central Provinces- Bastar 729 Kalahandi 94 ------Total Central Provinces 823 Madras Presidency- Ganjam 1,602 Ganjam Agency 8 Vizagapatam 15,015 Vizagapatam Agency 19,781 ------Total Madras Presidency 36,406 Andamans and Nicobars 1 ------Grand total 37,230

It will be seen that the number of speakers in Madras has increased. This fact is, however, due to the better methods applied at the last Census, and it is impossible to decide whether there is a real increase. The estimated number of speakers in the Bastar State is probably far above the mark. The corresponding figure at the Census of 1891 was 375.

Gadaria.: -Gâdri.1-The occupational shepherd caste of northern India. The name is derived from the Hindi gâdar and the Sanskrit gandhâra, a sheep, the Sanskrit name being taken from the country of Gandhâra or Kandahâr, from which sheep were first brought. The three main shepherd castes all have functional names, that of the Dhangars or Marâtha shepherds being derived from dhan, small stock, while the Kuramwârs or Telugu shepherds take their name like the Gadarias from kuruba, a sheep. These three castes are of similar nature and status, and differ only in language and local customs. In 1911 the Gadarias numbered 41,000 persons. They are found in the northern Districts, and appear to have been amongst the earliest settlers in the Nerbudda valley, for they have given their name to several villages, such as Gadariakheda and Gâdarwâra.

Subdivisions. The Gadarias are a very mixed caste. They themselves say that their first ancestor was created by Mahâdeo to tend his ram and that he married three women who were attached to the Brâhman, Dhímar and Barai castes respectively, and became the ancestors of the Nikhar, Dhengar and Barmaiyan subcastes of Gadarias. The Nikhar subcaste are the highest, their name meaning pure. In reality, Dhengar is probably a corruption of Dhangar, the name of the Marâtha shepherd caste. They have other subdivisions of the common territorial type, as Jheria or Jungly, applied to the Gadarias of Chhattísgarh; Desha from desh, country, meaning those who came from northern India; Purvaiya or eastern, applied to immigrants from Oudh; and Mâlvi or those belonging to Mâlwa. Nikhar and Dhengar men take food together, but not the women; and if a marriage cannot be otherwise arranged these subcastes will sometimes give daughters to each other. A girl thus married is no longer permitted to take food at her father's house, but she may eat with the women of her husband's subcaste. Many of their exogamous groups are named after animals or plants, as Hiranwâr, from hiran, a deer; Sapha from the cobra, Moria from the peacock, Nâhar from the tiger, Phulsungha, a flower, and so on. Others are the names of Râjpît septs and of other castes, as Ahirwâr (Ahír) and Bamhania (Brâhman).

1 See Russell. This article is based on information collected by Mr. Híra Lâl Jubbulpore, and the member in Mandla.

306 Another more ambitious legend derives their origin from the Banja caste. They say that once a Bania was walking along the road with a cocoanut in his hand when Vishnu met him and asked him what it was. The Bania answered that it was a cocoanut. Vishnu said that it was not a cocoanut but wool, and told him to break it, and upon breaking the cocoanut the Bania found that it was filled with wool. The Bania asked what he should do with it, and Vishnu told him to make a blanket out of it for the god to sit on. So he made a blanket, and Vishnu said that from that day he should be the ancestor of the Gadaria caste, and earn his bread by making blankets from the wool of sheep. The Bania asked where he should get the sheep from, and the god told him to go home saying 'Ehân, Ehân, Ehân,' all the way, and when he got home he would find a flock of sheep following him; but he was not to look behind him on the way. And the Bania did so, but when he had almost got home he could not help looking behind him to see if there were really any sheep. Behind him was a long line of sheep following him in single file, and at the very end was a ram with golden horns just rising out of the ground. But as he looked it sank back again into the ground, and he went back to Vishnu and begged for it, but Vishnu said that as he had looked behind him he had lost it. And this was the origin of the Gadaria caste, and the Gadarias always say 'Ehân, Ehân,' as they lead their flocks of sheep and goats to pasture.

Marriage Customs. Marriage within the clan is forbidden and also the union of first cousins. Girls may be married at any age, and are sometimes united to husbands much younger than themselves. Four castemen of standing carry the proposal of marriage from the boy's father, and the girl's father, being forewarned, sends others to meet them. One of the ambassadors opens the conversation by saying, 'We have the milk and you have the milk-pail; let them be joined.' To which the girl's party, if the match be agreeable, will reply, "Yes, we have the tamarind and you have the mango; if the panches agree let there be a marriage." The boy's father gives the girl's father five areca-nuts, and the latter returns them and they clasp each other round the neck. When the wedding procession reaches the bride's village it is met by their party, and one of them takes the sarota or iron nut-cutter, which the bridegroom holds in his hand, and twirls it about in the air several times. The ceremony is performed by walking round the sacred pole, and the party returns to the bridegroom's lodging, where his brother- in-law fills the bride's lap with sweetmeats and water-nuts as an omen of fertility. The maihar or small wedding-cakes of wheat fried in sesamum oil are distributed to all members of the caste present at the wedding. While the bridegroom's party is absent at the bride's house, the women who remain behind enjoy amusement of their own. One of them strips herself naked, tying up her hair like a religious mendicant, and is known as Bâba or holy father. In this state she romps with her companions in turn, while the others laugh and applaud. Occasionally some man hides himself in a place where he can be a witness of their play, but if they discover him he is beaten severely with belnas or wooden bread-rollers. Widow-marriage and divorce are permitted, the widow being usually expected to marry her late husband's younger brother, whether he already has a wife or not. Sexual offences are not severely reprobated, and may be atoned for by a feast to the caste-fellows.

Religion And Funeral Rites. The Gadarias worship the ordinary Hindu deities and also Dishai Devi, the goddess of the sheep-pen. No Gadaria may go into the sheep-pen with his shoes on. On entering it in the morning they make obeisance to the sheep, and these customs seem to indicate that the goddess Dishai Devi1 is the deified sheep. When the sheep are shorn and the fleeces are lying on the ground they take some milk from one of the ewes and mix rice with it and sprinkle it over the wool. This rite is called Jimai, and they say that it is feeding the wool, but it appears to be really a sacrificial offering to the material. The caste burn the dead when

1 The word Dishai really means direction or cardinal point, but as the goddess dwells in the sheep-pen it is probable that she was originally the sheep itself.

307 they can afford to do so, and take the bones to the Ganges or Nerbudda, or if this is not practicable, throw them into the nearest stream.

Social Customs. Well-to-do members of the caste employ Bhâhmans for ceremonial purposed, but others dispense with their services. The Gadarias eat flesh and drink liquor, but abstain from fowls and pork. They will take food cooked with water from a Lodhi or a Dângi, members of these castes having formerly been their feudal chieftains in the Vindhyan Districts and Nerbudda valley. Brâhmans and members of the good cultivating castes would be permitted to become Gadarias if they should so desire. The head of the caste committee has the title of Mahton and the office is hereditary, the holder being invariably consulted on caste questions even if he should be a mere boy. The Gadarias rank with those castes from whom a Brâhman cannot take water, but above the servile and labouring castes. They are usually somewhat stupid, lazy and good-tempered, and are quite uneducated. Owing to their work in cleaning the pens and moving about among the sheep, the women often carry traces of the peculiar smell of these animals. This is exemplified in the saying, 'Ek to Gadaria, gusre lahsan khae,' or 'firstly she is a Gadaria and then she has eaten garlic'; The inference being that she is far indeed from having the scent of the rose.

Goats And Sheep. The regular occupations of the Gadarias are the breeding and grazing of sheep and goats, and the weaving of country blankets from sheep's wool. The flocks are usually tended by the children, women weave the wool and make blankets. Goats are bred in larger numbers than sheep in the Central Provinces, being more commonly used for food and sacrifice while they are also valuable for their manure. Any Hindu who thinks an animal sacrifice requisite, and objects to a fowl as unclean, will choose a goat; and the animal after being sacrificed provides a feast for the worshippers, his head being the perquisite of the officiating priest. Muhammadans and most castes of Hindus will eat goat's meat when they can afford it. The milk is not popular and there is very little demand for it locally, but it is often sold to the confectioners, and occasionally made into butter and exported. Sheep's flesh is also eaten, but is not so highly esteemed. In the case of both sheep and goats there is an aversion to consuming the flesh of ewes. Sheep are generally black in colour and only occasionally white. Goats are black, white, speckled or reddish-white. Both animals are much smaller that in Europe. Both sheep and goats are in brisk demand in the cotton tracts for their manure in the hot-weather months, and will be kept continually on the move from field to field for a month at a time. It is usual to hire flocks at the rate of one rupee a hundred head for one night; but sometimes the cultivators combine to gather a large flock, and after penning them on their fields in the hot weather, send them to Nâgpur in the beginning of the rains to be disposed of. The Gadaria was formerly the Bête noir of the cultivator, on account of the risk incurred by the crops from the depredations of his sheep and goats. This is exemplified in the saying:

Ahír, Gadaria, Pâsi, Yeh tinon satyanâsi, or, 'The Ahír (herdsman), the Gadaria and the Pâsi, these three are the husbandmen's foes.' And again:

Ahír, Gadaria, Gîjar, Yeh tinon Châhen ujar, or 'The Ahír, the Gadaria and the Gîjar want wasteland,' that is for grazing their flocks. But since the demand for manure has arisen, the Gadaria has become a popular personage in the village. The shepherds whistle to their flocks to guide them, and hang bells round the necks of goats but not of sheep. Some of them, especially in forest tracts, train ordinary pariah dogs

308 to act as sheep-dogs. As a rule, rams and he-goes are not gelded, but those who have large flocks sometimes resort to this practice and afterwards fatten the animals up for sale. They divide their sheep into five classes, as follows, according to the length of the ears: Kanâri, with ears a hand's length long; Semri, somewhat shorter; Burhai, ears a forefinger's length; Churia, ears as long as the little finger; and Neori, with ears as long only as the top joint of the forefinger. Goats are divided into two classes, those with ears a hand's length long being called Bangalia or Bagra, while those with small ears a forefinger's length are known as Gujra.

Blanket Weaving. While ordinary cultivators have now taken to keeping goats, sheep are still as a rule left to the Gadarias. These are of course valued principally for their wool, from which the ordinary country blanket is made. The sheep1 are shorn two or sometimes three times a year, in February, June and September, the best wool being obtained in February from the cold weather coat. Members of the caste commonly shear for each other without payment. The wool is carded with a kamtha, or simple bow with a catgut string, and spun by the women of the household. Blankets are woven by men on a loom like that used for cotton cloth. The fabric is coarse and rough, but strong and durable, and the colour is usually a dark dirty grey, approaching black, being the same as that of the raw material. Every cultivator has one of these, and the various uses to which it may be put are admirably described by 'Eha' as follows:2 "The kammal is a home-spun blanket of the wool of black sheep, thick, strong, as rough as a farrier's rasp, and of a colour which cannot get dirty. When the Kunbi (cultivator) comes out of his hole in the morning it is wrapped round his shoulders and reaches to his knees, guarding him from his great enemy, the cold, for the thermometer is down to 60o Fahrenheit. By and by he has a load to carry, so he folds his kammal into a thick pad and puts it on the top of his head. Anon he feels tired, so he lays down his load, and arranging his kammal as a cushion, sits with comfort on a rugged rock or a stony bank, and has a smoke. Or else he rolls himself in it from head to foot. like a mummy, and enjoys a sound sleep on the roadside. It begins to rain, he folds his kammal into ingenious cowl and is safe. Many more are its uses. I cannot number them all. Whatever he may be called upon to carry, be it forest produce, or household goods, or his infant child, he will make a bundle of it with his kammal and poise it on his head, or sling it across his back, and trudge away."

Sanctity Of Wool. Wool is a material of some sanctity among the Hindus. It is ceremonially pure, and woollen clothing can be worn by Brâhmans while eating or performing sacred functions. In many castes the bridegroom at a wedding has a string of wool with a charm tied round his waist. Religious mendicants wear jatas or wigs of sheep's wool, and often carry woollen charms. The beads used for counting prayers are often of wool The reason for wool being thus held sacred may be that it was an older kind of clothing used before cotton was introduced, and thus acquired sanctity by being worn at sacrifices. Perhaps the Aryans wore woollen clothing when they entered India.

Gadariya.: Garariya; Gaderiya; Ganreriya3 (Hindi gâdur, "a sheep:" Sanskrit gandhâra, so called because originally brought from the country of Gandhâra or Kandahar). --The caste of shepherds, goat-herds, and blanket-weavers found all over the Province. In many parts they are known as Guâl Gadariya, and there seems strong reason to believe that they are in some way connected with the Ahír or Guâla race, though their personal appearance indicates a

1 The following particulars are taken from the Central Provinces Monograph on Woollen Industries , by Mr. J. T. Marten. 2 A Naturalist on the Prowl , 3rd ed., p. 219. In the quotation the Hindustâni word kammal , commonly sued in the Central Provinces, is substituted for the Marâthi word kambli . 3. See Crooke. Based on notes by the Deputy Inspector of Schools, Bareilly: M. Niyâz Ahmad, Head Master, High School, Fatehpur, and note from Jhânsi received through Mr. W.G. Jackson. C.S.

309 much larger admixture of non-Aryan blood. This is strengthened by the fact noted by Mr. Risley1 that in Bihâr they will take both kachchi and pakki food from Guâlas.

Internal Structure. According to the last Census the Gadariyas of these Provinces recorded themselves in twelve sub-castes besides several more whose numbers were too small to find a place in the final returns. These sub-castes are Baghel; Bamhaniya; Chandel; Dhingar; Haranwâl; Kachhwâha; Nikhar; Phîl-singhiya; Râthaur; Rautela; Sâgar; Saraswâr. Nearly half of these are the names of well-known Râjput septs, and this may possibly go to show that the formation of these endogamous groups, under at least their present names, may be of comparatively modern date. It is asserted from Bareilly that they admit outsiders into the caste: this is doubtful and apparently not the case in the Eastern Districts. In Benares Mr. Sherring2 gives an entirely different set of sub-castes-- Dhíngar; Nikhar; Jaunpuri, or "those from Jaunpur;" Illahâbâdi, "those from Allahâbâd;" Bakarkasâu, or "goat butchers;" Namdawâla, or "makers of felt," and Chikwa who are usually classed with the Qassâb. He asserts that the first four sub-castes keep sheep and goats, not so the remaining three. They also manufacture blankets. The Bakarkasâu and Namdawâla sub-castes do so likewise. The Chikwas are Muhammadans. He also names two other sub-castes-- the Bharariya, who derive their name from bher, a sheep. "Nevertheless they are not employed in tending sheep, but in other kinds of labour. The Baikatas are the lowest in rank among the Gadariyas. They live by begging scraps of hair from the other sub-castes that keep flocks, and selling the proceeds." Sir H.M. Elliot names also the Taselha or Pachhâdé, "those of the west," Chak, Bareiya, Paihwâr, and Bhaiyatâr. From Agra it is reported that the women of the Dhíngar sub-caste wear bangles of glass, bore their noses, and do not eat meat; while those of the Nikhar do not wear glass bangles, do not bore their noses, and eat meat. Of the 1,113 sections of Hindu and 8 of the Muhammadan branch included in the detailed Census Returns, those of the chief local importance are the Chandan, Mokha, and Sahla of sahâranpur: the Ahír, Chhotísen, Sahla, and Uchahri of Muzaffarnagar: the Bhatti, Ganga, Panwâr, and Râé of Bulandshahr: the Hans, Madâriya, and Sengar of Aligarh: the Vaneli of Mainpuri: the Raikwâr of Etâwah: the Sengar of Bareilly: the Sahla of Bijnor: the Rautelé and Sahla of Morâdâbâd: the Magar and Panwâr of Cawnpur: the Panwâr of Fatehpur: the Rohingar of Hamírpur: the Darsiya of Ghâzipur: the Sailiya of the Tarâi: the Thengar of Râé Bareli: the Barharwâr, Dokhar, and Panwâr of Hardoi, and the Nikhad of Sultânpur.

Traditions of Origin. The Western Gadariyas call themselves Marhattas and describe themselves as emigrants from Gwâlior. Some of them still visit Gwâlior to worship the goddess Kâli Devi, and they employ a colony of Gwâlior Bhâts who have come from Gwâlior and settled at Anupshahr in the Bulandshahr District. The Gadariyas fix their emigration from Gwâllor in the time of the Dor or Tomar Râja Buddh Sen.

Marriage Rules. The Gadariyas usually marry their girls at the age of from seven to twelve. To the west it is a rule among them after marriage to lodge the bride first on her arrival with her husband in a separate room, and then she is not admitted into the house until she pays a sum of money to the men or persons connected with her husband by marriage with women of his family. In the course of this function a mimic struggle goes on between the two parties. Next morning after she is thus received into her husband's family, the women of the house fill an iron pan with water and place in it two silver rings and some blades of grass. The married couple then struggles to see which of them will secure the rings. The bridegroom's female relations do their best to help him. Whichever of the pair secures the rings will have the mastery during married life. When the mock struggle is over, the winner pours the contents of the vessel

1. Tribes and Castes. I, 271. 2. Hindu Tribes, 338.

310 over the loser. There are no marriage brokers; matches are arranged by a member of the caste. He receives a rupee and a turban from the father of the bridegroom; but if he commit any fraud in arranging the match, the council has one side of his moustache shaved in the presence of the brethren, and also impose a fine. A man may discard his wife for infidelity, but such women are not allowed to remarry in the caste. Widow-marriage and the levirate are permitted, and the children by any form of recognised marriage are equal heirs. Illegitimate children are not allowed to intermarry or even smoke with those of pure blood. A man who marries a widow has generally to pay something to her relations, and in any case he has to pay any debts she may have contracted during widowhood.

Birth Customs. The woman during delivery sits on a stool facing the Ganges. She is attended by a sweeper or Koli midwife for at least three days. When the birth of male child is announced, one of the mother's female relations hurries out of the house, and draws all round the walls a line of cowdung as a magic circle to keep off evil spirits. She also makes a rude cowdung figure at each side of the door, and fixes up seven pieces of broomstick near it. When a girl is born, only a piece of a broken earthen pot is put up over the door. On the second day the mother is given a condiment which is supposed to consist of thirty-two drugs boiled together. On the tenth day the mother and child are taken to the nearest well with singing, and she worships the well by marking the platform with turmeric, and placing upon it the cowdung figures which had been fixed up near the house door. They all return, and soaked gram and sweets are distributed.

Marriage Customs. The marriage ceremonies are of the normal type. There are some observances which may be survivals of marriage by capture. Thus, while the marriage is going on, the women of the bride's family carry on a mock fight with the relations of the bridegroom, and are allowed to strike them with the kneading roller (belan). If a girl has a particular curl of the hair which is supposed to resemble a female snake (sânpin), she is first married to a camel-thorn bush (jhar beri). If a bachelor in the same way marry a widow, and she bear him a daughter, in order to overcome the evil influence which is supposed to arise from the dhareja form of marriage, he gets himself married to a tree before he gives away the daughter in marriage to another.

Death Customs. Gadariyas cremate their adult dead, except those who have died of snake-bite or small-pox. If such corpses are cremated, they believe that at the burning a steam arises from them which strikes the mourners blind. On the way to the burning ground a ball (pinda) is offered in the name of the deceased. The son of the deceased fires the pyre, and each of the mourners throws in five cakes of cowdung fuel. Some are ashes sifted and placed the following day on the spot where the death occurred, and next morning from the marks on the ashes they speculate as to the form which the soul will assume in the next birth. They perform the usual srâddha.

Religion. Gadariyas are orthodox Hindus. Their chief deity is Kâli. They also worship a local deity known as Châmar. This is more especially done in the Naudurga of Chait and Kuâr and when cholera or other epidemic diseases are about. The offerings consists of cakes (pîri), coarse sugar, and sometimes a goat. The last is taken by the Chamâr priest and the former by the local Brâhman priest or Kherapati. Another spirit named Jakhaiya or Jokhaiya is largely worshipped by Gadariyas in the Western Districts. He is said to be the ghost of a Muhammadan Ghosi. He priest is a sweeper, and his offering a young pig. The chief shrine of Jokhaiya, who, according to the last Census, was worshipped by 87,061 persons, is Pendhat, in the Mainpuri District. He is there said to have been a Bhangi, who was killed during the war between Prithivi Râja of Delhi and Jaychand of Kanauj. His offering is a pig, which is presented by women who long for children and pray for easy delivery. The offering is said

311 also to bring timely winter rain. To the west of the Province they are served by Sanâdh Brâhmans; to the east by low class Brâhmans of various tribes.

Social Status. In Bihâr, according to Mr. Risley, the Gadariya ranks higher than the Ahír; but this does not seem to be the case in theses Provinces. They are however, careful about food drink, and maintain a fairly high standard of personal purity. Their original occupation is keeping and selling sheep and goats and making blankets; but besides this they cultivate and practice various forms of trading. The women have a reputation for untidy habits, as the common proverb runs,- "Ek to Garerin, dusré lahsan khâé": "a shepherdess and eating garlic in the bargain."

Gadba.: -Gadaba.1 A primitive tribe classified as Mundâri or Kolarian on linguistic grounds. The word Gadba, Surgeon-Major Mitchell states, signifies a person who carries loads on his shoulders. The tribe call themselves Guthau. They belong to the Vizagapatam District of Madras, and in the Central Provinces are found only in the Bastar State, into which they have immigrated to the number of some 700 persons. They speak a Mundâri dialect, called Gadba, after their tribal name, and are one of the two Mundâri tribes found so far south as Vizagapatam, the other being the Savars.2 Their tribal organisation is not very strict, and a Bhatra, a Parja, a Muria, or a member of any superior caste may become a Gadba at an expenditure of two or three rupees. The ceremony consists of shaving the body of the novice, irrespective of sex, clean of hair, after which he or she is given to eat rice cooked in the water of the Ganges. This is followed by a feast to the tribe in which a pig must be killed. The Gadbas have totemistic exogamous septs, usually named after animals, as gutâl dog, angwân bear, dungra tortoise, surangai tiger,gîmal snake, and so on. Members of each sept abstain from killing or injuring the animal or plant after which it is named, but they have no scruple in procuring others to do this. Thus if a snake enters the hut of a person belonging to the Gîmal sept, he will call a neighbour of another sept to kill it. He may not touch its carcase with his bare hand, but if he holds it through a piece of rag no sin is incurred.

Marriage. Marriage is adult, but the rule existing in Madras that a girl is not permitted to marry until she can weave her own cloth does not prevail in the Central Provinces.3 As a rule the parents of the couple arrange the match, but the wishes of the girl are sometimes consulted and various irregular methods of union are recognised. Thus a man is permitted with the help of his friends to go and carry off a girl and keep her as his wife, more especially if she is a relation on the maternal side more distant than a first cousin. Another form is the Paisa Mundi, by which a married or unmarried woman may enter the house of a man of her caste other than her husband and become his wife; and the Upaliya, when a married woman elopes with a lover. The marriage ceremony is simple. The bridegroom's party go to the girl's house, leaving the parents behind, and before they reach it are met and stopped by a bevy of young girls and men in their best clothes from the bride's village. A girl comes forward and demands a ring, which one of the men of the wedding party places on her finger, and they then proceed to the bride's house, where the bridegroom's presents, consisting of victuals, liquor, a cloth, and two rupees, are opened and carefully examined. If any deficiency is found, it must at once be made good. The pair eat a little food togerther, coloured rice is applied to their foreheads, and on the second day a new grass shed is erected, into which some pice are laid by an unmarried girl. The bride and bridegroom are shut up in

1 See Russell. This article is compiled from an excellent monograph contributed by Surgeon-Major Mitchell of Bastar State, with extracts from Colonel Glasfurd's Report on Bastar ( Selections from the Records of the Government of India in the Foreign Department, No. 39 of I863 ). 2 India Census Report (I90I ), p. 283. 3 Madras Census Report ( I89I ), p. 253.

312 this, and two pots of water are poured over them from the roof, the marriage being then consummated. If the girl is not adult this ceremony is omitted. Widow-marriage is permitted by what is called the tíka form, by which a few grains of rice coloured with turmeric are placed on the foreheads of the pair and they are considered as man and wife. There is no regular divorce, but if a married woman misbehaves with a man of the caste, the husband goes to him with a few friends and asks whether the story is true, and if the accusation is admitted demands a pig and liquor for himself and his friends as compensation. If these are given he does not turn his wife out of his house. A liaison of a Gadba woman with a man of a superior caste is also said to involve no penalty, but if her paramour is a low-caste man she is excommunicated forever. In spite of these lax rules, however, Major Mitchell states that the women are usually very devoted to their husbands. Mr. Thurston1 notes that among the Bonda Gadabas a young man and a maid retire to the jungle and light a fire. Then the maid, taking a burning stick, places it on the man's skin. If he cries out he is unworthy of her, and she remains a maid. If he does not the marriage is at once consummated. The application of the brand is probably light or severe according to the girl's feelings towards the young man.

Religious Beliefs And Festivals. The Gadbas worship Burhi Mâta or Thâkurâni Mâta, who is the goddess of smallpox and rinderpest. They offer to her flowers and incense when these diseases are prevalent among men or cattle, but if the epidemic does not abate after a time, they abuse the goddess and tell her to do her worst, suspending the offerings. They offer a white cock to the sun and a red one to the moon, and various other deities exercise special functions, Bhandârin being the goddess of agriculture and Dharni of good health, while Bharwân is the protector of cattle and Dand Deví of men from the attacks of wild beasts. They have vague notions of a heaven and hell where the sinful will be punished, and also believe in re-birth. But these ideas appear to be borrowed from their Hindu neighbours. When the new rice crop is ripe, the first-fruits are cooked and served to the cattle in new bamboo baskets, and are then partaken of by men. The ripening of the mango crop is also an important festival. In the right fortnight of Chait (March) the men go out hunting, and on their return cook the game before Mâtideo, the god of hunting, who lives in a tree. In Madras the whole male population turns out to hunt, and if they come back without success the women pelt them with cowdung on their return. If successful, however, they have their revenge on the women in another way.2 On festival days man and women dance together to the music of a pipe and drum. Sometimes they form a circle, holding long poles, and jump backwards and forwards to and form the centre by means of the pole; or the women dance singly or in pairs, their hands resting on each other's waists. A man and woman will then step out of the crowd and sing at each other, the woman reflecting on the man's ungainly appearance and want of skill as a cultivator or huntsman, while the man retorts by reproaching her with her ugliness and slatternly habits.3

Disposal Of The Dead. The dead are buried with their feet to the west, ready to start for the region of the setting sun. On return from the funeral the mourners stop on the way, and a fish is boiled and offered to the dead. An egg is cut in half and placed on the ground, and pieces of mango bark are laid beside it on which the mourners tread. The women accompany the corpse, and in the meantime the house of the dead person is cleaned with cowdung by the children left behind. On the first day food is supplied to the mourners by their relatives, and in the evening some cooked rice and vegetables are offered to the dead. The mourning lasts for nine days, and on the last day a cow or bullock is killed with the blunt head of an axe, the performance of this function being hereditary in certain families of the caste. Some blood from the animal and some cooked rice are put in leaf-cups and placed on the grave by the head of the corpse. The animal is cooked and eaten by the grave, and they then go to the cooking shed and place its

1 Ethnographic Notes in Southern India, p. 22. 2 India Census Report ( I90I ), p. 283. 3 Madras Census Report ( I89I ), p. 253.

313 jawbone under a stick supported on two others, blood and cooked rice being again offered. The old men and women bathe in warm water, and all return to the place where the dead man breathed his last. Here they drink and have another meal of rice and beef, which is repeated on the following day, and the business of committing the dead to the ancestors is compete. Liquor is offered to the ancestors on feast days.

Occupation And Mode Of Living. The caste are cultivators and labourers, some are employed as village watchmen, and others are hereditary pâlli-bearers to the Râja of Bastar, enjoying a free grant to land. They practise shifting cultivation, cleaning a space by indiscriminate felling in the forest, and ploughing the ground for a single broad-cast crop of rice; the following year the clearing is usually abandoned. Their dress is simple, though they now wear ordinary cloth. Forty years ago it is said that they wore coverings made from the bark if the kuring tree and painted with horizontal bands of red, yellow and blue.1 A girdle of the thickness of a man's arm made from fine strips of bark is still worn and is a distinguishing feature of the Gadba women. They also carry a circlet round their forehead of the seeds of kusa grass threaded on a string. Both men and women wear enormous earrings, the men having three in each ear. The Gadbas are almost omnivorous, and eat flesh, fish, fowls, pork, buffaloes crocodiles, non- poisonous snakes, large lizards, frogs, sparrows, crows and large red ants. They abstain only from the fresh of monkeys, horses and asses. A Gadba must not ride on a horse under penalty of being put out of caste. Mr. Thurston2 gives the following reason for this prejudice: "The Gadbas of Vizagapatam will not touch a horse, as they are palanquin bearers, and have the same objection to a rival animal as a cart-driver has to a motor-car." They will eat the leavings of other castes and take food from all except the impure ones, but like the Mehtars and Ghasias elsewhere they will not take food or water from a Kâyasth. Only the lowest castes will eat with Gadbas, but they are not considered as impure, and are allowed to enter temples and take part in religious ceremonies.

Gaddi.: -The caste of Muhammadan cow-herds3. They have been separately enumerated at the last Census, but they are often regarded as a sub-caste of Ghosis. They are probably closely allied to the Ahírs; in fact many of them are almost certainly Ahírs who have embraced Islâm. In the Panjâb4 there are two quite distinct classes of people known by this name- the Musalmân Gaddis of Karnâl and its neighbourhood, who are identical with the Gaddis of these Provinces, and a hill tribe inhabiting the mountain range between Kangra and Chamba. Some of them, again, are believed to be of Khatri origin, and these General Cunningham is inclined to identify with the Gandaridae or Gangaridae. In parts of these Provinces, according to Sir H. M. Elliot,5 it is not unusual to call any converted Hindu a Gaddi, which is looked on by a true Musalmân as a term of reproach. They, with other low caste tribes, were old occupiers of Oudh, and they were powerful enough to make invasion costly to the advancing Râjputs, According to one authority the women in Oudh are notorious for immorality, and the men for the filthiness of their persons and stupidity.6

The complete returns of the last Census show 255 sections of the tribe. These are of the usual type: some territorial, such as Aharwâr, Audhiya, Bahrâichi, Balapura, Gorakhpuri, Kanaujiya, Mathuriya, Purbiya, Saksena, Sarwariya, and Shâhpuri. Others are derived form the names of well-known castes or septs, as Ahír, Bâchhar, Bais, Bhadauriya, Bhangi, Bhatti,

1 Reporton the Dependency of Bastar, p. 37. 2 Ethnographic Notes in Somhern India, p. 270. 3 See Crooke. 4 Ibbetsor, Panjâb Ethnography , section 498 : Drew, Jammu , 108. 5 Supplementary Glossary, s. v. 6 Elliott, Ohroniches of Undo , 25 : Williams, Oudh Census Report , 89.

314 Bisen, Chamarbans, Chandela, Chauhân, Chhatri, Domar, Ghosi, Gîjar, Hurakiya, Jât, Kamboh, Kori, Mewâti, Pathân, Râthaur, Sayyid, Shaikh, Tânk, Teli, Tomar, and Turkiya.

Gadhvi.: -See Charan.

Gadiya Lohar.: -Wandering Tribe of Lohar from Rajasthan. See Lohar - African Tribe in Karnataka.

Gagra.: -A nomadic tribe catching small animals.

Ganak.: -They live in North Eastern India. They are Astrologers.

Gandhi.: -See Ateri.

Gangeddu: - The Gangeddulu1 are a class of mendicants, who travel about the country exhibiting performing bulls. "The exhibition of sacred bulls, known as Gangeddulu (Ganga's bulls) is very common in the towns and villages of Southern India. The presence of the swâmi (god) bull, as the is popularly called, is made known by his keeper playing on a small drum, which emits a dismal, booming sound, in the intervals of addressing his dumb companion in a piercing voice. The bull is led about from house to house, and made to go through several tricks, which he does with evident zest. The keeper in the meanwhile talks to him, and puts questions to him, to which he replies by shakes of his head. He will kneel down in an attitude of worship, with his head inclined to the ground, or he will approach you, and gently rub his nozzle against your hand. Usually a diminutive cow accompanies the bull, and, like him, is grandly attired, and resounds with tinkling bells. She is introduced to the spectators as the bull's ammagaru, that is, consort or spouse. Then a scene between the pair is enacted, the gist of which is that the husband is displeased with the wife, and declines to hold converse with her. As a result of the difference, he resolves to go away, and stalks off in high dudgeon. The keeper attempts to make peace between them, and is rewarded by being charged by the irate husband and knocked down, though no harm is done to him as the animal's horns are padded. The keeper rises, shakes himself, and complains woefully of the treatment he has received. Indeed, it is only after a great deal of coaxing and wheedling, and promises of buying him endless quantities of rice cakes and other bazaar delicacies, that the bull condescends to return, and a reconciliation is effected."

Performing bulls For the following note, I am indebted to Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao. The Gangeddulu, Erudândis, or Perumâl Mâdukkârans, often acquire and train deformed male calves. It is a popular superstition that for a family to keep such animals in its possession is to court destruction. Consequently, when one is born, information is sent to a Gangeddu, who, on his arrival, is sumptuously fed. The calf is then washed, and new cloth tied to its horns. A small present of money is made to the Gangeddu, and he takes the animal away. Temples sometimes dispose of their deformed calves in a similar manner. When the trained animals are exhibited in public, the deformity, which is the hall-mark of a genuine Gangeddu, is shown, usually at the commencement of the performance, or at any time at the bidding of any

1 See Thurston,

315 of the spectators. It is only after the exhibition of the deformity, which is usually concealed within the trappings of the animal, that remuneration, generally in kind, or in old rags and copper coins, is doled out to them. Villagers worship the bulls, when they happen to pass their houses, and, as soon as they enter a village, the females wash the feet of the animals with milk and water. They then adorn their foreheads with kunkumam (aniline powder) and turmeric paste, and burn incense and camphor before them. Cocoanuts, plantains, betel leaves and areca nuts, and money are also offered on a plate, and are the prerogative of the Gangeddu. The bulls are thus venerated, as they represent Basavanna, the sacred bull which is the vehicle of Siva.

Language and religion The language of the Gangeddulu is Telugu, but those who have migrated to the Tamil country also speak the language of the south. They profess the Vaishnavite religion, and are of the Tengalai persuasion. They have Brâhman gurus (religious preceptors), who reside at Srírangam, Tirupati, and other places. By them the Gangeddulu are branded on the shoulder with the emblems of the chank and chakram, and initiated into the mysteries of the Dâsari priesthood. But, though they call themselves Dâsaris, the Gangeddulu have no marital or other connection with the Dâsaris. In addition to training and exhibiting the performing bulls and cultivating land, the Gangeddulu officiate as Dâsaris in the month of Peratâsi (September- October). Their principal insignia of office are the chank shell, which is blown to announce their arrival, and the iron lamp (called Garudasthambha), which is kept burning, and is said to represent Venkatésa, the presiding deity at Tirupati. As Dâraris, little is expected of them, except offering fruits to the god, and assisting at funerals. Several proverbs, of which the following are examples, are current concerning this aspect of their life: The mistake of a Dâsari is excused with an apology. The songs of a Dâsari are known only to the god, i.e., they are unintelligible and unreal. For the song of a Dâsari alms are the payment, i.e., that is all the song is worth. Sing again what you have sung, oh! Dâsari with dirty teeth. When a beggar was asked whether he was a Dâsari or a Jangam, he replied that it depends on the next village. This in reference to his being a time-server.

Practice and origin of trained bulls A Gangeddu mendicant is, like his bulls, picturesquely attired. He is very punctilious about having his sect-mark on the forehead, invariably wears a turban, and his body is clothed in a long white cloth robe. When going about with the performing bulls, the Gangeddulu generally travel in pairs, one carrying a drum, and the other a bell-metal gong. One of them holds in one hand the nose-rope of the bull, and in the other the whip. The bulls are dressed up in a patchwork quilt with two eye-holes in it. Of names which are given to the animals, Râma and Lakshmana are very popular. The tameness of the bulls is referred to in the proverb "As mild as a Gangeddu." The Perumâl Mâdukkârans, or Perumâl Erudukkârans, both of whose names indicate those who lead bulls about, are found chiefly in the Chingleput, North and South Arcot districts. "Every now and then," Mr. S.M. Natesa Sastri writes,1 throughout Madras, a man dressed up as a buffoon is to be seem leading about a bull, as fantastically got up as himself with cowries (Cypraea arabica shells) and rags of many colours, from door to door. The bull is called in Tamil Perumâl erudu, and in Telugu Ganga eddu, the former meaning Vishnu's bull and the latter Ganga's bull. The origin of the first is given in a legend, but that of the last is not clear. The conductors of these bulls are shepherds of high caste, called Pî Idaiyan i.e., flower shepherds (see Idaiyan), and come from villages in the North and South Arcot districts. They are a simple and ignorant set, who firmly believe that their occupation arises out of a command from the great god Venkatâchalapati, the lord of the Venkatâchala near Tirupaddi (Tirupati) in the North Arcot district. Their legend is as follows: among the habitual gifts to the Venkatâchala temple at Tiruppadi were all the freaks of nature of the neighbourhood as exhibited in cattle, such as two-tailed cows, five-legged

1. Ind. Ant. XVIII. 1889.

316 bulls, four-horned calves, and so on. The Pî Idaiyans, whose original duty was to string flowers for the temple, were set to graze these aberrations. Now to graze cows is an honour, but to tend such creatures as these the Pî Idaiyans regarded as a sin. So they prayed to Venkatâchalapati to show them how they could purge it away. On this, the god gave them a bull called after himself the Perumâl bull and said: 'May you take as much care of this bull as you would of your own children, and lead it from house to house, begging for its food, and your sin will be washed away.' Ever since then they have been purging themselves of their original sin. The process is this. The bull leader takes it from house to house, and puts questions to it, and the animal shakes its head in reply. This is proof positive that it can reason. The fact is the animal is bought when young for a small sum, and is brought up to its profession. Long practice has made its purchasers experts in selecting the animals that will suit them. After purchase the training commences, which consists of pullling the animal's ears whenever it is given bran, and it soon learns to shake its head at the sight of bran. I need hardly say that a handful of bran is ready in its conductor's hands when the question are put to it. It is also taught to butt at any person that speaks angrily to it. As regards the offerings made to these people, one-sixth goes to feeding the bulls, and the remaining five- sixths to the conductors. They look upon it as 'good work,' but the village boys and girls think it the greatest fun in the world to watch its performances, and the advent of a Vishnu's bull is hailed by the youngsters with the greatest delight."

Gangeddulus.: -They are mendicants and wander around with the sacred bull. Usually one of them beats a drum and the other begs.

Gâróπís.: -The Gâróπís 1are a wandering tribe of jugglers in the Belgaum District. Their head-quarters are said to be at Miraj near Kolhapur. They are said to have been converted to Muhammadanism about the middle of the sixteenth century, and are looked upon as belonging to the Madâri sect. According to the Bombay Gazetteer,2 "the men are middle-sized, sturdy, and dark or olive. The women, who like the men are middle-sized, are thin, well-featured, and dark or olive. The men are jugglers, tumblers, and snake-charmers. They are hard-working, but are much given to intoxicating drinks and drugs and are poorly clad and scrimp for food. Except circumcising their boys, they keep no Musalman customs, and are Muhammadans in little more than name." The name Gâróπí or Gâruπí is derived from gâruπa , snake-charmer. I have no information as to the number of Gâróπís in Belgaum.

Dialect The dialect of the Gâróπís is a rather inconsistent form of speech. and it seems probable that several of the forms registered in the list are incorrect. On the whole it is seen that Gâróπí is based on a mixture of Hindóstâní, Râjasthâní and Marâ†hí. Thus the nominative of strong masculine bases ends in ó in the singular as in Râjasthâní and Gujarâtí, though we also find rémnâ, goat, as in Himdóstâní. The plural and the oblique base end in é as in Hindóstâní; compare lâwπé (but also lâwπó), sons; bhâwuté-kî ., to a father. The genitive ends in kó as in Râjasthâní. Before an inflected masculine noun we also find kâ. In the periphrastic present we find lugî hû, "I am dying," as in Méwâtí, Mâlví, and Méwârí. The past tense of the verb substantive is chhó as in Jaipurí; Marâ†hí forms are mí, "I"; lâwπé, "a child"; the common emphatic ch, and so on. In addition to all these elements there is also a mixture of Dravidian. It is seen in some words such as i©gâ, here; u©gâ, there; nírmâ, water; nând, house, village, etc., in the frequent use of adverbial and relative participles such as hâyilétó,when coming; hâyi™landé, coming; bétésó, eaten, and so forth.

1 See G. A. Grierson, Linguistic Survey of India, Vol XI. 2. Vol. xxi, pp. 224 and f.

317 Like other Gipsy tribes the Gâróπís try to make their speech unintelligible by using strange words or else by disguising ordinary words in various ways. Some of the unusual words found in the specimens are alπí, whip; bét, eat; bóngâ, gold; chisam, good; chónó, name; πhamukló, slave; dharâlí . iron; dhâytí, property; dzhalwâtní, harlot; dzhâmí, midnight; dzhangí, a bulbous root; gónó, hand; gónâlí, foot; ghuruknâ, swine; jachan, diagnose; kâjâ, man; kanéchí, eye (cf. Tamil ka∑a); khómπâ, mouth; kêwsó, bull; kâylí, ailment; lug, die; lugâ, beat; mallâ, garden; nimal, run, loose; nând, house, village; nâ†hyâ, wife; nírmâ, water; panéchí, back (cf. Kanarese bennu); tabét, health; †ap, fall; †ók, say; †ólchó, head (cf. Kanarese tale); †hig, sit; walâ, give, and so on.

Ordinary words are sometimes disguised by means of a simple transposition of the letters; thus, πabó, big; and perhaps †ap, fall. Occasionally we find aspiration or disaspiration of consonants; thus, ghâyilé, they went; lhaikanâ, having taken; nâkyó, threw. In many cases a consonant has been prefixed or substituted for the initial of a word. Kh is used in this way in words such as khadmí, man; khîpar, above; khu†-kó, having arisen; khóyíd=baid, doctor. In gândiló, silver, g is similarly used instead of ch, and in rémnâ, goat, r for m. Ch is, as in many similar argots, used instead of b in words such as chulâwu, to call; chó¬∑í, word. Note chirwând, bind. In jilâ†í, cat, j had been used in a similar way, cf . bilâπí . Dzh is a more common substitute; compare dzhichâdí, behind; dzhukâyit=bhîkh, hunger; dzhâil-kanâ, having gone; dzhapplí, shoe, sandal; dzhupâr, afternoon (cf. dó pahâr), and so on. A t has been substituted for a p in †ikaπ, seize. The initial πh in πhamukló, belly; πhikmó, slave, is probably of the same kind. The syllable tur in turwâlé, hair, is apparently also an addition made in order to disguise the word, or else it may be a disguised sir, head. Other consonants used in a similar way are n in nétyâ-kî, to the fields; l in lipaπâ, cloths; and, cockney way, h in ÷âyil, come; hu∑†, camel.

Another way of disguising words is by means of additions at the end. Such additions are: -k in bhékπâ, brother; and g in bóngâ, gold; compare, however, Kanarese ba©gâra; -ch in kanéchí, eye; kânéchí, ear; chandíchí, moon; bhanichí, sister; nhanchó, small, etc.; -† in ghór†ó, horse; π in khagâπí, before; khómπâ, mouth; dâπwâ, tooth; bhékπâ, brother, etc.; -t in dzhukâyit, hunger; -p in rhapélyó, was; hapé-nâ, am not; -m in ek-mî, one; dul-mî, two; kitmî, how many? bhutmî, devil; démâ, god; tóπmé, I broke; thuπmé, few; karmel, do; sunmel-kâ, having heard, etc. -l in karélyó, did; karmel, do; ghalel, put; ghâyilé,went; chalélé, went; jagâyilyo, waked; dzhâyil, go; ba†al-kâ, dividing; rakellé, keep; sunel-hâyilyó, was heard; sunnel-kâ, having heard; hâyilyó, came; dulmî, two, and so forth. Similarly we find ¬ in words such as nach¬an, dancing; mók¬ó, relief. -Finally we find s added in kharsâ, ass.

By means of all these additions the argot of the Gâróπís gets a peculiar appearance.

Gasain.: -They are religious mendicants and spiritual gurus. They preach mainly in rural areas. See also Gosain

Gauria.: -A small caste of snake-charmers and jugglers who are an offshoot of the Gond tribe1. They number about 500 persons and are found only in Chhattísgarh. They

1 See Russell. This article is bases on papers by Mr. Jeorâkhân Lâl, Deputy Inspector of Schools, Bilâspur, and Bhagwân Singh, Court of Wards Clerk, Bilâspur.

318 have the same exogamous septs as the Gonds, as Markâm, Marai, Netâm Chhedaiha, Jagat, Purteti, Chichura and others. But they are no doubt of very mixed origin, as is shown by the fact that guests all cook their own food and eat it separately. And after a daughter has been married her own family will not take food from her hand because they are doubtful of her husband's status. It is said that the Gaurias were accustomed formerly to beg only from the Kewat caste, though this restriction is no longer maintained. The fact may indicate that they are partly descended from the unions of Kewats with Gond women.

Marriage and Social Customs Adult marriage is the general rule of the caste and a fixed bride-price of sixteen rupees is paid. The couple go away together at once and six months afterwards return to visit the bride's parents, when they are treated as outsiders and not allowed to touch the food cooked for the family, while they reciprocally insist on preparing their own. Male Gaurias will take food from any of the higher castes, but the women will eat only from Gaurias. They will admit outsiders into the community from any caste from whom they can take food. And if a Gauria woman goes wrong with a member of any of these castes, they overlook the matter and inflict only a feast as a penalty. Their marriage ceremony consists merely in the placing of bangles on the woman's wrists, which is the form by which a widow is married among other castes. If a widow marries a man other than her husband's younger brother the new husband must pay twelve rupees to her first husbands family, or to her parents if she has returned to them. If she takes with her a child born of her first husband with permission to keep it, the second husband must pay eight rupees to the first husband's family as the price of the child. But if the child is to be returned as soon as it is able to manage for itself the second husband receives eight rupees instead of paying it, as remuneration for his trouble in rearing the baby. The caste bury their dead with the feet to the south, like the Hindus.

Occupation The principal business of the Gaurias is to catch and exhibit snakes, and they carry a damru or rattle in the shape of an hour-glass, which is considered to be a distinctive badge of the caste. If a Gauria saw an Ojha snake-charmer carrying a damru he would consider himself entitled to take it from the Ojha forcibly if he could. A Gauria is forbidden to exhibit monkeys under penalty of being put out of caste. Their principal festival is the Nâg- Panchmi, when the cobra is worshipped. They also profess to know charms for curing persons bitten by snakes. The following incantation is cried by a Gauria snake-doctor three times into the ears of his patient in a loud voice. "The bel tree and the bel leaves are on the other side of the river. All the Gaurias are drowned in it. The breast of the koil ; over it is a net. Eight snakes went to the forest. They tamed rats on the green tree. The snakes are flying, causing the parrots to fly. They want to play, but who can make them play? After finishing their play they stood up; arise thou also, thou sword. I am waking you (the patient) up by crying in your ear, I conjure you by the name of Dhanvantari1 to rise carefully."

Similar meaningless charms are employed for curing the bites of scorpions and for exorcising bad spirits and the influence of the evil eye. The Gaurias will eat almost all kinds of flesh, including pigs, rats, fowls and jackals, but they abstain from beef. Their social status is so low that practically no caste will take food of water from them, but they are not considered impure. They are great drunkards, and are easily known by their damrus or rattles and the baskets in which they carry their snakes.

Ghadshi.: -They are nomads making a living as actors and musicians in Central India.

1 The Celestial Physician.

319 Ghosi.: -(Sanskrit Ghosha, root ghush,"to shout," as he herds his cattle).-A tribe of Muhammadan herdsmen1. There can be little doubt that like the Gaddi most of them are Ahírs who have been converted to Islâm. To the east of the Province they claim a Gîjar origin and profess to be divided into three endogamous subcastes- Lilâr, Gaddi, and Gîjar. In North Oudh again they have three endogamous sub-castes- Padhân or Pradhân; Gaddi, and Lâla. The detailed Census lists give 111 sections; but it is at present impossible to distinguish the exogamous from the endogamous groups. These are of the usual type, some local like Deswâli, Kanaujiya, Maghariya, Purabiya; and others following the names of well known castes and septs, such as Baghela Behna, Chaudhari, Chauhân, Gaddi, Gahlot, Gaur, Guâl Guâlbans, Jâdubansi, Pathân, Râjput, Sayyid, Shaikh, Sadíqi, Tomar, Turk. The word Ghosi is in fact rather vaguley used. In the Panjâb it is applied only to Musalmâns, and is often given to any cow-herd or milkman of that religion, whether Gîjar, Ahír, or of any other caste, just as Guâla is used for a Hindu cow-herd. In Lucknow the Ghosis have no other employment but the keeping of cattle, chiefly buffaloes of all kinds, and they breed buffaloes. They sell milk to Halwâis, and make inspissated milk (khoa). The Guâla, on the other hand, is generally an Ahír or Gadariya, and keeps both buffaloes and cows, and frequently cultivates some land. They seldom sell milk and curds to Halwâis. The Shírfarosh or Dîdhwâla is a still more general term. They are of no special caste, but are generally Ahírs, Lodhas, Kurmis, Gadariyas, Halwâis, or Brâhmans.

Manners And Customs. The Ghosi conforms to the rules of Islâm, but retains, like many of these lower Muhammadan tribes, some Hindu beliefs and practices. To the east of the Province they say that the ancestor of the race was one Daya Râm Gîjar, who was in high favour with one of the Muhammadan Emperors, an was by him induced to accept the faith of Islâm. He was settled in the neighbourhood of Karra Mânikpur, which they regard as their head-quarters. They profess to follow the Sunni sect, and to the east worship as their tribal deities the Pânchonpír, Imâm, Sâhib, and Ghâzi Miyân. To these they offer sugar and water and cream. Like all Muhammadans they bury their dead and worship the spirits of the sainted dead at the Shag- i-barât and Id. On the former feast they offer the halwa sweetmeat and cakes of wheaten flour; at the later vermicelli (siwaiyân), milk, and dates. In North Oudh they worship Gorakh, Shâh Madâr, Sayyid Sâlâr, and Bhairon, besides various saints and martyrs (pír, shahíd). They employ Brâhmans to fix the auspicious times for marriage and other observances. To the east of the Province they will not eat beef nor will they eat with any Muhammadans who consume it. This is said not to be the case in North Oudh. They rank rather low in the social scale, and are proverbial for their stupidity and for never taking to any other occupation but the care of cattle and dealing in milk, butter, curds, etc.

Ghosi.: -A caste of herdsmen belonging to northern India and found in the Central Provinces in Saugor and other Districts of the Jubbulpore and Nerbudda Divisions2. In 1911 they numbered 10,000 persons in this Province out of a strength of about 60,000 in India. The name is said to be derived from the Sanskrit root ghush, to shout, the word ghosha meaning one who shouts as he herds his cattle. A noticeable fact about the caste is that, while in Upper India they are all Muhammadans, in the Central Provinces they are nearly all Hindus and show no trace of Muhammadan practices. It is considered to be partly on account of the difference in religion that they have become differentiated into a separate caste from the Ahírs. A few Muhammadan Ghosis are found in Nimâr and some Muhammadans who call themselves Gaddi in Mandla are believed to be Ghosis. And as the Ghosis of the northern

1 See Crooke. 2 See Russell. This article is based party on a paper by Khân Bahâdur Imdâd Ali, Pleader, Damoh.

320 Districts of the Central Provinces must in common with the bulk of the population be descended from immigrants from northern India, it would appear that they must have changed their religion, or rather abandoned one to which their ancestors had only been imperfectly proselytised, when it was no longer the dominant faith of the locality in which they lived. Sir D. Ibbetson says that in the Punjab the name Ghosi is used only for Muhammadans, and is often applied to any cowherd or milkman of that religion, whether Gîjar, Ahír or of any other caste, just as Goâla is used for a Hindu cowherd. It is said that Hindus will buy pure milk from the Musalmân Ghosi, but will reject it if there is any suspicion of its having been watered by the latter, as they must not drink water at his hands.1 But in Berâr Brâhmans will now buy milk and curds from Muhammadan milkmen. Mr. Crooke remarks that most of the Ghosis are Ahírs who have been converted to Islâm. To the east of the United Provinces they Claim a Gîjar origin, and here they will not eat beef themselves nor take food with any Muhammadans who consume it. They employ Brâhmans to fix the auspicious times for marriage and other ceremonies.

Occupation The Ghosis of Lucknow have no other employment but the keeping of milch cattle, chiefly buffaloes of all kinds, and they breed buffaloes.2 This is the case also in Saugor, where the Ghosis are said to rank below ordinary Ahírs because they breed and tend buffaloes instead of cows. Those of Narsinghpur, however, are generally not herdsmen at all but ordinary cultivators. In northern India, owing to the large number of Muhammadans who, other things being equal, would prefer to buy their milk and ghi from fellow Muhammadans, there would be an opening for milkmen professing this faith, and on the facts stated above it may perhaps be surmised that the Ghosi caste came into existence to fill the position. Or they may have been forcibly converted as a number of Ahírs in Berâr were forcibly converted to Islam,. and still call themselves Muhammadans, though they can scarcely repeat the Kalma and only go the mosque once a year.3 But when some of the Ghosis migrated into the Central Provinces, they would find, in the absence of a Musalmân clientele, that their religion, instead of being an advantage, was a positive drawback to them, as Hindus would be reluctant to buy milk from a Muhammadan who might be suspected of having mixed it with water; and it would appear that they have relapsed naturally into Hinduism, all traces of their profession of Islâm being lost. Even so, however, in Narsinghpur they have had to abandon their old calling and become ordinary cultivators, while in Saugor, perhaps on account of their doubtful status, they are restricted to keeping buffaloes. If this suggestion turned out to be well founded, it would be an interesting instance of a religion being changed to secure a professional advantage. But it can only be considered as a guess. The Telis of the small town of Multai in Betîl District have the same disadvantage of not being able to water their milk without rendering it impure. Here the dairyman's business is for some reason in the hands of Telis (oilmen) and it is stated that from every Teli who engages in it a solemn oath is exacted that he will not put water in the milk, and any violation of this would be punished by expulsion from caste. Because if the Hindus once found that they had been rendered impure by drinking water touched by so low a caste as the Tells, they would decline any longer to purchase milk from them. It is curious that the strict rule of ceremonial purity which pertains in the case of water has apparently no application to milk.

Subcastes In the Central Provinces the Ghosis have two subcastes, the Havelia or those living in open wheat country, and the Birchheya or residents of jungle tracts. In Saugor they have another set of divisions borrowed from the Ahírs, and here the Muhammadan Ghosis are said to be a separate subcaste, though practically none were returned at the census. They have the usual system of exogamous groups with territorial names derived from those of villages.

1 Punjab Census Report (1881) Para 272. 2 Crookes Tribes and Castes , art. Ghost. 3 From a note by Mr. Híra Lâl.

321 Marriage, Death, and Birth Rites At their marriages the couple walks six times round the sacred post, reserving the seventh round, if the bride is a child, to be performed subsequently when she goes to her husband. But if she is adult, the full number may be completed, the ceremony known as lot pata coming between the sixth and seventh rounds. In this the bride sits first on the right of her husband and then changes seats so as to be on his left; and she is thus considered to become joined to her husband as the left part of his body, which the Hindus consider the wife to be, holding the same belief as that expressed in Genesis. After this the bride takes some child of the household into her lap and then makes it over to the bridegroom saying, 'Take care of the baby while I go and do the household work.' This ceremony, which has been recorded also of the Kâpus in Chânda, is obviously designed as and auspicious omen that the marriage may be blessed with children. Like other castes of their standing, the Ghosis permit polygamy, divorce and the remarriage of widows, but the practice of taking two wives is rare. The dead are burnt, with the exception that the bodies of young children whose ears have not been pierced and persons who died of smallpox are buried. Children usually have their ears pierced when they are three or four years old. A corpse must not be taken to the pyre at night, as it is thought that in that case it would be born blind in the next birth.

The caste have bards and genealogists of their own who are known as Patia. In Dmaoh the Ghosis are mainly cart drivers and cultivators and very few of them sell milk. In Nimâr there are some Muhammadan Ghosis who deal in milk. Their women are not secluded and may be known by the number of little rings worn in the ear after the Muhammadan custom. Like the Ahírs, the Ghosis are considered to be somewhat stupid. They call themselves Ghost Thâkur, as they claim to be Râjpîts, and outsiders also sometimes address them as Thâkur. But in Saugor and Damoh these aspirations to Kshatriya rank are so widespread that when one person asks another his caste the usual form of the question is 'What Thâkur are you ?' The questioner thus politely assumes that his companion must be a Râjpît of some sort and leaves it to him to admit or deny the soft impeachment. Another form of this question is to say 'What dudh, or milk, are you?'

Godagulas.: -They are a caste of basket-makers. They make original objects of bamboo. They move around in Andra Pradesh and speak Oriya.

Góndaliga.: -The Góndaligas1 are described, in the Mysore Census Report of 1901 as being mendicants "of Mahratta origin like the Bîdabudikes, and may perhaps be a sub-division of them. They are worshippers of Durgi. Their occupation, as the name indicates, is to perform gondala, or a kind of torch-light dance, usually performed in honour of Amba Bhavâni, especially after marriages in Désastha Brâhman's houses, or at other times in fulfilment of any vow."

Golendaz.: -See Kadera.

1 See Thurston.

322 Golla.: -The Gollas1, Mr. H. A. Stuart writes,2 "are the great pastoral caste of the Telugu people. The traditions of the caste give a descent from the god Krishna, whose sportings with the milk maids play a prominent part in Hindu mythology.

Occupation and social standing The hereditary occupation of the Gollas is tending sheep and cattle, and selling milk, but many of them have now acquired lands and are engaged in farming, and some are in Government service. They are quiet, inoffensive, and comparatively honest. In the time of the Nabobs, this last characteristic secured to them the privilege of guarding and carrying treasure, and one sub-division, Bokhasa Gollas, owes its origin to this service. Even now those who are employed in packing and lifting bags of money in the district treasuries are called Gollas, though they belong to other castes. As a fact they do hold a respectable position, and, though poor, are not looked down upon, for they tend the sacred cow. Sometimes they assert a claim to be regarded as representatives of the Gó-Vaisya division. Their title is Mandâdi, but it is not commonly used." Mr. Stuart writes further3 that "the social status of the Gollas is fairly high, for they are allowed to mix freely with the Kâpu, Kamma, and Balija castes, and the Brâhmans will take buttermilk from their hands. They employ Sâtânis as their priests. In their ceremonies there is not much difference between them and the Kâpus. The name Golla is generally supposed to be a shortened form of Sanskrit Gópâla" (protector of cows). The Gollas also call themselves Kónânulu, or Kónarlu, and, like the Tamil Idaiyans, sometimes have the title Kónar. Other titles is common use are Anna, Ayya, and occasionally Nayudu.

In the Manual of the Kurnool district, it is stated that the Gollas "keep sheep, and sell milk and ghí (clarified butter). They eat and mess with the Balijas, and other high caste Sîdras; but unlike their brethren of the south, in the matter of street processions, they are classed with goldsmiths, or the left-hand section. When any one is reduced to poverty, the others give him each a sheep, and restore his flock. They occasionally dedicate their girls to Venkatésa as Basavis" (prostitutes).

Origin legends It is noted, in the Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam district, that "in the country round Mâdgole, legends are still recounted of line of local Golla chieftains, who gave their name to Golgonda, and built the forts, of which traces still survive in those parts." Each Telugu New Year's day, it is stated, Gollas come across from Godâvari, and go round the Golla villages, reciting the names of the progenitors of the fallen line, and exhibiting paintings illustrative of their overthrow. "At Vajragada (diamond fort) are the ruins of very large fortress, and local tradition gives the names of seven forts, by which it was once defended. These are said to have been constructed by the Golla kings. A tale is told of their having kidnapped a daughter of the ruler of Mâdgole, and held out here against his attacks for months, until they were betrayed by a woman of their own caste, who showed the enemy how to cut off their water-supply. They then slew their womankind, says the story, dashed out against the besiegers, and fell to a man, fighting to the last."

Social customs Concerning the Gollas of Mysore, I gather4 that "there are two main divisions in this caste, viz., Œru (village) and kâdu (forest). The two neither intermarry nor eat together. A section of the Gollas, by guarding treasure while on transit, have earned the name of Dhanapâla. In fact, one of the menial offices in Government treasuries at the present day is that of Golla.

1 See Thurston. 2. Manual of the North Arcot district. 3. Madras Census Report, 1891. 4. Mysore Census Report, 1910.

323 The caste worships Krishna, who was born in this caste. The Kâdu Gollas are said to have originally immigrated from Northern India, and are still a nomadic tribe, living in thatched huts outside the villages. Some of their social customs are akin to those of the Kâdu Kurubas. It is said that, on the occurrence of a childbirth, the mother with the baby remains unattended in a small shed outside the village from seven to thirty days, when she is taken back to her home. In the event of her illness, none of the caste will attend on her, but a Nâyak (Béda) woman is engaged to do so. Marriages among them are likewise performed in a temporary shed erected outside the village, and the attendant festivities continue for five days, when the marriage couple are brought into the village. The Golla is allowed to marry as many wives as he likes, and puberty is no bar to marriage. They eat flesh, and drink spirituous liquors. The wife cannot be divorced except for adultery. Their females do not wear the bodice (ravike) usually put on by the women of the country. Nor do they, in their widowhood, remove or break the glass bangles worn at the wrists, as is done in other castes. But widows are not allowed to remarry.

Only 98 persons have returned gótras, the chief being Yâdava, Karadi, Atréya, and Amswasa. The first two are really sub-sects, while Atréya is the name of a Brâhmin Rishi." Yâdava, or descendant of King Yâdu, from whom Krishna was descended, also occurs as a synonym for Idaiyan, the great Tamil shepherd class. Concerning the Adivi, or forest Gollas, Mr. F. Fawcett writes as follows.1 "The people of every house in the village let loose a sheep, to wander whither it will, as a sort of perpetual scapegoat. When a woman feels the first pains of labour, she is turned out of the village into a little leaf or mat hut about two hundred yards away. In this hut she must bring forth the offspring unaided, unless a midwife can be called in to be with her before the child is born. For ninety days the woman lives in the hut by herself. If any one touches her, he or she is like the woman, outcasted, and turned out of the village for three months. The woman's husband generally makes a little hut about fifty yards from her, and watches over her; but he may not go near her on pain of being outcasted for three months. Food is placed on the ground near the woman's hut, and she takes it. On the fourth day after parturition, a woman of the village goes to her, and pours water on her, but she must not come in contact with her. On the fifth day, the village people clear of stones and thorny bushes a little bit of ground about ten yards on the village side of the hut, and to this place the woman removes her hut. No one can do it for her, or help her. On the ninth, fifteenth, and thirtieth days, she removes the hut in the same way nearer to the village, and, again, once in each of the two following months. On the ninetieth day, the headman of the village calls the woman to come out of the hut. The dhóbi (washerman) then washes her clothes. She puts on clean clothes, and the headman takes her to the temple of their tutelary deity junjappa, where the caste pîjari breaks cocoanuts, and then accompanies her to her house, where a purificatory ceremony is performed. Junjappa, it is said, takes good care of the mother and child, so that death is said to be unknown."

It is stated2 that, in the Chitaldrîg district of Mysore, "the wife of the eldest son in every family is not permitted to clean herself with water after obeying the calls of nature. It is an article of their belief the their flocks will otherwise not prosper."

Writing in the early part of the last century about the Gollas, Buchanan informs us that "this caste has a particular duty, the transporting of money, both belonging to the public and to individuals. It is said that they may be safely entrusted with any sum; for each man carrying a certain value, they travel in bodies numerous in proportion to the sum put under their charge; and they consider themselves bound in honour to die in defence of their trust. Of course, they defend themselves vigorously, and are all armed; so that robbers never venture to attack them. They have hereditary chiefs called Gotugaru, who with the usual council settle all disputes, and punish all transgression against the rules of caste. The most flagrant is

1. Journal of . Anth. Soc. Bombay, 1, 1888. 2. Mysore Census Report, 1891.

324 the embezzlement of money entrusted to their care. On this crime being proved against any of the caste, the Gotugaru applies to Amildar, or civil magistrate, and having obtained his smaller offences are atoned for by the guilty person giving an entertainment."

Sub-divisions The Golla caste has many sub-divisions, of which the following are examples:- Erra or Yerra (red). Said to be the descendants of a Brâhman by a Golla woman. Ála or Mékala, who tend sheep and goats. Pîja or Puni. Gangeddu, who exhibit performing bulls. Gauda, who, in Vizagapatam, visit the western part of the district during the summer months, and settle outside the villages. They tend their herds, and sell mill and Karna. Pâkanâti. Râcha (royal). Peddeti. mostly beggars, and considered low in the social scale, though when At the census, 1901, the following were returned as sub-castes of the Gollas:-

Dayyâlakulam (wrestlers), Perike Muggalu or Mushti Golla (beggars and exorcists), Podapótula (who beg from Gollas) Gavâdi, and Vadugâyan, a Tamil synonym for Gollas in Tinnevelly. Another Tamil synonym for Golla is Bokhisha Vadugar (treasury northerners). Golla has been given as a sub-division of Dâsaris and Chakkiliyans, and Golla Woddar (Oddé) as a synonym of a thief class in the Telugu country. In a village near Dummagudem in the Godâvari district, the Rev. J. Cain writes, 1 are "a few families of Bâsava Gollalu. I find they are really Kois, whose grandfathers had a quarrel with, and separated from, their neighbours. Some of the present members of the families are anxious to be re-admitted to the society and privileges of the neighbouring Kois. The word Bâsava is commonly said to be derived from bhâsha, a language, and the Gollas of this class are said to have been so called in consequence of their speaking a different language from the rest of the Gollas."

Like many other Telugu castes, the Gollas have exogamous septs or intipéru, and gótras. As examples of the former, the following may be quoted:- Agni, fire. Ávula, cows. Chinthala, tamarind. Chevvula, ears. Gundala, stones. Gurram, horse. Gorrela, sheep. Górantla, henna (lawsonia alba)

Some of these sept names occur among other classes, as the following:- Ávula, Balíjas, Kâpus, and Yerukalas. Chinthala, Dévângas, Kómatis, Malas, and Mâdigas. Górantla, Padma Sâlés. Gorrela, Kammas, Kâpus. Gurram, Mâlas, Padma Sâlés, and Tógatas. Nakkala, Kâttu Marâthis, and Yânâdis.

Those who belong to the Râghindala (Ficus religiosa) gótra are not allowed to use the of the sacred fig or pípal tree as plates for their food. Members of the Pâlâvili gótra never construct pâlâvili, or small booths, inside the house for the purpose of worship. Those who belong to

1. Ind. Ant. VIII, 1879..

325 the Akshathayya gótra are said to avoid rice coloured with turmeric or other powder (akshantalu). Members of the Kommi, jammi, and Mîshti gótras avoid using the kommi tree, prosopis spicigera, and Strychnos Nux-vomica respectively.

Of the various sub-divisions, the Pîja Gollas claim superiority over the others. Their origin is traced to Simhâdri Râju, who is supposed to have been a descendant of Yayâthi Râja of the Mahâbaratha. Yayâthi had six sons, the last of whom had a son named Kariyâvala, whose descendants were as follows:

Penubóthi (his son), | Avula Amurthammayya, | Xalugothi Ganganna, | Oli Râju, | Simhâdri Râju, | | | | Peddi Erupuka Noranoka Póli Râju.

The Gollas are believed to be descended from the four last kings.

According to another legend, there were five brothers, named Póli Râju, Erranoku Râju, Kâtama Râju, Peddi Râju, and Errayya Râju, who lived at Yellamanchili, which, as well as Sarvasiddhi, they built. The Râjas of Nellore advanced against them, and killed them, with all their sheep, in battle. On this Janagamayya, the son of Peddi Râju, who escaped the general slaughter, made up his mind to go to Kâsi (Benares), and offer oblations to his dead father and uncles. This he did, and the gods were so pleased with him that they transported him in the air to his native place. He was followed by three persons, viz., (1) Kulagentadu, whose descendants now recite the names of the progenitors of the caste; (2) Podapóttu (or juggler), whose descendants carry metal bells, sing, and produce snakes by magic; (3) Thévasíyadu, whose descendants paint the events which led to the destruction of the Golla royalty on large cloths, and exhibit them to the Gollas once a year. At the time when Janagamayya was transported to heaven, they asked him how they were to earn their living, and he advised them to perform the duties indicated, and beg from the caste. Even at the present day, their descendants go round the country once a year, after the Telugu New year's day, and collect their dues from Golla villages.

Religion By religion the Gollas are both Vallamulu (Vaishnavites) and Striramanthulu (Saivites), between whom marriage is permissible. They belong to the group of castes who worship the following items in a bamboo or rattan box: three or four long whip-like ropes made of cotton or Agave fibre, along with swords, sandals and idols. The ropes are called Vírathâdlu, or heroes' ropes. The contents of the box are set beneath a booth made of split bamboo (pâlâvili), and decorated with mango leaves, and flowers. There is also placed a pot containing several smaller pots, cowry shells, metal and earthenware sandals, and the image of a bull called bolli-âvu (bull idol). When not required for the purpose of worship, the idols are hung up in a room, which may not be entered by any one under pollution.

Some Karna Gollas earn their living by selling poultry, or by going about the country carrying on their head a small box containing idols and Vírathâdlu. Placing this at the end of a street, they do pîja (worship) before it, and walk up and down with a rope, with which they flagellate themselves. As they carry the gods (Dévarlu) about, these people are called Dévara vallu.

326 As the Gollas belong to the left-hand section, the Pedda Golla, or headman, has only a Mâdiga as his assistant.

At the marriages of Mutrâchas, Mâdigas, and some other classes, a form of worship called Vírala pîja is performed with the object of propitiating heroes or ancestors (víralu). A kindred ceremony, called Ganga pîja, is carried out by the Gollas, the expenses of which amount to about a hundred rupees. This Ganga worship lasts over three days, during which nine patterns, called muggu, are drawn on the floor in five colours and represent dhâmarapadmam (lotus flower), pâlâvili (booth), sulâlu (tridents), sesha panpu (serpent's play?), alugula simhâsanam (throne of Sakti), Víradu pérantâlu (hero and his wife), Rânivasam (Râni's palace), bónala (food), and Ganga. The last is a female figure, and probably represents Ganga, the goddess of water, though one of the Golla ancestors was named Gangi Râju. The patterns must be drawn by Mâdigas or Mâlas. Three Pambalas, or Mâdigas skilled in this work, and in reciting the stories of various gods and goddesses, commence their work on the afternoon of the third day, and use white powder (rice flour), and powders coloured yellow (turmeric), red (turmeric and chunam), green (leaves of Cassia auriculata), and black (charred rice husk). On an occasion when my assistant was present, the designs were drawn on the floor of the courtyard of the house, which was roofed over. During the preparation of the designs, people were barred from the yard, as some ill-luck, especially an attack of fever, would befall more particularly boys and those of feeble mind, if they caught sight of the muggu before the drishti thíyadam, or ceremony for removing the evil eye has been performed. Near the head of the figure of Gangs, when completed, was placed an old bamboo box, regarded as a god, containing idols, ropes, betel, flowers, and small swords. Close to the box, and on the right side of the figure, an earthen day, containing a lighted wick fed with ghí (clarified butter) was set. On the left side were deposited a kalasam (brass vessel) representing Siva, a row of chembus (vessels) called bónalu (food cessels), and a small empty box tied up in a cloth dyed with turmeric, and called Brammayya. Between these articles and the figure, a sword was laid. Several heaps of food were piled up on the figure, and masses of rice placed near the head and feet. In addition, a conical mass of food was heaped up on the right side of the figure, and cakes were stuck into it. All round this were placed smaller conical piles of food, into which broomsticks decorated with betel leaves were thrust. Masses of food, scooped out and converted into lamps, were arranged in various places, and betel leaves and nuts scattered all over the figure. Towards the feet were set a chembu filled with water, a lump of food coloured red, and incense. The preparations concluded, three Gollas stood near the feet of the figure, and took hold of the red food, over which water had been sprinkled, the incense, and a fowl. The food and incense were then waved in front of the figure, and the fowl, after it had been smoked by the incense, and waved over the figure, had its neck wrung. This was followed by the breaking of a cocoanut, and offering fruits and other things. The three men then fell prostrate on the ground before the figure, and saluted the goddess. One of them, an old man, tied little bells round his legs, and stood mute for a time. Gradually he began to perspire, and those present exclaimed that he was about to be possessed by the spirit of an ancestor. Taking up a sword, he began to cut himself with it, especially in the back, and then kept striking himself with the blunt edge. The sword was wrested from him, and placed on the figure, The old man then went several times round the muggu, shaking and twisting his body into various grotesque attitudes. While this was going on, the bridegroom appeared on the scene, and seated himself near the feet of the figure. Throwing off his turban and upper cloth, he fell on the floor, and proceeded to kick his legs about, and eventually, becoming calmer, commenced to cry. Being asked his name, he replied that he was Kariyavala Râju. Further questions were put to him, to which he made no response, but continued crying. Incense and lights were then carried round the image, and the old man announced that the marriage would be auspicious, and blessed the bride and bridegroom and the assembled Gollas. The ceremony concluded with the burning of camphor. The big mass of food was eaten by Pîni Gollas.

327 It is stated in the Manual of the Nellore district that, when a Golla bridegroom sets out for the house of his mother-in-law, he is seized on the way by his companions, who will not release him until he has paid a piece of gold. The custom of illatom, or application of a son-in-law, prevails among the Gollas, as among the Kâpus and some other Telugu classes.1

In connection with the death ceremonies, it may be noted that the corpse, when it is being washed, is made to rest on a mortar, and two pestles are placed by its side, and a lighted lamp near the head.

There is a proverb to the effect that a Golla will not scruple to water the milk which he sells to his own father. Another proverb refers to the corrupt manner in which he speaks his mother- tongue.

The insigne of the caste at Conjeeveram is a silver churning stick.2

Gond.: -Gond, a non-Aryan tribe, classed on linguistic grounds as Dravidian, properly belonging to the Central Provinces, 3 but found also in the Tributary States of Chota Nagpur, in the south of Lohardagâ and in Singbhum. On the States of Sargujâ, and Udaipur most of the feudal tenures held on terms of military service directly under the Chief are in the hands of Gonds- a fact which suggests that the tribe must have been among the earliest permanent settlers in that part of the country. The Gonds of Bengal are divided into four sub- tribes: Gond, Râj-Gond, Dhokar-Gond, and Doroâ-Gond or Nâik.

Internal structure. The Gond represent the bulk of the tribe, while the Râj-Gond are supposed to be descended from families who attained to the dignity of Chief. The Dhokar-Gond are a wandering race, who make a living by begging and thieving. The Doroâ-Gond or Nâik are found only in Singbhum. According to Colonel Dalton, they were the military retainers of the Mahâpâtra of Bâmanghâti, a feudatory clan of the Râjâ of Moharbhanj, who were driven out of Bâmanghâti with their leader and permitted to settle in Singbhum in consequence of his having rebelled against his lord paramount. Their sections, shown in Appendix I, are totemistic. One of them, Besrâ (hawk) occurs also among the Santâls.

Marriage. Gonds practise both infant and adult-marriage, but under Hindu influence the former practice tends continually to become more popular and to be looked upon as a badge of social distinction. The ceremony is modelled on that in use among the lower castes of Hindus. Sindurdân and marriage to a mango-tree form prominent parts of the ritual, while according to some the binding portion of the rite consists in the village barber pouring a vessel of water over both bride and bridegroom. Widows are allowed to marry again, the usual practice being for the widow to marry her late husband's younger brother. No religious ceremony is in use on such occasions, nor is it customary to send for the Brahman and Hajjâm, who officiate at the marriage of a virgin. All that is necessary is to assemble a sort of committee of relations, before whom the bridegroom gives the bride a new cloth and a lac bracelet and promises to maintain her in a suitable fashion. The proceedings end, as is the manner of the non-Aryan tribes, with a feast, at which every one gets very drunk.

1. See C. Ramchendrier, Collection of decisions of High Courts and the Privy Council? pplicable to dancing girls, illatom, etc,. Madras, 1892. 2. J. S. F. Mackenzie, Ind. Ant., IV, 1875. 3. See Risley. The present article deals only with the Gonds of Bengal, and does not attempt to give an exhaustive account of the entire tribe.

328 Religion. The Bengal members of the tribe affect to be orthodox Hindus, and worship the standard gods with the assistance of a degraded class of Brahmans, who also officiate at their marriages. Although to this extent they have embraced the popular religion, they still worship the characteristic deities of the non-Hinduised Gonds-Bar Deo and Dulhâ Deo. They burn their dead, but the relatives mourn for three days only, after which period they purify themselves by bathing and shaving, and make offerings of bread and milk to the spirit of the departed. Their social rank is very low, as in spite of their professed conformity to Hinduism they eat fowls and other unclean food.

Social status. Concerning their appearance and characteristics, Colonel Dalton has the following remarks: "Socially, I consider the Hinduised or semi-Hinduised Gonds to be the least interesting of the great families of the aborigines of India. They have none of the demeanour which characterises many of the Singbhum Kols. They are in character reserved, sullen, and suspicious. They are indifferent cultivators and careless about the appearance of their homesteads, and they are singularly ill-favoured; and though some of the wealthier families have formed a series of alliances with other races, which have improved their looks, I can point to many who have tried this in vain, and who show to this day features more closely resembling the lower Negro type than any I have seen. They often have short crisp curly hair, and though it is said, and no doubt truly, that this is far removed from the regular woolly covering of a Negro's head, I have generally seen such hair in conjunction with features very noticeably Negro in type, and accompanying a very dark skin. They are larger and heavier in build than the Oraons and Kols, and with none of the graceful plysique to be found in both these tribes."

Gond.: -Gonr1.- Probably meaning an "inhabitant of Gauda" or Western Kosala; according to Mr. Hislop from the Telegu Konda , "a hill." Dr. Oppert2 suggests that the names of tribes with the first syllable Ko or Go, such as the Kodulu. Konda, Gonda, Ganda, Kurava, etc., are derived from the Gauda Dravidian root Ko, konda, etc., in the sense of "mountain." In the Census under the name Gond two quite distinct classes of people seem to be mixed up, the true Gonds of the Central Indian hill country, and the Gonr of the Eastern Districts of these Provinces, who is usually classed with the fishing tribes of Kahâr an Mallâh and is a domestic servant, stone-cutter or grain-parcher. In the detailed Census Returns the sections of these two distinct tribes are inextricably mixed up together and defy analysis.

The Central Indian Gonds. Of the Central Indian Gonds there are very few in these Provinces except in Jhânsi and Ialitpur. But as will be seen from the account of the Mânjhis and Kharwârs of South Mirzapur, they are almost certainly an offshoot from the great Gond race, and still preserve much of the tribal organisation of the real Gonds along the hills to the west. According to Mr. Hislop the true Gonds divide themselves into twelve and a half castes or classes in imitation of the Hindus. These are Râj Gond; Raghuwâl; Dadavé; Katula; Pâdâl; Dholi; Ojhyâl; Koilabhutâl; Koikopâl; Kolâm; and an inferior sort of Pâdâl as the half caste. The first four, with the addition, according to some, of the Kolâm, are comprehended under the name of Koitor, the Gond par excellence .

The Râj Gonds.

1 See Crooke. 2 OPriginal Inhabitants or Bharatavarsha , 13.

329 The only branch of the tribe which seems to exist under this name in these Provinces is the Râj Gond, some of whom are reported to exist in the Jhânsi District. They are divided into the following sections (gotra): Sohâm; Chagâba; Markâm; Posâm; Korâm; Dewar, which are exogamous. Of the Bâj Gonds Mr. Hislop writes: "The Râj Gonds are so called because they have furnished from their number most of the families who have attained to royal power. They are widely spread over the plains and mountains of the Province of Nâgpur, and are found in Berâr and the jungle south of the of the Wârda, as well as those north of the Narbada. the Raghuwâl and Dadavé are more limited in their range, being confined principally to the District of Chhindwâra. These three classes generally devote themselves to agriculture. They eat with each other, but do not intermarry. The Katulya, though not a very numerous class in regard to individuals, is extensively scattered. It includes all those who, originally belonging to one or other to the preceding Koitor classes, have begun to conform to the Hindu religion and to ape Hindu manners. Professing to be Kshatriyas, they have invested themselves with a sacred thread, and make great efforts to get the claim allowed by contracting marriage with needy Râjput brides. With scrupulous exactness they perform the prescribed ablutions of their adopted faith, and carry their passion for purification so far as to have their faggots duly sprinkled with water before they are used for cooking. At the time of dinner if a stranger or a crow come near them the food is thrown away as polluted. These practices, which other Koitors regard with profound contempt, are gaining ground among the rich. It was only one or two generations ago that the Zamíndâr or petty Râja of Khairagarh, the present bearer of which title still carries in his features unmistakeable traces of this Gond origin, was received within the pale of Hinduism; traces of his Gond origin, was received within the pale of Hinduism; and similar transformations, though at a more distant date, seem to have been undergone, by the royal dynasties of Bastar, Mandla, and various smaller principalities. The tendency to claim conection with Râjputs is not peculiar to ambitious Gonds: it prevails among the Bhíls of Mâlwa, and is not unknown to the wandering Kaikâdis of the Dakkhin both of whom boast of being Yadavas or Panwârs, or some equally highborn section of the Kshatriyas." Exactly the same is the case with the Kharwârs of Mirzapur, one of whom has in quite recent times blossomed into a Râjput and invented a clan, the Benbans, for himself. He has succeeded in marrying into a clan as respectable as that of the Chandel.

Physical Appearance Of The Gonds. Of the physical appearance of the Gonds Mr. Hislop writes: "All are a little below the average size of Europeans, and in complexion darker than the generality of Hindus. Their bodies are well proportioned, but their features are rather ugly. They have a roundish head, distended nostrils, wide mouth, thickish lips, straight, black hair, and scanty beard and moustache. It has been supposed that some of the aborigines of Central India have wooly hair; but this is a mistake. Among the thousands I have seen I have not found one with hair like a Negro. A few, indeed, have curly locks, as a few Britons have; but I have not met with on inhabitant of the forest who exhibited any marked resemblance to the African race. On the contrary, both their hair and features are decidedly Mongolian." "Their women," writes Captain Forsyth,1 "Differ among themselves more than do the men of these races. Those of the Gonds are somewhat lighter in colour and less fleshy than the Korkus. But the Gond women of different parts of the country vary greatly in appearance, many of them in the opener parts near the plains being great robust creatures; finer animals by far than the men, and here Hindu blood may be fairly expected. In the interior, again, bevies of Gond women may be seen who are more like monkeys than human beings. The features of all are strongly marked and coarse. The girls occasionally possess such comeliness as attaches to general plumpness and a good- humoured expression of face; but when their short youth is over, all pass at once into a hideous age. Their hard lives, sharing as they do all the labours of the men, except that of hunting, suffice to account for this. They dress decently enough, in a short petticoat, often dyed blue, tucked in between the legs so as to leave them naked to the thigh, and a mantle of

1 Highlands of Central India , 156.

330 white cotton covering the upper part of the body, with a fold thrown over the head. The most eastern section of the Korkus add a bodice, as do some of the Hinduised Gonads. The Gond women have the legs- as far as they are suffered to be seen- tattooed in a variety of fantastic patterns, done in indigo or gun-powder blue. The Pardhâns are the great artists in this line, and the figures they design are almost the only ornamental art attempted by these tribes. It is done when the girl becomes marriageable; and the traveller will sometimes hear dreadful shrieks issuing from their villages, which will be attributed to some young Gondin being operated upon with the tattooing needle. Like all barbarians, both races deck themselves with an inordinate amount of what they consider ornaments. Quantity rather than quality is aimed at; and both arms and legs are usually loaded with tiers of heavy rings, in silver among the more wealthy, but, rather than not at all, then in brass, iron, or coloured glass. Ear and noserings and bulky necklaces of coins and beads are also common; and their ambrosial locks are intertwined on State occasions with the hair of goats and other animals."

Domestic Rites-Marriage The following account of Gond domestic ceremonies by a writer in the Central Provinces Gazette may be quoted, as the book is rare: "Some of the Gond ceremonies are peculiar. Thus, they have seven different kinds of marriages, some much more binding than others, but all supposed to contain a sufficient quatum of matrimonial sanctity about them. The first and surest is when a Gond wants to marry his daughter, he first looks for a husband among his sister's children, as it is considered the proper thing for first cousins to marry whenever such an arrangement is possible; though, strange to say, the rule is only thought absolutely binding when the brother's child happens to be a girl, and the sister's a boy. Even in the opposite case, however, it is very commonly done, as by so providing for a relation for life, the man is said to have performed a very right and proper act. Another reason is that less expense in entailed in marrying a relation than the daughter of a stranger, who is apt to be more exacting. Among the poorer classes who can afford no money as a dower, the bridegroom serves the bride's father for periods varying from seven or eight months to three years, or sometimes more, according to arrangements made by the parents. When the children are ten or eleven years old, a committee of the village elders is generally held, and the term of apprenticeship decided; the term of service being usually somewhat longer when the youth is serving his uncle for his cousin, as relations are not supposed to exact so much work from the Lamjina. The youth lives in one of the outhouses, and has to perform all the menial work of the household, both in the house and in the field. During his period of probation he is forbidden to hold any intercourse with the girl.6 "Another description of marriage is when the woman makes her own match, and declining the husband provided for her by her relatives, runs away with the man of her choice. A case of this sort seldom happens. It is, however, quite recognised among the Gonds that the women have the right to take their own way if they have the courage; and the elders of the village in which the man resides generally endeavour to arrange matters to the satisfaction of both parties. Connected with this is compulsory marriage. Even after the girl has run away form her father's house, and taken up her residence in the house of the man of her choice, it is quite allowable for the man she has deserted to assert his rights to her person by carrying her off by force; in fact not only is this right allowed to the deserted lover, but any one of the girl's first cousins may forcibly abduct her and keep her for himself, if he has the power. Once carried off, she is kept in the house of her captor, carefully watched, until she finds it useless to attempt to resist, and gives in. Occasionally where the girl has made what is considered an objectionable match with a poor man, who has few friends, abductions of this sort are successfully carried out, but, as a rule, they are not attempted. The last form is for very poor people, or girls with no relations. In the latter case she selects some man of her acquaintance, and going to his house takes up her abode there. He signifies his acceptance by putting on her arms bangles (chîri) and giving a small feast to the village elders. Sometimes he objects, if the woman is useless or of bad character; but he gets little redress from the elders; and unless he can induce some other man to take her off his hands he is generally supposed to be bound to keep the woman. As, however, the women are usually good labourers, and well worthy of their hire,

331 a man of property seldom raises any objection, and the women, too, are usually sufficiently worldly-wise to choose for their keepers men fairly well-to-do."

Widow-Marriage. "Widows are expected to re-marry in two ways. The first consists simply in the woman proceeding to the house of the man she has agreed to live with after her husband's death. The other is where the younger brother marries his elder brother's widow, which he is expected to do by the custom of the tribe, unless the widow should insist on making some other arrangement for herself. The ceremony in both the cases consists simply of a presentation of bangles by the husband to the wife, and a feast to the village elders. Elder brothers are not allowed to marry the widows of their younger brothers. The only limit to the number of wives a Gond may have is his means of supporting them.

Death Rites. "Cremation is considered the most honourable mode of disposing of the dead, but being expensive is very seldom resorted to, except in the case of elders of the tribe. The rule is that, if possible, men over fifty should be burned; but as these wild tribes have no means of telling the ages of their friends, it results that all old men are burnt. Women are always buried. Formerly the Gonds used to bury their dead in the houses in which they died, just deep enough to prevent their being dug up again by the dogs; now they have generally some place set apart as a burial-ground near the village. Their funeral ceremonies are very few; the grave is dug so that the head shall lie to the south and the feet to the north; the idea being that the deceased has gone to the home of the deities, which is supposed to be somewhere in the north; but the Gonds do not appear to have any real theory regarding an after-life, or the immortality of the soul. The ceremony for this purpose may be gone through apparently at any time after death, from one month to a year and-a-half, or even to two years. During that period the spirit of the deceased is the only object of worship in the house. A share of the family food is set aside for him, and he is supposed to remain is the house and watch over its inhabitants. After his funeral, when, if the relatives can afford it, they clothe the corpse in a new dress, a little turmeric and a pice is tied up in a cloth, and suspended by the Baiga to one of the beams of the house; there it remains till the time comes to lay the spirit, which is done by the Baiga removing the cloth and offering it, with a portion of the flesh of a goat or a pig, to the god of the village; a feast is given to the relations, and the ceremony is complete."

Religion. In Jhânsi they worship all the ordinary Hindu gods, Mahârdeva, Bhawâni, Râma, Krishna, Mahâbír, and Hardaul; but their special tribal deity is Gonr Bâba, who is apparently one of the deified worthies of the tribe. They seem to have become completely Hinduised: cremate their dead, throw the ashes into the Ganges or one of its tributaries, and employ the ordinary village Brâhmans in their domestic ceremonies.

In their real home the number of their deities seems everywhere to differ. Mr. Hislop says that he could never get any one man to name more than seven. The best known are Dulha Deo. Nârâyan Deo, Sîraj Deo, Mâta, Devi, Bara Deo, Khair Mâta, Thâkur Deo and Gansyâm Deo. Besides these, the Gond peoples the forests in which he lives with spirits of all kinds, most of them vested with the power of inflicting evil, and quite inclined to use their power. To propitiate these he sets up a shrine (pât) in spots selected either by himself or by his ancestors, and there performs certain rites, generally consisting of small offerings on certain days. These shrines are sometimes merely a bamboo with a piece of rag tied to the end, a heap of stenos, or perhaps only a few pieces of rag tied to the branches of a tree. However, the spirit is supposed to have taken up its abode there, and, in consequence, on the occasion of any event of importance happening in the Gond's family, the spirit has his share of the good things going, in the shape of a little spirit and possibly a fowl sacrificed to him. In Mandla Thâkur Deo is supposed to represent especially the household deity, and to preside over the wellbeing of the house and farmyard. In Râmgarh, too, this deity is held in great

332 reverence; but there he is supposed to occupy more then one shape. One village in the Shahpur Ta'aluqa is said to be very highly favoured as one of the residences of their deity. Captain Ward was shown there a few links of a roughly forged chain which the superstition of the people had gifted with the power of voluntary motion; this chain looked very old, and no one could say how long it had been at Jata; it was occasionally found hanging on a ber tree, sometimes on a stone under the tree, at others in the bed of a neighbouring stream. At the time of Captain Ward's visit it was on a stone under the tree, from which it was said to have descended four days before. Each of these movements is made the occasion for some petty sacrifice, of which the attendant Baiga reaps the benefit, so that it is, of course, his advantage to work on the credulity of the Gonds; he does not appear, however, to abuse his power, as these movements only occur about once in four months; so that the Gonds can hardly complain of being priest-ridden to any extent."

The following account of Gansyâm Deo may be compared with what has been elsewhere said about this deity.1 "Throughout the greater part of Râmgarh, and also in parts of Mandla, Gansyâm Deo is held in great reverence, and about one hundred yards from each village where he is in favour, a small hut is built for him. It is generally of the rudest material, with little attempt at ornamentation. A bamboo, with a red or yellow flag tied to the end, is planted in one corner, an old withered garland or two is hung up, and a few blocks of rough stone, some smeared with vermilion, are strewn about the place, which is thus especially dedicated to Gansyâm Deo. He is considered the protector of the crops, and in the month of Kârttik (November) the whole village assembles at his shrine to worship him: sacrifices of fowls and spirits, or a pig occasionally, according to the village, are offered, and Gansyâm is said to descend on the head of one of the worshippers, who is suddenly seized with a sort of fit, and after staggering about for a little, rushes off into the wildest jungles, where, the popular theory is, if not pursued and brought back, he would inevitably die of starvation, a raving lunatic; for as it is, after being brought back, he does not recover his senses for one or two days. The idea is that one man is thus singled out as a scapegoat for the sins of the rest of the village."

Gondhali.: -They live in central India. They are nomadic musicians and singers of the sacred texts. They are usually active at wedding feasts.

Gopâl.: -Borekar 2.- Bibliography: Major Gunthorpe's Criminal Tribe: Mr. Kitt's Berâr Census Report, 1881. A small vagrant and criminal caste of Berâr, where they numbered about 2000 persons in 1901. In the Central Provinces they were included among the Nats in 1901, but in 1891 a total of 681 were returned. Here they belong principally to the Nimâr District, and Major Gunthorpe considered that they entered Berâr from Nimâr and Indore. They are divided into five classes, the Marâthi, Vír, Pangul, Pahalwân, or Khâm, and Gujarâti Gopâls. The Marâthi Gopâls rank higher than the rest, and all other classes will take food from them, while the Vír Gopâls eat the flesh of dead cattle and are looked down upon by the others. The ostensible occupation of the Vír Gopâls is that of making mats from the leaves of the date-palm tree. They build their huts of dry-leaves outside a village and remain there for one or two years or more until the headman tells them to move on. The name Borekar is stated to have the meaning of mat-maker. The Pângul Gopâls also make mats, but in addition to this they are mendicants, and must be the same as the Harbola mendicants of the Central Provinces. The Pângul spreads a cloth below a tree, and climbing it, sits on some high branch in the early morning. Here he sings and chants the praises of charitable persons

1 Introduction to Popular Religion , 74. 2 See Russell.

333 until some body throws a small present on to the cloth. This is done only between cock-crow and sunrise and not after sunrise. Others walk through the streets, ejaculating dam ! 1 dam ! and begging from door to door. With the exception of shaving after a death they never cut the hair, either of their head or face. Their principal deity is Dâwal Mâlik, but they also worship Khandoba; and they bury the bodies of their dead. The corpse is carried to the grave in a jholi or wallet and is buried in a sitting posture. In order to discover whether a dead ancestor had been reborn in a child they have recourse to magic. A lamp is suspended from a thread, and the upper stone of the grinding-mill is placed standing upon the lower one. If either of them moves when the name of the dead ancestor is pronounced they consider that be had been reborn. One section of the Pânguls had taken to agriculture, and these refuse to marry with the mendicants, though eating and drinking with them. The Pahalwân Gopâls live in small tents and travel about, carrying their belongings on buffaloes. They are wrestlers and gymnasts, and belong mainly to Hyderâbâd.2 The Khâm Gopâls are a similar group also belonging to Hyderâbâd; and are so named because they carry about a long pole (khâm) on which they perform acrobatic feats. They also have thick canvas bags striped blue and white. The Gujarâtí Gopâls are lower than the other divisions, who will not take food from them. They are tumblers and do feats of strength and also perform on the tight-rope. All five groups, Major Gunthorpe states, are inveterate cattle thieves; and have colonies of their people settled on the Indore and Hyderâbâd borders, and between them along the foot of the Satpîra Hills. When they steal Buffaloes or other animals, they are passed along from post to post and taken to foreign territory in an incredibly short space of time. A considerable proportion of them, however, have now taken to agriculture, and their traditional calling is to sell milk and butter, for which they keep buffaloes. Gopâl is a name of Krishna, and they consider themselves to be descended them the herdsmen of Brindâban.

Goriya.: -Guriya. 3-A fishing and cultivating caste of the Eastern Districts, in all respects analogous to the Gonrhi or Gunrhi of Bihâr. 4 They are usually treated as a sub-caste of Mallâh. They correspond closely to the other allied castes in manners and customs; but their women are said to bear an indifferent character- a state of things naturally resulting in a caste the male members of which are compelled by the nature of their occupation to absent themselves from home for long periods. Their tribal gods are the Pânchonpír. "Some revere a grey-bearded person, who, as Ganga ji ka beldâr, 'the navvy of our lady the Ganges' saps and swallows up whatever opposes the sacred stream. Before casting a new net or starting on a commercial venture, offerings of molasses and seven kinds of grain, kneaded into balls, are offered to him, and at the end of ceremony one of the balls is placed on the edge of the water, another on the bow of the boat. Another rite common to many, if not to all fisher castes, is the Barwariya or Barahi Pîja, when a subscription is made and in the absence of a Brâhman a pig is sacrificed in a garden or on a patch of wasteland outside a village. Jay Sinh, Amar Sing, Chand Sing, Dayâl Sinh, Kewal, Marang Bandi, Goraiya, and a river named Kamalaji, are regularly worshipped. Jay Sinh, who is also a favourite deity of the Tiyar caste, is said to have been a Gonrhi of Ujjain who had a large timber trade in the Sundariban. On one occasion the Râja of the Sundariban imprisoned 700 Gonrhis is consequence of a dispute about the price of wood. Jay Sinh slew the Râja and released the prisoners, and has ever since been honoured with daily worship. Goats, sweetmeats, wheaten cakes, pân supâri and flowers are offered to him at regular intervals, and no Gonrhi will light a pipe or embark on a fishing excursion without first invoking the name of Jay Sinh. Once a year, in the month of Srâvan, a flag is set up in honour of Hanumân on a bamboo pole in the courtyard, and offerings of sweetmeats and fruits are presented to the god. These offerings are received by the

1. Dam apparently here means life or breath. 2. Gunthorpe, p. 91. 3 See Crooke. 4. For whom see Risley, Tribes and Census I., 201.

334 Brâhmans who officiate as priests, while the articles of food given to the minor gods are eaten by the members of the caste. The dead are buried, usually on the brink of a river, and the ashes thrown into the stream. In Supal the practice is to burn the dead in a mango grove. Srâddha is performed on the thirteenth day after death. " 1

Gosain.: -Gusain, Sanniâsi, Dasnâmi. 2- A name for the orders of religious mendicants of the Sivite sect, from which a caste has now developed. In 191 the Gosains numbered a little over 40,000 persons in the Central Provinces and Berâr, being distributed over all Districts. The name Gosain signifies either gao-swâmi, master of cows, or go-swâmi, master of the senses. Its significance sometimes varies. Thus in Bengal the heads of Bairâgi or Vaishnava monasteries are called Gosain, and the priests of the Vishnuite Vallabhachârya sect are known as Gokulastha Gosain. But over most of India, as in the Central Provinces, Gosain appears to be a name applied to members of the Sivite orders. Sanniâsi means one who abandons the desires of the world and the body. Properly every Brâhman should become a Sanniâsi in the fourth stage or ashrâm of his life, when after marrying and begetting a son to celebrate his funeral rites in the second stage, he should retire to the forest, become a hermit and conquer all the appetites and passions of the body in the third stage. Thereafter, when the process of mortification is complete he should beg his bread as a Sanniâsi. But only those who enter the religious orders now become Sanniâsis, and the name is therefore confined to them. Dasnâmi means "the ten names," and refers to the ten orders in which the Gosains or Sivite anchorites are commonly classified. Sâdhu is a generic term for a religious mendicant. The name Gosain is now more commonly applied to the married members of the caste, who pursue ordinary avocations, while the mendicants are known as Sâdhu or Sanniâsi.

The Ten Orders. The Gosains consider their founder to have been Shankar Achârya, the great apostle of the revival of the worship of Siva in southern India, who lived between the eighth and tenth centuries. He had four disciples from whom the ten orders of Gosains are derived. These are commonly stated as follows:

1. Giri (peak or top of a hill). 2. Puri (a town). 3. Parbat (a mountain). 4. Sâgar (the ocean). 5. Ban or Van (the forest). 6. Tírtha (a shrine of pilgrimage). 7. Bhârthi (the goddess of speech). 8. Sâraswati (the goddess of learning). 9. Aranya (forest). 10. Ashrâm (a hermitage).

The names may perhaps be held to refer to the different places in which the members of each order would pursue their austerities. The different orders have their headquarters at great shrines. The Sâraswati, Bhârthi and Puri orders are supposed to be attached to the monastery at Sringeri in Mysore; the Tírtha and Ashrâm to that at Dwârka in Gujarat; the Ban and Aranya to the Govardhan monastery at Puri; and the Giri, Parbat and Sâgara to the shrine of Badrinâth in the Himalayas. Dandi is sometimes shown as one of the ten orders, but it seems to be the special designation of certain ascetics who carry a staff and may belong to either the

1. Risley, loc. cit. 2. See Russel. This article contains material from Mr. J. C. Oman's Mystics, Ascetics and Saints of India, Sir E. Maclagan's Punjab Census Report, 1891, and Dr. J. N. Bhattachârya's Hindu Castes and Sects (Calcutta, Messrs. Thacker, Spink and Co.).

335 Tírtha, Ashrâm, Bhârthi or Sâraswati groups. Another name for Gosain ascetics is Abdhît, or one who has separated himself from the world. The term Abdhît is sometimes specially applied to followers of the Marâtha saint, Dattatreya, an incarnation of Siva. The commonest orders in the Central Provinces are Giri, Puri and Bhârthi, and the members frequently use the name of the order as their surname. Members of the Aranya, Sâgara and Parbat orders are rarely met with at present.

Initiation. A notice of the Gosains who have become an ordinary caste will be given later. Formerly only Brâhmans, but now a man of any caste, as Kurmi, Kunbi or Mâli, from whom a Brâhman takes water, may be admitted. In some localities it is said that Gonds and Kols can now be made Gosains, and hence the social position of the Gosains has greatly fallen, and high-caste Hindus will not take water from them. It is supposed, however, that the Giri order is still recruited only from Brâhmans. At initiation the body of a neophyte is cleaned with the five products of the sacred cow, milk, curds, ghí, dung and urine. He drinks water in which the great toe of his guru has been dipped and eats the leavings of the latter's food, thus severing himself from his own caste. His sacred thread is taken off and broken, and it is sometimes burned and he eats the ashes. All his hair is shaved, including the scalp-lock, which every secular Hindu wears. A mantra or text is then whispered or blown into his ear.

Dress. The novice is dressed in a cloth coloured with geru or red ochre, such as the Gosains usually wear. It is probable that the red or pink colour is meant to symbolise blood and to signify that the Gosains allow the sacrifice of animals and the consumption of flesh, and on this account they are called Lâl Pâdri or red priest, while Vishnuite mendicants, who dress in white, are called Síta Pâdri. He has a necklace or rosary of the seeds of the rudrâkhsa tree, 1 sacred to Siva, consisting of 32 or 64 beads. These are like nuts with a rough indented shell. On his forehead he marks with bhabhît or ashes three horizontal lines to represent the trident of Siva, or sometimes the eye of the god. Others make only two lines with a dot above or below, and this sign is said to represent the phallic emblem. A crescent moon or a triangle may also be made.2 The marks are often made in sandalwood, and the Gosains say that the original sandalwood grows on a tree in the Himalayas, which is guarded by a great snake so that nobody can approach it; but its scent is so strong that all the surrounding trees of the grove are scented with it and sandalwood is obtained from them. Those who worship Bhairon make a round mark with vermilion between the eyes. A mendicant usually has a begging- bowl and a pair of tongs, which are useful for kindling a fire. Those who have visited Badrinâth or one of the other Himalayan shrines have a ring of iron, brass, or copper on the arm, often inscribed with the image of a deity. If they have been to the temple of Devi at Hinglâj in the Lâsbela State of Beluchistan they have a necklace of little white stone beads called thumra ; and one who has made a pilgrimage to Râmeshwaram at the extreme southern point of India has a ring of conch-shell on the wrist. When he can obtain it a Gosain also carries a tiger or panther skin, which be wears over his shoulders and uses to sit and lie down on. Among the ancient Greeks it was the custom to sleep in a temple or its avenue either on the bare ground or on the skin of a sacred animal, in order to obtain visions or appearances of the god in a dream or to be cured of diseases.3 Formerly the Gosains were accustomed to go about naked, and at the religious festivals they would go in procession naked to bathe in the river. At Amarnâth in the Punjab they would throw themselves naked on the block of ice which represented Siva. 4 The Nâga Gosains, so called because they were

1. Elaeocarpus. 2. Mr. Marten's C. P. Census Report (1911), p. 79. 3. Orphcus , p. 137. 4. Oman, Mystics, Ascetics and Saints , p. 269.

336 once accustomed to go naked into battle, were a famous fighting corps. Though they shave the head and scalp-lock on initiation, the Gosains usually let the hair grow, and either have it hanging down in matted locks over the shoulders, which gives them a wild and unkempt appearance, or wind it on the top of the head into a coil often thickened with strips of sheep's wool. They say that they let the hair grow in imitation of the ancient forest ascetics, who could not but let it grow as they had no means to shave it, and also of the matted locks of the god Siva. Sometimes they let the hair grow during the whole period of a pilgrimage, and on arrival at the shrine of their destination shave it off and offer it to the god. Those who are initiated on the banks of the Nerbudda throw the hair cut from their head into the sacred river.

Methods Of Begging And Greetings. They have various rules about begging. Some will never turn back to receive alms. They may also make a rule only to accept the surplus of food cooked for the family, and to refuse any of special quality or cooked expressly for them. One Gosain, noticed by Mr. A. K. Smith, always begged hopping, and only from five houses; he took from them respectively two handfuls of flour, a pinch of salt, and sufficient quantities of vegetables, spices and butter for his meal, and then went hopping home. Those who are performing the perikrama or circuit of the Nerbudda from its source to its mouth and back, do not cut their hair or nails during the whole period of about three years. They may not enter the Nerbudda above their knees nor wash their vessels in it. After crossing any tributary river or stream in their path they may not re-cross this; and if they leave something behind accidentally must give it up unless they can persuade somebody to go back and fetch it for them. Some carry a gourd with a single string stretched on a stick, on which they twang some notes; others have a belt of sheep's hair hung with the bells of bullocks which they tie round the waist, so that the tinkling of he bells may announce their coming. A common begging cry is Alakh, which is said to mean 'apart,' and to refer to themselves as being apart or separated from the world. The beggar gives this cry and stands at the door of the house for half a minute, shaking his body about all the time. If no alms are brought in this time he moves on. When an ordinary Hindu meets a Gosain he says 'Nâmu Nârâyan' or 'Go to Nârâyan,' and the Gosain answers 'Nârâyan.' Nârâyan is a name of Vishnu, and its use by the Gosains is curious. Those who have performed the circuit of the Nerbudda say 'Har Nerbudda,' and the person addressed answers 'Nerbudda Mai ki Jai' or 'Victory to Mother Nerbudda.'

The Dandis. The Dandis are a special group of ascetics belonging to several of the ten orders. According to one account a novice who desires to become a Sanniâsi must serve a period of probation for twelve years as a Dandi. Others say that only a Brâhman can be a Dandi, while members of other castes may become Sanniâsis, and a Brâhman can only become one if he is without father, mother, wife or child. 1 The Dandi is so called because he has a dand or bamboo staff like the ancient Vedic students. He must always carry this and never lay it down, but when sleeping plant it in the ground. Sometimes a piece of red cloth is tied round the staff. The Dandi should live in the forest, and only come once a day to beg at a Brâhman's house for a part of such food as the family may have cooked. He should not ask for food if any one else, even a dog, is waiting for it. He must not accept money, or touch any metal. As a matter of fact these rules are disregarded, and the Dandi frequents towns and is accompanied by companions who will accept all kinds of alms on his behalf.2 Dandis and Sanniâsis do not worship idols, as they are themselves considered to have become part of the deity. They repeat the phrase 'Sevoham,' which signifies ' I am Siva.'

The Râwanvansis.

1. Bhattachârya, ibidem , and Oman. 2. Mystics, Ascetics and Saints, pp. 160, 161.

337 Another curious class of Gosains are the Râwanvansis, who go about in the character of Râwan, the demon king of Ceylon, as he was when he carried off Síta. The legend is that in order to do this, Râwan first sent his brother in the shape of a golden deer before Râma's palace., Síta saw it and said she must have the head of the deer, and sent Râma to kill it. So Râma pursued it to the forest, and from there Râwan cried out, imitating Râma's voice. Then Síta thought Râma was being attacked and told his brother Lachman to go to his help. But Lachman had been left in charge of her by Râma and refused to leave her, till Síta said he was hoping Râma would be killed, so that he might marry her. Then he drew a circle round her on the ground, and telling her not to step outside it until his return, and went off. Then Râwan took the disguise of a beggar and came and begged for alms from Síta. She told him to come inside the magic circle and she would give him alms, but he refused. So finally Síta came outside the circle, and Râwan at once seized her and carried her off to Ceylon. The Râwanvansi Gosains wear rings of hair all up their arms and a rope of hair round the waist, and the hair of their head hanging down. It would appear that they are intended to represent some animal. They smear vermilion on the forehead, and beg only at twilight and never at any other time, whether they obtain food or not. In begging they will never move backwards, so that when they have passed a house they cannot take alms from it unless the householder brings the gift to them.

Monasteries. Unmarried Sanniâsis often reside in Maths or monasteries. The superior is called Mahant, and he appoints his successor by will from the members. The Mahant admits all those willing and qualified to enter the order. If the applicant is young the consent of the parents is usually obtained; and parents frequently vow to give a child to the order. Many convents have considerable areas of land attached to them, and also dependent institutions. The whole property of the convent and its dependencies seems to be at the absolute disposal of the Mahant, but he is bound to give food, raiment and lodging to the inmates, and he entertains all travellers belonging to the order. 1

The fighting Gosains. In former times the Gosains often became soldiers and entered the service of different military chiefs. The most famous of these fighting priests were the Nâga Gosains of the Jaipur State of Râjputâna, who are said to have been under an obligation from their guru or religious chief to fight for the Râja of Jaipur whenever required. They received rent-free lands and pay of 1 two pice ( d.) a day, which was put into a common treasury and expended on the purchase of 2 arms and ammunition whenever needed for war. They would also lend money, and if a debtor could not pay would make him give his son to be enrolled in the force. The 7000 Nâga Gosains were placed in the vanguard of the Jaipur army in battle. Their weapons were the bow, arrow, shield, spear and discus. The Gosain proprietor of the Deopur estate in Raipur formerly kept up a force of Nâga Gosains, with which he used to collect the tribute from the feudatory chiefs of Chhattísgarh on behalf of the Râja of Nâgpur. It is said that he once invaded Bastar with this object, where most of the Gosains died of cholera. But after they had fasted for three days, the goddess Danteshwari appeared to them and promised them her protection. And they took the goddess away with them and installed her in their own village in Raipur. Forbes records that in Gujarât an English officer was in command of a troop known as the Gosain's wife's troops. These Nâga Gosains wore only a single white garment, like a sleeveless shirt reaching to the knees, and hence it is said that they were called naked. The Gosains and Bairâgis, or adherents of Siva and Vishnu, were often engaged in religious quarrels on the merits of their respective deities, and sometimes came to blows. A favourite point of rivalry was the right of bathing first in the Ganges on the occasion of one of the great religious fairs at Allahâbâd or Hardwâr. The Gosains claim priority of bathing, on the ground that the Ganges flows from the matted locks of Siva; while the Bairâgis assert that the

1. Buchanan, Eastern India , i. pp. 197, 198.

338 source of the river is from Vishnu's foot. In 1760 a pitched battle on this question ended in the defeat of the Bairâgis, of whom 1800 were slain. Again in 1796 the Gosains engaged in battle with the Sikh pilgrims and were defeated with the loss of 500 men.1 During the reign of Akbar a combat took place in the Emperor's presence between the two Sivite sects of Gosains, or Sanniâsis and Jogis, having been apparently arranged for his edification, to decide which sect had the best ground for its pretensions to supernatural power. The Jogis were completely defeated. 2

Burial. A dead Sanniâsi is always buried in the sitting attitude of religious contemplation with the legs crossed. The grave may be dug with a side receptacle for the corpse so that the earth, on being filled does not fall on it. The corpse is bathed and rubbed and clad in a new reddish- coloured shirt, with a rosary round the neck. The begging-wallet with some flour and pulse are placed in the grave, and also a gourd and staff. Salt is put round the body to preserve it, and an earthen pot is put over the head. Sometimes cocoanuts are broken on the skull to crack it and give exit to the soul. Perhaps the idea of burial and of preserving the corpse with salt is that the body of an ascetic does not need to be purified by fire from the appetites and passions of the flesh like that of an ordinary Hindu; it is already cleansed of all earthy frailty by his austerities, and the belief may therefore have originally been that such a man would carry his body with him to the afterworld or to absorption with the deity. The burial of a Sanniâsi is often accompanied with music and signs of rejoicing; Mr. Oman describes such a funeral in which the corps was seated in a litter, open on three sides so that it could be seen; it was tied to the back of the litter, and garlands of flowers partly covered the body, but could not conceal the hideousness of death as the unconscious head rolled helplessly from side to side with the movement of the litter. The procession was headed by a European brass band and by men carrying censers of incense. 3

Sexual Indulgence. Celibacy is the rule of the Gosain orders, and a man's property passes in inheritance to a selected chela or disciple. But the practice of keeping women is very common, even outside the large section of the community which now recognises marriage. Women could be admitted into the order, if they shaved their heads, assumed the ochre-coloured shirt and rubbed the guru and on payment of a fine, they could let their hair grow again, at least temporarily. These women were supposed to remain quite chaste and live in nunneries, but many of them lived with men of the order. It is not known to what extent women are admitted at present. The sons born of such unions would be adopted as chelas or disciples by other Gosains, and made their heirs by a reciprocal arrangement. Women who are convicted of some social offence, or who wish to leave their husbands, often join the order nominally and live with a Gosain or are married into the caste. Many of the wandering mendicants lead an immoral life, and scandals about their enticing away the wives of rich Hindus are not infrequent.4 During their visits to villages they also engage in intrigues, and a ribald Gond song sung at the Holi festival describes the pleasure of the village women at the arrival of a Gosain owing to the sexual gratification which they expected to receive from him.

Missionary Work. Nevertheless the wandering Gosains have done much to foster and maintain the Hindu religion among the people. They are the gurus or spiritual preceptors of their clients. In former times the Gosains travelled over the wildest tracts of country, proselytising the primitive non-Aryan tribes, for whose conversion to Hinduism they are largely responsible.

1. Nesfield, Brief View of the Caste System , p. 86. 2. J. C. Oman, Cults, Customs and Superstitions of India (London, T. fisher Unwin), p. 11. 3. Mystics, Ascetics and Saints of India, pp. 165, 157. 4. Sir E. Maclagan, Punjab Census Report (1891), p. 112.

339 On such journeys they necessarily carried their lives in their hands, and not infrequently lost them.

The Gosains Caste. The majority of the Gosains are, however, now married and form an ordinary caste. Buchanan states that the ten different orders became exogamous groups, the members of which married with each other, but it is doubtful whether this is the case at present. it is said that all Giri Gosains marry, whether they are mendicants or not, while the Bhârthi order divorce. They eat the flesh of all clean animals and also of fowls, and drink liquor, and will take cooked food from the higher castes, including Sunârs and Kunbis. Hence they do not rank high socially, and Brâhmans do not take water from them, but their religious character gives them some prestige. Many Gosains have become landholders, obtaining their estates either as charitable grants from clients or through moneylending transactions. In this capacity they do not usually turn out well, and are often considered harsh landlords and grasping creditors.

Gîjar.: -Gujar. 1- An important agricultural and pastoral tribe found principally in the Western Districts. They trace their name from the Sanskrit Gurjara, the original of the country now called Gujarât. The current derivation from gâî-charâna "to pasture cattle" cannot be accepted; as a curiosity of folk etymology it may be added that some derive it from the fact that the tribe once took to feeding their cattle on carrots (gâjar). The traditions of the tribe give little information as to their origin or history. By one legend current in the Panjâb they claim descent from a certain Nand Mirh, who is perhaps Nanda, the foster father of Krishna, who was raised to distinction because he slaked the thirst of Alexander the Great with a draught of buffalo milk. They are identified by General Cunningham 2 with the Kushan or Yuchi or Tochari, a tribe of Eastern Tartars. "About a century before Christ their Chief conquered Kâbul and the Peshâwar country; while his son, Hima Kadphises, so well known to the numismatologist, extended his sway over the whole of the Upper Panjâb and the banks of the Jumna as far down as Mathura and the Vindhyas, and his successor, the no less familiar King Kanishka, the first Indo-Seythian Buddhist prince, annexed Kashmír to the kingdom of the Tochari. These Tochari or Kushan are the Kaspeiraei of Ptolemy; and in the middle of the second century of our era, Kaspeira, Kasyapura or Multân was one of their chief cities. Probably about the beginning of the third century after Christ, the attack of the White Huns recalled the last king of the united Yuchi to the West, and he left his son in charge of an independent Province, whose capital was fixed at Peshâwar; and from that time the Yuchi of Kâbul are known as the Great Yuchi, and those of the Panjâb as the Kator or Little Yuchi. Before the end of the third century a portion of the Gîjars had begun to move southward down the Indus, and were shortly afterwards separated from their northern brethren by another Indo-Scythian wave from the North. In the middle of the fifth century there was a Gîjar kingdom in South-Western Rajputâna, whence they were driven by the Balas into Gujarât of the Bombay Presidency; and about the end of the ninth century, Ala Khân, the Gîjar king of Jammu, ceded the present Gîjardesa, corresponding very nearly with the Gujarât District, to the King of Kashmír. The town of Gujarât is said to have been built or restored by Ala Khân Gîjar in the time of Akbar."

The present distribution of the Gîjars is thus described by General Cunningham:3: "At the present day the Gîjars are found in great numbers in every part of the north-west of India, from the Indus to the Ganges, and from the Hazâra Mountains to Peninsula of Gujarât. They

1. See Crooke. Based on notes received from Mr. F. Brownrigg, C.S. Sultânpur: Nawâb Muhammad Ali Khân, Bulandshahr: Bâbu Tarini Chandra Sanyâl, Head Mastor, High School Sahâranpur: the Deputy Inspector of Schools, Meerut. 2. Archaological Reports. II. 61. 3. Loc. cit.

340 are specially numerous along the banks of the Upper Jumna near Jagâdri and Buriya, and in the Sahâranpur District, which during the last century was actually called Gujarât. To the east they occupy the petty State of Samptar, in Bundel-khans, and one of the northern districts of Gwâlior, which is still called Gîjargâr. They are found only in small bodies and much scattered throughout Eastern Rajputâna and Gwâlior; but they are more numerous in the Western States, and especially towards Gujarât, where they from a large part of the population. The Râjas of Riwâri to the south of Delhi are Gîjars. In the Southern Panjâb they are thinly scattered, but their numbers increase rapidly towards the North, where they have given their name to several important places, such as Gujrânwâla, in the Rechna Duâb, Gujarât, in the Chaj Duâb, and Gîjar Khân, in the Sindh Sâgar Duâb. They are numerous about Jahlam and Hasan Abdâl, and throughout the Hazâra District; and they are also found in considerable numbers in the Dardu Districts of Chilâs, Kohli, and Palâs, to the east of the Indus, and in the contiguous districts to the east of the river."

As regards their ethnical affinities Mr. Ibbetson writes:1 "It has been suggested, and is, I believe, held by many, that Jâts and Gujars, and perhaps Ahírs also, are all of one ethnic stock; and this because there is a close connection between them. It may be that they are the same in their far distant origin. But I think they must have entered India at different times or settled in separate parts, and my reason for thinking so is precisely because they eat and smoke together. In the case of Jât and Râjput the reason for differentiation is obvious, the latter being of higher rank than the former. But the social standing of Jâts, Gujars, and Ahírs being practically identical, I do not see why they should ever have separated if they were once the same. It is, however, possible that the Jâts were the camel graziers and perhaps husbandmen, the Gîjars the cowherds of the hills, and the Ahírs the cowherds of the plains. If this be so, they afford a classification by occupation of the yeoman class, which fill up the gap between, and is absolutely continuous with, the similar classification of the castes above them, as Brâhmans, Banyas, and Râjputs, and of the classes below them, as Tarkhâns, Chamârs, and so forth. But we must know more of the early distribution of the tribes before we can have any opinion on the subject. I have noticed in the early histories a connection between the migrations and location of Gîjars and Râjputs, which has struck me as being more than accidental, and Mr. Wilson notes that the Gîjars and the Barjîjar tribe of Râjputs are often found together, and suggests that the latter may be to the Gîjars what the Khânzâdas are to the Meos, and what most Râjputs are to the Jâts."

In these Provinces they do not, as a rule, claim to be Râjputs; but say they are descended from a Râjput father and a woman of some low caste. The Kalsân branch, in Muzaffarnagar, claim descent from Kalsa, a Râjput chief. "The Râwal Gîjars of Pânipat say that they are descended from a Khokhar Râjput (a clan which has been considered the same as the notorious Ghakkar); the Chhokar from a Jâdon; the Chamâyan from a Tomar: the Kulsiyân of Kairâna and the Mâvi from a Chauhân; the Pilwân from a Pundír; the Adhâna from a Bargîjar, and the Bhatti from Râja Kansal, a Bhatti Râjput from Jaysalmer."2 Beside this, an examination of the sections shows that it includes the names of many well-known Râjput septs, such a Bâgri, Bais, Chandel, Chauhân, and Tomar.

On the whole it seems probable that in the Panjâb and in the Western Districts of these Provinces, at least, the tribe is fairly free from intermixture with the lower races. Mr. Ibbetson describes the Gîjar as "a fine, stalwart fellow of precisely the same physical type as the Jât, and the theory of aboriginal descent which has sometimes been propounded, is to my mind conclusively denied by his cast of countenance. He is of the same social condition as the Jât, or perhaps slightly inferior; but the two eat and drink together in common without any scruple, and the proverb says: "The Jât, the Gîjar, the Ahír, and Gola, are all four hail fellows

1. Panjâb Ethnography, 481. 2. Elliot, Supplementary Glossary , s,v.

341 well met." Of the Kashmír Gîjars Mr. Drew1 writes: "The race is Aryan, but their countenance cannot be called high aryan; their forehead is narrow; they want the well-formed brow of the finer races. The lower part of the face is narrow, too; but the nose has always something of the curve as is often seen in Aryan nations. Some I met with had lighter eyes than are common among the other tribes of the country, and generally their breadth was scant. In figure they are tall and gaunt, in motion slow and ungainly. They are rather surly in disposition, having that kind of independence which consists in liking to be left alone, and to have as little as possible to do with other races. When, however, one does come in contact with them they are not hard to deal with." On the other hand, the eastern branch of the tribe, and particularly those who have become Muhammadans, appear to be very much mixed in blood.

Tribal Organisation. Like many castes which have a preference for seven or one of its multiples, the Gîjars pretend to have eighty-four exogamous gotras or sections. It has been found impossible to procure any consistent or definite list of these. In the appendix to this article three lists are given, two of the Hindu Gîjars of he Upper Duâb, one from Bulandshahr, and the other collated from Sir H. M. Elliot's account of the tribe; the third of the Musalmân Gîjars of Sultânpur. Two Census lists contain no less than 1,178 gotras of the Hindu and 380 of the Muhammadan branch. Of these those locally of most importance are the Batar, Buchar, Chhotkana, Hamar, Kanas, Khatâna, Khîbar, Rathé, and Râwal, in Sahâranpur: the Kalsiyân and Khîbar, of Muzaffarnagar, the Adhâna, Bhatti, Chandela, Dhandhal, Hela, Kasâna, Kharé, Khîbar, Marsi, and Nagari, of Meerut: the Adhâna, Bhadâna, Bhatti, Kasâna, and Nagari, of Bulandshahr: the Tomar, of Mathura: the Dalel and Pomar, of Agra: the Lohâr, or Jâlaun. It will be seen that the names differ almost all through the lists. Most of these names are said to be derived from the titles of tribal leaders or from the villages in which their early settlements were formed. It is now impossible to identify many of these with any degree of certainty. The most important sections in the Upper Duâb are the Bhatti, who claim descent from Bhatti Râjputs, and date their settlement from the time of Prithivi Râja. One of them was given the office of "thief taker" (chormâri) by the Emperor Shâh Alam. The Nagari say that they are the illegitimate descendants of Râja Nâgrâj, fourth in descent from Anikpâl Tomar of Delhi. They date their immigration from Hastinapur in 799 A.D. when they expelled the aboriginal Botiyas, with whom the Gîjars they intermarried and thus became degraded. The Nadwasiya claim to be Ranwâr Râjputs, and are said to have come from Badli in the thirteenth century, and settled on the banks of the Kâlinadi, whence they take their name. 2 It also appears that hypergamy occurs among some of the sections; thus in Sahâranpur the Kalsiyân, Khaprâé, Râthi, and Rausé sections hold the highest rank and intermarry, while the Kalsiyân will not give their daughters to the Chhokar, Diveru, and Dâpu sections. The sections, as already stated, are exogamous; but they have an additional formula of exogamy, which is thus stated by the Sahâranpur branch of the tribe. A girl may be married who is not of the gotra of the paternal or maternal ancestors of the boy within six generations, or who is not shown by her family name to be of the same stock as his father or mother. But this rule seems not to be of general application. In Bulandshahr a man will not marry within his own section or that of is maternal uncle; but the chief rule which seems to be most generally observed is that a man will not marry in his own village if in ordinary memory his family has received a bride. On the other hand, there seems no doubt that Gîjars are very lax in their instances of those clans, who used to practice the crime of supplying the resultant want of wives by the introduction of women of the lower castes, and even now-a-days when

1. Jammu 109. sq. 2. Râja Lachhman Sinh, Bulondshahr Memo., 175, sq.

342 infanticide has practically disappeared, as is believed, among them, they take concubines freely from other castes, and their offspring are in most cases recognised as legitimate. 1

Polyandry. Another social arrangement arising form the same cause is polyandry, of which we have perhaps the only well established instance among the Hindus of the plains. On this subject Râja Lachhman Sinh, who is a most competent authority regarding the Hindus of the Bulandshahr District, has kindly furnished the following note: "I was assured on the spot that in almost every Gîjar village in the vicinity of he Jumna, in the Bulandshahr District, polyandry was a fact. The custom was mainly due to the scarcity of women in the tribe, and this scarcity was the result of female infanticide, which several sections of the caste practised very largely before the passing of the Infanticide Act of 1870. Polyandry was not recognised as an acknowledged or lagal custom; but if adopted in a village the neighbours made no objection to it, nor was it considered a serious scandal. It was to the benefit of the married brother and his wife that all the brothers should live together, and that the joint earnings should be enjoyed by the single wife and her children. It was through this feeling of self- interest that the wife and her real husband permitted the other brothers to share her favours. The custom prevailed only among the poorer families, the male members of which found it difficult to get married in consequence of the scarcity of girls in the caste, and also from the natural desire of parents to marry their daughters to as affluent persons as possible. Brothers only and not other relations or strangers were allowed to be the joint husbands. The wife was formally married to one of the brothers, usually to the eldest, if he were not too old, and her children were known as his children only, though he as well as the other brothers knew that she was at the disposal of all of them. Now as the Infanticide Act has put a stop to the murder of infant girls and the scarcity of women is no longer a problem, the custom of polyandry is dying out, and will soon be a thing of the past. While making these enquiries I was struck with the fact that polyandry did not, as might have been expected to be the case, affect the child-bearing powers of the women who practised it, that is to say, these women gave birth to as many children as those who had but a single husband. I questioned my informants on this subject, and was informed that the visits of the brothers were not so frequent as to produce any effect of this kind."2

Marriage. Girls are allowed no freedom before marriage, and an unmarried girl detected in a sexual indiscretion is expelled from the community. It is only if her lover be a member of the tribe can she be restored and remarried in the tribe if her parents feed the clansmen. Marriage usually takes place between the age of nine and sixteen. A wife may procure a separation if her husband be impotent, and he can put her away for infidelity proven to the satisfaction of the brethren. Widow-marriage and the levirate under the usual restriction are permitted. Betrothal consists of the acceptance of a sum of money in the presence of the brethren, and then the girl's barber, who acts as envoy, makes a knot in the boy's sheet, which clenches the engagement. The marriage is of the usual respectable form, and the binding part of the ceremony is the giving away of the bride (kanyâdân),and the usual procession of the pair (bhanwari) round the marriage shed.

Birth. There are no ceremonies during pregnancy except an occasional vow to do some act if the delivery be easy. The mother is secluded for ten days, but is not allowed to cook or enter the cooking room for thirty days more. If the first child be a boy the women of he clan assemble daily and sing songs of rejoicing as long as the seclusion of the mother lasts. The family priest offers some dîb grass to the father as a sign of congratulation, and receives a present

1. At the same time it is significant that at the last Census the Hindu Gîjars showed 160, 573 males to 119, 540 females. 2. On this fraternal polyandry, see Westermarck, History of Human Marriage.

343 in return. On the third day the bed of the mother is moved with a rite known as "the coming out" (bâhar nikalna). On the tenth day the confinement room is purified by being plastered with cowdung and Ganges water is sprinkled on the clothes and utensils of the household. A Brâhman is called in, who recites some verses and does a fire sacrifice (hom), and casts the horoscope of the child, after which some Brâhmans are fed.

Death. Gîjars cremate their dead, and all the rites are of normal type. They perform the srâddha, and some even go on pilgrimages to Gaya for that purpose.

Religion. In religion they appear to be usually Saivas or Sâktas, and are particularly careful in the worship of Sítala Bhawâni, the small-pox goddess. Among minor gods they worship Châmar, but their real tribal worship is that of Pyâréji 1 and Bâba Sabha Râm. The temple of Pyâréji is at Randewa, the parent (thíka) village of the Dâpu Gîjars, equidistant between Nakur and Ambahta, in the Sahâranpur District. His father, Râmji Padârath, born in Sambat 1545, at Durjanpur, in Pargana Burhâna, of the Muzaffarnagar District, disappeared suddenly after his birth. The consternation of the infant's father, Sajan, a rope-seller (bâdhfarosh) was, as may be imagined, great. In six days he mysteriously reappeared. After this he was put to herd cattle. One day the herd strayed into a sugarcane field, and the owner made a complaint. Before the official sent to make an investigation could reach the spot, the crop was miraculously restored. The lad then gained many disciples, and he married a daughter of Bhawâni Dâs, rope-seller of Khundi-Shikârpur. Their son was Raghu Nâth, and his son, the famous Pyâréji. About this time there was a feud between the Gîjars and Brâhmans of Sadarpur, in the course of which the Gîjars, having invited the Brâhmans to a feast, treacherously murdered several of them. Their ghosts avenged themselves in the form of terrible Râkshasas, and the Gîjars were in such evil plight that upon hearing of the fame of Pyâréji, they invited him to take them under his protection. He expelled the demons, and Sadarpur regained its former prosperity, so that its name was changed to Annadeva. "lord of grain," of which Randeva is said to be a corruption. Pyâréji died there, and prayers are said and offerings made before his cenotaph. His son, Lâlji, having no male issue, bequeathed everything to his wife. Jada Bairâgi managed her affairs, and the people elected one of his disciples, Hargovind, to succeed him. Ever since the appointment has been in the hands of the people of the Bâdhfarosh clan, descended from Madâri, brother of Pyâréji, and the brothers of his son's widow. They own one-third of the village; the Mahants two-thirds. The Saint's followers are Vaishnavas, and wear black necklaces. His holiday is on the sixth of the dark fortnight of Chait. Bâba Sabha Râm, another tribal worthy, has a shrine on the banks of the Jumna, in the Ambâla District, where the Gîjars make occasional pilgrimages.

Social Status And Occupation. The Gîjars as a tribe have always been noted for their turbulence and habit of cattle-stealing in Bâhar2 In his Memoirs one author describes how the commander of the rear guard captured a few Gîjar ruffians who followed the camp, decapitated them and sent their heads to the Emperor. The Gîjars of Pâli and Pâhal became exceedingly audacious while Shír Shâh was fortifying Delhi, so he marched to the Hills and expelled them so that "not a vestige of their habitations was left."3 Jahângír remarks that the Gîjars live chiefly on milk and curds and seldom cultivate land; and Bâbar4 says: "Every time I entered Hindustân the Jâts and Gîjars have regularly poured down in prodigious numbers from the hills and wilds to carry off oxen and buffaloes. These were the wretches that really inflicted the chief hardships and

1. There is a good account of this saint in Calcutta Reviem. LVII, 207. 2. Dowson's Elliot, IV, 231-240. 3. Ibid, IV, 477. 4. Leyden's Bâbar, 294.

344 guilty of the chief oppression in the country." They maintained their old reputation in the Mutiny when they perpetrated numerous outrages and seriously impeded the operations of the British Army before Delhi. According to the current wisdom of the countryside he is an undesirable neighbour- Kutta billi do; Gîjar Rânghor do, Yéchar na ho to khulé kiwâré so.

"The dog and the cat, the Gîjar and the Rânghar, if these four were out of the world a man might sleep with his doors open."

Yâr Dom ne kína Gîjar, Chura chura ghar kardiya îjar.

"When the Dom made friends with the Gîjar he was robbed of house and home." The Gîjar though in popular estimation very closely connected with the Jât is yet much inferior to him in every way. The proverb runs:

Huqqa, sukka, hurkoni, Gîjar aur Jât, In men atak kaha, Jagannâth ka bhât.

"Pipe, tobacco, courtesan, the Gîjar and the Jât are all one like the rice of Jagannâth's temple which all castes may eat together." The Gîjar is in fact more a man of flocks and herds that the Jât, who is one of the most industrious and skilled cultivators in the province. They will drink spirits and eat mutton, pork, and fowls. They can in most places eat, drink, and smoke with Ahírs and Jâts. In Bhartpur the Kharé Gîjar are inferior to the Laur, being principally engaged in making butter and ghi, which women sell, and which is looked on by the others as derogatory. They have a curious custom of making a cow of cowdung, covering it with cotton, and going through the process of killing it- a custom which seems to show that the reverence for the cow which they now profess may be of comparatively modern growth. 1

Musalmân Gîjars. The Musalmân Gîjars are most numerous in Oudh and the Meerut Division. They were apparently converted to Islâm at various times; but their tradition in Oudh attributes this to the compulsion of Timur- when he attacked Delhi and converted all the people in the neighbourhood by force. Some of them still maintain their Hindu sections and regulate marriage, although in places this in being replaced by the Muhammadan law of prohibited degrees. They are mostly Sunnis, and Sunni will not intermarry with Shiah families. In spite of their conversion they retain a number of their old tribal practices. When the bride arrive at the house of her husband her mother-in-law does the wave ceremony (parachhan) over her head to scare evil spirits, and then takes her into the household chapel (deoghar), where she worships the guardian deities of the family, for whom they still retain respect. After this the husband's mother is allowed to see the face of the bride for the first time, and gives her a present. Widows marry by the nikâh rite, and the levirate is allowed. Some families retain the rule that the elder brother cannot marry the widow of his younger brother, but this is violated by some of the tribes in Oudh. Betrothal is done on a lucky day fixed by the Pandit, and the only rite is that the fathers exchange cups of spirits. When the procession arrives at the house of the bride the usual door rite (duâr ka châr) is performed, and after the document fixing the dower (mahr) payable on divorce is drawn up, the Qâzi reads the nikâh in the ordinary way.

1. Rajputâna Gazetteer , I, 162.

345 Birth and death rites When a baby is born the Chamârin is called in and bathes the child in a broken earthen pot (khapra): in this the father puts two pice (khapré ka taka), which are the fee of the midwife. Then the Pandit is asked to fix a lucky time for the first bathing (nahân) of the mother, and he again has to fix a time, generally on the twelfth day, when she leaves her room. When a boy is four or five years of age he is circumcised in the usual way.

They bury their dead. When the burial is over they make a fire offering (agyâri) by burning incense in the name of the dead, and after waiting a short time they upset a pitcher of water near the grave.

They visit the shrine of Ghâzi Miyân at Bahrâich, and offer there sweet cakes (malída). They also venerate various local saints and martyrs such as Alâ-ud-dín Shahíd. Madâr Shâh, and Buddhi Chandra Bâba. They employ Sarwariya and Sanâdh Brâhmans to give them omens and propitiate the family gods. They observe the Holi and Nâgpanchami festivals so far that on those days they do not work. On Fridays they make offerings of food to their deceased ancestors, and when a death occurs in their family they feed beggars in the hope that the food will through them reach the dead man in the world of he dead.

They observe the ordinary Muhammadan rules about food, and will eat with any Musalmân except a Dhobi, Dhuniya, or Mehtar.

Gulgulia.: -a wandering non-Aryan tribe1, who live by hunting, teaching monkeys to dance, selling indigenous drugs, begging, and petty thieving. Their origin is obscure, but it seems likely that they are a branch of the Bediyâs. I have been unable to obtain any trustworthy information regarding the internal structure of the caste. Some Gulguliâs in Gya assured me that they had three sub-castes- Bantari, Pachpaniâ, and Sukwâr- and I mention this statement in case it may be of use to other inquirers. My informants seemed to be stupid and ignorant men, and I doubt whether their evidence was worth much. They have a legend that Rukmini, the reputed ancestress of the Pâsi caste, had a son, called Tirsuliâ, Maghâyâ, Turk (the Mahomedan Pâsi), Gilehri, and Gulguliâ. These seven sons challenged each other to jump off the top of a palmyra tree (târ). Gilehri (the squirrel) jumped first and landed unhurt. Tirsuliâ, who went second, was killed on the spot, whereupon Mohabâbâ, seeing that Gilehri had led the others into trouble, smote him with his hand and cursed him to be reckoned among the inferior animals and to be fortunate only in this, that he should jump from great heights and come to no harm. This is the reason why the squirrel is a good jumper and bears the marks of five fingers on his back. The story goes on, in a somewhat inconsequent fashion, to say that the next to leave the family was Gulguliâ, who observed that his brothers, after serving their customers with ri, always washed the cup, however low the caste of the man who had drunk from it. This struck the youngest brother- in folklore it is usually the youngest brother who takes a line for himself- as showing a great want of self-respect, and he at once decided to throw over his family and adopt a wandering life. His descendants are true to the traditions of their mythical eponym, and during the dry season at least have no fixed habitations. In the rains they build themselves a sort of tente d'abri about eight feet long by six feet wide, of two bamboo uprights and a ridge pole covered in with a tilt of sirki matting (Saccharum sara, Roxb), which reaches to the ground on either side. The whole thing can be struck and carried off at a moment's notice if the owner and his family want to change their quarters in a hurry- a common chance with a tribe of predatory instincts, whom the police are ever ready to credit with every petty theft that baffles their slender detective ability. Such huts or rather tents are usually found on the outskirts of large villages, and the residents do in fact usually return, if not to the same village, at least to the same neighbourhood, for the rainy season.

1 See Risley

346 Marriage. Gulguliâs affect to practise infant-marriage, but admit that poverty often leads to a girl's marriage being deferred until she has passed the age of puberty. As is the case with gypsies in other parts of the world, their women have a certain reputation for chastity, and sexual indiscretions are said to be rare. When anything of the kind occurs, the woman at fault is turned out of the caste, and the man with whom she has gone wrong is fined Rs. 10 or so by the chief of the panchâyat. This official is elected by an assembly of the local representatives of the caste, and holds office until displaced by the same authority. The marriage ceremony is a meagre copy of the ritual followed by low-caste Hindus. The functions of priest are usually performed by two men selected at the time from the family of the bride and bridegroom, but sometimes the village barber is called in to officiate. A bride-price of from four to six mounds of rice and Rs. 3 in cash in usually paid. Polygamy is allowed, but is rarely resorted to, owing to the extreme poverty of the caste. A widow may marry again, and it often happens that she marries her deceased husband's younger brother. To him in any case belongs the custody of her children by her first husband, but in some cases it would appear that the panchâyat of the caste exercises the right of allotting the children to the widow in the event of her marrying an outsider.

Religion. The religion of the Gulguliâs appears to be a form of the animism which characterises the aboriginal races. They worship a host of spiritual powers, whose attributes are ill-defined, and who are not conceived as wearing any bodily form. This at least may be inferred from the fact that they make no images, and that Baktâwar, the tutelary deity of the Patna Gulguliâs, is represented by a small mound of hardened clay set up in an earthen plate. Among their objects of worship we find also Jagdamâi or Devi, Râm Thâkur, Baren, Setti, Goraiya, Bandi, Parameswari, and Dâk. In Hazaribagh they worship Danu in the form of a stone daubed with five streaks of red lead and set up outside the house. The offerings made to these deities consist usually of rice, milk, fruit, and sweetmeats, which are afterwards eaten by the worshippers.

Funerals. In disposing of the dead they have the curious practice of pouring some country spirit into the dead man's mouth and killing a fowl, so that the spirit may be satisfied and may not come back to trouble his relatives with bad dreams. The corpse is then burned and the ashes thrown into a tank.

Occupation. Although the squirrel is the reputed ancestor of the caste, Gulguliâs are so far from regarding the animal as sacred that its flesh forms their favourite food. Spearing squirrels with a series of seven reeds (narsar), which fit one into the other like the joints of a fishing rod, is a pursuit at which they are specially expert, and some say that the name Gulguliâ is derived from a peculiar noise, sounding like gul gul, which they make in order to attract the squirrel's attention while they are gradually bringing the narsar closer. Gulguliâs are sometimes called 'the chatterers,' because they use a peculiar patois of thieves; slang understood only among themselves. The narsar is also used for spearing birds. Gulguliâs never cultivate themselves, but they are in the habit of gleaning what is left on the ground after the crops are cut. Begging, pilfering, and exhibiting goats and monkeys are their chief means of livelihood. They buy monkeys from the Birhors, who they affect to look down upon for their promiscuous habits in the matter of food. Gulguliâs themselves profess to abstain from beef, but they eat pork, field-rats, a variety of small birds and animals, and the leavings of all Hindu castes except the Dhobi, Dom, Musâhar, Hâri, and Chamâr. Their women sell drugs and profess to cure a variety of small ailments, such as earache, toothache, rheumatism and

347 the like. It is rumoured that they also know remedies for barrenness, and will supply medicines which facilitate parturition and bring about abortion.

The following statement shows the number and distribution of the Gulguliâs in 1881. There is no separate entry of them in 1872: Patna 254 Gya 99 Darbhanga 113 Monghyr 77 Purniah 125 Hazaribagh 436 Singbhum 12 Manbhum 92

Gulguliâs.: -The Gulguliâs1 are a wandering non-Aryan tribe, who live by hunting, teaching monkeys to dance, selling indigenous drugs, begging, and petty thieving. Sir Herbert Risley thinks that they are a branch of the Bediyâs. At the Census of 1911, 853 Gulguliâs were returned, 824 from Bihar and Orissa and 29 from elsewhere.

No information about the language of Gulguliâs is available in Census Reports, and no such dialect was reported during the preliminary operations of this Survey. At the Census of 1901 it was, however, reported from the Hazaribagh District that the Gulguliâs speak a separate dialect, but that they make use of a kind of argot when they use to prevent others from understanding what they say. Three short sentences in this jargon were forwarded to Sir Edward Gait, the then Superintendent of the Census operations in Bengal, and he has been good enough to place them at the disposal of this Survey. They show that this argot is of the same kind as other secret jargons. In the first place there are some peculiar words such as †ebigó, fell; lugigó, died; kutâcchhi, have eaten; liór, tempest; némru, bullock; nâhkat, in the house. Some of these are well known from other argots, compare Sêsí †au∑â, fall; lig∑â, die; dît∑â, eat; nâd, village; Garóπí nând, house. Besides this, ordinary words are disguised by changing their initials. Thus kh is substituted for b in khíâh=biyâh, wedding, and for p in kheâch=jpâch, five; jh for t in jhin-gó=tín, three; n for g in nâchh=gâchh, tree, and so forth. I now give the sentences themselves with an interlinear translation.

Kórâet Last-night liór a tempest †ebigó; fell jhin-gó three nâchh trees †ebigó-gó fell, kheâch-go five némru bullocks lugigó. died Jhâtî-séti from yesterday nópi not kutâchhi, have eaten nâhkat in house kónâgi food (?) nópi not chhakhâló. is. Hamar My pânhír daughter's

1 See Linguistic Survey of India

348 khíâh wedding bhékhâligó, became, jamâé son-in-low chhakhâló. is.

Hâbîra.: -A vagrant thieving tribe1 found chiefly in the Central Ganges-Jumna Duab. The derivation of the name is very uncertain. It possibly means a "bugaboo" (hawwa, which is probably through the Prakrit the representative of the Sanskrit bhîta "an evil spirit"), expressive of the fear in which they are held by their neighbours. Ethnologically the Hâbîras are no doubt very closely connected with the regular gypsy tribes of Sânsiya and Bhâtu; in fact there seems reason to believe that these have only become quite recently endogamous groups, and even now it is asserted that they occasionally marry. Though the Hâbîras are now in a much superior grade to the Beriyas, who live by prostituting their women, both the tribes have the same traditional with the old ruined city of Noh-khera to the north of Pargana Jalesar, in the Etah District, and many of the gangs who traverse that part of the country make their way to Non-khera during the rainy season and there arrange marriages and other caste matters in a series of general tribal councils.

Legends Of Origin. According to one story their ancestor was a certain Rig who one day went out hunting and pursued a hare into the forest retreat then occupied by Síta in her exile. She was so offended at the intrusion, that she cursed him that all his descendants were to be wanderers and live by the chase. By another they are one Chauhân Râjputs who lived at Jartauli in the Aligarh District. They rebelled against the Emperor, and Alâ-ud-dín sent a force to coerce them. They were defeated, and most of them had to take refuge in the jungle, where they lived on the game they killed. Meanwhile some of their brethren compromised with the Emperor and returned to their homes. They ascertained that one of their wild kinsmen had died, so they went to see his widow become sati . When she was brought out she saw a hare and immediately started after it with cries of han! hau! whence the tribe was called Hâbîra. The respectable Chauhâns were so disgusted with her impiety that they excommunicated all the savage branch of the tribe, and they have remained outcastes to the present day.

Tribal Organisation. They usually name four exogamous septs which are all named after well-known Râjput tribes- Solanki Chauhân, Punwâr, and Bhatti, also called Râthaur. The Census Returns give a list of sections which illustrate the mixed elements out of which the caste had been formed- Ajudhyabâsi, Baddhik, Bahâdsiya, Bahâli, Bahâniya, Bâhas, Banjâra, Banohra, Banwâr or Banwariya, Barchandi, Chauhân, Chiryamâr or "bird-killers," Dâli, Dom, Gauriya, Hindubalana, Jadwâr, Kalkanaur, Kârgar or Kârigar, Khauna, Khaurkhâl, Lodh, Mardârbatti, Mârwâr, Nahâli, Nandak, Phârli, and Tahali. These septs are exogamous. In Bijnor they are said to have two endogamous sub-divisions: those who wear a bead necklace (kantki) and those who do not. According to another account their only rule of exogamy is that they do not marry blood relations, and it is very doubtful how far the sept system really prevails. There is some reason to believe that all or at least some of them practise a sort of group exogamy, not marrying in their own camp or horde. They have a strong tribal council (panchâyat) under a president (sardâr), who manages all caste business.

Marriage. It is quite certain that up to modern times they were in the habit of recruiting into the clan by kidnapping girls of other castes; since they have been placed under more careful supervision this has, it is believed, in a great measure ceased, but there seems reason to believe, though

1. See Crooke. Based on notes by Mr. F.W. Court, District Superintendent of Police, Aligarh, Bâbu Alma Bâm, Head Master, High School, Mathura, and the deputy Inspectors of Schools, Bijnor and Morâdâbâd.

349 the Hâbîras themselves are very reticent on the subject, that they still introduce and marry in the tribe outcast women of other castes. In Bijnor it is reported that people of other castes introduced into the tribe in this way hold a lower social position than the Hâbîras of legitimate descent. For a virgin bride the price fixed by the tribal custom and payable by the father of the bridegroom is twenty-five rupees, and he has also to pay the expenses of the marriage feasting. The feeling against inter-tribal immorality appears to be strong, and it is said that a man who seduces a married woman has to pay as much as one hundred and twenty rupees before he will be readmitted to caste. On the other hand the girls have considerable liberty before marriage, and a sexual faux pas is not very seriously dealt with. Their women, from their vagrant, mendicant life naturally bear an indifferent character; but though not particularly virtuous, they are not habitually prostituted by their male relatives as the Beriya women are. Widows and divorced women are married in the tribe according to the karâo or dharícha form, and their children are regarded as legitimate.

Marriage Ceremonies. The marriage is arranged by a go-between, who is a member of the tribe and is called bichauliya. He takes two rupees from the boy's father to the father of the girl, and acceptance of this constitutes the betrothal. If the relations of the bride break the engagement they are fined from ten to twenty rupees by the relations of the boy. The marriage ritual is entirely carried out by the father of the girl and the man who acted as marriage broker. No Brâhman is employed, and all that is done is that the pair acknowledge in the presence of the tribesmen that they are man and wife, and they then make five or seven revolutions together round the marriage shed. In Etah a curious form of marriage is reported. When the friends on the both sides assemble, one of the men mounts a horse and rides some distance on the plain close to the camp. All the others, men and women, pursue him, and meanwhile, the bridegroom being left alone with the bride carries her into a grass hut prepared for the purpose and immediately consummates the marriage. When the friends return the event is celebrated with singing and dancing. The ceremony at widow-marriage is the same as that prevailing among other low castes.

Birth. The mother, during her confinement, is attended by a midwife of the Bhangi caste, and after that by the women of her own family. They perform the usual sixth day ceremony (chhathi), and on the tenth day the mother is taken to worship the well from which the family supply of water is obtained. This is known as Kuân pîja.

Death Ceremonies. Like the Beriyas, the Hâbîras are in the intermediate stage between burial and cremation. In Mathura they either cremate or throw the corpse into the Jumna. In Bijnor they either bury or expose the corpse in the jungle. In no case is the Mahâbrâhman called in. In Mathura when they cremate the dead they leave the ashes where the corpse was burnt. They cover the corpse with cloth, tie it to the bier, and fasten a number of wheaten cakes to it before they set fire to the pyre. Then, on the next Monday or Thursday, whichever comes first, the mourners are shaved and a dinner is given to those members of the caste who joined in the funeral. On the twelfth day after, some uncooked grain is given to Brâhmans and the brethren are feasted. Then in the month of Kuâr which next follows, on the date corresponding to that of the death of the deceased, they do themselves a sort of srâddha and pour water on the ground in the name of the dead. On this occasion, too, uncooked grain is given to Brâhmans and the relatives are entertained. In Aligarh, when they are well off and cremate the dead, the relatives make an earthen platform on the site of the pyre, and there they make periodical oblations in the name of the dead. From Etah it is reported that when a man dies at home he is cremated, the bones are buried on the spot, and a masonry platform erected over them. If a man dies at a distance from home his bones are brought to one of the regular camping places of the tribe, and are there buried as above described. From the date of the burial of the bones the days of mourning, including the Tíja or third day and the Terahwín or thirteenth, are

350 fixed. The tombs of old men of the tribe are specially venerated, and they are recognised as tribal godlings. When the bones of an old and respected member of the tribe are being buried, the senior man of the tribe who is present makes a sort of funeral oration in which he dwells on the fact that the Hâbîras are the only really free people in the country, as they are subject to none; and he thus shows in detail how much superior they are even to Brâhmans and Râjputs. Part of the speech is devoted to explaining one by one in what respect other castes are inferior to them, and he ends by imploring Parameswar that if it is fated that the soul of the dead man is to be born again, he may be reborn as a Hâbîra.

Religion. All the Hâbîras in these Provinces call themselves Hindus; but, as we have seen, they accept little or no service from Brâhmans. In Aligarh it is said that when a boy reaches the age of twelve they initiate him before a Jogi and then begin to train him in thieving. In Bijnor they usually worship Kâli Bhawâni. In Mathura they have a local goddess, Devi, to whom they make offerings in the months of Kîar and Chait. These offerings are consumed by the worshippers. But it is only on special occasions that they sacrifice a buffalo or goat in her honour. This sacrifice is done at the house of the person making the offerings; the goddess has no regular temple. The victim is killed in her name, and the flesh distributed among the relatives and friends. They celebrate the usual holidays- Salono, Holi, Diwâli, and Dasahra. They never go to Gaya to propitiate the sacred dead, but they bathe in the Ganges in their honour, and in Mathura visit for the same purpose the temple of Dâîji.

Social States And Occupation. Like the Beriyas they appear to be in a transitional stage as regards food. In Aligarh, it is reported that they will eat almost any kind of food- the goh or iguana, the sânda or lizard found in îsar plains, the hedgehog, jackal, wild eat, tortoise, buffalo, and deer; and that there are only four castes from whose hands they will not take food- the Chamâr, Bhangi, Dhobi, and Kalâr. They will not eat the cow or the donkey, and they have this much respect for the cow that they will not geld an ox with their own hands. It is also asserted that they do not drink spirits, which is almost certainly incorrect. In Bijnor they drink spirits and eat pork, fowls, the flesh of deer and goats, fish, the crocodile, jackal, and other vermin, as well as the leavings of all respectable Hindus. They will drink from the hands of all Hindus except Chamârs, Bhangis, Kanjars, Sânsiyas, and the like. In Mathura they assert that they have given up the use of vermin and eat the flesh of all cloven footed animals, except the cow, and fowls, and fish. As in other places, they will eat the leaving of all high caste Hindus. The fact is that there are two classes of Hâbîras: those who have settled down to agriculture and become fairly respectable members of society, and those who still preserve their vagrant mode of life. The former are gradually shedding off the filthy habits and customs of their vagrant brethren under the example of the Hindu caste by whom they are surrounded. By and by as they become more civilised they will assert a decent from Râjputs, and will, as they rise in the world, be accepted as such. From Etch it is reported that if a member of the tribe commits an offence such as theft or immorality, he is excommunicated for a certain time and is not admitted until he draws blood from some part of his body, usually the nose. Women are not allowed to eat goat's flesh or rice, or to partake in the funeral feasts. If any woman touches this food of the dead she is expelled from the caste.

They do not use any medicine in disease but pray to Devi and Zâhir Pír. They attribute disease to the displeasure of their deceased ancestors who have not been suitably propitiated. They have much fear of the Evil Eye, and their remedy for it is to get a Faqír or a Jogi to blow on a vessel of water, which is then waved over the head of the patient. In Aligarh if a woman is caught committing adultery with a stranger to the tribe she is branded three times on the left arm with a hot iron and has then to bathe in the Ganges, while her husband is obliged to feast the brethren. Her paramour is not punished. When a boy is born he is named on the tenth day by a Brâhman, who receives five sers of grain. Then some wheat porridge is cooked with coarse sugar and eaten only by the women. As a rule they are truthful among

351 themselves, but lie to others to procure the release of a clansman. Their oaths are as follows: The most binding is to light a lamp (chirâgh) and then blow it out. By this he means, "If I lie may my family be destroyed as I blow out the light." If a Hâbîra can be induced to take this oath, he will never lie. Another is to cut the root of a pípal tree. The third is swearing by Devi.

Original Habits. The vagrant branch of the tribes supplies some of the most audacious criminals in the Province. A recent report says: "They are the pest of the neighbourhoods which they frequent, are continually pilfering, robbing standing crops, attacking carts and passengers along the roads, committing robberies and even dakoities." It is preposterous to connect them, as has been done in this report, with the Thârus, a particularly harmless, inoffensive race inhabiting the Himalayan Tarâi. The boys are trained at first on field robbery, and are then taken out on excursions for the purpose of burglary. When they go to rob fields the gang consists of not less than twenty men. When out for the purpose of burglary eight or nine go together. Unlike the Sânsiyas the Hâbîras very seldom use violence except to save themselves from arrest, and they never carry any weapons but bludgeons. Mr. A.O. Hume1 writes of them:"They never worship Thâkurji except in sickness or great misfortune, such as the visit of the Police or of a Magistrate to their camp. At no time is their ritual a complicated one; it consists of an extraordinary manipulation with grains of wheat, the petitioners making at the same time a vow of sacrificing a goat or a fowl, which is subsequently performed by half roasting the offering in a flame of ghi in which frankincense is thrown, and then feasting upon it. If a crime has been committed and traced to any horde, the chief immediately determines who are to be given up. Usually a compromise is made with the Police; two out of six or three out of eight are made over to justice, the rest escaping. All the chief does is to repeat a form of words, he places them on the head of the scapegoat. The oath of the brotherhood is upon him and whether he be guilty or not, he confesses to the Magistrate or Judge and goes to the gallows or to a lifelong exile confident that his chief and brethren will, as they are bound, feed and protect his wife and children that he leaves behind even before their own. Marriage seems scarcely to be with them a religious ceremony; it consists in placing four small coins in a figure of diamond shape outside which a circle is drawn, and round this the bride and bridegroom walk seven times."

In Aligarh at the present day if a Hâbîra is killed in the commission of any crime his accomplices give his widow one hundred and fifty rupees; if he is only arrested they have to support his wife and family until he is released. If an innocent man is convicted the real offender has to support his wife and family while he is in prison. They will not inform against each other if anyone does so he is turned out of the gang. Neither men nor women wear any jewellery. They do not go long distances to commit crime, and in the daylight they can easily be identified as Hâbîras, because both men and women wear the modicum of clothes consistent with decency. They do not attempt to conceal their movements from the Police; and if one of the gang be arrested, the headman will at once give notice of the fact. The only stolen property they bring into the camp is grain; jewellery, vessels, and clothes they conceal in earthen vessels and bury them in the neighbourhood of the encampment. They are generally supported by some landowner, who assists them in the disposal of stolen property and gets a commission of four annas on the rupee.

Their Argot. Hâbîras have a regular Thieves' Latin of their own, of which the following are examples:-

Corn of all kinds-- kau. Bread-- tuk. Mother-- ai.

1. Selections from the Records of Government, N. W. P., I, 420.

352 Father-- bâbu. Son-- dikra. Daughter-- dikri. Wife-- dhaniyâni. Husband-- dhanni. Son-in-law-- pahuna (guest). Vessels of all kinds- tanwara. Clothes-- lugariya. Shoes-- khakra. Bullock-- dhanda. Cow-- jengariya. Go from here-- paro hind. Run away-- nasija. Policemen-- kapâhi. Police officer-- Mota modhana.

Schemes Of Reformation. A full account of the measures from time to time with a view to the reclamation of the tribe will be found in the report by Mr. D. T. Roberts appended to the report of he Police Commission of 1890. In the Etah District they have been brought under the operation of the Criminal Tribes Act but without much success, as the only persons subjected to the Act were the settled branch of the tribe who are, as rule, comparatively harmless. A scheme for their colonisation in the Morâdâbâd District seems to have met with comparatively small success.

Hakkipikki.: -Thei are birds-catchers and they sell them live in the markets. They live in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. But they claim to be originally from Rajasthan and Gujarat.

Halam.: -They live in Tripura and Assam. They are a pastoral nomadic people.

Hallir.: -They are musicians of Kanara.

Harnis.: -A wandering criminal caste. They claim to be Rajputs, but they are probably descendants from the Bhils of Rajasthan. People see them as house-breakers and thieves.

Hawaldar.: -See Kadera.

Helava.: -They are the bards of the Okkaligas.

Helevas.: -They wander begging and sitting on a bullock. They live in North Karnataka.

353 Hensi.: -In Himachal Pradesh professional actors are called Hensi. They are probably Mongols.

Hijra.: -Khasus.1 - The class of eunuchs, who form a separate community, recruited by the admission of persons born with this deformity or reduced to the like condition by amputation. In saugor it is said that the Khasuas are natural and the Hijras artificial eunuchs, and the Khasuas deny that they admit Hijras into their society. They may be either Hindus or Muhammadans by birth, but all become Muhammadans. Children born in the condition of eunuchs are usually made over to the Khasuas by their parents. The caste are beggars, and also sing and dance at weddings and at the births of male children, and obtain presents of grain from the cultivators at seed time and harvest. They wear female clothes and ornaments and assume the names of women. They are admitted to mosques, but have to stand behind the women, and in Saugor they have their own mosque. They observe Muhammadan rites and festivals generally, and are permitted to smoke from the huqqas of other Muhammadans. They are governed by a cast panchâyat or committee, which imposes fines but does not expel any member from the community. Each Khasua has a beat or locality reserved to him for begging and no other may infringe on it, violations of this rule being punished by the committee. Sometimes a well-to-do Khasua adopts an orphan and celebrates the child's marriage with as much expense and display as he can afford, and the Kâzi officiates at the ceremony.

The Hijras form apparently a separate group, and the following account of them is mainly taken from the Bombay Gazetteer.2 In Gujarât they are the emasculated male votaries of the goddess Bouchera or Behechra, a sister of Devi. She is the spirit of a martyred Châran or Bhât woman. Some Châran women were travelling from Sulkhunpur in Gujarât when they were attacked and plundered by Kolis. One of the women, of the name of Bouchera snatched a sword from a boy who attended her and with it cut off both her breasts. She immediately perished, and was deified and worshipped as a form of Devi in the Chunwâl.3 The Hijras usually mutilate themselves in the performance of a religious vow, sometimes taken by the mother as a means of obtaining recovery by the favour of the goddess from a dangerous illness.4 Hence it is clear that they worship Boucheraji on the ground that she obtained divine honours by self-mutilation and should enable her votaries to do the same. But the real reason for the Châran woman cutting off her breasts was no doubt that her ghost might haunt and destroy the Koli robbers, in accordance with the usual practice of the Chârans.5 As a further fulfilment of their vow the Hijras pull out the hair of their beards and moustaches, bore their ears and noses for female ornaments, and affect feminine speech and manners. The meaning of the vow would appear to be that the mother sacrifices her great blessing of a boy child and transforms him after a fashion into a girl, at the same time devoting him to the service of the goddess. Similarly, as a much milder form of the same idea, a mother whose sons have died will sometimes bore the nose of a later-born son and put a small nose-ring in it to make believe he is a girl. But in this case the aim is also partly to cheat the goddess or the evil spirits who cause the death of children, and make them think the boy is a girl and therefore not worth taking.

1. See Russell. Partly based on a paper by Munshi Kanhaya Lâl of the Gazetteer Office. 2. Muhammadans of Gujarât, by Khín bahâdur Fazalullah Lufullah Paridi, pp. 21, 22. 3. Ra`smâla, ii. p. 90. 4. Faridi, pidem. 5. See article on Bhât.

354 The rite of mutilation is described by Mr. Farídi as follows: "The initiation takes place at the temple of the goddess Behechra about 60 miles from Ahmadâbâd, where the neophyte repairs under the guardianship or adoption of some older member of the brotherhood. The lad is called the daughter of the old Hijra his guardian. The emasculation is a secret rite and takes place under the direction of the chief Hijra priest of Behechra. It is said that the operation and initiation are held in a house with closed doors, where all the Hijras meet in holiday dress. A special dish of fried pastry is cooked, and the neophyte is bathed, dressed in red female attire, decked with flower-garlands and seated on a stool in the middle of the room. Which the others sing to the accompaniment of a small drum and copper cymbals. Another room is prepared for the operation, soft ashes being spread on the floor and piled in a heap in the centre. When the time for the operation approaches, the neophyte is led to the room and is made to lie on his back on the ash-heap. The operator approaches chewing betel-leaf. The hands and legs of the neophyte are firmly held by some of the fraternity, and the operator, carelessly standing near with an unconcerned air, when he finds the attention of his patient otherwise occupied, with great dexterity and with one stroke completely cuts off the genital organs. He spits betel and areca juice on the wound and staunches the bleeding with a handful of the ashes of the babîl.1 The operation is dangerous and not uncommonly fatal." Another method is to hold the organs in cleft bamboo and slice them off. The Hijras are beggars like the Khasuas, and sometimes become very importunate. Soon after the birth of a child in Gujarât the Hijras or eunuchs crowd round the house for gifts. If the demand of one of them is refused, the whole rank and file of the local fraternity besiege the house with indecent clamour and gesture, their claim to alms rests, as with other religious mendicants, in the sacred character which attaches to them. In Bombay there is also a belief that the god Hanumân cries out once in twelve years, and that those men who hear him are transformed into eunuchs.2 Some of them make money by allowing spectators to look at the mutilated part of their body, and also by the practice of pederasty.

Homosexual practices are believed to be distinctly rare among Hindus, and not common among Muhammadans of the Central Provinces. For this the early age of marriage may probably be considered a principal cause. The Hindu sacred books, however, do not attach severe penalties to this offence. "According to the Laws of Manu, a twice-born man who commits an unnatural offence with a male, or has intercourse with a female in a cart drawn by oxen, in water or in the daytime, shall bathe, dressed in his clothes; and all these are reckoned as minor offences."3 In his Origin and Development of the Moral Indas Dr. Westermarck shows that, apart from the genuine cases of sexual perversion, as to the frequency of which opinions differ, homosexual love frequently arises in three conditions of society. These are, when women are actually scarce, as among the Australian aborigines and other primitive races; when the men are frequently engaged in war or in predatory expeditions and are separated from their wives for long periods, a condition which accounts for its prevalence among the Sikhs and Pathâns; and lastly, when women are secluded and uneducated and hence their society affords little intellectual pleasure to men, This was the case in ancient Greece where women received no education and had no place at the public spectacles which were the chief means of culture;4 and the same reason probably accounts for the frequency of the vice among the Persians and modern Egyptians. "So also it seems that the ignorance and dullness of Muhammadan women, which is a result of their total lack of education and their secluded life, is a cause of homosexual practices; Moors are sometimes heard to defend pederasty on the plea that the company of boys, who have always news to tell, is so much more entertaining than the company of women."5

1. Acacia arabica. 2. The late Mr. A. M. T. jackson's notes Ind. Ant., August 1912, p. 56. Vol. III. 3. Laws of Manu, xi. p. 175. quoted in The origin and Development of the Moral Ideas, ii. p. 476. 4. Westermarck, The origin and Development of the Moral Ideas, ii. p. 470. 5. Ibidem, ii. p. 471

355 The Christian Church in this as in other respects has set a very high standard of sexual morality. Unnatural crimes were regarded with peculiar horror in the Middle Ages, and the punishments for them in English law were burying and burning alive, though these were probably seldom or never enforced.1 The attitude of the Church, which was reflected in the civil law, was partly inherited from the Jews of the Old Testament, and reinforced by similar conditions in mediaeval society. In both cases this crime was especially associated with the heathen and heretics, as shown in Dr. Westermarck's interesting account:2

"According to Genesis unnatural vice was the sin of a people who were not the Lord's people, and the Levitical legislation represents Canaanitish abominations as the chief reason why the Canaanites were exterminated. Now we know that sodomy entered as an element in their religion. Besides kedéshóth, or female prostitutes, there were kedéshím or male prostitutes, attached to their temples. The word kâdésh, translated 'Sodomite,' properly denotes a man dedicated to a deity; and it appears that such men were consecrated to the mother of the gods, the famous Dea Syria, whose priests or devotees they were considered to be. The male devotees of this and other goddesses were probably in a position analogous to that occupied by the female devotees of certain gods, who also, as we have seen, have developed into libertines; and the sodomitic acts committed with these temple prostitutes may, like the connections with priestesses, have had in view to transfer blessings to the worshippers. In Morocco supernatural benefits are expected not only from heterosexual, but also from homosexual intercourse with a holy person. The kedéshím are frequently alluded to in the Old Testament, especially in the period of the monarchy, when rites of foreign origin made their way into both Israel and Judah. And it is natural that the Yâhveh worshipper should regard their practices with the utmost horror as forming part of an idolatrous cult.

"The Hebrew conception of homosexual love to some extent affected Muhammadanism, and passed into Christianity. The notion that it is a form of sacrilege was here strengthened by the habits of the Gentiles. St. Paul found the abominations of Sodom prevalent among nations who had, "changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the creator." During the Middle Ages heretics were accused of unnatural vice as a matter of course. Indeed, so closely was sodomy associated with heresy that the same name was applied to both. In La Coutume de Touraine-Anjou the word he`ite which is the ancient form of he`re`tique, seems to be used in the sense of 'sodomite'; and the French bougre (from the Latin Bulgarus, Bulgarian),as also its English synonym, was originally a name given to a sect of heretics who came from Bulgaria in the eleventh century and was afterwards applied to other heretics, but at the same time it became the regular expression for a person guilty of unnatural intercourse. In mediaeval laws sodomy was also repeatedly mentioned together with heresy, and the punishment was the same for both. It thus remained a religious offence of the first order. It was not only a 'vitium nefandum et super omnia detestandum,' but it was one of the four 'clamantia peccata,' or crying sins, a 'crime de Majestie, vers le Roy celestre.' Very naturally, therefore, it has come to be regarded with somewhat greater leniency by law and public opinion in proportion as they have emancipated themselves from theological doctrines. And the fresh light which the scientific study of the sexual impulse has lately thrown upon the subject of homosexuality must also necessarily influence the moral ideas relating to it, in so far as no scrutinising judge can fail to take into account the pressure which a powerful non-volitional desire exercises upon an agent's will."

Holia.: -They work leather and make drums. They live in .

1. Ibidem, ii. p. 481, 482. 2. Ibidem, ii. p. 487, 489

356 Idaiyan.: -The Idaiyans are the great pastoral or shepherd caste of the Tamil country1, but some are landowners, and a few are in Government employ. Those whom I examined at Coimbatore were engaged as milkmen, shepherds, cultivators, gardeners, cart-drivers, shopkeepers, constables, family doctors, and mendicants.

Name origin and sub-sections It is recorded in the Tanjore Manual that "the Rev. Mr. Pope says that Ideir are so-called from idei, middle, being a kind of intermediate link between the farmers and merchants." Mr. Nelson2 considers this derivation to be fanciful, and thinks that "perhaps they are so called from originally inhabiting the lands which lay midway between the hills and the arable lands, the jungly plains, suited for pasturage [i.e., the middle land out of the five groups of land mentioned in Tamil works, viz., Kurinji, Pâlai, Mullai, Marutam, Neytal.3 The class consists of several clans, but they may be broadly divided into two sections, the one more thoroughly organised, the other retaining most of the essential characteristics of an aboriginal race. The first section follows the Vaishnava sect, wear the nâmam, and call themselves Yâdavas. Those belonging to the second section stick to their demon worship, and made no pretensions to a descent from the Yâdava race. They daub their foreheads with the sacred cow-dung ashes, and are regarded, apparently from this circumstance alone, to belong to the Saiva sect."

Social standing In the Madras Census Report, 1871, it is noted that milkmen and cowherds appear to hold a social position of some importance, and even Brâhmans do not disdain to drink milk or curds from their hands. Further, the Census Superintendent, 1901, writes that "the Idaiyans take a higher social position than they would otherwise do, owing to the tradition that Krishna was brought up by their caste, and to the fact that they are the only purveyors of milk, ghí (clarified butter), etc., and so are indispensable to the community. All Brâhmans, except the most orthodox, will accordingly eat butter-milk and butter brought by them. In some places they have the privilege of breaking the butter-pot on the Gókulâshtami, or Krishna's birthday, and get a new cloth and some money for doing it. They will eat in the houses of Vellâlas, Pallis, and Nattamâns."

The Idaiyans claim that Timma Râja, the prime minister of Krishna Déva Râya of Vijayanagar, who executed various works in the Chingleput district, was an Idaiyan by caste. The Idaiyans have returned a large number of divisions, of which the following may be noted:

Kalkatti and Pâsi. The women, contrary to the usual Tamil custom, have black beads in their tâli-string. The practice is apparently due to the influence of Telugu Brâhman puróhits, as various Telugu castes have glass beads along with the bottu (marriage badge). In like manner, the married Pandamutti Palli women wear a necklace of black beads. According to a legend, pâsi is a pebble found in rivers, from which the beads are made. A giant came to kill Krishna when he was playing with the shepherd boys on the banks of a river. He fought the giant with these pebbles, and killed him.

Pal, milk. Corresponds to the Hâlu (milk) division of the Canarese Kuruba shepherd caste.

Pendukkumekki, denoting those who are subservient to their women. A man, on marriage, joins his wife's family, and he succeeds to the property, not of his father, but of his father-in- law.

1 See Thurston. 2. Manual of the Madura district. 3. Madras Census Report, 1891.

357 Siviyan or Sivâla. An occupational name, meaning palanquin-bearer.

Sangukatti, or those who tie the conch or chank shell (Turbinella rapa). It is narrated that Krishna wanted to marry Rukmani, whose family insisted on marrying her to Sishupâlan. When the wedding was about to take place, Krishna carried off Rukmani, and placed a bangle made of chank shell on her wrist.

Sâmbân, a name of Siva. Most members of this division put on the sacred ashes as a sectarian mark. It is said that the Yâdavas were in the habit of making offerings to Dévéndra, but Krishna wanted them to worship him. With the exception of a few Yâdavas and Paraiyans who were also employed in grazing cattle, all the shepherds refused to do so. It is stated that "in ancient times, men of the Idaiyan caste ranked only a little above Paraiyans, and that the Idaichéri, an Idaiyan suburb, was always situated close to the Paraichéri, or Paraiyan's suburb, in every properly constituted village."1

Pudunâttu or Puthukkanâttar, meaning people of the new country. The Idaiyans claim that, when Krishna settled in Kishkindha, he peopled it with members of their caste.

Perîn(big) Tâli, and Siru(small) Tâli, indicating those whose married women wear a large or small tâli.

Panjâram or Panchâramkatti. The name is derived from the peculiar gold ornament called panjâram or panchâram shaped like a many-rayed sun, and having three dots on it, which is worn by widows. It is said that in this division "widow marriage is commonly practiced, because Krishna used to place a similar ornament round the necks of the Idaiyan widows of whom he became enamoured, to transform them from widows into married women, to whom pleasure was not forbidden, and that this sub-division is the result of these amours."2

Maniyakkâra. Derived from mani, a bell, such as is tied round the necks of cattle, sheep and goats.

Kalla. Most numerous in the area inhabited by the Kallan caste. Possibly an offshoot of this caste, composed of those who have taken to the occupation of shepherds. Like the Kallans, this sub-division has exogamous septs or kílais, e.g., Déva (god), Véndhan (king).

Shólia, territorial name denoting inhabitants of the Chóla country.

Ánaikombu, or elephant tusk, which was the weapon used by Krishna and the Yâdavas to kill the giant Sakatasura.

Karutthakâdu, black cotton country. A sub-division found mostly in Madura and Tinnevelly, where there is a considerable tract of black cotton soil.

Traditions The Perumâl Mâdukkârans or Perumâl Erudukkârans (see Gangeddu), who travel about the country exhibiting performing bulls, are said to belong to the Pî (flower) Idaiyan section of the Idaiyan caste. This is so named because the primary occupation thereof was, and in some places still is, making garlands for temples. In the Gazetteer of the Madura district, it is recorded that "podunâttu (Pudunâttu?) Idaiyans have a tradition that they originally belonged to Tinnevelly, but fled to this district secretly one night in a body in the time of Tirumala Nâyakkan, because the local chief oppressed them. Tirumala welcomed them, and put them under the care of the Kallan headman Pinnai Dévan, decreeing that, to ensure that this

1. Manual of the Madura district. 2. Madras Census Report, 1901.

358 gentleman and his successors faithfully observed the charge, they should always be appointed by an Idaiyan. That condition is observed to this day. In this sub-division a man has the same right to marry his paternal aunt's daughter as is possessed by the Kallans. But, if woman's age is much greater than the boy's, she usually married instead to his cousin, or some one else on that side of the family. A Brâhman officiates at weddings, and the sacred fire is used, but the bridegroom's sister ties the tâli (marriage badge). Divorce and the remarriage of widows are prohibited. The dead, except infants, are burnt. Caste affairs are settled by a headman called the Nâttânmaikâran, who is assisted by an accountant and a peon. All three are elected. The headman has the management of the caste fund, which is utilised in the celebration of festivals on certain days in some of the larger temples of the district. Among these Podunâttus, an uncommon rule of inheritance is in force. A woman who has no male issue at the time of her husband's death has to return his property to his brother, father, or maternal uncle, but is allotted maintenance, the amount of which is fixed by a caste panchâyat (council). Among the Valasu and Pendukkumekki sub-divisions, Another odd form of maintenance subsists. A man's property descends to his sons-in-law, who live with him, and not to his sons. The sons merely get maintenance until they are married.

In the Madras Census Report, 1901, Póndan or Pógandan is recorded as a sub-caste of Idaiyans, who are palanquin-bearers to the Zamorin of Calicut. In this connection, it is noted by Mr. K. Kannan Nâyar1 that "among the Konar (cowherds) of Poondurai near Erode (in the Coimbatore district), who, according to tradition, originally belonged to the same tribe as the Gopas living in the southern part of Kérala, and now forming a section of the Nâyars, the former matrimonial customs were exactly the same as those of the Nâyars. They, too, celebrated tâli-kettu kalyânam, and, like the Nâyars, did not make it binding on the bride and bridegroom of the ceremony to live as husband and wife. They have now, however, abandoned the custom, and have made the tying of the tâli the actual marriage ceremony". The typical panchâyat (village council) system exists among the Idaiyans, and the only distinguishing feature is the existence of a headman, called Kíthâri or Kílâri, whose business it is to look after the sheep of the village, to arrange for penning them in the fields. In some places the headman is called Ambalakkâran. In bygone days, those who were convicted of adultery were tied to a post, and beaten.

Puberty, marriage, and death rites In some places, when a girl reaches puberty, her maternal uncle, or his sons, build a hut with green cocoanut leaves, which she occupies for sixteen days, when purificatory ceremonies are performed. The marriage ceremonies vary according to locality, and the following details of one form therefore, as carried out at Coimbatore, may be cited. When a marriage between two persons is contemplated, a red and white flower, tied up in separate betel leaves, are thrown before the idol at a temple. A little child is told to pick up one of the leaves, and, if she selects the one containing the white flower, the omens are considered auspicious, and the marriage will be arranged. On the day of the betrothal, the future bridegroom's father and other relations go to the girl's house with presents of a new cloth, fruits, and ornaments. The bride price (pariyam) is paid, and betel exchanged. The bridegroom-elect goes to the girl's cousins (maternal uncle's sons), who have a right to marry her, and presents them with four annas and betel. The acceptance of these is a sign that they consent to the marriage. On the marriage day, the bridegroom plants the milk-post, after it has been blessed by a Brâhman puróhit, and is shaved by a barber. The bride and her female relations fetch some earth, and a platform is made out of it in the marriage pandal (booth). The Brâhman makes fire (hómam), and places a cowdung Pillayar (Ganésa) in the pandal. The bride then husks some rice therein. The relations of the bride and bridegroom fetch from the potter's house seven pots called adukupânai, two large pots, called arasânipânai, and seven earthen trays, and

1. Malabar Quart. Review, II, 1906.

359 place them in front of the platform. The pots are filled with water, and a small bit of gold is placed in each. The bridegroom goes to a Pillayar shrine, and, on his return, the bride's brother washes his feet, and puts rings on his second toes. The kankanams (wrist-threads) are tied on the wrists of the contracting couple, and the bridegroom takes his seat within the pandal, to which the bride is carried in the arms of one of her maternal uncles, while another carries a torch light placed on a mortar. The bride takes her seat by the side of the bridegroom, and the light is set in front of them. The tâli is taken round to be blessed by those assembled, and handed to the bridegroom, who ties it on the bride's neck. The couple then put a little earth in each of the seven trays, and sow therein nine kinds of grain. Two vessels, containing mil and whey, are placed before them, and the relations pour a little thereof over their heads. The right hand of the bridegroom is placed in the left hand of the bride, and their hands are tied together by one of the bride's maternal uncle's sons. The bride is then carried into the house in the arms of an elder brother of the bridegroom. At the threshold she is stopped by the maternal uncle's sons, who may beat the man who is carrying her. The bridegroom pays them each four annas, and he and the bride are allowed to enter the house. On the night of the wedding day, they are shut up in a room. During the following days the pots are worshipped. On the seventh day, the ends of the cloths of the newly married couple are tied together, and they bathe in turmeric water. The wrist-threads are removed, they rub oil over each other's heads, and bathe in a pond. The bride serves food to the bridegroom, and their relations eat off the same leaf, to indicate the union between the two families. Into one of the large pots a gold and silver ring, and into the other an iron style and piece of palm leaf are dropped. The couple perform the pot-searching ceremony, and whichever gets hold of the gold ring or style is regarded as the more clever of the two. The bridegroom places his right foot, and the bride her left foot on a grindstone, and they look at the star Arundathi. The stone represents Ahalliya, the wife of the sage Gautama, who was cursed by her husband for her misconduct with Indra, and turned into a stone, whereas Arundathi was the wife of Vasishta and a model of chastity. The newly married couple, by placing their feet on the stone, Indicate their intention of checking unchaste desires, and by looking at Arundathi, of remaining faithful to each other. The bride decorates a small grindstone with a cloth and ornaments, and takes it round to all her relations who are present, and who bless her with a hope that she will have many children. In the Marava country, a grown-up Idaiyan girl is sometimes married to a boy of ten or twelve. Among some Idaiyans, it is customary for the tâli to be tied by the sister of the bridegroom, and not by the bridegroom, who must not be present when it is done.

It is said that, in some places, like the Gollas, when an Idaiyan bridegroom sets out for the house of his bride, he is seized by companions, who will not release him till he has paid a piece of gold. In the Madura Manual it is noted that "at an Idaiyan wedding, on the third day, when the favourite amusement of sprinkling turmeric-water over the guests is concluded, the whole party betake themselves to the village tank (pond). A friend of the bridegroom brings a hoe and a basket, and the young husband fills three baskets with earth from the bottom of the tank, while the wife takes them away, and throws the earth behind. They then say 'We have dug a ditch for charity.' This practice may probably be explained by remembering that, in arid districts, where the Idaiyans often tend their cattle, the tank is of the greatest importance."

It is said that the Siviyan and Pendukkumekki sub-divisions take low rank, as the remarriage of widows is freely permitted among them. In the Ramnâd territory of the Madura district, the marriage of widows is attributed to compulsion by a Zamindar. According to the story, the Zamindar asked an Idaiyan whether he would marry a widow. The reply was that widows are aruthukattâdhavar, i,e., women who will not tie the tâli string again, after snapping it (on the husband's death). This was considered impertinent by the Zamindar, as marriage of widows was common among the Maravars. To compel the Idaiyans to resort to widow marriage, he took advantage of the ambiguity of the word aruthukattâdhavar, which would also mean those who do not tie up a bundle after cutting or reaping. At the time of the

360 harvest season, the Zamindar sent his servants to the Idaiyans with orders that they were not to tie up the rice plants in sheaves. This led to severe monetary loss, and the Idaiyans consented reluctantly to widow remarriage. On the death of a married Idaiyan, at Coimbatore, the corpse is placed in a seated posture. A measure of rice, a lighted lamp, and cocoanut are placed near it, and burning fire-wood is laid at the door of the house. When the relations and friends have arrived, the body is removed from the house, and placed in a pandal, supported behind by a mortar. The male relations put on the sacred thread, and each brings a pot of water from a tank. The widow rubs oil over the head of the corpse, and someone, placing a little oil in the hands thereof, rubs it over her head. On the way to the burning-ground, a barber carries a fire-brand and a pot, and a washerman carries the mat, cloths, and other articles used by the deceased. When the idukâdu, a spot made to represent the shrine of Arichandra who is in charge of the burial or burning ground, is reached, the polluted articles are thrown away, and the bier is placed on the ground. A Paraiyan makes a cross-mark at the four corners of the bier, and the son, who is chief mourner, places a small coin on three of the marks, leaving out the one at the north- east corner. The Paraiyan takes these coins and tears a bit of cloth from the winding-sheet, which is sent to the widow. At the burning-ground, the relations place rice, water, and small coins in the mouth of the corpse. The coins are the prerogative of the Paraiyan. The son, who is clean-shaven, carries a pot of water on his shoulder thrice round the pyre, and, at each turn, the barber makes a hole in it with a chank shell, when the head is reached. Finally the pot is broken near the head. The sacred threads are thrown by those who wear them on the pyre, and the son sets fire to it, and goes away without looking back. The widow meanwhile has broken her tâli string, and thrown it into a vessel of milk, which is on the spot where the deceased breathed his last. The son, on his return home after bathing, steps across a pestle placed at the threshold. Árathi (wave offering) is performed, and he worships a lighted lamp within the house. On the following day, rice and Sesbania grandiflora are cooked, and served to the relatives by the widow's brothers. Next day, milk, ghí (clarified butter), curds, tender cocoanuts, nine kinds of grain, water, and other articles required for worship, are taken to the burning-ground. The smouldering ashes are extinguished with water, and the fragments of the bones are collected, and placed on a leaf. A miniature plough is made, and the spot on which the body was burned is ploughed, and the nine kinds of grain are sown. On his return home, a turban is placed on the head of the son who acted as chief mourner by his maternal uncles. A new cloth is folded, and on it a betel leaf is placed, which is worshipped for sixteen days. On the sixteenth day, a Brâhman makes a human figure with holy grass, which has to be worshipped by the chief mourner not less than twenty-five times, and he must bathe between each act of worship. The bones are then carried in a new earthen pot, and floated on a stream. At night, food is cooked and worshipped with a new cloth. Rice is cooked at the door. A cock is tied to a sacrificial post, called kazhukumaram, and set up outside the house, to which the rice is offered. One end of a thread is tied to the post, and the other end to a new cloth, which is worshipped inside the house. The thread is watched till it shakes, and then broken. The door is closed, and the cock is stuck on the pointed tip of the post, and killed. An empty litter is carried in procession through the streets, and alms are given to beggars. A widow should remain gósha (in seclusion) for twelve months after her husband's death. When an adult but unmarried male or female dies, a human figure, made out of holy grass, is married to the corpse, and some of the marriage rites are performed.

The Indaiyans are Vaishnavites, and the more civilised among them are branded like Vaishnava Brâhmans. Saturday is considered a holy day. Their most important festival is Krishna Jayanti, or Srí Jayanti, in honour of Krishna's birthday. They show special reverence for the vessels used in dairy operations. The proverb that the sense of an Idaiyan is on the back of his neck, for it was there that he received the blows, refers to "the story of the shepherd entering the gate of his house with a crook placed horizontally on his shoulders, and finding himself unable to get in, and his being made able to do so by a couple of blows on his back, and the removal of the crook at the same time. Another proverb is that there is neither an Ándi among Idaiyans, nor a

361 Tâdan among the potters. The Ándi is always a Saivite beggar, and, the Idaiyans being always Vaishnavites, they can never have in their midst a beggar of the Saivite sect, or vice versâ. Being extremely stupid, whenever any dispute arises among them, they can never come to any definite settlement, or, as the proverb says, the disputes between Idaiyans are never easily settled. Keeping and rearing cattle, grazing and milking them, and living thereby, are their allotted task in life, and so they are never good agriculturists. This defect is alluded to in the proverb that the field watered by the Idaiyan, or by a member of the Palli caste, must ever remain a waste."1

Other proverbs, quoted by the Rev. H. Jensen2 are as follows:- The shepherd can get some fool to serve him. Like a shepherd who would not give anything, but showed an ewe big with young. The shepherd destroyed half, and the fool half.

In 1904, an elementary school for Idaiyans, called the Yâdava school, was established at Madura. The usual title of the Idaiyans is Kónân or Kón meaning King, but, in the Census Report, 1901, the titles Pillai and Kariyâlan are also recorded. In the Census Report, 1891. Idaiya is given as a sub-division of Vakkaliga; and, in the Salem Manual, Idaiyan appears as a synonym of Shânân. For the following note on the Idaiyans who have settled in Travancore, I am indebted to Mr. N. Subramani Aiyar. They consist of two well-defined sections, namely, the Tamil-speaking Idaiyans, who are but recent immigrants, and are largely found in Tevala, Agastisvaram and Shenkotta, and the Malayâlam-speaking branch, who are early settlers residing chiefly in Kartikapalli and other taluks of Central Travancore. The Idaiyans are not largely found in Travancore, because a branch of the indigenous Sîdra community, the Idachéri Nâyars, are engaged in the same occupation. They are divided into two classes, viz., Kangayan (shepherds) and Puvandans, who neither interdine nor intermarry. The latter appear to be divided into four classes, Pâsi, Gopâlan, Nambi, and Valayitayan. Puvandan is another form of the word Póndan, which means a palanquin-bearer. It is well known that, in the Tamil country, this was one of the duties of the Idaiyans, as is evident from a sub-division called Sivi or Siviyar (palanquin) existing among them. In the early settlement records of Travancore, they are referred to as Sibis. Many fancy, though incorrectly, that the word means one who collects flowers. As the Sibis were experts in palanquin-bearing, they must have been brought from the Tamil country to serve the mediaeval Râjas. At the present day, besides pursuing their traditional occupation, they also engage in agriculture and trade. The position of the Puvandans in society is not low. They are entitled to the services of the Brâhman's washerman and barber, and they may enter temples, and advance as far as the place to which Nâyars go, except in some parts of Central Travancore. They are flesh-eaters, and the drinking of intoxicating liquor is not prohibited. On ceremonial occasions, women wear the Tamil Idaiya dress, while at other times they adopt the attire of Nâyar women. Their ornaments are foreign, and clearly indicate that they are a Tamil caste. The marriage badge is called sankhu tâli, and a small conch-shaped ornament forms its most conspicuous feature. Besides the ordinary Hindu deities, they worship Mâtam, Yakshi, and Maruta. At weddings, the Idaiyan bridegroom holds a sword in his left hand, while he takes hold of the bride by the right hand. Funeral ceremonies are supervised by a barber, who officiates as priest. Corpses are either burnt or buried. Though they appear to observe only eleven days' death pollution, they cannot enter a temple until the expiry of sixteen days. An anniversary ceremony in memory of the deceased is performed on the new-moon day in the month of Karkâtakam (July-August), and, on this day, most members of the caste go to Varkalai to perform the rite. Many purely Tamil names are still preserved in the caste, such as Tambi, Châmi, Bhagavati, and Châttu.

1. Madras Mail, 1904. 2. Classified Collection of Tamil Proverbs, 1897.

362 Jabel.: -They are hunters and fishermen.

Jajabor.: -Manta, Bede. 1 In order not to write an aseptic text I will relate briefly how I came to know about Bajuk's group. I first met Bajuk last year in Barishal while he was caring for his son dying in hospital. As a matter of fact, I became involved in the child's case, who eventually managed to survive a long spell of acute tetanus. After having sold almost everything while the child was still in hospital, Bajuk had to sell his boat to pay for an urgent surgical operation for his wife. At that point I bought a boat for my own use and I asked Bajuk's family to take care of it while I was engaged with other groups. A year later, after several attempts we managed to meet again. After the difficulties of the first hour, I am now beginning to see the world with the eyes of boat's nomads.

Bede Jajabor: The Journey. The group I live with is a hundred percent nomadic, though every two years they make almost the same journey stopping in the same places and canals. It is only when they find out that an other large group is stationing in the same canal or has only just left the place where they were planning to stop, that they move on to the next place. They tend to dock their boats in canals rather than rivers, since rivers, especially during some seasons and at certain hours of the day, when the tide very high or low, would leave them exposed to strong winds that could be dangerous. On the other hand cyclones, whirlwinds and storms, which are quite frequent in Bangladesh, do not present such a threat for boats moored in such connecting canals, since they will not be struck by the big waves of the rivers. These rivers and canals are, relatively speaking, quite near to the sea line and they are therefore affected by the changing tides. The trips of the group are generally planned according to the direction of the tide. Sometimes they start to sail very early in the morning, sometimes in the middle of the day and at some other times in the middle of the night. If they are on what they consider a very important, though unforeseen, part of their journey, they sail on, even against the wind and the tide.

The Bede know everything about the rivers: the direction and duration of the tide and the difficult or dangerous spots in the water drift, nevertheless sometimes they are faced by sudden dangers. Re-sailing on the same route only every two years, quite often, they face difficulties in recognising land marks that tend to changed or have disappeared all together. Once, during the second week of the journey near Angheria, they pointed out to me a large area of about a square kilometre covered with trees and paddy fields, that was where the river was ten years earlier. On the third week they told me that twelve years ago, the canal we were navigating was so small that the boats had to sail past one by one and there was no way to do a U-turn. Now you could hardly see the other side of the river. On the eighteen day of sailing southward from Madaripur, all of a sudden the boat got stranded in shallow water in the part of the river that used to be very deep. The river was shifting its course in an unforeseen manner. Using the small boat which is always towed along the large one we had to inspect how far the mud had engulfed the boat, after that we got into the 30 centimetre deep mud and towed the boat by hand for about a hundred yards till we got again into deep water.

If the leg of the journey only takes few hours of the morning, on arrival the women go immediately to work in the nearby villages. If the journey takes longer there is more time for rest and relaxation, which makes this time delightful. Sailing along a river they

1 Original version of unpublished papers was written in italian by R. Rosso, translated into English by R. Tobanelli. (Unpublished Paper)

363 sometimes happen to encounter other Jajabor groups sailing the other way, and when they recognise friends or relatives they dock the boats together, if not, they exchange news shouting from the tops of the boats while sailing on.

During the journey we chat, sing and sometimes approach another boat in order to loan some tools like knifes, axes, pans or some rope and cord to finish or mend a fishing net, or just to exchange some vegetables, fish or fruits. It's worthy to mention that, while on a journey, it becomes very difficult to re-trace other groups which are moving around in the same region, and it is almost impossible to fix and keep engagements. Therefore when someone has to leave the group for few days for reasons like a funeral, a particular business or a hospital sojourn, he arranges to rejoin the others few days later in a well-known town. On the arranged day the group stops and sends somebody to the rendezvous spot to wait for him, and to show him the way back to the boats.

As I mentioned before, the journey tend to last two years. The group I live with in 1994 had made 82 stops. Here is a record of them all according to the pronunciation of the names:

Madaripur [December 1993] Kalkini Torki Piprakati Nolgora Tengramari Babugonc Kalaia Dhulna Gobindopur Amzola Ziknikamada Ulainna Arojbeki Portuakali Kukka Golacipa Patabunna Ciramkati Comesshil Kolapara Capali Dulershor Taltola Mohipur Shutanoli Jalokati Bhoga Boalha Bakorgonc Banoripara Shurukati Inderhat Mirirat Ashokkati Gornodi Torki Kalkini

364 Fashiatola Angheria Tekerat Bojeshor Donshar Noriar Sholpara Gojoria Shipchor Bromgonj Cometpur Badura Pirerbari laukola Jajira Foridpur Bangar Tengrakola Kalirbajar Bajbaria Bumuria Monlarat Khulna a] Fulbarigate, b] Tepakola. Bongobondhu Jatirpita Tunghi bari Thana - arrival at the end of March 1994. This stop lasted over a month in order to repair and refit the boats.

Resuming the journey at the beginning of May 1994. Citolmarir Nolciti Indurkati Para Boitagada Damura Misripara Goar Agorpur Shorikol Nolgora Iderpol Sonnia Cormokoria Dudkali Madaripur - Arrival at the end of October 1994. This was a stop of more than a month, with people going off to different celebrations, encounters, meetings, and business. November is for the Jajabor the most important month of the year.

Bede Jajabor: The Living - Space. The boat on which I lived was sixty years old, another boat in this group is 120 years old, none of them are new. The wood with which the boats are built is very strong and comes from India. Today is almost impossible to get hold of it, and in any case it is too expensive to buy.

365 The living space on the boat is subdivided into three sections. The first part is where usually guests are received and is also used for conversation and deals. In it there are some cushions, blankets and a variety of tin-cans and small containers. The boys and girls are usually kept apart for the night: boys may sleep in this part of the boat while the girls sleep in the kitchen. In this part of the boat some guests may stay for a night or two. There is a second central room, where all the valuables are stored: clothes, sheets, table cloths, cushions, blankets, mats, containers and oil lamps. Moreover in this part of the boat you find all the tools used in the Jajabor trade: sections of horns used to suck out pain from sick persons; all the tools used to cure tooth ache; home made herbal medicines; hooks, poles and canes used for fishing (hanging from the ceiling), and other tools for fishing which are piled together in sacks and varied containers. Husband and wife with a couple of the youngest children sleep in this part of the boat. There is then a third space: the kitchen, which is in turn subdivided in two parts. There is the inner kitchen which is like the other two sections of the boat covered by a roof, where pans, pots, plates, cups, a variety of other recipients and food stocks are stored, since not always at the different stops is possible to find what is needed for the kitchen. There is then the open sky section of the kitchen located on the meter and a half tip end of the boat, where an earthen three-picks stove (very easy to make, it only takes a couple of hours) is kept alongside some wood-fuel. When two families live on the same boat, one of them (or in some cases the second wife) lives in the first section of the boat where guests could be kept, the other stays in the central room, while the kitchen is shared. From December to March, in the different corners of the boats, an increasing quantity of rice is stockpiled into sacks and other containers. In March all these food provisions are sold just before starting an overhaul of the boat. Lashed onto to the typical Jajabor boat there is always a two to three metre long small boat. This is used for short logistic trips when the group is on a halt. Not having bathrooms, the small boat is quite handy when there is a need to get away and find a suitable place to discharge oneself. The small boat is also used to hunt birds nesting and feeding along the bank of the river. During frequent and long trips this boat is used as the proper place for taking a bath and laundering clothes. There is then a very special space: the roof of the boat which is about from 10 to 15 square metres in size. It is slightly curved, made of bamboo and strong enough to allow children to play on it. It is also used to dry the laundry and on long journeys is the ideal place for work or rest in the shadow of the sail. Another living space is the bank of the river. There often the children play; the adult men gather in groups, and women too, for a change from the usual boat, love to do some work on the bank like washing clothes, gathering wood-fuel and grinding coarse rice flour. This space becomes the ideal meeting place of two or more groups of Jajabor stopping over at the same place. Nevertheless as a living-space it is not as important as the boat. Life is on the water and therefore life is the boat itself.

Bede Jajabor: Work. The Bede people, for their living, depend on their women's ability to cure the sick. They know some old herbal medicine and some mantras which are useful in curing a lot of diseases. They use some horn segments to suck pain out of the body. They lay the horn on the sick part of the body and repeatedly absorb the pain. For this work they are given a compensation either in goods or money. They are also reputed to be very good at curing tooth decay. They place between the teeth of the patient some cotton or other, after a while they touch several time his/her cheek with a special root while reciting faintly some incomprehensible mantras, then they ask the patient to spit everything on their hands. They show to the patient that on their hand there is a worm. The patient, upon seeing that such a creature was squatting in their mouths and is now gone is really impressed, and feels an immediate sense of relief (no comment: I am only describing some of their practices).

366 Women, during a stopover, one by one go to do their work by moving from house to house. They are usually accompanied by the youngest son while the others stay with their fathers or oldest sons and daughters. This is a bonus, since in the rural areas, those who receive treatment from the Bede tend to compensate them with goods (rice, vegetables and other) and by the evening the burden the women have to carry back becomes heavy and children might help. During frequent and long trips, women, men and grown-up sons may exchange tasks. They may take turns at either the front or rear oar, the latter tends to be big and tiresome, since it also directs the course of the boat. Sometimes it takes an additional hand to control the sail, though in normal wind-conditions, it is held by the same person at the rear oar. The rest of the family performs other tasks either inside or on the roof of the boat. Men are often engaged in hunting birds, fishing and caring for the children while the mothers are at work. Though quite often either elder brothers or the neighbours may take care of the children. It should not be forgotten the boat is their life. Again going back to the theme of men's work, it needs to be said that the Jajabor technique of fishing is very different from that of the Malo-Jele group. The latter group tend to fish professionally in order to make a living, while the former group fish just for a meal. Their fishing technique has a jocund dimension. They fish in shallow waters with spikes. Its a blind way of fishing. the spikes are probed into the water repeatedly until an unlucky fish gets hooked. There is then a more complex system of fishing with the 'snake'. The 'snake' is made of about ten cane segments joined together head to tail to form a fifteen meter long tool, at the head of which there are seven or eight spikes. The 'snake', controlled from the tail, is made to follow the fish swimming just under the surface of the water, of which they can see the eyes, when the ' snake' is within striking distance from the fish they push the snake with a sudden movement, and the fish is hooked. The Jajabor prepare the hooks and all the other gear needed for fishing by themselves. They show an innate dexterity in using hammers as well as in using and shaping metals. For hunting birds with a sling they prepare hundreds of perfectly round little balls of mud which are then dried in the sun, since in Bangladesh it is impossible to find pebbles or stones. This pellets of dried-mud when hurled with the sling become lethal bullets for the birds.

Bede Mal Manta. Nozrul Amin's Mal Manta Bede group has been living for the last 30 years in tents. In the past this group of Nomads were living and moving along the rivers and canals on boats. The vast delta of South Bangladesh was the preferred arena of their wandering journeys. Thousands of Jajabor in the last 50 years have changed over from boatsto tents. The reasons for such change are many: in some cases, having lost their boats in a cyclone and not having the economic possibility of buying the necessary equipment in order to restart their wandering life on the river, many of them had to fall back on putting together a less expensive tent of rugs and restart their journey on land. It is a lot cheaper to buy a plastic sheet than to face the expenses for another boat. Though many tend to support the above mentioned thesis, which, by the way, contributes to project a miserable image, in reality, only a relatively small group of them gave up the river routes for that reason. Another reason is that, in spite of the large number of rivers in Bangladesh, rivers allow access only to a limited number of villages within a 7 - 8 kilometres distance from the river. Moreover, on the same tract of waterways different groups follow each other and this affects the work of those coming after. A further reason is that, though life in the boat is relatively more comfortable, life in a tent offers more economic opportunities, since with less burden is easier to move around efficiently. To this, it can be added that, when disaster strikes e.g. floods or cyclone, and everything is lost, if you are in a tent what you stand to loose is the tent itself and the little amount of Taka carried around (about 300 Taka), whereas if the boat is damaged or lost you stand to loose from 20.000 to 30,000 Taka. To all this it can be added that some work is easier to be performed by moving around in a tent.

367 The above comments relate to those groups who have chosen to give up boats for tents. Nevertheless it should be made clear that the tradition of moving around in tents, as far as it concerns nomadic life, is not derived from the tradition of boats, but it is a thousand-year-old tradition in itself. Moreover, if some of them have only replaced the tent, others have become formally settled. The phenomenon of peripheral settled life has always been part of the history of nomads. Some of them are tired and attracted by the amenities of settled life, and tend to prolong their stops over and little by little the tent or the boat is replaced by a house. In this way several centres of settled families have been constituted across the whole national territory. They have become gathering places for settled families but they are also places of referral for those who carry on with nomadic life. It is in this places that they meet up for celebrations with the rest of the extended family and other families. Whereas it can be said that, as far as nomadism is concerned, the house is a derived development from the tent and the boat, the same cannot be said about the tent vis a vis the boat. It is quite possible that both phenomena, fluvial nomadism and tent nomadism, have been coexisting in symbiotic form for centuries and millenniums. The tent and the boat are not even a distinctive sign to tell one group from the other. The typical example are the Baidda-Bebe or the other sub-groups of Bangladesh. Some of them live in boats and others in tents. Truly, the protagonists of one way of life or the other tend to exchange judgements of inferiority on the way of life of the other, since it is different from his/her own. The tent is relatively small: about 1.5 or 2 meters wide, 2 or 3 meters long and a little more than a meter high. It is built with small and thin bamboo sticks which are very flexible but strong. Four bamboo sticks which are less than two centimetres in diameter are planted in holes dug in the ground on the right, then four sticks are planted on the left facing them and they are bound together at the top so as to form an arch. A pole as long as the tent is then placed horizontally at the top binding together the four arches. Smaller sticks are then used to bind together one arch with the next and this contributes to the sturdiness of the tent. To finish the tent they put on top of it a blue or white sheet of paper. It always surprises me to see how this kind of dwelling can survive storms which are as strong as cyclones. At this point I would like to answer a question often asked by myself and by some other persons: "How is it possible to survive under such a tent under the scorching sun of midday during the hot season?" It is possible and not even that dramatic. The two openings in the tent allow for a good degree of draught air to circulate. The strong black plastic cover gives good protection, not allowing the infrared rays through, and the top layer of white or light blue plastic tends to reflect the sun's rays. During the day all sorts of cloths like lunghi, shirts, saris and blankets are laid on the tent, giving the impression of a miserable dwelling place built out of rugs, whereas it is a comfortable place which protects its inhabitants specially during the very hot hours of the day. When you need to move the tent is folded back into a neat pack a few kilos in weight. To move the camp on short distances tracks and buses are used and the rest of the journey is on foot -by a fast walk which is almost similar to running and very common in Bangladesh for people carrying weights. Men carry the tent and various household items divided into two packs of equal weight hanging from a curved bamboo stick, they look like a rustic weight scale. Women usually carry the bamboo poles, sticks and other luggage bound on their heads. Children as well as old people give a hand carrying some of the smaller burdens. Once the old people become unable to walk, they stop in areas where other nomads of the same group have become settled. This is also another reason for having a degree of settled life. Many groups travelling with tents tend to lengthen their stops over in such areas, especially during the raining season. During the raining season work is not stopped altogether, but the way it is carried out changes a bit. For instance, young and adult men either on their own or in groups go around with snakes, tabish or medicines and stay away for few days while the rest of the family -wife and children- stay at home. While on such trips in the evenings after a day work they take a bath, cook, have a meal and then sleep on the veranda of a school or in a train station. In this

368 period they prefer not to take along with them the tent. Some of them live in this way not only during the raining season but also all the year around. Those working in this way do not limit their area of work to the nearby large urban centres, but moving on buses the reach all the areas of the country. Speaking of work, it can be added that, normally, many of the Bede do not carry out just one type of work. While performing snake charming, or searching for lost objects in pukurs, or selling bijouterie, handicrafts and baskets made by them, they take the chance of solving health problems of their clients by either giving them some medicines they carry along or making arrangements to meet up at the camp where it is easier to find what they need for a proper cure. In this group both men and women accept a barter exchange of rice, eggs, ducks, wood for cooking and other things, as well as money as payment for their services. The economic viability of the family depends on both the work of men and women. This differs from what happens among the boats' groups, where I have seen that the income of the family, on the whole, depends on women's work, even though, in theory, the men decide how to dispose of such income. I said in theory, because in spite of the fact the women have very little power to make decisions about how to spend such income, through their cunning they manage to direct the course of the boat without touching the steering gear.

Jalâli.:-A class of Muhammadan Faqírs1 who take their name from their founder Sayyid Jalâl-ud-dín, who was a native of Bukhâra and a pupil of Bahâwal Haqq, the Sahrwardi saint of Multân, whose shrine is at Uchh in Bahâwalpur territory. "This teacher." says Mr. Maclagan,2 "was himself a strict follower of the law, but his followers who call themselves Jalâlis are in many ways backsliders. They pay little attention to prayer. They use large quantities of bhang, and are given to eating snakes and scorpions. They shave beards, moustaches and eye-brows, and wear only a small scalp-lock(choti) on the right side of the head. They are branded with a special mark on the right shoulder, wear glass armlets, have a woollen cord round their necks, a cloth on their heads, and are a vagabond set with no fixed dwelling-places. There is a section of the order known as the Chahl Tan, or 'Forty Bodies,' who are said to be derived from a luckless woman who, wishing to be a mother, swallowed forty philtres instead of one, and thus produced forty children in place of one only. The Jalâlis are said to be strong in Central Asia."

Janappan.: -The Janappan3, Mr. W. Francis writes,4 "were originally a section of the Balijas, but they have now developed into a distinct caste. They seem to have been called Janappan, because they manufactured gunny-bags of hemp (janapa) fibre. In Tamil they are called Saluppa Chettis, Saluppan being the Tamil form of Janappan. Some of them have taken to calling themselves Désâyis or Désâdhípatis (rulers of countries), and say they are Balijas. They do not wear the sacred thread. The caste usually speaks Telugu, but in Madura there is a section, the women of which speak Tamil, and also are debarred from taking part in religious ceremonies, and therefore, apparently belonged originally to some other caste.' In a note on the Janappans of the North Arcot district5 Mr. H.A. Stuart states that Janappan is "the name of a caste, which engages in trade by hawking goods about the towns and villages. Originally they were merely manufacturers of gunny-bags out of hemp (janapa, Crotalaria juncea), and so obtained their name. But they are now met with as Dâsaris or religious beggars, sweetmeat-sellers, and hawkers of English cloths and other goods. By the time they

1 See Crooke. 2 Panjâb Census Report , 195 sq. 3 See Thurston. 4. Madras Census Report, 1901. 5. Manual of the North Arcot district.

369 have obtained to the last honourable profession, they assume to be Balijas. Telugu is their vernacular, and Chetti their usual caste name. According to their own tradition, they sprung from a yâgam (sacrificial rite) made by Brahma, and their remote ancestor thus produced was, they say, asked by the merchants of the country to invent some means for carrying about their wares. He obtained some seeds from the ashes of Brahman's yâgam, which he sowed, and the plant which sprang up was the country hemp, which he manufactured into a gunny- bag. The Janapa Chettis are enterprising men in their way, and are much employed at the fairs at Gudiyâttam and other places as cattle-brokers." The Saluppans say that they have twenty-four gótras, which are divided into groups of sixteen and eight. Marriage is forbidden between members of the same group, but permitted between members of the sixteen and eight gótras. Among the names of the gótras, are the following:- Vasava. Madalavan. Vamme. Piligara. Mummudi. Mukkanda. Pilli Vankaravan. Vadiya. Makkiduvan. Thonda. Thallelan. Kó'a. Gendagiri.

The Janappans of the Telugu country also say that they have only twenty-four gótras. Some of these are totemistic in character. Thus, members of the Kappala (frog) gótra owe their name to a tradition that on one occasion, when some of the family were fishing, they caught a haul of big frogs instead of fish. Consequently, members of this gótra do not injure frogs. Members of the Thonda or Thonda Mahâ Rishi gótra abstain from using the fruit or leaves of the thonda plant (Cephalandra indica). The fruits of this plant are among the commonest of native vegetables. In like manner, members of the Makkanda sept may not use the fruit of Momordica Charantia. Those of the Vamme gótra abstain from eating the fish called bombadai, because, when some of their ancestors went to fetch water in the marriage pot, they found a number of this fish in the water collected in the pot. So, too, in the Kóla gótra, the eating of the fish called kólasi is forbidden.

Customs and society In their marriage customs, those who live in the Telugu country follow the Telugu Purânic form, while those who have settled in the Tamil country have adopted some of the marriage rites thereof. There are, however, some points of interest in their marriage ceremonies. On the day fixed for the betrothal, those assembled wait silently listening for the chirping of a lizard, which is an auspicious sign. It is said that the match is broken off if the chirping is not heard. If the omen proves auspicious, a small bundle of nine to twelve kinds of pulses and grains is given by the bridegroom's father to the father of the bride. This is preserved, and examined several days after the marriage. If the grain and pulses are in good condition, it is a sign that the newly married couple will have a prosperous marriage.

There are both Saivites and Vaishnavites among these people, and the former predominate in the southern district. Most of the Vaishnavites are disciples of Bhatrâzus. The Bhatrâzu priest goes round periodically collecting his fees. Those among the Saivites who are religiously inclined are disciples of Pandârams of mutts (religious institutions). Those who have settled in the Salem district seem to consider Damayanti and Kâmâtchi as the caste deities.

The manufacture of gunny-bags is still carried on by some members of the caste, but they are mainly engaged in trade and agriculture. In the city of Madras, the sale of various kinds of fruits is largely in the hands of the Janappans. Sâthu vândlu, meaning a company of merchants or travellers, occurs as a synonym of Janappan. In the Mysore Census Report of 1901, Janappa is returned as a sub-division of the Gónigas, who are sack-weavers and makers of gunny-bags.

370 Jangal Jati.: -The Vagiri are called Jungle Jati by the Marathas. See Vagiri.

Jangam.: -Jangama. - A Sivite order of wandering religious mendicants.1 The Jangams are the priests of gurus of the Sivite sect of Lingâyats. They numbered 2500 persons in the Central Provinces and Berâr in 1911, and frequent the Marâtha country. The Jangam is said to be so called because he wears a movable emblem of Siva (jana gama, "to come and go") in comparison to the Sthâwar of fixed emblems found in temples. Jangams discard many of the modern phases of Hinduism. They reject the poems in honour of Vishnu, Râma and Krishna, such as the Bhâgavad Gíta and Râmâyana; they also deny the authority of Brâhmans, the efficacy of pilgrimage and self-mortification, and the restrictions of caste; while they revere principally the Vedas and the teaching of the great Sivite reformer Shankar Achârya.2 Like other religious orders, the Jangams have now become a caste, and are divided into two groups of celibate and married members. The Gharbâris (married members) celebrate their weddings in the usual Marâtha fashion, except that they perform no hom or fire sacrifice, They permit the remarriage of widows. The Jangams wear ochre- coloured or badâmi clothes and long necklaces of seeds called rudrâksha3 beads, which resemble a nutmeg in size, in colour and nearly in shape; they besmear their forehead, arms and various other parts of the body with cowdung ashes. They wear the lingam or phallic sign of Siva either about the neck or loins in a little casket of gold, silver, copper or brass. As the lingam is supposed to represent the god and to be eternal, they are buried and not burnt after death, because the lingam must be buried with them and must not be destroyed in the fire. If any Jangam loses the lingam he or she must not eat or drink until it has been replaced by the guru or spiritual preceptor. It must be worshipped thrice a day, and ashes and bel 4 leaves are offered to it, besides food when the owner is about to partake of this himself. The Jangams worship no deity other than Siva or Mahâdeo, and their great festival is the Shivrâtri. Some of them make pilgrimages to Pachmarhi, to the Mahâdeo hills. Most of them subsist by begging and singing songs in praise of Mahâdeo. Grant-Duff gives the Jangam as one of the twenty-four village servants in a Marâtha village, perhaps as the priest of the local shrine of Siva, or as the caste priest of the Lingâyats, who are numerous in some districts of Bombay. He carries a wallet over the shoulder and a conch-shell and bell in the hand. On approaching the door of a house he rings his bell to bring out occupant, and having received alms proceeds on his way, blowing his conch-shell which is supposed to be a propitious act for the alms-giver, and to ensure his safe passage to heaven. The wallet is meant to hold the grain given to him, and on returning home he never empties it completely, but leaves a little grain in it as its own share. The Jangams are strict vegetarians, and take food only from the hands of Lingâyats. They bless their food before eating it and always finish it completely, and afterwards wash the dish with water and drink down the water. When a child is born, the priest is sent for and his feet are washed with water in a brass tray. The water is then rubbed over the bodies of those present, and a few drops sprinkled on the walls of the house as a ceremony of purification. The priest's great toes are then washed in a cup of water, and he dips the lingam he wears into this, and then sips a few drops of the water, each person present doing the same. This is called karuna or sanctification. He then dips a new lingam into the holy water, and ties it round the child's neck for a minute or two, afterwards handing it to the mother to be kept till the child is old enough to wear it. The dead are buried in a sitting posture, the lingam being placed in the palm of the hand. On

1 See Russell 2. Sherring, Castes and Tribes, iii. p. 123. 3. The nut of Eleocarpus lanceolatus. 4. Aegle marmelos.

371 the third day a clay image of Mahâdeo is carried to the grave, and food and flowers are offered to it, as well as any intoxicants to which the deceased person may have been addicted. The following notice of the Jangams more than a century ago may be quoted from the Abbe`` Dubois, though the custom described does not, so far as is known, prevail at present at least in the Central Provinces:1 "The gurus or priests of Siva, who are known in the Western Provinces by the name of Jangams, are for the most part celibates. They have a custom which is peculiar to themselves, and curious enough to be worth noting. When a guru travels about his district he lodges with some member of the sect, and the members contend among themselves for the honour of receiving him. When he has selected the house he wishes to stay in, the master and all the other male inmates are obliged, out of respect for him, to leave it and go and stay elsewhere. The holy man remains there day and night with only the women of the house, whom he keeps to wait on him and cook for him, without creating any scandal or exciting the jealousy of the husbands, All the same, some scandal-mongers have remarked that the Jangams always take care to choose a house where the women are young." The Jangams are not given to austerities, and go about well clad.

Jangama.:- (Sanskrit jangama,"moving.")-A Saiva order2, which is also called Linga-dhâri, because they wear a miniature hangman on the breast or arm. In the Panjâb they are regarded as a class of Jogis who wear flowers in their ears instead of the ordinary mundra earrings. It is said that when Siva at his marriage desired to give alms to the Brâhmans, no Brâhman appeared; the god thereupon tore open his lag (janga, jangha) and produced therefrom a man called Jangama, to whom he gave his alms. "These Jangamas are looked on as Brâhmans, and are said to correspond with the Lingâyats 3 of Central and Southern India. They dress and live like Jogis; they beg in the bâzârs, demanding a pice from every shop; they go about ringing bells, they carry peacock feathers in their hands and sing songs in praise of Siva." 4

Beliefs and customs Of the sect in the hills Mr. Atkinson writes- "They acknowledge the spiritual supremacy of Bâsava (Vrishabha), who was minister of Bijjala Deva, Kalachîri Râja of Kalyâna, and murdered his master in 1135 A.D. Bâsava wrote the Bâsava Purâna, and his nephew the Channa Bâsava Purâna, which are still the great authorities of he sect. They style themselves Puritan followers of Siva under the form of a linga, and all others idolators. They say that they reverence the Vedas and the writings of Sankara Achârya, but they reject the Mahâbhârata, Râmâyana and Bhâgavata as the invention of Brâhmans. They consider both Sankara Achârya and Bâsava as emanations of Siva. Bâsava himself was a Siva Brâhman and devoted himself to the worship of Siva under form of a linga, as worshipers of many gods, goddesses, deified mortals, and even of cows, monkeys, rats and snakes. He set aside the Veda as the supreme authority, and taught that all human beings are equal, and hence men of all castes, and even women, can become spiritual guides to the Jangamas.

Marriage is imperative with Brâhmans, but permissive only with the followers of Bâsava. Child marriage is unknown. A widow is treated with respect and may marry again, though, while she is a widow, she may not retain the jacket, perfumes, paints, black glass armlets, nose and toe rings, which form the peculiar garb of the married women. A Jangama always returns a woman's salutation, and only a breach of chastity can cause her to lose her position. They are also called Víra Saiva, to distinguish them from the Arâdhya, another division of the worshippers of Bâsava, who call themselves descendants of Brâhmans and could not be

1. Hindu Manners, Customs, and Ceremonies, 1897 ed. p. 118 2 See Crooke. 3. Monier Williams, Brahmanism and Hinduism , 88. 4. Maclagan, Panjâb Census Report , 116.

372 induced to lay aside the Brâhmanical thread, the price of assuming which requires the recital of the Gâyatri or hymn to the Sun. Hence the Jangamas regard this section as idolators and reject their assistance. Those who totally reject the assistance of Brâhmans are called Sâurânya and Visesha. The Sâmânya or ordinary Jangama may take wine and betel and may eat in anyone's house, but can marry only in his own caste. The Visesha is the Guru or spiritual preceptor of the rest. The lesser vows are addressed to the linga, the Guru and the Jangama brother in the faith. The linga represents the deity, and the Guru breathes the sacred spell into the ear and makes the neophyte one with the deity; hence he is reverenced above the natural parents. The lingas in temples are fixed there and are hence called Sthâvira; the lingas of Bâsava are called Jangama, or "able to move about," and the followers Jangama are living incarnations of the linga . The Arâdhyas retain as much of the Brâhmanical ceremonial as possible; they look down on women and admit no proselytes. They call themselves Vaidika and say that the Jangams are Vedabahyas. The latter declare that every one has a right to read the Veda for himself and that the Arâdhyas are poor blind leaders of the blind, who have wrested the Scriptures to the destruction of themselves and others. The Jangama worships Siva as Sadasiu, the form found in Kedâr, who is invisible, but pervades all nature. By him the linga is worshipped as a reliquary and brings no impure thought. He abhors Mâya or Kâli, who is one with Yona, and is opposed to licentiousness in morals and manners. He aims at release from earthly lusts by restraining the passions; he attends to the rules regarding funerals, marriages, and the placing of infants in the creed, and is, as a rule, decent sober and devout. Burial is substituted for cremation, and Brâhmans are set aside as priests."1

The Jangamas in Benares, who call themselves Víra Saiva or Lingadhâri, profess to be the followers of VíraBhadra, the son of Mahâdeva. In this sect are found Brâhmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas and Sîdras, Sannyâsis, and Achâryas. Unlike other Hindu sects, it binds all members in a bond of brotherhood. There are ascetic as well as house-keeping members. They will not eat or drink from the hands of other castes or sects, but they avoid Doms, Chamârs and similar menials, even if they belong to the sect. On the twelfth day after a child is born one of the house-keeping (grihastha) Jangamas comes and worships a miniature linga with an offering of sandal-wood (chandan), washed rice (achchhat), flowers, and incense, and ties the linga round the neck of the infant. This linga remains with the child all its life and even accompanies him to the grave. When the child is five years old the initiation rite is done in following way: a holy square (chauk) is made on which is placed a sacred water jar (kalas). The Guru or Mahant sits in the square and his feet are worshipped with an offering of sandal-wood, holy rice, flowers, a lamp and sweetmeats. The neophyte bathes and puts on a sheet of silk (pitâmbar), or, in default of this, a wet loin cloth, and smears his forehead with ashes. The formula of initiation- Om namah Sivay- is whispered into his ear. After this, if the child is intended to live a worldly life, he is kept at home; if he is intended to be an ascetic, he is made over to the Mahant, who takes him to his monastery, and for a year or two teaches the rules of the Siva linga worship.

To make him a perfect Jangama he is initiated for a second time. A week or so before the day fixed for the ceremony the Guru sends an invitation to the other members of the sect, and a special invitation is sent to the Guru of another monastery asking him to attend with Siddheswara Deota. The Guru of every monastery has an image of this deity, which is made of ashes and is regarded as the family deity. When all are present, a square is made in which the Guru sits. The neophyte is shaved by a barber and after bathing and putting on a silken robe he sits before the Guru. The worship of Siddheswara is performed in the same way as the worship of the Guru at the first initiation, and the same mantra is whispered again into the ear of the lad, after which he prostrates himself three times before the Guru. A feast to the brethren follows, and the ceremony ends with the presentation of money and

1. Himalayan Gazetteer , II, 862, sqq.

373 clothes, to the Guru who has brought the image of Siddheswara. After this the lad is known as kânaka ki murti, or "the golden image," and a full disciple of his Guru.

The Guru may have as many disciples as he pleases, and from among them he chooses his successor. When a disciple is appointed successor to the Guru he is called Pati, "Lord," or Chariti, "Minister." Sometimes one, sometimes two, persons hold these two posts. When he is appointed successor of the Guru, the worship of Siddheswara is performed as at his initiation. A burnt sacrifice (koma) is done and all the members present, following the Mahant who brings the image of Siddheswara, mark the forehead of the candidate and offer him costly presents, and all fall down on the ground before him.

Jangamas are generally wealthy people, and many of them own landed property. The worldly members of he sect marry in their own caste, but only with members of the sect. Their ceremonies are performed just like those of ordinary high-class Hindus. The mendicant members dress like Sannyâsis. Some wear long locks (jata); others shave their heads and moustaches. They wear clothes dyed in ochre and earrings (kundal) of Rudrâksha beads. They have a miniature linga round the neck. The Mahant wears usually a turban dyed in ochre, and he never wears shoes, but sandals (kharaun). The worldly members may dress as they please; the only mark of their sect which they carry is a miniature linga in small box of gold, silver, brass, or copper, which is tied in a piece of cloth on the neck or right wrist.

They bury their dead in the following way: the corpse is washed and dressed in the clothes worn during life. Then the whole is smeared over with ashes and a necklace of Rudrâksha beads tied on it. It is then seated on a stool in a sitting posture and worshipped as a form of Mahâdava with sandal, holy rice, flowers, etc. Songs are sung before it; texts of the Scriptures recited and musical instruments played. This goes on for a whole day or more, and large sums are spent in charity. The grave is dug from north to south and is two and a half yards is length and one and a half yards broad. On the north side steps are made, and on the southern side a small room is dug with a bricked arch for a doorway leading into the grave. The corpse, with loud cries of "Mahâdeva, Mahâdeva," is brought into the side-room, seated on a sort of chair (chauki) and placed facing the north. It is worshipped with sandal-wood, holy rice, flowers, leaves of the bel tree and ashes. In this room are placed all the articles which an ascetic Jangama needs in his lifetime. The whole corpse is then covered with ashes and bel leaves. The room is then closed with a wooden door leaving the corpse inside and the grave is filled up with earth. The only succeeding ceremonies are on the second and thirteenth day; on the second day the members of the sect are fed; on the thirteenth there is a second feast for members of the sect as well as for outsiders. Sayyadâna or "bed gifts," which correspond to the gifts made to a Mahâbrâhman at a Hindu funeral and intended for the use of the spirit in the other world, are among the Jangamas made to a member of the sect. Over the chamber in which the corpse is placed a mound (samâdhi) is raised, and on it is placed a linga of Mahâdeva, which is daily worshipped.

One of the chief duties of the members of the sect is to revere the Mahant like a deity. All orders issued by him must at any cost be obeyed. Whenever they meet him, whether the place be clean or foul, they must prostrate themselves before him. They have nothing to do with Brâhmans in their religious or domestic ceremonies. Those who beg ask only for uncooked food. They beg in the name of Mahâdeva. All of them abstain from animal food and intoxicating liquor. They do not care to look on any one who does not wear a necklace of Rudrâksha beads; if they cannot wear these beads, they mark the forehead with ashes. Almost the whole day is spent in devotion, the result of which they believe will be ultimate absorption is Sankar or Mahâdeva. They are respectable people, and particularly object to any member of the sect doing immoral acts.

374 Jarawa.: -It is a hunting semi-nomadic group. They are negritos in the Andaman Island. They still live in a kind of %primitive‘ way. Men and women do not wear clothes and they do not have a written language.

Jashodhis.: -or Karohlas. They live in central India. They are religious mendicants. In the past they were known as singers of sacred hymns of the Gonds. Now the Jashodhis sing the hymns to Kali.

Jasondhi.: -See Bhat.

Jât.: -An important agricultural tribe found chiefly in the western part of the Province in the Meerut and Rohikhand divisions and in smaller numbers in the Central Duâb1.

Origin. The traditions of the tribe do not throw much light on their origin. According to one story, at one time when Himâchal was performing a great sacrifice he invited all the gods to be present except his son-in-law Mahâdeve. His wife Pârvati heard of this from her husband, and was obliged to go alone. When she arrived she found that no seat and no share of the offerings had been allotted to her spouse; so she was wroth, and threw herself into the sacrificial fire, where she was consumed to ashes. When Mahâdeva heard of this he was consumed with anger, and untying his long hair (jata) dashed it on the ground. Instantly a powerful being arose and stood with folded hands before the god to do his bidding. Mahâdeva ordered him to go at once and destroy the sacrifice of Himâchal. He carried out the order and was named Vírabhadra, from whom are descended the race of the Jâts, and they take their name from the matted hair (jata) of the lord Mahâdeva. All the Jâts of these provinces have more or less vague traditions that they originally came form the Panjâb or Rajputâna. Thus in Mathura they assert that they originally migrated from Bayâna to Hissâr and thence made their way down the Jumna. In Bijnor they fix their original home at Dhâranagar, whence they came under the leadership of Râja Jagat Deva. Others in Bijnor refer their origin to Udaypur. By another account, when Muhammad Ghori conquered Chithor, two of the fugitives escaped, one in the direction of Nepâl, and the other wandering through Ajmer, Bikânor and Delhi arrived at Míranpura, a village in the Muzaffarnagar District. Thence he came to Jhandapur, near Bijnor, and warred with the Kalâls, who then ruled the land. They overcame him and killed his whole family, except, as is the stock incident in many tribal legends, a pregnant woman who escaped to her father's house at Dhanaura in the Rohtak District, where she gave birth to a son named Dasanda Sinh. A musician took pity on the lad and brought him to the court of the Emperor at Delhi, who sent a force with him to Bijonr and restored him to his family estates. An attempt has been made to trace the ethonological connections of the Jâts much further than this. Thus General Cunningham2 identifies them with the Xanthii of Strabo and the Jatti of Pliny and Ptolemy, and fixes their parent country on the banks of the Oxus between Bactria, Hyrkania and Khorasmin. In this very position there was a fertile district irrigated from the Margus river, which Pliny calls Zotale or Youthale, which he believes to have been the original seat of the Jattii or Jâts. "Their course from the Oxus to the Indus may, perhaps, be dimly traced in the Xuthi or Dionysius of Samos and the Zuthi or Ptolemy, who occupied the

1 See Crooke. Based on information obtained at Sahâranpur and notes by Mr. P. J. Fagan, C. S.; M. Atma Râm. Head Master, High School, Mathura ; Chaudhari Dhyân Sinh, Morâdâbâd ; the Deputy Inspectors of Schools, Bijnor, Bulandshahr, Meerut. 2 Archoelogical Reports , II., 55 .

375 Karmanian desert on the frontier of Drangiana. They may have been best known in early times by the general name of their horde as Abars instead of by their tribal name as Jâts. According to this view, the main body of the Jattii would have occupied the district of Abiria and the towns of Pardabathra and Bardaxema in Sindh, while the Panjâb was principally colonised by their brethren the Mess." On this Dr. Pritchard writes: "The supposition that the Jats or Jâts of the Indus are descendants of the Yuetschi does not appear altogether preposterous, but it is supported by no proof except the very trifling one of a slight resemblance of names. The physical characters of the Jâts are very different from those attributed to the Yuetschi and the kindred tribes by the writers cited by Klaproth and Abel Remusat, who say they are of sanguine complexions with blue eyes." Others have attempted to identify them with the Kshatriyas tribe of the Jâtharas; but in opposition to this Mr. Growse1 argues that their home is always placed in the south-east quarter, while it is certain that the Jâts came from the West. By another theory they are identified with the Jarttika, who with the Bahíka and Takka are said to have been the original inhabitants of the Panjâb. They were in the time of Justin known as Aratta, i.e., Arashtra, or "people with a king," and are represented by the Adraistae of Arrian who places them on the banks of the river Ravi.2 According to Mr. Nesfield's theory,3 the word Jât is nothing more than the modern Hindi pronunciation of Yadu or Jâdu, the tribe in which Krishan was born, which is now represented by the modern Jâdon Râjputs.

Connection of Jâts and Râjputs. The opinion of the best Indian authorities seems to be gradually turning to the belief that the connection between Jats and Râjputs is more intimate than was formerly supposed. Thus, writing of Hissâr, Mr. P. J. Fagan says: "It would probably require a lifetime of careful study and comparison before we could reach any satisfactory decision in the question whether Jâts and Râjputs are identical, similar or distinct races. The popular native account of the matter is simple enough; the Jâts, in common with many of the other tribes, are, according to the common opinion of the country side, Râjputs who have fallen in the social by infringing the rules forbidding the marriage of widows, enforcing the seclusion of women, and the like. In regard to customs, religious and social, Jâts and Râjputs are very similar; whatever differences are apparent in the latter are the very grounds assigned for their lower social position. My opinion is that we cannot properly set aside the weight of common tradition on the point, and I think we must hold that within certain limitations Jâts and Râjputs were originally one race; but that, instead of the Râjput remaining stationary and the Jât falling in the social scale, it is the Râjput who has risen, while the Jât has remained stationary or risen only slightly." And he goes on to hazard the theory that of the two sub-divisions, the Sivagotra represent the non- Aryan and the Kâsib or Kasyapa gotra the Aryan part of the tribe. To much the same effect Mr. Ibbetson writes4:"It may be that the original Jât and the original râjput entered India at different periods in its history, though to my mind the term Râjput is an occupational rather than an ethnological expression. But if they do originally represent two separate waves of immigration, it is at least exceedingly probable both from their almost identical physique and facial character, and from the close communion which has always existed between them, that they belong to one and the same ethnic stock; while, whether this be so or not, it is almost certain that they have been for many centuries, and still are, so intermingled and so blended into one people that it is practically impossible to distinguish them as separate wholes. It is, indeed, more than probable that the process of fusion has not ended here, and that the people who thus resulted from the blending of the Jât and the Râjputs, if these two were ever distinct, is by no means free from foreign elements. We have seen how the Pathân people have assimilated Sayyids, Turks and Mughals, and how it was

1 Mathura , 8. 2 Cunningham, Bhilsa Topes , 89. 3 Brief View , II., sq. 4 Panjâb Ethnography , paras. 421 422.

376 sufficient for a Jât tribe to retain its political independence and organisation in order to be admitted into the Biloch nation; we know how a character for sanctity and exclusiveness combined will in a few generations make a Quraish or a Sayyid; and it is almost certain that the joint Jât-Râjput stock contains not a few tribes of aboriginal descent, though it is probably in the main Aryo Skythian, if Skythians be not Aryans. The Mân, Her and Bhîlar Jâts are known as 'asl or 'original' Jâts, because they claim no Râjput ancestry, but are supposed to be descended from the hair (jata) of the aboriginal god Sive; the Jâts of the south eastern divide themselves into two sections-Sivgotri, or of the family of Siva, and Kâsibgotri, who claim connection with the Râjputs; and the names of the ancestor Bar of the Sivgotries and of his son Barbara are the very words which the ancient Brâhmans give as the marks of the barbarian aborigines. Many of the Jât tribes in the Panjâb have customs which apparently point to non- Aryan origin, and a rich and almost virgin field for investigation is here open to the ethnologist. "But whether Jâts and Râjputs were or were not originally distinct, and whatever aboriginal elements may have been affiliated to their society, I think that the two now form a common stock, the distinction between Jât and Râjput being social rather than ethnic. I believe that those families of that common stock whom the tide of fortune has raised to political importance have become Râjputs almost by mere virtue of their rise; and that their descendants have retained the title and its privileges on the condition, strictly enforced, of observing the rules by which the higher are distinguished from the lower castes in the Hindu scale of precedence, of preserving their purity of blood by refusing to marry with the families of lower social rank, of rigidly abstaining from widow marriage, and of refraining from degrading occupations. Those who transgressed these rules have fallen from their high position and ceased to be Râjputs; while such families as, attaining a dominant position in their territory, began to affect social exclusiveness and to observe the rules, have become not only Râjas, but Râjputs, or 'sons of râjas.' " In addition to all this there is good reason to suspect that the modern Jât race has become under the influence of infanticide very much intermixed. From a recent Report1 it would seem that Jâts are much addicted to purchasing girls of low caste and passing them off among their friends as genuine girls of the tribe and then marrying them. This, of course, much weakens the force of any available evidence from anthropometry in settling the ethnological affinities of the tribe.

Physical appearance. Of the tribe in Râjputâna a competent obserber; Dr. Breton, writes2: "In physique the Jâts are generally of fair height, but below the average of Râjputs or other castes. Their chest measurement and weight are in fair proportion to their height; the extremities, especially the lower, are often disproportionate to their abnormal length. The women are of very strong physique, exceeding men in this respect, proportionately speaking. They are not remarkable for personal beauty, but some have very fine figures. They are most industrious and contented, work in the fields, etc., but are said to rule their husbands. The prevailing complexion is fair and the colour of the eyes dark; the hair is dark, fine, and straight; beard and moustaches scanty, and the former not usually worn. The crania are of tolerably fair size and shape, often elongated, altogether a lower type than the Brâhman skull. Their intellectual faculties are not brilliant, partaking more of shrewdness and cunning than ability. They are said to possess courage and fidelity, are industrious and persevering in their habits, and are of an agile and muscular frame."

Exogamous groups Jâts. Besides these two great divisions of Dhé and Helé, the Jâts are split up into a vast number of exogamous sections (gotra, Pâl). The last Census in these Provinces records no less than 1,791 sections of the Hindu and 16 of the Muhammadan Jâts. Along the Western frontier the most

1 Infanticticide Report , N. W. P., 1888, p. 2 2 Rajputâna Gazetteer , I., 162

377 powerful of these are the Ghatwâl, who are also called Malak, a title which they are said to have obtained as follows: "In the old days of Râjput ascendancy the Râjputs would not allow the Jâts to cover their head with a turban, nor to wear any red clothes, nor the put a crown (maur) on the head of their bridegroom, or a jewel (nath) in the woman's nose. They also used to levy seignorial rights from virgin brides. Even to this day Râjputs will not allow inferior castes to wear red clothes or ample loin-cloths in their villages. The Ghatwâl obtained some success over the Râjputs, especially over the Mandahâras, and removed the obnoxious prohibition. They thus obtained the title of malak or 'master,' and a red turban as their distinguishing mark, and to this day a Jât with a red turban is most probably a Ghatwâl." In Hissâr, according to Mr. Fagan, they claim to be descended from Siroha Râjputs and to have come from Garh Gajni, wherever that may be. They say that they originally settled on Rohtak, where they were under the heel of the Râjputs to such an extent that their women had to wear nose-rings of straw. The Jâts attacked and overcame the Kallanîr Râjputs in a dispute arising out of a marriage procession; but peace was made and both sides settled down. Subsequently the Râjputs invited the Ghatwâls to an entertainment and treacherously blew them up with gunpowder. One Ghatwâl woman, according to the stock legend, who was not present, was the sole survivor and escaped to Depâl near Hânsi. She happened to be pregnant, and her two sons founded the present sept.

Other powerful septs are the Jakhar, who are sprung from a Râjput tribe variously stated to be Chauhân and Udha. They take their title from an ancestor of that name. It is related of him that a Râja of Dwârika had a huge and heavy bow and arrow, and promised that whoever could lift it up should be raised in rank above a Râja. Jakhar attempted the task, but failed, and for shame left for his native country and settled in Bikâner. This story, puerile though it may seem. probably implies that the Jakhar became Jâts by degradation from the military caste of Râjputs. The Sahrâwat, who take their name from Sahra, a son or grandson of Râja Anangpâl Tunwar, appear to have come originally from the neighbourhood of Delhi. The Bhainiwâl, who claim to be Deswâli, appear to have been originally Chauhân Râjputs to Sâmbhar in Rajputâna, whence they spread into Hissâr through Bikâner. The Deswâl must not be confused with the Deswâli, which is a comprehensive name for all the Jât tribes dwelling in the Hariyâna or Des of Hissâr and Rohtak. All these tribes were probably as closely connected with Rajputâna as are the present Bâgris, but the connection is more remote and less well remembered. The Deswâl, Dallâl, and Mân Jâts are all said to be related closely, being descended from one Dhanna Râo of Silauthi in Rohtak, by a Bargîjar Râjput woman, who had three sons, Dillé, Desal, and Mân, who gave their names to the three tribes of Dallâ, Deswâl, and Mân Jâts.

Septs in the North-West Provinces.. Beginning with the most Westerly Districts we find in Sahâranpur that the most powerful septs are the Deswâli, Pachhâdé, and Sinmâr; in Muzaffarnagar we have the Deswâli, Baliyân, Gauthiwâra, Rathé, Sarâwat, Bodlân, Jatarni, Khnkhandi, Pachhâde, Panwâr, and Rikhbans. The Census returns give as the only septs of local importance the Daswân, Gotwâla, Malua, and Maula of Muzaffarnagar. All through these lists sub-castes and sections are inextricably mixed up. Thus in Meerut we have the Deswâli and Hela combined with the Chauhân, Dahuna, Daiha, Pachhâde, and Tomar. In Mathura, according to the last Census, the chief sections are the Barh, Khutel, Lathor, Chhokar, Churel, Gauthwâra, Godhi, Maini, Panwâr, phokha, Râwat, Sakarwâr, Sangeriyân, Sarâmat, Sinsinwâra and Thenwâr. The Nohwâr and Narwâr, who are so closely related as to be prohibited from intermarriage, are also compact and powerful body. The former take their name from their original settlement in Noh of Jalesar Pargans, now included in the Etah District. Their position in the caste may be estimated from the fact that while they take their wives from the Pachahras and other clans of the South, they only give their daughters to the Sinsinwârs and other powerful clans of the West. They, of course, claim descent from Prithivi

378 Râja;but coming to later times they say that their ancestor lived in Jartauli of Aligarh. They may have been driven thence when Ibrahím Lodi attacked Jartauli for rebellion.1 He had two sons, one of whom, Rati Râo, colonised Noh, and the other Narwâr. The children of Rati Râo gave up Noh to their family priests and founded the villages of Bhcnrai and Bajna, whence they spread over the Pargana. A descendant of the brother, who founded Narwâr, settled at Barauth, whence have sprung the hamlets which now constitute separate villages. The Pachahras founded ta'aluqa Aira khera of Mahâban and thence Dunetiya of Mât.2

The Alogarh Jâts trace their descent from Makkhan, who, at the end of the sixteenth or beginning of the seventeenth century, led a tribe of Thenwân Jâts from Rajputâna into the neighbourhood of Mursân. He there married a woman of the Khoken Jâts, who with the Brâhmans were the earliest settlers.3 The Jâts of Eastern Aligarh are principally members of three great clans- the Khandiya in Tappal, the Thakurel in Hasangarh Pargana, and the Thenwân in Gori, Mursân, and Hâthras, and are of much more standing in the country. They date their arrival about 1046 A. D., when their ancestor Bikram Thâkur drove out the Janghâra Râjputs and Kalârs who inhabited the tract. The Khandiya Jâts of Tappal derive their name from the village of the same name in the Pargana and are of comparatively modern date.4 Other important Aligarh clans are the Ahlâwat, Badhauniya, Bangar, Bharangar, Chang, Chhokar, Chaudhrai, Dagor, Dikkhit, Gandhor, Gâujar, Katheriya, Mahur, Pachhâda, Panwâr, Punriya, Râthaur, Sangwân, Sarâwat, and Tomar. Many of these are the names of well-known Râjput septs. It is unnecessary to report the lists or names in the Census returns or to attempt any more detailed account of migrations and local history of these multitudinous septs. These septs are, as has been said, exogamous, but there are all sorts of grades among them, and the rules of intermarriage are most intricate. If an ordinary Jât is asked about it, he merely says that he leaves all this to his family priest. As an illustration of this it may be noted that just across the border of these Provinces in the Rohtak District the Mundlâna and Ahulâna Jâts do not intermarry by reason of old feuds. The Goliya do not marry with the Dâgar or Solankhi, for while they were Brâhmans the latter were their clients (jajmân), and when they lost their caste, the former only of all Jâts would give them brides. The Deswâl do not intermarry with the Chandharân, or Phogat, nor the Chílar with the Chikâra, nor the Malak with the Dalâls of the Sampla Tahsíl, though they will intermarry with other Dalâls.5

Tribal council. The Jâts have a tribal council known as panchâyat which is presided over by a headman, or Chaudhari, which deals with the usual cases of violation of caste rules and customs. The eldest son of a deceased Chaudhari takes his father's place, provided he is competent to discharge the duties of the post. The usual punishment is certain compulsory entertainments to the brethren. In Sahâranpur, at least, it seems to be the rule that if an unmarried girl has an affair with a low-caste man, she is permanently expelled; but if her lover be a man of higher caste than her own, the fault is forgiven on her relations providing a feast according to the award of the council.

Marriage rules. Polygamy is allowed, and all Jâts agree that polyandry is abominable. But there seems reason to believe that in some cases it prevails. In Rohtak6 it is reported that "considering the obligations laid on them by religion to marry, an extraordinarily large number of Jâts remain

1 Dowson, Elliot. History , V., 14 2 Mathura Settlement Report , 33, sq . 3 Settlement Report ,25. 4 Ibid ., 32, sq. 5 Settlement Report , 65. 6 Settlement Report , 62.

379 bachelors. It is common enough to find instances in every pedigree table where the elder of a number of brothers only is married, or perhaps one or two; and though the people would never admit it, it is most probable that in such cases a modified system of polyandry does prevail." there appears to be no well-defined rule as to the payment of a price for either bride or bridegroom. Wherever brides are scarce owing to infanticide, there seems no doubt that girls are purchased; and when the relations of the bride are poor, the bride price takes the form of a contribution given by the friends of the youth to the relations of his bride to assist in defraying the cost of the wedding feast. Among the more well-to-do members of the tribe the tendency is towards the payment of a dowry with the bride. Widow marriage and the levitate are allowed; but here too there seems to be a movement in favour of insisting that if a widow marries again, her husband should be an outsider. The general rule seems to be that when there are no brothers of the late husband, the woman takes with her to her new home her children with any movable property she can secure, and the children of the first marriage are practically adopted and supported by their step-father; on the contrary, if the brothers of the first husband be alive, they take charge of their nephews and rear them until they come of age, receiving as their remuneration for the duty of guardianship the stewardship of the property during the minority of their nephew. In widow marriage the rites are very simple. When the barber and the family priest have arranged the match, a day is fixed on which the bridegroom with a few friends goes to the house of the bride. He remains there for the night, and next morning the woman puts on bangles and the other ornaments which she was obliged to discontinue when her first husband died. Most of these ornaments are generally presented by the bridegroom. When he brings home his wife, he is expected to give a dinner to his brethren. When a man goes to marry a widow, he wears white clothes, not red and yellow as is the rule in a regular marriage.

Domestic rites: Birth. Among the Jâts of these Provinces there is little in the domestic ritual to distinguish them from orthodox Hindus. When a woman is about to deliver, they wave over her head a rupee and a quarter with a vow of worshipping Devi of the result is successful. If the women recovers, this money is spent in buying cakes and sweetmeats which are offered at the shrine of the goddess. When delivery is tedious, the patient is given water over which a Faqír has breathed, or in which has been steeped the quadrangular rupee known as Châryâri, because it bears the names of the four companions (châryâr) of the Prophet- Abubakr, Usmân, Umar, and Ali. In Sahâranpur the place of the midwife appears to be generally taken by a Qasâi woman. If a son is born, she gets a fee double of that for a girl, and Brâhman women are called in to sing songs of rejoicing. In delivery the mother is generally laid on a bed made of cakes of the dung of the sacred cow. The mother is bathed on the tenth day, and the whole house is plastered. On the twelfth day, the birth impurity is finally removed by a bath, and the menials are rewarded. Brâhmans and clansmen are fed, and the house is purified by a sprinkling of cow-dung and Ganges water. They do not perform the rite of Annaprâsana, or Kanchhedan, in the regular way; the noses and ears of children are bored whenever it may be convenient.

Adoption. Adoption is allowed. There is no regular rite except the feasting of male friends and Brâhmans, while soaked gram is distributed among the women.

Marriage rites. The marriage rites are performed among the Sahâranpur Jâts as follows: The age for betrothal is between five and twelve. The girl's father searches for a youth, and when he has found one, his Brâhman priest and barber are sent to make the arrangements. They compare the horoscopes and make certain that the family is of pure blood and not suffering under any social stigma. When this is settled, a rupee, known as mangani, is paid to the youth, and this settles the engagement. Two or three years after, when the boy has attained puberty, his

380 father sends and enquires when he may come to fetch his bride. If the bride is nubile and her friends can afford the expense, the answer is Byâh sajha lo - "Set the wedding in train." If he is not ready, he makes no answer, and the phrase in dhíl de dena . The procession starts in the usual way; but it is characteristic of Jâts that the waving done for good luck over the pair is done with a copper coin of the Emperor Aurangzeb. On the day the bridegroom starts, a wedding pavilion is put up at his house, and nine Brâhmans are fed in the name of the Naugraha or nine planets. When the procession reaches the house of the bride, her mother comes out, and, after waving the part of her robe covering her breast over head, touches it with her lips. This is known as the sewal rite. The binding part of the rite is the seven-fold circumambulation of the sacred fire by the pair with their garments knotted together.

Death rites. The dead are cremated in the ordinary way. That night the chief mourner, who lit the pyre, places a cup of milk on a little platform of sticks in the road to the burning ground for the use of the ghost, and on the third day he hangs a pitcher of water to a pípal tree, leaving a small hole in the vessel through which the water slowly drops for the refreshment of the spirit.

Religion. Jâts are Hindus, Sikhs, and Muhammadans. In Sahâranpur, the Hindus, chiefly worship Mahâdeva and Devi, and a host of village godlings, ghosts and demons. Among local godlings the most important are Gîga, Lakhdâta, Pyâréji, and Randeo, of most of which some account has been given elswhere.1 In Mathura their favourite godlings are Dâîji and Girirâj; in Bijnor, Châmunda Devi is a sort of tribal goddess, and they also have much respect for what they call Gâéyon ka Devata or the "lord of cows." They also worhsip various Muhammadan saints, such as Zâhir Díwân, Zainuddín, and Shaikh Saddo.2 In the direction of Rajputâna they have much respect for Mâta or the small-pox goddess; but the chief object of veneration of all the Western Jâts is Tejaji,3 a sort of legendary hero, half deified, who is said to have died from snakebite. The Jats believe that if they are bitten by a snake, and tie a thread round the right foot while repeating the name of Tejaji the poison will prove innocuous. His main temple is at Sarsara in Kishngarh. He is always represented as a man on horseback with a drawn sword, while a snake is biting his tongue. Nearly all the Western Jâts wear an amulet of silver with this device round their necks. In the upper Ganges-Jumna Duâb three of the best known local godlings are Dharm Sinh, Sâvant Sinh, and Hazâri Sinh. Their priests are drawn from the menial tribes, such as the Mâli and Kahâr. All three are the deified ghosts of persons who have died in an unusual way or whose funeral obsequies were not duly performed. Their feast day is Sunday, and on certain occasions the godling sends his influence on his attendant (sir par â Jâta). They then "play" (khelna), or move their heads about in a frantic way, answer questions, and give oracles. Sâvant Sinh appears only on the night or the Anant Chaudas feast, the fourteenth of the light half of Bhâdon; the other deities deliver oracles all through the year. They are propitiated by the feeding of Brâhmans and Jogis, with offerings of flowers and sweetmeats, and lamps lighted with ghi. Another deity is Bîrha Bâba, "the old master." He was a Gadariya, or shepherd, by caste, and was noted for his proficiency in Sanskrit. When he is not duly propitiated he brings ringworm (ganj) on children. Some people he afflicts with boils, but he is not very malevolent, and a small offering regularly made prevents him form doing much harm. At the last Census no less than, 54,849 persons in the Western Districts declared themselves votaries of Bîrha Bâba. Jâts are also much attached to ancestor worship and have many such shrines in their villages. In Karnâl, the Sandhu Jâts worship Kâla Mehar or Kâla Pír, their ancestor, whose chief shrine is at Thâna Satra in siâlkot, the head-quarters of the Sandhus; Halâwat Jâts worship a common ancestor called Saddu Deo. They are much afraid of the ghosts of the dead. Besides the

1 Introduction to Popular Religion , 133. 2 Introduction to Popular Religion , 129, 133. 3 Ibid , 135.

381 regular srâddha, one mode of propitiating them is to pour some water at the root of a pâpal tree, and distribute some cloth, cotton and sesame on a Saturday in alms, The Evil Eye is avoided by wearing a blue string round the neck, making a black mark on the forehead, waving red pepper, wheat chaff, salt, and mustard round the head of the patient, and then burning them on the family hearth.

Social customs. Their oaths are on the Ganges, or a bottle of its water kept for this purpose; by some the godlings, such as Gîga, Tejaji or Dâîji, on their sons' heads or by touching an idol in a Hindu temple. they eat the same food as higher class Hindus, including wild pigs and fowls; they will not eat beef or pork. They name the deity Nârâyan, when they eat, and throw a little food on the ground. They salute each other in the form Râm ! Râm ! Sikhs use the phrase Wâh Guru ki fateh . They are not considered strict in the matter of eating, drinking, and smoking, and, though they profess not to drink spirits, the rule does not seem to be rigidly observed.

Character and occupation. The Jât takes a high rank among the cultivating races of the Province. He is simply a slave to his farm, and his absorption in rigorous out-of-door work at all seasons has had its effect on his character and physique. He never dreams of taking any service, except in the army; he is thrifty to the verge of meanness. and industrious beyond comparison; if his crops fail it is sheer hard luck. When he is not busy in his field, he lets out his cart for hire, or busies himself in collecting manure, which he manages with great care and skill. His fault is quarrelsomeness; and, in litigation, he never knows when he is beaten. In the life of the village he is a general butt, and is noted for his rustic, boorish ways. This is reflected in the proverbial wisdom of the countryside:-

Jangal Jât na chheriyé, hatti bích Kirâr, Bhîkha Turk na chheriyé, ho jâé jí ka jhâr -

"Meddle not with the Jât in the wilds, or the Kirâr at his mart, nor a hungry Turk; if you do, you will risk your life."

Kabit sohé Bhât ko, Kheti sohé Jât ko -

"Songs a Bhât, and husbandry a Jât." Jât mara tab jâniyé jab terahwin guzar jâe - "Never be sure a Jât is dead till the days of mourning for him are over."

Jati.: -(Sanskrit Yati, "one who has restrained his passions and abandoned the world").1 A class of mendicant devotees who are the priests of the Jainas or Sarâogis. According to Mr. Sherring the term is applied also to those Gusâíns and Udâsis who practise celibacy; and another variety are akin to the Jogis; but the application of the term to any but the Jaina sect appears very unusual. The total strength of the Jainas in these Provinces, according to the returns of the last Census, was 84,785 persons, or 18 in 10,000 for the whole population. According to Mr. Baillie2 "The sectarian divisions of the caste are little known to the majority of Jainas in these Provinces, and to whom the Svetambara, though they have temples at Ajudhya and probably elsewhere, are practically unknown. The entries in the sect column were, therefore, in general the names of the principal Jinas-Adi Nâth, Ajit Nâth, Pâras Nâth, Mahavíra, or Ním Nâth, or the word Sarâvgi, that by which a secular Jaina is distinguished from a Jati or member of an ascetic order. The total number of Svetambaras shown in the

1 See Crooke. 2. Census Report, North-Western Provinces, 184.

382 Province was 2,285. It may be assumed that the others are Digambaras. The Jaina lists show that the adherents of the religion are almost entirely Banyas: 83,979, out of the total 84,601 entered originally as Jaina in religion being of that caste. The Agarwâla, Jaiswâr, Khandelwâl, Purwâr, Paliwâl and Oswâl sub-castes are the most important. Four hundred and fifty-one Râjputs appear, possibly converts, but more probably, as mostly shown, of the Jaiswâr sub-caste, really belonging to the trading community. There are thirty-two Brâhmans, Gaur being more numerously represented than any other sub-caste. Gaur Brâhmans, even though Hindus, are employed by Jainas as temple attendants, and sometimes join the faith of their patrons."

On the Jaina faith the remarks of Dr. J. Burgess1 may be quoted:-"As their name implies, the Jainas are the followers of the Jainas, or 'vanquishers' of sins, men whom they believe to have obtained Nirvâna, or emancipation, from the continual changes of transmigration. With them 'life,' which they do not distinguish from 'soul' and its vehicle 'matter,' are both uncreated and imperishable, obeying eternal physical laws with which asceticism and religious ceremonial alone can interfere. Their ceremonial has, therefore, no real reference to a supreme personal God, and their doctrine excludes his Providence. This at once points to their connections with the Buddhists; indeed there can be little doubt that they are an early heretical sect of the Hinayana school of that persuasion, and owed a part of their popularity, on the decline of the purer Bauddha doctrines, to their readier admission of the worship of some of the favourite Hindu divinities into their system and their retention of the tyranny of caste customs. But much of their phraseology is of Buddha origin; thus their laity are called Srâvakas- 'hearers'- the same name as among the most ancient Buddhists is applied to those 'who practise the four realities and suppress the errors of thought and sight, without being able to emancipate themselves entirely from the influence of passion and prejudice,' bu† 'who, occupied wholly with their own salvation, pay no regard to that of other men.' Then the Buddha is constantly spoken of as the Jina, or 'vanquisher,' his exit from existence, like that of the Jaina Tírthankaras, is his Nirvâna; both employ the Swâstika and Sâtya as a sacred symbol; the sacred language of the Buddhists is Mâgadhi, of the Jainas Arddha Mâgadhi, the temples of both sects are Chaityas; those who have attained perfection are Arhans; and Digambaras, or naked ascetics, were a Bauddha as well as a Jaina sect.2 Further, the Jainas indicate South Bihâr as the scene of the life and labours of nearly all their Tírthankaras, as it was of Sakya Sinha. Buddha is often called Mahâvíra, the name of the last Tírthankara, whose father the Jainas call Siddharta, the 'establisher of faith,' the proper name of Buddha, and both are of the race of Ikshvâku; and Mahâvíra's wife was Yasoda, as Buddha's was Yasodhara. Moreover, Mahâvíra is said to have died at Pawa, in Bihâr, about 527 B.C.; and Gautama Buddha, between Pawa and Kusinâra, in 543 B.C. These coincidences with many analogies of doctrine and practice seem to indicate that the Jainas are of Buddhist origin."

"The leading and distinguishing doctrines of the Jainas are the denial of the divine origin and authority of the Vedas; reverence for the Jinas who by their austerities acquired a position superior to that even of those Hindu gods whom they reverence; and the most extreme tenderness of animal life. Life is defined to be without beginning or end- endowed with attributes of its own agent and destroyer, conscious, subtle, proportionate to the body it animates- diminishing with the gnat and expanding with the elephant; through sin it passes into animals or goes into hell; through virtue and vice combined it passes into men; and through the annihilation of both vice and virtue it obtains emancipation. The duties of a Yati, or ascetic, are ten: patience, gentleness, integrity, disinterestedness, abstraction, mortification, truth, purity, poverty, and continence; and the Srâvakas add to their moral and religious code the practical worship of the Tírthankaras and profound reverence for their more pious brethren. The moral obligations of the Jainas are summed up in their five Mahâvrata, which are almost identical with the pancha sila of the Buddhas-Care not to injure life, truth, honesty,

1. Indian Antiquary ii., 14, sqq. 2. Hodgson Illustrations of Buddhism. 43, 213.

383 chastity, and the suppression of worldly desires. They enumerate four merits or dharma - liberality, gentleness, piety, and penance; and three forms of restraint- government of the tongue, of the mind, and of the person. Their minor instructions are, in many cases, trivial and indicrous- such as not to deal in soap, natron, indigo, and iron; not to eat in the open air after it begins to rain; nor in the dark, lest a fly should be swallowed; not to leave a liquid uncovered, lest an insect should be drowned; water to be thrice strained before it is drunk; and vayukarma, keeping out of the way of the wind, lest it should blow insects into the mouth.

"The yatis, or priests, carry an ugha, or besom made of cotton thread, to sweep insects out of the harm as they enter the temples, or where they sit down, and a mohomati, or mouth cloth, to prevent insects entering the mouth while praying or washing the images. The proper objects of worship are the Jinas or Tírthankaras, but they allow the existence of the Hindu gods and have admitted to a share of their worship such of them as they have connected with the tales of their saints. As, among the Bauddhas, Indra and Sukra is of frequent occurrence, the Jainas distinguishing two principal Indras- Sukra, regent of the north heaven, and Ïsâna, regent of the south, besides many inferior ones; and images of Sarasvati and of Devi, or Bhawâni, are to be found in many of their temples. Nor are those of Hanumân, Bhairava, and Ganesa excluded from their sacred places. Besides, they have a pantheon of their own in which they reckon four classes of superhuman beings -Bhuvanapatis, Vyantaras, Jyotishkas, and Vaimanikas- comprising first the brood of the Asuras, Nâgas, Garuda, the Dikpâlas, etc., supposed to reside in the hells below the earth; secondly, the Râkshasas, the Pisâchas, Bhîtas, Kinnaras, Gandharvas, etc., inhabiting mountains, forests, and lower air; thirdly, five orders of celestial luminaries; and, fourthly, gods of present and past Kalpas, of the former of which are those born in the heavens- Saudharma, Ïsâna, Sanatkumâra, Mahendra, Brahma, Lâutaka, Sukra, Sahasrâra, Ánata, Pranâta, and Áchyata, etc. Each Jina, they say, has also a sort of familiar goddess of his own, called a Sâsanadevi, who executes his behests. These are perhaps analogous to the Sâktis, or Mâtris, of the Brâhmans; indeed among them we find Ambika, a name or Kaumâri, the Sâkti of Karttikeya and Chanda, and Mahâkâli, names of Bhawâni"1.

The Jatis are divided into the real Jati, who wear white clothes, and the Sewaras, who dress in ochre-coloured garments. According to Mr. Sherring, the Sewaras walk about with head and feet bare, holding a red stick in the hand, and they carry with them a kind of brush made of peacocks' feathers, with which they sweep the ground before sitting down, lest they should injure a worm or an insect. Both these classes beg cooked food from the houses of Jainas or Sarâogis. By Hindus they are held in abomination and contempt, and are said to practise magic and witchcraft.

Jetti.: -A Telugu caste2 of professional wrestlers and gymnasts, who, in the Telugu districts, shampoo and rub in ointments to cure nerve pains and other disorders. In Tanjore, though living in a Tamil environment, they speak Telugu. They wear the sacred thread, and consider themselves to be of superior caste, never descending to any degrading work. During the days of the Rajas of Tanjore, they were employed in guarding the treasury and jewel rooms. But, since the death of the late Râja, most of them have emigrated to Mysore and other Native States, a few only remaining in Tanjore, and residing in the fort.

Traditional occupation and sport

1. The whole question of the origin of the Jainas is elaborately discussed in two papers by Professor Lassen: Indian Antiquary II., 193 sqq., 258 sqq. Also see a paper by Mr. Thomas, Ibid VIII., 30 sqq. 2 See Thurston.

384 The Jettis in Mysore, are said1 to have been sometimes employed as executioners, and to have despatched their victim by a twist of the neck.2 Thus, in the last war against Típu Sultân, General Matthews had his head wrung from his body by the "tiger fangs of the Jetties, a set of slaves trained up to gratify their master with their infernal species of dexterity."3 They are still considered skilful in setting dislocated joints. In a note regarding them in the early part of the last century, Wilks writes as follows. "These persons constitute a distinct caste, trained from their infancy in daily exercises for the express purpose of exhibitions; and perhaps the whole world does not produce more perfect forms than those which are exhibited at these interesting but cruel sports. The combatants, clad in a single garment of light orange- coloured drawers extending half-way down the thigh, have their right arm furnished with a weapon, which, for want of a more appropriate term, we shall name a caestus, although different from the Roman instruments of that name. It is composed of buffalo horn, fitted to the hand, and pointed with four knobs, resembling very sharp knuckles, and corresponding to their situation, with a fifth of greater prominence at the end nearest the little finger, and at right angles with the other four. This instrument, properly placed, would enable a man of ordinary strength to cleave open the head of his adversary at a blow; but, the fingers being introduced through the weapon, it is fastened across them at an equal distance between the first and second lower joints, in a situation, it will be observed, which does not admit of attempting a server blow, without the risk of dislocating the first joints of all the fingers. Thus armed, and adorned with garlands of flowers, the successive pairs of combatants, previously matched by the masters of the feast, are led into the arena; their names and abodes are proclaimed; and, after making their prostrations, first to the Râja seated on his ivory throne, and then to the lattices behind which the ladies of the court are seated, they proceed to the combat, first divesting themselves of the garlands, and strewing the flowers gracefully over the arena. The combat is a mixture of wrestling and boxing, if the latter may be so named. The head is the exclusive object permitted to be struck. Before the end of the contest, both of the combatants may frequently be observed streaming with blood from the crown of the head down to the sand of the arena. When victory seems to have declared itself, or the contest is too severely maintained, the moderators in attendance on the Râja make a signal for its cessation by throwing down turbans and robes, to be presented to the combatants. The victor frequently goes off the arena in four or five somersaults, to denote that he retires fresh from the contest. The Jettis are divided into five classes, and the ordinary price of victory is promotion to a higher class. There are distinct rewards for the first class, and in their old age they are promoted to be masters of the feast." In an account of sports held before Típu Sultân at Seringapatam, James Scurry, who was one of his prisoners, writes as follows.4 "The getiees would be sent for, who always approached with their masters at their head, and after prostration, and making their grand salaams, touching the ground each time, they would be paired, one school against another. They had on their right hands the wood-guamootie (wajramushti) or four steel talons, which were fixed to each back joint of their fingers, and had a terrific appearance when their fists were closed. Their heads were close shaved, their bodies oiled, and they wore only a pair of short drawers. On being matched, and the signal given from Tippu, they begin the combat, always by throwing the flowers, which they wear round their necks, in each other's faces; watching an opportunity of striking with the right hands, on which they wore this mischievous weapon which never failed in lacerating the flesh, and drawing blood most copiously. Some pairs would close instantly, and no matter which was under, for the grip was the whole; they were in general taught to suit their holds to their opponent's body, with every one well acquainted. If one got a hold against which his antagonist could not guard, he would be the conqueror; they would frequently break each other's legs and arms; and, if in anyway tardy, Tippu had means of

1. Rice, Mysore and Coorg Gazetteer. 2. Narrative Sketches of the Conquest of Mysore, 1800. 3. Wilks' Historical Sketches; Mysore, 1801-17. 4. The captivity, suffering, and escâpe of James Scurry, 1824.

385 infusing spirit into them, for there were always two stout fellows behind each, with instruments in their hands that would soon put them to work. They were obliged to fight as long as Tippu pleased, unless completely crippled, and, if they behaved well, they were generally rewarded with a turban and shawl, the quality being according to their merit."

The Jettis of Mysore still have in their possession knuckle-dusters of the type described above, and take part annually in matches during the Dasara festival. A Jetti police constable, whom I saw at Channapatna, had wrestled at Baroda, and at the court of Nepal, and narrated to me with pride how a wrestler came from Madras to Bangalore, and challenged anyone to a match. A Jetti engaged to meet him in two matches for Rs. 500 each, and, after going in for a short course of training, walked round him in each encounter, and won the money easily. The Mysore Jettis are said to be called, in some places, Mushtigas. And some are stated to use a jargon called Mallabâsha.1 Jetti further occurs as the name of the name of an exogamous sept of the Kavarais.

Jógi.: -The Jógis, who are a caste of Telugu mendicants2, are summed up by Mr. H. A. Stuart3 as being "like the Dâsaris, itinerant jugglers and beggars. They are divided into those who sell beads, and those who keep pigs. They are dexterous snake-charmers, and pretend to a profound knowledge of charms and medicine. They are very filthy in their habits. They have no restrictions regarding food, may eat in the house of any Sîdra, and allow widows to live in concubinage, only exacting a small money penalty, and prohibiting her from washing herself with turmeric-water." In addition to begging and pig-breeding, the Jógis are employed in the cultivation of land, in the destruction of pariah dogs, scavenging, robbery and dacoity. Some of the women, called Killekyâta, are professional tattooers. The Jógis wander about the country taking with them (sometimes on donkeys) the materials for their rude huts. The packs of the donkeys are, Mr. F. S. Mullaly informs us,4 "used as receptacles for storing cloths obtained in predatory excursions. Jógis encamp on the outskirts of villages, usually on a plain or dry bed of a tank. Their huts or gudisays are made of palmyra leaves (or sedge) plaited with five strands forming an arch." The huts are completely open in front.

In the Tamil country, the Jógis are called Dhoddiyan or Tottiyan (q.v), and those who are employed as scavengers are known as Koravas or Oddans. The scavengers do not mix with the rest of the community. Some Jógis assert that they have to live by begging in consequence of a curse brought on them by Parvati, concerning whose breasts one of their ancestors made some indiscreet remarks. They consider themselves superior to Mâlas and Mâdigas, but an Oddan (navvy caste) will not eat in the house of a Jógi. They are said to eat crocodiles, field rats, and cats. There is a tradition that a Jógi bridegroom, before tying the bottu (marriage badge) on his neck, had to tie it by means of a string dyed with turmeric round the neck of a female cat. People sometimes objects to the catching of cats by Jógis for food, as it is considered a heinous offence. To overcome the objection, the Jógi says that he wants the animal for a marriage ceremony.

The Jógi mendicants go about, clad in a dirty loin-cloth (often red in colour) and a strip of cloth over the shoulders, with cobras, pythons, or rat snakes in baskets, and carrying a bag slung over the shoulder. The contents of one of these bags, which was examined, were fruits of Mimusops hexandra and flower-spikes of Lippia nodiflora (used for medicine), a snake- charming reed instrument, a piece of cuttle-fish shell, porcupine quills (sold to goldsmiths for

1. Manual of the Bellary district. 2 See Thurston. 3. Manual of the North Arcot district. 4. Notes on Criminal Classes of the Madras Presidency.

386 brushes), a cocoanut shell containing a powder, narrikombu (spurious jackals' horns) such as are also manufactured by Kuruvikârans, and two pieces of wood supposed to be an antidote for snake-poisoning. The women go about the streets, decorated with bangles and necklaces of beads, sharks' vertebrae, and cowry shells, bawling out "Subbamma, Lachchamma," etc., and will not move on till alms are given to them. They carry a capacious gourd, which serves as a convenient receptacle for stolen articles. Like other Telugu castes, the Jógis have exogamous septs or intipéru, of which the following are examples: Vagiti, court-yard. Bindhollu, brass water-pot. Uluvala, horse-gram. Cheruku, sugar-cane. Jalli, tassels of palmyra leaves Chappadi, insipid. put round the necks of bulls. Boda Dâsiri, bald-headed mendicant. Vavati (relationship). Gudi, temple. Gundra, round.

At the Mysore census of 1901, Killekyâta, Helava, Jangaliga, and Pâkanâti were returned as being Jógis. A few individuals returned gótras such as Vrishabha, Kâverimatha, and Khedrumakula. At the Madras census, Siddaru, and Pâmula (snake) were returned as sub- castes. Pâmula is applied as a synonym for Jógi, inasmuch as snake-charming is one of their occupations.

Domestic customs The women of the caste are said to be depraved, and prostitution is common. As a proof of chastity the ordeal of drinking a potful of cow-dung or chilli-water has to be undergone. If a man, proved guilty of adultery, pleads inability to pay the fine, he has to walk a furlong with a mill-stone on his head. At the betrothal ceremony, a small sum of money and a pig are given to the bride's party. The pig is killed, and a feast held, with much consumption of liquor. Some of the features of the marriage ceremony are worthy of notice. The kankanams, or threads which are tied by the maternal uncles to the wrists of the bride and bridegroom, are made of human hair, and to them are attached leaves of Alangium lamarckii and Strychnos Nux-vomica. When the bridegroom and his party proceed to the bride's hut for the ceremony of tying the bottu (marriage badge), they are stopped by a rope or bamboo screen, which is held by the relations of the bride and others. After a short struggle, money is paid to the men who hold the rope or screen, and the ceremonial is proceeded with. The rope is called vallepu thadu or relationship rope, and is made to imply legitimate connection. The bottu, consisting of a string of black beads, is tied round the bride's neck, the bride and bridegroom sometimes sitting on a pestle and mortar. Rice is thrown over them, and they are carried on the shoulders of their maternal uncles beneath the marriage pandal (booth). As with the Oddés and Upparavas, there is a saying that a Jógi widow may mount the marriage dais (i.e., remarry) seven times.

When a girl reaches puberty, she is put in a hut made by her brother or husband, which is thatched with twigs of Eugenia Jambolana, margosa (Melia Azadirachta), mango (Mangifera Indica), and Vitex Negundo. On the last day of the pollution ceremony, the girl's clothes and the hut are burnt.

The dead are always buried. The corpse is carried to the burial-place, wrapped up in a cloth. Before it is lowered into the grave, all present throw rice over the eyes, and a man of a different sept to the deceased places four annas in the mouth. Within the grave the head is turned on one side, and a cavity scooped out, in which various articles of food are placed. Though the body is not burnt, fire is carried to the grave by the son. Among the Jalli-vallu, a chicken and small quantity of salt are placed in the armpit of the corpse. On the karmândhiram, or day of the final death ceremonies, cooked rice, vegetables, fruit, and arrack are offered to the deceased. A cloth is spread near the grave, and the son, and other

387 agnates, place food thereon, while naming, one after the other, their deceased ancestors. The food is eaten by Jógis of septs other than the Jalli-vallu, who throw it into water. If septs other that the Jalli were to do this, they would be fined. Those assembled proceed to a tank or river, and make an effigy in mud, by the side of which an earthen lamp is placed. After the offering of cooked rice, etc., the lamp and effigy are the thrown into the water. A man who is celebrating his wife's death-rites then has his waist-thread cut by another widower while bathing.

The Jógis worship Peddavâdu, Malalamma, Gangamma, Ayyavâru, Rudramma, and Madura Vírudu. Some women wear, in addition to the marriage bottu, a special bottu in honour of one of their gods. This is placed before the god and worn by the eldest female of a family, passing on at her death to the next eldest. As regards the criminal propensities of the Jógis, Mr. Mullaly writes as follows.1 "On an excursion being agreed upon by members of a Joghi gang, others of the fraternity encamped in the vicinity are consulted. In some isolated spot a ním tree (Melia Azadirachta) is chosen as a meeting place. Here the preliminaries are settled, and their god Perumal is invoked. They set out in bands of from twelve to fifteen armed with stout bamboo sticks. Scantily clad, and with their heads muffled up, they await the arrival of the carts passing their place of hiding. In twos and threes they attack the carts, which are usually driven off the road, and not unfrequently upset, and the travellers are made to give all they possess. The property is then given to the headman of the gang for safe-keeping, and he secretes it in the vicinity of his hut, and sets about the disposal of it. Their, receivers are to be found among the 'respectable' oil-mongers of 11 villages in the vicinity of their encampments, while property not disposed of locally is taken to Madras. Readmission to caste after conviction, when imprisonment is involved, is an easy matter. A feast and drink at the expense of the 'unfortunate,' generally defrayed from the share of property which is kept by his more fortunate kinsfolk, are all that is necessary, except the ceremony common to other classes of having the tongue slightly burnt by a piece of hot gold. This is always performed by the Jangam (headman) of the gang. The boys of the class are employed by their elders in stealing grain stored at kalams (threshing-floors), and, as opportunity offers, by slitting grain bags loaded in casts."

Jogi.: -Yogi. 2-The well-known order of religious mendicants and devotees of Siva. The Jogi or Yogi, properly so called, is a follower of the Yoga system of philosophy founded by Pâtanjali, the main characteristics of which are a belief in the power of man over nature by means of austerities and the occult influences of the will. The idea is that one who has obtained complete control over himself, and entirely subdued all fleshly desires, acquires such potency of mind and will that he can influence the forces of nature at his pleasure. The Yoga philosophy has indeed so much substratum of truth that a man who has complete control of himself has the strongest will, and hence the most power to influence others, and an exaggerated idea of this power is no doubt phenomena. The fact that the influence which can be exerted over other human beings through their minds in no way extends to the physical phenomena of inanimate nature is obvious to us, but was by no means so to the uneducated Hindus, who have no clear conceptions of the terms mental and physical, animate and inanimate, nor of the ideas connoted by them. To them all nature was animate, and all its phenomena the results of he actions of sentient beings, and hence it was not difficult for them to suppose that men could influence the proceedings of such beings. And it is a matter of common knowledge that savage peoples believe their magicians to be capable of producing rain and fine weather, and even of controlling the course of the sun.3 The Hindu sacred

1. Op. cit. 2 See Russell. 3. This has been fully demonstrated by Sir J. G. Frazer in The Golden bough.

388 books indeed contain numerous instances of ascetics who by their austerities acquired such powers as to compel the highest gods themselves to obedience.

Abstraction Of The Senses Or Autohypnotism. The term Yoga is held to mean unity or communion with God, and the Yogi by virtue of his painful discipline and mental and physical exercises considered himself divine. "The adept acquires the knowledge of everything past and future, remote or hidden; he divines the thoughts of others, gains the strength of an elephant, the courage of a lion, and the swiftness of the wind; flies into the air, floats in the water, and dives into the earth, contemplates all words at one glance and performs many strange things." 1

The following excellent instance of the pretensions of the Yogis is given by Professor Oman:2 " Wolff went also with Mr. Wilson to see one of the celebrated Yogis who was lying in the sun in the street, the nails upon whose hands were grown into his cheeks and a bird's nest upon his head. Wolff asked him, 'How can one obtain the knowledge of God?' He replied, 'Do not ask me questions; you may look at me, for I am God.'

"It is certainly not easy at the present day," Professor Oman states, 3 "for the western mind to enter into the spirit of the so-called Yoga philosophy; but the student of religious opinions is aware that in the early centuries of our era the Gnostics, Manichaens and Neo-Platonists derived their peculiar tenets and practices from the Yoga-vidya of India, and that at a later date the Sufi philosophy of Persia drew its most remarkable ideas from the same source.4 The great historian of the Roman Empire refers to the subject in the following passage: "The Fakírs of India and the monks of the Oriental Church, were alike persuaded that in total abstraction of the faculties of the mind and body, the pure spirit may ascend to the enjoyment and vision of the Deity. The opinion and practice of the monasteries of Mount Athos will be best represented in the words of an abbot, who flourished in the eleventh century: 'When thou art alone in thy cell,' says the ascetic teacher, 'Shut thy door, and seat thyself in a corner, raise thy mind above all things vain and transitory, recline thy beard and chin on thy breast, turn thine eyes and thy thoughts towards the middle of the belly, the region of the navel, and search the place of the heart, the seat of the soul. At first all will be dark and comfortless; but if you persevere day and night, you will feel an ineffable joy; and no sooner has the soul discovered the place of the heart, then it is involved in a mystic and ethereal light.' This light, the production of a distempered fancy, the creature of an empty stomach and an empty brain, was adored by the Quietists as the pure and perfect essence of God Himself." 5

"Without entering into unnecessary details, many of which are simply disgusting, I shall quote, as samples, a few of the rules of practice required to be followed by the would-be Yogi in order to induce a state of Samâdhi-hypnotism or trance- which is the condition or state in which the Yogi is to enjoy the promised privileges of Yoga. The extracts are from a treatise on the Yoga philosophy by Assistant Surgeon Nobin Chander Pâl:6 "Place the left thigh; hold with the right hand the right great toe and with the left hand the left great toe (the hands coming from behind the back and crossing each other); rest the chin on the interclavicular space, and fix the sight on the tip of the nose. "Inspire through the left nostril, fill the stomach with the inspired air by the act of deglutition, suspend the breath, and expire through the right nostril. Next inspire through the right

1. Colebrooke's Essays. 2. Quoting from George smith's Life of Dr. Wilson, p. 74. 3. Ibidem , pp. 13-15 4. Weber's Indian Literature , p. 139. 5. Gibbon;s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chap. lxiii. 6. Republished in the Theosophist.

389 nostril, swallow the inspired air, suspend the breath, and finally expire through the left nostril. "Be seated in a tranquil posture, and fix your sight on the tip of the nose for the space of ten minutes. "Close the ears with the middle fingers, incline the head a little to the right side and listen with each ear attentively to the sound produced by the other ear, for the space ten minutes. "Pronounce inaudibly twelve thousand times the mystic syllable Om, and meditate upon it daily after deep inspirations. "After a few forcible inspirations swallow the tongue, and thereby suspend the breath and the saliva for two hours. "Listen to the sounds within the right ear abstractedly for two hours, with the left ear. "Repeat the mystic syllable Om 20,736,000 times in silence and meditate upon it. "Suspend the respiratory movements for the period of twelve days, and you will be in a state of Samâdhi."

Another account of a similar procedure is given by Buchanan:1 "Those who pretend to be eminent saints perform the ceremony called Yoga, described in the Tantras. In the accomplishment of this, by shutting what are called the nine passages (dwâra, lit. doors) of the body, the votary is supposed to distribute the breath into the different parts of the body, and thus to obtain the beatific vision of various gods. It is only persons who abstain from the indulgence of concupiscence that can pretend to perform this ceremony, which during the whole time that the breath can be held in the proper place excites an ecstasy equal to whatever woman can bestow on man."

Breathing Through Either Nostril. It is clear that the effect of some of the above practices is designed to produce a state of mind resembling the hypnotic trance. The Yogis attach much importance to the effect of breathing through one or the other nostril, and this is also the case with Hindus generally, as various rules concerning it are prescribed for the daily prayers of Brâhmans. To have both nostrils free and be breathing through them at the same time is not good, and one should not begin any business in this condition. If one is breathing only through the right nostril and the left is closed, the condition is propitious for the following actions: to eat and drink, as digestion will be quick; to fight; to bathe; to study and read; to ride on a horse; to work at one's livelihood. A sick man should take medicine when he is breathing through his right nostril. To be breathing only through the left nostril is propitious for the following undertakings: to lay the foundations of a house and to take up residence in a new house; to put on new clothes; to sow seed; to do service or found a village; to make any purchase. The Jogis practise the art of breathing in this manner by stopping up their right and left nostril alternately with cotton- wool and breathing only through the other. If a man comes to a Brâhman to ask him whether some business or undertaking will succeed, the Brâhman breathes through his nostrils on to his hand; if the the breath comes through the right nostril the omen is favourable and the answer yes; if through the left nostril the omen is unfavourable and the answer no.

Selftorture Of The Jogis. The following account of the austerities of he Jogis during the Mughal period is given by Bernier:2 "Among the vast number and endless variety of the Indies, many live as holy men or Gentile hypocrites of the Indies, many live in a sort of convent, governed by superiors, where vows of chastity, poverty, and submission are made. So strange is the life led by these votaries that I doubt whether my description of it will be credited. I allude particularly to the people called 'Jogis,' a name which singifies 'United to God.' Numbers are seen day and night, seated or lying on ashes, entirely naked; frequently under the large trees near talâbs or tanks of water, or in the galleries round the Deuras or idol temples. Some have hair

1. Eastern India , ii. p. 756. 2. Travels in the Mughal Empire, Constable's edition, p. 316.

390 hanging down to the calf of the leg, twisted and entangled into knots, like the coats of our shaggy dogs. I have seen several who hold one, and some who hold both arms perpetually lifted above the head, the nails of their hands being twisted and longer than half my little finger, with which I measured them. Their arms are as small and thin as the arms of persons who die in a decline, because in so forced and unnatural a position they receive not sufficient nourishment, nor can they be lowered so as to supply the mouth with food, the muscles having become contracted, and the articulations dry and stiff. Novices wait upon these fanatics and pay them the utmost respect, as persons endowed with extraordinary sanctity. No fury in the infernal regions can be conceived more horrible than the Jogis, with their naked and black skin, long hair, spindle arms, long twisted nails, and fixed in the posture which I have mentioned. "I have often met, generally in the territory of some Râja, bands of these naked Fakírs, hideous to behold. Some have their arms lifted up in the manner just described; the frightful hair of others either hung loosely or was tied and twisted round their heads; some carried a club like Hercules, others had a dry and rough tiger-skin thrown over their shoulders. In this trim I have seen them shamelessly walk stark naked through a large town, men, women, and girls looking at them without any more emotion than may be created when a hermit passes through our streets. Females would often bring them alms with much devotion, doubtless believing that they were holy personages, more chaste and discreet than other men. "Several of these Fakírs undertake long pilgrimages not only naked but laden with heavy iron chains, such as are put about the legs of elephants. I have seen others who, in consequence of a particular vow, stood upright during seven or eight days without once sitting or lying down, and without any other support than might be afforded by leaning forward against a cord for a few hours in the night; their legs in the meantime were swollen to the size of their thighs. Others, again, I have observed standing steadily, whole hours together, upon their hands, the head down and the feet in the air. I might proceed to enumerate various other positions in which these unhappy men place their body, many of them so difficult and painful that they could not be imitated by our tumblers; and all this, let it be recollected, is performed from an assumed feeling of piety, of which there is not so much as the shadow in any part of the Indies."

Resort To Them For Oracles. The forest ascetics were credited with prophetic powers, and were resorted to by Hindu princes to obtain omens and oracles on the brink of any important undertaking. This custom is noticed by Colonel Tod in the following passage describing the foundation of Jodhpur:1 "Like the Druids of the cells, the vana-perist Jogis, from the rocks (gopha), issue their oracles to those whom chance or design may conduct to their solitary dwellings. It is not surprising that the mandates of such beings prove compulsory on the superstitious Râjpît; we do not mean those squalid ascetics who wander about India and are objects disgusting to the eye, but the genuine Jogi, he who, as the term imports, mortifies the flesh, till the wants of humanity are restricted merely to what suffices to unite matter works and pored over the systems of philosophy, until the full influence of Maia (illusion) has perhaps unsettled his understanding; or whom the rules of his sect have condemned to penance and solitude; a penance so severe that we remain astonished at the perversity of reason which can submit to it. We have seen one of these objects, self-condemned never to lie down during forty years, and there remained but three to complete the term. He had travelled much and was intelligent and learned, but, far from having contracted the moroseness of the recluse, there was a benignity of mien and a suavity and simplicity of manner in him quite enchanting. He talked of his penance with no vainglory and of its approaching term without any sensation. The resting position of this Druid (vana-perist) was by means of a rope suspended from the bough of a tree in the manner of a swing, having a cross-bar, on which he reclined. The first years of this penance, he says, were dreadfully painful; swollen limbs affected him to that degree that he expected death, but this impression had long since worn off. To these, the

1. Râjasthân, ii. p. 19.

391 Druids of India, the prince and the chieftain would resort for instruction. Such was the ascetic who recommended Joda to erect his castle of Jodhpur on the 'Hill of Strife' (Jodagír), a projecting of the same range on which Mundore was placed, and about four miles south of it."

Divisions Of The Order. About 15,000 Jogis were returned from the Central Provinces in 1911. They are said to be divided into twelve Panths or orders, each of which venerates one of the twelve disciples of Gorakhnâth. But, as a rule, they do not know the names of the Panths. Their main divisions are the Kanphata and Aughar Jogis. The Kanphatas,1 as the name denotes, pierce their ears and wear in them large rings (mundra), generally of wood, stone or glass; the ears of a novice are pierced by the Guru, who gets a fee of Rs. 1-4. The earring must thereafter always be worn, and should it be broken must be replaced temporarily by a model in cloth before food is taken. If after the ring has been inserted the ear tears apart, they say that the man has become useless, and in former times he was buried alive. Now he is put out of caste, and no tomb is erected. A devotee may not become a Kanphata all at once, but must first serve an apprenticeship of twelve years as an Aughar, and then if his Guru is satisfied he will be initiated as a Kanphata. The elect among the Kanphatas are known as Darshani. These do not go about begging, but remain in the forest in a cave or other abode, and the other Jogis go there and pay their respects; this is called darshan, the term used for visiting a temple and worshipping the idol. These men only have cooked food when their disciples bring it to them, otherwise they live on fruits and roots. The Aughars do not pierce their ears, but have a string of black sheep's wool round the neck to which is suspended a wooden whistle called nadh; this is blown morning and evening and before meals.2 The names of the Kanphatas end in Nâth and those of the Aughars in Dâs.

Hair And Clothes. When a novice is initiated all the hair of his head is shaved, including the scalp-lock. If the Ganges is at hand the Guru throws the hair into the Ganges, giving a great feast to celebrate the occasion; otherwise he keeps the hair in his wallet until he and his disciple reach the Ganges and then throws it into the river and gives the feast. After this the Jogi lets all his hair grow until he comes to some great shrine, when he shaves it off clean and gives it as an offering to the god. The Jogis wear clothes coloured with red ochre like the Jangams, Sanniâsis and all the Sivite orders. The reddish colour perhaps symbolised blood and may denote that the wearers still sacrifice flesh and consume it. The Vaishnavite orders usually wear white clothes, and hence the Jogis call themselves Lâl Pâdris, (red priests), and they call the Vaishnava mendicants Síta Pâdris, apparently because Síta is the consort of Râma, the incarnation of Vishnu. When a Jogi is initiated which he wears a string round his neck. He is not branded, but afterwards, if he visits the temple of Dwârka in Gujarât, he is branded with the mark of the conch-shell on the arm; or if he goes on pilgrimage to the shrine of Badri- Nârâyan in the Himâlayas he is branded on the chest. Copper bangles are brought from Badri-Nârâyan and iron ones from the shrine of Kedârnâth. A necklace of small white stones, like juâri-seeds, is obtained from the temple of Hinglâj in the territories of the Jâm of Lâsbela in Beluchistân. During his twelve years' period as a Brahmachari or acolyte, a Jogi will walk either one or three parikramas of the Nerbudda; that is, he walks from the mouth at Broach to the source at Amarkantak on one side of the river and back again on the other side, the journey he lets his hair grow and at the end of it makes an offering of all except the choti or scalp-lock to the river. Even as a full Jogi he still retains the scalp-lock, and this is finally shaved off until he turns into a Sanniâsi or forest recluse. Other Jogis, however, do not merely keep the scalp-lock but let their hair grow, plaiting it with ropes of black wool over their heads into what is called the jata, which is an imitation of Siva's matted locks. 3

1. Maclagan, l.c. p. 115. 2. Ibidem , l.c. 3. Maclagan, l.c.

392 Burial. The Jogis are buried sitting cross-legged with the face to the north in a tomb which has a recess like those of Muhammadans. A gourd full of milk and some bread in a wallet, a crutch and one or two earthen vessels are placed in the grave for the sustenance of the soul. Salt is put on the body and a ball of wheat-flour is laid on the breast of the corpse and then deposited on the top of the grave.

Festivals. The Jogis worship Siva, and their principal festival is the Shivrâtri, when they stay awake all night and sing songs in honour of Gorakhnâth, the founder of their order. On the Nâg- Panchmi day they venerate the cobra and they take about snakes and exhibit them.

Caste Subdivisions. A large proportion of the Jogis have now developed into a caste, and these marry and have families. They are divided into subcastes according to the different professions they have adopted. Thus the Barwa or Gârpagâri Jogis ward off hailstorms from the standing crops; the Manihâri are pedlars and travel about to bazârs selling various small articles, the Rítha Bikanâth prepare and sell soap-nut for washing cloths; the Patbina make hempen thread and gunny-bags for carrying grain on bullocks; and the Ladaimâr hunt jackals and sell and eat their flesh. These Jogis rank as a low Hindu caste of the menial group. No good Hindu caste will take food or water from them, while they will accept cooked food from members of any caste of respectable positions, as Kurmis, Kunbis or Mâlis. A person belonging to any such caste can also be admitted into the Jogi community. Their social customs resemble those of the cultivating castes of the locality. They permit widow-marriage and divorce and employ Brâhmans for their ceremonies, with the exception of the Kanphatas, who have priests of their own order.

Begging. Begging is the traditional ocupation of the Jogis, but they have now adopted many others. The Kanphatas beg and sell a woollen string amulet (ganda), which is put round the necks of children to protect them from the evil eye. They beg only from Hindus and use the cry 'Alakh,' 'The invisible one.'1 The Nandia Jogis lead about with them a deformed ox, an animal with three legs or some other mal-formation. He is decorated with ochre-coloured rags and cowrie shells. They call him Nandi or the bull on which Mahâdeo rides, and receive gifts of grain from pious Hindus, half of which they put into their wallet and give the other half to the animal. They usually carry on a more profitable business than other classes of beggars. The ox is trained to give a blessing to the benevolent by shaking its head and raising its leg when its master receives a gift.2 Some of the Jogis of this class carry about with them a brush of peacock's feathers which they wave over the heads of children afflicted with the evil eye or of sick persons, muttering texts. This performance is known as jhârna (sweeping), and is the commonest method of casting out evil spirits.

Other Occupations. Many Jogis have also adopted secular occupations, as has already been seen. Of these the principal are the Manihâri Jogis or pedlars, who retail small hand-mirrors, spangles, dyeing- powders, coral beads and imitation jewellery, pens, pencils, and other small articles of stationery. They also bring pearls and coral from Bombay and sell them in the villages. The Gârpagâris, who protect the crops from hailstorms, have now become a distinct caste and are the subject of a separate article. Others make a living by juggling and conjuring, and in Saugor some Jogis perform the three-card trick in the village markets, employing a confederate, and also play the English game of Sandown, which is known as 'Animur,' from

1. Crooke's Tribes ans Castes , art. Kanphata. 2. Crooke's tribes and Castes, art. Jogi.

393 the practice of calling out 'Any more' as a warning to backers to place their money on the board before beginning to turn the fish.

Swindling Practices. These people also deal in ornaments of base metal and practise other swindles. One of their tricks is to drop a ring or ornament of counterfeit gold on the road. Then they watch until a stranger picks it up and one of them goes up to him and says, 'I saw you pick up that gold ring, it belongs to so-and-so, but if you will make it worth my while I will say nothing about it." The finder is thus often deluded into giving him some hush-money and the Jogis decamp with this, having incurred no risk in connection with the spurious metal. They also pretend to be able to convert silver and other metals into gold. They ingratiate themselves with the women, sometimes of a number of households in one village or town, giving at first small quantities of gold in exchange for silver, and binding them to secrecy. Then each is told to give them all the ornaments which she desires to be converted on the same night, and having collected as much as possible from their dupes the Jogis make off before morning. A very favourite device some years back was to personate some missing member of a family who had gone on a pilgrimage. Up to within a comparatively recent period a large proportion of the pilgrims who set out annually form all over India to visit the famous shrines at Benâres, Jagannâth and other places perished by the way from privation or disease, or were robbed and murdered, and never heard of again by their families. Many households in every town and village were thus in the position of having an absent member of whose fate they were uncertain. Taking advantage of this, and having obtained all the information he could pick up among the neighbours, the Jogi would suddenly appear in the character of the returned wanderer, and was often successful in keeping up the imposture for years. 1

Proverbs About Jogis. The Jogi is a familiar figure in the life of the people and there are various sayings about him:2 Jogi Jogi laren, khopron ka dâm, or 'When Jogis fight skulls are smashed,' that is, the skulls which some of them use as begging-cups. not their own skulls, and with the implication that they have nothing else to break; Jogi jugat jâni nahín, kapre range, to kya hua, 'If the Jogi does not know his magic, what is the use of his dyeing clothes? Jogi ka larka khelega, to sânp se, or, 'If a snake-charmer's son plays, he plays with a snake.'

Joshis Sarvadas.: -They are nomads and beggars of Maharashtra.

Juâ©g.: -or Patuâ dialects. Juâ©g is the dialect of a Mu∑πâ tribe in the Orissa Tributary States3. It is spoken by about 10,000 individuals.

Name of the Language. The word Juâ©g means 'man' in the dialect, and the denomination Juâ©g as the name of a language is accordingly of the same kind as Hó, Kîrkî and so on. The tribe is also called Patuâ, from their women's habit of dressing in leaves.

Area within which spoken. The home of the Juâ©gs are the Dhenkanal and Keonjhar States. Some speakers are also found in the neighbouring tracts of Morbhanj and Lahera. The Juâ©g territory forms an

1. Sleeman, Report on the Badhaks, pp. 332, 333. 2. These proverbs are taken from Temple and Fallon's Hindustâni Proverbs, 3 Linguistic Survey of India

394 islet within the O®iyâ area, and that latter language has largely influenced Juâ©g and will probably in the course of time supersede it.

Number of speakers. The number of speakers was estimated for the purposes of this Survey as follows:

Dhenkanal State 7,250 Keonjhar State 5,673 Morbhanj State 2,345 Pal Lahera State 429 ------Total 15,697 ======

Four thousand five hundred and ninety-one speakers in Dhenkanal and 17 in Morbhanj have been returned under the head of Patuâ. At the last Census of 1901, 10,853 speakers were returned, 10,795 of whom were found in the Orissa Tributary States. The corresponding figure for the Juâ©g and Patuâ tribe in the States was 12,474. Almost the whole tribe, accordingly, still retains its native tongue.

Grammar. The Juâ©g dialect is of the same kind as Kha®iâ. It has abandoned the most prominent Mu∑πâ characteristics, and its inflexional system is more closely in accordance with Aryan principles than is the case with the Mu∑πâ language proper.

Kachera.: -or Hawaldar. In the past they manufactured glass bangles. Now they buy, sell and fit them on. They are probably of Turk origin.

Kadera.: -They are specialists in making fireworks for celebrations. They were employed by the Indian army to make gun powder.

Kahals.: -A vagrant and fishing caste living in the Sutlet.

Kaikâri.:-Kaikâdi (also called Bargandi by outsiders).1 - A disreputable wandering tribe, whose ostensible perfession is to make baskets. They are found in Nimâr and the Marâtha Districts, and number some 2000 persons in the Central Provinces. The Kaikâris here, as elsewhere, claim to have come from Telingâna or the Deccan, but there is no caste of this name in the Madras Presidency. They may not improbably be the caste there known as Korva or Yerîlkala, whose occupations are similar. Mr. Kitts2 has stated that the Kaikâris are known as Korâvars in Arcot and as Korvan in the Carnatic. The Kalkâris speak a gypsy language, which according to the specimen given by Hislop3 contains Tamil and Telugu words. One derivation of Kaikâri is from the Tamil kai, hand, and kude, basket, and if this is

1 See Russell. This article is partly compiled from papers by Mr. Falocner Taylor, Forest Divisional Officer, and by Kanhyâ Lâl, Clerk in the Gazetteer office. 2. Berâr Census Report (1881), p. 141. 3. Hislop papers. Vocabulary.

395 correct, it is in favour of their identification with the Korvas, who always carry their tattooing and other implements in a basket in their hands. The Kaikâris of the Central Provinces say that their original ancestor was one Kânoba Ramjân who handed a twig to his sons and told them to earn their livelihood by it. Since then they have subisisted by making baskets from the stalks of the cotton plant, the leaves of the date-palm and grass. They themselves derive their name from Kai, standing for Kânoba Ramjân and kâdi, a twig, an etymology which may be dismissed, given that in the Berâr Census Report1 they are the remnants of the Kaikeyas, who before the Christian era dwelt north of the Jalandhar Doâb. Two subcastes exist in Nimâr, the Marâthas and the Phirasti or wandering Kaikâris, the former no doubt representing recruits from Marâtha castes, not improbably from the Kunbis. The Marâtha Kaikâris look down on the Phirastis as the latter take cooked food from a number of castes including the Telis, while the Marâthas refuse to do this. In the Nâgpur country there are several divisions which profess to be endogamous, as the Kâmâthis or those selling toys made of palm-leaves, the Bhâmtis or those who steal from bazârs, the Kunbis or cultivators, the Tokriwâlas or makers and sellers of baskets, and the Boriwâlas or those who carry bricks, gravel and stone. Kubi and Bhâmti are the names of the castes, and Kâmâthi is a general term applied in the Marâtha country to Telugu immigrants; the names thus show that the Kaikâris, like other vagrant groups, are largely recruited from persons expelled from their own caste for social offences. These groups cannot really be endogamous as yet, but as in the case of several other wandering tribes they probably have a tendency to beome so. In Berâr2 1 an entirely defferent set of 12 subcastes is recorded, several of which are territorial, and two, 2 the Pungis or blowers of gourds, and the Wâjantris or village musicians, are occupational. In Nimâr as in Khândesh3 the Kaikâris have only two exogamous clans, Jâdon and Gaikwâr, who must marry with each other. In the southern Districts there are a number of exogamous divisions, such as Jâdon, Mâne, Kîmre, Jeshti, Kâde Dâne and others. Jâdon is a well-known Râjpît sept, and the Kaikâris do not explain how they came by the name, but claim to have fought as soldiers under several kings, during which occasions the name may have been adopted from some Râjpît leader in accordance with the common practice of imitation. Mâne and Gaikwâr are family names of the Marâtha caste. The names and varied nomenclature of the subdivisions show that the Kaikâris, as at present constituted, are a very mixed caste, though they may not improbably have been originally connected with the Korvas of Madras.

Marriage. Marriage within the same gotra or section is prohibited, but with one or two exceptions there are no other restrictions on intermarriage between relatives. A sister's son may marry a brother's daughter, but not vice versa. A man may not marry his wife's elder sister either during his wife's lifetime or her death, and he may marry her younger sister. Girls are generally married between 8 and 12 years of age. If a girl cannot get a partner nothing is done, but when the marriage of a boy has been arranged, a sham rite is performed with an akao plant (swallow-wort) or with a silver ring, all the ceremonies of a regular marriage being gone through. The tree is subsequently carefully reared, or the ring worn on the finger. Should the tree die or the ring be lost, funeral rites are performed for it as for a member of the family. A bride-price is paid which may vary from Rs. 20 to Rs. 100. In the southern Districts the following custom is in vogue at weddings. After the ceremony the bridegroom pretends to be angry and goes out of the mandap or shed, on which the bride runs after him, and thrownig a piece of cloth round his neck, drags him back again. Her father then gives him some money or ornaments to pacify him. After this the same performance is gone through with the bride. The bride is taken to her husband's house, but is soon brought back by her relatives. On her second departure the husband himself does not go to fetch her, and she is brought home by his father and other relations, her own family presenting her with

1. 1881, p. 141. 2. Ibidem. 3. Bombay Gazetteer (Campbell), bol. xii. p. 120

396 new clothers on this occasion. Widow-marriage is permitted, and the widow is expected to marry the next younger brother of the deceased husband. She may not marry any except the next younger, and if another should take her he is expelled from the caste until the connection is severed. If she marries somebody else he must repay to her late husband's brother a half of the expenses incurred on the first marriage. In the southern Districts she may not marry a brother of her husband's at all. A widow cannot be married in her late husband's house, but is taken to her parent's house and married there. In Nimâr her family does not take anything, but in the south they are paid a small sum. Here also the marriage is performed at the second husband's house; the woman carries to it a new earthen pitcher filled with water, and, placing it on the chauk or pattern of lines traced with flour in the courtyard, touches the feet of the Panch or caste committee, after which her skirt is tied to her husband's cloth. The pair are seated on a blanket and new bangles are placed on the woman's wrist, a widow officiating at the ceremony. The couple then leave the village and pass the night outside it, returning next morning, when the woman manages to enter the house without being perceived by a married woman or unmarried girl. A bachelor marrying a widow must first go through the ceremony with a ring or akao plant, as already described, this being his real marriage; if he omits the rite his daughters by the widow will not be considered as members of the caste, thought his sons will be admitted, Polygamy is allowed, but the consent of the first wife must be obtained to the taking of a second, and she may require a written promise of good treatment after the second marriage. A second wife is usually only taken if the first is barren, and if she has children her parents usually interfere to dissuade the husband, while other parents are always averse to giving their daughter in marriage to a man under such circumstances. Divorce is permitted for the usual reasons, a deed being drawn up and attested by the panchâyat, to whom the husband pays a fine of Rs. 8 or Rs. 10.

Domestic rites The tutelary god of the Kaikâris is the Nâg or cobra, who is worhipped at marriages and on the day of Nâg-Panchmi. Every family has in the house a platform dedicated to Khandoba, the Marâtha god of war. They also worship Marímâta, to whom flowers are offered at festivals, and a littel ghi is poured out in her honour by way of incense. When the juâri harvest is gathered, dalias or cakes of boiled juâri and a ewe are offered to Marímâta. They do not revere the Hindu sacred trees, the pípal and banyan, nor the basil plant, and will readily cut them down. They both burn and bury the dead. The Jâdons burn all married persons, but if they cannot afford firewood they touch the corpse with a burning cinder and then bury it. The Gaikwârs always bury their dead, the corpse being laid naked on its back with the feet pointing to the south. On returning from the burial-ground each relative of the deceased gives one roti or wheaten cake to the bereaved family, and they eat, sharing the cakes with the panchâyat. Bread is also presented on the second day, and on the third the family begin to cook again. Mourning lasts for ten days, and on the last day the house is cleaned and the earthen pots thrown out; the clothes of the family are washed and the males are shaved. Ten balls of rice cooked in milk are offered to the soul of the dead person and a feast is given to the caste,

After a birth the mother remains impure for five weeks. For the first five days both the mother and child are bathed daily. They navel cord and after-birth are buried by the midwife in a rubbbish heap. When the milk teeth fall out they are placed in a ball of ass dung and thrown onto the roof of the house. It is considered that the rats or mice, who have very good and sharp teeth, will take them and give the child good teeth in exchange. Women are impure for five days during the menstrual period. When a girl attains maturity a ceremony called god-bharni is performed. The neighbours are invited and songs are sung and the girl is seated in the chauk or pattern of lines traced with flour. She is given new clothes and bangles by her father, or her father-in-law if she is married, and rice and plantains, cocoanuts and other fruits are tied up in her skirt. This is no doubt done so that the girl may in like manner be fruitful, the cocoanuts perhaps being meant to represent human heads, as they usually do.

397 Social Customs And Position. The Kaikâris eat flesh, including pork and fowls, but not beef. In Nimâr the animals which they eat must have their throats cut by a Muhammadan in the proper fashion, otherwise it is considered as murder to slanghter them. Both men and women drink liquor. They take food cooked with water from Kunbis and Mâlis and take water from the same castes, but not from Dhimars, Nais or Kahârs. No caste will take food from a Kaikâri. Their touch is considered to defile a Brâhman, Bania, Kalâr and other castes, but not a Kunbi. They are not allowed to enter temples but may live inside the village. Their status is thus very low. They have a caste panchâyat or committee, and punishments are imposed for the usual offences. Permanent exclusion from caste is rarely or never inflicted, and even a woman who has gone wrong with an outsider may be readmitted after a peculiar ceremony of purification. The delinquent is taken to a river, tank or well, and is the shaved clean. Her tongue is branded with a ring or other article of gold, and she is then seated under a wooden shed having two doors. She goes in by one door and sits in the shed, which is set on fire. She must remain seated until the whole shed is burning and is then allowed to escape by the other door. A young boy of the caste is finally asked to eat from her hand, and thus purified she is readmitted to social intercourse. Fire is the great purifier, and this ceremony probably symbolises the immolation of the delinquent and her new birth. A similar ordeal is practised among the Korvas of Bombay, and this fact may be taken as affording further evidence of the linked identity of the two castes.1 The morals of the caste are, however, by no means good, and some of them are said to live by prostituting their women. The dog is held especially sacred as with all worshippers of Khandoba, and to swear by a dog is Khandoba's oath and is considered the most binding. The Kaikâris are of dark colour and have repulsive features. They do not bathe or change their clothes for days together. They are also quarrelsome, and in Bombay the word Kaikârin is a proverbial term for a dirty shrew. Women are profusely tattooed, because tattooing is considered to be a record of the virtuous acts performed in this world and must be displyed to the deity after death. If no marks of tattoosing are found the soul is sent to hell and punished for having acquired no piety.

Occupation. Basket-making is the traditional occupation of the Kaikâris and is still followed by them. They do not, however, make baskets from bamboo, but from cotton-stalks, palm-leaves and grass. In the south they are principally employed as carriers of stone, lime, bricks and gravel. Like most wandering castes they have a bad character. In Berâr the Rân Kaikâris are said to be the most criminal class.2 They act under a chief who is elected for life and wander about in the cold weather, usually carrying their property on donkeys. Their ostensible occupations are to make baskets and mend grinding mills. A notice of them in Lawrence's Settlement Report of Bhandâra (1867) states that they were then professional thieves, openly avowing their dependence on predatory occupations for subsistence, and being particularly dexterous at digging through the walls of houses and secrtet pilfering.

Kakkalan.: -The Kakkalans or Kakkans3 are a vagrant tribe in north and central Travancore, who are identical with the Kakka Kuravans of south Travancore. There are among them four endogamous divisions called Kavitiyan, Manipparayan, Meluttan, and Chattaparayan, of which the two first are the most important. The Kavitiyans are further sub- divided into Kollak Kavitiyan residing in central Travancore, Malayâlam Kavitiyan, Kavitiyan, and Pândi Kavitiyan or immigrants from the Pândyan country.

1. Bombay Gazetteer (Campbellell), vol. xxi. p. 172. 2. Berâr Cesus Report (1881), p. 141. 3 See Thurston.

398 The Kakkalans have a legend concerning their origin to the effect that Siva was once going about begging as a Kapaladhârin, and arrived at a Brâhman street, from which the inhabitants drove him away. The offended god immediately reduced the village to ashes, and the guilty villagers begged his pardon, but were reduced to the position of the Kakkalans, and made to earn their livelihood by begging.

The women wear iron and silver bangles, and a palunka mâla or necklace of variously coloured beads. They are tattooed, and tattooing members of other castes is one of their occupations, which include the following: Katukuttu, or boring the lobes of the ears. Katuvaippu, or plastic operations on the ear, which Nâyar women and others who wear heavy pendant ear ornaments often require. Kainokku or palmistry, in which the women are more proficient that the men. Kompuvaippu, or placing the twig of a plant on any swelling of the body, and dissipating it by blowing on it. Taiyyal, or tailoring. Pâmpâtam or snake dance, in which the Kakkalans are unrivalled. Fortune telling.

Beliefs and social customs The chief object of worship by the Kakkalans is the rising sun, to which boiled rice is offered on Sunday. They have no temples of their own, but stand at some distance from Hindu temples, and worship the gods thereof. Though leading a wandering life, they try to be at home for the Malabar new year, on which occasion they wear new clothes, and hold a feast. They do not observe the national Ónam and Vishu festivals. The Kakkalans are conspicuously polygamous, and some have as many as twelve wives, who are easily supported, as they earn money from their professional engagements. A first marriage must be celebrated on Sunday, and the festivities last from Saturday to Monday. Subsequent marriages may also be celebrated on Thursday. On the night of the day before the wedding, a brother, or other near relation of the bridegroom, places the sambandham (alliance) by bringing a fanam (coin), material for chewing, and cooked rice to the marriage pandal (booth). Fruit and other things are flung at him by the bride's people. On the following day the bridegroom arrives at the pandal, and after invoking a blessing from on high, ties it round the bride's neck. When a girl reaches puberty, a merry celebration is kept up for a week. The dead are buried. Inheritance is from father to son. A childless widow is a copartner with the brothers of the deceased, and forfeits this right if she remarries. Though in the presence of other castes the Kakkalans speak Malayâlam, they have a peculiar language which is use among themselves, and is not understood by others.1

Kakkalans.: -They are nomads and beggars who live in Kerala. They are also fortune-tellers and perform the snake dance.

Kakkans.: -See Kakkalans

Kalibhilia.: -Wandering Tribe from Rajasthan. They make different kind of Mill- Stone. They are dancers, traders and farmers.

1. For this note I am indebted to Mr. N. Subramani Aiyar.

399 Kallan.: -Kollan or the Kallans1 of the Madura district in the early part of the last century, an excellent account was written by Mr. T. Turnbull (1817), from which the following extract has been taken. "The Cullaries are said to be in general a brave people, expert in the use of the lance and in throwing the curved stick called vullaree taddee. This weapon is invariably in use among the generality of this tribe; it is about 39 inches in curvature. The word Cullar is used to express a thief of any caste, sect or country, but this race has been designated both a thief and an inhabitant from paying tribute to the sovereign of Madura. This race appears to have become hereditary occupiers, and appropriated to themselves various Nauds in different parts of the southern countries; in each of these territories they have a chief among them, whose orders and directions they all must obey. They still possess one common character, and in general are such thieves that the name is very justly applied to them, for they seldom allow any merchandize to pass through their hands without extorting something from the owners, if they do not rob them altogether, and in fact travellers, pilgrims, and Brâhmans are attacked and stripped of everything they possess, and they even have no scruples in killing any caste of people, save only the latter. In case a Brâhman happens to be killed in their attempt to plunder, when the fact is made known to the chief, severe corporal punishment is inflicted on the criminals and fines levied, besides exclusion from society for a period of six months. The Maloor Vellaloor and Serrugoody Nauds are denominated by the Keelnaud, whose inhabitant of the Cullar race are designated by the appellation of Amblacaurs.

The character of women "The women are inflexibly vindictive and furious on the least injury, even on suspicion, which prompts them to the most violent revenge without any regard to consequences. A horrible custom exists among the females of the Colleries when a quarrel or dissension arises between them. The insulted woman brings her child to the aggressor, and kills it at her door to avenge herself. Although her vengeance is attained with the most cruel barbarity, she immediately thereafter proceeds to a neighbouring village with all her goods, etc. In this attempt she is opposed by her neighbours, which gives rise to clamour and outrage. The complaint is then carried to the head Amblacaur, who lays it before the elders of the village, and solicits their interference to terminate the quarrel. In the course of this investigation, if the husband finds that sufficient evidence has been brought against his wife, that she has given cause for provocation and aggression, then he proceeds unobserved by the assembly to his house, and brings one of his children, and, in the presence of witness, kills his child at the door of the woman who had first killed her child at his. By this mode of proceeding he considers that he has saved himself much trouble and expense, which would otherwise have devolved on him. This circumstance is soon brought to the notice of the tribunal, who proclaim that the offence committed is sufficiently avenged. But, should this voluntary retribution of revenge not be executed by the convicted person, the tribunal is prorogued to a limited time, fifteen days generally. Before the expiration of that period, one of the children of that convicted person must be killed. At the same time he is to bear all expenses for providing food, etc., for the assembly during those days.

"A remarkable custom prevails both among the males and females in these Nauds to have their ears bored and stretched by hanging heavy rings made of lead so as to expand their ear- laps (lobes) down to their shoulders. Besides this singular idea of beauty attached by them to pendant ears, a circumstance still more remarkable is that, when merchants or travellers pass through these Nauds, they generally take the precaution to insure a safe transit through these territories by courting the friendship of some individual of the Naud by payment of a certain fee, for which he deputes a young girl to conduct the travellers safe through the limits. This girl conducts them along with her finger to her ear. On observing this sign, no Cullary will dare to plunder the persons so conducted. It sometimes happens, in spite of this precaution, that attempts are made to attack the traveller. The girl in such cases immediately tears one of

1 See Thurston,

400 her ear-laps, and returns to spread the report, upon which the complaint is carried before the chief and elders of the Naud, who forthwith convene a meeting in consequence at the Mundoopoolee.1 If the violators are convicted, vindictive retaliation ensues. The assembly condemns the offenders to have both their ear-laps torn in expiation of their crime, and, if otherwise capable, they are punished by fines or absolved by money. By this means travellers generally obtain a safe passage through these territories. [Even at the present day, in quarrels between women of the lower castes, long ears form a favourite object of attack, and lobe-tearing cases frequently appear in police records.2]

History "The Maloor Naud was originally inhabited and cultivated by Vellaulers. At a certain period some Cullaries belonging to Vella Naud in the Conjeeveram district proceeded thence on a hunting excursion with weapons consisting of short hand pikes, cudgels, bludgeons, and curved sticks for throwing, and dogs. While engaged in their sport, they observed a peacock resist and attack one of their hounds. The sportsmen, not a little astonished at the sight, declared that this appeared to be a fortunate country, and its native inhabitants and every living creature naturally possessed courage and bravery. Preferring such a country to their Naud in Conjeeveram, they were desirous of establishing themselves here as cultivators. To effect this, they insinuated themselves into the favour of the Vellaulers, and, engaging as their servants, were permitted to remain in these parts, whither they in course of time invited their relations and friends, and to appearance conducted themselves faithfully and obediently to the entire satisfaction of the Vellaulers, and were rewarded for their labour. Some time afterwards, the Vellaulers, exercising an arbitrary sway over the Cullaries, began to inflict condign punishment for offences and misdemeanours committed in their service. This stirred up the wrath of the Cullaries, who gradually acquired the superiority over their masters, and by coercive measures impelled them to a strict observance of the following rules: 1st.-That, if a Culler was struck by his master in such a manner as to deprive him of a tooth, he was to pay a fine of ten cully chuckrums (money) for the offence. 2nd.-That, if a Culler happened to have one of his ear-laps torn, the Vellauler was to pay a fine of six chuckrums. 3rd.-That if a Culler had his skull fractured, the Vellauler was to pay thirty chuckrums, unless he preferred to have his skull fractured in return. 4th.-That, if a Culler had his arm or leg broke, he was then to be considered but half a man. In such case the offender was required to grant the Culler one cullum of nunjah seed land (wet cultivation), and two koorkums of punjah (dry cultivation), to be held and enjoyed in perpetuity, exclusive of which the Vellauler was required to give the Culler a doopettah (cloth) and a cloth for his wife, twenty cullums of paddy or any other grain, and twenty chuckrums in money for expenses. 5th.-That, if a Culler was killed, the offender was required to pay either a fine of a hundred chuckrums, or be subject to the vengeance of the injured party. Until either of these alternative was agreed to, and satisfaction afforded, the party injured was at liberty to plunder the offender's property, never to be restored. "By this hostile mode of conduct imposed on their masters, together with their extravagant demands, the Vellaulers were reduced to that dread of the Cullers as to court their favour, and became submissive to their will and pleasure, so that in process of time the Cullers not only reduced them to poverty, but also induced them to abandon their villages and hereditary possessions, and to emigrate to foreign countries. Many were even murdered in total disregard of their former solemn promises of fidelity and attachment. Having thus implacably got rid of their original masters and expelled them from their Naud, they became the rulers of it, and denominated it by the singular appellation of Tun Arrasa Naud, signifying a forest only known to its possessors [or tan-arasu-nâd, i.v., the country governed

1. Place of meeting, which is a large tamarind tree, under which councils are held. 2. Gazetteer of the Madura district.

401 by themselves].1 In short, these Colleries became so formidable at length as to evince a considerable ambition, and to set the then Government at defiance. Allagar Swamy they regarded as the God of their immediate devotion, and, whenever their enterprizes were attended with success, they never failed to be liberal in the performance of certain religious ceremonies to Allagar. To this day they invoke the name of Allagar when objecting to the Stalaters who come to their villagers to collect money or grain for the support of the temple, or any extraordinary ceremonies of the God. The Cullers of this Naud, in the line of the Kurtaukles, once robbed and drove away a large herd of cows belonging to the Prince, who, on being informed of the robbery, and that the calves were highly distressed for want of nourishment, ordered them to be driven out of and left with the cows, wherever they were found. The Cullers were so exceedingly pleased with this instance of the Kurtaukle's goodness and greatness of mind that they immediately collected a thousand cows (at one cow from every house) in the Naud as a retribution, and drove them along with the plundered cattle to Madura. Whenever a quarrel or dispute happens among them, the parties arrest each other in the name of the respective Amblacaurs, whom they regard as most sacred, and they will only pay their homage to those persons convened as arbitrators or punjayems to cattle their disputes.

"During the feudal system that prevailed among these Colleries for a long time, they would on no consideration permit the then Government to have any control or authority over them. When tribute was demanded, the Cullers would answer with contempt: 'The heavens supply the earth with rain, our cattle plough, and we labour to improve and cultivate the land. While such is the case, we alone ought to enjoy the fruits thereof. What reason is there that we should be obedient, and pay tribute to our equal?' "During the reign of Vizia Ragoonada Saitooputty2, a party of Colleries, having proceeded on a plundering excursion into the Râmnâd district, carried off two thousand of the Râja's own bullocks. The Râja was so exasperated that he caused forts to be erected at five different places in the Shevagunga and Râmnâd districts, and, on pretext of establishing a good understanding with these Nauttams, he artfully invited the principal men among them, and, having encouraged them by repeatedly conferring marks of his favour, caused a great number to be slain, and a number of their women to be transported to Ramiserum, where they were branded with the marks of the pagoda, and made Deva Dassies or dancing girls and slaves of the temple. The present dancing girls in that celebrated island are said to be the descendants of these women of the Culler tribe." In the eighteenth century a certain Captain Rumley was sent with troops to check the turbulent Colleries. "He became the terror of the Collerie Naud, and was highly respected and revered by the designation of Rumley Swamy, under which appellation the Colleries afterwards distinguished him." It is on record that, during the Trichinopoly war, the horses of Clive and Stringer Lawrence were stolen by two Kallan brothers.

Tradition says that one of the rooms in Tirumala Nâyakkan's palace at Madura "was Tirumala's sleeping apartment, and that his cot hung by long chains from hooks in the roof. One night, says a favourite story, a Kallan made a hole in the roof, swarmed down the chains, and stole the royal jewels. The king promised a jaghir (grant of land) to anyone who would bring him the thief, and the Kallan then gave himself up and claimed the reward. The king gave him the jaghir, and then promptly had him beheaded."3

1. Gazetteer of the Madura district. 2. Sétupati, or lord of the bridge. The title of the Râjas of Râmnâd. 3. Gazetteer of the Madura district.

402 Origin of name My Mr. h. A. Stuart1 the Kallans are said to be "a middle-sized dark-skinned tribe found chiefly in the districts of Tanjore, Trichinopoly and Madura, and in the Pudukóta territory. The name Kallan is commonly derived from Tamil Kallam, which means 'theft'. Mr, Nelson2 expresses some doubts as to the correctness of this derivation, but Dr, Oppert accepts it, and no other has been suggested. The original home of the Kallans appears to have been Tondamandalam or the Pallava country, and the head of the class, the Râja of Pudukóta, is to this day called the Tondaman. There are good grounds for believing that the Kallans are a branch of the Kurumbas, who, when they found their regular occupation as soldiers gone. 'took to maraudering, and made themselves so obnoxious by their thefts and robberies, that the term kallan, thief, was applied, and stuck to them as a tribal appellation.'3 The Rev. W. Taylor, the compiler of the Catalogue Raisonné of Oriental Manuscripts, also identifies the Kallans with the Kurumbas, and Mr. Nelson accepts this conclusion. In the census returns, Kurumban is returned as one of the sub-divisions of the Kallan caste."

Divisional differeces "The Chóla country, or Tanjore," Mr. W. Francis writes,4 "seems to have been the original abode of the Kallans before their migration to the Pândya kingdom after its conquest by the Chólas about the eleventh century A. D. But in Tanjore they have been greatly influenced by the numerous Brâhmans there, and have taken to shaving their heads and employing Brâhmans as priests. At their weddings also the bridegroom ties the tâli himself, while elsewhere his sister does it. Their brethren across the border in Madura continue to merely tie their hair in a knot, and employ their own folk to officiate as their priests. This advance of one section will doubtless in time enhance the social estimation of the caste as a whole." It is further noted, in the Gazetteer of the Tanjore district, that the ambitions of the Kallans have been assisted "by their own readiness, especially in the more advanced portions of the district, to imitate the practices of Brâhmans and Vellâlans. Great variations thus occur in their customs in different localities, and a wide gap exists between the Kallans of this district as a whole and those Madura." In the Manual of the Tanjore district, it is stated that "profitable agriculture, coupled with security of property in land, has converted the great bulk of the Kallar and Padeiyachi classes into a contented and industrious population. They are now too fully occupied with agriculture, and the incidental litigation, to think of their old lawless pursuits, even if they had an inclination to follow them. The bulk of the ryotwari proprietors in that richly cultivated part of the Cauvery delta which constituted the greater part of the tâluk of Tiruvâdi are Kallars, and, as a rule, they are a wealthy and well to-do class. The Kallar ryots, who inhabit the villages along the banks of the Cauvery, in their dress and appearance generally look quite like Vellalas. Some of the less romantic and inoffensive characteristics of the Kallars in Madura and Tinnevelly are found among the recent immigrants from the south, who are distinguished from the older Kallar colonies by the general term Terkattiyâr, literally 'southerners,' which includes emigrants of other castes from the south. The Terkattiyârs are found chiefly in the parts of the district which border on Pudukóta. Kallars of this group grow their hair long all over, and the holes in the lobes of their ears to an extraordinary size by inserting rolls of palm-leaf into them." The term Terkattiyâr is applied to Kallan, Maravan, Agamudaiyan, and other immigrants into the Tanjore district. At Mayaveram, for example, it is applied to Kallans, Agamudaiyans, and Valaiyans. It is noted, in the Census Report of 1891, that Agamudaiyan and Kallan were returned as sub-divisions of Maravans by a comparatively large number of persons. "Maravan is also found among the sub-divisions of Kallan, and there can be little doubt that there is a very close connection between Kallans,

1. Madras Census Report, 1891. 2. Manual of the Madura district. 3. G. Oppert. Madras Journ. Lit, Science, 1888-9. 4. Madras Census Report, 1901.

403 Maravans, and Agamudaiyans." "The origin of the Kallar caste," Mr. F.S. Mullaly writes,1 "as also that of the Maravars and Ahambadayars, is mythologically traced to Indra and Aghalia, the wife of Rishi Gautama. The legend is that Indra and Rishi Gautama were, among others, rival suitors for the hand of Aghalia. Rishi Gautama was the successful one. This so incensed Indra he determined to win Aghalia at all hazards, and, by means of a cleverly devised ruse, succeeded, and Aghalia bore him three sons, who respectively took the names Kalla, Marava, and Ahambadya. The three castes have the agnomen Théva or god, and claim to be descendants of Thévan (Indra)". According to another version of the legend 'once upon a time Rishi Gautama left his houses to go abroad on business. Dévendra, taking advantage of his absence, debauched his wife, and three children were the result. When the Rishi returned, one of the three hid himself behind a door, and, as he thus acted like a thief, he was henceforward called Kallan. Another got up a tree, and was therefore called Maravan from maram, a tree, whilst the third brazened it out and stood his ground, thus earning for himself the name was corrupted into Ahambadiyan."2 There is a Tamil proverb that a Kallan may come to be a Maravan. By respectability he may develop into an Agamudaiyan, and, by slow and small degrees, become a Vellâla, from which he may rise to be a Mudaliar.

Extortion,blackmail and theft "The Kallans," Mr. H. A. Stuart writes,3 "will eat flesh, excepting beef, and have no scruples regarding the use of intoxicating liquor. They are usually farmers or field-labourers, but many of them are employed as village or other watchmen, and not a few depend for their subsistence upon the proceeds of thefts and robberies. In Trichinopoly town, householders are obliged to keep a member of the Kallan caste in their service as a protection against the depredations of these thieves, and any refusal to give in to this custom invariably results in loss of property. On the other hand, if a theft should, by any chance, be committed in a house where a Kallan is employed, the articles stolen will be recovered, and returned to the owner. In Madura town, I am informed, a tax of four annas per annum is levied on houses in certain streets by the head of the Kallan caste in return for protection against theft "the Kallans, Maravans, and Agamudaiyans are responsible for a share of the crime of the southern districts which is out of all proportion to their strength in them. In 1917, the Inspector-General of Prisons reported that nearly 42 percent of the convicts in the Madura jail, and 30 per cent of those in the Palamcottah jail in Tinnevelly, belonged to one or other of these three castes. In Tinnevelly, in 1894, 131 cattle thefts were committed by men of these three castes against 47 by members of others, which is one theft to 1,497 of the population of the three bodies against one to 37,830 of the other castes. The statistics of their criminality in Trichinopoly and Madura were also bad. The Kallans had until recently a regular system of blackmail, called kudikâval, under which each village paid certain fees to be exempt from theft. The consequences of being in arrears with their payments quickly followed in the shape of cattle thefts and 'accidental' fires in houses. In Madura the villagers recently struck against this extortion. The agitation was started by a man of the Idaiyan or shepherd caste, which naturally suffered greatly by the system, and continued from 1893 to 1896." The origin of the agitation is said4 to have been the anger of certain of the Idaiyans with a Kallan Lothario, who enticed away a woman of their caste, and afterwards her daughter, and kept both women simultaneously under his protection. The story of this anti-Kallan agitation, is told as follows in the Police Administration Report, 1896. "Many of the Kallans are the kavalgars of the villages under the kaval system. Under that system the kavalgars receive fees, and in some cases rent-free land for undertaking to protect the property of the villagers against theft, or to restore an equivalent in value for anything lost. The people who suffer most at the hands of the Kallars are the shepherds (Kónans or Idaiyans). Their sheep and

1. Notes on Criminal Classes of the Madras Presidency. 2. Madras Review, 1899. 3. Madras Census Report, 1891. 4. Gazetteer of the Madura district.

404 goats form a convenient subject for the Kallar's raids. They are taken for kaval fees alleged to be overdue, and also stolen, again to be restored on the payment of blackmail. The anti- Kallar movement was started by a man of the shepherd caste, and rapidly spread. Meetings of villagers were held, at which thousands attended. They took oath on their ploughs to dispense with the services of the Kallars; they formed funds to compensate such of them as lost their cattle, or whose houses were burnt; they arranged for watchmen among themselves to patrol the villages at night; they provided horns to be sounded to carry the alarm in cases of theft from village to village, and prescribed a regular scale of fines to be paid by those villagers who failed to turn out on the sound of the alarm. The Kallans in the north in many cases sold their lands, and left their villages, but in some places they fought. For six months crime is said to have ceased absolutely, and, as one deponent put it, two places the Kallans gathered in large bodies in view to overawe the villagers, and riots followed. In one village there were three murders, and the Kallar quarter was destroyed by fire, but whether the fire was the work of Kónans or Kallars has never been discovered. In August, large numbers of villagers attacked the Kallars in two villages in the Dindigul division, and burnt the Kallar quarters.' "The crime," Mr. F. S. Mullaly writes,1 "that Kallars are addicted to are dacoity in houses or on highways, robbery, house-breaking and cattle-stealing. They are usually armed with vellari thadis or clubs (the so-called boomerangs) and occasionally with knives similar to those worn by the inhabitants of the western coast. Their method of house-breaking is to make the breach in the wall under the door. A lad of diminutive size then creeps in, and opens the door for the elders. Jewels worn by sleeps are seldom touched. The stolen property is hidden in convenient places, in drains, wells, or straw stacks, and is sometimes returned to the owner on receipt of blackmail from him called tuppu-kîli or clue hire. The women seldom join in crimes, but assist the men in their dealings (for disposal for the stolen property) with the Chettis." It is noted by the Abbé Dubois that the Kallars "regard a robber's occupation as discreditable neither to themselves, nor to their fellow castemen, for the simple reason that they consider robbery a duty, and a right sanctioned by descent. If one were to ask of a Kallar to what people, he belonged, he would coolly answer, 'I am a robber.'" It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that "dacoity of travellers at night used to be the favourite pastime of the Kallans, and their favourite haunts were the various roads leading out of Madura, and from Ammayanâyakkanîr to Periyakulam. The method adopted consisted in threatening the driver of the cart, and then turning the vehicle into the ditch so that it upset. The unfortunate travellers were then forced by some of the gang to sit at the side of the road, with their backs to the cart and their faces to the ground, while their baggage was searched for valuables by the remainder. The gangs which frequented these roads have now broken up, and the caste has practically quitted road dacoity for the simpler, more profitable, and less risky business of stealing officials' office-boxes and ryots' cattle. Cattle- theft is now the most popular calling among them. They are clever at handing animals, and probably the popularity of the jallikats (see Maravan) has its origin in the demands of a life which always included much cattle-lifting. The stolen animals are driven great distances (as much as 20 or 30 miles) on the night of the theft, and are then hidden for the day either at a friend's house, or among hills and jungles. The next night they are taken still further, and again hidden. Pursuit is by this time hopeless, as the owner has no idea even in which direction to search. He therefore proceeds to the nearest go-between (these individuals are well-known to every one), and offers him a reward if he will bring back the cattle. This reward is called tuppu-kîli, or payment for clues, and is very usually as much as half the value of the animals stolen. The Kallan undertakes to search for the lost bullocks, returns soon, and states that he has found them, receives his tuppu-kîli, and then tells the owner of the property that, if he will go to a spot named, which is usually in some lonely neighbourhood, he will find his cattle tied up there. This information is always correct. If, on the other hand, the owner reports the theft to the police, no Kallan will help him to recover his animals, and these are eventually sold in other districts or Travancore, or even sent across

1. Op. cit.

405 from Tuticorin to Ceylon. Consequently, hardly any cattle-thefts are ever reported to the police. Where the Kallans are most numerous, the fear of incendiarism induces people to try to afford a tiled or terraced roof, instead of being content with thatch. The cattle are always tied up in the houses at night. Fear of the Kallans prevents them from being left in the fields, and they may be seen coming into the villages every evening in scores, choking every one with the dust they kick up and polluting the village site (instead of manuring the land) for twelve hours out of every twenty-four. Buffaloes are tied up outside the houses. Kallans do not care to steal them, as they are of little value, are very troublesome when a stranger tries to handle them, and cannot travel fast or far enough to be out of reach of detection by daybreak. The Kallans' inveterate addiction to dacoity and theft render the caste to this day a thorn in the flesh of the authorities. A very large proportion of the thefts committed in the district are attributable to them. Nor are they ashamed of the fact. One of them defended his class by urging that every other class stole, the official by taking bribes, the vakil (law pleader) by fostering animosities, and so pocketing fees, the merchant by watering the arrack (spirit) and sanding the sugar, and so on, and that the Kallans differed from these only in the directness of their methods. Round about Mélîr, the people of the caste are taking energetically to wet cultivation, to the exclusion of cattle-lifting, with the Periyâr water, which has lately been brought there. In some of the villages to the south of that town, they have drawn up a formal agreement (which has been solemnly registered, and is most rigorously enforced by the headmen), forbidding theft, recalling all the women who have emigrated to Ceylon and elsewhere, and, with an enlightenment which puts other communities to shame, prohibiting several other unwise practices which are only too common, such as the removal from the fields of cow-dung for fuel, and the pollution of drinking-water tanks (ponds) by stepping into them. Hard things have been said about the Kallans, but points to their credit are the chastity of their women, the cleanliness they observe in and around their Kallan village is seldom a financial success." From a recent notes,1 I gather the following additional information concerning tuppu-kuli. "The Kallans are largely guilty of cattle-thefts. In many cases, they return the cattle on receiving tuppu-kuli. The official returns do not show many of these cases. No cattle-owner thinks of reporting the loss of any of his cattle. Naturally his first instinct is that it might have strayed away, being live property. The tuppu-kuli system generally helps to pay half of its real value, and, when he recovers his animal, he goes home with the belief that he has really made a profitable bargain. There is no matter for complaint, but, on the other hand, he is glad that he got back his animal for use, often at the most opportune time. Cattle are indispensable to the agriculturist at all times of the year. Perhaps, sometimes, when the rains fail, he may not use them. But if, after a long drought, there is a shower, immediately every agriculturist runs to his field with his plough and cattle, and tills it. If, at such a time, his cattle be stolen, he considers as though he were beaten on his belly, and his means of livelihood gone. No cattle will be available then for hire. There is nothing that he will not part with to get back his cattle. There is then the nefarious system of tuppu-kuli offering itself, and he freely resorts to it, and succeeds in getting back his cattle sooner or later. On the other hand, if a complaint is made to the Village Magistrate or Police, recovery by this channel is impossible. The tuppu-kuli agents have their spies or informants everywhere, dogging the footsteps of the owner of the stolen cattle, and of those who are likely to help him in recovering it. As soon as they know the case is recorded in the Police station, they determine not to let the animal go back to its owner at any risk, unless some mutual friend intervenes, and works mightily for the recovery, in which case the restoration is generally through the pound. Such a restoration is primâ facie, cattle-straying, for only stray cattle are taken to the pound. This, too, is done after a good deal of hard swearing on both sides not to hand over the offender to the authorities."

1. Illustrated Criminal Investigation and Law Digest, 1, 3, 1908, Vellore.

406 Boomerangs In connection with the 'vellari thadi' referred to above, Dr. Oppert writes1 that "boomerangs are used by the Tamil Maravans and Kallans when hunting deer. The Madras Museum collection contains three (two ivory, one wooden) from the Tanjore armoury. In the arsenal of the Pudukkóttai Râja a stock of wooden boomerangs is always kept. Their name in Tamil is valai tadi (bent stick)." Concerning these boomerangs, the Dewân of Pudukkóttai writes to me as follows. "The valari or valai tadi is a short weapon, generally made of some hard- grained wood. It is also sometimes made of iron. It is crescent-shaped, one end being heavier that the other, and the outer edge is sharpened. Men trained in the use of the weapon hold it by the lighter end, whirl it a few times over their shoulders to give it impetus and then hurl it with great force against the object being aimed at. It is said that there were experts in the art of throwing the valari, who could at one stroke despatch small game, and even man. No such experts are now forthcoming in the State, though the instrument is reported to be occasionally used in hunting hares, jungle fowl, etc. Its days, however, must be counted as past. Tradition states that the instrument played a considerable part in the Poligar wars of the last century. But it now reposes peacefully in the households of the descendants of the rude Kallan and Maravan warrior, who plied it with such deadly effect in the last century, preserved as a sacred relic of a chivalric past along with other old family weapons in their pîja room, brought out and scraped and cleaned on occasions like the Ayudha pîja day (when worship is paid to weapons and implements of industry), and restored to its place of rest immediately afterwards."

Sub-divisions The sub-divisions of the Kallans, which were returned in greatest numbers at the census, 1891, were Ïsanganâdu (or Visangu-nâdu), Kungiliyan, Ménâdu, Nâttu, Piramalainâdu, and Sírukudi. In the Census Report, 1901, it is recorded that "in Madura the Kallans are divided into ten main endogamous divisions2 which are territorial in origin. These are (1) Mél-nâdu, (2) Sírukudi-nâdu, (3) Vellîr-nâdu, (4) Malla-Kóttai nâdu, (5) Pâkanéri, (6) Kandramânikkam or Kunnan-kóttai nâdu, (7) Kandadévi, (8) Puramalai-nâdu, (9) Tennilai-nâdu, and (10) Pâlaya-nâdu. The headman of the Puramalai-nâdu section is said to be installed by Idaiyans (herdsmen), but what the connection between the two castes may be is not clear. The termination nâdu means a country. These sections are further divided into exogamous sections called vaguppus. The Mél-nâdu Kallans have three sections called terus or streets, namely Vadakku-teru (north street), Kilakku-teru (east street), and Térku-teru (south street). The Sírukudi Kallans have vaguppus named after the gods specially worshipped by each, such as Ándi, Mandai, Aiyanar, and Víramângâli. Among the Vellîr-nâdu Kallans the names of these sections seem merely fanciful. Some of them are Véngai puli (cruel-handed tiger), Vekkâli puli (cruel-legged tiger), Sâmi puli (holy tiger), Sem Puli (red tiger), Sammatti makkal (hammer men), Tirumân (holy deer), and Sâyumpadai tângi (supporter of the vanquished army). A section of the Tanjore Kallans names its sections from sundry high- sounding titles meaning King of the Pallavas, King of Tanjore, conqueror of the south, mighty ruler, and so on." Portions of the Madura and Tanjore districts are divided into areas knows as nâdus, a name which, as observed by Mr. Nelson, is specially applicable to Kallan tracts. In each nâdu a certain caste, called the Nâttan, is the predominant factor in the settlement of social questions which arise among the various castes living within the nâdu. Round about Devakotta, in the Sivaganga zamindari, there are fourteen nâdus, representatives of which meet once a year at Kandadévi to arrange for the annual festival at the temple dedicated to Swarnamurthi Swâmi. The four nâdus Unjanai, Sembonmari, Iravaseri, and Tennilai in the same zamindari constitute a group, of which the last is considered the chief nâdu, where caste questions must come up for settlement. For marriage purposes these four nâdus constitute an endogamous section, which is sub-divided into septs or karais. Among the Vallambans these karais are

1. Madras Journ, Lit. Science, XXV. 2. I am informed that only Mél-nâdu, Sírukudi, Malla-Kóttai, and Puramalai are endogamous.

407 exogamous, and run in the male line. But, among the Kallans, the karai is recognised only in connection with property. A certain tract of land is the property of a particular karai, and the legal owners thereof are members of the same karai. When the land has to be disposed of, this can only be effected with the consent of representatives of the karai. The Nâttar Kallans of Sivaganga have exogamous septs called kílai or branches, which, as among the Maravans, run in the female line, i.e., a child belongs to the mother's, not the father's sept. In some castes, and even among Brâhmans, though contrary to strict rule, it is permissible for a man to marry his sister's daughter. This is not possible among the Kallans who have kílais such as those referred to, because the maternal uncle of a girl, the girl, and her mother all belong to the same sept. But the children of a brother and sister may marry, because they belong to different kílais, i.e,. those of their respective mothers.

Subban Pachchai (Kurivili kílai). (Arasiya kílai). Karuppan, son Ellamma, daughter (Arasiya kílai) (Arasiya kílai) Râman Minâchi (Pesadan kílai) (Arasiya kílai)

In the above example, the girl Minâchi may not marry Karuppan, as both are members of the same kílai. But she ought, though he be a mere boy, to marry Râman, who belongs to a different sept. It is noted1 that, among the Sivaganga Kallans, "when a member of a certain kílai dies, a piece of new cloth should be given to the other male member of the same kílai by the heir of the deceased. The cloth thus obtained should be given to the sister of the person obtaining it. If her brother fails to do so, her husband will consider himself degraded, and consequently will divorce her." Round about Pudukkóttai and Tanjore, the Visangu-nâdu Kallans have exogamous septs called pattapéru, and they adopt the sept name as a title, e.g., Muthu Udaiyân, Karuppa Tondaman, etc. It is noted, in the Gazetteer of the Tanjore district, that the sub-divisions of the Kallans are split into groups e.g., Onaiyan (wolfish), Singattân (lion like), etc.

Traditions It is a curious fact that the Puramalai-nâdu Kallans practice the rite of circumcision. The origin of this custom is uncertain, but it has been suggested 2 that it is a survival of a forcible conversion to Muhammadanism of a section of the Kurumbas who fled northwards on the downfall of their kingdom. At the time appointed for the initiatory ceremony, the Kallan youth is carried on the shoulders of his maternal uncle to a grove or plain outside the village, where betel is distributed among those who have assembled, and the operation is performed by a barber-surgeon. En route to the selected site, and throughout the ceremony, the conch shell (musical instrument) is blown. The youth is presented with new cloths. It is noted, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that "every Kallan boy has a right to claim the hand of his paternal aunt's daughter in marriage. This aunt bears the expenses connected with his circumcision. Similarly, the maternal uncle pays the costs of the rites which are observed when a girl attains maturity, for he has a claim on the girl as a bride for his son. The two ceremonies are performed at one time for large batches of boys and girls. On an auspicious day, the young people are all feasted, and dressed in their best, and repair to a river or tank (pond). The mothers of the girls make lamps of plantain leaves, and float them on the water, and the boys are operated on by the local barber." It is stated, in the Census Report, 1901, that the Sírukudi Kallans use a tâli, on which the Muhammadan badge of a crescent and star is engraved.

1. Madras Census Report, 1891. 2. Manual of the Madura district.

408 In connection with marriage among the Kallans, it is noted by Mr. S.M. Natesa Sastri1 that "at the Mâttupongal feast, towards evening, festoons of aloe fibre and cloths containing coins are tied to the horns of bullocks and cows, and the animals are driven through the streets with tom-toms and music. In the village, especially those inhabited by the Kallans in Madura and Tinnevelly, the maiden chooses as her husband him who has safely untied and brought to her the cloth tied to the horn of the fiercest bull. The animals are let loose with their horns containing valuables, amidst the din of tom-tom and harsh music, which terrifies and bewilders them. They run madly about, and are purposely excited by the crowd. A young Kalla will declare that he will run after such and such a bull-- and this is sometimes a risky pursuit-- and recover the valuables tied to its horn. The Kallan considers it a great disgrace to be injured while chasing the bull." A poet of the early years of the present era, quoted by Mr. Kanakasabhai Pillai,2 describes this custom as practiced by the shepherd castes in those days. "A large area of ground is enclosed with palisades and strong fences. Into the enclosure are brought ferocious bulls with sharpened horns. On a spacious loft, over-looking the enclosure, stand the shepherd girls, whom they intend to give away in marriage. The shepherd youths, prepared for the fight, first pray to their gods, whose images are placed under old banian or peepul trees, or at watering places. They then deck themselves with garlands made of the bright red flowers of the kânthal, and the purple flowers of the kâya. At a signal given by the beating of drums, the youths leap into the enclosure, and try to seize the bulls, which, frightened by the noise of the drums, are now ready to charge anyone who approaches them. Each youth approaches a bull, which he chooses to capture. But the bulls rush furiously, with tails raised, heads bent down, and horns levelled at their assailants. Some of the youths face the bulls boldly, and seize their horns. Some jump aside, and take hold of their tails. The more wary young men cling to the animals till they force them to fall on the ground. Many a luckless youth is now thrown down. Some escape without a scratch, while others are trampled upon or gored by the bulls. Some, though wounded and bleeding, again spring on the bulls. A few, who succeed in capturing the animals, are declared the victors of that day's fight. The elders then announce that the bull-fight is over. The wounded are carried out of the enclosure and attended to immediately, while the victors and the brides-elect repair to an adjoining grove, and there, forming into groups, dance joyously before preparing for their marriage."

Marriage In an account of marriage among the Kallans, Mr. Nelson writes that "the most proper alliance in the opinion of a Kallan is one between a man and the daughter of his father's sister, and, if an individual have such a cousin, he must marry her, whatever disparity there may be between their respective ages. A boy of fifteen must marry such a cousin, even if she be thirty or forty years old, if her father insists upon his so doing. Failing a cousin of this sort, he must marry his aunt or his niece, or any near relative. If his father's brother has a daughter, and insists upon him marrying her he cannot refuse; and this whatever may be the woman's age. One of the customs of the western Kallans is specially curious. It constantly happens that a woman is the wife of ten, eight, six, or two husbands, who are held to be the fathers jointly and severally of any children that may be born of her body. When a wedding takes place, the sister of the bridegroom goes to the house of the parents of the bride, and presents them with twenty-one Kâli fanams (coins) and a cloth, and, at the same time, ties some horse-hair round the bride's neck. She then brings her and her relatives to the house of the bridegroom, where a feast is prepared. Sheep are killed, and stores of liquor kept ready, and all partake of the good cheer provided. After this the bride and bridegroom are conducted to the house of the latter, and the ceremony of an exchange between them of vallari thadis or boomerangs is solemnly performed. Another feast is then given in the bride's house and the bride is presented by her parents with one markâl of rice and a hen. She then goes with her husband to his house. During the first twelve months after marriage, it is customary for the wife's

1. Hindu Feasts, Fasts, and Ceremonies, 1903. 2. The Tamils eighteen hundred years ago, 1904.

409 parents to invite the pair to stay with them a day or two on the occasion of any feast, and to present them on their departure with a markâl of rice and a cock. At the time of the first Pongal feast after the marriage, the presents customarily given to the son-in-law are five markâls of rice, five loads of pots and pans, five bunches of plantains, five cocoanuts, and five lumps of jaggery (crude sugar). A divorce is easily obtained on either side. A husband dissatisfied with his wife can send her away if he be willing at the same time to give her half of his property, and a wife can leave her husband at will upon forfeiture of forty-two fancies, if she can induce him to make her a present of ten fanams." In connection with the foregoing account, I am informed that, among the Nâttar Kallans, the brother of a married woman must give her annually at Pongal a present of rice, a goat, and a cloth until her death. The customs of exchanging boomerangs appears to be fast becoming a tradition. But, there is a common saying still current "Send the valari tadi, and bring the bride." As regards the horse-hair, which is mentioned as being tied round the bride's neck, I gather that, as rule, the tâli is suspended from a cotton thread, and the horse-hair necklet may be worn by girls prior to puberty and marriage, and by widows. This form of necklet is also worn by females of other castes, such as Maravans, Valaiyans, and Morasa Paraiyans. Puramalai Kallan women can be distinguished by the triangular ornament, which is attached to the tâli string. It is stated, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that "when a girl has attained maturity, she puts away the necklace of coloured beads she wore as a child, and dons the horse-hair necklet, which is characteristic of the Kallan woman. This she retains till death, even if she becomes a widow. The richer Kallans substitute for the horse-hair a necklace of many strands of fine silver wire. In Tirumangalam, the women often hang round their necks a most curious brass and silver pendant, six or eight inches long, and elaborately worked." It is noted in the Census Report, 1891, that as a token of divorce "a Kallan gives his wife a piece of straw in the presence of his caste people. In Tamil the expression 'to give a straw' means to divorce, and 'to take a straw' means to accept divorce." In their marriage customs, some Kallans have adopted the Purânic form of rite owing to the influence of Brâhmans puróhits, and, though adult marriage is the rule, some Brâhmanised Kallans have introduced infant marriage. To this the Puramalai section has a strong objection, as, from the time of marriage, they have to give annually till the birth of the first child a present of fowls, rice, a goat, jaggery, plantains, betel, turmeric, and condiments. By adult marriage the time during which this present has to be made is shortened, and less expenditure thereon is incurred. In connection with the marriage ceremonies as carried out by some Kallans, I gather that the consent of the maternal uncle of a girl to her marriage is essential. For the betrothal ceremony, the father and maternal uncle of the future bridegroom proceed to the girl's house, where a feast is held, and the date fixed for the wedding written on two rolls of palm leaf dyed with turmeric or red paper, which are exchanged between the maternal uncles. On the wedding day, the sister of the bridegroom goes to the house of the bride, accompanied by women, some of whom carry flowers, cocoanuts, betel leaves, turmeric, leafy twigs of Sesbania grandiflora, paddy (unhusked rice), milk, and ghí (clarified butter). A basket containing a female cloth, and the tâli string wrapped up in a red cloth borrowed from a washerman, is given to a sister of the bridegroom or to a woman belonging to his sept. On the way to the bride's house, two of the women blow chank shells (musical instrument). The bride's people question the bridegroom's party as to his sept, and they ought to say that he belongs to Indra kîlam, Thalavala nâdu, and Ahalya gótra. The bridegroom's sister, taking up the tâli, passes it round to be touched by all present, and ties the string, which is decorated with flowers, tightly round the bride's neck amid the blowing of the conch shell. The bride is then conducted to the home of the bridegroom, whence they return to her house on the following day. The newly married couple sit on a plank, and coloured rice-balls or coloured water are waved, while women yell out "killa, illa, illa; killa, illa, illa." This ceremony is called kulavi idal, and is sometimes performed by Kallan women during the tâli-tying. The following detaila relating to the marriage ceremonies are recorded in the Gazetteer of the Tanjore district. "The arrival of the bridegroom has been described as being sometimes especially ceremonious. Mounted on a horse, and attended by his maternal uncle, he is met

410 by a youth from the bride's house, also mounted, who conducts the visitors to the marriage booth. Here he is given betel leaves, areca nuts, and a rupee by the bride's father, and his feet are washed in milk and water, and adorned with toe-rings by the bride's mother. The tâli is suspended from a necklet of gold or silver instead of cotton thread, but this is afterwards changed to cotton for fear of offending the god Karuppan. A lamp is often held by the bridegroom's sister, or some married woman, while the tâli is being tied. This is left unlighted by the Kallans for fear it should go out, and thus cause an evil omen. The marriage tie is in some localities very loose. Even a woman who has borne her husband many children may leave him if she likes, to seek a second husband, on condition that she pays him her marriage expenses. In this case (as also when widows are remarried), the children are left in the late husband's house. The freedom of the Kallan women in these matters is noticed in the proverb that, "though there may be no thread in the spinning-rod, there will always be a (tâli) thread on the neck of a Kallan woman," or that "though other threads fail, the thread of a Kallan woman will never do so."

By some Kallans pollution is, on the occasion of the first menstrual period, observed for seven or mine days. On the sixteenth day, the maternal uncle of the girl brings a sheep or goat, and rice. She is bathed and decorated, and sits on a plank while a vessel of water, coloured rice, and a measure filled with paddy with a style bearing a betel leaf struck on it, are waved before her. Her head, knees, and shoulders are touched with cakes, which are then thrown away. A woman, conducting the girl round the plank, pours water from a vessel on to a betel leaf held in her hand, so that it falls on the ground at the four cardinal points of the compass, which the girl salutes. A ceremony is generally celebrated in the seventh month of pregnancy, for which the husband's sister prepares pongal (cooked rice). The pregnant woman sits on a plank, and the rice is waved before her. She then stands up, and bends down while her sister-in-law pours milk from a betel or pípal (Ficus religiosa) leaf on her back. A feast brings the ceremony to a close. Among the Vellîr-nâdu Kallans patterns are said1 to be drawn on the back of the pregnant woman with rice-flour, and milk is poured over them. The husband's sister decorates a grindstone in the same way, invokes a blessing on the woman, and expresses a hope that she may have a male child as strong as a stone. When a child is born in a family, the entire family observes pollution for thirty days, during which entrance into a temple is forbidden. Among the Nattar Kallans, children are said to be named at any time after they are a month old. But, among on the seventh day, after the ear- boring ceremony has been performed. "All Kallans," Mr. Francis writes, "put on sacred ashes, the usual mark of a Saivite, on festive occasions, but they are nevertheless generally Vaishnavites. The dead are usually buried, and it said that, at funerals, cheroots are handed round, which those present smoke while the ceremony proceeds," Some Kallans are said,2 when a death occurs in a family, to put a bowl filled with dung or water, a broomstick, and a fire-brand at some place where three roads meet, or in front of the house, in order to prevent the ghost from returning. It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that "the Kilnâd Kallans usually bury their dead. Lamps are periodically lighted on the tomb, and it is whitewashed annually. The Piramalainâd division usually burn the dead. If a woman dies when with child, the baby is taken out, and placed alongside her on the pyre. This, it may be noted, is the rule with most castes in this district, and, in some communities, the relations afterwards put up a stone burden-rest by the side of a road, the idea being that the woman died with her burden, and so her spirit rejoices to see others lightened of theirs. Tradition says that the caste came originally from the north. The dead are buried with their faces laid in that direction; and, when pîja is done to Karuppanaswâmi, the caste god, the worshippers turn to the north."

1. Madras Census Report, 1901. 2. Gazetteer of the Tanjore district.

411 Religion According to Mr. H. A. Stuart1 "the Kallans are nominally Saivites, but in reality the essence of their religious belief is devil-worship. Their chief deity is Alagarswâmi, the god of the great Alagar Kóvil twelve miles to the north of the town of Madura. To this temple they make large offerings, and the Swâmi, called Kalla Alagar, has always been regarded as their own peculiar deity." The Kallans are said by Mr. Mullaly to observe omens, and consult their household gods before starting on depredations. "Two flowers, the one red and the other white, are placed before the idol, a symbol of heir their god Kalla Alagar. The white flower is the emblem of success. A child of tender years is told to pluck a petal of one of the two flowers, and the undertaking rests upon the choice made by the child." In like manner, when a marriage is contemplated among the Idaiyans, the parents of the prospective bride and bridegroom go to the temple, and throw before the idol a red and white flower, each wrapped in a betel leaf. A small child is then told to pick up one of the leaf packets. If the one chosen contains the white flower, it is considered auspicious, and the marriage will take place. In connection with the Alagar Kóvil, I gather2 that, when oaths are to be taken, the person who is to swear is asked to worship Kallar Alagar, and, with a parivattam (cloth worn as a mark of respect in the presence of the god) on his head, and a garland round his neck, should stand on the eighteenth step of the eighteen steps of Karuppanaswâmi, and say: "I swear before Kallar Alagar and Karuppanaswâmi, that I have acted rightly," and so on. If the person swears falsely, he dies on the third day; if truly the other person meets with the same fate." It was noted by Mr. M. J. Walhouse,3 that "at the bull games (jellikattu) at Dindigul, the Kallans can alone officiate as priests, and consult the presiding deity. On this occasion they hold quite a Saturnalia of lordship, and the Gazetteer of the Madura district reports that "the keenness of the more virile sections of the community (especially the Kallans), in this game, is extraordinary, and, in many village, cattle are bred and reared specially for it. The best jallikats are to be seen in the Kallan country, in Tirumangalam, and next come those in Mélîr and Madura tâluks." (See also Maravan).

It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that Karuppan is "essentially the god of the Kallans, especially of the Kallans of the Mélîr side. In those parts, his shrine is usually the Kallans' châvadi (assembly place). His priests are usually Kallans or Kusavans. Alagarswâmi (the beautiful god) is held in special veneration by the Kallans, and is often popularly called the Kallan Alagar. The men of this caste have the right to drag his cart at the cart festival, and, when he goes (from Alagar Kóvil) on his visit to Madura, he is dressed as a Kallan, exhibits the long ears characteristic of that caste, and carries the boomerang and club, which were of their old favourite weapons. It is whispered that Kallan dacoits invoke his aid when they are setting out on marauding expeditions, and, if they are successful therein, put part of their ill-gotten gains into the offertory (undial) box, which is kept at his shrine."

For the following note I am indebted to the Rev. J. Sharrock. "The chief temple of the Kallans is about ten miles west of Madura, and is dedicated to Alagarswâmi, said to be an incarnation of Vishnu, but also said to be the brother of Mínâtchi (the fish-eyed or beautiful daughter of the Pândya king of Madura). Now Mínâtchi has been married by the Brâhmans to Siva, and so we see Hinduism wedded to Dravidianism, and the spirit of compromise, the chief method of conversion adopted by the Brâhmans, carried to its utmost limit. At the great annual festival, the idol of Alagarswâmi is carried, in the month of Chittra (April-May), to the temple with two to three lakhs4 of worshippers, a large proportion of whom are Kallans. At this festival, the Kallans have the right of dragging with a rope the cart of Alagarswâmi, though

1. Madras Census Report, 1891. 2. Madras Mail, 1908. 3. Ind. Ant., III., 1874. 4. A lakh = a hundred thousand.

412 other people may join in later on. As Alagarswâmi is a vegetarian, no blood sacrifice is offered to him. This is probably due to the influence of Brâhmanism, for, in their ordinary ceremonies, the Kallans invariably slaughter sheep as sacrifices to propitiate their deities. True to their bold and thievish instincts, the Kallans do not hesitate to steal a god, if they think he will be of use to them in their predatory excursions,1 and are not afraid to dig up the coins or jewels that are generally buried under an idol. Though they entertain little dread of their own village gods, they are often afraid of others that they meet far from home, or in the jungles when they are engaged in one of their stealing expeditions. As regards their own village gods, there is a sort of understanding that, if they help in their thefts, they are to have a fair share of the spoil, and, on the principle of honesty among thieves, the bargain is always kept. At the annual festival for the village deities, each family sacrifices a sheep, and the head of the victim is given to the pîjâri (priest), while the body is taken home by the donor, and partaken of as a communion feast. At least two of the elements of totem worship appear here: there is the shedding of the sacrificial blood of an innocent victim to appease the wrath of the totem god, and the common feasting together which follows it. the Brâhmans sometimes join in these sacrifices, but of course take no part of the victim, the whole being the perquisite of the pîjâri, and there is no common participation in the meal. When strange deities are met with by the Kallans on their thieving expeditions, it is usual to make a vow that, if the adventure turns out well, part of the spoil shall the next day be left at the shrine of the god, or be handed over to the pîjâri of that particular deity. They are afraid that, if this precaution be not taken, the god may make them blind, or cause them to be discovered, or may go so far as to knock them down, and leave them to bleed to death. If they have seen the deity, or been particularly frightened or otherwise specially affected by these unknown gods, instead of leaving a part of the body, they adopt a more thorough method of satisfying the same. After a few days they return at midnight to make a special sacrifice, which of course is conducted by the particular pîjâri, whose god is to be appeased. They bring a sheep with rice, curry-stuffs and liquors, and after sacrifice, give a considerable share of these dainties, together with the animal's head, to the pîjâri, as well as a sum of money for making the pîja (worship) for them. Some of the ceremonies are worth recording. First the idol is washed in water, and a sandal spot is put on the forehead in the case of male deities, and a kunkuma spot in the case of females. Garlands are placed round the neck, and the bell is rung, while lamps are lighted all about. Then the deity's name is repeatedly invoked, accompanied by beating on the udukku. This is a small drum which tapers to a narrow waist in the middle, and is held in the left hand of the pîjâri with one end close to his left ear, while he taps it with the fingers of his right hand. Not only is this primitive music pleasing to the ears of his barbarous audience, but, what is more important, it conveys the oracular communications of the god himself. By means of the end of the drum placed close to his ear, the pîjâri is enabled to hear what the god has to say of the predatory excursion which has taken place, and the pîjâri (who, like a clever gypsy, has taken care previously to get as much information of what has happened as possible) retails all that has occurred during the exploit to his wondering devotees. In case his information is incomplete, he is easily able to find out, by a few leading questions and a little cross-examination of these ignorant people, all that he needs to impress them with the idea that the god knows all about their transactions, having been present at their plundering bout. At all such sacrifices, it is a common custom to pour a little water over the sheep, to see if it will shake itself, this being invariably a sign of the deity's acceptance of the animal offered. In some sacrifice, if the sheep does not shake itself, it is rejected, and another substituted for it; and, in some cases (be it whispered, when the pîjâri thinks the sheep too thin and scraggy), he pours over it only a little water, and so demands another animal. If, however, the pîjâri, as the god's representative, is satisfied, he goes on pouring more and more water till the half-drenched animal has to shake itself, and so signs its own death-warrant. All who have ventured forth in the night to take part in the sacrifice then join together in the communal meal. An illustration of the value of sacrifices may here be quoted, to show how little value may be attached to an oath made in the

1. Compare the theft of Laban's teraphim by Rachel. Genesis, XXXVI, 19.

413 presence of a god. Some pannaikârans (servants) of a Kallan landowner one day stole a sheep, for which they were brought up before the village munsif. When they denied the theft, the munsif took them to their village god, Karuppan (the brother), and made them swear in its presence. They perjured themselves again, and were let off. Their master quietly questioned them afterwards, asking them how they could have sworn falsely. They replied "While we were swearing, we were mentally offering a sacrifice to him of a sheep' (which they subsequently carried out), to pacify him for the double crime of stealing and perjury."

As a typical example of devil worship, the practice of the Valaiyans and Kallans of Orattanâdu in the Tanjore district is described by Mr. F. R. Hemingway.1 "Valaiyan houses have generally an odiyan (Odina Wodier) tree in the backyard, wherein the devils are believed to live, and among Kallans every street has a tree for their accommodation. They are propitiated at least once a year, the more virulent under the tree itself, and the rest in the house, generally on a Friday or Monday. Kallans attach importance to Friday in Ádi (July and August), the cattle Pongal day in (January and February), and Kartigai day in the month Kartigai (November and December). A man, with his mouth covered with a cloth to indicate silence and purity cooks rice in the backyard, and pours it out in front of the tree, mixed with milk and jaggery (crude sugar). Cocoanuts and toddy are also placed there. These are offered to the devils, represented in the form of camphor bricks set alight. A sheep is then brought and slaughtered, and the devils are supposed to spring one after another from the tree into one of the bystanders. This man then becomes filled with the divine afflatus, works himself up into a kind of frenzy, becomes the mouthpiece of the spirits, pronounces their satisfaction or the reverse at the offerings, and gives utterance to cryptic phrases, which are held to foretell good or evil fortune to those in answer to whom they are made. When all the devils in turn have spoken and vanished, the man recovers his senses. The devils are worshipped in the same way in the houses, except that no blood is shed. All alike are propitiated by animal sacrifices."

Customs and organization The Kallans are stated by Mr. Hemingway to be very fond of bull-baiting. This is of two kinds. The first resembles the game played by other castes, except that the Kallans train their animals for the sport, and have regular meetings, at which all the villagers congregate. These begin at Pongal, and go on till the end of May. The sport is called tolu mâdu. The best animals for it are the Pulikkolam bulls from the Madura district. The other game is called pâchal mâdu (leaping bull). In this, the animals are tethered to a long rope, and the object of the competition is to throw the animal, and keep it down. A bull which is good at the game, and difficult to throw, fetches a very high price.

It is noted in the Gazetteer of the Tanjore district, that "the Kallans have village caste panchayats (councils) of the usual kind, but in some places they are discontinuing these in imitation of the Vellâlans. According to the account given at Orattanâdu, the members of Ambalakâran families sit by hereditary right as Kâryastans or advisers to the headman in each village. One of these households is considered superior to the others, and one of its members is the headman (Ambalakâran) proper. The headman of the panchayats of villages which adjoin meet to form a further panchayat to decide on matters common to them generally. In Kallan villages, the Kallan headman often decides disputes between members of other lower castes, and inflicts fines on the party at fault."

In the Gazetteer, of the Madura district, it is recorded that "the organization of the Kilnâd Kallans differs from that of their brethren beyond the hills. Among the former, a hereditary headman, called the Ambalakâran, rules in almost every village. He receives small fees at domestic ceremonies, is entitled to the first betel and nut, and settles caste disputes. Fines

1. Gazetteer of the Tanjore district.

414 inflicted are credited to the caste fund. The western Kallans are under a more monarchial rule, an hereditary headman called Tirumala Pinnai Tévan deciding most caste matters. He is said to get this hereditary name from the fact that his ancestor was appointed (with three co- adjutors) by King Tirumala Nâyakkan, and given many insignia of office, including a state palanquin. If any one declines to abide by his decision, excommunication is pronounced by the ceremony of 'placing the thorn,' which consists in laying a thorny branch across the threshold of the recalcitrant party's house, to signify that, for his contumacy, his property will go to ruin and be overrun with jungle. The removal of the thorn, and the restitution of the sinner to Kallan society can only be procured by abject apologies to Pinnai Tévan." The usual title of the Kallans is Ambalakâran (president of an assembly), but some, like the Maravans and Agamudaiyans, style themselves Tévan (god) or Sérvaikkâran (commander).1

Kallar.: -In the past they had become soldiers. Now, they are hunters. Some of their past bad reputation lingers on. They live in Madura District.

Kamad.: -They are nomads and jugglers of Rajasthan but they move around in many regions of India.

Kamâr.: -A small Dravidian tribe exclusively found in the Raipur District and adjoining States2. They numbered about 7,000 persons in 1911, and live principally in the Khariâr and Bindrânawâgarh Zamíndâris of Raipur. In Bengal and Chota Nâgpur the term Kamâr is merely occupational, implying a worker in iron, and similarly Kammala in the Telugu country is a designation given to the five artisan castes. Though the name is probably the same, the Kamârs of the Central Provinces are a purely aboriginal tribe and there is little doubt that they are an offshoot of the Gonds, nor have they any traditions of ever having been metal-workers. They claim to be autochthonous like most of the primitive tribes. They tell a long story of their former ascendancy, saying that a Kamâr was the original ruler of Bindrânawâgarh. But a number of Kamârs one day killed the bhimrâj bird which had been tamed and taught hawking by a foreigner from Delhi. He demanded satisfaction, and when it was refused went to Delhi and brought man-eating soldiers from there, who ate up the Kamârs except on pregnant woman. She took refuge in a Brâhman's hut in Patna and there had a son, whom she exposed on a dung-heap for fear of scandal, as she was a widow at the time. Hence the boy was called Kachra-Dhurwa or rubbish and dust. This name may be a token of the belief of the Kamârs that they were born from the earth as insects generate in dung and decaying organisms. Similarly one great subtribe of the gonds are called Dhur or dust Gonds. Kachra-Dhurwa was endowed with divine strength and severed the head of a goat made of iron with a stick of bamboo. On growing up he collected his fellow-tribesmen and slaughtered all the cannibal soldiers, regaining his ancestral seat in Bindrânawâgarh. It is noticeable that the Kamârs call the cannibal soldiers Aghori, the name of ascetics who eat human flesh. They still point to various heaps of lime-encrusted fossils in Bindrânawâgarh as the bones of the cannibal soldiers. The state of the Kamârs is so primitive that it does not seem possible that they could ever have been workers in iron, but they may perhaps, like the Agarias, be a group of the Gonds who formerly quarried iron and thus obtained their distinctive name.

1. Madras Census Report, 1891. 2 See Russell. This article is based on papers drawn up by Mr. Híra Lâl, Extra Assistant Commissioner, Pyâre Lâl Misra, Ethonographic Clerk, and a very full account of the tribe by Mr. Ganpati Giri, Manager of Bindrânawâgarh, which has furnished the greater part of the article, especially the paragraphs on birth, religion and social customs.

415 Subdivision And Marriage. They have two subdivisions, the Bundhrajia and Mâkadia. The latter are so called because they eat monkeys and are looked down on by the others. They have only a few gots or septs, all of which have the same names as those of Gond septs. The meaning of the names has now been forgotten. Their ceremonies also resemble those of the Gonds, and there can be little doubt that they are an offshoot of that tribe. Marriage within the sept is prohibited, but is permitted between the children of brothers and sisters or of two sisters. Those who are well-to-do marry their children at about ten years old, but among the bulk of the caste adult- marriage is in fashion, and the youths and maidens are sometimes allowed to make their own choice. At the betrothal the boy and girl are made to stand together so that the caste panchâyat or elders may see the suitability of the match, and little wine is sprinkled in the name of the gods. The marriage ceremony is a simple one, the marriage-post being erected at the boy's house. The party go to the girl's house to fetch her, and there is a feast, followed by a night of singing and dancing. They then return to the boy's house and the couple go round the sacred pole and throw rice over each other seven times. All the guests also throw rice over the couple with the object, it is said, of scaring off the spirits who are always present on this occasion, and protecting the bride and bridegroom from harm. But perhaps the rice is really meant to give fertility to the match. The wife remains with her husband for four days and then they return to the house of he parents, where the wedding clothes stained yellow with turmeric must be washed. After this they again proceed to the bridegroom's house and live together. Polygamy and widow-marriage are allowed, the ceremony in the marriage of a widow consisting simply in putting bangles on her wrists and giving her a piece of new cloth. The Kamârs never divorce their wives, however loose their conduct may be, as they say that a lawful wife is above all suspicion. They also consider it sinful to divorce a wife. The liaisan of an unmarried girl is passed over even with a man outside the caste, unless he is of a very low caste, such as a Gânda.

The Sister's Son. As among some of the other primitive tribes, a man stands in a special relationship with his sister's children. The marriage of his children with his sister's children is considered as the most suitable union. If a man's sister is poor he will arrange for the wedding of her children. He will never beat his sister's children, however much they may deserve it, and he will not permit his sister's son or daughter to eat from the dish from which he eats. This special connection between a maternal uncle and his nephew is held to be a survival of the matriarchate, when a man stood in the place a father to his sister's children, the real father having nothing to do with them.

Menstruation. During the period of her monthly impurity a woman is secluded for eight days. She may not prepare food nor draw water nor worship the gods, but she may sweep the house and do outdoor work. She sleep on the ground and every morning spreads fresh cowdung over the place where she has slept. The Kamârs think that a man who touched a woman in this condition would be destroyed by the household god. When a woman in his household is impure in this manner a man will bathe before going into the forest lest he should pollute the forest gods.

Birth Customs. A woman is impure for six days after a birth until the performance of the Chathi or sixth-day ceremony, when the child's head is shaved and the mother and child are bathed and their bodies rubbed with oil and turmeric. After this a woman can go about her work in the house, but she may not cook food nor draw water for two and a half months after the birth of a male child, nor for three month after that of a female one. Till performance of the Chathi ceremony the husband is also impure, and he may not worship the gods or go hinting or shooting or even go for any distance into the forest. If a child is born within six months of the death of any person in the family, they think that the dead relative has been reborn in the child and

416 give the child the same name, apparently without distinction of sex. If a mother's milk runs dry and she cannot suckle her child they give her fresh fish and salt to eat, and think that this will cause the milk to flow. The idea of eating the fish is probably that being a denizen of the liquid element it will produce liquid in the mother's body, but it is not clear whether the salt has any special meaning.

Death And Inheritance. The dead are buried with the head to the north, and mourning is nominally observed for three days. But they have no rules of abstinence, and do not even bathe to purify themselves as almost all castes do. Sons inherit equally, and daughters do not share with sons. But if there are no sons, then an unmarried daughter or one married to a Lamsens, or man who has served for her, and living in the house, takes the whole property for her lifetime, after which it reverts to her father's family. Widows, Mr. Ganpati Giri states, only inherit in the absence of male heirs.

Religious Beliefs. They worship Dîlha Deo and Devi, and have a firm belief in magic. They tell a curious story about the origin of the world, which recalls that of the Flood. They say that in the beginning God created a man and a woman to whom two children of opposite sex were born in their old age. Mahâdeo, however, sent a deluge over the world in order to drown a jackal who had angered him. The old couple heard that there was going to be a deluge, so they shut up their children in a hollow piece of wood with provision of food to last them until it should subside. They them closed up the trunk, and the deluge came and lasted for twelve years, the old couple and all other living things on the earth being drowned, but the trunk floated on the face of the waters. After twelve years Mahâdeo created two birds and sent them to see whether his enemy the jackal had been drowned. The birds flew over all the corners of the world, but saw nothing except a log of wood floating on the surface of the water on which they perched. After a short time they heard low and feeble voices coming from inside the log. They heard the children saying to each other that they only had provision for three days left. So the birds flew away and told Mahâdeo, who then caused the flood to subside, and taking out the children from the log of wood, heard their story. He thereupon brought them up, and they were married, and Mahâdeo gave the name of a different caste to every child who was born to them, and from them all the inhabitants of the world are descended. The fact that the Kamârs should think their deity capable of destroying the whole world by a deluge, in order to drown a jackal which had offended him, indicates how completely they are wanting in any exalted conception of morality. They are said to have no definite ideas of a future life nor any belief in a resurrection of the body. But they believe in future punishment in the case of a thief, who, they say, will be reborn as a bullock in the house of the man whose property he has stolen, or will in some other fashion expiate his crime. They think that the sun and moon are beings in human shape, and that darkness is caused by the sun going to sleep. They also think that a railway train is a live and sentient being, and that the whistle of the engine is its cry and they propitiate the train with offerings lest it should do them some injury. When a man purposes to go out hunting, Mr. Ganpati Giri states, he consults the village priest, who tells him whether he will fail or succeed. If the prediction is unfavourable he promises a fowl or a goat to his family god in order to obtain his assistance. and then confidently proceeds on his expedition.

Kambalattans.: -They are from Tamil. See Tottivans.

Kandera.: -See Kadera.

417 Kanjar.: -A name applied to an aggregate of vagrant tribes of a gypsy character1, and probably Dravidian origin, which are found generally distributed throughout the Province. The name has been derived from the Sanskrit Kânana-chara, in the sense of a "wanderer in the jungle;" but it is perhaps quite as likely that it does not come from any Aryan root. There can be little doubt that the Kanjars are a branch of the great nomadic race which includes the Sânsiya, Hâbûra, Beriya Bhâtu and more distant kindred, such as the Nat, Banjâra, Baheliya. This appears to be clear from their sub-castes. One correspondent, giving the popular native idea of the affiliation of these gypsy tribes, classes them in twelve divisions: (a) Kuchbandiya, who make the kûnch, or brush used by weavers for cleaning thread, the sirki or roofing mat, dig the khas-khas grass used for making tattis, twist rope, hunt wolves, and catch vermin. (b) Nat, who are tumblers and gymnasts, dance on a ropes, or walk on stilts. (c) Turkata, who takes his name from the tur, or weaver's brush, and is a quack doctor, and sells herbs and drugs, which he collects in the jungle. (d) Beriya, who prostitutes his women and trains them to sing and dance. (e) Beldâr, who wanders about and works at digging tanks and building mud walls. (f) Chamarmangta, who cleans the wax out of ears, does cupping, and extracts carious teeth. (g) Sânsiya, who begs and, when occasion serves, commits theft and dakâiti. (h) Dom, who kills dogs, acts as a scavenger and executioner. (i) Bhâtu, who lives by stealing and thieving cattle. (j) , who trains monkeys and bears to dance, and makes articles of tin for sale. (k) Baheliya, who is a fowler and hunter. (l) Jogi, who is a snake-charmer and blows the tomri, or gourd pipe. It would perhaps be too much to say that the ethnological identity of these tribes is fully established; but that they are all pretty much of the same social grade, and that they approximate to a large degree in occupation and function, is quite certain.

Tribal Legends. There is not much in their tribal legends, so far as they have been recorded, which throws light on their history or origin. They trace their descent to their deified ancestor Mâna, who is known as Mâna Guru, and his wife Nathiya Kanjarin, who used to live in the jungle, and made their living by hunting and plunder. Mandohar was the mother of Mâna, but further than this his origin is a blank. One story runs that Mâna once went to Delhi to practise his trade of a brush-maker. The Emperor of Delhi had at that time two famous wrestlers, Kallu and Mallu, who were the champions of the world. They were particularly noted for their skill in swinging the athletes' chain bow (lezam). Mâna happened to pass by and, taking the bow, plunged it so deep in the ground that no one could withdraw it. When the Emperor heard of this, he sent for Mâna and made him wrestle with his champions. He defeated them easily and was dismissed with a great reward.

Tribal Organisation. The tribal organisation of the Kanjars is, as might have been expected, complex. The last Census divides them into four main sub-castes: Jallâd or "executioners;" Kûnchband or "brush- makers;" Pattharkat or "stone-cutters," which, according to Mr. Nesfield, connects them with the Stone Age; and Râchhband or "makers of the weaver's comb." All these divisions are thus purely occupational. Mr. Nesfield, in his interesting account of the tribe2 says that they profess to have seven clans, of whom five are well established, and four can be explained by their crafts-Maraiya or "worshippers of Mari;" Bhains, "buffalo-keepers;" Sankat, "stone- cutters" (The Pattharkat of the Census enumeration); Gohar, "catchers of the iguana" (goh); and Soda. The enumeration given by a correspondent from Aligarh seems to be the most

1 See Crooke. Based on enquiries at Mirzapur and notes by Bâbu J. G. Banerji, Râê Bareli, and the Deputy Inspectors of Schools, Agra, Shâhjahânpur, Budâun, Pilibhit, Bijnor, and in particular Munshi Maidayâl Sinh of Aligarh. 2 Calcutta Review , LXXVII., 368, sqq .

418 accurate and complete. He divides them into two main branches-Kûnchband and Jallâd or Sûpwâla, "makers of sieves." Of the Kûnchband there are nine sections: Maraiya, "worshippers of Mari;" Bhains, "buffalo-men;" Sankat, "Stone-cutters;" Soda; Kâra; Lakarhâr or "wood-men;" Goher, "iguana-catchers;" Sonra: and Untwâr or "camel-men." Most of this names are found in lists received from other parts of the Province. Thus from Etâwah we have Maraiya, Sonra, Sonrasen, Bhains, and Gohera; from Shâhjahânpur, Maraiya, Soda, Goher, Untwâr, Lohiya or "iron-men," and Lakarha or "wood-men;" from Mirzapur one list gives Kanaujiya, Sankat, Sonra, Bhanes, Maraiya, and Baid or "physician." Another gives Kanaujiya, Bhains, Son, Maraiya, Ekthauliya Bhains, and Khatâniya; a third shows Untwâr, Bhains, Kanaujiya Sonra, who say they take their name from soa, dill or fennel, Maraiya, Sankat, and Barâriya or "immigrants from Barâr." From Agra we get a list which mixes up occupational names of allied castes-Kûnchband; Singiwâla or "cuppers by means of a cow horn (singi);" Kanghiwâla "comb-makers," who, when they become rich, call themselves Banjâra and deal in oxen; Kabûtarwâla or Brajbâsi, who are really rope-dancing Nats; Baddhik; Hâbûra; Nat; and Barua, who catch and exhibit snakes. In Bijnor there are two sections-- the true Kanjars and the Adhela Kanjars, who are of mixed descent. It is significant that the Bhains section of Budâun have changed their name into Baiswâr, and are beginning to claim a connection with the Bais Râjputs. In short the caste is, at present, in a transitional stage and is breaking up into functional groups, as they gradually become settled and shed off their old gypsy habits and mode of life.

In Aligarh, again, we have another and quite separate subdivision, with whom the more respectable, or Kûnchband Kanjars, admit no connection. These jallâd or Sûpwâla Kanjars have eleven sections: Dhobibans, "of washerman race;" Sirkiband, "makers of roof mats;" Jhijhotiya, who take their name from Jhijhoti, the old name for Bundelkhand; Chanâl or Chandâl, "outcasts; " Kedâr, probably from Kidârnâth; Ghamra, " lazy, stupid; " Mattu, "earthmen;" Ghussar, "intruders"; Bhâru, "carriers"; Pattari, "leafmen"; Bohat, "sowers." These are their own explanations, and must, of course, be accepted with caution. These people are said to speak a Panjâbi dialect, and they are, as we shall see, followers of Nânak. With them the Kûnchband Kanjars deny all connection. The 106 section names of the Hindu and 6 of the Munammadan branch recorded in the Census returns are of the ordinary type. Many of them suggest connection with other tribes, such as Bais, Banjâra, Bhangiwâla, Bind, Chauhân, Hâbûra, Jâdonbansi, Kachhwâha, Lâlbegi, Lodha, Luniya, Mewâti, Râjbansi, Râjkumâr, Râjput, Râikwâra, Râmjani, Râthaur, Sûrajbansi, and Thâkur. Many, again, are of local origin, such as Agarwâl, Ajudhyabâsi, Allahâbâdi, Bâtham from Srâvasti as well as Sribâsta Bihârwâla, Bangâli, Gangwâr, Jaiswâr, Kanaujiya, Karnâtak, Mainpuriya, Nizâmâbâdi, Panjâbi, Saksena, Sarwariya. We find, again, many occupational titles, Jallâd, "executioner;" Kûnchbandh, "brush-maker;" Kusbandhiya, "collector of sacred grass;" Pahalwân, "athlete;" Pattharkat, "stone-cutter;" Phânswâr, "strangler;" , "snake-man;" and Sirkiwâla, "he that lives under a mat."

Marriage Rules. The two great Aligarh sub-castes, Kûnchband and Jallâd or Sûpwâla, are endogamous, and the sections are exogamous. All the sub-castes mentioned in the Agra and Bijnor lists are also endogamous. Among the exogamous sections there is also the additional law, which is not very clearly defined, which bars the marriage of near cognates. Among the more civilised Kanjars adult marriage appears to be the general rule. In Mirzapur they have a custom of what is known as "womb betrothal," in which two fathers engage their children still unborn; this is known as pet manganiya . Widow marriage and the levirate are both allowed, the later under the usual restriction that the widow may marry the younger, not the elder, brother of her late husband.

Marriage Ritual. Writing of the vagrant branch of the tribe Mr. Nesfield says: "Their marriage customs are quite distinct from those of Hindus. There is no betrothal in childhood; no selection of

419 auspicious days; and no elaborate ceremonies or ritual. The father, or other near relatives of the youth, goes to the father of the girl, and after winning his favour with a pot of toddy; and gaining his consent to the marriage of his daughter, he seals the bargain with a gift of money or some tool or animal which Kanjars love. The girl selected is never a blood relation to the intended husband, and she is almost always of some other encampment or gang.1 A few days after the bargain has been made the youth goes with his father and as many other men as he can collect, all in their best attire and armed with their best weapons, and demands the girl in tones which imply that he is ready to seize her by force if she is refused. The girl is always peacefully surrendered in virtue of the previous compact, and this demonstration of force is a mere form-- a survival of the primitive world-wide custom of marriage by capture.2 On the arrival of the Kanjar bride at the encampment of her intended mate, a few simple ceremonies are performed. A pole is fixed in a mound of earth, and on the top of the pole is tied a bunch of the khaskhas root, or anything else that may be equally fitted to serve as an emblem of the Kanjar industries. The bridegroom takes the girl by the hand, and leads her several times round the pole in the presence of the spectators. A sacrifice of roast pig or goat, with libations of toddy, is then offered to Mâna, as the ancestral hero of the tribe, and songs are sung in his honour. When this is finished, there is a general feast and dance, in which every one at last gets drunk. The father of the bride does not give away his daughter without a dowry. This consists in a patch of forest supposed to be his own, which becomes thenceforth the property of the bridegroom, so long as the encampment remains near the place or whenever it may return to it. No one without the bridegroom's consent will be authorised to use this piece of forest for hunting, trapping, digging roots of khaskhas, etc."3

A Kanjar marriage was thus described by a number of members of the tribe at Mirzapur: As circumstances require, either the father of the girl or the boy arranges the match. They do not go on this mission themselves, but depute one of their relations. When the preliminary arrangements are complete. the fathers on both sides go and inspect the boy and girl to make sure that there is no physical defect in either. Next follows the betrothal, when the boy's father with two or three friends goes to the house of the bride and the two fathers embrace with salutation Râm ! Râm ! Then, contrary to the ordinary Hindu custom, the father of the youth pays for a dinner of pork, rice, pules, and liquor for his companions and the friends of the bride. All of them then join in singing, and this constitutes the betrothal(mangani). Next morning the youth's father returns home with his friends, and then the marriage follows as soon as may be convenient.

The fathers on both sides get their village Brâhman to fix a lucky hour for commencing the preparations. One of the friends conveys an invitation to the guests. When the youth's party goes to the girl's house, it is accompanied by all the women and children of the family-- another violation of Hindu custom. There is no wave ceremony (parachhan) at the bride's door. When the party has arrived, the Brâhman is again asked to fix an auspicious hour for the marriage. Both the fathers each arrange a separate marriage shed before the house of the bride. These consist of four bamboos, one at each corner, with a bamboo and a plough beam set up in the centre, a wooden representation of parrots, and a vessel of water, over which are laid some mango leaves and kusa grass. On the top of this they place a saucer full of urad pulse, and upon it a lamp is lighted. A grindstone and rice-pounder are also placed in the pavilion. The boy's father shoots an arrow into the air, and from the spot on which it falls the women bring some earth, which is placed in the shed, and not used, as among other castes' for making the fire-place on which the wedding dinner is cooked. When the lucky hour comes, the youth goes into the girl's pavilion, and the women of her family bring out the bride. The pair are bathed in the pavilion, and the girl is dressed in a white sheet, and the boy in a new suit, coat, turban, and drawers, all white. These clothes must be of unwashed

1 On this see Westermarck, History of Human Marriage , 332, sqq . 2 Westermarck, History of Human Marriage , 383, sqq . 3 Cf . Korwa , para. 10.

420 cloth. The boy sits on a piece of sirki mat facing west, and the girl on another mat opposite him, facing east. He then rubs red lead seven times on the parting of her hair and the bride's sister knots their clothes together and they move round seven times, the youth in front, and the girl behind, This ceremony is generally done at such a late hour of night that none but the immediate friends of the parties are witnesses; it is considered very unlucky for a stranger to be present. Then his sister takes off the boy's marriage crown (maur) and places it in a sieve, which she lays in the shed, and all present are supposed to put a small contribution in it. Out of this liquor is purchased, and all present drink and sing until the morning.

Next morning the bride and bridegroom sit down and make cakes (pûri) together. The girl cooks those the boy kneads, and vice versâ . Each makes seven cakes in this way. Then the women of the family take the pair to worship Ganga Mâi, and the cakes which they have made are offered to her. When the Ganges is far off, any tank or stream answers for the worship. When this is done the pair return to the pavilion and gamble there. Some rings and cowries are put into a jar, and the boy and girl plunge their hands in; whichever succeeds in getting the most, will rule the other during their married life. They are then taken to the retiring room (kohabar), a rite which, as elsewhere explained, implies the immediate consummation of the marriage. The walls of this room are decorated with various marks, the significance of which is now lost. These marks the pair worship by rubbing them with a little ghi. Then the bride feeds her husband seven times with curds and molasses, and he does the same for her. They have nothing corresponding to the Hindu gauna ceremony. The bride is sent home at once with her husband. As she is going away her father gives her whatever dowry he can afford. All the marriage ceremonies are performed by the clansmen, and no Brâhman is employed. In Aligarh there is a curious ceremony which appears to be symbolical of marriage by capture. After the marriage, the pair are taken to a neighbouring tank and the bride strikes her husband with a small whip specially made of cloth for this purpose. In Aligarh the widow marriage rite takes a very simple form. There is no betrothal, and when the match is arranged, the brethren are assembled and the bride's father or some kinsman knots the clothes of the pair together and the bride is invested with a set of green glass bangles (chûri), which are provided by the person who ties the marriage knot. The Kûnchband Kanjars make the women of this occasion wear a loin-cloth (dhoti) and not a petticoat (lahnga); among the Jallâd or Sûpwâla Kanjars, on the contrary, the bangles for the bride are provided by the bridegroom, and he supplies the marriage feast; besides this, the Jallâd bride wears a petticoat and not a loin-cloth. At all their marriages the gadaila or digging implement with which they dig khaskhas and kill wolves or vermin is placed in the marriage pavilion during the ceremony. From Etah it is reported that when the match is finally arranged, the wedding day is fixed. The bride's father sends for the bridegroom when all the arrangements are complete. No Brâhmans are employed. First what is known as the darwâza or door rite is performed, most of which consists in the waving of a tray on which some milk, ghi, and a lamp are placed over the head of the youth by the mother of the girl. Then the bhânwar or circumambulation rite is done. This is always done by the sister of the bride, her husband, or daughter, in which we may possibly see a survival of the matriarchate.

Birth Ceremonies. The mother during delivery lies on the ground with her feet to the north and her head to the south. The sweeper midwife cuts the cord, and the mother is then attended by the women of her own family. No ceremonies are performed during pregnancy. Among the Kûnchband Kanjars, when a child is born, the brethren are assembled, and treacle and rice are distributed by the father. This is known as bihâi, and is intended as a propitiation of the goddess of that name who rules the fate of the infant. Then some old man of the family or some connection by marriage (mân) names the child. On the sixth day (chhathi) the women assemble and sing songs and dance in the room in which the child was born. At the dinner, which is usually given on this occasion, the males are fed on wheaten cakes and the women on rice.

421 Among the Etah Kanjars the mother and child are bathed on the third day and the child is named by an old man of the tribe.

Death rites. Speaking of the vagrant branch of the tribe Mr. Nesfield says-"There are three different modes in which Kanjars dispose of their dead-submersion in deep water by fastening a stone to the corpse, cremation, and burial. Each clan disposes of its dead according to its own hereditary and special rites. The first method is the least common; the next may have been borrowed from the Hindu rite, which was itself imported by the Aryan tribes from Persia; the last is the one most frequently practised as well as most highly esteemed. A man who has acted as a spirit medium to Mâna is invariably buried in the earth, regardless of whatever clan he may have belonged. Mâna himself was so buried at Kâra (as some Kanjars relate) in the Allahâbâd District, not far from the Ganges, and facing the old forth of Mânikpur on the opposite bank. Three days after the corpse has been disposed of, there is a feast of vegetables and milk, but no meat; and a similar feast is held on the seventh day. A third banquet is afterwards given on any day which may be found convenient, and at the banquet flesh and wine are freely consumed. When both the parents of a man have died, a fourth feast is given in their joint honour. In all these feasts it is the soul of the dead which is fed, or meant to be fed, rather than the bodies of the living." In Mirzapur they invariably bury their dead. A cloth is spread over the corpse, and the brethren attend and drink spirits. Then it is removed to the grave. After the burial they bathe, eat molasses, and come home. Beyond the distribution of spirits and molasses to the mourners by the relatives of the deceased, there is no feast on the day of the funeral. On the tenth day the brethren are fed and treated to liquor. No sacred balls (pinda) are offered, and no Brâhmans are entertained. On the anniversary of the death, the brethren are fed and treated to spirits. On this day one pinda is offered by the chief mourner. They observe the fortnight of the dead (pitra-paksha), not like ordinary Hindus on the first, but in the second fortnight of Kuâr, which Hindus call the "fortnight of the gods" (deva-paksha). In Aligarh they usually bury their dead, but sometimes expose the corpse in the jungle. In burial, the corpse is laid with the feet to the north and the head to the south. It is first washed by the eldest male member of the family and shrouded in a white sheet. A bier is make of bamboos tied together with red thread (kalâwa), and four of the brethern take it to the burial ground. On the way, it is once laid on the ground and each man puts a little earth near the head of the corpse. This is known as the "stage" (manzil). After the grave is dug, the son of the deceased, or, in his absence, some other chief mourner, burns the left thumb of the dead man with fire, and then the body is interred. On returning, bread and sugar are served out to the mourners, and on the third day (tîja) they have a dinner of cakes and pulse. The Jallâd Kanjars dispose or their dead in the same way except that they do not burn the thumb of the corpse. The Kûnchband Kanjars offer water to the manes during the nine days of Kuâr, known as the Naurâtri; This the Jallâds do not do. In Etah they are in the intermediate stage between burial and cremation, and both practices prevail. Some bury only the unmarried dead. On the funeral day the brethren are fed, and also on the third and seventh, and on the anniversary. They have no terahwîn or thirteenth day rite.

Religion. Writing of the vagrant Kanjars Mr. Nesfield says "The religion of the Kanjars, so far as we have been able to learn, is quite what we should expect among a primitive and uncultivated people. It is a religion without idols, without temples, and without a priesthood. They live in constant dread of evil spirits, the souls of the departed, who are said to enter the bodies of the living as a punishment for past misdeeds or neglect of burial rites, and produce most of the ills to which flesh is heir. In this creed they stand on the same intellectual level with their more civilised kinsfolk, the Hindus, among whom it is universally believed that the air is peopled with bhûts, malignant spirits, who haunt grave-yards, lurk in trees, re-animate corpses, devour living men, or attack them with madness, epilepsy, cramp, etc. They have no belief in natural death, except as the effect of old age. All deaths, but those caused by

422 natural decay or violence, are ascribed to the agency of evil spirits. The dead are buried five or six feet deep, lest a wild beast should tear up the carcase, and, by disturbing the body, send forth its attendant soul to vex and persecute the living. When a patient is possessed, they employ an exorcist or spirit medium, when they call Nyotiya, to compel the spirit to declare what his grievance is, so that satisfaction may be given him, and he may thus be induced to leave his victim in peace. The spirit medium has power, they say, to transport the goblin into the body of some living person, and to make that person his mouth-piece for declaring its will.

"The man-god whom the kanjars worship is Mâna, a name which does not appear in the lists of Hindu deities. He is something more than what Mitthu Bhukhiya is to the Banjâra, Manjha to the Rawâri, Alha and Udal to the Bundela, Râê Dâs to the Chamâr, Lâl Guru to the Bhangi or Nânak to the Sikh. Mâna is worshipped with more ceremony in the rainy season, when the tribe is less migratory, than in the dry months of the year. On such occasions, if sufficient notice is circulated, several encampments unite temporarily to pay honour to their common ancestor. No altar is raised, no image is erected. The worshippers collect near a tree, under which they sacrifice a pig, a goat, a sheep, a fowl, make an offering of roasted flesh and spirituous liquor. Formerly, it is said, they used to sacrifice a child, having first made it insensible with fermented palm-juice or toddy. They dance round the tree in honour of Mâna, and sing the customary songs in commemoration of his wisdom and deeds of valour." There is then a funeral feast at which most of the banqueters get drunk, and occasionally one of them declares himself to be under the special influence of the god and delivers oracles. The Kanjar goddesses are Mari, Parbha, and Bhuiyân. Mari, the goddess of death, is also known as Mahârâni Devi, and is supreme, and appears to be worshipped as the animating and sustaining principle of nature. Parbha or Prabha, meaning "light," is the goddess of health and more particularly of the health or cattle. She is also worshipped by Ahîrs and similar tribes. Bhuiyân, also known as Bhawâni, is the earth goddess.

In Mirzapur the Kanjars seem to depend most on the worship of their deceased ancestors. They say that their dead are more kindly than those of other low castes, because they do not require an annual worship, and are satisfied if at marriages an other festive occasions a leaf platter of food is placed on their graves. There clan deities are Dhâmin Deva and Mâna, the Pahlwân or wrestler. The graves of these worthies, who are the deified ancestors of the tribe, are at Mânikpur, and there they make occasional pilgrimages, and offer the sacrifice of a pig and an oblation of spirits. They are very careful about the disposal of the offering. It is eaten in secrecy and silence by the male worshippers, and no woman or stranger to the tribe is allowed to be present or share in the meal. In Mirzapur, like the Hindus around them, they also pay reverence to the Vindhyabâsini Devi of Bindhâchal, and have their children's heads shaved at her shrine. They also revere the Pânchonpîr with the sacrifice of a cock. In Aligarh the Kûnchband Kanjars call themselves Sâktas, and have a preference for the worship of Devi; while the Jallâd or Sûpwâla call themselves Nânakpanthis and worship Nânak Guru. At Bijaygarh in the Aligarh District the Kûnchband Kanjars have a platform (chabûtra) raised in honour of Mâna and Nathiya, the deified ancestors of the tribe. Their feast day is the sixth of the light half of Bhâdon, when they make an offering of spirits, one rupee four annas in cash, a young pig, and an usar-sânda lizard to these deities. They have another, whom they call Deota or "the godling." His shrine is at Dhanipur, close to Aligarh, and he is worshipped on a Sunday or Tuesday in the month of Asârh with an offering of cakes. Like many of the low castes in their neighbourhood, they also worship Jakhiya. His shrine is at Karas in the Aligarh District. His feast day is the sixth of the dark half of Mâgh, when a pig and some sweetmeats (batâsha) are offered to him. These are consumed by the worshippers themselves, a part being given to the Panda or sweeper priest who tends the shrine. The Jallâd or Sûpwâla Kanjars in the Aligarh District are Nânakshâhis, and make pilgrimages to his shrine at Amritsar. On the night of the Diwâli they cook the halwa sweetmeat and distribute it among their friends. Before they distribute it they cover the vessel with a cloth and offer it to Nânak with the words Shukr hai tera ki baras din râzi khushi se guzra; aur thjh seâgê ko

423 yahi ummed hai-- "Praise be to thee who has preserved us in happiness for a year! We hope the same favour in the future." They will not uncover the vessel till all its contents are distributed, because they believe that it increases by the supernatural power (mâya) of Guru Nânak. The priests of the Kûnchband Kanjars are their mân or relations on the female side, apparently a survival of the matriarchate; the priest of the Jallâds is called masand, which, according to one explanation, is a corruption of masnad, "the royal seat," and is selected for his knowledge of Gurmukhi. The offerings of the Kûnchband Kanjars are these: to Nathiya, a pig; to Mâna Guru, an ûsar-sânda lizard; to Devi, a goat; to Jakhiya, a pig; to Madâr, a fowl. The Jallâds give a goat to Nânak. The Kûnchbands sometimes offer the hair of an infant to Mâna.

Festivals. The Kûnchband observe the Holi, Diwâli, Dasahra, and Janamashtami. At the Holi they drink, some bhang and charas, and sprinkle coloured powder about like Hindus. At the Diwâli they drink and gamble and their women make some figures on the walls of the house and at night offer boiled rice (khîl) and sweets (batâsha) to them. They have no special observance of the Dasahra and Janamashtami, except that they consider them to be holidays. On the ninth of the light half of Kuâr they make a present of food to the mân or relative on the female side who acts as their priest. This is done in the belief that the food thus offered passes through him to their deceased ancestors. They have a survival of grove worship in their worship of Nathiya, which is always done under some trees in which she is supposed to reside. The Jâllads make an offering to Kâli in the same way.

Demonology. In cases of disease or trouble a Syâna or wizard is called in to settle the appropriate offering to the particular ghost which is the cause of the trouble. If a goat is to be offered its forehead is first marked with a tîka . The imli or tamarind tree is in particular believed to be the residence of the sacred dead. When the Kûnchband bury the dead they place a pice with the corpse as a viaticum; the Jallâds place two wheaten cakes with the same object. The technical name for this is tosha, which means "provisions for a journey." When a man is attacked by an evil spirit the Syâna first makes an offering to Devi, consisting of treacle, ghi, cloves, and incense, with some red-lead, which are thrown into a fire (agyâri). The Devi then "comes on the head" of the Syâna and he names the evil spirit who is afflicting the patient. Then a cup of liquor is placed under the head of the sick man and afterwards moved four times round his head (a process known as utâra or "removing"), when it is drunk by the Syâna, who is supposed in this way to remove the evil influence from the patient. Finally he describes the sacrifice which it is advisable to offer. In some more serious cases the Syâna fills a saucer with cooked rice, some cloves, batâsha sweetmeat and an egg, and places it where four roads meet; meanwhile the friends of the sick man sing and beat a brass tray over his head to scare the spirit. The disease is supposed to be communicated to some passer-by. The Churel or ghost of a woman who dies during her menses or at her confinement is much dreaded; children who die before the age of twelve return in the form of an evil spirit known as Masân. Those who die of snake-bite or any other form of unnatural death become an Aût, or a person for whom there is none to make the water oblation. All these have the same attributes, except Masân, which is dangerous only to the children. The Kûnchband Kanjars offer water to the Pitri or sainted dead on the eight or ninth of the light half of Kuâr; this is done by the Jallâds on the Holi and Diwâli.

Totemism, Omens, Etc. The Bhains and Untwâr sub-castes are probably of totemistic origin. These will not kill or eat the buffalo or camel respectively. They respect the imli or tamarind tree as the abode of spirits. The khas grass in a sort of tribal totem and the leaves of the mango are fixed upon the marriage shed. The Kûnchbands believe Saturday to be an unlucky day. The jallâds have the same idea about Tuesday. As regards omens, a fox, tiger, wolf, ûsar-sânda lizard, tortoise, and the goh lizard or the sâras crane are lucky if they cross the road from right to

424 left; if from left to right it is an evil omen. So with a cat, jackal, or cobra passing from the right to the left. Their women do not wear a nose-ring; to the East they wear brass bangles (mâthi) and heavy anklets (pairi). The Jallâd women do not wear any gold ornaments. Their chief oaths are to stand in a river up to the neck; the man who stays longest in the water is believed. They also swear on the Ganges and on the pîpal tree, or by touching the head or arm of a son or other close relation. The Kûnchband Kanjars swear also by Mâna and Nathiya; the Jallâds by Guru Nânak. Some of them by the use of appropriate spells (mantra) obtain the power of controlling evil spirits. These are recited at night in burial-grounds, and specially on the night of the Holi or Diwâli. On such occasions a burnt offering (agyâri) is made with treacle, ghi, cloves, and incense.

Occupation And Social Status. The Kanjars, in their occupations and mode of life, closely approximate to the European gypsy. Of the vagrant branch or the tribe Mr. Nesfield writes "Their natural home is the forest, where they subsist by hunting wolves, hares, and any kind of animal they can kill or catch, by gathering such roots and vegetable products as require no cultivation, and by extracting juice from the palm tree, which, after it has become fermented, is the favourite beverage of almost all the wandering and low-caste tribes of India. They are clever at trapping birds and squirrels, and any other kind or vermin which chance may throw in their way, all of which they eat indiscriminately. They are never seen in groups of more than twenty or forty persons of all ages at a time, and the number is sometimes even less.1 These little groups may unite sometimes for special and temporary objects; but large groups are never permanently formed. Among the Kanjars there are some groups or clans which make a habit of keeping within easy reach of towns and villages, while others seldom or never leave the forest. But even among the former it is not merely the proximity of settled communities which prevents the formation of larger groups. For even in wide forest tracts, where there is ample space and no impediment from higher races, the same law of petty, non associative hordes prevails, and it would be a rare thing to find an encampment of more than, or even as many as, fifty persons."

"The arts of the Kanjar are making mats of the sirki reed baskets of wattled cane, fans of palm leaves, and rattles of plaited straw, the last of which are now sold to Hindu children as toys, though originally they were used by the Kanjars themselves (if we are to trust to the analogies of other backward races) as sacred and mysterious instruments. From the stalks of the mûnj grass and from the roots of the palâsa tree they make ropes, which are sold or bartered to villagers in exchange for grain, milk, pigs, etc. They prepare the skins out of which drums are made, and sell them to Hindu musicians, though probably, as in the case of the rattle, the drum was originally used by the Kanjars themselves and worshipped as a fetish: for even the Aryan tribes, who are said to have been far more advanced than the indigenous races, sung hymns in honour of the drum or dundubhi as if it were something sacred. They make plates of broad leaves which are ingeniously stitched together by the stalks; and plates of this kind are very widely used by the inferior Indian castes and by confectioners and sellers of sweetmeats. The mats of sirki reed, with which they cover their own temporary sheds, are largely used by cart-drivers to protect their goods and themselves against rain. The toddy or juice of the palm tree, which they extract and ferment by methods of their own, and partly for their own use, finds a ready sale among low-caste Hindus in villages and market towns. They are among the chief stonecutters of Upper India, especially in the manufacture of the grinding stone, which is largely used. They gather the white wool- like fibre which grows in the pods of the salmali or Indian cotton tree, and twist it into thread for the use of weavers. In the manufacture of brushes for the cleaning of cotton yarn, they enjoy an almost entire monopoly, and another complete or almost complete monopoly enjoyed by Kanjars is the collection and sale of the roots of khaskhas grass, which are afterwards made up by others into door screens and used as refrigerators during the hottest months of

1 On this see Spencer's principles of Sociology, I., 432.

425 the year. The roots of this wild grass, which grows in most abundance on the outskirts of forests or near the banks of rivers, are dug out of the earth by an instrument called khanti . The same implement serves as a dagger or short spear for killing wolves and jackals, as a tool for carving a secret entrance through the clay wall of a villager's hut in which a burglary is meditated, as a spade or hoe for digging snakes, field mice, lizards, etc., out of their holes, and edible roots out of the earth, and as a hatchet for chopping wood." Mr. Nesfield sees in these arts and industries the germs of many functions which have now become hereditary in the Baheliya, Bâri, Behna or Dhuniya, Chamâr, Kori, Kalwâr and others. But we know too little of the evolution of Indian handicrafts to accept such ingenious speculations with perfect confidence.

In his diet the Kanjar is orthodox to a degree. He will eat almost anything, except beef, monkeys, crocodiles, and snakes. The Kûnchband Kanjar will not eat, drink or smoke with any caste but his own; but he will eat kachchi cooked by a Chamâr. The Jallâds eat kachchi, drink and smoke with sweepers. To quote Mr. Nesfield again, "Whatever a Kanjar kills, from a wolf to a reptile, he eats. The weapon with which they kill little birds is nothing but a pole pointed with a thin, sharp piece of iron. The man lies motionless on a patch of ground which he has first sprinkled with grain, and as the birds come hopping round him to pick up the grain, he fascinates one of them with the pole, by giving it a serpent-like motion, and then spikes it through the body. Kanjars seldom or never use the bow and arrow, but they use the pellet-bow, which requires much greater skill. The pellet in nothing but a little clay marble dried in the sun. With this they not infrequently shoot a bird in mid-flight. The khanti or short spear is merely used in close combat, but is thrown with almost unerring effect against wolves and jackals as they run. For catching a wolf in the earth they place a net and a light at one end of the hole and commence digging at the other end. The wolf, attracted by the light, runs into the net, and the Kanjar batters his head with a club and kills it."

At the same time many Kanjars are now taking to a more settled life; some are cultivators and field labourers; others live in towns and make door-screens, baskets, sieves, and the like, and some of them in this way have considerably raised their social status. Kanjars are particularly careful to protect any member of the tribe from being assaulted without reason by another clansman or have his goods robbed. Such cases form the subject of a most elaborate enquiry. The tribal council sits at least fifteen days in succession, and the guilty person has to pay the whole cost of their entertainment. The offender is excommunicated until he pays a fine and the whole expenses of the proceedings. When, in Etah, a woman is accused of immorality, she is subjected to the ordeal of holding a hot iron weeding spud in her hand. If the skin is not burnt, she is acquitted.

Kanjar.: -Derivation of the kanjars from the Domes1. A name applied somewhat loosely to various small communities of a gipsy character who wander about the country. In 1911, about 1000 Ku¡¡chbandhia Kanjars were returned in the Province. In Berâr the Kanjars seem to be practically identical with the Sânsias; Major Gunthorpe2 gives Kanjar and Sânsia as alternative names of the same caste of criminals, and this is also done by Mr. Kennedy in Bombay3 Mr. Kitts writes of them:4 "The Deccani and Mârwâri Kanjars were originally Bhâts (bards) of the Jât tribe; and as they generally give themselves out to be Bhâts are probably not included at all among the Kanjars returned at the census. They are a vagrant people, living in tents and addicted to crime. The women are good-looking some are noted for their obscene songs, filthy alike in word and gesture; while others, whose husbands play on the

1 See Russell. 2 Criminal Tribes , P. 78. 3 Criminal Classes . 4 Berâr Census Report (1881), P. 140.

426 sârangi, lead a life of immorality. The men are often skilful acrobats." And in another passage:1 "The Sânsia family or the 'Long Firm' of India includes two principal divisions represented in Berâr by the Kanjars and Kolhâtis respectively. They will eat, drink and smoke together, and occasionally join in committing dacoity. They eat all kinds of meat and drink all liquors; they are lax of morals and loose of life." Now in northern India the business of acting as bards to the Jâts and begging from them is the traditional function of the Sânsias; and we may therefore conclude that so far as Berâr and the Marâtha Districts are concerned the Kanjars are identical with the Sânsias, while the Kolhâtis mentioned by Mr. Kitts are the same people as the Berias, as shown in the article on Kolhâti, and the Berias themselves are another branch of the Sânsias.2 There seems some reason to suppose that these four closely allied groups, the Kanjar or Sânsia, and the Kolhâti or Beria, may have their origin from the great Dom caste of menials and scavengers in Hindustân and Bengal. In the Punjab the Doms are the regular bards and genealogists of the lower castes, being known also as Mirâsi: "The two words are used throughout the Province as absolutely synonymous. The word Mirâsi is derived from the Arabic mirâs or inheritance; and the Mirâsi is to the inferior agricultural castes and the outcaste tribes what the Bhât is to the Râjpu¡¡ts."3 In the article on Sânsia it is shown that the primary calling of the Sânsias was to act as bards and genealogists of the Jâts; and this common occupation is to some extent in favour of the original identity of the two castes Dom and Sânsia, though Sir D. Ibbetson was not of this opinion.4 In the United Provinces Mr. Crooke gives the Jallâd or executioners as one of the main divisions of the Kanjars;5 and the Jallâds of Umballa are said to be the descendants of a Kanjar family who were attached to the Delhi Court as executioners.6 But the Jallâd or Su¡¡pwâla is also a name of the Doms. "The term Jallâd, which is an Arabic name for 'A public flogger,' is more especially applied to those Doms who are employed in cities to kill ownerless dogs and to act as public executioners."7 Mr. Gayer states that as the result of special inquiries made by an experienced police-officer it would appear that these Jallâd Kanjars are really Doms.8 In Gujarât the Mírs or Mirâsis are also known as Doms after the tribe of that name; they were originally of two classes, one the descendants, of Bhât descent and partly connected with the Doms.9 The Sânsias and Berias in Bombay when accompanied by their families usually pass themselves off as Gujarâti Bhâts, that is, bards of the Jât caste from Mârwâr or of the Kolis from Gujarât.10 Major Gunthorpe states that the Kolhâtis or Berias of Berâr appear to be the same as the Domras of Bengal,11 and Mr. Kitts finds that the Khâm Kolhâtis are the Domarus of Telingâna.12 In writing of the Kanjar bards Sherring also says: "These are the Kanjars of Gondwâna, the Sânsis of northern India; they are the most desperate of all dacoits and wander about the country as though belonging to the Gujarâti Domtaris or showmen." The above evidence seems sufficient to establish a prima facie case in favour of the Dom origin of these gypsy castes. It may be noticed further that the Jallâd Kanjars of the United Provinces are also known as Sîpwâla or makers of sieves and winnowing-fans, a calling which belongs specially to the Doms, Bhangis, and other sweeper castes. Both Doms and Bhangis have divisions

1 Page 139. 2 See art. Beria, para. 1. 3 Ibbetson, Punjab Census Report (1881), para. 527. 4 Ibidem . 5 Art. Kanjar, para. 3. 6 Ibbetson. 7 Crooke, art. Dom, para, 21. 8 Lectures , P. 59. 9 Bombay Gazetteer , Muhammadans of Gujarât , P. 83 10 Kennedy, Criminal Tribes of Bimtay , P. 257 11 Criminal Tribes , P. 46 12 Berâr Census Report (1881), P. 140.

427 known as Bânsphor or 'breaker of bamboos,' a name which has the same signification as Sîpwâla. Again, the deity of the criminal Doms of Bengal is known as Sânsari Mai.1

The Kanjars And The Gipsies. The Kanjars and Berias are the typical gypsy castes of India, and have been supposed to be the parents of the European gypsies. On this point Mr. Nesfield writes: "The commonly received legend is that multitudes of Kanjars were driven out of India by the oppressions of Tamerlane, and it is inferred that the gypsies of Europe are their direct descendants by blood, because they speak like them a form of the Hindi language."2 Sir G. Grierson states:3 "According to the Shâh-nâma, the Persian monarch Bahrâm Gaur received in the fifth century from an Indian king 12,000 musicians who were known as Lîris, and the Lîris or Lîlis, that is gypsies, and the gypsies of modern Persia are the descendants of these." These people were also called Lutt, and hence it was supposed that they were the Indian Jâts. Sir G. Grierson, however, shows it to be highly improbable that the Jâts, one of the highest castes of cultivators, could ever have furnished a huge band of professional singers and dancers. He on the contrary derives the gypsies from the Dom tribe:4 "Mr. Leland has made a happy suggestion that the original gypsies may have been Doms of India. He points out that Romany is almost letter for letter the same as Domni, the plural of Dom. Domni is the plural form in the Bhojpuri dialect of the Bihâri language. It was originally a genitive plural; so that Romany-Rye, 'A gypsy gentleman,' may be well compared with the Bhojpuri Domni Rai, 'A king of the Doms.' The Bhojpuri-speaking Doms are a famous race, and they have many points of resemblance with the gypsies of Europe. Thus they are darker in complexion than the surrounding Bihâris, are great thieves, live by hunting, dancing and telling fortunes, their women have a reputation for making love-philtres and medicines to procure abortion, they keep fowls (which no orthodox Hindu will do), and are said to eat carrion. They are also great musicians and horsemen. The gypsy grammar is closely connected with Bhojpuri, and the following mongrel, half-gypsy, half-English rhyme will show the extraordinary similarity of the two vocabularies:5

Gypsy. The Rye (squire) he mores (hunts) adrey the wesh (wood) Bhojpuri, Rai mare andal besh (Pers).

Gypsy. The kaun-engro (ear-fellow, har) and chiriclo (bird). Bhojpuri. Kânwâla chirin

Gypsy. You sovs (sleep) with leste (him) drey (within) the wesh (wood) Bhojpuri soe andal besh

Gypsy. and rigs (carry) for leste (him) the gono (sack, game-bag). Bhojpuri gon

Gypsy Oprey (above) the rukh (tree) adrey (within) the wesh (wood). Bhojpuri Upri rukh andal besh

Gypsy. Are chiriclo (male-bird) and chiricli (female-bird). Bhojpuri. chirin chirin

Gypsy. Tuley (below) the rukh (tree) adrey(within) the wesh (wood).

1 Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art . Dom 2 Nesfield, l . c . P. 393. 3 Ind . Ant . xvi, P. 37 4 Ind. Ant . xv. P. 15 5 In sir G. Grierson's account the Bhojpuri version is printed in the Nâgari character ; but this cannot be reproduced. It is possible that one or two mistakes have been made in transliteration.

428 Bhojpuri Tule rukh andal besh

Gypsy Are pireno (lover) and pireni (lady-love). Bhojpuri pyara pyâri

In the above it must be remembered that the verbal termination of the gypsy text are English and not gypsy." Sir G. Grierson also adds (in the passage first quoted): "I may note here a word which lends a singular confirmation to the theory. It is the gypsy term for bread, which is mânró or manro . This is usually connected either with the Gaudian mânr 'rice-gruel' or with manrua, the millet (Eleusine corucana). Neither of these agrees with the idea of bread, but in the Magadhi dialect of Bihâri, spoken south of the Ganges in the native land of these Maghiya Doms, there is a peculiar word Mânda or mânra which means wheat, whence the transition to the gypsy mânró, bread, is eminently natural." The above argument renders it probable that the gypsies are derived from the Doms; and as Mr. Nesfield gives it as a common legend that they originated from the Kanjars, this is perhaps another connecting link between the Doms and Kanjars. The word gypsy is probably and abbreviation of 'Egyptian,' The country assigned as the home of the gypsies in mediaeval times. It has already been seen that the Doms are the bards and minstrels of the lower castes in the Punjab, and that the Kanjars and Sânsias, originally identical or very closely connected, were in particular the bards of the Jâts. It is a possible speculation that they may have been mixed up with the lower classes of Jâts or have taken their name, and that this has led to the confusion between the Jâts and gypsies. Some support is afforded to this suggestion by the fact that the Kanjars of Jubbulpore say that they have three divisions, the Jât Multâni and Kîchbandia. The Jât Kanjars are, no doubt, those who acted as bards to the Jâts, and hence took the name; and if the ancestors of these people emigrated from India they may have given themselves out as Jât.

The Thugs Derived From The Kanjars. In the article on Thugs it is suggested that a large, if not the principal, section of the Thugs were derived from the Kanjars. At the Thug marriages an old matron would sometimes repeat, "Here's to the spirits of those who once led bears and monkeys; to those who drove bullocks and marked with the godini (tattooing-needle); and those who made baskets for the head." And these are the occupations of the Kanjars and Berias. The Goyandas of Jubbulpore, descendants of Thug collaborators, are considered to be a class of gypsy Muhammadans, akin to or identical with the Kanjars, of whom the Multâni subdivision are also Muhammadans. Like the Kanjar women the Goyandas make articles of net and string. There is also a colony of Berias in Jubbulpore, and these are admittedly the descendants of Thugs who were located there. If the above argument is well founded, we are led to the interesting conclusion that four of the most important vagrant and criminal castes of India, as well as the Mirâsis or low-class Hindu bards, the gypsies, and a large section of the Thugs, are all derived from the great Dom caste.

The Doms. The Doms appear to be one of the chief aboriginal tribes of northern India, who were reduced to servitude like the Mahârs and Chamârs. Sir H.M. Elliot considered them to be "One of the original tribes of India. Tradition fixes their residence to the north of the Ghâgra, touching the Bhars on the east in the vicinity of the Rohini. Several old forts testify to their former importance, and still retain the names of their founders, as, for instance, Domdiha and Domingarh in the Gorakhpur district. Râmgarh and Sahukot on the Rohini are also Dom forts."1 Sir G. Grierson quotes Dr. Fleet as follows: "In a south Indian inscription a king Rudradeva is said to have subdued a certain Domma, whose strength evidently lay in his cavalry. No clue is given as to who this Domma was, but he may have been the leader of

1 Quoted in Mr. Crooke's article on Dom.

429 some aboriginal tribe which had not then lost all its power"; and suggests that this Domma may have been a leader of the Doms, who would then be shown to have been dominant in southern India. As already seen there is a Domâru caste of Telingâna, with whom Mr. Kitts identified the Berias or Kolhâtis. In northern India the Doms were reduced to a more degraded condition than the other pre-Aryan tribes as they furnished a large section of the sweeper caste. As has been seen also they were employed as public executioners like the Mângs. This brief mention of the Doms has been made in view of the interest attached to them on account of the above suggestions, and because there will be no separate article on the caste.

The Criminal Kanjars. In Berâr two main divisions of the Kanjars may be recognised, the Kînchbandhia or those who make weavers' brooms and are comparatively honest, and the other, or criminal Kanjars.1 The criminal Kanjars may again be divided into the Mârwâri and Deccani groups. They were probably once the same, but the Deccanis, owing to their settlement in the south, have adopted some Marâtha or Gujarâti fashions, and speak the Marâtha language; there women wear the angia or Marâtha breast-cloth fastened behind, an have a gold ornament shaped like a flower in the nose;2 while the Mârwâri Kanjars have no breast-cloth and may not wear gold ornaments at all. The Deccani Kanjars are fond of stealing donkeys, their habit being either to mix their own herds with those of the village and drive them all off together, or, if they catch the donkeys unattended, the secrete them in some water-course, tying their legs together, and if they remain undiscovered to remove them at nightfall. The animals are at once driven away for a long distance before any attempt is made to dispose of them. The Mârwâri Kanjars consider it derogatory to keep donkeys and therefore do not steal these animals. They are preeminently cattle-lifters and sheep-stealers, and their encampments may be recognised by the numbers of bullocks and cows about them. There women wear the short Mârwâri petticoat reaching half-way between the knees and ankles. Their hair is plaited over the forehead and cowrie shells and brass ornaments like buttons are often attached in it . Bead necklaces are much worn by the women and bead and horse-hair necklets by the men. A peculiarity about the women is that they are confirmed snuff-takers and consume great quantities of the weed in this form. The women go into the towns and villages and give exhibitions of singing and dancing; and picking up any information they can acquire about the location of property, impart this to the men. Sometimes they take service, and a case was known in Jubbulpore of Kanjar women hiring themselves out as pankha-pullers, with the result that the houses in which they were employed were subsequently robbed.3 It is said, however, that they do not regularly break into houses, but confine themselves to lurking theft. I have thought it desirable to record here the above particulars of the criminal Kanjars, taken from Major Gunthorpe's account; for, though the caste is, as already stated, identical with the Sânsias, their customs in Berâr differ considerably from those of the Sânsias of Central India, who are treated of in the article on that caste.

The Kînchband Kanjars. We come, finally, to the Kînchband Kanjars, the most representative section of the caste, who as a body are not criminals, or at any rate less so than the others. The name K¡închband or Kîchband, by which they are sometimes known, is derived from there trade of making brushes (kînch) of the roots of khas khas grass, which are used by weavers for cleaning the threads entangled on the looms. This has given rise to the proverb 'Kori ka bigâri Kînchbandhia ' or 'the Kînchbandhia must look to the Kori (weaver) as his patron; the point being that the Kori is himself no better than a casual labourer, and a man who is dependent on him must be in a poor way indeed. The Kînchbandhias are also known in northern India

1 Gayer. Lectures , P. 59 2 Gunthorpe, P . 81. Mr. Kennedy says : "Sânsia and Beria women have a clove (lavang ) in the left nostril ; the Sânsias, but not the Berias, wear a bullâq or pendant in the fleshy part of the nose." 3 Gayer, l . c . P. 61.

430 as Sankat or Patharkat, because they make and sharpen the household grinding-stones, this being the calling of the Tâkankâr Pârdhis in the Marâtha Districts, and as Goher because they catch and eat the goh, the large lizard or iguana.1 Other divisions are the Dhobibans or washerman's race, the Lakarhâr or wood-cutters, and the Untwâr or camelmen.

Marriage And Religion. In the Central Provinces there are other divisions, as the Jât and Multâni Kanjars. They say they have two exogamous divisions, Kalkha and Malha, and a member of either of these must take a wife from the other division. Both the Kalkhas and Malhas are further divided into kuls or sections, but the influence of these on marriage is not clear. At a Kanjar marriage, Mr. Crooke states, the gadela or spade with which they dig out the khas-khas grass and kill wolves or vermin, is placed in the marriage pavilion during the ceremony. The bridegroom swears that he will not drive away nor divorce his wife, and sometimes a mehar or dowry is also fixed for the bride. The father-in-law usually, however, remits a part or the whole of this subsequently, when the bridegroom goes to take food at his house on festival occasions. Mr. Nesfield states that the principal deity of the Kanjars is the man-god Mâna, who was not only the teacher and guide, but also the founder and ancestor of the tribe. He is buried, as some Kanjars relate, at Kara in the Allahâbâd District, not far from the Ganges and facing the old city of Mânikpur on the opposite bank. Mâna is worshipped with special ceremony in the rainy season, when the tribe is less migratory than in the dry months of the year. On such occasions, if sufficient notice is circulated, several encampments unite temporarily to pay honour to their common ancestor. The worshippers collect near a tree under which they sacrifice a pig, a goat, a sheep, or a fowl, and make an offering of roasted flesh and spirituous liquor. Formerly, it is said, they used to sacrifice a child, having first made it insensible with fermented palm-juice or toddy.2 They dance round the tree in honour of Mana, and sing the customary songs in commemoration of his wisdom and deeds of valour.

Social Customs. The dead are usually buried, both male and female corpses being laid on their faces with the feet pointing to the south. Kanjars who become Muhammadans may be readmitted to the community after the following ceremony. A pit is dug and the convert sits in it and each Kanjar throws a little curds on to his body. He then goes and bathes in a river, his tongue is touched or branded with heated gold and he gives a feast to the community. A Kanjar woman who has lived in concubinage with a Brâhman, Râjpît, Agarwâl Bania, Kurmi, Ahír or Lodhi may be taken back into the caste after the same ceremony; but not one who has lived with a Kâyasth, Sunâr or Lohar or any lower caste. A Kanjar is not put out of caste for being imprisoned, nor for being beaten by an outsider, nor for selling shoes. If a man touches his daughter-in-law even accidentally he is fined the sum of Rs. 2-8.

Industrial Arts. The following account of the industries of the vagrant Kanjars was written by Mr. Nesfield in 1883. In the Central Provinces many of them are now more civilised, and some are employed in Government service. Their women also make and retail string-net purses, balls and other articles. "Among the arts of the Kanjar are making mats of the sirki reed, baskets of wattled cane, fans of palm-leaves and rattlers of plaited straw: these last are now sold to Hindu children as toys, though originally they may have been used by the Kanjars themselves (if we are to trust to the analogy of other backward races) as sacred and mysterious implements. From the stalks of the munj grass and from the roots of the palâs 3 tree they make ropes which are sold or bartered to villagers in exchange for grain and milk. They prepare the skins from which

1 Crooke, l . c . para. 3. 2 In a footnote Mr. Nesfield states : "The Kanjar who communicated these facts said that the child used to open out its neck to the baite as if it desired to be sacrificed to the deity." 3 butea frondosa .

431 drums are made, and sell them to Hindu musicians; though, probably, as in the case of the rattle, the drum was originally used by the Kanjars themselves and worshipped as a fetish; for even the Aryan tribes, who are said to have been far more advanced than the indigenous races, sang hymns in honour of the drum or dundubhi as if it were something sacred. They make plates of broad leaves which are ingeniously stitched together by their stalks; and plates of this kind are very widely used by the inferior Indian castes and by confectioners and sellers of sweetmeats. The mats of sirki reed with which they cover their own movable leaf huts are models of neatness and simplicity and many of these are sold to cart-drivers. The toddy or juice of the palm tree, which they extract and ferment by methods of their own and partly for their own use, finds a ready sale among low-caste Hindus in villages and market towns. They are among the chief stone-cutters in Upper India, especially in the manufacture of the grinding mill which is very widely used. It consists of two circular stones of equal diameter; the upper one, which is the thicker and heavier, revolves on a wooden pivot fixed in the centre of the lower one and is propelled by two women, each holding the same handle. But it is also not less frequent for one woman to grind alone." It is perhaps not realised what this business of grinding her own grain instead of buying flour means to the Indian women. She rises before daybreak to commence the work, and it takes her perhaps two or three hours to complete the day's provision. Grain-grinding for hire is an occupation pursued by poor women. The pisanhâri, as she is called, receives an anna (penny) for grinding 16 lbs. of grain, and can get through 30 lbs, a day. In several localities temples are shown supposed to have been built by some pious pisanhâri from her earnings. "The Kanjars," Mr. Nesfield continues, "also gather the white wool-like fibre which grows in the pods of the semal or Indian cotton tree and twist it into thread for the use of weavers.1 In the manufacture of brushes for the cleaning of cotton-yarn the Kanjars enjoy almost a complete monopoly. In these brushes a stiff mass of horsehair is attached to a wooden handle by sinews and strips of hide; and the workmanship is remarkably neat and durable.2 Another complete or almost complete monopoly enjoyed by Kanjars is the collection and sale of sweet-scented roots of the khas-khas grass, which are afterward made up by the Chhaparbands and others into door- screens, and through being continually watered cool the hot air which passes through them. The roots of this wild grass, which grows in most abundance on the outskirts of forests or near the bands of rivers, are dug out of the earth by an instrument called khunti . This has a handle three feet long, and a blade about a foot long resembling that of a knife. The same implement serves as a dagger or short spear for killing wolves or jackals, as a tool for carving a secret entrance through the clay wall of a villager's hut in which a burglary is meditated, as a spade or hoe for digging snakes, field-rats, and lizards out of their holes, and edible roots out of the earth, and as a hatchet for chopping wood.

Kanjar.: -Khangor3, a Dravidian gypsy caste of the North-West Provinces, who hunt jackals, catch and eat snakes, and make strings of hemp and cotton. In Behar they are chiefly rope-twisters.

Kanjari.: -The name Kanjar is used to denote an aggregate of vagrant tribes4. Mr W. Crooke, in his Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, states that they are probably of Dravidian origin. He further remarks that "there can be little doubt that the Kanjars are a branch of the great nomadic race which includes the Sânsiya, Hâbîra, Beriya Bhâtu, and more distant kindred, such as the Nat, Banjâra, Baheliya."

1 It is not, I think, used for weaving now, but only for stuffing quilts and cushions. 2 But elsewhere Mr. Nesfield says that the brushes are made from the khas-khas grass, and this is, I think, the case . 3 See Risley. 4 See the Linguistic Survey of India.

432 Many of them live in the forests, "where they subsist by hunting wolves, hares, and any kind of animal they can kill or catch, by gathering such roots and vegetable products as require no cultivation, and by extracting juice from the palm tree, which, after it has been fermented, is the favourite beverage of almost all the wandering and low-caste tribes of India They are clever at trapping birds and squirrels, and any other kind of vermin which chance may throw in the way, all of which they eat indiscriminately. The arts of the Kanjars are making mats of the sirkí reed, baskets of wattled cane, fans of palm leaves, and rattles of plaited straw. From the stalks of the mînj grass and from the roots of the palâs``a tree they make ropes, which are sold or bartered to villagers in exchange for grain, milk, pigs, etc. They prepare the skins out of which drums are made, and sell them to Hindu musicians. They make plates of broad leaves which are ingeniously stitched together by the stalks; and plates of this kind are very widely used by the inferior Indian castes and by confectioners and sellers of sweetmeats. They are among the chief stone-cutters of Upper India, especially in the manufacture of the grinding-stone, which is largely used. They gather the white wool-like fibre which grows in the pods of the s`almali or Indian cotton tree, and twist it into thread for the use of weavers. In the manufacture of brushes for the cleaning of cotton yarn, they enjoy an almost entire monopoly, and another complete or almost complete monopoly enjoyed by Kanjars is the collection and sale of the roots or khaskhas grass, which are afterwards made up by others into door screens and used as refrigerators during the hottest months of the year. At the same time many Kanjars are now taking to a more settled life: some are cultivators and field labourers; others live in towns and make door screens, baskets, sieves, and the like, and some of them in this way have considerably raised their social status."

Name of the tribe No satisfactory explanation of the word Kanjar has as yet been given. It has been derived from Sanskrit kânanachara, "wanderer in the jungle," but this etymology is hardly possible from a philological point of view. It is more likely that kanjar is a shorter form of the word kâjaró, man, which is used by many Kanjars, and which is related to Sêsí kajjâ, Na†í kâjâ and ¸óm kâjwâ . We do not know whether this word is Aryan or not. It is probably identical with Romani gâjó .

Number. The Kanjars are most numerous in the United Provinces in which, according to the Census of 1911, they numbered 18,345. Elsewhere there were 5,638, giving a total of 23,983.

Language. We are very insufficiently informed about the language of the Kanjars, and it is possible that in most districts they use the dialect of their surroundings. During the preliminary operations of this Survey a dialect Kanjarí was returned from the following districts.:

United Provinces 6,735 Aligarh 800 Farrukhabad 435 Sitapur 3,000 Kheri 2,500 Central India 350 Gwalior 350 ------TOTAL 7,085

These figures are only loose estimates. Thus the number of Kanjars in Sitapur, where the estimated number of speakers was 3,000, was only 814 at the Census of 1901. On the other hand, specimens of Kanjar¡i have been forwarded form Etawah and Belgaum, where no such dialect was reported to exist. The state of affairs is similar to that which we

433 find in the case of other vagrant tribes. The Kanjars largely adopt the dialect of their neighbours. If they want to avoid being understood, however, they, or at least some of them, avail themselves of an artificial argot, in which there is a certain number of peculiar words and where, in addition to these, ordinary words are used, but often in an altered shape, so as to become unintelligible to outsiders. So far as we can judge from the specimens, however, Kanjarí differs from other Gypsy argots such as Na†í in having a more uniform base. The prevailing language in Aligarh, Farrukhabad, and Etawah is Western Hindí and in Sitapur is Kheri Eastern Hindí, while Kanarese and Marâ†hí predominate in Belgaum. The specimens received from all these districts, however, agree in so many particulars that we are almost justified in talking of a separate dialect. This dialect is, however, not a clearly defined form of speech, but a mixture of various languages, just as we should expect in the case of a vagrant tribe. But the mixture seems to be old and to have acquired a certain degree of constancy. The specimen received from Kheri, it is true, is written in Western Hindí, and only forms such as dilâme§§, in the heart; basindâ, an inhabitant, show that the Kanjars from whose lips the specimen was taken down were not quite versed in the grammar of that language. It seems likely that the Kheri specimen represents an attempt at talking Hindóstâni and not Kanjarí, and we can safely leave it out of consideration when trying to define the position of the latter. Also the Farrukhabad specimen is strongly influenced by Hindóstâní.

Grammar The inflexion of nouns in many respects differs from Hindóstâni. The oblique base of weak nouns sometimes ends in â; thus, garâ-sé, to the neck (Aligarh); garâ-mâ, on the neck (Etawah). Similarly the oblique plural ends in â or ê; thus, naukar-chakrê-sé, to the servants (Aligarh); rarsê-sé, years from (Sitapur); naukrê-ku, to the servants (Belgaum). Such forms agree with Marâ†hí, the singular ones also with Bihârí and the plural ones with Râjasthâní. An ó often added to weak bases and kept in the oblique form; thus, ribó-ké, of the house (Aligarh, Sitapur); bihârô-mé, in the property (Etawah); dâmo-dé, of value (Farrukhabad); bâpó-né, by the father (Belgaum). This ó is different from the final ó of strong masculine bases, which becomes â in the oblique form and in the plural; thus, chîbkó, son; chîbkâ, sons; baphélâ-sé, to the father, in the Sitapur specimens and similar forms in the materials forwarded from the other districts. Ordinary Hindóstâní forms are used as well. The Râjasthâní affinities acquire some significance if we remember that we find a similar state of affairs in other argots such as ¸óm, Na†í and Sêsí. The case suffixes are mainly Hindóstâní. The dative suffix ku, kî, kó also reminds us of Dravidian. The ablative suffix is commonly sé, in Farrukhabad, however, also sû as in Mârwâ®í, Jaipurí and Mâlví. In Belgaum we find dé, from, which perhaps has something to do with the genitive suffix dâ,dí, which is used in addition to kâ, kí, in Farrukhabad. It will be seen that this latter suffix is identical with the Punjabi one. It is, however, possible that it has something to do with Tamil uπeiya, Kanarese da .1 In many of the specimens we will find that the final ó of adjectives is often kept before an inflected noun; thus, khachchhó najaî-kû, to a good man (Sitapur); óchhó ba†râ-né, by the younger son (Etawah); apnó kau®í paisâ, his money (Farrukhabad); téro naukrí, they service (Belgaum). Such instances point to the conclusion that the sense of gender is weak and that adjectives are not inflected, a state of affairs which would be natural if the Kanjars were not originally Aryans. With regard to pronouns we may note the use of the base jó, ji, as a demonstrative pronoun, just as is the case in Râjasthâní, and further, the curious forms uró-né, by him (Aligarh); uró- kâ, his (Etawah); ígal, this matter; kégal, what matter (Farrukhabad); îr, biró, he; uró-kó his (Sitapur); yó thou; yuró-ku,uró-ku, to the; uró-ku, to him. These and similar forms remind us of Dravidian; compare Tu¬u ír, Kui and Old Telugu íru, you; Tamil Kanarese avar Gó∑πí ór, he, etc. The conjugation of verbs presents some peculiar features. There are several additions to the base which do not appear to modify the meaning. Thus an r is frequently suffixed; compare

1 Campare, however, the Western Pahâ®í ablative postposition dó , which is certainly Indo-Aryan

434 hubbâr rai-r-í, is going on (Aligarh); lugai-r-ó, he beats (Sitapur); rah-r-ó, he remained (Aligarh); â-r-ó, he came; sun-r-ó, he heard (Etawah); â-r-ó, he came; lugai-r-ô, I had beaten (Sitapur); ku†-r-ó, I struck; gaug-r-ó, I went; dusâ-r-ó, I said; hu-r-ó, I became (Belgaum). this r is sometimes followed by the termination s of the past; thus, kai-r-s, did; said; khâ-r-s, ate; pí- r-s, drank; karí-gu-r-sé, having done gone, hast done, etc. (Aligarh).1 Often the syllable wâr or bâr is added; compare Myânwâlé wâπ, ¸óm uar. Thus, bh†-wâr, dividing; jabbâr-ó, come to life (Sitapur); sun-wâr-ko, having heard; kar-wâr-ó, hast made (Belgaum); ba†-bâr, having divided; li-bbâr-ké, having taken; ra-bbâr-ó, wast (Aligarh), and so forth. in the Belgaum specimens we sometimes find wâπ instead of wâr; thus, mil-wâπ-ó hé, mil-wâπ-dó, and mil-wâr-ó, he is found; tuπ-wâπ-ó, broke; paπ-wâπ-kó, having fallen, and so forth. It seems probable that we should compare the Mârwâ®í termination ®ó, which is so frequently added pleonastically. We may also compare the causal terminations Mâewâ®í wâw, Jaipurí âπ, Gujarâtí âw, âπ . Forms such as khané†ó karwâró hai, thou hast made a feast; charwârdó, grazing; bandwâr línó, I have taken, having caused it to be attached to me, I have committed, in the Belgaum specimen, are perhaps actually causals. In most cases, however, the addition of wâr does not seem to affect the meaning. Thus use of added r,wâr, bâr is accordingly perhaps another point in which Kanjari agrees with Râjasthâní. Broadly speaking, the conjugation of verbs is the same as in that form of speech. In the past tense, however, the termination is ó and not yó; compare karó, did; lagó, began (Etawah). Forms such as dínó, gave; línó, took, are well known from Mârwâ®í and Jaipurí. The l in manâló, entreated (Aligarh); pîchhló, asked (Etawah), may be comparable, or else it may be another form of the r mentioned above. The s which occurs in several forms such as dís, gave; lís, took; sunígulís ' heard; lakhârs, said (Aligarh); línhis, took; dínis, gave (Etawah); lakhâis, said riîchhis, asked; kaughis, said (Sitapur), on the other hand, belongs to Eastern Hindí. Such forms are especially common in the Sitapur specimen, and the prevailing language in Sitapur is Awadhí. They are not met with in the Belgaum texts. In the future tense we find s forms in Aligarh and Sitapur and g forms in Farrukhabad and Belgaum. Compare kahsû, I will say; karugasê, we will do (Aligarh); lakhâwsû, I will say; lugaoghasí, thou wilt beat, he will beat (Sitapur ); huggâ, it will be; jâwêgâ, I shall go (Farrukhabad); hówu©gâ, I shall be; ku†u©gó, I shall beat (Belgaum). Similar forms are found in Mârwâ®í, but more properly belong to Eastern Râjasthâní. In Etawah we find forms such as jânô, I shall go; kahnô, I shall say. They may be compared with the Jaipurí forms ending in ló . Compare also Naipâlí. So far as we have seen hitherto Kanjarí conjugation broadly agrees with Râjasthâní, especially Eastern Râjasthâní. Another feature seems to point in a different direction. Kanjarí seems to possess a participle the characteristic element of which is d . Compare tíldó, giving; augadó,coming; jaugadó, jêdó, gone (Aligarh); maddó, dying; kaddó, doing; rahandô-m§§e, among the inhabitants (Etawah); lugaôdó,beating; jaughadó, going (Sitapur); hóndó, being; nikhardó, going; awardó, coming; margódó, dead (Belgaum). It will be seen that such forms are used as present and also as past participles. They are also contained in verbal forms. Some of these belong to present time; thus, chalgudau™™, I go; dîtda§e, they eat (Aligarh); lugdaû, I die; aughadó, he is coming (Sitapur); maradî, I die; déndî, I give; ândî, I come; nikhardai™™, we, you they go (Belgaum). Others have the meaning of past tenses. Compare handó, was(Aligarh); jêdó, was sent (Etawah); ândâ, came; kaindâ, said (Farrukhabad); hûdó, was lugaôdó, struck (Sitapur); handó, was; bharwâr-léndó, would have filled; gawândé- gaudó,was lost (Belgaum). It would be possible to compare the suffix ndó of the present participle of Sindhí and Naipâli. The fact, however, that these forms are also used in the past perhaps points in a different direction. it will be seen from my remarks on page 296 of Volume IV of this Survey that there is a d-suffix which forms the indefinite present participle in Dravidian languages, and that

1 The termination ró may also be a contraction of rahó and rs of rahe¢s, both meaning 'was,' and the latter being the Awadhí form. in many dialects, especially in Western Pahâ®í, this is added t the conjunctive participle to form a past tense. thus âró may be for â-rahó , and so for the others. According to native grammarians, rahnâ is the 'sister' of honó .-G. A. G.

435 one of the forms of the corresponding suffix of the past participle in Tamil is ndu . We have already found other possible traces of a Dravidian substratum in Kanjarí, and the d -suffix may be of the same kind. In this connexion I may also mention the verbal suffixes ir and gir in forms such as lagiró, began (Aligarh, Etawah, Sitapur); âgógiró, came; augiró, came; gaigaró, went; lugaighiró, I have beaten; jaoghiró, went (Belgaum), and so on, which look like compounds with the Dravidian iru, is; kiri, am. The r -suffix mentioned above may have a similar origin. The extensive use of relative participles and the apparent tendency to form a negative verb in Belgaum is of less significance, because the predominant language of the district is Kanarese. The facts drawn attention to above show that the dialect of the Kanjars is a mixed form of speech, and that the most important ingredient is Eastern Râjasthâní. Some characteristics point to the conclusion that there is, in addition, a certain Dravidian element. In anything can be inferred from this state of affairs about the original home of the Kanjars, it would be that they lived somewhere in Eastern Rajasthan or Central India. At the present day we find Gó∑π dialects spoken in Bhopal, and there can be no doubt that Dravidian forms of speech once extended farther to the west. It must, however, be remembered that the speech of a vagrant tribe like the Kanjars at the present day can hardly show where their original home is, but only, at the utmost, that they have come into contact with those languages which can be traced in their own speech. Kanjarí contains some peculiar words of the same kind as similar forms of speech. Such are lug, die; lugai, beat (Sitapur); chîbkó, son (Aligarh and Sitapur); †ipuí, bread (Aligarh and Sitapur); jhûkil, dog (Sitapur); dît, eat (Aligarh and Sitapur); thîr, eat (Belgaum); jhuraí, fire (Sitapur); gu∑πâlé, foot (Belgaum); gurâró, foot (Aligarh and Sitapur); tiîr, give (Sitapur); kídó, give (Belgaum); rib, house (Aligarh and Sitapur); nandó, house (Belgaum); kêjaró, man (Ftawah); kâjaró, man(Belgaum); najaî, man (Sitapur); tig, see (Aligarh and Sitapur); nímâní, water (Sitapur); niwâ∑i, water (Belgaum), and so forth. Some of the words in use among Kanjars have a Dravidian look. Compare pâπó, bull; awaró, comes; kídó, give, in the Belgaum specimens, with Tamil Mâπu, bull; vara, come; koπu, give, respectively, and tiîr, give (Sitapur), with Tamil tara, give. Mr. Kirkpatrick mentions several more such words, such as dhímrí, bread; ghamélâ, sun; khainch, thief; khuth, night; kîrch, drink; míkatch, death; nighâr, ghee; rikâ, rupee; tigro, see; tîbargo, swim; tîrrak, sleeping, and so forth. Of these ghamélâ, sun, is of some interest, as being evidently connected with Romani kham, sun, lit . heat. With regard to the word jhûkil, dog, in the Sitapur texts, and jhîkal in Mr. Kirkpatrick's list, it should be noted that this word likewise presents a marked similarity with the European Gypsy word jukel, dog. Such words appear to belong to the original vocabulary of the Kanjars, and many of them are no doubt unintelligible to outsiders. The case is a little different with the Arabic numerals which are used by the Kanjars of Belgaum, just as is the case with the Qa∆âís of the Panjab. The numerals in question will be found in the Standard List of Words and Sentences on pp. 180ff, and their Arabic origin is self-evident. Like other tribes of the same kind the Kanjars use certain devices for disguising their words and making them unintelligible. the beginning of a word is often changed. Thus kó is prefixed in kóhath, hand (Sitapur); kh is prefixed or substituted for another initial in many cases. Compare khachchâ, good; khakâl, famine; khyârô-ké, of the friends (Aligarh); khamâl, property (Kheri); khãgélé, before; khâdmí, man; khawâj, sound; khakkâl, famine (Sitapur); khandar, inside; khîpar, above (Belgaum). Ch, chh are apparently only prefixed to or substituted for labials; compare chibarwâ-kî, to fill (Aligarh); chibró,bit; chibhâí, brother; chhîkâ-sé, from hunger; chhi§§tar, inside (Sitapur); chai†, sit; chibaπªπó, bit; chaulâ-ké, having called (Belgaum). Cerebrals are use as disguising letters in words such as †akhnâ, eye; πharíb, poor; πhilâp, against (Urdî khilâf); πhusí, merry (Sitapur); πharró, big (Aligarh). N only occurs as a substitute for k or kh in the texts. Compare nét, field (Aligarh and Sitapur); najaî, man; compare kêjaró (Sitapur).

436 Labials do not appear to be much used in this way. Compare pâπó, bull (Belgaum), which may be Tamil Mâπu ir Hindóstâní sêπ; bék, one; baur, and; biró, that(Sitapur). R is of more common occurrence. Compare rakriâ-kó rachchâ, a goat's young(Aligarh); rahnâó, put on; rarmésur, God; rusâk, cloth; riîchhis, asked; ranâi, make; rahut, much; rîlak, country; runjârê-kî, to the servants (Sitapur). In all these instances r has replaced an old labial. It is, however, occasionally also used instead of other sounds; compare ruâb, answer; ramâ, together; rarsâ-sé, from years, all in the Sitapur texts. An l is prefixed in lakhâwsû, I will say (Sitapur); lakhârs, said (Aligarh), and it has been substituted for an n in likâró, bring out. Words are also disguised by means of additions at the end, and such additions are very common in Kanjarí, just as is the case in ¸óm. Some of them such as ó and r have already been mentioned above. With regard to r I may add that it is also added after nouns and adjectives. Compare gurâró, foot; bhaiyârâ, brother (Aligarh); chhu†âró, small. †hurârâ, few (Sitapur); phalâri, fruit (Belgaum). Several other additions are used, and most of them are well-known from similar argots. The principal ones are, so far as we can judge from the materials available: g or gh is used in words such as aogh, come; liîghis, took; haughé, is (Sitapur); gaugró, went (Belgaum). The initial consonant of the suffix gir (ghir) mentioned above is perhaps of the same kind. An element e†ó or é†hó is comparatively often added. Thus, papé†ó, sin; malé†hó, property (Aligarh); hatté†ó, hand; khané†ó, food (Belgaum). A dental has been added in words such as ramtâ, pity (Sitapur); chamakdé, lustre; bahutdé, many (Belgaum). A common suffix is éló; thus, khatélâ-me§§, on the hand; batélí, words (Aligarh); hisélî, share; papéló, sin (Sitapur); khakélé, eye; jibélí, tongue (Belgaum). Instead of éló we also find béló and héló; thus, dubélî, two; tibélî, three; bap-héló, father; bhus-hélí, chaff; chum-héló, kissed, all in the Sitapur specimens. The preceding remarks will be sufficient for removing the difficulties in the way of understanding the specimens of Kanjarí which follow. The first is a version of the Parable of the Prodigal Son received from the Sitapur district. It will be seen from the Parable and from the Standard List of Words and Sentences printed below on pp. 180ff. that there are comparatively few traces of the influence of Awadhí, the chief language of the district.

Kanphatta.: -They live in Rajasthan. They are snake-charmers.

Karohlas.: -See Jashodhis.

Kathak.: -Kathik.- (Sanskrit kathika, "a professional story-teller.")1-A caste of story- tellers, singers, and musicians.

Traditions Of Origin. According to one story they are really Gaur Brâhmans, who used originally to sing dance in the temples of the gods, and a certain Muhammadan Emperor of Delhi once heard them and was so pleased with their skill that he ordered them in future to perform in public. Another story connects them with king Prithu, "who was son of Vena, son of Anga. He was the first king, and from him the earth received her name Prithivi. The Vishnu Purâna says that the Rishis 'inaugurated Vena monarch of the earth,' but he was wicked by nature and prohibited worship and sacrifices. Incensed at the decay of religion, pious sages beat Vena to death with

1. See Crooke. Based on enquiries at Mirzapur, and a note by Munshi Bhagwân Dâs, Tahsíldâr , Allahâbâd.

437 blades of holy grass. In the absence of a king, robbery and anarchy arose, and the Munis, after consultation, proceeded to rub the thigh of the dead king in order to produce a son. There came forth a man like a charred log with flat face and extremely short. This man became a Nishâda, and with him came out the sins of he departed king. The Brâhmans then rubbed the right arm of the corpse and from it sprang the majestic Prithu, Vena's son, resplendent in body, glowing like the manifested Agni. At his birth all creatures rejoiced; and through the birth of this virtuous son, Vena, delivered from the hell called Put, ascended to heaven." 1 This monarch found that the art of the Udgatri, or chanter of the Vedic hymns, had fallen into disuse, so he performed a rite (yaksha) and out of the sacred fire-pits (agni- kunda) came out three men, Mâgadha, Sîta, and Bandijad, from the first of whom are descended the Kathaks, from the second the Bhâts, and from the third the Maithila Brâhmans.

Tribal Organisation. The Kathaks themselves profess to be divided into sixteen sections, which all seem to be of local origin and derived from the places which they used to occupy in former times. Of these the names of fifteen have been ascertained at Mirzapur: Bhadohiya, from Pargana Bhadohi in the Mirzapur District; Mathapati, whose ancestors are said to have been heads of a monastery (matha); Mahuâri; Bhunsaiha; Gonraha, from Gonds; Usari; Mandik; Rajaipur; Matepur; Naikan; Jangali and Mangali, who are chiefly found in the direction of Azamgarh and Gorakhpur, Mohânw; Thakurahân; and Mâlik. Each of these again is divided into gotras, but of these it has been, in consequence of the general ignorance prevailing among the caste, impossible to procure a list. All they can say is that their gotras correspond with those of the Kanaujiya and Sarwariya Brâhmans. Their law of exogamy is the same as that of the Brâhmans, and a man cannot marry in his section or in his own gotra until at least seven generations have passed. In their marriage, birth and death ceremonies they follow the usages of Brâhmans. The complete Census returns give 378 sections names of the usual type. Side by side with Brâhmanical terms such as Misr, Dikshit, or Bhâradwâja, we find numerous others derived from those of well-known tribes, such as, Bâchal, Bagheli, Bais, Bargîjar, Bundel, Chauhân, Chhatri, Dhârhi, Dhobi, Gadariya, Gaharwâr, Gaur, Hurakiya, Jâdon, Kâyasth, Khatri, Koliya, Lodh, Mehtariya, Niyâriya, Panwâr, Paturiya, Raghubansi, Raikwâr, Râthaur, Râwat, Sengar, Sîrajbansi, and Tomra. Besides these are numerous purely local terms, such as Ajudhyabâsi, Bahâdurpuriya, Baksariya, Bishnpuriya, Dakkhinâha, Hasanapuri, Kanaujiya, Madhupuriya Mathurabâsi, Pachhwâhân, Purabiya, Sâranpuriya, Sarwariya.

Religion And Social Status. Kathaks are popularly regarded by low caste Hindus as equal to Brâhmans, and all castes, including Râjputs, salute them and beg a blessing. The only practical difference between them is that they cannot receive the gifts of piety (dâna) which are taken by Brâhmans. Widow marriage is prohibited. In addition to all the ordinary Hindu gods the Kathaks worship Ghâzi Miyân and offer to him sweet cakes (pakwân) in the months of Kuâr and Chait. They employ Brâhmans for ceremonial purposes, and such Brâhmans are received on terms of equality with other Brâhmans. They eat fish, goats, sheep, but, of course, not beef, and they do not drink. But while they hold a fairly respectable position, their business degrades them to some extent. Their women are secluded; but the men are known as Bharuas or the attendants of the ordinary dancing girls, who are often prostitutes, and from this occupation many of them are believed to be negligent as regards the strict caste rules of eating, drinking, etc. They play on the small drum (dhol) and the cymbals (majíra), and they also act at the respectable houses at marriages and similar occasions and receive half their earnings. Their clan deity is the goddess Saraswati, whom they worship at the Basant Panchami festival on the fifth day of Phâlgun with offerings of sweetmeats, flowers, burnt offerings (homa), and incense (dhîpa). On this occasion an image of Saraswati or Gauri is made of cowdung and worshipped. The Census returns show 5,311 worshippers of Saraswati.

1. Dowson, Classical Dictionary, s.v.

438 Mr. Baillie writes: "It is probable that these are due less to her position as a river goddess than to those attributes which she acquired as the patroness of the ceremonies performed on the margin of her holy waters, and subsequently as the inspírer of the hymns recited at these ceremonies. She is now known as the goddess of speech and learning, the inventer of the Sanskrit language and patroness of arts and sciences."1 Those who are less particular worship Mahâbir and the Panchonpir.

Kaththiravândlu.: -(scissors) Concerning this section of the criminal classes,2 Mr. F.S. Mullaly writes to me as follows. "This is purely a Nellore name for this class of professional pick-pockets. The appellation seems to have been given to them from the fact that they frequent fairs and festivals, and busy railway platforms, offering knives and scissors for sale. And, when an opportunity presents itself, they are used for cutting strings of beads and ripping open bags, etc. Several of these light-fingered theives have been found with small scissors in their mouths. Most of them wear shoes of a peculiar shape, and these form a convenient receptacle for the scissors. Bits of broken glass (to act as knives) are frequently found in their mouths. In different districts they are known by different appellations. such as Donga Dâsaris in North Arcot and parts of Cuddapah; Golla Woddars, Donga Woddars, and Muheri Kalas in Cuddapah, Bellary, and Kurnool; Pachupus in Kistna and Godâvari; Alagiris, Ena or Thogamalai Koravas in the southern districts. Individuals belonging to this class of thieves have been traced, since the opening of the East Coast Railway, as far as Midnapore. An important way of identifying them is the fact that everyone of them, male and female, is branded at the corners of the eyebrows and between the eyes in childhood, as a safeguard against convulsions."

For the following additional information I am indebted to an official of the Police department, "I am not aware of these people using any particular shoes. They use sandals such as are generally worn by ryots and the lower classes. These they get by stealing. They pick them up from houses during the daytime, when they go from house to house on the pretence of begging, or they steal them at nights along with other property. These sandals are made in different by Kathiras are generally of different kinds, being stolen from various parts of the country. They have no shoes of any peculiar make, nor do they get any made at all. Kathiras do not generally wear any shoes. They walk and run faster with bare feet. They wear shoes when walking through the jungle, and entrust them to one of their comrades when walking through the open country. They sometimes throw them off when closely pursued, and run away. In 1899, when we arrested one on the highway, he had with him five or six pairs of shoes of different kinds and sizes, and he did not account satisfactorily for being in possession of so many. I subsequently learnt that some supernumeraries were hiding in the jungle close to the place where he was arrested. "About marks of branding on the face, it is not only Kathiras, but almost all nomadic tribes who have these marks. As the gangs move on, exposed to changes of weather, the children sometimes get a disease called sandukatlu or palakurkura. They generally get this disease from the latter part of the first year up to the fifth year. The symptoms are similar to those which children sometimes have at the time of teething. It is when children get this disease that they are branded on the face between the eyebrows, on the outer corners of the eyes, and sometimes on the belly. The brand-marks on the face and corners of the eyes are circular, and those on the belly generally horizontal. The circular brand-marks are made with a long piece of turmeric, one end of which is burnt for the purpose, or with an indigocoloured cloth rolled like a pencil and burnt at one end. The horizontal marks are made with a hot needle. Similar brand-marks are made by some caste Hindus on their children."

1. Census report, North-West Provinces and Oudh, 234; Panjab Census Report 105; Monier Williams, Hinduism and Brâhmanism, 429. 2 See Thurston

439 To Mr. P.B. Thomas I am indebted for specimens of the chaplet, made of strips of rolled pith, worn by Kaththira women when begging, and of the cotton bags, full of false pockets, regularly carried by both men and women, in which they secret the little sharp knife and other articles constituting their usual equipment. In this "History of Railway Thieves," Mr. M. Paupa Rao Naidu, writing about the pick-pockets or Thetakars, says that "most of them wear shoes called chadâvs, and, if the articles stolen are very small, they put them at once into their shoes, which form very convenient receptacles from their peculiar shape; and, therefore, when a pick-pocket with such a shoe on is suspected of having stolen a jewel, the shoes must be searched first, then the mouth and the other parts of the body."

Kattu Marathi.: -The Vagiri are also called Kattu Marathi by the Marathas. See Vagiri.

Kaur.: -See Kawar.

Kaura: -Sub-Caste of Doms in Bengal who breed pigs and act as Scavengers (see Risley)

Kavarai.: -Kavarai is the name for Balijas (Telugu trading caste), who have settled in the Tamil country1. The name is said to be a corrupt form of Kauravar or Gauravar, descendants of Kuroo of Kauravar or Gauravar, of the Mahâbaratha, or to be the equivalent of Gauravalu, sons of Gauri, the wife of Siva. Other suggested derivatives are: (1) a corrupt form of the Sanskrit Kvaryku, meaning badness or reproach, or Arya, i.e., deteriorated Aryans; (2) Sanskrit Kavara, mixed, or Kavaraha, a braid of hair, i.e., a mixed class, as many of the Telugu professional belong to this caste; (3) Kavarai or Gavaras, buyers or dealers in cattle. The Kavarai call themselves Balijas, and derive the name from bali, fire, and jaha , sprung, i.e., "men sprung from fire." Like other Telugu castes, they have exogamous septs, e.g., tupâki (gun), jetti (wrestler), pagadâla (coral), bandi (cart), símaneli, etc. The Kavarais of Srívilliputtîr, in the Tinnevelly district, are believed to be the descendants of a few families, which emigrated there from Manjakuppam (Cuddalore) along with one Dora Krishnamma Nâyudu. About the time of Tirumal Nâyak, one Râmaswâmi Râju, who had five sons, of whom the youngest was Dora Krishnamma, was reigning near Manjakuppam. Dora Krishnamma, who was of wandering habits, having received some money from his mother, went to Trichinopoly, and, when he was seated in the main bazar, an elephant rushed into street. The beast was stopped in its stampede, and tamed by Dora Krishnamma. Vijayaranga Chokkappa sent his retinue and ministers to escort him to his palace. While they were engaged in conversation, news arrived that some chiefs in the Tinnevelly district refused to pay their taxes, and Dora Krishnamma volunteered to go and subdue them. Near Srívilliputtîr he passed a ruined temple dedicated to Krishna, which he thought of rebuilding if he should succeed in subduing the chiefs. When he reached Tinnevelly, they, without raising any objection, paid their dues, and Dora Krishnamma returned to Srívilliputtîr, and settled there.

1 See Thurston.

440 Marriage Their marriage ceremonies are based on the type common to many Telugu castes, but those who belong to the Símaneli sept, and believe themselves to be direct descendants of Krishnamma, have two special forms of ceremonial, viz., Krishnamma pérantâlu, and the carrying of pots (gurigelu) on the heads of the bride and bridegroom when they go to the temple before the Kâsiyatra ceremony. The Krishnamma pérantâlu is performed on the day prior to the muhîrtam (tâli-tying), and consists in the worship of the soul of Krishnamma, a married woman. A new cloth is purchased and presented to a married woman, together with money, betel, etc., and she is fed before the rest. It is practically a form of srâdh ceremony, and all the formalities of the srâdh, except the hómam (sacred fire) and repeating of mantras from the Védas, are gone through. This is very commonly observed by Brâhmans, and a few castes which engage a Brâhman priest for their ceremonies. The main idea is the propitiation of the soul of the dead married woman. If such a woman dies in a family, every ceremony of an auspicious nature must be preceded by sumangali-prarthana, or worship of this married woman (sumangali). Orthodox females think that, if the ceremony is not performed, she will do them some harm. Another customs, now dying out, is the tying of a dagger to the waist of the bridegroom.

Occupation and social customs It the Madura district, the Kavarais are described1 as being "most commonly manufacturers and sellers of bangles made of a particular kind of earth, found only in one or two parts of the district. Those engaged in this traffic usually call themselves Chettis or merchants. When otherwise employed as spinners, dyers, painters, and the like, they take the title of Nâyakkan. It is customary with these, as with other Nâyakkans, to wear the sacred thread: but the descendants of the Nâyakkan kings, who are now living at Vellei-kuricchi, do not conform to this usage, on the ground that they are at present in a state of impurity and degradation, and consequently ought not to wear the sacred emblem." The bulk of the Kavarais in Tanjore are said 2 "to bear the title Nâyak. Some that are engaged in trade, more especially those who sell glass bangles, are called Settis, and those who originally settled in agriculture are called Reddis. The title of Nâyak, like Pillai, Mudali, and Setti, is generally sought after. As a rule, men of the Palli or cooly class, when they enter the Government service, and shepherds, when they grow rich in trade or otherwise, assume this title, wear the nâmam (the trident mark on the forehead emblematic of the Vaishnava persuasion), and call themselves Kavarais or Vadugars, though they cannot speak Telugu, much less point to any part of the Telugu country as the seat of their forefathers." One of the largest sub-divisions of the Kavarais is Valaiyal, the Tamil equivalent of Gazula, both words meaning a glass or lac bangle.3

Kawar.: -Kanwar, Kaur (honorific title, Sirda¡r)4.- A Primitive tribe living in the hills of the Chhatti¡sgarh District north of the Maha¡nadi. The hill-country comprised in the northern zami¡nda¡ri estates of Bila¡spur and the adjoining Feudatory States of Jashpur, Udaipur, Sargu¡ja, Cha¡ng Bhaka¡r and Korea is the home of the Kawars, and is sometimes known after them as the Kamra¡n. Eight of the Bila¡spur zami¡nda¡rs are of the Kawar tribe. The total numbers of the tribe are nearly 2000,000, practically all of whom belong to the Central Provinces. In Bila¡spur the name is always pronounced with a nasal as Kanwar. The Kawars trace their origin from the Kauravas of the Maha¡bha¡rata, who were defeated by the Pa¡ndavas at the great battle of Hastina¡pur. They say that only two pregnant women survived and fled to the hills of Central India, where they took refuge in the

1. Manual of the Madura district. 2. Manual of the Tanjore district. 3. Madras Census Report, 1891. 4 See Russell This article is based almost entirely on a monograph contributed by Mr. Híra La¡l.

441 houses of a Ra¡wat (grazier) and a Dhobi (washerman) respectively, and the boy and girl children who were born to them became the ancestors of the Kawar tribe. Consequently, the Kawars will take food from the hands of Ra¡wats, especially those of the Kauria subcaste, who are in all probability descended from Kawars. And when a Kawar is put out of caste for having maggots in a wound, a Dhobi is always employed to readmit him to social intercourse. These facts show that the tribe has some close ancestral connection with the Ra¡wats and Dhobis, though the legend of descent from the Kauravas is, of course, a myth based on the similarity of the names. The tribespeople have lost their own language, if they ever had one, and now speak a corrupt form of the Chhatti¡sgarhi dialect of Hindi. It is probable that they belong to the Dravidian tribal family.

Tribal Subdivisions. The Kawars have the following eight endogamous divisions: Tanwar, Kamalbansi, Paikara, Du¡dh-kawar, Rathia, Cha¡nti, Caerwa and Rautia. The Tanwar group, also known as Umrao, is that to which the zami¡nda¡rs belong, and they now claim to be Tomara Ra¡jpu¡ts, and wear the sacred thread. They prohibit widow-remarriage, and do not eat fowls or drink liquor; but they have not yet induced Bra¡hmans to take water from them or Ra¡jpîts to accept their daughters in marriage. The name Tanwar is not improbably simply a corruption of Kawar, and they are also altering their sept names to make them resemble those of eponymous Bra¡hmanical gotras . Thus Dhangur, the name of a sept, has been altered to Dhananjaya, and Sarvaria to Sa¡ndilya. Tela¡si is the name of a sept to which four zami¡nda¡rs belong, and is on this account sometimes returned as their caste by other Kawars, who consider it as a distinction. The zami¡nda¡ri families have now, however, changed the name Tela¡si to Kairava. The Paikaras are the most numerous subtribe, being three-fifths of the total. They derive their name from Pa¡ik, a foot-soldier, and formerly followed this occupation, being employed in the armies of the Haihaivansi Ra¡jas of Ratanpur. They still worship a two-edged sword, known as the jhagra khand, or 'Sword of strife,' on the day of Dasahra. The Kamalbansi, or 'Stock of the Lotus,' may be so called as being the oldest subdivision; for the lotus is sometimes considered the root of all things, on account of the belief that Brahma, the creator of the world, was himself born from this flower. In Bila¡spur the Kamalbansis are considered to rank next after the Tanwars or zami¡nda¡rs' group. Colonel Dalton states that the term Du¡dh or 'Milk Kawar' has the signification of 'Cream of the Kawars' and he considered this subcaste to be the highest. The Rathias are a territorial group, being immigrants from Ra¡th, a wild tract of the Raigarh State. The Rautias are probably the descendants of Kawar fathers and mothers of the Ra¡wat (herdsman) caste. The traditional connection of the Kawars with a Ra¡wat has already been mentioned, and even now if a Kawar marries a Ra¡wat girl she will be admitted into the tribe, and the children will become full Kawars. Similarly, the Ra¡wats have a Kauria subcaste, who are also probably the offspring of mixed marriages; and if a Kawar girl is seduced by a Kauria Ra¡wat, she is not expelled from the tribe, as she would be for a liaison with any other man who was not a Kawar. This connection is no doubt due to the fact that until recently the Kawars and Ra¡wats, who are themselves a very mixed caste, were accustomed to intermarry. At the census, persons returned as Rautia were included in the Kol tribe, which has a subdivision of that name. But Mr. Híra La¡l's inquiries establish the fact that in Chhatti¡sgarh they are undoubtedly Kawars. The Cherwas are probably another group descended from connections formed by Kawars with girls of the tribe of Chota Na¡gpur. The Cha¡nti, who derive their name from the ant, are considered to be the lowest group, as that insect is the most insignificant of living things. Of the above subcastes the Tanwars are naturally the highest, while the Cha¡nti, Cherwa and Rautia, who keep pigs, are considered as the lowest. The others occupy an intermediate position. None of the subcastes will eat together, except at the houses of their zamíndârs, from whom they will all take food. But the Kawars of the Chhuri estate no longer attend the feasts of their zamíndâr, for the following curious reason. One of the latter's village thekâdârs or farmers had got the hide taken off a dead buffalo so as to keep it for his own use, instead of making the body over to a Chamâr

442 (tanner). The caste fellows saw no harm in this act, but it offended the zamíndâr's more orthodox Hindu conscience. Soon afterwards, at some marriage-feast of his family, when the Kawars of his zamíndâri attended in accordance with the usual custom, he remarked, 'Here come our Chamârs,' or words to that effect. The Chhuri Kawars were insulted, and the more so because the Pendar zamíndâr and other outsiders were present. So they declined to take food any longer from their zamíndâr. They continued to accept it, however, from the other zamíndârs, until their master of Chhuri represented to them that this would result in a slur being put upon his standing among his fellows. So they have now given up taking food from any zamíndâr.

Exogamous Groups. The tribe have a large number of exogamous septs, which are generally totemistic or named after plants and animals. The names of 117 septs have been recorded, and there are probably even more. The following list gives a selection of the names:

Andíl Born from an egg. Bâgh Tiger. Bichhi Scorpion. Bilwa Wild cat. Bokra Goat. Chandrama Moon. Chanwar A whisk. Chíta Leopard. Chuva A well. Champa A sweet-scented flower. Dhenki A pounding-lever. Darpan A mirror. Gobíra A dung insect. Hundâr A wolf. Jânta Grinding-mill. Kothi A store-souse. Khumari A leaf-umbrella. Lodha A wild dog. Mâma Maternal uncle. Mahâdeo The deity. nînmutaria A packet of salt. Sendur Vermilion. Sua A parrot. Telâsi Oily.

Generally it may be said that every common animal or bird and even articles of food of dress and household implements have given their names to a sept. In the Paikara subcaste a figure of the plant or animal after which the sept is named is made by each party at the time of marriage. Thus a bridegroom of the Bâgh or tiger sept prepares a small image of a tiger with flour and bakes it in oil; this he shows to the bride's family to represent, as it were, his pedigree, or prove his legitimacy; while she on her part, assuming that she is, say, of the Bilwa or cat sept, will bring a similar image of a cat with her in proof of her origin. The Andíl sept make a representation of a hen sitting on eggs. They do not worship the totem animal or plant, but when they learn of the death of one of the species, they throw away and earthen cooking-pot as a sign of mourning. They generally think themselves descended from the totem animal of plant, but when the sept is called after some inanimate object, such as a grinding-mill or pounding-lever, they repudiate the idea of descent from it, and are at a loss to account for the origin of the name. Those whose septs are named after plants or animals usually abstain from injuring or cutting them, but where this rule would cause too much inconvenience it is

443 transgressed; thus the members of the Karsâyal or deer sept find it too hard for them to abjure the flesh of that animal, nor can those of the Bokra sept abstain from eating goats. In some cases new septs have been formed by a conjunction of the names of two others, as Bâgh-Daharia, Gauriya-Sonwâni, an so on. These may possibly be analogous to the use of double names in English, a family of one sept when it has contracted a marriage with another of better position adding the latter's name to its own as a slight distinction. But it may also simply arise from the constant tendency to increase the number of septs in order to remove difficulties from the arrangement of matches.

Betrothal And Marriage. Marriage within the same sept is prohibited and also between the children of brothers and sisters. A man may not marry his wife's elder sister but he can take her younger one in her lifetime. Marriage is usually adult and, contrary to the Hindu rule, the proposal for a match always comes from the boy's father, as a man would think it undignified to try and find a husband for his daughter. The Kawar says, 'Shall my daughter leap over the wall to get a husband?' In consequence of this girls not infrequently remain unmarried until a comparatively late age, especially in the zamíndâri families where the provision of a husband of suitable rank may be difficult. Having selected a bride for his son the boy's father sends some friends to her village, and they address a friend of the girl's family, saying, " So-and-so (giving his name and village) would like to have a cup of pej (boiled rice-water) from you; what do you say ?" The proposal is communicated to the girl's family, and if they approve of it they commence preparing the rice-water, which is partaken of by the parties and their friends. If the bride's people do not begin cooking the pej, it is understood that the proposal is rejected. The ceremony of betrothal cones next, when the boy's party go to the girl's house with a present of bangles, clothes, and fried cakes of rice and urad carried by a Kaurai Râwat. They also take with them the bride-price, known as Suk, which is made up of cash, husked or unhusked rice, pulses and oil. It is a fixed amount, but differs for each subcaste, and the average value is about Rs. 25. To this is added three or four goats to be consumed at the wedding. If a widower marries a girl, a larger bride-price is exacted. The wedding follows, and in many respects conforms to the ordinary Hindu ratual, but Brâhmans are not employed. The bridegroom's party is accompanied by tomtom-players on its way to the wedding, and as each village is approached plenty of noise is made, so that the residents may come out and admire the dresses, a great part of whose merit consists in their antiquity, while the wearer delights in recounting to any who will listen the history of his garb and of his distinguished ancestors who have worn it. The marriage is performed by walking round the sacred pole, six times on one day and once on the following day. After the marriage the bride's parents wash the feet of the couple in milk, and then drink it in atonement for the sin committed in bringing their daughter into the world. The couple then return home to the bridegroom's house, where all the ceremonies are repeated, as it is said that otherwise his courtyard would remain unmarried. On the following day the couple go and bathe in a tank, where each throws five pots full of water over the other. And on their return the bridegroom shoots arrows at seven straw images of deer over his wife's shoulder, and after each shot she puts a little sugar in his mouth. This is a common ceremony among the forest tribes, and symbolises the idea that the man will support himself and his wife by hunting. On the fourth day the bride returns to her father's house. She visits her husband for two or three months in the following month of Asârh (june-july), but again goes home to play what is known as 'the game of Gauri,' Gauri being the name of Siva's consort. The young men and girls of the village assemble round her in the evening, and the girls sing songs while the men play on drums. An obscene representation of Gauri is make, and some of them pretend to be possessed by the deity, while the men beat the girls with ropes of grass. After she has enjoyed this amusement with her mates for some three months, the bride finally goes to her husband's house.

444 Other Customs Connected With Marriage. The wedding expenses come to about seventy rupees on the bridegroom's part in an ordinary marriage, while the bride's family spends the amount of the bride-price and a few rupees more. It the parties are poor the ceremony can be curtailed so far as to provide food for only guest. It is permissible for two families to effect an exchange of girls in lieu of payment of the bride-price, this practice being known as Gunrâwat. Or a prospective bridegroom may give his services for three or four years instead of a price. The system of serving for a wife is known as Gharjiân, and is generally resorted to by widows having daughters. A girl going wrong with a Kawar or with a Kaurai Râwat before marriage may be pardoned with the exaction of a feast from her parents. For a liaison with any other outsider she is finally expelled, and the exception of the Kaurai Râwats shows that they are recognised as in reality Kawars. Widow-remarriage is permitted except in the Tanwar subcastes. The pair stand under the eaves of the house; the bridegroom touches the woman's ear or puts a rolled mango-leaf into it, and she becomes his wife. If a widower marries a girl for his third wife it is considered unlucky for her. An earthen image of a woman is therefore made, and he goes through the marriage ceremony with it; he then throws the image to the ground so that it is broken, when it is considered to be dead and its funeral ceremony is performed. After this the widower may marry the girl, who becomes his fourth wife. Such cases are naturally very rare. If a widow marries her deceased husband's younger brother, which is considered the most suitable match, the children by her first husband rank equally with those of the second. If she marries outside the family her children and property remain with her first husband's relatives. Dalton1 records that the Kawars of Sargîja had adopted the practice of sati: "I found that the Kawars of Sargîja encouraged widows to become Satis and greatly venerated those who did so. Sati shrines are not uncommon in the Tributary Mahâls. Between Partâbpur and Jhilmili in Sargîja I encamped in a grove sacred to a Kauraini Sati. Several generations have elapsed since the self-sacrifice that led to her canonisation, but she is now the principal object of worship in the village and neighbourhood, and I was informed that every year a fowl was sacrificed to her, and every third year a black goat. The Hindus with me were intensely amused at the idea of offering fowls to a Sati!" Polygamy is permitted, but is not common. Members of the Tanwar subtribe, when they have occasion to do so, will take the daughters of Kawars of other groups wives, though they will not give their daughters to them. Such marriages are generally made clandestinely, and it has become doubtful as to whether some families are true Tanwars. The zamíndârs have therefore introduced a rule that no family can be recognised as a Tanwar for purposes of marriage unless it has a certificate to that effect signed by the zamíndâr. Some of the zamíndârs charge considerable sums for these certificates, and all cannot afford them; but in that case they are usually unable to get husbands for their daughters, who remain unwed. Divorce is permitted for serious disagreement or bad conduct on the part of the wife.

Childbirth. During childbirth the mother sits on the ground with her legs apart, and her back against the wall or supported by another woman. The umbilical cord is cut by the midwife: if the parents wish the boy to become eloquent she buries it in the village Council-place; or if they wish him to be a good trader, in the market; or if they desire him to be pious, before some shrine; in the case of a girl the cord is usually buried in a dung-heap, which is regarded as an emblem of fertility. As is usual in Chhattísgarh, the mother receives no food or water for three days after the birth of a child. On the fifth day she is given regular food and on that day the house is purified. Five months after birth the lips of the child are touched with rice and milk and it is named. When twins are born a metal vessel is broken to sever the connection between them, as it is believed that otherwise

1 Ethnology ,p. 158.

445 they must die at the same time. If a boy is born after three girls he is called titura , and a girl after three boys, tituri . There is a saying that 'A titura child either fills the storehouse or empties it'; that is, his parents either become rich or penniless. To avert ill- luck in this case oil and salt are thrown away, and the mother gives one of her bangles to the midwife.

Disposal Of The Dead. The dead are usually buried, though well-to-do families have adopted cremation. The corpse is laid on its side in the grave, with head to the north and face to the east. A little til, cotton, urad and rice are thrown on the grave to serve as seed-grain for the dead man's cultivation in the other world. A dish, a drinking vessel and a cooking-pot are placed on the grave with the same ides, but are afterwards taken away by the Dhobi (washerman). They observe mourning for ten days for a man, nine days for a woman, and three days for children under three years old. During the period of mourning the chief mourner keeps a knife beside him, so that the iron may ward off the attacks of evil spirits, to which he is believed to be particularly exposed. The ordinary rules of abstinence and retirement are observed during mourning. In the case of cremation the ceremonies are very elaborate and generally resemble those of the Hindus. When the corpse is half burnt, all the men present throw five pieces of wood on to the pyre, and a number of pieces are carried in a winnowing fan to the dead man's house, where they are touched by the women and then brought back and thrown on to the fire. After the funeral the mourners bathe and return home walking one behind the other in Indian file. When they come to a cross-road, the foremost man picks up a pebble with his left foot, and it is passed from hand to hand down the line of men until the hindmost throws it away. This is supposed to sever their connection with the spirit of the deceased and prevent it from following them home. On the third day they return to the cremation ground to collect the ashes and bones. A Brâhman is called who cooks a preparation of milk and rice at the head of the corpse, boils urad pulse at its feet, and bakes eight wheaten chapâtis ant the sides. This food is placed in leaf-cups at two corners of the ground. The mourners sprinkle cow's urine and milk over the bones, and picking them up with a palâs (Butes frondosa) stick, put them in milk and deposit them in a new earthen pot until such time as they can be carried to the Ganges. The bodies of men dying of smallpox must never be burnt, because that would be equivalent to destroying the goddess, incarnate in the body. The corpses of cholera patients are buried in order to dispose of them at once, and are sometimes exhumed subsequently within a period of six months and cremated. In such a case the Kawars spread a layer of unhusked rice in the grave, and address prayer to the earth-goddess stating that the body has been placed with her on deposit, and asking that she will give it back intact when they call upon her for it. They believe that in such cases the process of decay is arrested for six months.

Laying Spirits. When a man has been killed by a tiger they have a ceremony called 'Breaking the string,' or the connection which they believe the animal establishes with a family on having tasted its blood. Otherwise they think that the tiger would gradually kill of all the remaining members of the family of his victim, and when he had finished with the would proceed to other families in the same village. This curious belief is no doubt confirmed by the tiger's habit of frequenting the locality of a village from which it has once obtained a victim, in the natural expectation that others may be forthcoming from the same source. In this ceremony the village Baiga or medicine-man is painted with red ochre and soot to represent the tiger, and proceeds to the place where the victim was carried off. Having picked up some of the blood-stained earth, he tries to run away to the jungle, but the spectators hold him back until he spits out the earth. This represents the tiger being forced to give up his victim. The Baiga then ties a string round all the members of the dead man's family standing together; he places some grain before a fowl saying, 'if my charm has worked, eat of this'; and as soon as the fowl has eaten some

446 grain the Baiga states that his efforts have been successful and the attraction of the man- eater has been broken; he then breaks the string and all the party return to the village. A similar ceremony is performed when a man has died of snake-bite.

Religion. The religion of the Kawars is entirely of an animistic character. They have a vague idea of a supreme deity whom they call Bhagwân and identify with the sun. They bow to him in reverence, but do no more as he does not interfere with men's concerns. They also have a host of local and tribal deities, of whom the principal is the Jhagra Khand or two- edged sword, already mentioned. The tiger is deified as Bagharra Deo and worshipped in every village for the protection of cattle from wild animals. They are also in great fear of a mythical snake with a red crest on its head, the mere sight of which is believed to cause death. It lives in deep pools in the forest which are known as Shesh Kund ,and when it moves the grass along its track takes fire. If a man crosses its track his colour turns to black and he suffers excruciating pains which end in death, unless he is relieved by the Baiga. In one village where the snake was said to have recently appeared, the proprietor was so afraid of it that he never went out to his field without first offering a chicken. They have various local deities, of which the Mandwa Râni or goddess of the Mandwa hill in Korba zamíndâri may be noted as an example. She is a mild-hearted maiden who puts people right when they have gone astray in the forest, or provides them with food for the night and guides them to the water-springs on her hill. Recently a wayfarer had lost his path when she appeared and, guiding him into it, gave him basket of brinjâls.1 As the traveller proceeded he felt his burden growing heavier and heavier on his head, and finally on inspecting it found that the goddess had played a little joke on him and the brinjâls had turned into stones. The Kawars implicitly believe this story. Rivers are tenanted by a set of goddesses called the Sat Bahini or seven sisters. They delight in playing near waterfalls, holding up the water and suddenly letting it drop. Trees are believed to be harmless sentient beings, except when occasionally possessed by evil spirits, such as the ghosts of man-eating tigers. Sometimes a tree catches hold of a cow's tail as the animal passes by and winds it up over a branch, and many cattle have lost their tails in this way. Every tank in which the lotus grows is tenanted by Purainha, the godling who tends this plant. The sword, the gun, the axe, the spear have each a special deity, and, in fact, in the Bangawân, the tract where the wilder Kawars dwell, it is believed that every article of household furniture is the residence of a spirit, and that if any one steals or injures it without the owner's leave, the spirit will bring some misfortune on him in revenge. Theft is said to be unknown among them, partly on this account and partly, perhaps, because no one has much property worth stealing. Instances of deified human beings are Kolin Sati, a Kol concubine of a zamíndâr of Pendra who died during pregnancy, and Sârangarhni, a Ghasia women who was believed to have been the mistress of a Râja of Sârangarh and was murdered. Both are now Kawar deities. Thâkur Deo is the deity of agriculture, and is worshipped by the whole village in concert at the commencement of the rains. Rice is brought by each cultivator and offered to the god, a little being sown at his shrine and the remainder taken home and mixed with the seed-grain to give it fertility. Two bachelors carry water round the village and sprinkle it on the brass plates of the cultivators or the roofs of their houses in imitation of rain.

Magic And Witchcraft. The belief in witchcraft is universal and every village has its tonhi or witch, to whom epidemic diseases, sudden illnesses and other calamities are ascribed. The witch is nearly always some unpopular old woman, and several instances are known of the murder of these unfortunate creatures, after their crimes had been proclaimed by the Baiga or medicine-man. In the famine of 1900 an old woman from another village came and joined one of the famine-kitchens. A few days afterwards the village watchman got ill, and

1 Fruit of the egg-plant.

447 when the Baiga was called in he said the old woman was a witch who had vowed the lives of twenty children to her goddess, and had joined the kitchen to kill them. The woman was threatened with a beating with castor-oil plants if she did not leave the village, and as the kitchen officer refused to supply her with food, she had to go. The Baiga takes action to stop and keep off epidemics by the methods common in Chhatísgarh villages. When a woman asks him to procure her offspring, the Baiga sits dharna in front of Devi's shrine and fasts until the goddess, wearied by his importunity, descends on him and causes him to prophesy the birth of a child. They have the usual belief in imitative and sympathetic magic. If a person is wounded by an axe he throws it first into fire and then into cold water. By the first operation he thinks to dry up the wound and prevent its festering, and by the second to keep it cool. Thin and lean children are weighed in a balance against moist cowdung with the idea that they will swell out as the dung dries up. In order to make a bullock's hump grow, a large grain-measure is placed over it. If cattle go astray an iron implement is placed in a pitcher of water, and it is believed that this will keep wild animals off the cattle, though the connection of ideas is obscure. To cure intermittent fever a man walks through a narrow passage between two houses. If the children in a family die, the Baiga takes the parents outside the village and breaks the stem of some plant in their presence. After this they never again touch that particular plant, and it is believed that their children will not die. Tuesday is considered the best day for weddings, Thursday and Monday for beginning field-word and Saturday for worshipping the gods. To have bats in one's granary is considered to be fortunate, and there is a large harmless snake which, they say, produces fertilty when it makes its home in a field. If a crow caws on the house-top they consider that the arrival of a guest is portended. A snake or a cat crossing the road in front and a man sneezing are bad omens.

Dress. The dress of the Kawars presents no special features calling for remark. Women wear pewter ornaments on the feet, and silver or pewter rings on the neck. They decorate the ears with silver pendants, but as a rule do not wear nose-rings. Women are tattooed on the breast with a figure of Krishna, on the arms with that of a deer, and on the legs with miscellaneous patterns. The operation is carried out immediately after marriage in accordance with the usual custom in Chhattísgarh.

Occupation And Social Rules. The tribe consider military service to be their traditional occupation, but the bulk of them are now cultivators and labourers. Many of them are farmers of villages in the zamíndârs. Rautias weave ropes and make sleeping-cots, but the other Kawars consider such work to be degrading. They have the ordinary Hindu rules of inheritance, but a son claiming partition in his father's lifetime is entitled to two bullocks and nothing more. When the property is divided on the death of the father, the eldest son receives an allowance known as jithai over and above his share, this being a common custom in the Chhattísgarh country where the Kawars reside. The tribe do not admit outsiders with the exception of Kaurai Râwat girls married to Kawars. They have a tribal panchâyat or committee, the head of which is known as Pardhân. Its proceedings are generally very deliberate, and this has led to the saying: "The Gand's panchâyat always ends in a quarrel; the Gond's panchâyat cares only for the feast; and the Kawar's panchâyat takes a year to make up its mind." But when the Kawars have decided, they act with vigour. They require numerous goats as fines for the caste feast, and these, with fried urad, form the regular provision. Liquor, however, is only sparingly consumed. Temporary exclusion from caste is imposed for the usual offences, which include going to jail, getting the ears split, or getting maggots in a wound. The last is the most serious offence, and when the culprit is readmitted to social intercourse the Dhobi (washerman) is employed to eat with him first from five different plates, thus taking upon himself any risk of contagion from the impurity which may still remain. The Kawar eats flesh, fowls and

448 pork, but abjures beef, crocodiles, monkeys and reptiles. From birds he selects the parrot, dove, pigeon, quail and partridge as fit for food. He will not eat meat sold in market because he considers it halâli or killed in the Muhammadan fashion, and therefore impure. He also refuses a particular species of fish called rechha, which is black and fleshy and has been nicknamed 'The Telí's bullock.' The Kawars will take food only from a Gond or a Kaurai Râwat, and Gonds will also take food from them. In appearance and manners they greatly resemble the Gonds, from whom they are hardly distinguished by the Hindus. Dalton1 described them as "A dark, coarse-featured, broad-nosed, wide- mouthed and thick-lipped race, decidedly ugly, but taller and better set than most of the other tribes. I have also found them a clean, well-to-do, industrious people, living in comfortable, carefully-constructed and healthily-kept houses and well dressed." On their method of dancing Ball2 writes as follows: "In the evening some of the villagers-- Kaurs they were I believe--entertained us with a dance, which was very different from anything seen among the Santâls or Kols. A number of men performed a kind of ladies' chain, striking together as they passed one another's pronged sticks which they carried in their hands. By foot, hand and voice the time given by a tom-tom is most admirably kept."

Kéla.: -A small class of Oriya jugglers and mountebanks, whose women, like the Dommara females, are often prostitutes. The name is derived from kéli, dancing, or khél to play3.

Képumâri.: -It is noted, in Gazetteer of South Arcot, that "the Képumâris4 are one of the several foreign communities from other districts, who help to swell the total of the criminal classes in South Arcot. Their head-quarters is at Tiruvallîr in the Chingleput district, but there is a settlement of them at Mâriyân-kuppam (not far from Porto Novo), and another large detachment at Kunisampet in French territory. They commit much the same class of crime as the Donga Dâsaris, frequenting railway trains and crowded gatherings, and they avert suspicion by their respectable appearance and pleasant manners. Their house-language is Telugu. They call themselves Alagiri Képumâris. The etymology of the second of these two words is not free from doubt, but the first of them is said to be derived from Alagar, the god of the Kallans, whose temple at the foot of the hills about twelve miles north of Madura town is a well-known place of pilgrimage, and to whom these people and other criminal fraternities annually offer a share of their ill-gotten gains." Information concerning the criminal methods of these people, under the name Capemari, will be found in Mr. F. S. Mullaly's 'Notes on Criminal Classes of the Madras Presidency.'

Khairwâr.: -Kharwâr, Khaira, Khairwa. 5- A primitive tribe of the Chota Nâgpur plateau and Bihâr. Nearly 20,000 Khairwârs are now under the jurisdiction of the Central Provinces, of whom two-thirds belong to the recently acquired Sargîja State, and the remainder to the adjoining States and the Bilâspur District. A few hundred Khairwârs or Khairwas are also returned from the Damoh District in the Bundelkhand country. Colonel Dalton considers the Khairwârs to be closely connected with the Cheros. He relates that the

1 Ethnology , pp. 136,137 2 Jungle Life in India , pp. 315, 316. 3 See Thurston. 4 See Thurston. 5. See Russell. This article is based on Mr. Crooke's and Colonel Dalton's accounts, and some notes taken by Mr. Híra Lâl at Raigarh.

449 Cheros, once dominant in Gorakhpur and Shâhâbâd, were expelled from these tracts many centuries ago by the Gorkhas and other tribes, and came into Palâmau. "It is said that the Palâmau population then consisted of Kharwârs, Gonds, Mârs, Korwas, Parheyas and Kisâns. Of these the Kharwârs were the people of most consideration. The Cheros conciliated them and allowed them to remain in peaceful possession of the hill tracts bordering on Sargîja; all the Cheros of note who assisted in the expedition obtained military service grants of land, which they still retain. It is popularly asserted that at the commencement of the Chero rule in Palâmau they numbered twelve thousand families and the Kharwârs eighteen thousand, and if an individual of one or the other is asked to what tribe he belongs, he will say not that he is a Chero or a Kharwâr, but that he belongs to the twelve thousand or the eighteen thousand, as the case may be. Intermarriage between Chero and Kharwâr families have taken place. A relative of the Palâmau Râja married a sister of Maninâth Singh, Râja of Râmgarh, and this is among themselves an admission of identity of origin, as both claiming to be Râjpîts they could not intermarry till it was proved to the satisfaction of the family priest that the parties belonged to the same class. The Râjas of Râmgarh and Jashpur are members of this tribe, who have nearly succeeded in obliterating their Turanian traits by successive intermarriages with Aryan families. The Jashpur Râja is wedded to a lady of pure Râjpît blood, and by liberal dowries has succeeded in obtaining a similar union for three of his daughters. It is a costly ambition, but there is no doubt that the liberal infusion of fresh blood greatly improves the Kharwâr physique."1 This passage demonstrates the existence of a close connection between the Cheros and Khairwârs. Elsewhere Colonel Dalton connects the Santâls with the Khairwârs as follows:2 "Ahiri Pipri laid two eggs. From these two eggs a male and female were produced, who were the parents of the Santâls race. From Ahiri Pipri our (Santâl) ancestors migrated to Hara Dutti, and there they greatly increased and multiplied and were called Kharwâr." This also affords some reason for supposing that the Khairwârs are an offshoot of the Cheros and Santâls. Mr. Crooke remarks that in Mírzâpur "the people themselves derive their name either from their occupation as makers of catechu (khair) or on account of their emigration from some place called Khairâgarh, regarding which there is a great difference of opinion. If the Santâl tradition is to be accepted, Khairâgarh is in the Hazâribâgh District; but the Mírzâpur tradition seems to point to some locality in the south or west, in which case Khairâgarh may be identified with the most important of the Chhattísgarh Feudatory States, or with the pargana of the name in the Allahâbâd District."3 According to their own traditions in Chota Nâgpur, Sir H. Risley states that4 "The Kharwârs declare their original seat to have been the fort of Rohtâs, so called as having been the chosen abode of Rohitâswa, son of Haríschandra, of the family of he Sun. From this ancient house they also claim descent, calling themselves Sîrajvansis, and wearing the Janeo or caste thread distinguishing the Râjpîts. A less flattering tradition makes them out to be the offspring of a marriage between a Kshatriya man and a Bhar woman contracted in the days of King Ben, when distinctions of caste were abolished and men might marry whom they would." A somewhat similar story of themselves is told by the tribe in the Bâmra State. Here they say that their original ancestors were the Sun and a daughter of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, who lived in the town of Sara . She was very beautiful and the Sun desired her, and began blowing into a conch-shell to express his passion. While the girl was gaping at the sight and sound, a drop of the spittle fell into her mouth and impregnated her. Subsequently a son was born from her arm and a daughter from her thigh, who were known as Bhujbalrai and Janghrai.5 Bhujbalrai was given great strength by the Sun, and the fought with the people of the country, and became king of Râthgarh. But in consequence of this he and his family

1. Ethnology of Bengal , pp. 128, 129. 2. Ibidem , pp. 209, 210. 3. Tribes and Castes , art. Kharwâr. 4. Tribes and Castes of Bengal. 5. From bhuj , an arm, jangh , a thigh. These are Hindi words, and the whole story is obviously a Brâhmanical legend. Balrai seems a corruption of Balarâm, the brother of Krishna.

450 grew worthy of the riches she had given them. So she came in the guise of a beggar to the door, but was driven without alms. On this she cursed them, and said that their descendants, the Khairwârs, should always be poor, and should eke out a scanty subsistence from the forests. And in consequence the Khairwârs have ever since been engaged in boiling wood for catechu. Mr. Hira Lâl identifies the Râthgarh of this story with the tract of Râth in the north of the Raigarh State and the town of Sara, where Lakshmi's daughter lived and her children were born, with Saria in Sârangarh.

Its Origin. On the information available as to the past history of the tribe it seems probable that the Khairwârs may, as suggested by Sir H. Risley, be an offshoot from some other group. The most probable derivation of the name seems to be from the khair or catechu tree (Acacia catechu ); and it may be supposed that it was the adoption as a calling of he making of catechu which led to their differentiation. Mr. Crooke derives their name either from the khair tree or a place called Khairâgarh; but this latter name almost certainly means 'The fort of the khair tress.' The Khairwâs or Khairwârs of the Kaimur hills, who are identified by Colonel Dalton and in the India Census of 1901 with the Khairwârs of Chota Nâgpur, are certainly named after the tree; they are generally recognised as being Gonds who have taken to the business of boiling catechu, and are hence distinguished, being a little looked down upon by other Gonds. Mr. Crooke describes them in Mírzâpur as "a compound of various jungle tribes who have taken to this special occupation; while according to another account they are the offspring of the Saharias or Saonrs, with whom their sept names are said to be identical." He also identifies them with the Kathkâris of Bombay, whose name means 'makers of katha or prepared catechu.' The Khairwârs of Chota Nâgpur have everywhere a subdivision which makes catechu, this being known as Khairchîra in the Central Provinces, Khairi in Bengal and Khairaha in the United Provinces. This group is looked down upon by the other Khairwârs, who consider their occupation to be disreputable and do not marry with them. Possibly the preparation of catechu, like basket-and mat-making, is despised as being a profession practised by primitive dwellers in forests, and so those Khairwârs who have become more civilised are now anxious to disclaim it. Sir H. Risley has several times pointed out the indeterminate nature of the constitution of the Chota Nâgpur tribes, between several of whom intermarriage is common. And it seems certain that the tribes as we know them now must have been differentiated from one or more common stocks much in the same fashion as castes, though rather by the influence of local settlement than by differences of occupation, and at a much earlier date. And on the above facts it seems likely that the Khairwârs of Chota Nâgpur are an occupational offshoot of the Cheros and Santâls, as those of the Kaimur hills are of the Gonds and Savars.

Tribal Subdivisions. Colonel Dalton states that the tribe had four subdivisions, Bhogta, Matho, Râwat and Mânjhi. Of these Matho simply means a village headman, and is used as a title by many castes and tribes; Râwat is a term meaning chief, and is in common use as a title; and Mânjhi too is a title, being specially applied to boatman, and also means a village headman among the Santâls. These divisions, too, afford some reason for considering the tribe to be a mixed group. Other occupational subtribes are recorded by Sir H. Risley, and are found in the Central Provinces, but these apparently have grown up since Colonel Dalton's time. The most important group in Bengal are the Bhogtas, who are found, says Colonel Dalton, " In the hills of Palâmau skirting Sargîja, in Tori and Bhanwar Pahâr of Chota Nâgpur and other places. They have always had an indifferent reputation. The head of the clan in Palâmau was a notorious freebooter, who, after having been outlawed and successfully evaded every attempt to capture him, obtained a jârír1 on his surrendering and promising to keep the peace. He kept to his engagement and died in fair repute." Mr. Crooke notes that

1. Estate held on feudal tenure.

451 the Khairwârs, since adopting Hinduism, performed human sacrifices to Kâli. Some of our people who fell into their hands during the Mutiny were so dealt with.1

In the Central Provinces there is a group known as Sîrajvansi or Descendants of the Sun, or Janeodhâri, 'those who wear the sacred thread.' This is the aristocratic division of the caste, to which the chiefs and zamíndârs belong, and according to the usual practice they have consolidated their higher position by marrying only among themselves. Other groups are the Duâlbandhi, who say that they are so called because they make a livelihood by building he earthen diwâls or walls for houses and yards; but in Mirzâpur they derive the name from duâl, a leather belt which is supposed to have been the uniform of their forefathers when serving as soldiers.2 The Pâtbandhi or silk-makers, according to their own story, are thus named because their ancestors were once very rich and wore silk; but a more probable hypothesis is that they were rearers of tasar silk cocoons. The Beldâr or Matkora work as navvies, and are also known as Kawarvansi or 'descendants of the Kawars,' another tribe of the locality; and last come the Khairchîra, who take their name from the khair tree and are catechu-makers.

Exogamous Septs. The tribe has a large number of exogamous groups named after plants and animals. Members of the mouse, tortoise, parrot, pig, monkey, vulture, banyan tree and date-palm septs worship their totem animal or tree, and when they find the dead body of the animal they throw away an earthen cooking-pot to purify themselves, as is done when a member of the family dies. Those of the Dhân (rice), Non (salt), Dila (plough) and Dhenki (rice pounding-lever) septs cannot dispense with the use of these objects, but make a preliminary obeisance before employing them. Those of the Kânsi sept sprinkle water mixed with kâns3 grass over the bride and bridegroom at the marriage ceremony, and those of the Chandan or sandalwood sept apply sandal-paste to their foreheads. They cannot clearly explain the meaning of these observances, but some of them have a vague idea that they are descended from the totem object.

Marriage. Marriage is either infant or adult, and in the latter case the girl is not disposed of without her consent. A bride-price varying from five to ten rupees is paid, and in the case of a girl given to a widower the amount is doubled. The Hindu ceremonial has been adopted for the wedding, and an auspicious day is fixed by a Brâhman. In Bengal Sir H. Risley notes that "Remnants of non-Aryan usage may be discerned in the marriage ceremony itself. Both parties must first go through the form of marriage to a mango tree or at least a branch of the tree; and must exchange blood mixed with sindur, though in the final and binding act sindur alone is smeared by the bridegroom upon the bride's forehead and the parting of her hair." As has been pointed out by Mr. Crooke, the custom of smearing vermilion on the bride's forehead is a substitute for an earlier anointing with blood; just as the original idea underlying the offering of a cocoanut was that of substitution for a human head. In some cases blood alone is still used. Thus Sir H. Risley notes that among the Birhors the marriage rite is performed by drawing blood from the little finger of each of them.4 The blood- covenant by which a bride was admitted to her husband's sept by being smeared with his blood is believed to have been a common rite among primitive tribes.

1. Religion a d Folklore of Northern India , vol. ii. p. 170. 2. Crooke, Tribes and Castes. 3. Saccharum spontaneum. 4. Tribes and Castes , art. Birhor.

452 Disposal Of The Dead. As a rule, the tribe bury the dead, though the Hindu custom of cremation is coming into fashion among the well-to-do. Before the internment they carry the corpse seven times round the grave, and it is buried with the feet pointing to the north. They observe mourning for ten days and abstain from animal food and liquor during that period. A curious custom is reported from the Bilâspur District, where it is said that children cut a small piece of flesh from the finger of a dead parent and swallow it, considering this as a requital for the labour of the mother in having carried the child for nine months in her womb. So in return they carry a piece of her flesh in their bodies. But the correct explanation as given by Sir. J. G. Frazer is that they do it to prevent themselves from being haunted by the ghosts of their parents." Thus Orestes,1 after he had gone mad from murdering his mother, recovered his wits by biting off one of his own fingers; since his victim was his own mother it might it might be supposed that the tasting of his own blood was the same as hers; and the furies of his murdered mother, which had appeared black to him before, appeared white as soon as he had mutilated himself in this way. The Indians of Guiana believe that an avenger of blood who has slain his man must go mad unless he tastes the blood of his victim, the notion apparently being that the ghost drives him crazy. A similar custom was observed by the Maoris in battle. When a warrior had slain his foe in combat, he tasted his blood, believing that this preserved him from the avenging spirit (atua ) of his victim; for they imagined that 'the moment a slayer had tasted the blood of the slain, the dead man became a part of his being and placed him under the protection of the atua or guardian-spirit of he deceased.' Some of the North American Indians also drank the blood of their enemies in battle. Strange as it may seem, this truly savage superstition exists apparently in Italy to this day. There is a widespread opinion in Calabria that if a murderer is to escape he must suck his victim's blood from the reeking blade of the dagger with which he did the deed."

Religion. The religion of the tribe is of the usual animistic type. Colonel Dalton notes that they have, like the Kols, a village priest, known as Pahan or Baiga. He is always one of the impure tribes, a Bhuiya, a Kharwâr or a Korwa, and he offers a great triennial sacrifice of a buffalo in the sacred grove, or on a rock near the village. The fact that the Khairwârs employed members of the Korwa and Bhuiya tribes as their village priests may be taken to indicate that the latter are the earlier residents of the country, and are on this account employed by the Khairwârs as later arrivals for the conciliation of the indigenous deities. Colonel Dalton states that the Khairwârs made no prayers to any of the Hindu gods, but when in great trouble they appealed to the sun. In the Central Provinces the main body of the tribe, and particularly those who belong to the landholding class, profess the Hindu religion.

Inheritance. The Khairwârs have now also adopted the Hindu rule of inheritance, and have abandoned the tribal custom which Sir H. Risley records as existing in Bengal. "Here the eldest son of the senior wife, even if younger than one of the sons of the second wife, inherits the entire property, subject tot the obligation of providing for all other legitimate children. If the inheritance consists of land, the heir is expected to create separate maintenance grants in favour of his younger brothers. Daughters can never inherit, but are entitled to live in the ancestral home till they are married." 2

The Khairwas Of Damoh. The Khairwas or Khairwârs of the Kaimur hills are derived, as already seen, from the Gonds and Savars, and therefore are ethnologically a distinct from those of the Chota Nâgpur

1. The above instances are reproduced from Sir J. G. Frazer's Psyche's Task (London, 1909). These cases are all of homicide, but it seems likely that the action of the Khairwârs may be based on the same motives, as the fear of ghosts is strong among these tribes. 2. Risley , loc. cit.

453 plateau, who have been described above. But as nearly every caste is made up of diverse ethnological elements held together by the tie of a common occupation, it does not seem worthwhile to treat these groups separately. Colonel Dalton, who also identifies them with the main tribe, records an interesting notice of them at an earlier period:1 "There is in the seventh volume of the Asiatic Researches a notice of the Kharwârs of the Kaimur hills in the Mírzâpur District, to the north of the Son river, by Captain J.P. Blunt, who in his journey from Chunâr to Ellora in A.D. 1794, met with them and describes them as a very primitive tribe. He visited one of their villages consisting of half a dozen poor huts, and though proceeding with the utmost caution, unattended, to prevent alarm, the inhabitants fled at his approach. The women were seen, assisted by the men, carrying off their children and moving with speed to hide themselves in the woods. It was observed that they were nearly naked, and the articles of domestic use found in the deserted huts were a few gourds for water-vessels, some bows and arrows, and some fowls as wild as their masters. With great difficulty, by the employment of Kols as mediators, some of the men were induced to return. They were nearly naked, but armed with bows and arrows and a hatchet."

In Damoh the Khairwârs are said to come from Panna State. During the working season they live in temporary sheds in the forest, and migrate from place to place as the supply of tress is exhausted. Having cut down a tree they strip off the bark and cut the inner and tender wood into small pieces, which are boiled for two or three days until a thick black paste is obtained. From this the water is allowed to drain off, and the residue is made into cakes and dried in the sun. it is eaten in small pieces with betel-leaf and areca-nut. Duty is levied by the Forest Department at the rate of a rupee per handi or pot in which boiling is carried on. In Bombay various superstitious observances are connected with the manufacture of catechu; and Mr. Crooke quoted the following description of them from the Bombay Gazetteer:2 "Every year on the day after the Holi the chîlha ceremony takes place. In a trench seven feet long by three, and about three deep, khair logs are carefully stacked and closely packed till they stand in a heap about three feet above ground. The pile is then set on fire and allowed to burn to the level of the ground. The village sweeper breaks a cocoanut, kills a couple of fowls and sprinkles a little liquor near the pile. Then, after washing their feet, the sweeper and the village headman walk barefoot hurriedly across the fire. After this, strangers come to fulfil vows, and giving one anna and a half cocoanut to the sweeper, and the other half cocoanut to the headman, wash their feet, and turning to the left, walk over the pile. The fire seems to cause none of them any pain.' The following description of the Kathkâris as hunters of monkeys is also taken by Mr. Crooke from the Bombay Gazetteer3 "The Kathkâris represent themselves as descended from the monkeys of Râma. Now that their legitimate occupation of preparing catechu (kath ) has been interfered with, they subsist almost entirely by hunting, and habitually kill and eat monkeys, shooting them with bows and arrows. In order to approach within range they're obliged to have recourse to stratagems, as the monkeys at once recognise them in their ordinary costume. The ruse usually adopted is for one of the best shots to put on a woman's robe (sâri), under the ample folds of which he conceals his murderous weapons. Approaching the tree in which the monkey are seated, the sportsman affects the utmost unconcern, and busies himself with some innocent occupation he is enabled to get a sufficiently close shot to render success a certainty."

Khambas.: -They live in small tents and move around together. They are professional beggars. They are Tibetans.

1. Ethnology of Bengal, pp. 128, 129. 2. Crooke's Tribes and Castes , art. Khairwa. Quoting from Bombay Gazetteer, x. 48 and iii. 310. 3, Loc. cit.

454 Khangâr.: -Khagâr.1- A tribe of thieves and village watchmen practically confined to Bundelkhand. They are also known as Râo Khangâr in relation to their alleged Râjput descent, or râwat. When they hold the post of village watchmen, they are called Kotwâl or Kotwâr, "head policeman." There is much controversy as to the meaning of the name. According to some it is connected with the Hindi Khankh . Sanskrit Karkara, "Withered or degraded." Others derive it from Khadga. "a sword."

Tribal Legends. The tradition of the caste is that they were formerly Râjputs of the Khagâr sept and were degraded. One tradition tells that they entered Bundelkhand from somewhere to the north of Kâlpi, and took service with the Bundela Râjputs. Their chief settlement was at Kurârgarh in the Bhíkamgarh State. They failed to pay their revenue, and by the orders of the Emperor Akbar, the Bundela Râja, with the help of some Gaharwâr Râjputs from Kâshi or Benares, destroyed them by giving them drugged wine to drink, and then massacred them. It is needless to say that this is a legend common to many of the degraded tribes, such as the Bhars and others. Their Râja at the time was Nâga Râja, and, after the massacre of his followers he and his Râni escaped. He cut off half his mustache, and she took off half her jewelry, which they swore not to wear again until they wreaked their revenge on the Bundelas. By another legend only the Râni escaped the massacre of the tribe. She took refuge in a field of saffron (kusum), whence she was rescued by some Parihâr Râjputs, and bore a son, who was the ancestor of the present Khangârs. All this is, of course, is mere folk- lore, and this escape of the pregnant mother is one of the stock incidents in the folk-tales. It is said that no Khangâr is, even to the present day, allowed to enter the fort of Kurâr, and that, in memory of the birth of their ancestor in the saffron field, no Khangâr will wear cloth dyed with saffron. Another legend runs that the Bundela Râja had a son by a Khangâr woman, who was called Baghel, and received Kurâr as his inheritance. His descendants are now known as Bimhar, and until lately they were not acknowledged by the Khangârs; this has been lately allowed after a tribal council. By another account they were the descendants of Râja Bijay Sinh of Gurnâl, and were exterminated by the Gaharwâr Râjputs from Kashi, because their Râja dared to propose to marry a Gaharwâr girl. This legend is also common to a number of tribes of the same social rank. They also say that one of the Bhadauriya Râjputs once married in their sept, and to this day, whenever there is a marriage among the Bhadauriyas, the house-master sends for a Khangâr and marks his back with his hand steeped in turmeric before he pays the same mark of respect to his other guests. As a further mark of their Kshatriya descent, they say that to this day they give a sword as a marriage gift, as other Râjputs do. Further, whenever a new Bundela Râja of Datiya is enthroned, a model of the Kurâr fort and of the last Khangâr Râja is made in clay, which the Bundle breaks as part of the ceremony. Still another story tells that one of their Râjas once offered his head to Devi and the goddess replied, "Wash it." (khangârna). From this they were called Khangâr.

All these legends are an interesting example of a process which has undoubtedly gone towards the formation of many Râjput septs. That there is a large body of tradition in corroboration of the Râjput descent of the tribe is quite certain. It may also be assumed as true that the Khangârs were once lords of that part of the country; but when we examine their system of gotras, it seems plain that their claim to Râjput lineage cannot be accepted. They have, in fact, a well-developed totemistic series of gotras which marks them down at once to be of Dravidian origin.

Tribal Organisation. One list of these is as follows: Sârdu; Bhârta; Parsaniya; Bisora; Hathogotiya; Maltiya; Kurariya; Ghorgotiya; Bilgotiya; Bijaniya; Bharda; Nâhargotiya; Nâggotiya; Kusumgotiya; and Bargotiya. Of these, the Sârdu are said to be the highest, and will not drink spirits, in

1 See Crooke. Based on notes by Mr. J. S., Meston, C. S., Settlement Officer, Jhânsi ; Mr. W. Cockburn, Deputy Collector, Jâlaun ; and M. Karam Ahmad, Deputy Collector, Jhânsi.

455 memory of the catastrophe which fell upon the clan at the hands of the Bundelas. The Hathogotiya claim kindred with the elephant (hâthi), and at marriages mount the bridegroom on an elephant; The Ghorgotiya similarly respect the horse (ghora); the Nâhargotiya are of the kindred of the lion (nâhar); the Bargotiya with the bar or banyan tree, which they worship; the Nâggotiya with the nâga or serpent; and the Kusumgotiya with the safflower(kusum). Another list gives the Khargotiya and Sangotiya, who are connected in the same way with the grass (khar) and hemp plant (san). A third list gives as one of their gotras Basor, which is the name of a Dom sub-caste; Nímgotiya, sprung from the nâm tree; Gohiya from the goh or iguana; and Bâmhan Rautiya, who claim to be half Brâhmans and half Râjputs; and to these apparently totemistic names may be added from the Census lists: Chhachhîndar, "Muskrat"; Gajgoti. "the kindred of the elephant"; Hirangot, "the kindred of the deer"; Pipariya, "of the Pípal tree." Besides this there is a tribal legend that they are the forefathers of the Arakhs, a distinctly Dravidian caste, who are said to be an offshoot from them. This totemistic tribal structure clearly shows their Dravidian origin, and disposes of their claim to Râjput descent. They are, in short, on the same level as the Benbans Râjputs, who are Kharwârs, and the Pâsi and Bhar tribes of Oudh, some of whom have almost certainly succeeded in establishing a fictitious Râjput connection. It was out of such elements doubtless that many of the Râjput tribes were formed, and in the case of the Khangârs it is only from the fact that they have as yet been unable to shed off their totemistic sections that we are able actually to ascertain their real origin. The lesson is a useful one in dealing with the pretensions of many now degraded tribes to a higher origin, and it would not be perhaps too much to say that while we have instances in plenty of tribes who have raised themselves in the social scale, it would be difficult to point to one undoubted instance of a tribe which having once arrived at that stage of culture to enable them to assert the rank of Râjputs, ever fell back into the grade of landless labourers and thieves such as the Khangârs are at present.

Marriage Rules. The rule of exogamy is that a man does not marry in the gotra of his father or mother until three generations have passed, and they have the usual formula known as dîdh bachâké, or avoidance of blood relations, which is common to them and all ordinary Hindus, and is intended to reinforce the gotra law of exogamy and prevent intermarriage, which, without it, would still be possible. In their ceremonies there is a line drawn between the more respectable Khangârs, who ape a Râjput descent, and the Kotwâr or village watchman class, who retain many usages of a more primitive type. Thus, the higher class Khangârs profess to have only quite recently adopted the custom of widow marriage and the levirate, which is admittedly authorised among those of the lower class. Among the Nâhargotiyas the clothes of the bridegroom are dyed with turmeric, and with saffron among the other sections. The lower members of the tribe employ no barber or Brâhman except for the actual ceremony, while among the higher class the preliminary negotiations and ceremony are performed in the orthodox way. The more respectable Khangârs are now prohibiting concubinage with women of other tribes, but a low-grade man may keep a concubine of a caste other than his own, provided it be of a grade superior the his own. A man cannot marry a second wife without the distinct leave of the first wife. At a marriage among respectable Khangârs the bridegroom is expected to send five rupees by the barber who arranges the match; the same sum when the lagan or fixing of the wedding day comes off. On the other hand, the father of the bridegroom receives a present of one rupee when he enters the village of the bride, ten rupees when he reaches her door; her mother gives him a rupee when he goes to her room after the marriage: besides which all the bride's relations are expected to give something. All the other ceremonies at a respectable wedding are of the normal character.

Birth Rites. The birth rites are of the usual kind. When a boy is born the mark of the Swâstika is made on the wall of the house, and on the thirteenth day a cow-dung Swâstika is made and taken to a tank, into which it is flung. Laddu (sweets made of rice) are distributed, which are known as chhathi kâ chânwal . or "The rice of the sixth day." There is no sign of the couvade, but it is

456 contrary to etiquette for the father to talk about the birth of his child or to receive the congratulations of his friends. He leaves the grandfather of the child to receive and interview friends who call this purpose.

Religion. Khangârs are all Hindus, and by preference worshippers of Devi. In addition, they worship the sainted forefathers of the tribe, Nâga Bâba and Kaneriya Bâba. The worship of the latter seems to be confined to the lower section of the tribe. They also make periodical pilgrimage to Kurâr, the original home of the tribe. where they worship Gidwânsa Mâta, a tribal mother who has a shrine on the embankment of the lake. Each family among the lower class Khangârs makes a platform to Kaneriya Bâba at his house, and offers eggs and cocoanuts on the occasions of domestic ceremonies, such as birth or marriage. The worship is performed at night, and is kept secret: only members of the family can receive a share of offerings (prasâd). At marriages the women do the mysterious Mehra Pîja, or woman worship, at which only members of the family on the paternal side are allowed to attend.

Tree Worship. Tree worship is very well developed among the tribe. The Rajauriya section worship the gunj tree (abrus precatorius); the Jacheriyas, the jacher tree; the Sanauriyas, the nandi tree; the Beliyas, the bel or agle marmelos; just as the Baguliyas worship the bagula or paddy- bird and the Magariyas the magar or alligator. All Khangârs worship the anola (phyllanthus emblica) on the ninth day of the waxing moon of Kârttik. The worship of the bar or banyan tree by the Bargotiya subdivision has been already referred to .

Social Life And Occupation. Unlike the higher castes, they have a tribal council (panchâyat), with a president (mukhiya), who is appointed from time to time on the ground of fitness for the post. They have some connection with eunuchs. One of their women, they say, was once saved by an eunuch, and to this day eunuchs call Khangârs bhânja or sister's son. The higher class Khangârs will eat only the food which is permitted to Râjputs; those of the lower sort no doubt eat jungle animal, and, it is said, various kinds of vermin; but if they do so, they do not care to admit the fact. There rules of eating are uncertain. According to one account they will eat pakki and kachchi with Kurmis; according to another they will eat kachchi cooked by any Brâhman, Râjput, or Banya, and pakki from the hand of any one but a Chamâr, Dhobi, Mehtar, Kori, or Basor. They will not smoke with any caste but their own. The Nâi is said to be the highest caste which will eat pakki with them. The Kori will eat kachchi and Brâhmans will drink water drawn by them; but it is not quite certain how far these rules apply to the whole caste, or only to the more respectable branch. The Khangârs are landless labourers, except in very few instances. They serve the Bundelas as servants, and as they have a very indifferent reputation, they are very often appointed village watchmen on the same principle that Pâsis very often hold the same position in Oudh and the Eastern Districts of the Province. Though not exactly a criminal tribe, they are prone to commit thefts and Burglaries.

Kharia.: -A primitive Kolarian tribe, of which about 900 persons were returned from the Central Provinces in 1911.1 They belong to the Bilâspur District and the Jashpur and Raigarh States. The Kharias are one of the most backward of the Kolarian tribes, and appear to be allied to the Mundas and Savars. Colonel Dalton says of them: "In the Chota Nâgpur estate they are found in large communities, and the Kharias belonging to these communities are far more civilised than those who live apart. Their best settlements lie near the southern Koel river, which stream they venerate as the Santâls do the Dâmudar, and into it they throw

1 See Russell. This article is mainly based on notes taken by Rai Bahâdur Híra Lâl at Raigarh, with extracts from Colonel Dalton's and Sir H. Risley's accounts of the tribe.

457 the ashes of their dead." Chota Nâgpur is the home of the Kharias, and their total strength is over a lakh. They are found elsewhere only in Assam, where they have probably migrated to the tea-gardens.

Legend Of Origin. The Kharia legend of origin resembles that of the Mundas, and tends to show that they are an elder branch of that tribe. They say that a child was born to a woman in the jungle, and she left it to fetch a basket in which to carry it home. On her return she saw a cobra spreading its hood over the child to protect it from the sun. On this account the child was called Nâgvansi (of the race of the cobra), and became the ancestor of the Nâgvansi Râjas of Chota Nâgpur. The Kharias say this child had an elder brother, and the two brothers set out on a journey, the younger riding a horse and the elder carrying a kâwar or banghy with their luggage. When they came to Chota Nâgpur the younger was made king, on which the elder brother also asked for a share of the inheritance. They people then put two caskets before him and asked him to choose one. One of the caskets contained silver and the other only some earth. The elder brother chose that which contained earth, and on this he was told that the fate of himself and his descendants would be to till the soil, and carry banghys as he had been doing. The Kharias say that they are descended from the elder brother, while the younger was the ancestor of the Nâgvansi Râjas, who are really Mundas. They say that they can never enter the house of the Nâgvanis Râjas because they stand in the relation of elder brother-in-law to the Rânis, who are consequently prohibited from looking on the face of a Kharia. This story is exactly like that of the Parjas in connection with the Râjas of Bastar. And as the Parjas are probably an older branch of the Gonds, who were reduced to subjection by the subsequent Râj-Gond immigrants under the ancestors of the Bastar Râjas, so it seems a reasonable hypothesis that the Kharias stood in a similar relationship to the Mundas or Kols. This theory derives some support from the fact that, according to Sir H. Risley, the Mundas will take daughters in marriage from the Kharias, but will not give their daughters to them, and the Kharias speak of the Mundas as their elder brethren.1 Mr. Híra Lal suggests that the name Kharia is derived from kharkhari, a palanquin or litter, and that the original name Kharkharia has been contracted into Kharia. He states that in the Uriya country Oraons, who carry litters, are also called Kharias. This derivation is in accordance with the tradition of the Kharias that their first ancestor carried a banghy, and with the fact that the Kols are the best professional dhoolie -bearers.

Subcastes. In Raigarh the Kharias have only two subtribes, the Dîdh, or milk Kharias, and the Delki. Of these the Delki are said to be of mixed origin. They take food from Brâhmans, and explain that they do so because an ancestress went wrong with a Brâhman. It seems likely that they may be descended from the offspring of immigrant Hindus in Chota Nâgpur with Kharia women, like similar subdivisions in other tribes. The Delkis look down on the Dîdh Kharias, saying that the latter eat the flesh of tigers and monkeys, from which the Delkis abstain. In Bengal the tribe have two other divisions, the Erenga and Munda Kharias.

Exogamy And Totemism. The tribe is divided, like others, into totemistic exogamous septs, which pay reverence to their totems. Thus members of the Kulu (tortoise), Kiro (tiger), Nâg (cobra), Kankul (leopard) and Kuto (crocodile) septs abstain from killing their totem animal, fold their hands in obeisance when they meet it, and taking up some dust from the animal's track place it on their heads as a mark of veneration. Certain septs cannot wholly abstain from the consumption of their sept totem, so they make a compromise. Thus members of the Baa, or rice sept, cannot help eating rice, but they will not eat the scum which gathers over the rice as it is being boiled. Those of the Bilum or salt sept must not take up a little salt on one finger and suck it, but must always use two or more fingers for conveying salt to the mouth, presumably as a mark of respect.

1 Tribes and Castes of Bengal , art. Kharia.

458 Members of the Suren or stone sept will not make ovens with stones but only with clods of earth. The tribe do not now think they are actually descended from their totems, but tell stories accounting for the connection. Thus the Katang Kondai or bamboo sept say that a girl in the family of their ancestors went to cut bamboos and never came back. Her parents went to search for her and heard a voice calling out from the bamboos, but could not find their daughter. Then they understood that the bamboo was of their own family and must not be cut by them. The supposition is apparently that the girl was transformed into a bamboo.

Marriage. Marriage between members of the same sept is forbidden, but the rule is not always observed. A brother's daughter may marry a sister's son, but not vice versa. Marriage is always adult, and overtures come from the boy's father. The customary bride-price is twelve bullocks, but many families cannot afford this, and resort is then made to a fiction. The boy's party make twelve models of bullocks in earth, and placing each in a leaf-plate send them to the girl's party, who throw away two, saying that one has been eaten by a tiger, and the other has fallen into a pit and died. The remaining the are returned to the bridegroom's party, who throw away two, saying that they have been sold to provide liquor for the Panch. For two of the eight now left real animals are substituted, and for the other six one rupee each, and the two cattle and six rupees are sent back to the bride's party as the real bride- price. Poor families, however, give four rupees instead of the two cattle, and ten rupees in among them considered as the proper price, though even this is reduced on occasion. The marriage party goes from the bride's to the bridegroom's house, and consists of women only. The men do not go, as they say that on one occasion all the men of a Kharia wedding procession were turned into stones, and they fear to undergo a similar fate. The real reason may probably be that the journey of the bride is a symbolic reminiscence of the time when she was carried off by force, and hence it would be derogatory for the men to accompany her. The bridegroom comes out to meet the bride riding on the shoulders of his brother-in-law or paternal. aunt's husband, who is known as Dherha. He touches the bride, and both of them perform a dance. At the wedding the bridegroom stands on a plough-yoke, and the bride on a grinding-slab. and the Dherha walks seven times round them, sprinkling water on them from a mango leaf. The couple are shut up alone for the night, and next morning the girl goes to the river to wash her husband's clothes. On her return a fowl is killed, and the couple drink two drops of its blood in water mixed with turmeric, as a symbol of the mixing of their own blood. A goat is killed, and they step in its blood and enter their house. The caste- people say to them, "Whenever a Kharia comes to your house, give him a cup of water and tobacco and food if you have it," and the wedding is over.

Taboos As To Food. After a girl is married her own mother will not eat food cooked by her, as no two Kharias will take food together unless they are of the same sept. When a married daughter goes back to the house of her parents she cooks her food separately, and does not enter their cook-room; if she did all the earthen pots would be defiled and would have to be thrown away. A similar taboo marks the relations of a woman towards her husband's elder brother, who is known as Kura Sasur. She must not enter his house nor sit on a cot or stool before him, nor touch him, nor cook food for him. If she touches him a fine of a fowl with liquor is imposed by the caste, and for his touching her a goat and liquor. This idea may perhaps have been established as a check on the custom of fraternal polyandry, when the idea of the eldest brother taking the father's place as head of the joint family became prevalent.

Widow-Marriage And Divorce. Widow-marriage is permitted at the price of a feast to the caste, and the payment of a small sum to the woman's family. A widow must leave her children with her first husband's family if requested to do so. If she takes them with her they become entitled to inherit her second husband's property, but receive only a half-share as against a full share taken by his children. Divorce is permitted by mutual agreement or for adultery of the woman. But the practice is

459 not looked upon with favour, and a divorced man or woman rarely succeeds in obtaining another mate.

Religion. The principal deity of the Kharias is a hero called Banda. They say that an Oraon had vowed to give his daughter to the man who would clear the kâns 1 grass of a hillock. Several men tried, and at last Banda did it by cutting out the roots. He then demanded the girl's hand, but the Oraon refused, thinking that Banda had cleared the grass by magic. Then Banda went away and the girl died, and on learning of this Banda went and dug her out of her grave, when she came to life and they were married. Since then Banda has been worshipped. The tribe also venerate their ploughs and on the day of Dasahra they make offerings to the sun.

Funeral Rites. The tribe bury the dead, placing the head to the north, When the corpse is taken out of the house two grains of rice are thrown to each point of the compass to invite the ancestors of the family to the funeral. And on the way, where two roads meet, the corpse is set down and a little rice and cotton-seed sprinkled on the ground as a guiding mark to the ancestors. Before burial the corpse is anointed with turmeric and oil, and carried seven times round the grave, probably as a symbol of marriage to it. Each relative puts a piece of cloth in the grave, and the dead man's cooking-pots, his axe, stick, pipe and other belongings, and a basketful of rice are buried with him. The mourners set thee plants of orai or khas -khas grass on the grave over the dead man's head, middle and feet, and then they go to a tank and bathe, chewing the roots of this grass. It would appear that the orai grass may be and agent of purification or means of severance from the dead man's ghost, like the leaves of the sacred ním 2 tree.

Bringing Back The Souls Of The Dead. On the third day they bathe and are shaved, and catch a fish, which is divided among all the relatives however small it may be, and eaten raw with salt, turmeric and garlic. It seems likely that this fish may be considered to represent the dead man's spirit, and is eaten in order to avoid being haunted by his ghost or for some other object, and the fish may be eaten as a substitute for the dead man's body, itself consumed in former times. On the tenth night after the death the soul is called back, a lighted wick being set in a vessel at the cross-roads where the rice and cotton had been sprinkled. They call on the dead man, and when the flame of the lamp wavers in the wind they break the vessel holding the lamp, saying that his soul has come and joined them, and go home. On the following Dasahra festival, when ancestors are worshipped, the spirit of the deceased is mingled with the ancestors. A cock and hen are fed and let loose, and the headman of the sept calls on the soul to come and join the ancestors and give his protection to the family. When a man is killed by a tiger the remains are collected and burnt on the spot. A goat is sacrificed and eaten by the caste, and thereafter, when a wedding takes place in that man's family, a goat is offered to his spirit. The Kharias believe that the spirits of the dead are reborn in children, and on the Bârhi day, a month after the child's birth, they ascertain which ancestor has been reborn by the usual method of divination with grains of rice in water.

Social Customs. The strict taboos practised by the tribe as regards food have already been mentioned. Men will take food from one another, but not women. Men will also accept food cooked without water from Brâhmans, Râjputs and Bhuiyas. The Kharias will eat almost any kind of flesh, including crocodile, rat, pig, tiger and bear; they have now generally abandoned beef in deference to Hindu prejudice, and also monkeys, though they formerly ate these animals, the Topno sept especially being noted on this account.

1 Saccharum spontaneum . This grass infests cultivated fields and is very difficult to eradicate. 2 Melia indica .

460 Caste Rules And Organisation. Temporary expulsion from caste is imposed for the usual offences, and also for getting shaved or having clothes washed by a barber or washerman other than a member of the caste. This rule seems to arise either from an ultra-strict desire for social purity or from a hostile reaction against the Hindus for the low estimation in which the Kharias are held. Again it is a caste offence to carry the palanquin of a Kâyasth, a Muhammadan, a Koshta (weaver) or a Nai (barber), or to carry the tâzias or representations of the tomb of Husain in the Muharram procession. The caste have a headman who has the title of Pardhân, with an assistant called Negi and a messenger who is known as Gânda. The headman must always be of the Samer sept, the Negi of the Suren sept, and the Gânda of the Bartha or messenger sept. The headman's duty is to give water for the first time to caste offenders on readmission, the Negi must make all arrangements for the caste feast, and the Gânda goes and summons the tribesmen. In addition to the penalty feast, a cash fine is imposed on an erring member; of this rather more than half is given to the assembled tribesmen for the purpose of buying murra or fried grain on their way home on the following morning. The remaining sum is divided between the three officers, the Pardhân and Negi getting two shares each and the Gânda one share. But the division is only approximate, as the Kharias are unable to do the necessary calculation for an odd number of rupees. The men have their hair tied in a knot on the right side of the head, and women on the left. The women are tattooed, but not the men.

Colonel Dalton writes of the tribal dances:1 "The nuptial dances of the Kharias are very wild, and the gestures of the dancers and the songs all bear more directly than delicately on what is evidently considered the main object of the festivities, the public recognition of the consummation of the marriage. The bride and bridegroom are carried through the dances seated on the hips of two of their companions. Dancing is an amusement to which the Kharias, like all Kolarians, are passionately devoted. The only noticeable difference in their style is that in the energy, vivacity and warmth of their movements they excel all their brethren."

Occupation And Character. The Kharias say that their original occupation is to carry dhoolies or litters, and this, as well as the social rules prohibiting them from carrying those of certain castes, is in favour of the derivation of the name from kharkhari , a litter. They are also cultivators, and collect forest produce. They are a wild and backward tribe, as shown in the following extracts from an account by Mr. Ball:2 "The first Kharias I met with were encamped in the jungle at the foot of some hills. The hut was rudely made of a few sâl branches, its occupants being one man, an old and two young women, besides three or four children. At the time of my visit they were taking their morning meal; and as they regarded my presence with the utmost indifference, without even turning round or ceasing from their occupations, I remained for some time watching them. They had evidently recently captured some small animal, but what it was, as they had already eaten the skin, I could not ascertain. As I looked on, the old woman distributed to the others, on plates of sâl leaves, what appeared to be the entrails of the animal, and wrapping up her own portion between a couple of leaves threw it on the fire in order to give it a very primitive cooking. With regard to their ordinary food the Kharias chiefly depend on the jungle for a supply of fruits, leaves and roots. "The Kharias never make iron themselves, but are altogether dependent on the neighbouring bazârs for their supplies. Had they at any period possessed a knowledge of the art of making iron, conservative of their customs as such races are, it is scarcely likely that they would have forgotten it. It is therefore not unreasonable to suppose that there was a period prior to the advent of the Hindus when iron was quite unknown to them--when, owing to the absence of cultivation in the plains, they were even more dependent on the supply of jungle food than

1 Ethnology of Bengal . 2 Jungle Life in India , p. 89.

461 they are at present. In those times their axes and their implements for grubbing up roots were in all probability made of stone, and their arrows had tips of the same material. "In their persons the Kharias are very dirty, seldom if ever washing themselves. Their features are decidedly of a low character, not unlike the Bhumij, but there seemed to me to be an absence of any strongly marked type in their faces or build, such as enables one to know a Santâl and even a Kurmi at a glance."

Language. Of the Kharia dialect Sir George Grierson states that it is closely allied to Savara, and has also some similarity to Korku and Juâng:1 "Kharia grammar has all the characteristics of a language which is gradually dying out and being superseded by dialects of quite different families. The vocabulary is strongly Aryanised, and Aryan principles have pervaded the grammatical structure. Kharia is no longer a typical Munda language. It is like a palimpsest, the original writing on which can only be recognised with some difficulty."2 An account of the Kharia dialect has been published in Mr. F. B. Banerjee's Introduction to the Kharia Language (Calcutta. 1894)

Kha¡®iâ.: -Kha®iâ is the dialect of a cultivating tribe in Chota Nagpur3. The number of speakers is about 80,000.

Name of the language. Kha®iâ is properly the name of the tribe, and not of the language. We do not known the original meaning of the word. It is possible that it has something to do with the common word for 'man' in the Mu∑πâ language.

Area within which spoken. The Kha®iâs are found over a wide tract of country, from Bankura in the east to the Chhattisgarh Feudatory States in the west. They are divided into several sub-tribes, and are mainly cultivators. We do not known anything with certainty about their origin and old wanderings. Many Kha®iâs have abandoned their original language for some Aryan or Dravidian form of speech. The territory within which Kha®iâ is spoken does not, therefore, coincide with the home of the tribe. The stronghold of the Kha®iâ language is the south- western corner of Ranchi and the adjoining portions of Jashpur and Gangpur. Speakers are also scattered over Udaipur, Raigarh, and Sarangarh. The Kha®iâs of the Orissa Tributary States, of Bonai and Sambalpur, and probably also those in Bamra, Rairakhol, and Patna, speak Kurukh. Those living in Manbhum and Bankura speak a corrupt Bengali, and those in Sarguja speak Chhattísga®hí. The members of the tribe living in the Sarguja State, however, are able to translate some words into Mu∑πâri which they apparently consider as their old home-tongue.

Some of the Kha®iâs of the Jashpur State have been returned under the head of Bírha®, i .e ., 'wood -men.' Their language is, however, Kha®iâ, and Bírha® is probably the name given to them by their Mu∑πâ neighbours. Their own word for 'man' is lebu as in Kha®iâ.

Kha®iâ is a dying language, and it is probably very corrupt in those districts where it is only spoken by very few individuals. In Ranchi, Jashpur, Raigarh, and Sarangarh, the dialect is everywhere the same.

1 Linguistic Survey , Vol. iv. Munda and Dravidian Languages , p. 22. 2 lbidem , p. 129 3 Linguistic Survey of India.

462 Number of speakers. The number of speakers has been estimated as follows for the purposes of this Survey: A.- Spoken at home- Bengal Presidency- Bankura 156 Ranchi 68,321 Jashpur State 2,500 Udaipur State 79 ------Total Bengal 71,056 Central Provinces- Sarangarh 496 ------Total 71,552

Kharwis.: -They live in Gujarat and they are merchants from Rajasthan.

Khója.: -In the Madras Census Report of 1901, eleven Khójas are recorded as belonging to a Mussalman tribe of traders from Bombay1. For the following note on the Khójas of Southern India, I am indebted to an article by Dr. J. Shortt.2 "The true Kojahs, or eunuchs, are not numerous in Southern India. They are chiefly to be seen in the houses of wealthy Mussalman nobles, by whom they are placed at the head of their zenanas or harems.

Castration The Kojahs are properly divided into two classes: (1) Kojahs; (2) Hijras. Sometimes Hindus, Sîdras, and Brâhmans subject themselves to the operation (of castration), of their own accord from a religious impression. Others, finding themselves naturally impotent, consider it necessary to undergo the operation, to avoid being born again at a future birth in the same helpless state. The operation of castration is generally performed by a class of barbers, sometimes by some of the more intelligent of the eunuchs themselves, in the following manner. The patient is made to sit on an upturned new earthen pot, being previously well drugged with opium or bhang. The entire genitals being seized by the left hand, an assistant, who has a bamboo lath slot into which the whole of the genitals are firmly inserted at the root, when the operator, with a sharp razor, runs it down along the face of the lath, and removes penis, testicles and scrotum in one swoop, leaving a large clean open wound behind, in which boiling gingelly (Sesamum indicum) oil is poured to staunch the bleeding, and the wound covered over with a soft rag steeped in warm oil. This is the only dressing applied to the wound, which is renewed daily, while the patient is confined in a supine position to his bed, and lightly fed with conjee (rice gruel), milk, etc. During the operation, the patient is urged to cry out 'Dín' (the faith in Mahomet) three times.

Traditional and modern occupations "Of the two classes, the Kojahs are the artificially created eunuchs, in comparison to the Hijras (impotents) or natural eunuchs. Some years ago there were three Kojahs at the head of the State prison or Royal Mahal at Vellore, and in charge of some of the wives, descendants, and other female connections of Tippoo Sultan. Tales were often repeated that the zenana women (slaves and adopted girls) were in the habit of stripping them naked, and poking fun at their helplessness. There were two Kojahs in the employment of the late Nobob of the Carnatic.

1 See Thurston 2. Journ. Anthrop. Inst., II, 1873.

463 They were both Africans. On the death of the Nabob, the Government allowed one of them a pension of fifteen rupees a month. "The second class, Hijras or natural eunuchs as they are termed, are not so, strictly speaking, but are said to be impotent. While some are naturally so from birth, others are impressed with a belief in childhood, and are dressed up in women's clothes, taught to ape their speech and manners, whilst a few adopt it as a profession in after-life. They are chiefly Mussalmans. The hair of the thrown back, tied into a knot, and shelved to the left side, sometimes plaited, ornamented, and allowed to hang down the back. They wear the cholee or short jacket, the saree or petticoat, and put on abundance of nose, ear, finger, and toe rings. They cultivate singing, play the dhol (a drum), and attitudinise.

They go about the bazaars in groups of half a dozen or more, singing songs with the hope of receiving a trifle. [Such a group I saw at Sandîr, who, on hearing that I wished to photograph them, made tracks for another place.-E. T. ] They are not only persistent, but impudent beggars, singing filthy, obscene, and abusive songs, to compel the bazaarmen to give them something. Should they not succeed, they would create a fire and throw in a lot of chillies, the suffocating and irritative smoke producing violent coughing, etc., so that the bazaarmen are compelled to yield to their importunity, and give them a trifle to get rid of their annoyance.

While such were the pursuits in the day, at nightfall they resorted to debauchery and low practices by hiring themselves out to a dissipated set of Moslems, who are in the habit of resorting to these people for the purpose, whilst they intoxicate themselves with a preparation termed majoon, being a confection of opium, and a drink termed boja, a species of country beer manufactured from râgi (Eleusine Coracana), which also contains bhang (Indian hemp). In addition to this, they smoke bhang. The Hijras are met with in most of the towns of Southern India, more especially where a large proportion of Mussalmans is found." 1 In Hyderabad, castration used to be performed at about the age of sixteen. A pit, 3 feet 2 deep, was dug in the ground, and filled with ashes. After the operations, the patient had to sit on the ashes, with crossed legs, for three days. The operation was performed, under the influence of narcotics, by a Pír-- the head of the Khója community.

Religious rite I am informed by Mr. G.T. Paddison that, at the annual festival of the Gadabas of Vizagapatam, thorns are set on a swing outside the shrine of the goddess. On these the priest or priestess sits without harm. If the priest is masculine, he has been made neuter. But, if the village is not fortunate enough to possess a eunuch, a woman performs the ceremony. The following notes were recorded by me on the occasion of an interview with some eunuchs living in the city of Madras: "Hindu, aged about 30. Generative organs feebly developed. Is a natural eunuch. Speaks and behaves like a female. Keeps a stall, at which he sells cakes. Goes out singing and dancing with four other eunuchs, and earns from ten annas to a rupee in a night. There are in Madras, about thirty eunuchs, who go about dancing. Others keep shops, or are employed as domestic servants. One well acquainted with the Hindu eunuchs of Madras stated that, when a boy is born with ill-developed genitalia, his unnatural condition is a source of anxiety to his family Such boys run away from home, and join the eunuchs. They are taught to sing and dance, and carry on abominable practices. They are employed by dancing-girls, to decoy paramours to them. For this purpose, they dress up as dancing-girls, and go about the streets. At times of census, they return themselves as males in singing and dancing.

464 Khond.: -Kandh. 1--A Dravidian tribe found in the Uriya-speaking tract of the Sambalpur District and the adjoining Feudatory States of Patna and Kâlâhandi, which up to 1905 were included in the Central Provinces, but now belong to Bihâr and Orissa. The Province formerly contained 168,000, residing mainly in the Khariâr zamíndâri to the south- east of the Raipur District and the Sârangarh State. The tract inhabited by the Khonds was known generally as the Kondhân. The tribe call themselves Kuiloka, or Kuienju, which may possible be derived from ke or kî, a Telugu word for a mountain.2 Their own traditions as to their origin are of little historical value, but they were almost certainly at one time the rulers of the country in which they now reside. It was the custom until recently for the Râja of Kâlâhandi to sit on the lap of a Khond on his accession while he received the oaths of fealty. The man who held the Râja was the eldest member of a particular family, residing in the village of Gugsai Patna, and had the title of Patnaji. The coronation of a new Râja took place in this village, to which all the chiefs repaired. The Patnaji would be seated on a large rock, richly dressed, with a cloth over his knees on which the Râja sat. The Díwân or minister then tied the turban of state on the Râja's head, while all the other chiefs present held the ends of the cloth. The ceremony fell into abeyance when Raghu Kesari Deo was made Râja on the deposition of his predecessor for misconduct, as the Patnaji refused to install a second Râja, while one previously consecrated by him was still living. The Râja was also accustomed to marry a Khond girl as one of his wives, though latterly he did not allow her to live in the palace. These customs have lately been abandoned; they may probably be interpreted as recognition that the Râjas of Kâlâhandi derived their rights from the Khonds. Many of the zamíndâri estates of Kâlâhandi and Sonpur are still held by members of the tribe.

Tribal Divisions. There is no strict endogamy within the Khond tribe. It has two main division: the Kutia Khonds who are hillmen and retain their primitive tribal customs, and the plains-dwelling Khonds who have acquired a tincture of Hinduism. The Kutia or hill Khonds are said to be so-called because they break the skulls of animals when they kill them for food; the word kutia meaning one who breaks or smashes. The plain-dwelling Khonds have a number of subdivision which are supposed to be endogamous, though the rule is not strictly observed. Among these the Râj Khonds are the highest, and are usually landed proprietors. A man, however, is not considered to be a Râj Khond unless he possesses some land, and if a Râj Khond takes a bride from another group he descends to it. A similar rule applies among some of the other groups, a man being relegated to his wife's division when he marries into one which is lower than his own. The Dal Khonds may probably have been soldiers, the word dal meaning an army. They are also known as Adi Kandh or the superior Khonds, and as Bâlîsudia or 'Shaven.' At present they usually hold the honourable position of village priest, and have to a certain extent adopted Hindu usages, refusing to eat fowls or buffaloes, and offering the leaves of the tulsi (basil) to their deities. The Kandhanas are so called because they grow turmeric, which is considered rather a low thing to do, and the Pâkhia because they eat the flesh of the por or buffalo. The Gauria are graziers, and the Nâgla or "naked ones" apparently take their name from their paucity of clothing. The Utâr or Satbhuiyân are a degraded group, probably of illegitimate descent; for the other Khonds will take daughters from them, but will not give their daughters to them.

Exogamous Septs. Traditionally the Khonds have thirty-two exogamous septs, but the number has now increased. All the members of one sept live in the same locality about some central village. Thus the Tîpa sept are collected round the village of Teplagarh in the Patna State, the Loa sept round Sindhekala, the Borga round Bangomunda, and so on. The names of the septs are derived either from the names of villages or from titles or nicknames. Each sept is further

1. See Russell. Khandh is the Uriya spelling, and Khond or Khond that of the Telugus. 2. Linguistic survey of India.

465 divided into a number of subsepts whose names are of a totemistic nature, being derived from animals, plants, Chhatra umbrella, Hikoka horse, Kelka the kingfisher, Konjaka the monkey, etc. It is a fact that while the names of the septs appear to belong to the Khond language, those of the subsepts are all Uriya words, and this affords some ground for the supposition that they are more recent than the septs, an opinion to which Sir H. Risley inclines. On the other hand, the fact that the subsepts have totemistic names appears difficult to explain under this hypothesis. Members of the subsepts regard the animal or plant after which it is named as sacred. Those of the Kadam group will not stand under the tree of that name. Those of the Narsingha1 sept will not kill a tiger or eat the meat of any animal wounded or killed by this animal. The same subsept will be found in several different septs, and a man may not marry a woman belonging either to the same sept or subsept as his own. But kinship through females is disregarded, and he may take his maternal uncle's daughter to wife, and in Kâlâhandi is not debarred from wedding his mother's sister.2

Marriage. Marriage is adult and a large price, varying from 12 to 20 head of cattle, was formerly demanded for the bride. This has now, however, been reduced in some localities to two or three animals and a rupee each in lieu of the other, or cattle may be entirely dispensed with and some grain given. If a man cannot afford to purchase a bride, he amy serve his father-in- law for seven years as the condition of obtaining her. A proposal for marriage is made by placing a brass cup and three arrows at the door of the girl's father. He will remove these once to show his reluctance, and they will be again replaced. If he removes them a second time, it signifies his definite refusal of the match, but if he allows them to remain, the bridegroom's friends go to him and say, 'We have noticed a beautiful flower in passing through your village and desire to pluck it.' The wedding procession goes from the bride's to the bridegroom's house as among the Gonds; this custom, as remarked by Mr. Bell, is not improbably a survival of marriage by capture, when the husband carried off his wife and married her at his own house. At the marriage the bride and bridegroom come out, each sitting on the shoulders of one of their relatives. The bridegroom pulls the bride to his side, when a piece of cloth is thrown over them, and they are tied together with a string of new yarn wound round them seven times. A cock is sacrificed, and the cheeks of the couple are singed with burnt bread. They pass the night in a veranda, and next day are taken to a tank, the bridegroom being armed with a bow and arrows. He shoots through each of seven cowdung cakes, the bride after each shot washing his forehead and giving him a green twig for a tooth-brush and some sweets. This is symbolical of their future course of life, when the husband will procure food by hunting, while the wife will wait on him and prepare his food. Sexual intercourse before marriage between a man and girl of the tribe is condoned so long as they are not within the prohibited degrees of relationship, and in Kâlâhandi such liaisons are a matter of ordinary occurrence. If a girl is seduced by one man and subsequently married to another, the first lover usually pays the husband a sum of seven to twelve rupees as compensation. In Sambalpur a girl may choose her own husband, and the couple commonly form an intimacy while engaged in agricultural work. Such unions are know as Udhlia or 'Love in the fields.' If the parents raise any objection to the match the couple elope and return as man and wife, when they have to give a feast to the caste, and if the girl was previously betrothed to another man the husband must pay him compensation. In the last case the union is called Paisa moli or marriage by purchase. A trace of fraternal polyandry survives in the custom by which the younger brothers are allowed access to the elder brother's wife till the time of their own marriage. Widow-marriage and divorce are recognised.

1. Narsingha means a man-lion and is one of Vishnu's incarnations ; this subsept would seem, therefore, to have been formed since the Khonds adopted Hinduism. 2. In Orissa, however, relationship through females is a bar to marriage, as recorded in Sir H. Risley's article.

466 Customs At Birth. For one day after a child has been born the mother is allowed no food. On the sixth day she herself shaves the child's head and bites his nails short with her teeth, after which she takes a bow and arrows and stands with the child facing successively to the four points of the compass. The idea of this is to make the child a skilful hunter when he grows up. Children are named in their fifth or sixth year. Names are sometimes given after some personal peculiarity, as Lammudia, long-headed, or Khanja, one having six-fingers; or after some circumstance of the birth, as Ghosian, in compliment to the Ghasia (grass-cutter) woman who acts as midwife; Jugi, because some holy mendicant (Yogi) was halting in the village when the child was born; or a child may be named after the day of the week or month on which it was born. The tribe believe that the souls of the departed are born again as children, and boys have on occasion been named Majhiân Budhi or the old head-woman, whom they suppose to have been born again with a change of sex. Major Macpherson observed the same belief:1 "To determine the best name for the child, the priest drops grains of rice into a cup of water, naming with each grain a deceased ancestor. He pronounces, from the movements of the seed in the fluid, and form observation made on the person of the infant, which of his progenitors has reappeared in him, and the child generally, but not uniformly, receives the name of that ancestor." When the children are named, they are made to ride a goat or a pig, as a mark of respect, it is said, to the ancestor who has been reborn in them. Names usually recur after the third generation.

Disposal Of The Dead. The dead are buried as a rule, but the practice of cremating the bodies of adults is increasing . When a body is buried a rupee or a copper coin is tied in the sheet, so that the deceased may not go penniless to the other world. Sometimes the dead man's clothes and bows and arrows are buried with him. On the tenth day the soul is brought back. Outside the village, where two roads meet, rice is offered to a cock, and if it eats, this is a sign that the soul has come. The soul is then asked to ride on a bowstick covered with cloth, and is brought to the house and placed in a corner with those of other relatives. The souls are fed annually with rice on the harvest and Dasahra festivals. In Sambalpur a ball of powdered rice is placed under a tree with a lamp near it, and the first insect that settles on the ball is taken to be the soul, and is brought home and worshipped. The souls of infants who die before the umbilical cord has dropped are not brought back, because they are considered to have scarcely come into existence; and Sir E. Gait records that one of the causes of female infanticide was the belief that the souls of girl-children thus killed would not be born again, and hence the number of future female births would decrease. This belief partially conflicts with that of the change of sex on rebirth mentioned above; but the two might very well exist together. The souls of women who die during pregnancy or after a mis-carriage, or during the monthly period of impurity are also not brought back, no doubt because they are held to be malignant spirits.

Occupation. The Khond traditionally despises all occupations except those of husbandry, hunting and war. "In Orissa," Sir H. Risley states, "they claim full rights of property in the soil in virtue of having cleared the jungle and prepared the land for cultivation. In some villages individual ownership is unknown, and the land is cultivated on a system of temporary occupation subject to periodical redistribution under the orders of the headman or mâlik." Like the other forest tribes they are improvident and fond of drink. Macpherson2 described the Khonds as faithful to friends, devoted to their chiefs, resolute, brave, hospitable and laborious; but these high qualities meet with no recognition among the Uriya Hindus, who regard their stupidity as the salient attribute of the Khonds and have various tales in derision of them, like those told of the weavers. They consider the Khonds as only a little superior to the impure Doms (musicians and sweepers), and say, 'Kandh ghare

1. Report on the Khonds, p. 56. 2. Report , p. 59.

467 Domna Mantri,' or 'In a Kandh house the Dom is Prime Minister.' This is paralleled by the similar relation between the Gonds and Pardhâns. The arms of the Khonds were a light, long-handled sword with a blade very curiously carved, the bow and arrow, and the sling, no shields being used. The axe also was used with both hands, to strike and parry, its handle being partly defended by brass plates and wire for the latter purpose. The following description of a battle between rival Khond clans was recorded by Major Macpherson as having been given to him by an eye-witness, and may be reproduced for its intrinsic interest; the fight was between the hostile tribes of Bora Mîta and Bora Des in the Gumsur territory:

A Khond Combat. "At about 12 o'clock in the day the people of Bora Des began to advance in a mass across the S¡âlki river, the boundary between the Districts, into the plain Kurmíngia, where a much smaller force was arrayed to oppose them. The combatants were protected from the neck to the loins by skins, and cloth was wound round their legs down to the heel, but the arms were quite bare. Round the heads of many, too, cloth was wound, and for distinction the people of Bora Mîta wore peacock's feathers in their hair, while those of Bora Des had cock's tail plumes. They advanced with horns blowing, and the gongs beat when they passed a village. The women followed behind carrying pots of water and food for refreshments, and the old men who were past bearing arms were there, giving advice and encouragement. As the adverse parties approached, showers of stones, handed by the women, flew from slings form either side, and when they came within range arrows came in flights and many fell back wounded. At length single combats sprang up betwixt individuals who advanced before the rest, and when the first man fell all rushed to dip their axes in his blood, and hacked the body to pieces. The first man who himself unwounded slew his opponent, struck off the latter's right arm and rushed with it to the priest in the rear, who bore it off as an offering to Loha Pennu (the Iron God or the God of Arms) in his grove. The right arms of the rest who fell were cut off in like manner and heaped in the rear beside the women, and to them the wounded were carried for care, and the fatigued men constantly retired for water. The conflict was at length general. All were engaged hand-to-hand, and now fought fiercely, now paused by common consent for a moment's breathing. In the end the men of Bora Des, although superior in numbers, began to give way, and before four o'clock they were driven across the Sâlki, leaving sixty men dead on the field, while the killed on the side of the Bora Mîta did not exceed thirty. And from the entire ignorance of the Khonds of the simplest healing processes, at least an equal number of the wounded died after the battle. The right hands of the slain were hung up by both parties on the trees of the villages and the dead were carried off to be burned. The people of Bora Des the next morning flung a piece of bloody cloth on the field of battle, a challenge to renew the conflict which was quickly accepted, and so the contest was kept up for three days." The above account could, of course, find no place in a description of the Khonds of this generation, but has been thought worthy of quotation, as detailed descriptions of the manner of fighting of these tribes, now weaned form war by the British Government, are so rarely to be found.

Social Customs. The Khonds will admit into the community a male orphan child of any superior caste, including the Binjhwârs and Gonds. A virgin of any age of one of these castes will also be admitted. a Gond man who takes a Khond girl to wife can become a Khond by giving a feast. As might be expected the tribe are closely connected with the Gaurs or Uriya shepherds, whose business leads them to frequent the forests. Either a man or woman of the Gaurs can be taken into the community on marrying a Khond, and if a Khond girl marries a Gaur her children, though not herself can become members of that caste. The Khonds will eat all kinds of animals, including rats, snakes and lizards, but with the exception of the Kutia Khonds they have now given up beef. In Kâlâhandi social delinquencies are punished by a fine of so many field-mice, which the Khond considers a great delicacy. The catching of twenty to forty field-mice to liquidate the fine imposes on the culprit a large amount of trouble and labour, and when his task is completed his friends and neighbours fry the mice and have

468 a feast with plenty of liquor, but he himself is not allowed to participate. Khond women are profusely tattooed with figures of tress, flowers, fishes, crocodiles, lizards and scorpions on the calf of the leg and the arms, hands and chest, but seldom on the face. This is done for purposes of ornament. Husband and wife do not mention each other's names, and a woman may not speak the names of any of her husband's younger brothers, as, if left a widow, she might subsequently have to marry one of them. A paternal or maternal aunt may not name her nephew, nor a man his younger brother's wife.

Festivals. The tribe have three principal festivals, known as the Semi Jâtra, the Mâhul Jâtra and the Châwal Dhîba Jâtra. The Semi Jâtra is held on the tenth day of the waning moon of Aghan (November) when the new semi or country beans are roasted, a goat or fowl is sacrificed, and some milk or water is offered to the earth god. From this day the tribe commence eating the new crop of beans. Similarly the Mâhul Jâtra is held on the tenth of the waning moon of Chait (March), and until this date a Khond may eat boiled mahua flowers, but not roasted ones. The principal festival is the Dasahra or Châwal (boiled rice) on the tenth day of the waning moon of Kunwâr (September), which, in the case of the Khonds, marks the rice- harvest. The new rice is washed and boiled and offered to the earth god with the same accompaniment as in the case of the Semi Jâtra, and until this date the Khond may not clean the new rice by washing it before being boiled, though this rule and that regarding the mahua flowers have certain concessions to convenience.

Religion. The Khond pantheon consists of eighty-four gods, of whom Dharni Deota, the earth god, is the chief. In former times the earth goddess was apparently female and was known as Târi Pennu or Bera Pennu. To her were offered the terrible human sacrifices presently to be described. There is nothing surprising in the change of sex of the divine being, for which parallels are forthcoming. Thus in Chhattísgarh the deity of the earth, who also received human sacrifices, is either Thâkur Deo, a god, or Thakurâni Mai, a goddess. Deota is an Aryan term, and the proper Khond name for a god of Pennu. The earth god is usually accompanied by Bhâtbarsi Deota, the god of hunting. Dharni Deota is represented by a rectangular peg of wood driven into the ground, while Bhâtbarsi has a place at his feet in the shape of piece of conglomerate stone covered with circular granules. Once in four or five years a buffalo is offered to the earth god, in lieu of the human sacrifice which was formerly in vogue. The animal is predestined for sacrifice from its birth, and is allowed to wander loose and graze on the crops at its will. The stone representing Bhâtbarsi is examined periodically, and when the granules on it appear to have increased, it is decided that the time has come for the sacrifice. In Kâlâhandi a lamb is sacrificed every year, and strips of its flesh distributed to all the villagers, who bury it in their fields as a divine agent of fertilisation, in the same way as the flesh of the human victim was formerly buried. The Khond worships his bow and arrows before he goes out hunting, and believes that every hill and valley has its separate deity, who must be propitiated with the promise of a sacrifice before his territory is entered, or he will hide the animals within it from the hunter, and enable them to escape when wounded. These deities are closely related to each other, and it is important when arranging for an expedition to know the connection between them all; this information can be obtained from any one on whom the divine afflatus from time to time descends.

Human Sacrifice. The following account of the well-known system of human sacrifice, formerly in vogue among the Khonds, is contained in Sir James Frazer's Golden Bough, having been compiled by him from the accounts of Major Macpherson and Major-General John Campbell, two of the officers deputed to suppress it: "The best known case of human sacrifices systematically offered to ensure to ensure good crops is supplied by the Khonds or Kandhs, another Dravidian race in Bengal. Our knowledge of them is derived from the accounts written by the British who, forty or fifty

469 years ago, were engaged in putting them down. The sacrifices were offered to the Earth- Goddess, Târi Pennu or Bera Pennu, to keep themselves free from all disease and accidents. In particular they were considered necessary in the cultivation of turmeric, the Khonds arguing that the turmeric could not have a deep red colour without the shedding of blood. The victim or Meriâh was acceptable to the goddess only if he had been purchased, or had been devoted as a child by his father or guardian. Khonds in distress often sold their children for victims, 'considering the beatification of their souls certain, and their death, for the benefit of mankind, the most honourable possible.' A man of the Panua (Pân) tribe was once seen to load a Khond with curses, and finally to spit in his face, because the Khond had sold for a victim his own child, whom the Panua had wished to marry. A party of Khonds, who saw this, immediately pressed forward to comfort the seller, saying, 'Your child has died that all the world may live, and the Earth-Goddess herself will wipe that spittle from your face.' The victims were often kept for years before they were sacrificed. Being regarded as consecrated beings, they were treated with extreme affection, mingled with deference, and were welcomed wherever they went. A Meriâh youth, on attaining maturity, was generally given a wife, who was herself usually a Meriâh or victim, and with her he received a portion of land and farm-stock. Their offspring were also victims. Human sacrifices were offered to the Earth-Goddess by tribes, branches of tribes, or villages, both at periodical festivals and on extraordinary occasions. The periodical sacrifices were generally so arranged by tribes and divisions of tribes that each head of a family was enabled, at least once a year, to procure a shred of flesh for his fields, generally about the time when his chief crop was laid down. The mode of performing these tribal sacrifices was as follows. Ten or twelve days before the sacrifice, the victim was devoted unshorn. Crowds of men and women assembled to witness the sacrifice; none might be excluded, since the sacrifice was declared to be for all mankind. It was preceded by several days of wild revelry and gross debauchery. On the day before the sacrifice the victim, dressed in a new garment, was led forth from the village in solemn procession, with music and dancing, to the Meriâh grove, a clump of high forest tress standing a little way from the village and untouched by the axe. Here they two plants of the sankissâr shrub. He was then anointed with oil, ghee and turmeric, and adorned with flowers; and a species of reverence, which it is not easy to distinguish from adoration, was paid to him throughout the day. A great struggle now arose to obtain the smallest relic from his person; a particle of the turmeric paste with which he was smeared, or a drop of his spittle, was esteemed of sovereign virtue, especially by the women. The crowd danced round the post to music, and addressing the Earth said, 'O God, we offer this sacrifice to you; give us good crops, seasons, and health.' "On the last morning the orgies, which had been scarcely interrupted during the night, were resumed and continued till noon, when they ceased, and the assembly proceeded to consummate the sacrifice. The victim was again anointed with oil, and each person touched the anointed part, and wiped the oil on his own head. In some places they took the victim in procession round the village, from door to door, where some plucked hair from his head, and other begged for a drop of his spittle, with which they anointed their heads. As the victim might not be bound nor make any show of resistance, the bones of his arms and, if necessary, his legs were broken; but often this precaution was rendered unnecessary by stupefying him with opium. The mode of putting him to death varied in different places. One of the commonest modes seems to have been strangulation, or squeezing to death. The branch of a green tree was cleft several feet down the middle; the victim's neck(in other places, his chest) was inserted in the cleft, which the priest, aided by his assistants, strove with all his force to close. Then he wounded the victim slightly with his axe, whereupon the crowd rushed at the wretch and cut the flesh from the bones, leaving the head and bowels untouched. Sometimes he was cut up alive. In Chinna Kimedy he was dragged along the fields, surrounded by the crowd, who, avoiding his head and intestines, hacked the flesh from his body with their knives till he died. Another very common mode of sacrifice in the same district was to fasten the victim to the proboscis of a wooden elephant, which revolved on a stout post, and, as it whirled round, the crowed cut the flesh from the victim while life remained. In some villages Major Campbell found as many as fourteen of these wooden elephants, which had been used

470 at sacrifices.1 In one district the victim was put to death slowly by fire. A low stage was formed, sloping on either side like a roof; upon it they laid the victim, his limbs wound round with cords to confine his struggles. Fires were then lighted and hot brands applied, to make him roll up and down the slopes of the stage as long as possible; for the more tears he shed the more abundant would be the supply of rain. The next day the body was cut to pieces. "The flesh cut form the victim was instantly taken home by the persons who had been deputed by each village to bring it. To secure its rapid arrival it was sometimes forwarded by relays of men, and conveyed with postal fleetness fifty or sixty miles. In each village all who stayed at home fasted rigidly until the flesh arrived. The bearer deposited it in the place of public assembly, where it was received by the priest and the heads of families. The priest divided it into two portions, one of which he offered to the Earth-Goddess by burying it in a hole in the ground with his back turned, and without looking. Then each man added a little earth to bury it, and the priest poured water on the spot from a hill gourd. The other portion of flesh he divided into as many shares as there were heads of houses present. Each head of a house rolled his shred of flesh in leaves and buried it in his favourite field, placing it in the earth behind his back without looking. In some places each man carried his portion of flesh to the stream which watered his fields, and there hung it on a pole. For three days thereafter no house was swept; and, in one district, strict silence was observed, no fire might be given out, on wood cut, and no strangers received. The remains of the human victim (namely, the head, bowels and bones) were watched by strong parties the night after the sacrifice, and next morning they were burned along with a whole sheep, on a funeral pile. The ashes were scattered over mixed with the new corn to preserve it from insects. Sometimes, however, the head bones were buried, not burnt. After the suppression of the human sacrifices, a goat took the place of a human victim. "In these Khond sacrifices the Meriâhs are represented by our authorities as victims offered to propitiate the Earth-Goddess. But from the treatment of the victims both before and after death it appears that the custom cannot be explained as merely a propitiatory sacrifice. A part of the flesh certainly was offered to the Earth-Goddess, but the rest of the flesh was buried by each householder in his fields, and the ashes of the other parts of the body were scattered over the fields, laid as paste on the granaries, or mixed with the new corn. These latter customs imply that to the body of the Meriâh there was ascribed a direct or intrinsic power of making the crops to grow, quite independent of the indirect efficacy which it might have as an offering to secure the good-will of the deity. In other words, the flesh and ashes of the victim were believed to be endowed with a magical or physical power of fertilising the land. The same intrinsic power was ascribed to the blood and tears of the Meriâh, his blood causing the redness of the turmeric, and his tears producing rain; for it can hardly be doubted that, originally at least, the tears were supposed to bring down the rain, not merely to prognosticate it. Similarly the custom of pouring water on the buried flesh of the Meriâh was no doubt a rain-charm. Again, magical power as an attribute of the Meriâh appears in the came from his person, as his hair or spittle. The ascription of such power to the Meriâh indicates that he was much more than a mere man sacrificed to propitiate a deity. Once more, the extreme reverence paid him points to the same conclusion. Major Campbell speaks of the Meriâh as 'being regarded as something more than mortal,' and Major Macpherson says: 'A species of reverence, which it is not easy to distinguish from adoration is paid to him.' In short, the Meriâh appears to have been regarded as divine. As such, he may originally have represented the Earth-Goddess, or perhaps a deity of vegetation, though in later times he came to be regarded rather as a victim offered to a deity than as himself an incarnate god. This later view of the Meriâh as a victim rather than a divinity may perhaps have received undue emphasis from the European writers who have described the Khond religion. Habituated to the later idea of sacrifice as an offering made to a god for the purpose of

1. Sir H. Risley notes that the elephant represented the earth-goddess herself, who here conceived in elephant form. In the hill tracts of Gumsur she was represented in pea-cock form, and the post to which the victim was bound bore the effigy of a peacock. Macpherson also records that when the Khonds attacked the victim they shouted, ' No sin rests on us ; we have bought you with a price.

471 conciliating his favour, European observers are apt to interpret all religious slaughter in this sense, and to suppose that wherever such slaughter takes place, there must necessarily be a deity to whom the carnage is believed by the slayers to be acceptable. Thus their preconceived ideas unconsciously colour and warp their descriptions of savage rites." 1

Last Human Sacrifices. In this Ethnographic Notes in Southern India Mr. Thurston states:2 "The last recorded Meriâh sacrifice in the Ganjam Mâliâhs occurred in 1852, and there are still Khonds alive who were present at it. Twenty-five descendants of persons who were reserved for sacrifice, but were rescued by Government officers, returned themselves as Meriâh at the Census of 1901. The Khonds have now substituted a buffalo for a human being. The animal is hewn to pieces while alive, and the villagers rush home to their villagers to bury the flesh in the soil, and so secure prosperous crops. The sacrifice is not unaccompanied by risk to the performers, as the buffalo, before dying, frequently kills one or more of its tormentors. It was stated by the officers of the Mâliâh Agency that there was reason to believe that the Râja of Jaipur (Madras), when he was installed upon his father's decease in 1860-61, sacrificed a girl thirteen years of age at the shrine of the Goddess Durga in the town of Jaipur. The last attempted human sacrifice (which was nearly successful) in the Vizagâpatam District, among the Kutia Khonds, was, I believe, in 1880. But the memory of the abandoned practice is kept for which we are indebted to Mr. J. E. Friend-Pereira:3

At the time of the great Kiâbon (Campbell) Sâhib's coming, the country was in darkness, it was enveloped in mist. Having sent pâiks to collect the people of the land, they, having surrounded them, caught the Meriâh sacrificers. Having caught the Meriâh sacrificers, they brought them; and again they went and seized the evil councillors. Having seen the chains and shackles, the people were afraid; murder and bloodshed were quelled. Then the land became beautiful; and a certain Mokodella (Macpherson) Sâhib came. He destroyed the lairs of the tigers and bears in the hills and rocks, and taught wisdom to the people. After the lapse of a month he built bungalows and schools; and he advised them to learn reading and law. They learnt wisdom and reading; they acquired silver and gold. Then all the people became wealthy.

Khond Rising In 1882. In 1882 an armed rising of the Khonds of the Kâlâhandi State occurred as a result of agrarian trouble. The Feudatory Chief had encouraged the settlement in the state of members of the Kolta caste who are excellent cultivators and keenly acquisitive of land. They soon got the Khonds heavily indebted to them for loans of food and seed-grain, and began to oust them from their villages. The Khonds, recognising with some justice that this process was likely to end on their total expropriation from the soil, organized a conspiracy, and in May 1882 rose and murdered the Koltas of a number of villages. The signal for the outbreak was given by passing a knotted string from village to village; other signals were a bent arrow and a branch of a mahua tree. When the Khond leaders were assembled an axe was thrown on to the ground and each of them grasping it in turn swore to join in rising and support his fellows. The taint of cruelty in the tribe is shown by the fact that the Kutia Khonds, on being requested to join in the rising, replied that if the Koltas were to be murdered, they would agree. Some of the murdered Koltas were anointed with turmeric and offered at temples, the

1. Golden Bough , 2nd ed. vol. ii. p. 241 sq. 2. Pages 517-519. Published 1906. 3. Journal, A. S. of Bengal, 1898.

472 Khonds calling them their goats, and in one case a Kolta is believed to have been made a Meriâh sacrifice to the earth god. The Khonds appeared before the police, who were protecting a body of refugees at the village of Norla, with the hair and scalps of their murdered victims tied to their bows. To the Political Officer, who was sent to suppress the rising, the Khonds complained that the Koltas had degraded them from the position of lords of the soil to that of servants, and justified their plundering of the Koltas on the ground that they were merely taking back the produce of their own land, which the Koltas had stolen form them. They said that if they were not to have back their land Government might either drive them out of the country or exterminate them, and that Koltas and Khonds could no more live together than tigers and goats. Another grievance was that a new Râja of K¡âlâhandi had been installed without their consent having been obtained. The Political Officer, Mr. Berry, hanged seven of the Khond ringleaders and effected a settlement of their grievances. Peace was restored and has not since been broken. At a later date in the same year, 1882, and independent of the uprising, a Khond landholder was convicted and executed for having offered a five-year-old girl as a Meriâh sacrifice.

Language. The Khond or Kandh language, called Kui by the Khonds themselves, is spoken by rather more than half of the total body of the tribe. It is much more nearly related to Telugu than is Gondi and had no written characters.1

Khumras.: -They make mill-stones and provide villages with domestic goods. They live in North and Central India.

Killékyâtâ.: -The Killékyâtas are a Marâthi-speaking people, who amuse villagers with their marionette shows in the Telugu and Canarese countries2. "They travel round the villages, and give a performance wherever they can secure sufficient patronage. Contributions take the form of money, or oil for the foot-lights."3 "Their profession," Mr. S. M. Natesa Sastri writes, 4 "is enacting religious dramas before the village public (whence their name, meaning buffoon). The black kambli (blanket) is their screen, and any mandapa or village châvadi, or open house is their stage. Night is them time for giving the performance. They carry with them pictures painted in colours on deer skins, which are well tanned, and made fine like parchment. The several body are attached to each other by thin iron wires, and the parts are made to move by the assistance of him bamboo splits, and thus the several actions and emotions are represented to the public, to the accompaniment of songs. Their pictures are in most cases very failure painted, with variety and choice of colours. The stories chosen for representation are generally from the Râmâyana and the Mahâbhâratâ, which they however call Râvanyakathâ and Pândavakathâ-the stories of Râvana and the Pândavas." The dead are buried in a seated posture. Some of the women are engaged as professional tattooers.

Killekyatas.: -They live in Maharashtra and Andra Pradesh. They are marionette and puppet showman. Their stories are taken from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata and retold in popular languages.

1. Sir. G. A. Grierson's Linguistic Survey, Munda and Dravidian Languages. 2 See Thurston. 3. Gazetteer of the Anantapur district. 4. Indian Review, VII, 1906.

473 Koπâ.: -or Korâ. The various Census reports mention a dialect called Kóπâ or Kó®â.1 According to local estimates it is spoken by about 9,000 individuals.

Name Of The Dialect. The Kóπas are constantly confounded with other tribes, and it is often impossible to distinguish them. Their name is given in many various forms such as Kóπâ, Kó®â, Khairâ, Khayrâ, and so forth. It cannot have anything to do with the Mu∑πâ word for 'man,' which is har in those districts where most members of the tribe are found. The form Kóπâ seems to be the original one. It is probably an Aryan word and means simply 'digger.' This supposition well agrees with the actual facts. The principal occupations of the Kóπâs are tank-digging, road-making, and earthwork generally. The Kóπâs of Sambalpur and the neighbouring tributary States, Sarangarh, Bamra, and Rairakhol, are mostly cultivators, and they are commonly known as Kisâns, i.e. cultivators. Moreover, the Kóπâs do not speak the same language everywhere. In the Central Provinces they mostly speak the Dravidian Kurukh, in the Bengal Presidency some of them speak Mu∑πârí, others Kurukh, and others perhaps Santâlí, and so forth. Kóπâ is not, therefore, the name of a language, but of a profession. In Sarguja 569 speakers have been returned under the head of Kóπârí. Kóπârí simply means the language of the Kóπâs, i .e . diggers. The form Kó®â is only the Bengali way of pronouncing the common Kóπâ. It has, however, often been confused with the Mu∑πâ word kó®â, a boy, and the Kóπâs are therefore often mixed up with the Kîrkîs, the Korwâs, and other connected tribes. Thus the Kóπâs, like the Korwâs, are not always distinguished from the Kha®iâs, and the names Khairâ or Khayrâ mentioned above are probably due to this fact. It has already been remarked that the Kóπâs of the Central Provinces speak Kurukh, and the figures referring to these will therefore be shown under the head of that language. It is of course possible that some of the Kóπâs of the Central Provinces use a Mu∑πâ form of speech. We have not, however, any facts to corroborate such a supposition. In this place I shall therefore only deal with the Mu∑πâ Kóπâs.

The honorific title which the Mu∑πâ Kóπâs use to denote themselves is Mudi, and their language is, hence, sometimes called Kó®â-mudi †hâr . They are divided into four sub-castes, bearing the names Dhaol, Molo, Sikhariâ, and Bâdâmiâ. According to Mr. Risley, 'The Dhalo sub-caste say that they came from Dhalbhum, the eastern pargana of Singbhum; the Molo from Manbhum; and the Sikhariâ from the tract of country between the Damodar and Barakar rivers bounded on the east by Samet Sikhar or Parasnath Hill. In Bankura, again, besides the Sikhariâ we find three other groups- Sonârekhâ, Jhetiâ, and Guri-Bâwâ, of which the first is associated with the Sonarekha or Subarnarekha river, which rises in the Mu∑πârí country, while the second bears the same name as one of the sub-castes of the Bâgdis.'

Occupation 'The caste believe tank-digging, road-making and earthwork generally to be their characteristic profession, and it may be surmised that their adoption of a comparatively degraded occupation, necessarily involving a more or less wandering manner of life, may have been the cause which led to their separation from the Mu∑πâs who are above all things settled agriculturists, conspicuous for their attachment to their original villages.'

Area within which spoken. The Kóπâs are spread over a rather large area in the central portion of the Bengal Presidency. Their old home is, according to their own traditions, Dhalbhum, Manbhum, and the neighbouring localities, i.e. the tracts now inhabited by the Bhumij and Mu∑πârí tribes. To a great extent, the Kóπâs lead a wandering life, and it is not, therefore, possible to draw up exact boundaries of the area within which they are found.

1 Linguistic Survey of India

474 Sub-Dialects. The language of the Kóπâs is not a uniform dialect, and the materials forwarded for the purposes of this Survey are not sufficient for judging its nature in all the various localities. One excellent specimen of Kóπâ has been prepared by the Rev. P.O. Bodding. It represents the dialect as spoken in Birbhum. The Kóπâs of that district aver that they have come from Singbhum. They are now found on the frontier of the Sonthal Parganas. Their language is almost pure Mu∑πârí. The same is also, according to the Rev. A. Campbell, the case in Manbhum. The Kóπâs returned at the last Census from the Sonthal Parganas are not settled inhabitants. They have probably come from Birbhum or Manbhum. One section of them call themselves Dªhan••gâ®. The Kóπâs of Bankura state that they have come from Nagpur, and that they speak a dialect of Santâlí. One specimen has been forwarded from the district. It is written in a very corrupt form of speech, but seems originally to have been a dialect of the same kind as that spoken in Birbhum, with a tinge of Santâlí. We have no information about the dialect of the Kóπâs of other districts. In Athmallik they are said to speak Kurukh, and the same is perhaps the case everywhere in the Orissa Tributary States. It seems as if the Mu∑πâ originally spoke a dialect of Mu∑πârí, but are gradually abandoning their old language for that of their neighbours in districts in which they are only found in small numbers. On the other hand, they have entered their dialect as Kóπâ.

Number of Speakers According to information forwarded for the purposes of this Survey, the mu∑πâ dialect Kóπâ was spoken in the following districts:

Spoken at home - Burdwan 2,309 Bankura 830 Manbhum 4,043 Sarguja 569 Morbhanj 276 Pal Lahera 215 Talcher 103 ------Total 8,345

Spoken abroad- Angul and Khondmals 604 ------Grand Total 8,949

The speakers in Sarguja were returned under the head of Koπârí, and it is not certain that they are really Kóπâs. They are said to speak a Kól dialect. The corresponding figures at the last Census of 1901 were as follows:

Bengal Presidency- Burdwan 5,115 Birbhum 5,756 Bankura 867 Midnapore 3,853 Hoogly 60 Murshidabad 505 Rajshahi 5 Dinajpur 202

475 Jalpaiguri 6 Bogra 5 Dacca 22 Sonthal Parganas 2,559 Balasore 707 Manbhum 2,229 Singbhum 32 Orissa Tributary States 1,848 Chota Nagpur Tributary States 56 ------Total Bengal Presidency 23,827 Assam 46 ------

The Kóπâs are constantly confused with other tribes. Thus the speakers in Burdwan and Manbhum were reported in the preliminary operations of the Survey as speaking Korwâ but they have turned out to be Kóπâs. On the other hand, it is probable that some of the returns under the head of Kóπâ in reality belong to some other dialect. Moreover, the Kóπâs lead a wandering life, which is only what we should expect when we find them now in one district, and now in another.

Language. The Kóπâ dialect of Birbhum is well illustrated by the specimen printed below. It has been prepared by the Rev. P. O. Bodding of Mohulpahari. It will be seen that the dialect is almost pure Mu∑πârí.

Pronunciation. The phonetical system is the same as in Mu∑πârí. Compare hara man; nâm, get; chímín, how many; upun-íâ, four;bírít , arise; â-bî, we; lél, see; dîp ', sit; dâl-kích '-â-ñ, I struck him, etc. Final ñ and n are usually retained unchanged; thus íñ, I; ín-kín, they two. Note also forms such as hûdín••ích ', the young one.

Inflexional system. The inflexion of nouns and pronouns is the same as in Mu∑πârí. The suffixes of the genitive rén and ak ' are used promiscuously. The form tâkó -ak ' shows that the pronominal genitive inflexes are used as independent words. Compare am -⪪ñ-mé tíñ-ak ', give me, give me my share; anda dahan ken-ak ' tâe-ak ' tahâs-nahâs-ket '-â-e tâe-ak '. On the other hand we also find the usual suffixed forms; thus, tusí©-tâe-pé, put -on-his-ye, etc. Note pronouns such as aª∑í, he; ânâ, that; ník 'í, this, and so forth. The numerals are the same as in Mu∑πârí. Aryan loan-words are used for the numerals six and following; thus, chha six; sât, seven; a™™†, eight; la, nine; das ten. Mí-ñ-at ' means 'one only.' 'One' is míat', mít ',as in Mu∑πârí. The conjugation of verbs is mainly the same as in Mu∑πârí. The pronominal infix and suffix of the third person singular is often ích ' instead of e; thus, dâl-ed-ích '-tan-â-ñ, I strike him. The copula or verb substantive is tan-â-ñ am; tâhan -ken-â-ñ, I was. the suffix et '(passive en) is used to denote past time; thus, dâl-et '-â-ñ, I struck. Note also forms such as bírít '-ketâch ', having arisen; kâ-e-ak '-ken-â , would not.

Kol.: -Munda, Ho1.-A great tribe of Chota Nâgpur, which has given its name to the Kolarian family of tribes and languages. A part of the District of Singhbhîm near Chaibâsa is named the Kolhân as being the special home of the Larka Kols, but they are distributed all over Chota Nâgpur, whence they have spread to the United Provinces, Central Provinces and

1 See Russell.

476 Central India. It seems probable also that the Koli tribe of Gujarât may be an offshoot of the Kols, who migrated there by way of central India. If the total of the Kols, Mundas and Hos or Larka Kols be taken together they number about a million persons in India. The real strength of the tribe is, however, much greater than this. As shown in the article on that tribe, the Santâls are a branch of the Kols, who have broken off from the parent stock and been given a separate designation by the Hindus. They numbered two million in 1911. The Bhumij (400,000) are also probably a section of the tribe. Sir H. Risley1 states that they are closely allied to if not identical with the Mundas. In some localities they intermarry with the Mundas and are known as Bhumij Munda.2 If the Kolis also be taken as an offshoot of the Kol tribe, a further addition of nearly three millions is made to the tribes whose parentage can be traced to this stock. There is little doubt also that other Kolarian tribes, as the Kharias, Khairwars, Korwas and Korkus, whose tribal languages closely approximate to Mundâri, were originally one with the Mundas, but have been separated for so long a period that their direct connection can no longer be proved. The disintegrating causes, which have split up what was originally one into a number of distinct tribes, are probably no more than distance and settlement in different parts of the country, leading to cessation of intermarriage and social intercourse. The tribes have then obtained some variation in the original name or been given separate territorial or occupational designations by the Hindus and their former identity has gradually been forgotten.

Names Of The Tribe. "The word Kol is probably the Santâli hâr, a man. This word is used under various forms, such as har, hâra, ho and koro by most Munda tribes in order to denote themselves. The change of r to l is familiar and does not give rise to any difficulty."3 The word Korku is simply a corruption of Kodaku, young men, and there is every probability that the Hindus, hearing the Kol tribe call themselves hor or horo, may have corrupted the name to a form more familiar to themselves. An alternative derivation from the Sanskrit word kola, a pig, is improbable. But it is possible, as suggested by Sir G. Grierson, that after the name had been given, its Sanskrit meaning of pig may have added zest to its employment by the Hindus. The word Munda, Sir H. Risley states, is the common form employed by the Kols for the headman of a village, and has come into general use as an honorific title, as the Santâls call themselves Mânjhi, the Gonds Bhoi, and the Bhangis and other sweepers Mehtar. Munda, like Mehtar, originally a title, has become a popular alternative name for the caste. In Chota Nâgpur those Kols who have partly adopted Hinduism and become to some degree civilised are commonly Known as Munda, while the name Ho or Larka Kol is reserved for the branch of the tribe in Singhbhîm who, as stated by Colonel Dalton, "From their jealous isolation for so many years, their independence, their long occupation of one territory, and their contempt for all other classes that come in contact with them, especially the Hindus, probably furnish the best illustration, not of the Mundâris in their present state, but of what, if left to themselves and permanently located, they were likely to become. Even at the present day the exclusiveness of the old Hos is remarkable. They will not allow 'foreigners' to hold land near their villages; and indeed if it were left to them no strangers would be permitted to settle in the Kolhân." It is this branch of the tribe whose members have come several times into contact with British troops, and on account of their bravery and warlike disposition they are called the Larka or fighting Kols. The Mundas on the other hand appear now to be a very mixed group. The list of their subcastes given4 by Sir H. Risley includes the Khangâr, Kharia, Mahali, Oraon and Savar Mundas, all of which are the names of separate tribes, now considered as distinct, though with the exception of the Oraons they were perhaps originally offshoots of the Kols or

1. Tribes and Castes of Bengal , art. Bhumij. 2. The Mundas and their country , p. 400. 3. Linguistic Survey, Munda and Dravidian Languages, vol. vi. p. 7. 4. Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Munda.

477 akin to them; whole the Bhuinhâr or landholders and Nâgvansi or Mundas of the royal house are apparently the aristocracy of the original tribe.

Origin Of The Kolarian Tribes. The Munda languages have been shown by Sir G. Grierson to have originated from the same source as those spoken in the Indo-Pacific islands and the Malay Peninsula. "The Mundas, the Mon-Khmer, the wild tribes of the Malay Peninsula and the Nicobarese all use forms of speech which can be traced back to a common source though they mutually differ widely from each other."1 It would appear therefore that the Mundas, the oldest known inhabitants of India, perhaps came originally from the south-east, the islands of the Indian Archipelago and the Malay Peninsula, unless India was their original home and these countries were colonised from it. Sir E. Gait states: "Geologists tell us that the Indian Peninsula was formerly cut off from the north of Asia by sea, while a land connection existed on the one side with Madagascar and on the other with the Malay Archipelago; and though there is nothing to show that India was then inhabited we know that it was so in Palaeolithic times, when communication was probably still easier with the countries to the north-east and south-west than with those beyond the Himalayas."2 In the south of India, however, no traces of Munda languages remain at present, and it seems therefore necessary to conclude that the Mundas of the Central Provinces and Chota Nâgpur have been separated from the tribes of Malaysia who have spoken cognate languages for an indefinitely long period, or else that they did not come through southern India to these countries, but by way of Assam and Bengal or by sea through Orissa. There is good reason to believe from the names of places and from local tradition that the Munda tribes were once spread over Bihâr and parts of the Ganges valley; and if the Kolis are an offshoot of the Kols, as is supposed, they also penetrated across Central India to the sea in Gujarât and the hills of the Western Ghâts. It is presumed that the advance of the Aryans or Hindus drove the Mundas from the open country to the seclusion of the hills and forests. The Munda and Dravidian languages are shown by Sir G. Grierson to be distinct groups without any real connection.

The Kolarians And Dravidians. Though the physical characteristics of the two sets of tribes display no marked points of difference, it has been generally held by ethnologists who know them that they represent two distinct waves of immigration, and the absence of connection between their languages bears out this view. It has always been supposed that the Mundas were in the country of Chota Nâgpur and the Central Provinces first, and that the Dravidians, the Gonds, Khonds and Oraons came afterwards. The grounds for this view are the more advanced culture of the Dravidians; the fact that where the two sets of tribes are in contact those of the Munda group have been ousted from the more open and fertile country, of which according to tradition they were formerly in possession; and the practice of the Gonds and other Dravidian tribes of employing the Baigas, Bhuiyas and other Munda tribes for their village priests, which is an acknowledgment that the latter as the earlier residents have a more familiar acquaintance with the local deities, and can solicit their favour and protection with more prospect of success. Such a belief is the more easily understood when it is remembered that these deities are not infrequently either the human ancestors of the earliest residents or the local animals and plants from which they supposed themselves to be descended.

Date Of The Dravidian Immigration. The Dravidian languages, Gondi, Kurukh and Khond, are of one family with Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Canarese, and their home is the south of India. As state 3 by Sir E. Gait, there is at present no evidence to show that the Dravidians came to southern India from any

1. Tribes and Castes of Bengal, p. 15. 2. Introduction to The Mundas and their Country, p. 9. 3. Introduction to The Mundas and their Country , p. 9.

478 other part of the world, and the languages may have originated there. The existence of the small Brahui tribe in Baluchistân, who speak a Dravidian language but have no physical resemblance to other Dravidian races, cannot be satisfactorily explained, but as he points out this is no reason for holding that the whole body of speakers of Dravidian languages entered India from the north-west, and, with the exception of this small group of Brahuis, penetrated to the south of India and settled there without leaving any traces of their passage. The Dravidian languages occupy a large area in Madras, Mysore and Hyderâbâd, and they extend north into the Central Provinces and Chota Nâgpur, where they die out, practically not being found west and north of this tract. As the languages are more highly developed and the culture of their speakers is far more advanced in the south, it is justifiable to suppose, pending evidence to the country, that the south is their home and that they have spread thence as far north as the Central Provinces. The Gonds and Oraons too have stories to the effect that they came from the south. It has hitherto been believed, at least in the Central Provinces, that both the Gonds and Baigas have been settled in this territory for an indefinite period, that is, from prior to any Aryan or Hindu immigration. Mr. H.A. Crump, however, has questioned this assumption. He points out that the Baiga tribe have entirely lost their own language and speak a dialect of Chhattísgarhi Hindi in Mandla, while half the Gonds still speak Gondi. If the Baigas and Gonds were settled here together before the arrival of any Hindus, how is it that the Baigas do not speak Gondi instead of Hindi? A comparison of the caste and language tables of the census of 1901 shows that several of the Munda tribes have entirely lost their own language, among these being the Binjhwâr, Baiga. Bhaina, Bhuiya, Bhumij. Chero and Khairwâr, and the Bhíls and Kolis if these are held to be Munda tribes. None of these tribes have adopted a Dravidian languages, but all speak corrupt forms of the current Aryan vernaculars derived from Sanskrit. The Mundas and Hos themselves with the Kharias, Santâls and Korkus retain Munda languages. On the other hand half of the Gonds, nearly all the Oraons and three-fourths of the Khonds still preserve their own Dravidian speech. It would therefore seem that the Munda tribes who speak Aryan vernaculars must have been in close contact with Hindu peoples at the time they lost their own language and not with Gonds or Oraons. In the Central Provinces it is known that Râjpît dynasties were ruling in Jubbulpore form the sixth to the twelfth century, in Seoni about the sixth century and in Bhândak near Chânda from an early period as well as at Ratanpur in Chhattísgarh. From about the twelfth century these disappear and there is a blank till the fourteenth century century or later, when Gond kingdoms are found established at Kherla in Betul, at Deogarh in Chhindwâra, at Garha-mandla1 including the Jubbulpore country, and at Chânda fourteen miles from Bhândak. It seems clear then that the Hindu dynasties were subverted by the Gonds after the Muhammadan invasions of northern India had weakened or destroyed the central powers of the Hindus and prevented any assistance being afforded to the outlying settlements. But it seems prima facie more likely that the Hindu kingdoms of the Central Provinces should have been destroyed by an invasion of barbarians from without rather than by successful risings of their own subjects once thoroughly subdued. The Haihaya Râjpît dynasty of Ratanpur was the only one which survived, all the others being supplanted by Gond states. If then the Gond incursion was subsequent to the establishment of the old Hindu kingdoms, its probable date may be placed from the ninth to the thirteenth centuries, the subjugation of the greater part of the Province being no doubt a gradual affair. In favour of this it may be noted that some recollection still exists of the settlement of the Oraons in Chota Nâgpur being later than that of the Mundas, while had it taken place long before this time all tradition of it would probably have been forgotten. In Chhindwâra the legend still remains that the founder of the Deogarh Gond dynasty, Jâtba, slew and supplanted the Gaoli kings Ransur and Ghansur, who were previously ruling on the plateau. And the Bastar Râj-Gond Râjas have a story that they came from Warangal in the south so late as the fourteenth century, accompanied by the ancestors of some of the existing Bastar tribes. Jadu Rai, the founder of the Gond-Râjpît dynasty of Garha-Mandla, is supposed to have lived near the Godâvari. A large section of the Gonds of

1. Garha is six miles from Jubbulpore.

479 the Central Provinces are known as Râwanvansi or of the race of Râwan, the demon king of Ceylon, who was conquered by Râma. The Oraons also claim to be descended from Râwan.1 This name and story must clearly have been given to the tribes by the Hindus, and the explanation appears to be that the Hindus considered the Dravidian Gonds and Oraons to have been the enemy encountered in the Aryan expedition to southern India and Ceylon, which is dimly recorded in the legend of Râma. On the other hand the Bhuiyas, a Munda tribe, call themselves Pâwan-ka-put or Children of the Wind, that is of the race of Hanumân, who was the Son of the Wind; and this name would appear to show, as suggested by Colonel Dalton, that the Munda tribes gave assistance to the Aryan expedition and accompanied it, an alliance which has been preserved in the tale of the exploits of Hanumân and his army of apes. Similarly the name of the Râmosis caste of Berâr is a corruption of Râmvansi or of the race of Râma; and the Râmosis appear to be an offshoot of the Bhíls or Kolis, both of whom are not improbably Munda tribes. A Hindu writer compared the Bhíl auxiliaries in the camp of the famous Chalukya Râjpît king Sidhrâj of Gujarât to Hanumân and his apes, on account of their agility.2 These instances seem to be in favour of the idea that the Munda tribes assisted the Aryans, and if this were the case it would appear to be a legitimate inference that at the same period the Dravidian tribes were still in southern India and not mixed up with the Munda tribes in the Central Provinces and Chota Nâgpur as at present. Though the evidence is perhaps not very strong, the hypothesis, as suggested by Mr. Crump, that the settlement of the Gonds in the Central Provinces is comparatively recent and subsequent to the early Râjpît dynasties, is well worth putting forward.

Strength Of The Kols In The Central Provinces. In the Central Provinces the Kols and Mundas numbered 85,000 persons in 1911. The name Kol is generally used except in the Chota Nâgpur States, but it seems probable that the Kols who have immigrated here really belong to the Munda tribe of Chota Nâgpur. About 52,000 Kols, or nearly a third of the total number, reside in the Jubbulpore District, and the remainder are scattered over all Districts and States of the Province.

Legend Of Origin. The Kol legend of origin is that Sing-Bonga or the Sun created a boy and a girl and put them together in a cave to people the world; but finding them to be too innocent to give hope of progeny he instructed them in the art of making rice-beer, which inflames the passions, and in course of time they had twelve sons and twelve daughters. The divine origin ascribed by the Kols, in common with other peoples, to their favourite liquor may be noticed. The children were divided into pairs, and Sing-Bonga set before them various kinds of food to choose for their sustenance before starting out into the world; and the fate of their descendants depended on their choice. Thus the first and second pairs took the flesh of bullocks and buffaloes, and from them are descended the Kols and Bhumij; one pair took shell-fish and became Bhuiyas, two pairs took pigs and were the ancestors the Brâhman and Râjpît castes, and other pairs took goats and fish, from whom the various Sîdra castes are sprung. One pair got nothing, and seeing this the Kol pair gave them of their superfluity and the descendants of these became the Ghasias, who are menials in Kol villages and supported by the cultivators. The Larka Kols attribute their strength and fine physique to the fact that they eat beef. When they first met English soldiers in the beginning of the nineteenth century the Kols were quickly impressed by their wonderful fighting powers, and finding that the English too ate the flesh of bullocks, paid them the high compliment of assigning to them the same pair of ancestors as themselves. The Nâgvansi Râjas of Chota Nâgpur say that their original ancestor was a snake-god who assumed human form and married a Brâhman's daughter. But, like Lohengrin, the condition of his remaining a man was that he should not disclose his origin, and when he was finally brought to satisfy the incessant curiosity of his wife, he reverted to his first shape, and she burned herself from remorse. Their child was

1. The Mundas and their Country , p. 124. 2. Râsmâla , i. p. 113.

480 found by some wood-cutters lying in the forest beneath a cobra's extended hood, and was brought up in their family. He subsequently became king, and his seven elder brother attended him as banghy-bears when he rode abroad. The Mundas are said to be descended from the seven brothers, and their sign-manual is kawar or banghy.1 Hence the Râjas of Chota Nâgpur regard the Mundas as their elder brothers, and the Rânis veil their faces when they meet a Munda as to a husband's elder brother. The probable explanation of the story is that the Hos or Mundas, from whom the kings are sprung, were a separate section of the tribe who subdued the older Mundas. In memory of their progenitor the Nâgvansi Râjas were a turban folded to resemble the coils of a snake with a projection over the brow for its head.2

Tribal Subdivisions. The subcastes of the Kols in the Central Provinces differ entirely from those in Chota Nâgpur. Of the important subcastes here the Rautia and Rautele take their name from Râwat, a prince, and appear to be a military or landholding group. In Chota Nâgpur the Rautias are a separate caste, holding land. The Rautia Kols practise hypergamy with the Rauteles, taking their daughters in marriage but not giving daughters. They will eat with Rauteles at wedding feasts only and not on any other occasion. The Thâkuria, from thâkur, a lord, are said to be the progeny of Râjput fathers and Kol mothers; and the Kagwaria to be named from kagwâr, an offering made to ancestors in the month of Kunwâr. The Desâha, from desh, native country, belong principally to Rewah. In some localities Bharias, Savars and Khairwârs are found who call themselves Kols and appear to be included in the tribe. The Bharias may be an offshoot of the Bhar tribe of northern India. It has already been that several groups of other tribes have amalgamated with the Mundas of Chota Nâgpur, probably in a great measure from intermarriage, and a similar fusion seems to have occurred in the Central Provinces. Intermarriage between the different subtribes, though nominally prohibited, not infrequently takes place, and a girl forming a liaison with a man of another division may be married to him and received into it. The Rautias, however, say that they forbid this practice.

Totemism. The Mandla Kols have a number of totemistic septs. The Bargaiyan are really called after a village Bargaon, but they connect their name with the bar or banyan tree, and revere it. At their weddings a branch of this tree is laid on the roof of the marriage-shed, and the wedding- cakes are cooked in a fire made of the wood of the banyan tree and served to all the relations of the sept on its leaves. At other times they will not pluck a leaf or a branch from a banyan tree or even go beneath its shade. The Kathotia sept is named after kathota, a bowl, but they revere the tiger. Bagheshwar Deo, the tiger-god, resides on a little platform in their verandas. They may not join in a tiger-beat nor sit up for a tiger over a kill. In the latter case they think that the tiger would not come and would be deprived of his food, and all the members of their family would get ill. If a tiger takes one of their cattle, they think there has been some neglect in their worship of him. They say that if one of them meets a tiger in the forest he will fold his hands and say, 'Mahârâj, let me pass,' and the tiger will then get out of his way. If a tiger is killed within the limits of his village a Kathotia Kol will throw away his earthen pots as in mourning for a relative, have his head shaved and feed a few men of his sept. The Katharia sept take their name from kathri, a mattress. A member of this sept must never have a mattress in his house nor wear clothes sewn in cross-pieces as mattresses are sewn. The word kathri should never be mentioned before him as he thinks some great misfortune would thereby happen to his family, but this belief is falling into abeyance. The name of the Mudia or Mudrundia sept is said to mean shaven head, but they apparently revere the white kumhra or gourd, perhaps because it has some resemblance to a shaven head. They give a white gourd to a woman on the third day after she has borne a child, and her family then do not eat this vegetable three years. At the expiration of the period the head

1. Two baskets slung from a stick across the shoulders. 2. Dalton, Ethnology of Bengal , p. 166.

481 of the family offers a chicken to Dulha Deo, frying it with the feathers left on the head, and eating the head and feet himself. Women may not join in this sacrifice. The Kumraya sept revere the brown kumhra or gourd. They grow this vegetable on the thatch of their roof, and from the time of planting it until the fruits have been plucked they do not touch it. The Bhuwar sept are named after bhu or bhumi, the earth. They must always sleep on the earth and not on cots. Other sept are Nathunia, a nose-ring; Karpatia, a kind of grass; and Binjhwâr, from the tribe of that name. From Raigarh a separate group of septs is reported, the names of which further demonstrate the mixed nature of the tribe. Among these are Bandi, a slave; Kawar, Gond, Dhanuhâr, Birjhia, all of which are the name of distinct tribes; Sonwâni, gold-water; Keriâri, or bridle; Khînta, a peg; and Kapât, a shutter.

Marriage Customs. Marriage within the sept is prohibited, but violations of this rule are not infrequent. Outside the sept a man may marry any woman except the sisters of his mother or step-mother. Where, is some localities, the septs have been forgotten, marriage is forbidden between those relatives to whom the sacramental cakes are distributed at a wedding. Among the Mundas, before a father sets out to seek a bride for his son, he invites three or four relatives, and at midnight taking bottle or liquor pours a little over the household god as a libation and drinks the rest with them. They go to the girls village, and addressing her father say that they have come to hunt. He asks them in what jungle the bones of his ancestors are buried. If the girl's father is satisfied with the match, he then agrees to it. A bride-price of Rs. 10-8 is paid in the Central Provinces. Among the Hos of Chota Nâgpur so large a number of cattle was formerly demanded in exchange for a bride that many girls were never married. Afterwards it was reduced to ten head of cattle, and it was decided that one pair of bullocks, one cow and seven rupees should be equivalent to ten head, while for poor families Rs. 7 was to be the whole price.1 Among the Mundas of Raigarh the price is three or four bullocks, but poor men may give Rs. 12 or Rs. 18 in substitution. Here weddings may only be held in the three months of Aghan, Mâgh and Phâgun,2 and preferably in Mâgh. Their marriage ceremony is very simple, the bridegroom simply smearing vermilion on the bride's forehead, after which water is poured over the heads of the pair. Two pots of liquor are placed beside them during the ceremony. It is also a good marriage if a girl of her own accord goes and lives in a man's house and he shows his acceptance by dabbing vermilion on her. But her offspring are of inferior status to those of a regular marriage. The Kols of Jubbulpore and Mandla have adopted the regular Hindu ceremony.

Divorce And Widow-Marriage. Divorce and widow-marriage are permitted. In Raigarh the widow is bound to marry her deceased husband's younger brother, but not elsewhere. Among these Mundas, if divorce is effected by mutual consent, the husband must give his wife a pair of loin-cloths and provisions for six months. Polygamy is seldom practised, as women can earn their own living, and if a wife is superseded she will often run away home or set up in a house by herself. In Mandla a divorce can be obtained by party, the person in fault having to pay a fee of Rs. 1-4 to the panchâyat; the woman then breaks her bangles and the divorce is complete.

Religion. At the head of the Munda pantheon, Sir H. Risley states,3 stands Sing-Bonga or the sun, a beneficent but in-effective deity who concerns himself but little with human affairs. But he may be invoked to avert sickness or calamity, and to this end sacrifices of white goats or white cocks are offered to him. Next to him comes Marang Buru, the mountain god, who resides on the summit of the most prominent hill in the neighbourhood. Animals are sacrificed to him here, and the heads left and appropriated by the priest. He controls the rainfall, and is

1. Dalton, p. 152. 2. November, January and February. 3. Tribes and Castes, art. Munda.

482 appealed to in time of drought and when epidemic sickness is abroad. Other deities preside over rivers, tanks, wells and springs, and it is believed that when offended they cause people who bathe in the water to be attacked by leprosy and skin diseases. Even the low swampy rice-fields are haunted by separate spirits. Deswâli is the god of the village, and he lives with his wife in the Sarna or sacred grove, a patch of the primeval forest left intact to afford a refuge for the forest gods. Every village has its own Deswâli, who is held responsible for the crops, and receives an offering of a buffalo at the agricultural festival. The Jubbbulpore Kols have entirely abandoned their tribal gods and now worship Hindu deities. Devi is their favourite goddess, and they carry her iron tridents about with them wherever they go. Twice in the year, when the baskets of wheat or Gardens of Adonis are sown in the name of Devi, she descends on some of her worshippers, and they become possessed and pierce their cheeks with the trident, sometimes leaving it in the face for hours, with one or two men standing beside to support it. When the trident is taken out a quid of betel is given to the wounded man, and the wound is believed to heal up at once. These Kols also employ Brâhmans for their ceremonies. Before sowing their fields they say- Thuiya, Bhuiya, 1 Dharti Mâta, Thâkur Deo, Bhainsa Sur; khîb paida kariye Mahârâj; that is, they invoke Mother Earth, Thâkur Deo, the corn-god, and Bhainsâsur, the buffalo demon, to give them good crops; and as they say this they throw a handful of grain in the air in the name of each god.

Witchcraft. "Among the Hos," Colonel Dalton states, "all disease in men or animals is attributed to one of two causes-- the wrath of some evil spirit who has to be appeased, or the spell of some witch or sorcerer who should be destroyed or driven out of the land. In the latter case a sokha or witch-finder is employed to ascertain who has cast the spell, and various methods of divination are resorted to. It is believed that witches breed witches and sorcerers. The taint is in the blood. When, during the Mutiny, Singhbhîm District was left for a short time without officers, a terrible raid was made against all who had been suspected for years of dealing with the evil one, and the most atrocious murders were committed. Young men were told off for the duty by the elders; neither age nor sex were spared. When order was restored, these crimes were brought to light, and the actual perpetrators punished; and since then we have not only had no recurrence of witch murders, but the superstition itself is dying out in the Kolhân." Mr. H.C. Streat-feild states that among the Mundas witches used to be hung head downwards from a pípal tree over a slow fire, the whole village dancing as they were gradually roasted, but whether this ceremony was purely vindictive or had any other significance there is nothing to show.2

Funeral Rites. The Hos of Chota Nâgpur were accustomed to place large slabs of stone as tombstones over their graves, and a collection of these massive gravestones indelibly marks the site of every Ho or Mundâri village, being still found in parts of the country where there have been no Kols for ages. In addition to this slab, a megalithic monument is set up to the deceased in some conspicuous spot outside the village; the pillars vary in height from five or six to fifteen feet, and apparently fragments of rock of the most fantastic shape are most favoured. All the clothes, ornaments and agricultural implements of the dead man were buried with the body. The funeral rites were of a some-what touching character:3 "When all is ready, a funeral party collects in front of the deceased's house, three or four men with very deep-toned drums, and a group of about eight young girls. The chief mourner comes forth, carrying the bones exposed on a decorated tray, and behind him the girls form two rows, carrying empty or broken pitchers or battered brass vessels, while the men with drums bring up the rear. The procession advances with a ghostly dancing movement, slow and solemn as a minuet, in time

1. Thuiya, Bhuiya is a mere jingle. 2. J. A. S. B. , No. 1 of 1903, p. 31. 3. Dalton, ibidem.

483 to the beat of the deep-toned drums, not straight forward, but mysteriously gliding-now right, now marking time, all in the same mournful cadence. In this manner the remains are taken to the house of every friend and relative of the deceased within a circle of a few miles, and to every house in the village. As the procession approaches each house in the manner described, the inmates all come out, and the tray having been placed on the ground at their door, they kneel over it and mourn. The bones are also thus conveyed to all his favourite haunts, the fields he cultivated, the grove he planted, the tank he excavated, the threshing- floor where he worked with his people, the Akhâra or dancing-arena where he made merry with them, and each spot which is hallowed with reminiscences of the deceased draws forth fresh tears." In Sambalpur1 the dead body of a Munda is washed in wine before interment, and a mark of vermilion is made on the forehead. The mourners drink wine sitting by the grave. They then bathe, and catch a small fish and roast it on a fire, smearing their hands with oil and warming them at the fire. It would appear that this last rite is a purification of the hands after contact with the dead body, but whether the fish is meant to represent the deceased and the roasting of it is a substitute for the rite of cremation is not clear. During the eight days of mourning the relatives abstain from flesh, but they eat fish. The Kols of Jubbulpore now bury or burn the dead, and observe mourning exactly like ordinary Hindus.

Inheritance. Succession among the Mundas passes to sons only. Failing these, the property goes to the father or brothers if any. At partition the eldest son as a rule gets a slightly larger share than the other sons, a piece of land, and in well-to-do families a yoke of plough cattle, or only a bullock or a goat, and sometimes a bundle of paddy weighing from 10 to 16 maunds.2 Partition cannot usually be made till the youngest son is of age. Daughters get no share in the inheritance, and are allotted among the sons just like live-stock. Thus if a man dies leaving three sons and three daughters and thirty head of cattle, on a division each son would get ten head of cattle and one sister; but should there be only one sister, they wait till she marries and divide the bride-price. A father may, however, in his life-time make presents of cash or movables to a daughter, though not of land. It is doubtful whether these rules still obtain among the Hinduised Kols.

Physical Appearance. "The Mundas," Colonel Dalton states, "are one of the finest of the aboriginal tribes. The men average something like 5 feet 6 inches, and many of them are remarkably well developed and muscular. Their skin is of the darkest brown, almost black in many cases, and their features coarse, with broad flat noses, low foreheads and thick lips, presenting as a rule a by no means prepossessing appearance. The women are often more pleasing, the coarseness of the features being less accentuated or less noticeable on account of the extreme good-nature and happy carelessness that seldom fail to mark their countenance. They are fond of ornament, and a group of men and girls fully decked out for a festival makes a fine show. Every ornament in the shape of bead necklace, silver collar, bracelet, armlet and anklet would seem to have been brought out for the occasion. The head-dress is the crowning point of the turn-out. The long black hair is gathered up in a big coil, most often artificially enlarged, the whole being fastened at the right-hand side of the back of the head just on a level with and touching the right ear. In this knot are fastened all sorts of ornaments of brass and silver, and surmounting it, stuck in every available space, are gay plumes of feathers that nod and wave bravely with the movements of the dance. The ears are distorted almost beyond recognition by huge earrings that pierce the lobe and smaller ones that ornament them all round." In Mandla women are tattooed with the figure of a man or a man on horseback, and on the legs behind also with the figure of a man. They are not tattooed on the face. Men are never tattooed.

1. Mr. B. C. Mazumdâr's Monograph. 2. Roy, ibidem , p. 428.

484 Dances. "Dancing is the inevitable accompaniment of every gathering, and they have a great variety suitable to the special times and seasons The motion is slow and graceful, a monotonous sing- song being kept up all through. The steps are in perfect time and the action wonderfully even and regular. This is particularly noticeable in some of the variations of the dances representing the different seasons and the necessary acts of cultivation that each brings with it. In one the dancers bending down make a motion with their hands as though they were sowing the grain, keeping step with their feet all the time. Then come the reaping of the crop and the binding of the sheaves, all done in perfect time and rhythm, and making with the continuous droning of the voice a quaint and picturesque performance.' In the Central Provinces the Kols now dance the Karma dance of the Gonds, but they dance it in more lively fashion. The step consists simply in advancing or withdrawing one foot and bringing the other up or back beside it. The men and women stand opposite each other in two lines, holding hands, and the musicians alternately face each line and advance and retreat with them. Then the liens move round in a circle with the musicians in the centre.

Social Rules And Offences. Munda boys are allowed to eat food cooked by other castes, except the very lowest, until they are married, and girls until they let their hair grow long, which is usually at the age of six or seven. After this they do not take food as a tribe from any other caste, even a Brâhman, though some subtribes accept it from certain castes as the Telis (oil-pressers) and Sundis or liquor-vendors. In Jubbulpore the Kols take food from Kurmis, Dhímars and Ahírs. The Mundas will eat almost all kinds of flesh, including tigers and pigs, while in Raigarh they consider monkey as a delicacy, hunting these animals with dogs. In the Central Provinces they have generally adjured beef, in deference to Hindu prejudice, and sometimes refuse field-mice. In Sambalpur a woman is finally expelled from caste for a liaison with one of the impure Gândas, Ghasias or Doms, and a man is expelled for taking food from a woman of these castes, but adultery with her may be expiated by a big feast. Other offences are much the same as among the Hindus. A woman who gets her ear torn through where it is pierced is put out of caste for six months or a year and has to give two feats on readmission.

The Caste Panchâyat. In Mandla the head of the panchâyat is known as Gaontia, a name for a village headman, and he is always of the Bargaiya sept, the office being usually hereditary. When a serious offence is committed the Gaontia fixes a period of six months to a year for the readmission of the culprit, or the latter begs for reinstatement when he has obtained the materials for the penalty feast. A feast for the whole Rautele subcaste will entail 500 seers or nearly 9 cwt. of kodon, costing perhaps Rs. 30, and they say there would not be enough left for a cold breakfast for the offender's family in the morning. When a man has a petition to make to the Gaontia, he folds his turban round his neck, leaving the head bare, takes a piece of grass in his mouth, and with four prominent elders to support him goes to the Gaontia and falls at his feet. The others stand on one leg behind him and the Gaontia asks them for their recommendation. Their reverence for the caste panchâyat is shown by their solemn form of oath, 'Sing-Bonga on high and the Panch on earth.'1 The Kols of Jubbulpore and Mandla are now completely conforming to Hindu usage and employ Brâhmans for their ceremonies. They are most anxious to be considered as good Hindus and ape every high-caste custom they get hold of. On one occasion I was being carried on a litter by Kol coolies and accompanied by a Râjpît chuprâssie and was talking to the Kols, who eagerly proclaimed their rigid Hindu observances. Finally the chuprâssie said that Brâhmans and Râjpîts must have three separate brushes of date-palm fibre for their houses, one to sweep the cook-room which is especially sacred, one for the rest of the house, and one for the yard. Lying gallantly, the Kols said that they also kept three palm brushes for cleaning their houses, and when it was pointed out that

1. The Mundas and their Country, p. 121.

485 there were no date-palms within several miles of their village, they said they sent periodical expeditions to the adjoining District to bring back fibre for brushes.

Names. Colonel Dalton notes that the Kols, like the Gonds, give names to their children after officers visiting the village when they are born. Thus Captain, Major, Doctor are common names in the Kolhân. Mr. Mazumdâr gives an instance of a Kol servant of the Râja of Bâmra who greatly admired some English lamp-chimneys sent for by the Râja and called his daughter 'Chimney.' They do not address any relative or caste-man by his name if he is older than themselves, but use the term of relationship to a relative and to others the honorific title of Gaontia.

Occupation. The Mundâri language has no words for the village trades nor for the implements of cultivation, and so it may be concluded that prior to their contact with the Hindus the Mundas lived on the fruits and roots of the forests and the pursuit of game and fish. Now, however, they have taken kindly to several kinds of labour. They are much in request on the Assam tea-gardens owing to their good physique and muscular power, and they make the best bearers of dhoolies or palanquins. Kol bearers will carry a dhoolie four miles and hour as against the best Gond pace of about three, and they shake the occupant less. They also make excellent than the other jungle tribes. A Munda seldom comes into a criminal court.

Language. The Kols of the Central Provinces have practically abandoned their own language, Mundâri being retained only by about 1000 persons in 1911. The Kols and Mundas now speak the Hindu vernacular current in the tracts where the reside. Mundâri, Santâli, Korwa and Bhumij are practically all forms of one language which Sir G. Grierson designates as Kherwâri.1

Kol.: -Kâmâlí or Kâlahâ. 2 There is a large caste of iron smelters in the Sonthal Parganas, Hazaribagh, and Manbhum which is known as the Kols or Kâlh⣣. They call themselves har, men. The Hindîs call them Kol. In Manbhum and Hazaribagh, they also call themselves Kârmâlés. Their language has hitherto been classed as a dialect of Hó or Kol, and it is quite possible that some of the Kols enumerated in the districts in question do really speak that language. This must be inferred from the fact that specimens of Hó have been forwarded from the Sonthal Parganas. Most of the Kâlh⣣s in the Sonthal Parganas, Manbhum, and Hazaribagh, however, have nothing to do with the Hós, but speak a dialect of Santâlí. That dialect will in this Survey be called Kârmâlí in order to avoid confusion with Hó or Kol. It is quite different from Ku®mâlí, the dialect of the Ku®mís if Hazaribagh, Manbhum, and other districts, which is a form of Magahí. See Vol. V., Part ii, 145 and ff. Kârmâlí has been returned for the purposes of this Survey from the following districts: Sonthal Parganas 22,821 Hazaribagh 10,239 Manbhum 11,000 ------Total 44,060

The local returns give the name of the dialects as Kol, and it is possible that the figures may include some stray Hó immigrants. Their number cannot, however, be important. At the last Census of 1901 Kârmâlí was returned from the following districts: Birbhum 23 Midnapore 647

1. Linguistic Survey, vol. iv., Munda and Dravidian Languages, p. 27. 2 See Grierson. This part is, mainly, about Kol Language of the Munda Family.

486 Rajshahi 130 Pabna 1,949 Monghyr 83 Sontal Parganas 8,117 Angul and Khondmals 13 Hazaribagh 2,610 Manbhum 3,770 ------Total 17,342

The principal home of the Kârmâlés is the south of the Sonthal Parganas and the north of Manbhum. In Hazaribagh they are found in scattered settlements in the south of the district. The Kârmâlí dialect does not much differ from ordinary Santâlí. One good specimen, prepared by the Rev. A. Campbell, will be found below. It represents the language of the Kâlh⣣s of a Manbhum. According to a list of Standard Words and Phrases prepared by the Rev. P.O. Bodding, the dialect is essentially the same in the Sonthal Parganas. The same is the case in Hazaribagh, to judge from a corrupt list forwarded from the district.

Pronunciation The sounds a and o or a££ and e, respectively, are distinguished as in standard Santâlí. The neutralizing power of i and u is not so strong as in Standard Santâlí; thus, buba and babaªª, father. Diphthongs such as ae, ae, ao, are commonly simplified. Thus, a££m-é-ém, Standard a££m-ae-me, give him; aka££-ra££n hapan, whose son chala-en-é, Standard chalao-en-a-e, he went, etc. The change of π to ®, is common in the Sonthal Parganas; thus, hu®iñ, Manbhum huπiñ, small, etc. The Kâlha££s of the Sonthal Parganas have the same tendency as the Mâhlés to substitute a for ae and so compare thus, u®a-pa®a, squander, in Manbhum uπai-paπaí . Note also tahao- kan and taha-kan, in Hazaribagh tahi™-kan, was; ha££la££r, Standard ha££ra££l, male being, a man, and so forth. The most important phonological peculiarities of the dialect are the changes of ® to r; of initial n™™ to n and l; and, in some cases, of r to l . Thus, har, Standard ha®, man; órak ', Standard ó®ak ', house; nír, Standard n™™ír, run; nam, Standard n™ãm, get; lel, Standard n™a££l, see; luar, Standard ruaªª®, return, and so forth.

Inflexion. The inflexion of nouns and pronouns is regular. The genitive suffixes ích' and ak ' are in common use. Thus, aªní-ích ' hâpân, his son; iñ-ak mâtrâ©-re, before me, bîbâ-k , of a father.1 Note forms such as íní, this; âªní, îní, that one; âka££, who, chétak' what, and so forth. The numerals six to ten are Aryan loan-words. 'Twenty' is mít kîrí, and hundred mâra££ kîrí . The categorical a in verbal forms is generally dispensed with in the singular; thus, taha-kan- íñ , I was; gîjîk'-íñ, I die. The causative particle is cho; thus, dâl-chók '-kân-íñ, I am beaten. The pronominal infix of the dative is sometimes replaced by the accusative infix; thus, meta- ked-e-y-e and met-ad-e-a, said to him; ema-akad-iñ-am, thou hast given to me. Meta and ema are fuller forms of ma££n and a££m, respectively, which are also used in Standard Santâlí before the dative infixes. Forms such as meta-ked -e-y-e, he said to him, are not used by the Kalhas of the Sonthal Parganas, who say meta-ud-i-e or meta-w-ad-e-e instead. The pronominal suffixes denoting the subject are often added to the verb and not to the word preceding it. The suffix len of the past tense occurs in the form nen; thus châló-en-íñ and châlo-nen-íñ, I went. Note also forms such as mén-íñ-â, I am hénâm-gi-â, thou art, and so forth.

1 Note bubaªª-ñ , my father ; baªªbu-m , thy father ; baªªbu-t-tet 'his father. The ( Kalhas ?) of the Sonthal Parganas use bubaª throughout ; thus, bubaª-m , they father. 'My father' is, however bañ

487 Kolâm.:-A Dravidian tribe residing principally in the Wîn Tâluk of the Yeotmâl District1. They number altogether about 25,000 persons, of whom 23,000 belong to Wîn and the remainder to the adjoining tracts of Wardha and Hyderâbâd. They are not found elsewhere. The tribe are generally considered to be akin to the Gonds2 on the authority of Mr. Hislop. He wrote of them: "The Kolâms extend all along the Kandi Konda or Pindi Hills on the south of the Wardha river and along the table-land stretching east and north of Mânikgad and thence south to Dântanpalli, running parallel to the western bank of the Prânhíta. The Kolâms and the common Gonds do not intermarry, but they are present at each other's nuptials and eat from each other's hand. Their dress is similar, but the Kolâm women wear fewer ornaments, being generally content with a few black beads of glass round their neck. Among their deities, which are the usual objects of Gond adoration, Bhímsen is chiefly honoured." Mr. Hislop was, however, not always of this opinion, because he first excluded the Kolâms from the Gond tribes and afterwards included them.3 In Wardha they are usually distinguished from the Gonds. They have a languages of their own, called after Kolâmi. Sir G. Grierson4 describes it as "A minor dialect of Berâr and the Central Provinces which occupies a position like that of Gondi between Canarese, Tamil and Telugu. The so- called Kolâmi, the Bhíli spoken in the Pusad tâluk of Bâsim and the so-called Naikei of Chânda agree in so many particulars that they can almost be considered as one and the same dialect. They are closely related to Gondi. The points in which they differ from that language are, however, of sufficient importance to make it necessary to separate them from that form of speech. The Kolâmi dialect differs widely from the language of the neighbouring Gonds. In some points it agrees with Telugu, in other characteristics with Canarese and connected forms of speech. There are also some interesting points of analogy with the Toda dialect of the Nílgiris, and the Kolâms must, from a philological point of view, be considered as the remnants of an old Dravidian tribe who have not been involved in the development of the principal Dravidian languages, or a tribe who have not originally spoken a Dravidian form of speech."

The family names of the tribe also are not Gondi, but resemble those of Marâtha castes. Out of fifty sept names recorded, only one, Tekm, is found among the Gonds. "All their songs and ballads," Colonel Mackenzie says, "are borrowed from the Marâthas; even their women when grinding corn sing Marâthi songs." In Wîn their dress and appearance resembles that of the Kunbis, but in some respects they retain very primitive customs. Colonel Mackenzie states that until recently in Berâr they had the practice of capturing husbands for women who would otherwise have gone unwedded, this being apparently a survival of the matriarchate. It does not appear that the husbands so captured were ever unphilosophical enough to rebel under the old regime, though British enlightenment has taught them otherwise. Widows and widowers were exempt from capture and debarred from capturing. In view of the connection mentioned by Sir G. Grierson between the Kolâmi dialect and that of the Todas of the Nílgiri hills who are a small remnant of an ancient tribe and still practise polyandry, Mr. Híra Lâl suggests that the Kolâms may be connected with the Kolas, a tribe akin to the Todâs5 and as low in the scale of civilisation, who regard the Kolamallai hills as their original home.6 He further notes that the name of the era by which the calendar is reckoned on the Malabar coast

1. See Russell. This article includes some extracts from notes made by Colonel Mackenzie when Commissioner of Berâr, and subsequently published in the Pioneer newspaper ; and information collected for the District Gazetteers in Yeotmâl and Wardha. 2. Papers relating to the Aboriginal Tribes of the Central Provinces, p. 10. 3. Ibidem, Editor's Note. 4. Linguistic Survey, vol. iv., Munda and Dravidian Languages, p. 561. 5. India Census Report (1901), p. 287. 6. Hunter's Imperial Gazetteer, art Kolamallai hills.

488 is Kolamba. In view of Sir G. Grierson's statement that the Kolâmi dialect is the same as that of the Nâik Gonds of Chânda it may be noted that the headman of a Kolâm village is known as Nâik, and it is possible that the Kolâms may be connected with the so-called Nâik Gonds.

Marriage. The Kolâms have no subtribes, but are divided for purposes of marriage into number of exogamous groups. The name of these are in the Marâthi form, but he tribe do not know their meaning. Marriage between members of the same group is forbidden, and a man may not marry two sisters. Marriage is usually adult, and neither a betrothal nor a marriage can be concluded in the month of Poush (December), because in this month ancestors are worshipped. Colonel Mackenzie states that marriage should be celebrated on Wednesdays and Saturdays at sundown, and Monday is considered a peculiarly inauspicious day. If a betrothal, once contracted, is broken, a fine of five or ten rupees must be paid to the caste- fellows together with a quantity of liquor. Formerly, as stated above, the tribe sometimes captured husbands, and they still have a curious method of seizing a wife when they still cannot procure a mate for his son. The latter, attended by his comrades, resorts to the jungle with relations and friends. It is a custom of the tribe that the sexes should, as a rule, work in separate parties. On catching sight of her, the bridegroom pursues her, and unless he touches her hand before she gets back to her village, his friends will afford him no assistance. If he can get hold of the girl a struggle ensues between the two parties for her possession, the girl being sometimes only protected by women, while on other occasions her male relatives hear of the fray and come to her assistance. In the latter case a fight ensues with sticks, in which, however, no combatant may hit another on the head. If the girl is captured the marriage is subsequently performed, and even if she rescued the matter is often arranged by the payment of a few rupees to the girl's father. Nowadays the whole affair tends to degenerate into a pretence and is often arranged beforehand by the parties. The marriage ceremony resembles that of the Kunbis except that the bridegroom takes the bride on his lap and their clothes are tied together in two places. After the ceremony each of the guests takes a few grains of rice, and after touching the feet, knees and shoulders of the bridal couple with the rice, throws it over his own back. The idea may be to remove any contagion of misfortune or evil spirits who may be hovering about them. A widow can remarry only with her parents' consent, but if she takes a fancy to a man and chooses to enter his house with a pot of water on her head he cannot turn her out. A man cannot marry a widow unless he has been regularly wedded once to a girl, and once having espoused a widow by what is known as the pât ceremony, he cannot again go through a proper marriage. A couple who wish to be divorced must go before the caste panchâyat or committee with a pot of liquor. Over this is laid a dry stick and the couple each hold an end of it. The husband then addresses her as his sister in the presence of the caste-fellows, and the wife calls her husband as brother-- then they break the stick and the divorce is complete.

Disposal Of The Dead. The tribe bury their dead, and observe mourning for one to five days in different localities. The spirits of deceased ancestors are worshipped on any Monday in the month of Poush. The mourner goes and dips his head into a tank or stream, and afterwards sacrifices a fowl on the bank, and gives a meal to the caste-fellows. He then has the hair of his face and head shaved. Sons inherit equally, and if there are no sons the property devolves on daughters.

Religion And Superstitions. The Kolâms, Colonel Mackenzie states, recognise no god as a principle of beneficence in the world; their principal deities are Síta, to whom the first-fruits of the harvest are offered, and Devi who is the guardian of the village, and is propitiated with offerings of goats and fowls to preserve it from harm. She is represented by two stones set up in the centre of the village when it is founded. They worship their implements of agriculture on the last day of Chait (April), applying turmeric and vermilion to them. In May they collect the stumps of juâri from a field, and, burning them to ashes, make an offering of the same articles. They have a

489 curious ceremony for protecting the village from disease. All the men go outside the village and on the boundary at the four points north-east, north-west and opposite place four stones known as bandi, burying a fowl beneath each stone. The Nâik or headman then sacrifices a goat and other fowls to Síta, and placing four men by the stones, proceeds to sprinkle salt all along the boundary line, except across one path on which he lays his stick. He them calls out to the men that the village is closed and that they must enter it only by that path. This rule remains in force throughout the year, and if any stranger enters the village by any other than the appointed route, they consider that he should pay the expense of drawing the boundary circuit again. The rule is often applied only to carts, and relaxed in favour of travellers on foot. The line marked with salt is called bandesh, and it is believed that wild animals cannot cross it, while they are prevented from coming into the village along the only open road by the stick of the Nâik. Villagers with diseases or impurities are made to live in a hut in the fields outside the boundary line. The open road does not lead across the village, but terminates at the chauri or meeting-house.

Social Position. Though the Kalâms retain some very primitive customs, those of Yeotmâl, as already stated, are hardly distinguishable from the Kunbis or Hindu cultivators. Colonel Mackenzie states that a Kolâm will take food from a Gond, but the latter will not return the compliment. They will eat the flesh of rats, tigers, snakes, squirrels and of almost any animals except dogs, donkeys and jackals. In another respect they are on a level with the lowest aborigines, as some of them do not use water to clean their bodies after performing natural functions, but only leaves. Yet as they are not considered as impure by the Hindus, they are permitted to enter Hindu temples, and hold themselves to be defiled by the touch of a Mahâr or a Mâng. A Kolâm is forbidden to beg by the rules of the tribe, and he looks down on the Mahârs and Mângs, who are often professional beggars. In Wardha, too, the Kolâms will not collect dead- wood for sale as fuel.

Miscellaneous Customs. Here their houses contain only a single room with a small store-house, and all the family sleep together without privacy. Consequently there is no opportunity at night for conjugal intimacy, and husband and wife seek the solitude of the forest in the daytime. Colonel Mackenzie states: "All Kolâms are great smokers, but they are not allowed to smoke in their own houses, but only at the chauri or meeting-house, where pipes and fire are kept; and this rule is enforced so that the Nâik or headman can keep an eye on all male members of the community; if these do not appear at least once a day, satisfactory reasons are demanded for their absence, and from this rule only the sick and infirm are exempt. The Kolâms have two musical instruments: the tâpate or drum, and the wâss or flute, the name of which is probably derived from the Sanskrit wâunsh, meaning bamboo (of which the instrument is made). In old times all Kolâms could read and write, and it is probably only poverty which prevents them from having all their children educated now." This last statement must, however, have evidence on which it is based. At present they are, as a rule, quite illiterate. The Nâik or headman formerly had considerable powers, being entrusted with the distribution of land among the cultivators, and exercising civil and criminal jurisdiction with the assistance of the panchâyat. His own land was ploughed for him by the villagers. Even now they seldom enter a court of justice and their disputes are settled by the panchâyat. A strong feeling of clannishness exists among them, and the village unites to avenge an injury done to one of its members. Excommunication from caste is imposed for the usual offences, and the ceremony of readmission is as follows: the offender dips his head in a river or stream and the village barber shaves his head and moustache. He then sits beside a lighted pile of wood, being held to be purified by the proximity of the holy element, and afterward bathes, and drinks some water into which the caste-fellows have dipped their toes. A woman has to undergo the same ceremony and have her head shaved. If an unmarried girl becomes with child by a member of the caste, she is married to him by the simple rite used for widow- remarriage. A Kolâm must not swear by a dog or cat, and is expelled from caste for killing

490 either of these two animals. A Kolâm does not visit a friend's house in the evening, as he would be suspected in such an event of having designs upon wife's virtue. The tribe are cultivators and labourers. They have not a very good reputation for honesty, and are said to be addicted to stealing the ripe cotton from the bolls. They never wear shoes, and the soles of their feet become nearly invulnerable and capable of traversing the most thorny ground without injury. They have an excellent knowledge of the medicinal and other uses of all tress, shrubs and herbs.

Kolhati.: -Dandewala, Bansberia, Kabutari.1- The name by which the Beria caste of Northern and Central India is Known in Berar. The Berias themselves, in Central India at any rate, are a branch of the Sansias, a vagrant and criminal class, whose traditional occupation was that of acting as bards and genealogists to the Jat caste. The main difference between the Sansias and Berias is that the latter prostitute their women, or those of them who are not married.2 The Kolhatis of Berar, who also do this, appear to be a branch of the Beria caste who have settled in the Deccan and now have customs differing in several respects from those of the parent caste. It is therefore desirable to reproduce briefly the main heads of the information given about them in the works cited above. In 1901 the Kolhatis numbered 1300 persons in Berar. In the Central Provinces they were not shown separately, but were included with the Nats. But in 1891 a total of 250 Kolhatis were returned. The word Kolhati is said to be derived from the long bamboo poles which they use for jumping, known as Kolhat. The other names, Dandewala and Bansberia, meaning those who perform feats with a stick or bamboo, also have reference to this pole. Kabutari as applied to the women signifies that their dancing resembles the flight of a pigeon (kabutar). They say that once on a time a demon had captured some Kunbis and shut them up in a cavern. But the Kunbis besought Mahadeo to save them, and he created a man and a woman who danced before the demon and so pleased him that he promised them whatever they should ask; and they thus obtained the freedom of the Kunbis. The man and woman were named Kabutar and Kabutari on account of their skilful dancing, and were the ancestors of the kolhatis. The Kolhatis of the Central Provinces appear to differ in several respects from those of Berar, with whom the following article is mainly concerned.

Internal Structure. The caste has two main divisions in Berar, the Dukar Kolhatis and the Kham or Pal Kolhatis. The name of the former is derived from dukar, hog, because they are accustomed to hunt the wild pig with dogs and spears when these animals become too numerous and damage the crops of the villagers. They also labour for themselves by cultivating land and taking service as village watchmen, and they are daring criminals and commit dacoity, burglary and theft; but they do not steal cattle. The Kham Kolhatis, on the other hand, are a lazy, good-for- nothing class of men, who, beyond making a few combs and shuttles of bone, will set their hands to no kind of labour, but subsist mainly by the immoral pursuits of their women. At every large fair may be seen some of the portable huts of this tribe, made of rusa grass,3 the women decked in jewels and gaudy attire sitting at each door, while the men are lounging lazily at the back. The Dukar Kolhati women, Mr. Kitts states, also resort to the same mode of life, but take up their abode in villages instead of attending fairs. Among the Dukar Kolhatis the subdivisions have Rajput names; and just as a Chauhan Rajput may not marry another Chauhan so also a Chauhan Dukar Kolhati may not marry a person of his own clan. In Bilaspur they are said to have four subcastes, the Marethi or those coming from the Maratha country, the Bansberia or pole-jumpers, the Suarwale or hunters of the wild pig, and the

1 See Russell. Based partly on papers by Mr. Bihari Lal, Naib-Tahsildar, Bilaspur, and Mr. Aduram Chaudhri of the Gazetteer Office. 2 For further information the articles on Sansia and Beria may be consulted. 3 Andropagon Schoenanthus.

491 Muhammadan Kolhatis, none of whom marry or take food with each other. Each group is further subdivided into the Asal and Kamsal (Kam-asal), or the pure and mixed Kolhatis, who marry among themselves, outsiders being admitted to the Kamsal or mixed group.

Marriage. The marriage ceremony in Berar1 consists simply in a feast at which the bride and bridegroom, dressed in new clothes, preside. Much liquor is consumed and the dancing-girls of the tribe dance before them, and the happy couple are considered duly married according to Kolhati rites. Married women do not perform in public and are no less moral and faithful then those of other castes, while those brought up as dancing-girl do not marry at all. In Bilaspur weddings are arranged through the headman of the village, who receives a fee for his services, and the ceremony includes some of the ordinary Hindu rites. Here a widow is compelled to marry her late husband's younger brother on pain of exclusion from caste. People of almost any caste may become Kolhatis. When an outsider is admitted he must have a sponsor into whose clan he is adopted. A feast is given to the caste, and the applicant catches the right little finger of his sponsor before the assembly. Great numbers of Rajputs and Muhammadans join them, and on the other hand a large proportion of the fair but frail Kolhatis embrace the Muhammadan faith.2

Funeral Rites. The bodies of children are buried, and those of the adult dead may be either buried or cremated. Mr. Kitts states that they bring back the skull and placing it on a bed offer to it powder, dates and betel-leaves; and after a feast lasting for three days it is again buried. According to Major Gunthorpe the proceedings are more elaborate: "Each division of the caste has its own burial-ground in some special spot, to which it is the heart's desire of every Kolhati to carry, when he can afford it, the bones of his deceased relatives. After the cremation of an adult the bones are collected and buried pending such time as they can be conveyed to the appointed cemetery, if this be at a distance. When the time comes, that is, when means can be found for the removal, the bones are disinterred and placed in two saddle-bags on a donkey, the skull and upper in the right bag and the leg and lower bones in the left. The ass is then led to the deceased's house, where the bags of bones are placed under a canopy made ready for their reception. High festival, as for a marriage, is held for three days, and at the end of this time the bags are replaced on the donkey, and with tom- toms beating and dancing-girls of the tribe dancing in front, the animal is led off to the cemetery. On arrival, the bags with the bones in them, are laid in a circular hole, and over it a stone is placed to mark the spot, and covered with oil and vermilion; and the spirit of the deceased is then considered to be appeased." They believe that the spirits of dead ancestors enter the bodies of the living and work evil to them, unless they are appeased with offerings. The Dukar Kolhatis offer a boar to the spirits of male ancestors and a sow to females. An offering of a boar is also made to Bhagwan (Vishnu), who is the principal deity of the caste and is worshipped with great ceremony every second year 3

Other Customs. Although of low caste, the Kolhatis refrain from eating the flesh of the cow and other animals of the same tribe. The wild cat, mongoose, wild and tame pig and jackal are considered as delicacies. The caste have the same ordeals as are described in the article on the Sansias. As might be expected in a class which makes a living by immoral practices, the women considerably outnumber the men. No one is permanently expelled from caste, and temporary exclusion is imposed only for a few offences, such as an intrigue with or being touched by a member of an impure caste. The offender gives a feast, and in the case of a man the moustache is shaved, while a woman has five hairs of her head cut off. The women have

1 Gunthorpe, loc. cit. VOL. iii 2 Ibidem, p. 49. 2 M 3 Kitts, loc. cit.

492 names meant to indicate their attractions, as Panna emerald, Munga coral, Mehtab, dazzling, Gulti flower, Moti a pearl, and Kesar saffron. If a girl is detected in an intrigue with a caste- fellow they are fined seven rupees and must give a feast to the caste, and are then married. When, however, a girl is suspected of unchastity and no man will take the responsibility on himself, she is put to an ordeal. She fasts all night, and next morning is dressed in a white cloth, and water is poured over her head from a new carthen pot. A piece of iron is heated red hot between cowdung cakes, and she must this take up in her hand and walk five steps with it, also applying it to the tip of her tongue. If she is burnt her unchastity is considered to be proved, and the idea is therefore apparently that if she is innocent the deity will intervene to save her.

Occupation. The Dukar Kolhati males, Major Gunthorpe states, are a fine manly set of fellows. They hunt the wild boar with dogs, the men armed with spears and following on foot. They show much pluck in attacking the boar, and there is hardly a man of years who does not bear scars received in fights with these animals. The villagers send long distances for a gang to come and rid them of the wild pig, which play havoc with the crops, and pay them in grain for doing so. But they are also much addicted to crime, and when they have decided on a dacoity or house-breaking they have a good drinking-bout and start off with their dogs as if to hunt the boar. And if they are successful they bury the spoil, and return with the body of a pig or a hare as evidence of what they have been doing. Stolen property is either buried at some distance from their homes or made over to the safe keeping of men with whom the women of the caste may be living. Such men, who become intimate with the Kolhatis through their women, are often headmen of villages or hold other respectable positions, and are thus enabled to escape suspicion. Boys who are to become acrobats are taught to jump from early youth. The acrobats and dancing-girls go about to fairs and other gatherings and make a platform on a cart, which serves as a stage for their performances. The dancing-girl is assisted by her admirers, who accompany her with music. Some of them are said now to have obtained European instruments, as harmoniums or gramophones. They do not give their performances on Thursdays and Mondays, which are considered to be unlucky days. In Bombay they are said to make a practice of kidnapping girls, preferably of high caste, whom they sell or bring up as prostitutes. 1

[ Bibliography: Mr. Kitts' Berar Report (1881); Major Gunthorpe's Criminal Tribes of Bombay, Berar and the Central Provinces (Times Press, Bombay).]

Kólhâ†í.: -The Kólhâ†ís2 are a tribe of rope dancers and tumblers in Bombay, Berar and the Hyderabad State. They are said3 to take their name from kólhâ†, the bamboo on which they perform. The corresponding Kanarese form of the name, however, is kolla†iga, which is a compound of kol-kól, a stick, a rod, and a†iga, a player. In the Bombay Presidency they are also called ¸ómbârí or ¸ómbhârí, which word must have something to do with ¸om, the name of another Gypsy tribe. According to Mr. Balfour they call themselves Bhatî; compare bhattî, the name used by Sêsís to indicate a man of their tribe.

Occupation. In the Bombay Presidency the Kólhâ†ís are also makers of the small buffalo horn pulleys which are used with cart ropes in fastening loads. They also make hide combs and gunpowder flasks. When a girl comes of age, she is called to choose between marriage and

1 Ind. Ant. iii. P,185. Satara Gazetteer, P 119 2 G. A. Grierson, Linguistic Survey Of India. 3. Bombay Gazeiteer, xii, 123ff.

493 prostitution. If, with her parents' consent, she wishes to lead a married life, she is well taken care of and carefully watched. If she chooses to be a tumbler and a prostitute, she is taken before the caste council, a feast is given, and with the consent of the council she is declared a prostitute. The prostitutes are not allowed to eat with other Kólhâ†ís, except with their own children. Still, when they grow old, their caste-fellows support them.1 According to Major Gunthorpe,2 the Kólhâ†ís of the Dekhan "belong to the great Sânsya family of robbers and claim their descent from Mallanîr, the brother of Sânsmal. There are two tribes. Dukar Kólhâ†ís and Kam or Pâl Kólhâ†ís. The former are a non-wandering criminal tribe, whereas the latter are a non-wandering criminal class. Depraved in morals, the males of both tribes subsist to great extent on the prostitution of some of their females, though let it be said to the credit of the former that they are not so bad as the latter. They labour for themselves by cultivating land, by taking service as village watchmen, or by hiring themselves to villages to destroy that pest of Indian farmers, the wild dog, and above all they are professional robbers. Kam Kólhâ†ís, on the other hand, are a lazy, good-for-nothing class of men who, beyond making a few combs and shuttles of bone, will set their hands to no class of labour, but subsist mainly by the immoral pursuits of their women."

Koli.:-A primitive tribe akin to the Bhíls3, who are residents of the western Satpîra hills. They have the honorific title of Nâik. They numbered 36,000 persons in 1911, nearly all of whom belong to Berâr, with the exception of some 2000 odd, who live in the Nimâr District. These have hitherto been confused with the Kori caste. The Koris or weavers are also known as Koli, but in Nimâr they have the designation of Khangâr Koli to distinguish them from the tribe of the same name. The Kolis proper are found in the Burhânpur tahsíl, where most villages are said to possess one or two families, and on the southern Satpîra hills adjoining Berâr. They are usually village servants, their duties being to wait on Government officers, cleaning their cooking-vessels and collecting carts and provisions. The duties of village watchman or kotwâr were formerly divided between two officials, and while the Koli did the most respectable part of the work, the Mahâr or Balâhi carried baggage, carried messages, and made the prescribed reports to the police. In Berâr the Kolis acted for a time as guardians of the hill passes. A chain of outposts or watch towers ran along the Satpîra hills to the north of Berâr, and these were held by Kolis and Bhíls, whose duties were to restrain the predatory inroads of their own tribesmen, in the same manner as the Khyber Rifles now guard the passes on the North-west Frontier. And again along the Ajanta hills to the south of the Berâr valley a tribe of Kolis under their Nâiks had charge of the ghâts or gates of the ridge, and acted as a kind of local militia paid by assignments of land in the villages.4 In Nimâr the Kolis, like the Bhíls, made a trade of plunder and dacoity during the unsettled times of the eighteenth century, and the phrase 'Nâhal, Bhíl, Koli' is commonly used in old Marâthi documents to designate the hillrobbers as a class. The priest of a Muhammadan tomb in Burhânpur still exhibits an imperial Parwâna or intimation from Delhi announcing the dispatch of a force for the suppression of the Kolis, dated A.D. 1637. In the Bombay Presidency, so late as 1804, Colonel Walker wrote: "Most Kolis are thieves by profession and embrace every opportunity to plunder either public or private property."5 The tribe are 1 important in Bombay, where their numbers amount to more than 1 million. It is supposed 2 that the common term 'coolie' is a corruption of Koli,6 because the Kolis were usually employed as porters and carriers in western India, as 'slave' comes from Slav. The tribe have

1. Bombay Gazetteer, xx, 18f. 2. Criminal Tribes , p. 46ff. 3 See Russell. 4. Lyall's Berâr Gazetteer, pp. 103-5. 5. Kâthiawâr Gazetteer, p. 140. 6. Crooke's edition of Hobson-Jobson, art, Koli.

494 also given their name to Colâba.1 Various derivations have been given of the meaning of the word Koli,2 and according to one account the Kolis and Mairs were originally the same tribe and came from Sind, while the Mairs were the same as the Meyds or Mihiras who entered India in the fifth century as one of the branches of the great White Hun horde. "Again, since the settlement of the Mairs in Gujarât," the writer of the Gujarât Gazetteer continues, "reverses of fortune, especially the depression of the Râjpîts under the yoke of the Muhammadans in the fourteenth century, did much to draw close the bond between the higher and middle grades of the warrior class. Then many Râjpîts sought shelter among the Kolis and married with them, leaving descendants who still claim a Râjpît descent and bear the names of Râjpît families. Apart from this, and probably as result of an original sameness of race, in some parts of Gujarât and Kâthiawâr intermarriage goes on between the daughters of Talabda Kolis and the sons of Râjpîts." Thus the Thâkur or Talpuri Mahi Kântha in Bombay calls himself a Prâmara Koli, and explains the term by saying that his ancestor, who was a Prâmara or Panwâr Râjpît, took water at a Koli's house.3 As regards the origin of the Kolis, however, whom the author of the Gujarât Gazetteer derives from the White Huns, stating them to be immigrants from Sind, another and perhaps more probable theory is that they are simply a western outpost of the great Kol or Munda tribe, to which the Korkus and Nâhals and perhaps the Bhíls may also belong. Mr. Híra Lâl suggests that it is a common custom in Marâthi to add or alter so as to make names end in i. Thus Halbi for Halba, Koshti for Koshta, Patwi for Patwa, Wanjâri for Banjâra, Gowari for Goala; and in the same manner Koli from Kol. This supposition appears a very reasonable one though there is little direct evidence. The Nimâr Kolis have no tradition of their origin beyond the saying--

Siva ki jholi Us men ka Koli, or, 'The Koli was born from Siva's wallet.'

In the Central Provinces the tribe have the five subdivisions of Sîrajvansi, Malhâr, Bhilaophod, Singâde, and the Muhammadan Kolis. The Sîrajvansi or 'descendants of the sun' claim to be Râjpîts. The Malhâr or Pânbhari subtribe are named from their deity Malhâri Deo, while the alternative name of Pânbhari means water-carrier. The Bhilaophod extract the oil from bhilwa4 nuts like the Nâhals, and the Singâde (sing, horn, and gâdna, to bury) are so called because when their buffaloes die they bury the horns in their compounds. As with several other castes in Burhânpur and Berâr, a number of Kolis embraced Islâm at the time of the Muhammadan domination and form a separate subcaste.

In Berâr the principal group is that of the Mahâdeo Kolis, whose name may be derived from the Mahâdeo or Pachmarhi hills. This would tend to connect them with the Korkus, and through them with the Kols. They are divided into the Bhâs or pure and the Akarâmâse or impure Kolis.5 In Akola most of the Kolis are stated to belong to the Kshatriya group, while other divisions are the Nâiks or soldiers, the begging Kolis, and the Watandârs who are probably hereditary holders of the post of village watchman.6

Marriage and divorce The tribe have exogamous septs of the usual nature, but they have forgotten the meaning of the names, and they cannot be explained. In Bombay their family names are the same as the

1. Bombay City Census Report (1901) (Edwards). 2. Gujarât Gazetteer, p. 238. 3. Golden Book of India, s.v. 4. Semecarpus anacardium, the marking-nut tree. 5. Kitts, Berâr Census Report (1881), p. 131. 6. Akola Gazetteer (Mr. Brown), p. 116.

495 Marâtha surnames, and the writer of the Ahmadnagar Gazetteer1 considers that some connection exists between the two classes. A man must not marry a girl of his own sept nor the daughter of his maternal uncle. Girls are usually married at an early age. A Brâhman is employed to conduct the marriage ceremony, which takes place at sunset: a cloth is held between the couple, and amid the clapping of the assembled guests. Afterwards they march seven times round a stone slab surrounded by four plough-yokes. Among the Rewa Kântha Kolis the boy's father must not proceed on his journey to find a bride for his son until on leaving his house he sees a small bírd called devi on his right hand; and consequently he is sometimes kept waiting for weeks, or even for months. When the betrothal is arranged the bridegroom and his father are invited to a feast at the bride's house, and on leaving the father must stumble over the threshold of the girl's door; without this omen no wedding can prosper.2

The remarriage of widows is permitted, and the ceremony consists simply in tying a knot in the clothes of the couple; in Ahmadâbâd all they need do is to sit on the ground while the bridegroom's father knocks their heads together.3 Divorce is allowed for a wife's misconduct, and if she marries her fellow delinquent he must repay to the husband the expenses incurred by him on his wedding. Otherwise the cast committee may inflict a fine of Rs. 100 on him and put him out of caste for twelve years in default of payment, and order one side of his moustache to be shaved. In Gujarât a married woman who has an intrigue with another man is called savâsan, and it is said that a practice exists, or did exist, for her lover to pay her husband a price for the woman and marry her, though it is held neither respectable nor safe.4 In Ahmadâbâd, if one Koli runs away with anther's wife, leaving his own wife behind him, the caste committee sometimes order the offender's relatives to supply the bereaved husband with a fresh wife. They produce one or more women, and he selects one and is quite content with her.5 Religous and burial practices The Kolis of Nimâr chiefly revere the goddess Bhawâni, and almost every family has a silver image of her. An important shrine of the goddess is situate in Ichhâpur, ten or twelve miles from Burhânpur, and here members of the tribe were accustomed to perform the hook- swinging rite in honour of the goddess. Since this has been forbidden they have an imitation ceremony of swinging a bundle of bamboos covered with cloth in lieu of a human being.

The Kolis both bury and burn the dead, but the former practice is more common. They place the body in the grave with head to the south and face to the north. On the third day after the funeral they perform the ceremony called Kandhe kanchhna or 'rubbing the shoulder.' The four bearers of the corpse come to the house of the deceased and stand as if they were carrying the bier. His widow smears a little ghí (butter) on each man's shoulder and rubs the place with a small cake which she afterwards gives to him. The men go to a river or tank and throw the cakes into it, afterward bathing in the water. This ceremony is clearly designed to sever the connection established by the contact of the bier with their shoulders, which they imagine might otherwise render them likely to require the use of a bier themselves. On the eleventh day a Brâhman is called in, who seats eleven friends of the deceased in a row and applies sandal-paste to their foreheads. All the women whose husbands are alive then have turmeric rubbed on their foreheads, and a caste feast follows.

The Kolis eat flesh, including fowls and pork, and drink liquor. They will not eat beef, but have no special reverence for the cow. They will not remove the carcase of a dead cow or a

1. p. 197 2. Hindus of Gujarât, l.c. 3. Indian Antiquary, vol. iii. p. 236. 4. Bombay Gazetteer, Hindus of Gujarât, p. 250. 5. Indian Antiquary, vol. iii. p. 136.

496 dead horse. The social status of the tribe is low, but they are not considered as impure. Their hair is shaved in the month of Mâgh following the birth, and on the first day of the next month Phâgun, a little oil is applied to the child's ear, after which it may be pierced at any time that is convenient.

Kora.: -Korâ, Kórâ, Khairâ, Khoyrâ,1 a Dravidian caste of earth-workers and cultivators in Chota Nagpur, Western and Central Bengal, probably an offshoot from the Mundâ tribe. The Korâs or Khayrâs of Manbhum and Bankura have well-marked totemistic sections of the same type as the Mundas, and the latter admit that some sort of affinity may at one time have been recognised.

Tradition of origin. The Korâs of the Santâl Parganas on the other hand claim to have come from Nagpur. The Bârdâ section of the Korâs have a curious legend concerning their totem. They say that one of their ancestors went out hunting with his two brothers in the jungle, but found no game. While they were wandering about, they noticed a bundle wrapped in sâl leaves hanging from the branch of a bârâ or pithâli tree. The bundle contained meat, which, being very hungry, they cooked and ate without further inquiry. Afterwards they found out that they had eaten was a human placenta, and expressed their horror by making the fruit of the bârdâ tree taboo for themselves and their descendants. The Álu section, on the other hand, believe that their first ancestor was born under a Phal-âlu tree, and for this reason they will not eat the bulb-like fruit of this tree, or any bulbs, such as potatoes, which bear a resemblance to it. Both stories seem to be attempts to find a rational explanation for a prohibition which seemed unreasonable to men who had got beyond the stage of believing in their actual descent from trees. Further east these characteristic section-names have been dropped, but the caste is divided into four sub-caste, bearing the names Dhalo, Molo, Sikhariâ, and Bâdâmia, of which the first three still preserve the memory of their original settlements. Thus the Dhalo sub- caste say that they came from Dhalbhum, the eastern pargana of Singbhum; the Molo from Manbhum; and the Sikhariâ from the tract of country between the Dâmodar and Barâkar rivers bounded on the east by Samet Sikhar or Pârasnâth Hill. In Bankura, again, besides the Sikhariâ we find three other groups-Sonârekhâ, Jhetiâ, and Guri-Bâwâ, of which the first is associated with the Sonârekhâ or Subarnarekhâ river, which rises in the Mundâri country; while the second bears the same name as one of the sub-caste of the Bâgdis. In Bankura all four sub-caste are Sikhariâs and may intermarry. In Manbhum no sub-castes appear to have been formed, and the caste is still more or less in the tribal stage. The Hinduised Khairâs of Central Bengal have developed a legend of the common mythological type, to the effect that they were generated by the bellowing of the miraculous cow Kâmadhenu when Viswâmitra came to take her away from the sage Vasishtha, and that they with other soldiers born from the cow drove off the intruding Kshatriya. Another tradition current in the Santâl Parganas says that the Khairâs came from the west, and that their special function is to prepare catechu (khair) for use in conjunction with betel. There is nothing to show that the Korâs ever followed this particular occupation, and the statement is referred to here merely as an instance of the striving after a meaning which meets us so frequently in the popular derivations of caste names. Where the exogamous groups have been preserved, the rule is that a man may not marry a woman of the same totem as himself; but on the mother's side the totem is not taken into account, and the rule of exogamy is supplemented by the standard formula mamerâ, chacherâ, etc., calculated to three generations in the descending line.

1 See Risley

497 Marriage. The Korâs of Western Bengal marry their daughters both as infants and as adults, and in Chota Nagpur sexual intercourse before marriage is regarded as a venial offence. This measure of toleration, so characteristic of the aboriginal races, is no longer recognised in Bankura, where sexual indiscretions are visited with severe social penalties, although adult- marriage still maintains its ground. In Bongal Proper the caste has fully adopted the more fashionable custom of infant-marriage. The marriage ceremony of the Bankura Korâs corresponds precisely with that described at length in the article on the Bâgdis, with the curious difference that vermilion is applied to the bride's forehead with the handle of the cutter (chimta) used for slicing areca nut. In Manbhum the bride and bridegroom are made to stand one behind the other on a bundle or straw laid on the top of a bullock-yoke (jorân), and the bridegroom, whose place is in the rear, treading on the heels of the bride, reaches forward and smears vermilion three times on the bride's forehead. This, which is deemed to be the binding portion of the ritual, has clearly survived or been borrowed from the marriage ceremony of the Mundâs. The Eastern Korâs follow the regular Hindu ritual. Polygamy is everywhere permitted, and in theory there is no limit to the number of wives a man may have. Custom, however, and the standard of living imposed by the comparative poverty of the caste, combine in actual life to bring about the result that hardly any one has more than two wives, and most men content themselves with one.

Among the Korâs of Manbhum and the Santâl Parganas a widow is allowed to marry again, and her choice of a second husband is unfettered, save that she must observe the prohibited degrees, and that she may not marry her deceased husband's elder brother. She may marry his younger brother, but she is under no special obligation to do so, though such marriages are deemed both respectable and convenient, and very commonly take place. The ceremony (sangâ) is much the same as that described in the article on the Koiris. In the Korâ ritual, however, the bridegroom does not himself apply the vermilion to the bride's forehead. He merely touches the powder, which is then smeared on the parting of the bride's hair by the widows who are present. In Bankura and the districts further east the example of the rest of the population has induced the Korâs to abandon widow-marriage. The working of the same influence may be observed in the matter of divorce, which is prohibited in the eastern districts, while in Chota Nagpur and the Santâl Parganas aboriginal usage still holds its ground and divorce is granted by the caste council on the application of either husband or wife. Persons so divorced, whether men or women, are allowed to marry again. Like the Bauris and Bâgdis, Korâs admit into their community members of any caste ranking above their own in social standing. The occasions on which this privilege is sought are doubtless rare, and usually occur only when the outsider has been turned out of his own caste for carrying on an intrigue with a Korâ woman and eating food which she has prepared. A case of this kind, which has been reported to me from one of the districts of Central Bengal, throws a curious light upon the working of the caste system at the present day. A man of the highly respectable Águri caste fell in love with a Korâ girl, and after keeping the intrigue secret for some time was ejected from his caste and turned out of his household. He then went to live with his mistress, and at first thought of turning Vaishnava. Finally, however, at the girl's suggestion the decided to join the headmen (mandals) of the caste. These worthies the convert propitiated with a liberal feast, and was thereupon formally admitted to be a member of the Korâ caste.

Like most of the lower castes, the Korâs settle the bulk of their civil disputes through the agency of their own panchâyats, and very seldom resort to the regular courts. In fact the value of the property in question is usually too small to bear the costs of a regular suit. In matters of inheritance and succession they affect to be governed by the standard codes recognised in the locality, by the Dâyabhâga in Bengal districts and by the Mitâksharâ in Chota Nagpur. Their customs, however, imperfectly as it has been possible to ascertain them, show some curious deviations from the ordinary Hindu rules of law. In Bankura the custom

498 of giving the eldest son an extra share (jeth-angs) is in full force, and even in the eastern districts traces of this practice still survive. The Korâs of Munbhum, on the other hand, divide a man's property equally among his sons, but where he leaves sons by more than one wife, they follow the custom known in the Panjab as chundâvand, under which the sons, however many, of one wife get no more than the sons, however few, of another wife.

Religion. In matters of religion Korâs affect to be orthodox Hindus, worshipping the regular gods and calling themselves Sâktas or Vaishnavas, according as they incline to the cult of Kâli, Durgâ, and Manasâ, or to that of Râdhâ and Krishna. Manasa, the heavenly patroness of snakes, and Bhâdu, the virgin daughter of the Pachete house, whose worship has been described in the article on the Bâgdis, are their favourite deities. Their village and household deities are Bhairab Thâkur, Grâm-Deoti, and Kudra, to whom goats, fowls, pigeons, rice, sugar, and plantains are offered on fixed dates, and are divided between the worshippers and the Deoghariâ Brahmans, who serve them as priests and keep the shrines in order (Kudrasthân and Bhairabsthân) of the village gods. In Manbhum the Korâs do not employ Brahmans, but a member of the caste, styled the Lâyâ or Nâyâ acts as priest, and is sometimes remunerated by a grant of rent-free land held on the tenure known as lâyâli. Further east they are served by Barna Brahmans, who are looked down upon by other members of the sacred order, and occupy about the same position as the Brahmans who look after the spiritual welfare of the Bauris and Bâgdis. Like the Bauris, the Korâs of Chota Nagpur admit both burial and cremation as modes of disposing of the dead; and when burial is resorted to, the corpse is laid in the grave face downwards and with the head pointing north. In Bankura and further east the rule is to burn, burial being confined to the case of those who have died of cholera, small-pox, or any disease supposed to be infectious. Here also the fashion of placing the body face downwards is observed, the idea being apparently that this affords some security against the spirit of the dead man 'walking' and giving trouble to the living-- a danger which is always supposed to be greater in the case of those who have died by a comparatively sudden or violent death. A meagre imitation of the orthodox srâddh is performed on the eleventh day after death, and annual offerings of rice, ghi, and gur are made to decease ancestors in the months of Kârtik and Chait.

Social status. The social position of Korâs is very low, and they are usually classed with Bâgdis, Bauris, Bunas, and other dwellers on the confines of Hinduism. Their own practice in the matter of diet varies in different parts of the country. In Chota Nagpur they eat beef, pork, and fowls, and all manner of fish, whether scaly or scaleless, but refrain from eating field-rats, snakes, lizards, and animals which have died a natural death. Further east they are more particular. No Korâ will touch beef, and some members of the caste abstain from fowls and from strong drink, in the belief that by doing so they acquire some sort of social distinction. These comparatively ascetic Korâs have not as yet formed themselves into a sub-caste, but there is no reason why this should not hereafter take place. In Bankura Korâs will eat sweetmeats, etc., with members of the Bâgdi caste, but will not take water from their hands or smoke in the same hookah. Boiled rice they will take only from members of the Nabasâkha group.

Occupation. The caste believe tank-digging, road-making, and earthwork generally to be their characteristic profession, and it may be surmised that their adoption of a comparatively degraded occupation, necessarily involving a more or less wandering manner of life, may have been the cause which led to their separation from the Mundâs, who are above all things settled agriculturists, conspicuous for their attachment to their original villages. As earth- workers they rank next to the Beldârs, but, unlike these, they carry earth in a pair of triangular baskets slung on a shoulder-yoke (bahangi), and will on no account carry it on their head., Beldârs, on the other hand, always use single baskets, borne on the head, and

499 refuse to touch a bahangi, deeming it an indignity to carry anything on their shoulders. Within the last generation many Korâs have taken to cultivation, holding land as occupancy or non-occupancy raiyats, and working as agricultural labourers. In Bankura, however, and in other districts of Western Bengal, their connexion with the land must be of very ancient date, for we find a certain number of them at the present day in possession of substantial ghatuâli tenures-- a fact which indicates that they were among the earliest settlers in that part of the country.

Korachas.: -A vagrant tribe of Karnataka. Nowadays they move from village to village making ropes with either natural fibre or plastic fibre recycled from plastic bags.

Koraga.: -The Koragas are summed up, in the Madras Census Report of 1901 as being a wild tribe of basket-makers and labourers, chiefly found in Mudbidri, and in Puttîr in the Uppinangadi tâluk of South Canara1. They are, Mr. M.T. Walhouse writes,2 "a very quiet and inoffensive race; small and slight, the men seldom exceeding five feet six inches; black-skinned, liked most Indian aborigines, thick-lipped, noses broad and flat, and hair rough and bushy. Their principal occupation is basket-making, and they must labour for their masters. They live on the outskirts of villages, and may not dwell in houses of clay or mud, but in huts of leaves, called koppus. Like many of the wild tribes of India, they are distinguished by unswerving truthfulness. The word of a Koragar is proverbial."

The Koragas rank below the Holeyas. In some towns, they are employed by the sanitary department as scavengers. They remove the hide, horns, and bones of cattle and buffaloes which die in the villages, and sell them mainly to M`âppilla merchants. They accept food which is left over after feasts held by various castes. Some are skilful in the manufacture of cradles, baskets, cylinders to hold paddy, winnowing and sowing baskets, scale-pans, boxes, rice-water strainers, ring-stands for supporting pots, coir (cocoanut fibre) rope, brushes for washing cattle, etc. They also manufacture various domestic utensils from soapstone, which they sell at a very cheap rate to shopkeepers in the bazar.

"Numerous slave-castes," Mr. Walhouse continues, "exist throughout India, not of course recognised by law-- indeed formally emancipated by an Act of Government in 1843 but still, though improved in condition, virtually slaves, Their origin and status are thus described. After the four principal classes, who sprang from Brahma, came six Anuloma castes, which arose from the intercourse of Brâhmans and Kshatriyas with women of the classes below them respectively. The term Anuloma denotes straight and regular hair, which in India characterises the Aryan stock. After these came six Pratilóma castes, originated in reverse order from Brahman and Kshatriya women by fathers of the inferior classes. The third among these was the Chandâla, the offspring of Shudra fathers by Brahman women. The Chandâlas, or slaves, were sub-divided into fifteen classes, none of which might intermarry, a rule still strictly observed. The two last, and lowest of the fifteen classes, are the Kapata or rag- wearing, and the Soppu or leaf-wearing Koragas. Such is the account given by Brahman chroniclers; but the probability is that these lowest slave-castes are the descendants of that primitive population which the Aryan invaders from the north found occupying the soil, and after a struggle of ages, gradually dispossessed, driving some to the hills and jungles, and reducing others to the condition of slaves. All these races are regarded by their Hindu masters with boundless contempt, and held unspeakably unclean. This feeling seems the result and witness of times when the despised races were powerful, and were approached as lords by their now haughty masters, and was probably intensified by struggles and

1 See Thurston. 2. Journ, Anthrop. Inst., IV., 1875.

500 uprisings, and the memory of humiliations inflicted on the ultimately successful conquerors. Evidences for this may be inferred form many curious rights and privileges, which the despised castes possess and tenaciously retain. Moreover, the contempt and loathing in which they are ordinarily held are curiously tinctured with superstitious fear, for they are believed to possess secret powers of magic and witchcraft, and influence with the old malignant deities of the soil, who can direct good or evil fortune. As an instance, if a Brahman mother's children die off when young, she calls a Koragar woman, gives her some oil, rice, and copper money, and places the curviving child in her arms. The out-caste woman, who may not at other times be touched, gives the child suck, puts on it her iron bracelets, and, if a boy, names it Koragar, if a girl, Korâpulu. She then returns it to the mother. This is believed to give a new lease of life. Again, when a man is dangerously ill, or perhaps unfortunate, he pours oil into an earthen vessel, worships it in the same way as the family god, looks at his face reflected in the oil, and puts into it a hair from his head and a nail paring from his toe. The oil is then presented to the Koragars, and the hostile gods or stars are believed to be propitiated."

It is noted in the Manual of the South Canara district, that "all traditions unite in attributing the introduction of the Tulu Brahmins of the present day to Mayîr Varma (of the Kadamba dynasty), but they vary in details connected with the manner in which they obtained a firm footing in the land. One account says that Habâshika, chief of the Koragas, drove out Mayîr Varma, but was in turn expelled by Varma's son, or son-in-law, Lókâditya of Gókarnam, who brought Brahmins from Ahi-kshétra, and settled them in thirty-two villages." Concerning the power, and eventual degradation of the Koragas, the following version of the tradition is cited by Mr. Walhouse. "When Lokadirâya, whose date is fixed by Wilke about 1450 B.C., was king of Bhanvarshe in North Canara (a place noted by Ptolemy), an invader by name Habâshika brought an army from above the ghauts, consisting of all the present Chandâla or slave-castes, overwhelmed that part of the country, and marched southward to Mangalore, the present capital of South Canara. The invading host was scourged with small-pox, and greatly annoyed by ants, so Habâshika moved on to Manjeshwar, a place of ancient repute, twelve miles to the south, subdued the local ruler Angarawarma, son of Virawarma, and reigned there in conjunction with his nephew; but after twelve years both died; one legend says through enchantments devised by Angarawarma, another states that a neighbouring ruler treacherously proposed a marriage between his sister and Habâshika, and, on the bridegroom and his caste-men attending for the nuptials, a wholesale massacre of them all was effected. Angarawarma, then returning, drove the invading army into the jungles, where they were reduced to such extremity that they consented to become slaves, and were apportioned amongst the Brahmans and original landholders. Some were set to watch the crops and cattle, some to cultivate, others, to various drudgeries, which are still allotted to the existing slave- castes, but the Koragars, who had been raised by Habâshika to the highest posts under his government, were stripped and driven towards the sea-shore, there to be hanged, but, being ashamed of their naked condition, they gathered the leaves of the nicki bush (Vitex Negundo), which grows abundantly in waste places, and made small coverings for themselves in front. On this the executioners took pity on them and let them go, but condemned them to be the lowest of the low, and wear no other covering but leaves. The Koragas are now the lowest of the slave divisions, and regarded with such intense loathing and hatred that up to quite recent times one section of them, called Andé or pot Koragars, continually wore a pot suspended from their necks, into which they were compelled to spit, being so utterly unclean as to prohibited from even spitting on the highway; and to his day their women continue to show in their leafy aprons a memorial of the abject degradation to which their whole race was doomed." It is said in pre-British days an Andé Koraga had to take out a licence to come into the town and villages by day. At night mere approach thereto was forbidden, as his presence would cause terrible calamity. The Koragas of those days could cook their food only in broken vessels. The name Vastra, by which one class of Koragas is called, has reference to their wearing vastra, or clothes, such as were used to shroud a dead body, and given to them in the shape of charity, the use of a new cloth being

501 prohibited. According to another account the three divisions of the Koragas are (1) Tippi, who wear ornaments made of the cocoanut shell, and (3) Vanti, who wear a peculiar kind of large ear-ring. These three clans may eat together, but not intermarry. Each clan is divided into exogamous septs called balis, and it may be noted that some of the Koraga balis, such as Haledennaya and Kumérdennaya, are also found among the Mâri and Mundala Holeyas.

Clothing and ornaments On the subject of Koraga dress, Mr. Ullal Raghvendra Rao informs us that "while the males gird a piece of cloth round their loins, the females cover their waist with leaves of the forest woven together. Various reasons are assigned for this custom. According to a tradition, at the time when the Koragars had reigned, now far distant, one of these "blacklegged' (this is usually the expression by which they are referred to during the night) demanded a girl of high birth in marriage. Being enraged at this, the upper class withheld, after the overthrow of the Koragas, every kind of dress from Koraga women, who, to protect themselves from disgrace, have since had recourse to the leaves of the forest, conceiving in the meantime that god had decreed this kind of covering." Mr, Walhouse writes1 further that the Koragas wear an "apron of twigs and leaves over the buttocks. Once this was the only covering allowed them, and a mark of their deep degradation. But now, when no longer compulsory, and of no use, as it is worn over the clothes, the women still retain it, believing its disuse would be unlucky." "The Koragas," Mr. H.A. Stuart tell us,2 "cover the lower part of their body with a black cloth and the upper part with a white one, and their head-dress is a cap made of the areca-nut spathe, like that worn by the Holeyas.

Their ornaments consist of brass ear-rings, an iron bracelet, and beads of bone strung on a thread and tied around their waist." The waist-belt of Koraga, whom I saw at Udipi, was made of owl bones.

"It may," Mr Walhouse states,3 "be noted that, according to the traditional accounts, when the invading hosts under Habâshiks were in their turn overthrown and subjected, they accepted slavery under certain conditions that preserved to them some shadow of right. Whilst it was declared that they should be for ever in a state of servitude, and be allowed a meal daily, but never the means of providing for the next day's meal. Each slave was ascripted to his master under the following forms, which have come down to our days and were observed in the purchase or transfer of slavers within living memory. The slave having washed, anointed himself with oil, and put on a new cloth, his future owner took a metal plate, filled it with water, and dropped in a gold coin, which the slave appropriated after drinking up the water. The slave then took some earth from his future master's estate, and threw it on the spot he chose for his hut, which was given over to him with all the trees thereon. When land was transferred, the slaves went with it, and might also be sold separately. Occasionally they were presented to a temple for the service of the deity. This was done publicly by the master approaching the temple, putting some earth from before its entrance into the slave's mouth, and declaring that he abjured his rights, and transferred them to the deity within. Rules were laid down, with the Hindu passion for regulating small matters, not only detailing what work the slaves should do, but what allowances of food they should receive, and what presents on certain festival occasions they should obtain from, or make to the master. On marriages among themselves, they prostrated themselves before the master and obtained his consent, which was accompanied with a small present of money and rice. The marriage over, they again came before the master, who gave them betel nuts, and poured some oil on the bride's head. On the master's death, his head slave immediately shaved his hair and moustache. There was also a list of offences for which masters might punish slaves, amongst which the employment of witchcraft, or sending out evil spirits against others, expressly

1. Ind. Ant. X, 1881. 2. Manual of the south Canara district. 3. Journ. Anthrop. Inst. IV, 1875.

502 figures; and the punishments with which each offence might be visited are specified, the worst of which are branding and flogging with switches. There was no power of life and death, and in cases of withholding the usual allowance, or of punishments severer than prescribed, slaves might complain to the authorities."

On the subject of Koraga slavery, Mr. Ullal Raghvendra Rao writes that "although these slaves are in a degraded condition, yet they by no means appear to be dejected or unhappy. A male slave gets three hanis of paddy (unhusked rice) or a hani and a half of rice daily, besides a small quantity of salt. The female slave gets two hanis of paddy, and if they be man and wife, they can easily sell a portion of the rice to procure other necessaries of life. They are also allowed one cloth each every year, and, besides, when transferred from one master to another, they get a cocoanut, a jack tree (Artocarpus integrifolia), and a piece of land where they can sow ten or twenty seers of rice. The greater number of slaves belong to the Alia Santânam castes (inheritance in the female line), and among these people a male slave is sold for three pagodas (fourteen rupees) and a female slave for five pagodas; whereas the few slaves who belong to the Makkala Santânam castes (inheritance in the male line) fetch five pagodas for the man slave, and three pagodas for the female. This is because the children of the latter go to the husband's master, who has the benefit of the husband's services also. He has, however, to pay the expenses of their marriage, which amount to a pagoda and a half; and, in like manner, the master of the Makkala Santâna slave pays two pagodas for his marriage, and gets possession of the female slave and her children. The master has the power of hiring out his slave, for whose services he receives annually about a mura of rice, or forty seers. They are also mortagaged for three or four pagodas."

For the marriages of the Koragas, Mr. Walhouse informs us that "Sunday is an auspicious day, though Monday is for the other slave castes. The bridegroom and bride, after bathing in cold water, sit on a mat in the former's house, with a handful of rice placed before them. An old man presides, takes a few grains of rice and sprinkles on their heads, as do the others present, first the males and then the females. The bridegroom then presents two silver coins to his wife, and must afterwards give six feasts to the community." At these feasts every Koraga is said to vie with his neighbour in eating and drinking. "Though amongst the other slave castes divorce is allowed by consent of the community, often simply on grounds of disagreement, and the women may marry again, with the Koragars marriage is indissoluble, but a widow is entitled to re-marriage, and a man may have a second, and even third wife, all living with him."

Concerning the ceremonies observed on the birth of a child, Mr. Ullal Raghvendra Rao writes that "after a child is born, the mother (as among Hindus) is unholy, and cannot be touched or approached. The family take leave of the koppu for five nights, and depend on the hospitality of their friends, placing the mother under the sole charge of a nurse or midwife. On the sixth night the master of the koppu calls his neighbours, who can hardly refuse to oblige him with their presence. The mother and the child are then given a tepid bath, and this makes them holy. Members of each house bring with them a seer of rice, half a seer of cocoanut oil, and a cocoanut. The woman with the baby is seated on a mat with her neighbour's presents before her in a flat basket. The oldest man present consults with his comrades as to what name will best suit the child. A black string is then tied round the waist of the baby. The rice, which comes in heaps from the neighbours, is used for dinner on the occasion, and the cocoanuts are split into two pieces, the lower half being given to the mother of the child, and the upper half to the owner. This is the custom followed when the baby is a male one; in case of a female child, the owner receives the upper half, leaving the lower half for the mother. Koragars were originally worshippers of the sun, and they are still called after the names of the days of the week as Aita (a corruption of Aditya, or the sun); Toma (Sóma, or the moon); Angara (Mangala); Gurva (Jupiter); Tanya (Shani, or Saturn); Tukra (Shukra, or Venus). They have no separate temples for their God, but a place beneath a kâsaracana tree (Strychnos Nux-vomica) is consecrated for the worship of the deity which is

503 exclusively their own, and is called Kata. Worship in honour of this deity is usually performed in the months of May, July, or October. Two plantain leaves are placed on the spot, with a heap of boiled rice mixed with turmeric. As is usual in every ceremony observed by a Koragar, the senior in age takes the lead, and prays to the deity to accept the offering and be satisfied. But now they have, by following the example of Bants and Sudras, exchanged their original object of worship for that of Bhutas (demons).

On the subject of the religion of the Koragas, Mr. Walhouse states that "like all the slave castes and lower races, the Koragars worship Mari Amma, the goddess presiding over small-pox, the most dreadful form of Parvati, the wife of Siva. She is the most popular deity in Canara, represented under the most frightful form and worshipped with bloody rites. Goats, buffaloes, pigs, fowls, etc., are slaughtered at a single blow by an Asâdi, one of the slave tribes from above the ghauts. Although the Koragars, in common with all slaves, are looked upon as excommunicated and unfit to approach any Brahminical temple or deity, they have adopted the popular Hindu festivals of the Gokalastami or Krishna's birthday, and the Chowti. In the latter, the preliminaries and prayers must be performed by a virgin." Concerning these festivals, Mr. Ullal Raghvendra Rao gives the following details. "The Koragars have no fixed feasts exclusively of their own, but for a long time they have been observing those of the Hindus. Of these two are important. One is Gókula Ashtami, or the birthday of Krishna, and the other is the Chowti or Pooliyar feast. The latter is of greater importance than the former. The former is a holy day of abstinence and temperance, while the latter is associated with feasting and merry-making, and looks more like a gala-day set apart for anything but religious performance. On the Ashtami some cakes of black gram are made in addition to the usual dainties. The services of Bacchus are called in aid, and the master of the koppu invites his relatives and friends. A regular feasting commences, when the master takes the lead, and enjoys the company of his guests by seating himself in their midst. They are made to sit on the floor crosswise with a little space intervening between every guest, who pays strict regard to all the rules of decency and rank. To keep up the distinction of sexes, females are seated in an opposite row. The host calls upon some of his intimates or friends to serve on the occasion. The first dish is curry, the second rice; and cakes and dainties come in next. The butler Koragar serves out to the company the food for the banquet, while the guests eat it heartily. If one of them lets so much as a grain of rice fall on his neighbour's plate, the whole company ceases eating. The offender is at once brought before the guests, and charged with having spoiled the dinner. He is tried there and then, and sentenced to pay a fine that will cover the expenses of another banquet. It case of resistance to the authority of the tribunal, he is excommunicated and abandoned by his wife, children and relatives, No one dare touch or speak to him, plea of poverty of course receives a kind consideration. The offender is made to pay a small sum as a fine, which is paid for him by a well-to do Koragar. To crown the feast, a large quantity of toddy finds its way into the midst of the company. A small piece of dry areca leaf sewed together covers the head of a Koragar, and forms for him his hat. This hat he uses as a cup, which contains a pretty large quantity of liquid. A sufficient quantity is poured into their cup, and if, in pouring, a drop finds its way to the ground, the butler is sure to undergo the same penalty that attaches itself to any irregularity in the dinner as described above. After the banquet, some male members of the group join in a dance to the pipe and drum, while others are stimulated by the intoxicating drink into frisking and jumping about. To turn to the other festival. The inmates of the house are required to fast the previous night, and on the previous day flesh or drink is not allowed. The next morning before sunrise, a virgin bathes, and smears cowdung over a part to the house. The place having been consecrated, a new basket, specially made for the occasion, is placed on that spot. It contains a handful of beaten rice, two plantains, and two pieces of sugar-cane. The basket is then said to contain the god of the day, whom the sugar- cane represents, an the spot is too holy to be approached by man or woman. A common belief which they hold is that the prayers made by a virgin are duly responded to on account of her virgin purity, and does not admit of the worship being conducted by any one else.

504 The girl adorns the basket with flowers of the forest, and prays for the choicest blessings on the inmates of the house all the year round.

A Koraga woman, when found guilty of adultery, is said to be treated in the following extraordinary way. If her paramour is of low caste similar to herself, he has to marry her. But, in order to purify her for the ceremony, he has to build a hut, and put the woman inside. It is then set on fire, and the woman escapes as best she can to another place where the same performance is gone through, and so on until she has been burnt out seven times. She is then considered once more and honest woman, and fit to be again married. According to Mr. Walhouse, "a row of seven small huts is built on a river-bank, set fire to, and the offender made to run over the burning sticks and ashes as a penance." A similar form of ordeal has been described as occurring among the Bâkutas of south Canara by Mr. Stuart. "When a man is excommunicated, he must perform a ceremony called yélu halli sudodu, which means burning seven villages, in order to re-enter the caste. For this ceremony, seven small booths are built, and bundles of grass are piled against them. The excommunicated man has then to pass through these one after the other, and, as he does so, the headman sets fire to the grass" (cf. Koyi). It is suggested by Mr. R. E. Enthoven that the idea seems to be "a rapid representation of seven existences, the outcast regaining his status after seven generations have passed without further transgression. The parallel suggested is the law of Manu that seven generations are necessary to efface a lapse from the law of endogamous marriage."

Death rites Of death ceremonies Mr. Walhouse tells us that "on death the bodies of all the slave castes used to be burnt, except in cases of death from small-pox. This may have been to obviate the pollution of the soil by their carcasses when their degradation was deepest, but now, and from long past, burial is universal. The master's permission is still asked, and after burial, four balls of cooked rice are placed on the grave, possibly a trace of the ancient notion of supplying food to the ghost of the deceased." A handful is said1 to be "removed from the grave on the sixteenth day after burial, and buried in a pit. A stone is erected over it, on which some rice and toddy are placed as a last offering to the departed soul which is then asked to join its ancestors."

"It may," Mr. Walhouse writes, "be noted that the Koragars alone of all the slave or other castes eat the flesh of alligators (crocodiles), and they share with one or two other divisions of the slaves a curious scruple or prejudice against carrying any four-legged animal, dead or alive. This extends to anything with four legs, such as chairs, tables, cots, etc. which they cannot be prevailed upon to lift unless one leg be removed. As they work as coolies, this sometimes produces inconvenience. A somewhat similar scruple obtains among the Bygas of Central India, whose women are not allowed to sit or lie on any four-legged bed or stool." Like the Koragas, the Bâkudas of South canara "will not carry a bedstead unless the legs are first taken off, and it is said that this objection rests upon a supposed resemblance between the four-legged cot and the four-legged ox."2

Of the language spoken by the Koragars, Mr. Ullal Raghvendra Rao states that "it is a common belief that the Koragar has a peculiar dialect generally spoken by him at his koppu. He may be induced to give an account of his feasts, his gods, his family, but a word about his dialect will frighten him out of his wits. Generally polite and well-behaved, he becomes impolite and unmannerly when questioned about his dialect." "All the Hindus," Mr. Walhouse writes, "believe that the Koragars have a language of their own understood only by themselves, but it seems doubtful whether this is anything more that an idiom, or slang." A vocabulary or the Koraga dialect is contained in the South Canara Manual (1895).

1. Manual of the South Canara district. 2. Manual of the South Canara district.

505 Koragas.: -They are nomadic group. In the past in order to enter a market they had to ask for special permission and they were not allowed to spend the night in the village. They are mainly from South India.

Korava.: -Members of this nomad tribe1, which permeates the length of the Indian peninsula through countries where many languages and dialects are spoken. They are likely to be known by different names in different localities, and this is certainly the case. They are known as Korava from the extreme south to the north of the North Arcot district, where they are called Koracha or Korcha, and in the Ceded Districts they become Yerakala or Yerakala. In Calcutta they have been traced practising as quack doctors, and assuming Marâtha names, or adding terminations to their own, which suggest that they belong to a caste in the south higher in the social scale than they really do. Some Koravas pass for Vellâlas, calling themselves Agambadiar Vellâlas with the title Palli. Others call themselves Palli, Kavarai, Idaiyan, Reddi, etc.2

Theiving and burglary As railways spread over the country, they readily adapted themselves to travelling by them, and the opportunities afforded for going quickly far from the scene of a recently committed crime, or for stealing from sleeping passengers, were soon availed of. In 1899, the Superintendent of Government Railways reported that "the large organization of thieves, commonly called Kepmari Koravas (though they never call themselves so), use the railway to travel far. Some of them are now settled at Cuttack, where they have set up as native doctors, whose speciality is curing piles. Some are at Midnapîr, and are going on to Calcutta, and there were some at Puri some time ago. It is said that a gang of them has gone recently to Tinnevelly, and taken up their abode near Sermadévi, calling themselves Servaikars. One morning, in Tinnevelly, while the butler in a missionary's house was attending to his duties, an individual turned up with a fine fowl for sale. The butler, finding that he could purchase it for about half the real price, bought it, and showed it to his wife with no small pride in his ability in making a bargain. But he was distinctly crestfallen when his wife pointed out that it was his own bird, which had been lost on the previous night. The seller was a Korava." In 1903, a gang of Koravas, travelling, in the guise of pîjâris, was arrested at Puri. The Police discovered that a warrant remained unexecuted against one of them, who had been concerned in a dacoity case in North Arcot many years previously. The report of the case states that "cognate with the Kepmaries is a class of Korava pîjâris (as they call themselves in their own village), who, emanating from one small hamlet in the Tanjore district, are spread more or less all over India. There are, or were until the other day, and probably some are still in Cuttack, Balasore, Midnapîr, Ahmedabad, Patna, Bombay, Secunderabad, and other places. One of them attained a high position in Bombay. Their ostensible profession is that of curing piles and fistulas, but it is noticeable that, sooner or later after their taking up their abode at any place, the Kepmaries are to be found somewhere near, and the impression, which is not quite a certainty but very nearly so, is that they play the convenient role of receivers of property stolen by the Kepmaries." Képmari is regarded as a very strong term of abuse, indicating, as it does, a rouge of the worst character. In the southern districts, the Kâsukkar Chettis and Shânâns are said to be very much trusted by the Koravas in the disposal of property.

1 See Thurston. 2. M. Paupa Rao Naidu. History of Railway Thieves.

506 Koravas and Yerukalas It is noted by Mr. H.A. Stuart1 that the Koravas or Yerukalas are a vagrant tribe found throughout the Presidency, and in many parts of India. In the Telugu country they are called Yerukalavândlu or Korachavândlu, but they always speak of themselves as Kurru, and there is not the slightest room for the doubt that has been expressed regarding the identity of the Koravas and Yerukalas. Several derivations of Yerukala have been proposed by Wilson and others. It has been suggested, for example, that yeru is connected with erra, meaning red. In Telugu Yerukalavândlu would mean fortune-tellers, and Dr. Oppert suggests that this is the origin of the name Yerukala. He says2 that "It is highly probable that the name and the occupation of the fortune-telling Kuruvândlu or Kulubândlu induced the Telugu people to call this tribe Yerukulavândlu. Dr. Oppert further connects Kurru with the root ku, a mountain; and, in a Tamil work of the ninth century,3 Kurru or Kura (Kuramagal) is given as the name of a hill tribe." A strong argument in favour of the caste name being connected with the profession of fortune-telling is afforded by the fact that women go about the streets, calling out "Yeruko, amma, yeruku," i.e., prophecies, mother, prophecies. The Kuravas are, Mr. Francis writes,4 "a gypsy tribe found all over the Tamil country, but chiefly in Kurnool, Salem, Coimbatore and South Arcot. Kuravas have usually been treated as being the same as the Yerukalas. Both castes are wandering gypsies, both live by basket-making and fortune- telling, both speak a corrupt Tamil, and both may have sprung from one original stock. It is noteworthy in this connections that the Yerukalas are said to call one another Kurru or Kura. But their names are not used as interchangeable in the districts where each is found, and there seem to be no real difference between the two bodies. They do not intermarry, or eat together. The Kuravas are said to tie a piece of thread soaked in turmeric water round the bride's neck at weddings, while Yerukalas use a necklace of black beads. The Yerukalas have a tradition that those who went to fetch the tâli and pipe never returned, and they consequently use black beads as a substitute for the tâli, and a bell for the pipe. The Kuravas worship Subramanya, the son of Siva, while the Yerukalas worship Vishnu in the form in Venkateswara and wife Lakshmi. It may be noted that, in a very early Sanskrit drama, the Brâhman thief mocks Subramanya as being the patron saint of thieves. The Kuravas treat the gentler sex in a very casual manner, mortgaging or selling their wives without compunction, but the Yerukalas are particular about the reputation of their womankind, and consider it a serious matter if any of them return home without an escort after sunset. The statistics of this year accordingly show Yerukalas separately from Koravas. The reports from the various districts, however, give such discrepant accounts of both castes, that the matter is clearly is need of further enquiry." There is no district in the Madras Presidency or elsewhere, where both Koravas and Yerukalas live, unless it be the smallest possible corner of the Coimbatore district bordering on the south-east of Mysore, for the name Korcha intervenes; and, for a wide strip of country including the north of the North Arcot district and south of the Cuddapah district, the Korava is known as a Korcha, and the Census Superintendent, in common with other authorities, has admitted these names to be synonymous. It is in the north of the Cuddapah district that the Yerukalas first appear in co-existence with the Korcha. The Korcha being admitted on all sides to be the same as the Korava, our doubt regarding the identity of the Korava with the Yerukala will be disposed of if we can establish the fact that the Korcha and the Yerukala are the same. The Rev. J. Cain, writing5 about the Yerukalas of the Godâvari district, states that "among themselves they call each other Kuluvâru, but the Telugu people call them Erakavâru or Erakalavâru. and this name has been derived from the Telugu word eruka, which means knowledge or acquaintance, as they are great fortune- tellers."

1. Madras census Report, 1891. 2. Madras Journ, Lit: and Science, 1888-89. 3. Tirumurukairuppadai. 4. Madras Census report. 1901. 5. Indian Antiquity, IX, 1880.

507 According to Balfour,1 the Koravas, or a certain section of them, i.e, the Kunchi Koravas, were known as Yerkal Koravas, and they called the language they spoke Yerkal. The same authority, writing of the Yerkawadu, alludes to them as Kurshiwanloo, and goes on to say that they style themselves Yerkal, and give the same appellation to the language in which they hold communication. The word Yerkal here undoubtedly stands for Yerukala, and Kurshi for Korcha. It is evident from this, supported by authorities such as Wilson, Campbell, Brown and Shortt, that the doubt mentioned by the Census Superintendent in regard to the identity of the Yerukala and Korava had not arisen when the Cyclopaedia of India was published, and it is the subsequent reports of later investigators that are responsible for it. The divergencies of practices reported must be reckoned with and accounted for. They may be due to local customs existing in widely separated areas. It is contended that the Koravas and Yerukalas do not intermarry or eat together. A Korava, who has made a permanent home in a village in the south, if asked whether he would marry a Yerukala, would most certainly answer in the negative, probably having never heard of such a person. A circular letter, submitted to a number of Police. Inspectors in several districts, produced the same sort of discrepant information complained of by the Census Superintendent. But one Inspector extracted from his notes the information that, in 1895, marriages took place between the southern Koravas of a gang from the Madura district and the Yerukalas of the Cuddapah district; and, further, that the son of one of a gang of Yerukalas in the Anantapur district married a Korcha girl from a gang belonging to the Mysore State. The consensus of opinion also goes to prove that they will eat together. Yerukalas undoubtedly place a string of black beads as a tâli round the bride's neck on marriage occasions, and the same is used by the Koravas. Information concerning the use of a turmeric-dyed string came from only one source, namely, Hosîr in the Salem district, and it was necessary even here for the string to be furnished with a round bottu, which might be a bead. A plain turmeric-soaked thread appears to be more the exception that the rule. Yerukalas are both Vaishnavites and Saivites, and a god worshipped by any one gang cannot be taken as a representative god for the whole class. Yerukalas may treat their womankind better that the southern Koravas, but this is only a matter of degree, as the morals of both are slack. The Yerukalas, occupying, as they do, the parched centre of the peninsula, more frequently devastated by famine that the localities occupied by the Koravas, may have learnt in a hard school the necessity of taking care of their wives; for, if they allowed them to pass to another man, and a drought ruined his crop and killed the cattle, he would find it hard to procure another, the probability being that the price of wives rises in a common ratio with other commodities in a time of scarcity.

Mythical origins From the accounts given by them, it appears that the Koravas claim to have originated in mythological ages. The account varies slightly according to the locality, but the general outlines agree more or less with the story related in the Bhâgavâtham. The puróhits, or priests, are the safest guides, and it was one of them who told the following story, culled, as he admitted, from the Sâstras and the Râmâyana. When the great Vénudu, son of Agneswathu, who was directly descended from Brahma, ruled over the universe, he was unable to procure a son and heir to the throne, and when he died, his body was preserved. The seven ruling planets sat in solemn conclave, and consulted as to what they should do. Finally they agreed to create a being from the right thigh of the deceased Vénudu, and they accordingly fashioned and gave life to Nishudu. Their work was not deformed in body, but repulsively ugly in face. It was agreed at another meeting of the planets that he was not a fit person to be placed upon the throne, and decided to make a being from the right shoulder of Vénudu, and their second effect was crowned with success. They called the second creation Proothu Chakravarthi, and, as he gave general satisfaction, he was placed on the throne. This supersession naturally caused the first-born Nishudu to be discontented, and he sought a lonely place, in which he communed with the gods, begging of them the reason why they had created him if he was not to rule. The gods explained that he could not now be placed on

1. Cyclopaedia of India.

508 the throne, as Chakravarthi had already been installed, but that he should be a ruler over forests. In this capacity Nishudu begat the Bóyas, Chenchus, Yânâdis, and Koravas. The Bóyas were his legitimate children, but the others were all illegitimate. It is because Nishudu watched in solemn silence to know his creator that some of his offspring called themselves Yerukalas (yeruka, to know). Another story explains the name Korava. When the princes Dharmarâja and Duryodana were at variance, the former, to avoid strife, went into voluntary exile. A woman who loved him set out in search of him, but, through fear of being identified, disguised herself as a fortune-teller. In this manner she found him, and their offspring became known as Koravas, from kuru, fortune-telling. The appellation Koracha or Korcha appears to be of later date than Korava, and is said to be derived from the Hindustani kori (sly), korri nigga (sly look) becoming corrupted into Korcha. Whenever this name was applied to them, they had evidently learnt their calling thoroughly, and the whole family, in whatever direction its branches spread, established a reputation for cunning in snaring animals or birds, or purloining other people's goods, until to-day their names are used for the purpose of insulting abuse in the course of a quarrel. Thus a belligerant might call the other a thieving Yerukala, or ask, in tones other than polite, if he belongs to a gang of Korchas. In the Tamil country, a man is said to kurakenju, or cringe like a Korava, and another allusion to their dishonesty is kurapasângu, to cheat like a Korava. The proverb "Kuruvan's justice is the ruin of the family" refers to the endless nature of their quarrels, the decision of which will often occupy the headmen for weeks together.

Language In communicating among themselves, the Koravas and Yerukalas speak a corrupt polyglot, in which the words derived from several languages bear little resemblance to the original. Their words appear to be taken chiefly from Tamil, Telugu, and Canarese. A short vocabulary of the Yerukala language has been published by the Rev. J. Cain.1 The Yerukalas call this language Oodra, which seems to stand for gibberish or thieves' slang, or, as they explain, something very hard to understand. Oriya or Oodra is the language of the districts of Ganjam and Orissa. The word Oriya means north, and the fact that the Yerukalas call their language Oodra would seem to confirm their belief that they are a northern tribe. The wanderers always know more than one language colloquially, and are able to make themselves understood by the people of the country through which they may be passing. Those who have settled in villages invariably speak the language of the locality. When talking among themselves, they call a Brâhman Thanniko Korava, or the bathing Korava. They consider the Brâhmans to be more cunning than themselves, and, as they are fond of bathing to remove pollution, they have given them this nickname. A detailed account of the Korava slang and patois has been published by Mr. F. Fawcett, Deputy Inspector-General of Police,2 from whose notes thereon the following examples are taken: Constable Erthalakayadu. Red-headed man. Head constable. Kederarilu. The man who rides on an ass. Taking bribe Kalithindrathu. Eating râgi food. Today Uggu Perumalu White water, or good ollaithanni. water. Fowls Rendukal Naidu. The Naidu of tow legs. Mussalamans Arthupottavungo. those who have cut (circumcised). Parish Œtharalu keenjalu. The man that pipes. Butcher's knife Elamayarathe botta- That for striking those rathu. that graze leaves.

1. Loc. cit. 2. Note of Koravas, 1908.

509 Rupees Pâlakanna. Milk eyes. Ollakelluka. White pebbeles. Korava society is purely patriarchal, and, in whatever division or sept of the caste a Korava may be born, he has to subordinate himself to the will of his elders or the leaders of his particular gang. The head of a gang is called the Peru Manusan or Beriya Manasan or Beriya Manasan (big man). He is selected principally because of is age, intelligence, and the influence he commands amongst the members of the gang. It is a post which carries with it no consultations, and is given the position of honour at all social functions. Concerning the caste government, Mr. Fawcett writes that "the kulam or caste assembly adjudicates claims, inflicts penalties, ejects individuals from the caste, or readmits them thereto. Free drinking of toddy at the expense of one of the parties accompanies every caste assembly of the kulam. The disputants join hands. thereby indicating to the kulam that their dispute should be decided by them. Each pays one rupee. The kulam may decide the dispute at once, or adjourn for further consideration at any time. The next meeting is called the second joining of hands, when each pays one rupee, as before, to be spent in toddy. A man who fails to attend when the kulam has been convened loses his caste absolutely. If 1 there is a third adjournment, that is a third joining of hands, each side pays Rs. 3 for toddy, 2 to keep the kulam in good spirits. As this is always the final adjournment, the decision is sometimes arrived at by means of an ordeal. An equal quantity of rice is placed in two pots of equal weight having a quantity of water, and there is an equal quantity of firewood. The judges satisfy themselves most carefully as to quantity, weights, and so on. The water is boiled, and the man whose rice boils is to recoups from the loser all his expenses. It sometimes happens that both pots boil at the same time; then a coin is to be picked out of a pot containing boiling oil. There is yet another method of settling disputes about money. The amount claimed is brought by one party, and placed beside an idol. The claimant is then asked to take it, and, should nothing unpleasant happen to him or to his claim, it is agreed that the claimant is in the right. The kulam has nothing whatever to do with planning the execution of offences, but is sometimes called upon to decide about the division of plunder, as, for instance, when any member of a criminal expedition improperly secretes something for himself. But they engage vakils (pleaders) for defending members of the gang who are charged with a criminal offence, whether they have been concerned in it or not."

Classes and sub-divisions There are a great many classes of Koravas, most of them obtaining their names from the particular occupations they have followed as an ostensible means of livelihood for many generations. But, whatever they may call themselves, they all, according to Mr, Mainwaring, fall within three divisions, viz.: 1. Sakai, Sampathi, Sâthupadi. 2. Kâvadi or Gujjula. 3. Dévarakonda, Mendrakutti, or Menapadi.

The members of the first two divisions are pure Koravas, the legitimate descendants of Koravas who have never married outside the caste, where the third division represents and includes the mixed marriage, and the offspring thereof. The Koravas receive into their ranks members of castes other than Paraiyans (including Mâlas and Mâdigas), Yânâdis, Mangalas, and Tsâkalas. The ceremony of introduction into the Korava community consists in burning the tongue with a piece of gold. The Koravas have a strong objection to taking food touched by Médaras, because, in their professional occupation of doing wicker-work, they use an awl which resembles the tool used by Mâdigas in shoe-making. The Koravas are said to be divided into two large families, which they call Póthu and Pénti, meaning male and female. All the families included in the first division noted above are Póthu, and those in the second Pénti. The families in the third division, being the product of mixed marriage, and the position of females being a lowly one, they are also considered to be Pénti. The Póthu section is said to have arisen from men going in search of brides for themselves, and the Péntis from

510 men going in search of husbands for their daughters. When a Korava, male or female, wishes to marry, a partner must be sought in a division other than their own. For example, a Korava of the first division is bound to marry a female belonging to the second or third division, who, after marriage, belongs to her husband's division. This may be a little hard on the women of the first division, because they are bound to descend in the social scale. However, their daughters can rise by marrying ceremonies, each division has fixed duties. The members of The first division have the right of decorating the god, and dressing him in his festival attire. Those of the second division carry the god and the regalia in procession, and burn incense, and those of the third drag the temple litter, and sing and shout during its progress. For this reason, it is said, they are sometimes called Bandi (cart). "The major divisions," Mr. Paupa Rao Naidu writes, "are four in number, and according to their gradation they are Sâthepâti, Kâvadi, Mânapâti, Mendragutti. They are all corrupted Tamil words. "1. Sâthepâti is a corruption of Sâthupâdi, which means adorning a Hindu deity with flowers, jewels and vestments. "2. Kâvadi, meaning a pole carried on the shoulders with two baskets pendant from its ends, in which are contained offerings for a deity or temple. "3. Mânapâti is a corruption of Mânpadi, which means singing in praise of god, when He is worshipped in a temple. "4. Mendragutti is a corruption of Menrikutti, which means stitching a pair of shoes, and presenting them to the temple-- a custom still prevalent at Tirupati and other important shrines. "Of these four divisions, the first two are, or rather were, considered superior to the other two, a Kâvadi man being styled Póthuvâdu (man), and a Sâthepâti man Penti (female)." A still further classification of divisions and subdivisions is given by Mr. F.S. Mullaly.1 I am informed by Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao that, in the Vizagapatam district, the Yerukalas are divided into Pattapu or Oddé, and Thurpu (eastern). Of these, the former, when they are prosperous, live in tiled houses, while the latter live in huts. Pattapu women wear brass bangles on both wrists, and Thurpu women brass bangles on the right wrist, and glass bangles on the left. The former throw the end of their cloth over the left shoulder, and the latter over the right. It is recorded in the Gazetteer of the Trichinopoly district, that "the Kuravans are divided into a number of endogamous sections, of which the Ïna Kuravans and the Kâvalkâran Kuravans are the most criminal, especially the latter. The latter are also called the Marasa, Mondu, and Kâdukutti Kuravans. In dress and appearance the Nâmakkal Kuravans are said to be superior to those of Karîr, and to look like well-dressed Vellâlans or Pallis. They are peculiar in wearing long ear-rings. They are also to be much better thieves than the others, and to dislike having a karîr Kuravan when breaking into a house, for fear he might wake the household by his clumsiness." As examples of intipéru, or exogamous septs, the following, which were given by Uppu Yerukalas, may be cited:

Dâsari, Vaishnavite mendi- Mogili (Pandanus fascicularis), cant. Uyyâla, swing. Sukka, star. Râgala, râgi grain. Kampa, bush of thorns. Pîla, flowers. Ávula, cows. Katâri, dagger. Thoka, tail. Ambojala, lotus. Kânaga (Pongamia glabra). Samudrâla, sea. Bandi, cart. Venkatagiri, a town. Gajjala, small bell.

1. Notes on Criminal Classes of the Madras Presidency.

511 "A knowledge," Mr. Fawcett writes, "of these house or sept names may be useful in order to establish a man's identity, as a Koravar, who is generally untruthful as to his own name, is seldom if ever so as regards his house or sept name, and his father's name. He considers it shameful to lie about his parentage, "to be born to one, and yet to give out the name of another." Totemism of some king evidently exists, but it is rather odd that it has not always any apparent connection with the sept or house name. Thus, the totem of persons of the Konéti sept is horse-gram (kollu in Tamil), which they hold in veneration, and will not touch, eat, or use in any way. The totem of the Samudrâla sept is the conch shell, which likewise will not be used by those of the sept in any manner. It may be noted that persons of the Raméswari sept will not eat tortoises, while those of the Konéti sept are in some manner obliged to do so on certain occasions."

Other occupations As regards names for specific occupations among the Koravas, the Bídar or nomad Koravas originally carried merchandise in the form of salt, tamarinds, jaggery (crude sugar or molasses), leaves of the curry leaf plant (Murraya Kaenigii) from place to place on pack- bullocks or donkeys. The leaves were in great demand, and those who brought them round for sale were called in Tamil Karuvaipillai, and in Telugu Karepâku, after the commodity which they carried. This is a common custom in India, and when driving through the bazâr, one may hear, for example, an old woman carrying a bundle of wood addressed as firewood. "Kâvadi" will be screamed at a man carrying a pole (kâvadi) with baskets, etc., suspended from it, who got in the way of another. The section of Koravas who carried salt inland from the coast became known as Uppu (salt) Koravas. Another large class are the Thubba, Dhubbai, or Dhabbai (split bamboo) Koravas, who restrict their wanderings to the foot of hill ranges, where bamboos are obtainable. With these they make baskets for the storage of grain, for carrying manure at the bottom of carts, and various fancy articles. In the Kurnool district, the Yerukalas will only carry bamboos at the time of the new moon, as they are there supposed to be free from attacks by boring weevils, and they do certain pîja (worship) to the goddess Malalamma, who presides over the bamboos. In the Nallamalai forests, the Yerukalas do not split the bamboo into pieces and remove the whole, but take off only a very thin strip consisting of the outer rind. The strips are made up into long bundles, which can be removed by donkeys. There is extreme danger of fire, because the inner portions of the bamboos, left all over the forest, are most flammable.1 Instead of splitting the bamboos in the forest, and leaving behind a lot of combustible material, the Yerukalas now have to purchase whole bamboos, and take them outside the forest to split them. The members of gang of these Yerukalas, who came before me at Nandyâl, were each carrying a long split bamboo wand as an occupational insigne. A further important section is that of the Kunchu or Kunchil Koravas, who gather roots in the jungle, and make them into long brushes which are used by weavers. The Koravas have a monopoly in their manufacture, and take pride in making good brushes.

These Kunchu Koravas are excellent hunters, and catch duck, quail, and other game with great skill. For the purpose of getting sufficiently close to their target, they use a kind of shield made of dried twigs ragged at the edges, which looks like an enormous wind-blown bundle of grass. When they come in sight of a antelopes, they rest one edge of the shield on the ground, and, sitting on their heels behind it, move it slowly forward towards the herd until they get sufficiently close to dash at the young ones, or shoot the grown-up animals. The antelopes are supposed to mistake the shield for a bush, and to fail to notice its gradual approach. They capture duck and teal largely at night, and go to the rice fields below a tank (pond or lake), in which the crop is young, and the ground consequently not entirely obscured. This would be a likely feeding-ground, or traces of duck having fed there on the previous night might be noticed. They peg a creeper from one bund (mud inches above the water in the field). From this they suspend a number of running loops made of sinews drawn

1. Forest Inspection Report, 1896.

512 from the legs of sheep or goats or from the hind-legs of hares, the lower ends of the loops touching the mud under water. If the duck or teal come to feed, they are sure to be caught, and fall victims to the slip noose. "The Kuntsu (Kunchu) Korachas," Mr, Francis tells us,1 "catch small birds by liming twigs or an arrangement of bits of bamboo with a worm hung inside it, or by setting horse-hair nooses round the nests. Quails they capture by freely snaring a piece of ground, and then putting a quail in a cage in the middle of it, to lure the birds towards the snare. They also catch them, and partridges too, by driving the bevy towards a collapsible net. To do this, they cover themselves with a dark blanket, conceal their heads in a kind of big hat made of hair, feathers and grass, and stalk the birds from a bullock trained to the work, very gradually driving them into the net. They also occasionally capture black-buck (antelope) by sending a tame buck with nooses on his horns to fight with wild one. The latter speedily gets his horns entangled in the nooses, and is easily secured." Sometimes the Kunchu Korava begs in villages, dragging about with him a monkey, while the females earn a livelihood by tattooing, which occupation, known as pricking with green, has gained for them the name of Pacchai (green) Kutti. The patterns used in tattooing by a Korava woman, whom I interviewed, were drawn in a note-book, and consisted of fishes, scorpions, a fortress, five-storeyed house, conventional designs, etc. The patterns were drawn on the skin, with great dexterity and skill in freehand drawing, by means of a blunt stick dipped in a mixture of a lamp-oil, and turmeric contained in a half cocoanut shell. The pattern is pricked in a with a bundle of four or five needles tied together. The needles and drawing-stick were kept in a hollow bamboo, and the tattooing mixture in the scooped out fruits of the bael (AEgle Marmelos) and palmyra palm (Borassus flabellifer). For tattooing an entire upper extremity, at several sittings, the Korava woman would be paid from eight to twelve annas, or receive food-grains in lieu of money. The hot weather is said to be more favourable for the operation that the cold season, as the swelling after it is less. To check this, lamp-oil, turmeric, and leaves of the avarai (Dolichos Lablab) are applied. Concerning the Pacchaikuttis, or, as they are also called, Gadde (soothsayers), Mr. Paupa Rao Naidu writes that "the women start with a basket and a winnowing basket or tray into a village, proclaiming their ostensible profession of tattooing and soothsaying, which they do for grain or money. When unfortunate village women, who always lose children or who often fall ill, see these Gadde women moving about, they call them into their houses, make them sit, and, pouring some grain into their baskets ask them about their past misery and future lot. These women, who are sufficiently trained to speak in suitable language, are clever enough to give out some yarns in equivocal terms, so that the anxious women, who hope for better futurity, understand them in the light uppermost in their own minds. The Korava women will be rewarded duly, and doubly too, for they never fail to study the nature of the house all the time, to see if it offers a fair field for booty to their men." At Srungavarapukóta in the Vizagapatam district "the local goddes, Yerakamma, is a deification of a woman who committed sati. Ballads are sung about her, which say that she was the child of Dâsari parents, and that her birth was foretold by a Yerukala woman (whence her name) who prophesied that she would have the gift of second sight. She eventually married, and one day she begged her husband not to his field, as she was sure he would be killed by a tiger if he did. Her husband went notwithstanding, and was slain as she had foreseen. She committed sati on the spot where her shrine still stands.2 The Œr or village Korava have given up their nomadic life, and settled in villages of their own, or together with other communities. Many of them have attended schools, and can read and write to some extent. Some of them are employed in the police and salt departments, as jail warders, etc. The Œr Korava is fast losing his individuality, and assimilating, in dress, manners and customs, to the ryots among whom he dwells. In the Salem district there is a village called Koravîr, which is inhabited entirely by Koravas, who say that they were originally Uppu Koravas, but now cultivate their own lands, or work as agricultural labourers for the landowners. They say further that they pay an occasional visit to Madras for the

1. Gazetteer of the Bellary district. 2. Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam district.

513 purpose of replenishing their stock of coral and beads, which they sell at local shandis (markets). Some Koravas said to buy gilded beads at Madura, and cheat unsuspecting villagers by selling them as gold. Though the Œr Koravas are becoming civilised, they have not yet lost their desire for other men's goods, and are reported to be the curse of the Anantapur, Cuddapah, and Bellary districts, where they commit robbery, house-breaking, and theft, especially of sheep and cattle. A particularly bold sheep theft by them a few years ago is worthy of mention. The village of Singanamalla in the Anantapur district lies a few miles off the railway. It is bordered on two sides by Government forest reserves, into which the villagers regularly drove their sheep and goats to graze in the charge of small boys, due to the frequent absences of the forest watcher, or when the watcher was well disposed towards them. An arrangement was made between the Koravas and a meat-supplier at Bangalore to deliver on his behalf a large number of sheep at a wayside station near Dharmâvaram, to receive which trucks had to be ready, and the transaction was purely cash. One morning, when more than a hundred sheep and been driven far into the reserve by their youthful charges, who kept more or less close together for the sake of company, a number of Koravas turned up, and represented themselves as forest watchers, captured the small boys, gagged them and tied them to trees, and drove off all the available sheep. The boys were not discovered till late at night, and the police did not get to work till the following morning, by which time the sheep were safely entrained for Bangalore. It is noted, in the Madras Police Report, 1905-1906, that "a large number of members of the notorious Rudrapâd Koracha gangs have recently been released from his Highness the Nizam's prisons, and their return will add appreciably to the difficulties of the Bellary Police." A small class of Koravas is named Pâmula (snake), as they follow the calling of snake- charmers. In the Census Report, 1901, Pîsalavâdu (seller of glass beads) and Utlavâdu (makers of utlams) are given as sub-castes of Yerukala. An utlam is a hanging receptacle for pots, etc., made of palmyra fibre. In the same report, Kâdukuttukiravar (those who bore a hole in the ear) and Valli Ammai Kîttam (followers of the goddess Valli Ammai) are returned as synonyms of Koravas. They claim that Valli Ammai, the wife of the god Subrahmanya, was a Korava woman. Old Tamil books refer to the Koravas as fortune-tellers to kings and queens, and priests to Subrahmanya. Some Koravas have, at times of census, returned themselves as Kîdaikatti (basket-making) Vanniyans. Balfour refers to Walaja Koravas, and states that they are musicians. They are probably identical with the Wooyaloo Koravas,1 whose duty it is to swing incense, and sing before the god during a religious celebration. The same writer speaks of Bajantri or Kolawaru and Kolla and Soli Korawars, and states that they inhabit the Southern Marâtha country. These names, like Thógamallai for Koravas who come from the village of that name in the Trichinopoly district, are probably purely local. Further, the Abbé Dubois states that "the third species of Kuravers is generally known under the name of Kalla Bantru, or robbers. The last Muhammadan prince who reigned over Mysore is said to have employed a regular battalion of these men in time of war, not for the purpose of fighting, but to infest the enemy's camp in the night, stealing away the horses and other necessaries of the officers, and acting as spies. They were awarded in proportion to the dexterity they displayed in these achievements, and, in time of peace, they were despatched into the various States of neighbouring princes, to rob for the benefit of their masters." It is possible that the Kaikadis, of the Central Provinces are identical with Koravas, who have migrated thither. A section of Koravas called Koot (dancing) or Kóthee (monkey) Kaikaries, is referred to by Mr, Paupa Rao Naidu as "obtaining their living by prostitution. The also kidnap or sell children for this purpose. Some of the women of this class are thriving well in the Madras Presidency as experts in dancing. They are kept by rich people, and are called in the Telugu country Erukala Bógomvaru, in Tamil Korava Thevidia. They also train monkeys and show them to the public."

1. F.S. Mullaly, Op, cit.

514 Religion The household god of the Korava, which is as a rule very rudely carved, may be a representation of either Vishnu or Siva. As already noted, it is stated in the Census, Report, 1901, that the Koravas worship Subrahmanya, the son of Siva, while the Verukalas worship Vishnu in the form of Venkatéswara and his wife Lakshmi. They worship Subrahmanya, the son of Siva, while the Yerukalas worship Vishnu in the form of Venkatéswara and his wife Lakshmi. They worship, in addition to these, Kolâpuriamma, Perumâlaswâmi, and other appropriate deities, prior to proceeding on a depredatory expedition. Kolâpuriamma is the goddess of Kolhapîr, the chief town of the Native State of that name in the Bombay Presidency, who is famous in Southern India. Perumâlswâmi, or Venkatéswara, is the god of Tirupati, the great place of pilgrimage in the North Arcot district. The signs of a recent performance of worship by Koravas may prove an indication to the Police that they have been concerned in a dacoity, and act as a clue to detection thereof. They sacrifice sheep or goats once a year to their particular god on a Sunday or Tuesday, while those who worship Venkatéswara honour him on a Saturday, and break cocoanuts as an offering. All offerings presented to the gods are divided among those present after the ceremonies have been completed. Venkatéswara is said to be sometimes represented, for the purpose of worship, by a brass vessel (kalasam) decorated with flowers, and bearing on it the Vaishnavite nâmam (sect marks). Its mouth is closed by a cocoanut, beneath which mango or betel leaves are placed. On the day appointed for the religious service, everything within the hut is thrown outside, and the floor is purified with cow-dung, and devices are drawn thereon. The brass vessel is set up, and offerings of large quantities of food are made to it. Some of this dedicated food (prasâdam) must be given to all the inhabitants of the settlement. A lump of clay, squeezed into a conical shape, with a tuft of margosa (Melia Azadirachta ) leaves does duty for Póléramma. In front thereof, stones are placed. Póléramma may be worshipped close to, but not within, the hut. To her offering of boiled rice (pongal) are made by fasting women. The manner in which the boiling food bubbles over from the cooking-pot is eagerly watched, and accepted as an omen for good or evil. In at mote on the Coorroo, Balfour states1 that "they told me that, when they pray, they construct a small pyramid of clay, which they term Mâriamma, and worship it. The women had small gold and silver ornaments suspended from cords round their necks, which they said had been supplied to them by a goldsmith, from whom they had ordered figures of Mâriamma. The form represented is that of the goddess Kâli. They mentioned that they had been told by their forefathers that, when a good man dies, his spirit enters they body of some of the better animals, as that of a horse or cow, and that a bad man's spirit gives life to the form of a dog or jackal, but they did not seem to believe in it. They believe firmly, however, in the existence and constant presence of a principle of evil, who, they say, frequently appears, my informant having himself often seen it in the dusk of the evening assuming various forms, at times a cat, anon a goat, and then a dog, taking these shapes that it might approach to injure him." The domestic god of the Koravas, in the southern districts, is said to be Sathavu, for whom a day of worship is set apart once in three or sour years. The Koravas assemble, and, in an open place to the west of the village, an mud platform is erected, on which small bricks are spread. In front of the platform are placed a sickle, sticks, and arrack (liquor). Cocoanuts, plantain fruits, and rice are offered, and sheep sacrificed. Sandal and turmeric are poured over the bricks, and camphor is burnt. The proceedings terminate with a feast. The presiding goddess of the criminal profession of the Koravas is stated by Mr. M. Paupa Rao Naidu 2 to be Moothévi, the goddess of sleep, whom they dread and worship more than any other god or goddess of the Hindu Pantheon. The object of this worship is twofold, one being to keep themselves vigilant, and the other to throw their victims off their guard. Moothévi is invoked in their prayers to keep them sleepless while on their nefarious purpose bent, but withal to make their victims sufficiently sleepy over their property. This goddess is worshipped especially by females, who perform strange orgies periodically, to propitiate her.

1. Madras Journ, Lit. Science, XVII, 1853. 2. History of Railway Thieves, Madras, 1904.

515 A secluded spot is preferred for performing these orgies, at which animal sacrifices are made, and there is distribution of liquor in honour of the goddess. The Edayapatti gang worship in addition the deity Ratnasabhapathy at Ayyamala. When prosecuted for a crime, the Koravan invokes his favourite deity to let him off with a whipping in the words 'If the punishment of whipping be inflicted I shall adore the goddess.' The following account of a peculiar form of human sacrifice by the Koravas in former days was given to Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao by an old inhabitant of the village of Ásîr near Walajabad in the Chingleput district. A big gang settled at the meeting point of the three villages of Ásîr, Mélputtîr, and Avalîr, on an elevated spot commanding the surrounding country. They had with them their pack-bullocks, each headman of the gang owning about two hundred head. The cow-dung which accumulated daily attracted a good many of the villages, on one of whom the headmen fixed as their intended victim. They made themselves intimate with him, andplied him with drink and tobacco. The Koravas then fixed a day for the sacrifice. They invited the victim to visit them at dusk, and witness a great festival in honour of their caste goddess. At the appointed hour, the man went to the settlement, and was induced to drink freely. Meanwhile, a pit, large enough for a man to stand upright in it, had been prepared. At about midnight, the victim was seized, and forced to stand in the pit, which was filled in up to his neck. This done, the women and children of the gang made off with their belongings. As soon as the last of them had quitted the settlement, the headmen brought a large quantity of fresh cow-dung, and placed a ball of it the head of the victim. The ball served as a support for an earthen lamp, which was lighted. The man was by this time nearly dead, and the cattle were made to pass over his head. The headmen then made off, and by daybreak, the whole gang had disappeared. The murdered man was found by the villagers, who have, since that time, scrupulously avoided the Koravas. The victim is said to have turned into a Munisvara, and for a long time troubled those who happened to go near the spot at noon or midnight. The Koravas said to have performed the sacrifice so as to insure their cattle against death from disease. The ground, on which they encamped, and on which they offered the human sacrifice, is stated to have been barren prior thereto, and, as the result thereof, to have become very fertile. It is said that Korava women invoke the village goddesses when they are telling fortunes. They use a winnowing fan and grains of rice in doing this, and prophesy good or evil, according to the number of grains found on the fan.1 They carry a basket, winnow, stick, and a wicker tray in which cowry shells are imbedded in a mixture of cow-dung and turmeric. The basket represents Kolâpuriamma, and the cowries Póléramma. When telling fortunes, the Korava woman places on the basket the winnow, rice, betel leaves and areca nuts, and the wicker tray. Holding her client's hand over the winnow, and moving it about, she commences to chant, and name all sorts of deities. From time to time she touches the hand of the person whose fortune is being told with the stick. The Korava women are very clever in extracting information concerning the affairs of a client before they proceed to tell her fortune. Brâhmans fix the auspicious hour for marriage, and Chettis are invited to act as priests at the purification ceremony for re-admission into caste of a man or woman who has cohabited with a Paraiyan or Muhammadan, or been beaten with a shoe, etc. For the purpose of re- admission, a panchâyat (council) assembles, at which the headman presides. Enquiries are made into the conduct of the accused, and a fine of two rupees levied. Of this sum the Chetti receives eight annas, with some betel and tobacco. The balance is spent in liquor for those who are assembled. After the Chetti has received his fee, he smears the foreheads of the guilty person and the company with sacred ashes. The impure person goes to a stream or well, and bathes. He then again comes, marking his forehead. The proceedings wind up with a feast. In former days, at a trial before a council, the legs of the complainant and accused were tied together. In 1907, a Koracha was excommunicated for having illicit intercourse with a widow. The ceremony of excommunication usually consists of shaving the head and moustache of the guilty person, and making him ride a donkey, wearing a necklace of bones. In the case under reference, a donkey could not be procured, so a temporary shed

1. Madras Census Report, 1901.

516 was made of sajja (Setaria italica) stalks, which were set on fire after the man had passed through it. He was to be re-admitted into the caste by standing a feast to all the members of five gangs of Korachas. It is said 1 that "a curious custom of the Kuravans prohibits them from committing crime on new-moon or full-moon days. Once started on an expedition, they are very determined and persistent. There is a case on record where one of a band of Kuravans out on an expedition was drowned in crossing the Cauvery. Nothing daunted by the loss or the omen, they attempted a burglary, and failed. They then tried another house, where they also failed; and it was not till they had met with these three mishaps that their determination weakened, and they went home."

The Koravas are extremely superstitious, and take careful notice of good or bad omens before they start on a criminal expedition. They hold a feast, at which the assistance of the goddess Kolâpuriamma or Perumâl is sought. A young goat, with coloured thread attached to its horns, and a garland of margosa leaves with a piece of turmeric round its neck, is taken to an out-of-the-way shrine. Here it is placed before the deity, and cocoanuts are broken. The god is asked whether the expedition will be successful. If the body of the animal quivers, it is regarded as an answer in the affirmative; if it does not, the expedition will be abandoned. If in addition to quivering, the animal urinates, no better sign could be hoped for. The Koravas make it a point of honour to pay for the goat used for this religious purpose. It was information of this ceremony having been performed which led to the detection of a torchlight dacoity in the Cuddapah district in 1896. The expedition was in the first instance successful, for the Koravas broke into a Kómati's house in the middle of a village, and carried off a quantity of jewels. The house were badly burnt by lighted torches thrust against their faces and bodies. Among other methods of consulting the omens is to sacrifice a fowl at a shrine, and sit in front thereof listening for the direction whence the chirping of lizards issues. If the omens are auspicious, the members of the expedition start off, armed as a rule with lâtis (sticks) and axes. If they attack a cart, they commence by throwing stones at it, to ascertain if the occupant has fire-arms with him. Houses are generally broken into by means of a hole made in the wall near the door-latch. In the Ceded Districts, where the houses are as a rule substantially built of rough stone, and have flat roofs of salt earth, an opening is frequently effected through the roof. The Koravas are often extremely cruel in the methods which they adopt to extort information from inhabitants of houses as to where their valuables are concealed. In common with other Hindus, they avoid the shadow of the thandra tree (Terminalia belerica), in which the spirit of Sanéswaradu is believed to reside. In this connection the following legend is recited.2 In the city of Bímanapuram there ruled a king named Bímarâju, who had a beautiful daughter named Damayanti, with whom the gods, including Nalamahârâju, fell in love. Damayanti had never seen Nalamahârâju, but loved him on account of the stories which reached her of the justice with which he governed his kingdom, and his chastity. To avoid being charged with partiality in disposing of his daughter's hand, Bímarâju determined to invite all the gods to his house, and the one to whom Damayanti should throw a garland of flowers should claim her as his wife. The day fixed on arrived, and all the gods assembled, except Sanéswaradu, who appears to have been unavoidably detained. The gods were seated in a circle, and a fly guided Damayanti to Nalamahârâju, on whose neck she threw the garland. Nalamahârâju at once claimed her as his wife, and started off with her to his kingdom. On the way they met Sanéswaradu, who demanded an explanation to their being in each other's company. He was told, and was very angry because the matter had been settled in his absence, and swore a mighty oath that they should be separated. To this end, he caused all sorts of difficulties to come in their way. Under his spell, Nalamahârâju took to gambling, and lived in poverty for years. The spell of Sanéswaradu could, however, only last for a certain number of years, and, when the time expired, Nalamahârâju set out for Bímanapuram, to find Damayanti who had returned to her

1. Gazetteer of the Trichinopoly district. 2. This story based on well-known episode of Nalacharitra in the Aranya Parva of the Mahabharatha.

517 father's house. On the way, under a thandra tree, he met Sanéswaradu, who confessed that he was the cause of all the troubles that had befallen him, and begged that he would look leniently on his fault. Nalamahârâju would not forgive him, but, after cursing him, ordained that he should live for ever in the thandra tree, so that the area over which he could do wrong should be limited. It is for this reason that all wandering tribes avoid pitching a camp within the shadow of this tree. A tree (Terminalia Catappa) belonging to the same genus as the thandra is regarded as a lucky one to camp beneath, as it was under one of these trees that Râma made a bower when he lived with Síta and Lakshmana after his banishment to the forest of Dandaka. In connection with omens and superstitions, Mr. Fawcett writes as follows. "Koravas, being highly superstitious, are constantly on the look-out for omens, especially before starting out on an excursion when the objective is dacoity or housebreaking. The household deity, represented by a brick picked up at random, is worshipped, and a sheep or fowl is sacrificed. Water is first poured over the animal, and, if it shakes its body, the omen is good, while, if it stands perfectly still, there is misfortune ahead. It is unfortunate, when starting, to see widows, pots of milk, dogs urinating, a man leading a bull, or a bull bellowing. On the other hand, it is downright lucky when a bull bellows at the scene of the criminal operation. To see a man goading a bull is a good omen when starting, and a bad one at the scene. Sprinkling urine over doors and walls of a house facilitates breaking into it. The failure of an expedition is generally attributed to the evil eye, or the evil tongue, whose bad effects are evinced in many ways. If the excursion has been for housebreaking, the housebreaking implement is often soldered at its sharp end with panchalokam (five metals), to counteract the effect of the evil eye. The evil tongue is a frequent cause of failure. It consists of talking evil of others, or harping on probable misfortunes. There are various ways of removing its unhappy effects. A mud figure of a man is made on the ground, and thorns are placed over the mouth. This is the man with the evil toungue, and the clansmen begin crying out and beating their mouth; the greater the noise, the better the effect. Cutting the neck of a fowl half through and allowing it to flutter about or inserting a red hot splinter in its anus to madden it with pain, are considered to be effective, while, if a cock should crow after its neck has been cut, calamities are averted. The fowl is a sort of adjunct to the Koravar's life. In early childhood, the first experiments in his career consists in stealing fowls; in manhood he feasts on them when he is well off, and he uses them, as we have seen, with abominable cruelty for divination or averting misfortune. The number seven is considered ominous, and a expedition never consists of seven men. The word for the number seven in Telugu resembles the word for weeping and is considered to be unlucky. A man who has returned from jail, or who has been newly married, is not as a rule taken on an expedition. In the case of the former, the rule may be set aside by bringing a lamb from a neighbouring flock. A man who forgets to bring his stick, or to equip or arm himself properly, is always left behind. As in the case of dacoities, seven is an unlucky number to start out for housebreaking, but, should it be unavoidable, a fiction is indulged in of making the housebreaking implement the eighth member of the gang. When there are dogs about a house, they are soon kept quite with powdered gajjakai or ganja leaves mixed with cooked rice, which they eat greedily. Detached parties in the jungle or elsewhere are able to unite by making sounds like the howling of jackals or hooting of owls. The direction taken on a road, or in the forest, is indicated by throwing the leaves of the tangédu (Cassia auriculata) along the road. At cross-roads, the taken route is indicated by the thick end of a twig of the tangédu placed under a stone. Rows of stones, one piled over the other, are also used to point out the route taken when crossing hills. When their husbands are long absent, it arouses apprehension of danger among the womenfolk left behind. A long piece of straw is pulled out of a broom, and to one end of it are tied several small pieces dipped in oil. If the stick floats in water, all is well; but, should it sink, two of the women start out at once to find the men. They generally know as a matter of pre-arrangement whereabouts to find the gang, and proceed thither, pretending to sell karipak (curry leaves). The eighteenth day of the Tamil month Avani is the luckiest day of all for committing crimes. A successful criminal exploit on this day ensures good luck throughout the year. Sundays, which are auspicious for weddings, are

518 inauspicious for crimes. Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays are unlucky until noon for starting out form home. So, too, is the day after new moon. Fridays are unsuitable for breaking into the houses of Brâhmans or Kómatis, as they may be engaged in worshipping Ankalamma, to whom the day is sacred." Many Koravas examined by Mr. Mainwaring were injured in one way or another. One man had his left nostril split, and explained that it was the result of a bite by another Korava in the course of a drunken brawl at a toddy-shop. Another had lost some of his teeth in a similar quarrel, and a third was minus the lobe of his right ear. A characteristic of the Koravas, which is well marked, is their hairlessness. They have plenty of straight hair on the head, but their bodies are particularly smooth. Even the pubic hairs are scanty, and the abdominal hairs are abundant only in a few instances. The Korava is not, in appearance, the typical criminal of one's imagination, of the Bill Sykes type. That even the innocent looking individuals are criminal by nature, the following figures establish. In 1902, there were 739 Koravas, or Korchas as they are called in the Anantapur district, on the police registers as members of wandering gangs or ordinary suspects. Of these, no less than 215, or 29 percent, had at least one conviction recorded against them. In the Nellore district, in 1903, there were 54 adult males on the register, of whom no less than 24, or 44 percent, and convictions against them. In the Salem district, in the same year, there were 118 adult male Koravas registered, against 38, or 32.2 percent of who convictions stood. There are, of course, hundreds who escape active surveillance by assuming an ostensible means of livelihood, and allowances must be made for the possibility of numbers escaping conviction for offences they may have committed. The women are equally criminal with the men, but are less frequently caught. They have no hesitation in concealing small articles by passing them into the vagina. The best way of ascertaining whether this has been done is said to be to make them jump. In this way, at a certain feast, a gold jewel was recovered from a woman, and she was convicted.1 This expedient is, however, not always effectual. A case came under notice, in 1901, at the Kolar gold fields, in which a woman had a small packet of stolen gold amalgam passed to her by her suspect husband, during the search of the house. She begged permission to leave the house to urinate. The request was granted, and a constable who went with her reported her conduct as suspicious. A female searcher was procured, and the parcel found jammed transversely in the vagina, and required manipulation to dislodge it. Small jewels, which the Koravas manage to steal, are at once concealed in the mouth, and even swallowed. When swallowed, the jewel is next day recovered with the help of a purgative. In this way a half sovereign was recovered at few years ago.2 Male Koravas sometimes conceal stolen articles in the rectum. In the Tanjore district a Korava Képmari, who was suspected to having resorted to this dodge, was examined by a medical officer, and two thin gold chains, each about 14 inches long, were extracted. The females take an important part in resisting an attempt to arrest the males. I am informed that, "when a raid is made on an encampment, the males make off, while the females, stripping themselves, dance in a state of nudity, hoping thereby to attract the constables to them, while the males get clear away. Should, however, these manoeuvres fail to attain their object, the females proceed to lacerate the pudenda, from which blood flows profusely. They then lie down as if dead. If it comes to searching Korava huts, the females take a leading part in attacking the intruders, and will not hesitate to stone them, or break chatties (earthen pots) on their heads." It is recorded, in the Cuddapah Manual, that "a Yerukala came to a village, and, under the pretence of begging, ascertained which women wore jewels, and whether the husbands of any such were employed at night in the fields. In the night he returned, and, going to the house he had previously marked, suddenly snatched up the sleeping woman by the massive kamma (gold ear-ring) she wore, sometimes with such violence as to lift up the woman, and always in such a way as to wrench off the lobe of the ear. This trick he repeated in three different hamlets of the same village on one night, and in one house on two women. In one case, the woman had been lifted so high that, when the ear gave way, she fell to the ground,

1. M. Paupa Rao Naidu. Op. cit. 2. Ibid.

519 and severely injured her head." A new form of house robbery is said to have been started by the Koravas in recent years. They mark down the residence of a woman, whose jewels are worth stealing, and lurk outside the house before dawn. Then, when the woman comes out, as is the custom, before the men are stirring, they snatch her ear-rings and other ornaments, and are gone before an alarm can be raised.1 Another favourite method of securing jewelry is for the Korava to beg for rice, from door to door, on a dark night, crying "Sandi bichcham, Amma, Sandi bichcham" (night alms, mother, night alms). Arrived at the house of his victim, he cries out, and the lady of the house brings out a handful of rice, and puts it in his pot. As she does so, he makes a grab at her tâli or other neck ornament, and makes off with the spoil. "Stolen property", Mr. Mullaly writes,2 "is disposed of as soon as they can get a suitable remuneration. The general bargain is Re. 1 for a rupee's weight of gold. They do not, however, as a rule, lose much over their transactions. Undisposed of property, which had been buried, is brought to the encampment at nightfall, and taken back and re-buried before dawn. The ground round the pegs, to which their asses are tethered, in heaps of ashes or filth, are favourite places for burying plunder."

The Koravas disguise themselves as Képmaris, Alagiri, or Pîjâris. The terms Képmari, Alagiri Kathirivândlu, etc., are applied to certain persons who adopt particular methods in committing crime, all of which are adopted by the Koravas. The Tamil equivalent of Képmari is Talapa Mathi, or one who changes his head-dress. Alagiris are thieves who worship at the temple of Kalla Alagar near Madura, and vow that a percentage of their ill-gotten gains will be given as an offering to his temple. Kathirivândlu (scissors people) are those who operate with knives or scissors, snipping off chains, cutting the strings of purses, and ripping open bags or pockets. The Koravas are not nice as regards the selection of some of their food. Cats, fowls, fish, pigs, the blackfaced monkey known in Telugu as kondamuchu, jackals, field rats, deer, antelope, goats and sheep served as articles of dietary. There is a Tamil proverb "Give an elephant to a pandit, and a cat to a Kuravan." They will not eat cattle or buffaloes, nor will they eat with barbers, washermen, carpenters, goldsmiths, blacksmiths, Paraiyans or Chakkiliyans. The Bóyas seem to be the lowest class with whom they will eat. They drink heavily when funds are available, or at social gatherings, when free drinks are forthcoming. At council meetings liquor must be supplied by the disputants, and there is a proverb, "With dry mouths nothing can be uttered." Most Koravas possess knives, and a kind of billhook, called koduvâl, which is a cross between a sword and a sickle. The back of the blade is heavy, and renders it capable of dealing a very severe blow. With this implement animals are slaughtered, murders committed, and bamboos split. For the purpose of committing burglaries, the Koravas are said by Mr. Mullaly to use an iron instrument pointed at either end, called gâdi kólu or sillu kólu, which is offered, before a gang sets out, to Perumâl, whose aid in the success of the undertaking is invoked. The Koravas as a class are industrious, and generally occupied in doing something. One may see the men on the march twisting threads into stout cord. Others will be making fine nets for fishing, or coarse ones, in which to suspend household pots or utensils; straw pads, on which the round-bottomed chatties invariably stand; or a design with red thread and shells, wherewith to decorate the head of a bull or a money-bag. It is when hawking these articles from door to door that the Koravas are said to gain information as to property which may be worth robbing. The following is a free translation of a song representing Koracha characteristics, in a play by Mr. D. Krishnamacharlu, a well-known amateur dramatist of Bellary: Hurrah! Our Koracha caste is a very fine caste, The best of castes, Hurrah!

1. Police Report, 1902. 2. Op. cit.

520 When a temple feast is proceeding, We beg, and commit thefts surprising. Don't we? Care we for aught? Don't we ship off uncaught? (Chorus.) Cutting trinkets off, from the necks of babes in their mother's arms. Who could suspect us? Cannot we hoodwink them all? Cannot we get away? (Chorus.) When those eternal watchmen catch us, After endless search take life out of us. Do we blurt out? Do we confess? Don't we inquire what is our offence? (Chorus.) In the south, the Koravas are frequently employed by villagers as watchmen (kâvalgars) on the principle of setting a thief to keep other thieves off. They are paid in grain. The villagers are more than half afraid of them, and, if the remuneration stipulated upon is not promptly paid to the watchmen, a house-breaking will certainly occur in the village. If a crime happens to take place in a village where a Korava has been appointed watchman, he frequently manages to get back the stolen property if the theft is the work of another Korava, but only on condition that the police are not called in to investigate the offence. The dwellings in which the Koravas live are made with low mud walls and thatched. The wanderers erect a temporary hut called gudisé, with mats or cocoanut or palmyra palm leaves, not more than 4 feet high. It is constructed of crossed bamboos tied together, and connected by bamboo, which serves as a bridge, over which they fasten the mats.

Marriage Marriages are arranged by the elders. The father of a youth who is of a marriageable age calls together some of the elders of his division, and proceeds in quest of a suitable bride. If the family visited consents to the match, the headman is sent for, and a move is made to the toddy-shop. Here the father of the future bridegroom fills a small earthen vessel, called in Telugu muntha, and offers it to the father of the bride-elect, asking him, Do you know why I give you this toddy? The recipient replies. It is because I have given you my daughter, and I drink to her health. The vessel is refilled and offered to the headman, who takes it, and enquires of the father of the girl why he is to drink. The reply is, Because I have given my daughter to so-and-so's son; drink to her health. The questions and answers are repeated while every one present, according to rank, has a drink. Those who have so drunk at this betrothal ceremony are looked upon as witnesses to the contract. After the drinking ceremony, an adjournment is made to the girl's house, where a feast is partaken of. At the conclusion thereof, the future bridegroom's people enquire if the girl has a maternal uncle, to whom the purchase money should be paid. The purchase money is 101 madas (a mada = two rupees), and is always the same for both well-to-do and poor. But, as a matter of fact, the whole of it is never paid. A few instalments are sometimes handed over, but generally the money is the cause of endless quarrels. When, however, the families are on good terms, and the husband enjoys the hospitality of his wife's maternal uncle, or vice versâ, it is a common thing for one two say to the other after a drink, See, brother-in-law, I have paid you two madas to-day, so deduct this from the vóli (purchase money). After the marriage has been arranged, and the maternal uncle has paid four annas as an earnest of the transaction, the party disperses until such time as the principals are in a position to perform the wedding. They might be infants, or the girl immature, or the intended husband be away. After the betrothal ceremony, the parents of the girl should on no account break off the match. If this were done, the party of the husband-elect would summon those who were present at the drinking ceremony to a meeting, and he who partook of the second drink (the headman)would demand from the father of the girl an explanation of the breach of contract.

521 No explanation is likely to be satisfactory, and the father is fined three hundred varâhas1. This sum, like the purchase money, is seldom paid, but the award of it places the party from whom it is due in a somewhat inferior position to the party to whom it is payable. They occupy thenceforth the position of creditor to debtor. On the occasion of quarrels, no delicate sense of refinement restrains the former from alluding to the debt, and the position would be retained through several generations. There is a Tamil proverb that the quarrels of a Korava and an Idaiyan are not easily settled. If the contracting parties are ready to fulfil their engagement, the maternal uncle to the girl is paid five varâhas as the first instalment of the purchase money, and a Brâhman puróhit is asked to fix an auspicious time for the marriage ceremony. At the appointed time, the wedding party assembles at the home of the bride, and the first day is spent in eating and drinking, the bride and bridegroom being arrayed in new clothes purchased at the expense of the bride's father. On the following day, they again feast. The contracting couple are seated on a kambli (blanket), on which some grains of rice have been previously sprinkled. The guests form a circle round them, and, at the auspicious moment, the bridegroom ties a string of black beads round the bride's neck. When the string has been tied, the married women present, with hands crossed, throw rice over the heads of the pair. This rice has been previously prepared, and consists of five seers of rice with five pieces of turmeric, dried cocoanut, dried date fruit and jaggery (crude sugar), and five silver or copper coins. While the rice-throwing is proceeding, a monotonous song is crooned, of which the following is a free translation:- Procure five white bulls. Get five white goats. Obtain a seer2 of silver. Get a seer of gold. Always love your father. And live happy for ever. Look after your mother always. Your father and mother-in-law. Do not fear, God above will keep you happy. Five sons and four daughters. Shall compose your family. A predominance of sons is always considered desirable, and, with five sons and four daughters, the mystic number nine is reached. No widows, women who have remarried, or girls dedicated as prostitutes, are allowed to join the wedding circle, as they would be of evil omen to the bride. Widows and remarried women must have lost a husband, and the prostitute never knows the God to whose service she is dedicated. On the third day, the rice-throwing ceremony is repeated, but on this occasion the bride and bridegroom pour some of the rice over each other's heads before the women officiate. This ends the marriage ceremony, but, as among some other class, consummation is prohibited for at least three months, as a very strong superstition exists that three heads should not enter a door within one year. The bride and bridegroom are the first two heads to enter the new home, and the birth of a child within the year and would constitute the third. This undesirable event is rendered less likely by a postponement of consummation. After the prescribed time has lapsed, the bride, with feigned reluctance, is escorted by her female relations to her husband's hut. On the way obscene pleasantries, which evoke much merriment are indulged in. The bride's pretended reluctance necessitates a certain amount of compulsion, and she is given an occasional shove. Finally, she is thrust into the door of the hut, and the attendant women take their departure.

The following details in another form of the marriage rites may be noted. The bridegroom proceeds on a Saturday to the settlement of the bride, where a hut has been set up for him close to that of the bride. Both the huts should face the east. On the following day, the

1. A varâha or pagoda was worth Rs. 3-8-0. 2. A seer is an Indian measure of weight, varying in different parts of the country.

522 headman, or an elder, brings a tray containing betel, flowers and kankanams (wrist-threads). He ties the threads round the wrists of the bride and bridegroom, and also round a pestle and mortar and a crowbar. A distribution of rice to all present, including infants, follows, and pork and mutton are also distributed. Towards evening, married women go, with music produced by beating on a brass tray, to a well or tank, with filled pots beneath a canopy (ulladam). The pots are filled while the bride takes her seat on a plank, and the bridegroom is carried on the shoulders of his brother-in-law, and conducted to another plank. Three married women, and some old men, them pour rice over the heads of the pair, while the following formula is repeated: "Try to secure four pairs of donkeys, a few pigs and cattle; live well and amicably; feed your guests well; grow wise and live." The couple are then taken to the bride's hut, the entrance to which is guarded by several married women, who will not allow them to enter till the bridegroom has given out the name of the bride. Within the hut, the pair exchange food three times, and what remains after they have eaten is finished off by some married men and women. That night the pair sleep in the bride's hut, together with the best man and bridesmaid. On the following day, a feast is held, at which every house must be represented by at least one married woman. Towards evening, the bridegroom takes the bride to his hut, and, just before they start, her mother ties up some rice in her cloth. At the entrance to the hut, a basket, called Kolâpuriamma's basket, is placed. Depositing a winnowing tray thereon, the bride pours the rice which has been given to her on it. The rice is then transferred by the bridegroom to the mortar, and he and the bride pound it with the pestle and crowbar. The tâli is then tied by the bridegroom round the bride's neck. In connection with marriage, Mr. Fawcett writes as follows. "A girl's mother's son has the right to have her to wife, and, if his right is abrogated by giving her to another, he (or his father?) receives a penalty from the man to whom she is given. The girl's maternal uncle disposes of the girl. In the Coimbatore district, however, it is the father who is said to do so; indeed it is said that the father can even take a girl away from her husband, and give her to another for a higher bride-price. Prior to marriage proper, there is the betrothal, accompanied by presentation of betel leaves and draughts of toddy, when the maternal uncle or father repeats a regular formula which is answered word for word by the girl's party, in which he agrees to hand over the girl for such a price, at the same time requiring that she shall receive no bodily injury or have her hair cut, and, if she is returned physically damaged, payment shall be made according to a fixed rate. It should be said that the betrothal sometimes takes place at a tavern, the favourite haunt of the Koravas, where the bridegroom's party offers a pail of toddy to the father of the girl and his party. The emptying of this pail seals the marriage contract, and involves the father of the bridegroom in an agreement to pay the bride-price as a fine, together with a fine of Rs. 2 for every male child, and Rs. 4 for every female child that may be born. This penalty, which is known as ranku, is not, as a rule, insisted upon at once, but only after some children have been born. The day of marriage, generally a Sunday, is fixed by a Brâhman, who receives betel nuts, cocoanuts, one rupee, or even less. He selects an auspicious day and hour for the event. The hour selected is rather early in the evening, so that the marriage may be consummated the same night. A few days before the appointed day, two unmarried lads cut a branch of the nâval tree (Eugenia Jambolana), and throw it into a tank (pond) or river, where it is left until the wedding day, when the same two lads bring it back, and plant it in the ground near a pot of water (brought from the tank or river where the branch had been left to soak) carried thither by two married women under a canopy. The mouth of each pot is closed by placing on top an earthen vessel on which is a lamp. The bride and bridegroom sit on donkey saddles spread on the ground, and undergo the nalugu ceremony, in which their hands and feet are rubbed nine times with saffron (turmeric) coloured red with chunam (lime). The elders bless the couple, throwing rice over their heads with crossed hands, and all the while the women chant monotonously a song such as this: Galianame Baipokame Sobaname, Oh, Marriage giver of happiness and prosperity! The best oil of Madanapalle is this nalugu; The best soap seed of Silakat is for this nalugu;

523 Stain your cloth, Oh brother, with the best of dyes; Bring, Oh brother, the greenest of snakes; Adorn with it our Basavayya's neck; Bring, Oh brother, the flowers without leaves; Adorn with them the hair of the bride. Then bridegroom ties the bride's tâli, a string coloured yellow with saffron (turmeric), or a string of small black beads. Every married woman must wear a necklet of black beads, and glass bangles on her wrists; when she becomes a widow, she must remove them. A feature of the ceremony not to be overlooked is the wedding meal (pendlikudu). After undergoing the nalugu, the bridegroom marks with a crowbar the spot where this meal, consisting of rice, milk, green gram, and jaggery (sugar), is to be cooked in a pot called bhîpalakunda. A trench is dug at the spot, and over it the cooking is done. When the food is ready, the bride and bridegroom take of it each three handfuls, and then the boys and girls snatch the pot away from them. After this the couple proceed to the bridegroom's hut, where they find a light burning. The elders sprinkle them with water coloured yellow with saffron (turmeric)as they enter."

For the following note on marriage among the Yerukalas of the Vizagapatam district, I am man indebted to Mr. Hayavadana Rao. A man may marry the daughter of his paternal aunt or maternal uncle. The father of the would-be husband of a girl goes with ten rupees, called sullaponnu, to her home, and pays the money to one of several elders who are brought together. Towards evening, the ground in front of the girl's hut is swept, and a wooden plank and stone are set side by side. The bridegroom sits on the former, and the bride on the latter. Two pots of water are placed before them, and connected together by a thread tied round their necks. The pots are lifted up, and the water is poured over them. Contrary to the custom prevailing among many castes, new cloths are not given to them after this bath. Resuming their seats, the couple sprinkle each other with rice. An intelligent member of the caste then personates a Brâhman priest, mutters sundry mantrams (prayers), and shows a string (karugu) with a piece of turmeric tied to it to those assembled. It is touched by them in token of a blessing, and tied by the bridegroom on the neck of the bride. A feast, with a liberal supply of liquor, is held, the expenses of which are met from the ten rupees already referred to. The younger brother may marry the widow of an elder brother, and vice versâ. The marriage string is tied round her neck, but without the ceremonial observed at the marriage of a maid. If a husband wishes to secure a divorce, he asks his wife to break a twig in two before a caste council. If a woman wishes for a divorce, she elopes with a man, who pays a small fine, called ponnu, to the husband, and asks him to break a twig.

The following story is current among the Koravas, to account for the tâli or bottu being replaced by a string: A bridegroom was once told to bring the tâli, and he was sent off to procure the necessary piece of gold from a goldsmith. The parties waited and waited, but the young man did not return. Since then, the string of beads has been used as a marriage badge. According to another story, the tâli was prepared, and kept on the bank of a river, but disappeared when it was going to be picked up. A man was sent to procure another, but did not come back.

A custom is stated by Dr. Shortt to prevail among the Yerukalas, by which the first two daughters of a family may be claimed by the maternal uncle as wives for his sons. "The value of a wife is fixed at twenty pagodas. The maternal uncle's to the first two daughters is valued at eight out of twenty pagodas, and is carried out thus. If he urges his preferential claim, and marries his own sons to his nieces, he pays for each only twelve pagodas; and similarly if he, from not having sons, or any other cause, foregoes his claim, he receives eight pagodas of the twenty paid to the girl's parents by anybody else who may marry them." The price of a wife apparently differs in different localities. For example, it is noted, in the Census report of 1901, that, among the Kongu sub-division of the Koravas, a man can marry his sister's daughter, and when he gives his sister in marriage, he expects her to produce a bride

524 for him. His sister's husband accordingly pays Rs. 7-10 out of the Rs. 60 of which the bride price consists, at the wedding itself, and Rs. 2-8 more each year until the woman bears a daughter. Sometimes their children are said to be espoused even before they are born. Two men, who wish their children to marry, say to one another: "If your wife should have a girl and mine a boy (or vice versâ), they must marry." And, to bind themselves to this, they exchange tobacco, and the potential bridegroom's father stands a drink to the future bride's relations. But if, after the children are grown up, a Brâhman should pronounce the omens unpropitious, the marriage does not take place, and the bride's father backs the cost of the liquor consumed at the betrothal. If the marriage is arranged, a pot of water is placed before the couple, and a grass (Cynodon Dactylon) put into the water. This is equal to a binding oath between them.1 Of this grass it is said in the Atharwana Véda: "May this grass, which rose from the water of life, which has a hundred roots and a hundred stems, efface a hundred of my sins, and prolong my existence on earth for a hundred years." It is noted by the Rev. J. Cain2 that "at the birth of a daughter, the father of an unmarried little boy often brings a rupee, and ties it in the cloth of the father of the newly born girl. When the girl is grown up, he can claim her for his son. For twenty-five rupees he can claim her much earlier."

In North Arcot, the Koravas are said3 to "mortgage their unmarried daughters, who become the absolute property of the mortgagee till the debt is discharged. The same practice exists in Chingleput and Tanjore. In Madras, the Koravas sell their wives outright when they want money, for a sum equal to fifty rupees. In Nellore and other districts, they all purchase their wives, the price varying from thirty to seventy rupees, but money rarely passes on such occasions, the consideration being paid in asses or cattle." In a recent case in the Madras High Court, a Korava stated that he had sold one of his wives for twenty-one rupees.4 It is stated by Dr. Pope that the Koravas do not "scruple to pawn their wives for debt. If the wife who is in pledge dies a natural death, the debt is discharged. If she should die from hard usage, the creditor must not only cancel the debt, but must defray the expenses of a second marriage for his debtor. If the woman lives till the debt is discharged, and if she has children by the creditor, the boys remain with him, the girls go back with her to her husband." The conditions of the country suggest a reason for the pawning of wives. A wife would be pawned in times of stress, and redeemed after seasons of plenty. The man who can afford to accept her in pledge in a time of famine would, in periods of plenty, require men for agricultural purposes. He, therefore, retains the male issue, who in time will be useful to him. Some years ago, some Koravas were convicted of stealing the despatch-box of the Collector of a certain district from his tent. It came out, in the course of the trial, that the head of the gang had taken the money contained therein as his share, and with it acquired a wife. The Collector humorously claimed that the woman, having been obtained with his money, was, according to a section of the Criminal Procedure Code, his property.

A woman who marries seven men successively one after the other, either after the death of her husbands or after divorce, is said by Mr. Paupa Rao Naidu to be considered to be a respectable lady, and is called Pedda Bóyisâni. She takes the lead in marriage and other religious ceremonies. It is noted, in the Census Report, 1891, that "if a man is sent to jail, his wife will form a connection with some other man of the gang, but on the release of her husband, she will return to him any children born to her in the interval. The Korava women are accustomed to honour their lords and husbands with the dignified title of cocks." On one occasion, a Korava got into trouble in company with a friend, and was sentenced to three years imprisonment, while his friend got two years. The latter, at the termination of his period of enforced

1. J. F. kearns, kalyâna Shatanku, 1868. 2. Ind, Ant., III., 1874. 3. Madras Census report, 1871. 4. Madras Census Report, 1901.

525 seclusion, proceeded to live with the wife of the former, settling down in his friend's abode. The former escaped from jail, and, turning up at his home, claimed his wife. His friend journeyed to the place where the jail was located, and reported to the authorities his ability to find the escaped convict, who was recaptured, while his friend regained possession of his wife, and pocketed twenty-five rupees for giving the information which led to his rearrest.

The remarriage of widows is permitted. The man who wishes to marry a purchases new cloths for himself and his bride. He invites a number of friends, and, in their presence, presents his bride with the cloths. The simple ceremony is known as Chírakattu-kóradam, or desiring the cloth-tying ceremony.

As a general rule, the Korava wife is faithful to her husband, but, in the event of incompatibility, man and wife will announce their intention of separation to their gang. This is considered equivalent to a divorce and the husband can demand back the four annas, which were paid as earnest money to his wife's maternal uncle. This is said to be done, whether the separation is due to the fault either of the husband or the wife. Among other castes, the woman has to return the money only if she is divorced owing to her own fault. Divorce is said to be rare, and even after it has taken place, the divorced parties may make up their differences, and continue to keep house together. In cases of abduction, the father of the girl summons a council meeting, at which the offender is fined. A girl who has been abducted cannot be married as a spinster, even if she was recovered before sexual connection had taken place. The man who carried her off should marry her, and the ceremony of widow marriage is performed. In the event of his refusing to marry her, he is fined in the same amount as the parents of a girl who fail to keep the same tract to marry her to a particular person. The fact of a man who abducts a girl having a wife already would be no bar to his marrying her, as polygamy is freely permitted. In former days, an adulterer who was unable to pay the fine imposed was tied to a tree, and shaved by a barber, who used the urine of the guilty woman in lieu of water.

Birth rites In connection with birth ceremonies, Mr. Fawcett writes as follows. "Difficulty in parturition is thought to be due to an ungratified desire of the woman before she is confined. This is generally something to eat, but it is sometimes ungratified lust. In cases of the latter kind, the Koravar midwife induces the woman to mention her paramour's name, and, as the name is mentioned, the midwife puts a pinch of earth into the woman's mouth with the idea of accelerating delivery. The woman is confined in an outlying hut, where she is taboo to all, with the exception of the midwife, for about ten days. As soon as the child is born, incense is burnt in front of this hut, and there is an offering of jaggery (crude sugar) to the spirits of the departed elders, who are invoked in the following words in the Korava dialect: "Ye spirits of our elders! Descend on us, give us help, and increase our cattle and wealth. Save us from the Sircar (Government), and shut the mouth of the police. We shall worship you forever." The jaggery is then distributed to all present, and the new-born infant is cleaned with cow-dung and washed. A Brahman is sometimes consulted, but it is the maternal uncle upon whom the responsibility falls of naming the child. This he does on the ninth day after confinement, when the mother and child are bathed. Having named the child, he ties a string of thread or cotton round its waist. This string signifies the entry of the child into the Koravar community, and it, or its substitute, is worn until the termination of married life. The name given on this occasion is not usually the name by which an individual is known by his fellows, as persons are generally called after some physical trait or characteristic thus: Nallavâdu, black man; Pottigâdu. short man; Nettakalâdu, long-legged man; Kuntâdu, lame man; Boggagâdu, fat man; Juttuvâdu, man with a large tuft of hair; Gunadu, hunch-backed man; Mugadu, dumb man; and so on. In a few cases, children are genuinely named after the household deities. Those so named are called Râmudu, Lachigâdu, Venkatigâdu, Gengadu, Chengadu, Subbadu, Ankaligâdu, and so on. An old custom was to brand the children on the shoulders with a piece of red-hot iron. Marks of such branding are called the cattle mark, for it seems

526 that children should be branded on the shoulders before undertaking the 'sacred duty' of tending cattle. They explain the custom by saying that Krishna, the God of the shepherds, allowed boys of his own caste, and of no other, to perform the sacred duty, after the boy dedicated thereto had undergone the branding ceremony. This ceremony is seldom observed nowadays, as it leads to identification. Birth of a child on a new-moon night, when the weather is strong, is believed to augur a notorious thieving future for the infant. Such children are commonly named Venkatigâdu after the God at Tirupati. The birth of a child having the umbilical cord twisted round its neck portends the death of the father or maternal uncle. This unpleasant effect is warded off by the uncle or the father killing a fowl, and wearing its entrails round his neck, and afterwards burying them along with the umbilical cord."

The practice of couvade The practice of the couvade, or custom in accordance with which the father takes to bed, and is doctored when a baby is born, is referred to by Alberuni1 (about A. D. 1030), who says that, when a child is born, people show particular attention to the man, not to the woman. There is a Tamil proverb that, if a Korati is brought to bed, her husband takes the prescribed stimulant. Writing about the Yerukalas,2 the Rev. J. Cain tells us that "as soon as the woman feels the birth paints, she informs her husband, who immediately takes some of her clothes, retires into a dark room where there is only a very dim lamp, and lies down on the bed, covering himself up with a long cloth. When the child is born, it is washed, and placed on the cot beside the father. Asafoetida, jaggery, and other articles are then given, not to the mother, but to the father. He is not allowed to leave his bed, but has everything needful brought to him." Among the Kuravars, or basket-makers of Malabar, "as soon as the pains of delivery come upon a pregnant woman, she is taken to an outlying shed, and left alone to live or die as the event may turn out. No help is given her for twenty-eight days. Even medicines are thrown to her from a distance; and the only assistance rendered is to place a jar of warm water close by her just before the child is born. Pollution from birth is held as worse than that from death. At the end of the twenty-eight days, the hut in which she was confined is burnt down. The father, too, is polluted for fourteen days, and, at the end of that time, he is purified, not like other castes by the barber, but by holy water obtained from Brâhmans at temples or elsewhere." To Mr. G. Krishna Rao, Superintendent of Police in the Shimoga district of Mysore, I am indebted for the following note on the couvade as practiced among the Koramas. "Mr. Rice, in the Mysore Gazetteer, says that among the Koravars it is said that, when a woman is confined, her husband takes medicine for her. At the instance of the British Resident I made enquiries, and learned that the Kukke (basket-making) Koramas, living at Gópâla village near Shimoga, had this custom among them. The husband learns from his wife the probable time of her confinement, and keeps at home awaiting the delivery. As soon as she is confined, he goes to bed for three days, and takes medicine consisting of chicken and mutton broth spiced with ginger, pepper, onions, garlic, etc. He drinks arrack, and eats as good food as he can afford, while his wife is given boiled rice with a very small quantity of salt, for fear that a larger quantity may induce thirst. There is generally a Korama midwife to help the wife, and the husband does nothing but eat, drink, and sleep. The clothes of the husband, the wife, and the midwife are given to a washerman to be washed on the fourth day, and the persons themselves have a wash. After this purification, the family gives a dinner to the caste people. One of the men examined by me explained that the man's life was more valuable than that of the woman, and that the husband, being a more important factor in the birth than the wife, deserve to be better looked after."

The following legend is current among the Koramas, to explain the practice of the couvade among them. One day a donkey, belonging to a Koram camp, pitched outside a village, wandered into a Brâhman's field, and did considerable damage to the crop. The Brâhman

1. India. Trîbner. Oriental Series. 2. Ind. Ant., III, 1874.

527 was naturally angry, and ordered his coolies to pull down the hut of the owner of the donkey. The Korama, casting himself at the feet of the Brâhman, for want of a better excuse, said that he was not aware of what his animal was doing, as the time he was taking medicine for his wife, and could not look after it. According to another version of the story, the Brâhman ordered his coolies to remove the hut from his land or beat the Korava, so that Koravas have since that time taken to bed and shared the pollution of their wives, to escape being beaten. In connection with the couvade, Mr. Fawcett writes that "it has been observed in the bird- catching Koravars, and the custom has been admitted by others. Directly a woman is brought to bed, she is given asafoetida rolled in betel leaf. She is then given a stimulant composed of asafoetida and other drugs. The husband partakes of a potion of this before it is given to the woman. This custom is one of those which the Koravar is generally at pains to conceal, denying its existence absolutely. The proverb "When the Koravar woman is confined, the Koravar man takes asafoetida" is, however, well known. Very soon after a woman is confined, attention is paid exclusively to her husband, who wraps himself in his wife's cloth, and lies down in his wife's beside the new-born infant. He stays there for at least some minutes, and then makes room for his wife. The writer of this note was informed by Koravars that any one who refused to go through this ceremony would undergo the severest penalties, indeed, he would be turned out of the community. Nothing annoys a Koravar so much as to mention the word asafoetida in his presence, for he takes it to be an insulting reference to the couvade. The worst insult to a Koravar woman lies in the words "Will you give asafoetida?", which are understood by her to mean an improper overture." Some Koravas are said to believe that the pangs of labour are largely allayed by drinking small doses of a mixture of the dung of a male donkey and water. A few years ago, when a camp of Koravas was visited in the Salem district by the Superintendent of Police, two men of the gang, who had petitioned for the removal of the constables who were escorting the gang, dragged a woman in the throes of childbirth by the armpits from the hut. This was done to show that they could not move their camp, with a woman in such a condition. Nevertheless, long before daylight on the following day, the camp had been moved, and they were found at a spot fifteen miles distant. When they were asked about the woman, a hut slightly apart from the rest was pointed out, in front of which she was suckling the newly-born infant. She had done the journey immediately after delivery, partly on foot, and partly on a donkey. The Korava child's technical education commences early. From infancy, the Koravas teach their children to answer "I do not know" to questions put to them. They are taught the different methods of stealing, and the easiest way of getting into various kinds of houses. One must be entered through the roof, another by a hole in the wall, a third by making a hole near the bolt of he door. Before letting himself down from a roof, the Korava must make sure that he does not alight on brass vessels or crockery. He generally sprinkles fine sand in small quantities, so that the noise made thereby may give him an idea of the situation. The methods to be adopted during the day, when hawking wares, must be learnt. When a child is caught red-handed, he will never reveal his identity by giving the name of his parents, or of gang to which he belongs. A girl about twelve or thirteen years old was captured a few years ago in the Mysore State at the Oregam weekly market, and, on being searched, was found to have a small knife in her cheek. She declared that the was an orphan with neither friends nor relations, but was identified by the police. The Koravas are adepts at assuming aliases. But the system of finger-print records, which has been introduced in recent years, renders the concealment of their identity more difficult that it used to be. "Both men and women." Mr. Paupa Rao writes, "have tattoo marks on their foreheads and forearms. When they are once convicted, they enlarge or alter in some way the tattoo marks on their forearms, so that they might differ from the previous descriptive marks of identification entered by the police in their search books and other records. During festivals, they put red stuff (kunkuma) over the tattoo marks on their foreheads." Their conduct is regulated by certain well-defined rules. They should not enter a house by the front door, unless this is unavoidable, and, if they must so enter it, they must not leave by the same way. If they enter by the back door, they depart by the front door, which they leave open. They should not commit robbery in a house, in which they have partaken of rice

528 and curds, Curds always require salt, and eating salt is equivalent to taking the oath of fealty according to their code of honour. They ease themselves in the house in which they have committed a theft, in order, it is said, to render the pursuit of them unsuccessful. In a note on the initiation of Yerukala girls into the profession of fortune-telling in Vizagapatam, Mr. Hayavadana Rao writes that it is carried out on a Sunday succeeding the first puberty ceremony. A caste feast, with plenty of strong drink, is held, but the girl herself fasts. The feast over, she is taken to a spot at a little distance from the settlement called Yerukonda. This is said to be the name of a place on the trunk road between Vizianagram and Chicacole, to which girls were taken in former times to be initiated. The girl is blindfolded with a cloth. Boiled rice and green gram are mixed with the blood of a black fowl, black pig, and black goat, which are killed. Of this mixture she must take at least three morsels, and, if she does not vomit, it is taken as a sign that she will become a good Yeruka or fortune-teller. Vomiting would indicate that she would be a false prophetess.

When a wandering Korava dies, he is buried as quickly as possible, with head to the north, and feet to the south. If possible, a new cloth is obtained to wrap the corpse in. The grave is covered with the last hut which the deceased occupied. The Koravas immediately leave a camp in which a death has occurred. The nomad Koravas are said by Dr. Pope to bury their dead at night, no one knows were. Thence originates the common saying in regard to anything which has vanished, leaving no trace behind, that it has gone to the dancing-room of the wandering actors. Another proverb runs to the effect that no one has seen a dead monkey, or the burning-ground of a Korava. In Vizagapatam, the Yerukala dead are stated by Mr. Hayavadana Rao to be burnt in a state of nudity. A tulsi plant (Ocimum sanctum) is usually planted on the spot where the corpse was burnt. The relations cannot follow their regular occupation until a caste feast has been held, and some cooked thrown on the spot where cremation took place. In a note on the death rites of the Koravas of the southern districts, Mr. F.A. Hamilton writes that, when one of the community dies, the news of the death is conveyed by a Paraiyan or Chakkiliyan. At the burning-ground, whither the corpse is accompanied with music, it is laid on dried cow-dung, which has been spread on the ground. The son of the deceased goes thrice round the corpse, and breaks a new water-pot which he has brought with him near the head. He also hands over a piece of burning sandalwood for lighting the pyre, and goes straight home without the corpse again. On the third day, the son and other relations go to the burning-ground, heap up the ashes, plant either tulsi (Ocimum sanctum), pérandai (Vitis quadrangularis), or Kathalai (Agave Americana), and pour milk. On the sixteenth day, or at some later time, a ceremony called karumathi is performed. The relatives assemble at the burning-ground, and a stone is set up, and washed with water, honey, milk, etc. On the following day, all the relatives take an oil-bath, and new cloths are presented to the host. Sheep are killed, and a feast, with a liberal supply of liquor, is held. Till this ceremony is performed, the son remains in mourning. Concerning death ceremonies, Mr. Fawcett writes as follows. "A Tamil proverb likens the death of a Koravar to that of a monkey, for no one ever sees the dead body of either. Just as the monkey is thought to be immortal, the other monkeys removing the carcass instantly, so the corpse of the Koravar is made away with little wailing, and preparations are made at once. If the deceased was married, the bier on which he is carried is practically a ladder; if unmarried, it is a single bamboo with pieces of stick placed transversely. The winding-sheet is always a piece of new cloth, in one corner of which is tied a half anna-piece (which is afterwards taken by one of the corpse-bearers). Only two of these are under pollution, which lasts the whole of the day, during which they must remain in their huts. Next day, after bathing, they give the crows food and milk. A line is drawn on the body from head to foot with milk, the thick end of a piece of grass being used as a brush; then they bathe. Pollution of the chief mourner lasts for five days. Half-yearly and annual ceremonies to the deceased are compulsory. A figure of the deceased is drawn with charcoal on a piece of new cloth spread on the floor of the hut. On either side of the figure is placed cooked rice and vegetables served on castor leaves. After some time, the food is placed on a new winnow,

529 which is hung suspended from the roof of the hut the whole night. Next morning, the relations assemble, and partake of the food." From a note on the Yerukalas of the Nellore district. I gather that, as a rule, the dead are buried, though respected elders of the community are cremated. Married individuals are carried to the grave on a bier, those who die unmarried are wrapped in a mat. On the second day some cooked food and a fowl are placed near the grave to be eaten by crows. A pot of water is carried thrice round the grave, and then thrown down. On the ninth day, food is once more offered for the crows. The final death ceremonies are generally performed after two or three months. Cooked food, onions, brinjals (fruits of Solanum Melongena), Phaseolus pulse, squash, ground (Cucurbita maxima), pork, and mutton are placed on a number of castors (Ricinus) leaves spread on the floor, and offered to the soul of the deceased, which is represented by a human figure on a new cloth. At the conclusion of the worship, the food is placed on new winnowing trays provided for the purpose, and given to the relations, who place the winnows on the roof of the house till the following day, when the food is eaten.

By some Koravas, a ceremony in honour of the departed ancestors is performed at the time of the November new moon. A well-polished brass vessel, with red and white marks on it, is placed in the corner of a room, which has previously been swept and purified with cow-dung. In front of the pot is placed a leaf plate, on which cooked rice and other edibles are set. Incense is burned, and the eldest son of the house partakes of the food in the hope that he, in due course, will be honoured by his offspring. The Koramas of Mysore are said to experience considerable difficulty in finding men to undertake the work of carrying the corpse to the grave. Should the dead Korama be a man who has left a young widow, it is customary for some one to propose to marry her the same day, and, by so doing, to engage to carry out the principal part of the work connected with the burial. A shallow grave, barely two feet deep, is dug, and the corpse laid therein. When the soil has been loosely piled in, a pot of fire, carried by the chief mourner in a split bamboo, is taken, and a pot of water placed on the raised mound. Should the spot be visited during the night by a pack of jackals, and the water drunk by them to slake their thirst after feasting on the dead Korama, the omen is accepted as proof that the liberated spirit has fled away to the realms of the dead, and will never trouble man, woman, child, or cattle. On the sixth day, the chief mourner must kill a fowl, and mix its blood with rice. This he places, with some betel leaves and nuts, near the grave. If it is carried off by crows, everything is considered to have been settled satisfactorily.

Dress As regards the dress of hte Koravas, Mr. Mullaly writes as follows. "The women wear necklaces of shells and cowries interspersed with beads of all colours in several rows, hanging low down on the bosom; brass bangles from the wrist to the elbow; brass, lead, and silver rings, very roughly made, on all their fingers except the middle one. The cloth peculiar to Koravar women is a coarse black one; but they are, as a rule, not particular as to this, and wear stolen cloths after removing the borders and all marks of identification. They also wear the chola, which is fastened across the bosom, and not, like the Lambâdis, at the back. The men are dirty, unkempt-looking objects, wear their hair long, and usually tied in a knot on the top of the head, and indulge in little finery. A joochi (gochi), or cloth round the loins, and a bag called vadi sanchi, made of striped cloth, complete their toilet."

"In 1884, Mr, Stevenson, who was then the District superintendent of Police, North Arcot, devised a scheme for the regeneration of the Koravas of that district. He obtained for the tribe a tract of Government land near Gudiyattam, free of assessment for ten years, and also a grant of Rs. 200 for sinking wells. Licenses were also issued to the settlers to cut firewood at specially favourable rates. He also prevailed upon the Zemindar of Karvetnegar to grant twenty-five cawnies of land in Tiruttani for ten years for another settlement, as well as some building materials. Unfortunately the impecunious condition of the Zemindar precluded the Tiruttani settlement from driving any further privileges which were necessary to keep the

530 colony going, and its existence was, therefore, cut short. The Gudiyattam colony, on the other hand, exhibited some vitality for two or three years, but, in 1887, it, too, went the way of the Tiruttani colony."1 I gather, from the Police Administration Report, 1906, that a scheme is being worked out, the object of which is to give a well-known wandering criminal gang some cultivable land, and so enable the members of it to settle down to an honest livelihood.

At the census, 1891, Korava was returned as a sub division of Paraiyans, and the name is also applied to Jógis employed as scavengers. 2 The following note on the Koravas of the west coast is interesting as showing that Malabar is one of the homes of the now popular game of Diavolo, which has become epidemic in some European countries. "In Malabar, there is a class of people called Koravas, who have, from time immemorial, played this game almost in the same manner as its Western devotees do at the present time. These people are met with mostly in the southern parts of Malabar, Cochin and Travancore, and they speak the Malayâlam language with a sing-song accent, which easily distinguishes them from other people. They are of wandering habits. The men are clever acrobats and rope-dancers, but those of more settled habit are engaged in agriculture and other industries. The beautiful grass mats, known as Palghat mats, are woven by these people. Their women are fortune-tellers and ballad singers. Their services are also in demand for boring the ears of girls. The rope-dancers perform many wonderful feats while balancing themselves on the rope, among them being the playing of diabolo while walking to and fro on a night rope. The Korava acrobat spins the wooden spool on a string attached to the ends of two bamboo sticks, and throws it up to the height of a cocoanut tree, and, when it comes down, he receives it on the string, to be again thrown up. There are experts among them who can receive the spool on the string, without even looking at it. There is no noteworthy difference in the structure and shape of the spool used by the Koravas, and those of Europe, except that the Malabar apparatus is a solid wooden thing a little larger and heavier than the Western toy. It has not yet emerged from the crude stage of the village carpenter's skill, and cannot boast of rubber tyres and other embellishments which adorn the imported article; but it is heavy enough to cause a nasty injury should it hit the performer while falling. The Koravas are a very primitive people, but as acrobats and ropedancers they have continued their profession for generations past, and there is no doubt that they have been expert diabolo players for many years."3 It may be noted that Lieutenant Cameron, when journeying from Zanzibar to Benguela, was detained near Lake Tanganyika by a native chief. He relates as follows. "Sometimes a slave of Djonmah would amuse us by his dexterity. With two sticks about a foot long connected by a string of a certain length, he spun a piece of wood cut in the shape of an hour-glass, throwing it before and behind him, pitching it up into the air like a cricket-ball, and catching it again, while it continued to spin."

Korku.:- A Munda or a Kolarian tribe4 akin to the Korwas, with whom they have been identified in the India Census of 1901. They number about 150,000 persons in the Central Provinces and Berâr, and belong to the west of the Satpîra plateau, residing only in the Hoshangâbâd, Nimâr, Betîl and Chhindwâra Districts. About 30,000 Korkus dwell in the Berâr plain adjoining the Satpuîras, and a few thousand belong to Bhopâl. The word Korku means simply 'men' or 'tribesmen,' koru being their term for a man and kî a plural termination. The tribe have a language of their own, which resembles that of the Kols of

1. Madras Mail, 1907. 2. For this account of the Koravas, I am largely indebted to a report by Mr. N. E. Q. Mainwaring, Superintendent of Police. 3. Madras Mail, 1908. 4 See Russell. This article is largely based on a monograph contributed by Mr. H. R. Crosthwaite, Assistant Commissioner, Hoshangâbâd, and also extracts from a monograph by Mr. Ganga Prasâd Khatri, Forest Divisional Officer, Betîl, and from the description of the korkus given by Mr. (sir Charles) Elliott in the Hoshangâbâd Settlement Report (1867 ), and by Major Forsyth in the Nimâr Settlement Report (18680-69 ).

531 Chota Nâgpur. The language of the Korwas, another Munda tribe found in Chota Nâgpur, is also known as Korakî or Korkî, and one of their subcastes has the same name.1 Some Korkus or Mowâsis are found in Chota Nâgpur, and Colonel Dalton considered them a branch of the Korwas. Another argument may be adduced from the sept names of the Korkus which are in many cases identical with those of the Kols and Korwas. There is little reason to doubt then that the Korkus are the same tribe as the Korwas, and both of these may be taken to be offshoot of the great Kol or Munda tribe. The Korkus have come much further west than their kinsmen, and between their residence on the Mahâdeo or western Satpîra hills and the Korwas and Kols, there lies a large expanse mainly peopled by the Gonds and other Dravidian tribes, though with a considerable sprinkling of Kols in Mandla, Jubbulpore and Bilâspur. These latter may have immigrated in comparatively recent times, but the Kolis of Bombay may not improbably be another offshoot of the Kols, who with the Korkus came west at a period before the commencement of authentic history.2 One of the largest subdivisions of the Korkus is termed Mowâsi, and this name is sometimes applied to the whole tribe, while the tract of country where they dwell was formerly known as the Mowâs. Numerous derivations of this term have been given, and the one commonly accepted is that it signifies 'The troubled country,' and was applied to the hills at the name when bands of Koli or Korku freebooters, often led by dispossessed Râjpît chieftains, harried the rich lowlands of Berâr from their hill forts on the Satpîras, extracting from the Marâthas, with poetical justice, the payments known as 'Tankha Mowâsi' for the ransom of the settled and peaceful villages of the plains. The race, however, that the Korkus found in Chota Nâgpur are also known as Mowâsi militates against this supposition, for if the name was applied only to the Korkus of the Satpîra plateau it would hardly have travelled as far east as Chota Nâgpur. Mr. Hislop derived it from the mahus tree. But at any rate Mowâsi meant a robber to Marâtha ears, and the forests of Kalíbhít and Melghât are known as the Mowâs.

Tribal Legends. Mahâdeo3 sent his messenger, the crow Kâgeshwar, to find for him an ant hill made of red earth, and the crow discovered such an anthill between the Saolígarh and Bhânwargarh ranges of Betîl. Mahâdeo went to the place, and, taking a handful of red earth, made images in the form of a man and a woman, but immediately two fiery horses sent by Indra rose from the earth and trampled the images to dust. For two days Mahâdeo persisted in his attempts, but as often as the images were made they were destroyed in a similar manner. But at length the god made an image of a dog and breathed into it the breath of life, and this dog kept off the horses of Indra. Mahâdeo then made again his two images of a man and woman, and giving them human life, called them Mîla and Mulai with the surname of Pothre, and these two became the ancestors of the Korku tribe. Mahâdeo then created various plants for their use, the mahul4 from whose strong and fibrous leaves they could make aprons and head- coverings, the wild plantain, whose leaves would afford other colthing, and the mahus, the chironji , the sewan and kullu 5 to provide them with food. Time went on and Mîla and Mîlai had children, and being dissatisfied with their condition as compared with that of their neighbours, besought Mahâdeo to visit them once more. When he appeared Mîla asked the god to give him grain to eat such as he had heard of elsewhere on the earth. Mahâdeo sent the crow Kâgeshwar to look for grain, and he found it stored in the house of a Mâng named Japre who lived at some distance within the hills. Japre on hearing what was required besought the honour of a visit from the god himself. Mahâdeo went, and Japre laid before

1 Risley's Tribes and Castes of Bengal, Appendix V. Korwâ. 2 See also art. Kol. 3 The term for the God Siva. 4 Bauhinia Vahlii . 5 Bassia latifolia , Buchanania latifolia , Gmelina arborea and Sterculia urens .

532 him an offering of 12 khandis 1 of grain, 12 goats and 12 buckets of water, and invited Mahâdeo to eat and drink. The god was pleased with the offering and unwilling to reject it, but considered that he could not eat food defiled by the touch of the outcaste Mâng, so Pârvati created the giant Bhímsen and bade him eat up the food offered to Mahâdeo. When Bhímsen had finished the offering, however, it occurred to him that he also had been defiled by taking food from a Mâng, and in revenge he destroyed Japre's house and covered the ruins of it with debris and dirt. Japre then complained to Mahâdeo of this sorry requital of his offering and prayed to have his house restored to him. Bhímsen was ordered to do this, and agreed to comply on condition that Mîla should pay to him the same honour and worship as he accorded to Râwan, the demon king. Mîla promised to do so, and Bhímsen then sent the crow Kâgeshwar to the tank Daldal, bidding him bring thence the pig Buddu, who being brought was ordered to eat up all the dirt that covered Japre's house. Buddu demurred except on condition that he also should be worshipped by Mîla and his descendants for ever. Mîla agreed to pay worship to him every third year, whereupon Buddu ate up all the dirt, and dying from the effects received the name of Mahâbissum, under which he is worshipped to the present day. Mahâdeo then took some seed from the Mâng and planted it for Mîla's use, and from it sprang the seven grains-kodon, kutki, gurgi, mandgi, barai, râla and dhân2 which the Korkus principally cultivate. It may be noticed that the story ingeniously accounts for and sheds as it were an orthodox sanction on the custom of the Korkus of worshipping the pig and the local demon Bhímsen, who is placed on a sort of level with Râwan, the opponent of Râma. After recounting the above story Mr. Crosthwaite remarks: "This legend given by the Korkus of their creation bears a curious analogy to our own belief as set forth in the Old Testament. They even give the tradition of a flood, in which a crow plays the part of Noah's dove. There is a most curious similarity between their belief in this respect and that found in such distant and widely separated parts as Otaheite and Siberia. Remembering our own name 'Adam,' which I believe means in Hebrew 'made of red earth,' it is curious to observe the stress that is laid in the legend on the necessity for finding red earth for the making of man." Another story told by the Korkus with the object of providing themselves with Râjpît ancestry is to the effect that their forefathers dwelt in the city of Dhârânagar, the modern Dhâr. It happened one day that they were out hunting and followed a sâmbhar stag, which fled on and on until it finally came to the Mahâdeo or Pachmarhi hills and entered a cave. The hunters remained at the mouth waiting for the stag to come out, when a hermit appeared and gave them a handful of rice. This they at once cooked and ate it as they were hungry from their long journey, and they found to their surprise that the rice sufficed for the whole party to eat their fill. The hermit then told them that he was the god Mahâeo, and had assumed the form of a stag in order to lead them to these hills, where they were to settle and worship him. They obeyed the command of the god, and a Korku zamíndâr is still the hereditary guardian of Mahâdeo's shrine at Pachmarhi. This story has of course no historical value, and the Korkus have simply stolen the city of Dhârânagar for their ancestral home from their neighbours the Bhoyars and Panwârs. These castes relate similar stories, which may in their case be founded on fact.

Tribal Subdivisions. As is usual among the forest tribes, the Korkus formerly had a subdivision called Râj-Korkî, who were made up of landowning members of the caste and were admitted to rank among those from whom a Brâhman would take water, while in some cases a spurious Râjpît ancestry was devised for them, as in the story given above. The remainder of the tribe were called Potharia, or those to whom a certain dirty habit is imputed. These main divisions have, however, become more or less obsolete, and have been supplanted by four subcastes with territorial names, Mowâsi, Bâwaria, Rîma and Bondoya. The meaning of the term

1 2 Nearly 31 tons. 2 Paspalum scrobiculatum, Panicum psilopodium, Coix Lachryma , Eleusine coracana, saccharum officianarum Setaria italica. Oryza sativa .

533 Mowâsi has already been given, and this subcaste ranks as the highest, probably owing to the gentlemanly calling of armed robbery formerly practised by its members. The Bâwarias are the dwellers in the Bhânwargarh tract of Betîl, the Rîmas those who belong to Bâsim and Gangra in the Amraoti District, and the Bondoyas the residents of the Jítgarh and Pachmarhi tract. These last are also called Bhovadâya and Bhopa, and this name has been corrupted into Bopchi in the Wardha District, a few hundred Bondoya Korkus who live there being known as Bopchi and considered a distinct caste. Except among the Mowâsis, who usually marry in their own subcaste, the rule of endogamy is not strictly observed. The above description refers to Betîl and Nimâr, but in Hoshangâbâd, Mr. Crosthwaite says: "Four-fifths of the Korkus have been so affected by the spread of Brâhmanical influence as to have ceased to differ in any marked way from the Hindu element in the population, and the Korku has become so civilised as to have learnt to be ashamed of being a Korku." Each subcaste has traditionally 36 exogamous septs, but the numbers have now increased. The sept names are generally taken from those of plants and animals. These were no doubt originally totemistic, but the Korkus now say that the names are derived from trees and other articles in or behind which the ancestors of each sept took refuge after being defeated in a great battle. Thus the ancestor of the Atkul sept hid in a gorge, that of the Bhîri Râna sept behind a dove's nest, that of the Dewda sept behind a rice plant, that of the Jâmbu sept behind a jâmun tree,1 that of the Kâsada sept in the bed of a river, that of the Tâkhar sept behind a cucumber plant, that of the Sakum sept behind a teak tree, and so on. Other names are Banku or a forest-dweller; Bhîrswa or Bhoyar, perhaps from the caste of that name; Basam or Baoria, the god of beehives; and Marskola or Mawâsi, which the Korkus take to mean a field flooded by rain. One sept has the name Killíbhasam, and its ancestor is said to have eaten the flesh of a heifer half-devoured by a tiger and parched by a forest fire. In Hoshangâbâd the legend of the battle is not known, and among the names given by Mr. Crosthwaite are Akandi, the benighted one; Tandil, a rat; and Chuthar, the flying black-bug. In a few cases the names of septs are Hindi or Marâthi words, these perhaps affording a trace of the foundation of separate families by members of other castes. No totemistic usages are followed as a rule, but one curious instance may be given. One sept has the name lobo, which means a piece of cloth. But the word lobo also signifies 'to leak.' If a person says a sentence containing the word lobo in either signification before a member of the sept while he is eating, he will throw away the food before him as if it were contaminated and prepare a meal afresh. Ten of the septs2 consider the regular marriage of girls to be inauspicious, and the members of these simply give away their daughters without performing a ceremony.

Marriage Betrothal. Marriage between members of the same sept is prohibited and also the union of first cousins. The preliminaries to marriage commence with the bâli -dîdna or arrangement of the match. The boy's father having selected a suitable bride for his son sends two elders of the caste to propose the match to her father, who as a matter of etiquette invariably declines it, swearing with great oaths that he will not allow his daughter to get married or that he will have a son- in-law who will serve for her. The messengers depart, return again and again until the father's obduracy is overcome, which may take from six months to two years, while from nine to twelve months is considered a respectable period. When his consent is finally obtained the residents of the girl's village are called to hear it, and the compact is sealed with large potations of liquor. A ceremony of betrothal follows at which the daij or dowry is arranged, this signifying among the Korkus the compensation to be paid to the girl's father for the loss of her services. It is computed by a curious system of symbolic haggling. The women of the girl's party take two plates and place on them two heaps containing respectively ten and fifty seeds of a sort used for reckoning. The ten seeds on the first plate represent five rupees for the panchâyat and five cloths for the mother, brother, paternal aunt and maternal uncles of the girl. The heap of fifty seeds indicates that Rs. 50 must be paid to the girl's father. When

1 Eugenia jambolana . 2 Makyâtotha, jondhrâtotha, Dharsíma, Changri, Lobo, Khambi, Dagde, Kullya, Bursîma and Killíbhasam.

534 the plates are received by the boy's party they take away forty-five of the seeds from the larger heap and return the plate, to indicate that they will only pay five rupees to the girl's father. The women add twenty-five seeds and send back the plate again. The men then take away fifteen, thus advancing the bride price to fifteen rupees. The women again add twenty- five seeds and send back the plate, and the men again take away twenty, and returning the remaining twenty which are taken as the sum agreed upon, in addition to the five cloths and five rupees for the panchâyat . The total amount paid averages about Rs. 60. Wealthy men sometimes refuse this payment or exchange a bride for a bridegroom. The dowry should be paid before the wedding, and in default of this the bridegroom's father is made not a little uncomfortable at that festival. Should a betrothed girl die before marriage, the dowry does not abate and the parents of the girl have a right to stop her burial until it is paid. Bur if a father shows himself hard to please and refuses eligible offers, or if a daughter has fallen in love, as sometimes happens, she will leave her home quietly some morning and betake herself to the house of the man of her choice. If her young affections have not been engaged, she may select of her own accord a protector whose circumstances and position make him attractive, and preferably one whose mother is dead. Occasionally a girl will install herself in the house of a man who does not want her, and his position then is truly pitiable. He dare not turn her out as he would be punished by the caste for his want of gallantry, and his only course is to vacate his own house and leave her in possession. After a time his relations represent to her that the man she wants has gone on a journey and will not be back for a long time, and induce her to return to the paternal abode. But such a case is very rare.

The Marriage Ceremony. The marriage ceremony resembles that of the Hindus but has one or two special features. After the customary cleaning of the house which should be performed on a Tuesday, the bridegroom is carried to the heap of stones which represents Mutua Deo, and there the Bhumka or priest invokes the various sylvan deities, offering to them the blood of chickens. Again when he is dressed for the wedding the boy is given a knife or dagger carrying a pierced lemon on the blade, and he and his parents and relatives proceed to a ber1 or wild plum tree. The boy and his parents sit at the foot of the tree and are tied to it with a thread, while the Bhumka again spills the blood of a fowl on the foot of the tree and invokes the sun and moon, whom the Korkus consider to be their ultimate ancestors. The ber fruit may perhaps be selected as symbolising the red orb of the setting sun. The party then dance round the tree. When the wedding procession is formed the following ceremony takes place: A blanket is spread in the yard of the house, and the bridegroom and his elder brother's wife are made to stand on it and embrace each other seven times. This may probably be a survival of the modified system of polyandry still practised by the Khonds, under which the younger brothers are allowed access to the elder brother's wife until their own marriage. The ceremony would then typify the cessation of this intercourse at the wedding of the boy. The procession must reach the bride's village on a Monday, a Wednesday or a Friday, a breach of this rule entailing a fine of Rs. 8 on the boy's father. On arrival at the bride's village its progress is barred by a rope stretched across the road by the bride's relatives, who must be given two pice each before it is removed. The bridegroom touches the marriage-shed with bamboo fan. The nest day the couple are seated in the shed and covered with a blanket on to which water is poured to symbolise the fertilising influence of rain. The groom ties a necklace of beads to the girl's neck, and the couple are then lifted up by the relatives and carried three times round the yard of the house, while they throw yellow-coloured rice at each other. Their clothes are tied together and they proceed to make an offering to Mutua Deo. In Hoshangâbâd, Mr. Crosthwaite states, the marriage ceremony is presided over by the bridegroom's aunt or other collateral female relative. The bride is hidden in her father's house. The aunt then enters carrying the bridegroom and searches for the bride. When the bride is found the brother-in-law of the bridegroom takes her up, and they are then seated under a sheet. The rings worn on the little finger of the right hand are exchanged under the

1 Zazyphus jujuba .

535 sheet and the clothes of the couple are knotted together. Then follow the sapta padi or seven steps around the post, and the ceremony concludes with a dance, a feast and an orgy of drunkenness. A priest takes no part in a Korku marriage ceremony, which is a purely social affair. If a man has only one daughter, or if he requires an assistant for his cultivation, he often makes his prospective son-in-law serve for his wife for a period varying from five to twelve years, the marriage being then celebrated at the father-in-law's expense. If the boy runs away with the girl before the end of his service, his parents have to pay to the girl's father five rupees for each year of the unexpired term. Marriage is usually adult, girls being wedded between the ages of ten and sixteen and boys at about twenty. Polygamy is freely practised by those who are well enough off to afford it, and instances are known of a man having as many as twelve wives living. A man must not marry his wife's younger sister if she is the widow of a member of his own sept nor his elder brother's widow if she is his wife's elder sister. Widow marriage is allowed, and divorce may be effected by a simple proclamation of the fact to the panchâyat in a caste assembly.

Religion. The Korkus consider themselves as Hindus, and are held to have a better claim to a place in the social structure of Hinduism than most of the other forest tribes, as they worship the sun and moon which are Hindu deities and also Mahâdeo. In truth, however, their religion, like that of many low Hindu castes, in almost purely animistic. The sun and moon are their principal deities, the name for these luminaries in their language being Gomaj, which is also the term for a god. The head of each family offers a white she-goat and a white fowl to the sun every third year, and the Korkus stand with the face to the sun when beginning to sow, and perform other ceremonies with the face turned to the east. The moon has no special observances, but as she is a female deity she is probably considered to participate in those paid to the sun. These gods are, however, scarcely expected to interest themselves in the happenings of a Korku's daily life, and the local godlings who are believed to regulate these are these are therefore propitiated with greater fervour. The three most important village deities are Dongar Deo, the god of the hills, who resides on the nearest hill outside the village and is worshipped at Dasahra with offerings of cocoanuts, limes, dates, vermilion and a goat; Mutua Deo, who is represented by a heap of stones within the village and receives a pig for a sacrifice, besides special oblations when disease and sickness are prevalent; and Mâta, the goddess of smallpox, to whom cocoanuts and sweetmeats, but no animal sacrifices, are offered.

The Bhumka. The priests of the Korkus are of two kinds-Parihârs and Bhumkas. The Parihâr may be any man who is visited with the divine afflatus or selected as a mouthpiece by the deity; that is to say, a man of hysterical disposition or one subject to epileptic fits. He is more a prophet than priest, and is consulted only on special occasions. Parihârs are also rare, but every village has its Bhumka, who performs the regular sacrifices to the village gods and the special ones required for disease or other calamities. On him devolves the dangerous duty of keeping tigers out of the boundaries. When a tiger visits the village the Bhumka repairs to Bâgh Deo1 and makes an offering to the god, promising to repeat it for so many years on condition that the tiger does not appear for that time. The tiger on his part never fails to fulfil the contract thus silently made, for he is pre-eminently an honourable upright beast, not faithless and treacherous like the leopard whom no contract can bind. Some Bhumkas, however, masters of the most powerful spells, are not obliged to rely on the traditional honour of the tiger, but compel his attendance before Bâgh Deo; and such a Bhumka has been seen as a very Daniel among tigers muttering his incantations over two or three at a time as they crouched before him. Of one Bhumka in Kâlibhít it is related that he had a fine large sâj tree, into which, when he uttered his spells, he would drive a nail, and on this the tiger came and ratified the compact with his enormous paw, with which he deeply scored the bark. In this way some

1 The tiger-god.

536 have lost their lives, victims of misplaced confidence in their own powers.1 If a man is sick and it is desired to ascertain what god or spirit of an ancestor has sent the malady, a handful of grain is waved over the sick man and then carried to the Bhumka. He makes a heap of it on the floor, and, sitting over it, swings a lighted lamp suspended by four strings from his fingers. He then repeats slowly the name of the village deities and the sick man's ancestors, pausing between each, and the name at which the lamp stops swinging is that of the offended one. He then inquires in a similar manner whether the propitiation shall be a pig, a chicken, a goat, a cocoanut and so on. The office of Bhumka is usually, but not necessarily, hereditary, and a new one is frequently chosen by lot, this being also done when a new village is founded. All the villagers then sit in a line before the shrine of Mutua Deo, to whom a black and a white chicken are offered. The parihâr, or if none be available, the oldest man present, then sets a pai2 rolling before the line of men, and the person before whom it stops is marked out by this intervention of the deity as the new Bhumka. When a new village is to be founded a pai measure is filled with grain to a level with the brim, but with no head (this being known as a mundi or bald pai), and is placed before Mutua Deo in the evening and watched all night. In the morning the grain is poured out and again replaced in the measure; if it now fills this and also leaves enough for a head, and still more if it brims and runs over, it is a sign that the village will be very prosperous and that every cultivator's granaries will run over in the same way. But it is and evil omen if the grain does not fill up to the level of the rim of the measure. The explanation of the difference in bulk may be that the grains increase or decrease slightly in size according as the atmosphere is moist or dry, or perhaps the Bhumka works the oracle. The Bhumka usually receives contributions in grain from all the houses in the village; but occasionally each cultivator gives him a day's ploughing, a day's weeding and a day's wood-cutting free. The Bhumka is also employed in Hindu villages for the service of the village gods. But the belief in the powers of these deities is decaying, and with it the tribute paid to the Bhumka for securing their favour. Whereas formerly he received substantial contributions of grain on the same scale as a village menial, the cultivator will now often put him off with a basketful or even a handful, and say, 'I cannot spare you any more Bhumka; you must make all the gods content with that.' In curing diseases the Parihâr resorts to swindling tricks. He will tell the sick man that a sacrifice is necessary, asking for a goat if the patient can afford one. He will say it must be of a particular colour, as all black, white or red, so that the sick man's family may have much trouble in finding one, and they naturally think the sacrifice is more efficacious proportion to the difficulty they experience in arranging for it. If they cannot afford a goat the Parihâr tells them to sacrifice a cock, and requires one whose feathers curl backwards, as they occasionally do. If the family is very poor any chicken which has come out of the shell, so long as it has a beak, will do duty for a cock. If a man has a pain in his body the Parihâr will suck the place and produce small pieces of bone from his mouth, stained with vermilion to imitate blood, and say that he has extracted them from the patient's body. Perhaps the idea may be that the bones have been caused to enter his body and make him ill by the practice of magic. Formerly the Parihâr had to prove his supernatural powers by whipping himself on the back with a rope into which the ends of nails were twisted, and to continue this ordeal for a period long enough to satisfy the villagers that he could not have borne it without some divine assistance. But this salutary custom has fallen into abeyance.

Magical Practices. The Korkus have the same belief in the efficacy of imitative and sympathetic magic as other primitive peoples 3 Thus to injure an enemy, a clay image of him is made and pierced with a knife, in the belief that the real person will suffer in the same manner. If the clay can be taken from a place where his foot has made an impression in walking, or the image wrapped

1 The above passage is taken from Mr. (Sir Charles) Elliott's Hoshangâbâd Settlement Report written in 1867. Since that time the belief in the magical powers of the Bhumka has somewhat declined. 2 A small measure for grain. 3 Most of the information in this paragraph is taken from Mr. Ganga prasâd Khatri's Report.

537 round with his hair, the charm is more efficacious. Or an image may be made with charcoal on some stolen portion of his apparel, and similarly wrapped in his hair; it is then burnt in the belief that the real person will be attacked by fever. Sometimes the image is buried in a place where it is likely that the victim will walk over it, when the same result is hoped for. In order to produce rain, a frog, as the animal delighting in the element of water, is caught and slung on a stick; the boys and girls then carry it from house to house and the householders pour water over it. If it is desired to stop rain a frog is caught and buried alive, this being done by a naked boy. Another device for producing rain is to yoke two naked women to a plough who are then driven across a field like bullocks and goaded by a third naked woman. This device may possibly be intended to cause the gods to send rain, by showing how the natural order of the world is upset and reversed by the continued drought. In order to stop rain an unmarried youth collects water in a new earthen pot from the caves and buries it below the hearth so that the water may disappear by evaporation and the rain may cease in the same manner. Another method is to send a man belonging to the Kâsada sept--Kâsada meaning slime-- to bring a plough from the field and place it in his house. He also stops bathing or washing for the period for which a break in the rains is required, and the idea is perhaps that as the man whose name and nature are mud or slime is dry so the mud on the earth will dry up; and as the plough is dry, the ploughed fields which have been in contact with it will also become dry. In order to produce a quarrel the quills of a porcupine are smoked with the burnt parings of an enemy's nails and deposited in the eaves of his house. And as the fretful porcupine raises his quills when angry with an enemy, these will have the effect of causing strife among the members of the household. If a person wishes to transfer his sickness to another, he obtains the latter's cloth and draws on it with lamp-black two effigies, one upright and the other upside down. As soon as the owner puts on the cloth, he will fall a victim to the ailment of the person who drew the effigies. In order to obtain children, the hair of a women who has borne several is secured by a barren woman and buried below her bathing-stone, when the quality of fertility will be transferred to her from the owner of the hair. In order to facilitate child-birth a twisted thread is untwined before the eyes of the pregnant woman with the idea that the delivery will thus be made direct and easy; or she is given water to drink in which her husband's left leg, a gun barrel, a pestle, or a thunder-bolt has been washed; it being supposed that as each of these articles has the quality of direct and powerful propulsion, this quality will be conveyed to the women and enable her to propel the child from her womb. The Korkus also trust largely to omens. It is inauspicious when starting out on some business to see a black-faced monkey or a hare passing either on the left or right, or a snake crossing in front. A person seeing any of these will usually return and postpone his business to a more favourable occasion. It is a bad omen for a hen to cackle or lay eggs at night. One sneeze is a bad omen but two neutralise the effect and are favourable. An empty pot is a bad omen and a full one good. To break a pot when commencing any business is fatal, and shows that the work will come to naught. Thursdays and Fridays are favourable days for working, and Mondays and Tuesdays for propitiating one's ancestors. Odd numbers are lucky. In order to lay to rest the spirit of a dead person, who it is feared may trouble the living, five pieces of bamboo are taken as representing the bones of the dead man, and these with five crab's legs, five grains of rice and other articles are put into a basket and thrust into a crab's hole under water. The occasion is made an excuse for much feasting and drinking, and the son or other representative who lays the spirit works himself up into a state of drunken excitement before he enters the water to search for a suitable hole. The fat of a tiger is considered to be an excellent medicine for rheumatism and sprains, and much store is set by it. The tiger's tongue is also supposed to be a very powerful tonic or strengthening medicine for weakly children. It is cooked, pounded up, and a small quantity administered in milk or water. When a tiger has been killed the Gonds and Korkus will singe off his whiskers, as they think this will prevent the tiger's spirit from haunting them. Another idea is that the whiskers if chopped up and mixed in the food of an enemy, it will poison him. They frequently object to touch a man who has been injured or mauled by a tiger, as they think that to do so would bring down the tiger's vengeance on them. And in some places any

538 Gond or Korku who touches a man mauled by a tiger is put temporarily out of caste and has to be purified and give a feast on readmission.

Funeral Rites. The dead are usually buried, two pice being first thrown into the grave to buy the site. The body is laid on its back, naked and with the head pointing to the south. The earth is mixed with briars and thorns while being filled in so as to keep off hyenas, and stones are placed over the grave. No fixed period of mourning is observed, but after the lapse of some days, the deceased's family or relatives go to the burial-place, taking with them a piece of turmeric. This they cut into strips, and, placing them in a leaf-cup, pour water over them. As the water falls on the tomb, a god is called to witness that this day the dead man's spirit has been sent to live with the ancestors. The pieces of turmeric are then tied in a cloth which, after receiving an oblation of fowl's blood, is suspended from the main beam of the house, this being considered the dwelling place of the departed. This ceremony, called Pitar Miloni, is the first rite for the admission of the deceased with the spirits of his ancestors, and is preliminary to the final ceremony of Sedoli which may be performed at anytime between four months and fifteen years after the death. But until it is complete, the spirit of the deceased has not been laid finally to rest and has the power of sending aches and pains to molest the bodies of its living relatives. Each sept has a place in which the Sedoli rites must be performed, and however far the Korku may have wandered from the original centre of his tribe, he must return there to set his father's spirit at rest and enable it to join the ancestral ghosts. When the Sedoli is to be performed an unblemished teak or salai 1 tree is selected and wrapped round with a thread, while seven circuits of it are made and a bottle of liquor and two pice are offered as purchase money. It is then cut down and brought home, and from it a smooth stake called mînda is fashioned, 24 to 30 inches high and squared or pointed at the top, often being arrow-headed. On it are carved representations of the sun and moon, a spider and a human ear, and below these a figure representing the principal person in whose honour the stake is erected, on horseback with weapons in his hand. The proper method is to have one mînda for each ancestor, but poor persons make one do for several and their figures are then carved below. But care must be taken that the total number of figures representing the dead does not exceed that of the members of the family who have died during the period for which the Sedoli is performed. For in that case another person is likely to die for each extra figure. The little bags of turmeric representing the ancestors are then taken from the main beam of the house and carried with the mânda to the burial-place. There a goat is sacrificed and these articles are besmeared with its blood, after which a feast is held, accompanied by singing and dancing. Next day the party again go to the burial-place and plant the mînda in it, placing two pice in the hole beneath it. They then proceed to the riverside, and, making a little ball from the flesh of the sacrificed animal, place it together with the bags of turmeric on a leaf platter, and throw the whole into the river saying. 'Ancestors, find your home.' If the ball sinks at once they consider that the ancestors have been successful, but if any delay takes place, they attribute it to the difficulty experienced by the ancestors in the selection of a home and throw in two pice to assist them. The pith of a bamboo may be substituted for turmeric to represent the bones. The dead are supposed to inhabit a village of their own similar to that in which they dwelt on earth and to lead there a colourless existence devoid alike of pleasure and of pain.

Appearance And Social Customs. The following description of the Korkus is give by Major Forsyth in the Nimâr Settlement Report of 1868-69, with the addition of some remarks made by other observers. The Korkus are well built and muscular. The average Korku has a round face, a nose rather wide but not flat like a negro's prominent cheek-bones, a scanty moustache and his head shaved after the Hindu fashion. They are slightly taller then the Gond, a shade darker and a good many shades dirtier. In the wilder parts one may come across some quite awful Korkus, from whom

1 Boswellia serrata .

539 an intervening space of fifty yards is an insufficient protection, though strange to say there are no less than six words in their language which mean 'to wash'; one to wash the whole body, one for the limbs, one for the face, one for the mouth, one for the hair and one for the clothes, besides a word for scouring the body with a stone and another word for bathing in a stream. They build their villages of a close bamboo wattle-work and with almost Swisslike neatness, a picturesque site being usually chosen, and plan being one long street with a wide open roadway, or several such parallel with each other. The villages are kept remarkably clean, in striking contrast to the habitations of other aboriginal tribes. The average village contains about twenty huts, and it is custom to bind these so closely together that forest fires often sweep through a whole village before a hut can be removed to check their course. The average hut is about fifteen feet square with a rather flat roof covered with loose grass over a layer of leaves and pressed down by outside poles. No nails are required as the posts are bound firmly together with bamboo or creeper fibre. The inmates generally sleep on the ground, and a few low stools carved from teak wood serve them for pillows. Every village has a few pigs and fowls running about both of which are eaten after being sacrificed. The Korku is an adept in the crude process of distillation in which the only apparatus required consists of two gharas or earthen pots, a hollow bamboo, some mahua flowers, water and a fire. By this means the Korku manages to produce liquor upon which he can effectually get drunk. They are by no means particular about what they eat. Fowls, pork, fish, crabs and tortoise are all consumed, and rats are eaten in some localities but not in others. The Rîma and Bondoya Korkus eat buffaloes, and the latter add monkeys to an already comprehensive dietary. The lowest caste with whom they are said to eat are Kolis. They do not eat with Gonds. Gonds, Mângs, Basors and a few other low castes take food from them and also, it is said, Bhíls. The Korkus will freely admit members of the higher castes into the community, and a woman incurs no social penalty for a liaison with a member of any caste from which a Korku can take food. But if she goes wrong with a low-caste man she is permanently expelled and a fine of Rs. 40 is exacted from the parents before they are readmitted to social intercourse.

Language. The Korkus have a language of their own which belongs to the Kolarian or Munda sub- family. Dr. Grierson says of it: "The Munda, sometimes called the Kolarian family, is probably the older branch of the Dravido-Munda languages. It exhibits the characteristics of an agglutinative language to an extraordinarily complete degree." In the Central Provinces nearly 90 per cent of Korkus were returned as speaking their own language in 1911. Mr. Crosthwaite remarks: "The language is in a state of decay and transition, and Hindi and Marâthi terms have crept into its vocabulary. But very few Gondi words have been adopted. A grammar of the Korku language by Drake has been printed at the Baptist Mission Press, Calcutta."

Korwa.: -a Dravidian tribe of Sarguja, Jashpur and Palamau1, who claim to be the original inhabitants of the country they occupy, and whose claim is in some measure borne out by the fact that the priests who propitiate the local spirits are always selected from this tribe. The hill Korwâs of Sarguja have the singular legend that they are descended from the scare-crows set up to frighten wild animals by the first men who raised crops in Sarguja, which were animated by the great spirit to save his votaries the trouble of continually making new ones. The male Korwâs are described by Colonel Dalton as short of stature, dark-brown in complexion, strongly built and active with good muscular development. Their foreheads are narrow, and the lateral projection of the zygomatic arches very marked. Some of the wilder specimens have black skins, flat faces and projecting lower jaws, while their matted hair has acquired a tawny shade from constant neglect. "The women," says Colonel Dalton, "appear ground down by the hard work imposed on them, stunted in growth, black, ugly,

1 See Risley.

540 and wretchedly clad, some having only a few dirty rags tied round their persons, and in other respects untidy and unclean. On them falls the double task of labour in the fields and of providing the daily bread for the miserable household. They have all the burdens, but none of the privileges of women. The man may follow his instincts as a hunting animal, and bow and arrow in hand search the hills of for the meat that his soul loveth; but he, day after day, returns unsuccessful, and in the meantime the woman has been hunting for and digging up wild roots, or cutting wild vegetables, hewing wood, and drawing water, and woe betide her if she has not been more successful than her lord."

Internal Structure. The Korwâs appear to be divided into four sub-tribes, the Agaria-Korwa, probably a cross with the Agarias, the Dand-Korwa, the Dih-Korwa, who are settled in regular villages, and the Paharia-Korwa, who live in the hills, and are the wildest branch of the tribe. Colonel Dalton mentions that he failed to find among them any tribal distinctions by which restrictions on intermarriage were imposed such as are observed by cognate stocks. I am indebted to Mr. W.H.P. Driver, of Ranchi, for the interesting list of septs given in Appendix I. Most of these, it will be seen, are totemistic. Among the totems we find the tiger, the snake, the parrot, the wild goose, two kinds of eel, a fish, the kerketa bird, the mango, myrabolam, unhusked rice, ploughs and pestles used for pounding grain, also a curious group called Muri, alleged to derive its name from the fact of its ancestors having made a chulha, out of four skulls, and cooked their dinner on this uncanny sort of fireplace. This is clearly a sept of the nickname type such as are common among the Tibetans, Limbus and the people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. To what extend the totems mentioned above are taboo to the septs which bear their names is a point on which no certain information is as yet forthcoming. The general tendency is for such prohibitions to fall into disuse.

Korwas, says colonel Dalton, are considered formidable as bowmen, but he was not stuck with the accuracy of their aim. Their bows are surprisingly strong, and they use arrows with barbed heads, nine inches long by an inch and a half wide. The feathers are arranged in a spiral, which is supposed to give great steadiness to the flight of the shaft. They make battle- axes from iron of their own smelting, and are very expert in the use of this weapon.

Agriculture. Their system of agriculture is primitive. They cultivate only virgin soil, resorting freely to fire for the purpose of clearing away the jungle, and changing their homesteads every two or three years as the land becomes exhausted. Rice, vetches, millets, pumpkins, yams, chillies and arrowroot are their standard crops, and they eke out the scanty yield of their fields with a variety of jungle products. Grain they store underground done up in small packets of leaves, and thus packed they say it will keep for years. They also trade in honey, bees-wax, arrowroot, resins, gum, stick lac and iron.

Religion. Of their religion little is known. According to Colonel Dalton the Korwas of Sarguja sacrifice only to the spirits of their ancestors, and as this must be done by the head of each family, they have no priests. In Jashpur, on the other hand, Baigas serve them as priests, and the Khuria Rani, a bloodthirsty goddess, dwelling in a cave overhanging a stream, is worshipped with offerings of slain buffaloes and goats. The families of the Dewan of Jashpur and the Thakur of the Kallia estate-- the only Korwâs who now hold any considerable landed property-- affect to have adopted Hinduism and "spurning alliances with the ordinary Korwâs have continued inter-breeding for several generations," although "they dare not altogether disown the spirits of the hills and forests that their ancestors adored, and they have each their head-quarters a Korwa Baiga or pagan priest to propitiate the gods of the race."

541 Korwa.: -A Dravidian tribe1 found in the part of Mirzapur south of the river Son and along the frontier of Sarguja. They assert that they have emigrated from Sarguja within the last two or three generations. They appear to be the aborigines of Sarguja, Jashpur, and Palâmau, and this "claim is in some measure borne out by the fact that the priests who propitiate the local spirits are always selected from this tribe."2 Among the offshoots of the original tribe now residing in Mirzapur there appears to be to no trace of the singular legend that they are descended from the scare-crows set up to frighten wild animals by the first men who raised crops in Sarguja, which were animated by the spirit to save his votaries the trouble of continually making new ones.3 There seems little doubt that they are in name and origin closely connected with the Kîrs, whose name Mr. Hislop connects with Kol, and describes as "found on the Mahâdeva hills and westward in the forest on the Tâpti and Narbada until they come in contact with the Bhíls. On the Mahâdeva hills, where they have been much influenced by the Hindus, they prefer the name of Muâsi, the origin of which I have not been able to ascertain, unless it be that the word is derived from the mahua tree."4 Like the Kîrs, the Korwas of Chota Nâgpur have some traditions connections them with the Mahâdeva hills as the first seat of their race.5 The word Korwa seems to be another form of Kol. Herr Jellinghause interprets the word Kol to mean "pig-killer,"6 but the better opinion seems to be that it is a variant for horo, the Mundâri for "man." The Khariyas of Chota Nâgpur call the Mundas Kora-- a name closely approaching Kol. 7

Tribal Organization. No trace can be found in Mirzapur of the sub-tribes of Agariya Korwa, Dand Korwa, Dih Korwa, and Pahariya Korwa found in Bengal,8 nor of the Birhor and Kisân Korwas mentioned by Mr. Driver.9 There is again, no trace of the interesting series of totemistic sub-divisions recorded from Rânchi by Mr. Risley.10 The Mirzapur tribe say that there are two sub-tribes, Korwa and Korâku, both of whom are mentioned by Colonel Dalton.11 The former live in Pargana Dudhi, the flat country north of the Sarguja plateau, and the latter in the Sarguja hills. The former have almost abandoned the use of the bow and arrow, which is said to be habitually used by the latter. Among themselves the Mirzapur Korwas call the males Korâku and the women Koriku.

Appearance. Colonel Dalton's description applies very well to the Mirzapur tribe. He describes them as "short of stature and dark-brown in complexion, strongly built and active, with good muscular development, but, as appeared to me, disproportionately short-legged. The average height of twenty Sarguja Korwas whom I measured was five feet three inches, and of their women four feet nine inches only. In feature the characteristic types are not very prominent: a breadth of face from the lateral projection of the zygomatic arches and narrowness of forehead are the most remarkable traits: the nose, chin, and mouth are better formed than we generally find among the rude tribes of the Dravidian stock; and,

1 See Crooke. 2. Risley, Tribes and Castes, I., 511. 3. Dalton, Descriptive Ethnology, 226; Risley loc. cit., II., 511; Driver, Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1891, page 25. 4. Papers, 25. A scattered tribe with a very similar name, Mahwaiya, are found in some of the jungles in Pargana Barher of Mirzapur and seem now to be disappearing by amalgamation with the Kols. 5. Driver, loc. cit., 24. 6. Kola in Sanskrit means "a hog." 7. Risley, loc.cit., II., 101. 8. Risley, loc. cit., I., 512. 9. Loc, cit., page 25. 10. Loc., cit., Appendix, 83. 11. Descriptive Ethnology, 230, 231.

542 notwithstanding the scarecrow tradition, the Korwas are, as a rule, better looking that the Gonds and Orâons. The males, I noticed, were hairier than the generality of their cognates, many of them cultivating beards-- or rather not interfering with their spontaneous growth, for in truth in their toilettes there is nothing like cultivation. They are as utterly ungroomed as the wildest animals. The neglected back hair grows in matted tails which fall behind like badly frayed ropes or is massed in a chignon of gigantic proportions, as preposterous as any that the present tactless period has produced, sticking out behind sometimes a foot from the back of the head. The women appear ground down by the hard work imposed upon them, stunted in growth, black, ugly, and wretchedly clad, some having only a few dirty rags tied round their persons, and in other respects untidy and unclean.1 Dr. Ball noticed particularly "the unkempt condition of their matted locks of hair, in which they commonly hitch the shafts of their arrows." 2

Tribal Organization. They have a tribal council (bhaiyâri), in which, degraded as they are, they are superior to the Cyclopes Homer's type of a "a forward and lawless folk."3 This is summoned by invitation (neota) when necessary. The leader of all the Korwas in Mirzapur is Somehand Korwa of Bisrâmpur in Pargana Dudhi. Every adult male has a right to sit on the council, which deals with cases of adultery, etc. Only clansmen are accepted as witnesses. No one is sworn in. The sentence is usually to give a feast, and if any offender disobeys the order, he is excommunicated and remains outcaste until he obeys.

Marriage Rules. There are in Mirzapur no exogamous sub-divisions. The family of the mother's brother (mâmu) and that of the father's sister's (phîpha) are barred: and when a family lives together the members do not intermarry within four or five degrees.4 As a rule, they have only one wife and do not indulge in concubinage or polyandry. The marriage age is twelve for males and ten for girls. The marriage is usually arranged by the brother-in-law (bahnoi) of the bridegroom. The bridegroom has, however, generally a voice in the matter. There are many runaway marriages. In selecting a wife working capabilities are more regarded than beauty. The bride-price is five rupees and one or two maunds of rice. After the betrothal the appearance of any physical defects is not a ground for breaking off the match, nor are idiocy, lunacy, importance, or mutilation a sufficient cause.

Divorce. Sufficient grounds for divorce are eating from the hands of, or intriguing with a Dom, Chamâr, or Dharkâr. The only ceremony is the announcement of the fact before the council; but the council will put a man out of caste if he maltreats his wife, and she can complain against him the council and get him fined. A divorced woman cannot re-marry.

Widow Marriage. Widows may be married again by the sagâi form. They generally marry widowers, and it seems unusual for a bachelor to take a widow to wife. The man has to give the relations of the widow a rupee and a quarter and then takes the woman home. The levirate is permitted under the usual restriction that it is only the younger brother of the husband who can take his widow: and if he chooses to claim her she cannot marry an outsider. If she has a child at the breast, she takes it with her to her second husband. Other children remain with their paternal uncle.

1. Descriptive Ethnology, 226. 2. Jungle Life, 661. 3. Odyssey , IX., 112. 4. In Chota Nâgpur, according to Mr. Driver, "Korwas are divided into several families, each of which is known by its gotra , and no two people of the same gotra are allowed to marry."- Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal , 1891, page 26.

543 Relationship. The family into which his son marries or into which his daughter is married are relations. They call a father apa; grandfather, tatang; great-grandfather, dâdi; a son is hopon; a grandson, kurin; a great-grandfather, bahotu. The following is their system of relationship: This is not the place to attempt systematic analysis of these records of relationship. It may merely be noticed that there is no term for a great-grandfather or great-grandfather; that the names for the grandmother and grandfather's brother's wife are the same; that the term for the father's younger brother and his wife ae purely Hindi, as is the case with the wife of the younger brother. sister's son, sister's daughter, and for the father and mother of the son's wife. This illustrates the vagueness of the marriage tie among these people.1 Among themselves they call the sister aya; their own wife, Bâbu kai inga; elder brother's wife bhavoh; mother's brother, mâma; mother's father, tatang; sister's husband taiyân; wife's brother, saranu; father's sister's husband, mâma; father's sister, mâmi; a woman's father-in-law bîrha ("old man"); wife's sister's husband, saddhu; wife's brother's son, dangeru; son's wife bâi; son's or daughter's son, kurin.

Birth Ceremonies. The woman delivers whilst sitting on the ground. Some old woman of the tribe cuts the cord with a sickle, and throws it outside the house. The Chamâin midwife is not employed. The moment the child is born a fire is lit in the house and kept burning for twelve days. The husband does not enter the delivery room for five days. On the sixth day the old woman bathes the mother and child, and two or three of the clan are fed on pulse and rice. The woman's clothes are washed, and she goes back to the delivery room (saur). On the twelfth day the mother goes and bathes in a stream, washes her clothes, and comes home and cooks for the family. On the twelfth day the child is named by the father or grandfather, and is generally called after some deceased ancestor, who is understood from a dream to be re-born in the baby.2 There appears to be no trace of the couvade. These people have the intense fear of pollution from the menstrual or parturition discharge which is characteristic of all primitive races.3

Marriage Customs. The boy's father goes and inspects the girl; when he approves of her, the maternal uncle (mâmu) of the boy completes the negotiations. If the girl's father approves of the proposal, he feeds the envoy. On the marriage day, which is fixed by mutual arrangement, the bridegroom goes to the bride's house with some of his relations. Once the procession starts,

1. For a discussion of the system of nomenclature see McLennan, Studies in Ancient History and the Patriarchal Theory; Morgan, Systems of Consanguinity, passim. Starcke, Primitive Family, Chapter V.; Lubbock, Origin of Civilization, Chapter IV. 2. Mr. Driver notes in Chota Nâgpur that children are named a month after they are born. "They are only named after their grandparents, when the mother dreams of a visit from the said ancestors. If a girl is to be born, the woman dreams that either her own or her husband's mother came with an offering of târpât earrings or beads; but if a boy is expected she dream that either her own or her husband's father came with an offering of a dibi or batua (small brass pots for cating cut of ). The child is then called its grandparent's embodiment (ântar ) and is named after the said ancestor. A big feast is always given at a christening. Boys are preferred to girls."-Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal , 1891, page 28. Mr. Campbell (Notes 4) remarks:- "Another ground for the belief in the return of ancestors was the likeness of children to the dead. The Konkan Kunbis, and even Brâhmans, believe that the dead ancestors sometimes come in children, and so in many cases children are named after their grandfathers or grandmothers. Among Gîjarât Musalmâns, if a child is naughty or peevish, its mother or nurse says-'Its kind has come on its head.' It is the belief of the Khonds that an ancestor comes back in a child (Macpherson, 56). Among the American Indians when a man dies the medium puts his hands on the head of one of the mourners, and the spirit of the dead enters him, ready to appear in his next offspring (Bancroft, III., 517). Among the Laplanders of Europe an ancestral spirit tells the mother that he has come into the child, and to call the child by is name.- Tylor, Primitive Culture, II. 4." 3. Frazer, Golden Bough, II., 233, sq.

544 neither party can withdraw from the match; and if either objects, he is forced to consent by an order from the council. At the marriage the oldest man present calls the bride and says to her, "We have made you over to the son of so and so. You must never leave him, no matter what trouble you undergo. Don't disgrace your family by an intrigue with a man of another caste." After this exhortation the bridegroom rubs red lead on the girl's head. This is the binding portion of the ceremony. After this the clansmen are fed on goat's flesh and rice, and next day the bridegroom brings the bride home and feasts his clansmen. There is no trace of the professional match-maker, the best man and bridesmaids, and the knotting of the garments of the pair which are part of the ritual in Chota Nâgpur.1 When a girl is married a piece of jungle is assigned to her as a hunting ground where she can dig roots and collect wild fruits. No one else dares to interfere with her domain, and the right is strictly enforced by the council.2

Death Customs. The dying person is taken into the open air before death.3 The tribe is in a transition stage between burial and cremation.4 Some families practise one form and some the latter. Those that bury the dead have regular, tribal, or family, burial-grounds. Even among those who cremate the dead, young children and those who die of epidemic diseases are buried. When they cremate, they take the corpse to a place northeast of the village. It is laid on its back, with the feet to the south. Wood is piled over it, and the son of the deceased (or if be has no son, his brother or other male next of kin) walks five times round the pyre with a grass torch and fires it. When it is well alight they leave it, bathe, and return home. Next day the chief mourner goes to the pyre and collects the ashes. Then a message is sent round to the effect that the funeral ceremony (kheiya, khaur) will take place on a certain day. The clansmen collect and shave themselves.5 A barber is not employed. Then they wash their clothes and have a feast at the house of the deceased. From that day they are all pure. They have, as far as can be ascertained, no ceremony to propitiate the spirits of the dead. When they burn or bury a corpse, they place with it the ornaments and cloths of the deceased, and an axe, none of which are broken. These are to be the support of the deceased in the afterworld, but as to any abode of happiness or retribution they no idea. All they know is that the spirit goes to Paramesar, but this is the case with the souls of trees and animals as well as men.

Religion And Superstitions. They do not even pretend to be Hindus, and have no connection with the Brâhmans. They worship as their tribal god Râja Chandol in the month of February (Phâlgun) with an offering of a cock, some red lead (sendîr), and flowers. This offering is made by the Baiga, many of whom are found in the tribe.6 They are much beset by malignant ghosts(bhîl), particularly those of strange villages, who are excluded by the Baiga, who goes round the village circuit once a year dropping a little liquor as he walks, and thus forming a magic line over which foreign ghosts are unable to cross. When the Baiga is a drunken rascal, as is often case, this performance takes a considerable time, and the heavy charges for liquor are received badly by his parishioners. When Bhîts attack people and bring disease, particularly fainting or epileptic fits, an Ojha is called into exorcise the Bhât, or if the patient is a young woman, she is taken to a local shrine and thrashed by the Baiga with his heavy iron magic chain (gurda).7 There is hardly any trace of ancestor worship, except in times of extreme sickness, when a

1. Driver, Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal , 1891, page 27. 2. See similar cases in Lubbock, Origin of Civilisation, 455, and compare Bhar, para. 10. 3. Tylor, Primitive Culture, I., 453. 4. There is a good note on this fact among the Greeks in Blackie's Iliad on VII., 328. 5. On this ceremonial shaving after a death compare Homer, Iliad , XXIII., 135; Odyssey, IV., 198. 6. This is also the case with the Bengal Division of the tribe, Dalton, Ethnology, 130, 221. For the worship of Râja Chandol, see Majhwâr, para . 40. 7. See Majhwâr, para . 25.

545 Korwa will sacrifice a goat in the name of his late father or mother. They do not consider any more remote ancestors deserving of any propitiation. When they make an offering of food to the dead they throw a morsel on the ground. They do not appeal to any deity when eating. They believe in the local gods (dih) which live in the tree over the village shrine (mânrar). They respect the house and will not bathe inside it. They will not touch the threshold on entering or coming out. When there is small-pox or cholera in a Korwa village, the Baiga makes a daily burnt of offering with sugar and butter. When cholera appears, he goes to the village gods and says, "If you remove this pestilence, we will do extra worship to you." In cases of fever, which are regarded as of demoniacal origin, the Baiga prays to the local gods and prescribes a decoction of various jungle roots for the patient. Thursday and Friday are their lucky days, and the north and east the auspicious quarters of the sky. When a snake hisses rain is near; when the bees swarm it is an omen of good rain, but when they abandon their hive famine may be expected. Their only oath is to swear by their mothers and this is the strongest oath which the Korwa can take. A man will not touch the wife of his younger brother or his sister. They sow, if possible, on the first Friday in Asârh. At sowing time the Baiga first makes an butter and molasses in his field, and he is paid to make a similar offering at the village shrine (mânrar). They count the new year from the beginning of February (Phâlgun), when they give the Baiga a sieve full of grain, a contribution known as kharwan.

Food And Social Customs. They will not eat the flesh of the snake, tiger, hyaena, jackal, iguana, tortoise, house lizard, and similar animals. Among birds they do not eat the vulture. They will not eat locusts. They will eat the flesh of the bear, monkey, pig. ox, buffalo, and all kinds of deer. They also on occasions eat carrion. They use liquor, hemp, and tobacco as intoxicants, but not gânja . Liquor, they believe, keeps off malaria. Most of their food is, however, jungle products, such as the mahua (Bassia latifolia), the piyâr (Buchanaria latifolia), the tend (Diospyros ebenum), sarai (Boswellia thurifera), ber (Aegle marmelos). They also eat a number of seeds, leaves, stems, roots, and fungi, some of which are bitter or poisonous and require special treatment to make them wholesome.1 Roots are dug with a special instrument called a khanta or "digger," which Korwa carries.2 It consists of a stick, on the end of which is fastened a long iron spike. They procure what they want in the way of food by exchanging forest products, such as bahera (myrobalan), lac, silk cocoons, and various jungle dyes and seeds. The young salute the elders by pâélagi or bending the left hand on the hollow of the right elbow: the right hand is then lifted up to the face with the word pâélagi; "I touch your feet," in reply to which the senior says "Jiyo pîta !" "Live long, my son!" They are considered so degraded that they will eat and smoke with Doms. The clothes of both sexes are disgracefully scanty. Bu† the women wear brass rings (churla) on the arms and pewter anklets (pairi). A few have now taken to working as ploughmen, but as a rule they pick up their living as best they can in the jungle and do practically no cultivation. The women are worked hard and roughly used at times. The tribe certainly does not do any iron work, as would seem to be the case in Bengal.3 They are very expert in the use of the axe (tângi bhalua), and some can shoot fairly well at short distances with the bow and arrow. They are also expert in making fire by the friction of two pieces of dry bamboos. They smoke tobacco out of leaf pipes made of the leaves of the sâl (Shorea robusta).4 The Korwas, on the whole, are much the most primitive and miserable tribe to be found in these Provinces.

1. A full list of jungle products used by the Dravidian tribes is given by Dr. Ball in Jungle Life , 694 sqq. 2. This is exactly like the gadahla or gahdal which Mr. Nesfield, Calcutta Review, LXXXVI, 23, describes as the distinctive weapon of the Musahars, q.v. 3. Risley, Tribes and Castes, I. 512. 4. Of some of these pipes recently sent to the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, Mr. Balfour writes that he smoked one nine times, and that it drew excellently and was little burnt.

546 Korwa.: -A Kolarian tribe of the Chota Nâgpur plateau1. In 1911 about 34,000 Korwas were returned in the Central Provinces, the great bulk of whom belong to the Sargîja and Jashpur States and a few to the Bilâspur District. The Korwas are one of the wildest tribes. Colonel Dalton writes of them:2 "Mixed up with the Asuras and not greatly differing from them, except that they are more cultivators of the soil than smelters, we first meet the Korwas, a few stragglers of the tribe which under that name take up the dropped links of the Kolarian chain, and carry it on west, over the Sargîja, Jashpur and Palâmau highlands till it reaches another cognate tribe, the Kîrs (Korkus) or Muâsis of Rewah and the Central Provinces, and passes from the Vindhyan to the Satpîra range. "In the fertile valleys that skirt and wind among the plateaus, other tribes are now found intermixed with the Korwas, but all admit that the latter were first in the field and were at one time masters of the whole; and we have good corroboratory proof of their being the first settlers in the fact that for the propitiation of the local spirits Korwa Baigas are always selected. There were in existence within the last twenty years, as highland chiefs and holders of manors, four Korwa notables, two in Sargîja and two in Jashpur; all four estates were valuable, as they comprised substantial villages in the fertile plains held by industrious cultivators, and great tracts of hill country on which were scattered the hamlets of their more savage followers. The Sargîja Korwa chiefs were, however, continually at strife with the Sargîja Râja, and for various acts of rebellion against the Lord Paramount, lost manor after manor until only one or two villages remained. The two Jashpur thanes conducted themselves loyally at the crucial period of the Mutiny and they are now prosperous gentlemen in full enjoyment of their estates, the only Korwa families left that keep up any appearance of respectability. One of them is the hereditary Diwân of Jashpur, lord of the mountain tract of Khîria and Maini, and chief of perhaps two-thirds of the whole tribe of Korwas. The other holds an estate called Kakia, comprising twenty-two villages.

Physical Appearance. "The hill Kakia are the most savage-looking of all the Kolarian tribes. They are frightfully wild and uncouth in their appearance, and have good-humouredly accepted the following singular tradition to account for it. They say that the first human beings that settled in Sargîja, being very much troubled by the depredations of wild beasts on their crops, put up scarecrows in their fields, figures made of bamboos dangling in the air, the most hideous caricatures of humanity that they could devise to frighten the animals. When the great spirit saw the scarecrow he hit on an expedient to save his votaries the trouble of reconstructing them. He animated the dangling figures, thus bringing into existence creatures ugly enough to frighten all the birds and beats in creation, and they were the ancestors of the Korwas." This legend is not peculiar to the Korwas, but is also told by the Halbas, Lodhis, and other castes, and is a favourite Brâhmanical device for accounting for the existence of the autochthonous tribes. "The Korwas," Dalton continues, " are short of stature and dark brown in complexion, strongly built and active, with good muscular development, but, as appeared to me, disproportionately short-legged. The average height of twenty Sargîja Korwas that I measured was 5 feet 3 inches and of their women 4 feet 9 inches only. Notwithstanding the scarecrow tradition the Korwas are, as a rule, better-looking than the Gonds and Oraons. The males, I noticed, were more hirsute than the generality of their cognates, many of them cultivating beards, or rather not interfering with their spontaneous growth, for in truth in their toilets there is nothing like cultivation. They are as utterly ungroomed as the wildest animals. The neglected back hair grows in matted tails which fall behind like badly-frayed ropes, or is massed in a chignon of gigantic proportions, as preposter as any that the present tasteless period has produced; sticking out behind sometimes a foot from the back of the head "The women appear ground down by the hard work imposed on them, stunted in growth,

1. See Russell. This article is based on Colonel Dalton's account of the tribe and on notes by Mr. N. T. Kunte, Jailor, Sargîja, and Mr. Marbed Dhanu Sao, Assistant Manager, Uprora. 2. Ethnology of Bengal, p. 221.

547 black, ugly, and wretchedly clad, some having only a few dirty rags ties round their persons, and in other respects untidy and unclean."

It is noticeable that the Korwas have a subtribe called Korâku, and like the Korkus of the Satpîra range they are called Muâsi, a term having the meaning of raider or robber. Mr. Crook thinks that the Korwas and Korkus are probably branches of the same tribe, but Sir G. Grierson differs from this opinion. He states that the Korwa dialect is most closely related to Asuri and resembles Mundâri and Santâli. The Korwas have the honorific title of Mânjhi, also used by the Santâls. The Korba zamíndâri in Bilâspur is probably named after the Korwas.

Subdivisions. The principal subdivisions of the tribe are the Diharia or Kisân Korwas, those who live in villages (dih) and cultivate, and the Pahâria Korwas of the hills, who are also called Benwaria from their practising bewar or shifting cultivation. Two minor groups are the Korâku or young men, from kora, a young man, and the Birjias, who are probably the descendants of mixed marriages between Korwas and the tribe of that name, themselves an offshoot of the Baigas. The tribe is also divided into totemistic exogamous septs.

Marriage Customs. Marriage within the sept is forbidden, but this appears to be the only restriction. In Korba the Pahâria Korwas are said to marry their own sisters on occasion. The ordinary bride-price is Rs. 12. In Bilâspur there is reported to be no regular marriage feast, but the people dance together round a big earthen drum, called mândhar, which is played in the centre. This is bound with strips of leather along the sides and leather faces at the ends to be played on by the hands. They dance in a circle, holding hands, with men and women being placed alternately. Among the Pahâria Korwas of Sargîja, Mr. Kunte states, the consent of the parents is not required, and boys and girls arrange their own weddings. Men who can afford the bride-price have a number of wives, sometimes as many as eight or ten. After she has had a child each wife lives and cooks her food separately. but gives a part of it to her husband. The women bring roots and herbs from the forest and feed their husbands, so that the man with several wives enjoys a larger share of creature comforts. Among these people adultery is said to be very rare, but if a woman is detected in adultery she is at once made over to the partner of her act and becomes his wife. Divorce and the remarriage of widows are permitted, and a widow usually marries her late husband's younger brother, though she is not obliged to do so. A husband divorcing his wife is obliged to feed the caste for five days.

Funeral Rites. The tribe bury the dead, placing the corpse in the grave with the head to the south. A little rice is buried with the corpse. In Bilâspur the dead are buried in the forest, and the graves of old men are covered with branches of the sâl 1 tree. Then they go a little distance and make a fire, and pour ghí and incense on it as an offering to the ancestors, and when they hear a noise in the forest they take it to be the voice of the dead man. When a man dies, his hut is broken down and they do not live in it again. The bodies of children under five are buried either in the house or under the shade of a banyan tree, probably with the idea that the spirit will come back and be born again. They say that a banyan tree is chosen because it lives longest of all trees and is evergreen, and hence it is supposed that the child's spirit will also live out its proper span instead of being untimely cut off in its next birth.

Religion. The Korwas worship Dîlha Deo, the bridegroom god of the Gonds, and in Sargîja their principal deity is Khuria Râni, the tutelary goddess of the Khuria plateau. She is a bloodthirsty goddess and requires animal sacrifices; formerly at special sacrifices 30 or 40

1. Shorea robusta.

548 buffaloes were slaughtered as well as an unlimited number of goats.1 Thâkur Deo, who is usually considered a corn-god, dwells in a sacred grove, of which no tree or branch may be cut or broken. The penalty for breach of the rules is a goat, but an exception is allowed if an animal has to be pursued and killed in the grove. Thâkur Deo protects the village from epidemic disease such as cholera and smallpox. The Korwas have three festivals: the Deothân is observed on the full moon day of Pîs (December), and all their gods are worshipped; the Nawanna or harvest festival falls in Kunwâr (September), when the new grain is eaten; and the Faguwa or Holi is the common celebration of the spring and the new vegetation.

Social Customs. The Korwas do not admit outsiders into the tribe. They will take food from a Gond or Kawar, but not from a Brâhman. A man is permanently expelled from caste for a liaison with a woman of the impure Gânda and Ghasia castes. Women are tattooed with patterns of dots on the arms, breasts and feet, and a girl must have this operation done before she can be married. Neither men nor women ever cut their hair.

Dancing. Of their appearance at a dance Colonel Dalton states:2 "Forming a huge circle, or rather coil, they hooked on to each other and wildly danced. In their hands they sternly grasped their weapons, the long stiff bow and arrows with bright, broad barbed heads and spirally- feathered reed shafts in the left hand, and the gleaming battle-axe in the right. Some of the men accompanied the singing on deep-toned drums and all sang. A few scantily-clad females formed the inner curl of the coil, but in centre was the Choragus who played on a stringed instrument, promoting by his grotesque unbounded hilarity, and keeping up the spirit of the dancers by his unflagging energy. Their matted back hair was either massed into a chignon, sticking out from the back of the head like a handle, from which spare arrows depended hanging by the bands, or was divided into clusters of long matted tails, each supporting a spare arrow, which, flinging about as they sprang to the lively movements of the dance, added greatly to the dramatic effect and the wildness of their appearance. The women were very diminutive creatures, on the average a foot shorter than their lords, clothed in scanty rags, and with no ornaments except a few tufts of cotton dyed red taking the place of flowers in the hair, a common practice also with the Santâl girls. Both tribes are fond of the flower of the cockscomb for this purpose, and when that is not procurable, use the red cotton."

Occupation. Of their occupation Colonel Dalton states: "The Korwas cultivate newly cleared ground, changing their homesteads every two or three years to have command of virgin soil; millets, pumpkins, cucumbers-- some of gigantic size-- sweet potatoes, yams and chillies being cheifly grown. They also grow and prepare arrowroot and have a wild kind which they use and sell. They have as keen a knowledge of what is edible among the spontaneous products of the jungle as have monkeys, and have often to use this knowledge for self-preservation, as they are frequently subjected to failure of crops, while even in favourable seasons some of them do not raise sufficient food, and much of it is neither palatable nor wholesome. They brought to me nine different kinds of edible roots, and descanted so earnestly on the delicate flavour and nutritive qualities of some of them, that I was induced to have two or three varieties cooked under their instructions and served up, but the result was far from pleasant: my civilised stomach indignantly repelled the savage food, and was not pacified till it had made me suffer for some hours from cold sweat, sickness and giddiness."3

1. Dalton, loc. cit. p. 229. 2. Ethnology of Bengal, p. 228. 3. Ethnology of Bengal, pp. 228, 229.

549 Dacoity. The Korwas in the Tributary States have other resources than these. They are expert hunters, and to kill a bird flying or an animal running is their greatest delight. They do not care to kill their game without rousing it first. They are also very fond of dacoity and often proceed on expeditions, their victims being usually travellers, or the Ahírs who bring large herds of cattle to graze in the Sargîja forests. These cattle do much damage to the village crops, and hence the Korwas have a standing feud with the herdsmen. They think nothing of murder, and when asked why he committed a murder, a Korwa will reply, 'I did it for my pleasure'; but they despise both house-breaking and theft as cowardly offences, and are seldom or never guilty of them. The women are also of an adventurous disposition and often accompany their husbands on raids. Before starting they take the omens. They throw some rice before a chicken, and if the bird picks up large solid grains first they think that a substantial booty is intended, but if it chooses the thin and withered grains that the expedition will have poor results. One of their bad omens is that a child should begin to cry before the expedition starts; and Mr. Kunte, who has furnished the above account, relates that on one occasion when a Korwa was about to start on a looting expedition his two-year-old child began to cry. He was enraged at the omen, and picking up the child by the feet dashed its brains out against a stone.

Folktales. Before going out hunting the Korwas tell each other hunting tales, and they think that the effect of doing this is to bring them success in the chase. A specimen of one of these tales is as follows: There were seven brothers and they went out hunting. The youngest brother's name was Chilhra. They had a beat, and four of them lay in ambush with their bows and arrows. A deer came past Chilhra and he shot an arrow at it, but missed. Then all the brothers were angry with Chilhra and they said to him. "We have been wandering about hungry for the whole day, and you have let our prey escape." Then the brothers got a lot of mâhul 1 fibre and twisted it into rope, and from the rope they wove a bag. And they forced Chilhra into this bag, and tied up the mouth and threw it into the river where there was a whirlpool. Then they went home. Now Chilhra cried out to the sâmbhar to pull his bag ashore and save him. The sâmbhar took pity on him, and seizing the bag in his teeth pulled it out of the water on to the bank. Chilhra then asked the sâmbhar after he had quenched his thirst to free him from the bag. The sâmbhar drank and then came and bit through the mâhul ropes till Chilhra could get out. He then proposed to the sâmbhar to try and get into the bag to see if it would hold him. The sâmbhar agreed, but no sooner had he got inside than Chilhra tied up the bag, threw it over his shoulder and went home. When the brothers saw him they were greatly astonished, and asked him how he had got out of the bag and caught a sâmbhar, and Chilhra told them. Then they killed and ate the sâmbhar. Then all the brothers said to Chilhra that he should tie them up in bags as he had been tied and throw them into the river, so that they might each catch and bring home a sâmbhar. So they made six bags and went to the river, and Chilhra tied them up securely and threw them into the river, when they were all quickly drowned. But Chilhra went home and lived happily ever afterwards. In this story we observe the low standard of moral feeling noticeable among many primitive races, in the fact that the ingratitude displayed by Chilhra in deceiving and killing the sâmbhar who had saved his life conveys no shock to the moral sense of the Korwas. If the episode had been considered discreditable to the hero Chilhra, it would not have found a place in the tale.

The following is another folk-tale of the characteristic type of fairy story found all over the world. This as well as the last has been furnished by Mr. Narbad Dhanu Sao, Assistant Manager, Uprora: A certain rich man, a banker and moneylender (Sâhu), had twelve sons. He gots them all married and they went out on a journey to trade. There came a holy mendicant to the house of the rich man and asked for alms. The banker was giving him

1. Bauhinia Vahlii.

550 alms, but the saint said he would only take them from his son or son's wife. As his sons were away the rich man called his daughter-in-law, and she began to give alms to the saint. But he caught her up and carried her off. Then her father-in-law went to search for her, saying that he would not return until he had found her. He came to the saint's house upon a mountain and said to him, 'Why did you carry off my son's wife?' The saint said to him, 'What can you do about it?' and turned him into stone by waving his hand. Then all the other brothers went in turn to search for her down to the youngest, and all were turned into stone. At last the youngest brother set out to search but he did not go to the saint, but travelled across the sea and sat under a tree on the other side. In that tree was the nest with young of the Raigidan and Jatagidan1 birds. A snake was climbing up the tree to eat the nestlings, and the youngest brother saw the snake and killed it. When the parent birds returned the young birds said, "We will not eat or drink till you have rewarded this boy who killed the snake which was climbing the tree to devour us." Then the parent birds said to the boy, 'Ask of us whatever you will and we will give it to you.' And the boy said, 'I want only a gold parrot in a gold cage.' Then the parent birds said, "You have asked nothing of us, ask for something more; but if you will accept only a gold parrot in a gold cage wait here a little and we will fly across the sea and get it for you." So they brought the parrot and cage, and the youngest brother took them and went home. Immediately the saint came to him and asked him for the gold parrot and cage because the saint's soul was in that parrot. Then the youngest brother told him to dance and he would give him the parrot; and the saint danced, and his legs and arms were broken one after the other, as often as he asked for the parrot and cage. Then the youngest brother buried the saint's body and went to his house and passed his hands before all the stone images and they all came to life again.

Korwâ.: -The Korwâ dialect is closely related to Asurí,2 and is spoken by about 20,000 individuals.

Name Of The Language. The word for 'man' is hor i.e. ha® as in Santâlí. The name Korwâ does not therefore appear to have anything to do with that word, which in the west has the form kór . It is perhaps connected with names such as Kherwâr. We do not, however, know anything about the original meaning of either of those words. The Korwâs use the same honorific title to denote themselves as the Santâls, viz ., Mâñjhí. The Korwâs are sometimes also called kó®â -kî, young men, from kó®â, a boy. The use of this denomination has given rise to much confusion. In the first place the Korwâs gave been confounded with the Kîrkîs, the most important Mu∑πâ tribe of the Central Provinces. Moreover, kó®â -kî is also the plural of kó®â, another form of kóπâ, a digger. Now the Kódªªâs are a different tribe, but Korwâs and Kódâs are constantly confounded, and it is not always possible to say if the speakers returned from the districts in reality apeak Korwâ of are Korwâ or are Kódªªâs have been separately dealt with above. See pp. 107 and ff.

Area Within Which Spoken. The Korwâs are found in various parts of Chota Nagpur, especially in Palamau, Jashpur, and Sarguja. They also occupy a tract of country in Mirzapur, to the south of the river Son, and along the Sarguja frontier. The Mirzapur Korwâs assert that they have come from Sarguja within the last two or three generations. Some korwâs are also found in Hazaribagh. The number of speakers in that district was originally estimated at 2,950. The local authorities have, however, since then reported that there are no speakers of Korwâ in Hazaribagh. Korwâ was also returned from Burdwan and Manbhum. At the last Census of 1901, the corresponding figures have been shown under Kódâ. In the case of Manbhum this agrees

1. Believed to be some kind of vulture. 2 Linguistic Survey of India.

551 with information kindly supplied by the Rev. A. Campbell, who further remarks that the Kódâs of Manbhªªum speak Mu∑πârí. I have therefore given the figures for both districts under Kóπâ. It is probable that the 395 speakers of Korwâ who were returned from the Sonthal Parganas at the last Census of 1901, in reality speak Santâlí. The principal home of the Korwâ tribe is, accordingly, Palamau, and the tributary States of Jashpur and Sarguja. In Palamau, they are almost exclusively found in the south; on the Sarguja frontier, and in Jashpur most of them reside in the table land of Khuria.

The hill Korwâs of Sarguja believe that they are descended from a scare-crow set up to frighten wild animals by the first men who raised crops in the State. The same tradition is also current among the Asurs. The Korwâs claim to be the original inhabitants of the country they occupy.1 Mr. Risley remarks that their claim "is in some measure borne out by the fact that the priests who propitiate the local spirits are always selected from this tribe." Mr. Driver, on the other hand, states that they have other traditions about the Mahadeo Hills. According to the latter authority, "they are in various states of civilisation, from the Birhor- Koroa of the jungles to the cultivator on the plains, who prefers to call himself a Kisân." In palamau they call themselves Korea-Mu∑πas rather than Koroas, and in Sirguja and Jashpur they like to be called Paharias, the name Korea being looked upon as a term of reproach. The Koroas are divided into several sub-tribes, the Pahariâ or Bor-koroas, the Birinjia-koroas, the Birhor-koroas, the Koraku-koroas, and the Korea-Mu∑πas. All live amongst the hills and jungles and speak dialects of the Kolarian language. The Dand-koroas or Dih-koroas and the Agaria-koroas live on the low lands, and speak only a dialect of Hindí. The so-called Kó®â-kî Korwâs are sometimes also called Kó®-kîs. Two hundred and seventy- five speakers of Kó®-kî have been returned from Sarguja. They will be included in the Korwâ figures from the State. According to Mr. Crooke, the various sub-tribes of the Korwâs do not appear to exist in Mirzapur. The Korwâs of that district state that there are only two sub-tribes, viz ., Korwâ and Kó®â-kî.

Dialects. The language of the Korwâs is not the same in all places. Many Korwâs now use a form of speech which is very closely related to Mu∑πârí and Santâlí. They are apparently gradually abandoning their old speech. Specimens of that more refined form of the language will be given below on pp. 158 and ff. The most idiomatic Korwâ is spoken in Jashpur and Sarguja, in the south of Palamau, and in Mirzapur. In the latter district the dialect is known under the name of Korwârí. The Ern••gâ sub-tribe of the Jashpur State use a slightly different dialect which is known as Er©gâ or Singlí.

Number of speakers. According to local estimates and the returns of the Census of 1891, Korwâ was spoken as a native tongue in the following districts:

Bengal Presidency- Ranchi 5,016 Palamau 2,000 Jashpur 5,000 Sarguja 6,536 Udaipur 358 ------Total Bengal Presidency 18,910 United Provinces- Mirzapur 33

1 The hereditary Díwân of the State of Jashpur is a Korwâ.

552 ------Grand Total 18,943

At the Census of 1891 Korwâ was further returned from Jalpaiguri and from Assam, where it was spoken by non-resident immigrants from Chota Nagpur. The details were as follows:

Jalpaiguri 603 Assam 181 ------Total 784

The estimated number of speakers of Er©gâ in Jashpur was 500. by adding all these figures we arrive at the following estimated total for Korwâ:

Korwâ spoken at home 18,943 Korwâ spoken abroad 784 Er©gâ 500 ------Total 20,227

At the last Census of 1901 Korwâ was returned from the same districts, and also from the 24- Parganas, Dinajpur, and the Sonthal Parganas. The figures returned from the two former districts were small and the speakers are probably non-resident immigrants from Chota Nagpur. From the Sonthal Parganas 395 speakers were returned. There are no corresponding returns in the caste table, and it is therefore probable that the language figures are due to some misunderstanding. The number of speakers of Korwâ returned at the last Census were then as follows:

Bengal Presidency- 24-Parganas 49 Dinajpur 14 Jalpaiguri 83 Sonthal Parganas 395 Ranchi 841 Palamau 6,647 Orissa Tributary States 7 Chota Nagpur Tributary States 7,746 ------Total Bengal Presidency 15,882 United Provinces- Mirzapur 308 Assam 79 ------Total 387 Er©gâ dialect 173 ------Grand Total 16,442

Language. It has already been remarked that some Korwâs use a form of speech which is closely related to Mu∑πârí and Santâlí.

553 Kuramwâr.: -The shepherd caste of southern India1, 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 Chânda District where it numbered some 4000 persons in 1911. The Kuramwârs are considered to be the modern representatives of the ancient Pallava tribe whose kings were powerful in southern India in the seventh century.2

The marriage rules of the Kuramwârs 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 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 '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 (sîli) of good fortune. The writer of the North Arcot Manual,3 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 horse." 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 Kuramwârs marriages can be celebrated only on four days in the year, the fifth day of both fortnights of Phâgun (February), the tenth day of the second fortnight of the same month, and the third day of Baisâkh (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 hung 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 bridegroom, 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 enactment 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 return to him. The Kuramwârs 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 Mallana Deva and Mallanil 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 cast. The caste are shepherds and graziers and also make blankets. They are poor and ignorant, and the Abbe` Dubios4 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 Kuramwâr.' When out of doors the Kuramwâr retains the most primitive method 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 proceeding to eat it with his hands when his sheep

1. See Russell. This article is compiled from notes taken by Mr. Híra Lârl and by Pyâre Lâl Misra, Ethnographic clerk. 2. North Arcot Manual, vol. i. p. 220 3. Vol. i. p. 224 4. Hindu Manners, customs and Ceremonies

554 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 Kuramwârs is imagined on the principle that god made man in his own image.

Kurarias.: -They live in West Bengal, catching and selling birds. They were listed as a criminal tribe.

Kîrkî.: -The Kîrkîs are the westernmost Mu∑πâ tribe.1 Their dialect is spoken by about 100,000 individuals.

Name Of The Dialect. The word Kîrkî is the plural of kóró, a man, which word is identical with Mu∑πârí ha®a, Santâlí ha®, a man. The dialect is occasionally called Kóró pârsí, the Persian (i.e. non-Indo Aryan language) of the Kórós .

Area Within Which Spoken. The home of the Kîrkîs are the Satpura and Mahadeo Hills. Proceeding from the west we find them in the south of Nimar and in the Kalibhit and Rajaborari forests in the south-west of Hoshangabad, and further in the district of Betul, where they are most numerous in the western portion on the Tapti. Farther east they are found in the Mahadeo Hills in the north of Chhindwara. From the south-eastern corner of Betul the frontier line crosses into Berar, where Kîrkîs are thinly scattered in the Morsi Taluka of Amraoti, while they are found in considerable numbers in the Melghat Taluka of Ellichpur and the adjoining parts of Akola. There are only very few speakers found outside this area. Some Kîrkîs were originally returned from the Sarguja State in Chota Nagpur under the name of Kó®kî. It has already been mentioned that Kó®kî is, in this case, a miswriting for Kó®â-kî, one of the names used to denote the Korwâs.

Dialects. There is only one sub-dialect of Kîrkî, the so-called Muwâsí, spoken in Chhindwara. It does not differ much from ordinary Kîrkî. The Nahâlí dialect of Nimar is now a mixed form of speech. There are, however, some indications which point to the conclusion that the original base of the dialect was related to Kîrkî, and Nahâlí will therefore be dealt with in connexion with this this language. It is different from Nâharí, a broken form of Halbí spoken in the Kanker State, and from Naharí, a Bhíl dialect spoken in Nasík and Sargana.

Number Of Speakers. The number of speakers of Kîrkî has been estimated for the purposes of this Survey as follows: Central Provinces- Hoshangabad and Makrai 25,300 Nimar 5,700 Betul 13,400 Chhindwara 8,360 ------Total Central Provinces 70,760 Berar-

1 Linguistic Survey of India.

555 Amraoti 480 Akola 1,434 Ellichpur 35,010 ------Total Berar 36,924 ------Grand Total 107,684

The Nimar figures include the speakers of Nahâlí.

Kuruba.: -Though plucky in hunting bears and leopards, the Kurubas1 at Hospet were exceedingly fearful of myself and my methods, and were only partially ingratiated by an offer of a money prize at one of the wrestling combats, in which they delight, and of which I had a private exhibition. The wrestlers, some of whom were splendid specimens of muscularity, had the moustache clipped short, and hair clean shaved at the back of the head, so that there was none for the adversary to grip. One man, at the entreaties of an angry spouse, was made to offer up the silver coin, presented by me in return for the loan of his body for measurement, as bad money at the shrine of Udachallama, together with two annas of his own as a peace-offering to the goddess. The wives of two men (brothers), who came to me for measurement, were left sobbing in the village. One, at the last moment, refused to undergo the operation, on the principle that one should be taken, and the other left. A man was heard, at question time, to mutter "Why, when we are hardworking and poor, do we keep our hair, while this rich and lazy Sâhib has gone bald?" Another (I believe, the tame village lunatic) was more complimentary, and exclaimed "We natives are the betel leaf and nut. You, Sir, are the chunam (lime), which makes them perfect."

Many of the Kurubas wear charms in the form of a string of black sheep's wool, or thread tied round the arm or neck, sometimes with sacred ashes wrapped inside, as a vow to some minor deity, or a four anna piece to a superior deity. A priest wore a necklet of rudrâksha (Elaocarpus Ganitrus) beads, and a silver box, containing the material for making the sacred marks on the forehead, and a pendent from a loin string. His child wore a similar necklet, a copper ornament engraved with cabalistic devices, and silver plate bearing a figure of Hanumân, as all his other children had died, and a piece of pierced pottery from the burial- ground, to ward off whooping-cough, suspended round the neck. In colour-scale the Kurubas vary enormously, from very dark to light brown. The possessor of the fairest skin, and the greatest development of adipose tissue, was a sub-magistrate. At Hospet, many had bushy mutton-chop whiskers. Their garments consisted of a tight fitting pair of short drawers, white turban, and black kambli (blanket), which does duty as overcoat, umbrella, and sack for bringing in grass from the outlying country.

Some of the Kurubas are petty land-owners, and raise crops of cholam (Andropogon Sorghum), rice, Hibiscus cannabinus, etc. Others are owners of sheep, shepherds, weavers, cultivators, and stone-masons. The munufacture of coarse bleakest for wearing apparel is, to a very large extent, carried on by the Kurubas. In connection with this industry, I may quote the following extracts from my "Monograph on the woollen fabric industry of the Madras Presidency" (1898).

Bellary. In the Bellary Manual (1872), it is stated that "cumblies are the great article of export, and the rugs made in the Kîdligi tâluk are in great demand, and are sent to all parts of the country. They are manufactured of various qualities, from the coarse elastic cumbly used in packing raw cotton, priced about six annas, to a fine kind of blanket, priced Rs. 6 to 8. In former times, a much finer fabric was manufactured from the wool of the lamb when six

1 See Thurston.

556 months old, and cumblies of this kind sold for Rs. 50 or Rs. 60. These are no longer made." Coarse blankets are at present made in 193 villages, the weavers being mostly Kurubas, who obtain the wool locally, sun-dry it, and spin it into thread, which is treated with a watery paste of tamarind seeds. The weaving is carried out as in the case of an ordinary cotton cloth, the shuttle being a piece of wood hollowed out on one side. Inside the ruined Marâtha fort at Sandîr dwells a colony of Kurubas, whose profession is blanket weaving. The preliminary operations are performed by the women, and the weaving is carried out by the men, who sit each in his own pit, while they pass the shuttle through the warp with repeated applications of tamarind paste from a pot at their side.

Kurnool. Blankets are manufactured in 39 villages. Sheep's wool is beaten and cleaned, and spun into yarn with hand spindles. In the case of the mutaka, or coarse cumblies used by the poorer classes, the thread used for the warp is well rubbed with a gruel made of tamarind seeds before being fitted up in the loom, which is generally in the open air. In the case of jadi, or cumblies of superior quality used as carpets, gruel is not used before weaving. But, when they are taken off the loom, the weavers spread them out tight on a country cot, pour boiling water over them, and rub them well with their hands, until the texture becomes thick and smooth.

Kistna. Both carpets and blankets are made at Masulipatam, and blankets only, to a considerable extent, in the Gudivâda tâluk. The Tahsildar of Nuzvíd, in several villages of which tâluk the blanket weaving industry is carried on, gives me the following note. The sheep, of which it is intended to shear the wool, are first bathed before shearing. If the wool is not all of the same colour, the several colours are picked out, and piled up separately. This being done, each separate pile is beaten, not as a shoal, but bit by bit, with a light stick of finger thickness. Then the cleaning process is carried out, almost in the way adopted by cotton-spinners, but with a smaller bow. Then the wool is spun into yarn with the help of a thin short piece of stick, near the bottom of which a small flat, circular or square weight of wood or pot-stone (steatite) is attached, so as to match the force of the whirling given to the stick on the man's thigh. After a quantity of yarn has been prepared, a paste is smeared over it, to stiffen it, so that it can be easily passed through the loom. The paste is prepared with kajagaddalu, or tamarind seeds, when the former is not available. Kajagaddalu is a weed with a bulbous root, sometimes as large as a water-melon. The root is boiled in water, and the thin coating which covers it is removed while it is still hot. The root is then reduced to a pulp by beating in a mortar with frequent sprinkling of water. The pulp is mixed with water, to make it sticky, and applied to the yarn. Tamarind seeds are split in two, and soaked in water for several hours. The outer coating then becomes detached, and is removed. The seeds are beaten into a fine flour, and boiled until this acquires the necessary consistency. They are then made into a paste with water, and applied to the yarn.

Madura. Coarse blankets are manufactured to a small extent by Kuruba women in twenty- two villages of the Mélîr, Dindigul, and Palni tâluks.

In the province of Mysore, parts of Chitaldrîg and the town of Kolar are noted for the manufacture of a superior kind of blanket, of fine texture like homespun, by Kurubas. The wool is spun by the women.

By one section of the Kurubas, called Sunnata or Vasa (new) only white blankets are said to be made.

The personal names of Kurubas are derived from their gods, Basappa, Lingappa, Narasimba, Huliga, etc., with Ayya, Appa, or Anna as affixes. An educational officer tells me that, when conduction a primary examination, he came across a boy named Mondrolappa after Sir Thomas Munro, who still lives in the affections of the people.

557 "It has," Mr. H. A. Stuart writes,1 "been suggested that the name Kuruba is a derivative of the Canarese root kuru, sheep (cf. Tamil kori); but it has been protested that the Kurumbas were not originally a purely shepherd tribe, and it is contended that the particular kind of sheep called kori is so called because it is the sheep of the Kurumbas. Again, the ancient lexicographer of the Tamil language, Pingala Muni, defines Kurumban as Kurunila Mannar, or petty chieftains. But the most common derivation is from the Tamil kurumbu, wickedness, so that Kurumban means a wicked man. With this may be compared the derivation of Kallan form kalavu, theft, and the Kallans are now generally believed to have been closely connected with, if not identical with the original Kurumbas. On the other hand, the true derivation may be in the other direction, as in the case of the Slavs. The language of the Kurumbas is a dialect of Canarese, and not of Tamil, as stated by Bishop Caldwell. It resembles the old Canarese." Concerning the affinities of the Kurubas, Mr. Stuart states that "they are the modern representatives of the ancient Pallavas, who were once so powerful in Southern India. In the seventh century, the power of the Pallava kings seems to have been at its zenith, though very little trace of their greatness now remains; but soon after this, the Kongu, Chóla, and C¡hâlukya chiefs succeeded in winning several victories over them, and the final overthrow of the Kurumba sovereignty was effected by the Chóla King Adondai about the eight century A.D., and the Kurumbas were scattered far and wide. Many fled to the hills, and, in the Nílgiris and Wynâd, in Coorg and Mysore, representatives of this ancient race are now found as wild and uncivilised tribes." Let me call anthropometric evidence, and compare the Kurubas of Mysore and Bellary with the jungle Kurumbas to the Nílgiris and the allied Kâdirs and Mala Védars, by means of the two important physical characters, stature and nasal index.

Statu. Statu. Statu. Nasal Nasal Nasal Aver. Maxi Mini index. index. index. mum. mum. Aver. Maxi. Mini. cm. cm. cm. Kurubas, 163.9 176.4 155 73.2 85.9 62.3 Mysore Kurubas, 162.7 175.4 153.4 74.9 92.2 63.3 Bellary Kurumbas, 157.5 163.6 149.6 88.8 111.1 79.1 Nílgiris Kâdirs 157.7 169.4 148.6 89.8 115.4 72.9

Mala Védars 154.2 163.8 140.8 84.9 102.6 71.1

In this table, the wide gap which separates the domesticated Kurubas of the Mysore Province and the adjacent Bellary district from the conspicuously platyrrhine and short-statured Kurumbas and other jungle tribes, stands out prominently before any one who is accustomed to deal on a large scale with bodies and noses. And I confess that like to regard the Kurumbas, Mala Védars, Kâdirs, Paniyans, and other allied tribes of short stature with broad noses as the archaic existing inhabitants of the south of the Indian peninsula, and as having dwelt in the jungles, unclothed, and living on roots, long before the seventh century. The question of the connection between Kurubas and Kurumbas is further discussed in the note on the latter tribe.

The popular tradition as to the origin of the caste is as follows. Originally the Kurubas were Kâpus. Their ancestors were Masi Reddi and Nílamma, who lived on the eastern ghâts by selling firewood, and had six sons. Taking pity on their poverty, Shiva came begging to their house in the disguise of a Jangam, and gave Nílamma some sacred ashes, while promising

1. Manual Of the North Arcot district.

558 prosperity through the birth of another son, who was called Undala Padmanna. The family became prosperous through agriculture. But, unlike his six brothers, Undala Padmanna never went out to work in the fields. They accordingly contrived to get rid of him by asking him to set fire to some brushwood concealing a white-ant hill, in the hope that the snake within it would kill him. But, instead of a snake, an innumerable host of sheep appeared. Frightened at the sight of these strange black beasts, Undala Padmanna took to his heels. But Siva appeared, and told him that they were created for his livelihood, and that he should rear them, and live by their milk. He taught him how to milk the sheep and boil the milk, and sent him to a distant town, which was occupied by Râkshasas, to fetch fire. There the giants were keeping in bondage a Brâhman girl, who fell in love with Undala Padmanna. They managed to escape from the clutches of the Râkshasas by arranging their beds over deep pits, which were dug for their destruction. To save her lover, the girl transformed him into a lizard. She then went with him to the place where his flock was, and Undala Padmanna married a girl of his own caste, and had male offspring by her as well as the Brâhman. At the marriage of these sons, a thread kankanam (bracelet) was tied to the wrist of the caste woman's offspring, and a woollen kankanam to that of the Brâhman girl's son's. The sons of the former were, therefore, called Atti (cotton) Kankanadavaru, and those of the latter Unni (woollen) Kankanadavaru. The latter are considered inferior, as they are of hybrid origin. A third sub-division is that of the Andé Kurubas, named after the small vessel (andé) used in milking goats. In a note on the Kurubas of Álîr, Thikka, meaning a simpleton, is given as the name of an important division. It is noted in the Mysore Census Report, 1901, that the Kurubas have not taken kindly to education, and are by nature so simple that Kuruba has, in some places, become a byword for a simpleton. The Kurubas are also known as Hâlu Mata, or milk caste, as they believe that were created out of milk by Révana Siddéswara. In Hindustani they are called Dhangars, or rich people. Some, in spite of their poor dress and appearance, are well-to-do. At the Madras census, 1901, Kâvâdiga Kumpani, and Râyarvamsam (Râja's clan) were returned by some members of the community. In Mysore, the Kurubas are said1 to be divided into Handé Kurubas and Kurubas proper, who have no intercourse with one another. The latter worship Bire Dévaru, and are Saivites. According to another account, the Hâlu Kurubas of Mysore have sub-divisions according to the day of the week, on which they offer pîja to their god, e.g., Aditya Vârada (Sunday), Brihaspati Vârada (Thursday), Sóma Vârada (Monday).

"The Kurubas," Mr. H.A. Stuart writes, "are again sub-divided into clans or groups, each having a headman or guru called a gaudu, who gives his name to the clan. And the clans are again sub-divided into gótras or septs, which are mostly of totemistic origin, and retain their totemistic character to this day. The Arlsana gótram is particularly worthy of notice. The name means saffron (turmeric), and this was originally taboo; but as this caused inconvenience, the korra grain has been substituted, although the old name of the sept was retained."

Exogamous septs: Agin, fire. Alige, drum. Andara, booth. Áné, elephant. Arashina or Arisana, turmeric. Árathi, wave offering. Ari, ebony. Ariya, noble. Ávu, snake. Bendi, cart. Banni (Prosopis).

1. Mysore Census Report, 1901.

559 Basalé (Basella rubra). Batlu, cup. Belata (Feronia elephantum). Belli, silver. Bélu (Aegle Marmelos). Bendé (Hibiscus esculentus). Benisé, flint. Bévu or Bevina (Melia Azadirachta). Bínu, roll of woollen thread. Bola, bangle. Chandra, moon. Chélu, scorpion. Chilla (Strychnos potatorum). Chinna or Sinnata, gold. Déva, a tree. Emmé, buffalo. Gâli, devil. Gauda, headman. Gulimi, pick-axe. Hâlu, milk. Hatti, hut. Honnungara, gold ring. Ibâbire, tortoise. Irula, darkness. Iruvu, black ant. Jelakuppa, a fish. Jírige, cummin. Jívala, an insect. Kalle, bengal gram. Kanchu, bell-metal. Kavada, coloured border of a cloth. Kombu, stick Kori, blanket. Mânâ, measure. Malli, jasmine. Menusu, pepper. Minchu, metal toe-ring. Míse, moustache. Mugga, loom. Muttu, pearl. Nâli, bamboo tube. Nâyi, dog. Othu, goat. Putta, ant-hill; snake hole. Ratna, precious stones. Sâmanti or Sâvanti (Chrysanthemum). Sâmé (millet: Panicum miliare). Samudra, ocean. Sankhu, conch-shell. Sarige, lace. Sîrya, sun. Thuppa, clarified butter. Turaka, Muhammadan. Ungara, ring. Uppiri, earth-salt.

560 The titles of members of the caste are Gauda or Heggade, and the more prosperous go by the name of Kaudikiaru, a corruption of Gaudikiaru. Many, at the present day, have adopted the title Nâyakkan. Some are called Gorava Vândlu.

According to Mr. Stuart, "each community of Kurubas, residing in a group of villages, has a headman or Gaudu. He acts the part of pîjâri or priest in all their ceremonies, presides over their tribal meetings, and settles disputes. He is paid four annas, or, as they call it, one rîka per house per annum. He is a strict vegetarian, and will not eat with other Kurubas." The headman or guru of the caste in Bellary goes by the name of Révana Siddéswara, and he wears the lingam, and follows the Lingâyat creed. Sometimes he dines with his people, and on these occasions, new cooking pots must be used. He exercise the power of inflicting fines, excommunicating those who have had illicit intercourse with Bóyas, Muhammadans, and others, etc. The Kurubas in Bellary and Anaírarpîr are said to pay three pice to their guru for every blanket which they sell. Among both Kurubas and Bédars, a special building, built by public subscription, and called the katta-illu or châvadi, is set apart for council meetings, at which tribal affairs are discussed and decided.

Puberty rites When a girl reaches puberty, she is kept in a corner of the house for eight days. On the ninth day she bathes, and food is taken to her by an old woman of the house. Kuruba women are invited to be present in the evening. The girl, covered with a blanket, is seated on a raised place. Those assembled throw rice over her feet, knees, shoulders, and head, and into her lap. Coloured turmeric and lime water is then waved three or five times round her, and râvikes (body-cloths) are presented to her.

Marriage rites The following account of the marriage ceremonial was recorded in Western Bellary. When a marriage has been settled between the parents of the young people, visits are exchanged by the two families. On a fixed day, the contracting couple sit on a blanket at the bride's house, and five women throw rice over five parts of the body as at the menstrual ceremony. Betel leaves and areca-nuts are placed before them, of which the first portion is set apart for the god Bírappa, the second for the Gauda, another for the house god, and so on up to the tenth. A general distribution then takes place. The ceremony, which is called sâkshi villya or witness betel-leaf, is brought to a conclusion by waving in front of the couple a brass vessel, over the mouth of which five betel leaves and a ball of ashes are placed. They then prostrate themselves before the guru. For the marriage ceremony, the services of the guru, a Jangam, or a Brâhman priest, are called into requisition. Early on the wedding morning, the bridal couple are anointed and washed. A space, called the irâni square, is marked out by placing at the four corners a pot filled with water. Round each pot a cotton thread is wound five times. Similar thread is also tied to the milk-post of the marriage pandal (booth), which is made of pípal (ficus religious) wood. Within the square a pestle, painted with red and white stripes, is placed, on which the bride and bridegroom, with two young girls, seat themselves. Rice is thrown over them, and they are anointed and washed. To each a new cloth is given, in which they dress themselves, and the wrist-thread (kankanam) is tied on all four. Presents are given by relations, and ârathi (red water) is waved round them. The bridegroom is decorated with a bâshingam (chaplet of flowers), and taken on a bull to a Hanumân shrine along with his best man. Cocoanuts, camphor, and betel are given to the priest as an offering to the god. According to another account, both bride and bridegroom go to the shrine, where a matron ties on their foreheads chaplets of flowers, pearls, etc. At the marriage house a dais has been erected close to the milk-post, and covered with a blanket, on which a mill-stone and basket filled with cholum (Andropogon sorghum) are placed. The bridegroom, standing with a foot on the stone and the bride with a foot on the basket, the gold tâli, after it has been touched by five married women is tied round the bride's neck by the officiating priest, while those assembled throw rice over the happy pair, and bless them. According to another

561 version, a bed-sheet is interposed as a screen, so that the bride and bridegroom cannot see each other. On the three following days, the newly-married couple sit on the blanket, and rice is thrown over them. In Western Bellary, the bridegroom, on the third day, carries the bride on his waist to Hanumân temple, where married women throw rice over them. On the fifth morning, they are once more anointed and washed within the irâni square, and, towards evening, the bride's father hands her over to her husband, saying "She was until this time a member of my sept and house." On the night of the sixth day, a ceremony called booma idothu (food placing) is performed. A large metal vessel (gangâlam) is filled with rice, ghí (clarified butter), curds, and sugar. Round this some of the relations of the bride and bridegroom sit, and finish off the food. The number of those who partake thereof must be an odd one, and they must eat the food as quickly as possible. If anything goes wrong with them, while eating or afterwards, it is regarded as omen of impending misfortune. Some even consider it as an indication of the bad character of the bride.

Concerning the marriage ceremony of the Kurubas of North Arcot, Mr. Stuart writes as follows. "As a preliminary to the marriage, the bridegroom's father observes certain marks or curls on the head of the proposed bride. Some of these are believed to forebode prosperity, and others only to the family, into which the girl enters. They are, therefore, very cautious in selecting only such girls as possess curls (suli) of good fortune. This curious custom, obtaining among this primitive tribe, is observed by others only on the case of the purchase of cows, bulls, and horses. One of the good curls is the bâshingam found on the forehead: and the bad ones are the péyanâkallu at the back of the head, and the edirsuli near the right temple. But widowers seeking for wives are not generally particular in this respect. [As bad curls are supposed to cause the death of the man who is their possessor, she is, I am informed, married to a widower.] The marriage is celebrated in the bridegroom's house, and if the bride belongs to a different village, she is escorted to that of the bridegroom, and is made to wait in a particular spot outside it, selected for the occasion. On the first day of the marriage, pîrna kumbam, a small decorated vessel containing milk or ghí, with a two-anna piece and a cocoanut placed on the betel leaf spread over the mouth of it, is taken by the bridegroom's relations to meet the bride's party. There the distribution of pân supâri takes place, and both parties return to the village. Meanwhile, the marriage booth is erected, and twelve twigs of nâval (Eugenia Jambolana) are tied to the twelve pillars, the central or milk post, under which the bridal pair sit, being smeared with turmeric, and a yellow thread being tied thereto. At an auspicious hour of the third day, the couple are made to sit in the booth, the bridegroom 1 facing the east, and the bride facing west. On a blanket spread near the kumbam, 2 2 measures of rice, a tâli or bottu, one cocoanut, betel leaf and camphor are placed. The Gaudu places a ball of vibhîti (sacred ashes) thereon, breaks a cocoanut, and worships the kumbam, while camphor is burnt. The Gaudu next takes the tâli, blesses it, and gives it to the bridegroom, who ties it round the bride's neck. The Gaudu then, throwing rice on the heads of the pair, recites a song, in which the names of various people are mentioned, and concluding with 'On! happy girl; Oh! prosperous girl; Basava has come; remove your veil.' The girl then removes her veil, and the men and women assembled throw rice on the heads of the bridal pair. The ends of their garments are then tied together, and two girls and three boys are made to eat out of the plates placed before the married couple. A feast to all their 1 relations completes the ceremony. The Gaudu receives 2 measures of rice, five handfuls of 2 nuts and betel leaf, and twelve saffron's (pieces of turmeric) as his fee. Even though the girl has attained puberty, the nuptial ceremony is not coincident with the wedding, but is celebrated a few months later." In like manner, among the Kammas, Gangimakkulu, and other classes, consummation does not take place until three months after the marriage ceremony, as it is considered unlucky to have three heads of a family in a household during the first year of marriage. By the delay, the birth of a child should take place only in the second year, so that, during the first year, there will be only two heads, husband and wife. At a marriage among the Kurubas of the Madura district, a chicken is waved in front of the

562 couple, to avert the evil eye. The maternal uncle's consent to a marriage is necessary, and at the wedding, he leads the bride to the pandal. A Kuruba may, I am informed, marry two sisters, either on the death of one of them, or if his first wife has no issue, or suffers from an incurable disease. Some twenty years age, when an unmarried Kuruba girl was taken to a temple, to be initiated as a Basavi (dedicated prostitute), the caste men prosecuted the father as a protest against the practice.

Birth In the North Arcot district, according to Mr. Stuart, "the mother and child remain in a separate hut for the first ten days after delivery. On the eleventh day, all the Kuruba females of the village bring each a pot of hot water, and bathe the mother and child. Betel and nuts are distributed, and all the people of the village eat in the mother's house. On the next market day, her husband, with some of his male friends. goes to a neighbouring market, and consults with a Korava or Yerukala what name is to be given to the child, and the name he mentions is then given to it." In a case which came before the police in the Bellary district in 1907, a woman complained that her infant child had been taken away, and concealed in the house of another woman, who was pregnant. The explanation of the abduction was that there is a belief that, if a pregnant woman keeps a baby in her bed, she will have no difficulty at the time of delivery.

Remarriage of widows is permitted. The ceremony is performed in a temple or dark room, and the tâli is tied by a widow, a woman dedicated to the deity, or a Dâsayya (mendicant) of their own caste. According to another account, a widow is not allowed to wear a tâli, but is presented with a cloth. Hence widow marriage is called Siré Udiki. Children of widows are married into families in which no widow remarriage has taken place, and are treated like ordinary members of the community.

In Western Bellary I gathered that the dead are buried, those who have been married with the face upwards, others with the face downwards. The grave is dug north and south, and the head is placed to the south. Earth is thrown into the grave by relations before it is filled in. A mound is raised over it, and three stones are set up, over the head, navel, and feet. The eldest son of the deceased places on his left shoulder a pot filled with water, in the bottom of which three small holes are made, through which the water escapes. Proceeding from the spot beneath which the head rests, he walks round the grave, and then drops the pot so that it falls on the mound, and goes home without looking back. This ceremony is a very important one with both Kurubas and Bédars. In the absence of a direct heir, he who carries the pot claims the property of the deceased, and is considered to be the inheritor thereof. For the propitiation of ancestors, cooked rice and sweetmeats, with a new turban and cloth or petticoat, according to the sex of the deceased, are offered up. Ancestors who died childless, unless they left property, do not receive homage. It is noted, in the Bellary Gazetteer, that "an unusual rite is in some cases observed after deaths, a pot of water being worshipped in the house on the eleventh day after the funeral, and taken the next morning and emptied in some lonely place. The ceremony is named the calling back of the dead, but its real significance is not clear."

Of the death ceremonies in the North Arcot district, Mr. Stuart writes that "the son, or, in his absence, a near relative goes round the grave three times, carrying a pot of water, in which he makes a hole at each round. On the third round he throws down the pot, and returns home straight, without turning his face towards the direction of the grave. For three days, the four carriers of the bier are not admitted into their houses, but they are fed at the cost of the deceased's heir. On the third day, cooked rice, a fowl and water are taken to the burial- ground, and placed near the gave, to be eaten by the spirit of the dead. The son, and all his relations, return home, beating on their mouths. Pollution is observed for ten days, and, on the eleventh day, sheep and fowls are killed, and a grand feast is given to the Kurumbas of the village. Before the feast commences, a leaf containing food is placed in a corner of the

563 house, and worshipped. This is removed on the next morning, and placed over the roof, to be eaten by crows. If the deceased be a male, the glass bangles worn by his wife on her right arm are broken on the same day."

The patron saint of the Kurubas is Bírappa or Bíradévaru, and they will not ride on horses or ponies, as these are the vehicles of the god. But they worship, in addition, various minor deities, e.g., Uligamma, Mallappa, Anthargattamma, Kencharâya, and have their house gods, who are worshipped either by a house or by an entire exogamous sept. In some places, Mâriamma and Sunkulamma are worshipped on Tuesday and Friday, and the sheep and other offerings are the prerequisite of Bóyas, Mâlas, and Mâdigas. Some families of Kuruba Dâsaris reverence a goddess called Hombâlamma, who is worshiped secretly by a pîjâri (priest) at dead of night. Everything used in connection with the rite is buried or otherwise disposed of before morning. The Kurubas show reverence for the jammi tree (Prosopis spicigera) and sahwatham (ficus religiosa) by not cutting them. It was noticed by Mr. F. Fawcett that, at the temples of the village goddesses Wannathamma and Durgamma in the Bellary district, an old Kuruba woman performs the daily worship. In the mantapam of the temple at Lépâkshi, in the Anantapur district, "is the sculptured figure of a man leaning his chin upon his hands, which is said to represent a Kuruba who once acted as mediator between the builder of the temple and his workmen in a dispute about wages, The image is still bathed in oil, and worshipped by the local Kurubas, who are proud of the important part played by their casteman."1 In Mysore, the Kurubas are said to worship a box, which they believe contains the wearing apparel of Krishna under the name of Junjappa. One of the goddesses worshipped by the Kurubas is named Kélu Dévaru or Mané Hennu Dévaru, the pot or household deity. She is worshipped annually at the Dasara festival, and, on occasions of marriage, just before the tâli is tied. The pot is made by kumbâra (potter), who is well paid for his work. During its manufacture, he has to take only one meal daily, and to avoid pollution of all kinds. The clay should be kneaded with the hands, and wetted with the milk of tender cocoanuts, and water. When at work on it, the potter should close his mouth with a bandage, so that his breath may not defile the pot. The Kurubas who are settled in the Madura district reverence Víra Lakkamma (Lakshmi) as their family deity, and an interesting feature in connection with the worship of their goddess is that cocoanuts are broken on the head of a special Kuruba, who becomes possessed by the deity.

The Kurubas are ancestor worshippers, and many of them have in their possession golden discs called hithâradha tâli, with the figures of one or more human beings stamped on them. The discs are made by Akasâles (goldsmiths), who stamp them from steel dies. They are either kept in the house, or worn round the neck by women. If the deceased was a celebrity in the community, a large plate is substituted for a disc.

Concerning the religion of the Kurubas, Mr. Francis writes as follows. "The most striking point about the caste is its strong leaning towards the Lingâyat faith. Almost everywhere, Jangams are called in as priests, and allegiance to the Lingâyat maths (religious institutions) is acknowledged, and in places (Kâmalâpuram for example), the ceremonies at weddings and funerals have been greatly modified in the direction of the Lingâyat pattern."2 "In the North Arcot district, the Gaudu is entrusted with the custody of a golden image representing the hero of the clan, and keeps it carefully in a small box filled with turmeric powder. There are also some images set up in temples built for the purpose. Once a year, several neighbouring clans assemble at one of their bigger temples, which is lighted with ghí, and placing their images in a row, offer to them flowers, cocoanuts, milk, etc., but they do not slay any victim. On the last day of their festival, the Kurumbas take a bath, worship a bull, and break cocoanuts upon the heads of pîjâris who have an hereditary right to this distinction, and upon the head of the sacred bull. Some Kurumbas do not adopt this apparently inhuman practice.

1. Gazetteer of the Anantapur district. 2. Gazetteer of the Bellary district.

564 A pîjâri or priest, supposed to have some supernatural power, officiates, and begins by breaking a few nuts on the heads of those nearest to him, and then the rest go on, the fragments belonging by right to those whose skulls have cracked them, and who value the pieces as sacred morsels of food. For a month before this ceremony, all the people have taken no meat, and for three days the pîjâris have lived on fruits and milk alone. At the feast, therefore, all indulge in rather immoderate eating, but drink no liquor, calling excitedly upon their particular god to grant them a prosperous year. The temples of this caste are usually rather extensive, but rude, low structures, resembling an enclosed mantapam supported upon rough stone pillars, with a small inner shrine, where the idols are placed during festival time. A wall of stone encloses a considerable space round the temple, and this is covered with small structures formed of four flat stones, three being the walls, and the fourth the roof. The stone facing the open side has a figure sculptured upon it, representing the deceased Gaudu, or pîjari, to whom it is dedicated. For each person of rank one of these monuments is constructed, and here periodically, and always during the annual feasts, pîja is made not only to the spirits of the deceased chiefs, but also to those of all who have died in the clan. It seems impossible not to connect this with those strange structures called by the natives Pândava's temples. They are numerous where the Kurumbas now found, and are known to have been raised over the dead. Though the Kurumbas bury, they do not now raise their monuments over the resting place of the corpse. Nor can they build them upon anything approaching to the gigantic scale of the ancient kistvaen or dolmen."1 It was noted by a correspondent of the Indian Antiquary2 that in the Kaladgi district, he came across the tomb of a Kuruba only four years old. It was a complete miniature dolmen about eighteen inches every way, composed of four stones, one at each side, one at the rear, and a cap-stone. The interior was occupied by two round stones about the size of a man's fist, painted red, the deceased resting in his mother earth below. In the open country near Kadîr in Mysore, is a shrine of Bíradévaru, which consists of four stone pillars several feet in height surmounted by flat slabs as a cap-stone, within which the deity is represented by round stones, and stones with snakes carved on them are deposited. Within the Kuruba quarter of the town, the shrine of Anthargattamma is a regular dolmen beneath a margosa (Melia Azadirachta) tree, in which the goddess is represented by rounded stones imbedded in amount of earth. Just outside the same town, close to a pípal tree (Ficus religiosa) are two smaller dolmen-like structures containing stones representing two Kuruba Dâsaris, one a centenarian, who are buried there.

"The village of Maliar, in the Hdagalli tâluk of the Bellary districts, contains a Siva temple, which is famous throughout the district for an annual festival held there in the month of February. This festival has now dwindled more or less into a cattle fair. But the fame of the temple continues as regard the Kâranika, which is a cryptic sentence uttered by a priest, containing a prophecy of the prospect of the agricultural season of the ensuing year. The pîjâri of the temple is a Kuruba. They feast in the temple for ten days. On the last day of the feast, the god Siva is represented as returning victorious from the battlefield after having slain Mall with a huge bow. He is met half-way from the field of battle by the goddess. The huge wooden bow is brought, and placed on end before the god. The Kuruba priest climbs up the bow as it is held up by two assistants, and then gets on the shoulders of these men. In this posture he stands rapt in silence for a few minutes, looking in several directions. He then begins to quake and quiver from head to foot. This is the sign of the spirit of the Siva god possessing him-- the sign of the divine afflatus upon him. A solemn silence holds the assembly, for the time of the Kâranika has approached. The shivering Kuruba utters a cryptic sentence, such as Ákâsakké sidlu bodiyuttu, or thunder struck the sky. This is at once copied down, and interpreted as a prophecy that there will be much rain in the year to come. Thus every year, in the month of February, the Kâranika of Mailar is uttered and copied, and kept by all in the district as a prophecy. This kâranika prognostication is also pronounced now at

1. Manual of the North Arcot district. 2. W.F.S. Ind. Ant., VI, 1877.

565 the Mallari temple in the Dharwar district at Nerakini in the Álîr tâluk, and at Mailar Lingappa in the Harapanahalli tâluk."1 The rule of inheritance among the Kurubas is said2 to differ very little from that current among Hindus, but the daughters, if the deceased has no son, share equally with the agnates. They belong to the right-hand factions, and have the privilege of passing through the main bazârs in processions. Some Mudalis and 'Naidus' are said to have no objection to eat, drink, and smoke with Kurubas. Gollas and some inferior flesh-eating Kâpus will also do so.

Kuruman.: -See Kurumba

Kurumba.: -or Kuruman.3- As being on the disputed question of the connection between the Kurumbas who dwell in the jungle, and the Kurubas (shepherds and weavers) who live in the plains and open country, I may quote the evidence of various witnesses: Madras Census Report, 1891: "The Kurumbas or Kurumbas are the modern representatives of the ancient Kurumbas or Pallavas, who were once so powerful throughout Southern India, but very little trace of their greatness now remains. In the seventh century, the power of the Pallava kings seems to have been at its zenith; but, shortly after this, the Kongu, Chóla, and Châlîkya chiefs succeeded in winning several victories over them. The final overthrow of the Kurumba sovereignty was effected by the Chóla king Adondai about the seventh or eighth century A.D. and the Kurumbas were scattered far and wide. Many fled to the hills, and in the Nígiris and the Wynâd, in Coorg and Mysore, representatives of this ancient race are now found as wild and uncivilised tribes. Elsewhere the Kurumbas are more advanced, and are usually shepherds, and weavers of coarse woollen blankets." "Kuruman.- This caste is found in the Nílgiris and the Wynâd, with a slight sprinkling in the Nilambîr and Attapâdi hills in Malabar. Their principal occupations are wood-cutting, and the collection of forest produce. The name is merely another form of Kurumban, but, as they differ from the ordinary Kurumbas, it seemed better to show them separately. I think, however, that they were originally identical with the shepherd Kurumbans, and their present separation is merely the result of their isolation in the fastnesses of the Western Ghâts, to which their ancestors fled, or gradually retreated after the downfall of the Kurumba dynasty. The name Kurumbranâd, a sub-division of Malabar, still bears testimony to their once powerful position." Madras Census Report, 1901--"Kurumba; Kurumban.-- These two have always been treated as the same caste. Mr. Thurston (Madras Mus. Bull. II, I) thinks they are distinct. I have no new information which will clearly decide the matter, but the fact seems to be that Kurumba, and that the two terms are applied to the same caste according to the language in which it is referred to. There was no confusion in the abstraction offices between the two names, and it will be seen that Kuruba is returned where Canarese and Telugu are spoken, and Kurumban where the vernacular is Tamil. There are two sharply defined bodies of Kurumbans-those who live on the Nílgiri plateau, speak the Kurumba dialect, and are wild junglemen; and those who live on the plains, speak Canarese, and are civilised." Mysore Census Report, 1891-"Kâdu Kurumba or Kurumba.- The tribal name of Kuruba has been traced to the primeval occupation of the race, viz., the tending of sheep. The Uru or civilised Kurubas, who are genuine tillers of the soil, and who are dotted over the country in populous and thriving communities, and many of whom have, under the present 'Pax Britannica,' further developed into enterprising tradesmen and withal lettered Government officials, are the very antipodes of the Kâdu or wild Kurubas or Kurumbas. The latter, like the Iruligâs and Sóligâs, are the denizens of the backwoods of the country, and have been

1. Madras Mail, November 1905. 2. Manual of the North Arcot district. 3 See Thurston.

566 correctly classed under the aboriginal population. The Tamilised classed name of Kurumba is applied to certain clans dwelling on the heights of the Nílgiris, who are doubtless the offshoots of the aboriginal Kâdu Kuruba stock found in Mysore." W. R. King. Aboriginal Tribes of the Hills.-"Kurumbas.-This tribe is of another race from the shepherd Kurumbas. The Nílgiri tribe have neither cattle nor sheep, and in language, dress, and customs, have no affinity whatsoever with their namesakes." G. Oppert. Original Inhabitants of India-- "Kurubas or Kurumbas. However separated from each other, and scattered among the Dravidian clans with whom they have dwelt, and however distant from one another they still live, there is hardly a province in the whole of Bharatavarasha which cannot produce, if not some living remnants of this race, at least some remains of past times which prove their presence. Indeed, the Kurumbas must be regarded as very old inhabitants of this land, who can contest with their Dravidian kinsmen the priority of occupation of the Indian soil. The terms Kuruba and Kuruba are originally identical, though the one form is, in different places, employed for the other, and has thus occasionally assumed a special local meaning. Mr. H.B. Grigg appears to contradict himself when, while speaking of the Kurumbas, he says that "in the low country they are called Kurubas or Cîrubâru, and are divided into such families as Áné or elephant, Nâya or dog, Mâle or hill Kurumbas."1 Such a distinction between mountain Kurumbas and Kurumbas cannot be established. The Rev. G. Richter will find it difficult to prove that the Kurubas of Mysore are only called so as shepherds, and that no connection exists between these Kurubas and the Kurumbas. Mr. Lewis Rice calls the wild tribes as well as the shepherds Kurubas, but seems to overlook the fact that both terms are identical, and refer to only the ethnological distinction." The above extracts will suffice for the purpose of showing that the distinction between the jungle Kurumbas and the more civilised Kurubas, and their relationship towards each other, call for a 'permanent settlement.' And I may briefly place on record the results of anthropometric observations on the jungle Kurumbas of the Nílgiris, and the domesticated Kurubas of Mysore and the Bellary district, whose stature and nasal index (two factors of primary importance) are compared with those of the jungle Paniyans of Malabar and Kâdirs of the Ánaimalai mountains: A glance at the above table at once shows that there is a closer affinity between the three dark-shinned, short, plathyrrhine jungle tribes, than between the jungle Kurumbas and the lighter-skinned, taller, and more leptorhine Kurubas. The domesticated Kurubas rarely dealt with the jungle Kurumbas of Mysore and are divided into "(a) Betta or hill Kurumbas, with sub-divisions called Áné (elephant), Bevina (ním tree: Melia Azadirachta), and Kolli (fire-brand)- a small and active race, capable of great exertion, who are expert woodmen;(b) Jénu or honey Kurumbas, said to be a darker and inferior race, who employ themselves in collecting honey and bees-wax."2

Domestic customs For the following note on the Kâdu Kurumbas I am indebted to the Mysore Census Report, 1891. "There are two clans among them, viz., Bettada and Jénu. The former worship the forest deities Nârâli and Mâstamma; eat flesh and drink liquor, a favourite beverage being prepared from râgi (Eleusine Coracana) flour. Some of their habits and customs are worth mentioning, as indicating their place of civilization. They have two forms of marriage. One is similar to the elaborate ceremony among the Vakkaligas, while the other is the simple one of a formal exchange of betel leaves and areca nuts, which concludes the nuptials. The Kâdu Kurubas can only eat meals prepared by members of the higher castes. During their menstruation, the females live outside the limits of the Hâdi (group of rude huts) for three days. And, in cases of childbirth, none but the wet nurse or other attendant enters the room of the confined woman for ten days. In cases of sickness, no medical treatment is resorted to; on the other hand, exorcisms, charms, incantations, and animal sacrifices are more generally

1. Manual of the Nilgiri district. 2. Mysore Census Report, 1901.

567 in vogue. The male's dress consists of either a bit of cloth to cover their nudity, or a piece of coarse cloth tied round the waist, and reaching to the knees. They wear ornaments of gold, silver, or brass. They are their own barbers, and use broken glass for razors. The females wear coarse cloth four yards long, and have their foreheads tattooed in dots of two or three horizontal lines, and wear ear-rings, glass bangles, and necklaces of black beads. Strangers are not allowed to enter their hâdis or hamlets with shoes or slippers on. In case of death, children are buried, whilst adults are burned. On the occurrence of any untoward event, the whole site is abandoned, and a new hâdi set up in the vicinity. The Kâdu Kurubas are very active, and capable of enduring great fatigue. It is said that they are revengeful, but, if treated kindly, they will do willing service. The Jénu Kurubas live in small detached huts in the interior of thick jungles, far away from inhabited places. Their habits are no less wild. The male dress consists of either a woollen kambli or coarse cloth, and a skull cap. The female's sâdi is white coarse cloth, their ornaments being a pair of brass ear-rings, strings of black beads tied round the neck, and glass bangles on the wrist. These people do not allow to outcasts and Musalmans access to their premises, or permit shoes being brought into their houses or streets. They eat flesh, and take meals from Vakkaligas, Lingâyats, and other superior castes. They subsists on wild bamboo seed, edible roots, etc., found in the jungle, often mixed with honey. They are said not infrequently to make a dessert out of bees in preference to milk, ghí (clarified butter), etc. They are engaged chiefly in felling timber in the forests, and other similar rude pursuits, but they never own or cultivate land for themselves, or keep live-stock of their own. They are very expert in tracking wild animals, and very skilfully elude accidental pursuits thereby. Their children more than two years old move about freely in the jungle. They are said to be hospitable to travellers visiting their place at any unusual hour. They are Saivites, and Jangams are their gurus. The ceremonial pollution on account of death lasts for ten days, as with the Brâhmans. Children are buried, while adults, male or female, are cremated. A curious trait of this primitive race is that the unmarried females of the village or hâdi generally sleep in a hut or châvadi set apart for them, whilst the adult bachelors and children have a separate building both under the eye of the head tribesman. The hut for the latter is called pundugâr châvadi, meaning literally the abode of vagabonds." The Jénu Kurumbas are said to eat, and the Betta Kurumbas to abstain from eating the flesh of the 'bison' (Bos gaurus).

Jénu and Betta Kurumbas In a note on the Jénu and Betta Kurumbas of Mysore, Mr. M. Venkatanarnappa writes as follows. "The Betta are better clothed and fed than the Jén Kurumbas. Their occupation is kumri (burning and shifting) cultivation. Their women are clever at basket-making. They can be distinguished by the method of dress which their women have adopted, and the way in which the men wear their hair. A Betta woman covers her body below the shoulders by tying a long cloth round the armpits, leaving shoulders and arms bare, whereas a Jén woman in good circumstances dresses up like the village females, and, if poor, ties a piece of cloth round her loins, and wears another to partially conceal the upper part of her body. Among males, a Betta Kurumba leaves his hair uncut, and gathers it from fore and aft into a knot on the crown of the head. A Jén Kurumba shaves like the ryots, leaving a tuft behind, or clips it, with a curly or bushy growth to protect the head from heat and cold. The Betta and Jén Kurumbas never intermarry." The Betta Kurumbas are, I am told, excellent elephant mahauts (drivers), and very useful at keddah (elephant-catching) operations.

Of the Kâdu and Betta Kurumbas, as they were at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the following account is given by Buchanan.1 "The bad Curubaru are a rude tribe, who are exceedingly poor and wretched. In the fields near the villages, they build miserable low huts, sexes stands out matted like a mop, and swarms with vermin. Some of them hire themselves out as labouring servants to the farmers, and receive monthly wages. Others, in crop seasons, watch the fields at night, to keep off elephants and wild hogs. In the intervals

1. Journey through Mysore, Canara, and Malabar, 1807.

568 between crops, they work as daily labourers, or go into the woods, and collect the roots of wild yams (Dioscorea), part of which they eat, and part exchange with the farmers for grain. Their manner of driving away the elephant is by running against him with a burning torch made of bamboos. The animal sometimes turns, waits till the Curubaru comes close up; but these poor people, taught by experience, push boldly on, dash their torches against the elephant's head who never fails to take to immediate flight. Should their courage fail, and should they attempt to run away, the elephant would immediately pursue, and put them to death. The Curubaru have no means of killing so large an animal, and, on meeting with one in the day-time, are as much alarmed as any other of the inhabitants. During the Sultan's reign they caught a few in pitfalls. [I have heard of a clever Kurumba, who caught an elephant by growing pumpkins and vegetable marrow, for which elephants have a partiality, over a pit on the outskirts of his field.-E.T.] The wild hogs are driven out of the fields by slings, but they are too fierce for the Curubaru to kill. These people frequently suffer from tigers, against which their wretched huts are a poor defence; and, when this wild beast is urged by hunger, he is senseless to their burning torches. These Curubaru have dogs, with which they catch deer, antelopes, and hares; and they have the art of taking in snares, peacocks, and other esculent birds. They believe that good men, after death, will become benevolent Dévas, and bad men destructive Dévas. They are of such known honesty that on all occasions they are entrusted with provisions by the farmers, who are persuaded that the Curubaru would rather starve than take one grain of what was given to them in charge. The spirits of the dead are believed to appear in dreams to their old people, and to direct them to make offerings to a female deity named Bettada Chicama, that is, the mother of the hill. Unless these offerings are made, this goddess occasions sickness. In cases of adultery, the husband flogs his wife severely, and, if he is able, beats her paramour. If he be not able, he applies to the gaudo (headman), who does it for him." The Betta Curubaru, Buchanan continues, "live in poor huts near the villages, and the chief employment of the men is the cutting of timber, and making of baskets. With a sharp stick they also dig up spots of ground in the skirts of the forest, and sow them with râgi (Eleusine Coracana). The men watch at night the fields of the farmers, but they are not so dexterous at this as the Cad Curubaru. In this class, the Cutigas are women that prefer another man to their husband, or widows, who do not wish to relinquish enjoyment. Their children are not considered as illegitimate."

Of the casual system of clearing the jungle in vogue among the Kurumbas. I may quote the following description.1 "In their search for food, this wild tribe naturally prefers a forest cleared of all undergrowth, in which to move about, and the ingenuity with which they attain this end, and outwit the vigilant forest subordinates, is worthy of a better object. I have heard of a Kurumba walking miles from his hâdi or hamlet, with a ball of dry smouldering elephant dung concealed in his waist-cloth. This he carried to the heart of the forest reserve, and, selecting a suitable spot, he placed the smouldering dung, with a plentiful supply of dry inflammable grass over it, in such a position as to allow the wind to play upon it, and fan it into a flame with the pleasing certainty that the smoke from the fire would not be detected by the watchers on the distant fire-lines until the forest was well alight, the flames beyond all control, and the Kurumba himself safe at home in his awaiting the arrival of the forest subordinate to summon the settlement to assist in the hopeless task of extinguishing the fire."

Of the Kurumbas who are found in the Wynâd, Calicut, and Ernâd tâluks of Malabar, the following account is given in the Gazetteer of that district. "They are sub-divided into Mullu (bamboo) Kurumbas, Jén or Tén (honey) Kurumbans also called Kâdu or Shóla Nâyakkans (or Jénu Koyyo Shóla Nâyakas, i.e., honey cutting lords of the woods), and Œrali or Bét Kurumbans; of which the first-named class, who consider themselves superior to the others, are cultivators and hunters; the second wood-cutters and collectors of honey; and the third make baskets and implements of agriculture. The Mullu and Tén Kurumbans have headmen with titles of Mîppan and Mudali respectively conferred by their janmis (landlords). The

1. Asian, 1902.

569 Kurumbans, like many of the other hill-tribes, use bows and arrows, with which they are expert. The caste deity of the Tén Kurumbans is called Masti. It is perhaps worth remarking that the Œrali Kurumbans of the Wynaad differ from the other two classes in having no headmen, observing a shorter period of pollution after a birth than any other Malabar tribe and none at all after a death, and in not worshipping any of the Malabar animistic deities."

The chief sub-division of the Kurumbas on the Nílgiris, and in the Wynâd, are said, in the Madras Census Report of 1891, to be "Mullu (thorn), Betta or Vetta (hill), Œrâli, (Œr, a village), Tén (honey), and Tac'chanâdan Mîppan (carpenter headman). Of these, the first and last speak Malayâlam, and wear a lock in front of their head in the Malabar fashion. The rest speak Canarese. Œrâli Kurumbas work in metals." The villages of the Kurumbas on the Nílgiri hills are, Mr. Grigg writes1, called mottas. They consists generally of only four or five huts, made of mud and wattle, with thatched roofs. The front of the house is sometimes whitewashed, and ornamented with rude drawings of men and animals in red earth or charcoal. They store their grain in large oval baskets, and for bottles they use gourds. They clear a patch round about the village, and sow the ground with râgi (Eleusine Coracana), tenne(Setaria italica), or kiri (Amarantus). They dig up roots, (called gâsî) for food, and collect the jungle produce, honey, resin, gall-nuts, etc., which they barter with low country traders, and they are clever in catching game in nets, and dispose of the flesh in a surprisingly short time. Kurumbas occasionally take work on coffee plantations, and some earn a livelihood by officiating as priests to the Badagas. They are also employed as musicians at wedding feasts and funerals of the other tribes, where they play on clarionets, drums, and tambourines, as well as the bîguri. They make baskets of rattan and milk vessels out of a joint of bamboo, as well as nets of a thread called oilhatti. Their women confine themselves to the limited work of their households, fetching water, cooking, etc. The following extract embraces all that can be said of the religion of the Kurumbas. "Some profess to worship Siva, and occasionally women mark their foreheads with Siva spot. Others, living near Barliar, worship Kuribattraya (lord of many sheep) and the wife of Siva under the name of Musni. They worship also a rough stone under the name of Hiriadéva, setting it up either in a cave, or in a circle of stones like the so-called Kurumba kóvil of the Badagas, which the latter would seem to have borrowed from the Kurumbas. To this they make pîja, and offer cooked rice at the sowing time. They also profess to sacrifice to Hiriadéva a goat, which they kill at their own houses, after sprinkling water, and eat, giving a portion of flesh to the pîjâri (priest). Others say that they have no pîjâri; among such a scattered tribe customs probably vary in each motta."(Breeks). It is recorded by Dr. Rivers, in connection with the Toda legendary stories of Kwoten, that "one day Kwoten went with Erten of Keadr, who was spoken of as his servant of Poni, in the direction of Polkat (Calicut). At Poni there is a stream called Palpa, the commencement of which may be seen on the Kundahs. Kwoten and Erten went to drink water out of stream at a place where a goddess (teu) named Terkosh had been bathing. Finally, they came to Terkosh, who said to Kwoten, "Do not come near me, I am a teu." Kwoten paid no heed to this, but said "You are a beautiful woman," and lay with her. Then Terkosh went away to her hill at Poni, where she is now, and to this day the Kurumbas go there once a year and offer plantains to her, and light lamps in her honour."

It is further recorded by Dr. Rivers that "two ceremonial objects are obtained by the Todas from the Kurumbas. One is the tall pole called tadri or tadri, which is used in the dance at the second funeral ceremonies, and afterwards burnt. Poles of the proper length are said to grow only on the Malabar side of the Nílgiris, and are probably most easily obtained from the Kurumbas. The other is the teiks, or funeral post at which the buffalo is killed." Besides supplying the Badagas with the elephant-pole required at their funerals, the Kurumbas have to sow the first handful of grain for the Badagas every season. The ceremony is thus described by Harkness.2 "A family of the Burghers (Badagas) had assembled, which was

1. Manual of Nílgiri district. 2. Aboriginal race of the Neilgherry hills, 1832.

570 about to commence ploughing. With them were two or three Kurumbas, one of whom had set up a stone in the centre of the spot on which we were standing, and, decorating it with wild flowers, prostrated himself to it, offered incense, and sacrificed a goat, which had been brought there by the Burghers. He then took the guidance of the plough, and, having ploughed some ten or twelve paces, gave it over, possessed himself of the head of the sacrificed animal, and left the Burghers to prosecute their labours-- the Kurumba sowing the first handful, leaves the Burgher to go on with the remainder, and, reaping the first sheaf, delivers it with the sickle to him, to accomplish the remainder of the task. At harvest time, or when the whole of the grain has been gathered in, the Kurumba receives his dues, or proportion of the produce." The relations of the Kurumbas with the Badagas at the present day, and the share which the former take in the ceremonies of the latter, are dealt with in the account of the Badagas.

I am informed that, among the Kurumbas of the Nílgiris, it is the custom for several brothers to take one wife in common (adelphogamy), and that they do not object to their women being open to others also. There is said to be no marriage rite. A man and woman will mate together, and live as husband and wife. And, if it happens that, in a family, there has been a succession of such wives for one or two generations, it becomes an event, and is celebrated as such. The pair sit together, and pour water over each other from pots. They then put on new cloths, and a feast is partaken of. Among the Shóla Nâyakkars, a feature of the marriage ceremony is said to be for the bride to roll a cheroot of tobacco leaves, which both parties must smoke in turn.

Writing concerning the Irulas and Kurumbas, Mr. Walhouse says1 that "after every death among them, they bring a long water-worn stone (devva kotta kallu), and put it into one of the old cromlechs sprinkled over the Nílgiri plateau. Some of the larger of these have been found piled up to the cap-stone with such pebbles, which must have been the work of generations. Occasionally, too, the tribes mentioned make small cromlechs for burial purposes, and place the long water-worn pebbles in them. Mr. Breeks reports that the Kurumbas in the neighbourhood of the Rangasvâmi peak and Barliar burn their dead, and place a bone and a small round stone in the sâvu-mane (death-house)-- an old cromlech." The conjecture is hazarded by Fergusson2 that the Kurumbas are the remnant of a great and widely spread race, who may have erected dolmens. As bearing on the connection between Kurumbas and Kurubas, it is worthy of note that the latter, in some places, erect dolmes as a resting-place for the dead. (See Kuruba.)

It is noted, in the Gazetteer of the Nílgiris, that the Kurumbas "trade largely on the extraordinary dread of their supposed magical powers which possesses the Todas and the Badagas-- the latter especially. Stories are told of how they can summon wild elephants at will, and reduce rocks to powder merely by scattering mystic herbs upon them."

Sorcery "The Kurumbas," Harkness writes, "have a knowledge of herbs and medicinal roots, and the Burghers (Badagas) say that they limit knowledge thereof to those which are noxious only, and believe that, with the assistance of their magic, they are able to convey them into the stomachs of those to whom they have any dislike. The violent antipathy existing between the Burghers and the Kurumbas, and the dread and horror which the former entertain of the preternatural powers of the latter are perhaps not easily accounted for; but neither sickness, death, nor misfortune of any kind, ever visit the former, without the latter having the credit of producing it. A few years before, a Burgher had been hanged by the sentence of the provincial court for the murder of a Kurumba. The act of the former was not without what was considered great provocation. Disease had attacked the inhabitants of the hamlet, and

1. Ind. Ant., VI, 1877. 2. Rude Stone Monuments.

571 murrain their cattle. The former had carried off a great part of the family of the murdered, and he himself had but narrowly escaped its effects. No one in the neighbourhood doubted that the Kurumba in question had, by his necromancy, caused all this misfortune, and, after several fruitless attempts, a party of them succeeded in surrounding him in open day, and effecting their purpose." In 1835 no less than forty-eight Kurumbas were murdered, and a smaller number in 1875 and 1882. In 1900 a whole family of Kurumbas was murdered, of which the head, who had a reputation as a medicine-man, was believed to have brought disease and death into a Badaga village. The sympathies of the whole country-side were so strongly with the murderers that detection was made every difficult, and the persons charged were acquitted.1 In this case several Todas were implicated. "It is," Mr. Grigg writes, "a curious fact that neither Kota, Irula, or Badaga will slay a Kurumba until a Toda has struck the first blow, but, as soon as his sanctity has been violated by a blow, they hasten to complete the murderous work, which the sacred hand of the Toda had begun." The Badaga's dread of the Kurumba is said to be so great that a simple threat of vengeance has proved fatal. Mr. Toda's guide-- a stalwart representative of his tribe-- expressed fear of walking from Ootacamund to Kotagiri, a distance of eighteen miles along a highroad, lest he should come to grief at the hands of Kurumbas; but this was really a frivolous excuse to get out of accompanying me to a distance from his domestic hearth. In like manner, Dr. Rivers records that, when he went to Kotagiri, a Toda who was to accompany him made a stipulation that he should be provided with a companion, as the Kurambas were very numerous in that part. In connection with the Toda legend of On, who created the buffaloes and the Todas, Dr. Rivers writes that "when On saw that his son was in Amnodr (the world of the dead), he did not like to leave him there alone, and decided to go away to the same place. So he called together all the people, and the buffaloes and the trees, to come and bid him farewell. All the people came except a man of Kwodrdoni named Arsankutan. He and his family did not come. All the buffaloes came except the Arsaiir, the buffaloes of the Kwodroni ti (sacred dairy). Some trees also failed to come. On blessed all the people, buffaloes and trees present, but said that, because Arsankutan had not come, he and his people should die by sorcery at the hands of the Kurumbas, and that, because the Arsaiir had not come, they should be killed by tigers, and that the trees which had not come should bear bitter fruit. Since that time the Todas have feared the Kurumbas, and buffaloes have been killed by tigers."

On the Nílgiri hills, honey-combs are collected by Jén Kurumbas and Shólagas. The supply of honey varies according to the nature of season, and is said to be especially plentiful and of good quality when Strobilanthes flowers.2 The Kurumbas are said to have incredibly keen eye-sight, gained from constantly watching the bee to his hive. When they find a hive not quite ready to take, they place a couple of sticks in a certain position. This sign will prevent any other hillman would meddle with it on any account, for fear of being killed by sorcery.

Fortified by a liberal allowance of alcohol and tobacco, the Kurumbas, armed with bamboo torches, will follow up at night the tracks of a wounded 'bison' (Bos gaurus), and bring back the head and meat to camp. A European sportsman recounts that he often seen his Kurumba shikâri (tracker) stop, and, with the one word "honey," point to the top of an adjacent tree. "How do you know?" he asked, "Oh! I saw a bee" was the answer given with the greatest nonchalance. On one occasion he found himself close to a swarm of bees. The Kurumba, seeing him hesitate, thrust his stick clean through the swarm, and, with the bare remark "No honey," marched on. The District Forest Officer, when out shooting, had an easy shot at a stag, and missed it. "There," said the Kurumba, pointing to a distant tree, "is your bullet." His trained sense of hearing no doubt enabled him to locate the sound of the bullet striking the tree, and his eyes, following the sound, instantly detected the slight blaze made by the bullet on the bark. The visual acuity of a number of tribes and castes inhabiting the mountains, jungles, and plains, has been determined by Dr. W.H. R. Rivers and myself, by

1. Police Admn, Report, 1900. 2. Agricult, Ledger Series, No, 47, 1904.

572 means of the Cohn letter E method. And, though the jungle man, who has to search for his food and mark the tracks or wild beasts, undoubtedly possesses a specially trained keenness of vision for the exigencies of his primitive life, our figures show that as regards ordinary visual acuity, he had no advantage over the more highly civilised classes. "The Kurumbas of the Mysore forests," Mr. Theobald writes, "make fire by friction. They follow the same method as the Todas, as described by Mr. Thurston, but horizontal piece of wood which is held down by their feet, or by a companion. The fine brown powder, formed during the rotation of the longer vertical vertical piece, gives sufficient tinder, which soon ignites, and is then placed on a small piece of cotton rag, rolled loosely, and gently blown until it is ignited. The vertical stick is held between the palms, and has a reciprocal motion, by the palms being moved in opposite directions, at the same time using a strong downward pressure, which naturally brings the palms to the bottom, when they are at once raised to their original position, and the operation is continued till the naturally formed tinder ignites." In his report on Forest Administration in Coorg, 1902-1903, Mr. C.D.A. McCarthy writes as follows concerning the Kurumbas, who work for the Forest department. "We experienced in connection with the Kurumbas one of those apparent aberrations of sense and intellect, the occurrence of which amongst this peculiar race was foreshadowed in the last report. The Chief Commissioner is aware that, in the interests of the Kurubas themselves, we substitute for a single cash payment distributions of each. Now, seventy years ago, before the annexation of Coorg, the Kurubas and similar castes were praedial slaves of the dominant Coorgs, receiving no other remuneration for service than food and clothing. In fact, this institution, nothing less than real slavery, was not entirely broken up until the great demand for local labour created by the opening up the country for coffee cultivation so late as 1860-1870, so that the existing generation are still cognisant of the old state of affairs. Last year, during the distribution of rewards for the successful protection of the reserves that season from fire, it seems that the idea was put into the heads of these people that our system of remuneration, which includes the distribution of food and clothing, was an attempt to create again at their expense a system of, as it were, forest slavery; with the result that for a time nothing would induce many of them to accept any from of remuneration for the work already performed, much less to undertake the same duties for the approaching season. It was some time, and after no little trouble, that the wherefore of this strange conduct was discovered, and the suspicions aroused put at rest." In his report, 1904-1905, Mr. McCarthy states that "the local system of fire protection, consisting of the utilisation of the Kuruba jungle population for the clearing of fire lines and patrolling, and the payment of rewards according to results, may now be said to be completely established in Coorg. The Kurubas appear to have gained complete confidence in the working of the system, and, provided the superior officers personally see to the payment of the rewards, are evidently quite satisfied that the deductions for failures are just and fair." The Kurumbas are said to have been very useful in the mining operations during the short life of the Wynâd gold-mines. A few years ago, I received the skulls of two Kurumbas, who went after a porcupine into a deserted tunnel on the Glenrock Gold-mining Company's land in the Wynâd. The roof fell in on them, and they were buried alive. In a note on the 'Ethnoge`nie des Dravidiens,'1 Mr. Louis Lapicque writes as follows. "Les populations caracte`ristiques du Wainaad sont les Panyer, les ne`groides les plus accuse`s et les plus homogenes que j'ai vus, et probablement qui existent dans toute l'Inde. D'autre part, les tribus vivant de leur cóte` sur leurs propres cultures, fortement ne`groides encore, mais plus me`lange`es. Tel sont les Naiker et les Kouroumbas."

Indice nasal. Indice ce`phalique Taille.

54 Panyer 84 74 154 28 Kouroumbas 81 75 157 12 Naiker 80 76.9 157

1. Comptes rendus des Se`ances de la Socie`te` de Biologie, T. LVIII, 1019.

573 Concerning Nâyakas or Naikers and Kurumbas, Mr. F.W.F. Fletcher writes to me as follows from Nellakotta, Nílgiris: "It may be that in some parts of Wynad there are people known indifferently as Kurumbas and Shola Nâyakas; but I have no hesitation in saying that the Nâyakas in my employ are entirely distinct from the Kurumbas. The two classes do not intermarry; they do not live together; they will not eat together. Even their prejudices with regard to food are different, for a Kurumba will eat bison flesh, and a Nâyaka will not. The latter stoutly maintains that he is entirely distinct from, and far superior to, the Kurumba, and that the various religious ceremonies of the two tribes are also different. The Nâyakas have separate temples, and worship separate gods. The chief Kurumba temple in this part of the country is close to Pandalur, and here, especially at the Bishu feast, the Kurumbas gather in numbers. My Nâyakas do not recognise this temple, but have their place of worship in the heart of the jungle, where they make their puja (worship) under the direction of their own priest. The Nâyakas will not attend the funeral of a Kurumba; nor will they invite Kurumbas to the funeral of one of their own tribe. There is a marked variation in their modes of life. The Kurumba of this part lives in comparatively open country, in the belt of deciduous forest lying between the ghâts proper and the foot of the Nílgiri plateau. Here he has been brought into contact with European Planters, and is, comparatively speaking, civilised. The Nâyaka has his habitat in the dense jungle of the ghâts, and is essentially a forest nomad, living on honey, jungle fruits, and the tuberous roots of certain jungle creepers. By constant association with myself, my Nâyaka men have lost the fear of the white man, which they entertained when I first came into the district; but even now, if I visit the village of a colony who reside in the primaeval forest, the women and children will hide themselves in the jungle at sight of me. The superstitions of the two tribes are different. Some Nâyakas are credited with the power of changing themselves at will into a tiger, and of wreaking vengeance on their enemies in that guise. And the Kurumba holds the Nâyaka in as much awe as other castes hold the Kurumba. Lower down, on the flat below the ghâts I am opening a rubber estate, and here I have another Nâyaka colony, who differ in many respects from their congeners above, although the two colonies are within five miles as the crow flies. The low-country Nâyaka does his hair in a knot on one side of his head, Malayâlam fashion, and his speech is a patois of Malayâlam. The Nâyaka on the hills above has a mop of curly hair, and speaks a dialect of his own quite distinct from the Kurumba language, though both are derived from Kanarese. But that the low-country people are merely a sept of the Nâyaka tribe is evident from the fact that intermarriage is common amongst the two colonies, and that they meet at the same temple for their annual pîja. The priest of the hill colony is the pîjâri for both divisions of the Nâyakas, and the arbiter in all their disputes."

Kuruvikkaran.: -They are hunters and bird catchers.

Kuruvikkaran.: -The Vagiri are called Kuruvikkaran by Tamilians. See Vagiri.

Lâπis.: -The Lâπis are a Gypsy tribe1, who sell betel-leaf, areca-nuts, tobacco, bha©g, etc. The number of Lâπis returned at the last Census of 1911 was as follows:-

Bombay 11,781 Central Provinces and Berar 5,383 Baroda State 8,500 Hyderabad State 8,776 Elsewhere 1,132

1 See G.A. Grierson Linguistic Survey of India.

574 ------TOTAL 35,572 ------

It does not seem as if the Lâπis generally have a dialect of their own. During the preliminary operations of this Survey a dialect called Lâπí was reported to be spoken by 500 individuals in the Ellichpur District of Berar. A version of the Parable of the Prodigal Son has been forwarded as an illustration of this form of speech. The beginning of it shows that the Lâπí of Ellichpur is Eastern Râjasthâní, in most respects agreeing with Jaipurí.

Laheris.: -See Lakheras.

Lakheras.: -They live in Central India selling bangles and many items of lac resin. They wear many ornaments like the Bhils and Banjaras.

Lambâdi.: -The Lambâdis are also called Lambâni, Brinjâri or Banjâri, Boipari, Sugâli or Sukâli. By some Sugâli is said to be a corruption of supâri (betel nut), because they formerly traded largely therein.1 "The Banjârâs," Mr. G.A. Grierson writes,2 "are the well- known tribe of carriers who are found all over Western and Southern India.3 One of their principal sub-castes is known under the name of Labhânî, and this name (or some related one) is often applied to the whole tribe. The two names appear each under many variations, such as Banjârî, Vanjârî, Brinjârî, Labhâni, Labânî, Labânâ, Lambâdi, and Lambâni. The name Banjâra and its congeners is probably derived from the Sanskrit Vanijyakârakas, a merchant, through the Prakrit Vânijjaârao, a trader. The derivation of Labhânî or Labânî, etc., is obscure. It has been suggested that it means salt carrier from the Sanskrit Lavanah, salt, because the tribe carried salt, but this explanation goes against several phonetic rules, and does not account for the forms of the word like Labhânî or Lambânî. Banjârî falls into two main dialects-- that of the Punjab and Gujarat, and that of elsewhere (of which we may take the Labhânî of Berar as the standard). All these different dialects are ultimately to be referred to the language of Western Rajputana. The Labhânî of Berar possesses the characteristics of an old form of speech, which has been preserved unchanged for some centuries. It may be said to be based partly on Mârwâri and partly on Northern Gujarâtiî.” It is noted by Mr. Grierson that the Banjârî dialect of Southern India is mixed with the surrounding Dravidian Languages. In the census Report, I901, Tanda (the name of the Lambâdi settlements or camps), and Vâli Sugrîva are given as synonyms for the tribal name. Vâli and Sugrîva were two monkey chiefs mentioned in the Râmâyana, from whom the Lambâdis claim to be descended. The legend, as given by Mr. F.S. Mullaly,4 is that "there were two brothers, Mota and Mola, descendants of Sugrîva. Mola had no issue, so, being an adept in gymnastic feats, he went with his wife Radha, and exhibited his skill at 'Rathanatch' before three râjahs. They were so taken with Mola's skill, and the grace and beauty of Radha, and of her playing of the nagâra or drum, that they asked what they could do for them. Mola asked each of the râjahs for a boy, that he might adopt him as his son. This request was accorded, and Mola adopted three boys. Their names were Chavia, Lohia Panchar, and Ratâde. These three boys, in course of time, grew up and married. From Bheekya, the eldest son of Ratâde, started the clan known as the Bhutyas, and from this clan three minor sub-

1 See Thurston. See also: Manual of the North Arcot district. 2 Linguistic Survey of India, IX, 1907. 3 From Kashmir to the Madras Presidency. 4 Notes on Criminal Classes of the Madras Presidency.

575 divisions known as the Maigavuth, Kurumtoths, and Kholas. The Bhutyas form the principal class among the Lambâdis." According to another legend1, "one Châda left five sons, Müla, Mota, Nathâd, Jogdâ, and Bhîmdâ. Chavân (Chauhân), one of the three son of Müla, had six sons, each of whom founded a clan. In the remote past, a Brâhman from Ajmir, and a Marâta from Jotpur in the north of India, formed alliances with and settled among these people, the Marâta living with Rathol, a brother of Chavân. The Brâhman married a girl of the latter's family, and his offspring added a branch to the six distinct clans of Chavân. These clans still retain the names of their respective ancestors, and, by reason of cousinship, intermarriage between some of them is still prohibited. They do, however, intermarry with the Brâhman offshoot, which was distinguished by the name of Vadtyâ, from Chavnâ's family. Those belonging to the Vadtyâ clan still wear the sacred thread. The Marâta, who joined the Rathol family, likewise founded an additional branch under the name of Khamdat to the six clans of the latter, who intermarry with none but the former. It is said that from the Khamdat clan are recruited most of the Lambâdi dacoits. The clan descended from Mota, the second son of Châda, is not found in the Mysore country. The descendants of Nathâd, the third son, live by catching wild birds, and are known as Mirasikat, Paradi, or Vâgri (see Kuruvikkâran). The Jogdâs are people of the Jogi caste. Those belonging to the Bhîmdâ family are the peripatetic blacksmiths, called Bailu Kammâra. The Lambâni outcastes compose a sub-division called Thâlya, who, like the Holayas, are drum-beaters, and live in detached habitations."

As pointing to a distinction between Sukâlis and Banjâris, it is noted by the Rev. J. Cain2 that "the Sukâlîlu do not travel in such large companies as the Banjârîlu, nor are their women dressed as gaudily as the Banjâri women. There is but little friendship between these two classes, and the Sukâli would regard it as anything but an honour to be called a Banjâri, and the Banjâri is not flattered when called a Sukâli." It is, however, noted in the Madras Census Report, 1891, that enquiries show that Lambâdis and Sugâlis are practically the same. And Mr. H.A. Stuart, writing concerning the inhabitants of the North Arcot district states that the names Sugâli, Lambâdi and Brinjâri "seem to be applied to one and the same class of people, though a distinction is made. The Sugâlis are those who have permanently settled in the district; the Lambâdis are those who commonly pass through from the coast to Mysore; and the Brinjâris appear to be those who come down from Hyderabad or the Central Provinces." It is noted by Mr. W. Francis3 that, in the Bellary district, the Lambâdis do not recognise the name Sugâli.

Orme mentions the Lambâdis as having supplied the Comte de Bussy with store, cattle, and grain, when besieged by the Nizam's army at Hyderabad. In an account of the Brinjâris towards the close of the eighteenth century, Moor4 writes that they "associate chiefly together, seldom or never mixing with other tribes. They seem to have no home, no character but that of merchants, in which capacity they travel great distances to whatever parts are most in want of merchandise, which is in the greatest part corn. In times of war they attend, and are of great assistance to armies, and, being neutral, it is a matter of indifference to them who purchases their goods. They marched and formed their own encampments apart, relying on their own courage for protection; for which purpose the men are all armed with swords or matchlocks. The women drive the cattle, and are the most robust we ever saw in India, undergoing a great deal of labour with apparent ease. Their dress is peculiar, and their ornaments are so singularly chosen that we have, we are confident, seen women who (not to mention a child at their backs) have had eight or ten pounds weight in metal or ivory round their arms and legs. The favourite ornaments appear to be rings of ivory from the wrist to the shoulder, regularly increasing in size, so that the ring near the shoulder will be

1 Mysore Census Report, I89I. 2 Ind. Ant VIII, I879. 3 Gazetteer of the Bellary district. 4 Narrative of the Operations of Little's Detachment against Tippoo Sultan, I794.

576 immoderately large, sixteen or eighteen inches, or more perhaps in circumference. These rings are sometimes dyed red. Silver, lead, copper, or brass, in ponderous bars, encircle their shins, sometimes round, others in the form of festoons, and truly we have seen some so circumstanced that a criminal in irons would not have much more to incommode him than these damsels deem ornamental and agreeable trappings on a long march, for they are never dispensed with in the hottest weather. A kind of stomacher, with holes for the arms, and tied behind at the bottom, covers their breast, and has some strings of cowries1 dangling at their backs. The stomacher is curiously studded with cowries, and their hair is also bedecked with them. They wear likewise ear-rings, necklaces, rings on the fingers and toes, and, we think, the nut or nose jewel. They pay little attention to cleanliness; their hair, once plaited, is not combed or opened perhaps for a month; their bodies or clothes are seldom washed; their arms are indeed so encased with ivory that it would be no easy matter to clean them. They are chaste and affable; any indecorum offered to a woman would be resented by the men, who have a high sense of honour on that head. Some are men of great property; it is said that droves of loaded bullocks, to the number of fifty or sixty thousand, have at different times followed the Bhow's army."

Occupation The Lambâdis of Bellary "have a tradition among them of having first come to the Deccan from the north with Moghul camps as commissariat carriers. Captain J. Briggs, in writing about them in 1813, states that, as the Deccan is devoid of a single navigable river, and has no roads that admit wheeled traffic, the whole of the extensive intercourse is carried on by laden bullocks, the property of the Banjâris."2 Concerning the Lambâdis of the same district, Mr. Francis writer that "they used to live by pack-bullock trade, and they still remember the names of some of the generals who employed their forefathers. When peace and the railways came and did away with these callings, they fell back for a time upon crime as a livelihood, but they have now mostly taken to agriculture and grazing." Some Lambâdis are, at the present time (1908), working in the Mysore manganese mines.

Writing in 1825, Bishop Heber noted3 that "we passed a number of Brinjarees, who were carrying salt. They all had bows, arrows, sword and shield. Even the children had, many of them, bows and arrows suited to their strength, and I saw one young woman equipped in the same manner."

Of the Lambâdis in time of war, the Abbé Dubois inform us4 that "they attach themselves to the army where discipline is least strict. They come swarming in from all parts, hoping, in the general disorder and confusion, to be able to thieve with impunity. They make themselves very useful by keeping the market well supplied with the provisions that they have stolen on the march. They hire themselves and their large herds of cattle to whichever contending party will pay them best, acting as carriers of the supplies and baggage of the army. They were thus employed, to the number of several thousands, by the English in their last war with the Sultan of Mysore. The English, however, had occasion to regret having taken these untrustworthy and ill-disciplined people into their service, when they saw them ravaging the country through which they passed, and causing more annoyance than the whole of the enemy's army."

It is noted by Wilks5 that the travelling grain merchants, who furnished the English army under Cornwallis with grain during the Mysore war, were Brinjâris, and he adds, "they

1 Shells of Cypraa moneta. 2 S. M. Natesa Satri, Calcutta Review, 1905. 3 Narrative of a Journey through the Upper Provinces of India, 1844. 4 Hindu Manners, Customs, and Ceremonies. 5 Historical Sketches of the South of India: Mysore.

577 strenuously objected, first, that no capital execution should take place without the sanction of the regular judicial authority; second, that they should be punishable for murder. The executions to which they demanded assent, or the murders for which they were called to account, had their invariable origin in witchcraft, or the power of communication with evil spirits. If a child sickened, or a wife was inconstant, the sorcerer was to be discovered and punished." It is recorded by the Rev. J. Cain that many of the Lambâdis "confessed that, in former days, it was the custom among them before staring out on a journey to procure a little child, and bury it in the ground up to the shoulders, and then drive their loaded bullocks over the unfortunate victim, and, in proportion to their thoroughly trampling the child to death, so their belief in a successful journey increased. A Lambâdi was seen repeating a number of mantras (magical formulae) over his patients, and touching their heads at the same time with a book, which was a small edition of the Telugu translation of St. John's gospel. Neither the physician nor patient could read, and had no idea of the contents of the book." At the time when human (meriah) sacrifices prevailed in the Vizagapatam Agency tracts, it was the regular duty of Lambâdis to kidnap or purchase human beings in the plains, and sell them to the hill tribes for extravagant prices. A person, in order to be a fitting meriah, had to be purchased for a price.

It is recorded1 that not long after the accession of Vinâyaka Deo to the throne of Jeypore, in the fifteenth century, some of his subjects rose against him, but he recovered his position with the help of a leader of Brinjâris. Ever since then, in grateful recognition, his descendants have appended to their signatures a wavy line (called valatradu), which represents the rope with which Brinjâris tether their cattle.

The common occupation of the Lambâdis of Mysore is said2 to be "the transport of grain and other produce on pack bullocks, of which they keep large herds. They live in detached clusters of rude huts, called thandas, at some distance from established villages. Though some of them have taken of late to agriculture, they have as yet been only partially reclaimed from criminal habits." The thandas are said to be mostly pitched on high ground affording a vantage point for reconnaissance in predatory excursions. It is common for the Lambâdis of the Vizagapatam Agency, during their trade peregrinations, to clear a level piece of land, and camp for the night with fires lighted all round them. Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao informs me that they regard themselves as immune from the attacks of tigers, if they take certain precautions. Most of them have to pass through places infested with these beasts, and their favourite method of keeping them off is as follows. As soon as they encamp at a place, they level a square bit of ground, and light fires in the middle of it, round which they pass the night. It is their firm belief that the tiger will not enter the square, from fear lest it should become blind, and eventually be shot.

Settlements In the Madras Census Reports the Lambâdis are described as a class of traders, herdsmen, cattle-breeders, and cattle lifters, found largely in the Deccan districts, in parts of which they have settled down as agriculturists. In the Cuddapah district they are said3 to be found in most of the jungly tracts, living chiefly by collecting firewood and jungle produce. In the Vizagapatam district, Mr. G.F. Paddison informs me, the bullocks of the Lambâdis are ornamented with peacock's feathers and cowry shells, and generally a small mirror on the forehead. The bullocks of the Brinjâris (Boiparis) are described by the Rev. G. Gloyer4 as having their horns, foreheads, and necks decorated with richly embroidered cloth, and carrying bells. When on the march, the men always have their mouths covered, to avoid the

1 Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam district. 2 Report on Public Instruction, Mysore, I90I-02; and Census Report, I89I. 3 Manual of the Cuddapah district. 4 eypur, Breklum, I90I.

578 awful dust which the hundreds of cattle kick up. Their huts are very temporary structures made of wattle. The whole village is moved about a furlong or so every two or three years-- as early a stage of the change from nomadic to a settle life as can be found. The Lambâdi tents, or pâls, are said by Mr. Mullaly to be "made of stout coarse cloth fastened with ropes. In moving camp, these habitations are carried with their goods and chattels on pack bullocks." Concerning the Lambâdis of the Bellary district Mr. S. P. Rice writes to me as follows. "They are wood-cutters, carriers, and coolies, but some of them settle down and become cultivators. A Lambâdi hut generally consists of only one small room, with no aperture except the doorway. Here are huddled together the men, women, and children, the same room doing duty as kitchen, dining and bedroom. The cattle are generally tied up outside in any available spot of the village site, so that the whole village is a sort of cattle pen interspersed with huts, in whatsoever places may have seemed convenient to the particular individual. Dotted here and there are a few shrines of a modest description, where I was told that fires are lighted every night in honour of the deity. The roofs are generally sloping and made of thatch, unlike the majority of houses in the Deccan, which are almost always terraced or flat roofed. I have been into one or two houses rather larger than those described, where I found a buffalo or two, after the usual Canarese fashion. There is an air of encampment about the village, which suggests a gypsy life."

Lambâdi women The present day costume and personal adornments of the Lambâdi females have been variously described by different writers. By one, the women are said to remind one of the Zingari of Wallachia and the Gitani of Spain. "Married women," Mr. H.A. Stuart writes,1 "are distinguished from the unmarried in that they wear their bangles between the elbow and shoulder, while the unmarried have them between the elbow and wrist. Unmarried girls may wear black bead necklets, which are taken off at marriage, at which time they first assume the ravikkai or jacket. Matrons also use an earring called guriki to distinguish them from widows or unmarried girls." In the Mysore Census Report of 1901, it is noted that "the women wear a peculiar dress, consisting of a lunga or gown of stout coarse print, a tartan petticoat, and a mantle often elaborately embroidered, which also covers the head and upper part of the body. The hair is worn in ringlets or plaits hanging down each side of the face, and decorated with shells, and terminating in tassels. The arms are profusely covered with trinkets and rings made of bones, brass and other materials. The men's dress consists of a white or red turban, and a pair of white breeches or knicker-bockers, reaching a little below the knee, with a string of red silk tassels hanging by the right side from the waistband." "The men," Mr. F.S. Mullaly writes, "are fine muscular fellows, capable of enduring long and fatiguing marches. Their ordinary dress is the dhoty with short trousers, and frequently gaudy turbans and caps, in which they indulge on festive occasions. They also affect a considerable amount of jewellery. The women are, as a rule, comely, and above the average height of women of the country. Their costume is the laigna (langa) or gown of Karwar cloth, red or green, with a quantity of embroidery. The chola (choli) or bodice, with embroidery in the front and on the shoulders, covers the bosom, and is tied by variegated cords at the back, the ends of the cords being ornamented with cowries and beads. A covering cloth of Karwar cloth, with embroidery, is fastened in at the waist, and hangs at the side with a quantity of tassels and strings of cowries. Their jewels are very numerous, and include strings of beads of ten or twenty rows with a cowry as a pendant, called the cheed, threaded on horse-hair, and a silver hasali (necklace), a sign of marriage equivalent to the tâli. Brass or horn bracelets, ten to twelve in number, extending to the elbow on either arm, with a guzera or piece of embroidered silk, one inch wide, tied to the right wrist. Anklets of ivory (or bone) or horn are only worn by married women. They are removed on the death of the husband. Pachala or silk embroidery adorned with tassels and cowries is also worn as an anklet by women. Their other jewels are mukaram or nose ornament, a silver kania or pendant from the upper part of the ear attached to a silver chain which hangs to the shoulder, and profusion of silver,

1 Manual of the North Arcot district.

579 brass, and lead rings. Their hair is, in the case of unmarried women, unadorned, brought up and tied in a knot at the top of the head. With married women it is fastened, in like manner, with a cowry or a brass button, and heavy pendants or gujuris are fastened at the temples. This latter is an essential sign of marriage, and its absence is a sign of widowhood. Lambâdi women, when carrying water, are fastidious in the adornment of the pad, called gala, which is placed on their heads. They cover it with cowries, and attach to it an embroidered cloth, called phülia, ornamented with tassels and cowries." I gather that Lambâdi women of the Lavidia and Kimavath septs do not wear bracelets (chudo), because the man who went to bring them for the marriage of a remote ancestor died. In describing the dress of the Lambâdi women, the Rev. G.N. Thomssen writes that "the sâri is thrown over the head as a hood, with a frontlet of coins dangling over the forehead. This frontlet is removed in the case of widows. At the ends of the tufts of hair at the ears, heavy ornaments are tied or braided. Married women have a gold and silver coin at the ends of these tufts, while widows remove them. But the dearest possession of the women are large broad bracelets, made, some of wood, and the large number of bone or ivory. Almost the whole arm is covered with these ornaments. In case of the husband's death, the bracelets on the upper arm are removed. They are kept in place by a cotton bracelet, gorgeously made, the strings of which are ornamented with the inevitable cowries. On the wrist broad heavy brass bracelets with bells are worn, these being presents from the mother to her daughter."

Each thanda, Mr. Natesa Sastri writes, has "a headman called the Nâyaka, whose word is law, and whose office is hereditary. Each settlement has also a priest, whose office is likewise hereditary." According to Mr. H.A. Stuart, the thanda is named after the headman, and he adds, "the head of the gang appears to be regarded with great reverence, and credited with supernatural powers. He is believed to rule the gang most rigorously, and to have the power of life and death over its members."

Marriage Concerning the marriage ceremonies of the Sugâlis of North Arcot, Mr. Stuart informs us that these "last for three days. On the first an intoxicating beverage compounded of bhang (Cannabis indica) leaves, jaggery (crude sugar), and other things, is mixed and drunk. When all are merry, the bridegroom's parents bring Rs. 35 and four bullocks to the bride, and, after presenting them, the bridegroom is allowed to tie a square silver bottu or tâli (marriage badge) to the bride's neck, and the marriage is complete; but the next two days must be spent in drinking and feasting. At the conclusion of the third day, the bride is arrayed in gay new clothes, and goes to the bridegroom's house, driving a bullock before her. Upon the birth of the first male child, a second silver bottu is tied to the mother's neck, and a third when a second son is born. When a third is added to the family, the three bottus are welded together, after which no additions are made." Of the Lambâdi marriage ceremony in the Bellary district, the following detailed account is given by Mr. Francis. "As acted before me by a number of both sexes of the caste, it runs as follows. The bridegroom arrives at night at the bride's house with a cloth covering his head, and an elaborately embroidered bag containing betel and nut slung from his shoulder. Outside the house, at the four corners of a square, are arranged four piles of earthen pots-five pots in each. Within this square two grain-pounding pestles are stuck upright in the ground. The bride is decked with the cloth peculiar to married women, and taken outside the house to meet the bridegroom. Both stand within the square of pots, and round their shoulders is tied a cloth, in which the officiating Brâhman knots a rupee. This Brâhman, it may be at once noted, has little more to do with the ceremony beyond ejaculating art intervals 'Shobhana! Shobhana!' or 'May it prosper!' Then the right hands of the couple are joined, and they walk seven times round each of the upright pestles, while the women chant the following song, one line being sung for each journey round the pestle:

To yourself and myself marriage has taken place. Together we will walk round the marriage pole.

580 Walk the third time; marriage has taken place. You are mine by marriage. Walk the fifth time; Marriage has taken place. Walk the sixth time; marriage has taken place. Walk the seventh time; marriage has taken place. We have walked seven times; I am yours. Walk the seventh time; you are mine.

"The couple then sit on a blanket on the ground near one of the pestles, and are completely covered with a cloth. The bride gives the groom seven little balls compounded of rice, ghee (clarified butter) and sugar, which he eats. He then gives her seven others, which she in turn eats. The process is repeated near the other pestle. The women keep on chanting all the while. Then the pair go into the house, and the cloth into which the rupee was knotted is untied, and the ceremonies for that night are over. Next day the couple are bathed separately, and feasting takes place. That evening the girl's mother or near female relations tie to the locks on each side of her temples the curious badges, called gugri, which distinguish a married from an unmarried woman, fasten a bunch of tassels to her back hair, and girdle her with a tasselled waistband, from which is suspended a little bag, into which the bridegroom puts five rupees. These last two are donned thereafter on great occasions, but are not worn every day. The next day the girl is taken home by her new husband." It is noted in the Mysore Census Report of 1891 that "one unique custom distinguishing the Lambâni marriage ceremonial, is that the officiating Brâhman priest is the only individual of the masculine persuasion who is permitted to be present. Immediately after the betrothal, the females surround and pinch the priest on all sides, repeating all the time songs in their mixed kutnî dialect. The vicarious punishment to which the solitary male Brâhman is thus subjected is said to be apt retribution for the cruel conduct, according to a mythological legend, of a Brâhman parent who heartlessly abandoned his two daughters in the jungle, as they had attained puberty before marriage. The pinching episode is notoriously a painful reality. It is said, however, that the Brâhman, willingly undergoes the operation in consideration of the rite." The treatment of the Brâhman as acted before me by Lambâdi women at Nandyâl, included an attempt to strip him stark naked. In the Census Report, it is stated that, at Lambâdi weddings, the women "weep and cry aloud, and the bride and bridegroom pour milk into an ant-hill, and offer the snake which lives therein coconuts, flowers, and so on. Brâhmans are sometimes engaged to celebrate weddings, and, failing a Brâhman, a youth of the tribe will put on the thread, and perform the ceremony."

The following variant of the marriage ceremonies was acted before me at Kadür in Mysore. A pandal (booth) is erected, and beneath it two pestles or ricepounders are set up. At the four corners, a row of five pots is placed, and the pots are covered with leafy twigs of Calotropis procera, which are tied with Calotropis fibre or cotton thread. Sometimes a pestle is set up near each row of pots. The bridal couple seat themselves near the pestles, and the ends of their cloths, with a silver coin in them, are tied together. They are then smeared with turmeric, and, after a wave-offering to ward off the evil eye, they go seven times round the pestles, while the women sing:

Oh! girl, walk along, walk. You boasted that you would not marry. Now you are married. Walk, girl, walk on. There is no good in your boasting. You have eaten the pudding . Walk, girl, walk. Leave off boasting. You sat on the plank with the bridegroom's thigh on yours.

581 The bride and bridegroom take their seats on a plank, and the former throws a string round the neck of the latter, and ties seven knots in it. The bridegroom then does the same to the bride. The knots are untied. Cloths are then placed over the backs of the couple, and a swastika mark is drawn on them with turmeric paste. A Brâhman purohit is then brought to the pandal, and seats himself on a plank. A clean white cloth is placed on his head, and fastened tightly with string. Into this improvised turban, leafy twigs of mango and Cassia auriculata are stuck. Some of the Lambâdi women present, while chanting a rune, throw sticks of Ficus glomerata, Arintegrifolia, tocarpus and mango in front of the Brâhman, pour gingelly (Sesamum) oil over them, and set them on fire. The Brâhman is made a bridegroom, and he must give out the name of his bride. He is then slapped on the cheeks by the women, thrown down, and his clothing striped off. The Brâhman ceremonial concluded, a woman puts the badges of marriage on the bride. On the following day, she is dressed up, and made to stand on a bullock, and keep on crooning a mournful song, which makes her cry eventually. As she repeats the song, she waves her arms, and folds them over her head. The words of the song, the reproduction of which in my phonograph invariably made the women weep, are somewhat as follows: Oh! father, you brought me up so carefully by spending much money. All this was to no purpose. Oh! mother, the time has come when I have to leave you. Is it to send me away that you nourished me? Oh! how can I live away from you, My brothers and sisters?

Among the Lambâdis of Mysore, widow remarriage and polygamy are said1 to freely prevail, "and it is customary for divorced women to marry again during the lifetime of the husband under the sîre udike (tying of a new cloth) form of remarriage, which also prevails among the Vakkaligas and others. In such cases, the second husband, under the award of the caste arbitration, is made to pay a certain sum (Tera) as amends to the first husband, accompanied by a caste dinner. The woman is then readmitted into society. But certain disabilities are attached to widow remarriage. Widows remarried are forbidden entry into a regular marriage party, whilst their offspring are disabled from legal marriage for three generations, although allowed to take wives from families similarly circumstanced." According to Mr. Stuart, the Sugâlis of the North Arcot district "do not allow the marriage of widows, but on payment of Rs. 15 and three buffaloes to her family, who take charge of her children, a widow may be taken by any man as a concubine, and her children are considered legitimate. Even during her husband's life, a woman may desert him for anyone else, the latter paying the husband the cost of the original marriage ceremony. The Sugâlis burn their married dead, but bury all others and have no ceremonies after death for the rest of the soul of the deceased." If the head of a burning corpse falls off the pyre, the Lambâdis pluck some grass or leaves, which they put in their mouths "like goats" and run home.

A custom called Valli Sukkeri is recorded by the Rev. C.N. Thomssen, according to which "if an elder brother marries and dies without offspring, the younger brother must marry the widow, and raise up children, such children being regarded as those of the deceased elder brother. If, however, the elder brother dies leaving offspring, and the younger brother wishes to marry the widow, he must give fifteen rupees and three oxen to his brother's children. Then he may marry the widow." The custom here referred to is said to be practiced because the Lambâdi's ancestor Sugrîva married his elder brother Vali's widow.

I am informed by Mr. F.A. Hamilton that, among the Lambâdis of Kollegal in the Coimbatore district, "if a widower remarries, he may go through the ordinary marriage ceremony, or the kuttuvali rite, in which all that is necessary is to declare his selection of a bride to four or five

1 Mysore Census Report 1901.

582 castemen, whom he feeds. A widow may remarry according to the same rite, her new husband paying the expenses of the feast."

Other customs "The married dead are cremated. Unmarried, and those who have been married by the kuttuvali rite, are buried. When cremation is resorted to, the eldest son sets fire to the funeral pyre. On the third day he makes a heap of the ashes, on which he sprinkles milk. He and his relations then return home, and hold a feast. When a corpse is buried, no such ceremonies are performed. Both males and females are addicted to heavy drinking. Arrack is their favourite beverage, and a Lambâdi's boast is that he spent so much on drink on such and such an occasion. The women dance and sing songs in eulogy of their goddess. At bed- time they strip off all their clothes, and use them as a pillow."

The Lambâdis are said to purchase children from other castes, and bring them up as their own. Such children are not allowed to marry into the superior Lambâdi section called Thanda. The adopted children are classified as Koris, and a Kori may only marry a Lambâdi after several generations.

Religion Concerning the religion of the Lambâdis, it is noted in the Mysore Census Report, 1891, that they are "Vishnuvaits, and their principal object of worship is Krishna. Bana Sankari, the goddess of forests, is also worshipped, and they pay homage to Basava on grounds dissimilar to those professed by the Lingayets. Basava is revered by the Lambâdis because Krishna had tended cattle in his incarnation. The writer interviewed the chief Lambâni priests domiciled in the Holalkere taluk. The priests belong to the same race, but are much less disreputable than the generality of their compatriots. It is said that they periodically offer sacrificial oblations in the agni or fire, at which a mantram is repeated, which may be paraphrased thus:

I adore Bharma (Bramha) in the roots; Vishnu who is the trunk; Rudra (Mahadev) pervading the branches; And the Devâs in every leaf.

"The likening of the Creator's omnipotence to a tree among a people so far impervious to the traditions of Sanskrit lore may not appear very strange to those who will call to mind the Scandinavian tree of Igdrasil so graphically described by Carlyle, and the all-pervading Asvat'tha (pîpal) tree of the Bhagavargîta." It is added in the Mysore Census Report, 1901, that "the Lambânis use the Gosayis (Goswâmi) as their priests or gurus. These are the genealogists of the Lambânis, as the Halves are of the Sîvachars". Of the Sugâlis of Punganür and Palmaner in the North Arcot district Mr. Stuart writes that "all worship the Tirupati Swami, and also two Saktis called Kosa Sakti and Mâni Sakti. Some three hundred years ago, they saw that there was a feud between the Bukia and Müdu Sugâlis, and in a combat many were killed on both sides; but the widows of only two of the man who died were willing to perform sâti, in consequence of which they have been deified, and are now worshipped as saktis by all the divisions". It is said1 that near Rolla in the Anantapur district, there is a small community of priests to the Lambâdis who call themselves Muhammadans, but cannot intermarry with others of the faith, and that in the south-west of Madakasîra taluk there is another sub-division, called the Mondu Talukar (who are usually stone-cutters and live in hamlets by themselves), who similarly cannot marry with other Musulmans. It is noted by the Rev. J. Cain2 that in some places the Lambâdis "fasten small rags torn from some old garments to a bush in honour of Kampalamma (kampa, a thicket). On the side of one of the

1 Gazetteer of the Anantapur district. 2 Ind. Ant., VIII., 1879. IV-15 B

583 roads from Bastar are several large heaps of stones, which they have piled up in honour of the goddess Guttalamma. Every Lambâdi who passes the heaps is bound to place one stone on the heap, and to make a salaam to it." The goddess of the Lambâdis of Kollegal is, according to Mr. Hamilton, Shatti. A silver image of a female, seated tailor-fashion, is kept by the head of the family, and is an heirloom. At times of festivals it is set up and worshipped. Cooked food is placed before it, and a feast, with much arrack drinking, singing, beating of the tom- tom, and dancing through the small hours of the night, is held. Examples of the Lambâdi songs relating to incidents in the Ramayana, in honour of the goddesses Durga and Bhavâni, etc., have been published by Mr. F. Fawcett.1

The Brinijâris are described by the Rev. G. Gloyer as carrying their principal goddess "Bonjairini Mata", on the horns of their cattle (leitochsen).

It is noted by the Rev. G. N. Thomssen the that Lambâdis "worship the Supreme Being in a very pathetic manner. A stake, either a carved stick, or a peg, or a knife, is planted on the ground, and men and women form a circle round this, and a wild, weird chant is sung, while all bend very low to the earth. They all keep on circling about the stake, swinging their arms in despair, clasping them in prayer, and at last raising them in the air. Their whole cry is symbolic of the child crying in the night, the child crying for the light. If there are very many gathered for worship, the men form one circle, and the women another. Another peculiar custom is their sacrifice of a goat or a chicken in case of removal from one part of the jungle to another, or when sickness has come. They hope to escape death by leaving one camping ground for another. Halfway between the old and new grounds, a chicken or goat is buried alive, the head being allowed to be above ground. Then all the cattle are driven over the buried creature and the whole camp walk over the buried victim". In former days, the Lambâdis are reputed to have offered up human sacrifices. "When," the Abbé Dubois writes, "they wish to perform this horrible act, it is said that they secretly carry off the first person they meet. Having conducted the victim to some lonely spot, they dig a hole, in which they bury him up to the neck. While he is still alive, they make a sort of lump of dough made of flour, which they place on his head. Having done this, the men and women join hands and, forming a circle, dance round their victim, singing and making a great noise, till he expires." The interesting fact is recorded by Mr. Mullaly "that, before the Lambâdis proceed on a predatory excursion, a token, usually a leaf, is secreted in some hidden place before proceeding to invoke Durga. The Durgamma püjâri (priest), one of their own class, who wears the sacred thread, and is invested with his sacred office by reason of his powers of divination, lights a fire, and, calling on the goddess for aid, treads the fire out, and names the token hidden by the party. His word is considered an oracle, and the püjâri points out the direction the party is to take."

From a further note on the religion of the Lambâdis, I gather that they worship the following: (1) Balaji, whose temple is at Tirupari. Offerings of money are made to this deity for the bestowal of children, etc. When their prayers are answered, the Lambâdis walk all the way to Tirupari, and will not travel thither by railway. (2) Hanumân, the monkey god. (3) Poleramma. To ward off devils and evil spirits. (4) Mallalamma. To confer freedom to their cattle from attacks of tigers and other wild beasts. (5) Ankalamma. To protect them from epidemic disease. (6) Peddamma. (7) Maremma.

The Lambâdis observe the Holi festival, for the celebration of which money is collected in towns and villages. On the Holi day, the headman and his wife fast, and worship two images

1 Ind. Ant., XXX., 1901

584 of mud, representing Kama (the Indian cupid) and his wife Rati. On the following morning, cooked food is offered to the images, which are then burn. Men and women sing and dance, in separate groups, round the burning fire. On the third day, they again sing and dance, and dress themselves in gala attire. The men snatch the food which has been prepared by the women, and run away amid protests from the women, who sometimes chastise them.

It is narrated by Moor1 that "he passed a tree, on which were hanging several hundred bells. This was a superstitious sacrifice by the Bandjanahs, who, passing this tree, are in the habit of hanging a bell or bells upon it, which they take from the necks of their sick cattle, expecting to leave behind them the complaint also. Our servants particularly cautioned us against touching these diabolical bells; but, as a few were taken for our own cattle, several accidents that happened were imputed to the anger of the deity, to whom these offerings were made, who, they say, inflicts the same disorder on the unhappy bullock who carries a bell from this tree as he relieved the donor from."

There is a legend in connection with the matsya gundam (fish pool) close under the Yendrika hill in the Vizagapatam district. The fish therein are very tame, and are protected by the Mâdgole zamindars. "Once, goes the story, a Brinjâri caught one and turned it into curry, whereon the king of the fish solemnly cursed him, and he and all his pack-bullocks were turned into rocks, which may be seen there to this day."2

Lambâdi women often have elaborate tattooed patterns on the backs of the hands, and a tattooed dot on the left side of the nose may be accepted as a distinguishing character of the tribe in some parts. My assistant once pointed out that, in a group of Lambâdis, some of the girls did not look like members of the tribe. This roused the anger of an old woman, who said "You can see the tattoo marks on the nose, so they must be Lambâdis." Lambâdi women will not drink water from running streams or big tanks. In the Mysore Province, there is class of people called Thambüri, who dress like Lambâdis, but do not intermarry with them. They are Muhammadans, and their children are circumcised. Their marriages are carried out according to the Muhammadan nikka rite, but they also go through the Lambâdi form of marriage, except that marriage pots are not placed in the pandal (wedding booth). The Lambâdis apparently pay some respect to them, money at marriages or on other occasions. They seem to be bards and panegyrists of the Lambâdis, in the same way that other classes have their Nokkans, Vîramushtis, Bhatrâzus etc. It is noted by Mr. Stuart3 that the Lambâdis have priests called Bhats, to whom it is probable that the Thambüris correspond in Mysore. The methods of the criminal Lambâdis are dealt with at length by Mr. Mullaly. And it must suffice for the present purpose to note that they commit dacoities and have their receivers of stolen property, and that the Naik or headman of the gang takes an active share in the commission of crime.

Langoli.: -A sub-section of the Pardhis. See also Advichincher.

Larhia.: -See Od.

1 Narrative of Little's Detachment, 1784. 2 Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam district. 3 Madras Census Report, 1891.

585 Lodhas.: -They live in and near Jungles, they are nomadic and food gathering group. They were listed as a criminal tribe. They are now becoming cultivators since the jungles are being privatized or destroyed.

Lohar.: -(Sanskrit lauha-kara,)1 "a worker in iron," the blacksmith caste. As Professor Schrader2 has shown, the Indo-Germanic names for the smith have a threefold origin. They are derived either from words designating metal or metals collectively, such as the Hindi Lohar and the Greek Chalkeus or Sidereus: or, secondly, from verbals which mean "hewing"; or, thirdly, substantives with the general meaning of "worker," "artificer," are specialised down to the narrower meaning of "smith." Such is the Sanskrit Karmakara, "a blacksmith," which really means "workman" par excellence. It has been suggested that the Lohar is ethnically connected with the Dravidian Agariya, or iron smelter, who has been separately described; and the evidence from Bengal to some extent corroborates this view.3 But the Mirzapur Agariya does no blacksmith's work; all he does is to smelt the iron axe heads and agricultural implements by the Lohar, who is admittedly a recent immigrant into the hill country, and utterly repudiates any connection with the iron-smelter of the jungles. The internal organization of the caste suggests that it is formed of many different elements, and is, in the main, of occupational origin.

Legendary Origin. Practically all Lohars 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 artizans, who formed the celestial chariots of the deities, on whose craft men subsist, and whom as a great immortal god they continually worship."4 One tradition tells that Visvakarma was a Brahman and married the daughter of an Ahir, who was in her previous birth a dancing-girl of the gods. By her he had nine sons, who became the ancestors of various artizan castes, such as the Lohar, Barhai, Sunar, Kasera, etc. By another tradition they are the offspring of a Brahman from a Sudra woman. Many of the Western Lohars fix their original home at Mithila, whence they say they emigrated to Mathura with Sri Krishna. At the last Census, 18,805 persons, chiefly Barhais and Lohars, recorded themselves as worshippers of Biskarma or Visvakarma.

The Wandering Blacksmiths. Occasional camps of these 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 Panjab as Gadiya or those "who have carts" (gadi, gari). Mr. Ibbetson says that they come up from Rajputana and the North-Western Provinces, but their real country is the Dakkhin. In the Panjab they travel about with their families and implements in carts from village to village, doing the finer kinds of iron-work which are beyond the capacity of the village artizan. Of the same people Mr. Balfour2 writes that they are called Ghisari in Dakkhini, Lohar in Marhatti, but call themselves Taremuk. They worship Khandoba. Their marriages are conducted in the Hindu manner, but intoxicating drinks are largely used. They have earned a great name for gallantry, and it is very usual to hear of the rough Taremuk levanting with another man's

1. See Crooke. Based on enquiries made at Mirzapur and notes by M. Basdeo Sahay, Head Master, High School, Farrukhabad ; the Deputy Commissioner, Sultanpur : the Deputy Inspector of School, Dehra Dun. 2. Prehistoric Antiquities, 154 3. Risley, Tribes and Castes, 11,22. 4. Dowson, Classical Dictionary, s.v. 2. Journal, Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. Xlll, No. 145.

586 wife. On the occasion of a birth they sacrifice in the name of Satvai. They burn the bodies of the married people and lay the ashes by a river's side; but the unmarried dead are buried, and for three days after the funeral food is carried to the grave, though they draw no augury of the state of the soul of the deceased from any animal eating the food. In the Dakkhin3 this class of wandering blacksmiths are called Saiqalgar or knife grinders or Ghisara or grinders (Hindi ghisana, "to rub"). They wander about grinding knives and tools. "They are wiry men with black skins, high cheek bones, and thick lips. Latterly they have taken to shaving the head, but some keep the Hindu top-knot. Since their conversion to Islam most men wear the beard. The women dress their hair rather oddly, plaiting each tress in a separate band." They make nails and togs, and the women blow the bellows, and collect scraps of iron in towns as materials for their husbands' anvils. Though never pressed for food, they lead a hand-to-mouth life, always ready to spend what they earn in food and drink. They say they are sprung from Visvakarma,1 the framer of the universe, who brought out of fire, the anvil, the bellows, the sledge, and the small hammer. He taught them how to forge the war chariot. When these were prepared and approved by their master, the caste came to be called Ghisadi, and were told to make various tools and weapons of war. They are strong, dark, dirty, drunken, hot-tempered, and hardworking.

Domestic customs In Ahmadnagar2 'early marriage, polygamy, and widow marriage are allowed and practised, and polyandry is unknown. The women mark their brows with sandal paste when they bathe. On the fifth day after the birth of a child, an image of Satvai is worshipped in Kunbi fashion, and the child is named and cradled on the seventh and ninth by female friends and relations, who are asked to dine at the house. The mother keeps to her room and is held impure for forty days. On the day before the marriage the "god pleasing" (derkarya) is performed, when their marriage guardian (derak), the leaves of the mango, ficus glomerata, syzigium Jamolanum, Prosopis spicigera, and Calatropis gigantea, are laid in a dining dish with a sword on them and taken to the temple of the village Maruti, with music, and a band of friends, by two married pairs-- one from the bride's and the other from the bridegroom's-- whose skirts are tied together. They are then again brought back and laid before the house gods until the ceremony is ended. The family gods are worshipped with the customary is offerings, a goat or a sheep is slain in their name, and the caste people are feasted. All the rites connected with marriage, before and after the guardian worship, are the same as among local Kunbis, and the caste people are treated to a dinner at the house of the pair, or uncooked food is sent to their houses.

When a girl comes of age, she sits apart for four days, and is bathed on the fifth, when her female friends and relations meet at the house, dress her in a new bodice, and fill her lap with rice and a cocoanut. They mourn their dead twelve days, burying the unmarried and burning the married after the Kunbi custom. The son, or chief mourner, gets his face clean shaven, except the eye-brows, on the tenth or twelfth, without requiring the services of a Brahman priest, and, on the tenth, treats the caste people to a dinner of stuffed cakes and rice with split pulse. The death day is marked by a "Mind rite" (sraddha), and the dead are remembered in all Souls' fortnight in the dark half of Bhadon, on the day which corresponds with the death day. They are bound together by a strong caste feeling of rules are punished by fines, which generally take the form of caste feasts, and a free pardon is granted to those who submit." It has seemed worth while to collect so much information about these people, because they probably represent the most primitive form of workers in iron, and are thus closely allied in function, if not in race, to the European Gypsy, whose chief occupation is that of the farrier and tinker.

3 Bombay Gazetteer, XVl, 52. 1 . Bombay Gazetteer, X.X, 101. 2 . Ibid, XVll, 98.

587 The Lohars Of The North Western Provinces Oudh. Internal Organization. The Lohars of these Provinces include both a Hindu and a Muhammadan branch, of which the former is far more numerous than the latter. At the last Census the Hindu Lohars were divided into nine main sub-castes: Ajudhyabasi, or "residents of Ajudhya;" Visvakarma, who take their name from their eponymous ancestor; Dhaman; Kanaujiya, from Kanauj; Lahauri, from Lahore; Mahul; Mathuriya, "Ojha, or those professing a Brahmanical origin, the word being probably derived from the Sanskrit Upadhyaya, "a teacher;" and Rawat, which comes from the Sanskrit Rajduta, "royal messenger." But this does not exhaust the catalogue of sub- castes. Thus, we find at Mirzapur, besides the Kanaujiya, the Mauliha or Mauliya, who are said to derive their name from the country of Malwa, and to be identical with the Mahauliya of Benares and the Mahul of the Census lists. Mr. Sherring names in addition the Sribastava, who take their name from the old city of Sravasti: the Malik; the Banarasiya, "those of Benares;" the Chaurasiya who are perhaps called after Tappa Chaurasi in the Mirzapur District; Purabiya or "Eastern;" Maghaiya or Magahiya, those of Magadh; Sinar and Mathuriya who derive their name from Mathura. In the Central Daub their divisions are Tumariya, who assert some connection with Tomar Rajputs; Jholiya or "wearers of the wallet" (jholi); Gurhabadi; Logvarsha or Laungbarsa; and Siyahmaliya, or "workers in black iron." Akin to these are the Palauta of Bijnor and the Kachhlohiya, or "workers in unpurified iron," of Moradabad. The complete Census returns show 736 sub-divisions of the Hindu and 114 of the Musalman branch. Of these those locally most important are the Deswali of Saharanpur: the Lote of Muzaffarnagar and Meerut; the Sengar of Jhansi: the Gotiya of Lalitpur, the Byahut, Gore and Uttaraha of Ballia; the Basdiha, Byahut, Dakkhinaha, Malik, Uttaraha of Gorakhpur; the Dakkhinaha of Basti: and the Gamela of Sitapur.

The Ojha Lohar or Barhai. One sub-caste known almost indifferently as Ojha Barhai or Lohar is almost entirely confined to the Central Duab. They often call themselves Maithal or Mathuriya Ojha. The word Ojha, as has been already remarked, is probably a corruption of the Sanskrit Upadhyaya "a teacher." They allege that they were brought to Mathura by Sri Krishna from Mithila. They claim to be of Brahman descent and have provided themselves with a number of the ordinary Brahmanical gotras: Bharadwaja; Vasishtha; Gautam; Kasyapa; Sandiya; Vatsa, etc. These are all derived from the names of various Rishis from whom they claim descent. In Farrukhabad and its suburbs they are divided into some twenty-four groups (thok) each of which has a headman (chaudhari) of its own, to whom all social questions are referred. If the matter is not very particular, he calls a meeting of his group and settles it according to the opinion of the majority. In weightier cases members of the other groups are also invited to attend. Their rule of exogamy is in an uncertain. Properly speaking no man should marry in his own gotra according to the usual Brahmanical formula; but as a matter of fact, few of them know to which gotra they belong and they simply use the ordinary rule which prohibits intermarriage between blood relations on the paternal and maternal sides. Polygamy is allowed, polyandry prohibited. Girls are married between five and fourteen years of age. A man may expel his wife for proved immorality, but this is no ground for a woman leaving her husband. Divorced wives and widows may re-marry by the dharauna form. In widow marriage there is no regular ceremony; but the man who takes a widow to live with him has to undergo some sort of expiation, such as bathing in the Ganges, feeding the brotherhood and distribution alms to Brahmans. The levirate is allowed under the usual restrictions, but is not compulsory.

No ceremonies are performed during pregnancy. On an auspicious day, generally on the third day after her confinement, the ceremony of latadhoba is performed when one lock of her hair is washed. This is followed by the bahar nikalno when she leaves the confinement room for the first time. As a safeguard against demoniacal influences when she brings out the baby in her arms, an arrow is held in its hand by its maternal uncle who, as in other castes of the same social grade, bears an important part in these domestic ceremonies, probably a

588 survival of the matriarchate. On the sixth day (chhathi) the mother and child are bathed again. On this occasion of the Sanskrit Vidhi, "Fate," is worshipped as the protector of the child. As soon as the child is born she is installed in the house and a representation of her is made on the wall with ghi. On the sixth day she is dismissed after being duly honoured with an offering of cakes, flowers, etc. As she is regarded as influencing the destiny of the child, on the day of her worship the baby is dressed in its clothes so as to ensure it a prosperous life. Then the whole house is purified; a fire sacrifice is made; the family gods are worshipped; the child is named and food is distributed to Brahmans. When they adopt, a regular deed of distribution of cocoanuts and sweets.

Marriage in the regular form is solemnised according to the standard Brahmanical form; poor people, however, marry by dola, when the bridegroom's father goes to the house of the girl, brings her home and goes through the ceremonies at his own house. There is in the ceremony a survival of marriage by capture. A representation of a fish is made of flour and is hung by a string which the bride holds in her hand. She will not enter the house until the boy succeeds in piercing it with an arrow, which the bride tries to prevent by moving it about as he aims at it.

Beliefs The death ceremonies are of the normal type and the usual Sraddha is performed. The birth pollution lasts for ten days; that of menstruation for seven days; that after a death for thirteen days. Their tribal deity is Durga. They also in the month of Magh make pilgrimages to the shrine of Shah Madar. The offerings, consisting of sweetmeats (repari) flowers and pice are taken by the guardians (khadim) of the tomb. Shaikh Saddu is the guardian of women and children. When a birth or marriage occurs in a family he is worshipped and a Mujawar is sent for; a sacred square (chauka) is made with cow-dung and offerings consisting of a he- goat, cakes, curry and rice are made. The Mujawar pronounces the Fatiha and takes away the offerings. A local godling known as Deota is also worshipped. Pilgrimages to his temple are undertaken in the month of Magh. The offerings to him consist of a cocoanut, a loin cloth and some pice. The marriage ceremonies commence with ancestor worship. Figures representing them are made on a wall with yellow clay and a lamp placed on a sieve laid on an earthen pot is kept burning near the place. Sweetmeats and other dainties prepared for the marriage feast are first offered to the sainted dead, and every important ceremony commences with an offering to them. This ancestor worship is confined to women. Snakes are also worshipped by women on the feast of the Nagpanchami; if this worship be neglected, it is believed that some member of the family will be bitten. The bargad tree (ficus Indica) is also worshipped on the fifteenth of the month of Chait. Women whose husbands are alive fast up to noon and do not eat any salt that day. When they go to a bargad tree they make offerings of some grain, flowers and a lighted lamp and then go round it seven times holding in their hands a thread of cotton which thus becomes wound round the trunk. The Sun is worshipped on Sunday, a fast is kept and the offerings are made at non. On this occasion no salt is eaten. The Moon is worshipped on the festival of the Ganesa Chaturthi or Ganesa's fourth. Rice and curds are given to the family priest, offerings are made to the Moon and then the worshipper breaks his fast. Offerings are made daily when the family take their meals. They believe in the Evil Eye which is obviated by burning in the presence of the person affected a strip of cloth his exact height which has been soaked in oil; or a blue thread of the same length is tied round a stone and thrown into the fire; or pepper pods, wheat bran and salt are passed round his head and burnt.

They eat meat, goat flesh and mutton, fowls and fish. They use all the ordinary intoxicants; but excess is reprobated. They will eat pakki from the hands of Agarwala Banyas, and kachchi from Kanaujiya Brahmans. They will drink water from these two castes but will smoke a hookah of none but a member of their own caste. Gaur Brahmans will eat their pakki; none but members of the caste and the lowest menials will eat their kachchi.

589 Ordinary Lohars. Besides these Lohars who claim a Brahmanical origin, there are large bodies of them which make no such pretensions. In the Hills many of them appear to be members of the great Dom race and from Pargana Jaunsar in Dehra Dun it is reported that the fraternal or family from of polyandry prevails amongst them and that a woman may have as many as five so- called husbands at a time. This custom, it is hardly necessary to say, does not prevail among those residing in the plains. To the East of the Province they marry their daughters at the age of eleven or twelve; there is, however, an increasing tendency in favour of infant marriage and the richer a man is the earlier he is expected to marry his daughter. Prenuptial infidelity is not seriously regarded, provided that it be inter-tribal, and is punished by a fine payable to the tribal council and a certain amount of feasting of the brethren. A man can marry as many wives as he pleases, or can afford to support; but few marry more than one wife unless the first be barren or hopelessly diseased. Widows may marry in the sagai or kaj form and the levirate, though permitted, is not compulsory on the widow and is restricted by the usual rule, that it is only the younger man who can marry the widow of his elder brother. The children of such unions rank equally with the offspring of virgin brides for purposes of inheritance. Adultery is not severely dealt with, provided it be not habitual or become an open scandal: for the first offence the erring wife is admonished by the council. A repetition of the offence leads to her formal repudiation and such a divorced woman may re-marry in the tribe by the sagai form, provided her paramour has not been a member of a menial caste. In Oudh there is an apparent survival of marriage by capture in the custom by which the women of the bride's household throw packets of betel and handfuls of barley at the bridegroom as he enters the house. They have also a sort of ordeal to ascertain the prospects of married life. A necklace is thrown into a bowl of water and the married pair scramble for it; whichever succeeds in holding it rules the other.

Religion. They profess to be Vaishnavas, but few of them are regularly initiated. To the East their clan deities are Mahabir and the Panchon Pir, with the tribal founder Visvekanms worshipped on a Sunday or Wednesday in the months of Sawan, Kuar, Baisakh or Jeth, with an offering of rice milk (khir), cakes (puri) and garlands of flowers. They worship Mahabir in the same months on a Tuesday or Saturday with an offering of sweetmeats (laddn) and sweet bread (rol). They are ministered in their religious ceremonies by a low class of Sarwariya Brahmans. They worship their implements as fetishes, the seat represents Mahadeva and the anvil Devi. At this worship of the anvil they invite the clansmen on an auspicious day and then wash the anvil and offer before it what is called agiyari by burning sweet-scented wood before it. This is done only when the anvil is first made, the ceremony ends with a distribution of sweetmeats among the guests. In Dehra Dun they worship Kali, Aghor Nath, and Narasinha Deo. The worshippers of Narasinha, the man lion avatara of Vishnu, numbered at the last Census 164,555 throughout the Province. They are specially worshipped when epidemic disease prevails with sacrifices of goats and pouring a little spirits near the shrine. In Farrukhabad they have a household godling named Kurehna, who is worshipped at marriages child-birth and death. The worship is a purely household one.

Occupation And Social Status. The occupation of the blacksmith is no doubt very ancient in India. He is mentioned in the Rig Veda,1 but though Indian steel was prized even among the ancient Greeks, "in literary monuments iron can not be traced with certainty before the end of the Vedic period when the oldest names of the metal occur." The country Lohar is a true village menial. He makes and repairs the agricultural implements of his constituents and receives contributions of grain at 1 harvest time. Thus in Bareilly he gets from 7 to 12 sers of rice or kodon millet in the 2

1 Wilson, Rig Veda Intro., X L.

590 1 autumn and barley or oats in spring per plough. He also gets 2 sers of new grain per 2 plough at each harvest as niboni and one sheaf per plough which is known as phiri. He also gets two for each sugar mill, two sers of coarse sugar per field of sugarcane, and his share of the thirteenth jar of cane juice which is divided among the workmen. In Sultanpur he receives one and a half panseri or measures of five village sers at the autumn, and sheaves 1 representing 2 sers of grain in the spring harvest. In the cities they have greatly improved 2 their position and rank as nistri or "master" workmen. They make carriages and other articles of European style, shoes for horses and keep ironmongers' shops, selling cooking utensils (tawa, karahi), axes knives, chains, nails, screws and the like. Such a trader is often known as Luhiya or Lohiya. In these Provinces the Lohar appears to enjoy a social position rather superior to that of his brethren in the Panjab. There, according to Mr. Ibbetson "his social position is low even for a menial, 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 outcaste 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, though on the other hand iron has powerful virtue as a charm against the Evil Eye. It is not improbable that the necessity under which he labours of using bellows made of cow hide may have something to do with his impurity." This feeling of contempt for the blacksmith is not modern. In the Puranas the Karmakara or smith is classed as one of the polluted tribes, and according to Manu1 iron is one of the commodities which a Brahman or Kshatriya, obliged to subsist by the acts of a Vaisya, must avoid. It is at least possible that some of the disrepute attaching to the smith may be connected with his association with the vagrant, gypsytribes of which evidence has already been given. This felling of impurity is not so much felt in the East of the Province. In Bihar2 they are said to rank with Koiris and Kurmis, and Brahmans take water from their hands. In the Eastern Districts their women are reported to be chaste. There they drink spirits and eat the flesh of goats, sheep and deer, as well as fish. They do not eat meat of other kinds. They will take pakki from Brahmans, Rajputs and members of the trading castes, except Telis and Kalwars. They eat kachchi cooked by their own castemen or by their religious teachers and spiritual guides. They smoke only with their own tribe. Rajputs of the inferior septs, traders, and all menials will eat pakki cooked by them. Baris, Chamars and other low castes eat kachchi cooked by them. They are, on the whole, quiet, respectable, and little given to crime, except that they will occasionally make the chisel (sabari) used by the professional burglar.

Lohar.: -Risley says that they are a large and heterogeneous aggregate comprising members of several different tribes and castes who in different parts of the country took up the profession of working in iron. The local names give some hint of their mixed origin, e.g., the Lohar Manjhi, Danda Manjhi and Bagdi Lohar of Manbhum, the Sad Lohar, Manjhal Turiyas (cf. Turi) and the Munda Lohars of Ranchi District. As is to be expected customs vary from locality to locality, but as a general rule follow rather closely those of their more primitive neighbours. So with their religion, some are orthodox Hindus, while others, e.g., in Ranchi, are merely animists approximating to the Munda type. Their occupation is iron working, but very large numbers work as agricultural labourers, as they consider this improves their status. They emigrate freely for the sake of improving their position and those from Ranchi frequently pose as Mundas or Oraons as they speak Mundari and Kurukh. They make excellent labour, though addicted somewhat to the consumption of lal pani.

1 . Institutes X. 83. 2 . Risley, loo cit, ll, 24

591 Lohar.: -a sub-caste of Barhis in Behar who work only in iron1. They are, however, distinct from, and do not intermarry with, the Lohar caste. The latter are probably of Dravidian descent, while the former appear to be an occupational group. Lohar, a synonym for Kamar in Behar; a mul or section of the Naomulia or Majraut sub-caste of Goalas in Behar; a section of Kamis in Darjiling.

Tradition Of Origin. Lohar, the blacksmith caste of Behar, Chota Nagpur, and Western Bengal. The Lohars are a large and heterogeneous aggregate, comprising of members of several different tribes and castes, who in different parts of the country took up the profession of working in iron. Of the various sub-castes, the Kanaujia claim to be the highest in rank, and they alone have a well- marked set of exogamous sections. They regard Viswamitra as their legendary ancestor, and worship him as the tutelary deity of their craft. The Kokas Lohars seem to be a branch of the Barhis, who have taken to working in iron and separated from the parent group for that reason. The Maghaiya seems to be the indigenous Lohars of Behar, as opposed to the Kanaujia and Mathuriya, who profess to have come in from the North-West Provinces. Kamar-Kalla Lohars may perhaps be a degraded offshoot from the Sonar caste. The Muhur or Mahulia say they came from the North-Western Provinees, and the fact that all Hindus can take water from their hands renders it likely that they may have broken off from some comparatively respectable caste.

Internal Structure. Their traditions, however, are net definite enough to enable this conjecture to be verified. The Kamia Lohars found in Champaran have immigrated from Nepal, and are regarded as ceremonially unclean. Many of them have became Mahomedans. In the Parganas, a sort of ethnic border land between Bengal and Behar, we find three sub-castes of Lohars,-Birbhumia, from the neighbouring district of Birbhum; Govindpuria, from the subdivision of Govindpur, in Northern Manghum; and Shergarhia, from the pargana of that name in Bardwan. The names give no clue to the tribal affinities of these three groups, but the fact that they have the totemistic section Sal-machh shows-them to be of non-Aryan descent, probably Bauris or Bagdis, who took to iron-working and called themselves Lohars. Of the four sub-castes into which the Lohars of Bankura are divided, two bear the names Gobra and Jhetia, which occur among the sub-castes of the Bauris. Two others-- Angaria and Pansili-- I am unable to trace. The Manbhum Lohars acknowledge three sub-castes: Lohar-Manjhi, Danda-Manjhi, and Bagdi-Lohar, names which suggest a connexion with the Bagdi caste. Lastly, in Lohar-daga we have the Sad-Lohars, claiming to be immigrant Hindus; the Manjhal-Turiyas, who may well be a branch of the Turi caste; and the Munda-Lohars, who are certainly Mundas. The great number of the sub castes, coupled with the fact that in some cases we can determine with approximate certainty the tribes of which they once formed part, seem to point to the conclusion, not merely that the aggregate termed the Lohar caste is made up of drafts locally levied from whatever groups were available for employment in a comparatively menial occupation, but that all castes whose functions are concerned with the primary needs of social life are the result of a similar process.

Marriage. Further indication of the different elements from which the caste has been formed may be traced in its social customs. The Lohars of Chota Nagpur and Western Bengal practise adult as well as infant-marriage, a price is paid for the bride, and the marriage ceremony is substantially identical with that in use among the Bagdis. Polygamy they allow without imposing any limit on the number of wives a man may have, and they recognize the extreme license of divorce characteristic of the aboriginal races. In Behar, on the other hand, infant-

1 See Risley.

592 marriage is the rule and adult-marriage the rare exception. The ceremony is modelled on the orthodox type. A bridegroom-price is paid, and polygamy is lawful only on failure of issue by the first wife. As to divorce, some diversity of practice seams to prevail. Kanaujias profess to prohibit it altogether, while other sub-castes admit it only with the permission of the panchayat, and regard the remarriage of divorced wives with disfavour. Widow-marriage is recognised both in Behar and elsewhere; but this is by no means a distinctively Dravidian usage, but rather a survival of early Aryan custom, which has fallen into disuse among the higher castes under the influence of Brahmanical prejudice.

Religion. Equally characteristic differences may be observed in the religious usages of the main branches of the caste. Kanaujia Lohars and all the Behar sub-castes, except the Nepalese Kamias, pose as orthodox Hindus, employ Maithil Brahmans, and worship the standard gods. In Chota Nagpur and Western Bengal, though some profession of Hinduism is made, this is little more than a superficial veneer laid on at a very recent date, and the real worship of the caste is addressed to Manasa, Ram Thakur, Baranda Thakur, Phulai Gosain, Dalli Gorai, Bhadu, and Mohan Giri. In the latter we may perhaps recognize the mountain god (Marang Buru) of the Mundas and Santals To him goats are sacrificed on Mondays or Tuesdays in the months of Magh, Ashar, and Agrahayan, the flesh being afterwards eaten by the worshippers. The Lohars of Bankura and the Santal Parganas have taken to employing low Brahmans, but in Lohardaga the aboriginal priest (pahan) and the local sorcerer (mati, ojha, or sokha) minister to their spiritual needs. The Sad-Lohars alone show an advance in the direction of orthodoxy, in that they employ the village barber to act as priest in the marriage ceremony.

Occupation. In Behar the caste work as blacksmiths and carpenters, while many have taken to cultivation. They buy their material in the form of pigs or bars of iron. Iron-smelting is confined to the Lohars of Chota Nagpur, and is supposed to be a much less respectable form of industry than working up iron which other people have smelted. In the Santal Parganas Lohars often cultivate themselves, while the women of the household labour at the forge. None of the Western Bengal Lohars combine carpentry with working in iron.

Social Status. In Behar Lohars rank with Koiris and Kurmis, and Brahmans take water from their hands. The status of the caste in Western Bengal is far lower, and they are associated in matters of food and drink with Bauris, Bagdis, and Mals.

Lohar.: -Khati, Ghantra, Ghisari, Panchal.1-- The occupational 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 Mistri, a corruption of the English 'Master' or 'Mister.' In 1911 the Lohars numbered about 180,000 persons in the Central Provinces and Berar. The Lohar is indispensable to the village economy, and the caste is found over the whole rural area of the Province. "Practically all the Lohars," Mr. Crooke writes,2 "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

1 See Russell. 2. Tribes and Castes of the N.W.P. and Oudh, art. Lohar

593 continually worship.' One1 tradition tells of an Ahir, who in her previous birth had been a dancing-girl of the gods. By her he had nine sons, who become the ancestors of various artisan castes, such as the Lohar, Barhai, Sunar, and Kasera." The Lohars of the Uriya country in the Central Provinces 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 vaccination and medicine and became a vaccinator (Suthiar), the fifth a goldsmith, the sixth a brass-smith, the seventh a coppersmith, and the eight a carpenter, while the ninth brother was weak in the head and descendants are known as Ghantra.2 The Ghantras are an inferior class of blacksmiths, 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.

Social Position Of The Lohar. The above story is noticeable as indicating that the social position of the Lohar is somewhat below that of the 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 following passage: "His social position is low even for a menial, 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, thought 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."1 Mr. Nesfield also says: "It is owing to the ubiquitous industry of the Lohar that the stone knives, arrow-heads and hatchets of 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 consequence of the evil associations which Hinduism has attached to the colour of black, the caste of Lohar has not been able to raise itself to 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; Dhar represents the should of the oil falling from the press and means a Teli or oilman; Chuchkar is an imitation of the sound of cloths 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 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 whole supply of the metal prior to its important from

1. Dowson, Classical Dictionary , s.v. 2. In Uriya the term Ghantrabela means a person who has illicit intercourse with another. The Ghantra Lohars are thus probably of bastard origin, like the groups known as half-castes and others which are frequently found. 1 . Punjab Census Report (18810, para 624. ( Ibbetson.)

594 Europe: 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,1 and this somewhat favours the argument that his lower status elsewhere is not due to incidents of his occupation.

Caste Subdivisions. The constitution of the Lohar caste is of a heterogeneous nature. In some localities Gonds who work as blacksmiths 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.

Marriage And Other Customs. Infant-marriage is the custom of the caste, and the ceremony is that prevalent among the agricultural castes of the locality. The remarriage of widows is permitted, and 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 toothpick 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 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 shoulder 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 or 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 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

1 . Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Lohar.

595 an earthen lamp. 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, upon which he will become an idiot.

Occupation. In the rural area of the Province the Lohar is still a village menial, making and mending the iron implements of agriculture, such as the ploughare, 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 land1 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 handsmelting iron industry has practically died out in the Province and the imported metal is used for nearly all purposed. 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 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 (gadi, gari). Sir D. Ibbetson2 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 families and implements in carts from village to village to village, doing the finer kinds of iron-work, which are beyond the capacity of the village artisan. In the Deccan3 this class of wandering blacksmiths are called Saiqalgar, knife-grinders, or Ghisara, grinders (Hindi, ghisana, 'to rub'). They wander about grinding knives and tools."

Lhârí.: -Or Myânwâlé Languages-- The word Myânwâlâ means a scabbard-maker.1 No information is available about the people who bear the name. Specimens of their dialect been forwarded from the Belgaum District. The names given to this form of speech is Myânwâlé or Lhârí. Myânwâlé is simply the plural from of Myâanwâlâ. Lhârí probably represents a rapid pronunciation of Lóhâri, the language of Lóhârs. At the last Census of 1911, 817 Lóhârs were enumerated in Belgaum. It is not, however, probable that the so-called Myânwâlé is the language of all the Lóhârs; it is probably only spoken by a small section.

The base of Myânwâlé is Dakhaní Hindóstâní and Râjasthâní-Gujarâtí. Thus, strong masculine bases end in ó in the singular as in the latter, and in é in the plural as in the former. The distinction between singular and plural forms is, to judge from the conjugation,

1 . About 15 acres. 1 . Berar Census Report, 1881 (Kitts). 2 . Punjab Ethnography, para. 624. 3 . Bombay Gazetteer, xvi. 82 1 G. A. Grierson, Linguistic Survey Of India.

596 of little importance; compare lótu©gó, he will beat, they will beat. Forms such as hitwâπyâ, they went, show that the termination é is not the only one in the plural of strong bases; the Râjasthâní-Gujarâtí termination â must be used as well. Of case terminations we may note dative kî as in Mâlví and Dakhaní Hindóstâní, genitive kó as in Mâlví or kâ as in Hindótâní; and locative mé as in Mâlví and Hindóstaní. There does not appear to exist a separate case of the agent, the nominative being used to denote the subject even if the verb is the past tense of a transitive. "I" is mé as in Bundélí, and "we" is hamé, cf. Gujarâtí amé.

In the conjugation of verbs we find forms such as hû for all persons and numbers of the present tense of the verb substantive and lótî for the corresponding forms of lót-nâ, to beat. Forms such as lug-naló, dying go, I die; rhóké, thou art; hóbré, is, show that the present tense is formed like the old present in Mâlví. The past tense ends in ó or yó; thus, chólwâπyó, said; lótó, struck. The future is formed as in Hindóstaní but with the singular ending in gó as in Eastern Râjasthâní; thus, rhau©gó, I shall be; hóbra©gé, we shall become.

Other forms mainly agree with Hindóstaní and Râjasthâní-Gujarâtí. Note the relative participle in só, as in dutósó, eaten; hóbrésó, being; the use of karke, karkó, having done, corresponding to the Sanskrit iti; the negative jin in chulâvé jin, do not call; for the last, compare Kanaují and Eastern Hindí.

Myânwâlé is an artificial argot built up on this base. There are some peculiar words such as barawâπ, come; bét, take; chhégé, preparation; chhuma∑, see; chigí†, run; chêy§i, water; chundaπí, ring; πamóló, man; πâmí, woman; dut, eat; géló, gepló, boy; jukélâ, dog; kíchí, fire; khích, give; khók, house; lugâ∑â, to break; lugí†, die; lót, strike; nând, village; níró, good; nókaπó, name; rhâk¬ó, brother. Some of these such as the base bara, to come; nând, village (Kanarese nâπu), seem to be Dravidian. Others are comparable with similar words in other argots.

Ordinary Aryan words are, moreover, disguised in various ways so as to make them unintelligible to outsiders. Sometimes a vowel is changed or an aspirated consonant de- aspirated; compare pésó = pâs, near; nuchó = pîchhâ, asked; ripché = píchhé, behind. More commonly an initial is changed or a consonant prefixed.

K is substituted in hur∑â, swine; compare sîâr.

Kh has been prefixed in words such as ¡khâdmí, man; khagâπí, before; khâp∑ó, own; khutné- mé, in the meantime; khék, one; khidéw, god; khira∑π, harlot. In khulke, having said, it has replaced an old b, and so on.

A g has been substituted for other initials in gipaπâ = kap®â, clothes; and perhaps in géló, boy, cf. bé†â.

As in similar argots ch and chh are often substituted for labials. Compare chaππó = ba®â, big; chónd =bândh, tying; chhil = bhar, filling; chhuk = bhîkh, hunger; chhurgâ= murghâ, cock.

Dh is prefixed as in similar argots; compare πhâkó = kâkâ, uncle; πhimlé = milâ, was got; πhu∑abí = ku∑bí, a cultivator; πhélyâ, compare bhé®â, a kid.

N is a very common substitute. It replaces a guttural in nusâl, marry; naríbí, poverty; nusâ, angry; a palatal in nâkar, servant; nîk, sin; a dental in nós, friend; a labial in naπ-ke, falling; nâp, sin; nir-ku, again; nirâw, put on; nirâdé (firyâdí), complainant; narâbar, immediately; nât, state; naras, year; nítar, inside; nan, mind; an ÷ in nakhíkat, facts. It has been substituted for an s in naba¬o, all; compare sab and sag¬a. Instead of s, however, we more

597 commonly find nh; thus, nhanka†, difficulty; nhun-ke, hearing; nhuriyâ, sun. Nh is used as a substitute for aspirated consonants in nhét, field; nhîs, chaff; nhóknó, small.

B has been substituted for l in bétó, took; and for s in bu∑akke, to be heard (note the Dravidian termination). A b has been replaced by an m in mâwutó, father, probably under the influence of mâwutí, mother.

R is also a common substitute, especially for labials; thus, rikan, ear; râ†ó, share; râ¬, hair; ripché = píchhé, behind; rhâk¬ó = bhâí, brother; rhâr, outside. Rhâk¬ó, brother, is, however, perhaps connected with the European Gypsyword râkló, boy

Another device of disguising words is by means of various additions at the end, which then often replace an old final.

Thus a k is added in rhóké, art; niskó, head; and a kn in nhóknó = chhó†â, small. If rhâk¬ó, brother, is derived from bhâí, a k¬ has been added.

An additional g occurs in words such as chóg, four; dîg, far; dóg, two, and so on. A ch is used in a similar way in words such as kíchó, did; ghóπchó, horse.

An addition í† is used in some intransitive verbs; thus, chigí†, run; nukí†ó, lost; barító, came; lugí†ó, dead. A π is added in khagâπí, before . I may here add the suffixes óπ and wâπ in verbal forms such as natóπ, dividing; rakhóπ, keeping; ghalóπ, put; barawâπí, she came; rhókwâπó, stayed; hi†wâπâ, they passed.

A t has been added in words such as bét, take; mâwutó, father, etc. The p in gelpó = géló, boy must be a similar addition.

An l or ¬ is apparently added or substituted for another final in words such as géló = bé†â (?), boy; πhélyâ, kid; compare bhé®â, ram; chhil = bhar (?), filling; kó¬ = kar, doing (compare Sêsí kî¬) ; gawa¬nó, singing, and so on.

The bar in hóbar-ke, having been, and so on, is probably a similar addition.

Lorha.: -a caste of rope makers1, shown only in the Sahâranpur District, where they aggregate 2,622 persons. They are probably from their occupation menials and allied to the gypsyKanjars or to the Doms and Dharkârs.

Luniyas.: -They used to work in the extraction of salt and as pick-pockets. Nowadays they also work the land.

Madâri.: -Madariya2--- One of the Beshara or unorthodox orders of Muhammadan Faqírs who take their name from the famous saint Zinda Shâh Madâr of Makanpur or Makhanpur in the Cawnpur District. There are, according to the usual computation, four sacred personages-- Châr Tan or Châr Pír, viz., Muhammad the Prophet; his friend Ali; Ali's eldest son Imâm Husain and Hasan Basari. Khwâja Hasan Basari had two disciples, Khwâja Habíb Ajami and Khwâja Abdul Wâhid Qâd. From these were sprung the fourteen Sîfi

1 See Crooke. 2. See Crooke. Based on notes by M.Mahadeva Prasîd, Head master, Zilla School, Pilibhit: M. Hâji Rashid Khân, Mirzapur.

598 Khânwâdas or sections. Of these, nine groups were sprung from Khwâja Habí¡b Ajami, viz., the Habibiya, founded by two brothers Mubârak and Muhammad; Tafîriya, founded by Tafîr bin Isa, who is better known by his other name Bayazíd Bustâmi; the Kharkhiya, founded by Shaikh Marîf Khârkhi, Khârkh being a quarter (muhalla) of Bâghdâd; Siqtiya, founded by Khwâja Sri Siqti; the Junediya by Juned Bâghdâdi; the Gozrîniya, by Abu Ishâq of Gozrîn; the Tusiya by Alâ-ud-dín of Tîs; the Firdosiya by Shaikh Najm-ud-dín Kulera and the Sahrwardiya by Abu Najíb Sahrwardi. The remaining five sects of the Sîfis were by the disciples of Khwâja Abdul Wâhid Qâd, viz., the Zadiya, founded by the five sons of Abdulla bin Ouf; the Ayâziya by Khwâja Fazl-bin Ayây; the Hubariya by Shaikh Hubara Basari; the Adhaniya by Sultân Ibrahím bin Adhan, and the Chishtiya by Abu Ishâq of Chist, a village in Khurasân.1

As a matter of fact the Madâris of Northern India have no real connection with these genuine Sîfi sects, because their founder Shâh Badi-ud-dín Madâr neither had any disciples nor was he himself a disciple of any of the genuine Sîfi sects. The fact seems to be that the Indian Madâris were established in imitation of the Hindu Jogis and Sannyâsis and their professed division of fourteen sections is based on that of these Hindu ascetics. Like Hindu Faqírs they apply ashes (bhabhît) to their bodies, wear iron chains round the head and neck, and carry a black flag and turban. They seldom pray or keep fasts, and use bhang freely as a beverage.

The following account of Shâh Madâr was given by the present manager of the shrine at Makanpur. "Shâh Madâr had fourteen hundred assistants (Khalífa) but no daughter. He adopted Sayyid Abu Muhammad Khwâja, Irghawân, Sayyid Abu Turâb Khwâja Mansîr, and Sayyid Abul Hasan Khwâja Taipur. These persons were his nephews. He brought them from the town of Junâr in Province of Halab and settled at Makanpur in the Cawnpur District where he died and was buried. The descendants of Sayyid Abu Muhammad Khwâja Irghawân were always noted for their learning and piety. Besides those whom he adopted he also brought with him Sayyid Muhammad Jamâl-ud-dín Janman Janti, who is usually called Jamanjati and is buried at Hilsa near Azímâbâd. He also brought with him his younger brother Sayyid Ahmad from Bâghdâd. Both these were these the nephews of saint Ghaus-ul Azam and he made them his assistants. With Jamanjati came two other brothers Mír Shahâb- ul-dín and Mír Rukn-ud-dín, who were also nephews of Ghaus-ul-Azam. Their tombs are at Shaikhpur Dharmsâla in the Cawnpur District, about two miles north of Makhanpur. Jamanjati was also noted for his piety and learning and thousands of persons benefited by him. His followers are known as Díwâna; numbers of these are still in Hindustân and are called Malang. Among the assistants of Shâh Madâr, Qâzi Mahmîd, son Qâzi Hamid, whose tomb is at Kantut in Nawâbganj, Bârabanki, was a great worker of miracles, and his followers are called Talibân. Bâba Kapîr's name was Abdul Ghafîr. His tomb is in Gwalior, and he was an assistant of Qâzi Hamíd and Qâzi Mazhar Qala Sher. His tomb is at Mâwar in the Cawnpur District. Qâzi Shahâb-ud-dín Shamsumar was a famous learned man in the time of Sultan Ibrahím Sharq of Jaunpur. Another Khalífa of this family was known as Parkâl-i-âtish, and he was buried at Baragân. These four, viz., Abu Muhammad, Jamanjati, Qâzi Mazhar, Qâzi Mahmîd were the most distinguished of all the Khalífas in the time of Tâj Mahmîd. The greater part of the Dargâh at Makanpur was built in the time of Shahâb-ud-dín Shâhjahân, Emperor of Delhi. Finally, Sayyid Tamíz-ud-dín was a noted man in this family. The descendants of Sayyid Abu Turâb and Sayyid Abul Hasan are known as Khâdim. The family of Qâzi Mazhar are known as Ashiqân or "lovers." Other famous tombs of members of the sect are those of Mufti Sayyid Sada Jahân at Jaunpur; Maulâna Hisâmuddin at Jaunpur; Mír Muiz Husain at Bihâr; Shams Nabi at Lucknow; Abdul Malik at Bahrâich; Sayyid Ajmal at Allahâbâd; Shaikh Muhammad Jhanda at Budâun; Sayyid Ahmad at Khuluaban; Sayyid Muhammad at Kâlpi; Shâh Dâta Bareilly; Maulâna Sayyid Râji at Delhi. The date of the death of Shâh Madâr is 17 Jamâdi-ul-awwak 838 Hijri."

1. Latâif Ashraji, Delhi Ed. 343: Dabistân ul Mazâhib, Ed 169.

599 According to the best authorities1 Shâh Madâr came to Makanpur during the reign of Ibrahím Shâh Sharqi of Jaunpur. But the local legends would bring him to the time of Prithivi Râja of Delhi. Many wonderful legends are told of him. He is said to have had an interview with Shâh Muín-ud-dín Chishti from whom he demanded a place to live. On this the Khwâja sent to the Shâh a cup of water full to the brim, by which he meant that there was no place available for his accommodation. The Shâh in reply placed a rose in the cup, implying that he would be a rose among the general body of Faqírs. On this the Khwâja appointed as his residence the site of Makanpur which was then occupied by a demon named Makna Deo. Him the Shâh expelled and the place was called by this name.

Another legend tells that he used to practise the art of keeping in his breath (habs dam) which is still common among various classes of ascetics. At last he was supposed to be dead and his disciples carried him to his burial. But he sat up and called out that he was alive in the words Dam dâram and they replied Dam madâr, "Do not breathe." Whereupon he really died and was buried; but he has since appeared from time to time in many places. By another story it was the Prophet Muhammad himself who gave him the power of retention of breath (habs dam) and hence arose his longevity, as the number of his respirations was diminished at pleasure. So he is said to have reached the age of 383 years when he died, and some say that he is still alive and so he is named Zinda Shâh Madâr. His devotees are said never to be scorched by fire and to be secure against the poison of venomous snakes and scorpions, the bites of which they have power to cure. Women who enter his shrine are said to be taken with violent pains as if they were being burnt alive, some of them leap into fire and trample it down with the cry Dam Madâr! Dam Madâr! Mrs. Mír Hasan Ali2 tells a story of a party of drunken revellers who trespassed in his tomb, one of them became insensible and died. Dr. Herklots3 describes the rite of Dhammâl Kîdna. They kindle a large heap of charcoal, and having sent for the Shâh Madâr Faqírs, offer them a present. The latter perform Fâtiha, sprinkle sandal on the fire, and the chief of the band first jumps into it, calling out Dam Madâr! when the rest of them follow him and calling out Dam Madâr! Dam Madar! tread out the fire. After that they have the sect of these Faqírs washed with milk and samdal, and on examination of the probable injury, find that not a hair has been singed; and that they are as they were at first. They then throw garlands of flowers around their necks, offer them sharbat, food, etc. Some, having vowed a black cow, sacrifice it in the name of Shâh Badi-ud- dín and distribute it in charity among Faqírs. In some places they set up a standard (alam) in the name of Zinda Shâh Madâr and erect a black flag and perform his festival ('urs) and sit up and read his praises, have illuminations and perform religious vigils. This standard is left all the year in its original position and never removed as those of the Muharram are.

Some of the Madâris are family men (takyadâr) and lead a settled life; the Malangs lead a wandering life. Some have rentfree lands (mu'âfi) and cultivate or live by daily labour or by begging. Others, who are perhaps different from the true Madâris, go about with performing bears or monkeys or snakes and are jugglers and eaters of fire. They are wild looking people and rather resemble Nats and their vagrant brethren.

General Cunningham quotes one of the songs current at Makanpur, which is interesting in connection with what has been stated above. Nahín Salon, Kâré, Hilsé, Nahín Jât Bihâr, nahín jât Bukhâré, Ajmeré, Muner Ko Kaun gané? Ali aur hen Pir anek barâré. Jot akhandit, Mangal mandit, Shin Pandit kavirâj pukâré. Jâpar ríjhat hen kartâr,

1. Cunningham, Archaeikiyical Reports, XVII, 102, sq. 2. Observations on the Musalmâns of India, II, 321, sq. 3. Qunîn i Islâm, 158.

600 So anat duâr, Madâr, tihâré. "Who goes to Salon (the tomb of Pír Muhammad), Karra (the tomb of Shaikh Karrak), or Hilsa (the tomb of Jaman 'Shâh Madâri)? Who goes to Bihâr (the tomb of Shâh Makhdîm) or Bukhâra? Who cares for Ajmer (the tomb of Muín-ud-dín Chishti) or Muner (the tomb of Sharf-ud-dín Muneri) when a greater saint is here? A brilliant light and a holy delight-- so says Siva Pandit the poet--for he whom the Maker chooses to favour comes to the shrine of Madâr."

Mahli.: -Mahili.1 - A small caste of labourers, palanquin-bearers and workers in bamboo belonging to Chota Nâgpur. In 1911 about 300 Mahlis were teturned from the Feudatory States in this tract. They are divided into five subcastes: the Bânsphor-Mahli, who make baskets and do all kinds of bamboo-work; the Pâhar-Mahli, basket-markers and cultivators; the Sulunkhi, cultivators and labourers; the Tânti, 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 Santâls seems to warrant the conjecture that the main body of the caste are merely a branch of the Santâls. 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, dumriâr the wild gig, Gundli a kind of grain, Kerketa a bird, Mahukal a bird (long-tail), Tirki, Tunduâr and Turu are also Munda septs; and the three septs given of the Mahli-Munda subcaste, Bhuktuâr, Lâng Chenre, and Sânga are all found among the Mundas; while four septs, Hansda a wild goose, Induâr 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.2 The Santâls 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 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 notes3 that the gypsyBerias use Mânjhi 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. Rishley's account of the caste need be recorded here, and for further details the 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 bridegroom 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 feast to the Mahlis of the neighbourhood, at which he must eat a little of the leavings of

1 See Russell. This article consists of extracts from Sir H. Risley's account of the Caste in the Tribes and Castes of Bengal. 2. See lists of exogamous septs of Mahli, sandâl, Munda and Puri in Appendix to Tribes and Castes of Bengal. 3. Ethnology of Bengal, p. 326.

601 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.

Mahtams.: -A hunting caste of Rajasthan and Pakistan. In Punjab there are Mahtams that come from the East.

Mailâri.: -The Mailâris1 are a class of beggars, who are said2 to "call themselves a sub-division of the Balijas, and beg from Kómatis only. Their ancestors were servants of Kannyakammavâru (or Kannikâ Amma, the virgin goddess of the Kómatis), who burnt herself to avoid falling into the hands of Râja Vishnu Vardhana. On this account, they have the privilege of collecting certain fees from all the Kómatis. The fee, in the Kurnool district, is eight annas per house. When he demands the fee, a Mailâri appears in full dress (kâsi), which consists of brass human heads tied to his loins, and brass cups to his head; a looking- glass on the abdomen; a bell ringing from his girdle; a bangle on his forearm; and wooden shoes on his feet. In this dress he walks, holding an umbrella, through the streets, and demands his fee. If the fee is not paid, he again appears, in a more frightful form called Bhîthakâsi. He shaves his whiskers, and, almost naked, proceeds to the burning-ground, where he makes rati, or different kinds of coloured rice, and, going to the Kómatis, extorts his fee." I am informed that the Mailâris travel about with an image of Kannyakamma, which they exhibit, while they sing in Telugu the story of her life.

The Mailâris are stated, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, to be also called Bâla Jangam. Mailâri (washerman) is also an exogamous sept of the Mâlas.

Majhwâr.: -Mânjhi, Mâjhia.3 - A small mixed tribe who have apparently originated from the Gonds, Mundas and Kawars. About 14,000 Majhwârs were returned in 1911 from the Raigarh, Sargîja and Udaipur States. The word Mânjhi means the headman of a tribal subdivision, being derived from the Sanskrit madhya, or 'he who is in the centre.'4 In Bengal Mânjhi has the meaning of the steersman of a boat or a ferryman, and this may have been its original application, as the steersman might well be he who sat in the center, and a leader would naturally occupy the position of steersman, and hence it is easy to see how them term Mânjhi 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 Santâls, and whether this meaning is derived from the prior signification of steersman of is of independent origin is uncertain. In Raigarh Mr. Híra Lâl states that the Mânjhis or Mâjhias are fishermen and are sometimes classed with the Kewats. They appear to be Kols who have taken to fishing and, being looked down on by the other Kols on this account, took the name of Mâjhia or Mânjhi, which they now derive from Machh, a fish. "The appearance of the Mâjhias whom I saw and examined was typically aboriginal and their language was a curious mixture of Mundâri, Santâl and Korwa, though they stoutly repudiated connection with any of these tribes. They could count only up to three in their own language, using the Santâl words mit, baria, pia. Most of their terms for parts of the body were derived from Mundâri,

1 See Thurston. 2 Manual of the Kurnool district. 3. See Russell. This article is based on papers by Mr. Híra Lâl and Suraj Baksh Singh, Assistant Superintendent, Udaipur state, with references to Mr. Crooke's exhaustive article on the Majhwârs in his Tribes and Cases. 4. Crooke art. Majhwâr, para. l.

602 but they also used some Santâli and Korwa words. In their own language they called themselves Hor, which means a man, and is the tribal name of the Mundas."

The Mírzâpur Majhwârs Derived From The Gonds. On the other hand the Majhwârs of Mírzâpur, of whom Mr. Crooke gives a detailed and interesting account, clearly appear to be derived from the Gonds. They have five subdivisions, which they say are descended from the five sons of their first Gond ancestor. These are Poiya, Tekâm, 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 proportion bear typical Gond names, as Markâm, Netâm, Tekâm, Mashâm, Sindrâm, and so on. The Majhwârs of Mírzâpur also, like the Gonds, employ Pathâris or Pardhâns 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 Mírzâpur from Sargîja and the Vindhyan and Satpîra hills, as they say that their ancestors ruled from the forts of Mandla, Garha in Jubbulpore, Sârangarh, Raigarh and other places in the Central provinces.1 They worship a deified Ahír, whose legs were cut off in a fight with some Râja, from which time he has become a troublesome ghost. "He now lives on the Ahlor hill in Sargîja, where his petrified body may still be seen, and the Mânjhis go there to worship him. His wife lives on the Jhoba hill in Sargîja. Nobody but a Baiga dares to ascend the hill, and even the Râja of Sargîja when he visits the neighbourhood sacrifices a black goat. Mânjhis believe that if these two deities are duly propitiated they would receive anything they need." The story makes it probable that the ancestors of these Mânjhis dwelt in Sargîja. The Mânjhis of Mírzâpur are not boatman 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 Santâls 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 headman of a Kol tribe in Chota Nâgpur.

Connection With The Kawârs. Again the Mânjhis appear to be connected with the Kawar tribe. Mr. Híra Lâl states that in Raigarh they will take food from Kewars, Gonds and Kawars and Râwats or Ahírs, 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 Mírzâpur the Kaurai Ahírs are not improbably derived from the Kawars.2 Here the Majhwârs 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.3 Not improbably the Mânjhis may include some Kewars, as this caste also use Mânjhi for a title; and Mânjhi is both a subcaste and title, of the Khairwârs. The general conclusion from the above evidence appears to be that the caste is a very heterogeneous group whose most important constituents come from the Gond, Munda, Santâl and Kawar tribes. Whether the original bond of connection among the various people who call themselves Mânjhi was the common occupation of boating and fishing is a doubtful point.

Exogamy And Totemism. The Mânjhis of Sargîja, like those of Raigarh, appear to be of Munda and Santâl 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 wallow and singh a horn. The Lotan Bhainsa sept say 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

1. Crooke, Tribes and Castes of Bengal , art. Mânjhi, para. 4. 2. Crooke, Tribes and castes of Bengal , art. Mânjhi, para. 63. 3. Ibidem , para. 54.

603 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 Bâghani Majhwârs, named after the bâgh 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 Bâghani sept hear that any Majhwâr 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 Dîmar1 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.

Marriage Customs. Marriage within the sept is prohibited and for three generations between persons related through females. Marriage is adult, but matches are arranged by the parents of the parties. At betrothal the elders of the caste must be served 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 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.

Birth And Funeral Rites. On the birth of a child the umbilical cord is buried in front 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.

Religious Dance. The tribe worship Dîlha Deo, the bridegroom god, and also make offerings to their ploughs at the time of eating the new rice and at the Holi and Dasahra festivals. They dance the karma dance in the months of Asârh and Kunwâr 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 in up in his yard as 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 Mândar. 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 feasting the dancers rice, pulse and a goat. This dance is a religious rite in honour of Karam Râja, 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 when they reach puberty with representations of the tulsi or basil, four arrow-heads in the form of a cross, and the foot- ornament known as pairi.

1. Ficus glomerata.

604 Mal.: -a Dravidian cultivating caste of Western and Central Bengal1, many of whom are employed as chaukidârs or village watchmen and have gained an evil reputation for their thieving propensities. Beyond the vague statements current among the Mâls of Eastern Bengal that they were wrestlers (Malla, Mâla) at the court of the Dacca Nawâbs and gained their name from this profession, the caste appear to have no tradition, and their origin has formed the subject of much discussion, the general drift of which is stated by Mr. Beverley2 as follows: In his late work on the Ancient Geography of India, General Cunningham quotes a passage from Pliny, in which the Malli are mentioned as this: "Gentes: Calingae proximi mari, et supra Mandei Malli, quorum mons Mallus finisque ejus tractus est Ganges." In another passage we have, "Ab is (Palibothris) in interiore silu Monedes et Suari, quorum mons Mallus"; and putting the two passages together, General Cunningham "thinks it highly probable that both names may be intended for the celebrated Mount Mandar, to the south of Bhagalpur, which is fabled to have been used by the gods and demons at the churning of the ocean." The Mondei general Cunningham identifies "with the inhabitants of the Mahanadi river, which is the Manada of Ptolemy." "The Malli or Malei would therefore be the same people as Ptolemy's Mandalae, who occupied the right bank of the Ganges to the south of Palibothra," the Mandalae having been already identified with the Monedes and the modern Munda Kols. "Or," adds General Cunningham, "they may be the people of the Rajmahal hills who are called Maler, which would appear to be derived from the Canarese Mate and the Tamil Malei, 'a hill.' It would therefore be equivalent to the Hindu pahâri or pârbatiya, a 'hillman.'" Putting this last suggestion aside for the present, it seems to me that there is some confusion in the attempt to identify both the Monedes and the Malli with the Mundas. If the Mandei and the Malli are distinct nations-- and it will be observed that both are mentioned in the same passage-- the former rather that the latter would seem to correspond with the Monedes or Mundas. The Malli would then correspond rather to the Suari, quorum mons Mallus-- the hills bounded by the Ganges at Rajmahal. They may therefore be the same as the Mals. In other words, the Mals-- the words Maler and Malhar seem to be merely a plural form-- may possibly be a branch of the great Sauriyan family to which the Rajmahal Pahâriâs, the Oraons, and the Sabars all belong, and which Colonel Dalton would describe as Dravidian. Fifteen hundred or two thousand years ago these people may have occupied the whole of Western Bengal. Pressed by other tribes, they have long since been driven into corners, not without, as it were, leaving traces of their individuality behind. In Mal-bhumi (Manbhum) instead of "the Country of the Wrestlers," as Dr. Hunter puts it, we seem to have the land of 'Mons Mallus' and the Mals. The Maldah district may also possibly owe its name to their having been settled there. As to the name, indeed it is quite possible that it means nothing more than highlanders; the word Mallus being simply the Indian vernacular for the Latin mons. If a native were asked the name of a hill in the present day, he would reply, as Pliny's informant probably replied years ago, that it was a 'hill;' and if asked the name of the people who lived there he would probably say they were 'hillmen.'

"These Mals appear to have been driven eastwards and to have spread over the whole of Bengal, where they have become merged in the mass of low-caste Hindus. This will account to some extent for what Colonel Dalton calls the Dravidian element in the composition of the Bengali race. Under the Hindu system the Mals, like other aboriginal tribes who came within the pale of Hinduising influences, appear to have formed one of the forty-five tribes of Chandals, the lowest or sweeper class among Hindus. Chandals are found in every district of Bengal, their aggregate number in the present day being over a million and half. In Mymensingh, where we find 20,000 Mals, we have 123,000 Chandals. In the south-eastern districts they seem to have lost their name in the generic term of Chandals, but in the eastern

1 See Risley. 2. Report of the Census of Bengal, 1872, by H. Beverley, p. 184.

605 districts they still retain it. In Murshedabad there are 29,000 Mals against 22,000 who described themselves as Chandals. Most officers say the Mals are identically the same as the Chandals. Some say they are wrestlers, others attribute to them the same occupation as that of the Madaris or Sampheriyas, viz, that of snake-charmers. Others, again, say they are Musalmans, and identify them with Bediyas or Babajiyas; but in this explanation there seems to be some confusion, the two last tribes not being generally considered identical. The Badiyas, though an itinerant tribe like the Bediyas, are employed, like the stationary Pasaris, in selling drugs. The returns, however, show that some of the Mals are Musalmans.

Internal structure. The most primitive specimens of the caste are met with in Bankura, where they have distinctly totemistic sections, and are divided into the following sub-castes: Dhaiiâ, Gobrâ or Gurâ, Khera, Râjbansi, and Sânâgânthâ. In Midnapur and Manbhum we find Dhunakâtâ, Râjbansi, Sâpuryâ or Bedya Mâl, and Tungâ; in Birbhum Khaturía, Mallik, and Râjbansi; in the Santâl Parganâs Deswar, Magahiyâ, Rajbansi or Râjâ Mâl, and Sindurâ; while in Murshedabad the sub-castes are the same as in Bankura, except that Dhaliâ is not known. The origin of these groups is extremely obscure, and I doubt whether any amount of inquiry would throw much light on the subject. Râjbansimay be of the Kochh tribe; but there is no reason to suppose that the Mâls are Kochh, and they might easily have acquired the name Râjbansi in the same manner as the Kochh have done by identifying themselves with the lineage of a local Râjâ, who may or may not have belonged to the same race. The simplest solution of the difficulty appears to be to assume that Mal is nothing more than a variant of Mâlé, 'man,' the name by which the Mâlé Pahâriâs describe themselves. It is possible, again, that the Râjbansi Mâls may be the same as Râja Mâls whom Buchanan noticed among the Mâl Pahâriâs at the beginning of the century. The monkey-catching Gobras bear the same name as one of the sub-castes of Bâgdis; and Khera is not far removed from Khairâ, whom some regard as a branch of the Doms. The Sânâgânthâ take their name from making sânâs, the uprights through which weavers pass their thread. The Dhunâkâtâ Mâls collect resin (dhuna) by tapping sâl trees; the Tungâ sub-caste are cultivators while the Sapuriâ or Bedya Mâls live by charming snakes, catching monkeys, hunting or conjuring, and roam about the county carrying with them small tents of coarse gunny-cloth. Although they catch snakes, Sâpuriâ Mâls hold the animal in the highest reverence, and will not kill it, or even pronounce its name, for which they use the synonym latâ, 'a creeper.'

Kinship with the Bediyâs. The names of the last-mentioned group raise the probably insoluble question of the connexion of the Mâls with the Bediyâs. Dr. Wise treats both Mâl and Samperiâ or Sâpuriâ as subdivisions of the Bediyâs tribe; but it is equally possible that the Mâl may be the parent group, and that the Bediyâs may have separated from it reason of their adhering to a wandering mode of life when the rest of the tribe had taken to comparatively settled pursuits. There certainly seem to be reasons for suspecting some tolerably close affinity between the two groups. The Mâls of Dacca, for instance, are called Ponkwah, from their dexterity in extracting worms from the teeth, a characteristic accomplishment of the Bediyâs. They repudiate the suggestion of kinship with the latter tribe, but it is said that many can recollect the time when relationship was readily admitted. At present, however, in spite of some survival of roving habits, peculiar physiognomy, and distinctive figures, Mâls are with difficulty recognized. Many of them are small bankers (mahâjans), never dealing in pedlar's wares, but advancing small sums, rarely exceeding eight rupees, on good security. The rate of interest charged is usually about fifty per cent. per annum; but this demand, however exorbitant, is less than that exacted many money-lenders in the towns. The Dacca Mâls never keep snakes, and know nothing about the treatment of their bites. The women, however, pretend to possess a secret knowledge of samples and of wild plants. They are also employed for cupping, for relieving obscure abdominal paints by friction, and for treating uterine diseases, but never for tattooing. The Mâls of Eastern Bengal do not intermarry with Bediyâs, and even within the limits of their own group a sharp distinction used to be observed

606 between settled Mâls and gypsyMâls; so that if one of the former sought to marry a girl of the latter class, he was required to leave his home, give up his cultivation, and adopt a wandering life. This custom has gradually given way to a keener sense of the advantages of settled life, but its general disuse is said to be still resented by the elders of the caste. Plausible as the conjecture may be which would trace some bond of kinship between the Bediyas and the Mâls, the evidence bearing on the point is not precise enough to enable us to identify the Sâpuriâ Mâls of Midnapur with the Sâmperiya Bediyâs of Eastern Bengal. Snake- charming is an occupation likely enough to be adopted by any caste of gipsy-like propensities, and there is no reason why both Mâls and Bediyâs should not have taken to it independently.

Exogamy. The Mâls of Western and Central Bengal seem on the whole to be the most typical representatives of the original Mâl tribe. Among them the primitive rule of exogamy is in full force, and a man may not marry a woman who belongs to the same totem group as himself. Prohibited degrees are reckoned by the standard formula calculated in the descending line to five generations on the father's and three on the mother's side. Outsiders belonging to higher castes may be admitted into the Mâl community by giving a feast to the Mâls of the neighbourhood and drinking water in which the headman of the village (mânjhi) has dipped his toes. No instance of anyone undergoing this disagreeable ordeal has been quoted to me, and such cases must be very rare.

Marriage. Girls may be married either as infants or after they have attained puberty, the tendency being towards the adoption of the former custom. The ceremony takes place just before daybreak in a sort of pavillion made of mahuâ and sidhâ branches in the courtyard. The couple are made to sit side facing the east.1 Garlands of flowers are then exchanged, the clothes of the pair are knotted together, and if adult they retire into a separate room in order to consummate their union. On their reappearance they are greeted by the company as husband and wife. Polygamy is permitted, but most Mâls are too poor to maintain more than one wife. A widow may marry again,2 but no special ritual is in use, except among the Râjâ Mâls of Birbhum, who exchange necklaces of beads or seeds of the tulsi (Ocynum sanctum); and such marriages, which are called sanga, are effected by paying a small fee to the headman (khâmid or mânjhi) and to the father of the widow. Divorce may be effected, with the sanction of the panchâyat, on the ground of adultery by the wife, and divorced women may marry again in the same manner as widows.

Religion. Mâls profess to have completely adopted Hinduism, and no vestiges of any more primitive religion can now be traced among them. They seem to belong to whatever Hindu sect is popular in the locality where they are settled; and in different districts they describe themselves as Vaishnavas, Saivas, or Sâktas, as the case may be. The snake goddess Manasâ is believed to be their special patroness, and is worshipped by them in much the same fashion as by the Bâgdis. Sacrifices of rice, sweetmeats, and dried rice are also offered by the heads of families to the tutelary goddess of each village, who bears the name of the village itself with the termmation sini added; so that the goddess of the village Pâtharâ would be called Pâtharâsini. In most villages they do not have the dignity of employing Brahmans, but elders of the caste or headmen of villages serve them as priests (khâmid). In the Santâl Parganâs, however, the Brahmans of the Let sub-caste of Bâgdis officiate also for the Râjâ Mâls.

1. According to some accounts Jalmâ, the goddess of water, must first be worshipped with gifts of flowers at a neighbouring tank, and water drawn from this tank must be used in the marriage in addition to water blessed by a Brahman. 2. This is the general rule, but the Râjbansi Mâls of Midnapur have recently abandoned widow-marriage.

607 Disposal of the dead. The dead are burned, usually at the side of a stream, into which the ashes are thrown. A meagre imitation of the orthodox srâddh ceremony is performed on the eleventh day after death in ordinary cases, and on the third day for those who have died a violent death. On the night of the Kâli Pujâ in Kârtik (October-November) dried jute stems are lighted in honour of departed ancestors, and some even say that this is done to show their spirits the road to heaven. Libations of water are offered on the last day of Chait. Female children are buried facing downwards, and the bodies of very poor persons are often buried with the head to the north in the bed of a river.

Occupation and social. Agriculture is supposed to be the original profession of the caste, and most Mâls, except those of distinctly gypsy habits, are now engaged in cultivation as occupancy or non-occupancy raiyats and landless day-labourers. None appear to have risen to the higher rank of zamindar or tenure-holder, except in Bankura, where one sardâr ghatwâl, one sadiâl, 56 tâbidârs, and 35 châkarân chaukidârs are Mâls. In Manbhum, on the other hand, which some believe to be the original home of the caste, no Mâls are found in possession of these ancient tenures, though some are employed as ordinary village chaukidârs. The women of the caste and some of the men often make a livelihood by fishing-- a fact which accounts for their bearing the title of Machhuâ. Their social status is very low, and is clearly defined by the fact that Bâgdis and Koras will not take water from their hands, while they take water and sweetmeats not only from those castes, but also from Bauris. Mâls pride themselves on abstaining from beef and pork, but eat fowls, all kinds of fish, field-rats, and the flesh of the gosâmp (Lacerta godica). The Râjâ Mâls, however, do not touch fowls.

Mâl.:-Mâle, Mâler, Mâl Pahâria.1 - A tribe of the Râjmahal hills, who may be an isolated branch of the Savars. In 1911 about 1700 Mâls were returned from the Chota Nâgpur Feudatory States recently transferred to the Central Provinces. The customs of the Mâls resemble those of the other hill tribes of Chota Nâgpur. 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 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 thanks- offering is made to him. This is the favourite pastime, and one of the chief occupations of the

1. See Russell. Based entirely on Colonel Dalton's account in the Ethnology of Bengal, and Sir. H. Risley's in the Tribes and Castes of Bengal.

608 Mâlers, 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 fine. The Mânjhi or headman of the village is entitled to a share of all game killed by any of his people. Anyone who kills a hunting dog is fined twelve rupees. Certain parts of an animal are taboo for 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 Mâlers 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 Pahârias. Mr. Atkinson found the Mâlers 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 the god Bacchus that they indulge in the amusement. All accounts agree in ascribing to the Pahârias 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 sorghum), 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 Mâles of the Râjmahal 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 Bhâgalpur, 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 and jurisdiction, and enrolling a corps of Mâles, which became the Bhâgalpur Hill Rangers, and was not disbanded till successfully 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

Malaivedan.: -They live in Tamil Nadu. Their name means the Beda or Vedan of the Mala (hills). They are hunter-nomads. They probably came from Kerala at least in their last great migration.

Malayan.: -Concerning the Malayans2, Mr. A.R. Loftus-Tottenham writes as follows. "The Malayans are a Makkathâyam caste, observing twelve days' pollution, found in North Malabar. Their name, signifying hill-men, points to their having been at one time a jungle tribe, but they have by no means the dark complexion and debased physiognomy characteristic of the classes which still occupy that position. They are divided into nine exogamous illams, five of which have the names Kótukudi, Velupâ, Chéni, Palânkudi, and Kalliath. The men do not shave their heads, but allow the hair to grow long, and either part

1. See The Khândesh Bhíl Corps, by Mr. A.H.A. simcox, p. 62. 2 See Thurston.

609 it in the middle, or tie it into a knot behind, like the castes of the east coast, or tie it in a knot in front in the genuine Malayâli fashion. The principal occupation of the caste is exorcism, which they perform by various methods.

"If any one is considered to be possessed by demons, it is usual, after consulting the astrologer in order to ascertain what murti (form, i.e., demon) is causing the trouble, to call in the Malayan, who performs a ceremony known as tíyattam, in which they wear masks, and, so disguised, sing, dance, tom-tom, and play on a rude and strident pipe. Another ceremony, known as ucchavéli, has several forms, all of which seem to be either survivals, or at least imitations of human sacrifice. One of these consists of a mock living burial of the principal performer, who is placed in a pit, which is covered with planks, on the top of which a sacrifice is performed, with a fire kindled with jack wood (Artocarpus integrifolia) and a plant called erinna. In another variety, the Malayan cuts his left forearm, and smears his face with the blood thus drawn. Malayans also take part with Peruvannâns (big barbers) in various ceremonies at Badrakâli and other temples, in which the performer impersonates, in suitable costume, some of the minor deities or demons, fowls are sacrificed, and a Velicchapâd pronounces oracular statements."

As the profession of exorcists does not keep the Malayans fully occupied, they go about begging during the harvest season, in various disguises, of which that of a hobby-horse is a very common one. They further add to their income by singing songs, at which they are very expert. Like the Nalkes and Paravas of South Canara the Malayans exorcise various kinds of devils, with appropriate disguises. For Nenaveli (bloody sacrifice), the performer smears the upper part of his body and face with a paste made of rice-flour reddened with turmeric powder and chunam (lime) to indicate a bloody sacrifice. Before the paste dries, parched paddy (unhusked rice) grains, representing small-pox pustules, are sprinkled over it. Strips of young cocoanut leaves, strung together so as to form a petticoat, are tied round the waist, a ball of sacred ashes(vibhîthi) is fixed on the tip of the nose, and two strips of palmyra palm leaf are stuck in the mouth to represent fangs. If it is thought that a human sacrifice is necessary to propitiate the devil, the man representing Nenaveli puts round his neck a kind of framework made of plantain leaf sheaths; and, after he has danced with it on, it is removed, and placed on the ground in front of him. A number of lighted wicks are stuck in the middle of the framework, which is sprinkled with the blood of a fowl, and then beaten and crushed. Sometimes this is not regarded as sufficient, and the performer is made to lie down in a pit, which covered over by a plank, and a fire kindled. A Malayan, who acted the part of Nenaveli before me at Tellicherry, danced and gesticulated wildly, while a small boy, concealed behind him, sang songs in praise of the demon whom he represented, to the accompaniment of a drum. At the end of the performance, he feigned extreme exhaustion, and laid on the ground in a state of apparent collapse, while he was drenched with water brought in pots from a neighbouring well.

The disguise of Uchchaveli is also assumed for the propitiation of the demon, when a human sacrifice is considered necessary. The Malayan who is to take the part puts on a cap made of strips of cocoanut leaf, and strips of the same leaves tied to a bent bamboo stick round his waist. His face and chest are daubed with yellow paint, and designs are drawn thereon in red or black. Strings are tied tightly round the left arm near the elbow and wrist, and the swollen area is pierced with a knife. The blood spouts out, and the performer waves the arm, so that his face is covered with the blood. A fowl is waved before him, and decapitated. He puts the neck in his mouth, and sucks the blood.

The disguises are generally assumed at night. The exorcism consists in drawing complicated designs of squares, circles, and triangles, on the ground with white, black, and yellow flour. While the man who has assumed the disguise dances about to the accompaniment of drums, songs are sung by Malayan men and women.

610 Maleyave.: -Recorded, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a small Canarese- speaking caste of beggars1. In the south Canara Manual, it is stated that they are "classed as mendicants, as there is a small body of Malayâlam gypsies of that name. But there may have been some confusion with Malava and Malé Kudiya."

Mâna.: -Dravidian caste2 of cultivators and labourers belonging to the Chânda District, from which they have spread to Nâgpur, Bhandâra and Bâlâhât. In 1911 they numbered nearly 50,000 persons, of whom 34,000 belonged to Chânda. The origin of the caste is obscure. In the Chânda Settlement Report of 1869 Major Lucie Smith wrote of them: "Tradition asserts that prior to the Gond conquest the Mânas reigned over the country, having their strongholds at Surajgarh in Ahiri and at Mânikgarh in the Mânikgarh hills, now of Hyderâbâd, 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, industrious 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 Chânda." Another local tradition states that a line of Mâna princes ruled at Wairâgarh. The names of three princes are remembered: Kurumpruhoda, the founder of the line; Surjât Badwâik, who fortified Surjâgarh; and Gahilu, who built Mânikgarh. As regards the name Mânikgarh, it may be mentioned that the tutelary deity of the Nâgvansi kings of Bastar, who ruled there before the accession of the present Râj-Gond dynasty in the fourteenth century, was Mânikya Devi, and it is possible that the chiefs of Wairâgarh were connected with the Bastar kings. Some of the Mânas say that they, as well as the Gowâris, are offshoots of the Gond tribe; and a local saying to the effect that 'The Gond, the Gowâri and the Mâna eat boiled juâri 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 subdivision of Mâna Ojhas, who lay claim to special sanctity, refusing to take food from any other caste.3 The Gonds have a subdivision called Mannewâr, and as wâr is only a Telugu suffix for the plural, the proper name Manne closely resembles Mâna. 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 Mânas is that they were also the rulers of some tracts of Chânda, and were displaced like the Parjas by a Gond invasion from the south.

In Bhandâra, where the Mânas hold land, it is related that in former times a gigantic kite lived on the hill of Ghurkundi, near Sâkoli, and devoured the corps of the surrounding country by whole fields at a time. The king of Chânda proclaimed that whoever killed the kite would be granted the adjoining lands. A Mâna shot the kite with an arrow and its remains were taken to Chânda in eight carts, and as his reward he received the grant of a zamíndâri. In appearance the Mânas, 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 Chânda and Bastar, the Mâria Gonds, are also taller and of a better physical type than the average Dravidian, so that their physical appearance need not contradict the above hypothesis. They retained their taste for fighting until within quite recent times, and in Kâtol and other towns below the Satpîra hills, Mânas were regularly enlisted as a town guard for repelling the Pindâri raids. Their descendants still retain the ancestral matchlocks, and several of them make good use of these as professional shikâris or hunters. Many of them are employed as servants by landowners and

1 See Thurston. 2 See Russell. This article is based on papers by Mr. Hâra Lâl and G. Padaya Naida of the Gazetteer office. 3 Papers on the Aboriginal Tribes of the Central Provinces, p. 6.

611 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. Mânas hold three Zamíndâri estates in Bhandâra and a few villages in Chânda; 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 food.1 The Mâna women are proverbial for the assistance which they render to their husbands in the work of cultivation.

Owing to their general adoption of Marâtha customs the Mânas are now commonly regarded as a caste and not a forest tribe, and this view may be accepted. They have two subcastes, the Badwâik Mânas, or soldiers, and the Khâd Mânas, who live in the plains and are considered to be of impure descent. Badwâik or 'The Great Ones' is a titular term applied to a person carrying arms, and assumed by certain Râjpîts and also by some of the lower castes. A third group of Mânas 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 Marâthi. It is worth noticing that several pairs of these septs, as Jamâre and Gazbe, Narnari and Chudri, Wâgh and Râwat, 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 Mânas are the same as those of the other lower Marâtha castes, as described in the articles on Kunbi, Kohli and Mahâr. A bride-price of Rs. 2-8 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 Shivrâtri and of Akhâtij, and a day each in the months of Mâgh (January) and Phâgun (February). This rule, however, is not universal. Brâhmans do not usually officiate at their ceremonies, but they employ a Brâhman 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 Mâhunchâr, and in this respect the Mânas 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 preventing 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 readmitted 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 reinstate her by partaking of food cooked by her. 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 Mânas have Bhâts or genealogists of their own caste, a separate one being appointed for each sept. The Bhât of any sept can only accept gifts from members of that sept, though he may take food from any one of the caste. The Bhâts are in the position of beggars, and the other Mânas will not take food from them. Every man must have a Bhât for his family under penalty of being temporarily put out of caste. It is said that the Bhâts 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 Mânas, 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 Mâna with a shoe, the indignity put upon him is so great that he is temporarily excluded from caste and penalised for readmission. Since this incident the Bhâts

1 Rev. A. Wood in Chânda District Gazetteer, para. 96.

612 have to address the Mânas as 'Brahma,' to show their respect, with the Mâna replying 'Râm, Râm.' Their women wear short loincloths, exposing part of the thigh, like the Gonds. They eat pork and drink liquor, but will take cooked food only from Brâhmans.

Mânbhao.: -A religious sect1 or order which has now come to the Provinces and to Berâr. Their total strength in India in 1911 was 10,000 persons, of whom the Central Provinces and Berâr contained 4000. The name would appear to have some such meaning as 'The reverend brothers.' The Mânbhaos are stated to be a Vaishnavite order founded in Berâr some two centuries ago.2 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 Ahmadnagar. He was a great Sanskrit scholar and a devotee of Krishna, and preached his doctrines to all except the impure castes. Ridhpur, in Berâr, is the present headquarters of the order, and contains a monastery and three temples, dedicated to Krishna and Dattâtreya,3 the only deities recognised by the Mânbhaos. Each temple is named after a village, and is presided over by a Mahant elected from the celibate Mânbhaos. 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 Chândur in Amraoti District; Akulne, a village near Ahmadnagar; Lâsorkar, from Lâsor, near Aurangâbâd; Mehkarkar, from Mehkar in Buldâna; and others. The order thus belongs to Berâr and the adjoining parts of India. Colonel Mackenzie describes Ridhpur as follows: "The name is said to be derived from ridh, meaning blood, a Râkshas or demon having been killed there by Para-surâma, and it owes its sanctity to the fact that the god lived there. Innumerable black stones 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 Mânbhaos carry about a small black stone disk with an eye painted on it as an amulet." Frequently their shrines contain no images, but are simply chabutras or platforms built over the place where Krishna or Dattâtreya left marks of their footprints. Over the platform is a small veranda, which the Mânbhaos kiss, calling upon the name of the god. Sukli, in Bhandâra, is also a headquarters of the caste, and contains many Mânbhao tombs. Here they burn camphor in honour of Dattâtreya and make offerings of cocoanuts. They make pilgrimages to the different shrines at the full moons of Chait (March) and Kârtik (October). They pay reverence to no deities except Krishna and Dattâtreya, and observe 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 Bhâgavat-Gíta. 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 Bhâgavat-Gíta 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.' 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. '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.'"

1. See Russell. This article is compiled from mites on the caste drawn up by Colonel mackenzie and contributed to the Pioneer newspaper by Mrs. Hors-burgh ; Captain Mackintosh's Account of the Manbhaos (India Office Tracts); and a paper by pyâre Lâl Misra Ethnographic clerk. 2. Berâr Census Report (1881), p. 62 3. Dattâtreya was a celebrated Sivite devotee who has been deified as an incarnation of Siva.

613 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 understanding are fixed on me alone."

Divisions Of The Order. The Mânbhaos are now divided into three classes: the Brahmachâri; the Gharbâri; and the Bhope. The Brahmachâri are the ascetic members of the sect who subsist by begging and devote their lives to meditation, prayer and spiritual instruction. The Gharbâri 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 his jholi or beggar's wallet upon hers; if she lets it remain 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 necklace 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 Berâr they are divided into thirteen bas or orders, named after the disciples of Arjun Bhat, who founded the various shrines. The Mânbhaos 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 religious 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 Mânbhaos 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 Brâhman or Gosain. They often act as priests or gurus to the Mahârs, for whom Brâhmans 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 Bhâgavat-Gíta 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.

Religious Observances And Customs. One of the leading tenets of the Mânbhaos 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 destruction of life involved in cooking. The Mânbhaos 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 and 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

614 women shave 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 preserved 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 man 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 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 nometal 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, Raojída, 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 Mânbhao tomb, and no mourning nor ceremony of purification is observed, nor are oblations offered to the spirits of the dead. If the dead man leave 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.

Hostility Between Mânbhaos And Brâhmans. The Mânbhaos are dissenters from orthodox Hinduism, and have thus naturally incurred the hostility of the Brâhmans. Mr. Kitts remarks of them:1 "The Brâhmans hate the Mânbhaos, who have not only thrown off the Brâhmanical yoke themselves, but do much to oppose the influence of Brâhmans among the agriculturists. The Brâhmans represent the Mânbhaos as descended from one Krishna Bhat, a Brâhman who was outcasted for keeping a beautiful Mâng woman as his mistress. His four sons were called the Mâng-bhaos or Mâng brothers." This is an excellent instance of the Brâhman talent for pressing etymology into their service as an argument, in which respect they resemble the Jesuits. By asserting that the Mânbhaos are descended from a Mâng woman, one of the most despised castes, they attempt to devise for their enemies an origin of being outcastes of a Brâhman 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 them by the Brâhmans, but knowing that someone 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 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 Mânbhaos should wear clothes the colour of ashes, in memory of the sacred fire which had disclosed to them their guru's sin.

Captain Mackintosh also relates that "About A.D. 1780, a Brâhman named Anand Rishi, an inhabitant of Paithan on the Godâvari, maltreated a Mânbhao, who came to ask for alms at his door. This Mânbhao, after being beaten, proceeded to his friends in the vicinity, and they collected a large number of brethren and went to the Brâhman to demand satisfaction; Anand Rishi assembled a number of Gosains and his friends, and pursued and attacked the Mânbhaos, who fled and asked Ahalya Bai, Râni of Indore, to protect them; she endeavoured

1. Berâr Census Report (1881), p. 62.

615 to pacify Anand Rishi by telling him that the Mânbhaos were her gurus; he said that they were Mângs, 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 Brâhman's house to ask for alms, and another that if any Brâhman repeated Anand Rishi's name and drew a line across the road when a Mânbhao was advancing, the Mânbhao, without saying a word, must return the road he came. Notwithstanding this attempt to prevent their approaching a Brâhman's house, they continue to ask alms of the Brâhmans, and some Brâhmans 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 Mânbhao is proceeding along a road, if any one draws a line across the road with a stick in front of him the Mânbhao will wait 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; Mânbhao hokar kâle kapre dârhi mîchi mundhâta hai, Ulti lakri hâth men pakri woh kya Sâhib milta hai; or, 'The Mânbhao 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 Kabír.

Mandula.: -The Mandulas1 (medicine men) are a wandering class, the members of which go about from village to village in the Telugu country, selling drugs (from mandu, medicine) and medical powders. some of their women act as midwives. Of these people an interesting account is given by Bishop Whitehead,2 who writes as follows. "We found an encampment of five or six dirty-looking huts made of matting, each about five feet high, eight feet long and six feet wide, belonging to a body of Mandalavâru, whose head-quarters are at Masulipatam. They are medicine men by profession, and thieves and beggars by choice. The headman showed us his stock of medicines in a bag, and a quaint stock it was, consisting of a miscellaneous collection of stones which are ground to powder, and mixed up as a medicine with various ingredients. He had a piece of mica, a stone containing iron, and another which contained some other metal. There was also a peculiar wood used as an antidote against snake-bite, a piece being torn off and eaten by the person bitten. One common treatment for children is to give them tiles, ground to powder, to eat. In the headman's hut was a picturesque-looking woman sitting up with an infant three days old. It had an anklet, made of its mother's hair, tied round the right ankle, to keep off the evil eye. The mother, too, had a similar anklet round her own left ankle, which she put on before her confinement. She asked for some castor-oil to smear over the child. They had a good many donkeys, pigs, and fowls with them, and made, they said, about a rupee a day by begging. Some time ago, they all got drunk, and had a free fight, in which a woman got her head cut open. The police went to enquire into the matter, but the woman declared that she only fell against a bamboo by accident. The whole tribe meets once a year, at Masulipatam, at the Sivarâtri festival, and then sacrifice pigs and goats to their various deities. The goddess is represented by a plain uncarved stone, about four-and-a-half or five feet high, daubed with turmeric and kunkuma (red powder). The animals are killed on front of the stone, and the blood is allowed to flow on the ground. They believe that the goddess drinks it. They cook rice on the spot, and present some of it to the goddess. They then have a great feast of the rest of the rice and the flesh of the victims, get very drunk with arrack, and end up in a free

1 See Thurston. 2 Madras Diocesan Magazine, 1906.

616 fight. We noted that one of the men had on an anklet of hair, like the woman's. He said he had been bitten by a snake some time ago, and had put on the anklet as a charm.' The Mandula is a very imposing person, as he sits in a conspicuous place, surrounded by paper packets piled up all round him. His method of advertising his medicines is to take the packets one by one, and, after opening them and folding them up, to make a fresh pile. As he does so, he may be heard repeating very rapidly, in a sing-song time. "Medicine for rheumatism," etc. Mandulas are sometimes to be seen close to the Moore Market in the city Madras, with their heaps of packets containing powders of various colours.

Mandula.: -In Andra Pradesh the sellers of herbal medicines are called Mandula. They mix scientific knowledge with magical remedies. Sometimes they take the opportunity of stealing.

Mâng.: -A low impure caste of the Marâtha Districts1, who act as village musicians and castrate bullocks, while their women serve as midwives. The Mângs are also sometimes known as Vâjantri or musician. They numbered more than 90,000 persons in 1911, of whom 30,000 belonged to the Nâgpur and Nerbudda Divisions of the Central Provinces, and 60,000 to Berâr. The real origin of the Mângs 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. The business of the Mâng was to play on the flute and to make known the wishes on the Râja to his subjects by beating a drum. He was to live in the forest or outside the village, and was not to enter it except with the Râja's permission. He was to remove the dead bodies of strangers, to hang criminals, and to take away and appropriate the clothes and bedding of the dead. The Mângs themselves relate the following legend of their origin as given by Mr. Sâthe: Long ago, before cattle were used for ploughing, there was so terrible a famine upon the earth that all the grain was eaten up, and there was none left for seed. Mahâdeo 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 Mahâdeo 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 Mahâdeo to give him some further assistance, and Mahâdeo 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 Mahâdeo 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 Mahâdeo, 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 immediately a coal-black man sprang up and stood ready to do Mahâdeo'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 black man, who was the first Mâng, are employed in the office for which he was created. It is further related that Nandi, the bull, cursed the Mâng in his pain, saying that he and his descendants should never derive any profit from ploughing with cattle. And the Mângs say that to this day none of them prosper by taking to cultivation, and quote the following proverb: 'Keli kheti, Zhâli mati,' or, 'If a Mâng sows grain he will only reap dust.'

Subdivisions. The caste is divided into the following subcastes: Dakhne, Khândeshe and Berârya, or those belonging to the Deccan, Khândesh and Berâr; Ghodke, those who tend horses; Dafle, tom-

1. See Russell. This article is based partly on a paper by Mr. Achyut Sitârâm Sâthe, Extra Assistant Commissioner.

617 tom players; Uchle, pickpockets; Pindâri, descendants of the old freebooters; Kakarkâdhe, stone-diggers; Holer, hide-curers; and Garori. The Garoris1 are a sept of vagrant snake- charmers and jugglers. Many are professional criminals.

Marriage. The caste is divided into exogamous family groups 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. Sâthe 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 from 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-sîtram or holy thread, which her husband ties on her neck at marriage; the garsoli or string of block 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 Mâng wedding that the bride-groom should go to it riding on a horse. The Mahârs, another low caste of the Marâtha Districts, worship the horse, and between them and the Mângs 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 Mâng riding on a horse is thus gall and wormwood to the Mahârs, who consider it a terrible degradation to the noble animal, and this fact inflaming their natural enmity, formerly led to riots between the castes. Under native rule the Mângs were public executioners, and it was said to be the proudest moment of a Mâng's life when he could perform his office on a Mahâr. 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 assistance is required. If the mother-in-law is ill and requires somebody to wait on her, if she is a shrew and wants some one to bully, or if she has 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.

Widow-marriage. The remarriage of widows is permitted, and a widow may marry anyone except persons of her own family group 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 someone 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 permitted only for persistent misconduct on the part of the wife.

1. See also separate article Mâng-Garori.

618 Burial. The caste always bury the dead and observe mourning 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 ním tree (Melia indica). These they then spit out of their mouths to indicate their complete severance from the dead man.

Occupation. The caste beat drums at village festivals, and castrate cattle, and they also make brooms and mats of date-palm and keep leeches for blood-letting. Some of them are village watchmen and their women act as midwives. As soon as a baby is born, the midwife blows into its mouth, ears and nose in order to clear them of any impediments. When a man is initiated by guru or spiritual preceptor, the latter blows into his ear, and the Mângs therefore say that on account of this act of the midwife they are the gurus of all Hindus. During an eclipse the Mângs beg, because the demons Râhu and Ketu, who are believed to swallow the sun and moon on such occasions, were both Mângs, 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 woman, a bangle-seller, a Lingâyat Mâli or another Mâng.1 In Marâtha villages they sometimes take the place of Chamârs, and work in leather, and one writer says of them: "The Mâng is a village menial in the Marâtha 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 presents at seed-time and harvest, and it is said that the Kunbi will never send the Mâng empty away, because he represents the wrath of Mahâdeo, being created from the god's sweat when he was angry.

Religion and social status. The caste especially venerate the goddess Devi. They apparently identify Devi with Sâraswati, the goddess of wisdom, and they have a story to the effect that once Brahma wished to ravish his daughter Sâraswati. She fled from him and went to all the gods, but not one of them would protect her for fear of Brahma. At last in despair she came to a Mâng's house, and the Mâng stood in the door and kept off Brahma with a wooden club. In return for this Sâraswati blessed him and said that he and his descendants should never lack for food. They also revere Mahâdeo, 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 Mâng'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 exacted, and two feasts must be given to the caste. To kill as ass or a monkey is a sin only slightly 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 Brâhman, or if he is struck with the kathri or mattress made of rags which the villagers put on their sleeping-cots. Mr. Gayer remarks2 that "The Mângs 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 ním tree, and the Mângs of Sholapur spread hariâli3 grass and ním leaves on the spot where one of their caste dies." The social status of the Mângs 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 Mahârs and Mângs were not allowed within the gates of Poona between 3 P.M. and 9 A.M., because before nine and after three their bodies caste too long a shadow; and whenever their shadow fell upon a Brâhman it polluted him, so that the dare not taste 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

1. Berâr Census Report (1881), p. 147. 2. Lectures on the Criminal Tribes of the Central Provinces, p. 79. 3. Cynodon dactylon.

619 Mahâr or Mâng.1 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 a large ring of gold or brass worn in the lobe of the ear. A Mâng's sign-manual is a representation of his bhall-singâra 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, 'Mâng-Nirdayi,' or 'Hardhearted as a Mâng.'

Mangan.: -See Charan.

Manganiyar.: -They live in Rajasthan and they are genealogists, beggars and musicians.

Manihar.: -They live in Northern India. They make glass bangles, bracelets and whatever decorations which are necessary for wedding feasts.

Mannewâr.: -A small tribe belonging to the south or Telugu-speaking portion of the Chânda District2, where they numbered about 1600 persons in 1911. The home of the tribe is the Hyderâbâd State, where it numbers 22,000 persons, and the Mannewârs 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 wâr is the plural termination in Telugu, Mannewâr thus signifying 'the people of the forest.' The tribe appear to be commonly called Mannewâr Koyas as opposed to the Koya Doras or the superior branch, Dora meaning lord or master. The Koya Doras thus correspond to the Raj-Gonds of the north of the province and the Mannewâr Koyas to the Dhur or 'dust' Gonds.3 The tribe is divided into three exogamous groups: the Nalugu Velpulu worshipping 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 own, but the Mannewârs 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 them 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 Pesâmuda 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 couple are seated on a plough-yoke, and coloured rice is thrown onto 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 cousin4 or some other near

1. Dr. Murray Mitchell's Great Religions of India , p. 63. 2. See Russell. This article is based on a note furnished by Mr. M. Aziz, Officiating Nâib-Tahsíldâr, Sironcha. 3. From a glossary published by Mr. Gupta, Assistant Director of Ethnology for India. 4. Generally the paternal aunt's son.

620 relative, the two sisters being married to him together. A widow may marry any 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 Mannewârs 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 mahua1 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 Mannewârs make two human figures to represent Kâmi and Rati, or the god of 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 Brâhmans 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.

Maravans.: -They are similar to the Kallar. They have given all sorts of problems to the British at the time of independence without getting any credit for it or becoming national heroes. Once the left the army they went back to a sort of honest life.

Masanjogi.: -or Mahars. They are a section of the Mahars and perform magic shows.

Matkuda.: -See Od and Beldar.

Medra.: -They live in South India. They are makers of mats, baskets, and other bamboo objects. They sell their production moving from village to village.

Meo.: -Mewâti.- the Muhammadan branch of the Mína tribe2 belonging to the country of Mewât in Râjputâna which is comprised in the Alwar, Bharatpur and Jaipur States and the British District of Gurgaon. A few Meos were returned from the Hoshangâbâd and Nimâr Districts in 1911, but it is doubtful whether any are settled here, as they may be wandering criminals. The origin of the is discussed in the article on the Mína tribe, but some interesting remarks on them by Mr. Channing and Major Powlett in the Râjputâna Gazetteer may be reproduced here. Mr. Channing writes:3 "The tribe, which has been known in Hindustân according to the Kutub Tawâríkh for 850 years, was originally Hindu and became Muhammadan. Their origin is obscure. They themselves claim descent from the Râjpît races of Jâdon, Kachhwâha and Tuar, and they may possibly have some Râjpît blood in their veins; but they are probably, like many other similar tribes, a combination of ruling and other various stocks and sources, and there is reason to believe them very closely allied with the Mínas, who are certainly a tribe of the same structure and species. The Meos have twelve clans or Pâls . the first six of which are identical in name and claim the same descent as the first six clans of the Mínas. Intermarriage

1. Bassia latifolia. 2 See Russell. 3 râjputâna Gazetteer , Vol. i. p. 165.

621 between them both was the rule until the time of Akbar, when owing to an affray at the marriage of a Meo with a Mína the custom was discontinued. Finally, their mode of life is or was similar, as both tribe were once notoriously predatory. It is probable that the original Meos were supplemented by converts to Islâm from other castes. It is said that the tribe were conquered and converted in the eleventh century by Mâsîd, son of Amír Sâlâr and grandson of Sultân Mahmîd Subaktagin of the mother's side, the general of the forces of Mahmîd of Ghazni. Mâsîd is still venerated by the Meos, and they swear by his name. They have a mixture of Hindu and Muhammadan customs. They practise circumcision, nikâh,1 and the burial of the dead. They make pilgrimages to the tomb of Mâsîd in Bahraich in Oudh, and consider the oath taken of his banner the most binding. They also make pilgrimages to Muhammadan shrines in India, but never perform the Haj. Of Hindu customs they observe the Holi or Kiwâli; their marriages are never arranged in the same got or sept; and they permit daughters to inherit. They call their children indiscriminately by both Muhammadan and Hindu names. They are almost entirely uneducated, but have bards and musicians to whom they make large presents. These sing songs known as Râtwai, which are commonly of pastoral and agricultural subjects. The Meos are given to the use of intoxicating drinks, and are very superstitious and have great faith in omens. The dress of the men and women resembles that of the Hindu. Infanticide was formerly common among them, but it is said to have entirely died out. They were also formerly robbers by avocation, and though they have improved they are still noted cattle-lifters."

In another description of them by Major Powlett it is stated that, besides worshipping Hindu gods and keeping Hindu festivals, they employ a Brâhman to write the Píli Chhitthi or yellow note fixing the date of a marriage. They call themselves by Hindu names with the exception of Râm; and Singh is a frequent affix, though not so common as Khân. On the Amâwas or monthly conjunction of the sun and moon, Meos, in common with Hindu Ahírs and Gîjars, cease from labour; and when they make a well the first proceeding is to erect a chabîtra (platform) to Bhaironji or Hanumân. However, when plunder was to be obtained they have often shown little respect for Hindu shrines and temples; and when the sanctity of a threatened place has been urged, the retort has been, "Tum to Deo, Ham Meo," or "You may be a Deo (God), but I am a Meo."

Meos do not marry in their pâl or clan, but they are lax about forming connections with women of other castes, whose children they receive into the community. As already stated, Brâhmans take part in the formalities preceding a marriage, but the ceremony itself is performed by a Kâzi. As agriculturists Meos are inferior to their Hindu neighbours. The point in which they chiefly fail is in working their wells, for which they lack patience. Their women, whom they do not confine, will, it is said, do more field-work than the men; indeed, one often finds women at work in the crops when the men are lying down. Like the women of low Hindu castes they tattoo their bodies, a practice disapproved by Musalmâns in general. Abul Fazl writes that the Meos were in his time famous runners, and one thousand of them were employed by Akbar as carriers of the post.

Methar.: -Bhangi, Ha¡ri 2Dom, La¡lbegi, --The caste of sweepers and scavengers. In 1911 persons returning themselves as Mehtar, Bhangi and Dom were separately classified, and the total of all three 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

1 A Muhammadan form of marriage. 2 See Russell. Some infornmation has been obtained from a paper by Mr. Harbans Rai, Clerk of Court, Damoh.

622 strength. With these these castes only a small proportion are employed on scavengers' work and the rest are labourers like the Chama¡rs and Maha¡rs 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, La¡lbeg, the patron saint of the sweepers, is described as intoxicated with the hemp drug on two occasions.2 Mr. Bhi¡mbhai Kirpa¡ra¡m suggests3 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 Gujara¡t if a Koli is asked to split bamboo he will say, 'Am I to do Bhangia'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 (chu¡rajha¡rna). Similarly, in Bombay they are known as Olganas or scrap- eaters. The Bengal name Ha¡ri is supposed to come from haddi, a bone; the Ha¡ri is the bone- gatherer, and was familiar to early settlers of Calcutta under the quaint designation of the 'harry-wench'.4 In the Central Provinces sections of the Ghasia, Maha¡r 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 the sweeper community in 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.

Caste Subdivisions. Mr. Greeven gives seven main subdivisions, of which the La¡lbegis or the followers of La¡lbeg, the patron saint of sweepers, are the most important. The Ra¡wats appear to be an aristocratic subdivision of the La¡lbegis, their name being a corruption of the Sanskrit Ra¡jpu¡tra, a prince. The Shaikh Mehtars are the only real Muhammadan branch, for though the La¡lbegis worship a Musalma¡n saint they remain Hindus. The Ha¡ris 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.5 The other subcastes in his list are the Dha¡nuks or bowmen and the Ba¡nsphors or cleavers of bamboos. In the Central Provinces the Shaikh Mehtars belong principally to Na¡gpur, and another subcaste, the Makhia, is also found in the Mara¡tha Districts and in Bera¡r; 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 Narnolia, being said to take their name from a place called Narnol in the Punjab. The La¡lbegis are often considered here as Muhammadans rather than Hindus, and bury their dead. In Saugor the sweepers are said to be divided into La¡lbegis or Muhammadans and Doms or Hindus. The La¡lbegi, Dumar and the Hela are the Principal subcastes of the north of the Province, and Chuhra Mehtars are found in Chhatti¡sgarh. Each subcaste is divided into a number of exogamous sections named after plants and animals.

1. Ra¡pendra¡ La¡l Mitra, quoted in art. on Beria. 2. Greeven, op. cit. pp. 29,33. 3. Op. cit. p. 334. 4. Greeven, p. 66, quoting from Echoes of Old Calcutta. 5. Crooke, op. cit.

623 Social Organisation. In Bena¡res each subdivision, Mr. Greeven states, has an elaborate and quasi-military organisation. Thus the La¡lbegi sweepers have eight companies or berhas, consisting the sweepers working in different localities; these are the Sadar, or those employed by private residents in cantonments; the Ka¡li Paltan, who serve the Bengal Infantry, the La¡l Kurti, or Red-coats, who are employed by the British Infantry; the Teshan (station), or those engaged at three railway stations of the town; the Shahar, or those of the city; the Ra¡mngar, taking their name from the residence of the Maha¡ra¡ja of Bena¡res, whom they serve the Kothi¡hwa¡l, 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 headquarters when Bena¡res 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 Jama¡da¡r or president, Munsif or spokesman, a Chaudhari or treasurer, and a Na¡ib 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 Sipa¡his 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 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 Sipa¡his in his company.

Caste Punishments. Only worthy members of the caste, Mr. Greeven continues, are allowed to sit on the tribal matting and smoke the tribal pipe (huqqa). The proceedings begin with the spreading out (usually symbolic) of a carpet and the smoking of 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 punisments imposed consist of fines, compulsory dinners and expulsion from the caste; expulsion being inflicted for failure to comply with an order of a 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 booms. 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 Chama¡rs 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 Sipa¡his 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.

Admission Of Outsiders. 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

624 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 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 La¡¡lbeg 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 has 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 and stronger as well as lighter in colour than the average Hindu.

Marriage Customs. The marriage ceremony in the Central Provinces follows the ordinary Hindu ritual. The lagan or paper fixing the date of the wedding is written by a Bra¡haman, 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 sawa¡sas or relatives of the parties usually officiate at the ceremony, but the well to-do sometimes engage a Bra¡hman, 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 La¡begis when a man wishes to get rid of his wife he assembles the brethren and in their presence says to her, 'you are as my sister,' and she answers, 'you are as my father and brother.'1

Disposal Of The Dead. The dead are usually buried, but the well-to-do sometimes cremate them. In Bena¡res 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 prevent a Chuhra from being buried face upwards.2 In Bena¡¡res 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, he 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.3 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.

1 Crooke,op.cit. para.52. 2. Ibetson, op.cit. para. 227. 3Greeven, op.21.

625 Devices For Procuring Children. If a woman greatly desires a child she will go to a shrine and lay a stone on it which she calls the dharna or deposit or pledge. Then she thinks that she has put the 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 piece of cloth stained with the blood of a fertile woman. This last she will take and bury in a cemetary and the other 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 umbilical cord of a newborn child and swallow it. For this reason the umbilical cord is always carefully guarded and its disposal seen to.

Divination Of Sex. If a pregnant woman is thin and ailing they think a boy will be born; but if fat and well that it will be a girl. In 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.

Childbirth. When a woman is in labour she squats down with her legs apart 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 of which the goddess has 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.

Treatment Of The Mother. If a child is born in the morning they will give the mother a little sugar and cocoanut to eat in the evening, 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 treatment 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 producing heat or warmth in the body, and the following are a few of them: pepper, ginger, azgan (a condiment), turmeric, nutmeg, ajwa¡in (aniseed),

626 dates, almonds, raisins, cocoanut, wild singa¡¡ra or water-nut, cumin, chironji,1¡ the gum of the babu¡¡l 2 or khair,3 asafoetida, 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.

Protecting Lives Of Children If the mother's milk runs dry, they use the dried bodies of the little fish caught in the shallow water of fields and tanks, and sometimes supposed to have fallen down with the 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 liquidness 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 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 hala¡l 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 the she has acquired a certain interest in the child.

Infantile Diseases. If a baby, especially a girl, has much hair on its body they make a cake of 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 on 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 haws 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 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 being supposed to haunt cemeteries 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 encased in lac and made into a ring.

1 The fruit of the acha¡r (Buchanania latifolia). 2 Acacia arabica. 3Acacia catechu.

627 Religion Va¡¡lmi¡¡ki. The religion of the sweepers has been described at length by Mr. Greeven and Mr. Crooke. It centres round the worship of two saints, La¡¡ldeg or Bale Sha¡¡h and Bâlnek or Bâlmík, who is really the huntsman Vâlmíki, the reputed author of the Râmâyana. Bâlmík was originally a low caste hunter called Ratnakâr, 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 Râma 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 'Mâra, Mâra' (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 Râma cleaneth a man of all his sins. So the words 'Râm, Râm,' were taught unto Ratnakâr who ever repeated them for sixty thousand years at the self-same spot with a heart sincere. All his 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 Râma. After sixty thousand years Brahma returned. No man could he see, yet he heard the voice of Râm, Râm, 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 bones remained. Brahma called aloud to the saint. When the saint beheld him he prostrated himself and spake "Thou hast taught me the words 'Râm, Râm,' which have cleansed away all my sins." Then spake Brahma: "Hitherto thou wast Ratnakâr. From to-day thy name shall be Vâlmíki (from valmík, an ant-hill). Now do thou compose a Râmâyana in seven parts, containing the deeds and exploits of Râma." Vâlmíki 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 eponymous ancestor and patron saint.

Lâlbeg. Lâlbeg, who is still more widely venerated, is considered to have been Ghâzi Miyân, the nephew of Sultân Muhammad of Ghazni, and a saint much worsipped in the Punjab. Many legends are told of Lâbeg, and his worship is described by Mr. Greeven as follows:2 "The ritual of Lâlbeg is conducted in the presence of the whole brotherhood, as a rule at the festival of the Diwâli 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 two. 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 Lâlbeg 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 Damoh District the guru or priest who is the successor of Lâlbeg 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 Lâlbegi can go to heaven, but those on whom the dust raised by a Lâlbegi sweeping settles acquire some modicum of virtue. Similarly Mr. Greeven remarks:3 "Sweepers by no means endorse the humble opinion entertained with respect to them; for they allude to castes such as Kunbis and Chamârs as petty (chhota), while a common anecdote is related to the effect that a Lâlbegi, when asked whether Muhammadans could obtain salvation, replied: 'I never heard of it, but perhaps they might slip in behind Lâlbeg.'"

1. Some writers consider that Bâlmík, the sweeper-saint, and Vâlmíki, the author of the Râmâyana, are not identical. 2. Page 38. 3. Page 8.

628 Adoption Of Foreign Religions. On the whole the religion of the Lâlbegis appears to be monotheistic and of a sufficiently elevated character, resembling that of the Kabírpanthis and other reforming sects. Its claim to the exclusive possession of the way of salvation is a method of revolt against the menial and debased position of the caste. Similarly many sweepers have become Muammadans and Sikhs with the same end in view, as stated by Mr. Greeven:1 "As may by readily imagined, the scavengers are merely in name the disciples of Nânak Shâh, professing in fact to be his followers just as they are prepared at a moment's notice to become Christians or Muhammadans. Their object is, of course, merely to acquire a status which may elevate them above the utter degradation of their caste. The acquaintance of most of them with the doctrines of Nânak Shâh is at zero. They know little and care less about his rules of life, habitually disregarding, for instance, the prohibitions against smoking and hair-cutting. In fact, a scavenger at Bena¡res no more becomes a Sikh by taking Nânak Shâh's motto than he becomes a Christian by wearing a round hat and a pair of trousers." It was probably with a similar leaning towards the more liberal religions that that the Lâlbegis, though themselves Hindus, adopted a Muhammadan for their tutelary saint. In the Punjab Muhammadan sweepers who have given up eating carrion and refuse to remove night soil rank higher than the others, and are known as Musalli.2 And in Saugor the Muhammadans allow the sweepers to come into a mosque and to stand at the back, whereas, of course, they cannot approach a Hindu temple. Again in Bengal it is stated, "The Dom is regarded with both disgust and fear by all classes of Hindus, not only on account of his habits being abhorrent and abominable, but also because he is believed to have no humane or kindly feelings", and further, "It is universally believed that Doms do not burn their dead, but dismember the corpse at night like the inhabitants of Tibet, placing the fragments in a pot and sinking them in the nearest river or reservoir. This horrid idea probably originated from the old Hindu law, which compelled the Doms to bury their dead at night".3 It is not astonishing that the sweepers prefer a religion whose followers will treat them somewhat more kindly. Another Muhammadan saint revered by the sweepers of Saugor is one Zâhir Pír. At the fasts in Chait and Kunwâr (March and September) they tie cocoanuts wrapped in cloth to the top of a long bamboo, and marching to the tomb of Zâhir Pír make offerings of cakes and sweetmeats. Before starting for his day's work the sweeper does obeisance to his basket and broom.

Social Status. The sweeper stands at the very bottom of the social ladder of Hinduism. He is considered to be the representative of the Chandâla of Manu,4 who was said to be descended of a Sîdra father and a Bra¡hman woman. "It town; his sole wealth should be dogs and asses; his clothes should consist of the cloths of the dead; his dishes should be broken pots and his ornaments rusty iron. No one who regarded his duties should hold intercourse with the Chandâlas and they should marry only among themselves. By day they might roam about for the purposes of work, but should be distinguished by the badges of the Râja, and should carry out the corpse of anyone who died without kindred. They should always be employed to slay those who by the law were sentenced to be put to death, and they might take the clothes of the slain, their beds and their ornaments." Elsewhere the Chandâla is said to rank in impurity with the town boar, the dog, a woman during her monthly illness and a eunuch, none of whom must a Brâhman allow to see him when eating.5 Like the Chandâla, the sweeper cannot be touched, and he himself acquiesces in this and walks apart. In large towns he sometimes carries a kite's wing is his turban to show his caste, or goes aloof saying "pois," which is equivalent to a warning. When the sweeper is in company he will efface himself as

1. Page 54 2. Punjab Census Report (I88I), para. 599. 3 Sir H. Risley, l.c., art. Dom. 4 Institutes, x. 12-29.30. 5. Ibidem, iv. 239, quoted by Mr. Crooke, art. Dom.

629 far as possible behind other people. He is known by his basket and broom, and men of other castes will not carry these articles lest they should be mistaken for a sweeper. The sweeper's broom is made of bamboo, whereas the ordinary house-broom is made of date-palm leaves. The house-broom is considered sacred as the implement of Lakshhmi used in cleaning the house. No one should tread upon or touch it with his foot. The sweeper's broom is a powerful agent for curing the evil eye, and mothers get him to come and wave it up and down in front of a sick child for this purpose. Nevertheless it is lucky to see a sweeper in the morning, especially if he has his basket with him. In Gujarât Mr. Bhímbhai Kirpârâm writes of him: "Though he is held to be lower and more unclean, the Bhangia is viewed with kindlier feelings than the Dhed (Mahâr). To meet the basket-bearing Bhangia is lucky. Even now if a Government officer goes into a Bhangia hamlet the men with hands raised in blessing say: 'May your rule last for ever.'" A sweeper will eat the leavings of other people, but he will not eat in their houses; he will take the food away to his own house. It is related that on one occasion a sweeper accompanied a marriage party of Lodhis (cultivators), and the Lodhi who was the host was anxious that all should share his hospitality and asked the sweeper to eat in his house;1 but he repeatedly refused, until finally the Lodhi gave him a she-buffalo to induce him to eat, so that it might not be said that any one had declined to share in his feast. No other caste, of course, will accept food or water from a sweeper, and only a Chamâr (tanner) will take a Chilam or clay pipe-bowl from his hand. The sweeper will eat carrion and the flesh of almost all animals, including snakes, lizards, crocodiles and tigers, and also the leavings of food of almost any caste. Mr. Greeven remarks2 that "Only La¡lbegis and Râwats eat food left by Europeans, but all eat food left either by Hindus or Muhammadans; the Sheikh Mehtars as Muhammadans alone are circumcised and reject pig's flesh. Each subcaste eats uncooked food with all the others, but cooked food alone." From Betîl it is reported that the Mehtars there will not accept food, water or tobacco from a Kâyasth, and will not allow one to enter their houses.

Occupation. Sweeping and scavenging in the streets and in private houses are the traditional occupations of the caste, but they have others. In Bombay they serve as night watchmen, town-criers, drummers, trumpeters and hangmen. Formerly the office of hangman was confined to sweepers, but now many low-caste prisoners are willing to undertake it for the sake of the privilege of smoking tobacco in jail which it confers. In Mírzâpur when a Dom hangman is tying a rope round the neck of a criminal he shouts out, 'Dohai Mahârâni, Dohai Sarkâr, Dohai Judge Sâkib, or 'Hail Great Queen! Hail Government! Hail judge Sahib!' in order to shelter himself under their authority and escape any guilt attaching to the death.3 In the Central Provinces the hangman was accompanied by four or five other sweepers of the caste panchâyat, the idea being perhaps that his act should be condoned by their presence and approval and he should escape guilt. In order to free the executioner from blame the prisoner would also say: "Dohai Sarkar ke, Dohai Kampani ke; jaisa maine khîn kiya waisa apne khîn ko pahunchha," or "Hail to the Government and the Company; since I caused the death of another, now I am come to my own death"; and all the Panches said, 'Râm, Râm,' The hangman received ten rupees as his fee, and of this five rupees were given to the caste for a feast and an offering to Lâlbeg to expiate his sin. In Bundelkhand sweepers are employed as grooms by the Lodhis, and may put everything on to the horse except a saddle-cloth. They are also the village musicians, and some of them play on the rustic instrument called shahnai at weddings, and receive their food all the time that the ceremony lasts. Sweepers are, as a rule, to be found only in large villages, as in small ones there is no work for them. The caste is none too numerous in the Central Provinces, and in villages the sweeper is often not available when wanted for cleaning the streets. The Chamârs of Bundelkhand will not remove the corpses of a cat or a dog or a squrrel, and a sweeper must be obatained for the

1. Probably not within the house but in the veranda or courtyard. 2 Ibidem. 3 Crooke, Tribes and Castes, art. Do, para. 34.

630 purpose. These three animals are in a manner holy, and it is considered a sin to kill any one of them. But their corpses are unclean. A Chamâr also refuses to touch the corpse of a donkey, but a Kumhâr (potter) will sometimes do this; if he declines a sweeper must be fetched. When a sweeper has to enter a house in order to take out the body of an animal, it is cleaned and whitewashed after he bas been in. In Hoshangâbâd an objection appears to be felt to the entry of a sweeper by the door, as it is stated that a ladder is placed for him, so that he presumably climbs through a window. Or where there are no windows it is possible that the ladder may protect the sacred threshold from contact with his feet. The sweeper also attends at funerals and assists to prepare the pyre; he receives the winding-sheet when this is not burnt or buried with the corpse, and the copper coins which are left on the ground as purchase-money for the site of the grave. In Bombay in rich families the winding-sheet is often a worked shawl costing from fifty to a hundred rupees.1 When a Hindu widow breaks her bangles after her husband's death, she gives them, including one or two whole ones, to a Bhangia woman.2 A letter announcing a death is always carried by a sweeper.3 In Bengal a funeral could not be held without the presence of a Dom, whose functions are described by Mr. Sherring4 as follows: "On the arrival of the dead body at the place of cremation, which in Bena¡res is at the base of one of the steep stairs of gha¡ts, called the Burning-Gha¡t, leading down from the streets above to the bed of the river Ganges, the Dom supplies five logs of wood, which he lays in order upon the ground, the rest of the wood being given by the family of the deceased. When the pile is ready for burning a handful of lighted straw is brought by the Dom, and is taken from him and applied by one of the chief members of the family to the wood. The Dom is the only person who can furnish the light for the purose; and if for any reason no Dom is available, great delay and inconvenience are apt to arise. The Dom exacts his fee for three things, namely, first for the five logs, secondly for the bunch of straw, and thirdly for the light."

During an eclipse the sweekpers reap a good harvest; for it is believed that Ra¡hu, the demon who devours the sun and moon and thus causes an eclipse, was either a sweeper or the deity of the sweepers, and alms given to them at this time will appease him and cause him to let the luminaries go. Or, according to another, the sun and moon are in Ra¡hu's debt, and he comes and claims them, and this is the eclipse; and the alms given to sweepers are a mans of paying the debt. In Gujara¡t as soon as the darkening sets in the Bhangis go about shouting, 'Garhanda¡n, Vastrada¡n,Rupa¡da¡an,' or Gifts for the eclipse, gifts of clothes, gifts of silver.'5 The sweepers are no doubt derived from the primitive or Dravidian tribes, and as has been seen, they also practise the art of making bamboo mats and baskets, being known as Ba¡nsphor in Bombay on this account. In the Punjab the are a very numerous caste, being exceeded only by the Ja¡ts, Ra¡jpu¡ts and Bra¡hmans. Only a small proportion of them naturally find employment as scavengers, and the remainder are agricultural labourers, and together with the vagrants and gypsies are the hereditary workers in grass and reeds.6 They are closely connected with the Dha¡nuks, a caste of hunters, fowlers and village watchmen, being of nearly the same status.7 And Dha¡nuk, again, is in some localities a complimentary term for a Basor or bamboo-worker. It has been seen that Va¡lmi¡ki, the patron saint of the sweepers, was a low-caste hunter, and this gives some reason for the supposition that the primary occupations of the Chu¡hras and Bhangis were hunting and working in grass and bamboo. In one of the legends of the sweeper saint Ba¡lmi¡k or Va¡lmi¡ki given by

1 Bombay Gazetteer, l. c. 2 Ibidem. 3 Punjab Census Report ( I88I ), and Bombay Gazetteer, l. c. 4 Hindu Tribes and Castes, quoted by Sir H. Risley, art. Dom. 5 Bombay Gazetteer, l. c. 6 Ibbetson, l . c . para. 596. 7 Ibidem, para. 601.

631 Mr.Greeven.1 Ba¡lmi¡k was the youngest of the five Pa¡ndava brothers, and was persuaded by the others to remove the body of a calf which had died in their courtyard. But after he had done so they refused to touch him, so he went into the wilderness with the body; and when he did not know how to feed himself the carcase started into life and gave him milk until he was full grown, when it died again of its own accord. Ba¡lmi¡k burst into tears, not knowing how he was to live henceforward, but a voice cried from heaven saying, "Of the sinews (of the calf's body do thou tie winnows (su¡p), and of the caul do thou plait sieves (chalni)", Ba¡lmi¡k obeyed, and by his handiwork gained the name of S¡upaj or the maker of winnowing-fans. These are natural occupations of the non-Aryan forest tribes, and are now practised by the Gonds.

Mianas.: -Probably in the past they had some criminal habits. They look like Sindis and live in Kathiawar and Cutch.

Mína.: -Deswâli, Maia. -A well-known caste of Râjputâna2 which is found in the Central Provinces in the Hoshangâbâd, Nimâr anD Saugor Districts. About 8000 persons of the caste were returned in 1911. The proper name for them is Mína, but here they are generally known as Daswâli, a term which they probably prefer, as that of Mína is too notorious. A large part of the population of the northern Districts is recruited from Bundelkhand and Mârwâr, and these tracts are therefore them known among them as 'Desh' or native country. The term Deswâli is applied to groups of many castes coming from Bundelkhand, and has apparently been specially appropriated as an alias by the Mínas. The caste are sometimes known in Hoshangâbâd as Maina, which Colonel Tod states to be the name of the highest division of the Mínas. The designation of Pardeshi or 'foreigner' is also given to them in some localities. The Deswâlis came to Harda about A.D. 1750, being invited by the Marâtha Amíl or governor, who gave one family a grant of three villages. They thus gained a position of a some dignity, and this reaching the ears of their brothers in Jaipur they also came and settled all over the District.3 In view of the history and character of the Mínas, of which some account will be given, it should be first stated that under the re`gime of British law and order most of the Deswâlis of Hoshangâbâd have settled down as steady and honest agriculturists.

Historical Notice Of The Mína Tribe. The Mínas were a famous robber tribe of the country of Mewât in Râjputâna, comprised in the Alwar and Bharatpur States and the British District of Gurgaon.4 They are also found in large numbers in Jaipur State, which was formerly held by them. The Meos and Mínas are now considered to be branches of one tribe, the former being at least nominally Muhammadans by religion and the latter Hindus. A favourite story for recitation at their feasts is that of Darya Khân Meo and Sasibâdani Míni, a pair of lovers whose marriage led to a quarrel between the tribes to which they belonged, in the time of intermarriage between Meos and Mínas which had formerly been allowed. Both the Meos and Mínas are divided into twelve large clans called pâl, the word pâl meaning, according to Colonel Tod, 'a defile in a valley suitable for cultivation or defence.' In a sandy desert like Râjputâna the valleys of streams might be expected to be the only favourable tracts for settlement, and the name perhaps therefore is a record of the process by which the colonies of Mínas in these isolated patches of culturable land developed into exogamous clans marrying with each other. The

1 L . c . pp. 25, 26. 2 See Russell. 3. Elliontt's Hoshangâbâd Settlement Report, p. 63. 4. Cunningham's Archaeological Survey Reports , xx. p. 24.

632 Meos have similarly twelve pâls, and the names of six of these are identical with those of the Mínas.1 The names of the pâls are taken from those of Râjpît clans,2 but the record of lists differ, and there are now many other gots or septs outside the pâls. The Mínas seem originally to have been an aboriginal or pre-Aryan tribe of Râjputâna, where they are still found in considerable numbers. The Râja of Jaipur was formerly marked on the forehead with blood taken from the great toe of a Mína on the occasion of his installation. Colonel Tod records that the Amber or Jaipur State was founded by one Dholesai in A.D. 967 after he had slaughtered large numbers of the Mínas by treachery. And as in his time the Mínas still possessed large communities settled in force in Râjputâna, reducing the Mínas to subjection, illicit connections would naturally arise on a large scale between the invaders and the women of the conquered country. For even when the Râjpîts only came as small isolated parties of adventurers, as into the Central Provinces, we find traces of such connections in the survival of castes or subcastes of mixed descent from them and the indigenous tribes. It follows therefore that where they occupied the country and settled on the soil the process would be still more common. Accordingly it is generally recognised that the Mínas are a caste of the most mixed and impure descent, and it has sometimes been supposed that they were themselves a branch of the Râjpîts. In the Punjab when one woman accuses another of illicit intercourse she says 'Mína dena,' or to designate her as a Mína.3 Further it is stated4 that "The Mínas are of two classes, the Zamíndâri or agricultural and the Chaukídâri or watchmen. These Chaukídâri Mínas are the famous marauders." The office of village watchman was commonly held by members of the aboriginal tribes, and these too furnished the criminal classes. Another piece of evidence of the Dravidian origin of the tribe is the fact that there exists even now a group of Dhedia or impure Mínas who do not refuse to eat cow's flesh. The Chaukídâri Mínas, dispossessed of their land, resorted to the hills, and here they developed into a community of thieves and bandits recruited from all the outcastes of society. Sir A. Lyall wrote5 of the caste as "a Cave of Adullam which has stood open for centuries. With them a captured woman is solemnly admitted by a form of adoption into one circle of affinity, in order that she may be lawfully married into another." With the conquest of northern India by the Muhammadans, many of the Mínas, being bound by no ties to Hinduism, might be expected to embrace the new and actively proselytising religion, while their robber bands would receive fugitive Muhammadans as recruits as well as Hindus. Thus probably arose a Musalmân branch of the community, who afterwards became separately designated as the Meos. As already seen, the Meos and Mínas intermarried for a time, but subsequently ceased to do so. As might be expected, the form of Islâm professed by the Meos is of a very bastard order, and Major Powlett's account of it is reproduced in a short separate notice of that tribe.

Their Robberies. The crimes and daring of the Mínas have obtained for them a considerable place in history. A Muhammadan historian, Zia-ud-dín Bâmi, wrote of the tribe:6 "At night they were accustomed to come prowling into the city of Delhi, giving all kinds of trouble and depriving people of their rest, and they plundered the country houses in the neighbourhood of the city. Their daring was carried to such an extent that the western gates of the city were shut at

1. Ibidem. 2. General Cunningham's enumeration of the pâls is as follows : Five Jâdon clans- Chhirkilta, Dalât, Dermot, Nai, Pundelot ; five Tuar clans-Balot, Darwâr, Kalesa, Lundâvat, Rattâwat ; one Kachhwâha clan-Dingâl ; one Bargjîar clan-Singâl. Besides these there is one miscellaneous of half-blood clan, Palakra, making up the common 1 total of 122 clans. 3. Ibbetson's Punjab Census Report, para, 582. Sir D. Ibbetson considered it doubtful, however, whether the expression referred to the Mína caste. 4. Major Powlett, Gazetteer of Alwar. 5. Asiatic Studies, vol. i. p. 162. 6. Quoted in Dowson's Elliott 's History of India , iii. p. 103.

633 afternoon prayer and no one dared to leave it after hours, whether he travelled as a pilgrim or with the display of a king. At afternoon prayer they would often come to the Sarhouy, and assaulting the water-carriers and girls who were fetching water they would strip them and carry off their clothes. In turn they were treated by the Muhammadan rulers with the most merciless cruelty. Some were thrown under the feet of elephants, others were cut in halves with knives, and others again were flayed alive from head to foot.' Regular campaigns against them were undertaken by the Muham madans,1 as in later times British forces had to be dispatched to subdue the Pindâris. Bâbar on his arrival at Agra described the Mewâti leader Râja Hasan Khân as 'the chief agitator in all these confusions and insurrections'; and Firishta mentions two terrible slaughters of Mewâtis in A.D. 1259 and 1265. In 1857 Major Powlett records that in Alwar they assembled and burnt the State ricks and carried off cattle, though they did not succeed in plundering any towns or villages there. In British territory they sacked Firozpur and other villages, and when a British force came to restore order many were hanged.

Sir D. Ibbetson wrote of them in the Punjab:2 "The Mínas are the boldest of our criminal classes. Their headquarters so far as the Punjab is concerned are in the village of Shâhjahânpur, attached to the Gurgaon District but surrounded on all sides by Râjputâna territory. There they until lately defied our police and even resisted them with armed force. Their enterprises are on a large scale, and they are always prepared to use violence if necessary. In Mârwâr they are armed with small bows which do considerable damage. They travel great distances in gangs of from twelve to twenty men, practising robbery and dacoity even as far as the Deccan. The gangs usually start off immediately after the Diwâli feast and often remain absent the whole year. They have agents in all the large cities of Râjputâna and the Deccan who give them information, and they are in league with the carrying castes of Mârwâr. After a successful foray they offer one-tenth of the proceeds at the shrine of Kâli Devi."

Like other criminals they were very superstitious, and Colonel Tod records that the partridge and the maloli or wagtail were their chief birds of omen. A partridge clamouring on the left when he commenced a foray was a certain presage of success to a Mína. Similarly, Mr. Kennedy notes that the finding of a dried goatskin, either whole or in pieces, among the effects of a suspected criminal is said to be an infallible indication of his identity as a Mína, the flesh of the goat's tongue being indispensable in connection with the taking of omens. In Jaipur the Mínas were employed as guards, as a method of protection against their fellows, for whose misdeeds they were held responsible. Rent-free lands were given to them, and they were always employed to escort treasure. Here they became the most faithful and trusted of the Râja's servants. It is related that on one occasion a Mína sentinel at the palace had received charge of a basket of oranges. A friend of the same tribe came to him and asked to be shown the palace, which he had never seen. The sentinel agreed and took him over the palace, but when his back was turned the friend stole one orange from the basket. Subsequently the sentinel counted the oranges and found one short; on this he ran after his friend and taxed him with the theft, which being admitted, the Mína said that he had been made to betray his trust and had become dishonoured, and drawing his sword cut off his friend's head. The ancient treasure of Jaipur of Amber was, according to tradition, kept in a secret cave in the hills under a body of Mína guards who alone knew the hiding-place, and would only permit any part of it to be withdrawn for a great emergency. Nor would they accept the orders of the Râja alone, but required the consent of the heads of the twelve principal noble families of Amber, branches of the royal house, before they would give up any part of the treasure. The criminal Mínas are said to inhabit a tract of country about sixty- five miles long and forty broad, stretching from Shâhpur forty miles north of Jaipur to Guraora in Gurgaon on the Rohtak border. The popular idea of the Mína, Mr. Crooke

1. Dowson's Elliott , iv. pp. 60, 75, 283, quoted in Crooke's Tribes and Castes. 2. Census Report (1881), para. 582.

634 remarks,1 is quite in accordance with his historical character; his niggardliness is shown in the saying, 'The Meo will not give his daughter in marriage till he gets a mortar full of silver'; his pugnacity is expressed in, 'The Meo's son begins to avenge his feuds when he is twelve years old'; and his toughness in, 'Never be sure that a Meo is dead till you see the third-day funeral ceremony performed.'

The Deswâlis Of The Central Provinces. As already stated, the Deswâlis of the Central Provinces have abandoned the wild the life of their ancestors and settled down as respectable cultivators. Only a few particulars about them need be recorded. Girls are usually married before they are twelve years old and boys at sixteen to twenty. A sum of Rs. 24 is commonly paid for the bride, and a higher amount up to Rs. 71 may be given, but this is the maximum, and if the father of the girl takes more he will be fined by the caste and made to refund the balance. A triangle with some wooden models of birds is placed on the marriage-shed and the bridegroom strikes at these with a stick; formerly he fired a gun at them to indicate that he was a hunter. A Brâhman is employed to celebrate the marriage. A widow is usually taken by her late husband's younger brother, but if there be none the elder brother may marry her, contrary to the general rule among Hindus. The object is to keep the woman in the family, as wives are costly. If she is unwilling to marry her brother-in-law, however, no compulsion is exercised and she may wed another man. Divorce is allowed, and in Râjputâna is very simply effected. If tempers do not assimilate or other causes prompt them to part, the husband tears a shred from his turban which he gives to his wife, and with this simple bill of divorce, placing two jars of water on her head, she takes whatever path she pleases, and the first man who chooses to ease her of her load becomes her future lord. 'Jehur nikâla,' 'took the jar and went forth,' is a common saying among the mountaineers of Merwara.2

The dead are cremated, the corpse of a man being wrapped in a white and that of a woman in a coloured cloth. They have no shrâddh ceremony, but mourn for the dead only on the last day of Kârtik (October), when they offer water and burn incense. Deswâlis employ the Parsai or village Brâhman to officiate at their ceremonies, but owing to their mixed origin they rank below the cultivating castes, and Brâhmans will not take water from them. In Jaipur, however, Major Powlett says, their position is higher. They are, as already seen, the trusted guards of the palace and treasury, and Râjpîts will accept food and water from their hands. This concession is no doubt due to the familiarity induced by living together for a long period, and parallel instances of it can be given, as that of the Panwârs and Gonds in the Central Provinces. The Deswâlis eat flesh and drink liquor, but abstain from fowls and pork. When they are invited to a feast they do not take their own brass vessels with them, but drink out of earthen pots supplied by the host, having the liquor poured on to their hands held to the mouth to avoid actual contact with the vessel. This is a Mârwâri custom and the Jâts also have it. Before the commencement of the feast the guests wait until food has been given to as many beggars as like to attend. In Saugor the food served consists only of rice and pulse without vegetables or other dishes. It is said that a Mína will not eat salt in the house of another man, because he considers that to do so would establish the bond of Nimak- khai or salt-eating between them, and he would be debarred for ever from robbing that man or breaking into his house. The guests need not sit down together as among other Hindus, but may take their food in batches; so that the necessity of awaiting the arrival of every guest before commencing he feast is avoided. The Deswâlis will not kill a black-buck nor eat the flesh of one, but they assign no reason for this and do not now worship the animal. The rule is probably, how ever, a totemistic survival. The men may be known by their manly gait and harsh tone of voice, as well as by a peculiar method of tying the turban; the women have a special ornament called râkhdi on the forehead and do not wear spangles or toe-rings. They are said also to despise ornaments of the baser metals such as brass and pewter. They

1. Tribes and Castes of the N. W. P. art. Meo. 2. Râjasthân , i. p. 589.

635 are tattooed with dots on the face to set off the fair-coloured skin by contrast, in the same manner as patches were carried on the face in Europe in the eighteenth century. A tattoo dot on a fair face is likened by a Hindu poet to a bee sitting on a half-opened mango.

Mirâsi.: -A Muhammadan caste of singers1, minstrels and genealogists, of which a few members are found in the Central Provinces. General Cunningham says that they are the bards and singers of the Meos or Mewâtis at all their marriages and festivals.2 Mr. Crooke is of the opinion that they are undoubtedly an offshoot of the great Dom caste who are little better than sweepers.3 The word Mirâsi is derived from the Arabic mirâs, inheritance, and its significance is supposed to be that the Mirâsis are the hereditary bards and singes of the castes, as the Bhât is of the Râjpîts. Mirâs as a word may, however, be used of any hereditary right, as that of the village headman or Karnam, or even those of the village watchman or temple dancing-girl, all of whom may have a mirâsi right to fees or perquisites or plots of land held as remuneration for service.4 The Mirâsis are also known as Pakhâwaji, from the pakhâwaj or timbrel which they play; as Kawwâl or one who speaks fluently, that is a professional story-teller; and as Kalâwant or one possessed of art or skill. The Mirâsis are most numerous in the Punjab, where they number a quarter of a million. Sir D. Ibbetson says of them:5 "The social position of the Mirâsi as of all minstrel castes is exceedingly low, but he attends at weddings and similar occasions to recite genealogies. Moreover there are grades even among Mirâsis. The out-caste tribes have their Mirâsis, who though they do not eat with their clients and merely render their professionals services are considered impure by the Mirâsis of the higher castes. The Mirâsi is generally a hereditary servant like the Bhât, and is notorious for his exactions, which he makes under the threat of lampooning the ancestors of him from whom he demands fees. The Mirâsi is almost always a Muhammadan." They are said to have been converted to Islâm in response to the request of the poet Amír Khusru, who lived in the reign of Ala-ud-dín Khilji (A.D. 1295). The Mirâsi has two functions, the men being musicians, story-tellers and genealogists, while the women dance and sing, but only before the ladies of the zenâna. Mr. Nesfield6 says that they are sometimes regularly entertained as jesters to help these ladies to kill time and reconcile them to their domestic lives. As they do not dance before men they are reputed to be chaste, as no woman who is not a prostitute will dance in the presence of men, though singing and playing are not equally condemned. The implements of the Mirâsis are generally the small drum (dholak), the cymbals (majíra ) and the gourd lute (kingri ).7

Mochi.: -Muchi, Jíngar, Jirayat, Jíldgar, Chitrakâr, Chitevari, Musabir8.- The occupational caste of saddlers and cobblers. In 1911 about 4,000 Mochis and 2000 Jíngars were returned from the Central Provinces and Berâr, the former residing principally in the Hindustâni and the latter in the Marâthi-speaking Districts. The name is derived from the Sanskrit mochika and the Hindustâni mojna, to fold, and the common name mojah for socks and stockings is from the same root (Platts). By origin the Mochis are no doubt an offshoot of

1 See Russell. 2. Archaeological Reports , vol. xx. p. 26. 3. Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces, vol. iii. p. 496. 4. Baden Powell's Land Systems of British India , vol. ii. p. 116. 5. Punjab Ethnography , p. 289. 6. Brief Vies, p. 43. 7. Crooke , loc. cit. 8. See Russell. This article is partly based on papers by Mr. Gopâl Parmanand, Deputy Inspector of Schools, Saugor, and Mr. Shamsuddín, Sub-Inspector City Police, Saugor.

636 the Chamâr caste, but they now generally disclaim the connection. Mr. Nesfield observes1 that "The industry of tanning is preparatory to and lower than that of cobblery and hence the caste of Chamâr ranks decidedly below that of Mochi. The ordinary Hindu does not consider the touch of a Mochi so impure as that of the Chamâr, and there is a Hindu proverb to the effect that 'Dried or prepared hide is the same thing as cloth,' whereas the touch of the raw hide before it has been tanned by the Chamâr is considered a pollution. The Mochi does not eat carrion like the Chamâr, nor does he eat swine's flesh; nor does his wife ever practise the much-loathed art of midwifery." In the Central provinces, as in northern India, the caste may be considered to have two branches, the lower one consisting of the Mochis who make and cobble shoes and are admittedly descended from Chamârs; while the better-class men either make saddles and harness, when they are known as Jíngar; or bind books, when they are called Jíldgar; or paint and make clay idols, when they are given the designation either of Chitrakâr, Chitevari, or Murtikâr. In Berâr some Jíngars have taken up the finer kinds of iron-work, such as mending guns, and are known as Jirâyat. All these are at great pains to dissociate themselves from the Chamâr caste. They call themselves Thâkur or Râjpît and have exogamous sections the names of which are identical with those of the Râjpît septs. The same people have assumed the name of Rishi in Bengal, and, according to a story related by Sir H. Risley, claim to be debased Brâhmans; while in the Untied Provinces Mr. Crooke considers them to be connected with the Srivâstab Kâyasths, with whom they intermarry and agree in manners and customs. The fact that in the three Provinces these workers in leather claim descent from three separate high castes is an interesting instance of the trouble which the lower-class Hindus will take to obtain increase in social consideration; but the very diversity of the accounts given induces the belief that all Mochis were originally sprung for the Chamârs. In Bombay, again, Mr. Enthoven2 writes that the caste prefers to style itself Arya Somavansi Kshatriya or Aryan Kshatriyas of the Moon division; while they have all the regular Brâhmanical gotras as Bhâradwâja, Vasishtha, Gautam and so on.

Legends Of Origin. The following interesting legends as to the origin of the caste adduced by them in support of their Brâhmanical descent are related3 by Sir H. Risley: "One of the Prajâ pati, or mind-born sons of Brahma, was in the habit of providing the flesh of cows and clarified butter as a burnt- offering (Ahuti ) to the gods. It was then the custom to eat a portion of the sacrifice, restore the victim to life, and drive it into the forest. On one occasion the Prajâ-pati failed to resuscitate the sacrificial animal, owing to his wife, who was pregnant at the time, having clandestinely made away with a portion. Alarmed at this he summoned all the other Prajâ-patis, and they sought by divination to discover the cause of the failure. At last they ascertained what had occurred, and as a punishment the wife was cursed and expelled from their society. the child which she bore was the first Mochi or tanner, and from that time forth, mankind being deprived of the power of reanimating cattle slaughtered for food, the pious abandoned the practice of killing them altogether. Another story is that Muchirâm, the ancestor of the caste, was born from the sweat of Brahma while dancing. He chanced to offend the irritable sage Durvâsa, who sent a pretty Brâhman widow to allure him into a breach of chastity. Muchirâm accosted the widow as mother, and refused to have anything to do with her; but Durvâsa used the miraculous power he had acquired by penance to render the widow pregnant so that the innocent Muchirâm was made an outcaste on suspicion. From her two sons are descended the two main branches of the caste in Bengal."

Art Among The Hindus. In the Central Provinces the term Mochi is often used for the whole caste in the northern Districts, and Jíngar in the Marâtha country; while the Chitrakârs or painters form a separate group. Though the trades of cobbler and book-binder are now widely separated in civilised

1. Brief View. 2. Bombay Ethnographic Survey Draft Monograph on Jíngar. 3. Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Mochi.

637 countries, the connection between them is apparent since both work in leather. It is not at first sight clear why the painter should be of the same caste, but the reason is perhaps that his brushes are made of the hair of animals, and this is also regarded as impure, as being a part of the hide. If such be the case a senseless caste rule of ceremonial impurity has prevented the art of painting from being cultivated by the Hindus; and the comparatively poor development of their music may perhaps be ascribed to the same cause, since the use of the sinews of animals for stringed instruments would also prevent the educated classes from learning to play them. Thus no stringed instruments are permitted to be used in temples, but only the gong, cymbal, horn and conch-shell. And this rule would greatly discourage the cultivation of music, which art, like all the others, has usually served in its early period as an appendage to religious services. It has been held that instruments were originally employed at temples and shrines in order to scare away evil spirits by their noise while the god was being fed or worshipped, and not for the purpose of calling the worshippers together; since noise is a recognised means of driving away spirits, probably in consequence of its effect in frightening wild animals. It is for the same end that music is essential at weddings, especially during the night when the spirits are more potent; and this is the primary object of the continuous discordant din which the Hindus consider a necessary accompaniment to a wedding.

Except for this ceremonial strictness Hinduism should have been favourable to the development of both painting and sculpture, as being a polytheistic religion. In the early stages of society religion and art are intimately connected, as is shown by the fact that images and paintings are at first nearly always of deities or sacred persons or animals, and it is only after a considerable period of development that secular subjects are treated. Similarly architecture is in its commencement has been found to be applied solely to sacred buildings as temples and churches, and is only gradually diverted to secular buildings. The figures sculptured by the Mochis are usually images for temples, and those who practise this art are called Murtikar, from murti, an image or idol; and the pictures of the Chitrakârs were until recently all of deities or divine animals, though secular paintings may now occasionally be met with. And the uneducated believers in a polytheistic religion are unable to conceive of the one apart from the other. Thus some Bharewas or brass-workers say that they dare not make metal images of the gods, because they are afraid that the badness of their handiwork might arouse the wrath of the gods and move them to take revenge. The surmise might in fact be almost justifiable that the end to which figures of men and animals were first drawn or painted, or modelled in clay or metal was that they might be worshipped as images of the deities, the savage mind not distinguishing at all between an image of the god and the god himself. For this reason monotheistic religions would be severely antagonistic to the arts, and such is in fact the case. Thus the Muhammadan commentary, the Hadith, has a verse: "Woe to him who has painted a living creature! At the day of the last judgment the persons represented by him will come out of the tomb to demand of him a soul. Then that man, unable to give life to his work, will burn in eternal flames." And in Judaism the familiar prohibition of the Second Commandment appears to be directed to the same end.

Hindu sculpture has indeed been fairly prolific, but is not generally considered to have attained to any degree of artistic merit. Since sculpture is mainly concerned with the human form it seems clear that an appreciation of the beauty of muscular strength and the symmetrical development of the limbs is an essential preliminary to success in this art; and such a feeling can only arise among a people who set much store on feats of bodily strength and agility. This has never been the character of the Hindus, whose religion encourages asceticism and mortification of the body, and points to mental self-absorption and detachment from worldly cares and exercises as the highest type of virtue.

Antagonism Of Mochis And Chamârs. As a natural result of the pretensions to nobility made by the Mochis, there is no love lost between them and the Chamârs; and the latter allege that the Mochis have stolen their râmpi,

638 the knife with which they cut leather. On this account the Chamârs will neither take water to drink from the Mochis nor mend their shoes, and will not even permit them to try on a new pair of shoes until they have paid the price set on them; for they say that the Mochis are half- bred Chamârs and therefore cannot be permitted to defile the shoes of a true Chamâr by trying them on; but when they have been paid for, the maker has severed connections with them, and the use to which they may be put no longer affects him.

Exogamous Groups. In the Central Provinces the Mochis are said to have names after all the well-known Râjpît clans, while two agree with those of the Chamârs. And they have also an equal number of kheras or groups named after villages. The limits of the two groups seem to be identical; thus members of the sept named after the Kachhwâha Râjpîts say that their khera or village name is Mungâvali in Gwâlior; those of the Ghangere sept name Chanderi as their khera, the Sitâwat sept Dhâmoni in Saugor, the Didoria Chhatarpur, the Narele Narwar, and so on. The names of the village groups have now been generally forgotten and they are said to have no influence on marriage, which is regulated by the Râjpît sept names; but it seems probable that the kheras were the original divisions and the Râjpît gotras have been more recently adopted in support of the claims already noticed.

Social Customs. The Mochis have adopted the customs of the higher Hindu castes. A man may not take a wife from his own gotra, his mother's gotra or from a family into which a girl from his own family has married. They usually marry their daughters in childhood and employ Brâhmans in their ceremonies, and no degradation attaches to these latter for serving as their priests. In minor domestic ceremonies for which the Brâhman is not engaged his place is taken by a relative, who is called sawâsa, and is either the sister's husband, daughter's husband, or father's sister's husband. They permit widow-remarriage and divorce, and in the southern districts effect a divorce by laying a pestle between the wife and husband. They burn their dead and they will not again put on a coloured head-cloth until some relative sets it on their heads for the first time on the expiry of the period of mourning. They revere the ordinary Hindu deities, and like the Chamârs they have a family god, known as Mair, whose representation in the shape of a lump of clay is enshrined within the house and worshipped at marriages and deaths. In Saugor he is said to be the collective representative of the spirits of their ancestors. In some localities they eat flesh and drink liquor, but in others abstain from both. Among the Hindus the Mochis rank considerably higher than the Chamârs; their touch does not defile and they are permitted to enter temples and take part in religious ceremonies. The name of a Saugor Mochi is remembered as he who became a good drawer and painter and was held in much esteem at the Peshwa's court. In northern India about half the Mochis are Muhammadans, but in the Central Provinces they are all Hindus.

Shoes. In view of the fact that many of the Mochis were Muhammadans and that slippers are mainly a Muhammadan article of attire, Buchanan thought it probable that they were brought into India by the invaders, the Hindus having previously been content with sandals and wooden shoes. He wrote: "Many Hindus now use leather slippers, but some adhere to the proper custom of wearing sandals, which have wooden soles, a strap of leather to pass over the instep, and a wooden or horn peg with a button on its top. The foot is passed through the strap and the peg is placed between two of the toes."1 It is certain, however, that leather shoes and slippers were known to the Hindus from a fairly early period: "The episode related in the Râmâyana of Bhârata placing on the vacant throne of Ajodhya a pair of Râma's slippers, which he worshipped during the latter's protracted exile, shows that shoes were important articles of wear and worthy of attention. In Manu and the Mahâbhârata slippers are also mentioned and the time and mode of putting them on pointed out. The Vishnu Purâna

1. Eastern India , vol. iii. p. 105.

639 enjoins all who wish to protect their persons never to be without leather shoes. Manu in one place expresses great repugnance to stepping into another's shoes and peremptorily forbids it, and the Purânas recommend the use of shoes when walking out of the house, particularly in thorny places and on hot sand."1 Thus shoes were certainly worn by the Hindus before Muhammadan times, though loose slippers may have been brought into fashion by the latter. And it seems possible that the Mochis may have adopted Islam, partly to obtain the patronage of the followers of the new religion, and also to escape from the degraded position to which their profession of leather-working was relegated by Hinduism and to dissociate themselves from the Chamârs.

Mondarus.: -They live in Andra Pradesh. They are a small group of beggars.

Mondis.: -They live in Tamil Nadu and are a mendicant caste.

Mors.: -See Kahals.

Muchi.: -Rishi,2 the leather-dressing and cobbler caste of Bengal, by origin doubtless a branch of the Chamârs, though its members now repudiate that name and claim to be a distinct caste of somewhat higher social position. Mr. Nesfield observers that "the industry of tanning is preparatory to and lower than that of cobblery: and hence the caste of Chamâr ranks decidedly below that of Muchi. The ordinary Hindu does not consider the touch of a Muchi so impure as that of a Chamâr, and there is a Hindu proverb to the effect that 'dried or prepared hide is the same thing as cloth,' whereas the touch of the raw hide before it has been tanned by the Chamâr is considered a pollution. The Muchi does not eat carrion like the Chamâr, nor does he eat swine's flesh; nor does his wife ever practise the much-loathed art of midwifery. He makes the shoes, leather aprons, leather buckets, harness, portmanteaux, etc, used by the people of India. As a rule he is much better off than the Chamâr, and this circumstance has helped amongst others to raise him in the social scale." It may be gathered from this description that in the North-West Provinces the Muchi never dresses freshly- skinned hides, but confines himself to working up leather already tanned by the Chamâr. This distinction does not appear to be so sharply drawn in Bengal, where Muchis tan hides like the Chamârs, but will only cure those of the cow, goat, buffalo, and deer.

Traditions of original. The origin of the Muchi caste is given in the following legend, related to Dr. Wise by one of their Brahmans, and afterwards reported to me substantially in the same form from an independent source: One of the Prajâ-pati, or mind-born sons of Brahma, was in the habit of providing the flesh of cows and clarified butter as a burnt offering (Áhuti) to the gods. It was then the custom to eat a portion of the sacrifice, restore the victim to life, and drive it into the forest. On one occasion the Prajâ-pati failed to resuscitate the sacrificial animal, owing to his wife, who was pregnant at the time, having clandestinely made away with a portion.

1. Râjendra Lâl Mitra, Indo-Aryans , vol. i. pp. 222, 223. 2. See Risley. Buchanan met with a tribe of fishermen is Puraniya called Rishi, and considered them to be an aboriginal them to be an aboriginal tribe of Mithilâ. Rishi, however, is often used as a pseudonym to hide the real paternity of a caste: thus the Mîsahar often calls himself "Rishi-bâlaka," or son of a Rishi, and the Bengali Chamâr tries to pass incognito as a Rishi. In the case of the Mîsahar it is possible that Rishi may be Rikhi or Rikh-Mun, the bear, one of the original totems of the Bhuiya or Mîsahar tribe, and the same may hold good for the Chandâl. This explanation, is mainly conjectural.

640 Alarmed at this he summoned all the other Prajâ-patis, and they sought by divination to discover the cause of the failure. At last they ascertained what had occurred, and as a punishment the wife was cursed and expelled from their society. The child which she bore was the first Muchí, or tanner, and from that time forth mankind being deprived of the power of reanimating cattle slaughtered for food, the pious abandoned the practice of killing them altogether. Another story is that Muchirâm, the ancestor of the caste, was born from the sweat of Brahmâ while dancing. He chanced to offend the irritable sage Durvâsa, who sent a pretty Brahman widow to allure him into a breach of chastity. Muchirâm accosted the widow as mother, and refused to have anything to do with her; but Durvâsa used the miraculous powers he had acquired by penance to render the widow pregnant, so that the innocent Muchirâm was made an outcaste on suspicion. From the widow's twin sons Bara Râm and Chhota Râm descended the Barâ-bhâgiyâ and Chhota-bhâgiyâ sub-castes, which are the two main divisions of Muchis at the present day. The Chhota-Bhâgiyâ deal in hides, act as musicians, and do various kinds of leather work; while the Barâ-bhagiyâ profess to be only cultivators. The latter are again divided into Uttar-Rârhi and Dakin-Rârhhi, who do not intermarry or eat together. The other sub-castes, Châsâ-Kurur or Châsâ-Kolai, are agriculturists; the Betuâ make cane baskets and also cultivate; the Jugi-Muchi or Korâ weave coarse cloth of cotton, often mixed with silk; the Tikâkar Konai, who make the tikâ or charcoal balls used for lighting pipes; and the Baitâl, Mâla bhumiâ, Sabarkârâ, and Sânki, are shoemakers, cobblers, and curries. Muchis have only two sections, Kâsyapa and Sândilya, which have been borrowed from the Brahmanical system, and has no bearing upon the prevention of intermarriage between near relatives.

Marriage. They follow the ordinary rules as to prohibited degrees, and permit the marriage of two sisters to the same man, provided that the younger is not married first. Both infant and adult- marriage are recognized for girls, but the former practice is deemed the more respectable, and is resorted to in the large majority of cases. In the Dacca district a father generally receives from fifty to sixty rupees for his daughter, from which it may be inferred that the custom of polygamy has tended on the whole towards the preponderance of males in the caste. In other districts, however, the bride price is not so high, and in Pabna it is said to vary according to the means of the bridegroom. The marriage ceremony is a simplified form of that in use among the higher Hindu castes; sindurdân, or according to some the burning of khai or parched paddy before the bride and bridegroom being the binding portion. The bride is dressed in red garments. In former years, says Dr. Wise, the marriage ceremonies of the Rishi were scenes of debauchery and intemperance, but of late intoxicating liquors have been prohibited until all the regular forms have been observed. Even Hindus, who rarely have anything favourable to say of the Rishi, confess that now-a-days, owing to some unknown cause, both the Chamârs and Rishi have become more temperate and more attentive to their religious duties than formerly. Polygamy is permitted with no limits save that the man has the means to maintain them and their children. Divorce is permitted on the ground of adultery. Usually the panchâyat (parâmânik or moiâli) to give their sanction to the proceedings; and if this is not done at the request of the husband, the wife has a right to appeal to the panchâyat. With the permission of that body, divorced wives may marry again by the sanga or nika form. Widows also may marry a second time by this ritual, the binding portion of which consists of exchanging garlands made of the flowers of the tulsi (Ocymum sanctum). Here also the sanction of the panchâyat is required and a feast is given to the members. A small sum, varying from Re. 1 to Rs. 5, is paid as pan. Indications are not wanting that the opinion of the caste tends to condemn widow-marriage, and that the custom may be expected to die out within a generation or two unless some special influence is brought to bear in its favour. Already some Muchis hold that only virgin widows can properly marry again, and that the remarriage of a full-grown woman who has already lived with her husband is little better than concubinage. The children of sanga marriages are deemed to be in some sense degraded, and, if males, have to pay a heavy fine before they can obtain wives. Like Bauris and Bâgdis, the Muchis admit into their community members of

641 any caste higher than their own. The new member is required to give a feast to the caste panchâyat, and to eat with them in token of fellowship. Instances of men of other castes thus becoming Muchis are rare, and occur only when a man has been turned out of his own caste for having intercourse with a Muchi woman and taking food from her hands.

Religion. The majority of the caste are believed to belong to the Saiva sect, but a large proportion of the Betuâ sub-caste are Vaishnavas. They imitate the Sudras in most of their religious ceremonies, while others peculiar to themselves resemble those of the Chamârs. Though regarded as utterly vile, they are permitted to make offerings at the shrines of Kâli, which a Jugi is not allowed to do. They keep many Hindu festivals, the chief being that in honour of Viswakarmâ on the last day of Bhâdra. When small-pox prevails they offer a pig to Sitalâ, first of all smearing the animal's snout with red lead and repeating certain incantation, after which it is set free, and any one can seize it. Like the Chamâr, Dhobâ, Dosadh, and other low castes, the Muchis worship Jalka Devi, whenever cholera or other epidemic disease breaks out. The Muchi women, however, only collect contributions in their own quarter, and wear the wreath of plantain, date-palm, or benâ (Andropogon muricatus) for two and a half days instead of for six, as is the custom of the Chamârs. Muchirâm Dâs, the reputed ancestor of the caste, and Rui Dâs, are also popular objects of worship.

Priests. A Brahman was bestowed on the Barâ-bhâgiyâ Muchis by Ballâl Sen, and the story goes that in the palace of that monarch a certain Brahman, having made himself especially troublesome by insisting upon being appointed as priest to one of newly-formed castes, had it intimated to him by the Raja that he would belong to the caste which should first appear to him in the morning. There was also a Muchi, a celebrated player on the naqârah, or kettledrum, whose duty it was to sound the reveille. It was easily arranged that the Brahman should first cast his eyes on him when he awoke, and his descendants have ever since ministered to this despised race. They rank among the lowest of the Barna-Brahmans, and neither members of the sacred order nor men belonging to the Ácharani castes will take water from their hands. The Chhota-bhâgiyâ have priests of their own. Muchis burn their dead and perform srâddh on the thirtieth day after death. In the case of men who have died a violent death there is no srâddh, but a prâyaschitta, or expiatory ceremony, is performed. The Chhota-bhâgiyâ and Betuâ sub-castes, like the Chandâls, observe ten days of impurity and celebrate the srâddh on the eleventh.

Social status. The social position of Muchis is, as has been intimated above, perhaps a shade higher than that of Chamârs, but this is not saying much, and both castes may properly be placed in one class at the bottom of the scale of precedence recognized by the average Hindu. None of the regular village servants will defile himself by working for a Muchi, and thus the caste has been compelled to provide itself with barbers and washermen from among its own members. Illegitimate children are usually brought up to these professions, and wherever the community is a large one no inconvenience is felt. Their rules regarding diet vary, as some sub-castes eat beef, as the Chamârs do; are very partial to chickens and regard pork as a delicacy. The Bara-bhâgiyâ, Betuâ, and Châsâ-kolai abstain from beef and pork, but not from fowls; and they are far less particular that the higher casts as to the kinds of fish which they eat. Like the Chamârs, all Muchis are great spirit-drinkers, and notorious for their indulgence in the more dangerous vice of gânja-smoking. No other caste will eat food prepared by a Muchi, but Doms will take water from their hands and will smoke from the same hookah.

Occupation. Muchis work as tanners, shoe-makers, saddlers, musicians, and basket-makers. Their mode of preparing skins is as follows: the raw hide is rubbed, and then soaked for fifteen to twenty days in a strong solution of lime. It is then deprived of its hair and of any fat that remains,

642 and steeped for six days in acid tamarind juice. Finally, it is put in a vat containing a solution of lac and pounded babîl (Acacia), garan (Ceriops Roxburghianus), and sundarí (Heritiera minor) barks, the hide being after this immersion regarded as properly cured. The town Muchis buy hides from their brethren resident in those parts of the country where cattle abound. The village Muchis of the Chhota-bhâgiyâ sub-caste, while they pride themselves on not skinning the carcasses of their own cattle, row up and down the rivers in their neighbourhood in search of carcasses, and when epidemic diseases attack the herds they find so much to do that the villagers attribute the spread of the disease to them. It is doubtless often the case that they puncture a healthy cow with an Acacia thorn impregnated with virus, but they are rarely, if ever, detected at this villainous trade. The people, however, firmly believe that they increase their profits in this way. In Western Bengal and Chota Nagpur, where the sâl jungles form the chief pasturing grounds, Muchis destroy cattle with arsenic rolled up in a bundle or mahuâ petals. They are a favourite food for cows, and can be strewn on the ground without rousing any suspicion. The Muchi will not touch a corpse, but will skin the carcass of a dead animal. The skin of the buffalo sacrificed at the Durgâ Pîja is their perquisite, and the skinning of the animal often gives rise to bitter quarrels between rival families.

Most Muchis make shoes, but of inferior quality to those manufactured by the Chamârs. The Betuâ sub-caste are famous for making baskets of rattan (Calamus rotang), which natives assert are so closely woven that they will hold water. They also collect the roots of the dub grass (Panicum), and manufacture the brush (manjan) used by weavers for starching the warp. In some parts the Muchi castrates bull calves, but this they stoutly deny. Others, again, work as sweepers and remove night-soil, but those who do so are excluded from intermarriage with the rest of the caste, and appear to be on the way to form a sub-caste of their own. The tablâ-wâla, or drum-maker, is always a Muchi. Goats' skins are used for the covering, while cows' hides supply the strings for tightening the parchment. On every native drum, at one or both ends, black circles (khiran) are painted to improve the pitch. The Muchi prepares a paste of iron filings and rice, with which he stains the parchment. At all Hindu weddings they are employed as musicians, and engaged in bands, as among Muhamadans. Their favourite instruments are drums of various shapes and sizes, the violin, and the pipe. The female Muchi differs from the Chamâín in never acting as a midwife, in wearing shell bracelets instead of huge ones of bell-metal, and in never appearing as a professional singer.

Mundas.: -Origin:-- The probable origin of this tribe is that they entered India from the South and South-East at a period when India had land connections with Australia and was cut off from Northern Asia. The language spoken has been known as "Kolarian" and is now recognised as being a sub-family of the Austro-Asistic group of languages. Ethnogically, the Mundas and Dravidians, of whom the Oraons are a type, are not distinguishable and it is, therefore, argued that these two races are among the earliest inhabitants of India and approximate one another ethnically as a consequence of intermarriage and similarity of environment. "Intermarriage" which is strictly interdicted nowadays, refers, of course, to the earlier period when exogamy began and women were captured outside the tribe. The Mundas are nearly related to the Hos, Santals and Kharias, the four tribes representing probably comparatively recent branchings off from some general body or, as some think, the Mundas represent the main body, the others being offshoots.

Numbers And Distribution. At the last Census the Mundas numbered 593, 839, of whom 366, 500 were found in Behar and Orissa,, and 128,000 in Assam most of the latter being either Tea Garden Coolies or ex-tea garden labourers now settled on the land. The Munda Country consists of the South-eastern quarter of the Ranchi District and the plateau and hills to the North of Singhbhum, known as

643 Parahat. In these two districts there are 286,000 people. In the Rajshahi Division (Dooars) 66,000 were found. Mundas are also found settled in the Native States of Khar-sawan, Seraikela and Gangpur, while a large settlement has found its way to the northern portions of Sambalpur and the Borai State. There are indeed settlers in most of the outlying States-- Keonjhar, Sirguja and Jashpur. Considerable numbers of Mundas are also to be found on the little plateau which occurs as outcrop in the Manbhum District, named Baghmundi. Here the Mundas are found in a state of purity, as is to be expected from the in-accessible nature of Baghmundi, but their brethren of the plains have been partially Hinduized and are known as Bhumij. These Bhumij retain the Munda burial customs, but have lost their Munda speech. In the Central Provinces, as far West as Jubbulpore and extending to the Rewah State and beyond into Mirzapur of the United Provinces, are found the Kols, who are in origin Mundas having been through various vicissitudes, but who have still retained a dim memory of their relationship to their cousins in Chota Nagpur.

Language. As has been stated, the Munda language is Kolarian, and is of a curiously interesting form. It is agglutinative as opposed to the organic form of Hindu and English. That language consists of a number of words which may be used as nouns, verbs, etc., according to the position in a word-sentence. It is an extra-ordinarily precise and flexible language and comparatively easy to acquire. The Mundas call themselves Horoko, horo being the word for a man (ko is the sign of the plural), the word Munda meaning headman as will be emphasised when discussing the organisation of the village community. H and K are frequently interchangeable as are also L and R (R being a palatal pronounced with the tongue pressed to the roof of the mouth). Hence Kol is merely a variation of Hor. It has been mentioned that the Hos or Larka Kols (fighting or warlike) of Singhbhum and the Santals are nearly allied to the Mundas. The three language are almost identical in structure, Santali being slightly more complex especially as regards the verb. The main differences in the languages are, however, typified by the words used in these languages for man, the same word being used in speaking of the race. Thus: Santali ... Hor. Mundari ... Horo. Larka Kol (or Ho) ... Ho.

The Mundari approximates to the English or perhaps the Scotch R; the Santali has a palatal R, while the Larka Kols omit the R in the middle of words: Mundari. Ho. Kuri ...... Kui a girl. Ora ...... O-a a house.

All these languages have a checked vowel--- Santali being particularly jerky to listen to. Thus water is da pronounced da-a, the first a being very sharp a, not unlike a Glasgow man's pronunciation of water "wa'er."

The best book on the Mundari language is Hoffman's Grammar and his two Exercises, available at the Catholic Orphan Press, Calcutta. With these books and a paniwallh or syce to practise on, one should make good progress with the language. As in Greek there is a ual number, and a woman is always addressed in the dual "aben" instead of "am" which is applied to a man. It is always easy to distinguish whether one has picked up Mundari among the pluckers or among those hoeing!

644 Tribal Organisation. The Mundas are divided into exogamous septs, each sept or Killi venerating a distinct totem. Examples of the names totem are:

Horo or Kachap ... a tortoise. Tuti ...... a plant. Soe ...... a fish. Nag ...... Cobra. Purthi an insect. Barla ... a fruit. Bejra ... small hawk. Chirko ... mushroom. Demta ... red tree-ant. (Risley gives a list of 350 Septs!)

There are frequently several sub-divisions of each Killi signifying newly separated exogamous groups. The Eastern portion of the Munda country speaks the purest Mundari and retains the old tribal organisation to this day. It is split up into patis or groups of about seventeen villages, presided over by a Manki, hence this area is known as the Manki-pati. The Manki is maintained by contributions from each village and by his own cultivation in the manki-village. In this area, there is no individual ownership of land, the village lands being held jointly by the village community. No rent is paid but the community is jointly liable for an annual payment to the Manki, which is called "chanda" (subscription) and which represents the commuted value of military service. The lands in the village are cultivated by individual members, each of whom enjoys the fruit of his own cultivation, and his sons nowadays usually inherit his particular fields, but if a man dies intestate, the fields return to the community and are shared by the "hagako" (brotherhood). The idea of individual ownership which is at the basis of the English conception of land tenures is spreading to the Mundas and the system will break down sooner or later. In the western portions, it did break down, but owing to the ignorance of the District Officers. The Munda or headman invariably appeared as spokesman for the village and incidentally it was in this way that the tribe received its present name. He was treated by Officials as a zemindar and the other members of the community merely as his raiyats. Some Mundas were not averse to this distinction and encouraged the illusion. They borrowed money, mortgaged the villages, and allowed them to be sold for debt. Very rapidly the aboriginal began to be ousted from his holdings and there was much agrarian discontent, culminating in the risings of 1820 and 1832. After the Mutiny in which they participated, an attempt was made to legislate for the Mundas according to their own customs. The Bhuihari Survey was held in 1862 and certain lands were set aside for the use of the aboriginal families in those villages where the communal system was disappearing. This did not remove the discontent, however, and a further rising under Birsa Bhagwan occurred in 11900. The new Chota Nagpur Tenancy Acts of 1893 and 1908 have gone far towards a settlement of agrarian questions, but there is still considerable discontent, fostered recently by non-co-operators.

The Mundas are agriculturists and despise all other occupation. In their villages, and maintained by contributions in kind, but occasionally in cash, reside the necessary industrialists-- Lohars, Barhis, Kumhars, Turis or weavers in bamboo, Malars (workers in brass) and Panrs (weavers). These people are occasionally given small plots of land to cultivate.

Religion And Religious Ceremonies. The Mundas are Animists, though Babu S.C. Roy, author of "The Mundas and their Country" puts in for them a claim to a higher religion of a monotheistic type, on the ground that they venerate Singh Bonga as the lord of all and that the rest of the pantheon includes the spirits of ancestors, the woodland spirits being merely daemons of lower order, belief in which does not

645 affect their essential monotheism. The idea of Singh Bonga, however, is exceedingly vague and he is nowhere worshipped in the true sense of the word-- a little food is daily set aside for him and for the ancestor spirits, but almost the whole of the religious activities of these people consists of the offering of propitations to the daemons. The priest of the village, or as he is called, the Pahan, is the real Headman, but he is far too holy to appear before strangers to represent the community in mundane matters; the Munda has done this and has profited by the prominence thus acquired. There is at present a growing antagonism between the respective branches of the village community, known as the Pahan khunt and the Munda Khunt. The Pahan is responsible for all public sacrifices and for appeasing the village deities in the Sarna, a grove left standing when the forest clearing was first established. The principal feasts are:

(i) Maghe Parab held at the full moon of Pous (January/February). The penates or household gods-- the spirits of deceased ancestors-- are worshipped at this festival. At this time of the year too new servants are engaged for the following year and are 'fed' as in Scotland.

(ii) Phagua, held at the full moon of Falgun (March/April). This festival corresponds to the Holi festival of the Hindus and is the spring festival. The Pahan propitiates all the local deities, and the sacrifices have the magical object of increasing the fertility of the earth.

(iii) Ba-Parab (Flower festival), also known as the Sarhul, celebrated in Chait (April/May) when the Sal tress are in bloom. Sacrifices are performed in the Sarna, a sacred grove, and much rice beer is imbibed.

(iv) The Hon-Ba Parab and Batauli are private festivals held just before the first sowing and the first transplanting and are meant to ensure the success of these operations. The Karam festival is also an agricultural ceremony intended to secure the health and well-being of the growing corn; it is held in August/September (Bhado). There are several other minor festivals, before reaping, before threshing and before eating the new rice. In fact, no opportunity is missed of making a spree of any occasion.

(v) The Shore is the great harvest festival held on the day of the new moon of Karitk (October/November). Cattle are venerated and feted, being fed on boiled rice beer. The Mundas dance all night and have a great revel.

Marriage. As has previously been stated, marriage must take place within the tribe, but outside one's own Killi or sept. The bride is formally adopted into her husband's Killi and the ceremony of the putting on of Sindur (red lead) by the bridegroom on the forehead of the bride is a relic of the old ceremony of the mingling of blood. It is essential part of the actual celebration of marriage. The bride has to adopt the totem of her husband, but continues to venerate her own totem. Infant marriages are unknown, and a bride is paid for in rupees or in cattle. Divorce is easy and frequently merely means the return to the husband of the bride-price (gong) by the Lothario who has won the wife's affection. There is a formal betrothal ceremony and much drinking of rice beer. An interesting item is the binding of a mango tree with a thread and the citing of the tree as a witness to the marriage. Widow re-marriage is freely permitted, though an elder brother's widow is expected to live with her surviving brother-in-law. The marriage of widows is called "sagai" or "sangha." Readers wishing further details of the marriage ceremonies are referred to S. C. Roy's "The Mundas and their Country."

646 Birth Ceremonies. There must be a public acceptance of the child by the putative father on the sixth day after birth (Chathi). The mother has to go through various purificatory ceremonies of no particular interest.

Death . The bodies of the deceased are buried, and a year after, the bones are disinterred and placed under the burial stones in the ancestral village. Most villages have extensive graveyards (Sasan) and great slabs of stone flat on the ground cover the bones of deceased members of the family. No one but members of the family of the original reclaimer of the village site may be buried here, the right to bury being taken as a proof of membership in the family and, therefore, as conveying the right to a plot of land to cultivate. The Mundas have a saying "Horoharkoa patta do sasandhiri " ("These gravestones are the pattas or title deeds of the Mundas "). Every Munda cherishes the thought that his bones will finally be interred on the family burial ground and dutiful sons will carefully preserve the bones of parents who have died under foreign skies, taking them for burial when opportunity offers to the ancestral village.

SUB-TRIBES: Nagbangshi Mundas (see page 10) and Munda-Oraons. The Munda-Oraons are Oraons living about the town of Ranchi and to the south and south-east for a distance of about fifteen miles. They speak a dialect of Mundari, but have all the customs of Oraons. They were probably early settlers in Munda villages and adopted the Munda tongue. The Mundas themselves have retired from this area and are not now found there, with the exception of a family maintained for the express purpose of propitiating the village deities.

MAHILI or KHANGAR MUNDAS:- These people are obviously Dravidians, but are not admitted as being of the Munda community for purposes of marriage or communalism. They do menial tasks in Mundari villages.

MUNDA LOHARS:-- these are the Lohars or blacksmiths maintained in Munda villages. They speak Mundari and their customs approximate to those of their hosts. The Bhumij are a sub-tribe, will be separately treated:

(1) Manki Mundas } Hinduized sub-tribes found in the (2) Munda Majhi } Ranchi and Manbhum Districts (3) Konkpat Mundas } of no particular importance.

Munda.: -Mura, Horo-hon1, a large Dravidian tribe of Chota Nagpur classed on linguistic grounds as Kolarian, and closely akin to the Hos and Santals, and probably also to the Kandhs. The name Munda is of Sanskrit origin. It means headman of a village, and is a titular or functional designation used by the members of the tribe, as well as by outsiders, as a distinctive name much in the same way as the Santals call themselves Manjhi, the Bhumij sardar, and the Khambu of the Darjiling hills Jimdar. The general name Kol, which is applied to both Mundas and Oraons, is interpreted by Herr Jellinghaus to mean pig-killer, but the better opinion seems to be that it is a variant of horo, the Mundari for man. The change of r to/ is familiar and needs no illustration, which in explanation of the conversion of h into k, we may cite hon, the Mundari for 'child', which in Korwa becomes kon and koro, the Muasi form of horo, 'a man.' It may be added that the Kharias of Chota Nagpur call the Mundas Kora, a name closely approaching Kol.

1 See Risley.

647 Tradition. The Munda myth of making of mankind tells how the self-existent primeval deities Ote Boram and Sing Bonga created a boy and a girl and put them together in a cave to people the world. At first they were too innocent to understand what was expected of them, but the gods showed them how to make rice-beer, which inflames the passions, and in course of time their family reached the respectable number of twelve of either sex. As is usual in myths of this class, the children were divided into pairs; and Sing Bonga set before them various kinds of food for them to choose from before starting in the world. The fate of their descendants depended on their choice. Thus "the first and second pair took bullocks' and buffaloes flesh, and they originated the Kols (Hos) and the Bhumij (Matkum); the next took of the vegetables only, and are the progenitors of the Brahmans and Chhatries; others took goats and fish, and from them are the Sudras. One pair took shell-fish and became Bhuiyas; two pairs took pigs and became Santals. One pair got nothing, seeing which the first pairs gave them of their superfluity, and from the pair thus provided spring the Ghasis, who toil not, but live by preying on others."1

Internal Structure. The Mundas are divided into thirteen sub-tribes, several of which, such as Kharia-Munda, Mahili-Munda, Oraon-Munda, appear to be the result of crosses with neighbouring tribes, while others again, like Bhuinhar-Munda and Manki-Munda, have reference to the land and communal system of the tribe. The Mahili-Munda sub-tribe has the pig for its totem, and for them pork is tabooed. But appetite has proved stronger than tradition, and the taboo is satisfied by throwing away the head of the animal, the rest of the carcase being deemed lawful food. The septs or kilis, which are very numerous, are mainly totemistic, and the totem is taboo to the members of the sept which bears its name. If it were possible to identify them all, and to ascertain precisely to what extent and in what manner the taboo of the totem is observed each, the information would probably throw much light upon the growth of early tribal societies.

Marriage. A Munda may not marry a woman of his own sept. The sept-name goes by the father's side, and intermarriage with persons nearly related through the mother is guarded against by reckoning prohibited degrees in the manner common in Behar. Adult marriage is still in fashion, and sexual intercourse before marriage is tacitly recognized, but in all respectable families matches are made by the parents, and the parties themselves have very little to say in the matter. The bride-price varies from Rs. 4 to Rs. 20. Sindurdan, or the smearing of vermilion on the bride's forehead by the bridegroom and on the bridegroom's forehead by the bride, is the essential and binding portion. The practice described by colonel Dalton of marrying the bride to a mahua tree and the bridegroom to a mango seems now to have been abandoned. Traces still survive among the Mundas of a form of marriage, resembling the Santali nir bolok. It is called dhuko era, meaning a bride who has entered the household of her own accord. The children of a woman thus married seem to have an inferior status in respect of their rights to inherit the landed property of their father. The late Babu Rakhal Das Halder, Manager of the estate of the Maharaja of Chota Nagpur, gave me an illustration of this fact. Some years ago the munda or headman of one of the villages of the Government estate of Barkagarh died, leaving an only son by a dhuko era wife, and a question was raised as to the latter's right to succeed. Under Colonel Dalton's orders, a number of headmen of villages were called together, and their opinions were taken. No decided results, however, could be arrived at. Some thought the son should get the whole property. Others proposed to exclude him altogether, and a third party considered him entitled to maintenance. Eventually the question was compromised by admitting the son's right to one-fourth of the land and the whole of the personal property. The case is a curious comment on the uncertainty of tribal

1. Dalton, Ethnology, p. 185

648 custom. Widows may marry again by the ritual known as sagai, in which sindurdan is performed with the left hand. Divorce is allowed at the instance of either party, and divorced women are permitted to marry again. In cases of adultery the seducer is required to pay to the husband the full amount of the bride-price.

Religion. At the head of the Munda religion stands Sing-Bonga, the sun, a beneficent but somewhat inactive deity, who concerns himself but little with human affairs, and leaves the details of the executive government of the world to the gods in charge of particular branches or departments of nature. Nevertheless, although Sing-Bonga himself does not send sickness or calamity to men, he may be invoked to avert such disasters, and in this view sacrifices of white goats or white cocks are offered to him by way of appeal from the unjust punishments believed to have been inflicted by his subordinates. Next in rank to Sing-Bonga comes Buru- Bonga or Marang-Buru, also known as Pat-Sarna, a mountain god, whose visible habitation is usually supposed to be the highest or most remarkable hill or rock in the neighbourhood. "In Chota Nagpur," says Colonel Dalton,1 "a remarkable bluff, near the village of Lodhma, is the Marang-Buru or Maha-Buru for a wide expanse of country. Here people of all castes assemble and sacrifice-- Hindus, even Mahomedans, as well as Kols. There is no visible object of worship; the sacrifices are offered on the top of the hill, a bare semi-globular mass of rock. If animals are killed, the heads are left there, and afterwards appropriated by the pahan or village priest." Marang-Buru is regarded as the god who presides over the rainfall,and is appealed to in times of drought, as well as when any epidemic sickness is abroad. The appropriate offering to him is a buffalo. Ikir Bonga rules over tanks, wells and large sheets of water; Garhaera is the goddess of rivers, streams and the small springs which occur on many hill sides in Chota Nagpur; which Nage or Naga-era is a general name applied to the minor deities or spirits who haunt the swampy lower levels of the terraced rice-fields. All of these are believed to have a hand in spreading disease among men, and require constant propitiation to keep them out of mischief. White goats and black or brown cocks are offered to Ikir Bonga, and eggs and turmeric to the Nage. Deswali or Kara-Sarna is the god of the village who lives with his wife Jahir Burhi or Sarhul-Sarna in the Sarna or sacred grove, a patch of the forest primeval left intact to afford a refuge for the forest gods. Every village has its own Deswali, who is held responsible for the crops, and receives periodical worship at the agricultural festivals. His appropriate offering is a kara or he-buffalo; to his wife fowls are sacrificed. Gumi is another of the Sarna deities whose precise functions I have been unable to ascertain. Bullocks and pigs are sacrificed to him at irregular intervals. Chandor appears to be same as Chando Omol or Chanala, the moon worshipped by women, as the wife of Sing Bonga and the mother of the stars. Colonel Dalton mentions the legend that she was faithless to her husband, and he cut her in two, 'but repenting of his anger he allows her at times to shine forth in full beauty.' Goats are offered to her in the Sarna. Haprom is properly the homestead, but it is used in a wider sense to denote the group of dead ancestors who are worshipped in the homestead by setting apart for them a small portion of every meal and with periodical offerings of fowls. They are supposed to be ever on the watch for chances of doing good or evil to their descendants, and the Munda fully realise the necessity for appeasing and keeping them in good humour.

Festivals The festivals of the tribe are the following:(1) Sarhul or Sarjum-Baba, the spring festival corresponding to the Baha or Bah-Bonga of the Santals and Hos in Chait (March-April) when the sal tree is in bloom. (2) Kadleta or Batauli in Asarh at the commencement of the rainy season. "Each cultivator," says colonel Dalton, "sacrifices a fowl, and after some mysterious rites a wing is stripped off and inserted in the cleft of a bamboo and stuck up in the rice-field and dung-heap. If this is omitted, it is supposed that the rice will not come to maturity." (3) Nana or Jom-Nana the festival of new rice in Asin when the highland rice is harvested. A

1. Ethology of Bengal, 188.

649 white cock is sacrificed to Sing-Bonga, and the first fruits of the harvest are laid before him. Until this has been done, it would be an act of impiety to eat the new rice. (4) Kharia puja or Kolom Singh, called by the Hos Deswali Bonga or Magh Parab celebrating the harvesting of the winter rice, the main crop of the year. Among the Hos of Singbhum the festival is kept as sort of saturnale, during which the people give themselves up to drunkenness and all kinds of debauchery. This is less conspicuously the case with the Mundas of the plateau who live scattered among Hindu and Christian neighbours, and do not form a compact tribal community like the Hos of the Kolhan. The festival, moreover, is kept by the Mundas on one day only, and is not spread over a month or six weeks, during which time the people of different villages vie with each other in dissipation, as they do in the Kolhan.

Succession. Succession among the Mundas is governed by their own customs, which appear to have been little affected by the influence of Hindu law. Property is equally divided among the sons, but no division is made until the youngest son is of age. With them, as with the Santals, daughters get no share in the inheritance; they are allotted among the sons just like the live- stock. "Thus if a man dies, leaving three sons and three daughters and thirty head of cattle, on a division each son would get ten head of cattle and one sister; but should there be only one sister, they wait till she marries and divide the pan," or bride-price, which usually consists of about six head of cattle. Among the Hos of Singbhum the bride-price is higher than with the Mundas, and the question of its amount has there been found to affect seriously the number of marriages.

Village communes and officials. According to ancient and universal tradition, the central table land of Chota Nagpur Proper was originally divided into parhas or rural communes comprising from ten to twenty-five villages, and presided over by a divisional chief, called the raja or munda of the parha. In 1839, titular rajas of the parha were still existing in the Fiscal Division of Khukra near Ranchi, who retained considerable authority in tribal disputes, and at times of festival and hunting. But this element in the Munda village system has now fallen into decay, and survives only in the jhandas or flags of the parha villages, and in the peculiar titles bestowed on the cultivators themselves. The exclusive right to fly a particular flag at the great dancing festivals is jealously guarded by every Munda village, and serious fights not unfrequently result from the violation of this privilege. Besides this, individual villages in a parha bear specific titles, such as raja, diwan, kunuar, thakur, chhota lal, etc., similar to those which prevail in the household of the reigning family, which obviously refer to some organization which no longer exists . I am informed that these officials still make the arrangements for the large hunting parties which take place at certain seasons of the year.

A kol village community consists, when perfect, of the following officers: Munda, mahato, pahn, bhandari, gorait, goala, and lohar. Washermen, barbers, and potters have been added since 1839, and even now are only found near much frequented halting places, and in villages the larger Hindu tenure-holders live The kols invariably shave themselves, and their women wash the clothes.

(1)MUNDA.-- The munda is the chief of the bhuinhars, or descendants of the original clearers of the village. He is a person of great consequence in the village; and all demands from the bhuinhari, whether of money or labour, must be notified by the owner of the village through the munda. He is remunerated for his trouble by the bhuinhari land, which he holds at a low rate of rent, and receives no other salary. In pargana Lodhma, and in the south-eastern portion of Lohardaga he sometimes performs the mahato's duties as well as his own, and he then gets a small jagir of half a pawa of land rent-free.

(2) MAHATO.-- The functions of a mahato have been compared to those of a patwari or village accountant, but he may be more aptly described as a rural settlement officer. He allots

650 the land of the village among the cultivation, giving to each man a goti or clod of earth as symbol of possession; he collects the rent, pays it to the owner, and in short manages all pecuniary matters connected with the land. He is appointed by the owner of the village, and receives one pawa of rajhas land rent-free, as a jagir or service-tenure. Bur the office is neither hereditary nor permanent, and the mahato is liable to be dismissed at the landlord's discretion. Dismissal, however, is unusual, and the mahato is often succeeded by his son. Where the mahato collects the rents, he almost universally receives a fee, called batta, of half an anna from each cultivator, or of one anna for every house in the village. In one village batta amounts to four anna and a half on every pawa of land. Occasionally, where there is no bhandari or agent for the owner's rent-paying land, the mahato gets three bundles (karais) of grain in the straw, containing from ten to twenty sers apiece, at every harvest. Thus during the year he would receive three bundles of gondli from the cold weather crop, and the same amount from the gora or early rice, and the don or late rice. In khalsa villages, which are under the direct management of the Maharaja, the mahato often holds, in addition to his official jagir, a single pawa of land, called kharcha or rozina kket, from the proceeds of which he is expected to defray the occasional expenses incurred in calling upon cultivators to pay their rent, etc. The functions of the mahato are shown in greater detail in the following extract from Dr. Davidson's Report of 1839: "On a day appointed, the thikadar or farmer proceeds to the akhra or place of assembly of the village, where he is met by the mahato, pahn, bhandari, and as many of the rayats as choose to attend. He proceeds, agreeably to the dictation of the mahato, to write down the account of the cultivation of the different rayats, stating the number of pawas held and the rent paid by each. Having furnished this account, any new rayats who may wish to have lands in the village, after having the quantity and rent settled, have a goti given to them. If any of the old rayats require any new land, a goti is taken for that, but not for the old cultivation. The mahato collects the rent as the instalments become due, according to the above-mentioned account given to the farmer; and all differences as to the amount of rent payable by a rayat, if any ever arise, which very seldom happens, are settled by the opinion of the mahato. So well does this mode answer in practice, that in point if fact a dispute as to the amount of rent owed by a rayat is of rare occurrence. When a farmer wishes to cheat a rayat, he accuses him of having cultivated more land than he is entitled to or of owing him maswar or grain-rent for land held in excess; and if such a thing as a dispute as to the amount of rent owed ever does arise, the mahato's evidence is generally considered conclusive by both parites."

(3) PAHN.--The importance of the pahn, or priest of the village gods, may be inferred from the current phrase in which his duties are contrasted with, those of the mahato. The pahn, it is said, "makes the village:" (gaon banata), while the mahato only "manages it" (gaon chalata). He must be a bhuinhar, as no one but a descendant of the earliest settlers in the village could know how to propitiate the local gods. He is always chosen from one family; but the actual pahn is changed at intervals of from three to five years by the ceremony of the sup or winnowing-fan, which is used as a divining rod, and taken house to house by the boys of the village. The bhuinhar at whose house the sup stops is elected pahn. On the death of a pahn, he is frequently, but not invariably, succeeded by his son. Rent-free lands are attached to the office of pahn under the following names: (1) Pahn, the personal jagir or service-tenure of the priest, generally containing one pawa of land. (2) Dalikatari, for which the pahn has to make offerings to Jahir Burhi, the goddess of the village. It is called dailkatari, as it is supposed to defray the expenses of the Karm festival, when a branch (dali) of the karma tree is cut down and planted in the fields. (3) Desauli, a sort of bhutkheta or devil's acre, the produce of which is devoted to a great triennial festival in honour of Desauli, the divinity of the grove. This land is either cultivated by the pahn himself, or by raiyats who pay him rent. (4) Panbhara and tahalu are probably the same. Lands held under these names are cultivated by the pahn himself or his near relations; and whoever has them, is bound to supply water at the various festivals.

651 (4) BHANDARI.-- The bhandari or bailiff is the landlord's agent in respect of the management of the village. He is usually a Hindu, and represents the landlord's point of view in village questions, just as the pahn is the spokesman of the bhuinhars or original settlers. He generally holds one pawa of land rent free from the owner, receiving also from raiyat three karais or sheaves of each crop as it is cut-- one of gondli, one of early rice, and one 1 of wet rice. Instead of the land, he sometimes gets Rs. 3 or Rs. 4 in each, with 12 kats or 4 2 cwt. of paddy.

(5) GORAIT.--The gorait is, in fact, the chaukidar or village watchman. He communicates the owner's orders to the raiyats, brings them to the mahato to pay their rents, and selects coolies when required for public purposes. As a rule he holds no service land, but receives the three usual karats or sheaves from every cultivator.

(6) AHIR or GOALA.-- The ahir's duty is to look after the cattle of the village, and to account for any that are stolen. He is remunerated by a payment of one kat of paddy for each pair of plough-bullocks owned by the cultivators whose cattle are under his charge. He also gets the three karais or sheaves at harvest time, besides an occasional sup or winnowing fan full of paddy. If cows are under the ahir's charge, the milk of every alternate day is his perquisite. In the month of Aghan (December) he takes five sers of milk round to the cultivators, receiving in return pakhira or 20 sers of paddy as a free gift. He always pays the abwab known as dadani ghi, and in some villages has to give the baithawan ghi as well. In a very few cases the ahir holds half a pawa of land rent-free.

(7) LOHAR.--The lohar or blacksmith gets one kat of paddy and the three karais for every plough in the village, and is also paid two to three annas for every new phar or ploughshare. In a very few villages he holds half a pawa of land rent-free.

The kotwal or constable and the chaukidar or watchman do not belong to the genuine Munda village system, and need not be mentioned here. In the Fiscal Division of Tori the bulk of the inhabitants belong to the Kharwar sub-tribe of Bhogtas, and the village system differs from that which prevails on central plateau. Here the pahn is the only official who holds service land, and he gets half a patti, or not quite two standard bighas. He performs the village pujas, and often does the work of a mahato, when of the village is an absentee. But even then the landlord sometimes employs a bailiff, called barhil, to collect the rents. In the tract known as the Five Parganas, including Tamar, Bundu, Silli, Rahe, and Baranda, as well as in the Mankipatti, or that part of Sonpur pargana which borders on Singbhum district, we meet with mankis and mundas who are undoubtedly the descendants of the original chiefs, and still hold the villages which their ancestors founded. Here the parha divisions exist in their entirety, as groups of from twelve to twenty-four villages, each of which has its own munda or village head; while the whole commune is subject to a divisional headman called manki who collects the fixed rents payable by the mundas. The chief village officer is the pahn, who holds from one to five kats of land analogous to, if not identical with, the khandi of the Kolhan in Singbhum, and denotes the quantity of land which can be sown with one kat of seed. In this part of the country the munda sometimes has a deputy called diwan who assists him to collect his rents, and bhandaris are occasionally met with.

Mu∑πâ.: -About one-fifth of the total population of India speak languages belonging to the Mu∑πâ and Dravidian families. These forms of speech have been called by anthropologists the languages of the Draviπa race.1

1 See G.A. Grierson, Linguistic Survey of India.

652 Draviπa Race. If we exclude the north-eastern districts from consideration, the population of the Indian peninsula can be said to represent two distinct anthropological types-- the Aryan and the Dravidian. The latter has been described as follows by Mr. Risley: "In the Dravidian type the form of the head usually inclines to be dolichocephalic, but all other characters present a marked contrast to the Aryan. The nose is thick and broad, and the formula expressing its proportionate dimensions is higher than in any known race, except the Negro. The facial angle is comparatively low; the face wide and fleshy; the features coarse and irregular. The average stature ranges in a long series of tribes from 156.2 to 162.1 centimetres; the figure is squat, and the limbs sturdy. The colour of the skin varies from very dark brown to a shade closely approaching black. The typical Dravidian has a nose as broad in proportion to its length as the Negro." The hair is curly, and in this respect the Dravidians differ from the Australians, with whom they agree in several other characteristics.

Distribution Of The Race. The Dravidian race is not found outside India. It has already been remarked that the Australians share many of the characteristics of the Dravidians. Anthropologists, nevertheless, consider them to be a distinct race. The various Món-Khmér tribes and the Sakeis of Malacca agree with the Dravidians in having a dolichocephalic head, an dark colour of the skin, and curly hair. They are not, however, considered to be identical with them. Archaeologists are of opinion that the various stone implements which are found from Chota Nagpur on the west to the Malayan peninsula on the east are often so similar in kind that they appear to be the work of one and the same race. Attention has also been drawn to analogous customs found all over the same area, and to other coincidences. It will be mentioned later on that philological reasons can likewise be adduced to support the supposition of a common substratum in the population of parts of Nearer India, Farther India, and elsewhere. We cannot decide whether the Dravidian race is directly descended from that old substratum. At all events, the race is commonly considered to be that of the aborigines of India, or, at least, of Southern India. The various groups into which anthropology divides men are nowhere pure and unmixed. There are also within the Dravidian race great fluctuations in the shape of the skull, the form of the nose, the darkness of the skin, and so forth. It seems therefore necessary to conclude that, in the course of time, numerous racial crossings have taken place.

Language. The probability of such a conclusion is enhanced by a consideration of the languages spoken by the Dravidian race. According to the eminent German philologist and ethnologist Friedrich Müller, they are the Mu∑πâ dialects, Singhalese, and the Dravidian languages proper. Müller's classification of the languages of the world is based on principles which differ widely from those adopted by former writers on the subject, and it will be necessary to give a short explanation of his methods in order to ascertain how much importance he himself would attach to the fact that several languages of different origin are, in his system, classed together within one and the same group. According to Müller, man can only have developed a real language after having split up into races, and the various languages in actual use must therefore be derived from different racial bases. Nay, it seems even necessary to assume that the individual race had often split up into further sub-divisions before developing a language of its own. All the languages of one race are not, therefore, necessarily derived from the same original. Among the languages of the Draviπa race Singhalese occupies a position of its own and does not appear to have anything to do with the rest. It is an Aryan dialect and has been brought to Ceylon from India at a very early period. There seem to be traces of a non-Aryan substratum, under the Aryan superstructure, but we are not as yet in a position to judge with certainty as to the nature of thiªs substratum.

653 Mu∑πâ And Dravidian. With regard to the remaining languages of the race, opinion has been divided, some scholars thinking it possible to derive the Mu∑πâ and Dravidian forms of speech from the same original, and others holding that they have nothing to do with each other. The latter opinion seems to be commonly held by scholars in Europe. The Rev. F. Hahn, on the other hand, in his Kurukh Grammar, Calcutta, 1900, pp. 98 and ff., maintains that there is a strong Dravidian element in Mu∑πâri¡¡ grammar. Mu∑πâri¡¡ is a typical Mu∑πâ language, and the view advocated by Mr. Hahn accordingly leads up to the suggestion of a connexion between the Mu∑πâ and Dravidian forms of apeech, i.e., among all the principal languages of the Dravidian race. This theory is a priori very probable. An examination of Mr. Hahn's arguments will, however, show that it cannot be upheld. He commences by giving a list of words which are common to the mu∑πâ Mu∑πâri¡ and to the Dravidian Kuruk••h. He does not attach much importance to such cases of coincidence in vocabulary, and rightly so. In the first place, Kurukh has largely borrowed from Mu∑ªπâri¡, and in the second place, it is only to be expected that many words should be common to the two families. Even if we assume that the Dravidian race of the present day consists of two originally different elements, the Mu∑πâs and the Draviπas, it must have been formed or rather must have developed in such a way that the two original races were mixed together. The result of such a mixture must inevitably be that the languages of both races influenced each other in vocabulary. Moreover, that list published by Mr. Hahn contains several Aryan loan-words and also some words where the analogy is only apparent. Compare Mu∑πâri¡¡ en•gâ, mother, but kurukh in••g-yó, my -mother, in which the word in••g means 'my.'1 I therefore pass by the asserted correspondence in vocabulary. It seems to me that a thorough comparison of Mu∑πâ and Dravidian vocabulary will show that the common element is unimportant. Mr. Hahn further mentions some points where he finds a correspondence between Mu∑πâ and Dravidian grammar. It will be necessary to extend the investigation to other features also, in order to show the true relationship existing between the two families. Mr. Hahn's arguments can then be referred to in their proper place.

Phonology. The most striking feature of Mu∑πâ phonology is the existence of the so-called semi- consonants. There is nothing corresponding to these in Dravidian languages. On the other hand, the interchange between soft and hard consonants in Dravidian is not a feature of the Mu∑πâ forms of speech.

Formation of words. The Mu∑πâ languages like the Dravidian ones make use of suffixes. The same is, however, the case in all Indian, and in many other, languages, and it is, moreover, possible or even probably that the use of suffixes Mu∑πâ is largely due to the influence of dravidian or Aryan forms of speech. The Dravidian languages have nothing corresponding to the Mu∑πâ infixes.

Nouns. Dravidian nouns are of two kinds, viz., those that denote rational beings, and those that denote irrational beings, respectively. The two classes differ in the formation of the plural, and also in other respects. The state of affairs in Mu∑πâ is quite different. Here we find the difference to be between animate and inanimate nouns, quite another principle of classification, pervading the whole grammatical system. Both classes, moreover, denote their plural in the same way. Further, Dravidian languages often have different forms for the

1 yó mother, is a very common word in many languages. It also occurs in Santâli¡¡ under the form of ayó. Like so many other terms of relationship it is a nursery word and cannot be adduced as a proof of relationship between such languages as possess it.

654 masculine and feminine singular of nouns denoting rational beings, while the Mu∑πâs make no difference whatever. The formation of cases is quite different in the two families. The Dravidian languages have a regular dative and an accusative, while the cases of the direct and indirect object are incorporated in the verb in Mu∑πâ. The suffix ké, which is used to denote the direct and the indirect object in some mixed dialects of Mu∑πârí, is a foreign element. In the face of such facts the comparison of the kurukh ablative suffix ti with Mu∑πârí té which is not a real ablative suffix, is of no avail, even if the Kurukh ti nti, should prove to be different in its origin from Tamil inºº®u, Kanarese inda, Tulu edd. In this connexion it should also be noted that the Mu∑πâ languages do not possess anything corresponding to the Dravidian oblique base. Adjectives. Adjectives are of the same kind in both families. The same is, however, the case in almost all agglutinative languages.

Numerals. No connexion whatever can be traced between the Mu∑πâ and Dravidian numerals. Moreover the principles prevailing in formation of higher numbers are different in the two families. The Draviπas count in tens, the Mu∑πâs in twenties.

Pronouns. The pronoun iñ, i©g, I, in Mu∑πâ dialects has been compared by Mr. Hahn with the Kurukh én, oblique e©g. It will, however, be shown in the introduction to the Dravidian family that the base of the Dravidian word for 'I' is probably é, while the essential part of the Mu∑πâ pronoun is ñ or © . Mr. Hahn further remarks that both families have different forms for the plural of the personal pronoun of the first person according to whether the party addressed is included or not. It will be pointed out in the introduction to the Dravidian family that it is very questionable whether this is originally a feature of the Dravidian forms of speech. Moreover, the use of two different forms for 'we' occurs in other families which have nothing to do with the Mu∑πâs and Draviπas, e. g ., in the Nuba languages, the Algonquin languages, etc. Mr. Hahn further compares Kurukh ékâ, 'who?' with Mu∑πârí oko. But the base of é-kâ is é or í, as is clearly shown by other Dravidian forms of speech. No conclusion whatever can be drawn from the absence of a relative pronoun in both families. The same is, as is well known, the case in numerous languages all over the world.

Verbs. Every trace of analogy between the Mu∑πâ and Dravidian families disappears when we proceed to deal with the verbs. Mr. Hahn compares some suffixes in Kurukh and Mu∑πârí. It is not necessary to show in detail that his comparisons will not stand a close examination. I shall only take one typical instance. He compares the Mu∑πârí suffix of the simple past tense passive jan, which corresponds to Santâlí en, with Kurukh jan, which is the termination of the first person singular feminine of such verbs as end in n . The j of the Kurukh tense is softened from ch, as is clearly shown by connected dialects. The j of Mu∑πârí jan, on the other hand, is derived from y in yan = Santâlí en . The final n of Kurukh jan is the personal termination of the first person singular, and is dropped in other persons; the n of Mu∑πârí jan is the sign of the passive and runs through all persons. The rest of Mr. Hahn's comparisons are of the same kind and can safely be left out of consideration. On the other hand, the whole conjugational system is quite different in the Dravidian and in Mu∑πâ languages. The Dravidian system is very simple, only comprising two or three tenses; in Mu∑πâ the verb is an indefinite form which may be used at will as a noun, an adjective, or as a verb. The most characteristic features of the Mu∑πâ verb, the categorical a and the incorporation of the direct and the indirect object in the verb, are in absolute discord

655 with Dravidian principles. The Mu∑πâ languages, on the other hand, do not possess anything corresponding to the Dravidian negative conjugation. It is not necessary to go further into detail. The two families only agree in such points as are common to most agglutinative languages, and there is no philological reason for deriving them from the same original.

History. On the other hand, the Mu∑πâs and the Draviπas belong to the same ethnic stock. It has, however, already been remarked that the physical type is not uniform throughout. If we are allowed to infer from this fact that the Dravidian race is a mixed one and consists of more than one element, the philological facts just drawn attention to seem to show that the chief components of the actual race are the Mu∑πâs on the one hand and the Draviπas on the other. The Mu∑πâs are everywhere found in the hills and jungles, i. e. in surroundings in which we might reasonably expect to find the remnants of aboriginal races. We cannot, however, now decide if the dialects spoken by them at the present day are derived from the language of those aborigines, and there are, moreover, no traces of their having at any time been settled in the south. With regard to the Draviπas, some authorities believe that they arrived in India from the south, while others suppose them to have entered it from the north-west where a Dravidian language is still spoken by the Brâhîís of Baluchistan. The Brâhîís do not belong to the Dravidian race, but are anthropologically Eranians, i. e. they have merged into the race of their neighbours. It is possible that the same is the case with the Dravidian tribes of the south wherever they came from, but anthropology only tells us that the Dravidian race comprises Mu∑ªπâs and Draviπas, and we have no information to show that the Draviπas are not the aboriginal inhabitants of the south. Philology does not tell us much about the question. It will be shown later on that the Mu∑πâ languages agree in so many points with various forms of speech in Farther India, the Malay peninsula, and the Nicobars, that there must be some connexion between them all. The Dravidian languages, on the contrary, form an isolated group. There are no traces of connected forms of speech in the surrounding countries. Comparative philologists agree that the Mu∑πâ languages, Khassi, Món-Khmér, Nancowry, and the speech of the aboriginal races of the Malay peninsula contain a common substratum, which cannot be anything else than the language of an old race which was once settled in all those countries. No traces of that common stock can be shown to exist in the Dravidian forms of speech, and from a philological point of view, it therefore seems probable that the Dravidian languages are derived from the speech of an aboriginal Dravidian population of southern India, while the Dravidian race at some remote period has received a mixture of tribes belonging to the same stock as the Món- Khmérs of Farther India. The question of the origin and the old distribution of the Dravidian race cannot, however, be solved by the philologist. It is a subject which properly belongs to the domain of anthropology alone. The denomination of the race is that given by anthropologists, and from the point of view of the philologist it is just as unsuitable as, if not more unsuitable than, the name Aryan which is used by some to denote the old people whose language is the origin of the various Indo-European tongues. For our present purpose it is sufficient to state that the languages of the Mu∑πâs and the Draviπas are not connected but form two quite independent families. They will accordingly be described as such, and I now proceed to give a more detailed account of the Mu∑πâ family.

Mu∑πâ Family Introduction: The Mu∑πâ family is the least numerous of the four linguistic families which divide among themselves the bulk of the population of India. The number of speakers is only about three millions.

Name of the family. The Mu∑πâ family has been known under various names. Hodgson classed the languages in question under the head of Tamulian. Hó, Santâlí, Bhumij, Kurukh, and Mu∑πârí are,

656 according to him, 'dialects of the great Ko``l language.' The word Kol or Kolh is a title applied by Hindîs to the Hós, Mu∑πârís, and Orâôs, and sometimes also the other tribes of the Mu∑πâ stock. Among the Santâls the corresponding word kâlhâ is used to denote a tribe of iron smelters in the Sonthal Parganas and neighbourhood. It is probably connected with caste names such as Kó¬í, but we do not know anything really certain about the original meaning of the word. Kóla occurs as the name of a warrior caste in the Harivam••s``a. The word kóla in Sanskrit also means 'pig,' and some authorities hold that this word has been used by the Aryans as a term of abuse in order to denote the aboriginal tribes. According to others 'Kol' is the same word as the Santâlí hâ®, a man. This word is used under various forms such as Hâ® hâ®â hó and kóró by most Mu∑πâ tribes in order to denote themselves. The change of ® to l is familiar and does not give rise to any difficulty. It is even possible that the Aryans who heard the word hâ® or kór confounded it with their own word kóla, a pig. The Santâlí form kâlhâ must in that case have been borrowed back again from the Aryans. The name Kol has the disadvantage that it is not used in India to denote all the various tribes of the Mu∑πâ family. On the other hand, it is also ajpplied to the Orâôs who speak a Dravidian dialect. It is therefore apt to be misunderstood. As has already been remarked, Hodgson used the name to denote Hó, Santâlí, Bhumij, Kurukh, and Mu∑πârí. He was followed by Logan, who, however, excluded Kurukh. Logan also followed Hodgson in considering the Mu∑πâ languages as a Dravidian group, which he called North Dravidian. Both he and Hodgson accordingly laboured under the illusion that the languages of Mu∑πâs and the Draviπas were derived from the same original. The late Professor Max Müller was the first to distinguish between the Mu∑πâ and Dravidian families. He says: "I can see indeed many coincidences between Uraon, Rajmahali, and Gondi on one side, and Sinhbhum (i.e.Hó), Sontal, Bhumij, and Mundala words on the other, but none whatever between these two classes. I, therefore, suppose that in the dialects of the last four tribes, we have traces of a language spoken in India before the Tamulian conquest. The race by which these dialects are used may have merged into the Tamulic in places where both have been living together for some time. Both are, therefore, promiscuously called Koles. But historically as well as physiologically there is sufficient evidence to show that two different races, the Tamulic and an earlier race, came in contact in these regions, whither both fled before the approach of a new civilisation. These people called themselves 'Munda,' which, as an old ethnic name I have adopted for the common appellation of the aboriginal Koles. The designation of the family as the 'Mu∑πâ family' is thus due to Max Müller, and it has been retained in this Survey because it is that originally given by the scholar who first clearly distinguished the family from the Dravidian forms of speech, and because other names which have been proposed are objectionable for other reasons. It is not, however, a very appropriate denomination. The word Mu∑πâ is used by foreigners to designate the Mu∑πâs of the Ranchi district, i.e. only a section of the whole race. In Mu∑πârí it denotes the village chief and is also used as an honorific designation of landed proprietors, much in the same way as Mâñjhí in Santâlí. Mu∑πâ therefore properly only applies to that section of the tribe who speak the Mu∑πârí language, and its use as a common designation of the whole family is only a conventional one. The denomination Mu∑πâ was not long allowed to stand unchallenged. Sir George Campbell in 1866 proposed to call the family Kolarian. He was of the opinion that Kol had an older form Kolar which he thought to be identical with Kanarese kallar, thieves. There is absolutely no foundation for this supposition. Moreover, the name Kolarian is objectionable as seeming to suggest a connexion with Aryan which does not exist. The name Kolarian has, however, in spite of such disadvantages become very widely used. Mr. Skrefsrud, and after him Professor Thomsen of Copenhagen, have brought a new name into the field, viz . Kherwarian or Kharwarian. Kherwâr of Kharwâr is according to Santâlí tradition, the name given to the old tribe from which Santâls, Hós, Mu∑πâs, Bhumij, and so forth are descended. So far as I can see it includes the bulk of the family, and has great advantages as compared with other titles. It is not, however, quite free from objection. There are no indications of the southern and western tribe, such as Kha®iâ, Juâ©g, Savara, Gadabâ,

657 and Kîrkî, having ever been included in the Kherwâr tribe, and there seems to be little reason for replacing one incorrect name by another which is less incorrect, it is true, but is still not quite appropriate. The name Kherwârí will therefore in this Survery be reserved for the principal Mu∑πâ language which is known as existing in several slightly varying dialects such as Santâlí, Mu∑πârí, Hó and so forth. If we were to coin a new term for the family, the analogy of the denomination Dravidian might suggest our adopting a Sanskrit name. In Sanskrit the common name for the Mu∑πâ aborigines seems to be Nishâda. The Nishâdas are identified with the Bhillas. They are found to the south-east of Madhyadés``a and in the Vindhya range. Their country is said to begin at the place where the river Sarasvatí disappears in the sands. In other words. the Nishâdas lived in the desert and in the hills to the south and east of the stronghold of the Aryans, i.e. in districts where we now find Mu∑πâ tribes of their descendants. Compare Wilson's Vish∑u Purâ∑a, pp. 100 and f. It would, however, only mean adding to the confusion which already exists if we were to propose a new name for the family, and the denomination introduced by Max Müller when he first showed that the languages in question formed one distinct group, will be adhered to in these pages.

Area within which spoken: The principal home of the Mu∑πâ languages at the present day is the Chota Nagpur Plateau. Speakers are further found in the adjoining districts of Madras and the Central Provinces, and in the Mahadeo Hills. They are almost everywhere found in the hills and jungles, the plains and valleys being inhabited by people speaking some Aryan language. The Mu∑πâ race is much more widely spread than the Mu∑πâ languages. It has already been remarked that it is identical with the Dravidian race which forms the bulk of the population of Southern India, and which has also contributed largely to the formation of the actual population of the North. It is now in most cases impossible to decide whether an individual tribe has originally used a Mu∑πâ or a Dravidian form of speech. The two racial groups must have merged into each other at a very early period. One dialect, the so-called Nahâlí, still preserves traces of a manifold influence. It appears to have originally been a Mu∑πâ form of speech, but has come under the influence of Dravidian languages. The result is a mixed dialect which has, in its turn, come under the spell of Aryan tongues, and which will probably before long become an Aryan language. The same development has probably taken place in many other cases. The numerous Bhíl tribes occupy a territory of the same kind as that inhabited by the Mu∑πâs. Their various dialects show some traces of Dravidian influence, and it seems allowable to infer that these are the result of the same development the first stage of which lies before us in Nahâlí. It is also probable that the tribes who speak various broken dialects in Western India, such a Kó¬í and so forth, have originally used a Mu∑πâ form of speech. It is not, however, now possible to decide the question. There are, on the other hand, several Aryanised tribes in Northern India who have certainly once spoken some Mu∑πâ dialect. Such are the Cheros in Behar and Chota Nagpur, the Kherwârs, the Savaras who have formerly extended so far north as Shahabad, many of the so- called Râjbansis, and so forth. Traces of an old Mu∑πâ element are apparently also met with in several Tibeto-Burman dialects spoken in the Himalayas. Compare the remarks in Vol. iii, Part i of this Survey. At all events, Mu∑πâ languages must once have been spoken over a wide area in Central India, and probably also in the Ganges valley. They were, however, early on superseded by Dravidian and Aryan forms of speech, and at the present day, only scanty remnants are found in the hills and jungles of Bengal and the Central Provinces.

Mu∑πâ element in Dravidian and Aryan languages: It is no longer possible to decide to what extent the Mu∑πâ languages can have influenced the other linguistic families of India. Our knowledge of them only dates back to the middle of the last century. Attention will be drawn to a few facts in the introduction to the Dravidian family which apparently point to the existence of a Mu∑πâ element in Dravidian grammar. The whole matter is, however, beyond the limit of our observations, as the Mu∑πâ influence

658 must have been exercised at a very early period. In the case of Aryan languages, the Mu∑πâ influence is apparently unimportant. Professor Thomsen is of opinion that such an influence has probably been at play in fixing the principle, regulating the inflexion of nouns in Indo- Aryan vernaculars. It is, however, more probable that it is Dravidian languages which have modified Aryan grammar in such characteristics, and that the Mu∑πâ family has thus, at the utmost, exercised only an indirect influence through the Dravidian forms of speech. There is, however, one instance where Mu∑πâ principles appear to have pervaded an Aryan language, viz . in the conjugation of the Bihârí verb. Though the different forms used to denote an honorific or non-honorific subject or object and the curious change of the verb when the object is a pronoun of the second person singular can be explained from Aryan forms, the whole principle of indicating the object in the very is thoroughly un-Aryan, but quite agrees with Mu∑πâ grammar. The existence of a similar state of affairs in Kâs``mírí and in Shínâ must, of course, be accounted for in a different way.

Relationship to other languages: It has already been remarked that the Mu∑πâs and Draviπas are considered by anthropologists to belong to the same race, but that their languages are not connected. Within India proper the Mu∑πâ dialects form an isolated philological group. In Farther India and on the Nicobar Islands, on the other hand, we find a long series of dialects which in so many important points agree with the Mu∑πâ languages that it seems necessary to assume a certain connexion. These languages include the so-called Món-Khmér family, the dialects spoken by the aboriginal inhabitants of the Malayan Peninsula, and Nicobarese.

Món-Khmér: The family comprises several languages and dialects, and some of them differ considerably from the others. This is for instance the case with Anamese, which is even considered by some not to be a member of the family. It must have branched off at a very early period and has later on come under the influence of Chinese. Similarly the Cham dialect of the old Kingdom of Champa has been largely influenced by Malay, and has even borrowed the Malay numerals. In spite of all this, however, there are so many points of analogy between all the dialects that they must be classed together as one family. The Món-Khmér dialects had long been considered as connected with the Tibeto-Chinese languages. Professor Kuhn has, however, shown that they form a separate family, and that connected forms of speech are found among the polysyllabic languages of Nearer and Farther India. Even anthropologically the speakers of Món-Khmér dialects differ from the Chinese. The word Món has long ago been compared with Mu∑πâ, and nobody now doubts that there is a connexion between the Món-Khmér and the Mu∑πâ languages. It has already been remarked that 'Mu∑πâ' is an Aryan word. It cannot therefore have anything to do with 'Món,' but that does not affect the argument. Pater W. Schmidt has been good enough to inform me that an older form of Món is man. The first to draw attention to the connexion between the Mu∑πâ languages and the Món- Khmér family was Logan in his series of articles on the Ethnology of the Indo-Pacific Islands, in the Journal of the Indian Archipelago . 'Kol' is dealt with on pp. 199 and ff. of Vol. vii (1853). He was followed by F. Mason, in a paper on the Talaing language contributed to the fourth volume of the Journal of the American Oriental Society (1854). Mason tried to show that many Món words corresponded to others in use in Kolh (i.e. Mu∑πârí), Gó∑πí, Kurukh, and Malto. His comparisons are not convincing. His word lists were, however, reprinted in the British Burma Gazetteer and also in the seventeenth volume of the French Revue de linguistique (pp. 167 and ff.) The comparative tables of numerals and pronouns published by Max Müller in his letter on the classification of Turanian languages were made use of by the German Professor W. Schott for a comparison of the numerals and pronouns in Mu∑πârí and Anamese. Sir A. Phayre followed Dr. Mason, and he also found his theory confirmed by the resemblance between the stone implements, the so-called shoulder-headed celts, found in Pegu and in Chota Nagpur.

659 Other scholars such as Haswell and Forbes did not believe in the theory of a connexion. Forbes thought that there might have been intercourse, but no racial affinity, between Móns and Mu∑πâs. A full discussion of the correspondence between Món-Khmér and Mu∑πâ vocabulary was given by Professor E. Kuhn in the paper mentioned under authorities below. He sums up his results as follows: "There are unmistakable points of connexion between our monosyllabic Khasi-Món-Khmér family and the Kolh languages, Nancowry, and the dialects of the aborigines of Malacca. It would be rash to infer at once from this fact that it has the same origin as those eminently polysyllabic languages. It seems, however, certain that there is at the bottom of a considerable portion of the population of Further and Nearer India a common substratum, over which there have settled layers of later immigrants, but which, nevertheless, has retained such strength that its traces are still clearly seen over the whole area." The relationship existing between the Món-Khmér languages and the dialects spoken by the wild tribes on the Malay Peninsula has lately been separately dealt with by Pater W. Schmidt. The result of his very careful and detailed studies in that the dialects in question, the so-called Sakei and Semang, must be considered as really belonging to the Món-Khmér family.

Mu∑πârí.: -Mu∑πârí is the dialect spoken by the tribe who call themselves hârâ-kó or 'men.'1 The number of speakers is about half a million.

Name Of The Language. Mu∑πârí literally means the language of the Mu∑πâs. According Mr. Risley, "the name Mu∑πâ is of Sanskrit origin. It means headman of a village, and is a titular or functional designation used by the members of the tribe, as well as by outsiders, as a distinctive name much in the same way as the Santals call themselves Mâñjhí, the Bhumij Sardâr, and the Khambu of the Darjiling hills Jimdâr."

Area Within Which Spoken. The principal home of the Mu∑πâs is the southern and western portion of Ranchi District. There are, moreover, speakers in Palamau and the south-east of Hazaribagh. Towards the south we find Mu∑πârí spoken side by side with Hó in the north of Singbhum. Speakers are further found scattered over the Chota Nagpur Tributary States, especially in Bonai and Sarguja, and further to the south-west, in Bamra and Sambalpur and the neighbouring districts of the Central Provinces. Emigrants have further brought the dialect to Jalpaiguri, Dinajpur, Bajshahi, the 24-Parganas, and other districts of the Bengal Presidency, and to the tea-gardens of Assam. The Mu∑πâs of Ranchi assert that they have come from the north-east.

Dialects. With regard to sub-dialects Mu∑πârí can be compared with Santâlí. The difference is mainly to be found in the vocabulary borrowed from Aryan neighbours, and in the grammatical modifications occasioned by the neighbouring Aryan forms of speech. The most idiomatic Mu∑πârí is spoken in Mankipatti, a tract of land to the south-east of the town of Ranchi, comprising Tamar and a part of Singbhum. The Mu∑πârí of Palamau is almost identical. In Hazaribagh and in Sambalpur and Bamra the dialect has come under the influence of the neighbouring Aryan forms of speech. In all essential points, however, it agrees with the Mu∑πârí of Ranchi and Palamau. The same is the case in the State of Patna. In the State of Sonpur the Mu∑πâs are found scattered in villages bordering on the jungles. They have originally come from Chota Nagpur and must formerly have spoken the same

1 Linguistic Survey of India.

660 dialect as their cousins in Ranchi. At the present day, however, they have almost entirely forgotten their old speech, and they now use a form of O®iyâ, intermixed with Mu∑πârí words. The Kurukhs in the neighbourhood of the town of Ranchi have adopted Mu∑πârí as their common tongue. Their dialect is known under the denomination of Horo liâ jhagar. We have no information about its character. It is, however, probable that it is identical with the dialect spoken by the so-called 'Kera-Uraons' to the east of Ranchi. Father de Smet is, so far as I am aware, the only authority who mentions that form of Mu∑πârí. He states that the principal peculiarity of the dialect is that an r is substituted for the final t' or d of verbal tenses; thus, jam-der-â-m instead of jam-ked-â-m, thou atest. During the preliminary operations of this Survey, a Kol dialect called Bhuyau was reported to exist in Sambalpur. No specimens of any form of speech bearing this name have been forwarded, and no such dialect occurs in the Sambalpur tables of the last Census. It is therefore probable that Bhuyau is the dialect of the Mu∑πâ Bhuiyas of the district, and the Bhuyau figures have, accordingly, been shown under Mu∑πârí. Closely related forms of speech are spoken by the Bhumij tribe of Singbhum and neighbourhood; by the Bírha®s of Hazaribagh, Ranchi, Singbhum and adjoining districts, and by most of the so-called Kóπâs. Those dialects will therefore be dealt with immediately after Mu∑πârí. The dialect of the H¡ós or La®kâ Kols of Singbhum is also so closely connected with Mu∑πârí that it can almost be described as a sub-dialect of that form of speech.

Number Of Speakers. According to information collected for the purposes of this Survey, Mu∑πârí was spoken as a vernacular in the following districts:

Bengal Presidency- Hazaribagh 125 Ranchi 322,148 Palamau 30,000 Jashpur State 100 Bonai 478 Sarguja State 395 ------Total Bengal Presidency 353,246

Central Provinces- Sambalpur 7,500 Sakti 700 Bamra 13,569 Rairakhol 312 Sonpur 1,250 Patna 250 ------Total central Provinces 23,581 ------Total 376,827

Of the 7,500 speakers returned from Sambalpur, 1,500 were stated to speak Bhuyau. Outside the area where it is a vernacular Mu∑πârí was returned from the following district:

Bengal Presidency- Jalpaiguri 8,965 Angul and Khondmals 46 ------9,011

661 Central Provinces- Kalahandi 40 Assam- Cachar Plains 896 Sylhet 300 Kamrup 200 Darrang 2,300 Nowgong 1,350 Sibsagar 2,800 Lakhimpur 12,800 ------20,646 ------Grand Total 29,697

By adding these figures we arrive at an estimated total of speakers of Mu∑πârí at home and abroad, as follows: Mu∑πârí spoken at home 376,827 Mu∑πârí spoken abroad 29,697 ------Total 406,524

The corresponding figures at the last Census of 1901 were as follows: Bengal Presidency- Burdwan 835 Birbhum 214 Bankura 61 Midnapore 510 Hoogly 670 Howrah 79 24-Parganas 4,490 Nadia 42 Murshidabad 224 Jessore 4 Khulna 412 Rajshahi 4,255 Dinajpur 3,528 Jalpaiguri 10,290 Darjeeling 3,783 Rangpur 687 Bogra 1,421 Pabna 8 Dacca 84 Backergunge 118 Chittagong Hill Tracts 16 Patna 2 Bhagalpur 809 Purnea 96 Malda 63 Sonthal Parganas 849 Angul and Khondmals 619 Hazaribagh 7,910 Ranchi 298,611 Palamau 8,524

662 Manbhum 1,886 Singbhum 32,743 Kuch Bihar 2 Orissa Tributary States 837 Chota Nagpur Tributary States 18,576 Hill Tippera 125 ------Total Bengal Presidency 403,383

Central Provinces- Sambalpur 10,844 Sakti 44 Sarangarh 22 Bamra 6,023 Rairakhol 825 Sonpur 594 Patna 261 Kalahandi 146 ------Total Central Provinces18,759

Assam- Cachar Plains 1,450 Sylhet 1,027 Goalpara 9 Kamrup 468 Darrang 6,642 Nowgong 608 Sibsagar 5,438 Lakhimpur 21,698 North Cachar 42 Naga Hills 29 ------Total Assam 37,411 ------Grand Total 459,553

It has been found convenient to add to this total some speakers who have been returned under the head of Kol, and who cannot be shown to speak any other Mu∑πâ dialects, viz, Assam 1,169 United provinces 3 Berar (Bassim) 19 ------Total 1,191

The total number of speakers of Mu∑πârí can therefore be put down at 460,744. It is, of course, possible that the speakers of 'Kol' do not belong to Mu∑πârí, but are Kalhas. Their number is, however, so small that no great harm can be done in showing them under that language.

Hó or la®kâ kol. H¡ó is the dialect spoken by a Mu∑πâ tribe in Singbhum and the Tributary States to the south.1 The number of speakers in about 400,000.

1 Linguistic Survey Of India.

663 Name Of The Languages. Hó is the name of a tribe, and the language is often called Hó -kâjí, i.e. the language of the Hós. The word Hó is identical with Hâ® and hâ®â, the words for 'man' in Santâlí and Mu∑πârí respectively. The Hós are closely related to the Mu∑πârís, and they assert that they have come into their present homes from Chota Nagpur. In Singbhum they are usually known as the La®kâ Kols, i.e . the fighting Kols. Mr. Bradley-Birt rightly remarks that they have fully justified this name. 'As far back as their annals go, they are found fighting, and always crowned with victory, driving back invaders or carrying war and devastation into the enemy's lands.' They have no sub-tribes, and the dialect is the same over the whole area where it is spoken.

Area Within Which Spoken. The principal home of the Hós is Singbhum, the neighbouring States of Kharsawan and Sarai Kala, and the adjoining districts of Morbhanj, Keonjhar, and Gangpur. They are found only in small numbers outside these localities. Their territory lies in the midst of the country inhabited by the Mu∑πârís, and both dialects are spoken side by side in the frontier tracts. In Singbhum, however, Hó is the predominant language, even if we consider the Aryan forms of speech. This is particularly the case in the south-east, in the Kolhan or Kol territory proper. It has already been mentioned that Kol or Kâlha has been returned as the dialect of numerous speakers in Hazaribagh, the Sonthal Parganas, and Manbhum, and that it is possible that some of the Kols of those districts speak Hó. The bulk of them, however, use a form of Santâlí which has been described above under the name of K¡ârmâlí.

Number Of Speakers. According to local estimates made for the purposes of this Survey, Hó was spoken in the following districts: Orissa Tributary States- Athmallik 200 Daspalla 45 Keonjhar 18,536 Morbhanj 45,479 Nilgiri 2,440 Pal Lahera 710 67,410 Singbhum 205,433 Chota Nagpur Tributary States- Sarai Kala 9,975 Kharsawan 19,702 Gangpur 65,000 Korea 3 Bonai 3,348 Sarguja 276 98,304 ------Total 371,147

Most of the speakers in the Chota Nagpur Tributary States were returned under the head of Kol, and it is possible that some of them in reality speak Mu∑πârí. Outside the territory where it is spoken as a vernacular Hó was returned from the following districts: Bengal Presidency- Purnea 3,000 Angul and Khondmals 46 3,046 Central Provinces-

664 Kalahandi 575 Assam- Cachar Plains 4,028 Sylhet 1,750 Kamrup 330 Darrang 500 Lakhimpur 1,750 8,358 ------Total 11,979

By adding all these figures we arrive at the following grand total for the dialect: Hó spoken at home 371,147 Hó spoken abroad 11,979 ------Total 383,216

At the last Census of 1901, 371,861 speakers of Hó were returned. I have only seen the details from the Bengal Presidency. They are as follows: Midnapore 334 Balasore 244 Angul and Khondmals 35 Manbhum 85 Singbhum 235,313 Orissa Tributary States 96,249 Chota Nagpur Tributary States 35,353 ------Total 367,613

Mâhlé. The Mâhlés are a caste of labourers, palanquin-bearers and workers in bamboo in Chota Nagpur and Western Bengal. They speak a dialect of Santâlí. The Mâhlé or Mâhilí dialect has been returned for the purposes of this Survey from the following districts:

Birbhum 650 Sonthal Parganas 17,237 Manbhum 10,794 Morbhanj State 280 ------Total 28,961

The corresponding figures at the last Census of 1901 were widely different and are as follows:

Burdwan 180 Birbhum 322 Midnapore 1,681 24-Parganas 369 Rajshahi 22 Dinajpur 282 Jalpaiguri 1,137

665 Darjeeling 180 Bogra 116 Malda 117 Sonthal Parganas 8,643 Angul and Khondmals 1 Hazaribagh 9 Ranchi 9 Manbhum 1,169 Singbhum 2,851 Kuch Bihar 12 Orissa Tributary States 1,642 Chota Nagpur Tributary States 59 ------Total 18,801

Even the Census figures are probably too high, the name of the caste having, in many cases, been entered as denoting language. The principal home of the Mâhlé dialect is the central and southern portion of the Sonthal Parganas and the adjoining parts of Birbhum and Manbhum. Specimens have been received from Birbhum, the Nilgiri State, and the Sonthal Parganas. The Nilgiri specimens were written in a corrupt Santâlí, and those received from Birbhum contained a considerable admixture of Aryan words. I have therefore only reproduced a version of the Parable from the Sonthal Parganas. A list of standard words and phrases has been prepared with the utmost care and accuracy by the Rev. P.O. Bodding.

Mâhlé is closely related to Kârmâlí. Among themselves the Mâhlés to some extent make use of a kind of secret language, substituting peculiar words and expressions for the common ones. Thus they say †hâk instead of †âkâ, a rupee; pí†ís instead of paisâ, a pice; mâch instead of pâe half a seer; lekâ instead of ânâ, an anna, and so forth.

Munjkut.: -They live in Punjab. They make ropes and work with cane.

Munurwar.: -See Od.

Murli.: -See Nandiwala.

Musahars.: -They Belong to the category of the Rajwars. They descend from the Munda or from the same Dravidian speaking tribe. For appearance, social organisation and religion they seem to belong clearly to Aboriginal stock. See also Rajawars.

Nagarchis.: -They are Muslim singers of North India. They exorcise evil spirit with music. See Dafalis.

666 Nagasia.: -Naksia. -A primitive tribe found principally in the Chota Nâgpur States1. They now number 16,000 persons in the Central Provinces, being returned almost entirely from Jashpur and Sargîja. The census returns are, however, liable to be inaccurate as the Nagasias frequently call themselves Kisân, a term which is also applied to the Oraons. The Nagasias say that they are the true Kisâns whereas the Oraons are only so by occupation. The Oraons, on the other hand, call the Nagasias Kisâda. The tribe derive their name from the Nâg or cobra, and they say that somebody left an infant in the forest of Setambu and a cobra came and spread its hood over the child to protect him from the rays of the sun. Some Mundas happened to pass by and on seeing this curious sight they thought the child must be destined to greatness, so they took him home and made him their king, calling him Nagasia and from him the tribe are descended. The episode of one snake is, of course, a stock legend related by many tribes, but the story appears to indicate that the Nagasias are an offshoot of the Mundas; and this hypothesis is strengthened by the fact that Nâgbasia is often used as an alternative name for the Mundas by their Hindu neighbours. The term Nâgbasia is supposed to mean the original settlers (basia) in Nâg (Chota Nâgpur).

The tribe are divided into the Telha, Dhuria and Senduria groups. The Telhas are so called because at the marriage ceremony they mark the forehead of the bride with tel (oil), while the Dhurias instead of oil use dust (dhur) taken form the sole of the bridegroom's foot, and the Sendurias like most Hindu castes employ vermilion (sendur) for this purpose. The Telhas and Dhurias marry with each other, but with the Sendîrias, who consider themselves to be superior to the other and use the term Nâgbansia or ' Descendants of the Snake' as their tribal name. The Telha and Dhuria women do not wear glass bangles on their arms but only bracelets and also armlets above the elbow. Telha woman do not wear nose-rings or tattoo their bodies, while the Sendîrias do both. The Telhas say that the tattooing needle and vermilion, which they formerly employed in their marriage, were stolen from them by Wâgdeo or the tiger god. So they hit upon sesamum oil as a substitute, which must be pressed for ceremonial purposes in bamboo basket by unmarried boys using a plough-yoke. This is probably, Mr. Híra Lâl remarks, merely the primitive method of extracting oil, prior to the invention of the Teli's ghâni or oil-press; and the practice is an instance of the common rule that articles employed in ceremonial and religious rites should be prepared by the ancient and primitive methods which for ordinary purpose have been superseded by more recent labour-saving inventions.

Nahâlí.: -The Nahâlí are mentioned in old documents as hill robbers2. According to the Nimar Settlement Report, "'Nahal, Bheel, Kole' is the phrase generally used in old documents for hill plunderers, who are also all included in the term 'Mowassee.' The Raja of Jeetgurh and Mohkote has a lone account in his genealogy of a treacherous massacre by his ancestor, in the time of Akbar, of a whole tribe of these Nahals, in reward for which he got Jeetgurh in Jageer. Indeed they seem to have been inveterate caterans, whom nothing but extermination could put down. They do not now exist as a tribe, but only in scattered families, who are mostly in the position of hereditary village watchmen." According to the same authority the Nahâls then, in 1870, spoke Kîrkî. It is probable that this is still the case with many Nahâls. Others, however, use a mixed form of speech, which will be dealt with in what follows. This later dialect is the so-called Nahâlí, i.e., the language of the Nahâls. It is spoken by the Nahâls of Nimar, but no information is available as to the number of speakers, the Nahâls having been included under the head of Kîrkî in the local estimates and in the last Census reports. Nahâlí is different from the Nâharí dialect of Kanker, which is a broken Hâlbí and also from Naharí, a Bhíl dialect of Nasik and Sargana. Like both, however, it is strongly Aryanised,

1 See Russell. 2 Linguistic Survey of India.

667 and probably on its way towards becoming an Aryan form of speech. The base of the dialect is probably a Mu∑πâ language of the same kind as Kîrkî. Then there is an admixture of Dravidian, and finally an Aryan superstructure. It is of interest to note that Nahâlí is spoken in a part of the country in which remnants of Mu∑πâ and Aryan tribes still meet each other. To the north and west we find a continuous chain of dialects, viz., the various Bhíl dialects, which are now Aryan but are spoken by tribes who must have been of the same stock as the Nahâls.

Nouns. There is apparently no grammatical gender and no dual. The usual plural suffix is †â; thus, âbâ -†â, fathers. There is apparently great confusion in the use of the various case suffixes. Ké or kí apparently corresponds to ken in Kîrkî and denotes the dative and the locative. Thus, âbâ -ké, to the father; khét -ké, in the field. The suffix kun corresponds to Hindí sé, from, to; thus, mâl -kun, from the property; hâl -kun, to the servants (he said). The genitive is formed by adding one of the suffixes ké, kî, n, né, and kâ. Thus mânchu -ké, of a man; âbâ -n and âbâ -kî, of the father; πhol -kâ, of drums. The case of the agent is apparently formed by adding n or né; thus, bâchuran, by the younger; âbâ -né, by the father. The use of the case of the agent, and the suffixes by means of which it is formed, are distinctly Aryan.

Naikpod.: -They live in South India, specially in Tamil Nadu. They are engaged in breeding cattle, but they are also good goldsmiths, blacksmiths and carpenters. They are in the official list of the Gonds, but do not speak Gondi nor have the social system of the Gonds. They like music and dance and exchange food from the Vanjara - ,

Naiks.: -See Ramoshis.

Nandiwalas.: -They live in Maharashtra. They are a nomadic group of religious mendicants.

Naqqal.: -They move around in Punjab and Kashmir. In the past they used to be buffoons of the Rajas. They are excellent actors able to use buffoonery and sarcasm. They perform in the streets of villages.

Nar.: -Nar, Nat, Nartak, Nâtak, 1a dancing and musician caste of Eastern Bengal, whom Dr. Wise identifies with the Brahmanical Kathak of Hindustân, mainly on the strength of a tradition that they first came to Dacca in the days of the Nawabs. Another theory of their origin makes them out to be the same as the Nuri who manufacture lac bracelets. Ward mentions that in his day none of the caste were to be found in Bengal, and that the Brahmans trace their descent from a Mâlâkâr and a female Sîdra. The modern Na†as, not satisfied with this pedigree, claim to be the offspring of Bharadwâja Muní and a dancing girl, and assert that the Ga∑ak Brahmans are sprung from a son of the same holy man, so Na®s of Bikrampur affect to trace their origin to a dancer banished from Indra's heaven and condemned to follow

1 See Risley.

668 his profession on earth. In Hindustân the Kathaks still wear the Brahmanical cord and confer the Ásír-bâd, or benediction, on Sîdras; but in Bengal the Na®s no longer do so, as the original settlers, few in number, were obliged to take wives from mean castes, and became degraded. Although the Na® caste requires to support a Brahman of its own, the Sîdra Nâpit and Dhobâ work for it. The Na®s have one gótra, the Bharadwâja, and their patronymics are Nandí and Bhakta, by which latter title the caste is sometimes known, but whenever an individual excels in music, he is dignified by the title Ustâd. Like other Sîdras, the Na®s celebrate the srâddha on the thirtieth day, are generally Vaishnavas in creed, and have a Patit Brâhman, to officiate to them. They decline to play in the houses of the Cha∑dâls, Bhîinmâlís, and other low castes, and as their services are no longer required, have ceased to perform before Muhamadans. The Hindu Na® occupies a position corresponding to that of the Muhamadan Bâjunia, but the former is more sought after, as no Hindu will have a Muhamadan musician in his house if he can possibly avoid it. When young the Na® boys, then called Bhagtiyâs, are taught dancing, but on reaching manhood they become musicians, or Sampardâ, and attend on dancing girls (Bâí), who was usually Muhamadans. If former days no Hindu girls ever danced in public, although dancers among the Bâzí-gar and other vagrant tribes were common, but at present Baistabís and Hindu prostitutes are found among professional Nâch girls. There has been a tendency within the last thirty years for the Na® caste to separate into two classes-- one teaching boys to dance and playing to them, the other attending the Muhamadan Bâí. The latter class are the better paid and more skilful musicians, and a band (Sampardâí) accompanying a popular dancing girl often earn as much as twenty rupees a night, while the former consider they are well if they get five rupees for one night's amusement. The musical instruments generally used by the Na®s are the Sârungí, Behla and Kâsí varieties of fiddles, the Tablâ or drum, and the Manjírâ or cymbals. Na®s treat their instruments with great veneration, and always, on first rising in the morning, make obeisance before them. On the ±rí Panchamí in Mâgh, sacred to Saraswatí, a Na® will not play a note until his worship of the goddess is finished. Like the ‰ishí women, the Na® women will not play, sing, or dance in public, although at marriages of their own people they still do so. It is currently believed that many Na®s have of late years become Muhamadans, but this accusation is denied by the caste. It is nevertheless true when a Sampardâ falls in live with a dancing girl, his only chance of marrying her is becoming a Muhamadan.

Nat.: -(Sanskrit nata, " a dancer, ")1 a tribe of so-called gypsy dancers, acrobats, and prostitutes who are found scattered all over the Province. The problem of the origin and ethnological affinities of the Nats is perhaps the most perplexing within the whole range of the ethnography of Northern India, and the enquiries, of which the result is given here, leave its solution almost as uncertain as ever. The real fact seems to be that the name Nat is an occupational term which includes a number of different clans who have been grouped together merely on account of their common occupation of dancing, prostitution, and performance of various primitive industries. The same people are found also beyond the boundaries of these Provinces. Thus they appear to be identical, at least in occupation, with the Kolhatis of Bombay, who are also known as Dombari, and are "rope dancers and tumblers, as well as makers of the small buffalo horn pulleys which are used with cart ropes in fastening loads. They also make hide combs and gunpowder flasks. When a girl comes of age, she is called to choose between marriage and prostitution. If, with her parents' consent, she wishes to lead a married life, she is well taken care of and carefully watched. If she chooses to be a tumbler and a prostitute, she is taken before the caste council, a feast is given, and with the consent of the council she is declared a prostitute. The prostitutes are not allowed to eat with other Kolhatis, except with their own

1 See Crooke. Based on information collected at Mirzapur and notes by Babu Badri-nath, Deputy Collector, Kheri ; M. Niyaz Ahmad, Fatehpur ; A. B. Bruce, Esq., C. S., Ghazipur ; Babu Sanwal Das, Deputy Collector, Hardoi ; M. Gopal Prasad, Naib Tahsildar, Etawah ; The Deputy Inspectors of Schools, Shahjahanpur, Budaun, Bijnor

669 children. Still, when they grow old, their caste-fellows support them. They worship Amba Bhawani, Hanuman, Khandoba, and the cholera goddess Mariai; but their favourite and, as they say, their only living gods are the bread-winners or hunger-scarers, the drum, the rope, and the balancing pole."1 Of the same people in the Dakkhin, Major Gunthorpe2 writes: "The Kolhatis belong to the great Sansya family of robbers and claim their descent from Mallanur, the brother of Sansmal. There are two tribes, Dukar Kolhatis and Kam or Pal Kolhatis. The former are non- wandering criminal tribe, whereas the latter are a non-wandering criminal class. Depraved in morals, the males of both tribes subsist to a great extent by the prostitution of some of their females, though let it be said to the credit of the former that they are not so bad as the latter. They labour for themselves by cultivating land, by taking service as village watchmen, or by hiring themselves to villages to destroy that pest of Indian farmers, the wild hog, and above all they are professional robbers. Kam Kolhatis, on the other hand, are a lazy, good-for- nothing class of men who, beyond making a few combs and shuttles of bone, will set their hands to no class of labour, but subsist mainly by the immoral pursuits of their women. At every large fair may be seen some of the portable huts of this tribe, made of grass, the women decked in jewels and gaudy attire sitting at each door, whilst the men are lounging lazily at the back. The males of the Dukar Kolhati tribe are a fine manly set of fellows, and obtain the distinction of Dukar, 'hog' from the fact of their hunting the wild pig, and breeding the domesticated pig." Again we have in Bengal3 a people known as Nar, Nat, Nartak or Natak, who form the dancing and musician class of Eastern Bengal; on the other hand many of the people whom in these Provinces we class as Nats, such as the , Sapera, and Kabutri, are classed in Western Bengal with the Bediya, who in Northern India are undoubted kinsfolk of the Sansya, Habura, and similar vagrant races. Lastly, of the same people in the Panjab, Mr. Ibbetson4 writes: "The Nat, with whom I include the Bazigar, form a gypsy tribe of vagrant habits, who wander about with their families, settling for a few days or weeks at a time in the vicinity of large villages or towns, and constructing temporary shelters of grass. In addition to practising acrobatic feats and conjuring of a low class, they make articles of grass, straw, and reeds for sale; and in the centre of the Panjab are said to act as , though this is perhaps doubtful. They often practise surgery and physic in a small way, and are not free from suspicion of sorcery. They are said to be divided into two main classes, those whose males only perform as acrobats and those whose women, called kabutri, perform and prostitute themselves. About three-quarters of their number returned themselves as Hindus, and most of the rest as Musalmans. They mostly marry by circumambulation (phera) and burn their dead; but they are really outcastes, keeping many dogs, with which they hunt and eat the vermin of the jungles. They are said especially to revere the goddess Devi, Guru Tegh Bahadur, the Guru of the Sikh scavengers, and Hanuman, or the monkey god, the last because of the acrobatic powers of monkeys. They very generally trace their origin to Marwar; and they are found all over the Province, except on the frontier, where they are almost unknown." There seems, then, very little doubt under the general name Nat are included various tribes; some of whom are closely allied to the vagrant criminal races, like the Sansyas, Beriyas, and Haburas; and as we shall find a well pronounced totemistic section system among some of the so-called sub-castes, it seems possible that they have decided Dravidian relationship.

Tribal Organisation. As has been already stated, the tribal organization of the Nats is most complex. Everywhere they merge with the regular vagrant tribes, and where to draw the line is practically

1 Bombay Gazetteer, XX, 186, sq. 2 Notes on Criminal Tribes, 46, sqq. The Kolhatis take their name from Kolhat, the bamboo on which they perform- Bombay Gazettear XII -123 3 Risley, Tribes and Castes, II 129. 4 Panjab Ethnography, section 588.

670 impossible, In the last Census, about two-thirds of the Nats in these Provinces declared themselves as Hindus and one third as Muhammadans. Of the Hindus we find ten main sub- castes: The Brijbasi, who take their name from their supposed country of origin, Braj or Mathura, and its neighbourhood. Next come the Gual or "cow herds," some of whom claim a Jat and others an Ahir origin. The Jogila seem to be connected in name with the vagrant, criminal Jogis. The Kabutara, who take their name from the pigeon (kabutar), are prostitutes so-called from characteristic wooing of the bird. The Kalabaz is literally "a tumbler or juggler." The Karnatak is supposed to come from the Karnata country, the modern Karnatic in Madras. The Mahawat is so called from the Sanskrit Mahamatra, "a great officer of state" or an "elephant driver," an occupation to which the word is now generally applied. The Mirdaha is literally "a village ruler" (Persian, mirdah), and now-a-days the word is usually applied to a man who carries a chain for a surveyor. The Rathaur is the name of a famous Rajput sept; and Sapera (Sanskrit, sarpaharaka) is literally "a snake catcher." But this is far from exhausting the tribal organization of the Nats. Thus Mr, Carnegy1 divides the Oudh Nats into eight sub-castes: First, the Gwaliyari Nats or those of Gwalior, with three sections, Kapuri, Bhatu and Sarwani. Of these the Kapuri appear to take their name from the Sanskrit karpura, "camphor;" the Bhatu are seemingly the same as the Bhatu or Bhantu, a sub-caste of the Sansyas. The men of this sub-caste buy cattle for butchers, while the women are cuppers, dentists, and artists. They are Hindus, bury their dead, and drink inordinately. Secondly, the Sanwat, who are Muhammadans. They also supply butchers, and sing the praises of Alha and Udal, the heroic Banaphar warriors, who were afterwards subject to the Rathaurs, from whom this sub-caste claims descent. Thirdly, Brijbasi, who are Hindus. The men walk on high stilts and the women show their confidence by dancing and singing under them. They eat pork, drink spirits and bury their dead. They say that they came to Braj or Mathura after the capture of Chithor, which is the starting point of the traditions of so many other castes. Fourthly, the Bachgoti, who are Hindus and connected by Mr. Carnegy with the Rajput sept of the same name. The men wrestle and play single stick; the women are depraved. They bury their dead. Fifthly, the Bijaniya or Bajaniya, who seem to take their name from the music (baja) accompanying their performances. They are Hindus and dance on the tight rope. They are addicted to drinking; the bury their dead in an upright position. Sixthly, the Bariya, who are Hindus. They do not perform, but attend feasts and eat scraps. The women are depraved and all are addicted to drinking. They bury their dead. Seventhly, the Mahawat, who are Musalmans by religion. They are said to be expert in treating rheumatism and deal in cattle. Drinking is confined to the seniors on the occasion of deaths. Lastly come the Bazigar, or common conjurers, who are given to drinking. They bury their dead. In addition to this enumeration the present survey has produced a long set of diverse lists from different districts. The confusion, as already indicated, seems to have sprung from the practical impossibility of distinguishing the Nat from his allies, the Sansyas and similar tribes. Thus, in Mirzapur we find the Bajaniya, Byadha, Karnatak, Kashmiri, Kalabaz, Mahawat, Badi and Malar. From Shahjahanpur comes a list of Hindu sub-castes, including the Bhantu, who are Sansyas, with the Gual, Ghara, Kalabaz, Kabutariya, and Lakarbaz, or performers on stilts. From Kheri we find the Bhatiya, who are perhaps the Bhatu or Shahjahanpur; the Kingariya, who are discussed in a separate article; the Kanjar, who, of course, forms a tribe of his own. In Hardoi we find the Kalabaz, Karnatak, Brijbasi, and Bagula; in Bijnor, the Badi, Gual, and Keutar, the last of whom are possibly connected with the Kewats. The sub-castes of the Muhammadan Nats are much less well established. In Ghazipur we find the Panjabi, Goriya, and Hagiya; in Fatehpur, the Meghiya, Dariya, Chhijariya, and Krim or Karim. The complete Census returns show 386 section of the Hindu and 205 of the Musalman Nats. They have, as might have been expected, largely adopted the names belonging to other castes and septs, such as Bhantu, Chamargautam, Chamarmangta, Chamarnat, Chamar Sangla, Chamarwa, Chandel, Chauhan, Chhatri, Dhimar, Dhobi, Dom, Ghosi, Gond, Gujar, Gual, Gualbans, Jadon, Kabuli, Kanchan, Kayasth, Khatri, Kori, Korwa, Kormangta, Mainpuri

1 Notes, 17.

671 Chauhan, Panwar, Paturiya, Rajput, Rathaur, Sakarwar, Teli. With these are the usual local groups Brijbasi, Chithauriya, Daryabadi, Gangapari, Indauriya, Jaiswar, Jaypuriya, Kanaujiya, Kashipuri, Lahauri, Mathuriya, Panjabi, Rampuriya, Sribastam. The Musalman branch show an equally curious mixture of names. We have many distinctively Hindu titles as Bahman, Bais, Bhadauriya, Chauhan; Gaur, Gujar, Rathaur, and Tomar; regular Musalman names like Chisti, Ghori, Khwaja Mansuri, Khwaja Mayan, Lodi, Mughal, Nawab, Naumuslim, Pathan, Sadiqi, Shaikh, Turkiya, and Yusufzai; occupational terms and those connecting them with other gypsy tribes, such as Bazigar, Beriya, Buchar, ("Butcher"), Dom, Filwan ("elephant driver"), Kanchan, Mangta ("beggar"), Pahlwan ("wrestler"), Randi ("prostitute"),Sanpwala and Sapera ("snake men"), and Tawaif.

The Eastern Nats. The information at present available is much more complete for the Eastern Nats, and it may be well to describe some of their sub-castes with more or less detail.

The Rajaniya Nats. The Bajaniya Nats of Mirzapur have seven sections, which are obviously of totemistic origin. These are Makriyana which take their name from makri, "a spider," which no member of the section will kill; Gauharna which are called from goh the Gangetic alligator or lizard known as the goh sanp, which none of them will harm; Deodinaik or "leader given by God," the members of this section are generally headmen (chaudhari) of the tribe; Bahunaina or "the fly" which takes its name from having many eyes; this insect none of them will injure; Gagoliya of which they are unable to give any explanation; Sanpaneriya, none of whom will kill the snake (sanp); and Suganaik, none of whom will injure the parrot (suga). These sections are exogamous, but there is no other prohibition against intermarriage, and it is notorious that Nats marry very close blood relations. They say that they were originally residents or Marwar, and passed into Mirzapur through Bundelkhand. The migration is said to have occurred about a century ago. They have no other tribal tradition, except that they were created by Parameswar, whose pleasure it was that they should be aerobats and rope- dancers. They have their own council known as Panth, presided over by a head man (mutana), who is assisted by a messenger (harkara), whose business is to collect the elders for meetings. No woman can be divorced for simple adultery. Her paramour is merely fined five rupees, which is spent on drinking. They cannot marry again while the first wife is alive. They purchase brides, the price according to tribal custom being twenty-five rupees in cash, four rupees worth of sugar, one rupee worth of pulse (dal), one rupee worth of ghi, two rupees worth of wheat, some turmeric and cakes. Concubinage is not allowed. Widows can marry by the ordinary form, which the. call ghughuna. When the connection is sanctioned by the headman, the future husband goes to the house of the widow, puts bangles and a nose-ring of silver on the woman. Her friends then take the pair into a closed room, where they are left some time to themselves, and in the meantime wine is served round to the brethren. Next morning the husband takes his wife home, and business is over. The levirate is allowed on the usual conditions; if she marry a stranger, she loses all right to the goods of her first husband.

A Chamarin midwife attends the mother only for one day. The mother is kept secluded for six days with a fire and a box of iron for holding lamp-black (kajranta) near her. The ceremony on the sixth day is known as huabar. The mother bathes and then goes to the nearest well with the bosom of her sheet full of parched grain, with four pice, some powdered sugar and ginger, and two roots of turmeric. When she comes to the well, she lights a lamp, and collecting the lamp-black in her iron box, marks several lines with it and some vermilion on an earthen pot, and puts red lead on the parting of the hair of the women who go with her. She bows in obeisance to the well and returns home, where the parched grain is distributed among her women friends. At the same time the father serves round wine to his male friends, and after that the mother is considered pure.

672 The betrothal is settled by the father of the boy paying five rupees to the girl's father, which is spent on wine for the brethren. A feast is given and the father of the bride sends a bead necklace and a handkerchief for his future son-in-law. When the wedding day is fixed, the bride-price is sent in advance. This is usually five days before the wedding, and during that time the pair are kept at their own houses in a thatched shed in the courtyard. This shed, contrary to the usual Hindu custom, is surrounded with screens. We have here probably a survival of the custom of seclusion at puberty. Every day the pair are anointed with turmeric and oil. A friend takes the bridegroom on his shoulder to the house of the bride, and when they reach her door her relatives make a square, in each corner of which a brass lota is placed. A pice is put into each lota, and the four vessels are joined with a string. Into this enclosure the pair are led, and inside it they make five circuits. This is the binding part of the ceremony. The bride returns to the house and the bridegroom to his friends. That night is spent in eating and drinking, and next morning the bride puts on a dress purchased out of the bride price. The pair stand at the door, and the bride's mother waves a plough yoke (jua) over their heads for good luck. Then the bride and bridegroom are taken home on the shoulders of two male friends. At the door the boy's mother again waves a plough yoke over them, and the boy, seizing the yoke, runs and demolishes with it the nuptial shed (manro) in the courtyard. This concludes the marriage. They bury their dead in their own cemetery. When a person dies they put a copper coin in his mouth as a viaticum. The corpse is taken on a bier and buried with the head to the north and the feet to the south. When the grave is filled, they pour some wine on the ground, and they do the same at the house of the deceased, where wine is served round when they return after the burial. The ceremonies for the repose of the soul are done some months later, when they can afford to do so. They go the side and cook cakes, rice, and pulse. Then they spread a cloth on the ground, on which the ghost is supposed to sit, and the nearest relative taking an earthen cup (purwa) and knife in his hand plunges into the water. He puts the knife on the cup and sits down till the cup, which is placed on his head, gets full of water. This cup full of water he brings out and places under the cloth on which the ghost is supposed to be sitting. Again he places four cups of water, one at each corner of the cloth, and connects them with a thread so as to form a square. In the enclosure thus formed they place a little of each kind of food for the refreshment of the ghost, and pray to it to partake of the food. They then wait for a few minutes while it is supposed to be eating, and then they address it: "Go and join those who have departed before you." Until this ceremony is performed, the ghost will not pass quietly to the world of the dead. They have no idea of ceremonial impurity resulting from death. Their tribal deities are Hulki Mai, the goddess of cholera, the Vindhyabasini Devi, Durga- Kali, and Parameswar. They worship these collectively every year when they return from their annual wanderings. This worship is done in the family kitchen and the only sacrifice is a he-goat with sweet bread and wine. This is their chief festival, and is done either on the tenth (dasmin) of Karttik or at the Holi. Whenever, during the year, any trouble comes upon them, they make a special offering of sweet bread and wine to the deified ancestors, all of which, after presentation, they consume themselves. They regard the Dom and the Hela with special dislike. They do not eat beef or vermin, such as rats; but they eat fowls, fish of every kind, crocodiles, tortoises, and the nilgae deer. They drink spirits and use gdnja, bhang, and palm wine (tari), but not opium. No respectable Hindu will take food or drink from their hands. They will eat food prepared by any one except a Dhobi, Pasi, Dharkar, Dom, or Chamar. The men wear short drawers (janghiya) turban (pagri), a necklace of white beads (guriya), and earrings (bali). The women wear a petticoat (lahnga), boddice (choli), a black and white bead necklace and ear-rings. The men are rope-dancers and acrobats. The women beg and prostitute themselves. They usually live in out-of-the way hamlets away from the village, and during the cold and hot weather they wander about from fair to fair and to the houses of rich people, usually sleeping under trees in the course of their journeys.

673 The Byadha Nats. The Byadha are another tribe of these vagrants. They take their name from the Sanskrit Vyddha. "a hunter." They are short, black race, with very large dark eyes, very black hair, which they keep long and unkempt, short beard, whiskers and mustache, and a short, rather broad, nose. Those of Mirzapur are unable to name any of their exogamous sections, and their rules of intermarriage are very vague. They do not even maintain the ordinary formula that the line of the paternal uncle (chacha), maternal uncle (mamu), paternal aunt (phuphu), and maternal aunt (maosi) are to be avoided. In short, they have practically no prohibited degrees. Thus a man will marry his son to his own sister's daughter, to his maternal aunt's daughter, and so on. The marriage negotiations are carriage negotiations are carried on by the maternal uncle (Mamu) of the boy, a custom which may be a survival of the matriarchate. Sometimes one of the meaner Brahmans goes with the envoy. When the match is settled the boy's maternal uncle, brother-in-law, and some of his female relations go to the house of the bride and pay the bride price, which consists of twenty rupees in cash, a set of glass bangles (churi), a cocoanut, a betel nut, and a suit of clothes. These things are given to the mother of the Bride. They return after fixing the marriage day. A pavilion (manro) is erected at the boy's house, and next day he starts for the gride's house. They have no regular Purohit or family priest, but the lucky dates for these events are ascertained from some village Brahman. All the relations, including the women, which is absolutely opposed to all Hindu usage, accompany the procession. On that day the bride's father entertains the whole party with goat's flesh and rice. When the time comes for the marriage, the bridegroom takes his seat in the pavilion with the bride seated beside him, her mother shading her face with the end of her cloth. Then the bride's female relations rub the pair vigorously with a mixture of oil and turmeric. This is done three times while the ceremony goes on. The binding part of the rite is the rubbing of the parting of the bride's hair with red lead, which is done by the brother-in-law of the bridegroom, the husband of his sister. This is, of course, contrary to all Hindu usage; the boy usually does this rite himself. During the marriage the girl's father performs no rite, which again is very unorthodox. They have no retiring-room (kohabar) ceremony as among low Hindu castes. When the marriage is over, her father dresses the bride in new clothes, gives her a lota, and sends her off at once with her husband. The age for marriage is fifteen for boys and ten or twelve for girls: as a rule it takes place immediately when the pair have attained puberty. Widows are married by the sagai form and the levirate prevails under the usual condition that she marry the younger, not the elder, brother of her late husband. If the younger brother do not claim her, she may marry an outsider with leave of the tribal council. Nothing is paid to the parents of the widow. Her lover is expected to give a goat to the council. When this is done, he puts some oil on the widow's head, while her sister's husband (bahnoi) rubs red lead on the parting of her hair. He then takes her off to his house. At child-birth the mother is isolated and attended by the Chamarin midwife. After the fifth day is the chhathi or sixth-day rite when the brethren (atma), men and women, are fed. The Chamarin, who is known as soin, bathes the mother and baby, and gives their clothes and those of the other members of the house-hold to a Dhobi. All the men have their hair shaved. The birth pollution ceases on the twelfth day (barahi), when the mother and child are bathed again. The husband keeps away from his wife for twenty days after her confinement. The Chamarin among these people plasters the delivery-room, a duty which, among other Hindus, is usually done by the husband's sister (nanad). The menstrual pollution lasts for five days, during which the woman is isolated, and her husband cooks for her. These Nats say that they came originally from Ratanpur and Bolaspur in the Central Provinces. They bury their dead, not in a regular cemetery, but in any convenient place north of the village. The grave lies North and South, and they profess not to care in which direction the corpse is laid. A woman is buried face upwards and a man face downwards. After the burial, they all bathe and return to the house of the deceased, where they sit for a while in the courtyard, wash their hands, and then go home. No food is cooked in the house

674 that day; the family are fed by a neighbour. On the tenth day the brethren assemble at some tank or stream and have their heads shaved. No sacred balls (pinda) are offered. They return to the house of mourning and there they are feasted. If the son of the deceased can afford it, he gives a cup and plate (lota, thali) and a female calf to a Brahman. This concludes the death rite. All who can afford it have an annual propitiation of the dead (barsi). They do not on this occasion feed the brethren, but give a Brahman some brass vessels. Then he stands up and raising his hands says: " Children of the dead man! Live in happiness." They have no regular fortnight of the dead (pitrapalcsha), and no sraddha.. In the month of Sawan, they worship Hariyali Devi, "the goddess of greenery," who watches the crops. To her a fire offering (hom) is made in the field with sugar and ghi. In Phalgun they burn the old year (sambat jalana) when they drink and eat good food. They observe no other Hindu festival except the Phagua or Holi. On some day in the light fortnight of Asarh, they worship their deceased ancestors (purakh leg). They make a fire offering with sugar and ghi, and sprinkle a little spirits on the ground. This worship is done by the head of the family at home. Their tribal deity is Bhawani Devi, who is worshipped every third year in the light fortnight of Phalgun. To her is offered a black goat, which is fed on rice before being sacrificed. The worshipper does the sacrifice himself. When sickness or other trouble comes upon them they sometimes get the Baiga to sacrifice a goat to the village gods (deohar). Men and women both eat the flesh of the victims to Bhawani. She has no temple, but most people make a stone or mud platform near their houses, where she is supposed to dwell. When they eat, they throw a little food and water on the ground for the ancestral ghosts, and say "If any of you are hungry, come and eat." The women of this tribe do not tattoo; this is done by the Badi Nats. The women get themselves tattooed with little spots on both wrists: but the custom is not well defined. If an unmarried woman is caught in an intrigue with a member of the caste, the council orders him to pay twenty rupees to her father, and she is then made over to him by a sort of informal marriage. In the same way, if a married woman is caught with a man, her paramour pays the husband twenty rupees and takes over the lady. If her lover be of another caste she is permanently expelled. They profess to have stringent rules to enforce chastity among their women, but they are not free from the suspicion of occasionally prostituting their girls. They have no occupation but begging, and do not dance, play, sing, or perform acrobatic feats. Their women wear glass bangles (churi), bead necklaces (guriya) of all colours, anklets (pairi) and arm ornaments (churla). They do not wear nose-rings. They will eat all ordinary meat except beef, monkeys, horses, tame pigs, and snakes. They swear by the words: "If I lie, may I eat beef," or on their sons' heads; or they fill a lota of water and swear by Kansasur Deota, "the godling of brass." Until a child is five or six years old they do not care what he eats; but when he arrives at that age he is obliged to conform to caste custom, and to commemorate this event, if they can afford it, they put a silver bangle on his wrist.

The Karnatak Nats. This sub-caste of Nats is quite distinct from the Bajaniya, but they have the same sections, Gohna or Gouharna, Makriyana, Suganaik, Deodinaik, Gagoliya, Sanpaneriya and Waniawaraha, These are exogamous; but like all Nats they are very careless about prohibited degrees, and first cousins are allowed to marry. The highest section is the Deodinaik, and then follow the Suganaik, Gohna, Gagoliya and Sanpaneriya. Some of them are Hindus and some Muhammadans. Those who are Hindus worship the Vindhyabasini Devi of Bandhachal or Durga. They will eat the leavings of all high castes and are hence known as Khushhaliya or "those in prosperous circumstances." They dance on ropes and with cow horns tied to their feet; their women do not tattoo other women. Some of the better looking girls are reserved for prostitution, and these are never married in the tribe. One condition of marriage among them is that both parties should be of the same age. The Muhammadan branch in Etawah allow the levirate, and a widow can marry either the elder or younger brother of her late husband. There, it is said, they will admit any one into the tribe except a Bhangi, Dhanuk, Chamar, Teli, Dhobi or Bari. When the initiate is not a

675 Muhammadan they send for the Qazi, who recites the Kalima over him. A girl who is seduced, whether her paramour be a tribesman or not, can be restored to caste rights on payment of a fine; but if her lover be a low caste man, like a Dom or Dharkar, she is permanently expelled. If her lover be a Brahman of Rajput, she is admitted back, and can be married in the caste.

Kashmiri Nats. These people have no occupation except loafing, begging, and prostituting their women. Very few of the women are married in the tribe, and even the married women are sometimes prostituted. Most of their real wives are girls of other castes, who are bought by them or kidnapped. This is a costly and dangerous business; hence the number of old bachelors among them is very large. When they do marry in the tribe they observe no prohibited degrees and marry cousins. No regard is paid to the paternity of their children. Some of them are Hindus and some Muhammadans. The Hindus employ low Brahmans as their priests, and burn their dead. The Muhammadans bury. Hindus worship their ancestors in the month of Kuar, and to the cast of the Province their favourite deities are the Vindhyabasini Devi of Bandhachal and Garbara Devi. These are worshipped in the month of Aghan with the sacrifice of a goat and an offering of cakes and esweetmeats. The Hindu branch do not eat beef and pork. They eat mutton, goat's flesh, venison, and the like. They will not eat the flesh of the horse, camel, jackal or rats. The Muhammadans do not eat pork, but use beef and drink spirits. They eat the camel and fowls and the other animals which the Hindu branch of the tribe eat.

The Kalabaz or Gara Nats. This branch of the Nats has exogamous sections, but few of them are able to give a list of them. In Hardoi their sections are Savai, Ghughasiya, Panchhiya, Jimiohhiya. Their tradition is that they were once Kshatriyas, and were forced to deny their caste when Ala-ud-din conquered Chithor in 1303 A.D. Another account of them is that their first ancestor was a Dhinwar, and that they were begotten by him from a Teli women. They wander about the country in rude huts (sirki) made of reeds. To the cast of the Province they appear to conduct their marriages in one of these huts with a rude form of the circumambulation (bhanwari) ceremony. They have a strange legend that Parameswar was once incarnated as a Nat at Sambhal in the Moradabad District, and became such an accomplished acrobat that in one bound he foxed a cart and in a second some mill stones in a tree which no Kalabaz has been since able to take down. Their occupation is rope-dancing and other acrobatic feats. They are fairly strict Hindus, and are said not to prostitute their women. In Oudh their favourite deity seems to be Hardeo or Hardaur Lala, the godling of cholera. From Etah it is reported that a distinction is drawn between the Baghaliya Nats, who dance on ropes, and the Kalabaz, who do somersaults and other athletic feats. They are very fond of singing the Alha song to the accompaniment of the drum. During the rains these people move about from village to village. It is understood that only one party encamps in the village at a time, and no other party is allowed to intrude on them until the performance is over. Wilful intrusion of this kind is severely punished by the tribal council. Even if any other body of Nats perform there, the fees go to the party which is first in possession of the place. The women do not perform or dance, sing or beg. They have regular circles within each of which the bones of the dead of the tribe are buried under a masonry platform, as is the rule among the Haburas, and to these the tribal worship is performed.

The Mahawat Nats. The Mahawat Nats take their name from the Sanskrit Mahamatra "a high officer of state" or "an elephant driver." They say themselves that keeping elephants was their original occupation, and that from this they derive their name. They are also known as Baid, "physicina;" (Sanskrit Vaidya) and Lohangi, because they use surgical instruments of iron (laha) in treating their patients. They say that they are divided into four endogamous sub- castes; Turkata Pahlwan, Kapariya, Chamarmangta and Lohangi Nats. Of these the first and

676 fourth are Muhammadans and the second and third Hindus. The Turkata Pahlwans teach wrestling and athletic exercises and their women tattoo. The Kapariyas are dealt with in a separate article. The Chamarmangta are so called because they beg (mangna) from Chamars. In Mirzapur the true Lohangi Nats marry second cousins. They say that they are descended from Hathila who has now been deified as one of the Panchon Pir. They worship him with prayers and the sacrifice of a fowl in the month of Jeth. This worship is done by Dafalis, who, while they make the offering to him is a red cock. This sacrifice is offered only by married men, and they alone are allowed to consume the offering. Their domestic ceremonies are of much the usual Nat type. They pay as a bride-price twenty or some multiple of twenty rupees. Infidelity in women is punished by a compulsory feast, and similarly a man is put out of caste if he cohabits or eats with a Domin or women of the menial tribes. They have a tribal council, the chairman of which is appointed at each sitting. The levirate and widow marriage are allowed under the usual conditions. Even when they profess to be Muhammadans, it is alleged that they perform no rite of circumcision (musalmani). They have practically no marriage ceremony. The girl's father attires her in a new dress, puts bangles and ear-ornaments (tarki) on her and then she is sent into the hut where her husband receives her. If he can afford it, he feeds the brethren. They bury their dead in any convenient place. When they bury a corpse, they put his tools with him, so that he may be able to support himself in the next world. When any one falls sick, they sacrifice fowls at the graves of their ancestors and make an offering of spirits and tobacco. They are nominally Muhammadans, but carry out hardly any of the rules of the faith. They worship the goddess known as Bhitari and Sayari, and their deified ancestor Hathia. Bhitari is worshipped on a Monday or Tuesday in the fields with a sacrifice of goats, which only the married males are allowed to eat. She is the protectress of their camp and children. Sayari is the patroness of their trade and is worshipped in the tent or hut with an offering of a black cock and some spirits. The Devi of Bindhachal also receives the sacrifice of a goat. The only festival which they observe is the Kajari, when they sing, drink, and practise a good deal of rude licentiousness. They have the usual fear of ghosts and demons. When a child suffers from the Evil Eye, they get a handful of dust from an exorcisor, and wave it over the child's head. They drink spirits, eat beef, goat's flesh, mutton, fowls, camels, venison, etc. They abstain from pork. They will not eat from the hands of a Dom, Dhobi, Musahar, Kol, or similar low castes, and no one will eat their food.

The Mahawat has all the appearance of a degraded outcaste. He wears dirty clothes and a filthy rag as a turban, keeps his hair long and unkempt, and has round his neck strings of coral beads or gaumri seeds. In his ears he wears iron rings. The women wear a petticoat (lahnga) sheet (sari), with strings of beads round their necks, bracelets, and thick anklets. The men carry in a wallet rude lances (nashtar), a cupping horn (singhi), and some hollow bamboo pipes, with which he extracts by suction the matter out of abscesses and sore ears. It need hardly be said that he is quite ignorant of cleanness and antiseptics, and his instruments must be responsible for much horrible infection. He takes the "worm" out of carious teeth, bleeds and lances abscesses, and cleans the wax out of ears, in which department of his business he is known as Kanmailiya (Kan "car," mailiya, "filth"), Khutkarha or Khuntkarha, "the man of the spike" (khunta) or Singhiwala. He wanders about the villages calling out Baid ! Baid ! "Who wants a doctor?" He is altogether rather a loathsome vagrant. Some of them are skilled fishermen and trap hares.

The Badi Nats. The Badi sub-caste of Nats are said to take their name from the Sanskrit radya, "musical instruments." They are also known as Paras Badi (paras, "the philosopher's stone") and Tumriwala Madari (Tumri, "a hollow gourd"). In Mirzapur they specially beg among the Manjhis. They profess to have seven exogamous sections. These, when compared with those of the Manjhi-Majhwars, are, in many cases, identical, and they explain that like the they were priests of the Majhwars. It will be seen that the Pataris also follow the section organization of the Majhwars, and there must apparently have been some ancient connection

677 between the tribes. As might have been expected, the explanation given of these section names is in some respect different from that of either the Manjhis or Pataris, but there seems little doubt that they are in the main of totemistic origin. The names of the sections, as given by the Mirzapur Badis, are Jaghat, which they say is a kind of snake: Ure, which they say means "a pig"; Marai, "a kind of tree;" Neta, which they say means "the mucus of the nose," in which form they came out of the nose of their first ancestor. The Neshtri was one of the Vedic priests, and the name may represent their ancient office, but is more probably some totem which has now been forgotten. The next section is Netam, which is found among the Majhwars. Of its meaning the Badis can give no explanation. Jhinjhariya is said by them to mean "a kind of bamboo." Next comes the Oika section. This is also found among the Majhwars. The Badis have an absurd story that a Badi woman had a son by a Muhammadan, and after they had admitted him to tribal rights, they called him Oika "What? Who?" because they could not admit him to any regular section. Their account of themselves is that they came from Garh Mandla, in the Central Provinces, with the Majhwars, and there is nothing in their appearance and manners which makes it improbable that they may really be of Gond descent, and may have been beggar priests who accompanied the Majhwars when they emigrated along the hills towards the East. The legend of their connection with the Majhwars they tell in this way: Mahadeva Baba once created four men. To one he gave the musical instrument known as nagdaman or "snake pipe," with which serpents are expelled, and his own drum, the damaru, whereby they might earn their living by playing and begging; to the second, he gave the musical instrument known as the kikari, by playing which he might support himself; to the third, he gave a loom, and he became a Panka; to the fourth, he gave the means of smelting iron, and he became an Agariya. This legend thus brings the Badis into contact with the Agariyas and Pankas who are certainly of Dravidian origin. The first man, according to the story, came to the Majhwars, who fed him and appointed him to be the receiver of their alms. These sections are divided into three groups, of whom the Jaghat, Marai, and Jinjhariya intermarry; so do the Ure and Neti, and, lastly, the Netam and the Oika. They have a tribal council under a hereditary chairman (mahto), who offend against caste rules. The fine ranges, according to the means of the offenders, from one and quarter to twenty rupees. If he fails to pay the fine, he is excommunicated for twelve years. The intermarriage of first-cousins is allowed, and they marry by preference their cousins on the mother's side. Widow marriage and the levirate are allowed. There is no ceremony in widow marriage, except that the Mahto admonishes them in the presence of the brethren to behave well to each other. In the marriage ceremony there is nothing peculiar, except that the father or mother of the bride washes the feet of the bridegroom, a rite which is known as nah chhorwa. When the bridegroom goes to fetch his bride, he carries a bow and arrows, and most part of the rite is done at the house of the bridegroom, possibly a survival of marriage by capture. The Badis of Mirzapur cremate their dead, unless they are unmarried, in which case they are buried. The ritual is practically the same as that in force among the Majhwars. The religion of the Badis is largely made up of ancestor worship. They offer to them, at the Holi, goats, cakes, and sweetmeats, as a propitiation. They say that formerly the Pataris officiated as their priests, but now do so no longer. They accept no services from Brahmans. Their chief objects of worship, except their deceased ancestors, are Jualamukhi, Burhi Mata "the old mother" and Masan, the deity of the cremation ground. Jualamukhi and Burhi Mata are worshipped on the seventh day of Sawan. Jualamukhi receives a she-goat and cakes; Burhi Mata, a libation of milk and treacle mixed together. This worship is performed in the court-yard of the house. They worship Masan at any time when trouble overtakes the household. At the last Census 1,929 persons recorded themselves as worshippers of Masan. They also regard their snake pipe (nagaaman) as a fetish. A piece of ground is plastered, the instrument laid within it, and a white cock is sacrificed. Some spirits is also poured on the ground. Mari is worshipped when cholera appears in the village. She receives the sacrifice of a hog and a libation of spirits. When snakes appear in considerable numbers, they lay milk and parehed rice at their holes. They observe only three festivals, the Sawani, when they

678 worship Jualamukhi and Burhi Mata; the ninth (naumi) of Chait, when there is a worship of Burhi Mata, and the Holi, when they worship the sainted dead. They particularly respect the cotton tree (semal)which is the abode of Bhuts. They swear on the head of their sons or by holding a pig's tail at the shrine of their deity. They have a special detestation for the Dom. They will not eat beef, but the use all the animals, birds, and fish which are eaten by the Majhwars and similar Dravidian races. They will not eat meat while the funeral rites of a member of the sub-caste are being performed. Wine is the only intoxicant they habitually use. They salute one another by the paelagi form, and seniors give a blessing to their juniors. Only Korwas and Doms will eat from their hands. They will eat Kachhi cooked by Ahirs and Majhwars. The women wear a sheet (sari) nose-rings, ear ornaments (tarki) and arm ornaments, known as lahsaniya churla and heavy anklets (pairi). The Badi is a loafing beggar, who wanders about among the Majhwars and begs alms, playing on the nagdaman pipe, the drum (damaru) and the cymbals (jhanjh). The special business of the women is tattooing girls, and when marching through villages you will often hear a girl shrieking, and, on enquiring the cause you will find her tied down on a bed, while her friends sing to encourage her to bear the pain, and a Badi woman operates on her arms, breasts or legs, with two or three English needles tied together with thread. The punctures are rubbed with a mixture of lampblack and milk. The best lampblack is produced from the smoke of the wood of the salai tree.

The Malar Nats. This sub-caste is said to take its name from the Sanskrit, mallaka-kara, "the maker of a cocoanut-oil vessel." those in Mirzapur refer their origin to Lohardaga in Chota Nagpur, and say that they were originally Sunars. They even now procure Brahmans and barbers from that part of the country whence they say they emigrated some two generations ago. They have their own tribal council known as Kutumb bhai or "the family of the brethern," with a president (mahto). Offences against caste discipline are punished by fines usually amounting to twelve or thirteen rupees. This is spent in food and drink for members. The prohibited degrees are first-cousins on both sides. The usual age for marriage is twelve, or when the pair attain puberty. Marriages are arranged by the friends on both sides, but runaway matches appear not to be uncommon. The price of the bride is fixed by tribal custom at sixteen rupees. Polygamy is allowed, and the only privilege of the senior wife is that she alone is allowed to perform the worship of the family gods. Infidelity in women is forgiven on a fine being paid to the council. The council has the power of ordering divorce and a divorced woman can be remarried in the caste by the sagai form, after she provides a dinner for the brethren. Widow marriage and the levirate are permitted under the usual conditions. Their domestic ceremonies are much the same as those of the Majhwars, among whom they live. They are Hindus by religion and their tribal deities are Kali, Burhi Mai and Bhairon. They worship Kali at the Nauratra of Chait in the house chapel (deoghar) with an offering of a goat, and cakes, milk, and wine. Bhairon receives the same offering, but to him a blood offering is very seldom made. The women have no gods peculiar to themselves. They fast on Sundays and offer to the sun godling, Suraj Narayan, rice boiled with milk in a new earthen pot. They bow to him as he rises in the morning. They also bow to the new moon, but have no special form of worship. They occasionally consult a Sakadwipi Brahman, but the real tribal priest is the Mahto or headman. He acts for them at marriages and deaths. Most houses have a chapel (deoghar) with a mound of earth, on which are rude representatives of the tribal gods. They swear on the feet of Brahmans, on a leaf of the pipal tree or tutasi leaf, by holding a cow's tail or a piece of copper. They worship Hariyari Devi. Before they eat, they offer a little food to Devi. No one but a Dom will eat food cooked by them, and they will eat and drink from the hands of Kharwars and Majhwars. Their chief occupation is making brass or pewter rings, boxes to hold the lime used in chewing betel (chunauti), and various ornaments used by women.

679 From Etah it is reported that among the Gual Nats, when a child is born, the clansmen are invited to be present at the naming rite. Food is distributed, but the attendance of a Brahman is unnecessary. Among the Kalabaz Nats, a Brahman is sent for on the tenth day after birth, and he names the child, receiving in return a ration of uncooked grain (sidha). There is a class of Nats known as Tasmabaz, who are so called because they practise one of the numerous games played by thimble-riggers in England, which was taught to them in 1802 by a British soldier.1 The game is played thus: a strap is doubled and folded up in different shapes. The art is to put the stick in such a place that the strap (tasma), whence they derive their name, when unfolded, comes out double. They have an argot of their own of which the following are examples: When they are sitting on the roadside and see a yokel coming, they say Dhurayi: Tarade means, "to begin to play;" Asrade, "give back the money to this fellow or he will make a row;" Hakeri, "a European;" banriwala "a policeman;" Hanswala, "mounted officer;" Thou, "an official;" Beli means "one of the gang informing." In one of the earliest accounts to the Bazigar Nats, Captain Richardson2 gives some specimens of their patois, most of which consist of mere inversions of syllables. Thus, Kag (ag), "fire;" nans (bans), "bamboo;" koad (yad), "remembrance;" komar (umr) "age;" nalash (talash), "search;" Kindustan (Hindustan), "India;" nagir (faqir) "beggar;" and so on. The Bajaniya Nats of Mirzapur call mother ja; son, dikaro; wife, biari; brother-in-law, banhewi; father-in-law, haro; mother-in-law, hau; elder brother's wife, bhadai; father's sister, phoi. Their numerals are: one ek, two baidna, three tana, four syarna, five pan, six sad, sever hat, eight dth, nine nau, the dahad.

Nat.: -Badi, Dang-Charha, Karnati, Bazigar, Sapera.3- The Nat (Sanskrit Nata- a dancer) appears to be applied indefinitely to a number of groups of vagrant acrobats and showmen, especially those who make it their business to do feats on the tight-rope or with poles, and those who train and exhibit snakes. Badi and Bazigar mean a rope-walker, Dang- Charha a rope-climber, and Sapera a snake-charmer. In the Central Provinces the Garudis or snake-charmers, and the Kolhatis, a class of gypsy acrobats akin to the Berias, are also known as Nat, and these are treated in separate articles. It is almost certain that a considerable section, if not the majority, of the Nats really belong to the Kanjar or Beria gypsy castes, who themselves may be aprung from the Doms.4 Sir D. Ibbetson says: "They wander about with their families, settling for a few days or weeks at a time in the vicinity of large villages or towns, and constructing temporary shelters of grass. In addition to practising acrobatic feats and conjuring of a low class, they make articles of grass, straw and reeds for sale; and in the centre of the Punjab are said to act as Mirasis, though this is perhaps doubtful. They often practise surgery and physic in a small way and are not free from suspicion of sorcery"5 This account would just as well apply to the Kanjar gipsies, and the Nat women sometimes do tattooing like Kanjar or Beria women. In Jubbulpore also the caste is known as Nat Beria, indicating that the Nats there are probably derived from the Beria caste. Similarly Sir H. Risley gives Bazigar and Kabutari as groups of the Berias of Bengal, and states that these are closely akin to the Nats and Kanjars of Hindustan.6 An old account of the Nats or Bazigars7 would equally well apply to the Kanjars; and in Mr. Crooke's detailed article on the Nats several connecting links are noticed. The Nat woman are sometimes known as Kabutari or pigeon, either because their acrobatic feats are like the flight of the tumbler pigeon, or on

1 Selection, Records of Government, North-Western Provinces, 1, 312, sq. 2 Asiatic Researches, VII, 451 sq. 3 See Russell. This article is partly compiled from notes furnished by Mr. Aduram Chaudhri and Mr. Jagannath Prasad, Naib-Tahsildars. 4 See art. Kanjar. 5 Punjab Census Report ( 1881 ), 6 Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Beria. 7 Asiatic Researches, VOL. VII., 1803, Nats. by Captain Richardson.

680 account of the flirting manner with which they attract their male customers.1 In the Central Provinces the women of the small Gopal caste of acrobats are called Kabutari, and this further supports the hypothesis that Nat is rather an occupational term than the name of a distinct caste, though it is quite likely that there may be Nats who have no other caste. The Badi or rope-dancer group again is an offshoot of the Gond tribe, at least in the tracts adjoining the Central Provinces. They have Gond septs as Marai, Netam, Wika,2 and they have the damru or drum used by the Gaurias or snake-charmers and jugglers of Chhattisgarh, who are also derived from the Gonds. The Chhattisgarhi Dang-Charhas are Gonds who say they formerly Belonged to Panna State and were supported by Raja Aman Singh of Panna, a great patron of their art. They sing a song lamenting his death in the flower of his youth. The Karnatis or Karnataks are a class of Nats who are supposed to have come from the Carnatic. Mr. Crooke notes that they will eat the leavings of all high castes, and are hence known as Khushhaliya or 'those in prosperous circumstances.'3

Muhammadan Nats. One division of the Nats are Muhammadans and seem to be to some extent a distinctive group. They have seven gotras- Chicharia, Damaria, Dhalbalki, Purbia, Dhondabalki, Karimki and Kalasia. They worship two Birs or spirits, Halaila Bir and Sheikh Saddu, to whom they sacrifice fowls in the months of Bhadon (August) and Baisakh (April). Hindus of any caste are freely admitted into their community, and they can marry Hindu girls.

Social Customs Of The Nats. Their Low Status. Generally the customs of the Nats show them to be the dregs of the population. There is no offence which entails permanent expulsion from caste. They will eat any kind of food including snakes, crocodiles and rats, and also take food from the hands of any caste, even, it is said, from sweepers. It is not reported that they prostitute their women, but there is little doubt that this is the case in the Punjab.4 When a Nat woman marries, the first child is either given to the grandmother as compensation for loss of the mother's gains as a prostitute, or is redeemed by a payment of Rs. 30. Among the Chhattisgarhi Dang-Charhas a bride-price of Rs. 40 is paid, of which the girl's father only keeps ten, and the remaining sum of Rs. 30 is expended on a feast to the caste. Some of the Nats have taken to cultivation and become much more respectable, eschewing the flesh of unclean animals. Another group of the caste keeps trained dogs and hunts the wild pig with spears like the Kolhatis of Berar. The villagers readily pay for their services in order to get the pig destroyed, and they sell the flesh to the Bonds and lower castes of Hindus. Others hunt jackals with dogs in the same manner. They eat the flesh of the jackals and dispose of any surplus to the Gonds, who also eat it. The Nats worship Devi and also Hanuman, the monkey god, on account of the acrobatic powers of monkeys. But in Bombay they say that their favourite and only living gods are their bread-winners and averters of hunger, the drum, the rope and the balancing- pole.5

Acrobatic Performances. The tight-rope is stretched between two pairs of bamboos, each pair being fixed obliquely in the ground and crossing each other at the top so as to form a socket over which the rope passes. The ends of the rope are taken over the crossed bamboos and firmly secured to the ground by heavy pegs. The performer takes another balancing-pole in his hands and walks along the rope between the poles which are about 12 feet high. Another man beats a drum, and a third stands under the rope singing the performer's praises and giving him

1 Tribes and Castes, art. Nat 2 Crooke, l. C., art. Nat. 3 Ibidem. 4 Ibbetson, Punjab Census Report ( 1886 ), para. 588. 5 Bombay Gazetteer. VOL. XX. P.186, quoted in Mr. Crooke's article.

681 encouragement. After this the performer ties two sets of cow or buffalo horns to his feet, which are secured to the back of the skulls so that the flat front between the horns rests on the rope, and with these he walks over the rope, holding the balancing-rod in his hands and descends again. Finally he takes a brass plate and a cloth and again ascends the rope. He places the plate on the rope and folds the cloth over it to make a pad. He then stands on his head on the pad with his feet in the air and holds the balancing-rod in his hands; two strings are tied to the end of this rod and the other ends of the strings are held by the man underneath. With the assistance of the balancing-rod the performer then jerks the plate along the rope with his head, his feet being in the are air, until he arrives at the end and finally descends again. This usually concludes the performance, which demands a high degree of skill. Women occasionally, though rarely, do the same feats. Another class of Nats walk on high stilts and the women show their confidence by dancing and singing under them. A saying about the Nats is: Nat ka bachcha to kalabazi hi karega; or 'The rope-dancer's son is always turning somersaults.'1

Sliding Or Walking On Ropes As A Charm For The Crops. The feats of the Nats as tight-rope walkers used apparently to make a considerable impression on the minds of the people, as it is not uncommon to find a deified Nat. A Nat womsn is also sometimes worshipped, and where two sharp peaks of hills are situated close to each other, it is related that in former times there was a Natni, very skillful on the tight-rope, who performed before the king; and he promised her that if she would stretch a rope from the peak of one hill to that of the other and walk across it he would marry her and make her wealthy. Accordingly the rope was stretched, but the queen from jealousy went and cut it half through in the night, and when the Natni started to walk the rope broke and she fell down and was killed. She was therefore deified and worshipped. It is probable that this legend recalls some rite in which the Nat was employed to walk on a tight-rope for the benefit of the crops, and, if he failed, was killed as a sacrifice; for the following passage taken from Traill's account of Kumaon2 seems clearly to refer to some such rite: "Drought, want of fertility in the soil, murrain in cattle, and other calamities incident to husbandry are here invariably ascribed to the wrath of particular gods, to appease which recourse is had to various ceremonies. In the Kumaon District offerings and singing and dancing are resorted to on such occasions. In Garhwal the measures pursued with the same view are of a peculiar nature, deserving of more particular notice. In villages dedicated to the protection of Mahadeva propitiatory festivals are held in his honour. At these Badis or rope- dancers are engaged to perform on the tight-rope, and slide down an inclined rope stretched from the summit of a cliff to the valley beneath and made fast to posts driven into the ground. The Badi sits astride on a wooden saddle, to which he is tied by thongs; the saddle is similarly secured to the bast or sliding cable, along which it runs, by means of a deep groove; sandbags are tied to the Badi's feet sufficient to secure his balance, and he is then, after various ceremonies and the sacrifice of a kid, started off; the velocity of his descent is very great, and the saddle, however well greased, emits a volume of smoke throughout the greater part of his progress. The length and inclination of the bast necessarily vary with the nature of the cliff, but as the Badi is remunerated at the rate of a rupee for every hundred cubits, hence termed a tola, a correct measurement always takes place; the longest bast which has fallen within my observation has been twenty-one tolas. or 2100 cubits in length. From the precautions taken as above mentioned the only danger to be apprehended by the Badi is from breaking of the rope, to provide against which the latter, commonly from one and a half to two inches in diameter, is made wholly by his own hand; the material used is the bhabar grass. Formerly, if a Badi fell to the ground in his course, he was immediately despatched with a sword by the surrounding spectators, but this practice is now, of course, prohibited. No fatal accident has occurred from the performance of this ceremony since 1815, though it is probably celebrated at not less than fifty villages in each year. After the completion of the

1 Temple and Fallon's Hindustani Proverbs, ;. 171. VOL. IV 2 As. Res. VOL. XVI., 1828, p. 213

682 sliding, the bast or rope is cut up and distributed among the inhabitants of the village, who hang the pieces as charms on the eaves of their house. The hair of the Badi is also taken and preserved as possessing similar virtues. He being thus made the organ to obtain fertility for the lands of others, The Badi is supposed to entail sterility on his own; and it is firmly believed that no grain sown with his hand can ever vegetate. Each District has its hereditary Badi, who is supported by annual contributions of grain from the inhabitants." It is not improbable that the performance of the Nat is a reminiscence of a period when human victims were sacrificed for the crops, this being a common practice among primitive peoples, as shown by Sir J. G. Frazer in Attis, Adonis Osiris. Similarly the spirits of Nats which are revered in the Central Provinces may really be those of victims killed during the performance of some charm for the good of the crops, akin to that still prevalent in the Himalayas. The custom of making the Nat slide down a rope is of the same character as that of swinging a man in the air by a hook secured in his flesh, which was formerly common in these Provinces. But in both cases the meaning of the rite is obscure.

Snake-Charmers. The groups who practise snake-charming are known as Sapera or Garudi and in the Maratha Districts as Madari. Another name for them is Nag-Nathi, or one who seizes a cobra. They keep cobras, pythons, scorpions, and the iguana or large lizard, which they consider to be poisonous. Some of them when engaged with their snakes wear two pieces of tiger-skin on their back and chest, and a cap of tiger-skin in which they fix the eyes of various birds. They have a hollow gourd on which they produce a kind of music and this is supposed to charm the snakes. When catching a cobra they pin its head to the ground with a stick and then seize it in a cleft bamboo and prick out the poison-fangs with a large needle. They think that the teeth of the iguana are also poisonous and they knock them out with a stick, and if fresh teeth afterwards grow they believe them not to contain poison, The python is called Ajgar, which is said to mean eater of goats. In captivity the pythons will not eat of themselves, and the snake-charmers chop up pieces of meat and fowls and placing the food in the reptile's mouth massage it down the body. They feed the pythons only once in four or five days. They have antidotes for snake-bite, the root of a creeper called kalipar and the bark of the karheya tree. When a patient is brought to them they give him a little pepper, and if he tastes the pungent flavour they think that he has not been affected by snake-poison but if it seems tasteless that he has been bitten. Then they give him small pieces of the two antidotes already mentioned 1 with tobacco and 2 leaves of the nim tree1 which is sacred to Devi. 2

On the festival of Nag-Panchmi (Cobra's Fifth) they worship their cobras and give them milk to drink and then take them round the town or village and the people also worship and feed the snakes and give a present of a few annas to the Sapera. In towns much frequented by cobras, a special adoration is paid to them. Thus in Hatta in the Damoh District a stone image of a snake, known as Nag-Baba or Father Cobra is worshipped for a month before the festival of Nag-Panchmi. During this period one man from every house in the village must go to Nag-Baba's shrine outside and take food there and come back. And on Nag-Panchmi the whole town goes out in a body to pay him reverence, and it is thought that if anyone is absent the cobras will harass him for the whole year. But others say that cobras will only bite men of low caste.

The Saperas will not kill a snake as a rule, but occasionally it is said that they kill one and cut off the head and eat the body, this being possibly an instance of eating the divine animal at a sacrificial meal. The following is an old account of the performances of snake-charmers in Bengal:2

1 Melia indica. 2 Bengali Festivals and Holidays, by the Rev. Bihari Lal De, Calcutta Review, VOL. V. pp. 59, 60.

683 "Hence, on many occasions throughout the year, the dread Manasa Devi, the queen of sankes, is propitiated by presents, vows and religious rites. In the month of Shrabana the worship of the snake goddess is celebrated with great eclat. An image of the goddess, seated on a water- lily, encircled with serpents, or a branch of the snake-tree (a species of Euphorbia), or a pot of water, with images of serpents make of clay, forms the object of worship, Men, women and children, all offer presents to avert from themselves the wrath of the terrific deity. Temporary scaffolds of bamboo work are set up in the presence of the goddess. Vessels filled with all sorts of snakes are brought in. The Mals, often reeling with intoxication, mount the scaffolds, take out serpents from the vessels, and allow them to bite their arms. Bite after bite succeeds; the arms run with blood, and the Mals go on with their pranks, amid the deafening plaudits of the spectators. Now and then they fall off from the scaffold and pretend to feel the effects of poison, and cure themselves by their incantations. But all is mere pretence. The serpents displayed on the occasion and challenged to do their worst, have passed through a preparatory state. Their fangs have been carefully extracted from their jaws. But most of the vulgar spectators easily persuade themselves to believe that the Mals are the chosen servants of Siva and the favourites of Manasa. Although their supernatural pretensions are ridiculous, yet it must be confessed that the Mals have made snakes the subject of their qualities, their dispositions, and their habits. They will run down a snake into its hole. and bring it out thence by controlling influence of a Mal. When in the act of bringing out snakes from their subterranean holes, the Mals are in the habit of muttering charms, in which the names of Manasa and Mahadeva frequently occur; superstition alone can clothe these meaningless words with supernatural potency. But it is not inconsistent with the soundest philosophy to suppose that there may be some plants whose roots are disagreeable to serpents, and from which they instinctively turn away. All snake-catchers of Bengal are provided with a bundle of the foots of some plant which they carefully carry along with them, when they set out on their serpent-hunting expeditions. When a serpent, disturbed in its hole, comes out furiously hissing with rage, with its body coiled, and its head lifted up, the Mal has only to present before it the bundle of roots above alluded to, at the sight of which it becomes spiritless as an eel. This we have ourselves witnessed more than once." These Mals appear to have been members of the aboriginal Male or Male Paharia tribe or Bengal.

Na†í.: -The Na†s are dancers, acrobats and prostitutes and they are found scattered over a wide area1. Their total number as returned at the Census of 1911 was 126,428, distributed as follows:

Assam 5,143 Bengal 9,979 Bihar and Orissa 5,651 Central Provinces and Berar 11,385 United Provinces 68,376 Central India Agency 10,090 Rajputana Agency 8,447 Elsewhere 7,357 ------Total 126,428

Name The name Na† is a Prakrit-Sanskrit word and means 'dancer,' or 'actor.' It does not connote any definite tribe but comprises many different clans, who are only linked together by their common occupation. Numerous names of sub-tribes have been returned from the various

1 Linguistic Survey of India.

684 districts. Thus we find Baisiyâs and Banjârâs in Mainpuri, Bé®iyâs in Etawah, Brijbâsís, who state that they come from Braj, in Bahraich, Pahârí Bhâbars in Rampur, Pastos, Tasmabâz, and so forth. This simply means that any tribe may be represented among the people acting as Na†s.

Language. In such circumstances we cannot expect to find a separate language spoken by the Na†s. In the information collected for the purposes of this Survey there figures a Na† language, returned under the name of na†o§§-kí-bólí, with or without specifying additions such as Brijbâsí, Pastó, etc. The figures are as follows:

Bengal 4,584 Bhagalpur 4,584 United Provinces 6,950 Aligarh 250 Mainpuri 2,000 Etawah 400 Bijnor 1,000 Rampur 300 Kheri 2,500 Bahraich 500 ------Total 11,534

Na† Argot. The various clans classed together under the head of Na†s speak the dialect of their neighbours. Like many other wandering tribes, however, they have a professional argot, made up by disguising ordinary words in the same way as in Criminal Sêsí. This argot has nothing to do with grammar. The underlying dialect is either the ordinary vernacular or a mixture of forms derived from different dialects, such as we might reasonably expect in the mouth of travelling professionals who roam over a wide area and who are recruited from more than one tribe or clan. The dialect of the Na†s of the United Provinces contains and unmistakable admixture of Râjasthâní. Thus we find forms such as ba†r¡â, sons; ba†râ-né, by the son, in addition to the regular ba†ré-né, by the son; gayó, went; and lilpâ, went, in Mainpuri, and so forth. What is meant under the denominations Na†í and Nâ†o§§ kí bólí is not a definite but the professional argot of the Na†s.

As in the case of Sêsí the argot of the Na†s contains several peculiar words such as bórâ, boy; bînâ, chhai §§, water; chhumkar, day; chilapnâ, go; dímnâ, dîtnâ, eat; gém, gaim, thief; kâjâ, cultivator, squire; khollâ, house; khum, mouth; lugnâ, die; lód, nêd, bull; nâl, night; tiyârgâ, that (person or thing) concerned; †o§§gnâ, drink; †u∑πâ, pig and so forth. Most of such words are known from other argots and dialects such as Sêsí and cannot yet be explained etymologically. The great majority of Na†í slang words, however, have been taken from the common Aryan vocabulary of Northern India. To prevent outsiders from understanding them, they are then disguised in the same way as in the argot of the Sêsís and others. One and the same word can be made unrecognizable in several ways and accordingly assume many different forms.

I have not noted any certain instances of mere transposition. Compare, however, khum, mouth (Bijnor); chîbkâ =bachchâ, young (Mainpuri). The prefixing of a consonant, which then often supersedes an old initial, on the other hand, is very common.

A k is prefixed in forms such as kó†, eighth (Rampur); kódmí, man; and substituted for and initial b in kêt, share (Mainpuri). Kh is much more common. Compare khi-mâlai, property;

685 khimérâ, my; khandar, inside; khakâl, famine; khó†â, small; khin, day; khé†ai, belly; khainâí, having put on; khâd, after; khujhé, me (all from Mainpuri); khachchí, water; khunaddí, river; khapâní, water; khabπâ, big one, Sir; khabhéπiâ, wolf (all from Bijnor); khané†, belly (Rampur), and so forth.

Ch is substituted for an old labial in words such as chakar, seize, hindóstâní paka®; khacholté, speaking, cf. Hindóstâní bólnâ, in the Bijnor specimens. Chh is similarly used in words such as chhîkal, hungering; chhulk =mulk, country (Mainpuri); chhód =bahut, much (Rampur), etc. The soft palatals are also used as substitutes for lahiâls in ja†îp =bê†â, share; ja®â =ba®â, big (Rampur); jhurâ =burâ, evil; jhai££yâ =bhaiyâ, brother (Mainpuri), but also in cases such as jhék, one; jhakâl, famine (Bhagalpur).

Of dental substitutes we may note thâmné =sâmné, before (Rampur), and the frequent use of n, nh, thus, nét =khét, field; nâttí =chhâtí, breast; nautâj =mohtâj, wanting; namâ =samâ, together (Mainpuri), níchhe =píchhé, after; nanmés``war = parmés``war, God; nâth =sât, seven; nî =tî, thou; né = thé, were; nhé = chhé, six (Rampur), and so forth.

Of labials we may note, ph in phér, three (Rampur), b in forms such as bég, one; bithé, to him (Mainpuri); bór = aur, and; bîkí, watchman (Rampur); and m in words such as mahâ = kahâ, said; myo§§ = kyu§§ ? mâhtâ = châhtâ, wishing; miâr = pyâr, love; mât = bâd, after, and so forth in the Mainpuri specimens. The form marluk, dead, is probably of another kind, the base mar being prefixed to the base lug, to die. In some of the Mainpuri specimens the old initial which has been replaced by m is subsequently added at the end of the word; thus, métkhé = khét, field; musikhé = kººhººusí, merry; mó†êchhé-né = chhó†é-né, by the younger one; mé†ébé = bé†é, sons; mâpbé = bâp, father; mérâté = térâ, thy; muarsé = sîar, swine, and so forth.

Of other substitutes we may note l in lilpâ = chalâ, went; lalchâlí = badchâlí, bad conduct (Mainpuri); r in rân = kân, ear; rahat = khét, field (Rampur); ró†ka = chhó†â, small; rab†hó = sab, all (Bhagalpur), and so on. R is also used instead of g in the List of Words and Sentences from Rampur printed below on pp. 180 ff., in the word tiyârgí râé, cow, where râé corresponds to Hindóstâní gâe, while tiyârgí is a pronoun meaning 'that thing just mentioned.'

As in the case of other argots we also find words disguised by means of additions at the end. Note forms such as khé†aí =pé†, belly; khimâlai = mâl, property (Mainpuri); labê = lab, direction (Bijnor), and several consonantal additions. Such are, k and g in forms such as kaugâ and kókâ, said; gaugâ, went; raugâ, stayed; paugâ, got (Mainpuri); ch and j in hóchâ, was (Rampur); kujâ, make (Bijnor); cerebrals in forms such as lagâπnâ, to apply (Bijnor); lugâ®nâ, to beat (Rampur); puchhwâ®ó, asked (Mainpuri); t in forms such as khabâptâ, father (Etawah); p in verbs such as deppó, give; lilpâ, went; ligpâí, applying; karpâ, made (Mainpuri), and so on. Note also dhîr = dó, two; bâpsâ-ké, of the father (Rampur), kîlnâ to do, and the curious forms jâlurnâ, go; âlurnâ, come (Mainpuri); âlré, came (Rampur); jâsurtâ, going (Rampur); âsrâ, came (Bijnor), and so forth.

It will be seen from the figures given above that most speakers of Na†í in the United Provinces have been returned from the western part of the Province, from Etawah in the south to Bijnor in the north. We are comparatively best informed about the state of affairs in Mainpuri. There are several tribes in the district who made use of the Na† slang, such as the Baisiyâs, the Banjârâs, the Habîras, the Kanjars and the Kalabâz. The base is apparently everywhere the current Hindóstâní dialect with a tissue of Râjasthâhí. This element has not been organically mixed up with the underlying Hindóstâní, but Râjasthâní forms are occasionally used side by side with the ordinary ones. Thus we find instances of the nominative in ó, the oblique base in â and the plural in â of strong masculine bases; compare raj醆ó chíndâ hoichchó, there was a rich man, but commonly forms such as jha®â ba†râ

686 hoichciâ, the big son was (in the fields); ba†râ-né and ba†ré-né, by the son; πhór ba†râ hoichché, there were two sons, and so forth.

Nikkalavandhu.: -The Vagiri are called Nikkalavandhu by Telegus. See Vagiri.

Nunia.: -Noniyan, a Dravidian caste of Behar and Upper1 India engaged in cultivation,, saltpetre-making, and various kinds of earthwork. The caste seem to have no traditions except a silly story that the Awadhia are descended from an ascetic named Bidur Bhakat, who broke his fast early, and being thereby disqualified for the higher life of mediation, was condemned by Ram Chandra to betake himself to the manufacture of saltpetre. This throws small light on the origin of the Nunias. It seems, however, to be generally believed that they are closely connected with the Binds and the Beldars, and I venture the conjecture that the Binds may be the modern representatives of an aboriginal tribe from which the Nunias have branched off as saltpetre-makers and the Beldars as earth- workers. All three groups are now endogamous. The hunting and fishing proclivities of the Binds seem to suggest that they are the oldest of the three, while the totemistic sections of the Nunias stamp them as Dravidian. The Beldars are probably a more recent offshoot, but the fact that the name Beldar (mattock-bearer) is assumed by members of any caste when employed on earthwork renders it difficult to determine their precise affinities. The Nunias of Behar are divided into seven sub-castes.

Internal Structure. Awadhia or Ayodhiabasi, Bhojpuria, Kharaont, Maghaya, Orh, Pachainya or Chauhan, and Semarwar. Their sections appear to be for the most part totemistic. A man may not marry a woman belonging to his own section, but no other sections are barred to him; and the rule of simple exogamy is supplemented by the standard formula mamera, chachera, etc., already quoted. It deserves notice that intermarriage in the chachera line is forbidden as long as any relationship can be traced, while in the other three lines the prohibition only extends to three or, as some say, to five generations. All Nunias who can afford to do so marry their daughters as infants, adult-marriages being considered unfashionable, if not disreputable. Polygamy is permitted, but it is unusual to find a man with more than two wives; and I gather, although there is no distinct rule on the subject, that practice is held to be justified only by the necessity of procuring offspring. Widows are allowed to marry again by the sagai form, and are subject to no restrictious in their choice if a second husband except those arising from consanguinity. It is considered, however, right for a widow to marry her deceased husband's younger brother. Divorce is effected on grounds of adultery or incompatibility of temper by the order of the caste council (panchayat). A divorced woman may marry again by the sagai form unless she has gone wrong with a man of another caste-- an offence which entails summary expulsion.

Marriage. Tirhutia Brahmans serve the Nunias as priests, and officiate at their marriages. The marriage ceremony is of the standard type. The bridegroom-price (tilak) is fixed by custom at a sum varying from Re. 1 to Rs. 5 and a pair of dhotis. After the marriage the bride does not go to her husband's house, but stays with her parents until she attains puberty, when her husband goes to fetch her with a few of his friends and brings her home in procession (dira gawau). Consummation is not effected until after this ceremony. Awadhiya Nunias nave a curious custom called asmaui shadi, which requires that the bride and bridegroom shall be held off the ground during the marriage ceremony.

1 See Risley.

687 Religion. In matters of religion the Nunias follow the ordinary forms of Hinduism current in Behar. Most of them are Saktas, and there are said to be comparatively few Vaishnavas in the caste. Bhagavatiji is their favourite goddess. Bandi, Goraiya, and Sitala are worshipped on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. There are no deities specially worshipped by women and children, but women take part in the worship of Sitala. Sannyasi fakirs are the gurus of the caste. The dead are burned, and sraddh performed on the thirteenth day after death. The ashes are thrown into any river that may be handy. The bodies of children dying under five years of age are buried a point wherein Nunias depart from the usual custom, which is to bury after eighteen months.

Occupation The caste believe the extraction of salt and saltpetre from saline earth to be their original occupation, and it is possible, as has been suggested above, that they may have broken off from the Binds by reason of their adopting this profession. At the present day we find them also employed in road-making, tauk-digging, well sinking, building and thatching houses, and all kinds of agricultural field labour. Many of them also hold lands of their own, and a few have gained a more secure position as occupancy raiyats. Nunias who have no land often wander about during the dry season in search of work, and build small grass huts for temporary shelter. None of them are artisans. In Bengal, according to Dr, Wise, Nunias readily obtain service with Goalas or other clean Sudras, but refuse to work as labourers or domestic servants with low-caste families. The social standing of Nunias seems to vary in different parts, and does not admit a very precise definition. In Patna, Mozufferpur, and parts of Monghyr they rank with Kurmis, Koiris, Kumhars, etc., and Brahmans will take water and certain kinds of sweetmeats from their hands. In Bhagalpur, Purniah, Champarun, Shahabad, and Gya they are placed on the same level as Tantis, and none of the higher castes will take water from them. In addition to the various kinds of food that are lawful for Hindus of the middle class, Nunias eat field-rats and pork, and drink fermented and spirituous liquors. It is significant of the Nunias' point of view in such matters that they think little of Bhakats, who practise small forms of asceticism by abstaining from certain kinds of food and drink; and I am informed that very few Bhakats are found among them.

Nuniyas.: -See Luniyas and Nunia,

Od.: -They wander around with their families searching for any kind of employment, but they are specially engaged in road and railway construction work.

ÓπkÏ.: -The Óπs are a wandering tribe who are found all over India1. In Kathiawar they are pond diggers; in the Panjab they take small contracts on roads, canals, railways, and the like, and also build houses and dig tanks or wells. In Mathura they weave coarse cloth. In the South they cut out stones from the earth, convey them on their carts to where they are wanted, dig tanks and wells and so on. The number of Óπs returned at the Census of 1911 was 610,162 distributed as follows: Madras 550,109 Panjab 32,246 United Provinces 9,071 Rajputana Agency 7,839

1 Linguistic Survey of India.

688 Elsewhere 10,897 ------TOTAL 610,162 ------

Name The root meaning of the word óπ is uncertain. In the South it takes the form oππa, and the Rev. F. Kittel compares Telugu oππe, drudgery, oππevâ∑πlu, tank diggers. As most ªOπs belong to the South, it is very probable that the word is originally Dravidian, and connected with the name of the Vaπaras.

Language. The majority of the Óπs, or about 600,000, are found in South India and are stated to speak a patois of Telugu. We have not sufficient information about the dialect of the remaining Óπs. As a separate form of speech it has only been returned from Muzaffargarh in the Panjab, and from Cutch, Panch Mahals, Hyderabad and Thar and Parkar in the Bombay Presidency. The estimated number of speakers according to information collected for the purpose of this Survey was:

Panjab 514 Muzaffargarh 514 Bombay Presidency 2,300 Cutch 250 Panch Mahals 50 Hyderabad 1,500 Thar and Parkar 500 ------TOTAL 2,814 ------

If we except the Dravidian South it is therefore probable that Mr. Baines was right in stating1 that 'the earth-workers called Od or Waddar carry a language of their own from Peshawar to the sea, using a vocabulary less and less Dravidian as the tribe frequents tracts farther away from the East Deccan, from whence it probably originated.' The Óπs were probably from the beginning Dravidians and spoke a form of Telugu. Later on, we are not able to say when, a comparatively numerous section seems to have spent a considerable time in a locality where the prevailing languages were Marâ†hí Gujarâtí and Râjasthâní. It is of interest to note that the Óπs of Northern India are only found in the west, from the United Provinces to Sind. So far as we know their language everywhere contains a strong Marâ†hí element, and it seems likely that their North Indian home must have been in North-Western Dekhan. According to the returns at the Census of 1901,2 their distribution in the Bombay Presidency was as follows: Ahmedabad 1,266 Broach 715 Kaira 805 Panch Mahals 461 Surat 53 Cambay 200 Cutch 188 Kathiawar 959 Mahikantha 106 Palanpur 491

1. Census of India, 1891. General Report. London, 1893, p. 137. 2. No similar return is available for 1911.

689 Rewa Kantha 385 Karachi 201 Hyderabad 1,549 Shikarpur 1,338 Thar and Parkar 1,449 Upper Sind Frontier 127 Khairpur 287 ------TOTAL 10,571

It is seen that the Óπs were practically restricted to districts where Gujarâtí and Sindhí are the prevailing languages. The existence of a strong Marâ†hí element in Óπkí can only be explained under the supposition that these Óπs have come from some place farther east, say in the hills bordering the Marâ†hí area. Such a localisation would also agree with the fact that the Óπs of Southern India speak Telugu.

Marâ†hí affinities. Óπkí words give a good idea of the nature of the dialect. It is seen that it is a mixed form of speech containing elements taken form different sources. As in the case of the Gypsy language of Europe these elements are important as showing, the route by which the tribe must have wandered. They are, however, to a great extent so perspicuous that it is unnecessary to enter upon a detailed discussion. It will be sufficient to draw attention to some of the most important features. The Marâ†hí element is particularly strong. Thus the neuter of strong bases ends in é or e§ as in Marâ†hí; compare ta¬é, tank; kélé, it was said. Strong masculine bases end in â, plural é; thus, ghó®â, horse; ghó®é, horses. Note also the oblique bases in â of weak and é of strong masculine bases, and in í of feminine bases; thus, désâ- mê, in a country; lerké-ché, of a man; malkatí-châ, of the property. The termination châ, chí, ché of the genitive is important. The same is the case with the termination lâ of the past tense of verbs; thus, gélâ, went; mârlâ, struck. Compare further the imperative plural in â; thus, âwâ, come; the infinitives in û and ∑é; thus, kéhû, to say; mâr∑é, to strike, and so forth. Such forms gain in importance when we remember that they all hail from districts where Marâ†hí is not a home tongue of the population.

Gujarâtí-Râjasthâní affinities. Several of the usual terminations in Óπkí do not agree with Marâ†hí but with Gujarâtí and Râjasthâní. Such are the suffixes é of the agent and né of the dative, both of which are also found in Mâlví; the ablative in tí; the locative in mê; forms such as he§, I (compare Gujarâtí, Mâlví and Mârwârí hû); chhé, sé and hé, is; the conjunctive participle is tíné (Gujarâtí íné ) and so forth. The Gujarâtí element is strongest in Gujarâtí districts such as the Panch Mahals and Ahmedabad, but is also apparent in other districts.

Other-affinities. Features borrowed from languages other than Marâ†hí and Gujarâtí have more of a local character. The locative termination mêy, which is prevalent in Mârwârí is, however, common in the Ahmedabad District, where Gujarâtí is the chief language. Of such local borrowings I may mention the common cerebralisation of a π in Cutch and in the districts of Hyderabad, Thar and Parkar, Shikarpur and Muzaffargarh; the Pañjâbí dative termination nû in the same districts with the exception of Cutch, and other sporadic instances of borrowings from the local dialects.

Ojha.: -They practice magic and divination. They study the gut or intestines of animals offered to a God in order to understand that God’s will. The ancient 'augurers' of Rome were practising the same rite.

690 Ojha.: -The community of soothsayers and minstrels of the Gonds1. The Ojhas may now be considered a distinct subtribe, as they are looked down upon by the Gonds and marry among themselves. They derive their name from the word ojh, meaning 'entrail,' their original duty having been like that of the Roman augurs, to examine the entrails of the victim immediately after it had been slain as an offering the gods. In 1911 the Ojhas numbered about 5000 persons distributed over all Districts of the Central Provinces. An present the bulk of the community subsist by begging. The word Ojha is of Sanskrit and not of Gond origin and is applied by the Hindus to the seers or magicians of several of the primitive tribes, while there is also a class of Ojha Brâhmans who practise magic and divination. The Gond Ojhas, who are the subject of this article, originally served the Gonds and begged from them alone, but in some parts of the western Satpîras they are also the minstrels of the Korkus. Those who beg from the Korkus play on a kind of drum called dhânk, while the Gond Ojhas use the kingri or lyre. Some of them also catch birds and are therefore known as Moghia. Mr. Hislop2 remarks of them: "The Ojhas follow the two occupations of bard and fowler. They lead a wandering life and when passing through villages they sing from house the praises of their heroes, dancing with castanets on their hands, bells at their ankles and long feathers of jungle birds in their turbans. They quails and the skins of a species of Buceros named Dhanchíria; these are used for making caps and for hanging up in houses in order to secure wealth (dhan), while the thighbones of the same bird when fastened round the waists of children are deemed an infallible preservative against the assaults of devils and other such calamities. Their wives tattoo the arms of Hindu and Gond women. Among them there is a subdivision known as the Mâna Ojhas, who rank higher than the others. Laying claim to unusual sanctity, they refuse to eat with any once, Râjpîts or even Brâhmans, and devote themselves to the manufacture of rings and bells which are in request among their own race, and even of lingas (phallic emblems) and nandis (bull images), which they sell to all ranks of the Hindu community. Their wives are distinguished by wearing the cloth of the upper part of the body over the right shoulder, whereas those of the common Ojhas and of all the other Gonds wear it over the left."

Mr. Tawney wrote of the Ojhas as follows:3 "The Ojha women do not dance. It is only men who do so, and when thus engaged they put on special attire and wear anklets with bells. The Ojhas like the Gonds are divided into six or seven god gots (classes or septs), and those with the same number of gods cannot intermarry. They worship at the same Dcokhala (god's threshing-floor) as the Gonds, but being regarded as an inferior caste they are not allowed so near the sacred presence. Like the Gonds they incorporate the spirits of the dead with the gods, but their manner of doing so is somewhat different, as they make an image of brass to represent the soul of the deceased and keep this with the household gods. As with the Gonds, if a household god makes himself too objectionable he is quietly buried to keep him out of mischief and an new god is introduced into the family. The latter should properly bear the same name as his degraded predecessor, but very often does not. The Ojhas are too poor to indulge in the luxury of burning their deceased friends and therefore invariably bury them."

The customs of the Ojhas resemble those of the Gonds. They take the bride to the bridegroom's house to be married, and a widow among them is expected, though not obliged, to wed her late husband's younger brother. They eat the flesh of fowls, pigs, and even oxen, but abstain from that of monkeys, crocodiles and jackals. They will not touch an ass, a cat or a dog, and consider it sinful to kill animals which bark or bray.

1 See Russell. 2. Papers relating to the Aboriginal Tribes of the C.P.., p. 6. 3. Note by Mr. Tawney as Deputy Commissioner of Chhindwâra, quoted in Central Provinces Census Report of 1881 (Mr> Drysdale).

691 They will take food from the hands of all except the most impure castes, and will admit into the community any man who has taken an Ojha woman to live with him, even though he be a sweeper, provided that he will submit to the prescribed test of begging from the houses of five Gonds and eating the leavings of food of the other Ojhas. They will pardon the transgression of one their women with an outsider of any caste whatever, if she is able and willing to provide the usual penalty feast. In physical appearance the Ojhas resemble the Gonds but are less robust. They rank below the Gonds and are considered as impure by Hindu castes, though they consier themselves clean. In 1865, an Ojha held a village in Hoshangâbâd District which he had obtained as follows:1 "He was singing and dancing before Râja Râghuji, when the Râja said he would give a rent-free village to any one who would pick up and chew a quid of betel-leaf which he (the Râja) had in his mouth and has spat out. The Ojha did this and got the village."

The Maithil or Tirhît Brâhmans who are especially learned in Tântric magic are also sometimes known as Ojha, and a family bearing this title were formerly in the service of the Gond kings of Mandla. They do not now admit that they acted as augurs or soothsayer, but state that their business was to pray continuously for the king's success when he was engaged in any battle, and to sit outside the rooms of sick persons repeating the sacred Gâyatri verse for their recovery. This is often repeated ten times, counting by a special method on the joints of the fingers and is then known as jap. When it is repeated a larger number of times, a rosary is used.

Oraon.: -Uraon, Kurukh, Dhangar, Kîda, Kisân.-2 The Oraons are an important Dravidian tribe of the Chota Nâgpur plateau, numbering altogether about 750,000 persons, of whom 85,000 now belong to the Central Provinces, being residents of the Jashpur and Sargîja States and the neighbouring tracts. They are commonly known in the Central Provinces as Dhângar or Dhângar-Oraon. In Chota Nâgpur the word Dhângar means a farmservant engaged according to a special customary contract, and it has come to be applied to the Oraons, who are commonly employed in this capacity. Kîda means a digger or navvy in Uriya, and enquiries made by Mr. B.C. Mazumdar and Mr. Híra Lâl have demonstrated that the 18,000 persons returned under this designation from Raigarh and Sambalpur in 1901 were really Oraons. The same remark applies to 33,000 persons returned from Sambalpur as Kisân or cultivator, these also being members of the tribe. The name by which the Oraons know themselves is Kurukh or Kurunkh, and the designation of Oraon or Orao has been applied to them by outsiders. The meaning of both names is obscure. Dr. Halm3 was of opinion that the word kurukh might be identified with the Kolarian horo, 'man', and explained the term Oraon as the totem of one of the septs into which the Kurukhs were divided. According to him Oraon was a name coined by the Hindus, its base being orgorân, hawk or cunny bird, used as the name of a totemistic sept. Sir G. Grierson, however, suggested a connection with the Kaikâri, urîpai, man; Burgandi urâpo, man; urâng, men. The Kaikâris are a Telugu caste, and as the Oraons are believed to have come from the south of India, this derivation sounds plausible. In a similar way Sir. G. Grierson states, Kurukh may be connected with Tamil kurîgu, an eagle, and be the name of a totemistic clan. Compare also names, such as Korava, Kurru, a dialect of Tamil, and Kudâgu. In the Nerbudda valley the farmservant who pours the seed through the tube of the sowing-plough is known as Oraya; this word is probably derived from the verb îrna to pour, and means 'one who pours.' Since the principal characteristic of the Oraons among the Hindus is their universal employment as farmservants and labourers, it may be suggested that the name is

1. Sir C.A. Elliott's Hoshangâbâd Settlement Report. p. 70 2 See Russell. 3. Linguistic Survey , vol. IV. p. 406.

692 derived from this term. Of the other names by which they are known to outsiders, Dhângar means a farmservant, Kîda a digger, and Kisân a cultivator. The name Oraon and its variant Orao is very close to Oraya, which, as already seen, means a farmservant. The nasal seems to be often added or omitted in this part of the country, as Kurukh or Kurunkh.

Settlement In Chota Nâgpur. According to their own traditions, Mr. Gait writes,1 "The Kurukh tribe originally lived in the Carnatic, whence they went up the Nerbudda river and settled in Bihâr on the banks of the Son. Driven out by the Muhammadans, the tribe split into two divisions, one of which followed the course of the Ganges and finally settled in the Râjmahâl hills: while the other went up the Son and occupied the north-western portion of the Chota Nâgpur plateau, where many of the villages they occupy are still known by Mundâri names. The latter were the ancestors of the Oraons or Kurukhs, while the former were the progenitors of the Mâle or Saonria, as they often call themselves." Towards Lohardaga the Oraons found themselves among the Mundas or Kols, who probably retired by degrees and left them in possession of the country. "The Oraons," Father Dehon states, "are an exceedingly prolific tribe and soon become the preponderant element, while the Mundas, being conservative and averse to living among strangers, emigrate towards another jungle.

The Mundas hate zamíndârs, and whenever they can do so, prefer to live in a retired corner in full possession of their small holding; and it is not at all improbable that, as the zamíndârs took possession of the newly-formed villages, they retired towards the east, while the Oraons, being good beasts of burden and more accustomed to subjection, remained." In view of the fine physique and martial character of the Larka or Fighting Kols or Mundas, Dalton was sceptical of the theory that they could ever have retired before the Oraons; but in addition to the fact that many villages in which Oraons now live have Mundâri names, it may be noted that the headman of an Oraon village is termed Munda and is considered to be descended from its founder, while for the Pâhan or priest of the village gods, the Oraons always employ a Munda if available, and it is one of the Pâhan's duties to point out the boundary of the village in cases of dispute; this is a function regularly assigned to the earliest residents, and seems to be strong evidence that the Oraons found the Mundas settled in Chota Nâgpur when they arrived there.

It is not necessary to suppose that any conquest or forcible expropriation took place; and it is probable that, as the country was opened up, the Mundas by preference retired to the wilder forest tracts, just as in the Central Provinces the Korkus and Baigas gave way to the Gonds, and the Gonds themselves relinquished the open country to the Hindus. None of the writers quoted notice the name Munda as applied to the headman of an Oraon village, but it can hardly be doubted that it is connected with that of the tribe; and it would be interesting also to know whether the Pâhan or village priest takes his name from the Pâns or Gandas. Dalton says that the Pâns are domesticated as essential constituents of every Ho or Kol village community, but does not allude to their presence among the Oraons. The custom in the Central Provinces in Gond villages is that the village priest is always known as Baiga, because in some localities members of the Baiga tribe are commonly employed here. In villages first settled by Oraons, the population, Father Dehon states, is divided into three khînts, or branches, named after the Munda, Pâhan and Mahto, the founders of the three branches being held to have been sons of the first settler. Members of each branch belong therefore to the same sept or got. Each khînt has a share of the village lands.

Subdivisions. The Oraons have no proper subcastes in the Central Provinces, but the Kudas and Kisâns, having a distinctive name and occupation, sometimes regard themselves as separate bodies and decline intermarriage with other Oraons. In Bengal Sir H. Risley gives five divisions,

1. Bengal Census Report (1901).

693 Barga, Dhânka, Kharia, Khendro of other tribes, and Dhânka may be a variant for Dhângar. The names show that as usual with the tribes of this part of the country the law of endogamy is by no means strict. The tribe have also a large number of exogamous septs of the totemistic type, named after plants and animals. Members of any sept commonly abstain from killing or eating their sept totem. A man must not marry a member of his own sept nor a first cousin on the mother's side.

Pre-Nuptial Licence. Marriage is adult and pre-nuptial unchastity appears to be tacitly recognised. Oraon villages have the institution of the Dhîmkuria or bachelors' dormitory, which Dalton describes as follows: "In all the order Oraon villages when there is any conservation of ancient customs, there is a house called the dhîmkuria in which all the bachelors of the village must sleep under penalty of a fine. The huts of the Oraons have insufficient accommodation for a family so that separate quarters for the young men are a necessity. The same remark applies to the young unmarried women, and it is a fact that they do not sleep in the house with their parents. They are generally frank enough when questioned about their habits, but on this subject there is always a certain amount of reticence, and I have seen girls quietly withdraw when it was mooted. I am told that in some villages a separate building is provided for them like the Dhîmkuria, in which they consort under the guardianship of an elderly duenna, but I believe the more common practice is to distribute them among the houses of the widows, and this is what the girls themselves assert, if they answer at all when the question is asked; but however billeted, it is well known that they often find their way to the bachelor's hall, and in some villages actually sleep there. I not long ago saw a Dhîmkuria in a Sargîja village in which the boys and girls all slept every night." Colonel Dalton considered it uncertain that the practice led to actual immorality, but the fact can hardly be doubted. Sexual intercourse before marriage, Sir H. Risley says, is tacitly recognised, and is so generally practised that in the opinion of the best observers no Oraon girl is a virgin at the time of her marriage. "To call this state of things immoral is to apply a modern conception to primitive habits of life. Within the tribe, indeed, the idea of sexual morality seems hardly to exist, and the unmarried Oraons are not far removed from the condition of modified promiscuity which prevails among many of the Australian tribes. Provided that the exogamous circle defined by the totem is respected, an unmarried woman may bestow her favours on whom she will. If, however, she becomes pregnant, arrangements are made to get her married without delay, and she is then expected to lead a virtuous life."1 According to Dalton, however, liaisons between boys and girls of the same village seldom end in marriage, as it is considered more respectable to bring home a bride from a distance. This appears to arise from the primitive rule of exogamy that marriage should not be allowed between those who have been brought up together. The young men can choose for themselves, and at dances, festivals and other social gatherings they freely woo their sweethearts, giving them flowers for the hair and presents of grilled field-mice, which the Oraons consider to be the most delicate food. Father Dehon, however, states that matches are arranged by the parents, and the bride and bridegroom have nothing to say in the matter. Boys are usually married at sixteen and girls at fourteen or fifteen. The girls thus have only about two years of preliminary flirtation or Dhîmkuria life before they are settled.

Betrothal. The first ceremony for a marriage is known as pân bandhi or the settling of the price; for which the boy's father accompanied by some men of his village to represent the panch or elders, goes to the girl's house. Father Dehon states that the bride-price is five rupees and four maunds of grain. When this has been settled the rejoicings begin. "All the people of the village are invited; two boys come and anoint the visitors with oil. From every house of the village that can afford it a handia or pot of rice-beer is brought, and they drink together and make merry. All this time the girl has been kept inside, but now she suddenly sallies forth

1. Tribes and Castes, vol. ii. p. 141.

694 carrying a handia on her head. A murmur of admiration greets her when stepping through the crowd she comes and stands in front of her future father-in-law, who at once takes the handia from her head, embraces her, and gives her one rupee. From that time during the whole of the feast the girl remains sitting at the feet of her father-in-law. The whole party meanwhile continue drinking and talking; and voices rise so high that they cannot hear one another. As a diversion the old women of the village all come tumbling in, very drunk and wearing fantastic hats made of leaves; gesticulating like devils and carrying a straw manikin representing the bridegroom. They all look like old witches, and in their drunken state are very mischievous."

Marriage Ceremony. The marriage takes place after about two years, visits being exchanged twice a year in the meantime. When the day comes the bridegroom proceeds with a large party of his friends, male and female, to the bride's house. Most of the males have warlike weapons, real or sham, and as they approach the village of the bride's family the young men from thence emerge, also armed, as if to repel the invasion, and a mimic fight ensues, which like a dissolving view blends pleasantly into a dance. In this the bride and bridegroom join, each riding on the hips of one of their friends. After this they have a feast till late in the night. Next morning bread cooked by the bride's mother is taken to the dari or village spring, where all the women partake of it. When they have finished they bring a vessel of water with some leaves of the mango tree in it. Meanwhile the bride and bridegroom are in the house, being anointed with oil and turmeric by their respective sisters. When everybody has gathered under the marriage-bower the boy and girl are brought out of the house and a heap is made of a plough-yoke, a bundle of thatching-grass and a curry-stone. The bride and bridegroom are made to stand on the curry-stone, the boy touching the heels of the bride with his toes, and a long piece of cloth is put round them to screen them from the public. Only their heads and feet can be seen. A goblet full of vermilion is presented to the boy, who dips his finger it and makes three lines on the forehead of the girl; and the girl does the same to the boy, but as she has to reach him over her shoulder and cannot see him, the boy gets it anywhere on his face, which never fails to provoke hearty bursts of laughter. "When this is complete," Dalton states, "a gun is fired and then by some arrangement vessels full of water, placed over the bower, are upset, and the young couple and those near them receive a drenching shower-bath, the women shouting, 'The marriage is done, the marriage is done.' They now retire into an apartment prepared for them, ostensibly to change their clothes, but they do not emerge for some time, and when they do appear they are saluted as man and wife."

Special Customs. Meanwhile the guests sit round drinking handias or earthen pots full of rice-beer. The bride and bridegroom come out and retire a second time and are called out for the following rite. A vessel or beer is brought and the bride carries a cupful of it to the bridegroom's brother, but instead of giving it into his hand she deposits it on the ground in front of him. This is to seal of tacit agreement that from that time the bridegroom's brother will not touch his sister-in-law, and was probably instituted to mark the abolition of the former system of fraternal polyandry, customs of an analogous nature being found among the Khonds and Korkus. "Then," Father Dehon continues, "comes the last ceremony, which is called khirítengna handia or the handia of the story, and is considered by the Oraons to be the true form of marriage which has been handed down to them by their forefathers. The boy and girl sit together before the people and one of the elder men present rises and addressing the boy says: 'If your wife goes to fetch sâg and falls from a tree and breaks her leg, do not say that she is disfigured or crippled. You will have to keep and feed her.' Then turning to the girl: 'When your husband goes hunting, if his arm or leg is broken, do not say, "He is a cripple, I won't live with him." Do not say that, for you have to remain with him. If you prepare meat, give two shares to him and keep only one for yourself. If you prepare vegetables, give him two parts and keep only one part for yourself. If he gets sick and cannot go out, do not

695 say that he is dirty, but clean his mat and wash him.' A feast follows, and at night the girl is brought to the boy by her mother, who says to him, 'Now this my child is yours; I do not give her for a few days but for ever; take care of her and love her well.' A companion of the bridegroom's then seizes the girl in his arms and carries her inside the house."

Widow-Remarriage And Divorce. It is uncommon for a man to have two wives. Divorce is permitted, and is usually effected by the boy or girl running away to the Duârs or Assam. Widow-remarriage is a regular practice. The first time a widow marries again, Father Dehon states, the bridegroom must pay Rs. 3-8 for her; if successive husbands die her price goes down by a rupee upon a fresh marriage, so that a fifth husband would pay only eight annas. Cases of adultery are comparatively rare. When offenders are caught a heavy fine is imposed if they are well-to- do, and if they are not, a smaller fine and a beating.

Customs At Birth. "The Oraons," Father Dehon continues, "are a very prolific race, and whenever they are allowed to live without being too much oppressed they increase prodigiously. What strikes you when you come to an Oraon village is the number of small dirty children playing everywhere, while you can scarcely meet a woman that does not carry a baby on her back. The women seem, to a great extent, to have been exempted from the curse to our first mother: 'Thou shalt bring forth, etc.' They seem to give birth to their children with the greatest ease. There is no period of uncleanness, and the very day after giving birth to a child, you will see the mother with her baby tied up in a cloth on her back and a pitcher on her head going, as if nothing had happened, to the village spring." This practice, it may be remarked in parenthesis, may arise from the former observance of the couvade, the peculiar custom prevailing among several primitive races, by which, when a child is born, the father lies in the house and pretends to be ill, while the mother gets up immediately and goes about her work. The custom has been reported as existing among the Oraons by one observer from Bilâspur,1 but so far without confirmation.

Naming A Child. "A child is named eight or ten days after birth, and on this day some men of the village and the members of the family assemble at the parents' house. Two leaf-cups are brought, one full of water and the other of rice. After a preliminary formula grains of rice are let fall into the cup, first in the name of the child and then successively in those of his ancestors in the following order: paternal grandfather, paternal great-grandfather, father, paternal uncle, maternal grandfather, other relatives. When the grain dropped in the name of any relative meets the first one dropped to represent the child, he is given the name of that relative and is probably considered to be a reincarnation of him."

Branding And Tattooing. "When a boy is six or seven years old it is time for him to become a member of the Dhîmkuria or common dormitory. The eldest boys catch hold of his left arm and, with burning cloth, burn out five deep marks on the lower part of his arm. This is done so that he may be recognised as an Oraon at his death when he goes into the other world." The ceremony was probably the initiation to manhood on arrival at puberty, and resembled those prevalent among the Australian tribes. With this exception men are not tattooed, but this decoration is profusely resorted to by women. They have three parallel vertical lines on the forehead which form a distinctive mark, and other patterns on the arms, chest, knees and ankles. The marks on the knees are considered to be steps by which the wearer will ascend to heaven after her death. If a baby cries much it is also tattooed on the nose and chin.

Dormitory Discipline.

1. Panna Lâl, Revenue Inspector.

696 The Dhîmkuria fraternity, Colonel Dalton remarks, is under the severest penalties, bound down to secrecy in regard to all that takes place in their dormitory; and even girls are punished if they dare to tell tales. They are not allowed to join in the dances till the offence is condoned. They have a regular system of fagging in this curious institution. The small boys serve those of larger growth, shampoo their limbs, comb their hair, and so on, and they are sometimes subjected to severe discipline to make men of them.

Disposal Of The Dead. The Oraons either bury or burn the dead. As the corpse is carried to the grave, beginning from the first cross-roads, they sprinkle a line of rice as far as the grave or pyre. This is done so that the soul of the deceased may find its way back to the house. Before the burial or cremation cooked food and some small pieces of money are placed in the mouth of the corpse. They are subsequently, however, removed or recovered from the ashes and taken by the musicians as their fee. Some clothes belonging to the deceased and a vessel with some rice are either burnt with the corpse or placed in the grave. As the grave is being filled in they place a stalk of orai1 grass vertically on the head of the corpse and gradually draw it upwards as the earth is piled on the grave. They say that this is done in order to leave a passage for the air to pass to the nostrils of the deceased. This is the grass from which reed pens are made, and the stalk is hard and hollow. Afterwards they plant a root of the same grass where the stalk is standing over the head of the corpse. On the tenth day they sacrifice a pig and fowl and bury the legs, tail, ears and nose of the pig in a hole with seven balls of iron dross. They then proceed to the grave scattering a little parched rice all the way along the path. Cooked rice is offered at the grave. If the corpse has been burnt they pick up the bones and place them in a pot, which is brought home and hung up behind the dead man's house. At night-time a relative sits inside the house watching a burning lamp, while some friends go outside the village and make a miniature hut with sticks and grass and set fire to it. They then call out to the dead man, 'Come, your house is being burnt,' and walk home striking a mattock and sickle together. On coming to the house they kick down the matting which covers the doorway; the man inside says, 'Who are you?' and they answer, 'It is we.' They watch the lamp and when the flame wavers they believe it to show that the spirit of the deceased has followed them and has also entered the house. Next day the bones are thrown into a river and the earthen pot broken against a stone.

Worship Of Ancestors. The pitras or ancestors are worshipped at every festival, and when the new rice is reaped a hen is offered to them. They pray to their parents to accept the offering and then place a few grains of rice before the hen. If she eats them, it is a sign that the ancestors have accepted the offering and a man kills the hen by crushing its head with his closed fist. This is probably, as remarked by Father Dehon, in recollection of the method employed before the introduction of knives, and the same explanation may be given of he barbaric method of the Baigas of crushing a pig to death by a beam of wood used as a see-saw across its body, and of the Gond bride and bridegroom killing a fowl by treading on it when they first enter their house after the wedding.

Religion. The Supreme Deity. The following account of the tribal religion is abridged from Father Dehon's full and interesting description: "The Oraons worship a supreme god who is known as Dharmes; him they invoke in their greatest difficulties when recourse to the village priests and magicians has proved useless. Then they turn to Dharmes and say, 'Now we have tried everything, but we have still you who can help us.' They sacrifice to him a white cock. They think that god is too good to punish them, and that they are not answerable to him in any way for their conduct; they believe that everybody will be treated in the same way in the other world. There is no hell

1. Sorghum halepense.

697 for them or place of punishment, but everybody will go to merkha or heaven. The Red Indians speak of the happy hunting-grounds and the Oraons imagine something like the happy ploughing-grounds, where everybody will have plenty of rice-beer to drink after his labour. They look on god as a big zamíndâr or landowner, who does nothing himself, but keeps a chaprâsi as an agent or debt-collector; and they conceive the latter as having all the defects so common to his profession. Baranda, the chaprâsi, exacts tribute from them mercilessly, not exactly out of zeal for the service of his master, but out of greed for his talbâna or perquisites. When making a sacrifice to Dharmes they pray: 'O god, from to-day do not send any more your chaprâsi to punish us. You see we have paid our respects to you, and we are going to give him his dastîri (tip).

Minor Godlings. "But in the concerns of this world, to obtain good crops and freedom from sickness, a host of minor deities have to be propitiated. These consist of bhîts or spirits of the household, the sept, the village, and common deities, such as the earth and sun. Chola Pâcho or the lady of the grove lives in the sarna or sacred grove, which has been left standing when the forest was cleared. She is credited with the power of giving rain and consequently good crops. Churel is the spirit of a woman who has died while pregnant or in childbirth. She hovers over her burial-place and is an object of horror and fright to every passer-by. It is her nature to look out for a man whom she liked best during her lifetime. She will then come at night and embrace him and tickle him under the arms, making him laugh till he dies. Bhîla or the wanderers are the shades of persons who have died in unnatural death, either having been murdered, hanged, or killed by a tiger. 'They all keep the scars of their respective wounds and one can imagine what a weird-looking lot they are. They are not very powerful and are responsible only for small ailments, like nightmares and slight indispositions. When an Ojha or spirit-raiser discovers that a Bhîla has appeared in the light of his lamp he shows a disappointed face, and says: 'Pshaw, only Bhîla !' No sacrifice is offered to him, but the Ojha then and there takes a few grains of rice, rubs them in charcoal and throws them at the flame of his lamp, saying, 'Take this, Bhîla, and go away.' Mîrkuri is the thumping bhît. Europeans, to show their kindness and familiarity, thump people on the back. If this is followed by fever or any kind of sickness it will be ascribed to the passing of Mîrkuri from the body of the European into the body of the native. "Chordewa is a witch rather than a bhît. It is believed that some women have the power to change their soul into a black cat, who then goes about in the houses where there are sick people. Such a cat has a peculiar way of mewing, quite different from its brethren, and is easily recognised. It steals quietly into the house, licks the lips of the sick man and eats the food which has been prepared for him. The sick man soon gets worse and dies. They say it is very difficult to catch the cat, as it has all the nimbleness of its nature and the cleverness of a bhît. However, they some times succeed, and then something wonderful happens. The woman out of whom the cat has come remains insensible, as it were in a state of temporary death, until the cat re-enters her body. Any wound inflicted on the cat will be inflicted on her; if they cut its ears or break its legs or put out its eyes the woman will suffer the same mutilation. The Oraons say that formerly they used to burn any woman who was suspected of being a Chordewa.

Human Sacrifice. "There is also Anna Kuâri or Mahâdhani, who is in our estimation the most cruel and repulsive deity of all, as she requires human sacrifice. Those savage people, who put good crops above everything, look upon her in a different light. She can give good crops and make a man rich, and this covers a multitude of sins. People may be sceptical about it and say that it is impossible that in any part of India under the British Government there should still be human sacrifices. Well, in spite of all the vigilance of the authorities, there are still human sacrifices in Chota Nâgpur. As the vigilance of the authorities increases, so also does the carefulness of the Urkas or Otongas increase. They choose for their victims poor waifs or strangers, whose disappearance no one will notice. April and May are the months in which

698 the Urkas are at work. Doísa, Panâri, Kîkra and Sargîja have a very bad reputation. During these months no strangers will go about the country alone and during that time nowhere will boys and girls be allowed to go to the jungle and graze the cattle for fear of the Urkas. When an Urka has found a victim he cuts his throat and carries away the upper part of the ring finger and the nose. Anna Kuâri finds votaries not only among the Oraons, but especially among the big zamíndârs and Râjas of the Native States. When a man has offered a sacrifice to Anna Kuâri she goes and lives in his house in the form of a small child. From that time his fields yield double harvest, and when he brings in his paddy he takes Anna Kuâri and rolls her over the heap to double its size. But she soon becomes restless and is only pacified by new human sacrifices. At last after some years she cannot bear remaining in the same house any more and kills everyone."

Christianity. In Jashpur State where the Oraons number 47,000 about half the total number have become Christians. The non-Christians call themselves Sansâr, and the principal difference between them is that the Christians have cut off the pigtail, while the Sansâr retain it. In some families the father may be a Sansâr and the son a Kiristân, and they live together without any distinction. The Christians belong to the Roman Catholic and Lutheran Missions, but though they all know their Church, they naturally have little or no idea of the distinctions of doctrine.

Festivals. The Karma Or May-Day. The principal festivals are the Sârhîl, celebrated when the sâl tree1 flowers, the Karma or May-day when the rice is ready for planting out, and the Kanihâri or harvest celebration. "At the Karma festival a party of young people of both sexes," says Colonel Dalton, "proceed to the forest and cut a young karma tree (Nauclea parvifolia ) or the branch of one; they bear this home in triumph and plant it in the centre of he Akhâra or wrestling ground. Next morning all may be seen at an early hour in holiday array, the elders in groups under the fine old tamarind tress that surround the Akhâra, and the youth of both sexes, arm-linked in a huge circle, dancing round the karma tree, which, festooned with strips of coloured cloth and sham bracelets and merry laughter of the young people encircling it, reminds one of the gift-bearing tree so often introduced at out own great festival." The tree, however, probably corresponds to the English Maypole, and the festival celebrates the renewal of vegetation.

The Sâl Flower Festival. At the Sârhîl festival the marriage of the sun-god and earth-mother is celebrated, and this cannot be done till the sâl tree gives the flowers for the ceremony. It takes place about the beginning of April on any day when the tree is in flower. A white cock is taken to represent the sun and a black hen the earth; their marriage is celebrated by marking them with vermilion, and they are sacrificed. The villagers then accompany the Pâhan or Baiga, the village priest, to the sarna or sacred grove, a remnant of the old sâl forest in which is located Sarna Burhi or 'The old women of the grove.' "To this dryad," writes Colonel Dalton, "who is supposed to have great influence over the rain (a superstition not improbably founded on the importance of tress as cloud-compellers), the party offer five fowls, which are afterwards eaten, and the remainder of the day is spent in feasting. They return laden with the flowers of the sâl tree, and next morning with the Baiga pay a visit to every house, carrying the flowers. The women of the village all stand on the threshold of their houses, each holding two leaf-cups; one empty to receive the holy water; the other with rice-beer for the Baiga. His reverence stops at each house, and places flowers over it and in the hair of the women. He sprinkles the holy water on the seeds that have been kept for the new year and showers blessings on every house, saying, 'May your rooms and granary filled with paddy that the Baiga's name may be great.' When this is accomplished the woman throws a vessel of water over his venerable person, heartily dousing the man whom the moment before they were treating with such profound respect. This is no doubt a rain-charm, and is a familiar process.

1. Shorea robusta.

699 The Baiga is prevented from catching cold by being given the cup of rice-beer and is generally gloriously drunk before he completes his round. There is now a general feast, and afterwards the youth of both sexes, gaily decked with the sâl blossoms, the pale cream-white flowers of which make the most becoming of ornaments against their dusky skins and coal- black hair, proceed to the Akhâra and dance all night."

The Harvest Festival. The Kanihâri, as described by Father Dehon, is held previous to the threshing of the rice, and none is allowed to prepare his threshing-floor until it has been celebrated. It can only take place on a Tuesday. A fowl is sacrificed and its blood sprinkled on the new rice. In the evening a common feast is held at which the Baiga presides, and when this is over they go to the place where Mahâdeo is worshipped and the Baiga pours milk over the stone that represents him. The people then dance. Plenty of rice-beer is brought, and a scene of debauchery takes place in which all restraint is put aside. They sing the most obscene songs and give vent to all their passions. On that day no one is responsible for any breach of morality.

Fast For The Crops. Like other primitive races, and the Hindus generally, the Oraons observe the Lenten fast, as explained by Sir J. G. Frazer, after sowing their crops. Having committed his seed with every propitiatory rite to the bosom of Mother Earth, the savage waits with anxious expectation to see whether she will once again perform on his behalf the yearly miracle of the renewal of vegetation, and the growth of the corn-plants from the seed which the Greeks typified by the descent of Persephone into Hades for a season of the year and her triumphant re-emergence to the upper air. Meanwhile he fasts and atones for any sin or shortcoming of his which may possibly have offended the goddess and cause her to hold her hand. From the beginning of Asârh (June) the Oraons cease to shave, abstain from eating turmeric, and make no leaf-plates for their food, but eat it straight from the cooking-vessel. This they now say is to prevent the field-mice from consuming the seeds of the rice.

Physical Appearance And Costume Of The Oraons. "The colour of most Oraons," Sir H. Risley states, "is the darkest brown approaching to black; the hair being jet-black, coarse and rather inclined to be frizzy. Projecting jaws and teeth, thick lips, low narrow foreheads, and broad flat noses are the features characteristic of the tribe. The eyes are often bright and full, and no obliquity is observable in the opening of the eyelids." "The Oraon youths," Dalton states, "though with features very far from being in accordance with the statutes of beauty, are of a singularly pleasing class, their faces beaming with animation and good humour. They are a small race, averaging 4 feet 5 inches, but there is perfect proportion in all parts models of symmetry. There is about the young Oraons a jaunty air and mirthful expression that distinguishes him from the Munda or Ho, who has more of the dignified gravity that is said to characterise the North American Indian. The Oraon is particular about his personal appearance only so long as he is unmarried, but he is no hurry to withdraw from the Dhîmkuria community, and generally his first youth is passed before he resigns his decorative propensities. "He wears his hair long like a woman, gathered in a knot behind, supporting, when he is in gala costume, red instruments useful and ornamental, with numerous ornaments of brass.1 At the very extremity of the roll of hair gleams a small circular mirror set in brass, from which, and also from his ears, bright brass chains with spiky pendants dangle, and as he moves with the springy elastic step of youth and tosses his head like a high-mettled steed in the buoyancy of his animal spirits, he sets all his glittering ornaments in motion and displays as he laughs a row of teeth, round, white and regular, that give light and animation to his

1. In Bilâspur the men have an iron comb in the hair with a circular end and two prongs like a fork. women do not wear this.

700 dusky features. He wears nothing in the form of a coat; his decorated neck and chest are undraped, displaying how the latter tapers to the waist, which the young dandies compress within the smallest compass. In addition to the cloth, there is always round the waist a girdle of cords made of tasar-silk or of cane. This is now a superfluity, but it is no doubt the remnant of a more primitive costume, perhaps the support of the antique fig-leaves. "Out of the age of ornamentation nothing can be more untidy or more unprepossessing than the appearance of the Oraon. The ornaments are nearly all discarded, hair utterly neglected, and for raiment any rags are used. This applies both to males and females of middle age.

Dress Of Women. "The dress of the women consists of one cloth, six yards long, gracefully adjusted so as to form a shawl and a petticoat. The upper end is thrown over the left shoulder and falls with its fringe and ornamented border prettily over the back of the figure. Vast quantities of red beads and a large, heavy brass ornament shaped like a torque are worn round the neck. On the left hand are rings of copper, as many as can be induced on each finger up to the first joint, on the right hand a smaller quantity; rings on the second toe only of brass or bell-metal, and anklets and bracelets of the same material are also worn." The women wear only metal and not glass bangles, and this with the three vertical tattoo-marks on the forehead and the fact that the head and right arm are uncovered enables them to be easily recognised. "The hair is made tolerably smooth amenable by much lubrication, and false hair or some other substance is used to give size to the mass into which it is gathered not immediately behind, but more or less on one side, so that it lies on the neck just behind and touching the right ear; and flowers are arranged in a receptacle made for them between the roll of hair and the head." Rings are worn in the lobes of the ear, but not other ornaments. "When in dancing costume on grand occasions they add to their head-dress plumes of heron feathers, and a gay bordered scarf is tightly bound round the upper part of the body."

Dances. "The tribe I am describing are seen to best advantage at the great national dance meetings called Jâtras, which are held once a year at convenient centres, generally large mango groves in the vicinity of old villages. As a signal to the country round, the flags of each village are brought out on the day fixed and set upon the road that leads to the place of meeting. This incites the young men and maidens to hurry through their morning's work and dig up their jâtra dresses, which are by no means ordinary attire. Those who have some miles to go put up their finery in a bundle to keep it fresh and clean, and proceed to some tank or stream in the vicinity of the tryst grove; and about two o'clock in the afternoon may be seen all around groups of girls laughingly making their toilets in the open air, and young men in separate parties similarly employed. When they are ready the drums are beaten, huge horns are blown, and thus summoned the group from each village forms its procession. In front are young men with swords and shields or other weapons, the village standard-bearers with their flags, and boys waving yaks' tails or bearing poles with fantastic arrangements of garlands and wreaths intended to represent umbrellas of dignity. Sometimes a man riding on a wooden horse is carried, horse and all, by his friends as the Râja, and others assume the form of or paint themselves up to represent certain beasts of prey. Behind this motley group the main body form compactly together as a close column of dancers in alternate ranks of boys and girls, and thus they enter the grove, where the meeting is held in a cheery dashing style, wheeling and countermarching and forming lines, circles and columns with grace and precision. The dance with these movements is called kharia, and it is considered to be an Oraon rather a Munda dance, though Munda girls join in it. When they enter the grove the different groups join and dance the kharia together, forming one vast procession and then a monstrous circle. The drums and musical instruments are laid aside, and it is by the voices alone that the time is given; but as many hundreds, nay, thousands, join, the effect is imposing. In serried ranks, so closed up that they appear jammed, they circle round in file, all keeping perfect step, but at regular intervals the strain is terminated by a hurîru, which reminds one of Paddy's 'huroosh' as he 'welts the floor,' and at the same moment they all face

701 inwards and simultaneously jumping up, they come down on the ground with a resounding stamp that marks the finale of the movements, but only for a momentary pause. One voice with a startling yell takes up the strain again, a fresh start is made, and after gyrating thus till they tire of it, the ring breaks up, and separating into village groups they perform other dances independently till near sunset, and then go dancing home."

Social Customs. But more often they go on all night. Mr. Ball mentions their dance as follows:1 "The Oraon dance was distinct from any I had seen by the Santâls or other races. The girls, carefully arranged in lines by sizes, with the tallest at one end and the smallest at the other, firmly grasp one another's hands, and the whole movements are so perfectly in concert that they spring about with us much agility as could a single individual." Father Dehon gives the following interesting notice of their social customs: "The Oraons are very sociable beings, and like to enjoy life together. They are paying visits or pahis to one another nearly the whole year round. In these the handia (beer-jar) always plays a great part. Any man who would presume to receive visitors without offering them a handia would be hooted and insulted by his guests, who would find a sympathising echo from all the people of the village. One may say that from the time of the new rice at the end of September to the end of the marriage feast or till March there is a continual coming and going of visitors. For a marriage feast forty handias are prepared by the groom's father, and all the people of the village who can afford it supply one also. Each handia gives about three gallons of rice-beer, so that in one day and a half, in a village of thirty houses, about 200 gallons of rice-beer are despatched. The Oraons are famous for their dances. They delight in spending the whole night from sunset till morning in this most exciting amusement, and in the dancing season they go from village to village. They get, as it were, intoxicated with the music, and there is never any slackening of the pace. On the contrary, the evolutions seem to increase till very early in the morning, and it sometimes happens that one of the dancers shoots off rapidly from the gyrating group, and speeds away like a spent top, and, whirlwind-like, disappears through paddy-fields and ditches till he falls entirely exhausted. Of course it is the devil who has taken possession of him. One can well imagine in what state the dancers are at the first crow of the cock, and when 'L'aurore avec ses doigts de rose entr'ouvre les portes de Porient,' she finds the girls straggling home one by one, dishevelled, too tired even to enjoy the company of the boys, who remain behind in small groups, still sounding their tom-toms at intervals as if sorry that the performance was so soon over. And, wonderful to say and incredible to witness, they will go straight to the stalls, yoke their bullocks, and work the whole morning with the same spirit and cheerfulness as if they had spent the whole night in refreshing sleep. At eleven o'clock they come home, eat their meal, and stretched out in the verandah sleep like logs until two, when poked and kicked about unmercifully by the people of the house, they reluctantly get up with heavy eyes and weary limbs to resume their work."

Social Rules. The Oraons do not now admit outsiders into the tribe. There is no offence for which a man is permanently put out of caste, but a woman living with any man other than an Oraon is expelled. Temporary expulsion is meted out for the usual offences. The head of the caste panchâyat is called Pannu, and when an offender is reinstated, the Panna first drinks water from his hand, and takes upon himself the burden of the erring one's transgression. For this he usually receives a fee of five rupees, and in some States the appointment is in the hands of the Râja, who exacts a fine of a hundred rupees or more from a new candidate. The Oraons eat almost all kinds of food, including pork, fowls and crocodiles, but abstain from beef. Their status is very low among the Hindus; they are usually made to live in a separate corner of the village, and are sometimes not allowed to draw water from the village well. As already stated, the dress of the men consists only of a narrow wisp of cloth round the loins. Some of them say, like the Gonds, that they are descended from the subjects of Râwan, the

1. Jungle Life in India , p. 134.

702 demon king of Ceylon; this ancestry having no doubt in the first instance been imputed to them by the Hindus. And they explain that when Hanumân in the shape of a giant monkey came to the assistance of Râma, their king Râwan tried to destroy Hanumân by taking all the loin-cloths of his subjects and tying them soaked in oil to the monkey's tail with view to setting them on fire and burning him to death. The device was unsuccessful and Hanumân escaped, but since then the subjects of Râwan and their descendants have never had a sufficient allowance of cloth to cover them properly.

Character. "The Oraons," Colonel Dalton says, "if not the most virtuous, are the most cheerful of the human race. Their lot is not a particularly happy one. They submit to be told that they are especially created as a labouring class, and they have had this so often drummed into their ears that they believe and admit it. I believe they relish work if the taskmaster be not over- exacting. Oraons sentenced to imprisonment without labour, as sometimes happens, for offences against the excise, insist on joining the working gangs, and wherever employed, if kindly treated, they work as if they felt an interest in their task. In cold weather or hot, rain or sun, they go cheerfully about it, and after some nine or ten hours of toil (seasoned with a little play and chaff among themselves) they return blithely home in flower-decked groups holding each other by the hand or round the waist and singing."

Language. The Kurukh language, Dr. Grierson states, had no written character, but the gospels have been printed in it in the Devanâgri type. The translation is due to the Rev. F. Halm, who had also published a Biblical history, a catechism and other small books in Kurukh, More than five-sixths of the Oraons are still returned speaking their own language.

Oudhia.: -A part of the Oudhia group which is semi-nomadic. They are seen as criminal, thieves, pick-pockets and house breakers. They are also mendicants. They invoke the deity Kali Mata in order to be successful in their criminal actions.

Pakhiwaras.: -In former times they were considered a criminal caste. Now they live as hunters specially in the area of Sialkot.

Pandarams.: -See the Andis.

Paravan.: -Concerning the origin of the Parava fishing community of the south-east coast, the following legends are current.1 The author of the Historia Ecclesiastica (published in Tamil at Tranquebar in 1735) identifies them with the Parvaim of the Scriptures, and adds that, in the time of Solomon, they were famous among those who made voyages by sea; but it does not appear that there is any solid foundation for this hypothesis. It is the general belief among the Paravas that their original country was Ayodhya, or Oudh; and it appears that, previously to the war of Mahâbhârata, they inhabited the territory bordering on the river Yamuna or Juman. At present they are chiefly found in the seaport towns of the Tinnevelly district in the south of India, and also in some of the provinces on the north-west coast of Ceylon. With regard to their origin, there is a variety as well as discordancy of opinions. Some of the Tantras represent them to be descended from a Brâhman by a Sîdra woman, which the Jâtíbédi Nîl (a work of some celebrity among the Tamils) states them to be the

1. See Thurston. Origin and History of the Paravas. Simon Casie Chitty. Journ Roy. As. Soc, IV, 1837.

703 offspring of a Kurava (or basket-maker) begotten clandestinely on a female of the Chatty (or merchant) tribe. But the Paravas have among themselves quite a different tradition concerning their origin, which is founded on mythological fable. They relate that their progenitors were of the race Varuna (god of the sea), and on the occasion, when Siva had called Kartikeya (god of arms) into existence, for destroying the overwhelming power of the Asuras (evil spirits), they sprang up with him from the sacred lake Sarawana, and were like him nursed by the constellation Kartika. At the close of the last kalpa, when the whole earth was covered with a deluge, they constructed a dhóni or boat, and by it escaped the general destruction; and, when dry land appeared, they settled on the spot where the dhóni rested; hence it is called Dhónipura, or the city of the boat. The Paravas were once a very powerful people, and no doubt derived much of their ascendancy over other tribes from their knowledge of navigation. They has a succession of kings among them, distinguished by the title of Adíyarâsen, some of whom seem to have resided at Uttara Kósamangay, called at that time the city of Mangay, a famous place of Hindu pilgrimage in the neighbourhood of Râmnâd. In the Purâna entitled Valévísî Purânam, we meet with the following fable. Parvati, the consort of Siva, and her son Kartikéya, having offended the deity by revealing some ineffable mystery, were condemned to quit their celestial mansions, and pass through an infinite number of mortal forms, before they could be re-admitted to the divine presence. On the entreaty of Parvati, however, they were allowed, as a mitigation of the punishment, each to undergo but one transmigration, and, as about this time, Triambaka, King of the Paravas, and Varuna Valli his consort were making tapas (acts of devotion) to obtain issue, Parvati condesended to be incarnated as their daughter under the name of Tírysér Madenté. Her son Kartikéya, transforming himself into a fish, was roaming for some time in the north sea. It appears, however, that he left the north, and made his way into the south sea, where, growing to an immense size, he attacked the vessels employed by the Paravas in their fisheries, and threatened to destroy their trade. Whereupon the King Triambaka made a public declaration that whoever would cathc the fish should have his daughter to wife. Siva, now assuming the character of a Parava, caught the fish, and became re-united to his consort. In that section of the Mahâbhârata entitled Ádiparva it is said that the King of the Paravas, who resided on the banks of the Jumna, having found an infant girl in the belly of a fish, adopted her as his own daughter, giving her the name of Machchakindi, and that, when she grew up, she was employed, as was customary with the females of the Parava tribe, to ferry passengers over the river. On a certain day, the sage Parâsara having chanced to meet her at the ferry, she became with child by him, and was subsequently delivered of a son, the famous Vyâa who composed the Purânas. Her great personal charms afterwards induced King Santanu of the lunar race to admit her to his royal bed, and by him she became the mother of Vichitravírya, the grandsire of the Pândavas and Kauravas, whose contentions for the throne of Hastinâpîra form the subject of the Mahâbhârata. Hence the Paravas boast of being allied to the lunar race, and call themselves accordingly, besides displaying at their wedding feasts the banners and emblems peculiar to it. In the drama of Alliarasâny, who is supposed to have resided at Kudremallé on the north-west coast of Ceylon, the Paravas act a conspicuous part. We find them employed by the princess in fishing for pearls off the coast, and that under a severe penalty they were obliged to furnish her with ten kalams of pearls every season.

It is noted, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, that "there are in reality three castes which answer to the name Paravan, and which speak Tamil, Malayâlam, and Canarese respectively. Probably all three are descended from the Tamil Paravans or Paratavans. The Tamil Paravans are fishermen of the sea coast. Their head-quarters is Tuticorin, and their headman is called Talavan. They are mostly Native Christians. They claim to be Kshatriyas of the Pândyan line of kings, and will eat only in the houses of Brâhmans. The Malayâlam Paravans are shell collectors, lime burners and gymnasts, and their women act as midwives. Their titles are Kurup, Vârakurup, and Nîrankurup (nîru, lime). The Canarese Paravas are umbrella-makers and devil dancers." It has been suggested that the west coast Paravas are

704 the descendants of those who fled from Tinnevelly, in order to avoid the oppression of the Muhammadans.

In the Census Report, 1871, the Paravas are summed up as being a fishing caste on the Madura and Tinnevelly coast, who "were found by the Portuguese, on their arrival in India, to be groaning under the Muhammadan yoke, and were assisted by the Portuguese on condition of their becoming Christians. This general conversion, for political ends, explains why the fishing population of the present day along the south-east coast is to a considerable extent Roman Catholic." It is noted by Mr. S.P. Rice1 that the fishermen "who live in the extreme south are devout Catholics, and have preserved the Portuguese names by which their fathers were baptized into the Church, so that incongruous as it sounds, José Fernandez and Maria Santiago are but humble folk, catching fish in a primitive way, with no more clothing on than a small loin cloth and a picture of the Virgin."

Concerning the Paravas, Baldaeus2 writes as follows. "The kingdom of Trevancor borders upon that of Coulang: all along the sea-shore inhabit the Paruas, who being for the most part Christians, you see the Shore all along as far as Comoryn, and even beyond it to Tutecoryn, full of little Churches, some of Wood, others of Stone. These People own their Conversion to Franciscus Xaverius, he being the first who planted the Principles of Christianity among them; they being so much taken with the reasonableness of the Ten commandments, that they received baptism in great numbers, the an accidental quarrel between a Parua and a Mahometan proved a strong motive to their Conversion.

The Paruas being sorely oppressed by the Mahometans, one John de Crus, a Native of Malabar, but who had been in Portugal, and honourably treated by John, the then king of Portugal, advised them to seek for aid at Cochin against the Moors, and to receive baptism. Accordingly some of the chief men among them (called Patangatays in their Language) were sent upon that errand to Cochin, where being kindly received they (in honour of him who had given his advice) took upon them the Sirname of Crus, a name still retained by most persons of note among the Paruas. In short, being delivered from the Moorish yoke, and the pearl-fishery (which formerly belonged to them) restored to the right Owners, above 20,000 of them received Baptism."

"The commencement of the Roman catholic Mission in Tinnevelly," Bishop caldwell writes,3 "dates from 1532, when certain Paravas, representatives of the Paravas of fishing caste, visited Cochin for the purpose of supplicating the aid of the Portuguese against their Muhammadan oppressors, and were baptized there by Michael Vaz, Vicar-General of the Bishop of Goa. The same ecclesiastic, with other priests, accompanied the fleet which sailed for the purpose of chastising the Muhammadans, and, as soon as that object was accomplished, set about baptizing the Paravas all along the coast, in accordance with the agreement into which their representatives had entered. The entire Parava caste adopted the religion of their Portuguese deliverers and most of them received baptism. Some, however, did not receive baptism for some cause till Xavier's time, ten years afterwards. Xavier, on his arrival in the south, could not speak Tamil, and spent some months in committing to memory Tamil translations of the Creed, Lord's Prayer, Ave Maria, and Decalogue. He then proceeded to visit all the villages of the coast, bell in hand, to collect the inhabitants, and gave them Christian instruction. The Paravas thus Christianised-- called generally at that time the comorin Christians-- inhabited thirty villages, and numbered, according to the most credible account, twenty thousand souls. These villages extended all the way along the coast at irregular intervals from cape Comorin to the island promontory of Râmésvaram, if not beyond. It does not appear that any village in the interior joined in the movement." "It appears," Mr. Casie Chitty states "that the

1. Occasional Essays on Native South Indian Life, 1901. 2. A description of ye East India Casts of Malabar and Coromandel, 1703. 3. History of Tinnevelly.

705 Portuguese treated the Paravas with great kindness, permitted intermarriages, and even allowed them to assume their surnames, so that we find among them many Da Limas, Da Cruzs, Da Andrados, Da Canhas, etc. They gave the chief of the Paravas the title of Dom, and allowed him the exclusive right of wearing a gold chain with a cross as a badge of nobility. [The name of a recent hereditary chief or Jâti Talaivan or Talaivamore of the Paravas was Gabriel de Cruz Lazarus Motha Vas.] As soon as the Dutch took possession of Tutocoryn (Tuticorin) and other adjacent towns where the Paravas are found, they employed Dr. Baldaeus and a few other ministers of their persuasion to suppress the Roman Catholic faith, and to persuade the Paravas to adopt their own in its stead; but in this they met with a total failure, and were once very nearly bringing on a general revolt. Notwithstanding the intolerance of the Dutch with regard to the Romish Church, the Paravas still remember them with gratitude, as they afforded them the means of extensive livelihood by establishing in their principal town (Tutocoryn) a public manufactory of cloth, and thus maintaining a considerable working capital."

Concerning the history of the Paravas, and their connection with the pearl-fisheries on the Indian side of the Gulf of Manaar, much information is given by Mr. J. Hornell,1 from whose account the following extracts are taken. "When the Portuguese rounded Cape Comorin, they found the pearl fisheries of the Gulf of Manarr in the hands of the Paravas, whom tradition shows to have had control of this industry from time immemorial. Of the origin of these people we know extremely little. We know, however, that in the old days, from 600 B.C. and for 1,500 years or more thereafter, the country now comprehended in the districts of Madura and Tinnevelly formed the great Tamil kingdom of Pândya. And, in the old Tamil work called the Kalveddu, the position of the pearl fishing caste to this monarchy is incidentally mentioned in the following extract: 'Vidanarayanen Cheddi and the Paravu men who fished pearls by paying tribute to Alliyarasani, daughter of Pandya, king of Madura, who went on a voyage, experienced bad weather in the sea, and were driven to the shores of Lanka, where they founded Karainerkai and Kutraimalai. Vidanarayanen Cheddi had the treasures of his ship stored there by the Paravas, and established pearl fisheries at Kadalihilapam and Kallachihilapam, and introduced the trees which change iron into gold.' In the Maduraik- kanchi the Paravas are described as being most powerful in the country round Korkai. 'Well fed on fish and armed with bows, their hordes terrified their enemies by their dashing valour.' The Maduraik-kanchi describes Korkai as the chief town in the country of Parathavar and the seat of the pearl fishery, with a population consisting chiefly of pearl divers and chank cutters.2 When the Pandyan kingdom was powerful, the Paravas had grants of certain rights from the monarchy, paying tribute from the produce of the fisheries, and receiving protection and immunity from taxation in return. The conditions under which the Paravas lived at the opening of the sixteenth century are graphically set forth in a report, dated 19th December, 1669, written by Van Reede and Laurens Pyh, respectively Commandant of the coast of Malabar and Canara and senior merchant and Chief of the sea-ports of Madura. Under the protection of those Râjas there lived a people, which had come to these parts from other countries3 they are called Paravas they lived a seafaring life, gaining their bread by fishing and by diving for pearls; they had purchased from the petty Râjas small streaks of the shore, along which they settled and built villages, and they divided themselves as their numbers progressively increased. In these purchased lands they lived under the rule of their own headmen, paying to the Râjas only an annual present, free from all other taxes which bore upon the natives so heavily, looked upon as strangers, exempt from tribute or subjection to the Râjas, having a chief of their own election, whose descendants are still called kings of the Paravas, and who drew a revenue from the whole people, which in process of time has spread itself from Quilon to Bengal. Their importance and power have not been reduced by

1. Report on the Indian Pearl fisheries in the Gulf of Manaar, 1905. 2. Shell of the gastropod mollusc, Turbinella rapa. 3. "This," Mr. Hornell writes, "is most improbable. They are more probably the descendants of Naga fishermen settled in the district prior to the immigration of Tamil invaders.

706 this dispersion, for they are seen at every pearl fishery (on which occasions the Paravas assemble together) surpassing in distinction, dignity and outward honours all other persons there. The pearl fishery was the principal resource and expedient from which the Paravas obtained a livelihood, but as from their residence so near the sea they had no manner of disposing of their pearls, they made an agreement with the Râjas that a market day should be proclaimed throughout their dominions, when merchants might securely come from all parts of India, and at which the divers and cutlers necessary to furnish provisions for the multitude might also meet; and, as this assemblage would consist of two different races, namely, the Paravas and subjects of the Râjas, as well as strangers and travellers; two kinds of guards and tribunals were to be established to prevent all disputes and quarrels arising during this open market, every man being subject to his own judge, and his case being decided by him; all payments were then also divided among the headmen of the Paravas, who were the owners of that fishery, and who hence became rich and powerful; they had weapons and soldiers of their own, which they were able to defend themselves against the violence of the Râjas or their subjects, The Moors who had spread themselves over India, and principally along the coasts of Madura, were strengthened by the natives professing Muhammadanism, and by the Arabs, Saracens, and the Privateers of the Sammoryn,1 and they began also to take to pearl diving as an occupation, but being led away by ill-feeling and hope of gain, they often attempted to outreach the Paravas, some of whom even they gained to their party and to their religion, by which means they obtained so much importance, that the Râjas joined themselves to the Moors, anticipating great advantages from the trade which they carried on, and from their power at sea; and thus the Paravas were oppressed, although they frequently rose against their adversaries, but they always got the worst of it, until at last in a pearl fishery at Tutucoryn, having purposely raised a dispute, they fell upon the Moors, and killed some thousands of them, burnt their vessels, and remained masters of the country, though much in fear that the Moors, joined by the pirates of Calicut, would rise against them in revenge. The Portuguese arrived about this time with one ship at Tutucoryn; the Paravas requested them for assistance, and obtained a promise of it, on conditions that they should become Christians; this they generally agreed to, and having sent Commissioners with some of the Portuguese to Goa, they were received under the protection of that nation, and their Commissioners returned with priests, and a naval force conveying troops, on which all the Paravas of the seven ports were baptized, accepted as subjects of the King of Portugal, and they dwindled thus from having their own chiefs and their own laws into subordination to priests and Portuguese, who however settled the rights and privileges of the Paravas so firmly that the Râjas no longer dared interfere with them, or attempt to impede or abridge their prerogative; on the contrary they were compelled to admit of separate laws for the Paravas from those which bound their own subjects. The Portuguese kept for themselves the command at sea, the pearl fisheries, the sovereignty over the Paravas, their villages and harbours, whilst the Naick of Madura, who was a subject of the King of the Carnatic, made himself master at this time of the lands about Madura, and in a short time afterwards of all the lower countries from Cape Comoryn to Tanjore, expelling and rooting out all the princes and land proprietors, who were living and reigning there; but on obtaining the sovereignty of all these countries, he wished to subject the Paravas to his authority, in which attempt he was opposed by the Portuguese, who often, not being powerful enough effectual to resist, left the land with the priests and Paravas, and went to the islands of Manaar and Jaffnapatam, from whence they sent coasting vessels along the Madura shores, and caused so much disquiet that the revenue was ruined, trade circumscribed, and almost annihilated, for which reasons the Naick himself was obliged to solicit the Portuguese to come back again. The Political Government of India, perceiving the great benefit of the fishery, appointed in the name of the King of Portugal military chiefs and captains to superintend it, leaving the churches and their administration to the priests. Those captains obtained from the fisheries each time a profit of 6,000 rix-dollars for the king, leaving the remainder of the income from them for the Paravas; but seeing they could not retain their superiority in that manner over the people, which was becoming rich,

1. The Zamorin of Calicut.

707 luxurious, drunken, with prosperity, and with the help of the priests, who protected them, threatening the captains, which often occasioned great disorders, the latter determined to build a fort for the king at Tutucoryn, which was the chief place of all the villages; but the priests who feared by this to lose much of their consequence as well as of their revenue, insisted that, if such a measure was proceeded with, they would all be ruined, on which account they urged on the people to commit irregularities, and made the Paravas fear that the step was a preliminary one to the making all of them slaves; and they therefore raised such hindrances to the work that it never could be completed.

"The Paravas," Mr. Hornell continues, "although the original holders of the fishery rights, had begun, prior to the arrival of the Portuguese, to feel the competition of the restless Muhammadan settlers on the coast, who, coming, as many must have done, from the coast of the Persian Gulf, knew already all there was to know of pearl-fishing. The descendants of these Arabs and their proselytes, known as Moros to the Portuguese, are the Moormen or Lubbais of today. Their chief settlement was Kayal, a town situated near the mouth of the river Tambrapurni, and which in Marco Polo's time (1290-91) was a great and noble city. It shared with Tuticorin for fully 500 years the honour of being one of the two great pearl markets of the coast the one being the Moor, the other the Parava, head-quarters. Menezes, writing in 1622, states that for many years the fisheries had become extinct because of the great poverty into which the Paravas had fallen. Tuticorin, and the sovereignty of the pearl banks and of the Paravas, passed to the Dutch in 1658. In the report of the pearl fishery, 1 1708, the following entries occur in the list of free stones according to ancient customs: 96 to 2 the Naick of Madura 4 Xtian Ian, 92f(1,2) Moorish; 10 to Head Moorman of Cailpatnam 5 Xtian, 5 Moorish. 60 to Theuver 60 Moorish. 185 to the Pattangatyns of this coast all Xtian stones.

"The 185 stones," Mr. Hornell writes, "given to the Pattangatyns or headmen of the Paravas was in the nature of remuneration to these men for assistance in inspecting the banks, in guarding any oyster banks discovered, in recruiting divers, and in superintending operations during the course of the fishery. In 1889, the Madras government recorded its appreciation of the assistance rendered by the Jati Talaivan, and directed that his privilege of being allowed the take of two boats be continued. Subsequently, in 1891, the Government, while confirming the general principle of privilege remuneration to the Jati Talaivan, adopted the more satisfactory regulation of placing the extent of the remuneration upon the basis of a sliding scale, allowing him but one boat when the Government boats numbered 30 or less, two for 31 to boats, three for 61 to 90 boats employed, and so on in this ratio. The value of the Jati Talaivan's two privilege boats in the 1890 fishery was Rs. 1,424, in that of 1900 only Rs. 172." The Jadi Talaivân is said to have been denominated by the Dutch the prince of the seven havens. It is noted in the pearl fishery report, 1900, that "the Paravas are a constant source of trouble, both on the banks and in the kottoo (shed), where they were constantly being caught concealing oysters, which of course were always confiscated. Only one Arab was caught doing this, and his companions abused him for disgracing them."

According to Mr. Casie Chitty, the Paravas are divided into thirteen classes, viz.: Headmen. Dealers in cloth. Divers for corals. Sailors. Divers for pearl-oysters. Divers for chanks. Packers of cloth. Fishers who catch tortoises (turtles). Fishers who catch porpoises. Fishers who catch sharks and other fish.

708 Palanquin bearers. Peons, who wait about the person of the Chief. Fishers, who catch crabs.

It is noted by Canon A. Margóschis that the Parava females are famous for the excessive dilatation of the lobes of the ears, and for wearing therein the heaviest and most expensive gold ear jewels made of sovereigns. Ordinary jewels are said to cost Rs. 200, but heavy jewels are worth Rs. 1,000 and even more. The longer the ears, the more jewels can be used, and this appears to be rationale of elongated ears.

In a recent account of a Parava wedding in high life, I read1 that "the bride and bridegroom proceeded to the church at the head of an imposing procession, with music and banners. The service, which was fully choral, was conducted by a priest from their own community, after which the newly wedded couple went in procession to the residence of the Jâti Talavamore, being escorted by their distinguished host in person. The Jâti Talavamore, who wore a picturesque, if somewhat antiquated, robe, rode in a gorgeously upholstered palanquin, with diamonds, was becomingly attired in a superb kincob bodice.

"In a note on the Paravans of Travancore, Mr. N. Subramani Aiyar writes that "they are found in most tâluks of the State. The title sometimes used by them is Kuruppu. The Paravans of Chengannîr and Tiruvella call themselves Chakka, a word supposed by the castemen to be derived from slagnya or praiseworthy, but perhaps more correctly from Chakku, the basket carried by them in their hands. The Paravans are divided into numerous sections. In the south, the Tamil-speaking division follows the makkathâyam, while all the Malayâlam speaking sections follow the maru-makathâyam law of inheritance.

There is also a difference in the dress and ornaments of the two sections, the former adopting the fashion of the east coast, and the latter that of the west. The Travancore Paravas are really one with the Tamil-speaking Paravas of the east coast. While most of them became converts to Christianity, in Travancore they have tried to preserve their separate existence, as they had already spread into the interior of the country before the proselytism of St. Xavier had made its enduring mark on the sea-coast village.

There is a curious legednd about the settlement of the Chakkas in Central Travancore. Formerly, it would appear, they were Sîdras, but, for some social offence committed by them, they were out-casted by the Edappalli chieftain. They were once great devotees of Srí Krishna, the lord of Tiruvaranmulai in the Tiruvella tâluk. The Paravas say further that they are descended from a high-caste woman married to an Izhava. The word Parava is accordingly derived from para, which in Sanskrit means foreign, The Paravas engage in various occupations, of which the most impotent in Central Travancore are climbing palm trees, catching fish, and washing clothes for Christians, Muhammadans, and depressed classes of Hindus. In South Travancore they make wicker baskets, rattan chairs, and sofas. Women, in all parts of the State, are lime and shell burners. They worship at the Aranmula temple, and pay special worship to Bhadrakâli. Their priest is known as Parakuruppu, who, having to perform four different functions, is also entitled Nâlinnukâran. It is his duty to preside at marriage and other rites, to be caste barber, to carry the news of death to the relations, and to perform the priestly functions at funerals. The Paravas perform both the tâli-kettu and sambandham ceremonies."

1. Madras Mail, 1907.

709 Pardhân.: -Pathâri, Panâl.1- An inferior branch of the minstrels of the Gonds tribes whose occupation is to act as the priests and minstrels of the Gonds. In 1911 the Pardhâns numbered nearly 120,000 persons in the Central Provinces and Berâr. The only other locality where they are found is Hyderâbâd, which returned 8000. The name Pardhân is of Sanskrit origin and signifies a minister or agent. It is the regular designation of the principal minister of a Râjpît State, who often fulfils the functions of a Mayor of the Palace. That it was applied to the tribe in this sense is shown by the fact that they are also known as Diwân, which has the same meaning. There is a tradition that the Gond kings employed Pardhâns as their ministers, and as the Pardhâns acted as genealogists they may have been more intelligent than the Gonds, though they are in no degree less illiterate. To themselves and their Gond relations the Pardhâns are frequently not known by that name, which has been given to them by the Hindus, but as Panâl. Other names for the tribe are Parganiha, Desai and Pathâri. Parganiha is a title signifying the head a pargana, and is now applied by courtesy to some families in Chhattísgarh. Desai has the same signification, being a variant of Deshmukh or the Marâtha revenue officer in charge of a circle of villages. Pathâri means a bard or genealogist, or according to another derivation a hillman. On the Satpîra plateau and in Chhattísgarh the tribe is known as Pardhân Pathâria. In Bâlâghât they are also called Mokâsi. The Gonds themselves look down on the Pardhâns and say that the word Pathâria means inferior, and they relate that Bura Deo, their god, had seven sons. These were talking together one day as they dined and they said that every caste had an inferior branch to do it homage, but they had none; and they therefore agreed that the youngest brother and his descendants should be inferior to the others and make obeisance to them, while the others promised to treat him almost as their equal and give him a share in all the offerings to the dead. The Pardhâns or Pathârias are the descendants of the youngest brother and they accost the Gonds with the greeting 'Bâbu Johâr,' or 'Good luck, sir.' The Gonds return the greeting by saying 'Pathâri Johâr,' or 'How do you do, Pathâri.' Curiously enough Johâr is also the salutation sent by Râjpît chief to an inferior landholder,2 and the custom must apparently have been imitated by the Gonds. A variant of the story is that one day the seven Gond brothers were worshipping their god, but he did not make his appearance; so the youngest of them made a musical instrument out of a string and a piece of wood and played on it. The god was pleased with the music and came down to be worshipped, and hence the Pardhâns as the descendants of the youngest brother continue to play on the kingri or lyre, which is their distinctive instrument. The above stories have been invented to account for the social inferiority of the Pardhâns to the Gonds, but their position merely accords with the general rule that the bards and genealogists of any caste are a degraded section. The fact is somewhat contrary to preconceived ideas, but the explanation given of it is that such persons make their living pursuit of their calling they wander about to attend at wedding feasts all over the country, and consequently take food with many people of doubtful social position. This seems a reasonable interpretation of the rule of the inferiority of the bard, which at any rate obtains generally among the Hindu castes.

Tribal Subdivisions. The tribe has several endogamous divisions, of which the principal are the Râj Pardhâns, the Gânda Pardhâns and the Thothia Pardhâns. The Râj Pardhâns appear to be the descendants of alliances between Râj Gonds and Pardhân women. They say that formerly the priests of Buru Deo lived a celibate life, and both men and women attended to worship the god; but on one occasion the priests ran away with some women and after this the Gonds did not know who should be appointed to serve the deity. While they were thus perplexed, a kingri (or rude wooden lyre) fell from heaven on to the lap of one of them, and, in accordance with this plain indication of the divine will, he became the priest, and was the ancestor of the Râj Pardhâns; and since this contretemps the priests are permitted to marry, while women are no

1 See Russell. 2. Tod's Râjasthân, i. p. 165. But Johâr is a common term of salutation among the Hindus.

710 longer allowed to attend the worship of Buru Deo. The Thothia subtribe are said to be the descendants of illicit unions, the word Thothia meaning 'maimed'; while the Gândas are the offspring of intermarriages between the Pardhâns and members of that degraded caste. Other groups are the Mâdes or those of the Mâd country in Chânda and Bastar, the Khalotias or those of the Chhattísgarh plain, and the Deogarhias of Deogarh in Chhindwâra; and there are also some occupational division, as the Kandres or bamboo-workers, the Gaitas who act as priests in Chhattísgarh, and the Arakhs who engage in service and sell and clothes. A curious grouping is found in Chânda, where the tribe are divided into the Gond Pathâris and Chor or 'thief' Pathâris. The latter have obtained their name from their criminal propensities, but they are said to be proud of it and to refuse to intermarry with any families not having the designation of Chor Pathâri. In Raipur the Pathâris are said to be the offspring of Gonds by women of other castes, and the descendants of such unions. The exogamous divisions of the Pardhâns are the same as those of the Gonds, and like them they are split up into groups worshipping different members of gods whose members may not marry with one another.

Marriage. A Pardhân wedding is usually held in the bridegroom's village in some public place, such as the market or cross-roads. The boy wears a blanket and carries a dagger in his hand. The couple walk five times round in a circle, after which the boy catches hold of the girl's hand. He tries to open her fist which she keeps closed, and when he succeeds in this he places an iron ring on her little finger and puts his right toe over that of the girl's. The officiating priest them ties the ends of their clothes together and five chickens are killed. The customary bride- price is Rs. 12, but it varies in different localities. A widower taking a girl bride has, as a rule, to pay a double price. A widow is usually taken in marriage by her deceased husband's younger brother.

Religion. As the priests of the Gonds, the Pardhâns are employed to conduct the ceremonial worship of their great god Buru Deo, which takes place on the third day of the bright fort-night of Baisâkh (April). Many goats or pigs are then offered to him with liquor, cocoanuts, betel- leaves, flowers, lemons and rice. Buru Deo is always enshrined under a tree outside the village, either of the mahua or sâj (Terminalia tomentosa) varieties. In Chhattísgarh the Gonds say that the origin of Buru Deo was from a child born of an illicit union between a Gond and a Râwat woman. The father murdered the child by strangling it, and its spirit then began to haunt the man and all his relations, and gradually extended its attentions to all the Gonds of the surrounding country. It finally consented to be appeased by a promise of adoration from the whole tribe, and since then has been installed as the principal deity of the Gonds. They story is interesting as showing how completely devoid of any supernatural majesty or power is the Gond conception of their principal deity.

Social customs. Like the Gonds, the Pardhâns will eat almost any kind of food, including beef, pork and the flesh of rats and mice, but they will not eat the leavings of others. They will take food from the hands of Gonds, but the Gonds do not return the compliment. Among the Hindus generally the Pardhâns are much despised, and their touch conveys impurity while that of a Gond does not. Every Pardhân has tattooed on his left arm near the inside of the elbow a dotted figure which represents his totem or the animal, plant or other natural object after which his sept is named. Many of them have a better type of countenance than the Gonds, which is perhaps due to an infusion of Hindu blood. They are also generally more intelligent and cunning. They have criminal propensities, and the Pathârias of Chhattísgarh are especially noted for cattle-lifting and thieving. Writing forty years ago Captain Thomson1 described the Pardhâns of Seoni as bearing the very worst of characters, many of them being regular cattle-lifters and gang robbers. In some parts of Seoni they had become the terror of

1. Seoni Settlement Report (1867), p. 43.

711 the village proprietors, whose houses and granaries they fired if they were in any way reported on or molested. Since that time the Pardhâns have become quite peaceable, but they still have a bad reputation for petty thieving.

Methods Of Cheating Among Pathâris. In Chhattísgarh one subdivision is said to be known as Sonthaga (sona, gold, and thag, a cheat), because they cheat people by passing counterfeit gold. Their methods were described as follows in 1872 by Captain Mc Neill, District Superintendent of Police:1 "They procure a quantity of the dry bark of the pípal,2 mahua,3 tamarind or gular4 trees and set it on fire; when it has become red-hot it is raked into a small hole and a piece of well-polished brass is deposited among the glowing embers. It is constantly moved and turned about and in ten or fifteen minutes taken a deep orange colour resembling gold. It is then placed in a small heap of wood-ashes and after a few minutes taken out again and carefully wrapped in cotton-wool. The peculiar orange colour results from the sulphur and resin in the bark being rendered volatile. They then proceed to buy cattle. On concluding a bargain they suddenly find they have no money, and after some hesitation reluctantly produce the gold, and say they are willing to part with it at a disadvantage, thereby usually inducing the belief that it has been stolen. The cupidity of the owner of the cattle is aroused, and he accepts the gold at a rate which would be very advantageous if it were genuine. At other times they join a party of pilgrims, to which some of their confederates have already obtained admission in disguise, and offer to sell their gold as being in great want of money. A piece is first sold to the confederates on very cheap terms and the other pilgrims eagerly participate." It would appear that the Pathâris have not much to learn from the owners of buried treasure or the confidence or three-card trick performers of London, and their methods are is striking contrast to the guileless simplicity usually supposed to be a characteristic of the primitive tribes. Mr. White states that "All the property acquired is taken back to the village and there distributed by a panchâyat or committee, whose head is known as Mokâsi. The Mokâsi is elected by the community and may also be deposed by it, though he usually holds office for life; to be a successful candidate for the position of Mokâsi one should have wealth and experience and it is not a disadvantage to have been in jail. The Mokâsi superintends the internal affairs of the community and maintains good relations with the proprietor and village watchman by means of gifts."

Musicians And Priests. The Pardhâns and Pathâris are also, as already stated, village musicians, and their distinctive instrument the kingri or kingadi is described by Mr. White as consisting of a stick passed through a gourd. A string or wire is stretched over this and the instrument is played with the fingers. Another kind possesses three strings of woven horse-hair and is played with the help of a bow. The women of the Gânda Pardhân subtribe act as midwives. Mr. Tawney wrote of the Pardhâns of Chhidwâra:5 "The Râj-Pardhâns are the bards of the Gonds and they can also officiate as priests, but the Bhumka generally acts in the latter capacity and the Pardhâns confine themselves to singing the praises of the god. At every public worship in the Deo-khalla or dwelling-place of the gods, there should, if possible, be a Pardhân, and great men use them on less important occasions. They cannot even worship their household gods or be married without the Pardhâns. The Râj-Pardhâns are looked down on by the Gonds, and considered as somewhat inferior, seeing that they take the offerings at religious ceremonies and the clothes of the dear departed at funerals. This has never been the business of a true Gond, who seems never happier than when wandering in the jungle, and who

1. From a collection of notes on Pathâris by various officers. The passage is somewhat abridged in reproduction. 2. Ficus R. 3. Bassia latifolia. 4. Ficus glomerata. 5. Note already quoted.

712 above all things loves his axe, and next to that a tree to chop at. There is nothing in the ceremonies or religion of the Pardhâns to distinguish them from the Gonds."

Pardhi.: -Bahelia, , Moghia, Shikari, Takankar.1 A low caste of wandering fowlers and hunters. They numbered about 15,000 persons in the Central Provinces and Berar in 1911, and are found scattered over several Districts. These figures include about 2000 Bahelias. The word Pardhi is derived from the Marathi paradh, hunting. Shikari, the common term for a native hunter, is an alternative name for the caste but particularly applied to those who use firearms, which most Pardhis refuse to do. Moghia is the Hindustani word for fowler, and Takankar is the name of a small occupational offshoot of the Pardhis in Berar, who travel from village to village and roughen the household grinding- mills when they have worn smooth. The word is derived from takna, to tap or chisel. The caste appears to be a mixed group made up of Bawarias or other Rajput outcastes. Gonds and social derelicts from all sources. The Pardhis perhaps belong more especially to the Maratha country, as they are numerous in Khandesh, and many of them talk a dialect of Gujarati. In the northern Districts their speech is a mixture of Marwari and Hindu, while they often know Marathi or Urdu as well. The name for the similar class of people in northern India is Bahelia, and in the Central Provinces the Bahelias and Pardhis merge into one another and are not recognisable as distinct groups. The caste is recruited from the most diverse elements and women of any except the impure castes can be admitted into the community; and on this account their customs differ greatly in different localities. According to their own legends the first ancestor of the Pardhis was a Gond, to whom Mahadeo taught the art of snaring game so that he might avoid the sin of shooting it; and hence the ordinary Pardhis never use a gun.

Subdivisions. Like other wandering castes the Pardhis have a large number of endogamous groups, varying lists being often given in different areas. The principal subcastes appear to be the Shikari or Bhil Pardhis, who use firearms; the Phanse Pardhis, who hunt with traps and snares; the Langoti Pardhis, so called because they wear only a narrow strip of cloth round the loins; and the Takankars. Both the Takankars and Langotis have strong criminal tendencies. Several other groups are recorded in different Districts, as the Chitewale, who hunt with a tame leopard; the Gayake, who stalk their prey behind a bullock; the Gosain Pardhis, who dress like religious mendicants in ochre-coloured clothes and do not kill deer, but only hares, jackals and foxes; the Shishi ke Telwale, who sell crocodile's oil; and the Bandarwale who go about with perfoming monkeys. The Bahelias have a subcaste known as Karijat, the members of which only kill birds of a black colour. Their exogamous groups are nearly all those of Rajput tribes, as Sesodia, Panwar, Solanki, Chauhan, Rathor, and so on; it is probable that these have been adopted through imitation by vagrant Bawarias and others sojourning in Rajputana. There are also a few groups with titular or other names, and it is stated that members of clans bearing Rajput names will take daughters from the others in marriage, but will not give their daughters to them.

Marriage And Funeral Customs. Girls appear to be somewhat scarce in the caste and a bride-price usually paid, which is given as Rs. 9 in Chanda, Rs. 35 in Bilaspur, and Rs. 60 or more in Hoshangabad and Saugor. If a girl should be seduced by a man of the caste she would be united to him by the ceremony of a widow's marriage: but her family will require a bride from her husband's family in exchange for the girl whose value he has destroyed. Even if led astray by an outsider, or if a girl is debauched by her brother, she may still be married to one of the community, but no one will take food from her hands during her lifetime, though her children will be recognised

1. See Russell. This article is partly compiled from papers by Mr. Aduram Chaudhri and Pandit Pyare Lal Misra of the Gazetteer Office, and extracts from Mr. Kitts' Berar Census Report (1881), and Mr. Sewell's note on the caste quoted in Mr. Gayer's Lectures on the Criminal Tribes of the Central Provinces.

713 as proper Pardhis. A special fine of Rs. 100 is imposed on a brother who commits this crime. The ceremony of marriage varies according to the locality in which they reside; usually the couple walk seven times round a tanda or collection of their small mat tents. In Berar a cloth is held up by four poles as a canopy over them and they are preceded by a married woman carrying five pitchers of water. Divorce and the marriage of widows are freely permitted. The caste commonly bury their dead, placing the head to the north. They do not shave their heads in token of mourning.

Religion. In Berar their principal deity is the goddess Devi, who is known by different names. Every family of Langoti Pardhis has, Mr. Gayer states,1. its image in silver of the goddess, and because of this no Langoti Pardhi woman will wear silver below the waist or hang sari on a peg, as it must never be put on the same level as the goddess. They also sometimes refuse to wear red or coloured clothes, one explanation for this being that the image of the goddess is placed on a bed of red cloth. In Hoshangabad their principal deity is called Guraiya Deo, and his image, consisting of a human figure embossed in silver, is kept in a leather bag on the west side of their tents; and for this reason women going out of the encampment for a necessary purpose always proceed to the east. They also sleep with their feet to the east. Goats are offered to Guraiya Deo and their horns are placed in his leather bag. In Hoshangabad they sacrifice a fowl to the ropes of their tents at the Dasahra and Diwali festivals, and on the former occasion clean their hunting implements and make offerings to them of turmeric and rice. They are reported to believe that the sun and moon die and are reborn daily. The hunter's calling is one largely dependent on luck or chance, and, as might be expected, the Pardhis are firm believers in omens, and observe various rules by which they think their fortune will be affected. A favourite omen is the simple device of taking some rice or juari in the hand and counting the grains. Contrary to the usual rule, even numbers are considered lucky and odd ones unlucky. If the first result is unsatisfactory a second or third trial may be made. If a winnowing basket or millstone be left to fall and drop to the right hand it is lucky omen, and similarly if a flower from Devi's garland should fall to the right side. The bellowing of cows, the mewing of a cat, the howling of jackal and sneezing are other unlucky omens. If a snake passes from left to right it is a bad omen and if from right to left a good one. A man must not sleep with his head on the threshold of a house or in the doorway of a tent under penalty of a fine of Rs. 2-8; the only explanation given of this rule is that such a position is unlucky because a corpse is carried out across the threshold. A similar penalty is imposed if he falls down before his wife even by accident. A Pardhi, with the exception of members of the Sesodia clan, must never sleep on a cot, a fine of five rupees being imposed for a breach of this rule. A man who has once caught a deer must not again have hair of his head touched by a razor, and thus the Pardhis may be recognised by their long and unkempt locks. A breach of this rule is punished with a fine of fifteen rupees, but is not observed everywhere. A woman must never step across the rope or peg of a tent, nor upon the place where the blood of a deer has flowed on to the ground. During her monthly period of impurity a woman must not cross a river nor sit in a boat. A Pardhi will never kill or sell a dog and they will not hunt wild dogs even if money is offered to them. This is probably because they look upon the wild dog as a fellow-hunter, and consider that to do him injury would bring ill-lick upon themselves. A Pardhi has also theoretically a care for the preservation of game. When has caught a number of birds in his trap, he will let a pair of them loose so that they may go on breeding. Women are not permitted to take any part in the work of hunting, but are confined strictly to their household duties. A woman who kicks her husband's stick is fined vegetables and other purposes, but the meaning of the rule is not clear unless one of its uses is for the enforcement of conjugal discipline. A Pardhi may not swear by a dog, a car or a squirrel. Their most solemn oath is in the name of their deity Guraiya Deo, and it is believed that any one who falsely takes this oath will become a leper.

1. Lectures on Criminal Tribes of the C. P., p. 19.

714 The Phans Pardhis may not travel in a railway train, and some of them are forbidden even to use a cart or other conveyance.

Dress, Food And Social Customs. In dress and appearance the Pardhis are disreputable and dirty. Their features are dark and their hair matted and unkempt. They never wear shoes and say that they are protected by a special promise of the goddess Devi to their first ancestor that no insect or reptile in the forest should injure them. The truth is no doubt, that shoes would make it impossible for them to approach their game without disturbing it, and from long practice the soles of their feet become impervious to thorns and minor injuries. Similarly the Langoti Pardhis are so called because they wear only a narrow strip of cloth round the loins. The explanation which they themselves give,1. a somewhat curious one in view of their appearance, is that an ordinary dhoti or loin-cloth if worn might become soiled and therefore unlucky. Their woman do not have their noses pierced and never wear spangles or other marks on the forehead. The Pardhis still obtain fire by igniting a piece of cotton with flint and iron. Mr. Sewell notes that their women eat at the same time as the men, instead of after them as among most Hindus. They explain this custom by saying that on one occasion a woman tried to poison her husband and it was therefore adopted as a precaution against similar attempts; but no doubt it had always prevailed, as the more orthodox practice would be almost incompatible with their gypsy life. Similar reasons of convenience account for their custom of celebrating marriages all the year round and neglecting the Hindu season of the four month of the rains. They travel about with little huts made of matting, which can be rolled up and carried off in few minutes. If rain comes on they seek shelter in the nearest village.2 In some localities the caste eat no food cooked with butter or oil. They are usually considered as an impure caste, whose touch is a defilement to Hindus. Brahmans do not officiate at their ceremonies, though the Pardhis resort to the village Joshi or astrologer to have a propitious date indicated for marriages. They have to pay for such services money as Brahmans usually refuse to accept even uncooked grain from them. After childbirth women are held to be impure and forbidden to cook for their families for a period varying from six weeks to six months. During their periodical impurity they are secluded for four, six or eight days, the Pardhis observing very strict rules in these matters, as is not infrequently the case with the lowest castes. Their caste meetings, Mr. Sewell states, are known as Deokaria or "An act performed in honour of God"; at these meetings arrangements for expeditions are discussed and caste disputes decided. The penalty for social offencess is a fine of a specified quantity of liquor, the liquor provided by male and female delinquents being drunk by the men and women respectively. The punishment for adultery in either sex consists in cutting off a piece if the left ear with a razor, and a man guilty or intercourse with a prostitute is punished as if he had committed adultery. The Pardhi women are said to be virtuous.

Ordeals. The Pardhis still preserve the primitive method of trial by ordeal. If a woman is suspected of misconduct she is made to pick a piece coin out of boiling oil; or a pipal leaf is placed on her hand and a red-hot axe laid over it, and if her hand is burnt or she refuses to stand the test she is pronounced guilty. Or, in the case if a man, the accused is made to dive into water; and as he dives as arrow is shot from a bow. A swift runner fetches and brings back the arrow, and if the diver can remain under water until the runner had returned he is held to be innocent. In Nimar, if an unmarried girl becomes pregnant, two cakes of dough are prepared, a piece of silver being placed in one and a lump of coal in the other. The girl takes one of the cakes, and if is found to contain the coal she is expelled from the community, while if she chooses the piece of silver, she is pardoned and made over to one of the caste. The idea of the ordeal is apparently to decide the question whether her condition was caused by a Pardhi or an outsider.

1. Berar Census Report (1881), p. 135 2. Bombay Ethnographic Survey, art. Pardhi.

715 Methods of catching birds. The Phans Pardhis hunt all kinds of birds and the smaller animals with the Phanda or snare. Mr. Ball describes their procedure as follows:1. "For peacock, saras crane and bustard they have a long series of nooses, each provided with a wooden peg and all connected with a long string. The tension necessary to keep the nooses open is afforded by a slender slip of antelope's horn (very much resembling whalebone), which firms the core of the loop. Provided with several sets of these nooses, a trained bullock and a shield-like cloth screen dyed buff and pierced with eye-holes, the bird-catcher sets out for the jungle, and on seeing a flock of pea-fowl circles round then under cover of the screen and the bullock, while he guides by a nose-string. The birds feed in undisturbed, and the man rapidly pegs out his long strings of nooses, and when all are properly disposed, moves round to the opposite side of the birds and shows himself; when they of course run off, and one or more getting their feet in the nooses fall forwards and flap on the ground; the man immediately captures them, knowing that if the strain is relaxed the nooses will open and permit the bird's escape. Very cruel practices are in vogue with these people with reference to the captured birds, in order to keep them alive until a purchaser is found. The peacocks have a feather passed through the eyelids, by which means they are effectually blinded, while in the case of smaller birds both the legs and wings are broken." Deer, hares and even pig are also caught by a strong rope with running nooses. For smaller birds the appliance is a little rack about four inches high with uprights a few inches apart, between each of which is hung a noose. Another appliance mentioned by Mr. Ball is a set of long conical bag nets, which are kept open by hooks and provided with a pair of folding doors. The Pardhi has also a whistle made of deer-horn, with which he can imitate the call of the birds. Tree birds are caught with bird-lime as described by Sir G. Grierson.2 The Bahelia has several long shafts of bamboos called nal or nar, which are tied together like a fishing rod, the endmost one being covered with bird-lime. Concealing himself behind his bamboo screen the Bahelia approaches the bird and when near enough strikes and secures it with his rod; or he may spread some grain out at a short distance, and as the birds are hopping about over it he introduces the pole, giving it a zig-zag movement and imitating as far as possible the progress of a snake. Having brought the point near one of the birds, which is fascinated by its stealthy approach, he suddenly jerks it into its breast and then drawing it to him, releases the poor palpitating creature, putting it away in his bag, and recommences the same operation. This method does not require the use of bird- lime.

Hunting with leopards. The manner in which the Chita Pardhis use the hunting leopard (felis jubata) for catching deer has often been described.3 The leopard is caught full-grown by a noose in the manner related above. Its neck is first clasped in a wooden vice until it is half-strangled, and its feet are then bound with ropes and a can slipped over its head. It is partially starved for a time, and being always fed by the same man, after a month or so it becomes tame and learns to known its master. It is then led through villages held by ropes in each side to accustom it to the presence of human beings. On a hunting party the leopard is carried in a cart, hooded, and being approached from down wind, the deer allow the cart to get fairly close to them. The Indian antelope or black-buck are the usual quarry, and as these frequent cultivated land, they regard country carts without suspicion. The hood is then taken off and the leopard springs forward at the game with extreme velocity, perhaps exceeding that which any say that for the moment its speed is greater than that of a race-horse. It cannot maintain this for more than three or four hundred yards, however, and if in that distance the animal has not seized its prey, it relinquishes the pursuit and stalks about in a towering passion. The

1. Jungle Life in India, pp. 586-587. 2. Peasant Life in Bihar, p.80. 3. See Jerdon's Mammals of India, p. 97. The account there given is quoted in the Chhindwara District Gazetter, pp. 16- 17.

716 Pardhis say that when it misses the game the leopard is as sulky as a human being and sometimes refuses food for a couple of days. If successful in the pursuit, it seizes the antelope by the throat; the keeper then comes up, and cutting the animal's throat collects some of the blood in the wooden ladle with which the leopard is always fed; this is offered to him, and dropping his hold he laps it up eagerly, when the hood is cleverly slipped on again. The conducting of the cheetah from its cage to the Chase is by no means an easy matter. The keeper leads him along, as he would a large dog, with a chain; and for a time as they scamper over the country the leopard goes willingly enough; but if anything arrests his attention, some noise from the forest, some scented trail upon the ground, he moves more slowly, throws his head aloft and peers savagely round. A few more minutes perhaps and he would be unmanageable. The keeper, however, is prepared for the emergency. He holds in his left hand a cocoanut shell, sprinkled on the inside with salt; and by means of a handle affixed to the shell he puts it at once over the nose of the cheetah. The animal licks the salt, loses the scent, forgets the object which arrested his attention, and is led quietly along again.1

Decoy Stags. For hunting stags, tame stags were formerly used as decoy according to the method described as follows: "We had about a dozen trained stage, all males, with us. These, well acquainted with the object for which they were sent forward, advanced at a gentle trot over the open ground towards the skirt of the wood. They were observed at once by the watchers of the herd, and the boldest of the wild animals advanced to meet them. Whether the intention was to welcome them peacefully or to do battle for their pasturage they cannot tell; but in a few minutes the two parties were engaged in a furious contest. Head to head, antlers to antlers, the tame deer and the wild fought with great fury. Each of the tame animals, every one of them large and for midable, was closely engaged in contest with a wild adversary, standing chiefly on the defensive, not in any feigned battle or mimicry of war but in a hard-fought combat. We now made our appearance in the open ground on horseback. advancing towards the scene of conflict. The deer on the skirts of the wood, seeing us, took to flight; but those actually engaged maintained a party of native huntsmen, sent for the purpose, gradually drew near to the wild stag, getting in between them and the forest. What their object was we were not at the time aware; in truth it was not one that we could have approved or encouraged. They made their way too fiercely to mind them; they approached the animals, and with a skilful cut of their long knives the poor warriors fell hamstrung. We left pity for the noble animals as we saw them fall helplessly on the ground, unable longer to continue the contest and pushed down of course by the decoy-stags. Once down, they were unable to rise again.2

Hawks. Hawks were also used in a very ingenious fashion to prevent duck from flying away when put upon water: " The trained hawks were now brought into requisition and marvellous it was to see the instinct with they seconded the efforts of their trainers. The ordinary hawking of the heron we had at a later period of this expedition; but the use now made of the animal was altogether different, and displayed infinitely more sagacity than one would suppose likely to be possessed by such an animal. These were trained especially for the purpose for which they were now employed. A flight of ducks-- thousands of birds-- were enticed upon the water as before by scattering corn over it. The hawks were then let fly, four or five of them. We made our appearance openly upon the bank, guns in hand, and the living swarm of birds rose at once into the air. The hawks circled above them, however, in a rapid revolving flight and they dared not ascend high. Thus was our prey retained fluttering in mid-air, until hundreds had paid the penalty with their lives. Only picture is your mind's eye the circling hawks above gyrating monotonously, the fluttering captives in mid-air,

1. Private Life of an Eastern King, p.75. 2. Private Life of an Eastern King pp. 69, 71.

717 darting now here, now there to escape, and still coward-like huddling together; and the motley group of sportsmen on the bank and you have the whole scene before you at once."1

Crocodile Fishing. For catching crocodile, a method by which as already stated one group of the Pardhis earn their livelihood, a large double hook is used, baited with a piece of putrid deer's flesh and attached to a hempen rope 70 or 80 feet long. When the crocodile has swallowed the hook, twenty or thirty persons drag the animal out of the water and it is despatched with axes. Crocodiles are hunted only in the months of Pus (December), Magh (January) and Chait (March), when they are generally fat and yield plenty of oil. The flesh is cut into pieces and stewed over a slow fire, when it exudes a watery oil. This is strained and sold in bottles at a rupee a seer (2 lbs). It is used as an embrocation for rheumatism and for neck galls of cattle. The Pardhis do not eat crocodile's flesh.

Other Occupations And Criminal Practices. A body of Pardhis are sometimes employed by all the cultivators of a village jointly for the purpose of watching the spring crops during the day and keeping black-buck out of them. The Takankars are regularly employed as village servants in Berar and travel about roughening the stones of the household grinding-mills when their surfaces have worn smooth. For this they receive an annual contribution of grain from each household. The caste generally have criminal tendencies, and Mr. Sewell states that "The Langoti Pardhis and Takankars are the worst offenders. Ordinarily when committing dacoity they are armed with sticks and stones only. In digging through a wall they generally leave a thin strip at which the leader carefully listens before finally entering. Then when the hole had been made large enough, he strikes a match and holding it in front of him so that his features are shielded, has a good survey of the room before entering. As a rule, they do not divide the property on or near the scene of the crime, but take it home. Generally it is carried by one of the gang well behind the rest so as to enable it to be hidden if the party is challenged." In Bombay they openly rob the standing crops, and the landlords stand in such awe of them that they secure their goodwill by submitting to a regular system of blackmail.2

Parja.: -A small tribe,3 originally an offshoot of the Gonds, who reside in the centre and east of the Bastar State and the adjoining Jaipur Zamíndâri of Madras. They number about 13,000 persons in the Central Provinces and 92,000 in Madras, where they are also known as Poroja. The name Parja appears to be derived from the Sanskrit Parja, a subject. The following notice of it is taken from the Madras Census Report4 of 1871: "The term Parja is; as Mr. Carmichael has pointed out, merely a corruption of a Sanskrit term signifying a subject; and it is understood as such by the people themselves, who use it in contradistinction to a free hillman. Formerly, says a tradition that runs through the whole tribe, Râjas and Parjas were brothers, but the Râjas took to riding horses or, as the Barenja Parjas put it, sitting still, and we became carriers of burdens and Parjas. It is quite certain in fact that the term Parja is not a tribal denomination, but a class denomination; and it may be fitly rendered by the familiar epithat of ryot. There is no doubt, however, that by far the greater number of these Parjas are akin to the Khonds of the Ganjam Maliâhs. They are thrifty, hardworking cultivators, undisturbed by the intestinal broils which their cousins in the north engage in, and they bear in their breasts and inalienable reverence for their soil, the value of which they are rapidly becoming acquainted with. Their ancient rights to these lands are acknowledged by colonists from among the Aryans, and when a dispute arises about the boundaries of a

1. private Life of an Eastern King, pp. 39-40. 2. Bombay Ethnographic Survey, ibidem. 3 See Russell. This article is base on papers by Mr. Baijnâth and other officers of the Bastar State. 4 By Dr. Cornish.

718 field possessed by recent arrivals a Parja is usually called into point out the ancient landmarks. Gadbas are also represented as indigenous from the long lapse of years that they have been in the country, but they are by no means of the patriarchal type that characterises the Parjas." In Bastar the caste are also known as Dhurwa, which may be derived from Dhur, the name applied to the body of Gonds as opposed to the Râj-Gonds. In Bastar. Dhurwa now conveys the sense of a headman of a village. The tribe have three divisions, Thakara or Tagara, Peng and Mudara, of which only the first is found in Bastar. Thakara appears to be a corruption of Thâkur, a lord, and the two names point to the conclusion that the Parjas were formerly dominant in this tract. They themselves have a story, somewhat resembling the one quoted above from Madras, to the effect that their ancestor was the elder brother of the first Râja of Bastar when he lived in Madras, to the south of Warangal. From there he had to flee on account of an invasion of the Muhammadans, and was accompanied by the goddess Dânteshwari, the tutelary deity of the Râjas of Bastar. In accordance with the command of the goddess the younger brother was considered the Râja and rode on a horse, while the elder went before him carrying their baggage. At Bhadrachallam they met the Bhatras, and further on the Halbas. The goddess followed them, guiding their steps, but she strictly enjoined on the Râja not to look behind him so as to see her. But when they came to the sands of the rivers Sankani and Dankani, the tinkle of the anklets of the goddess could not be heard for the sand. The Râja therefore looked behind him to see if she was following, on which she said that she could go no more with him, but he was to march as far as he could and then settle down. The two brothers settled in Bastar, where the descendants of the younger became the ruling clan, and those of the elder were their servants, the Parjas. The story indicates, perhaps, that the Parjas were the original Gond inhabitants and rulers of the country, and were supplanted by a later immigration of the same tribe, who reduced them to subjection, and became Râj-Gonds. Possibly the first transfer of power was effected by the marriage of an immigrant into a Parja Râja's family, as so often happened with these old dynasties. The Parjas still talk about the Râni or Bastar as their Bohu or 'younger brother's wife,' and the custom is probably based on some such legend. The Madras account of them as the arbiters of boundary disputes points to the same conclusion, as this function is invariably assigned to the oldest residents in any locality. The Parjas appear to be Gonds and not Khonds. Their sept names are Gondi words, and their language is a form of Gondi, called after them Parji. Parji has hitherto been considered a form of Bhatri, but Sir G. Grierson1 has now classified the latter as a dialect of the Uriya language, while Parji remains 'A local and very corrupt variation of Gondi, considerably mixed with Hindi forms.'. While then the Parjas, in Bastar at any rate, must be held to be a branch of the Gonds, they may have a considerable admixture of the Khonds, or other tribes in different localities, as the rules of marriage are very loose in this part of the country.2

Exogamous Septs. The tribe has exogamous totemistic septs, as Bâgh a tiger, Kachhim a tortoise, Bokda a goat, Netâm a dog, Gohi a big lizard, Pandki a dove, and so on. If a man kills accidentally the animal after which his sept is named, the earthen cooking-pots of his household are thrown away, the clothes are washed, and the house is purified with water in which the bark of the mango or Jâmun 3 tree has been steeped. This is in sign of mourning, as it is thought that such an act will bring misfortune. If a man of the snake sept kills a snake accidentally, he places a piece of new yarn on his head, praying for forgiveness, and deposits the body on an anthill, where snakes are supposed to live. If a man of the goat sept eats goat's flesh, it is thought that he will become blind at once. A Parja will not touch the body of his totem- animal when dead, and if he sees any one killing or teasing it when alive, he will go away

1 Linguistic Survey , Vol. ix. p. 554 ; Vol. ii. part ii. pp. 434 ff. 2 In the article on Gond it is suggested that the Gonds and Khonds were originally one tribe, and the fact that the Parjas have affinities with both of them appears to support this view 3 Eugenia jambolana .

719 out of sight. It is said that a man of the Kachhim set once found a tortoise while on a journey, and leaving it undisturbed, passed on. When the tortoise died it was reborn in the man's belly and troubled him greatly, and since then every Parja is liable to be afflicted in the same why in the side of the abdomen, the disease which is produced being in fact enlarged spleen. The tortoise told the man that as he had left it lying by the road, and had not devoted it to any useful purpose, he was afflicted in this way. Consequently, when a man of the Kachhim sept finds a tortoise nowadays, he gives it to somebody else who can cut it up. The story is interesting as a legend of the origin of spleen, but apparently been invented as an excuse for killing the sacred animal.

Kinship And Marriage. Marriage is prohibited in theory between members of the same sept. But as the number of septs is rather small, the rule is not adhered to, and members of the same sept are permitted to marry so long as they do not come from the same village; the original rule of exogamy being perhaps thus exemplified. The proposal for a match is made by the boy's father, who first offers a cup of liquor to the girl's father in the bazâr, and subsequently explains his errand. If the girl's father, after consulting with his family, disapproves of the match, he returns an equal quantity of liquor to the boy's father in token of his decision. The girl is usually consulted, and asked if she would like to marry her suitor, but not much regard is had of her opinion. If she dislikes him, however, she usually runs away from him after a short interlude of married life. If a girl becomes pregnant with a caste-fellow before marriage, he is required to take her, and give to the family the presents which he would make to them on a regular marriage. The man can subsequently be properly married to some other woman, but the girl cannot be married at all. If a girl is seduced by a man outside the caste, she is made over to him. It is essential for a man to be properly married at least once, and an old bachelor will sometimes go through the form of being wedded to his maternal uncle's daughter, even though she may be an infant. If no proposal for marriage is made for a girl, she is sometimes handed over informally to any man who likes to take her, and who is willing to give as much for her as the parents would receive for a regular marriage. A short time before the wedding, the boy's father sends a considerable quantity of rice to the girl's father, and on the day before he sends a calf, a pot of liquor, fifteen annas worth of copper coin, and a new cloth. The bridegroom's expenses are about Rs. 50, and the bride's about Rs. 10.

Marriage Dance. At weddings the tribe have a dance called Surcha, for which the men wear a particular dress consisting of a long coat, a turban, and two or three scarves thrown loosely over the shoulders. Strings of little bells are tied about the feet, and garlands of beads round the neck; sometimes men and women dance separately, and sometimes both sexes together in a long line or a circle. Music is provided by bamboo flutes, drums and an iron instrument something like a flute. As they dance, songs are sung in the form of question and answer between the lines of men and women, usually of a somewhat indecent character. The following short specimen may be given: Man. If you are willing to go with me we will both follow the officer's elephant. If I go without you my heart can have no rest. Women. Who dares take me away from my husband while the Company is reigning. My husband will beat me and who will pay him the compensation ? Man. You had better make up your mind to go with me. I will ask the Treasurer for some money and pay it to your husband as compensation. Woman. Very well, make ready some food, and I will run away with you in the next bright fortnight.

These dialogues often, it is said, lead to quarrels between husband and wife, as the husband cannot rebuke his wife in the assembly. Sometimes the women fall in love with men in the dance, and afterwards run away with them.

720 Nuptial Ceremony. The marriage takes place at the boy's house, where two marriage-sheds are made. It is noticeable that the bride on going to the bridegroom's house is accompanied only by her female relatives, no man of her family being allowed to be with her. This is probably a reminiscence of the old custom of marriage by capture, as in former times she was carried off by force, the opposition of her male relatives having been quelled. In memory of this the men still do not countenance the wedding procession by their presence. The bridal couple are made to sit down together on a mat, and from three to seven pots of cold water are poured over them. About a week after the wedding the couple go to a market with their friends, and after walking round it they all sit down and drink liquor.

Widow-Marriage And Divorce. The remarriage of widows is permitted, and a widow is practically compelled to marry her late husband's younger brother, if he has one. If she persistently refuses to do so, in spite of the strongest pressure, her parents turn her out of their house. In order to be married the woman goes to the man's house with some friends; they sit together on the ground, and the friends apply the tiíka or sign by touching their foreheads with dry rice. A man can divorce his wife if she is of bad character, or if she is supposed to be under an unfavourable star, or if her children die in infancy. A divorced women can marry again as if she is a widow.

Religion And Festivals. The Parjas worship the class of divinities of the hills and forests usually revered among primitive tribes, as well as Dânteshwari, the tutelary goddess of Bastar. On the day that sowing begins they offer a fowl to the field first placing some grains of rice before it. If the fowl eats the rice they prognosticate a good harvest, and if not the reverse. A few members of the tribe belong to the Râmânandi sect, and on this account a little extra attention is paid to them. If one is invited to a feast he is given a wooden seat, while others sit on the ground. It is said that a few years ago a man became a Kabírpanthi, but he subsequently went blind and his son died, and since this event the sect is absolutely without adherents. Most villages have a Sirha or man who is possessed by the deity, and his advice is taken in religious matters, such as the detection of witches. Another official is called Medha Gantia or 'The Counter of posts.' He appoints the days for weddings, calculating them by counting on his fingers, and also fixes auspicious days for the construction of a house or for the commencement of sowing. It is probable that in former times he kept count of the days by numbering posts or trees. When rain is wanted the people fix a piece of wood into the ground, calling it Bhímsen Deo or Kung of the Clouds. they pour water over it and pray to it, asking for rain. Every year, after the crops are harvested, they worship the rivers or streams in the village. A snake, a jackal, a hare and a dog wagging its ears are unlucky objects to see when starting on a journey, and also a dust devil blowing along in front. They do not kill wild dogs, because they say that tigers avoid the forests where these reside, and some of them hold that a tiger on meeting a wild dog climbs a tree to get out of his way. Wednesday and Thursday are lucky days for starting on a journey, and the operations of sowing, reaping and threshing should be commenced and completed on one of these days. When a man intends to build a house he places a number of sets of three grains of rice, one resting on the other two, on the ground in different places. Each set is covered by a leaf-cup with some earth holding it down. Next morning the grains are inspected, and if the top one has fallen down the site is considered to be lucky, as indicating that the earth is unwishful to bear the burden of a house in this place. A house should face to the east or west, and not to the north or south. Similarly, the roads leading out of the village should run east or west from the starting-point. The principal festivals of the Parjas are the Hareli1 or feast of the new vegetation in July, the Nawâkhâni2 or feast of the new rice crop in August or September, and Am Nawâkhâni or

1 Hareli, lit . 'The season of greenness.' 2 Nawâkhâni, lit . 'the new eating.'

721 that of the new mango crop in April or May. At the feasts the new season's crop should be eaten, but if no fresh rice has ripened, they touch some of the old grain with a blade of a growing rice-plant, and consider that it has become the new crop. On these occasions ancestors are worshipped by members of the family only inside the house, and offerings of the new crops are made to them.

Disposal Of The Dead. The dead are invariably buried, the corpse being laid in the ground with head to the east and feet to the west. This is probably the most primitive burial, it being supposed that the region of the dead is towards the west, as the setting sun disappears in that direction. The corpse is therefore laid in the grave with the feet to the west ready to start on its journey. Members of the tribe who have adopted Hindu ideas now occasionally lay the corpse with the head to the north in the direction of the Ganges. Rice-gruel. water and a tooth-stick are placed on the grave nightly for some days after death. As an interesting parallel instance, near home, of the belief that the soul starts on along journey after death, the following passage may be quoted from Mr. Gomme's Folklore: "Among the superstitions of Lancashire is one which tells us of a lingering belief in a long journey after death, when food is necessary to support the soul. A man having died of apoplexy at a public dinner near Manchester, one of the company was heard to remark, 'Well, poor Joe, God rest his soul ! He has at least gone to his long rest wi' a belly full o' good meat, and that's some consolation!' And perhaps a still more remarkable instance is that of the woman buried in Curton Church, near Rochester, who directed by her will that the coffin was to have a lock and key, the key being placed in her dead hand, so that she might be able to release herself at pleasure."1 After the burial a dead fish is brought on a leaf-plate to the mourners, who touch it, and are partly purified. The meaning of this rite, if there be any, is not known. After the period of mourning, which varies from three to nine days, is over, the mourners and their relatives must attend the next weekly bazâr, and there offer liquor and sweets in the name of the dead man, who upon this becomes ranked among the ancestors.

Occupation And Social Customs. The Parjas are cultivators, and grow rice and other crops in the ordinary manner. Many of them are village headmen, and to these the term Dhurwa is more particularly applied. The tribe will eat fowls, pig, monkeys, the large lizard, field-rats, and bison and wild buffalo, but they do not eat carnivorous animals, crocodiles, snakes or jackals. Some of them eat beef while others have abjured it, and they will not accept the leavings of others. They are not considered to be an impure caste. If any man or woman belonging to a higher caste has a liaison with a Parja, and is on that account expelled from their own caste, he or she can be admitted as a Parja. In their other customs and dress and ornaments the tribe resemble the Gonds of Bastar. Women are tattooed on the chest and arms with patterns of dots. The young men sometimes wear their hair long, and tie it in a bunch behind, secured by a strip of cloth.

Pathrot.: -See Od. and Beldar.

Patras.: -See Patwas

Patwas.: -They live in Central India. They produce silk, cotton and glass bangles.

1 Folklore as a Historical Science (G. L. Gomme ), pp. 191, 192.

722 Pena.: -They are singers of the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Pe∑πhârís.: -Under the name of 'Pindarees' the Pe∑πhârís1 are well known in Indian history. They were plundering bands of freebooters who first came to notice after the fall of Tippoo Sultan of Mysore. Of no common race, and of no common religion, they welcomed to their ranks the outlaws and broken men of all India-Afghâns, Marâ†hâs, or Jâ†s. They represented the debris of the Mughul empire, which had not been incorporated by any of the local Muhammadan or Hindî powers that sprang up out of its ruins. Their head- quarters were in Malwa, but their depredations were not confined to Central India. In bands, sometimes of a few hundreds, sometimes of many thousands, they rode out on their forays as far as the opposite coasts of Madras and of Bombay. The most powerful of the Pe∑πhârí captains, Amír Khân, had an organised army of many regiments, and several batteries of cannon. Their power was finally broken by the Marquis of Hastings in 1817. Their name is said to be derived from pé∑πhâ, a sheaf, and probably meant originally 'grasscutters.' At the Census of 1911 the number of Pe∑πhârís was returned as 6,413, 100 of whom were Hindîs and 6,313 Musalmâns. They were distributed as follows: Central India Agency 4,014 Elsewhere 2,399 ------TOTAL 6,413 ------

The only district which returned Pe∑πhârí as a separate language for this Survey was Dharwar of Bombay, which gave a total of 1,250 speakers. Specimens have, however, also been received from Belgaum (Bombay). In other districts Pe∑πhârí has probably been included under the head of Hindóstâní. It is used only as a home language by the tribe which speaks it. In their intercourse with other people, its speakers employ ordinary Hindóstâní. To judge from the specimens Pe∑πhârí is a mixture of rough Dakhiní Hindóstâní with Marâ†hí and Râjasthâní. The particular dialect of the last mentioned language with which their Hindóstâní is mixed, seems to be Jaipurí. Compare pîtâ, sons; bâpâ, father; chhé, is; chhâ, was. It is not necessary to discuss this jargon at length. I give two short specimens, one from each district. They both agree in all essential points. Note the use of né as a postposition of the locative, present forms such as uttarînu, I descend; mârînu, I beat, where the final nu reminds us of the Dravidian termination of verbs, and the way in which kar-ké, having done, is used at the end of a quotation, like the Sanskrit iti and the Dravidian andu, having said.

Perike.: -This word is defined in the Madras Census Report, 1901 as meaning literally a gunny bag, and the Perikes2 are summed up as being a Telugu caste of gunny bag (goni) weavers, corresponding to the Janappans of the Tamil districts. Gunny bag is the popular and trading name of the coarse sacking and sacks made from the fibre of jute, much used in Indian trade. It is noted, in the Census Report, 1891, that "the Perikes claim to be a separate caste, but they seem to be in reality a sub-division, and not a very exalted sub- division, of Balijas, being in fact identical with the Uppu (salt) Balijas. Their hereditary occupation is carrying salt, grain, etc., on bullocks and donkeys in perikes or packs. Perike is found among the sub-divisions of both Kavarai and Balija. Some of them, however, have

1 Linguistic Survey of India. 2 See Thurston.

723 attained considerable wealth, and now claim to be Kshatriyas, saying that they are the descendants of the Kshatriyas who ran away (piriki. a coward) from the persecution of Parasurâma. Others again say they are Kshatriyas who went into retirement, and made hills [giri]''. These perike Kshatriyas are known as Puragiri Kshatriya and Giri Râzu. The Periki Balijas are described, in the Vizagapatam Manual, as subsisting chiefly on cultivation and trade, and some of them are said to hold a high position at 'the presidency' [Madras]and in the Vizagapatam district.

Perike women appear to have frequently committed sati [or suttee] on the death of their husband in former days, and the names of those who thus sacrificed their lives are still held in reverence. A peculiar custom among the perikes is the erection of big square structures [brindâvanam], in which a tulsi [Ocimum sanctum] is planted, on the spot where the ashes of the dead are buried after cremation. I am informed that a fine series of these structures may be seen at Chípurapalli, close to Vizianagram. As a mark of respect to the dead, passers-by usually place a lac bangle or flowers thereon. The usual titles of the perikes are Anna and Ayya, but some style themselves Rao [= Râya, king], or Râyadu, in reference to their alleged Kshatriya origin.

For the following note on the perikes of the Godâvari district, I am indebted to Mr. F.R. Hemingway. "Like some of the Kammas, they claim to be of Kshatriya stock, and say they are of the lineage of parasu Râma, but were driven out by him for kindnapping his sister, while pretending to be gunny-bag weavers. They say that they were brought to this country by King Nala of the Mahâbhârata, in gratitude for their having taken care of his wife Damayanti when he quitted her during his misfortunes. They support the begging caste of Varugu Bhattas, who they say, supported them during their exile, and to whom they gave a sanad (deed of grant) authorising them to demand alms. These people go round the Perike houses for their dues every year. The Písu Perikes, who still weave gunny-bags, are said not to belong to the caste proper, members of which style themselves Râcha Perikes.

"The Perikes say that, like the Kómatis, they have 101 gótras. Their marriage ceremonies are peculiar. On the day of the wedding, the bride and bridegroom are made to fast, as also are three male relatives whom they call suribhaktas. At the marriage, the couple sit on a gunny- bag, and another gunny, on which a representation of the god Mailar is drawn or painted, is spread between them. The same god is drawn on two pots, and these, and also a third pot, are filled with rice and dhâl (Cajanus indicus), which are cooked by two married women. The food is then offered to Mailar. Next, the three suribhaktas take 101 cotton threads, fasten them together, and tie seven knots in them. The bride and bridegroom are given cloths which have been partly immersed in water coloured with turmeric and chunam (lime,) and the suribhaktas are fed with the rice ad dhâl cooked in the pots. The couple are then taken round the village in procession, and, on their return, the knotted cotton threads are tied round the bride's neck instead of a tâli. Some Perikes style themselves Sâthu vândlu, meaning a company of merchants or travellers. Perike Muggula is the name of a class of Telugu mendicants and exorcists.

Pichigunta.: -The name Pichigunta1 means literally an assembly of beggars, who are described2 as being, in the Telugu country, a class of mendicants, who are herbalists, and physic people for fever, stomach-ache, and other ailments. They beat the village drums, relate stories and legends, and supply the place of a Herald's Office, as they have a reputation for being learned in family histories, and manufacture pedigrees and gótras (house names) for Kâpus, Kammas, Gollas, and others.

1 See Thurston. 2. Manuals of Nellore and Kurnool.

724 The Picchai or Pinchikuntar are described in the Salem Manual as "servants to the Kudiânavars or cultivators-- a name commonly assumed by Vellâlas and Pallis. The story goes that a certain Vellâla had a hundred and two children, of whom only one was a female. Of the males, one was lame, and his hundred brothers made a rule that everyone would provide him with one kolagam of grain and one fanam (a coin) each year. They got him married to a Telugu woman of a different caste, and the musicians who attended the ceremony were paid nothing, the brothers alleging that, as the bridegroom was a cripple, the musicians should officiate from charitable motives. The descendants of this married pair, having no caste of their own became known as Picchi or Pinchikuntars (beggars, or lame). They are treated as kudipinnai (inferior) by Vellâlas, and to the present day receive their prescribed miras (fee) from the Vellâla descendants of the hundred brothers, to whom, on marriage and other festivals, they do service by relating the genealogies of such Vellâlas as they are acquainted with. Some serve the Vellâlas as they are acquainted with. Some serve the Vellâlas in the fields, and others live by begging". The caste beggars of the Tottiyans are known as Pichiga-vâdu.

Pichiguntas.: -They are a caste of Bards and genealogists. They tell stories and legends of the families who patronise them. They are also mendicants.

Pinjara.: -They are cotton cleaners, and also card the cotton.

Pulluvan.: -The Pulluvans of Malabar are Astrologers, medicine-men, priests and singers in snake groves1. The name is fancifully derived from pullu, a hawk, because the Pulluvan is clever in curing the disorders which pregnant women and babies suffer from through the evil influence of these birds. Thus Pulluvans are sometimes called Vaidyans (physicians).

As regards the origin of the caste, the following tradition is narrated.2 Agni, the fire god, had made several desperate but vain efforts to destroy the great primeval forest of Gândava. The eight serpents which had their home in the forest were the chosen friends of Indra, who sent down a deluge, and destroyed, every time, the fire which Agni kindled in order to burn down the forest. Eventually Agni resorted to a stratagem, and, appearing before Arjunan in the guise of a Brâhman, contrived to exact a promise to do him any favour he needed in order to destroy the forest, and the latter created a wonderful bow and arrows, which cut off every drop of rain sent by Indra for the preservation of the forest. The birds, beasts, and other creatures which lived therein fled in terror, but most of them were overtaken by the flames, and were burnt to cinders. Several of the serpents also were overtaken and destroyed, but one of them was rescued by the maid-servant of a Brâhman, who secured the sacred reptile in a pot, which she deposited in a jasmine bower. When the Brâhman came to hear of this, he had the serpent removed, and turned the maid-servant adrift, expelling at the same time a man-servant, so that the woman might not be alone and friendless. The two exiles prospered under the protection of the serpent which the woman had rescued from the flames, and became the founders of the Pulluvans. According to another story, when the great Gândava forest was in conflagration, the snakes therein were destroyed in the flames. A large five- hooded snake, scorched and burnt by the fire, flew away in agony, and alighted at Kuttanânad, which is said to have been on the site of the modern town of Alleppey. Two

1 See Thurston. 2 Men and Women of India, February 1906

725 women were at the time on their way to draw water from a well. The snake asked them to pour seven potfuls of water over him, to alleviate his pain, and to turn the pot sideways, so that he could get into it. His request was complied with, and, having entered the pot, he would not leave it. He then desired one of the women to take him home, and place him in a room on the west side of the house. This she refused to do for fear of the snake, and she was advised to cover the mouth of the pot with a cloth. The room, in which the snake was placed, was ordered to be closed for a week. The woman's husband, who did not know what had occurred, tried to open the door, and only succeeded by exerting all his strength. On entering the room, to his surprise he found an ant-hill, and disturbed it. Thereon the snake issued forth from it and killed him, and his widow was left without means of support. The snake consoled her, and devised a plan, by which she could maintain herself. She was to go from house to house, and cry out "Give me alms, and be saved from snake poisoning." The inmates would give, and the snake, which were troubling their houses, would cease from annoying them. For this reason, a Pulluvan and his wife, when they go with their pulluva kudam (pot-drum) to a house, are asked to sing, and given money.

The Pulluvar females, Mr. T.K. Gopal Panikkar writes,1 "take a pretty large pitcher, and close its opening by means of a small circular piece of thin leather, which is fastened onto the vessel by means of strings strongly tied round its neck. Another string is adjusted to the leather cover, which, when played on by means of the fingers, produces a hoarse note, which is said to please the gods' ears, pacify their anger, and lull them to sleep." In the Malabar Gazetteer, this instrument is thus described. "It consists of an earthenware chatty with its bottom removed, and entirely covered, except the mouth, with leather. The portion of the leather which is stretched over the bottom of the vessel thus forms a sort of drum, to the centre of which a string is attached. The other end of the string is fixed in the cleft of a stick. The performer sits cross-legged, holding the chatty mouth downwards with his right hand, on his right knee. The stick is held firmly under the right foot, resting on the left leg. The performer strums on the string, which is thus stretched tight, with a rude plectrum of horn, or other substance. The vibrations communicated by the string to the tympanum produce a curious sonorous note, the pitch of which can be varied by increasing or relaxing the tension of the string." The musical instrument is carried from house to house in the daytime by these Pulluvar females; and, placing the vessel in a particular position on the ground, and sitting in a particular fashion in relation to the vessel, they play on the string, which then produces a very pleasant musical note. Then they sing ballads to the accompaniment of these notes. After continuing this for some time, they stop, and, getting their customary dues from the family, go their own way. It is believed that the music, and the ballads, are peculiarly pleasing to the serpent gods, who bless those for whose sakes the music has been rendered." The Pulluvans also play on a lute with snakes painted on the reptile skin, which is used in lieu of parchment. The skin, in a specimen at the Madras Museum, is apparently that of the big lizard Varanus bengalensis. The lute is played with a bow, to which a metal bell is attached.

The dwelling-houses of the Pulluvans are like those of the Izhuvans or Cherumas. They are generally mud huts, with thatched roof, and a verandah in front.

When a girl attains maturity, she is placed apart in a room. On the seventh day, she is anointed by seven young women, who give an offering to the demons, if she is possessed by any. This consists of the bark of a plantain tree made into the form of a triangle, on which small bits of tender cocoanuts and little torches are fixed. This is waved round the girl's head, and floated away on water. As regards marriage, the Pulluvans observe both tâli-kettu and sambandham. in the vicinity of Palghat, members of the caste in the same village intermarry, and have a prejudice against contracting alliances outside it. Thus, the Pulluans of Palghat do not intermarry with those of Mundîr and Kanghat, which are four and ten

1 Malabar and its Folk, 1900.

726 miles distant. It is said that, in former days, intercourse between brother and sister was permitted. But, when questioned on this point, the Pulluvans absolutely deny it. It is, however, possible that something of the kind was once the case, for, when a man belonging to another caste is suspected of incest, it is said that he is like the Pulluvans. Should the parents of a married woman have no objection to her being divorced, they give her husband a piece of cloth called murikotukkuka. This signifies that the cloth which he gave is returned, and divorce is effected.

The Pulluvans follow the makkathâyam law of inheritance (from father to son). But they seldom have any property to leave, except their hut and a few earthen pots. They have their caste assemblies (parichas), which adjudicate on adultery, theft, and other offences.

They believe firmly in magic and sorcery, and every kind of sickness is attributed to the influence of some demon. Abortion, death of a new-born baby, prolonged labour, or the death of the woman, fever, want of milk in the breasts, and other misfortunes, are attributed to malignant influences. When pregnant women, or even children, walk out alone at midday, they are possessed by them, and may fall in convulsions. Any slight dereliction, or indifference with regard to the offering of sacrifices, is attended by domestic calamities, and sacrifices of goats and fowls are requisite. More sacrifices are promised, if the demons will help them in the achievement of an object, or in the distraction of an enemy. In some cases the village astrologer is consulted, and he, by means of his calculations, divines the cause of an illness, and suggests that a particular disease or calamity is due to the provocation of the family or other god, to whom sacrifices or offerings have not been made. Under these circumstances, a Velichapâd, or oracle, is consulted. After bathing, and dressing himself in a new mundu (cloth), he enters the scene with a sword in his hand, and his legs girt with small bells. Standing in front of the deity in pious meditation, he advances with slow steps and rolling eyes, and makes a few frantic cuts on his forehead. He is already in convulsive shivers, and works himself up to a state of frenzied possession, and utters certain disconnected sentences, which are believed to be the utterances of the gods. Believing them to be the means of cure of relief from calamity, those affected reverentially bow before the Velichapâd, and obey his commands. Sometimes they resort to a curious method of calculation beforehand the result of a project, in which they are engaged, by placing before the god two bouquets of flowers, one red, the other white, of which a child picks out one with its eyes closed. Selection of the white bouquet predicts auspicious results, of the red the reverse. A man, who wishes to bring a demon under his control, must bathe in the early morning for forty-one days, and cook his own meals. He should have no association with his wife, and be free from all pollution. Every night, after 10 o'clock, he should bathe in a tank (pond) or river, and stand naked up to the loins in the water, while praying to the god, whom he wishes to propitiate, in the words "I offer thee my prayers, so that thou mayst bless me with what I want". These, with his thoughts concentrated on the deity, he should utter 101, 1001, and 100,001 times during the period. Should he do this, in spite of all obstacles and intimidation by the demons, the god will grant his desires. It is said to be best for a man to be trained and guided by a guru (preceptor), as, if proper precautions are not adopted, the result of his labours will be that he goes mad.

A Pulluvan and his wife preside at the ceremony called Pâmban Tullal to propitiate the snake gods of the nâgâttân kâvus, or serpent shrines. For this, a pandal (booth) is erected by driving four posts into the ground, and putting over them a silk or cotton canopy. A hideous figure of a huge snake is made on the floor with powders of five colours. Five colours are essential, as they are visible on the necks of snakes. Rice is scattered over the floor. Worship is performed to Ganésa, and cocoanuts and rice are offered. Incense is burnt, and a lamp placed on a plate. The members of the family go round the booth, and the woman, from whom the devil has to be cast out, bathes, and takes her seat on the western side, holding a bunch of palm flowers. The Pulluvan and his wife begin the music, vocal and instrumental, the woman keeping time with the potdrum by striking on a metal vessel. As they sing songs

727 in honour of the snake deity, the young female members of the family, who have been purified by a bath, and are seated, begin to quiver, sway their heads to and fro in time with the music, and the tresses of their hair are let loose. In their state of excitement, they beat upon the floor, and rub out the figure of the snake with palm flowers. This done, they proceed to the snake-grove, and prostrate themselves before the stone images of snakes, and recover consciousness. They take milk and water from a tender cocoanut, and plantains. The Pulluvan stops singing, and the ceremony is over. "Sometimes," Mr. Gopal Panikkar writes, "the gods appear in the bodies of all these females, and sometimes only in those of a select few, or none at all. The refusal go the gods to enter into such persons is symbolical of some want of cleanliness in them: which contingency is looked upon as a source of anxiety to the individual.

It may also suggest the displeasure of these gods towards the family, in respect of which the ceremony is performed. In either case, such refusal on the part of the gods is an index of their ill-will or dissatisfaction. In cases where the gods refuse to appear in any one of those seated for the purpose, the ceremony is prolonged until the gods are so properly propitiated as to constrain them to manifest themselves. Then, after the lapse of the number of days fixed for the ceremony, and, after the will of the serpent gods is duly expressed, the ceremonies close." Sometimes, it is said, it may be considered necessary to rub away the figure as many as 101 times, in which case the ceremony is prolonged over several weeks. Each time that the snake design is destroyed, one or two men, with torches in their hands, perform a dance, keeping step to the Pulluvan's music. The family may eventually erect a small platform or shrine in a corner of their grounds, and worship at it annually. The snake deity will not, it is believed, manifest himself if any of the persons, or articles required for the ceremony, are impure, e.g., if the pot-drum has been polluted by the touch of a menstruating female. The Pullvan, from whom a drum was purchased for the Madras Museum, was very reluctant to part with it, lest it should be touched by an impure woman.

The Pulluvans worship the gods of the Brâhmanical temples from a distance, and believe in sprits of all sorts and conditions. They worship Velayuthan, Ayyappa, Râhu, Mîni, Châthan, Mukkan, Karinkutti, Parakutti, and others. Mîni is a well-disposed deity, to whom, once a year, rice, plantains, and cocoanuts are offered. To Mukkan, Karinkutti, and others, sheep and fowls are offered. A floral device (padmam) is drawn on the floor with nine divisions in rice-flour, on each of which a piece of tender cocoanut leaf and a lighted wick dipped in cocoanut oil, are placed. Parched rice, boiled beans, jaggery (crude sugar), cakes, plantains, and toddy are offered, and camphor and incense burnt. If a sheep has to be sacrificed, boiled rice is offered, and water sprinkled to over the head of the sheep before it is killed. If it shakes itself, so that it frees itself from the water, it is considered as a favourable omen. On every new-moon day, offerings of mutton, fowls, rice-balls, toddy and other things, served up on a plantain leaf, are made to the souls of the departed. The celebrants who have bathed and cooked their own food on the previous day, prostrate themselves, and say "Ye dead ancestors, we offer what we can afford. May you take the gifts, and be pleased to protect us".

The Pulluvans bury their dead. The place of burial is near a river, or in a secluded spot near the dwelling of the deceased. The corpse is covered with a cloth, and a cocoanut placed with it. Offerings of rice-balls are made by the son daily for fifteen days, when pollution ceases, and a feast is held.

At the present day, some Pullvans work at various forms of labour, such as sowing, ploughing, reaping, fencing, and cutting timber, for which they are paid in money or kind. They are, in fact, day-labourers, living in huts built on the waste land of some landlord, for which they pay a nominal ground-rent. They will take food prepared by Brâhmans, Nâyars, Kammâlans, and Izhuvas, but not that prepared by a Mannân or Kaniyan. Carpenters and Izhuvas bathe when a Pulluvan has touched them. But the Pulluvans are polluted by Cherumas, Pulayas, Paraiyans, Ullâdans, and others. The women wear the kacha, like

728 Izhuva women, folded twice, and worn round the loins, and are seldom seen with an upper body-cloth.1

Qalandar.: -A caste of Muhammadan Faqírs2, bear and monkey trainers. According to Mr. Platts, the word is used for the original kalandar, "a rough, unshaped block or log." They trace their origin to the Saint Bo 'Ali Qalandar, who died in 1323-2423. Of him many wondrous tales are told. He used to ride about on a wall, and he prayed so continuously that the saint found it convenient to stand in the river and wash his hands without moving. After seven years of this he got stiff, and the fishes ate his legs; so he asked the river to step back seven paces and let him dry. In her hurry to oblige the saint, she retreated seven miles, and there she is now. He gave the people of Pânipat a charm which drove away all flies from the city. But they grumbled and said they rather liked flies, so he brought them back a thousandfold. The people have since repented. There was a good deal of trouble about his funeral. He died near Karnâl, and there they buried him. But the Pânipat people claimed his body, and came and opened his grave; on which he sat up and looked around. He then gave to the people a bix with a stone with which to found a shrine; but when they got to Pânipat and opened the box, they found his body in it; so he now lies buried both at Pânipat and Karnâl."3

Occupation. The Qalandar of these Provinces is generally a lazy, swindling rascal, some of whom go about with snakes; others with tame bears and monkeys. He wears round his right wrist two or a single brass bangle. On his right leg he has an iron chain. He also has a vessel (kishta), made of cocoanut shell (daryâi nâriyal), and a brass lota. Sometimes he has an iron bar as well. He announces his approach by twanging the damaru, or little drum, shaped like an hour glass. Those who have monkeys, the male being generally called Maula Bakhsh and the female Zahîran, make them dance to amuse children. Those who have bears, make them dance, and allow for a consideration little boys to ride on their backs, which is believed to be a charm against the small-pox. They also sell some of their hair, which is a favourite amulet against the Evil Eye. Some go about as ordinary beggars. Though they wander about begging they are not absolute vagrants, as they have settled homes and families.

Domestic Ceremonies. Marriage among them takes places at the age of from ten to twenty. They follow in all their ceremonies the rules of the Sunni sect of Muhammadans, to which they belong. Some of them have taken to the trade of the Bisâti, and make tin frames for lanterns and small boxes (dibiya) out of tin. All Muhammadans will eat and smoke with them. No Hindu, except a Dom or a Dharkâr, will touch their food.

The Criminal Qalandar. The Qalandar is our old friend the Calendar of the Arabian Nights. Most of the are merely loafing beggars; but in Rohikhand there appears to be a branch of them known as the Langré, or "lame," Qalandars, who are said to be from Râmpur. They were formerly residents of Hardoi, and devoted themselves to stealing horses and ponies, which were passed from Oudh to British territory and vice versâ. Shâhâbâd, in Hardoi, was regarded as their head-quarters, and there they had the name of Machhlé. On the annexation of Oudh, they divided into gangs, and nominated one Bânké as their (sargiroh), with two assistants, known as the Bhandâri, or purveyor, and Kotwâl, or police officer. On the celebration of the marriage of any of their members they continue, if possible, to assemble together and

1 This account is mainly based on a note by Mr. L. K. Anantha Krishna Aiyar. 2 See Crooke 3. Ibbetgon. Panjâb Ethnography, section 224; Lady Burton, Arabian Nights. p. 81, VI., sqq.

729 distribute food and wine to the best of their ability; on the occasion of marriage ceremonies among the Khatris, when any of the gangs are present, gifts of food and money are given to them, which they designate their birt, or "maintenance." This is also the name given to what they receive on certain occasions when religious ceremonies are performed. They are very superstitious, and have their own omens and signs, some of which are considered lucky, and others the reverse. Thus the barking of a hyaena behind them or on their left is considered a bad omen.

Mode Of Thieving. This tribe, or rather the numerous gangs composing it, proceed through districts disguised and call themselves Langré Qalandar or Rohillas of Râmpur. In Râmpur and the neighbourhood they use the former, and towards Lucknow the latter. They travel about in the cold and hot weather, but in the rains they settle down and occupy themselves in begging. Their wives and children accompany them, buy they do not encumber their movements with any luxury, such as cattle, furniture, etc., having only one or two ponies for the transport of their personal effects, in addition to which, hidden among their quilts and blankets, are reins, ropes, and headstalls for the stolen ponies. This is undoubtedly the reason why they have hitherto never been classed as a criminal tribe, nor have raised suspicion as to their real character. They pass the night under trees or in the fields, or, if near a populous place, in a convenient grove. During the day, disguised as beggars, they mark down the horses and ponies which they purpose to steal. When they obtain a fair number of animals, they pass off as horse-merchants, and make their escape as rapidly as possible. Animals stolen near Lucknow are sold in the northern parts of Oudh and the North-West Provinces-- their chief markets being Bilâspur in the Râmpur State, Durâo in the Tarâi, and Chichait in Bareilly. They chiefly frequent the districts of Pilibhít, Kheri, Bahrâich, and the Tarâi, as they are close to Nepâl, where ponies and fodder are plentiful.

Thieves' Argot Of The Langré Qalandars. These people have a regular thieves' argot of their own, of which the following are examples:

Bidna-- Man. Bidni-- Woman. Basta-- Rupee. Bairgi-- Cot. Botay-- Sheet, quilt. Bajrin-- Gun. Bodi-- Hair tuft. Châl-- Hair. Chetha-- Flour. Chiki-- Fire. Chitya-- Cat. Chimmi-- Fish. Charya-- Tree. Chirma-- Colt. Dhaind-- Burglary. Dhun-- Ear. Dîdrín-- Leg. Dhurd-- Grain. Dhurcha-- Red pepper. Dhungara-- The Singhâra nut Dhingaila-- Bullock. Dhingaili-- Cow. Dhîwar-- Pig. Dhung-- Sheep. Dhujja-- Cock.

730 Dhuttar-- Camel. Dhîhari-- Sugarcane. Dhulludâr-- Police Officer. Dhuddah-- Duck. Dhurangi-- European. Dhîsa-- Mouse. Ealakh-- Oil. Ghutrín-- Eyes. Ghummar-- Elephant. Ghuttani-- Eight annas. Ghurka-- Water pot, jug. Jurha-- Pony. Jurhi-- Pony mare. Khunji-- Buffalo. Kumdâr-- Comrade. Khuranga-- Donkey. Khurchan-- Pipe, huqqah. Khunnay-- House. Khail-- Wine. Lilka-- Butter, ghi. Lung-- Rope. Morhay-- Tooth. Mallâo-- Tank, pond. Maikrín-- Goat. Mogân-- Jackal. Mithkar-- Sugarcane. Mukki-- Sheep. Mohidâr-- Village Watehman. Markni-- Bladgeon. Nudli-- Village. Niklu-- Bread. Oi-- A well. Phirkni-- Cart. Pecha-- Pice. Patki-- Grass. Râp-- Foot. Ratâila-- Stomach. Ratki-- Shoe. Sarpna-- Nose. Thunda-- Boy. Thundi-- Girl. Thîb-- Hand. Tena-- Head. Thum-- Grain. Tundul-- Rice. Theman-- Salt. Thimman-- Coarse sugar (gur). Thimjâi-- Sweetmeat. Thubbâk-- Reins. Thokay-- Jungle. Urkna-- Grain. Dhulludâr âya hai, paté-- The Sub-Inspector is coming, run away. Khurchna tudlo-- Smoke the huqqah. Oi sé chayan marap lâo-- Fetch the water from the well. Phirni par dhurrup to-- Get into the cart.

731 Dhurangi bakussa-- A European approaches. Khunnay men dhaind lagi-- A burglary has been committed in the house. Mohidâr bakussa, jurhi A watchman is coming, thokay men khon âo. Take the pony into the jungle. Nukka undli men hurka-- A dog is barking in the jungle.

Qa∆âí.: -or Qa∆âb1 is the name of the butcher caste. The word is derived from Arabic qa∆ab, to be cut. The number of Qa∆âís returned at the Census of 19012 was 369,5333, distributed as follows: Ajmer .....66 Andamans .....5 Assam ..... 23 Baluchistan .....255 Bengal .... .11,093 Berar .....218 Bombay .....24,986 Central Provinces ....206 Panjab..... 125,644 United Provinces ....184,150 Baroda ..... 851 Central India .....918 Hyderabad .....2 Kashmir .....824 Rajputana...... 20,292 ------TOTAL . 369,533 ------

The Qa∆âí are commonly separated into two endogamous sub-castes, one of which kill cows and buffaloes, while the other only kill goats. In the Panjab the former call themselves bhakkar-sikkhî, cow killers, and the latter mek∑-sikkhî, goat killers, or simply sikkhî. The latter are mostly Hindîs, the former Muhammadans of the Sunní sect. The Qa∆âís seem to have a trade language of their own. During the preliminary operations of this Survey a dialect called Qa∆âiyô-kí Farsí was reported to be spoken by 2,700 persons in the Karnal District. Dr. T. Grahame Bailey has given some information about the secret language of those Qa∆âís of the Panjab who do not kill cows.

Language and argot. The Qa∆âís of Karnal, who numbered 5,794 at the 1901 Census, are all Muhammadans. The dialect illustrated by the specimens is of the same kind as the Qa∆âí described by Dr. Bailey. The materials received from Belgaum are stated to illustrate the language of the cow-killing Qa∆âís. It agrees with the dialect of the Karnal Qa∆âís in so many points that the two can safely be described as one and the same form of speech, which is an argot based on Hindóstâní. In Karnal we also find Pañjâbí forms such as mazdîrê-me§, amongst the servants. The dialect is much mixed with Dravidian, and it is probably due to this influence that the case of the agent has been discarded and that the sense of the actual meaning of some verbal forms has been weakened. Forms such as thârtau™, am, also occur in the second and third persons in addition to thârtai, art, is, and ghâπu©gâ, I shall beat, is said to be used in all persons and numbers.

1 Linguistic Survey of Ondia. 2. No Qa∆âís were recorded under that name in 1911.

732 The orthography of the specimens does not seem to be consistent. thus the word †ip, see, which is written with a cerebral † by Dr. Bailey and in the Belgaum specimens, occurs as tip in the Karnal version of the Parable. The same text gives déwarnâ, to give, while the second Karnal specimen uses léwar∑â, to take, with a cerebral ∑. The sound noted th is probably the sound of th in English "think." It had, however, been written th in a Mâgarí transcript which accompanied the Karnal texts. In thîr-nâ, eat, this th seems to represent an s` ; compare s`îπ, eat, in the Belgaum list and shîπ∑â, shî®∑â, to eat, to drink, in the vocabulary published by Dr. Bailey. The same is the case in thís, six, where Dr. Bailey has †hisª ; compare Arabic sids. The peculiar appearance of the Qa∆âí argot is, to a great extent, due to the extensive use of strange words. As in the Kanjarí dialect of Belgaum many of the numerals are Arabic. Thus, dhallâ (Bailey talâ), three, Arabic thalâth; arbâ, four, Arabic 'arba'; khammas, Belgaum khammís, Bailey khammas, five, Arabic khams; thís, Bailey †his, six, Arabic sids ; âsir, ten, Arabic 'ashar. Numerous other peculiar words occur in Dr. Bailey's List. Such are aπâl, put; akél, one (Hindóstâní akékâ, alone); bu†, father, or according to Dr.Bailey, a jâ†; ba†lâ, rupee; bhakkar, cow; bigar∑â or bigharnâ, to die (cf. Hindóstâní biga®nâ?); chilkní, ring (cf. Hindóstâní chilaknâ, to glitter); chishmí, application; chuskâ, interest; chabíne, tooth; chhanakâ, boy; dusar∑â, to say (Belgaum, compare the Kanjarí dialect of the district); gaunâ, to get; gaunâ, foot (in Belgaum guπâlé ; in the Karnal specimens gaunâ is also used with the meaning of 'hand'); ghâ®∑â, ghâπnâ, to beat, to loose; gaimb, thief (Bailey); hakîk, swine (Karnal); hajíb, bad (Belgaum); hap-ké-hap (for sab-ke-sab), all together; hiπap, take; kachélâ (Belgaum), kadrâ (Karnal), (compare bachchâ?); kanélí, bread ªBailey khadélí, khanélí); kajilí, afternoon; kahílâ ª (Karnal), kailâ (Belgaum), rupee; kas∑â, to pay (perhaps English 'cash'); kíd, give (Belgaum, compare Tamil koπu); khastâ, property; khilas (Karnal), khilsí (Belgaum), belly; village (Belgaum, Kanarese khéπâ ); khî, go; khîm, word, noise; khunsâ, starving; lãgwâ®é (Karnal), hundred; mékní, goat; minjâlí, tongue; nakât, young, destitute, lost, angry (according to Dr. Bailey the meaning of this word is 'bad,' 'worthless'; it is used in different senses in the first specimen); nakâtí, sin; nand (Karnal), nann (Belgaum), house; na∑π. water (Bailey); nhâ†, run; nírgâ, water (Belgaum); pâπâ, bull; phéka∑i, nose; sihâm, share; s`ébít, good; subak, younger brother (Belgaum); subîkπâ, man (Belgaum); suwâlâ, good (Belgaum); s`îπ, eat; thaiknâ, to become, to gather; thârtâ, being; thîr, eat; †hóka∑â, hundred (Belgaum); †ip,see; †uluk, sleep; uks, go away, and so forth. In comparison with this extensive use of peculiar words, the disguising of common ones by means of additions in front or at the end plays a much smaller role in Qa∆âí. Among prefixed elements we may note k in kândhî, a Hindî (Bailey); jh in jhó®â=thórâ; m¡ in mêπ, village, cf. Sêsí nâd ; m§ih, twenty, cf. bís; and l in liprâ, cloth, cf. Hindóstâní kap®â ; land and nand, house. Of final additions I have found k in bulkâ, said; † in ható†â, hand; kannó†yâ, ear; ∑ in akó∑yâ, eye; l in bandâl, bind; war in âwar, come; díwar, give, etc.; wâπ in ba†wâπ, sit; bólwâπ, call; su∑wâπ, hear, and so forth.

Qualandar.: -They are a wandering Muslim Sunni sect. They have shaven heads and beards. They sell amulets against the evil-eye.

Qualandars.: -They are nomadic acrobats of Northern India. They live in tents and move around on bullocks carts.

733 Rahwâri.: -(rahwâr, "quickpaces, active").1- A caste of camel owners and drivers, also known as Riwâri, Râéwâri. Of these people Abîl Fazl writes2: "Rakbâri is the name given to a class of Hindus who are acquainted with the habits of the camel. They teach the country-bred lok camel to pass over great distances in a short time. Althouth from the capital to the frontiers of the Empire, into every direction, relay horses are stationed, and swift runners have been posted at the distance of every five kos, a few of these camel riders are kept at the palace in readiness. Each Beigâri is put in charge of fifty stud arwânahs, to which, for the purpose of breeding, one bughur and two loks are attached." Colonel Tod,3 writing of the Raibâris, says: "This term is known throughout Hundustân only as denoting persons employed in rearing and tending camels, who are there always Muslims. Here they are a distinct tribe and Hindus, employed in rearing camels, or in stealing them, in which they evince a peculiar dexterity, uniting with the Bhattis in the practice as far as Dâîdputra. When they come upon a herd grazing, the boldest and most experienced strikes his lance into the first he reaches, then dips a cloth in the blood, which, at the end of his lance, he thrusts close to the nose of the next, and, wheeling about, sets off at speed, followed by the wholeherd, lured by the scent of blood and the example of their leader." Of the Bombay branch of the tribe we are told that "in Kachchh they say they came from Mârwâr, and this is supported by the fact that the seat of their tribal goddess Sikotra is at Jodhpur. The story of their origin is that Siva, while performing religious penance (tap), created a camel and a man to graze it. This man had four daughters, who married Râjputs of the Chauhân, Gambhír, Solanki, and Pramâr tribes. These and their offspring were all camel drivers. Tall and strongly made, with high features and an oval face, the Rahwâri, like the Ahír, takes flesh and spirits, and does not scruple to eat with Musalmâns. He lives for days solely on camel's milk. Except a black blanket over his shoulders, the Rahwâri wears cotton clothes. The waist cloth (dhoti) is worn tucked through his legs, and not wound round the hips like a Râjput's. They live much by themselves in small hamlets of six or eight grass huts. They are described as civil and obliging, honest, intelligent, contented, and kindly. They are very poor, living on the produce of their herds. Each family has a she-camel called Mâta Meri, which is never ridden, and whose milk is never given to any one but a Hindu".

The Rahwâris Of The North-West Provinces. They pretend to posess a complete set of gotras; but no one can even atempt to give a full list of them. A man cannot marry in his mother's grandmother's gotra. They claim to be Râjputs, but cannot designate any particular sept as that from which they have sprung. They do not admit outsiders into their tribe. Both infant and adult marriages are allowed, and no sexual license on the part of the girls is tolerated before marriage. Polyandry is prohibited, and polygamy allowed up to the extent of three wives at a time. The marriage is celebrated in the usual Hindu fashion, and the perambulations (baânwar phirna) round the nuptial shed are the binding part of the ritual. A widow may marry again by the dharícha form, and the levirate is permitted, but it is not compulsory on the widow to marry the younger brother of her late husband. A wife can be expelled from the house for infidelity, and for no other cause. Such a woman may marry again in the tribe by the dharícha form.

Religion And Customs. The Rahwâris are Vaishnavas and worship Bahgwân. They worship Devi in the months of Chait and Kuâr, as well as Zâhir Pír in Bhâdon. They eat the offerings themselves, which consist of sweetmeats and fruits. They employ Brâhmans as their family priests, and such Brâhmans are received on an equal level as those who do the same service for other castes. They burn their dead. Poor people leave the ashes on the cremation ground; those who can afford it take them to the Ganges or Juman. They do the srâddha, and some even go to Gaya

1 See Crooke. Largely based on a note by Bâbu Atma Râm, Head Master, High School Mathura. 2 Blochmann, Aín-í-Akbari , I, 147, sq. Fro a complete account of the camel, wee Wat, Economic Dictionary , s. v. 3 Annals, II. 357

734 for that purpose. Their primary occupation is rearing, tending, and letting out camels for hire. Some have purchased land, others cultivate as tenants, and others are landless labourers. They eat the flesh of cloven-footed animals, fowls, and fish; but not monkeys, pork, beef, flesh of whole footed animals, crocodiles, snakes, lizards, jackals, rats, or other vermin, or the leavings of other people. They can eat pakki in the same dish with Jâts, and can use their tobacco pipes, and they will also smoke with Gîjars; but they will eat kachchi only with their own caste. The Rahbâri, as he appears in these Provinces, has rather an evil reputation for high-handedness, and he is proverbially deceitful and untrustworthy.

Raj Parivars.: -They are mat-makers and live in Kanara in the South of India. They make mats with grass, kora or chunni grass. Men and women do the same work.

Raji.: -They live in Uttar Pradesh and are part of the Himalayan group of Kumaon. They call themselves Raji because they are descended from the feudal royalty of Ashok. They were probably the servants of the King of Kutpur who expelled them. They are nomads of the jungle and speak a Himalayan language of the Tibeto- Burmese family.

Rajjhar.: -Rajbhar, Lajjhar1-- A caste of farmservants found in the northern Districts. In 1911 they numbered about 8000 persons in the Central Provinces, being returned principally from the Districts of the Satpura plateau. The names Rajjhar and Rajbhar appear to be applied indiscriminately to the same caste, who are an offshoot of the great Bhar tribe of northern India. The original name appears to have been Raj Bhar, which signifies a landowing Bhar, like Raj-Gond, Raj-Korku and so on. In Mandla all the members of the caste were shown as Rajbhar in 1891, and Rajjhar in 1901, and the two names seem to be used interchangeably in other Districts in the same manner. Some section or family names, such as Bamhania, Patela, Barhele and others, are common to people calling themselves Rajjhar and Rajbhar. But, though practically the same caste, the Rajjhars seem in some localities to be more backward and primitive than the Rajbhars. This is also the case in Berar, where they are commonly known as Lajjhar and are said to be akin to the Gonds. A Gond will there take food from a Lajjhar, but not a Lajjhar from a Gond. They are more Hinduised than the Gonds and have prohibited the killing or injuring of cows by some caste penalties.2

The caste appears to be in part of mixed origin arising from the unions of Hindu fathers with women of the Bhar tribe. Several of their family names are derived from those of other castes, as Bamhania (from Brahman), Sunarya (from Sunar), Baksaria (a Rajput sept), Ahiriya (an Ahir or cow-herd), and plants or animals, as Baslya from the bans or bamboo, Mohanya from the mohin tree, Chhitkaria from the sitaphal or custard-apple tree, Hardaya from the banyan tree, Richhya from the bear, and Dukhania from the buffalo. Members of this last sept will not drink buffalo's milk or wear black cloth, because this is the colour of their totem animal. Members of septs named after other castes have also adopted some natural object as a sept totem; thus those of the Sunarya sept worship gold as being the metal with which the Sunar is associated. Those of the Brahmania sept revere the banyan and pipal trees, as these are held sacred by Brahmans. The Bakraria or Bagsaria sept believe their name to be derived from that of the bagh or tiger, and they worship this animal's footprints by tying a thread round them.

1 See Russell. 2. Kits' Berar Census Report (1881), p. 157.

735 The marriage of members of the same sept, and also that of first cousins, is forbidden. The caste does not employ Brahmans at their marriages and other ceremonies, and they account for this somewhat quaintly by saying that their ancestors were at one time accustomed to rely on the calculations of Brahman priests; but many marriages which the Brahman foretold as auspicious turned out very much the reverse; and on this account they have discarded the Brahman, and now determine the suitability or otherwise of a projected union by the common primitive custom of throwing two grains of rice into a vessel of water and seeing whether they will meet. The truth is probably that they are too backward ever to have had recourse to the Brahman priest, but now, though they still apparently have no desire for his services, they recognise the fact to be somewhat discreditable to themselves, and desire to explain it away by the story already given. In Hoshangabad the bride still goes to the bridegroom's house to be married as among the Gonds. A bride-price is paid, which consists of four rupees, a Khandi 1 of juari or wheat and two pieces of cloth. This is received by the bride's father, who has in turn to pay seven rupees eight annas and a goat to the caste panchayat or committee for the arrangement and sanction of the match. This last payment is known as Sharab-ka- rupaya or liquor-money, and with the goat furnishes the wherewithal for a sumptuous feast to the caste. The marriage-shed must be made of freshly-cut timber, which should not be allowed to fall to the ground, but must be supported and carried off on men's shoulders as it is cut. When the bridegroom arrives at the marriage-shed he is met by the bride's mother and conducted by her to an inner room of the house, where he finds the bride standing. He seizes her fist, which she holds clenched, and opens her fingers by force. The couple then walk five times round the chauk or sacred space made with lines of flour on the floor, the bridegroom holding the bride by her little finger. They are preceded by some relative of the bride, who walks round the post carrying a pot of water, with seven holes in it; the water spouts from these holes on to the ground, and the couple must tread in it as they go round the post. This forms the essential and binding portion of the marriage. That night the couple sleep in the same room with a woman lying between them. Next day they return to the bridegroom's house, and on arriving at his door the boy's mother meets him and touches his head, chest and knees with a churning-stick a winnowing-fan and a pestle, with the object of exorcising any evil spirits who may be accompanying the bridal couple. As the pair water the marriage-shed erected before the bridegroom's house they are drenched with water by a man sitting on the roof, and when they come to the door of the house the bridegroom's younger brother, or some other boy, sits across it with his legs stretched out to prevent the bride from entering. The girl pushes his legs aside and goes into the house, and then returns to her parents for a year. After this she is sent to her husband with a basket of fried cakes and a piece of cloth, and takes up her residence with him.. When a widow is to be married, the couple pour turmeric and water over each other, and then walk seven times round in a circle in an empty space, holding each other by the hand. A widow commonly marries her deceased husband's younger brother, but is not compelled to do so. Divorce is permitted for adultery on the part of the wife.

The caste bury their dead with the head pointing to the west. This practice is peculiar and is also followed, Colonel Dalton states by the hill Bhuiyas of Bengal, who in so doing honour the quarter of the setting sun. When a burial takes place, all the mourners who accompany the corpse throw a little earth into the grave. On the same day some food and liquor are taken to the grave and offered to the dead man's spirit, and a feast is given to the caste-fellows. This concludes the ceremonies of mourning and the next day the relatives go about their business. The caste are usually petty cultivators and labourers, while they also collect grass and fuel for sale, and propagate the lac insect. In Seoni they have a special relation with the Ahirs, from whom they will take cooked food, while they say that the Ahirs will also eat from their hands. In Narsinghpur a similar connection has been observed between the Rajjhars and the Lodhi caste. This probably arises from the fact that the former of Lodhi or Ahir employers, and have been accustomed to live in their houses and partake of their meals, so that caste rules

1. About 400 lbs.

736 have been abandoned for the sake of convenience. A similar intimacy had been observed between the Panwars and Gonds, and other castes who stand in this relation to each other. The Rajjhars will also eat katcha food (cooked with water) from Kunbis and Kahars. But in Hoshangabad some of them will not take food from any caste, even from Brahmans. Their women wearing glass bangles only on the right hand, and a brass ornament known as mathi on the left wrist. They wear no ornaments in the nose or ears, and have no breast-cloth. They are tattooed with dots on the face and patterns of animals on the right arm, but not on the left arm or legs. A liaison between a youth and maiden of the caste is considered a trifling matter, being punished only with a fine of two to four annas or pence. A married woman detected in an intrigue is fined a sum of four or five rupees, and if her partner be a man of another caste a lock of her hair is cut off. The caste are generally ignorant and dirty, and are not much better than the Gonds and other forest tribes.

Rajwar.: -A non-Aryan cultivating caste totalling about 200,000 in the last Census, being found particularly in Gaya, Shahabad, Ranchi, Palamau, Manbhum and the Santhal Perganas1. In each of the districts Gaya and Mandhum about quarter of the total caste are found; large numbers also dwell in Midnapore.

They are most probably a branch of one of the aboriginal races, and they appear to connect themselves traditionally with the Bhuiyas. In Sirguja and the adjoining States they declare themselves to be fallen Kshatriyas, but Risley doubts whether there is any foundation for this belief. There are several sub-castes divided into sections some of which are quite obviously totemistic. All these sections are exogamous.

The caste have no special interest from the point of view of religion or marriage customs, and are indeed very similar to the Bhuiyas in this respect. The majority are landless day labourers and the caste is certainly a likely field for recruiting purposes.

Rajwars.: -A former wandering tribe, they are now cultivators and live in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. See also Musahars.

Ramavanshis.: -See Ramoshis.

Ramoshis.: -They are a Nomadic 'criminal caste' of Maharashtra. They think that they are descendants of Rama. They are also called Ramavanshis. Probably they belong to the Bedar caste.

Râmosi.: -Râmoshi.2- A criminal tribe of the Bombay Presidency, of which about 150 persons were returned from the Central Provinces and Berâr in 1911. They belong to the western tract of the Satpîras abjoining Khândesh. The name is supposed to be a corruption of Râmvansi, meaning 'The descendants of Râma.' They say3 that when Râma, the hero of the Râmâyana, was driven from his kingdom by his step-mother Kaikeyi, he went to the forest

1 See Crooke. 2 See Russell. 3 B. G .Poona, Part I., p. 409.

737 land south of the Nerbudda. His brother Bharat, who had been raised to the throne, could not bear to part with Râma, so he followed him to the forest, began to do penance, and made friends with a rough but kindly forest tribe. After Râma's restoration Bharat took two foresters with him to Ajodhia (Oudh) and brought them to the notice of Râma, who appointed them village watchmen and allowed them to take his name. If this is the correct derivation it may be compared with the name of Râwanvansi or Children of Râwan, the opponent of Râma, which is applied to the Gonds of the Central Provinces. The Râmosis appear to be a Hinduised caste derived from the Bhíls or Koklis or a mixture of the two tribes. They were formerly a well-known class of robbers and dacoits. The principal scenes of their depredations were the western Ghâts, and an interesting description of their methods is given by Captain Mackintosh in his account of the tribe.1 Some extracts from this are here reproduced.

Methods Of Robbery. They armed themselves chiefiy with swords, taking one two or three matchlocks, or more should they judge it necessary. Several also carried their shields and a few had merely sticks, which were in general shod with small bars of iron from eight to twelve inches in length, strongly secured by means of rings and somewhat resembling the ancient mace. One of the party carried a small copper or eathen pot or a cocoanut-shell with a supply of ghí or clarified butter in it, to moisten their torches with before they commenced their operations. The Râmosis endeavoured as much as possible to avoid being seen by anybody either when they were proceeding to the object of their attack or returning afterwards to their houses. They therefore travelled during the night-time; and before daylight in the morning they concealed themselves in a jungle or ravine near some water, and slept all day, proceeding in this way for a long distance till they reached the vicinity of the village to be attacked. When they were pursued and much pressed, at times they would throw themselves into a bush or under a prickly pear plant, coiling themselves up so carefully that the chances were their pursuers would pass them unnoticed. If they intended to attack a treasure party they would wait at some convenient spot on the road and sally out when it come abreast of them, first girding up their loins and twisting a cloth tightly round their faces, to prevent the features from being recognised. Before entering the village where their dacoity or durrowa was to be perpetrated, torches were made from the turban of one of the party, which was torn into three, five or seven pieces, but never into more, the pieces being then soaked with butter. The same man always supplied the turban and received in exchange the best one taken in the robbery. Those who were unarmed collected bags of stones, and these were thrown at any people who tried to interfere with them during the dacoity. They carried firearms, but avoided using them if possible, as their discharge might summon defenders from a distance. They seldom killed or mutilated their victims, except in a fight, but occasionally travellers were killed after being robbed as a measure of precaution. They retreated with their spoils as rapidly as possible to the nearest forest or hill, and from there, after distributing the booty into bags to make it portable, they marched off in a different direction from that in which they had come. Before reaching their homes one of the party was deputed with an offering of one, two or five runees to be presented as an offering to their god Khandoba or the goddess Bhawâni in fulfilment of a vow. All the spoil was then deposited before their Nâik or headman, who divided it into equal shares for members of the gang, keeping a double share for himself.

Râmosis Employed As Village Watchmen. in order to protect themselves from the depredations of these gangs the villagers adopted a system of hiring a Râmosi as a surety to be responsible for their property, and this man gradually became a Rakhwâldâr or village watchman He received a grant of land rent-free and other perquisites, and also a fee from all travellers and gangs of traders who halted in the village in return for his protection during the night. If a theft or house-breaking occurred in a village, the Râmosi was held responsible to the owner for the value of the property, unless a

1 An Account of the Origin and Present Condition of the Tribe of Râmosis ( Bombay, I833; India office Tracts. Also Published in the Madras Journal of Literature and Science. )

738 large gang had been engaged. If he failed to discover the thief he engaged to make the lost property good to the owner within fifteen days or a month unless its value was considerable. If a gang had been engaged, the Râmosi, accompanied by the patel and village officials and cultivators, proceeded to track them by their footprints. Obtaining a stick he cut it to the exact length of the footprint, or several such if a number of prints could be discovered, and the tracks, measuring the footprints, to the boundary of the village. The inhabitants of the adjoining village were then called and were responsible for carrying on the trail through their village. The measures of footprints were handed over to them, and after satisfying themselves that the marks came from outside and extended into their land they took up the trail accompanied by the Râmosi. In this way the gang was tracked from village to village, and if it was tracked to a village the residents of the villages to which they led had to make good the loss. If the tracks were lost owing to the robbers having waded along a stream or got on to rocky ground or into a public road, then the residents of the village in whose brders the line failed were considered responsible for the stolen property. Usually, however, a compromise was made, and half was provided by the offending village, while the other half was raised from the village in which the theft occurred. If the Râmosi failed to track the thieves out of the village he had to made good the value of the theft, but he was usually assisted by the village officer. Often, too, the owner had to be contented with half or a quarter of the amount lost as compensation. In the early part of the century the Râmosis of Poona became very troublesome and constantly committed robberies in the houses of Europeans. As a consequence a custom grew up of employing a Râmosi as chaukidâr watchman for guarding the bungalow at night on a salary of seven rupees a month, and soon became general. It was the business of the Râmosi watchman to prevent other Râmosis from robbing the house. Apparently this was the common motive for the custom, prevalent up to recent years, of paying a man solely for the purpose of watching the house at night, and it originated, as in Poona, as a form of insurance and an application of the proverb of setting a thief to catch a thief. The selection of village watchmen from among the low criminal castes appears to have been made on the same principle.

Social Customs. The principal deity of the Râmosis is Khandoba, the Marâtha god of war.1 He is the deified sword, the name being khanda-aba or sword-father. An oath taken on the Bhandar or little bag of turmeric dedicated to Khandoba is held by them most sacred and no Râmosi will break this oath. Every Râmosi has a family god known as Devak, and persons having the same Devak cannot intermarry. The Devak is usually a tree or a bunch of the leaves of several trees. No one may eat the fruit of or otherwise use the tree which is his Devak. At their weddings the branches of several trees are consecrated as Devaks or guardians of the wedding. A Gurao cuts the leafy branches of the mango, umar,2 jâmun3 and of the rui 4 and shami 5 shrubs and a few stalks of grass and sets them in Hanumân's temple. From here the bridegroom's parents, after worshipping Hanumân with a betel-leaf and five areca-nuts, take them home and fasten them to the front post of the marriage-shed. When the bridegroom is taken before the family gods of the bride, he steals one of them in token of his profession, but afterwards restores it in return for a payment of money. In social position the Râmosis rank a little above the Mahârs and Mângs, not being impure. They speak Marâthi but have also a separate thieves' jargon of their own, of which a vocabulary is given in the account of Captain Mackintosh. When a Râmosi child is seven or eight years old he must steal something. If he is caught and goes to prison the people are delighted, fall at his feet when he comes out and

1. This paragraph is mainly compiled from the Nâsik and Poona volumes of the Bombay Gazetteer. 2. Ficus glomerata. 3. Eugenia jambolana. 4. Calotropis gigantea. 5. Bauhinia racemosa.

739 try to obtain him as a husband for their daughters.1 It is doubtful whether these practices obtain in the Central Provinces, and Râmosis are not usually reckoned here among the notorious criminal tribes they may probably have taken to more honest pursuits.

Rao.: -See Bhat

Rawals.: -They are Muslim mendicants. Some groups sing and recite the sacred texts and hymns of praise.

Rayaranada.: -Mahars. They are a section of Mahars. They are beggars and drama performers.

Sahar.: -See Sahariyas.

Sahariyas.: -A former nomadic tribe, now they have become settled. They are considered part of the Dasyu tribes and live in the South of Orissa.

Sakuna Pakshi.: -For the following note on the Sakuna Pakshi2 (prophetic bird) mendicant caste of Vizagapatam, I am indebted to Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao. The name of the caste is due to the fact that the members of the caste wear on their heads a plume composed of the feathers of a bird called pâlagumma, which is probably Coracias indica, the Indian roller, or "blue jay" of Europeans. This is one of the birds called sakuna pakshi, because they supposed to possess the power of foretelling events, and on their movements many omens depend. Concerning the roller, Jerdon writes3 that "it is sacred to Siva, who assumed its form, and, at the feast of the Dasserah at Nagpore, one or more used to be liberated by the Râjah, amidst the firing of cannon and musketry, at a grand parade attended by all the officers of the station. Buchanan Hamilton also states that, before the Durga Puja, the Hindus of Calcutta purchase one of these birds, and, at the time when they throw the image of Durga into the river, set it at liberty. It is considered propitious to see it on his day, and those who cannot afford to buy one discharge their matchlocks to put it on the wing."

According to their own account, the Sakuna Pakshis are Telagas who emigrated to Vizagapatam from Peddâpuram in the Godâvari district.

A member of the caste, before proceeding on a begging expedition, rises early, and has a cold meal. He then puts the Tengalai Vaishnava nâmam mark on his forehead, slings on his left shoulder a deer-skin pouch for the reception of the rice and other grain which will be given him as alms, and takes up his little drum (gilaka or damaraka) made of frog skin. It is essential for a successful day's begging that he should first visit a Mâla house or two, after which he begs from other castes, going from house to house.

1. Poona Gazetteer, part i, p. 425. 2 See Thurston. 3 Birds of India.

740 The members combine with begging the professions of devil-dancer, sorcerer, and quack doctor. Their remedy for scorpion sting is well-known. it is the foot of a plant called thélla visari (scorpion antidote), which the Sakuna Pakshis carry about with them on their rounds. The root should be collected on a new-moon day which falls on a Sunday. On that day, the Sakuna Pakshi bathes, cuts off his loin-string, and goes stark naked to a selected spot, where he gathers the roots. If a supply thereof is required, and the necessary combination of moon and day is not forthcoming, the roots should be collected on a Sunday or Wednesday.

Salat.: -They make and sell mill-stones. They live in West India.

Sanaurhia.: -A small but well-known community of criminals in Bundelkhand1. They claim to be derived from the Sanadhya Brahmans, and it seems possible that this may in fact have been their origin; but at present they are a confraternity recruited by the initiation of promising boys from all castes except sweepers and Chamars;2 and a census taken of them in northern India in 1872 showed that they included members of the following castes: Brahman, Rajput, Teli, Kurmi, Ahir, Kanjar, Nai, Dhobi, Dhimar, Sunar and Lodhi. It is said, however, that they do not form a caste or intermarry, members of each caste continuing their relations with their own community. Their regular method of stealing is through the agency of a boy, and no doubt they pick up a likely urchin whenever they get the chance, as only selected boys would be clever enough for the work. Their trade is said to possess much fascination, and Mr. Crooke quotes a saying, "Once a Sanaurhia always a Sanaurhia"; so that unless the increased efficiency of the police has caused the dangers of their calling to outweigh its pleasures they should have no difficulty in obtaining recruits.

Mr. Seagrim3 states that their home is in the Datia State of Bundelkhand, and some of them live in the adjoining Alamgarh tract of Indore State. Formerly they also resided in the Orchha and Chanderi States of Bundelkhand, having six or eight villages in each state4. in their sole occupation, with colonies in other villages. In 1857 it was estimated that the Tehri State contained 4000 Sanaurhias, Banpur 300 and Datia 300. They occupied twelve villages in Tehri, and an officer of the state presided over the community and acted as umpire in the division of the spoils. The office of Mukhia or leader was hereditary in the caste, and in default of male issue descended to females. If among the booty there happened to be any object of peculiar elegance or value, it was ceremoniously presented to the chief of the state. They say their ancestors were two Sanadhya Brahmans of the village of Ramra in Datia State. They were both highly accomplished men, and one had the gift of prophecy, while the other could understand the language of birds. One day they met at a river a rich merchant and his wife who were on a pilgrimage to Jagannath. As they were drinking water a crow sitting on a tree commenced cawing, and the Sanadhya heard him say that whoever got hold of the merchant's walking-stick would be rich. The two Brahmans then accompanied the merchant until they obtained an opportunity of making off with his stick; and they found it to be full of gold mohurs, the traveller having adopted this device as a precaution against being robbed. The Brahmans were so pleased at their success that they took up stealing as a profession, and opened a school where they taught small boys of all castes the art of stealing property in the daytime. Prior to admission the boys were made to swear by the moon that they would never commit theft at night, and on this account they are knows as Chandravedi or 'Those who observe the moon.' In Bombay and Central India this name is more commonly used

1See Russell. This article is principally on an account of the Sanaurhias written by Mr. C. M. Seagrim, Inspector- Genera of Police, Indore, and included in Mr. Kennedy's Criminal Classes of Bombay (1908). 2. Crooke's Tribes and Castes, art. Sanaurhia. 3. Criminal Classes of Bombay Presidency, pp. 196, 197. 4. Sleeman's Reportss on the Badhaks, p. 327.

741 than Sanaurhia. Another name for them is Uthaigira or 'A picker-up of that which has fallen,' corresponding to the nickname of Uchla or 'Lifter applied to the Bhamtas. Mr. Seagrim described them as going about in small gangs of ten to twenty persons without women, under a leader who has the title of Mukhia or Nalband. The other men are called Upardar, and each of these has with him one or two boys of between eight and twelve years old, who are known as chauwa (chicks) and do the actual stealing. The Nalband or leader trains these boys do to their work, and also teachers them a code vocabulary (Parsi) and a set of signals (teni) by which the Upardar can convey to them his instructions while the business is proceeding. The whole gang set out at the end of the rains and, arriving at some distant place, break up into small parties; the Nalband remains at a temporary headquarters, where he receives and disposes of the spoil, and arranges for the defence of any member of the gang who is arrested, and for the support of his wife and children of he is condemned to imprisonment.

The methods of the Sanaurhias as described by Mr. Seagrim show considerable ingenuity. When they desire to steal something from a stall in a crowded market two of the gang pretend to have a violent quarrel, on which all the people in the people in the vicinity collect to watch, including probably the owner of the stall. In this case the chauwa or boy, who has posted himself in a position of vantage, will quickly abstract the article agreed upon and make off. Or if there are several purchasers at a shop, the man will wait until one of them lays down his bundle while he makes payment, and then pushing up against him signal to the Chauwa, who snatches up the bundle and bolts. If he is caught, the Sanaurhia will come up as an innocent member of the crowd and plead for mercy on the score of his youth; and the boy will often be let off with a few slaps. Sometimes three or four Sanaurhias will proceed to some place of resort for pilgrims to bathe, and two or three of them entering the water will divert the attention of the bather by pointing out some strange object or starting a discussion. In the meantime the Chauwas or chicks, under the direction of another on the bank, will steal any valuable article left by the bather. The attention of any one left on shore to watch the property is diverted by a similar device. If they see a man with expensive clothes the Chauwa will accidentally brush against him and smear him with dirt or something that causes pollution; the victim will proceed to bathe, and one of the usual stratagems is adopted. Or the Sanaurhia will engage the man in conversation and the Chauwa will come running along and collide with them; on being abused by the Sanaurhia for his clumsiness he asks to be pardoned, explaining that he is only a poor sweeper and meant no harm; and on hearing this the victim, being polluted, must go off and bathe.1 Colonel Sleeman relates the following case of such a theft:2 "while at Saugor I got a note one morning from an officer in command of a treasure escort just arrived from Narsinghpur stating that the old Subahdar of his company had that morning been robbed of his gold necklace valued at Rs 150, and requesting that I would assist him in recovering it. The old Subahdar brought the note, and stated that he had undressed at the brook near the cantonments, and placed the necklace with his clothes, about twenty yards from the place where he bathed; that on returning to his clothes he could not find the necklace, and the only person he saw near the place was a young lad who was sauntering in the mango grove close by. This lad he had taken and brought with him, and I found after a few questions that he belonged to the Sanaurhia Brahmans of Bundelkhand. As the old Subahdar had not seen the boy take the necklace or even approach the clothes, I told him that we could do nothing and he must take the boy back to camp and question him in his own way. The boy, as I expected, became alarmed, and told me that he would do anything I pleased. I bade him tell me how he had managed to secure the necklace; and he told me that while the Subahdar turned his back upon his clothes in prayer, he had taken it up and made it over to one of the men of his party; and that it must have been taken to their bivouac, which was in a grove about three miles from the cantonments. I sent off a few policemen, who secured the whole party, but could not find

1. Mr. Gayer's Lectures on some Criminal Tribes. 2. Report on the Badhak or Bagri Dacoits (1849), p. 328.

742 anything upon them. Seeing some signs of a hole having been freshly made under one of the tress they dug up the fresh earth and discovered the necklace. Additionally, at the sight of a rich stranger, the boy runs crying and clings to the stranger asking him for help, and in the meantime picks his pocket. When the Sanaurhias are convicted in Native States and put into jail they refuse to eat, pleading that they are poor Brahmans, and pretend to starve themselves to death, and thus often get out of jail. In reply to a letter inquiring about these people from the Superintendent of Chanderi about 1851, the Raja of Banpur wrote: "I have to state that from former times these people following their profession have resided in my territory and in the states of other native princes; and they have always followed this calling, but no former kings or princes or authority have ever forbidden the practice. In consequence of these people stealing by day only, and that they do not take life or distress any person by personal ill-usage, and that they do not break into houses by digging walls or breaking door- locks, but simply by their smartness manage to abstract property; owing to such trifling thefts I looked upon their proceedings as a petty matter and have not interfered with them."1

Sani.: -The Sânivâllu, who are a Telugu dancing-girl caste2-- who are described in the Vizagapatam Manual as women who have not entered into matrimony-- gain money by prostitution, and acting as dancers at feasts. Sâni is also a title of the Oriya Doluvas in Ganjam, who are said to be descended from Puri Râjas by their concubines. The streets occupied by Sânis are, in Ganjam, known as Sâni Vídhi. I have heard of missionaries, who, in consequence of this name, insist on their wives being addressed as Ammâgaru instead of by the customary name Dorasâni.

In a note on the Sânis of the Godâvari district, Mr. R.R Hemingway writes as follows. "In this district, dancing-girls and prostitutes are made up of six perfectly distinct castes, which are in danger of being confused. These are the Sânis proper, Bógams, Dommara Sânis, Turaka Sânis, Mangala Bógams, and Mâdiga Bógams. Of these, the Bógams claim to superior, and will not dance in the presence of, or after a performance by any of the others. The Sânis do not admit this claim, but they do not mind dancing after the Bógams, or in their presence. All the other classes are admittedly inferior to the Sânis and the Bógams. The Sânis would scorn to eat with any of the other dancing castes. The Sâni women are not exclusively devoted to their traditional profession. Some of them marry male members of the caste, and live respectably with them. The men do not, as among the dancing castes of the south, assist in the dancing, or by playing the accompaniments or forming a chorus, but are cultivators and petty traders. Like the dancing-girls of the south, the Sânis keep up their numbers by the adoption of girls of other castes. They do service in the temples, but they are not required to be formally dedicated or married to the god, as in the Tamil country. Those of them who are to become prostitutes are usually married to a sword on attaining puberty." Sâni, meaning apparently cow-dung, occurs as a sub-division of the Tamil Agamudaiyans.

Sêsís.: -The Sêsís are one of the best known criminal tribes3. They commonly use the word bhattî (in the Panjab) or Bhãtî (Saharanpur) to denote themselves. I cannot suggest any etymology of this name, which is also used by other Gypsy tribes such as the Kólhâ†ís. The common denomination Sêsí is replaced by the longer form Sêsiyâ in the United Provinces. It has been variously derived from Sanskrit s``vasa, breathing, or from the base sram•s, to fall, to get loose. The former explanation does not give much sense, the latter would perhaps convey the meaning of a fallen, degraded caste, and etymologically sêsí might well be derived from an old participle sram•sita. O¶thers derive the word from s`vaga∑ika, 'accompanied by a pack of hounds,' 'hunter,' or from s``vapâka, 'who cooks dogs,' 'outcaste,' but these derivations are

1. J. Hutton, A Popular Account of the Thugs and Dacoits and Gang-robbers of India (London,1857). 2 See Thurston. 3 Linguistic Survey of India

743 not possible phonetically. If we consider the fact that the Sêsís often act as bards, it would also be possible to derive their name from the Sanskrit s``âm••sika = s``am••sin, reciting.

Area Within Which Found. Sêsís are most numerous in the Panjab, especially in the districts of Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Lahore, Gujranwala, Sialkot and Gujrat. The total number returned at the last Census of 1911 was 32,481, distributed as follows:

Panjab 26,990 Delhi Division 3,357 Jullundur Division 1,893 Lahore Division 14,574 Rawalpindi Division 2,090 Multan Division 1,993 Native States 3,083 Other Provinces 5,491 ------Total 32,481

Number Of Speakers. It is probable that many of these Sêsís speak the language of their neighbours. Our information about the number of those who speak a separate dialect is very defective. This is partly due to the fact that there are in reality two different things which can be called the Sêsí dialect. In the first place we have a distinct vernacular, specimens of which have only been forwarded from the Panjab. In the second place there is a criminal argot characterised by certain methods of disguising ordinary words so as to make them unintelligible to the uninitiated. Such methods can be applied to words taken from any dialect. Moreover, the returns from the Census of 1911 do not distinguish between the different Gypsy dialects. They seem, however, to show that many Sêsís have been returned as speaking other dialects. Thus the total number returned for Gypsy languages from the Panjab was only 5,640. The information collected for the purposes of this Survey, on the other hand, must in this case be used with considerable caution. It gives the number of speakers in Ferozepur as 45,000, but only 360 Sêsís were enumerated in the district at the Census of 1911. The details of this information are as follows:-

Panjab 48,170 Ferozepur 45,000 Gurdaspur 2,000 Gujrat 1,170 United Provinces 3,380 Saharanpur 3,000 Kheri 380 ------Total 51,550

It will be seen that this total is considerably more than the number of Sêsís enumerated in the whole of India in 1911.

Ordinary Dialect. The Sêsís are to a great extent migratory, and their dialect differs according to locality. Thus the Sêsís of the United Provinces apparently speak Hindóstâní, while the dialect of their cousins in the Northern Panjab is closely related to Pañjâbí. A consequence of their migratory habits is also the use of forms and suffixes belonging to different vernaculars by the same Sêsís. Thus in the dialect spoken in the Northern Panjab we find the genitive by adding a

744 suffix gâ 1 or kâ as in Hindóstâní, while the suffix of the ablative is thô which reminds us of Gujarâtí. Dr. Grahame Bailey has shown that there are numerous cases of correspondence now with another Aryan dialect in the speech of the Sêsís of the Northern Panjab. It might be characterised as intermediate between Pañjâbí and Hindóstâní. Such correspondence in grammar cannot, however, prove more than the supposition that the Sêsís have associated much with peoples speaking those tongues. It is quite certain that the stronghold of the tribe is the north of the Panjab, between the Sutlej and the Jhelum. Some phonetical features in Sêsí also point in that direction. Thus the old double consonants, which are so common in the Prakrits, are treated differently in modern vernaculars. They are often retained, and a preceding short vowel remains short in Pañjâbí, while they are simplified and the preceding vowel lengthened in Hindóstâní and most Eastern languages. Compare Prakrit ekka, but Hindóstâní ék; Prakrit pi††hí, back, Pañjâbí Pi††h, but Hindóstâní pí†h. The Sêsí of the Panjab here corresponds with Pañjâbí; compare e``kki, one; na``kk, nose; ha``th, hand; pi††h, back. In the United Provinces we usually find forms with simplified compounds and long vowels. In Saharanpur, however, we find forms such as mi†, back; Kan†hâ; ear, kuk, eye, etc., which seem to show that the state of affairs is not quite the same as in Hindóstâní. The conditions in Sêsí do not therefore prove anything. More importance must be attached to the existence of a cerebral ¬ and a cerebral ∑ in Sêsí, for the use of those sounds is characteristic of western languages, such as Marâ†hí, Gujarâtí, Râjasthâní and Pañjâbí. Such cases of correspondence between Pañjâbí and Sêsí are exactly what we would expect, considering where the stronghold of the Sêsís is situated. The use of an oblique form ending in â of weak nouns, on other hand, seems to show that there is in Sêsí an element, a substratum, which does not belong to the Panjab, but rather more to the south, where we approach the Râjasthâní and Marâ†hí areas. We are comparatively well informed about the Sêsí dialect of the Northern Panjab, which has been dealt with by Dr. Grahame Bailey. The remarks which follow refer to it.

Pronunciation. Vowels are pronounced as in Pañjâbí. The pronunciation of consonants is said to agree with Pañjâbí. The principal point in which the two differ from Hindóstâní refers to aspirated letters in the beginning of syllables, the aspiration of such words being very guttural, almost like the Arabic 'ain . This rule applies to h, gh, jh, πh, dh, bh, nh and mh . Thus, hîwwâ, become, is almost 'îwâ; ghó®â, horse, is almost g'ó®â, and so forth.

Nouns. There are two genders, the masculine which is also used as a neuter, and the feminine. The oblique base of masculine nouns ending in í,î, and consonants, and of feminine nouns ends in â, their case of the agent in e§§ . The nominative plural is like the singular in the case of masculine nouns, while feminines and in ê . The oblique plural ends in e§§. Masculine nouns ending in â change their â to é in the oblique case, to e§§ in the case of the agent, to é in the nominative plural and to e§§ in the oblique plural. The common case suffixes are dative gï, ablative thô; and genitive gâ , feminine gí plural gíê . The usual Hindóstâní suffixes dative kó, ablative sé, genitive kâ, kí, are used instead in the specimens received from Gujrat, Gurdaspur and Sialkot, and in the United Provinces the inflexion of nouns is the same as in Hindóstâní. According to Dr. Bailey the nominative, genitive and the case of the agent of ba``pp, father; kîtâ, dog; and dhíâ, daughter, are as follows:

Singular Plural Nominative ba``pp kîtâ dhíâ ba``pp kîté dhíê Genitive bappâ-gâ kîté-gâ dhíâ bappe§§-gâ kîte§§-gâ dhíe§§-gâ Agent bappe§§ kîte§§ dhíe§§ bappe§§-ó∑ô kîte§§-ó∑ô dhie§§-ó∑ô

1 The postposition gâ refers us rather to the Bâg®í dialect of Râjasthâní than to Hindóstâni. We may also compare g``ai , the postposition of the Dative in the Dardic Maiyã. [G. A. G. ]

745 These are apparently the regular forms in the dialect of the Sêsís of the Northern Panjab. They are not, however, the only ones. Thus, a list of words received from the Gujrat District contains forms such as waππiê-dé pâs, to fathers, with the common Pañjâbí genitive suffix.

Pronouns. The following are the regular forms of the personal pronouns:

I We Thou You Nominative hau™™ ham tau™™ tam Agent mai™™ hamô tai™™ tamô Dat-Accusative manu§§ ham-kó tanu§§ tum-kó Ablative mésthé ham-thó tésthé tam-thó Genitive mérâ mhârâ térâ tuhârâ

The demonstrative pronouns are e¢¢â, this, oblique base i∑, case of the agent singular i∑, plural i∑ô; uh, óh, that, oblique base u∑, case of the agent singular u∑, plural u∑ô . There is also a pronoun tiârgâ, the thing or subject under discussion, which is substituted for nouns in order to prevent a stranger from understanding what is meant.

Verbs. The common verb substantive is hó∑â, to be. Its present participle is hótâ, being, and its conjunctive participle hóíké, having been. The present tense is formed as follows:

Singular Plural 1. hai™™ . 1. hê . 2. hai™™ . 2. hó . 3. hai . 3. hai™™ . The past tense is singular masc. thíyyâ, fem. thíyyí; plural masc. thíyyé, fem. thíyyíê: síyyâ , fem. síyyí; plural masc. síyyé, fem. síyyíê .

The verb substantive is largely used in the conjugation of ordinary verbs. Present Tense.- The old present is conjugated like the present tense of the verb substantive; thus, hau™™ mâre§§ , I may beat; ba®é, he may enter; khâhê, we may eat. The present tense is formed by adding the present of the verb substantive to the present participle; thus, ham mârté hê , we are beating, we beat. Several compound tenses are used as a habitual present. Such are hau™™ mârtâ hótâ hai™™, I am being beaten; hau™™ mâriâ kartâ hai™, I am doing beating; hau™™ mârí rihâ hai™™, I having beaten have remained.

Past Tense. The ordinary past tense is identical with the past participle passive; thus, hau™™ gayâ , I went; tam gaé, you went. The past tense of transitive verbs is a passive form, and the subject is put in the case of the agent; thus, hamô mâriâ, by us beaten, we beat. Similarly also mai™™ mâriâ thíyyâ (or síyyâ ), by me beaten was, I had beaten. Other forms of the past such as hau™ mârtâ thíyyâ , I was beating, are of course constructed actively.

Future Tense.- The suffix of the future is g®â , preceded by an © in the first and second persons singular and the first and third persons plural. The regular future forms of mâr∑â, to beat, are: Singular Plural 1. mâra©g®â 1. mâra©g®é 2. mâra©g®â 2. mârag®ªé 3. mârag®â 3. mâra©g®é and mâra©g, indeclinable for singular and plural.

746 Similar forms are found in Ma∑πeâlí, Sukétí and Bilaspîrí. Compare Ma∑πeâlí mâra©g or mârghâ, I shall beat; Bilaspîrí mâra©g®a, I shall beat.

Imperative.- The imperative is formed as in Pan™™jâbí and Hindóstâní; thus. mâr, beat; mâró, beat ye.

Infinitive and Participles.- The suffix of the infinitive is ∑â; thus, mâr∑â, to beat. Compare pan™™jâbí ∑â, nâ Hindóstâní nâ, Sindhí ∑u, The present participle ends in tâ as in Hindóstâní; thus, mârtâ, beating. The past participle is generally formed as in Pan™™jâbí; thus, mâriâ, beaten; kahiâ, said; though Hindóstâní forms, such as gayâ, gone, also occur. The conjunctive participle ends in í, í-ké ; thus, jâí, having gone; mâri-ké, having beaten. As in the suffix of the genitive the k is often softened to g ; thus, âí-gé, having come; déhkí-gé, having seen.

Passive Voice.- Passive forms agree with Pan™™j¡âbí and Hindóstâní; thus, hau™™ mâriâ jattâ hai™™, I am beaten; hau™™ mâriâ jattâ thíyyâ (síyyâ), I was beaten; hau™™ mâriâ jâ©g®â, I shall be beaten.

Sansia.: -A small caste of wandering criminals of northern India1, who live by begging and dealing in cattle. They also steal and commit dacoities, house-breaking and thefts on railway trains. The name Sansia is borne as well by the Uriya or Od masons of the Uriya country, but these are believed to be quite a distinct group from the criminal Sansias of Central India and are noticed in another short article. Separate statistics of the two groups were not obtained at the census. The Sansias are closely connected with the Berias, and say that their ancestors were two brothers Sains Mul and Sansi and that the Berias are descended from the former and the Sansias, from the latter. They were the bards of the Jat caste, and it was their custom to chronicle the names of the Jats and their ancestors, and when they begged from Jat families to recite their praises. The Sansias, Colonel Sleeman states, had particular families (of the Jats) allotted to them, from whom they had not only the privilege of begging, but received certain dues; some had fifty, some a hundred houses appointed to them, and they received yearly from the head of each house one rupee and a quarter and one day's food. When the Jats celebrated their marriages they were accustomed to invite the Sansias, who as their minstrels recited the praises of the ancestors of the Jats, tracing them up to the time of Punya Jat; and for this they received presents, according to the means of the parties, of cows, ponies or buffaloes. Should any Jat demur to paying the customary dues the Sansias would dress up a cloth figure of his father and parade with it before the house, when the sum demanded was generally given; for if the figure were fastened on a bamboo and placed over the house the family would lose caste and no one would smoke or drink water with them.2

The Sansias say that their ancestors have always resided in Marwar and Ajmer. About twenty-four miles distant from Ajmer are two towns, Pisangan and Sagun; on their eastern side is a large tank, and the bones of all persons of the Sansia tribe who died in any part of the country were formerly buried there, being covered by a wooden platform with four pillars.3 On one occasion a quarrel had arisen over a Sansia woman and a large number of the caste were killed in this place. So they left Marwar, and some of them came to the Deccan, where they took to house-breaking and dacoity; and so successful were they that the other Sansias followed them and gave up all their former customs, even those of reciting the praises of and begging from the Jats.

Social Customs.

1 See Russell. This article is based almost entirely on a description of the Sansias contained in Colonel Sleeman's Report on the Badhak or Bagri Dacoits ( 1849 ). Most of the material belongs to a report drawn up at Nagpur by Mr. C. Ramasy, Assistant Resident, in 1845 2 Sleeman's Report on the Badhaks. p 253 3 Ibidem, p 254.

747 The Sansias are divided into groups, Kalkar and Malha; and these two are further subdivided into eight and twelve sections respectively. No one belonging to the Kalkar group may marry another person of that group, but he may marry anybody belonging to any section of the Malha group. The two groups being exogamous, the sections do not serve any purpose, but it is possible that the rules are really more complicated. In the Punjab their marriage ceremony is peculiar, the bride being covered by a basket, on which the bridegroom sits while the nuptial rites are being performed.1 According to Colonel Sleeman, after the arrangement of a match the caste committee assemble to determine the price to be paid to the father of the girl, which may amount to as much as Rs. 2000. When this is settled some liquor is spilt on the ground in the name of Bhagwan or Vishnu, and an elder pronounces that the two have become man and wife; a feast is given to the caste, and the ceremony is concluded After child-birth a women cannot wash herself for five days, but on the sixth she may go to a stream and wash. Even on ordinary occasions a women must never wash herself inside the house, but must always go to a stream. a rule which does not apply to men. When the hair of a child begins to grow it is all shaved except the scalp-lock, which is dedicated to Bhagwan; and at ten or twelve years of age this lock is also shaved off and a dinner is given to members of the caste. The last ceremony is of the nature of a puberty-rite, and if children die prior to its performance their bodies are buried, whereas after it they have a right to cremation. after a body has been burnt the bones are buried on the spot in an earthen vessel, over the mouth of which a large stone is placed. some pig's flesh is cooked and sweet cakes prepared, portions of which are placed upon the stone; and the deceased is then called upon, by reason of the usual ceremonies having been performed at his death, to watch over his surviving relatives. If any Sansia happened to commit a murder when engaged in a dacoity he was afterwards obliged to make an offering for forgiveness, and to spend a rupee and a quarter in liquor for the caste-fellows. If a dacoit had himself been killed and his body abandoned, his clothes, with some new clothes, were put a sleeping-cot, and his companions of the same caste carried it to a convenient spot, where it was either burnt or buried in the ground.

Taboos Of Relationship. Colonel Sleeman records some curious taboos among relations.2 A man cannot go into the hut of his mother-in-law or of his son's wife; for if their petticoat should touch him he would be turned out of his caste and would not be admitted into it until he had paid a large sum. "If we quarrel with a woman," said a Sansia, "and she strikes us with her petticoat we lose our caste; we should be allowed to eat and drink with our tribe, but not to perform worship with them nor to assist in burial rites. If a woman piles up a heap of stones and puts her petticoat upon it and throws filth upon it and says to any other, 'this disgrace feel upon your ancestors for seven generations back,' both are immediately expelled from our caste, and cannot return to it until they have paid a large sum of money."

Organisation For Dacoity. As in the case of the Badhaks the arrangements for a dacoity were carefully organised. Each band had a Jemadar or leader, while the others were called Sipahis or soldiers. A tenth of all the booty taken was given to the Jemadar in return for the provision of the spears, torches and other articles, and of the remainder the Jemadar received two shares and the Sipahis one each. But no novice was permitted to share in the booty or carry a spear until he had participated in two or three successful dacoities; and inasmuch as outsiders, with the exception of the impure Dhers and Mangs, were freely admitted to the Sansia community in return for a small money payment, some such apprenticeship as this was no doubt necessary. If a Sipahi was killed in a dacoity his wife was entitled to a sum of Rs. 350 and half an ordinary share in future dacoities as long as she remained with the gang. The Sansias never pitched their camp in the vicinity of the place on which they contemplated an enterprise, but despatched their scouts to it, themselves remaining some twenty miles distant.

1 Sir D. Ibbetson, Punjab Census Report ( 1881 ), para. 577 2 P 259

748 Description Of A Dacoity. The scouts,1 having prospected the town and determined the house to be exploited, usually that of the leading banker, would then proceed to it in the early morning before business began and ask to purchase some ornaments or change some money: by this request they often induced the banker to bring out his cash chest from the place of security where he was accustomed to deposit it at night, and learnt where it should be looked for. Having picked up as much information as possible, the scouts would purchase some spear-heads. bury them in a neighbouring ravine, and rejoin the main body. The party would arrive at the rendezvous in the evening, and having fitted their spears to bamboo shafts, would enter the town carrying them concealed in a bundle of karbi or the long thick stalks of the large millet, juari.2 One man was appointed to carry the torch,3 and the oil to be poured on this had always to be purchased in the town or village where the dacoity was to take place, the use of any other oil being considered most unlucky. The vessel containing the oil was not allowed to touch the earth until its contents had been poured upon the torch, when it was dashed upon the ground. From this time until the completion of the dacoity no one might spit or drink water or relieve himself under penalty of putting a stop to the enterprise. The Jemadar invoked Khandoba, an incarnation of Mahadeo, and said that if by his assistance the box of money was broken at the first or second stroke of the axe, a chain of gold weighing one and a quarter tolas would be made over to him. The party then approached the shop, the roads surrounding it being picketed to guard against a rescue, and the Jemadar, accompanied by four or five men and the torch-bearer, rushed into the shop crying Din, Din. The doors usually gave way under a few heavy blows with the axe, which they wielded with great expertness, and the scout pointed out the location of the money and valuables. Once in possession of the property the torch was extinguished and the whole party made off as rapidly as possible. During their retreat they tried to avoid spearing people who pursued them, first calling out to them to go away. If any member of the party was killed or so desperately wounded that he could not be removed, the others cut off his head and carried it off so as to prevent recognition; a man who was slightly wounded would be carried off by his companions, but if the pursuit became hot and he had to be left, they cut off his head also and took it with them, escaping by this drastic method the risk of his turning approver with the consequent danger of conviction for the rest of the gang. About a mile from the place of the dacoity they stopped and mustered their party, and the Jemadar called out to the god Bhagwan to direct any pursuers in the wrong direction and enable them to reach their families. If any dacoit had ever been killed at this particular town they also called upon his spirit to assist them, promising to offer him a goat or some liquor; and so, throwing down a rupee or two at any temple or stream which they might pass on their way, they came to their families. When about a mile away from the camp they called out 'Cuckoo' to ascertain if any misfortune had occurred during their absence; if they thought all was well they went nearer and imitated the call of the partridge; and finally when close to the encampment made a hissing noise like a snake. On arrival at the camp they at once mounted their ponies and started off, marching fifty or sixty miles a day, for two or three days.

Omens. The Sansias never committed a dacoity on moonlight nights, but had five appointed days during the dark half of the month, the seventh, ninth, eleventh, thirteenth and the night of the day on which the new moon was first seen. If they did not meet with a favourable omen on any of these nights, no dacoity was committed that month. The following is a list of omens

1 The description of a dacoity is combined from two accounts given at pp. 257, 273 of Sleeman's Report. 2 Sorghum vulgare. 3 Made of the bark of the date-palm tied with strips of cloth round some inflammable wood.

749 given by one of the caste:1 "If we see a cat when we are near the place where we intend to commit a dacoity, or we hear the relations of a dead person lamenting, or hear a person sneeze while cooking his meal, or see a dog run away with a portion of any person's food, or a kite screams while sitting on a tree, or a woman breaks the earthen vessel in which she may have been drawing water, we consider the omens unfavourable. If a person drops his turban or we meet a corpse, or the Jemadar has forgotten to put some bread into his waist belt, or any dacoit forgets his axe or spear or sees a snake whether dead or alive; these omens are also considered unfavourable and we do not commit the dacoity. Should we see a wolf and any one of us has on a red turban, we take this and tear it into seven pieces and hang each piece upon a separate tree. We then purchase a rupee's worth of liquor and kill a goat, which is cut up into four pieces. Four men pretend that they are wolves and rushing on the four quarters of the meat seize them, imitating the howl of these animals, while the rest of the dacoits pelt them with the entrails; the meat is afterwards cooked and eaten in the name of Bhagwan. " It would appear that the explanation of this curious ceremony must be that the Sansias thought the appearance of the wolf to be and omen that one of them would furnish a meal for him. The turban is venerated on account of its close association with the head, a sacred part of the body among Hindus, and in this case it probably served as a substituted offering for the head, while its red colour represented blood; and the mimic rite of the goat being devoured by men pretending to be wolves fulfilled the omen which portended that the wolves would be provided with a meal, and hence averted the necessity of one of the band being really devoured. In somewhat analogous fashion the Gonds and Baigas placate or drive away a tiger who has killed a man in order to prevent him from obtaining further victims. Some similar idea apparently underlay the omen of the dog running away with food. Perhaps the portent of hearing the kite scream on a tree also meant that he looked on them with a prescient eye as a future meal. On the other hand, meeting a corpse and seeing a snake are commonly considered to be lucky omens, and their inclusion in this list is curious.2 The passage continues: "Among our favourable omens are meeting a women selling milk; or a person carrying a basket of grain or a bag of money; or if we see a calf sucking its mother, or meet a person with a vessel of water, or a marriage procession; or if any person finds a rupee that he has lost; or we meet a bearer carrying fish or a pig or a blue-jay; if any of these occur near our camp on the day we contemplate a dacoity, we proceed forthwith to commit it and consider that these signs assure us a good booty. If a Fakir begs from us while we are on out way to the place of dacoity we cannot give him anything." Another Sansia said: "We think it very favourable if, when on the way to commit a dacoity, we hear or see the jackal; it is as good as gold and silver to us; also if we hear the bray of the ass in a village we consider it to be lucky."

Ordeals. The following is a description given by a Sansia of their ordeals:3 If a Jemadar suspects a Sipahi of secreting plunder a panchayat is assembled,4 the members of which receive five rupees from both parties. Seven pipal5 leaves are laid upon his hand and bound round with thread, and upon these a heated iron tawa or plate is set; he is then ordered to walk seven paces and put the plate down upon seven thorns; should he be able to do so he is pronounced innocent, but if he is burnt by the plate and throws it down he is considered guilty. Another ordeal is by fixing arrows, two of which are shot off at once from one bow, one in the name of Bhagwan (god), and the other in the name of the panchayat; the place being on the bank of the river. The arrow that flies the farthest is stuck upright into the ground; upon which a man carrying a long bamboo walks up to his breast in the water and the suspected person is

1 Sleeman, p. 263 2 But it is unlucky for a snake to cross one's path front. 3 Sleeman, pp. 261, 262. 4 Committee of five persons. 5 Ficus religiosa

750 desired to join him. One of the panchayat then claps his hands seven times and runs off to pick up the arrow; at this instant the suspected person is obliged to but his head under water, and if he can hold his breath until the other returns to the bank with the arrow and has again clapped his hands sever times he is pronounced innocent. If he cannot do so he is declared guilty and punished. A third form of ordeal was as follows: The Jemadar and the gang assemble under a pipal tree, and after knocking off the neck of an earthen pitcher they kill a goat and collect its blood in the pitcher, and put some glass bangles in it. Four lines are drawn on the pitcher with vermilion (representing blood), and it is placed under a tree. Then 1 1 1 seers1 of gur (sugar) are tied up in a piece of cloth 1 cubits in length and hung on a 4 4 branch of the tree. The Jemadar then says, "I will forgive any person who has not secreted more than fifteen or twenty rupees, but whoever has stolen more than that sum shall be punished." The Jemadar dips his finger in the pitcher of blood, and afterwards touches the sugar and calls out loudly, 'If I have embezzled any money may Bhagwan punish me'; and each dacoit in turn pronounces the same sentence. No one who is guilty will do this but at 1 1 once makes his confession. The oath pronounced on 1 seers of sugar tied up in 1 cubits of 4 4 cloth was considered the most solemn and binding which a Sansia could take.

Sansias At The Present Time. At present, Mr. Kennedy states,2 the Sansias travel about with sheep, goats and dogs. The last mentioned of these animals are usually small mongrels with a terrier strain, mostly stolen or bred from types dishonestly obtained during their peregrinations. Dacoity is still the crime which they most affect, and they also break into houses and steal cattle. Men usually have a necklace of red coral and gold beads round the neck, from which is suspended and square piece of silver or gold bearing an effigy of a man on horse back. This represents either the deity Ramdeo Pir or one of the wearer's ancestors, and is venerated as a charm. They are very quarrelsome, and their drinking-bouts in camp usually end in a free fight, in which they also beat their women, and the affray not infrequently results in the death of one of the combatants. When this happens the slayer makes restitution to the relatives by defraying the expenses of a fresh drinking-bout.3 During the daytime men are seldom to be found in the encampment, as they are in the habit of hiding in the ditches and jungle, where the women take them their food; at night they return to their tents, but are off again at dawn.

The Caste And Its Subdivisions. Sansia, Uria.4 A caste of masons and navvies of the Uriya country. The Sansias are really a branch of the great migratory Ud or Odde caste of earth-workers, whose name has been corrupted into various forms.5 Thus they are also known as Wadewar or Waddar. The term Uria is here a corruption of Odde, and it is the one by which the caste prefer to be known, but they are generally called Sansia by outsiders. The caste sometimes class the Sansias as a subcaste of Urias, the others being Benatia Urias and Khandait Urias. Since the Uriya tract has been transferred to Bengal, and subsequently to Bihar and Orissa, there remain only about 1000 Sansias in the Chhattisgarh Districts and States. Although it is possible that the name of the caste may have been derived from some past connection, the Sansias of the Uriya country have at present no affinities with the outcaste and criminal tribe of Sansis or Sansias of northern India. They enjoy a fairly high position in Sambalpur, and Brahmans will take water from them.

1 The seer=2 lbs. 2 Criminal Classes in the Bombay Presidency ; Sansias and Berias. 3 Mr. Gayer, Central provinces Police Lectures, p. 68 4 This article is mainly based on a paper by Mr Rama Prasad Bohidar, Assistant Master, Sambalpur High School. 5 See article Beldar for a notice of the different groups of earth-workers.

751 They are divided into two subcastes, the Benetia and Khandait. The Benetia are the higher and look down on the Khandaits, because, it is said, these latter have accepted service as foot- soldiers, and this considered a menial occupation. Perhaps in the households of the Uriya Rajas the tribal militia had also to perform personal services, and this may have been considered derogatory. In Orissa, on the other hand, the Khandaits have become landholders and occupy a high position next to Rajputs. The Benetia Sansias practise hypergamy with the Khandait Sansias, taking their daughters in marriage, but not giving daughters to them. When a Benetia is marrying a Khandait girl his party will not take food with the bride's relatives, but only partake of some sugar and curds and depart with the bride. The Sansias have totemistic exogamous septs, usually derived from the names of sacred objects, as Kachhap, tortoise, Sankh, the conch-shell, Tulsi, basil, and so on.

Marriage. Girls are married between seven and ten, and after she is twelve years old a girl cannot go through the proper ceremony, but can only be wedded by a simple rite used for widows, in which vermilion is rubbed on her forehead and some grains of rice stuck on it. The marriage procession, as described by Mr. Rama Prasad Bohidar, is a gorgeous affair: "the drummers, all drunk, head the procession, beating their drums to the tune set by the piper. Next in order are placed dancing-boys between two rows of lights carried on poles adorned with festoons of paper flowers. Rockets and fireworks have their proper share in the procession, and last of all comes the bridegroom in his wedding apparel, mounted on a horse. His person is studded with various kinds of gold necklaces borrowed for the occasion, and the fingers of his right hand are covered with rings. Bangles and chains of silver shine on his wrists. His head carries a crown of palm-leaves overlaid with bright paper of various colours. A network of malti flowers hangs loosely from the head over the back and covers a portion of the loins of the steed. The eyes are painted with collyrium and the feet with red dye. The lips and teeth are also reddened by the betel-leaf, which the bridegroom chews in profusion. A silk cloth does the work of a belt, in which is fixed a dagger on the right side." Here the red colour which predominates in the bridegroom's decorations is lucky for the reasons given in the article on Lakhera; the blacking of the eyes also considered to keep off evil spirits; betel-leaf is itself a powerful agent of magic and averter of spirits, and to the same end the bridegroom carries iron in the shape of the dagger. The ceremony is of the customary Uriya type. On the seventh day of the wedding the husband and wife go to the river and bathe, throwing away the sacred threads worn at the time of marriage, and also those which have been tied round their wrists. On returning home the wife piles up seven brass vessels and seven stools one above the other and the husband kicks them over, this being repeated seven times. The husband then washes his teeth with water brought from the river, breaks the vessel containing the water in the bride's house, and runs away, while the women of her family throw pailfuls of coloured water over him. On the ninth day the bride comes and smears a mixture of curds and sugar on the forehead of each member of the bridegroom's family, probably as a sign of her admission to their clan, and returns home. Divorce and the remarriage of widows are permitted.

Religion And Worship Of Ancestors. The caste worship Viswakarma, the celestial architect, and on four principal festivals they revere their trade-implements and the book on architecture, by which they work. At Dasahar a pumpkin is offered to these articles in lieu of a goat. They observe the shraddh ceremony, and first make two offerings to the spirits of ancestors who have died a violent death or have committed suicide, and to those of relatives who died unmarried, for fear lest these unclean and malignant spirits should seize and defile the offerings to the beneficent ancestors. Thereafter pindas or sacrificial cakes are offered to three male and three female ancestors both on the father's and mother's side, twelve cakes being offered in all. The Sansias eat the flesh of clean animals, but the consumption of liquor is strictly forbidden, or pain, it is said, of permanent exclusion from caste.

752 Occupation. In Sambalpur the caste members are usually stone-workers, making cups, mortars, images of idols and other articles. They also build tanks and wander from place to place for this purpose in large companies. It is related that on one occasion they came to dig a tank in Drug, and the Raja of that place, while watching their work, took a fancy to one of the Odnis, as their women were called, and wanted her to marry him. But as she was already married, and was a virtuous woman, she refused. The Raja persisted in his demand, on which the whole body of Sansias from Chhattisgarh, numbering, it is said, nine lakhs of persons, left their work and proceeded to Wararbandh, near Raj-Nandgaon. Here they dug the great tank of Wararbandh1 in one night to obtain a supply of water for themselves. But The Raja followed them, and as they could not resist him by force, the women whom he was pursuing burnt herself alive, and thus earned undying fame in the caste. This legend in perpetuated in the Odni Git, a popular folk-song in Chhattisgarh. But it is a traditional story of the Sansias in connection with large tanks, and in another version the scene is laid in Gujarat.2

Sansiya.: -A vagrant thieving tribe3 who were at the time of the last Census confined to the Western Districts of the Province. Of their name no satisfactory account has been given. Some derive it from the Sanskrit svasa, "breathing," or srasta, "Separated;" others with suaganika, "one who has to do with dogs," or suapaka, "dog-cooking," a person of a degraded and outcaste tribe, who, by the older law, was required to live outside towns, to eat his food in broken vessels, to wear the clothes of the dead, and to be excluded from all intercourse with other people; he could possess no other property than asses and dogs and his office was to act as public executioner and to carry out the bodies of such ad die without kindred. It is true that these are now-a-days the functions of the Dom, but the mode of life of the Sansiya is sufficiently degraded to make it perhaps possible that he may have inherited the name. The Sansiya is no doubt the near kinsman of the other degraded wandering races who occupy the same part of the country, such as the Kanjar, Beriya, Habura, and Bhatu. Their tribal legends, so far as they have been recorded, do not throw much light on their history of origin. Some of them allege that they are a sub-caste of Nats; but the Nats do not acknowledge kinship with them. Another of their legends appears in various forms. By one account when the Agnikula or fire-born races were created, the Chauhan Rajputs created the Sansiyas to act as their bards and sing their praises. Their first ancestor was, it is said, one sans Mal Sahasman, who has given his name to the tribe. He is said to have had three sons: One was born early in the morning when these people take their morning draught of butter milk (chhanchh) and hence sprang the Chhanchhdih section. The second was born at midnight, which is said in their patois to be called karkhand, and hence the section known as Karkhand. The youngest was born at noon, and this is the time they milk their buffaloes, he was called Bhains. Bhains, it may be noted, is a section of both the Beriyas and Kanjars, which tends to establish the connection between the tribes, and Kara also means "a young buffalo." So the designation of these sections may be perhaps either totemistic or occupational. Another story makes out their ancestor to have been Sans or Sahans Sinh, a Rathaur Bajput. His house once fell down in the rainy season, and he could not afford to rebuild it; so he and his descendants took to living in wigwams. He is said to have had three sons- Chandu Sinh, Gaddu Sinh, and Beri Sinh,-all their descendants took to a jungle life and lived by collecting khas-khas grass and catching vermin. The women of Beri Sinh's family took to prostitution, and they are the present Beriyas; those of Chandu Sinh were called Chanduwala; and those of Giddu Sinh, the present Gidiyas. These legends are of little value except to prove the identity of a number of castes of the same social standing and occupation, who are known in the Central Duab as Beriyas, in the Upper Duab as Gidiya, Habura or Bantu; in Mathura and

1 Said to be derived from their name Waddar 2 Story of Jasma Odni in Sati Charita Sangrah. 3 See Crooke. Principally based on an excellent report by Mr. F. W Gourt, District Superintendent, Police, Aligarh; notes collected at Mirzapur and by the Deputy inspector of schools Bijnor.

753 Bhartpur as Radhiya or Radhua Kanjars; and in Rajputana as Gharkhulo or "those who live with their doors open." According to another legend there were two brothers, Sans and Malanur, from the former are descended the Sansiyas and Kanjars; from the latter the Beriyas or Kolhatis and the Doms and Mangs.1

Tribal Organization. As we have seen, the more degraded members of the tribe recognise three exogamous sections: Chhanchhdih, Karkhand, and Bhains. Those who are rather more advanced and lay stress on their alleged Rajput descent profess to have sections taken from the names of well- known Rajput clans, such as Chanhan, Khagi, Pundir, Gahlot, and Samhar. There is again another endogamous division of them into Kalka or those of pure Sansiya blood and Malla, whose mothers were Sansiya women and their fathers men of other castes. That the tribe is much mixed is quite certain. It is well known that they habitually kidnapped girls of other castes. Of the seven gangs in the Aligarh District it was recently ascertained that the women leaders of four were women of other tribes, who had been either kidnapped or introduced into the tribe. Even now it is admitted that they will take into the tribe men of almost any tribe except the lowest menials. The only ceremony is that the convert is made to eat and drink with members of the tribe.

The Sansiyas As Bards. Another very curious fact about them is that they act as a sort of Bhats or bard and genealogists to some tribes of Jats and to some Chauhan Rajputs. Many of the Sansiyas of these Provinces refer their origin to Bhartpur, where they allege they were bards to the original ruling family. So in the Panjab we find that in Hoshiarpur2 they receive an allowance from the Jats known as birt. "Towards them they hold the same position as that of Mirasis or Doms among other tribes. Each Jat family has its Sansi; and among the Jats of the Malwa and Manjha, the Sansi is supposed to be a better authority on genealogy than the Mirasi; for this he takes a fee at marriages. If the fee is not paid, he retaliates effectually by damaging crops or burning ricks." This fact is corroborated by Mr Ibbetson3 in relation with various other Jat and Rajput tribes of the Panjab. How this connection can have arisen it is impossible to say; but the cast of the Pataris, the degraded priests of the Manhis, is a case in point, and the relation between these tribes furnishes a possible analogy which may account for the creation of the degraded Brahman tribes, like the Mahabrahman and Dakaut.

Marriage Rules. In addition to the prohibition of marriage within the section there is the additional prohibition against marrying in the families of first-cousins, until at least three generations have passed since the last connection by marriage. They generally marry in the same neighbourhood, but the feeling seems to be in favour of selecting a bride from another camp, which is perhaps one of the most primitive forms of exogamy.4 We have also probably a survival of the matriarchate in the rule by which the match is arranged by the phupha or father's sister's husband of the bride or bridegroom. Besides this the marriage and funeral ceremonies are performed by the son-in-law (dhiyana) or by a connection through a female (man). As among all nomadic tribes, owing to the comparative weakness of female infants, girls are in a deficiency. At the last Census there were only 1.955 women to 2.332 men; hence brides are in demand, and a heavy brideprice is charged for a suitable girl. In Aligarh it is reported that a bride sometimes costs as much as four or five hundred rupees, all of which is spent in drinking and debauchery during the ceremony. The marriage ceremony is analogous to thet of the Kanjars. The bridegroom, after the match is arranged, arrives with a body of his

1 Gunthorpe, Notes on Criminal Tribes, 46 2 Settlement Report, 106. 3 Panjab Ethnography, para. 577 4 Westermarck, History of Human Marriage, 330, sqq

754 friends, and there is a pretence of seizing the bride by force if she be not peaceably surrendered. He then seizes her in the presence of the assembled elders, drags her seven times round the marriage shed, and marks her forehead with red lead, and this makes them man and wife. Widow marriage does not need even this amount of ceremonial. The man is generally expected to repay to the relations of the first husband what they have spent on the first marriage; in the case of the levirate this compensation is, of course, not paid.

Death Ceremonies. The real vagrant Sansiyas often merely expose their dead in the jungle. In Aligarh it is said that the Chanduwala Sansiyas cermate the corpse; with the others burial is the rule. Where they bury their dead they seem to have come under the influence of the example of their Muhammadan neighbours. Some members of the tribe who were deported to Mirzapur after the proclamation, professed to adopt the following rules:-A pice is put in the mouth of the corpse immediately after death as a viaticum, when it is washed and wrapped in a piece of new cloth, which should be five yards long, and carried by four men to the burial ground on a cot. The corpse is buried with the head to the West and the feet to the East. After bathing the mourners return home. The chief mourner remains apart for four days and cooks for himself. At every meal he lays some food outside his hut for the spirit of the deceased. On the fourth day the brethren are fed on rice, pules, sugar, and ghi, and on the twentieth and fortieth day, the four men who carried the corpse to the grave are fed in the same way.

Religion. The religion of the Sansiyas is of a very elementary type. They have a vague idea of a great God, whom they call Bhagwan, or Parameswar, or Narayan; but of his character and functions they can give no satisfactory account. Some of them worship Devi or Kali in the same vague way whenever they are sick or in trouble. They are, like all the allied races, continually in fear of the malignant ghosts of the dead, who, if not duly propitiated, turn into Bhuts or evil spirits and injure the survivors. They have nothing in the way of a sraddha, and one way of propitiating the Purkha log or "sainted dead" is by feeding some of the unmarried girls of the tribe in their honour. They also have a vague belief in a godling known as Mayan, who may be Ghazi Miyan or the saint of Amroha and Jalesar. He is, they say, the king of the serpents, and when they do honour to him they and their families are safe from snake bite. They believe, of course, in the demoniacal theory of disease, and when they fall sick they call in a Syana or Ojha to mark down the ghost, which is causing the mischief, and suggest the appropriate sacrifice which should be made to him.

Oaths And Ordeals. They do not pay much regard to an oath on the Ganges or on the heads of their sons or daughters. They have three binding forms of oath: First, they kill a cock and pouring its blood on the ground swear over it; Secondly, they throw some salt into a cup of spirits, and throwing it on the ground, swear over it; , they crush a leaf of the pipal tree in their hands and swear. When a women is suspected of infidelity and denies the charge, she is made to undergo the following ordeal: Five leaves of the pipal tree are placed on the palm of her hand, one over the other. She has then to take in her hand a red hot gadaila or "spud," which is the national implement of the tribe, and used by them in digging out vermin, ect. With this she has to walk five steps, and if her hand shows no sign of burning, she is pronounced to be innocent. Similarly, of the Kolhatis of the Dakkhin, Major Gunthorpe writes: "The ordeals men and women of this race have to pass through to prove their innocence, of they deny an accusation, are curious. For a woman seven leaves of the pipal tree are placed, one over the other, in the open palms of both hands. A wet thread is wound seven times round both hands and leaves. An axe made red hot is then placed on the leaves, and she bears it

755 seven paces forwards and throws it into a bundle of thorns. Should the metal have penetrated the leaves and burnt her hands, she is guilty; but if not, she is considered innocent."1

Gang System. The organization of these separate gangs, to which reference has already been made, as practising a sort of rule of exogamy among themselves, is curious, and may be illustrated by the condition of things which until recently prevailed in the Aligarh District. The Sansiyas there used to be divided into seven gangs (got), of which the leaders of five, uiz., those led by Roshaniya, Harro, Pancho, Giyaso, and Kallo, were women; and two were led by men, Hariya and Lachiya. Of these the gangs of Roshaniya, Harro, Pancho, Giyaso, and Hariya used to be all one gang, which was known in the Mathura District as the gang, of Sewa. His brother Mathura separated from him and formed a separate gang. On Sawa's death his gang broke up into two parts- one called after Teja, nephew of Sewa, and the other after Hulasi, son of Sewa. When Hulasi was imprisoned, the gang was called after his wife Bela; and when Teja was also sent to jail, his gang was named after Roshaniya, wife of Belha, son of Sewa; and when Mathura also got into trouble, his wife Pancho took command of his gang. When the two sons of Harro, the widow of Hulasi, grew up, she started a separate gang of her own, and into this gang was absorbed the gang of Bela. Again, when Teja was released from jail, he formed a separate gang, which was known as that of his wife Giyaso. The gang known as that of Kallu sprang from a Nat woman who formed an amour with a Jat. and had a large family who followed the gypsy life of their mother and finally intermarried with Sansiyas and became recognised members of the tribe. This gang is still known as Banswali, because its foundress used to dance on a bamboo (bans). Finally, the gang known as Lachiya's, who were really Beriyas from Nohkhera in the Etah District, came to Aligarh in recent years and became amalgamated with the regular Sansiya gangs. All these facts are very significant in considering the question of the origin of the present Hindus. If, as we have good reason to suspect, the same process of amalgamation of castes owing to sexual intrigue and the formation of caves of Adullam, like these existing vagrant tribes, has been going on for ages, the anthropometrical evidence in favour of the practical unity of the existing races ceases to be surprising.

The Sansiyas As Criminals. That the Sansiyas are one of the most audacious criminal tribes in the Province is now admitted and formed the justification for the recent stringent proceedings which have been taken against them. In the year 1890, they were all simultaneously arrested; the younger members were removed to a reformatory, and the elders distributed throughout the Province in the hope that they would adopt an honest course of livelihood, and expectation which has certainly not been realised. In the Upper Duab careful enquiry conclusively proved that they had no other means of livelihood except dacoity, road robbery, thefts from vehicles, threshing floors and persons sleeping in the fields. In the course of their operations, unlike the Habura or Beriya, they were always ready to commit violence, and have been known to cause serious bodily injury and even death with the heavy bludgeons, which in recent years they had substituted for short clubs which they carried when they first came in contact with our Police, and which soon became an inconvenient means of identifying them and were consequently abandoned. When bent on highway robbery, their usual modus operandi was to hide by the side of the road and suddenly attack passengers or the drivers of vehicles with showers of stones. If this failed to compel them to abandon their property, they fell on them with their bludgeons. Another device was to disguise themselves as constables, and in the course of a mock search to rob travellers. They do not usually take the plundered property to their camp for a considerable time, but bury it at a distance. They use the raliway freely in going to and returning from the scenc of crime. On their journey they do not stay at sarais or other recognised halting-places, but encamp outside a village or town, and, being well dressed, pretend to be Banjaras or merchants. Their operations extend to a very considerable distance,

1 Notes on Criminal Tribes, 49.

756 and some few years ago a series of dakaities in the Panjab was traced to one of the Aligarh gangs. They dispose of stolen property through Kalwars and Sunars; they will not take it with them to the shop, the intending purchaser has to accompany them to the jungle, and, strange to say, the Sansiya is usually found very honest in such transactions. if they take stolen property into their camp, the jewelry is deposited in the hollow legs of their beds, and the clothes hidden as stuffing of quilts, etc. The women sometimes appropriate some of the stolen jewelry for their own use, and when a search is made they hide it in a way which cannot be described. Other jewelry is generally at once broken up. Upon arrest both men and women habitually give false names in order to conceal their identity, and hence the men greatly dread the punishment of flogging, as it marks them; for this reason they generally behave themselves well in jail so as to avoid corporal punishment. They are very averse to incriminating each other; if any of them turn approver, he is tried by the tribal council. The usual penalty is a fine of one hundred rupees for every person he has incriminated, and if he cannot pay the fine they will realize it by seizing his property or even a marriageable daughter. They never dare in such cases to complain to a Magistrate. In fact all their disputes are settled by the council and they are never seen in Court. When a member of a gang is arrested, his companions will provide for his wife and family, and when any stolen property has been acquired, the wife of a man arrested gets her husband's share.

The Position Of The Women. Owing to the constant absences of the men on thieving excursions and in jail, the women have gained a position of unusual influence in the tribe. Many of them, as we have seen, become leaders of gangs. They are, as a rule, affectionate, faithful, wives, and the men are very much influenced by their advice. When a party of Police approaches a camp, the women all commence to call out at once bhitari ! bhitari ! "to your tents!" which is the signal for the men to escape. While search is being made, the women will resist with all of their power, and they are in the habit of throwing all sorts of filth over the officers engaged, hence all Police dread the duty of searching a Sansiya camp. Another plan is to take their babies in their arms and fling them round their heads in the hope that the search will be discontinued to save the lives of the children. They have a thieves' argot very like that of the Haburas. Of the corresponding dialect in the Panjab it has been shown by Dr. Leitner1 that it is not a real patois, but merely a perversion of Panjabi according to a regular system. This is also certainly the case with the argot of these Provinces.

Social Habits. There seems little doubt that the real vagrant Sansiya will eat all kinds of meat, vermin and the leavings of almost any tribe except perhaps sweepers. In Aligarh it is reported that they will eat with sweepers when engaged with them in the commission of crime. Those who are beginning to settle down claim, however, a much greater degree of purity and pretend not to eat kachchi except from high castes like Brahmans,, Rajputs and Banyas. The vagrant branch of the tribe live under portable reed mats (sirki). The men, as a rule, sleep till 9 A.M., sleep again during the day, eat again at 5. P.M. and then spend the night on the prowl. The women help by going about begging and pretending to sell roots and other jungle medicine; they thus obtain entrance into respectable house and obtain information which is of use to their male relations. They are very fond of dogs and keep a number of them to guard the camp. The camp is usually pitched on one of the high sandy ridges which are such a prominent feature in the landscape of the Upper Duab. They are no doubt guided in this by sanitary considerations and the sand is a convenient hiding place for property and the meat and hides of stolen animals. They themselves deep numerous bullocks and donkeys which they use for the carriage of their huts and goods, as well cows and goats for milk; these they habitually let loose in the fields adjoining their camp. Hence the Sansiya is not by any means a favourite visitor to a respectable village, and they could not wander about with impunity, as

1 Anulysis of Abdul Ghafur's Dictionary, 17.

757 they were in the habit of doing, were it not that they were protected by landowners and merchants who shared in their plunder. Every true Sansiya woman must have her ears bored, and some time ago this fact was used in Court to prove the identity of a kidnapped girl.1

Santâls.: -Santâlí of the Mu∑πârí family. 2Santâli is the most important of all the Mu∑πâ languages. About 75 percent of all Mu∑πâs have been returned under that form of 3 speech. The total number of speakers is about 1 million people. 4

Name Of The Language. Santâlí literally means 'the language of the Santâls.' 'Santâl' is the name applied by foreigners to the tribe which has given its name to the Sonthal Parganas. Santâl is, according to Mr. Skrefsrud, a corruption of Sêotâl or Sêotâ®, the common name of the tribe used by Bengalis. The forms Santâl and Sontâl are only used by natives who have come into contact with Europeans. He derives the name from Sãot in Midnapore where the tribe is supposed to have been settled for several generations. The ' Soontarrs' are mentioned as a wild and unlettered tribe as early as 1798.3 Santâls call themselves hâ®-kó,men, or hâ® hapân, "man child." When asked about their name and caste they usually apply the title Mâªñjhi, headman, to themselves. Their language has therefore sometimes been reported under various names such as Hâ®, Hâ® Hâ® i.e. the speech of the Ha®s, M⪪ñjhi, and so forth. Outsiders often also use Pharsí or Parsí 4 as a denomination of this form of speech. In Murshidabad the language is locally known as Ja©galí, 'forest language,' or Pahâ®iâ, 'mountain-language.' In Bankura and Morbhanj it has been reported as ˇhâr, i.e. language (That is 'the foreign language'), and in Bankura some speakers were returned in the Survey estimates under the head of Khé®â Ka®â . It is, however, now reported that no such dialect exists in the district. The so-called Khärê Kharês of the Sonthal Parganas are related to the Jadopa†ias. They are semi-Hinduized aboriginals. All these secondary names are based on misunderstandings or on considerations which have nothing to do with language. They will, therefore, be discarded in the following pages, and the language will be styled Santâlí throughout.

Original Home. According to Santâlí traditions, the tribe was once united with what are now the Mu∑πârís, the Hós, and other small tribes. They assert that in those old times they were called Kherwârs or Kherwârs. There traditional tales contain allusions to old wanderings from the west. These wanderings have probably taken place in relatively modern time. According to Mr. Risley, it is clear that a large and important Santâl colony was once settled in parganas Chai and Champa in Hazaribagh. The same authority further remarks: 'A tradition is noticed by Colonel Dalton of an old fort in Chai occupied by one Jaura, a Santâl Raja, who destroyed himself and his family on hearing of the approach of a Muhammadan army under Sayyid Ibra``him Ali`` alias malik Baya`, a general of Muhammad Tughlak's, who died in 1353. This tradition, so far as it refers to the existence of a Santâl fort in Chai Champa, is to some extent corroborated by the following passage from the legends of the Southern Santâls collected by the Rev. J. Phillips, and published in Appendix. to Annals of Rural Bengal, ed. 1868: "Dwelling there (in Chai Champa) they greatly multiplied. There were two

1 Reports Nizamat Adulat ; Mussammal Darbo, 10th April 1852. 2 Linguistic Survey of India. 3 See the references given in Mr. Crooke's edition of Yule and Burnell's Hobson-Jobson . 4 This word, which literally means 'Persian,' is used by speakers of Aryan languages all over Northern India to indicate a tongue which they do not understand. For instance, it is frequently applied to the secret argots of criminal tribes, much as we in England talk of ' Thieves' Latin.

758 gates, the Ahin gate and the Bâhini gate, to the fort of Chai Champa." If moreover, the date of the taking of this fort by Ibra``him Ali`` were assumed to be about 1340 A.D., the subsequent migrations of which the tribal legends apeak would fill up the time intervening between the departure of the santâls from Chai Champa and their settlement in the present Santâl Parganâs. Speaking generally, these recent migrations have been to the east, which is the direction they might have been expected to follow. The earliest settlements which Santâl tradition speaks of, those in Ahiri Pipri and chai Champa, lie on the north-western frontier of the table-land of Hazaribagh and in the direct line of advance of the unmerous Hindu immigrants from Behar. That the influx of Hindus has in fact driven the Santâls eastward is beyond doubt, and the line which they are known to have followed in their retreat corresponds on the whole with that attributed to them to them in their tribal legends.' From Hazaribagh the Santâls are stated to have wandered into Monbhum, and, further, into the Sonthal Parganas. This explanation of the traditional legends agrees well with the fact that scattered settlements of Santâls are still found all over Hazaribagh.1 Mr. Skrefsrud, it is true, things that the traditionary wanderings have taken place in a very remote past. According to him they imply an old immigration into India from the north-west while Colonel Dalton explains them as referring to an ancient wandering from Assam. A good deal of the traditional accounts are concerned with the time previous to the stay at Chae Champa. All places in which they are supposed to have lived, from Hihí®í Hipí®í to their present home, are mentioned, and also some names from the most remote antiquity; compare p. 64 below. They are always repeated at the châchó chh⪪†i⪮, the ceremony performed when a person is admitted as a member of grown up society. It seems to me that Mr. Risley is right in refusing to attach high antiquity to the Santâl traditions. They are apparently influenced from various sources.2 Some remarks about the position of the Mu∑πâ race will be found in the general introduction to this volume. See above, p.5. In this place we are only concerned with the actual habitat of the Santâls.

Present Home. Santâlí is spoken over a strip of country extending for about 300 miles from the Ganges in the north to the Baitarani in the south. It comprises the south of Bhagalpur and Monghyr; the west of Birbhum and Burdwan; almost the whole of Bankura; the western corner of Midnapore; the greater portion of Morbhanj and Nilgiri; the north-west of Balasore; the north- east of Keonjhar; Dalbhum; Sarai Kala; Kharsawan; Manbhum; the Sonthal Parganas, and the east of Hazaribagh. There are further scattered settlements in the south-west of Murshidabad, in the central parts of the 24-Parganas, in the jungles in the south of Dinajpur and the adjoining tracts of Malda, Rajshahi, and Bogra, and in the south-west of Rangpur. Non- resident immigrants have further brought the language to Jalpaiguri and to Assam, where the Santâls are occupied as coolies in the tea-gardens. Santâlí is nowhere the only language, and only in the Sonthal Parganas is it the principal one. Minor Mu∑πâ dialects are found side by side with Santâlí, and Aryan tribes have, generally speaking, occupied the plains, just as the Santâls themselves have formerly ousted the Malto tribe from the lowlands and valleys and have confined them to the higher lands and the hills.

1 According to local tradition Kherwârs ruled in comparatively modern times so far north as the district of Gayâ. In the south of that district there are several old forts still attributed to the ' Kol Râjâs.' See also the Rev. R. Hahn, on Dravidian and Kolarian Place names, in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. lxxii ( 1903 ), Pt. III., pp. 91 and ff. 2 Mr. Risley has drawn attention to the fact that the supreme god ˇhaªkur of the Santâl traditions bears a Hindí name. The aryan origin of the word ˇhaªkur has been doubted, but no other possible derivation has been proposed. The word occurs in late Sanskrit in the form †hakkura . The form †hakkura shows that the word has been borrowed from Prâkrit. It has almost the same signification as sthavira , and is used as a respectful title. It should be derived from the base sthâ , which in Prâkrit sometimes forms the present thakkai££ . The cerebral th does not make this explanation improbable. Marâ†hi ( †hâkné ? ) shows that a Prâkrit present †hakkai££ must have existed. Similarly, a form théra exists in addition to thera , the Prâkrit equivalent of sthavira .

759 Dialects. Santâlí is a remarkably uniform language. There are only two dialects, and even these do not differ much from the standard form of speech. They are the so-called Kârmâlí, spoken by the Kalhä tribe in the Sonthal Parganas, Manbhum and Hazaribagh, and the dialect of the Mâhlés in the central and southern portion of the Sonthal Parganas and the adjoining parts of Birbhum and Manbhum. Both will be separately dealt with below. Santâlí has, to some extent, been influenced by the neighbouring Aryan languages. This influence is, however, mainly confined to the vocabulary, though we can also see how Aryan suffixes and Aryan syntax are beginning to make themselves felt, and some of the most usual postpositions are perhaps Aryan. Broadly speaking, however, the structure and the general character of the language has remained unchanged. Bihâri is the Aryan language which has most largely influenced Santâlí. In the east the language has now begun to come under the spell of Bengali, and in the south the influence of O®iyâ is traceable. The different sources from which words have been borrowed influence to some extent the form in which they are adopted. Thus the short a is retained in words borrowed from Bihârí but is pronounced as an in case where the long has been made from Bengali. In this way a slight difference is produced in the Santâlí of the Bengali districts and that spoken in places where Bihârí is the principal Aryan language. The influence of Bengali is of a relatively modern date. On the other hand, it has of late years been gradually spreading. This difference between Bengali-Santâlí and Bihârí-Santâlí, which only exists in a limited part of the vocabulary, cannot be seen from the specimens which follow. It would be necessary to have far more materials for comparison in order to account for it. The loss is not, however, great, the real language being the same in both cases. The purest Santâlí is spoken in the north, especially in the Sonthal Parganas and in Manbhum. The dialect spoken in Midnapore, Balasore, Singbhum, and the Orissa Tributary States is more mixed and shows signs of gradually yielding to Aryan influence.

Number Of Speakers. The number of speakers in those districts where Santâlí is spoken as a vernacular has been estimated as follows for the purpose of this survey:

Burdwan 21,368 Birbhum 41,700 Bankura 96,911 Midnapore 118,062 Murshidabad 7,795 Monghyr 7,000 Bhagalpur 50,063 Sonthal Parganas 626,254 Balasore 893 Hazaribagh 72,535 Manbhum 144,820 Singbhum 59,212 Keonjhar 11,730 Morbhanj 154,806 Nilgiri 1,865 Sarai Kala 17,815 Kharsawan 2,957 Bonai 39 ------Total 1,435,825 ======

760 According to local estimates Santâlí was further spoken abroad in the following districts:

Bengal Presidency- 24-Parganas 18,868 Rajshahi 5,652 Dinajpur 28,148 Jalpaiguri 3,275 Rangpur 905 Bogra 4,910 Malda 25,000 Sarguja 16 ------86,774 Assam- Cachar Plains 2,162 Sylhet 3,950 Goalpara 1,000 Kamrup 140 Darrang 1,900 Nowgong 1,100 Sibsagar 4,250 Lakhimpur 4,700 ------19,202 ------Total 105,976 ======By adding these figures we arrive at the following grand total for the language:

Santâlí spoken at home 1,435,825 Santâlí spoken abroad 105,976 ------Total 1,541,801 ======The speakers in the 24-Parganas are immigrant settlers, mainly from Hazaribagh. Those in Rajshahi are immigrant settlers in the north, and those in Dinajpur immigrant settlers in the south. In Bogra the Santâlí are found as immigrant settlers in the west. In Malda, where they have settled in the east, they have only been in the district for about 20 years. The speakers in the other district are stated to be non-resident immigrants. The above figures include the speakers of the so-called Khé®â ka®â in Bankura (429), of the so- called M⪪ñjhí in Keonjhar (26) and Morbhanj (1,551), of the so-called ˇhâr in Bankura (123) and Morbhanj (1,306), and 39 speakers from the Bonai State who were reported to speak ˇâr, but regarding whom no further information has been available. Regarding the so-called Mâñjhí of the Raigarh State see below pp. 145 and ff. The revised figures for the two Santâlí dialects Kârmâlí and Mâhlé will be give in detail later on. The total number of speakers has been put down at 44,060 for Kârmâlí and 28,961 for Mâhlé. The grand total for Santâlí is accordingly as follows:

Santâlí proper 1,541,801 Kârmâlí 44,060 Mâhlé 28,961 ------Total 1,614,822 ======

761 At the last Census, of 1901, Santâlí was returned from the following districts:

Santâlí proper. Bengal Presidency- Burdwan 39,428 Birbhum 47,455 Bankura 98,521 Midnapore 146,018 Hooghly 9,061 Howrah 205 24-Parganas 3,655 Calcutta 4 Nadia 81 Murshidabad 12,508 Jessore 69 Khulna 83 Rajshahi 2,003 Dinajpur 64,767 Jalpaiguri 12,164 Darjeeling 1,608 Rangpur 5,025 Bagra 2,357 Pabna 252 Dacca 2 Faridpur 8 Chittagong 409 Chittagong Hill Tracts 74 Darbhanga 19 Monghyr 12,461 Bhagalpur 17,396 Purnea 5,315 Malda 37,398 Sonthal Parganas 648,847 Cuttack 1 Balasore 8,257 Puri 3 Hazaribagh 78,358 Ranchi 425 Palamau 362 Manbhum 181,687 Singbhum 74,595 Kuch Bihar 21 Orissa Tributary States 192,284 Chota Nagpur Tributary States 20,884 Hill Tippera 157 ------Total Bengal Presidency 1,724,227 Assam- Cachar 2,147 Sylhet 4,241 Goalpara 1,950 Kamrup 426 Darrang 2,890 Nowgong 668

762 Sibsagar 9,579 Lakhimpur 7,968 Lushai Hills 190 North Cachar 52 Naga Hills 12 Khasi and Jaintia Hills 5 Manipur 1 ------Total Assam 30,129 Kârmâlí 17,342 Mâhlé 18,801 ------Total 1,790,499 ======To this total must probably be added 4,614 speakers of Jangli who were returned from Assam. This would bring the total up to 1,795,133.

Sarania.: -They live in North-West India. They go around to sharpen knives.

Sarvade Joshi.: -They are religious mendicant nomads.

Sâtâni.: -The Sâtânis are described in the Madras Census Report of 1891 as "a class of temple servants very much like the Mâlis of Bengal1." The word Sâtâni is a corrupt form of Sâttâdavan, which, literally means one who does not wear (the sacred thread and tuft of hair). For temple services Râmânuja classed Vaishnavites into Sâttâdavan. The former are invariably Brâhmans, and the latter Sîdras. Hence Sâtâni is the professional name given to a group of Vaishnava creed. It is sometimes stated that the Sâtânis of the Madras Presidency are the disciples of the famous Bengâli reformer Chaitanya (15th century), from whom, they say, the term Sâtâni took its origin. But, so far as I can ascertain, this supposition rests on no better foundation than the similarity in sound of the two names, and it seems to me more than doubtful. There is no evidence of Chaitanya having ever preached in the Dravidian country, and the tenets of the Sâtânis of this Presidency differ widely from those of the followers of Chaitanya. The former worship only Krishna, while the latter venerate Vishnu in the form of Nârâyana also. The Sâtânis, too, have as much reverence for Râmânuja as the followers of Chaitanya have towards their guru, who is said to be an incarnation of Krishna. With regard to their religion, it will suffice to say that they are tengalai Vaishnavites. They shave their heads completely, and tie their lower cloth like a Brâhman bachelor. In their ceremonies they more or less follow the Brâhmans, but the sacred thread is not worn by them. Though the consumption of alcoholic liquor and animal food is strictly prohibited, they practice both to considerable extent on all festive occasions, and at srâdhs. Drinking and other excesses are common. Some Sâtânis bury the dead, and others burn them. The principal occupations of Sâtânis are making garlands, carrying the torches during the god's procession, and sweeping the temple floor. They also make umbrellas, flower baskets and boxes of palmyra leaves, and prepare the sacred balls of white clay (for making the Vaishnavite sectarian mark), mark, and saffron powder. Their usual agnomen is Aiya."

In the Madras Census Report, 1901, the Sâtânis are summed up as being "a Telegu caste of temple servants supposed to have come into existence in the time of the great Vaishnavite

1 See Thurston.

763 reformer Srí Râmânujâchârya (A.D. 1100). The principal endogamous sub-divisions of this caste are (1) Ekâkshari, (2) Chaturâkshari, (3) Ashtâkshari, and (4) Kulasékhara. The Ekâksharis (éka, one, and akshara, syllable) hope to get salvation by reciting the one mystic syllable Óm; the Chaturâksharis believe in the religious efficacy of the four syllables Râ-mâ- nu-jâ; the Ashtâksharis hold that the recitation of the eight syllables Óm-na-mó-nâ-râ-yâ-nâ-yâ will ensure them eternal bliss; and the Kulasékharas, who wear the sacred thread, claim to be the descendants of the Vaishnava saint Kulasékhara Álvâr, formerly a king of the Kérala country. The first two sections make umbrellas, flower garlands, etc., and are also priests to Balijas and other Sîdra castes of Vaishnava sects, while the members of the members of the other two have taken to temple service. In their social and religious customs, all the sub- divisions closely imitate the Tengalai Vaishnava Brâhmans. The marriage of girls after puberty, and the remarriage of widows, are strictly prohibited. Most of them employ Brâhman puróhits, but latterly they have taken to getting priests from their own caste. They attach no importance to the Sanskrit Védas, or to the ritual sanctioned therein, but revere the sacred hymns of the twelve Vaishnava saints or Álvârs, called Nâlâyira Prabandham (book of the four thousand songs), which is in Tamil. From this their puróhits recite verses during marriages and other ceremonies." At the census of 1901, Râmânuja was returned as a sub- caste of Sâtâni. In the Manual of the North Arcot district, Mr. H.A. Stuart describes the Sâtânis as "a mixed religious sect, recruited from time to time from other castes, excepting Paraiyans, leather-workers, and Muhammadans. All the Sâtânis are Vaishnavites, but principally revere Bâshyakâr (another name for Râmânuja), whom they assert to have been an incarnation of Vishnu. The Sâtânis are almost entirely confined to the large towns. Their legitimate occupations are performing menial services in Vishnu temples, begging, tending flower gardens, selling flower garlands, making fans, grinding sandalwood into powder, and selling perfumes. They are the priests of some Sîdra castes, and in this character correspond to the Saivite Pandârams."

In the Census Report, 1871, the Sâtânis are described as being "frequently religious mendicants, priests of inferior temples, minstrels, sellers of flowers used as offerings, etc., and have probably recruited their numbers by the admission into their ranks of individuals who have been excommunicated from higher castes. As a matter of fact, many prostitutes join this sect, which has a recognised position among the Hindus. This can easily be done by the payment of certain fees, and by eating in company with their co-religionists. And they thus secure for themselves decent burial with the ceremonial observances necessary to ensure rest to the soul."

In the Mysore Census Report, 1891, it is noted that Sâtânis are also styled Khâdri Vaishnavas, Sâttâdavâl, Châtâli, Kulasékhara, and Samérâya. These names, however, seem to have pricked their amour propre in the late census, and they took considerable pains not only to cast them off, but also to enroll themselves as Prapanna Vaishnavâs, Nambi, Venkatapura Vaishnavâs, etc. The idea of being tabulated as Sîdras was so hateful to them that, in a few places, the enumerators, who had so noted down their caste according to precedent, were prosecuted by them for defamation. The cases were of course thrown out. Further, the Mysore Census superintendent, 1901, writes that "the sub-divisions of the Sâtânis are Khadri Vaishnavâs, Natacharamurti, Prathama Vaishnava, Sameraya or Samogi, Sankara, Suri, Sattâdhava, Telugu Sâtâni, and Venkatapurada. Some are employed in agriculture, but as a rule they are engaged in the service of vishnu temples, and are flower-gatherers, torch- bearers, and strolling minstrels."

The Sâtânis are also called Dâsa Nambis. They are flesh-eaters, but some have now become pure vegetarians. There are, for example, at Srivilliputtér in the Tinnevelly district, a large number who have abandoned a meat diet. They are connected with the temple of Ándâl, and supply flowers and tulsi (Ocimum sanctum) leaves for worship, carry torches before the goddess during processions, and watch the gate of the temple during the night. The small income which they derive from the temple is supplemented by the manufacture and sale of

764 palmyra leaf baskets, and umbrellas made from Pandanus leaves. As a class, the Sâtânis are given to liquor, and all important ceremonial occasions are made the excuse for copious potations. This weakness is so well known that, in the north of the Presidency, the term Râmânuja Matham is used to denote the consumption of meat and drink at death or srâdh ceremonies, just as Saivam signifies vegetarianism. The Sâtâni mendicant can be recognised by the peculiar flat gourd-shaped brass pot and palm leaf fan which he carries. The Sâtânis claim to have sprung from the sweat of Virât Pursha (lord of the universe). The following legend is told, as accounting for the removal of the kudumi (tuft of hair on the head), and wearing the cloth without a fold behind. In the time of Râmnuja, the Sâtânis enjoyed certain privileges in the temples, but, not satisfied with these, they claimed to take rank next to Brâhmans. This privilege was accorded, and, when flowers and other things used in the worship of the god were to be distributed, they were handed over to the Sâtânis . They, however, were unable to decide who should be deputed to represent the community, each person decrying the others as being of low caste. Râmânuja accordingly directed that they should shave their heads, and wear their loin-cloths with a fold in front only.

In addition to other occupations already noted, Sâtânis sell turmeric, coloured powders, and sacred balls of white clay used by Vaishnatives. Some act as priests to Balijas and Kómatis, at whose death ceremonies the presence of a Sâtâni is essential. Immediately after death, the Sâtânis is summoned, and he puts sect marks on the corpse. At the grave, cooked food is offered, and eaten by the Sâtâni and members of the family of deceased. On the last day of the death ceremonies (karamândiram), the Sâtâni comes to the house of the dead person late in the evening, bringing with him certain idols, which are worshipped with offerings of cooked rice, flesh, and liquor in jars. The food is distributed among those present, and the liquor is doled out from a spoon called parikam, or a broom dipped in the liquor, which is drunk as it drips therefrom.

Sâtâni women dress just like Vaishnava Brâhman women, from whom it is difficult to distinguish them. In former days, the Sâtânis used to observe a festival called ravikala (bodice) utchavam, which now goes by the name of gandapodi (sandal powder) utchavam. The festival, as originally carried out, was a very obscene rite. After the worship of the god by throwing sandal powder, etc., the Sâtânis returned home, and indulged in copious libations of liquor. The women threw their bodices into vessel, and they were picked out at random by the men. The woman whose bodice was thus secured became the partner of the man for the day.

For the following note on Sâtânis in the Vizagapatam district, I am indebted to Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao. Sâtânis is said to be the shortened form of Saththâdavan, the uncovered man. They are prohibited from covering three different parts of their bodies, viz., the head with the usual tuft of hair, the body with the sacred thread, and the waist with the customary strip of cloth. All devout Sâtânis shave their heads completely. [There is a proverb "Tie a knot on the Sâtâni's tuft or hair, and on the ascetic's holy thread". The Sâtânis shave the whole head, and the Sanyâsis have no sacred thread.]1 The caste divided into exogamous septs, or intipérulu. The custom of ménarikam, according to which a man marries his maternal uncle's daughter, is observed. The remarriage of widows and divorce are not allowed. Attempts have been made by some members of the caste, in other parts of the Madras Presidency, to connect themselves with Chaitanya. But, so far as the Vizagapatam district is concerned, this is repudiated. They are Râmânuja Vaishnavas of the Tenkalai persuasion. Their gurus are known as Paravasthuvâru-- a corruption of Paravâsu Déva, whose figure is on the vimâna of the Srírangam temple, and who must be visited before entering the principal sanctuary. They live at Gîmsîr in Ganjam, and have Sadachârulu, or ever-devout followers, who act as their agents in Vizagapatam. They brand the shoulders of Sâtânis with the Vaishnavite emblems, the sankha and chakra, and initiate them into the

1 Rev. H. Jensen. classified Collection of Tamil Proverbs, 1897.

765 mysteries of the Vaishnava religion by whispering into their ears the word Râmânuja. The Sâtâni learns by heart various songs in eulogy of Srírangam and its deity, by means of which he earns his living. He rises in the early morning, and, after a bath, adorns his forehead and body with the Vaishnavite nâmam, ties round his clean-shaved head a string of tulsi (Ocimum sanctum) beads known as thirupavithram, puts a tulsi garland round his neck, and takes a fan called gajakaranam, or elephant's ear, in his right hand. In his left hand he carries a copper gourd-shaped vessel. He is generally accompanied by another Sâtâni similarly got up. When begging, they sing the songs referred to above, and collect the rice which is given to them in their vessels.

At the end of their round they return home, and their wives clean the rice, bow down before it, and cook it. No portion of the rice obtained by begging should be sold for money. The Sâtânis play an important part in the social life of the Vaishnavites of the district, and are the gurus of some of the cultivating and other classes. The preside at the final death ceremonies of the non-Brâhman Vaishnavite castes. They burn their dead, and perform the chinna (little) and pedda rózu (big day) death ceremonies.

Satanis.: -They live in the South of India. They are a caste of priests and mendicants. They are also known by the names of Ayawar and Dasari. Normally they do not wear the sacred dress and do not practice celibacy.

Satia.: -They are a wandering group with bullocks and carts. They buy and sell cattle. They are probably from Rajasthan.

Saur.: -See Sahariyas

Savar.: -Sabar,1 Saur, Sar, Sayar, Suri, Swiri, a Dravidian cultivating and servile tribe of Orissa, Chota Nagpur, Western Bengal, Madras, and the Central Provinces. Colonel Dalton regards them as Dravidian, while Friedrich Muller,2 General Cunningham, and Mr. R, Cust, place them on linguistic grounds in the Kolarianl group of tribes. The evidence from language, however, is meagre and inconclusive; while on the other hand it is tolerably certain that the Savaras, scattered and partially Hinduised as they, represent the main body of an ancient race, an isolated of which survives in the Male or Saur of the Rajmahal hills. The Savars are usually identified with the Suari and Sabarai mentioned by Pliny3 and Ptolemy. General Cunningham shows in the paper referred to above that the tribe is very widely diffused at the present day; and local tradition ascribes to the Savars the conquest of the Cheros, and their expulsion from the plateau of Shahabad, in about the year 421 of the Shahabad era, or A.D. 500. A number of ancient monuments in the Shahabad district are still put down to the Savars or Suris, who are supposed to have been driven south by the inroad of Rajputs under the Bhojpur cheif, which made an end of their rule.

1 See Risley " The origin of the name of Savara," says General Cunmigham, " must be sought for outside the language of the Aryans. In Sanskrit savara simply means a 'corpse'. From Herodotus, however, we learn the Seythian word for an 'axe' was sagaris ; and as J and v are interchangeable letters, savar is the same word as sajar. It seems therefore not unreasonable to infer that the tribes who were so called took theirname from habit of carrying axes. Now it is one of the striking peculiarities of the Savaras that they are rerely seen without an axe in t6heir hands. This peculiarity has been frequently noticed bu all who have seen them."---Archaological Survey, xvii, 113. 2 Allgem. Ethnog., 462 3 Nat. Hist., vol. vi. 23. " Suari, quorum Mons Mallus."

766 A good observer1 describes the Savaras near Mahendyagiri in Ganjam as small but wiry, often very dark in colour and sometimes quite black, which agrees with Stirling's account. "Their hair is generally tied in a top-knot, and sometimes it is cut short over the forehead, two long locks being permitted to hang over the ears. A few individuals have frizzled locks, with which no such arrangement is attempted. Most of the men have small, square beards. The nose is in general broad, with wide nostrils. Of those races in Bengal with whose appearance I am familiar, they reminded me most strongly of the Bhumij, who belong to the Munda family; but I could also perceive in them some points of resemblance to the Dravidian Paharias of the Rajmahal hills. They have not, however, the manly bearing and good physique of the latter. Their manner of dancing resembles that of the Rajmahal Paharias, as I have on one occasion witnessed it, rather than that of either the Santals or Kols."

The exogamous septs current among the Savars of Bankura are shown in Appendix I. The totems Salmachh and Kasibak occur also among the Bagdis and several other Dravidian races of Western Bengal. The eponyms Gargrishi and Sandilya appear to have been borrowed from the Brahmanical system. The Savars of Orissa are said to have no septs, and it is possible that the Bankura branch of the tribe may have picked up their totemistic septs locally. The case of the Telingas (see article on that caste) rather bears out this view. Mention had been made in the article on the Male tribe of the remarkable fact that they have no exogamous divisions, and regulate marriage by the more modern system of counting prohibited degrees. It follows from this that the section-names of the Savars throw no light upon their connexion with the Male. Mr. W.B. Oldham, however, considers the two tribes to the one and the same, and this view may, I think be accepted as correct.

The Savars of the Orissa Tributary States are divided into four sub-tribes: Bendkar, Parira, Jharua, and Palli, which are strictly endogamous. The origin of the names is obscure, but is seems possible that both Palli and Parira may have some reference to the practice of using leaves as clothing. Varaha Mihira, quoted by General Cunningham, speaks of the Parna or leaf-clad Savaras;2 and a Savara messenger mentioned in the Katha Sarit Sagara is a described as carrying a bow in his hand "with his hair tied up in a knot behind with a creeper, black himself and wearing a loin cincture of vilwa leaves."

Girls may be married either as infants or after they have attained the age of puberty. Infant- marriage is deemed the more respectable usage, but no social stigma attaches to a family which is unable by reason of poverty or any other cause to comply with the demands of fasnion on this point. Sexual license before marriage, though vehemently condemned, is said to be tolerated, and if an unmarried girl becomes pregnant her fault is condoned by marriage to the father of her child. The Savars of Bankura observe a Hinduised ceremony, the binding portions of which are gatrantar, or the transfer of the bride from her own sept to that of the bridegroom, and the smearing of vermilion on her forehead and the parting of her hair. In Orissa the ritual is more simple, and appears to have been less affected by the influence of Brahmanical usage. On the arrival of the bridegroom at the bride's house he is met by her female relatives, who greet him with cries of lu lu, and burn ghi, rice, areca nuts, turmeric, etc., in his honour. This is followed by a curious practice called seka believed to be peculiar to the Savars, in which the bridesmaids warm the tips of their fingers at a lamp and press them on both cheeks of the bridegroom. The couple then pass on towards the bedi, a raised platform of earth, in the countyard of the house, stopping on the way to sprinkle each seven times with a mixture of mustard seed and salt. On reaching the bedi they make two and a half turns round a pot of water, in which are mango leaves, after which an elder if the tribe, nominated as priest for the occasion, makes them sit down side by side, and binds their hands

1 V. Ball, Jungle Life in India, p. 267. 2 Professor Kern identifies the Parna Savaras with the Payllite of Ptolemy but explains the name to mean " feeding upon leaves," which seems improbable.

767 together with durba grass and leaves of the borkoli plum tree. This is the closing and essential part of the ceremony. The bride-price varies with the means of the families. Among the Bendkar Savars, according to Colonel Dalton, it comprises two bullocks-- one for the girl's father and another for her maternal uncle-- and a cloth and one rupee presented to her mother.

Polygamy is permitted, and no theoretical limit is set to the number of wives a man may have. Few Savara, however, indulge in more than two, and usually a second wife is only taken in the event of the first being barren. In Orissa (but not in Bankura), a widow may marry again, and is ordinarily expected to marry her first husband's brother or cousin. No compulsion, however, is exercised in the matter, and a window may marry any one the pleases, provided that she returns to her first father's and remains unmarried for a year after her first husband's death. No regular ceremony is ordained for use on such occasions, and the union is celebrated by a feast given to the relations of both parties. Divorce is permitted for adultery or any other serious conjugal offence. The case is considered by the members of the husband's family, who, if they find it impossible or unadvisable to effect a reconciliation between the parties, formally escort the woman to the house of her father or guardian and leave her there. Divorced wives may marry again in the same manner as widows.

The Savars of Bankura have become thoroughly Hinduised, and Brahmans serve them as priests in the worship of the standard gods. These Brahmans are received on equal terms by the purohits of Bagdis, Koras, Kewats and other low castes. In Orissa the original faith of the tribe had been less modified by the influence of Hindu usage. The worship of the Brahmanical deities is indeed gaining ground among them, but the elder gods, Thanpati, who dwells in the than or sacred grove of the village, and "Bansuri or Thakuraini, no doubt the same as the blood-thirsty she-devil revered by the Bhuiyas," still receive offerings of goats or fowls at the hands of the elders of the community, who have not yet been supplanted in their office by the professional Brahman.

The Orissa Savars recognize both burial and cremation as proper modes of disposing if the dead. The Bankura branch of the tribe only burn and perform the ceremony of sraddh more or less in accordance with regular Hindu usage.

The Savars believe their original condition to have been that of a wandering tribe, roaming through the hills of Orissa and Chota Nagpur, living on the fruits of the forest and acknowledging the rule of no recognized chief. The memory of this primitive state is almost the only tradition which the tribe still preserve, and it can hardly be doubted that this primitive mode of life must have lasted, at any rate among some branches of the Savars, down to comparatively recent times.

The bulk of the tribe have taken to plough cultivation and have massed themselves in regular villages; but the Bendkars of Keunjhar still adhere in the main to the nomadic habits which their traditions describe. An interesting account of this branch of the Savars was given in 1842 by Colonel Tickell, of the South-West Frontier Agency, who found them inhabiting a tangled tract of hill and forest bounded on the north and north-east by the cultivated land of the Ho communities or pirs of Kotgarh and Bar. They had lost their primitive dialect and spoke either Ho or Uriya. In physical appearance they resembled the Bhuiyas of that part of the country, and were fair, well-made, and intelligent. They worshipped Kali, with several minor tutelary deities. In matters of food they appear to have been rather exclusive. A Bendkar would take water from a Ho, but would not eat with him, nor would he touch any food that had been cooked by a Hindu. Their material condition was extremely poor. They possessed no cattle, and only a few fowls. The houses were hovels, not massed together in villages, but dotted about on the hillside in separate groups of two or three, like those of Birhors in Palaman. The crops usually cultivated were maize, high-land rice (gora dhan), and gram (chana), which were grown in straggling fields formed by banking up the hillside

768 water-courses. Edible jungle products were largely used as food, and frequently made up an entire day's subsistence. They paid no rent for their land, but were liable to be called upon for begari or gratuitous labour by the Raja of Kalikaprasad in Keunjhar. Their funeral ceremony consisted in simply burning the dead body; they did not collect the ashes from the pyre, nor did they, like the Kols, destroy any of the deceased person's property with his corpse. In writing of the same people Colonel Dalton specially notices their style of dancing: "The girls dance with their heads covered, bodies much inclined, and faces looking to the ground or to their feet, which have to perform a somewhat intricate step while the right hand holds down at arm's length the portion of the dress that is thrown over the head. The men, plying on tambourines or half drums, sing as they dance. The girls appear too intent on their steps to respond to them; but their peculiar attitude in the dance, the steps, and the melody, are the same for all Bhuiyas, and are unmistakeable charactersities of the race from the Ganges to the Mahanadi. The Kolarian dances are quite different." It seems to me that the argument from similarity of custom to tribal affinity has in this case been pressed too far. Subject races everywhere have not been slow to imitate the usages of the dominant people with whom they were brought into contact, and the Savars have been too long under the virtual control of the Bhuiyas for it to be at all surprising that they should have adopted the dances characteristic of the latter. The Kolarian races, on the other, hand, have either maintained their isolation and independence or have been brought in contact only with Hindus, whose ideas on the subject of dancing would certainly not commend themselves to a sociable non-Aryan community.

Regarding the Bendkar methods of agriculture, Colonel Dalton says that "When first I saw the Bendkar hand-plough it was of wood, only a branch cut with a large piece of the stem, from which it sprung attached, and that shaped so as to give it the appearance of a miniature Native plough; but they have improved on this, and now insert a piece of iron as a share, in further imitation of the Native plough. The implement answers well enough in preparing for seed the light vegetable mould of the forest, to which they confine their cultivation; but in a stiff clay it would be inoperative. The hill Bendkars cultivate kangni (Panicum Italicum), kheri, khodo (Eleusine coracana) or marua, gangoi makai (Zea mays) or maize, a species of coxcomb, the seeds of which they eat, a cereal called siko and a large bean, which is intoxicating or acts as an emetic if eaten raw, but is pleasant and wholesome when well cooked; also urid . They have ordinarily no rice cultivation. They know well and use all the spontaneous edible productions of the forests, and showed me some wild yams, which they largely consume; they take an immensity of cooking." Here the suggestion seems to be that the Bendkar plough was consciously shaped in imitation of the implement in use in India. It is, however, possible, and I think on the whole more probable, that it represents the earliest form of the Indian plough-- a type which, though improved out all recognition in the plains, may still be traced back to the clumsy wooden hoe which the Bendkar drags after him through the light ashes of his plot of jhum land.The social position of the Orissa Savars, like that of many non-Aryan tribes, does not admit of precise definition. Hindus alone are recognized members of the caste system, and the Savars have not yet come to be admitted as members of the Hindu community, though their promotion to that position cannot be deferred. Their first step will doubtless be to provide themselves with Brahmans, as the Savars of Bankura have already done. The latter affect to maintain a high standard of ceremonial purity, and will not take cooked food from the hands of any one except a Brahman. Their pretensions, however, are not admitted by their neighbours and at present their social rank is certainly not higher than of Bagdis, Lohars, Koras, and similar castes who hang on the outskirts of the Hindu social system.

769 Savar.: -Sawara, Savara, Saonr, Sahra1 (and several other variations. In Bundelkhand the Savars, there called Saonrs, are frequently known by the honorific title of Rawat). A primitive tribe numbering about 70,000 persons in the Central Provinces in 1911, and principally found in the Chhattisgarh Districts and those of Saugor and Damoh. The eastern branch of the tribe belongs chiefly to the Uriya country. The Savars are found in large numbers in the Madras Districts of Ganjam and Vizagapatam and in Orissa. They also live in the Bundelkhand Districts of the United Provinces. The total number of Savars enumerated in India in 1911 was 600,000 of which the Bunkelkhand districts contained about 100,000 and the Uriya country the remainder. The two branches of the tribe are thus separated by a wide expanse of territory. As regards this peculiarity of distribution General Cunningham says: "Indeed there seems good reason to believe that the Savaras were formerly, and that their power lasted down to a comparatively late period, when they were pushed aside by other Kolarian tribes in the north and east, and by the Gonds in the south. In the Saugor District I was informed that the Savaras had formerly fought with the Gonds and that the latter had conquered them by treacherously making them drunk."2. Similarly Cunningham notices that the zamindar of Suarmar in Raipur, which name is derived from Savar, is a Gond. A difference of opinion has existed as to whether the Savars were Kolarian or Dravidian so far as their language was concerned, Colonel Dalton adopting the latter view and other authorities the former and correct one. In the Central Provinces the Savars have lost their own language and speak the Aryan Hindi or Uriya vernacular current around them. But in Madras they still retain their original speech, which is classified by Sir G. Grierson as Mundari or Kolarian. He says "The most southerly forms of Munda speech are those spoken by the Savars and Gadabas of the north-east of Madras. The former have been identified with the Suari of Pliny and the Sabarae of Ptolemy. A wild tribe of the same name is mentioned in Sanskrit literature, even so far back as in late Vedic times, as inhabiting the Deccan, so that the name at least can boast great antiquity."3 As to the origin of the name Savar, General Cunningham says that it must be sought for outside the language of the Aryans. "In Sanskrit 'savara' simply means 'a corpse'. From Herodotus, however, we learn that the Scythian word for an axe was savar is the same word as sagar. It seems therefore not unreasonable to infer that the tribe who were so called took their name from their habit of carrying axes. Now it is one of the striking peculiarities of the Savars that they are rarely seen without an axe in their hands. The peculiarity has been frequently noticed by all who have seen them."4 The above opinion of Cunningham, which is of course highly speculative, is disputed by Mr. Crooke, who says that "The word Savara, if it is as some believe, derived from sava a corpse, comes from the root sav 'to cause to decay,' and need not necessarily therefore be of non-Aryan origin, while on the other hand no distinct inference can be drawn from the use of the axe by the Savars, when it is equally used by various other Dravidian jungle tribes such as the Korwas, Bhuiyas and the like."5. In the classical stories of their origin the first ancestor of the Savara is sometimes in several Sanskrit works written between 800 B.C. and A.D, 1200, and it seems probable that they are a Munda tribe who occupied the tracts of country which they live in prior to the arrival of the Gonds. The classical name Savar has been corrupted into various forms. Thus in the Bundeli dialect 'ava' changes into 'av' and a nasal is sometimes interpolated. Savar has here become Saunr or Saonr. The addition of 'a' at the end of the word sometimes expresses contempt, and Savar becomes Savara as Chamar is corrupted into Chamra . In the Uriya country 'v' is changed into 'b' and an aspirate is interpolated, and thus Savara became Sabra or Sahara, as Gaur has become Gahra. The word Sahara, Mr. Crooke

1. See Russell. This article is principally based on papers by Munshi Gopinath, Naib-Tahsildar, Sonpur, Mr. Kaluram Pachore, Assistant Settlement Officer, Samtalpur, and Mr. Hira Lal, Assistant Gazetteer Superintendent. 2. Archaological Reports, vol. xvii. pp. 120, 122. 3. India Census Report (1901), p. 283.. 4. Archaological Reports vol. xvii. p.113. 5. Crooke's Tribes and Castes of N. W. P. , art. Savara.

770 remarks,1 has excited speculation as to its derivation from Arabic, in which Sahara means a wilderness; and the name of the Savars has accordingly been deduced from the same source as the great Sahara desert. This is of course incorrect.

Various stories of the origin of the Savars are given in Sanskrit literature. In the Aitareya Brahmana they are spoken of as the descendants of Vishwamitra, while in the Mahabharat they are said to have been created by Kamdhenu, Vasishtha's wonder-working cow, in order to repel the aggression of Vishwamitra. Local tradition traces their origin to the celebrated Seori of the Ramayana, who is supposed to have lived somewhere near the present Seori- narayan in the Bilaspur District and to have given her name to this place. Ramchandra in his wanderings met her there, ate the plums which she had gathered for him after tasting each one herself, and out of regard for her devotion permitted her name to precede his own of Narayan in that given to the locality. Another story makes one Jara Savar their original ancestor, who was said to have shot Krishna in the form of a deer. Another states that they were created for carrying stones for the construction of the great temple at Puri and for dragging the litter of Jagannath, which they still do at the present time. Yet another connecting them with the temple of Jagannath states that their ancestor was an old Bhil hermit called Sawar, who lived in Karod, two miles from Seorinarayan. The god Jagannath had at this time appeared in Seorinarayan and the old Sawar used to worship him. The king of Orissa had built the great temple at Puri and wished to install Jagannath in it, and he sent a Brahman to fetch him from Seorinarayan, but nobody knew where he was except the old hermit Sawar. The Brahman besought him in vain to be allowed to see the god and even went so far as to marry his daughter, and finally the old man consented to take him blindfold to the place. The Brahman, however, tied some mustard seeds in a corner of his cloth and made a hole in it so that they dropped out one by one on the way. After some time they grew up and served to guide him to the spot. This story of the mustard seeds of course finds a place in the folklore of many nations. The Brahman then went to Seorinarayan alone and assuming the form of a log of wood floated down the Mahanadi to Puri, where he was taken out and placed in the temple. A carpenter agreed to carve the god's image out of the log of wood on condition that the temple should be shut up for six months while the work was going on. But some curious people opened the door before the time and the work could not proceed, and thus the image of the god is only half carved out of the wood up to the present day. As a consolation to the old man the god ordained that the place should bear the hermit's name before his own as Seorinarayan. Lastly the Saonrs of Bundelkhand have the following tradition. In the beginning of creation Mahadeo wished to teach the people how to cultivate the ground, and so he made a plough and took out his bull Nandi to yoke to it. But there was dense forest on the earth, so he created a being whom he called Savar and gave him an axe to clear the forest. In the meantime Mahadeo went away to get another bullock. The Savar after clearing the forest felt very hungry, and finding nothing else to eat killed Nandi and ate his flesh on a teak leaves, which, when rubbed give out sap which is the colour of blood to the present day. After some time Mahadeo returned, and finding the forest well cleared was pleased with the Savar, and as a reward endowed him with the knowledge of all edible and medicinal roots and fruits of the forest. But on looking round for Nandi he found him lying dead with some of his flesh cut off. The Savar pleaded ignorance, but Mahadeo sprinkled a little nectar on Nandi, who came to life again and told what had happened. Then Mahadeo was enraged with the Savar and said, 'You shall remain a barbarian and dwell for ever in poverty in the jungles without enough to eat.' And accordingly this has always been the condition of the Savar's descendants.

Other old authors speak of the Parna or leaf-clad Savars; and a Savar messenger is described as carrying a bow in his hand "with his tied up in a knot behind with a creeper, black himself, and wearing a loin-cloth of bhilawan leaves2", an example of 'a leaf-fringed legend.'

1. Tribes and Castes of N. W. P., art. Savara. 2. Tribes and Cates of Bengal, art. Savar

771 The Bundelkhand Savars have been so long separated from the others that they have sometimes forgotten their identity and consider themselves as a subtribe of the Gonds, though the better informed repudiate this. They may be regarded as a separate endogamous group. The eastern branch have two main devisions called Laria and Uriya, or those belonging to Chhattisgarh and Sambalpur respectively. A third division known as the Kalapithia or 'Black Backs' are found in Orissa, and are employed to drag the litter of Jagannath. These on account of their sacred occupation consider themselves superior to the others, abstain from fowls and liquor, and sometimes wear the sacred thread. The Larias are the lowest subdivision. Marriage is regulated by exogamous septs or bargas . The northern Savars say that they have 52 of these, 52 being a number frequently adopted to express the highest possible magnitude, as if no more could be imagined. The Uriya Savars say they have 80 bargas. Besides the prohibition of marriage within the same barga, the union of first cousins is sometimes forbidden. Among the Uriya Savars each has the two further divisions of Joria and Khuntia, the Jorias being those who bury or burn them near a khhunt or old tree. Joris and Khuntias of the same barga cannot intermarry, but in the case of some other subdivisions of the barga as between those who eat rice at one festival in the year and those eating it at two, marriage is allowed between menbers of the two subdivisions, thus splitting the exogamous group into two. The names of the bargas are usually totemistic, and the following are some examples: Badaiya, the carpenter bird; Bagh, the tiger; Bagula, the heron; Bahra, a cook; Bhatia, a brinjal or egg-plant; Bisi the scorpion; Basantia, the trunk of the cotton tree; Hathia, an elephant; Jancher, a tree (this barga is divided into Bada and Kachcha, the Bada worshipping the tree and the Kachcha a branch of it, and marriage between the two subdivisions is allowed); Jharia (this barga keeps a lock of a child's hair unshaved for four or five years after its birth); Juadi, a gambler; Karsa, a deer: Khairaiya, the Khair or catechu tree; Lodhi, born from the caste of that name (in Saugor); Markam, the name of a Gond sept; Rajhans, a swan; Suriya Bansia, from the sun (members of this barga feed the caste-fellows on the occasion of a solar eclipse and throw away their earthen post); Silgainya from sil , a slate; and Tiparia from tipari , a basket (these two septs are divided into Kachcha and Pakka groups which can marry with each other); Sona, gold (a member of this sept does not wear gold ornaments until he given a feast and a caste-fellow has placed one on his person).

Marriage is usually adult, but in places the Savars live near Hindus they have adopted early marriage. A reason for preferring the latter custom is found in the marriage ceremony, when the bride and bridegroom must be carried on the shoulders of their relatives from the bride's house to the bridegroom's. If they are grown up, this part of the ceremony entails no inconsiderable labour on the relatives. In the Uriya country, while the Khuntia subdivision of each barga sees nothing wrong in marrying a girl after adolescence, the Jorias consider it a great sin, to avoid which they sometimes marry a girl to an arrow before she attains puberty. An arrow is tied to her hand, and she goes seven times round a mahua branch stuck on an improvised altar, and drinks ghi and oil, thus creating the fiction of marriage. If this mock ceremony has not been performed before the girl becomes adult, she is taken to the forest by a relative and there tied to a tree, to which she is considered to be married. She is not taken back to her father's house but to that of some relative, such as her brother-in-law or grand- father, who is permitted to talk to her in an obscene and jesting manner, and is subsequently disposed of as a widow. Or in Sambalpur she may be nominally married to an old man and then again married as a window. The Savars follow generally the local Hindu form of the marriage ceremony. On the return of the entrance to the bridegroom's house. Some relative takes rice and throw it at the persons returning with the marriage procession, and then pushes the pair hastily across the lines and into the house. They are thus freed from the evil spirits who might have accompanied them home and who are kept back by the rice and the seven lines. A price of Rs. 5 is sometimes paid for the bride. In Saugor if the bride's family cannot afford a wedding feast they distribute small pieces of bread to the guests, who place them in their head-cloths to show their acceptance of this substitute. In some places the widow is bound to marry her late husband's younger brother unless he declines to take her. If she

772 marries somebody else the new husband pays a sum by way of compensation either to her father or to the late husband's family. Divorce is permitted on the husband's initiative for adultery or serious disagreement. If the wife wishes a divorce she simply runs away from her husband. The Laria Savars must give a marti-jiti ka bhat or death-feast on the occasion of a divorce. The Uriyas simply pay a rupee to the headman of the caste.

The Savars both burn and bury their dead, placing the corpse on the pyre with its head to the north, in the belief that heaven lies in that direction. On the eleventh day after the death in Sambalpur those members of the caste who can afford it present a goat to the mourners. The Savars believe souls of those who die become ghosts, and in Bundelkhand they used formerly to bury the dead near their fields in the belief that the spirits would watch over and protect the crops. If a man has died a violent death they raise a small platform of earth under a teak or saj tree, in which the ghost of the dead man is believed to take up its residence and nobody thereafter may cut down that tree. The Uriya Savars take no special measures unless the ghost appears to somebody in a dream and asks to be worshipped as Baghiapat (tiger- eaten) or Masan (serpent-bitten). In such cases a gunia or sorcerer is consulted, and such measures as he prescribes are taken to appease the dead man's soul. If a person dies without a child a hole is made in stone, and his soul is induced to enter it by the gunia. A few grains of rice are placed in the hole, and it is then closed with melted lead to imprison the ghost, and the stone is thrown into a stream so that is may never be able to get out and trouble the family. Savars offer water to the dead. A second wife usually wears a metal impression of the first wife by way of propitiation to her.

The Savars worship Bhawani under various names and also Dulha Deo, the young bridegroom who was killed by a tiger. He is located in the kitchen of every house in some localities, and this has given rise to the proverb, 'Jar chulha, tai Dulha,' or 'There is a Dulha Deo to every hearth.' The Savars are considered to be great sorcerers. 'Sawara ke pange, Rawat ke bandhe,' '"The man bewitched by a Savar and the bullock tied up by a Rawat (grazier) cannot escape"; and again, 'verily the Saonr is a cup of poison.' Their charms, called Sabari mantras, are especially intended to appease the spirits of persons who have died a violent death. If one of their family was seriously ill they were accustomed formerly to set fire to the forest, so that by burning the small animals and insects which could not escape they might propitiate the angry gods.

The dress of the Savars is of the scantiest form. The women wear khilwan or pith ornaments in the ear, and abstain from wearing nose-rings, a traditional method of deference to the higher castes. The proverb has it, 'The ornaments of the Sawara are gumchi seeds.' These are the red and black seeds of Abrus precatorius which are used in weighing gold and silver and are called rati . Women are tattooed and sometimes men also to avoid being pierced with a red-hot iron by the god of death. Tattooing is further said to allay the sexual passion of women, which is eight times more intense than that of men. Their occupations are the collection of jungle produce and cultivation. They are very clever in taking honeycombs: 'It is the Savar who can drive the black bees from their hive.' The eastern branch of the caste is more civilised than the Saonras of Bundelkhand, who still sow juari with a pointed stick, saying that it was the implement given to them by Mahadeo for this purpose. In Saugor and Damoh they employ Brahmans for marriage ceremonies if they can afford it, but on other occasions they use their own caste priests. In some places they will take food from most castes but in others from nobody who is not a Savar. Sometimes they admit outsiders and in others the children only of irregular unions; thus a Gond woman kept by a Savar would not be recognised as a member of the caste herself but her children would be Savars. A woman going wrong with an outsider of low caste is permanently ex-communicated.

773 Savara.: -Saura, Sowra1. The Savara or Sowra is a Dravidian cultivating and more or less servile tribe inhabiting the hills of Orissa, Chota Nagpur, Western Bengal, Madras, Ganjam and the Central Provinces. On Linguistic grounds certain authorities are inclined to place this tribe amongst the Kolarian group. The language, however, yields only meagre and inconclusive evidence, while it may be considered tolerably certain that the Savaras, scattered and partially Hinduised as they are, represent the main body of an ancient race, an isolated fragment of which still survives in the Male or Sour of the Ramahal Hills.

The tribe at the present day is very widely diffused, and local tradition ascribes to the Savars, the conquest of the Cheros, and their expulsion from t˙e Plateau of Shahabad in about the year 421 of the Salivahana era, or A.D. 500. A number of ancient monuments in the Shahabad district are still put down to the Savars or Suris, who are suposed to have been driven south by the inroad of Rajputs under the Bhojpur Chief, which appears to have ended their rule.

The Savara is said by some to be a descendant of the sons of Vismavitra, who were cursed to become impure by their father for an act of disobedience. There are certain legends in Sanskrit litetature, with regard to their origin, and as these have a certain bearing in the religion practised by these people, it may not be out of place here to relate some of those which are more generally known.

In the Aitareya Brahmana also, they are spoken of as the descendants of Vishmavitra, while in the Mahabarat they are said to have been created by Kamdhenu, Vashistha's wonder cow, in order to repel the aggression of Vishmavitra. One authority states that Jara Savar was their origimal ancestor who was said to have shot Krishna in the form of a deer. Another suggests that they were created for the purpose of carrying stones for the construction of the great temple at Puri, and for dragging the car of Jagannath, which certain sections of the tribe do even up to the present time in the performence of their religious ceremonies.

The following rather interesting legend is also related. In the beginning of creation Mahadeo wished to teach the people how to cultivate the ground, so he made a plough and took out his bull Nandi to yoke to it. But there was a dense forest on the earth, so he created a being whom he called a Savar, and gave him an axe to clear the forest. In the meantime, Mahadeo went away to get another bullock. The Savar after clearing the forest felt very hungry and finding nothing else to eat, killed Nandi and ate his flesh on a teak leaf, and for this reason the young teak leaves when rubbed give out sap which is the colour of blood. After some time Mahadeo returned, and finding the forest well cleared was pleased with the Savar, and as a reward endowed him with the knowledge of all edible and medicinal roots and fruits of the forest. But on looking round for Nandi he found him lying dead with some of his flesh cut off. The Saver pleaded ignouance, but Mahadeo sprinkled a little water on Nandi who came to life again and told what had happened. Mahadeo was then enraged with the Savar and cursed him saying "Ye will remain in the jungles with never enough to eat, scantily clothed, and occupying a servile position for the remainder of your days."

Appearance and Customs. In appearance the Savara man is rather small in statrue, but strongly and sturdily built. His physique is in every way superior to the Ooriya of the plains. He has a manly bearing and accustomed as he is roaming the virgin forest and hunting while living primitive, self-willed and independant to an extent seldom found in the Plains. He undoubtedly shares many of the good and bad qualities of his cousin, the Munda, and in fact some authorities are of opinion that the two tribes are much more closely allied than has ever been proved. The languages spoken bear a certain similarity also, though this fact may not be considered as indicating relationship. The women folk in certain parts are reported to wear but scanty, if

1 See Mr. J. Buchanan account in the Hand Book.

774 any, clothing. They garb themselves in a wreath of twigs and leaves supported by a string from the waist. One case is reported of a Savara woman, who was persuaded to wear clothes. In a short time, however, she took ill, and her friends insisted on a return to the former and more naked state. She then recovered and on no other occasion could she or any other female members of her tribe be persuaded to conform to the more civilized conventions.

The Savaras near Ganjam and Mehendragiri are small and wiry, dark in colour and sometimes quite black. The hair is usually tied in a top knot and is sometimes cut short over the forehead, two long locks being permitted to hang over the ears. They are of a happy and cheery disposition, indulging much in dancing and sports of all kinds. They are extremely superstitious and are of a very enquiring disposition.

The weapons in use while hunting are mainly the axe and the bow and arrows and with these they are wonderfully accurate. The arrow has also some religious significance, as will be seen in the description of their marriage customs. The bulk of the tribe have taken to cultivation and massed themselves in villages, but the Bendkhar Savara of Khannighar still adheres to the nomadic habits which their traditions describe. In their natural state the Savaras build their houses on a machan some two or three feet above the ground. The houses are the usual "kutcha" type of bamboos and thatch. It is further stated that in many cases they build their houses actually across the chasms, and their reason for selecting such sites is in order that they may quietly make their escape in the event of an attack by dropping through the floor of the house into the stream beneath and thence make their way into the jungle by devious paths. The villages are usually built in the midst of vast jungles. When selecting a site for a new house the Maliah Savars place on the proposed site as many grains of rice as there are married members of the family. These are examined next day and if found undisturbed the house is built. The Savaras are extremely illiterate and cannot or will not count above 12. It is said that in one occasion some cultivators were measuring up their crop and counted to 13. On that instant a tiger leapt on them and killed some of them and since then they have carefully avoided counting above 12 for fear of some similar calamity occurring.

Religion. The Savaras of Bankura having become thoroughly Hinduised, Brahmans serve them as Priests in the worship of the standard Gods, they offer up goats and fowls as sacrifices, at the hands of the elders of the elders of the community, who have not yet been supplanted in their offices by the professional Brahmans.

Sub-castes. 1. The Hill Savaras, the Jati Savaras or Malia Savaras consider themselves superior to the other divisions. They will eat the flesh of a buffalo but not of a cow. 2. Arsi, Arisi or Lambo Lanjiya. Arsi means monkey and Lombo Lanjiya (Lumba Lanjia) meaning long-tailed is the name by which members of the section are called in reference to the long piece of cloth which the males allow to hang down behind. 3. The Luara (Lohara) or Muli. These are the workers in iron who make arrow heads and other articles. 4. Kindal. Basket makers, who manufacture rough baskets for holding grain. 5. Jadu. Said to be a name among the Savaras for the hill country beyond Kollakota and Puttasinghi. It is considered possible, however, that this word may be the same as is used in most parts of Assam, indicating witchcraft. 6. Kumbi or Potters. These make the earthen vessels which are used for cooking, etc., and for use during religious festivals. 7. Among the Uriya Savars each bharga has two further divisions of Joria and Khuntia-- the Jhorias bury their dead near a Jhor or brook and the Khuntias near a:"Khunt" or old tree. Jhorias and Khuntias do not intermarry.

775 Marriage. A Savara seldom takes more than two wives though no actual limit is set as to the number of wives a man may take. In Orissa (but not in Bankura), a widow may marry again but is ordinarily expected to marry her first husband's younger brother or cousin. No compulsion, however, is exercised in the matter and she may marry anyone she pleases provided that she returns to her father's house and remains there unmarried for a year. No regular ceremony is ordained for use on such occasions and the union is celebrated by a feast given to the relatives of both parties. Divorce is permitted for adultery, and if the relatives find it impossible or inadvisable to effect a reconcilation between the parties they formally escort the woman to the house of her father or guardian and leave her there. The manner of taking the first wife is as follows: "When the parents of a young man consider it time to seek a bride for him, they make enquiries and consult their relatives and friends as to a suitable girl. The girl's parents are informally apprised of their selection. On a certain day the male relatives of the youth go to the girl's house to make a proposal of marriage. Her parents having received previous notice of the visit leave the door of the house open or closed according to whether they approve or disapprove of the match. If the girl's parents object to the match they remain silent and will not touch the liquor brought by the visitors, who then go away. Should they, however, approve of the match, they charge the visitors with intruding, shower abuse upon them and beat them in some cases so severely that blood is shed. This ill-treatment is borne cheerfully and without resistance, as it is a sign that the girl's hand will eventually be bestowed on the young man. The liquor is placed on the floor and after more abuse, all present partake thereof. If the girl's parents refuse to give her in marriage after the performance of this ceremony, they have to pay a penalty to the parents of the disappointed suitor". Two or three days later the young man's relatives go a second time to the girl's house, taking with them three pots of liquor, and a bundle composed of as many arrows as there are male members in the girl's family. The liquor is drunk and the arrows presented, one to each male. After an interval of some days a third visit is paid, and three pots of liquor, smeared with turmeric paste, and a quantity of turmeric are taken to the house. The liquor is drunk and the turmeric paste smeared over the back and haunches of the girl's relatives. Sometime afterwards the actual marriage ceremony takes place. The bridegroom's party proceed to the house of the bride, dancing and singing to the accompaniment of all the musical instruments with the exception of the drum, which is only played at funerals. With them they take twenty big pots of liquor, a pair of brass bangles and a cloth for the bride's mother, and head cloths for the father, brothers and other male relatives. When everything is ready the priest is called in. One of the pots is decorated and an arrow is fixed in the ground at its side. The priest then repeats prayers to the invisible spirits and ancestors, and pours some of the liquor into leaf cups prepared in the names of the ancestors (Jojonji and Yoyonji, male and female), and the chiefs of the village. This liquor is considered very sacred and is sprinkled from a leaf over the shoulders and feet of the elders present. The father of the bride then addresses the priest saying "Boya, I have drunk the liquor brought by the bridegroom's father, and thereby accepted his proposal for a marriage between his son and my daughter. I do not know whether the girl will afterwards agree to go to her husband or not, therefore, it is well that you should ask her openly to speak out her mind." The priest accordingly asks the girl if she has any objection and she replies, "My father and mother all my relatives have drunk the bridegroom's liquor. I am a Savara. Why then should I not marry him?" All the people present then declare that they are now husband and wife. This done, the big pot of liquor which has been set aside from the rest, is taken into the bride's house. This pot, with another pot of liquor purchased at the expense of the bride's father, is given to the bridegroom's party when they retire. Every householder receives the bridegroom and his party at his house, and offers them liquor, rice and flesh, which they cannot refuse to partake of without giving offence. In the event of two or more wives being kept the wives live separately each in her own house with a plot of land attached, which she looks after and cultivates by herself with no help or interference from the other wives. On no account will one wife help another wife to cultivate

776 her plot and the grain produced from the plots is kept separately by each wife. All wives co- operate, however, in the cultivation and harvesting of the paddy fields owned by the husband. During large feasts it appears that the Savaras give themselves up to much sensuality and on these occasions there is promiscuous intercourse, leading in many cases to fighting and bloodshed. The original custom appears to have been for each man to take his wife by force and carry her to his house. If she liked him she remained with him, if not she ran away. He would then bring her back. If she ran way three times he abandoned her.

On the occasion of a widow re-marrying, a religious ceremony must be performed, during which a pig is sacrificed. The fresh kill with some liquor is offered to the ghost of the widow's deceased husband and prayers offered up by the "Boyas" to propitiate the ghost, so that it may not torment the woman and her second husband. When a divorcee marries another man, her former husband pounces upon him, shoots his buffalo or pig and takes it to his house.

Besides the prohibition of marriage within the same Barga, the union of first cousins is sometimes forbidden. It is interesting to note that this is not always forbidden as is the case with most other Hindu castes and one is inclined to think that this places beyond doubt the social status of this caste, for it is only among the lower castes that this custom is permitted. Marriage is usually adult, but in places where the Savars have lived near Hindus they have adopted early marriage. The usual Hindu practice of carrying at least the bride (and sometimes the bridegroom also) to the bridegroom's house is in vogue also amongst this caste. In the Uriya country the Jorias consider it a great sin for anyone to marry a girl after adolescence. To avoid this they sometimes marry a girl to an arrow before she attains puberty. An arrow is tied to her hand and a fiction of marriage is thereupon performed. The arrow is then thrown or shot into a river to imply that her husband is dead or she is afterwards disposed of by the ceremony of widow marriage.

Savara.: -The Savaras, Sawaras, or Saoras, are an important hill-bribe in Ganjam and Vizagapatam1. The name is derived by General Cunnigham from the Scythain sagar, an axe, in reference to the axe which they carry in their hands. In Sanskrit, sabara or savara means a mountaineer, barbarian, or savage. The tribe has been identified by various authorities with the Suari of Pliny and Sabarai of Ptolemy. " Towards the Ganges," the latter writes, " are the Sabari, in whose country the diamond found in great abundance." This diamond-producing country is located by Cunningham near Sambalpur in the Central Provinces. In one of his grants, Nandivarma Pallavamalla, a Pallava king, claims to have released the hostile king of the Sabaras, Udayana by name, and captured his mirror-banner made of pea-cock's feathers. The Rev. T. Foulkes * identifies the Sabaras of this copper-plate grant with the Savaras of the eastern ghats. But Dr. E. Hultzsch, who has re-edited the grant, + is of opinion that these Sabaras cannot be identified with the Savaras. The Aitareya Brahmana of the Rig-veda makes the Savaras the descendants of the sons of Visvamitra, who were cursed to become impure by their father for an act of disobedience, while the Ramayana describes them as having emanated from the body of Vasishta's cow to fight against the sage Visvamitra.

The language of the Savaras is included by Mr.G. A. Grierson+ in the Munda family. It has, he writes, " been largely influenced by Telugu, and is no longer an unmixed form of speech. It is most closely related to Kharia and Juang, but in some characteristics differs from them,

1 See Thurston.

777 and agrees with the various dialects of the language which has in this (linguistic) survey been described under the denomination of Kherwari."

The Savaras are described by Mr. F. Fawcett * as being much more industrious than the Khonds. " Many a time," he writes, " have I tried to find a place for an extra paddy (rice) field might be made, but never with success. It is not too much to say that paddy is grown on every available foot of arable ground, all the hill streams being utilized for this purpose. From almost the very tops of the hills, in fact from wherever the springs are, there are paddy fields; at the top of every small area a few square yards, the front perpendicular revetment [of large masses of stones ] sometimes as large in area as the area of the field; and;larger and lager, down are hillside, taking every advantage of every available foot of ground there are fields below fields to the bottoms of the valleys. The Saoras show remarkable engineering skill in justice. They seem to construct them in the most impossible p;aces, and certainly at the expense of great lobour. Yet, with all their superior activity and industry, the Saoras are decidedly physically inferior to the Khonds. It seems hard the Saoras should not be allowed to reap the benefit of their industry, but must give half of it to the parasitic Bissoyis and their retainers. The greater part of the Saoras' hills have been denuded of forest owing to the persistent hacking down of tress for the purpose of growing dry crops, so much that, in places, the hills look almost bare in the dry weather. Nearly all the jungle (mostly sal, Shorea robusta ) is cut down every few years. When the Saoras want to work a piece of new ground, where the jungle has been allowed to grow for a few years, the trees are cut down, and, when dry, burned, and the ground is grubbed up by the women with a kind of hoe. The hoe is used on the steep hill sides, where the ground is very stony and rocky, and the stumps of the felled tress are numerous, and the plough cannot be used. In the paddy fields, or on any flat ground, they use plough of lighter and simpler make than those used in the plains. They use cattle for ploughing." It is noted by Mr. G.V. Ramamurti Pantulu, in an article on the Savaras, that " in some cases the Bissoyi, who was originally a feudatory chief under the authority of the zemindar, and in other cases the zemindar claims a fixed rent in kind or cash, or both. Subject to the rents payable to the Bissoyis, the Savaras under them are said to exercise their right to sell or mortgage their lands. Below the ghats, in the plains, the Savara has lost his right, and the mustajars or the renters to whom the Savara villages are farmed out take half of whatever crops are raided by the Savaras." Mr. Ramamurti states further that a new-comer should obtain the permission of the Gomongo (headman) and the Boya before he can reclaim any jungle hand, and that at the time of sale or mortgage, the village elders should be present, and partake of the flesh of the pig sacrificed on the occasion. In some places, the Savaras are said to be entirely in the power of Paidi settlers from the plains, who seize their entire produce on the plea of debts contracted at a usurious rate of interests. In recent years, some Savaras emigrated to Assam to work in the tea-gardens. But emigration has now stopped by edict.

The sub-divisions among the Savaras, which, so far as I can gather, are recognised, are a follows:

Hill Savaras. (1). Savara, Jati Savara (Savara par excellence), or Maliah Savara. They regard themselves as superior to the other divisions. They will eat the flesh of the buffalo, but not of the cow. (2). Aris, Arisi, or Lombo Lanjiya. Arsi means monkey, and Lombo Lanjiya, indicating long- tailed, is the name by which members of this section are called, in reference to the long piece of cloth, which the males allow to hang down. The occupation is said to be weaving the coarse cloths worn by members of the tribe, as well as agriculture. (3). Luara or Muli. Workers in iron, who make arrow heads, and other articles. (4). Kindal Basket-makers, who manufacture rough baskets for holding grain. (5). Jadu. Said to be a name among the Savaras for the hill country beyond Kollakota and Puttasingi.

778 (6). Kumbi. Potters who make earthen pots. "These pots," Mr. Fawcett writes, "are made in a few villages in the Saora hills. Earthen vessels are used for cooking, or for hanging up in houses as fetishes of ancestral spirits or certain deities."

Savaras of the low country. (7). Kapu (denoting cultivator), or Pallapu. (8). Suddho (good). It has been noted that the pure Savara tribes have restricted themselves to the tracts of hill and jungle-covered valleys. But, as the plains are approached, traces of amalgamation become apparent, resulting in a hybrid race, whose appearance and manners differ but little from those of the ordinary denizens of the low country. The Kapu Savaras are said to retain many of the Savara customs, whereas the Suddho Savaras have adopted the language and customs of the Oriya castes. The Kapu section is sometimes called Kudunga or Baseng, and the latter name is said by Mr. Ramamurti to be derived from the Savara word basi, salt. It is, he states, applied to the plains below the ghats, as, in the fairs held there, salt is purchased by the Savaras of the hills, and the name is used to designate the Savaras living there. A class name Kampu is referred to by Mr. Ramamurti, who says that the name "implies that the Savaras of this class have adopted the customs of the Hindu Kampus (Oriya for Kapu). Kudumba is another name by which they are known, but it is reported that there is a sub- division if them called by this name." He further refers to Bobbili and Bhima as the names of distinct sub-divisions. Bobbili is a town in the Vizagapatam district, and Bhima was the second of the five Pandava brothers.

In an account of the Maliya Savarulu, published in the 'Catalogue Raisonne of Oriental Manuscripts,' it is recorded that "they build houses over mountain torrents, previously throwing trees across the chasms; and these houses are in the midst of forests of fifty or more miles in extent. The reason of choosing such situations is stated to be in order that they may more readily escape by passing underneath their houses, and through the defile,. in the event of any disagreement and hostile attack in reference to other rulers or neighbours. They cultivate independently, and pay tax and tribute to no one. If the zemindar of the neighbourhood troubles them for tribute, they go in a body to his house by night, set it on fire, plunder, and kill; and then retreat, with their entire households, into the wilds and fastnesses. They do in like manner with any of the zemindars who are troublesome to them. If they are courted, and a compact is made with them, they will then abstain from any wrong or disturbance. If the zemindar, unable to bear with them, raises troops and proceeds to destroy their houses, they escape underneath by a private way, as above mentioned. The invaders usually burn the houses, and retire."

The modern Savara settlement is described by Mr. Fawcett as having two rows of huts parallel and facing each other. "Huts," he writes, " are generally built of upright pieces of wood stuck in the ground, 6 or 8 inches apart, and the intervals filled in with stones and mud laid alternately, and the whole plastered over with red mud. Huts are invariably built a few feet above the level of the ground, often, when the ground is very uneven, 5 feet above the ground in front. Roofs are always thatched with grass. There is usually but one door, near one end wall; no windows or ventilators, every chink being filled up. In front of the doorway there is room for six or eight people to stand, and there is a loft, made by cross-beams, about 5 feet from the floor, on which grain is stored in baskets, and under which the inmates crawl to do their cooking. Bits of sun-dried buffalo meat and bones, not smelling over-sweet, are suspended from the rafters, or here and there stuck in between the rafters and the thatch; knives, a tangi (battle-axe), a sword and bows and arrows may also be seen stuck in somewhere under the thatch. Agricultural implements may be seen, too, small ones stuck under the roof or on the loft, and larger ones against the wall. As in Ireland, the pig is of sufficient importance to have a room in the house. There is generally merely a low wall between the pig's room and the rest of the house, and a separate door, so that it may go in and out without going through that part of the house occupied by the family. Rude drawings

779 are very common in Saora houses. They are invariably, if not always, in some way that I could never clearly apprehend, connected with one of the fetishes in the house." "When," Mr. Ramamurti writes, "a tiger enters a cottage, sacrifices are offered to some spirits by all the inhabitants. The prevalence of small-pox in a village requires its abandonment. A succession of calamities leads to the same result. If a Savara has a number of wives, each of them sometimes requires a separate house, and the house sites are frequently shifted according to the caprice of the women. The death or disease of cattle is occasionally followed by the desertion of the house."

When selecting a site for a new dwelling hut, the Maliah Savaras place on the proposed site as many grains of rice in pairs as there are married members in the family, and cover them over with a cocoanut shell. They are examined on the following day, and, if they are all there, the site is considered auspicious. Among the Kapu Savaras, the grains of rice are folded up in leaflets of the bale tree (AEgle Marmelos), and placed in split bamboo.

It is recorded by Mr. Fawcett, in connection with the use of the duodecimal system by the Savaras that "on asking a Gomango how he reckoned when selling produce to the Panos, he began to count on his fingers. In order to count 20, he began in the left foot (he was squatting), and counted 5; then with the left hand 5 more; then with the two first fingers of the right hand he made 2 more, i. e., 12 altogether; then with the thumb of the right hand and the other two fingers of the same, and the toes of the right foot he made 8 more . And so it was always. They have names for numerals up to 12 only, and to count 20 always count first twelve and then eight in the manner described, except that they may begin on either hand or foot. To count 50 or 60, they count by twenties, and put down a stone or some mark for their numerals being limited to 12."

The Savaras are described by Mr. Fawcett as "below the middle height; face rather flat; lips thick; nose broad and flat; cheek bones high; eyes slightly oblique. They are as fair as the Uriyas, and fairer than the Telugus of the plains. Not only is the Saora shorter and fairer than other hill people, but his face is distinctly Mongolian, the obliquity of the eyes being sometimes very marked, and the inner corners of the eyes are generally very oblique. [The Mongolian type is clearly brought out in the illustration.] The Saora's endurance in going up and down hills, whether carrying heavy loads or not is wonderful. Four Saoras have been known to carry a 10-stone man in a chair straight up a 3,800 feet hill without relief, and without rest. Usually, the Saora's dress (his full dress) consists of a large bunch of feathers (generally white) stuck in his hair on the crown of his head, a coloured cloth round his head as a turban, and worn much on the back of the head, and folded tightly, so as to be a good protection to the head. When feathers are not worn, the hair is tied on the top of the head, or a little at the side of it. A piece of flat brass is another head ornament. It is stuck in the hair, which is tied in a knot at the crown of the head, at an angle of about 40 from the perpendicular, and its waving up and down motion as a man walks has a curious effect. 3 Another head ornament is a piece wood, about 8 or 9 inches in length and inch in diameter, 4 with a flat button about 2 inches in diameter on the top, all covered with hair or coloured thread, and down in the same position as the flat piece of brass. A peacock's feather, or one or two of the tail feathers of the jungle cock, may be often seen stuck in the knot of hair on the top of the head. A cheroot or two, perhaps half smoked, may often be seen sticking in the hair of a man or woman, to be used again when wanted. They also smoke pipes, and the old women seem particularly fond of them. Round the Saora's neck are brass and bead necklaces. A man will wear as many as thirty necklaces at a time, or rather necklaces of various lengths passed as many as thirty times round his neck. Round the Saora's waist, is tied a cloth with coloured ends hanging in front and behind. When a cloth on the body is worn, it is usually worn crossed in front. The women wear necklaces like the men. Their hair is tied at the back of the head, and is sometimes confined with a fillet. They were only one cloth, tied round the waist. During feasts, or when dancing, they generally wear a cloth over their heads, and an

780 earring of silver in the right nostril, and every female wears a similar ring in each nostril, and in the septum. As I have been told, these rings are put in the nose on the eighth or tenth day after birth. Bangles are often worn by men and women. Anklets, too are sometimes worn by the women. Brass necklets and many other ornaments, are made in Saora hills by the Gangsis, a low tribe of workers in brass. The Saora's weapons are the bow, sometimes ornamented with peacock's feathers, sword, dagger, and tangi. The bow used by the Saoras 1 is much smaller than the bow used by any of the other hill people. It is generally about 3 2 feet long, and the arrows from 18 to 21 inches. The bow is always made of bamboo, and so is the string. The arrows are reeds tipped with iron, and leathered on two sides only. A blunt- headed arrow is used for shooting birds. Every saora can use the bow from boyhood, and can shoot straight up to 25 or 30 yards."

As regards the marriage customs of the Savaras, Mr. Fawcett writes that "a Saora may marry a woman of his own or of any other village. A man may have as many as three wives, or, if he is a man of importance, such as Gomango of a large village, he may have four. Not that there is any law in the matter, but it is considered that three or at most four, are as many as a man can manage. For his first marriage, a man chooses a young woman he fancies; his other wives are perhaps her sisters, or other women who have cone to him. A woman may leave her husband whenever she pleases. Her husband cannot prevent her. When a woman leaves her husband to join herself to another, the other pays the husband she has left a buffalo and a pig. Formerly, it is said, if he did not pay up, the man she left would kill the man to whom she went. Now arbitration comes into play. I believe a man usually takes a second wife after his first has had a child; if he did so before, the first wife would say he was impotent. As the getting of the first wife is more troublesome and expensive than getting the others, she is treated the best. In some places, all a man's wives are said to live together peaceably, though it is not the custom in the Kolakotta villages. Knowing the wives would fight if together, domestic felicity is maintained by keeping up different establishments. A man's wives will visit one another in the daytime, but one wife will never spend the night in the house of another. An exception to this is that the first wife may invite one of the other wives to sleep in her house with the husband. As each wife has her separate house, so has she her separate piece of ground on the hill-side to cultivate. The wives will not co-operate in working each other's cultivation, but they will work together, with the husband, in the paddy fields. Each wife keeps the produce of the ground she cultivates in her own house. Produce of the paddy fields is divided into equal shares among the wives. If a wife will not work properly, or if she gives away anything belonging to her husband, she may be divorced. Any man may marry a divorced woman, but she must pay to her former husband a buffalo and a pig. If a man catches his wife in adultery (he must see her in the act), he thinks he has a right to kill her, and her lover too. But this is now generally (but not always) settled by arbitration, and the lover pays up. A wife caught in adultery will never be retained as a wife. As any man may have as many as three wives, illicit attachments are common. During large feasts, when the Saoras give themselves up to sensuality, there is no doubt a great deal of promiscuous intercourse. A widow is considered bound to marry her husband's brother, or his brother's sons if he has no younger brothers. A number of Saoras once came to me to settle a dispute. They were in their full dress, with feathers and weapons. The dispute was this. A young woman's husband was dead, and his younger brother was almost of an age to take her to wife. She had fixed her affections on a man of another village, and made up her mind to have him and no one else. Her village people wanted compensation in the shape of a buffalo, and also wanted her ornaments. The men of the other village said no, they could not give a buffalo. Well, they should give a pig at least-- no, they had no pig. Then they must give some equivalent. They would give one rupee. That was not enough-- at least three rupees. They were trying to carry the young woman off by force to make her marry her brother-in-law, but were induced to accept the rupee, and have the matter settled by their respective Bissoyis. They young woman was most obstinate, and insisted on having her own

781 choice, and keeping her ornaments. Her village people had no objection to her choice, provided the usual compensation was paid.

In one far out-of-the-way village the marriage ceremony is thus described by a groom: "I wished to marry a certain girl, and, with my brother and his son, went to her house. I carried a pot of liquor, and arrow, and one brass bangle for the girl's mother. After I arrived at the house, I put the liquor and the arrow on the floor. I had the two with me drink the liquor-- no one else had any. The father of the girl said 'Why have you brought the liquor?' I said 'Because I want your daughter'. He said 'Bring a big pot of liquor, and we will talk about it.' I took the arrow I brought with me, and stuck it in the thatch of the roof just above the wall, took up the empty pot, and went home with those who came with me. Four days afterwards, with the same two and three others of my village, I went to the girl's father's house with a big pot of liquor. About fifteen or twenty people of the village were present. The father said he would not give the girl, and, saying so, he smashed the pot of liquor, and, with those of his village, beat us so that we ran back to our village. I was glad of the beating, as I know by it I was pretty sure of success. About ten days afterwards, ten or twenty of my village people went with me again, carrying five pots of liquor, which we put in the girl's father's house. I carried an arrow, which I stuck in the thatch beside the first one. The father and the girl's nearest male relative each took one of the arrows I had put in the thatch, and, holding them in their left hands, drank some of the liquor. I now felt sure of success. I then put two more arrows in the father's left hand, holding them is his hand with both of my hands over likewise placed in the left hands of all the girl's male relatives, while I asked them to drink. To each female relative of the girl I gave a brass bangle, which I put on their right wrists while I asked them to drink. The five pots of liquor were drunk by the girl's male and female relations, and the villagers. When the liquor was all drunk, the girl's father said 'Come again in a month, and bring more liquor.' In a month I went again, with all the people of my village, men, women and children, dancing as we went (to music of course), taking with us thirty pots of liquor, and a little rice and a cloth for the girl's mother; also some hill dholl (pulse), which we put in the father's house. The liquor was set down in the middle of the village, and the villagers and those who came with me, drank the liquor and danced. The girl did not join in this; she was in the house. When the liquor was finished, my village people went home, but I remained in the father's house. For three days I stayed, and helped him to work in his fields. I did not sleep with the girl; the father and I slept in one part of the house, and the girl and her mother in another. At the end of the three days I went home. About ten days afterwards, I with about ten men of my village, went to watch for the girl going to the stream for water. When we saw her, we caught her, and ran away with her. She cried put and the people of her village came after us, and fought with us. We got her off to my village, and she remained with me as my wife. After she became my wife, her mother gave her a cloth and a bangle." The same individual said that, if a man wants a girl, and cannot afford to give the liquor, etc., to her people, he takes her off by force. If she likes him, she remains, but, if not, she runs home. He will carry her off three times, but not more; and, if after the third time she again runs away, he leaves her. The Saoras themselves say that formerly every one took his wife by force. In a case which occurred a few years ago, a bridegroom did not comply with the usual custom of giving a feast to the bride's people, and the bridegroom's party, however, managed to carry off the bride. Her mother raised an alarm, whereon a number of people ran up, and tried to stop the bridegroom's party. They were outnumbered, and one was knocked down, and died from rupture of the spleen.

A further account of the Saora marriage customs is given by Mr. Ramamurti Pantulu, who writes as follows. "When the parents of a young man consider it time to seek a bride for him, they make enquiries and even consult their relatives and friends as to suitable girl for him. The girl's parents are informally apprised of their selection. On a certain day, the male relatives of the youth go to the girl's house to make a proposal of marriage. Her parents, having received previous notice of the visit, have the door of the house open or closed, according to whether they approve or disapprove of the match. On arrival at the house, the

782 visitors knock at the door, and, if it is open, enter without further ceremony. Sometimes the door is broken open. If the girl's parents object to the match, they remain silent, and will not touch the liquor brought by the visitors, and they go away. Should, however, they regard it with favour, they charge the visitors with intruding, shower abuse on them, and beat them, it may be so severely that wounds are inflicted and blood is shed. This ill-treatment is borne cheerfully, and without resistance, as it is a sign that the girl's hand will be bestowed on the young man. The liquor is then placed on the floor, and, after more abuse, all present partake thereof. If the girl's parents refuse to give her in marriage after the performance of this ceremony, they have to pay a penalty to the parents of the disappointed suitor. Two or three days later, the young man's relatives go a second time to the girl's house, taking with them three pots of liquor, and a bundle composed of as many arrows as there are male members in the girl's family. The liquor is drunk, and the arrows are presented, one to each male. After an interval of some days, a third visit is paid, and three pots of liquor smeared with turmeric paste, and a quantity of turmeric, are taken to the house. The liquor is drunk, and the turmeric paste is smeared over the back and haunches of the girl's relatives. Some time afterwards, the marriage ceremony takes place. The bridegroom's party proceed to the house of the bride, dancing and singing to the accompaniment of all the musical instruments except the drum, which is only played at funerals. With them they take twenty big pots of liquor, a pair of brass bangles and a cloth for the bride's mother, and head cloths for the father, brothers, and other male relatives. When everything is ready, the priest is called in. One of the twenty pots is decorated, and an arrow is fixed in the ground at its side. The priest then repeats prayers to the invisible spirits and ancestors, and pours some of the liquor into leaf- cups prepared in the names of the ancestors [Jojonji and Yoyonji, male and female], and the chiefs of the village. This liquor is considered very sacred, and is sprinkled from a leaf over the shoulders and feet of the elders present. The father of the bride, addressing the priest, says, "Boya, I have drunk the liquor brought by the bridegroom's father, and thereby have accepted his proposal for a marriage between his son and my daughter. I do not know whether the girl will afterwards agree to go to her husband, or not. Therefore it is well that you should ask her openly to speak out her mind." The priest accordingly asks the girl if she has any objection, and she replies, "My father and mother, and all my relatives have drunk the bridegroom's liquor. I am a Savara, and he is a Savara. Why then should I not marry him?" Then all the people assembled proclaim that the pair are husband and wife. This done, the big pot of liquor, which has been set apart from the rest, is taken into the bride's house. This pot, with another pot of liquor purchased at the expense of the bride's father, is given to the bridegroom's party when it retires. Every house-holder receives the bridegroom and his party at his house, and offers them liquor, rice, and flesh, which they cannot refuse to partake of without giving offence."

"Whoever," Mr. Ramamurit continues, "marries a window, whether it is her husband's younger brother or someone of her own choice, must perform a religious ceremony, during which a pig is sacrificed. The flesh, with some liquor, is offered to the ghost of the widow's deceased husband, and prayers are addressed by the Boyas to propitiate the ghost, so that it may not torment the woman and her second husband. "Oh! man," says the priest, addressing the deceased by name, "Here is an animal sacrificed to you, and with this all connection between this woman and you ceases. She has taken with her no property belonging to you or your children. So do not torment her within the house or outside the house, in the jungle or on the hill, when she is asleep or when she wakes. Do not send sickness on her children. Her second husband, has done no harm to you. She chose him for her husband, and he consented. Oh man!, be appeased; Oh! unseen ones; Oh! ancestors, be you witnesses." The animal sacrificed on this occasion is called long danden (inside fine), or fine paid to the spirit of a dead person inside the earth. The animal offered up, when a man marries a divorced woman, is called bayar danda (outside fine), or fine paid as compensation to a man living outside the earth. The moment that a divorcee marries another man, her former husband pounces upon him, shoots his buffalo or pig dead with an arrow, and takes it to his village, where its flesh is served up at a feast. The Boya invokes the unseen spirits that they may not

783 be angry with the man who has married the woman, as he has paid the penalty prescribed by the elders according to the immemorial custom of the Savaras.

From a still further account of the ceremonial observances in connection with marriage, with variations, I gather that the liquor is the fermented juice of the Salop or sago palm (Caryota urens) , and is called ara-sal. On arrival at the girl's house on the first occasion, the young man's party sit at the door thereof, and, making three cups from the leaves kiredol (Uncaria Gambier) or jak (Artocarpus integritolia), pour the liquor into them, and lay them on the ground. As the liquor is being poured into the cups, certain names, which seem to be those of the ancestors, are called out. The liquor is then drunk, and an arrow (am) is stuck in the roof, and a brass bangle (khadu) left, before the visitors take their departure. If the match is unacceptable to the girl's family, the arrow and bangle are returned. The second visit is called pank-sal, or sang-sang-dal-sol, because the liquor post are smeared with turmeric paste. Sometimes it is called nyanga-dal-sol, because the future bridegroom carries a small pot of liquor on a stick born on the shoulder; or pojang, because the arrow which had been stuck in the roof, is set up in the places, several visits take place subsequent to the first visit, at one of which, called rodai-sal, a quarrel arises.

It is noted by Mr. Ramamurti Pantulu that, among the Savaras who have settled in the low country, some differences have arisen in the marriage rites "owing to the introduction of Hindu custom, i.e., those prevailing among the Sudra castes. Some of the Savaras who are more Hinduised than others consult their medicine men as to what day would be most auspicious for a marriage, erect pandals (booths), dispense with the use of liquor, substituting for it thick jaggery (crude sugar) water, and hold a festival for two to three days. But even the most Hinduised Savara has not yet fallen directly into the hands of the Brahman priest." At the marriage ceremony of some Kapu Savaras, the bride and bridegroom sit side by side at the auspicious moment, and partake of boiled rice (korra) from green leaf-cups, the pair exchanging cups. Before the bridegroom and his party proceed to their village with the bride, they present the males and females of her village with a rupee, which is called janjul naglipu, or money paid for taking away the girl. In another form of Kapu Savara marriage, the would-be bridegroom and his party proceed, on an auspicious day to the house of the selected girl, and offer betel and tobacco, the acceptance of which is a sign that the match is agreeable to her parents. On a subsequent day, a small sum of money is paid as the bride- price. On the wedding day the bride is conducted to the home of the bridegroom, where the contracting couple are lifted up by two people, who dance about with them. If the bride attempts to enter the house, she is caught hold of, and made to pay a small sum of money before she is permitted to do so. Inside the house, the officiating Desari ties the ends of the cloths of the bride and bridegroom together, after the ancestors and invisible spirits have been worshipped.

Of the marriage customs of the Kapu Savaras, the following account is given in the Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam district. "The Kapu Savaras are taking to menarikam (marriage with the maternal uncle's daughter) , although the hill custom requires a man to marry outside his village. Their wedding ceremonies bear a distant resemblance to those among the hill Savaras. Among the Kapu Saavaras, the preliminary arrow and liquor are similarly presented, but the bridegroom goes at length on an auspicious day with a large party to the bride's house, and the marriage is marked by his eating out of the same platter with her, and by much drinking feasting, and dancing."

Children are named after the day of the week on which they were born, and nicknames are frequently substituted for the birth name. Mr. Fawcett records, for example, that a man was called Gyio because, when a child, he was fond of breaking nuts called gylo, and smearing himself with their black juice. Another was called Dallo because, in his youthful days, he was fond of playing about with a basket (dalli) on his head.

784 Concerning the death rites, Mr. Fawcett writes as follows. "As soon as a man, or child dies in a house, a gun, loaded with powder only, is fired off at the door, or, if plenty of powder is available, several shots are fired, to frighten away the Kulba (spirit). The gun used is the ordinary Telugu or Uriya matchlock. Water is poured over the body while in the house. It is then carried away to the family burning-ground, which is situated from 30 to 80 yards from the cluster of houses occupied by the family, and there it is burned, [It is stated by Mr. Rice that "the dead man's spirit passed through them. Two men then carry the corpse, slung in this fashion, to the burning-ground. When it is reached, two posts are stuck up, and the bamboo, with the corpse tied to it, is placed crosswise on the posts. Then below the corpse a fire is lighted. The Savara man is always burnt in the portion of the ground-- one cannot call it a field-- which he last cultivated."] The only wood used for the pyre is that of the mango, and of Pongamia glabra. Fresh, green branches are cut and used. No dry wood is used, except a few twigs to light the fire. Were any one to ask those carrying a body to the burning-ground the name of the deceased or anything about him, they would be very angry. Guns are fired while the body is being carried. Everything a man has, his bows and arrows, his tangi, his dagger, his necklaces, his reaping-hook for cutting paddy, his axe, some paddy and rice, etc., are burnt with his body. I have been told in Kolakotta that all a man's money too is burned, but it is doubtful if it really ever is-- a little maybe. A Kolakotta Gomango told me "If we do not burn these things with the body, the Kullba will come and ask us for them, and trouble us." The body is burned the day a man dies. The next day, the people of the family go to the burning-place with water, which they pour over the embers. The fragments of the bones are then picked out, and buried about two feet in the ground, and covered over with a miniature hut, or merely with some thatching grass kept in the place by a few logs of wood, or in the floor of a small hut (thatched roof without wall) kept specially for the Kulba at the burning-place. An empty egg-shell (domestic hen's) is broken under foot, and buried with the bones. It is not uncommon to send pieces of bone, after burning, to relations at a distance, to allow them also to perform the funeral rites. The first sacrificial feast, called the Limma, is usually made about three or four days after the body had been burnt. In some places, it is said to be made after a longer interval. For the Limma a fowl is killed at the burning-place, some rice or other grain is cooked, and, with the fowl, eaten by the people of the family, with the usual consumption of liquor. Of course, the Chiding (who is the medium of communication between the spirits of the dead and the living) is on the spot, and communicates with the Kulba. If the deceased left any debts, he, through the Kudang, tells how they should be settled. Perhaps the Kulba asks for tobacco and liquor, and these are given to the Kudang, who keeps the tobacco, and drinks the liquor. After the Limma, a miniature hut is built for the Kulba over the spot where the bones are buried. But this is not done in places like Kolakotta, where there is a special hut set apart for the Kulba. In some parts of the Saora country, a few logs with grass on the top of them to keep the grass in its place, are laid over the buried fragments of bones, it is said to be for keeping rain off, or dogs from disturbing the bones. In the evening previous to the Limma, bitter food-- and partake of it at no other time. [The same custom, called pithapona, or bitter food, obtains among the Oriya inhabitants of the plains.] After the Limma, the Kulba returns to the house of the deceased, but it is not supposed to remain there always. The second feast to the dead, also sacrificial, is called the Guar. For this, a buffalo, a large quantity of grain, and all the necessary elements and accompaniments of a feast are required. It is a much larger affair than the Limma, and all the relations, and perhaps the villagers, join in. The evening before the Guar, there is a small feast in the house for the purpose of calling together all the previously deceased members of the family, to be ready for the Guar on the following day. The great feature of the Guar is the erection of a stone in memory of the deceased. From 50 to 100 yards (sometimes a little more) from the houses occupied by a family may be seen clusters of stones standing upright in the ground, nearly always under a tree. Every one of the stones has been put up at one of these Guar feasts. There is a great deal of drinking and dancing. The men, armed with all their weapons, with their feathers in their hair, and adorned with coloured cloths, accompanied by the women, all dancing. as they go, leave the house for the place where the stones are. Music always accompanies the dancing. At Kolakotta there is

785 another thatched hut for the Kulba at the stones. The stone is put up in the deceased's name at about 11 A.M. and at about 2 P.M. a buffalo is killed close to it. The head is cut off with an 1 axe, and blood is put on the stone. The stones one sees are generally from 1 to 4 feet high. 2 There is no connection between the size of the stone and the importance of the deceased person. As much of the buffalo meat as is required for the feast is cooked, and eaten at the spot where the stones are. The uneaten remains are taken away by the relatives. In the evening the people return to the village, dancing as they go. The Kolakotta people told me they put up the stones under trees, so that they can have all their feasting in the shade. Relations exchange compliments by presenting one another with a buffalo for the Guar feast, and receive one in return on a future occasion. The Guar is supposed to give the Kulba considerable satisfaction, but it does not quite satisfy the people as it did before. But, as the Guar does not quite satisfy the Kulba, there is the great biennial feast to the dead. Every second year (I am still speaking of Kolakotta) is performed the Karja or biennial feast to the dead, in February or March, after the crops are cut. All the Kolakotta Saoras join in this feast, and keep up drinking and dancing for twelve days. During these days, the Kudangs eat only after sunset. Guns are continually fired off, and the people give themselves up to sensuality. On the last day, there is which slaughter of buffaloes. In front of every house in which there has been a death in the previous two years, at least one buffalo, and sometimes two or three, are killed. Last year (1886) there were said to be at least a thousand buffaloes killed in the afternoon. Some grain is cooked in the houses, and, with some liquor, is given to the Kudangs, who go through a performance of offering the food to the Kulbas, and a man's or a woman's cloth, according as the deceased is a male or female, is at this time given to the Kudang for the Kulba of each deceased person, and of course the Kudang keeps the offerings. The Kudang then tells the Kulba to begone, and trouble the inmates no more. The house people, too, sometimes say to the Kulba 'We have now done quite enough for you: we have given you buffaloes, liquor, food, and cloths; now you must go'. At about 8 P.M., the house is set fire to, and burnt. Every house, in which there has been a death within the last two years, is on this occasion burnt. After this the Kulba gives no more trouble, and does not come to the burnt one. It never hurts grown people, but may cause some infantile diseases, and is easily driven away by a small sacrifice. In other parts of the Saora country, the funeral rites and ceremonies are somewhat different to what they are in Kolakotta. The burning of bodies, and burning of the fragments of the bones, is the same everywhere in the Saora country. In one village the Saoras said the bones were buried until another person died, when the first man's bones were dug up and thrown away, and the last person's bones put in their place. Perhaps they did not correctly convey what they meant. I once saw a gaily ornamented hut, evidently quite new, near a burning-place. Rude figures of birds and red rags were tied to five bamboos, which were sticking up in the air about 8 feet above the hut, one at each 1 corner, and notched for ornament. The hut was about 4 feet square, on a platform three feet 2 high. There were no walls, but only four pillars, one at each corner, and inside a loft just as in a Saora's hut. A very communicative Saora said he built the hut for his brother after he had performed the Limma, and had buried the bones in the raised platform in the centre of the hut. He readily went inside, and showed what he kept there for the use of his dead brother's Kulba. In the loft were baskets filled with everything the Kulba wanted. Generally, where it is the custom to have a hut for the Kulba, such hut is furnished with food, tobacco, and liquor. The Kulba is still a Saora, though a spiritual one. Weapons, ornaments, etc., are rarely burned with it. In some places the Limma and Guar feasts are combined, and in other places (and this is most common) the Guar and Karja are combined, but there is no burning of houses. In some area one sees, placed against the upright stones to the dead, pieces of ploughs for male Kulbas, and baskets for sifting grain for female Kulbas. I once came across some hundreds of Saoras performing the Guar Karja. Dancing, with music, fantastically dressed, and brandishing their weapons, they returned from putting up the stones to the village, and proceeded to hack to pieces with their axes the buffaloes that had been slaughtered-- a disgusting sight. After dark, many of the feasters passed my camp on

786 their way home, some carrying legs and other large pieces of the sacrificed buffaloes, other trying to dance in a drunken way, swinging their weapons. During my last visit to Kolakotta, I witnessed a kind of combination of the Limma and Guar (an uncommon arrangement there) made owing to peculiar circumstances. A deceased Saora left no family, and his relatives thought it advisable to get through his Limma and Guar without delay so as to run no risk of the non-performance of these feasts. He had been dead about a month. The Limma was performed one day, the feast calling together the deceased ancestors the same evening; and the Guar on the following day. Part of the Limma was performed in a house. Three men, and a female Kudang sat in a row; in front of them there was an inverted pot on the ground, and around it were small leaf cups containing portions of food. All chanted together, keeping excellent time. Some food in a little leaf cup was held near the earthen pot, and now and then as they sang, passed round it. Some liquor was poured on the food in the leaf cup, and put on one side for the Kulba. The men drank liquor from the leaf cups which had been passed round the earthen pot. After some silence in honor of ancestors who had died violent deaths, they request them to receive the spirit of the deceased among them; and portions of food and liquor were put aside for them. Then came another long chant, calling on the Kulbas of all ancestors to come, and receive the deceased and not to be angry with him."

It is stated that, in the east of Gunupur, the Savaras commit much cattle theft, partly, it is said, because custom enjoins big periodical sacrifices of cattle to their deceased ancestors. In connection with the Guar festival, Mr. Ramamurti Pantulu writes that well-to-do individuals offer each one or two animals, while, among the poorer,members of the community, four or five subscribe small sums for the purchase of a buffalo, and a goat. "There are," he continues, "special portions of the sacrificed animals, which should, according to custom, be presented to those that carried the dead bodies to the grave, as well as to the Boya and Gomong. If a man is hanged, a string is suspended in the house on the occasion of the Guar, so that the spirit may descend along it. If a man dies of wounds caused by a knife or iron weapon, a piece of iron or an arrow is thrust into a rice-pot to represent the deceased." I gather further that, when a Savara dies after a protracted illness. On the ground is placed a pot, supported on three stones. The pots are smeared with turmeric paste, and contain a brass box, chillies, rice, onions, and salt. They are regarded as very sacred, and it is believed that the ancestors sometimes visit them.

Concerning the religion of the Savaras, Mr. Fawcett notes that their name for deity is Sonnum or Sunnam, and describes the following:

(1) Jalia. In some places thought to be male, and in others female. The most widely known, very malevolent, always going about from one Saora village to another causing illness or death; in some place said to eat people. Almost every illness that ends in death in three or four days is attributed to Jalia's malevolence. When mangoes ripen, and before they are eaten cooked (though they may be eaten raw), a sacrifice of goats, with the usual drinking and dancing, is made to this deity. In some villages, in the present year (1887), there were built for the first time, temples--square thatched places without walls-- in the villages. The reason given for building in the villages was that Jalia had come into them. Usually erections are outside villages, and sacrifice is made there, in order that Jalia may be there appeased, and go away. But sometimes he will come to a village, and if he does, it is advisable to make him comfortable. One of these newly built temples was about four feet square, thatched on the top, with no walls, just like the hut for departed spirits. A Saora went inside, and showed us the articles kept for Jalia's use and amusement. There were two new cloths in a bamboo box, two brushes of feathers to be held in the hand when dancing, oil for the body, a small looking-glass, a bell, and a lamp. On the posts were some red spots. Goats are killed close by the temple, and the blood is poured on the floor of the platform thereof. There are a few villages, in or near which there are no Jalia erections, the people saying that Jalia does not trouble them, or that they do not know him. In one village where there was none, the Saoras

787 said there had been one, but they got tired of Jalia, and made a large sacrifice with numerous goats and fowls, burnt his temple, and drove him out. Jalia is fond of tobacco. Near one village is an upright stone in front of a little Jalia temple, by a path-side, for passers-by to leave the ends of their cheroots on for Jalia. (2) Kitung. In some parts there is a story that this deity produced all the Saoras in Orissa, and brought them with all the animals of the jungles to the Saora country. In some places, a stone outside the village represents this deity, and on it sacrifices are made on certain occasions to appease this deity. The stone is not worshipped. There are also groves sacred to this deity. The Uriyas in the Saora hills also have certain sacred groves, in which the axe is never used. (3) Rathu. Gives pains in the neck. (4) Dharma Boja, Lankan (above), Ayungang (the sun) . The first name is, I think, of Uriya origin, and the last the real Saora name. There is an idea in the Kolakotta country that it causes all births. This deity is not altogether beneficent, and causes sickness, and may be driven away by sacrifices. In some villages, this deity is almost the only one known. A Saora once told me, on my pointing to Venus and asking what it was, that the stars are the children of the sun and moon, and one day the sun said he would eat them all up. Woman-like, the moon protested against it, but eventually had to give in. She, however, managed to hide Venus while the others were being devoured. Venus was the only planet he knew. In some parts, the sun is not a deity. (5) Kanni. Very malevolent. Lives in big trees, so they are never cut in groves which this deity is supposed to haunt. I frequently saw a Saora youth of about 20, who was supposed to be possessed by this deity. He was an idiot, who had fits. Numerous buffaloes had been sacrificed for the youth, but to no purpose.

"There are many hill deities known in certain localities-- Derema, supposed to be on the Deodangar hill, the highest in the neighbourhood, Khistu, Kinchinyung, Ilda, Lobo, Kondho, Balu Baradong, etc. These deities of the hills are little removed from the spirits of the deceased Saoras. [Mr. Ramamuti Pantulu refers to two hills, one at Gayaba called Jum-tang Baru, or eat cow hill, and the other about eight miles from Parlakimedi, called Media Baru. At the former a cow or bull is sacrificed, because a Kuttung once ate the flesh of a cow there; at the latter the spirits require only milk and liquor. This is peculiar as the Savaras generally hold milk in abhorrence.]" "There is invariable one fetish, and generally there are several fetishes in every Saora house. In some villages, where the sun is the chief deity (and causes most mischief), there are fetishes of the sun god; in another village, fetishes, and three other fetishes in one house. There are also especially about Kolakotta, Kulba fetishes in houses. The fetishes, is generally an empty earthen pot, about nine inches in diameter, slung from the roof. The Kudang slings it up. On certain occasions, offerings are made to the deity or Kulba represented by the fetish on the floor underneath it. Rude pictures, too, are sometimes fetishes. The fetish to the sun is generally ornamented with a rude pattern daubed in white on the outside. In the village of Bori in the Vizagapatam Agency, offerings are made to the sun fetish when a member of the household gets pains in the legs or arms, and the fetach is said in such occasion to descend of itself to the floor. Sacrifices are sometimes made inside houses, under the fetishes, sometimes at the door, and blood put on the ground underneath the fetish." It is noted by Mr. Ramamurti Pantulu that "the Kittungs are ten in number, and are said to be all brothers. Their names are Bhima, Rama, Jodepulu, Peda, Rung-rung, Tumanna, Garsada, Jaganta, Mutta, and Tete. On some occasions, ten figures of men, representing the Kittungs, are drawn on the walls of a house. Figures of horses and elephants, the sun, moon and stars, are also drawn below them. The Boya is also represented. When a woman is childless, or when her children die frequently, she takes a vow that the Kittung-purpur ceremony shall be celebrated, if a child is born to her, and grows in a healthy state. If this comes to pass, a young pig is purchased, and marked for sacrifice. It is fattened, and allowed to grow till the child reaches the age of twelve, when the ceremony is performed.

788 The Madras Museum possesses a series of wooden votive offerings which were found stacked in a structure, which has been described to me as resembling a pigeoncot. The offerings consisted of a lizard (Varanus) , paroquet, monkey, peacock, human figures, dagger, gun, sword, pick-axe, and musical horn. The Savaras would not sell them to the district officer, but parted with them on the understanding that they would be worshipped by the Government. I gather that, at the sale or transfer of land the spirits are invoked by the Boya, and after the distribution of liquor, the seller or mortgager holds a pipal (Ficus religiosa) leaf with a lighted wick in his hand, while the purchaser or mortgagee holds another leaf without a wick. The latter covers the palm of the former with his leaf, and the terms of the transaction are then announced. Concerning the performance of sacrifices, Mr. Fawcett writes that "the Saoras say they never practiced human sacrifice. Most Saora sacrifices, which are also feasts, are made to appease deities or Kulbas that have done mischief. I will first notice the few which do not come in this category. (a) The feast to Jalia when mangoes ripen already mentions, is one. In a village where the sun, and not Jalia, is the chief deity, this feast is made to the sun. Jalia does not trouble the village, as the Kudung meets him outside it now and then, and sends them away by means of a sacrifice. [Sacrifices and offerings of pigs or fowls, rice, and liquor, are also made at the mahua, hill gain, and red gram festivals] (b ) A small sacrifice, or an offering of food, is made in some places before a child is born. About Kolakotta, when a child is born, a fowl or a pound or so of rice, and a quart, of liquor provided by the jungle, and the fowl sacrificed to Kanni. Blood, liquor, and rice are left in leaf cups for Kanni, and the rest it eaten. In every paddy field in Kolakotta, when the paddy is sprouting, a sacrifice is made to Sattira for good crops. A stick of the tree called in Uriya kendhu, about five or six feet long. is stuck in the ground. The upper end is sharpened to a point, on which is impaled a live young pig or a live fowl, and over to an inverted earthen pot daubed over with white rings. If this sacrifice is not made, good crops cannot be expected. [It may be noted that the impaling of live pigs is practiced, in the Telugu country.] When crops ripen, and before the grain is eaten, sacrifice is made to Lobo (the earth). Lobo Sonnum is the earth deity. If they eat the grain without performing this sacrifice, it will disagree with them, and will not germinate properly when sown again. If crops are good, a goat is killed, if not good, a pig or a fowl. A Kolakotta Saora told me of another sacrifice, which is partly of a propitiatory nature. If a tiger or panther kills a person, the Kudang is called, and he, on the following Sunday, goes through a performance, to prevent a similar fate overtaking others. Two pigs are killed outside the village, and every man, woman, and child is made to walk over the ground whereon the pig's blood is spilled, and the Kudang gives to each individual some kind of tiger medicine as a charm. The Kudang communicates with the Kulba of the deceased, and learns the whole story of how he met his death. In another part of the Saora country, the above sacrifice is unknown; and, when a person is killed by a tiger or panther, a buffalo is sacrificed to the Kulba of the deceased three months afterwards. The feast is begun before dark, and the buffalo is killed the next morning. The blood must flow on the stone. Then liquor and grain are set forth, and a feast is made. About Kolakotta the belief in the active malevolence of Kulbas is more noticeable than in other parts, where deities cause nearly all mischief. Sickness and death are caused by deities or Kulbas, and it is the Kudang who ascertains which particular spirit is in possession of, or has hold of any sick person, and informs him what is to be done in order to drive it away. He usually divines in the following way. He places a small earthen saucer, with a little oil and lighted wick in it, in the patient's hand. With his left hand he holds the patient's wrist, and with his right drops from a leaf cup grains of rice on to the flame. As each grain drops, he calls out the name of different deities, and Kulbas, and, whichever spirit is being named as a grain catches fire, is that causing the sickness. The Kudang is at once in communication with the deity or Kulba, who informs him what must be done for him, what sacrifice made before he will go away. There is, in some parts of the Saora country, another method by which a Kudang divines the cause of sickness. He holds the patient's hand for a quarter of an hour or so, and goes off in a trance, in which the deity Kulba causing the sickness communicates with the Kudang, and says what must be done to appease him. The Kudang is generally, if not always, fasting when engaged in

789 divination. If a deity or Kulba refuses to go away from a sick person, another more powerful deity or Kulba can be induced to turn him out. A long account of a big sacrifice is given be Mr. Fawcett, of which the following is a summary. The Kudang was a lean individual of about 40 or 45, with a grizzled beard a couple of inches in length. He had a large bunch of feathers in his hair, and the ordinary Saora waist-cloth with a tail before and behind. There were tom-toms with the party. A buffalo was tied up in front of the house, and was to be sacrificed to a deity who had seized on a young boy, and was giving him fever. The boy's mother came out with some grain, and other necessaries for a feed, in a basket on her head. All started the buffalo along, with the Kudang driving it from behind. As they started, the Kudang shouted out some gibberish, apparently addressed to the deity, to whom the sacrifice was to be made. The party halted in the shade of some big tress. They said that the sacrifice was to the road god, who would go away by the path after the sacrifice. Having arrived at the place, the woman set down her basket, the men laid down their axes and the tom-toms. and a fire was lighted. The buffalo was tied up 20 yards off on the path, and began to graze. After a quarter of an hour, the father took the boy in his lap as he sat on the path, and the Kudang's assistant sat on his left with a tom-tom before him. The Kudang stood before the father on the path, holding a small new earthen pot in his hand. The assistant beat the tom-tom at the rate of 150 beats to the minute. The Kudang held the earthen pot to his mouth, and, looking up to the sun (it was 9 A.M.), shouted some gibberish into it, and then danced round and round without leaving his place, throwing up the pot an inch or so, and catching it with both hands, in perfect time with the tom-tom, while he chanted gibberish for a quarter of an hour. Occasionally, he held the pot up to the sun, as if saluting it, shouted into it, and passed it round the father's head and then round the boy's head, every motion in time with the tom-tom. The chant over, he put down the pot and took up a toy-like bow and arrow. The bow was about two feet long, through which was fixed an arrow with a large head, so that it could be pulled only to a certain extent. The arrow was fastened to the bow. He then stuck a small wax ball on to the point of the arrow head, and, dancing as before, went on with his chant, accompanied by the tom-tom. Looking up at the sun, he took aim with the bow, and fired the wax ball at it. He then fired more balls of wax, and afterwards other small balls, which the Uriyas present said were medicine of some kind, at the boy's head, stomach, and legs. As each ball struck him, he cried. The Kudang, still chanting, then went to the buffalo, and fired a wax ball at its head. He came back to where the father was sitting, and, putting down the bow, took up two thin pieces of wood a foot long, an inch wide, and blackened at the ends. The chant ceased for a few moments while he was changing the bow for the pieces of wood, but, when he had them in his hands, he went on again with it, dancing round as before, and striking the two pieces of wood together in time. This lasted about five minutes, and, in the middle of the dance, he put an umbrella-like shade on his head. The dance over, he went to the buffalo, and stroked it all over with the two pieces of wood, first on the head, then on the body and rump, and the chant ceased. He then sat it front of the boy, put a handful of common herbs into the earthen pot, and poured some water into it. Chanting, he bathed the boy's head with the herbs and water, the father's head, and then the buffalo's head, smearing them with the herbs. He blew into one ear of the boy, and then into the other. The chant ceased, and he sat on the path. The boy's father got up, and, carrying the boy, seated him on the ground. Then, with an axe, which was touched by the sick boy, he went up to the buffalo, and with a blow almost buried the head of the axe in the buffalo's neck. He screwed the axe about until he disengaged it, and dealt a second and a third blow in the same place, and the buffalo fell on its side. When it fell, the boy's father walked away. As the first blow was given, the Kudang started up very excited as if suddenly much overcome, holding his arms slightly raised before him, and staggered about. His assistant rushed at him, and held him round the body, while he struggled violently as if striving to get to the bleeding buffalo. He continued struggling while the boy's father made his three blows on the buffalo's neck. The father brought him some of the blood in a leaf cup, which he greedily drank, and was at once quiet. Some water was then given him, and he seemed to be all right. After a minute or so, he sat on the path with the tom-tom before him, and, beating it, chanted as before. The boy's father

790 returned to the buffalo, and, with a few more whacks at it, stopped its struggles. Some two or three men joined him, and, with their axes and swords, soon had the buffalo in pieces. All present, except the Kudang, had a good feed, during which the tom-tom ceased. After the feed, Kudang went at it again, and kept it up at intervals for a couple of hours. He once went 25 minutes at 156 beats to the minute without ceasing. A variant of the ceremonial here described has been given to me by Mr. G.F. Paddison from the Gunapur hills. A buffalo is tied up to the door of the house, where the sick person resides. Herbs and rice in small platters, and a little brass vessel containing toddy, balls of rice, flowers, and medicine, are brought with a bow and arrow. The arrow is thicker at the basal end than towards the tip. The narrow part goes, when shot, through a hole in the bow, too small to allow of passage of the rest of the arrow. The Beju (wise woman) pours toddy over herbs and rice, and daubs the sick person over the forehead, breasts, stomach, and back. She croons out "Duru," to attract her attention. She then takes the bow behind the kneeling patient, and shoots balls of medicine stuck on the tip of the arrow at her. The construction of the arrow is such that the balls are dislodged from the tip of the arrow. The patient is thus shot at all over the body, which is bruised by the impact of the balls. Afterwards the Beju shoots one or two balls at the buffalo, which is taken to a path forming the village boundary, and killed with a tangi (axe). The patient is then daubed with blood of the buffalo, rice and today. A feast concludes the ceremonial. The following account of a sacrifice to Rathu who had given fever to the sister of the celebrant Kudang, is given by Mr. Fawcett. "The Kudang was squatting, facing west, his fingers in his ears, and chanting gibberish with continued side-shaking of his head. About two feet in front of him was an apparatus made of split bamboo. A young pig had been killed over it, so that the blood was received in a little leaf cup, and sprinkled over the bamboo work. The Kudang never ceased his chant for an hour and a half. While he was chanting, some eight Saoras were cooking the pig with some grain, and having a good feast. Between the bamboo structure and the Kudang were three little leaf cups, containing portions of the food for Rathu. A share of the food was kept for the Kudang, who when he had finished his chant, got up and ate it. I saw on the same day another performance, for which some dried meat of a buffalo that had been sacrificed a month previously was used. Three men, a boy, and a baby, were sitting in the jungle. The men were preparing food, and said that they were about to do some reverence to the sun, who had caused fever to someone. Portions of the food were to be set out in leaf cups for the sun deity."

It is recorded by Mr. Ramamurti Pantulu that, when children are seriously ill and become emaciated, offerings are made to monkeys and blood-suckers (lizards), not in the belief that illness is caused by them, but because the sick child, in its emaciated state, resembles an attenuated figure of these animals. Accordingly, a blood-sucker is captured, small toy arrows are tied round its body, and a piece of cloth is tied on its head. Some drops of liquor are then poured into its mouth, and it is set at liberty. In negotiating with a monkey, some rice and other articles of food are placed in small baskets, called tanurjal, which are suspended from branches of trees in the jungle. The Savaras frequently attend the markets or fairs held in the plains at the foot of the ghats to purchase salt and other luxuries. If a Savara is taken ill at the market or on his return thence, he attributes the illness to a spirit of the market called Biradi Sonum. The bulls, which carry the goods of the merchant, convey this spirit. In propitiating it, the Savara makes an image of a bull in straw, and, taking it out of his village, leaves it on the foot-path after a pig had been sacrificed to it.

"Each group of Savaras, "Mr. Ramamutri writes, "is under the government of two chiefs, one of whom is the Gomong (or great man) and the other, his colleague in council, is the Boya, who not only discharges, in conjunction with the Gomong, the duties of magistrate, but also holds the office of high priest. The offices of primogeniture regulates succession, subject to the principle that incapable individuals should be excluded. The presence of these two officers is absolutely necessary on occasions of marriages and funerals, as well as at harvest festivals.

791 Sales and mortgages of land and liquor-yielding tress, partition and other dispositions of property, and divorces are effected in the council of village elders, presided over by the Gomomg and Boya, by means of long and tedious proceedings involving various religious ceremonies. All cases of a civil and criminal nature are heard and disposed of by them. Fines are imposed as a punishment for all sorts of offences. These invariably consist of liquor and cattle, the quantity of liquor and the number of animals varying according to the nature of the offence. The murder of a woman is considered more heinous than the murder of a man, as woman, being capable of multiplying the race, is the more useful. A thief, while in the act of stealing, may be shot dead. It is always the man, and not the woman, that is punished for adultery. Oaths are administered, and ordeals prescribed. Until forty or fifty years ago, it is said that the Savara magistrate had jurisdiction in murder cases. He was the highest tribunal in the village, the only arbitrator in all differences arose between his men and the inhabitants of a neighbouring village, for settling which it was necessary that a battle should be fought, the Gomong became the commander, and, leading his men, though discharging such onerous and responsible duties, are regarded as in no special degree superior to other in social position. They enjoy no special privileges, and receive no fees from the suitors who come up to their court. Except on occasions of public festivals, over which they preside, they are content to hold equal rank with the other elders of the village. Each cultivates his field, and builds his house. His wife brings home fuel and water, and cooks for his family. Bissoyis have, however, accorded to these Savara officers some distinction. When the Governor's Agent, during his annual tour, invites the Savara elders to bheti (visit), they make presents of a fowl, sheep, eggs, or a basket of rice, and receive cloths, necklaces, etc. The Bissoyis exempt them from personal service, which is demanded from all others." At the Sankaranthi festival, the Savaras brings loads of firewood, yams (Dioscorea tubers), pumpkins, etc., as presents for the Bissoyi, and receive presents from him in return.

Besides cultivating the Savaras collect Bauhinia leaves, and sell them to traders, (Bauhinia purpurea) and are believed to be particularly appreciated by the Savara spirits, and offerings made to them should be placed in cups made thereof. The Savaras also collect various articles of minor forest produce, honey and wax. They know how to distil liquor from the flowers of the mahua (Bassia latifolia) . The process of distillation had been thus described. "The flowers are soaked in water for three or four days, and are then boiled with water in an earthenware chatty. Over the top of this is placed another chatty, mouth downwards, the join between the two being made air-tight by being tied round with a bit of cloth, and sealed with clay. From a hole made in the upper chatty, a hollow bamboo leads to a third pot, specially made for the purpose, which is globular, and has no opening except that into which the bamboo pipe leads. This last is kept cool by pouring water constantly over it, and the distillate is forced into it through the bamboo, and there condenses."

Criminal activities In a report on his tour through the Savara country in 1863, the Agent to the Governor of Madras reported as follows. "At Gunapur I heard great complaints of the thievish habits of the Soura tribes on the hills dividing Gunapur from Pedda Kimedy. They are not dacoits, but very expert burglers, if the term can be applied to digging a hole in the night through a mud wall. If discovered and hard pressed, they do not hesitate to discharge their arrows, which they so with unerring aim, and always with fatal result. Three or four murders have been perpetrated by these people in this way since the country has been under our management. I arranged with the Superintendent of Police to station a party of the Armed Reserve in the ghaut leading to Soura country. One or two cases of seizure and conviction will suffice to put a check to the crime." It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam district that "in 1864 trouble occurred with the Savaras. One of their headmen having been improperly arrested by the police of Pottasingi, they effected a rescue, killed the Inspector and four constables, and burnt down the station-house. The Raja of Jeypore was requested to use his influence to procure the arrest of the offenders, and eventually twenty-four were captured, of whom nine were transported for

792 life, and five were sentenced to death, and hanged at Jalteru, at the foot of the ghat to Pottasingi. Government presented the Raja with a rifle and other gifts in acknowledgment of his assistance. The country did not immediately calm down, however, and, in 1865, a body of police, who were sent to establish a post in the hills, were attacked, and forced to beat a retreat down the ghat. A large force was then assembled, and, after a brief but harassing campaign, the post was firmly occupied in January, 1866. Three of the ringleaders of this rising were incarcerated for life. The hill Savaras remained timid and suspicious for some years afterwards, and, as late as 1874, the reports mention it as a notable fact that they were beginning to frequent markets on the plains, and that the low-country people no longer feared to trust themselves above the ghats."

In 1905, Government approved the following proposals for the improvement of education among the Savaras and other hill tribes in the Ganjam and Vizagapatam Agencies, so far as Government schools are concerned: (1) That instruction to the hill tribes should be given orally through the medium of their own mother tongue, and that, when a Savara knows both Uriya and Telugu, it would be advantageous to educate him in Uriya; (2) That evening classes be opened whenever possible, the buildings in which they are held being also used for night schools for adults who should receive oral instruction and that magic-lantern exhibitions might be arranged for occasionally, to make the classes attractive; (3) That concessions, if any, in the matter of grants admissible to Savaras, Khonds, etc., under the Grant-in-aid Code, be extended to the pupils of the above comminities that attend schools in the plains; (4) That an itinerating agency, who could go round and look after the work of the agency schools, be established and that, in the selection of hill school establishments, preference be given to men educated in the hill schools; (5) That some suitable form of manual occupation be introduced, wherever possible, into the day's work, and the schools be supplied with the requisite original."

Savara.: -Savara is the southernmost dialect of the Mu∑πâ family1, and it is spoken by about 150,000 individuals.

Name Of The Dialect. Savara, or rather Sawara, is the name of a cultivating and servile tribe of Orissa, Chota Nagpur, Western Bengal, Madras, and the Central Provinces. The Savars are usually identified with the S`abaras of Vedic and Sanskrit literature, a wild forest tribe, who are supposed to be the same as the Suari and Sabarae mentioned by Pliny and Ptolemy. One of the most famous passages in the Râmâyanâ of Tulsí Dâs deals with a meeting between Râm and a S`abara with his wife.

Home Of The Tribe. The tribes is very widely spread at the present day. Their stronghold is the two northernmost districts of the Madras Presidency and the neighbouring districts of Bengal and the Central Provinces. Thus we find them largely spread over the Orissa division and the Orissa Tributary States, Singbhum, Sambalpur, Raipur, Bilaspur, Patna, Kalahandi, Sarangarh, Raigarh, and so on. Farther to the north they occur in Saugor and in former times they are said to have been settled in Shahabad. According to Mr. Risley, "local tradition ascribes to the Savars the conquest of the Cheros, and their expulsion from the plateau of Shahabad, in about the year 421 of the Sa``liva``hana era, or A. D. 500. A number of ancient monuments in the Shahabad district are still put down to the Savars or Suirs, who are supposed to have been driven south by the inroad of Ra``jputs under the Bhojpur chief, which made an end of their rule."

1 Linguistic Survey of India.

793 Most Savars have now become Hinduised, and speak Aryan forms of speech, generally O®iyâ. Mr. Driver remarks: "The purest representatives of the race call themselves Sobors, and speak a dialect of the Kolarian language which could be understood in Chutiya```` Na`gpur. These people are only to be found in the most jungly parts of the Native States of Orissa and Sambalpur, and a few are also found in Gangpur." The so-called Sobors alluded to by Mr. Driver have not been returned as speaking a separate language at the last Census, and local information collected for the purposes of this Survey does not make any mention of the Savara dialect in those districts which are said to be the home of the Sobors. Mr. Driver publishes a short vocabulary which contains words from various sources, Aryan, Dravidian, and Mu∑πâ. The Sobors of Sambalpur probably speak Kha®iâ, and those of the Orissa Tributary States some form of Kherwârí. There dialect is no longer Savara. That latter form of speech is almost exclusively spoken in the hilly tracts of Ganjam and Vizagapatam. It is the prevailing language in the Ichchhapuram, Parlakimedi, and Sompeta taluks of the Ganjam Agency and, together with Telugu, in the Gunapur taluk of the Vizagapatam Agency. Elsewhere it is spoken side by side with other languages in the hills. The Savaras are divided into several sub-tribes and are, accordingly, known under various names such as Sonds, Sowras, Jara Savaras, Jara Savaras, Luda Savaras, Arisa Savaras, and Tekkati Savaras. Their dialect, however, is everywhere the same.

Number Of Speakers. Owing to its being spoken only in the Madras Presidency, the Savara dialect does not fall directly within the scope of the operations of this Survey, and no local estimates of the number of speakers are therefore available. At the Census of 1891, the number of speakers was returned as follows:

Madras Presidency 101,638 Central Provinces 401 ------Total 102,039

The corresponding figures at the last Census of 1901 were as follows:

Madras Presidency- Ganjam 40,448 Ganjam Agency 68,689 Vizagapatam 340 Vizagapatam Agency 47,623 Central Provinces- chanda 3 ------Total 157,103

The grand total at the last Census was 157,136. The remaining 33 speakers are found in the Mysore State.

Grammar. Savara has been largely influenced by Telugu and is no longer an unmixed form of speech. It is most closely related to Kha®iâ and Juâ©g, but in some characteristics differs from them and agrees with the various dialects of the language which has in this Survey been described under the denomination of Kherwârí. The notes on Savara grammar which follow are based on the materials printed below. They do not pretend to be more than a mere sketch of the principal features of the dialect.

794 Pronunciation. There are no indications in the specimens of the existence of semi-consonants. Such sounds are perhaps meant in maπ , eye; to and toπ, mouth: î and în hair; πâ and πân, water, etc.

Sehria.: -See Sahariyas

Shikari Pardhis.: -A sub-section of the Pardhis. See also Advichincher.

Shompen.: -They are a community of the Nicobar and Andaman Islands. They live in groups of five to ten families. They are hunters, fishermen and food gatherers. Their language is considered to be part of the Austro-Asiatic family.

Siddi.: -African Tribe in Karnataka.

Sikalgârí.: -The caste known as Saiqalgars, Siqligars, Sikligars1. etc., are armourers and polishers of metal. The name is a Persian word, ∆aiqalgar, a cleaner, polisher, derived from the Arabic base ∆aqal, to polish. "Since the disarming of the country," says Mr. Crooke, "the trade of the armourer and cutler has become depressed. The ordinary Siqligar seen in towns is a trader of no worth, and his whole stock-in-trade is a circular whetstone (sân) worked by a strap between two posts fixed in the ground. He sharpens a four-bladed knife, a pair of scissors or two razors for a pice. Their status is that of ordinary Muhammadans of the lower artizan class."

Number. The number of Sikligars returned at the Census of 1911 was 5,922, of whom 2,096 were recorded in the Rajputana Agency, the rest being shown as "elsewhere." Of these 4,548 were returned as Hindîs, 818 as Sikhs, and 556 as Musalmâns.

Languages. We do not possess any information to the effect that the Sikligars, as a whole, possess a language of their own. A separate dialect called Sikalgârí was, however, during the preliminary operations of this Survey returned from the Belgaum District of Bombay, where it was said to be spoken by 25 individuals in the Sampgaon ta'luqa in the south of the district. Two specimens and the Standard List of Words and Sentences in Sikalgârí have been forwarded from that place. To judge from these materials Sikalgârí in most particulars agrees with Gujarâtí. Compare forms such as dikaró, son; dikarâ, sons; gâyπíyó, cows; the case suffixes dative -né; ablative -tó (Gujarâtí -thó); genitive -nó; locative -mâ; pronouns such as mâró, my; ham, we; tumé, you; verbal forms such as chhé, is; hotó, was; lidyó, took; ma¬yî, it was got; charâwâ-nó, to tend; thél, become, and so forth. Some few characteristics, however, point in other directions. With regard to phonology we may note the frequent doubling of consonants and the common disaspiration of aspirates; compare chhukkó, hungering; chóllâwâ, to be called; duttíné, having eaten; nitté, always; gu††â, bale; khubó, standing; sâdíné, having searched; ható, hand. Both features are found in

1 Linguistic Survey of India.

795 other Gypsy languages. The former may point towards Pañjâbí; the latter reminds us of Dravidian. Of inflexional forms which are not Gujarâtí we may note the peripharastic future in gó; thus, thau©gâ, we shall become. Similar forms of the future are also used in Râjasthâní . The termination of the singular is gó as in Eastern Râjasthâní.

Connexion with Siyâlgorí. The g- future is also used in some Bhíl dialects,1 and it is possible that there is a connexion between Gypsy dialects such as Sikalgârí and Bhíl. Thus it is probable that the dialect described as Siyâlgirí in Vol. lX, Part iii, pp. 197 and ff., has something to do with Sikalgârí. Both dialects mainly agree with Gujarâtí. They also agree in not possessing the case of the agent, in dropping a v before i and in the frequent use of a kh instead of an s . This kh has been treated as a spirant kh in dealing with Siyâlgirí. In Sikalgârí, however, it is certainly an aspirate as in other Gypsy argots. The Siyâlgirs of Midnapore, who are supposed to have immigrated from the west some five or six generations ago, now follow a variety of occupations. Some sell fish, some make and sell bamboo mats, some are cultivators, and a few sell groceries. If they were originally Sikligars, the many points in which their dialect agrees with Sikalgârí are easily explained. The points of disagreement do not present any serious obstacle to this hypothesis, if we remember that the Siyâlgirs have long lived among strangers and must necessarily have come under the influence of the dialects spoken by their surroundings. It is more to be wondered that the two forms of speech still present so many points of agreement.

Argot. The substitution of a kh instead of an s and also of other sounds in Sikalgârí mentioned above must be compared with the various devices for disguising words in other Gypsy dialects. Sikalgârí is not a simple dialect, but also an artificial argot. There are several peculiar words such as kóyrâ, people, men; khâlmânyî , seine; khéπó, village; khól, house; gâr, give; chingâ, dress; chókó, good; chhimnó, horse; dut, eat; dhótríyó, belly; nika†, run; nikar, die; nikπíyó, thief; pâπó, bull; po††î, child; ranban, wife; sabâdâ, rupee. Moreover we find some of the common devices of disguising ordinary words by means of various additions. A kh is sometimes prefixed before words beginning with a vowel; thus, khubó, standing; khuppar, above; kheklâ-mâ, in so much, in the meantime; khaikíné, having heard; kh is also frequently substituted for an initial s; thus, khât, seven; khâmó, before; khârâ, all; khâpπyó, he was found; khó, hundred. In khyâpâryó, a tradesman, it has replaces a v, cf. Gujarâtí vépârí. Ch and chh are apparently only substituted for labials, as in other Gypsy argots; compare chóllâwâ, to be called; châyé, way, means, if this is derived from upây; chhândí, having bound; chhukkó, hungering. An n has been substituted for an initial p in nâpchí, sin. Several words receive additions at the end, and a final consonant is often dropped before such additions. Several additions contain a guttural. The simplest one consists of a kh, which is substituted for a final s; thus, kâpukh=kapâs, cotton; íkh, twenty; dakhalî, ten; man; warakh, year. A † is added to this kh in forms such as âkh†í, she came; lékh†yó, took. In nika†, run, ka† seems to be used in the same way. The addition gó† in kagó†yó, did; ghâgó†ó, put, is perhaps also connected. An n is also sometimes added to these suffixed gutturals; thus, jâkan, he goes; gaknyó, went; chhóknó, boy, compare Gujarâtí chhókró; rhâkan, he lives; rhakanyó, he remained. We may add the suffix gal in words such as ghâgal, put; jâgat, go; dhagal-wâ-nî, of catching; phaglíné, again.

It is tempting to compare these additions with the Mu∑πâ suffixes kat', kan, which play a great rôle in the conjugation of verbs.

1. See Vol. ll , Part iii , p. 7.

796 A khl or kl has been added in words such as ekhlâ, so many; kekhalâ, how many? kheklâ- mâ, so-much-in, in the meantime. A ch has been suffixed in words such as nâpchí, sin; mhéchví-lé, pu†ting, take; compare Gujarâtí mélwû. Other additions are †, π and p; thus, déw†â-nî, of God; jiw†ó, alive; nâkóπî, nose; mhóπî, mouth; anpî, food.

Singiwala.: -See Bede.

Soar.: -See Sahariyas

Sonkar.: -See Od.

Sor.: -See Sahariyas

Soregar.: -They are sub-section of the Binds. See Binds.

Sosia.: -See Sahariyas

Sudugabusiddha.: -They are mendicant nomads.

Tagus.: -They look very much like Brahmins and wear the sacred thread. But quite often they give in to the temptation to steal a few things from here and there. They live in the Gangetic basin.

Takankar.: -They wander from village to village making grinding stones. They live in Maharashtra and Madiya Pradesh. They are a sub-section of the Pardhis.

Takari.: -See Od and Beldar

Takaris.: -See Takankar

Takia.: -See Takankar.

797 Targala.: -See Bhavariya.

Thepatkari.: -See Od.

Thoris.: -A vagrant caste. In the past they were good hunters now they are merchants similar to the Aheris of Punjab and Rajasthan.

Tipperah.: -Tipperah, Triprâ, Mrung, 1a wandering tribe of Hill Tipperah and the Chittagong Hill. Tracts, who live by the jhîm cultivation described in the article on the Magh tribe. Lewin identifies them with the Mrungs of Arrakan, who according to Colonel Phayre, believe themselves to be the descendants of persons carried away from Tipperah by the Arrakan kings. The Maghs speak of the entire tribe by the name Mrung, and do not use the Bengali word Tipperah. Members of the Tippearh tribe have no general name for their race, and when speaking his own language a man describes himself by mentioning the sept to which he belongs. When speaking Bengali, however, he would say he was a Tipperah. It seems to follow from this that the term Tipperah is not a genuine tribal name, but a designation conferred by outsiders by reason of the tribe being specially numerous in Hill Tipperah. Whether this was their original habitat or not is uncertain, and some have supposed that they came from Manipur. To attempt to trace the earliest home of a wandering tribe who live by jhîm cultivation and have neither written records nor definite oral traditions must always be a somewhat hopeless task, and the most reasonable view of the matter seems to be that taken by Friedrich Müller and other German ethnologists, who class all the wild tribes of the Chittagong and Tipperah Hills under the head Lohitic, a word which denotes some sort of connexion with the Brahmaputra river, and describe them in general terms as standing in the same ethnic relation to the Burmese as the Himalayan races do to the Tibetans.2 The classification into Toungtha and Khyoungtha, hill-people and river-people, adopted by Captain Lewin, however convenient for local use, fails, as Professor Virchow3 has observed, to bring out the true racial affinities of the various tribes.

Internal structure. The Tipperahs are described in a survey report by Mr. H.J. Reynolds as having strongly- marked Mongolian features, with flat faces and thick lips. They are of much the same stature as Bengalis, but their frames are far more muscular and strongly made. Many of them have fair complexions, scarcely darker than a swarthy European. The tribe is divided into a number septs, which are shown in the Appendix. They appear to be exogamous, but on this point there is some difference of opinion. I have only been able to discover the meaning of one sept name, Kâkulu, a kind of gourd, and with regard to this no one could tell me whether the members of the Kâkulu sept were forbidden to eat this gourd or were subject to any king of taboo in respect of it. The point seems to demand further inquiry in the Hill Tracts by some one thoroughly acquainted with the language of the tribe. The Riâng sept serve as palanquin-bearers, and are said to be looked down upon by the others; but it does not appear that they have on this account been excluded from the right of intermarriage with other septs. The Mahârâjas of Hill Tipperah, who now put forward an untenable claim to be Râjputs, are believed to belong to the Áfang and Jumâtya septs, the members of which frequently call

1 See Risley 2. F. Müller, Allgemeine Ethnographie, p. 405 3. Ricbeck's Chittagong Hill-Tribes, Anthropological Remarks.

798 themselves Râjbansi by way of recalling their relationship to the royal family. The Kâli sept furnish the guards of the chief.

Intermarriage. Tipperahs admit into their tribe Lushais, Maghs, and Hindus. The ceremony of admission consists simply of a feast given by the new members. at which a pig is served up and a huge quantity of drink consumed. The proselyte declares himself to have entered the tribe, and is treated thenceforth as if he had been a Tipperah by birth. The liquors drunk on these and similar occasions are khung (ferment form rice), sipâ (fermented from birni), and arrack (distilled from rice).

Marriage. Adult-marriage is the universal rule, and "great freedom of intercourse is allowed between the sexes, but a Tipperah girl is never known to go astray outside of the caste. An illegitimate birth, also, is hardly known among them, for the simple reason that should a girl become pregnant her lover has to marry her. The girls are totally free from the prudery that distinguishes Mahomedan and Hindu women, and they have an open, frank manner, combined with a womanly modesty that is attractive. At a marriage there is no particular ceremony, but a great deal of drinking and dancing. A pig is killed as a sacrifice to the deities of the wood and stream, the crowning point of the affair being this: the girl's mother pours out a glass of liquor and gives it to her daughter, who goes and sits on her lover's knee, drinks half, and gives him the other half; they afterwards crook together their little fingers. If a match be made with the consent of the parents, the young man has to serve three years in his father-law's before he obtains his wife or is formally married. During the period of probation his sweetheart is to all intents and purposes a wife to him. On the wedding night, however, the bridegroom has to sleep with his wife surreptitiously, entering the house by stealth and leaving it before dawn. He then absents himself for four days, during which time he makes a round of visits among all his friends. On the fourth day he is escorted back with great ceremony, and has to give another feast to his cortége. A Tipperah widow may remarry if it so seems good to her. Every lad before marriage has his sweetheart, and he cohabits with her whenever opportunity serves. This, however, is without the knowledge of the elders. "Divorce," says Major Lewin, "can be obtained among the Tipperahs, as among all the hill tribes, on the adjudication of a jury of village elders. One such case I remember to have seen. The divorce was sued for by the wife on the grounds of habitual cruelty. The jury deliberated and found that the cruelty was proved, and that the divorce should be granted. Some check, however, they determined, must be put upon the woman, or otherwise every wife would complain if her husband raised his little finger at her. Accordingly they gave sentence that the divorce was granted, but that as the women was wrong to insist upon abandoning her lawful husband, she should give up all her silver ornaments to him, pay a fine of thirty rupees, and provide a pig with trimmings, in the shape of ardent spirits, to be consumed by the jury."

Religion. The religion of the Tipperahs is a debased form of Hinduism. They offer to Kâli black goats, rice, plantains, sweetmeats, areca nut, curds, red lead, etc. The goddess has no image, but is represented for sacrificial purpose by a round lump of clay, the edges of which are drawn out into four points or legs, so that the whole, seen from above, bears a rough resemblance to sea- urchin with four arms. Satya-Nârâyan is also worshipped, but in his case the offerings consists only of fruits or flowers. The tribe do not employ Brahmans, but have priests, or rather exorcists, of their own, called Áuchâi, whose office is hereditary.

Disposal of the dead. "When a Tippearh dies, his body is immediately removed from within the house to the open air. A fowl is man's feet. The body is burnt at the water side. At the spot where the body

799 was first laid out, the deceased's relatives kill a cock every morning for seven days, and leave it there with some rice as an offering to the manes of the dead. A month after death, a like offering is made at the place of cremation, and this is occasionally repeated for a year. The ashes are deposited on a hill in a small hut built for the purpose, in which are also placed the dead a man's weapons, a spear, dâos of two sorts (one his fighting dâo, the other his every- day bread-winner), arrow heads, his metal-stemmed pipe, earrings, and ornaments. The place is held sacred." In connection with the beliefs of the Tipperahs regarding the spirits of the dead, Major Lewin speaks of a curious practice. He says:"We were travelling once through the jungles, and the path led across a small streamlet. Here observed a white thread stretched from one side to the other, bridging the stream. On inquiring the reason of this it appeared that a man had died away from his home in a distant village; his friends had gone thither and performed his obsequies, after which it was supposed that the dead man's spirit would accompany them back to his former abode. Without assistance, however, spirits are unable to cross running water; therefore the stream here had been bridged in the manner aforesaid." Another use of the white thread mentioned by Lewin as practised by the Tipperahs and most of the hill races seems to be a survival of the primitive animistic belief which attributes to the action of malevolent spirits, who nevertheless can be propitiated by the exorcist who knows the proper means of turning away their wrath. When an epidemic breaks out in a village, the Tipperahs and many other hill tribes call in the Áuchâri to appease the demon of sickness by a sacrifice. The entire village is encircled with a newly-spun white thread, and the blood of the animal sacrificed is freely sprinkled about. This is followed by careful sweeping and cleansing, and the house and gates are decorated with green boughs. For three days afterwards the thread is maintained unbroken, and no one is allowed to enter or leave the village. The theory seems to be that if the demon who presides over the malady can be kept at bay for that time, he will go away disappointed, while a breach of the quarantine or khang would lead to a renewal of the outbreak.

Dress. "The dress of the Tippearh," says Lewin, "is of the simplest description. Among the men a thick turban is worn, and a narrow piece of home-spun cloth, with a fringed end hanging down in front and rear, passes once round the waist and between he legs. In the cold season they wear a rudely-sewn jacket. The males wear silver earrings, crescent-shaped, with little silver pendants on the outer edge. The dress of the women is equally unornate. The petticoat is short, reaching a little below the knee, and made of very coarse cotton stuff of their own manufacture. It is striped in colours of red and blue. If the woman be married, this petticoat will form her whole costume; but the unmarried girls cover the breast with a gaily-dyed cloth with fringed ends. The women never cover their heads; they wear earrings like the men; but in addition to this ornament they distend the lobe of the ear to the size of half a crown by the insertion of a concave-edged ring of silver, placed, not through but in the lobe. Both sexes have long, black, abundant hair, which is worn in a knot at the back of the head. The use of false hair is common among them, especially the women. The meshes of false hair are woven in among the back hair to make the knot look larger."

Tirmali.: -They are mendicants going around with bulls dressed up in colours. They live in South India.

Toda.: - Quite recently1, my friend Dr. W.H. Rivers, as the result of a prolonged stay on the Nílgiris, has published2 an exhaustive account of the sociology and religion of this

1 See Thurston. 2. The Todas. 1906.

800 exceptionally interesting tribe, numbering, according to the latest census returns, 807 individuals, which inhabits the Nílgiri plateau. I shall, therefore, content myself with recording the rambling notes made by myself during occasional visits to Ootacamund and Paikâra, supplemented by extracts from the book just referred to, and the writings of Harkness and other pioneers of the Nílgiris. The Todas maintain a large-horned race of semidomesticated buffaloes, on whose milk and its products (butter and whey)1 they still depend largely, though to a less extent than in bygone days before the establishment of the Ootacamund bazar, for existence. It has been said that "a Toda's worldly wealth is judged by the number of buffaloes he owns. Witness the story in connection with the recent visit to India of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. A clergyman, who has done mission work among the Todas, generally illustrates Bible tales through the medium of a magic-lantern. One chilly afternoon, the Todas declined to come out of their huts. Thinking they required humouring like children, the reverend gentleman threw on the screen a picture of the Prince of Wales, explaining the object of his tour, and, thinking to impress the Todas, added 'The Prince is exceedingly wealthy, and is bringing out a retinue of two hundred people.' 'Yes, yes,' said an old man, wagging his head sagely, 'but how many buffaloes is he bringing?"

The Todas lead for the most part a simple pastoral life. But I have met with more than one man who had served, or who was still serving Government in the modest capacity of a forest guard, and I have heard of others who had been employed, not with conspicuous success, on planters' estates. The Todas consider it beneath their dignity to cultivate land. A former Collector of the Nílgiris granted them some acres of land for the cultivation of potatoes, but they leased the land to the Badagas, and the privilege was cancelled. In connection with the Todas' objection to work, it is recorded that when, on one occasion, a mistake about the ownership of some buffaloes committed an old Toda to jail, it was found impossible to induce him to work with the convicts, and the authorities, unwilling to resort to hard remedies, were compelled to save appearances by making him an overseer. The daily life of a Toda woman has been summed up as lounging about the mad or mand (Toda settlement), buttering and curling her hair, and cooking. The women have been described as free from the ungracious and menial-like timidity of the generality of the sex in the plains. When Europeans, (who are greeted as swâmi or god) come to a mand, the women crawl out of their huts, and chant a monotonous song, all the time clamouring for tips (inâm). Even the children are so trained that they clamour for money till it is forthcoming. As a rule, the Todas have no objection to Europeans entering into their huts, but on more than one occasion I have been politely asked to take my boots off before crawling in on my stomach, so as not to desecrate the dwelling- place. Writing in 1868, Dr. J. Short makes a sweeping statement that "most of the women have been debauched by Europeans, who, it is sad to observe, have introduced diseases to which these innocent tribes were once strangers, and which are slowly but no less surely sapping their once hardy and vigorous constitutions. The effects of intemperance and disease (syphilis) combined are becoming more and more apparent in the shaken and decrepit appearance which at the present day these tribes possess." In fact it undoubtedly is true, and proved both by hospital and naked-eye evidence, that syphilis has been introduced among the Todas by contact with the outside world, and they attribute the stunted growth of some members of the rising generation, as compared with the splendid physique of the lusty veterans, to the results thereof. It is an oft-repeated statement that the women show an absence of any sense of decency in exposing their naked persons in the presence of strangers. In connection with the question of the morality of the Toda women, Dr. Rivers writes that "the low sexual morality of the Todas is not limited in its scope to the relations within the Toda community. Conflicting views are held by those who know the Nilgiri hills as to the relations of the Todas with the other inhabitants, and especially with the train of natives which the European immigration to the hills has brought in its wake. The general opinion on the hills is that, in this respect, the morality of the Todas is as low as it well could be, but it is a

1. Ney=ghi or clarified butter.

801 question whether this opinion is not too much based on the behaviour of the inhabitants of one or two villages [e.g., the one commonly known as School or Sylk's mand] near the European settlements, and I think it is probable that the larger part of the Todas remain more uncontaminated than is generally supposed."

I came across one Toda who, with several other members of the tribe, was selected on account of fine physique for exhibition at Barnum's show in Europe, America and Australia some years ago, and still retained a smattering of English, talking fondly of "Shumbu" (the elephant Jumbo). For some time after his return to his hill abode, a tall white hat was the admiration of his fellow tribesmen. To this man finger-prints came as no novelty, since his impressions were recorded both in England and America. Writing in 1870, 1 Colonel W. Ross King stated that the Todas had just so much knowledge of the speech of their vassals as is demanded by the most ordinary requirements. At the present day, a few write, and many converse fluently in Tamil. The Nílgiri C. M. S. Tamil mission has extended its sphere of work to the Todas, and I cannot resist the temptation to narrate a Toda version of the story of Dives and Lazarus. The English say that once upon a time a rich man and a poor man died. At the funeral of the rich man, there was a great tamâsha (spectacle), and many buffaloes were sacrificed. But, for the funeral of the poor man, neither music nor buffaloes were provided. The English believe that in the next world the poor man was as well off as the rich man; so that, when any one dies, it is of no use spending money on the funeral ceremonies. There are two mission schools near Paikâra. At the latter I have seen a number of children of both sexes reading elementary Tamil and English, and doing simple arithmetic. A few years ago a Toda boy was baptised at Tinnevelly, and remained there for instruction. It was hoped that he would return to the hills as an evangelist among his people.2 In 1907, five young Toda women were baptised at the C.M.S. Mission chapel, Ootacamund. "They were clothed in white, with a white cloth over their heads, such as the Native Christians wear. A number of Christian Badagas bad assembled to witness the ceremony, and join in the service."

The typical Toda man is above medium height, well proportioned and stalwart, with leptorhine nose, regular features, and perfect teeth. The nose is, as noted by Dr. Rivers, sometimes distinctly rounded in profile. An attempt has been made to connect the Todas with the lost tribes; and, amid a crowd of them collected together at a funeral, there is no difficulty in picking out individuals, whose features would find for them a ready place as actors on the Ober Ammergau stage, either in leading or subordinate parts. The principal characteristic, which at once distinguishes the Toda from the other tribes of the Nílgiris, is the development of the pilous (hairy), system. The following is a typical case, extracted from my notes. Beard luxuriant, hair of head parted in middle, and hanging in curls over forehead and back of neck. Hair thickly developed on chest and abdomen, with median strip of dense hairs on the latter. Hair thick over upper and lower ends of shoulder-blades, thinner over rest of back; well developed on extensor surface or upper arms, and both surfaces of forearms; very thick on extensor surfaces of the latter. Hair abundant on both surfaces of legs; thickest on outer side of thighs and round knee-cap. Dense beard-like mass of hair beneath gluteal region (buttocks). Superciliary brow ridges very prominent. Eyebrows united across middle line by thick tuft of hairs. A dense growth of long straight hairs directed outwards on helix of both ears, bearing a stinking resemblance to the hairy development on the helix of the South Indian bonnet monkey (Macacus sinicus). The profuse hairy development is by some Todas attributed to their drinking "too much milk." Nearly all the men have one of or more raised cicatrices, forming nodulous growths (keloids) on the right shoulder. These scars are produced by burning the skin with red-hot sticks of Litsaea Wightiana (the sacred fire-stick). The Todas believe that the branding enables them

1aboriginal tribes of he Nilgiri Hills. 2. Madras Diocesan Magazine, November, 1907.

802 to milk the buffaloes with perfect ease, or as Dr. Rivers puts it, that it cures the pain caused by the fatigue of milking. "The marks," he says, "are made when a boy is about twelve years old, at which age he begins to milk the buffaloes." About the fifth month of a woman's first pregnancy, on the new-moon day, she goes through a ceremony, in which she brands herself, or is branded by another woman, by means of a rag rolled up, dipped in oil and lighted, with a dot on the carpo-metacarpal joint of each thumb and on each wrist.

The women are lighter in colour than the men, and the colour of the body had been aptly described as of a cafe`-au-lait tint. The skin of the female children and young adults is often of a warm copper hue. Some of the young women, with their raven-black hair dressed in glossy ringlets, and bright glistening eyes, are distinctly good-looking, but both good looks and complexion are short-lived, and the women speedily degenerate into uncomely hags. As in Maori land, so in Toda land, one finds a race of superb men coupled to hideous women, and, with the exception of the young girls, the fair sex is the male sex. Both men and women cover their bodies with a white mantle with blue and red lines, called putkîli, which is purchased in the Ootacamund bazar, and is sometimes decorated with embroidery worked by the Toda women. The odour of the person of the Todas, caused by the rancid butter which they apply to the mantle as a preservative reagent, or with which they anoint their bodies, is quite characteristic. With a view to testing his sense of smell, long after out return form Paikara, I blindfolded a friend who has accompanied me thither, and presented before his nose a cloth, which he at once recognised as having something to do with the Todas.

In former times a Badaga could be at once picked out from the other tribes of the Nílgiri plateau by his wearing a turban. At the present day, some Toda elders and important members of the community (e.g., monegars or headmen) have adopted this form of headgear. The men who were engaged as guides by Dr. Rivers and myself donned the turban in honour of their appointment.

Toda females are tattooed after they have reached puberty. I have seen multiparae, in whom the absence of tattoo marks was explained either on the ground that they were too poor to afford the expense of the operation, or that they were always suckling or pregnant-- conditions, they said, in which the operation would not be free from danger. The dots and circles, of which the simple devices are made up,1 are marked out with lamp-black made into a paste with water, and the pattern is pricked in by a Toda woman with the spines of Berberis aristata. The system of tattooing and decoration of females with ornaments is summed up in the following cases: 1. Aged 22. Has one child. Tattooed with three dots on back of left hand. Wears silver necklet ornamented with Arcot two-anna pieces; thread and silver armlets ornamented with cowry (Cypraea moneta) shells on right upper arm; thread armlet ornamented with cowries on left forearm; brass ring on left ring finger; silver rings on right middle and ring fingers. Lobes of ears pierced. Ear-rings removed owing to grandmothers death. 2. Aged 28. Tattooed with a single dot on chin; rings and dots on chest, outer side of upper arms, back of left hand, below calves, above ankles, and across dorsum of feet. Wears thread armlet ornamented with young cowries on right forearm; thread armlet and two heavy ornamental brass armlets on left upper arm; ornamental brass bangle bead bracelet on left wrist; brass ring on left little finger; two steel rings on left ring finger; bead necklet ornamented with cowries. 3. Aged 35. Tattooed like the preceding, with the addition of an elaborate device of rings and dots on the back. 4. Aged 35. Linen bound round elbow joint, to prevent chafing of heavy brass armlets. Cicatrices of sores in front of elbow joint, produced by armlets. 5. Aged 23. Has one child. Tattooed only below calves, and above ankles.

1. See Madras Museum Bull., IV, 1896. XII.

803 The following are the more important physical measurements of the Toda men, whom I have examined:

Av. Max. Min. CM. CM. CM. Statue 169.8 186.8 157.6 Cephalic length 19.4 20.4 18.2 Do. breadth 14.2 15.2 13.3 Do. index 73.3 81.3 68.7 Nasal height 4.7 4.9 4.6 Do. breadth 3.6 3.8 3.4 Do. index 74.9 79.9 70.

Allowing that the cephalic index is a good criterion of racial or tribal purity, the following analysis of the Toda indices is very strinking. A thing of exceeding joy to the Todas was my Salter's hand-dynamometer, the fame of which spread from man to man, and which was circulated among the crowd at funerals. Great was the disgust of the assembled males, on a certain day, when the record of hand-grip for the morning (73 Ibs.) was carried off by a big-boned female, who became the unlovely heroine of the moment. The largest English feminine hand-grip, recorded in my laboratory note-book, is only 66 Ibs. One Toda man, of fine physique, not satisfied with his grip of 98 Ibs., went into training, and fed himself up for a few days. Thus prepared, he returned to accomplish 103 Ibs., the result of more skilful manipulation of the machine rather than of a liberal dietary of butter-milk. The routine Toda dietary is said to be made up of the following articles, to which must be added strong drinks purchased at the toddy shops: (a) Rice and boiled in whey. (b) Rice and jaggery (crude sugar) boiled in water. (c) Broth or curry made of vegetables purchased in the bazar, wild vegetables and pot-herbs, which, together with ground orchids, the Todas may often be seen rooting up with a sharp- pointed digging-stick on the hill-sides. The Todas scornfully deny the use of aphrodisiacs, but both men and women admit that they take sâlep misri boiled in milk, to make them strong. Sâlep misri is made from the tubers (testicles de chiens) of various species of Eulophia and Habenaria belonging to the natural order Orchideae. The indigenous edible plants and pot-herbs include the following: (1) Cnicus Wallichii (thistle). The roots and flower-stalks are stripped of their bark, and made into soup or curry. (2) Girardinia heterophylla (Nílgiri nettle). The tender leafy shoots of vigorously growing plants are gathered, crushed by beating with a stick to destroy the stinging hairs, and made into soup or curry. The fibre of this plant, which is cultivated near the mands, is used for stitching the putkuli, with steel needles purchased in the bazar in lieu of the more primitive form. In the preparation of the fibre, the bark is thrown into a pot of boiling water, to which ashes have been added. After a few hours' boiling, the bark is taken out and the fibre extracted. (3) Tender shoots of bamboos eaten in the form of curry. (4) Alternanthera sessilis. Stellaria media. Pot-herbs. Amarantus spinosus. Amarantus polygonoides. The following list of plants, of which the fruits are eaten by the Todas, has been brought together by Mr. K. Rangachari: Eugenia Arnottiana. - The dark purple juice of the fruit of this tree is used by Toda women for painting beauty spots on their faces. Rubus ellipticus. Rubus molucanus. Wild raspberry.

804 Rubus lasiocarpus.

Fragaria nilgerrensis, wild strawberry.

Elaeagnus latifolia. Said by Dr. Mason to make excellent tarts and jellies. Gaultheria fragrantissima.

Rhodomyrtus tomentosa, hill gooseberry.

Loranthus neelgherrensis. Loranthus lonicerondes. Parasitic on trees.

Elaeocarpus oblongus. Elaeocarpus Munronii.

Berberis aristata. Berberis nepalensis. Barberry.

Solanum nigrum. Vaccinium Leschenaultii. Vaccinium nilgherrense. Toddalia aculeata. Ceropegia pusilla. To which may be added mushrooms. A list containing the botanical and Toda names of trees, shrubs, etc., used by the Todas in their ordinary life, or in their ceremonial, is given, by Dr. Rivers.1 Fire is, in these advanced days, obtained by the Todas in their dwelling huts for domestic purposes from matches. The men who came to be operated on with my measuring instruments had no hesitation in asking for a match, and lighting the cheroots which were distributed amongst them, before they left the Paikâra bungalow dining-room. Within the precincts of the dairy temple the use of matches is forbidden, and fire is kindled with the aid of two dry sticks of Litsaea Wightiana. Of these one, terminating in a blunt convex extremity, is about 2'3" long; the other, with a hemispherical cavity scooped out close to one end, about 1 2 " in length. A little nick or slot is cut on the edge of the shorter stick, and connected with 2 the hole in which the spindle stick is made to revolve. "In this slot the dust collects, and, remaining in an undisturbed heap, seemingly acts as a muffle to retain the friction until it reaches a sufficiently high temperature, when the wood-powder becomes incandescent."2 Into the cavity in the short stick the end of the longer stick first, so as to allow of easy play. The smaller stick is placed on the ground, and held tight by firm pressure of the great toe, applied to the end furthest from the cavity, into which a little finely powdered charcoal is inserted. The larger stick is then twisted vigorously, "like a chocolate muller" (Tylor) between the palms of the hands by two men, turn and about, until the charcoal begins to glow. Fire, thus made, is said to be used at the sacred dairy (ti), the dairy houses of ordinary mands, and at the cremation of males. In an account of a Toda green funeral,3 Mr. Walhouse notes that "when the pile was completed, fire was obtained by rubbing two dry sticks together. This was done mysteriously and apart, for such a mode of obtaining fire is looked upon as something secret and sacred." At the funeral of a female, I provided a box of tandstickors for lighting the pyre. A fire-stick, which was in current use in a dairy, was

1. Oo. cit. Appendix IV, 738. 2. R. Bache. Royal Magazine, August 1901. 3. Ind. Ant., III, 1874.

805 polluted and rendered useless by the touch of my Brâhman assistant! It is recorded by Harkness1 that a Brâhman was not only refused admission to a Toda dairy, but actually driven away by some boys, who rushed out of it when they heard him approach. It is noted by Dr. Rivers that "several kinds of wood are used for the fire-sticks, the Toda names of these being kiaz or keadj (Litsaea Wightiana), mórs (Michelia Nilagirica), parskuti (Elaeagnus latifolia). He states further that, "whenever fire is made for a sacred purpose, the fire-sticks must be of the wood which the Todas call kiaz or keadj, except in the tesherot ceremony (qualifying ceremony for the office of palol) in which the wood of mulli is used. At the niroditi ceremony (ordination ceremony of a dairyman), "the assistant makes fire by friction, and lights a fire of mulli wood, at which the candidate warms himself." It is also recorded by Dr. Rivers that "in some Toda village, a tone is kept, called tutmîkal, which was used at one time for making fire by striking it with a piece of iron."

The abode of the Todas is called a mad or mand (village or hamlet), which is composed of huts, dairy temple, and cattle-pen, and has been so well described by Dr. Shortt,2 that I cannot do better than quote his account. "Each mand," he says, "usually comprises about five buildings or huts, and the other for sheltering the calves at night. These huts form a peculiar kind of oval tent-shaped [half-barrel-shaped] construction, usually 10 feet high, 18 feet long, and 9 feet broad. The entrance or doorway, measures 32 inches in height and 18 inches in width, and is not provided with any door or gate; but the entrance is closed by means of a solid slab or plank of wood from 4 to 6 inches thick, and of sufficient dimensions to entirely block up the entrance. This sliding door is inside the hut, and so arranged and fixed on two 1 stout stakes buried in the earth, and standing to the height of 2 to 3 feet, as to be easily 2 moved to and fro. There are no other openings or outlets of any kind, either for the escape of smoke, or for the free ingress and egress of atmospheric air. The doorway itself is of such small dimensions that, to effect an entrance, one had to go down on all fours, and even then much wriggling is necessary before an entrance is effected. The houses are neat in appearance, and are built of bamboo closely laid together, fastened with rattan, and covered with thatch, which renders them water-tight. Each building has an end walling before and behind, composed of solid blocks of wood, and the sides are covered in by the pent-roofing, which slopes down to the ground. The front wall or planking contains the entrance or doorway. The inside of a hut is from 8 to 15 feet square, and is sufficiently high in the middle to admit a tall man moving about with comfort. On one side there is a raised platform or pial formed of clay, about two feet high, and covered with sâmbar (deer) or buffalo skins, or sometimes with a mat. This platform is used as a sleeping place. On the opposite side is a fire place, and a slight elevation, on which the cooking utensils are placed. In this part of the building, faggots of firewood are seen piled up from floor to roof, and secured in their place by loops of rattan. Here also the rice-pounder or pestle is fixed. The mortar is formed by a hole dug in the ground, 7 to 9 inches deep, and hardened by constant use. The other household goods consist of three or four brass dishes or plates, several bamboo measures, and sometimes a hatchet. Each hut or dwelling is surrounded by an enclosure or wall formed of loose stones piled up two or three feet high [with openings too narrow to permit of a buffalo entering through it]. The dairy and usually contains two compartments separated by a centre planking. One part of the dairy is a store-house for ghee, milk and curds, contained in separate vessels. The outer apartment forms the dwelling place of the dairy priest. The doorways of the dairy are smaller than those of the dwelling huts. The flooring of the dairy is level, and at one end there is a fireplace. Two or three milk pails or pots are all that it usually contains. The dairy is usually situated at some little distance from the habitations. The huts where the calves are kept are simple buildings, somewhat like the dwelling huts. In the vicinity of the mands are the cattle-pens or tuels [tu], which are circular enclosures surrounded by a loose stone wall, with a single entrance guarded by powerful stakes. In

1. Description of a singular Aboriginal Race inhabiting the summit of the Neilgherry Hills, 1832. 2. Op. cit.

806 these, the herds of buffaloes are kept at night. Each mand possesses a herd of these animals." It is noted by Dr. Rivers that "in the immediate neighbourhood of a village there are usually well-worn paths, by which the village is approached, and some of these paths or kalvol receive special names. Some may not be traversed by women. Within the village there are also certain recognised paths, of which two are specially important. One, the punetkalvol, is the path by which the dairy man goes from his dairy to milk or tend the buffaloes; the other is the majvatitthkalvol, the path which the women must use when going to the dairy to receive butter-milk (maj) from the dairy man. Women are not allowed to go to the dairy or to other places connected with it, except at appointed times, when they receive buttermilk."

In addition to the dairies which in form resemble the dwelling-huts, the Todas keep up as dairy-temples certain curious conical edifices, of which there are said to be four on the Nílgiri plateau, viz., at the Muttanâd mand, near Kotagiri, near Sholîr, and at Mudimand. The last was out of repair a few years ago, but was, I was informed, going to be rebuilt shortly. It is suggested by Dr. Rivers as probable that in many cases a dairy, originally of the conical form, has been rebuilt in the same form as the dwelling-hut, owing to the difficulty and extra labour of reconstruction in the older shape. The edifice at the Muttanâd mand (or Nódrs), at the top of the Sígîr ghât, is known to members of the Ootacamund Hunt as the Toda cathedral. It has a circular stone base and a tall conical thatched roof crowned with a large flat stone, and is surrounded by a circular stone wall. To penetrate within the sacred edifice was forbidden, but we were informed that it contained milking vessels, dairy apparatus, and a swâmi in the guise of a copper bell (mani). The dairyman is known as the varzhal or wursol. In front of the cattle-pen of the neighbouring mand, I noticed a grass-covered mound, which, I was told, is sacred. The mound contains nothing buried within it, but the bodies of the dead are placed near it, and earth from the mound is placed on the corpse before it is removed to the burning-ground. At "dry funerals" the buffalo is said to be slain near the mound. It has been suggested by Colonel Marshall1 that the "boa or boath [poh.] is not a true Toda building, but may be the bethel of some tribe contemporaneous with, and cognate to the Todas, which, taking refuge, like them, on these hills, dies out in their presence."

Despite the hypothesis of Dr. Rivers that the Todas are derived from one or more of the races of Malabar, their origin is buried among the secrets of the past. So too is the history of the ancient builders of cairns and barrows on the Nílgiri plateau, which were explored by Mr. Breeks when Commissioner of the Nílgiris.2 The bulk of the Breeks' collection is now preserved in the Madras Museum, and includes a large series of articles in pottery, quite unlike anything known from other parts of Southern India. Concerning this series, Mr. R. Bruce Foote writes as follows.3 "The most striking objects are tall jars, many-storied cylinders, of varying diameter with round or conical bases, fashioned to rest upon pottery ring-stands, or to be stuck into soft soil, like the amphorae of classical times. These jars were surmounted by domed lids. On these lids stood or sat figures of the most varied kind of men, or animals, much more rarely of inanimate objects, but all modelled in the rudest and most grotesque style. Grotesque and downright ugly as are these figures, yet those representing men and women are extremely interesting from the light they throw upon the stage of civilization their makers had attained to, for they illustrate the fashion of the garments as also of the ornaments they wore, and of the arms or implements carried by them. The animals they had domesticated, those they chased, and others that they probably worshipped, are all indicated. Many figures of their domestic animals, especially their buffaloes and sheep, are decorated with garlands and bells, and show much ornamentation, which seems to indicate that they were painted over, a custom which yet prevails in many parts." Among the most interesting figures are those of heavily bearded men riding on horses, and big-horned buffaloes which

1. A Phrenologist among the Todas, 173. 2. J. W. Breeks. Account of the Primitive Tribes and Monument of the Nilgiris, 1873. 3. Catalogue of the Prehistoric Antiquities, Government Museum, Madras, 1901.

807 might have been modelled from the Toda buffaloes of to-day, and, like these at funerals and migration ceremonies, bear a bell round the neck.

Two forms of Toda dairy have so far been noticed. But there remains a third kind, called the ti mand, concerning which Dr. Rivers writes as follows. "The ti is the name of an institution, which comprises a herd of buffaloes, with a number of dairies and grazing districts, tended by a dairy-man priest called palol, with an assistant called kaltmokh. Each dairy, with its accompanying buildings and pasturage, is called a ti mad, or ti village. The buffaloes belonging to a ti are of two kinds, distinguished as persiner and punir. The former are the sacred buffaloes, and the elaborate ceremonial of the ti dairy in some respects to the putiir of the ordinary village, dairy, and their milk and its products are largely for the personal use and profit of the palol, and are not treated with any special ceremony. During the whole time he holds office, the palol may not visit another ti village. Any business with the outside world is done either through the kaltmokh, or with people who come to visit him at the ti. If the palol has to cross a river, he may not pass by a bridge, but must use a ford, and it appears that he may only use certain fords. The palol must be celibate, and, if married, he must leave his wife, who is in most cases also the wife of his brother or brothers." I visited the ti mand near Paikâra by appointment, and, on arrival near the mand, found the two palols, well-built men aged about thirty and fifty, clad in black cloths, and two kaltmokhs, youths aged about eight and ten, naked save for a loin-cloth, seated on the ground, awaiting our arrival. As a mark of respect to the palols, the three Todas who accompanied me arranged their putkîlis so that the right arm was laid bare, and one of them, who was wearing a turban, removed it. A long palaver ensued in consequence of the palols demanding ten rupees to cover the expenses of the purificatory ceremonies, which, they maintained, would be necessary if I desecrated the mand by photographing it. Eventually, however, under promise of a far smaller sum, the dwelling-hut was photographed, with palols, kaltmokhs, and a domestic cat seated in front of it.

In connection with the palol being forbidden to cross a river by a bridge, it may be noted that the river which flows past the Paikâra bungalow is regarded as sacred by the Todas, and, for fear of mishap from arousing the wrath of the river god, a pregnant Toda woman will not venture to cross it. The Todas will not use the river water for any purpose, and they do not touch it unless they have to ford it. They then walk through it, and, on reaching the opposite bank, bow their heads. Even when they walk over the Paikâra bridge, they take their hand out of the putkîli as a mark of respect. Concerning the origin of the Paikâra river, a grotesque legend was narrated to us. Many years ago, the story goes, two Todas, uncle and nephew, went out to gather honey. After walking for a few miles they separated, and proceeded in differed directions. The uncle was unsuccessful in the search, but the more fortunate nephew secured two kandis (bamboo measures) of honey. This, with a view to keeping it all for himself, he secreted in a crevice among the rocks, with the exception of a very small quantity, which he made his uncle believe was the entire product of his search. On the following day, the nephew went alone to the spot where the honey was hidden, and found, to his disappointment, that the honey was leaking through the bottom of the bamboo measures, which were transformed into two snakes. Terrified at the sight thereof, he ran away, but the snakes pursued him (may be they were hamadryads, which have the reputation of pursuing human beings). After running a few minutes, he espied a hare (Lepus nigricollis) running across his course, and, by a skilful manceuvre, threw his body- cloth over it. Mistaking it for a man, the snakes followed in pursuit of the hare, which, being very fleet of foot, managed to reach the sun, which became obscured by the hoods of the reptiles. This fully accounts for the solar eclipse. The honey, which leaked out of the vessels, became converted into the Paikâra river.

In connection with the migrations of the herds of buffaloes, Dr. Rivers writes as follows. "At certain seasons of the year, it is customary that the buffaloes both of the village and the ti should migrate from one place to another. Sometimes the village buffaloes are accompanied

808 by all the inhabitants of the village; sometimes the buffaloes are only accompanied by their dairy-man and one of more male assistants. There are two chief reasons for these movements of the buffaloes, of which the most urgent is the necessity for new grazing-places. The other chief reason for the migrations is that certain villages and dairies, formerly important and still sacred, are visited for ceremonial purposes, or out of respect to ancient custom." For the following note on a buffalo migration which he came across, I am indebted to Mr. H. C. Wilson. "During the annual migration of buffaloes to the Kundahs, and when they were approaching the bridle-path leading from Avalanché to Sispâra, I witnessed an interesting custom. The Toda family had come to a halt on the far side of the path; the females seated themselves on the grass, and awaited the passing of the sacred herd. This herd, which had travelled by a recognised route across country, has to cross the bridle-path some two or three hundred yards above the Avalanché-Sispâra sign-post. Both the ordinary and sacred herd were on the move together. The former passed up the Sispâra path, while the latter crossed in a line, and proceeded slightly down the hill, eventually crossing the stream and up through the valley. As soon as the sacred herd had crossed the bridle-path, the Toda men, having put down all their household utensils, went to where the women and girls were sitting, and carried them, one by own, over the place where the buffaloes had passed, depositing them on the path above. One of the men told me that the females are not allowed to walk over the track covered by the sacred herd, and have to be carried whenever it is necessary to cross it. This herd has a recognised tract when migrating, and is led by the old buffaloes, who appear to know the exact way."

The tenure under which lands are held by the Todas is summed up as follows by Mr. R. S. Benson in his report on the revenue settlement of the Nilgiris, 1885. "The earliest settlers, and notably Mr. Sullivan, strongly advocated the claim of the Todas to the absolute proprietary right to the plateau [as lords of the soil]; but another school, led by Mr. Lushington, has strongly combated these views, and apparently regarded the Todas as merely occupiers under the ryotwari system in force generally in the Presidency. From the earliest times the Todas have received from the cultivating Badagas an offering or tribute, called gudu or basket of grain, partly in compensation for the land taken up by the latter for cultivation, and so rendered unfit for grazing purposes, but chiefly as an offering to secure the favour, or avert the displeasure of the Todas, who, like the Kurumbas (q.v.), are believed by the Badagas to have necromantic powers over their health and that of their herds. The European settlers also bought land in Ootacamund from them, and to this day the Government pays them the sum of Rs. 150 per mensem, as compensation for interference with the enjoyment of their pastoral right in and about Ootacamund. Their position was, however, always a matter of dispute, until it was finally laid down in the despatch of the Court of Directors, dated 21st January, 1843. It was then decided that the Todas possessed nothing more than a prescriptive right to enjoy the privilege of pasturing their herds, on payment of a small tax, on the State lands. The Court desired that they should be secured from interference by settlers in the enjoyment of their mands, and of their spots appropriated to religious rites. Accordingly pattas were issued, granting to each mand three bullahs (11.46 acres) of land. In 1863 Mr. Grant obtained permission to make a fresh allotment of nine bullahs (34;38 acres) to each mand on the allotment condition that the land should be used for pasturage only, and that no right to sell the land or the wood on it should be thereby conveyed. It may added that the so-called Toda lands are now regarded as the inalienable common property of the Toda community, and unauthorised alienation is checked by the imposition of a penal rate of assessment (G.O., 18th April 1882). Up to the date of this order, however, alienations by sale or lease were of frequent occurrence. It remains to be seen whether the present orders and subordinate staff will be more adequate than those that went before to check the Toda lands, Government took up the management of these lands in 1893, and framed rules, under the Forest Act, for their management, the rights of the Todas over them being in no way affected by the rules.

809 In 1905, the Todas petitioned Government against the prohibition by the local Forest authorities of the burning of grass on the downs, issued on the ground of danger to the shólas (wooded ravines or groves). This yearly burning of the grass was claimed by the Todas to improve it, and they maintained that their cattle were deteriorating for want of good fodder. Government ruled that the grass on the plateau has been burnt by the inhabitants at pleasure for many years without any appreciable damage to forest growth, and the practice should not be disturbed.

Concerning the social organisation of the Todas, Mr. Breeks states that they are "divided into two classes, which cannot intermarry, viz., Dévalyâl and Tarsezhâl. The first class consists of Peiki class, corresponding in some respects to Brâhmans; the second of the four remaining classes the Pekkan, Kuttan, Kenna, and Todi. A Peiki woman may not go to the village of the Tarserzha`l, although the women of the latter may visit Peikis." The class names given by Mr. Breeks were readily recognised by the Todas whom I interviewed, but they gave Térthâl (comprising superior Peikis) and Târthâl as the names of the divisions. They told me that, when a Târthâl woman visits her friends at a Târthâl mand, she is not allowed to enter the mand, but must stop at a distance from it. Todas as a rule cook their rice in butter-milk, when a Térthâl woman pays a visit to Tarthâl mand, rice is cooked for her in water. When a Tarthâl woman visits at a T¡érthâl mand, she is permitted to enter into the mand, and food is cooked for her in buttermilk. The restrictions which are imposed on Térthâl women are said to be due to the fact that on one occasion a Térthâl woman, on a visit at a Tarthâl mand, folded up a cloth, and placed it under her putkîli as if it was a baby. When food was served, she asked for some for the child, and on receiving the mild joke, accordingly agreed to degrade all Térthâl women. According to Dr. Rivers, "the fundamental feature of the social organisation is the division of the community into two perfectly distinct groups, the Tartharol and the Teivaliol [=Dévalyâl of Breeks]. There is a certain amount of specialisation of function, members of the Teivaliol. The Tartharol and Teivaliol are two endogamous divisions of the Toda people. Each of these primary divisions is sub-divided into a number of secondary divisions [clans]. These are exogamous. Each class possesses a group of villages, and takes its name from the chief of these villages, Etudmad. The Tartharol are divided into twelve clans, the Teivaliol into six clans or madol." When a girl has reached the age of puberty, she goes through an initiatory ceremony, in which a Toda man of strong physique takes part. One of these splendid specimens of human muscularity was introduced to me on the occasion of a phonograph recital at the Paikâra bungalow.

Concerning the system of polyandry as carried out by the Todas. Dr. Rivers writes as follows. "The Todas have long been noted as a polyandrous people, and the institution of polyandry is still in full working order among them. When the girl becomes the wife of a boy, it is usually understood that she becomes also the wife of his brothers. In nearly every case at the present time, and in recent generations, the husbands of a woman are his own brothers. In a few cases, though not brothers, they are of the same clan. Very rarely do they belong to different clans. One of the interesting features of Toda polyandry is the method by which it is arranged who shall be regarded as the father of a child. For all social and legal purpose, the father of a child is the man who performs a certain ceremony about the seventh month of pregnancy, in which an imitation bow and arrow are given to the woman. When the husbands are brothers, the eldest brother usually gives the bow and arrow, and is the father of the child, though, so long as the brothers live together, the other brothers are also regarded as fathers. It is in the cases in which the husbands are not brothers that the ceremony becomes of real social importance. In these cases, it is arranged that one of the husbands shall give the bow and arrow, and this man is the father, not only of the child born shortly afterwards, but also of all succeeding children, till another husband performs the essential ceremony. Fatherhood is determined so essentially by this ceremony that a man who has been dead for several years is regarded as the father of any children born by his widow, if no other man has given the bow and arrow. There is no doubt that, in former

810 times, the polyandry of the Todas was associated with female infanticide, and it is probable that the latter custom still exists to some extent, though strenuously denied. There is reason to believed that women are now more plentiful than formerly, though they are still in a distinct minority. Any increase, however, in the number of women does not appear to have led to any great diminution of polyandrous marriages, but polyandry is often combined with polygyny. Two or more brothers may have two or more wives in common. In such marriages, however, it seems to be a growing custom that one brother should give the bow and arrow to one wife, and another brother to another wife."

The pregnancy ceremony referred to above is called pursutpimi, or 'bow (and arrow) we touch.' According to the account given to me by several independent witnesses, the woman proceeds, accompanied by members of the tribe, on a new moon-day in the fifth or seventh month of her pregnancy, to a shola, where she sits with the man who is to become the father of her child near a kiaz tree (Eugenia Arnottiana). The man asks the father of the woman if he may bring the bow, and, on obtaining his consent, goes in search of a shrub (Sophora glauca), from a twig of which he makes a mimic bow. The arrow is represented by a blade of grass called nark (Andropogon Schaenanthus). Meanwhile a triangular niche has been cut in the kiaz tree, in which a lighted lamp is placed. The woman seats herself in front of the lamp, and, on the return of the man, asks thrice "Whose bow is it?" or "What is it?" meaning to who, or to which mand does the child belong? The bow and arrow are handed to the woman, who raised them to her head, touches her forehead with them, and places them near the tree. From this moment the lawful father of the child is the man from whom she has received the bow and arrow. He places on the ground at the foot of the tree some rice, various kinds of grain, chillies, jaggery (crude sugar), and salt tied in a cloth. All those present then leave, except the man and woman, who remain near the tree till about six o'clock in the evening, when they return to the mand. The time is determined, in the vicinity of Ootacamund, by the opening of the flowers of Onothera tetraptera (evening primrose), a garden escape called by the Todas âru mani pîv (six o'clock flower), which opens towards evening.1 It may be noted that, at the second funeral of a male, a miniature bow and three arrows are burnt with various other articles within the stone circle (azaram).

A few years ago (1902), the Todas, in petition to Government, prayed for special legislation to legalise their marriages on the lines of the Malabar Marriage Act. Te Government was of opinion that legislation was unnecessary, and that it was open to such of the Todas as were willing to sign the declaration prescribed by section 10 of the Marriage Ac 111 of 1872 to contract legal marriages under the provision of that Act. The Treasury Deputy Collector of the Nílgiris was appointed Registrar of Toda marriages. No marriage has been registered up to the present time.

The practice of infanticide among the Todas is best summed up in the words of a aged Toda during an interview with Colonel Marshall.2 "I was a little boy when Mr. Sullivan (the first English pioneer of the Nilgiris) visited these mountains. In those days it was the custom to kill children, but the practice has long since died out, and now one never hears of it. I don't know whether it was wrong or not go kill them, but we were very poor, and could not support out children. Now every one has a mantle (putkuli), but formerly there was only one for the whole family. We did not kill them to please any god, but because it was our custom. The mother never nursed the child, and the parents did not kill it. Do you think we could kill it ourselves? They tell lies who say we laid it down before the opening of the buffalo- pen, so that it might be run over and killed by the animals. We never did such things, and it is nonsense that we drowned it in buffalo's milk. Boys were never killed-- only girls; not those who were sickly and deformed-- that would be a sin; but, when we had one girl, or in some families two girls, those that followed were killed. An old woman (kelachi) used to take

1. I have seen this plant growing on the grass in front of the Paikâra bungalow. 2. Op. cit.

811 the child immediately it was born, and close its nostrils, ears, and mouth with a cloth. It would shortly droop its head, and go to sleep. We then buried it in the ground. The kelachi got a present of four annas for the deed." The old man's remark about the cattle-pen refers to the Malagasy custom of placing a new-born child at the entrance to a cattle-pen, and then driving the cattle over it, to see whether they would trample on it or not.1 The Missionary Metz2 bears out the statement that the Toda babies were killed by suffocation.

At the census, 1901, 453 male and 354 female Todas were returned. In a note on the proportion of the sexes among the Todas, Mr. R. C. Punnett states3 that "all who have studied the Todas are agreed upon the frequency of the practice (of infanticide) in earlier times. Marshall, writing in 1872, refers to the large amount of female infanticide in former years, but expresses his conviction that the practice had by that time died out. Marshall's evidence is that of native assurance only. Dr. Rivers, who received the same assurance, is disinclined to place much confidence in native veracity with reference to this point, and, in view of the lack of encouragement which the practice receives from the Indian Government, this is not altogether surprising. The supposition of female infanticide, by accounting for the great disproportion in the numbers of the sexes, brings the Todas into harmony with what is known of the rest of making." In summarising his conclusions, Mr. Punnett notes that: (1) Among the Todas, males predominate greatly over females. (2) This preponderance is doubtless due to the practice of female infanticide, which is probably still to some extent prevalent. (3) The numerical preponderance of the males has been steadily sinking during recent years, owning probably to the check which foreign intercourse has imposed upon female infanticide.

Death ceremonies In connection with the death ceremonies of the Todas, Dr. Rivers notes that "soon after death the body is burnt, and the general name for the ceremony on this occasion is etvainolkedr, the first day funeral. After an interval, which may vary greatly in length, a second ceremony is performed, connected with certain relics of the deceased which have been preserved from the first occasion. The Toda name for this second funeral ceremony is marvainolkedr, the second day funeral, or 'again which day funeral.' The funeral ceremonies are open to all, and visitors are often invited by the Todas. In consequence, the funeral rites are better known, and have been more frequently described than any other features of Toda ceremonial. Like nearly every institution of the Todas, however, they have become known to Europeans under their Badaga names. The first funeral is called by the Badagas hase kedu, the fresh or green funeral, and the term 'green funeral' has not only become the generally recognised name among the European inhabitants of the Nilgiri hills, but has been widely adopted in anthropological literature. The second funeral is called by the Badagas bara kedu, the 'dry funeral,' and this term also has been generally adopted." The various forms of the funeral ceremonies are discussed in detail by Dr. Rivers, and it must suffice to describe those at which we have been present as eye-witnesses.

I had the opportunity of witnessing the second funeral of a woman who had died from smallpox two months previously. On arrival at a mand on the open downs about five miles from Ootacamund, we were conducted by a Toda guide to the margin of a dense shola, where we found two groups seated apart, consisting of (1)women, girls, and brown-haired female babies, round a camp fire; (2)men, boys, and male babies, carried, with marked sings of paternal affection, by their fathers. In a few minutes a murmuring sound commenced in the centre of the female group. Working themselves up to the necessary pitch, some of the women (near relatives of the deceased) commenced to cry freely, and the wailing and lachrymation gradually spread round the circle until all, except little girls and babies who

1. Ellis. History of Madagascar. 2. Tribes inhabiting the Neilgherry Hills, By a German missionary, 1856. 3. Proc. Cambridge Philosoph. Soc., XII, 1904.

812 were too young to be affected, were weeping and mourning, some for fashion, others from genuine grief. In carrying out the orthodox form of mourning, the women first had a good cry to themselves, and then, as their emotions became more intense, went-round the circle, selecting partners with whom to share companionship in grief. Gradually the group resolved itself into couplets of mourners, each pair with their heads in contact, and giving expression to their emotions in unison. Before separation to select a new partner, each couple saluted by bowing the head, and raising thereto the feet of the other, covered by the putkîl. [I have seen women rapidly recover from the outward manifestations of grief, and clamour for money.] From time to time the company of mourners was reinforced by late arrivals from distant mands, and, as each detachment, now of men and now of women, came in view across the open downs, one could not fail to be reminded of the gathering of the clans on some Highland moor. The resemblance was heightened by the distant sound as of pipers, produced by the Kota band (with two police constables in attendance), composed of four Kotas, who made a weird noise with drums and flutes as they drew near the scene of action. The band, on arrival, took up a position close to the mourning women. As each detachment arrived, the women, recognising their relatives, came forward and saluted them in the manner customary among Todas by falling at their feet, and placing first the right and then the left foot on their head. Shortly after the arrival of the band, signals were exchanged, by waving of putkîlis, between the assembled throng and a small detachment of men some distance off. A general move was made, and an impromptu procession formed, with men in front, the band in the middle, and women bringing up the rear. A halt was made opposite a narrow gap leading into the shola; men and women sat apart as before; and the band walked round, discoursing unsweet music. A party of girls went off to bring fire from the spot just vacated for use in the coming ceremonial, but recourse was finally had to a box of matches lent by one of our party. At this stage we noticed a woman go up to the eldest son of the deceased, who was seated apart from the other men, and would not be comforted in spite of the efforts to console him. An elderly Toda produced a piece of the skull of the dead woman, wrapped round with long tresses of her hair. It now became the men's turn to exhibit active signs of grief, and all of one accord commenced to weep and mourn. Amid the scene of lamentation, the hair was slowly unwrapped from the skull, and burned in an ladle, from which a smell as of incense arose. A bamboo pot of ghí was produced, with which the skull was reverently anointed, and placed in a cloth spread on the ground. To this relic of the deceased the throng of men, amid a scene of wild excitement, made obeisance by kneeling down before it, and touching it with their foreheads. The females were not permitted to witness his stage of the proceedings, with the exception of one or two near relatives of the departed one, who supported themselves sobbing against the tree. The ceremonial concluded, the fragment of skull, wrapt in the cloth, was carried into the open, where, as men and boys had previously done, women and girls made obeisance to it. A procession was then again formed, and marched on until a place was reached, where were two stone-walled kraals, large and small. Around the former the men, and within the latter the women, took up their position, the men engaging in chit-chat, and the women in mourning, which after a time ceased, and they too engaged in conversation. A party of men, carrying the skull, still in the cloth, set out for a neighbouring shola, where a kédu of several other dead Todas was being celebrated; and a long pause ensued, broken eventually by the arrival of the other funeral party, the men advancing in several lines, with arms linked, and crying out 'U, hah! U, hah, hah!' in regular time. This party brought with it pieces of the skulls of a woman and two men, which were placed, wrapt in cloths, on the ground, saluted, and mourned over by the assembled multitude. At this stage a small party of Kotas arrived, and took up their position on a neighbouring hill, waiting, vulture-like, for the carcase of the buffalo which was shortly to be slain. Several young men now went off across the hill in search of buffaloes, and speedily re-appeared, driving five buffaloes before them with sticks. As soon as the beasts approached a swampy marsh at the foot of the hill on which the expectant crowd of men was gathered together, two young men of athletic build, throwing off their putkîlis, made at rush down the hill, and tried to seize one of the buffaloes by the horns, with the result that one of them was promptly thrown. The buffalo escaping, one of the remaining four was quickly

813 caught by the horns, and, with arms interlocked, the men brought it down on its knees, amid a general scuffle. In spite of the animal -- a barren cow-- it was, by means of sticks freely applied, slowly dragged up the hill, preceded by the Kota band, and with a Toda youth pulling at its tail. Arrived at the open space between the kraals, the buffalo, by this time thoroughly exasperated, and with blood pouring from its nostrils, had a cloth put on its back and was despatched by a blow on the poll with an axe deftly wielded by a young and muscular man. On this occasion no one was badly hurt by the sacrificial cow, though one man was seen washing his legs in the swamp after the preliminary struggle with the beast. But Colonel Ross-King narrates how he saw a man receive a dangerous would in the neck from a thrust of the horn, which ripped open a wide gash from the collar-bone to the ear. With the death of the buffalo, the last scene, which terminated the strange rites, commenced; men, and children pressing forward and jostling now another in their eagerness to salute the dead beast by placing their hands between its horns, and weeping and mourning in pairs; the facial expression of grief being mimicked when tears refused to flow spontaneously The ceremonial connected with the final burning of the relics and burial of the ashes a the stone circle (azaram) are described in detail by Dr. Rivers.

A few days after the ceremony just described, I was invited to be present at the funeral of a young girl who had died of smallpox five days previously. I proceeded accordingly to the scene of the recent ceremony, and there, in company with a small gathering to Todas from the neighbouring mands, awaited the arrival of the funeral corte`ge, the approach of which was announced by the advancing strains of Kota music. Slowly the procession came over the brow of the hill; the corpse, covered by a cloth, on a rude ladder-like bier, borne on the shoulders of four men, followed by two Kota musicians; the mother carried hidden within a sack; relatives and men carrying bags of rice and jaggery, and bundles of wood of the kiaz tree (Eugenia Arnottiana) for the funeral pyre. Arrived opposite a small hut, which had been specially built for the ceremonial, the corpse was removed from the bier, laid on the ground, face upwards, outside the hut, and saluted by men, women, and children, with the same manifestations of grief as on the previous occasion. Soon the men moved away to a short distance, and engaged in quiet conversation, leaving the females to continue mourning round the corpse, interrupted from time to time by the arrival of detachments from distant mands, whose first duty was to salute the dead body. Meanwhile a near female relative of the dead child was busily engaged inside the hut, collecting together in a basket small measures of rice, jaggery, sago, honey-comb, and the girl's simple toys, which were subsequently to be burned with the corpse. The mourning ceasing after a time, the corpse was placed inside the hut, and followed by the near relatives, who there continued to weep over it. A detachment of men and boys, who had set out in search of the buffaloes which were to be sacrificed, now returned driving before them three cows, which escaped from their pursuers to rejoin the main herd. A long pause ensued, and, after a very prolonged drive, three more cows were guided into a marshy swamp, where one of them was caught by the horns, and dragged reluctantly, but with little show of fight, to the strains of Kota drum and flute, in front of the hut, where it was promptly despatched by a blow on the poll. The corpse was now brought from within the hut, and placed, face upwards, with its feet resting on the forehead of the buffalo, whose neck was decorated with a silver chain, such as is worn by Todas round the loins, as no bell was available, and the horns were smeared with butter. Then followed frantic manifestations of grief, amid which the unhappy mother fainted. Mourning over, the corpse was made to go through a form of ceremony, resembling that which is performed during pregnancy with the first child. A small boy, three years old, was selected from among the relatives of the dead girl, and taken by his father in search of a certain grass (Andropogon Schaenanthus) and a twig of a shrub (Sophora glauca), which were brought to the spot where the corpse was lying. The mother of the dead child then withdrew one of its hands from the putkîli, and the boy placed the grass and twig in the hand, and limes, plantains, rice, jaggery, honey-comb, and butter in the pocket of the putikîli, which was then stitched with needle and thread in a circular pattern. The boy's father then took off his son's putkîli, and replaced it so as to cover him from head to foot. Thus covered, the boy

814 remained outside the hut till the morning of the morrow, watched through the night by near relatives of himself and his dead bride. [On the occasion of the funeral of an unmarried lad, a girl is in like manner selected, covered with her putkîli from head to foot, and a metal vessel filled with jaggery, rice, etc., to be subsequently burnt on the funeral pyre, placed for a short time within the folds of the putkîli. Thus covered, the girl remains till next morning, watched through the dreary hours of the night by relatives. The same ceremony is performed over the husband acting as such for the last time, in the vain hope that the woman may produce issue in heaven]. The corpse was borne away to the burning-ground within the shola, and after removal of some of the hair by the mother of the newly wedded boy, burned, with face upwards, amid the music of the Kota band, the groans of the assembled crowd squatting on the ground, and the genuine grief, a portion of the skull was removed from the ashes, and handed over to the recently made mother-in-law of the dead girl, and wrapped up with the hair in the bark of the tîd tree (Meliosma pungens). A second buffalo, which, properly speaking, should have been slain before the corpse was burnt, was then sacrificed, and rice and jaggery were distributed among the crowd, which dispersed, leaving behind the youthful widower and his custodians, who, after daybreak, partook of a meal of rice, and returned to their mands; the boy's mother taking with her the skull and hair to her mand, where it would remain until the celebration of the second funeral. No attention is paid to the ashes after cremation, and they are left to be scattered by the winds.

A further opportunity offered itself to be present at the funeral of an elderly woman on the open downs not far from Paikâra, in connection with which certain details possess some interest. The corpse was, at the time of our arrival, laid out on a rude bier within am improvised arbour covered with leaves and open at each end, and tended by some of the female relatives. At some little distance, a conclave of Toda men, who rose of one accord to greet us, was squatting in a circle, among whom were many venerable white-turbaned elders of the tribe, protected from the scorching sun by palm-leaf umbrellas. Amid much joking, and speech-making by the veterans, it was decided that, as the eldest son of the deceased woman was dead, leaving a widow, this daughter-in-law should be united to the second son, and that they should live together as man and wife. On the announcement of the decision, the bridegroom-elect saluted the principal Todas present by placing his head on their feet, which were sometimes concealed within the ample folds of the putkîli. At the funeral of a married woman, three ceremonies must, I was told, be performed, if possible, by a daughter or daughter-in-law, viz: (1) Tying a leafy branch of the tiviri shrub (Atylosia Candolleana) in the putkîli of the corpse; (2) Tying balls of thread and cowry shells on the arm of the corpse, just above the elbow; (3) Setting fire to the funeral pyre, which was, on the present occasion, done by lighting a rag fed with ghí with a match.

The buffalo capture took place amid the usual excitement, and with freedom from accident; and, later in the day the stalwart buffalo catchers turned up at the travellers' bungalow for a pourboire in return, as they said, for treating us to a good sight. The beasts selected for sacrifice were a full-grown cow and a young calf. As they were dragged near to the corpse, now removed from the arbour, butter was smeared over the horns, and a bell tied round the neck. The bell was subsequently removed by Kotas, in whose custody, it was said, it was to remain till the next day funeral. The death-blow, or rather series of blows, having been delivered with the butt end of an axe, the feet of the corpse were placed at the mouth of the buffalo. In the case of a male corpse, the right hand is made to clasp the horns. [It is recorded by Dr. Rivers that, at the funeral of a male, men dance after the buffalo is killed. In the dancing a tall pole, called tadri or tadrsi, decorated with cowry shells, is used.] The customary mourning in couples concluded, the corpse, clad in four cloths, was carried on the stretcher to a clear space in the neighbouring shola, and placed by the side of the funeral pyre, which had been rapidly piled up. The innermost cloth was black in colour, and similar to that worn by a palol. Next to it came a putkîli decorated with blue and red embroidery,

815 outside which again was a plain white cloth covered over by a red cotton cloth of European manufacture . Seated by the side of the pyre, near to which I was courteously invited to take a seat on the stump of a rhododendron, was an elderly relative of the dead woman, who, while watching the ceremonial, was placidly in the manufacture of a holly walking-stick with the aid of a glass scraper. The proceedings were watched on behalf of Government by a forest guard, and a police constable who, with marked affectation, held his handkerchief to his nose throughout the ceremonial. The corpse was decorated with brass rings, and within the putkîli were stowed jaggery, a scroll of paper adorned with cowry shells, snuff and tobacco, cocoanuts, biscuits, various kinds of grain, ghí, honey, and a tin-framed looking- glass. A long purse, containing a silver Japanese yen and an Arcot rupee of the East India Company, was tied up in the putkîli close to the feet. These preliminaries concluded, the corpse was hoisted up, and swung three times over the now burning pure, above which a mimic bier, made of slender twigs, was held. The body was then stripped of its jewelry, and a lock of hair cut off by the daughter-in-law for preservation, together with a fragment of the skull. I was told that, when the corpse is swung over the pyre, the dead person goes to amnodr (the world of the dead). In this connection, Dr. Rivers writes that "it would seem as if this ceremony of swinging the body over the fire was directly connected with the removal of the objects of value. The swinging over the fire would be symbolic of its destruction by fire; and this symbolic burning has the great advantage that the objects of value are not consumed, and are available for use another time. This is probably the real explanation of the ceremony, but it is not the explanation given by the Todas themselves. They say that long ago, about 400 years, a man supposed to be dead was put on the funeral pyre, and, revived by the heat, he was found to be alive, and was able to walk away from the funeral place. In consequence of this, the rule was made that the body should always be swung three times over the fire before it is finally placed thereon." [Colonel Marshall narrates the story that a Toda who had revived from what was thought his deathbed, has been observed parading about, very proud and distinguished looking, wearing the finery with which he had been bedecked for his own funeral, and which he would be permitted to carry till he really departed this life.] As soon as the pyre was fairly ablaze, the mourners, with the exception of some of the female relatives, left the shóla, and the men, congregation on the summit of a neighbouring hill, invoked their god. Four men, seized, apparently in imitation of the Kota Dévâdi, with divine frenzy, began to shiver and gesticulate wildly, while running blindly to and fro with closed eyes and shaking fists. They then began to talk in Malayâlam, and offer an explanation of an extraordinary phenomenon, which had appeared in the form of a gigantic figure, which disappeared as suddenly as it appeared. At the annual ceremony of walking through fire (hot ashes) in that year, two factions arose owing to some dissension, and two sets of ashes were used. This seems to have annoyed the gods, and those concerned were threatened with speedy ruin. But the whole story was very vague. The possession by some Todas of a smattering of Malayâlam is explained by the fact that, when grazing their buffaloes on the northern and western slops of the Nílgiris, they come in contact with Malayâlam-speaking people from the neighbouring Malabar district.

At the funeral of a man (a leper), the corpse was placed in front of the entrance to a circle of loose stones about a yard and a half in diameter, which had been specially constructed for the occasion. Just before the buffalo sacrifice, a man of the Paiki clan standing near the head of the corpse, dug a hole in the ground with a cane, and asked a Kenna who was standing on the other side, "Puzhut, Kenna?"1-- "shall I throw the earth?"-- three times. To which the Kenna, answering, replied "Puzhut"-- "throw the earth"-- thrice. The Paiki then threw some earth three times over the corpse, and three times into the miniature kraal. It is suggested by Dr. Rivers that the circle was made to do duty for a buffalo pen, as the funeral was held at a place where there was no tu (pen), from the entrance of which earth could be dug up.

1. "Puzhutkina-Shall I throw earth?" Rivers.

816 Several examples of laments relating to the virtues and life of the deceased, which are sung or recited in the course of the funeral ceremonies, are given by Dr. Rivers. On the occasion of the reproduction of a lament in my phonograph, two young women were seen to be crying bitterly. The selection of the particular lament was unfortunate, as it had been sung at their father's funeral. The reproduction of the recitation of a dead person's sins at a Badaga funeral quickly restored them to a state of cheerfulness.

A Whit Monday at Paikâra was given up to an exhibition of sports and games, whereof the most exciting and interesting was a burlesque representation of Toda funeral by boys and girls. A Toda, who was fond of his little joke, applied the term pacchai kédu (green funeral) to the corpses of the flies entrapped by a viscous "catch'em-alive-oh" on the bungalow table. To the mock funeral rites arrived a party of youths, as from a distant mand, and crying out U, hah, in shrill mimicry of their elders. The lad who was to play the leading part of sacrificial buffalo, stripping off his putkîli, disappeared from sight over the brow of a low hillock. Above this eminence his bent and uplifted upper extremities shortly appeared as representatives of the buffalo horns. At sight thereof, there was a wild rush of small boys to catch him, and a mimic struggle took place, while the buffalo was dragged, amid good- tempered scuffling, kicks, and shouting, to the spot where the corpse should have been. This spot was, in the absence of a pseudo-dead body or stage dummy, indicated by a group of little girls, who had sat chatting together till the boy-beast arrived, when they touched foreheads, and went, with due solemnity, through the orthodox observance of mourning in couples. The buffalo was slain by a smart tap on the back of the head with a cloth, which did duty for an axe. As soon as the convulsive movements and twitchings of the death struggle were over, the buffalo, without waiting for an encore, retired behind the hillock once more, in order that the rough and tumble fight, which was evidently the chief charm of the game, might be repeated. The buffalo boy later on came in second in a flat race, and he was last seen protecting us from a mischievous-looking member of his herd, which was grazing on the main-road. Toda buffaloes, it may be noted, are not at all popular with members of the Ootacamund Hunt, as both horses and riders from time to time receive injuries from their horns, when they come in collision.

While the funeral game was in progress, the men showed off their prowess at a game (eln),1 corresponding to the English tip-cat, which is epidemic at a certain season in the London bye- streets. It is played with a bat like a broomstick, and a cylindrical piece of wood pointed at both ends. The latter is propped up against a stone, and struck with the bat. At it flies off the stone, it is hit to a distance with the bat, and caught (or missed) by the out fields. At the Muttanâd mand, we were treated to a further exhibition of games. In one of these, called narthpimi, a flat slab to stone is supported horizontally on two other slabs fixed perpendicularly in the ground so as to form a narrow tunnel, through which a man can just manage to wriggle his body with difficulty. Two men take part in the game, one stationing himself at a distance of about thirty yards, the other about sixty yards from the tunnel. The front man, throwing off his mantle, runs as hard as he can to the tunnel, pursued by the 'scratch' man, whose object is to touch the other man's feet before he has squeezed himself through the tunnel. Another sport, which we witnessed, consists of a trial of strength with a heavy globular stone, the object being to raise it up to the shoulder; but a strong, well-built man-- he who was entrusted with slaying the funeral buffalo-- failed to raise it higher than the pit of the stomach, though straining his muscles in the attempt. A splendidly made veteran assured me that, when young and lusty, he was able to accomplish the feat, and spoke sadly of degeneration in the physique of the younger members of the tribe. Mr. Breeks mentions that the Todas play a game resembling puss-in-the corner, called kâriâlapimi, which was not included in the programme of sports got up for our benefit. Dr. Rivers writes that "the Todas, and especially the children, often play with mimic representations of objects from practical life. Near the villages I have seen small artificial

1. Called by Breeks ilata, which, Dr. Rivers suggests, is a Badaga name.

817 buffalo-pens and fireplaces made by the children in sport." I have, on several occasions, come across young children playing with long and short pieces of twigs representing buffaloes and their calves, and going solemnly through the various incidents in the daily life of these animals. Todas, both old and young, may constantly be seen twisting flexible twigs into representations of buffaloes.

Of Toda songs, the following have been collected: Sunshine is increasing. Mist is fast gathering. Rain may come. Thunder roars. Clouds are gathering. Rain is pouring. Wind and rain have combined. Oh, powerful god, may everything prosper! May charity increase! May the buffaloes become pregnant! See that the buffaloes have calves. See that the barren women have children. Go and tell this to the god of the land. Keygamor, Eygamor (names of buffaloes). Evening is approaching. The buffaloes are coming. The calves also have returned. The buffaloes are saluted. The dairy-man beats the calves with his stick. Milk has been offered to the bell. It is growing dark. This is a buffalo with beautiful horns. A buffalo stupidly given away by the Badaga. A buffalo brought to the Kândal mand. Innerovya (name of buffalo). Like this buffalo there is no other. Parkîr (name of a Toda). Like him there is no man. The sun is shining. The wind is blowing. Rain is coming. the tress are in flower. Tears are falling. The nose is burning. He is coming, holding up his umbrella. He is coming, wearing a good body-cloth. He is coming, wearing a good under-cloth. He (the palol) is coming, wearing a black cloth. He is coming, holding his walking-stick of palai wood. I have a god. What is to become of me? I am inclined to cry, my heart being heavy. Oh, my child! Do not cry. It is still crying. Thuree. Thuree. See. Be quiet. A robust bull buffalo. Ach! Ach! A big buffalo not intended for killing. Ach! Ach! Is leading the cow buffalo. Ah! Ah! Two or three men are driving it. Ah! Ah!

Song in honour of the arrival of the Maharâni-Regent of Mysore at Ootacamund. All we Todas go to her house, and dance before her. She gives us fifteen rupees. She comes near our women, and talks to them. She give cloths to us. Next day we take milk, eight bottles in the morning, four in the evening. Month by month she pays us for our milk. She goes back to Mysore, and, when she goes, we stand in a row before her.

818 She gives us presents; cloths can three rupees. The women cut their hair, and stand before her.

Marriage Song. Boys and girls are singing. Much money are they spending. To the girl her father is giving five buffaloes. The husband tells his wife that she must curl her hair. If her hair is curled, all the people will rejoice. The buffalo is slain, and now we must all dance. Why are not more people here? More should come. My buffalo is big, very big. Go quickly and catch it. The Todas are all there. They are standing in a row. Who will run, and catch the buffalo first? To him will a present of five rupees be given. I will go and catch it first. The Todas are all fighting. The Todas are all fighting. People give them rice. The buffalo is coming. Two men run to catch it by the neck. Ten men collect the buffaloes. They pen them in a kraal. At one o'clock we take our food. The buffalo is running, and I hit it on the back with a stick. It swerves aside, but I drive it back to the path. Night comes, and we all dance. Next morning at ten o'clock we bring out the buffalo, and slay it. At four in the morning we wrap rice and grain in a white cloth, and burn it. At eleven we cut the hair of the boys and girls. At four in the morning the priest goes to the temple (dairy). He lights the lamp. At eight he milks his buffaloes. He puts on no cloth. He places butter and ghí before the god. Then he graze his buffaloes, and eats his food. Then he puts on his cloth. At three in the afternoon he goes again to the temple. He kindles a fire, and lights the lamp. He puts milk in a chatty, and churns it into butter with a cane. He mixes water with the butter-milk, and gives it to the women to drink. He alone may sleep in the temple. At four in the morning he lets out the buffaloes to graze. At seven he milks them. The woman's house is down the hill. The priest must not go in unto the woman. He may not marry. When he is twenty, he may not enter the temple. Another is made priest in his stead.

The religious institutions of the Todas, including the elaborate dairy ritual, and their religion, are described in full detail by Dr. rivers. The Todas have been to some extent influenced by Hinduism, and some visit the temples at Nanjengód in Mysore, Karamadai in the Coimbatore district, and other shrines, where they worship, present votive offerings, and pray for offspring, etc. Writing in 1872, Mr. Breeks remarked that "about Ootacamund, a few Todas have latterly begun to imitate the religious practices of their native neighbours. Occasionally

819 children's foreheads are marked with the Siva spot, and my particular friend Kinniaven, after an absence of some days, returned with a shaven head from a visit to the temple of Siva at Nanjengudi." A man who came to my laboratory had his hair hanging down in long tails reaching below his shoulders. He had, he said, let in grow long because his wife, though married five years, had borne no child. A child had however, recently been born, and, as soon as he was going funeral of a relation had been performed, he was going to sacrifice his locks as a thank-offering at the Nanjengód temple. The following extracts from my notes will serve to illustrate the practice of marking (in some instances apparently for beauty's sake) and shaving as carried out at the present day. (1) Man, aged 28. Has just performed a ceremony at the ti mand. White curved line painted across forehead, and dots below outer ends thereof, on glabella, and outside orbits. Smeared with white across chest, over outer side of upper arms and left nipple, across knuckles and lower end of left ulna, and lobes of ears. (2) Man, aged 21. Painted on forehead as above. Smeared over chest and upper eye lids. (3) Man, aged 35. White spot painted on forehead. (4) Man aged, 30. Hair of head and beard cut short owing to death of grandfather. (5) Boy, aged 12. Shock head of hair, cut very short all over owing to death of grandfather. (6) Girl, aged 8. Hair shaved on top, back and sides of head, and in median strip from vertex to forehead. (7) Boy, aged 6. White spot painted between eyebrows. Hair shaved on top and sides of head, and in median strip from vertex to forehead. Hair brought forward in fringe over forehead on either side of median strip, and hanging down back of neck. (8) Male child, aged 18 months. White spot painted between eyebrows. Shaved on top and sides of head. The Toda have been returned from the state of Karnataka also, where their population is 131 (1981 census).

Tottivans.: -or Tottiyans. A nomadic group which breed pigs, beg and they are also snake charmers. They say that they were shepherds in the past. In the past the Tottiyans boys were married to elderly women. The father of the boy cohabited with his daughter in law and raised children for his son. They live specially in Tamil Nadu.

Tottiyan.: -In the Census Report, 1901, Mr. W. Francis writes that the Tottiyans are "Telugu cultivators1. The Tottiyans or Kambalattâns of the Tanjore district are, however, said to be vagrants, and to live by pig-breeding, snake-charming, and begging. So are the sub- division called Kâttu Tottiyans in Tinnevelly. The headman among the Tinnevelly Tottiyans is called Mandai Periadanakkâran or Sérvaikâran. Their marriages are not celebrated in their houses, but in pandals(booths) of green leaves erected for the purpose on the village common. However wealthy the couple may be, the only grain which they may eat at the wedding festivities is either cumbu(Pennisetum typhoideum) or house-gram(Dolichos biflorus). The patron deities of the caste are Jakkamma and Bommakka, two women who committed sati. The morality of their women is loose. The custom of marrying boys to their paternal aunt's or maternal uncle's daughter, however old she may be, also prevails, and in such cases as the bride is considerably older than the boy, the bridegroom's father is said to take upon himself the duty of begetting children to his own son. Divorce is easy, and remarriage is freely allowed. They offer rice and arrack(alcoholic liquor) to their ancestors. The Kâttu Tottiyans will eat jackals, rats and the leavings of other people. Tottiya women will not eat in the houses of Brâhmans, but no explanation of this is forthcoming. The men wear silver anklets on both legs, and also a bracelet upon one of the upper arms, both of which practices are uncommon, while the women wear bangles only on the left arm, instead of on both usual.

1 See Thurston

820 Some of the Zamindars in Madura belong to this caste. The caste title is Nâyakkan." At the census, 1901, Kudulukkâran was returned as a sub-caste of the Tottiyans in Madura and Tinnevelly. The Urumikkâran, meaning those who play on the drum called urumi, are said to be Tottiyans in Madura and Paraiyans elsewhere.

"The Tottiyans or Kambalattâns," Mr. H.A. Stuart writes,1 "are a caste of Telugu cultivators settled in the districts of Madura, Tinnevelly, Coimbatore and Salem. They are probably the descendants of poligars and soldiers of the Nâyakkan kings of Vijayanagar, who conquered the Madura country about the beginning of the sixteenth century. As regards the origin of their caste, the Tottiyans say with pride that they are the descendants of the eight thousand gópastris(milkmaids) of Krishna-- a tradition which seems to indicate that their original occupation was connected with the rearing and keeping of cattle. The most important sub- divisions are Kollar and Erkollar, the Tamil form of the Telugu Golla and Yerragolla, which are now shepherd castes, though probably they formerly had as much to do with cattle as sheep. Another large sub-division is Kille or Killavar, which I take to be a corruption of the Telugu kilâri, a herdman. The bride and bridegroom, too, are always seated on bullock saddles. They do not wear the sacred thread. Most of them are Vaishnavites, some of whom employ Brâhman priests, but the majority of them are guided by gurus of their own, called Kodângi Nâyakkan. [It is noted, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that caste matters used to be settled by the Méttu Nâyakkan or headman, and a Kodângi Nâyakkan, or priest, so called because he carried a drum.] Each family has its own household deity, which appears to be a sort of representation of departed relations, chiefly women who have burned themselves on the funeral pyre of their husbands, or have led a chaste and continent life, or died vestals. Their girls are married after they have attained maturity. Adultery is no crime when committed within the family circle, but a liaison with an outsider involves expulsion from the caste. It is said that their newly married girls are even compelled to cohabit with their husband's near relatives. [It is further said to be believed that ill-luck will attend any refusal to do so, and that, so far from any disgrace attaching to them in consequence, their priests compel them to keep up the custom, if by any chance they are unwilling2] The pongu tree (Pongamia glabra) is the sacred tree of the caste. Sati was formerly very common, and the remarriage of widows is discouraged, if not actually forbidden. The dead are generally burned. Both men and women are supposed to practice magic, and are on that account much dreaded by the people generally. They are especially noted for their power of curing snake- bites by means of mystical incantations, and the original inventor of this mode of treatment has been deified under the name Pâmbalamman. They are allowed to eat flesh. The majority speak Telugu in their houses."

The traditional story of the migration of the Tottiyans to the Madura district is given in several of the Mackenzie manuscripts, and is still repeated by the people of the caste. "Centuries ago, says this legend, the Tottiyans lived to the north of the Tungabhadra river. The Muhammadans there tried to marry their women, and make them eat beef. So one fine night they fled southwards in a body. The Muhammadans pursued them, and their path was blocked by a deep and rapid river. They had just given themselves up for lost when a pongu (Pongamia glabra) tree on either side of the stream leant forward, and, meeting in the middle, made a bridge across it. Over this they hurried, and, as soon as they had passed, the trees stood erect once more, before the Mussulmans could similarly cross by them. The Tottiyans in consequence still reverence the pongu tree, and their marriage pandals (booths) are always made from its wood. They travelled on until they came to the city of Vijayanagar, under whose king they took service, and it was in the train of the Vijayanagar armies that they came to Madura."3

1 Madras Census Report, 1891. 2 Manual of the Madura district. 3 Gazetteer of the Madura district.

821 The Tottiyans are most numerous in the Madura and Tinnevelly districts, and include two grades in the social scale. Of these, one consists of those who are engaged in cultivation, and petty Zamindars. The other is made up of those who wander about begging, and doing menial work. Between the two classes there is neither interdining nor intermarriage. In districts other than Madura and Tinnevelly, the name Tottiyan is applied by Tamil-speaking castes to the Jógis, who are beggars and pig breeders, and, like the Tottiyans, speak Telugu. The following legend is current, to account for the division of the Tottiyans into two sections. They once gave a girl in marriage to a Muhammadan ruler, and all the Tottiyans followed him. A large number went to sleep on one side of a river, while the rest crossed, and went away. The latter are represented today by the respectable section, and the begging class is descended from the former. To this day the Muhammadans and Tottiyans of the Trichinopoly district are said to address each other as if they were relations, and to be on terms of unusual intimacy.

In the Madura district, the Tottiyans are apparently divided into three endogamous sections, viz., Vékkili, Thokala, and Yerrakolla, of which the last is considered inferior to the other two. Other names for the Vékkili section are Kambalattar, or Râja Kambalattar. In some places, e.g., in Tinnevelly, there seem to be six divisions, Thokala, Chilla or Silla, Kolla, Narasilla, Kânthikolla and Pâla. Of these, Pâla may intermarry with Chilla, but the other four are endogamous. As examples of exogamous septs occurring among the Yerrakollas may be noted Chíkala (broom), and Udama (lizard, Varanus), of which the latter also occurs as an exogamous sept of the Kâpus.

In the neighbourhood of Nellakota in the Madura district, the Yerrakollas have a group of seven septs called Révala, Gollavírappa, Kambli-nayudi, Karadi (bear), Uduma, Chila, and Gelipithi. Intermarriage between these is forbidden, as they are all considered as blood- relations, and they must marry into a group of seven other septs called Gundagala, Bîsala, Manni, Sukka, Alivírappa, Sikka, and Mâdha. The names of these septs are remembered by a system of mnemonics.

In a note on the Tottiyans of the Trichinopoly district, Mr. F.R. Hemingway writes as follows. "Three endogamous sub-divisions exist in the caste, namely, the Erra (red) Gollas or Pedda Inti (big family), the Nalla (black) Gollas or Chinna Inti (small family), and Vâlus, who are also called Kudukuduppai Tottiyans. The Vâlus are said to be a restless class of beggars and sorcerers. The red Gollas are, as a rule, fairer than the blacks (whence perhaps the names). The women of the former wear white cloths, while those of the latter do not. Again, they tie their hair in different ways, and their ornaments differ a good deal. The red women carry no emblem of marriage at all, while the black women wear the pottu. The reds allow their widows to remarry, but the blacks do not. Both sections have exogamous sections, called Kambalams-the reds fourteen, and the blacks nine. The reds are divided, for purposes of caste discipline, into nine nâdus and the blacks into fourteen mandais. Each village is under a headman called the Œr-Nâyakan, and each nâdu or mandai under a Pattakâran. The former decide petty disputes, and the latter the more serious cases. The Pattakâran is treated with great deference. He is always saluted with clasped hands, ought never to look on a corpse, and is said to be allowed to consort with any married woman of the caste."

The Tottiyans are supposed to be one of the nine Kambalam (blanket) castes, which, according to one version, are made up of Kâppiliyans, Anappans, Tottiyans, Kurubas, Kummaras, Parivârams, Urumikkârans, Mangalas, and Chakkiliyans. According to another version, the nine castes are Kâppiliyan, Anappan, Tottiyan, Kolla Tottiyan, Kuruba, Kummara, Médara, Oddé, and Chakkiliyan. At tribal council-meetings, representatives of each of the nine Kambalams should be present. But, for the nine castes, some have substituted nine septs. The Vekkiliyans seem to have three headmen, called Mettu Nâyakan, Kodia Nâyakan, and Kambli Nâyakan, of whom the first mentioned is the most important, and acts as priest on various ceremonial occasions, such as puberty and marriage rites, and the worship of

822 Jakkamma and Bommakka. The Kambli Nâyakan attends to the purification of peccant or erring members of the community, in connection with which the head of a sheep or goat is taken into the house by the Kambli Nâyakan. It is noted, in the Gazetter of the Madura district, that "persons charged with offences are invited to prove their innocence by undergoing ordeals. These are now harmless enough such as attempting to cook rice in a pot which has not been fired, but Turnbull says that he saw the boiling oil ordeal in 1813 in Pudukkóttai territory. Perhaps the most serious caste offence is adultery with a man of another community. Turnbull says that women convicted of this used to be sentenced to be killed by Chakkiliyans, but nowadays rigid excommunication is the penalty." The Kambalam caste is so called because, at caste council meetings, a kambli (blanket) is spread, on which is placed a kalasam (brass vessel) filled with water, and containing margosa (Melia Azadirachla) leaves, and decorated with flowers. Its mouth is closed by mango leaves and a coconut.

A correspondent writes to me that "the Zamindars in the western parts of Madura, and parts of Tinnevelly, are known as Kambala Palayapat. If a man belongs to a Zamindar's family, he is said to be of the Râja Kambala caste. The marriage ceremony is carried out in two temporary huts erected outside the village, one for the bridegroom, the other for the bride. The tâli is tied round the bride's neck by an elderly female or male belonging to the family. If the marriage is contracted with a woman of an inferior class, the bridegroom's hut is not made use of and he does not personally take part in the ceremony. A dagger(kattar), or rude sword, is sent to represent him, and the tâli is tied in the presence thereof."

In a zamindari suit, details of which are published in the Madras Law Reports, Vol. XVII, 1894, the Judge found that the plaintiff's mother was married to the plaintiff's father in the dagger from: that a dagger is used by the Saptîr Zamindars, who are called Kattari Kamaya, in the case of inequality in the caste or social position of the bride: that, though the customary rites of the Kambala caste were also performed, yet the use of the dagger was an essential addition: and that, though she was of a different and inferior caste to that of the plaintiff's father, yet that did not invalidate the marriage. The defendant's argument was that the dagger was used to represent the Zamindar bridegroom as he did not attend in person, and that, by his non-attendance, there could have been no joining of hands, or other essential for constituting a valid marriage. The plaintiff argued that the nuptial rites were duly performed, the Zamindar being present: that the dagger was there merely as an ornament: and that it was customary for people of the Zamindar's caste to have a dagger paraded on the occasion of marriages. The Judge found that the dagger was there for the purpose of indicating that the two ladies, whom the Zamindar married, were of an inferior caste and rank.

It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that, when a Tottiyan girl attains maturity, "she is kept in a separate hut, which is watched by a Chakkiliyan. Marriage is either infant or adult. A man has the usual claim to his paternal aunt's daughter, and so rigorously is this rule followed that boys of tender years are frequently married to grown women. These latter are allowed to consort with their husband's near relations, and the boy is held to be the father of any children which may be born. Weddings last three days, and involve very numerous ceremonies. They take place in a special pandal erected in the village, on either side of which are smaller pandals for the bride and bridegroom. Two uncommon rites are the slaughtering of a red ram without blemish, and marking the foreheads of the couple with its blood, and the pursuit by the bridegroom, with a bow and arrow, of a man who pretends to flee, but is at length captured and bound. The ram is first sprinkled with water, and, if it shivers, this, as usual, is held to be a good omen. The bride- price is seven kalams of kumbu (Pennisetum typhoideum), and the couple may eat only this grain and horse-gram until the wedding is over. A bottu (marriage badge) is tied round the bride's neck by the bridegroom's sister."

823 Concerning the marriage ceremonies of the Yerrakollas, I gather that, on the betrothal day, kumbu must be cooked. Food is given to seven people belonging to seven different septs. They are then presented with betel leaves and areca nuts and four annas tied in a cloth, and the approaching marriage is announced. On the wedding day, the bride and bridegroom are seated on planks on the marriage dais, and milk is sprinkled over them by people of their own sex. A few hours later, the bridegroom takes his seat in the pandal, whither the bride is brought in the arms of her maternal uncle. She sits by the side of the bridegroom, and the Mettu Nâyakan links together the little fingers of the contracting couple, and tells them to exchange rings. This is the binding portion of the ceremony, and no bottu is tied round the bride's neck. At a marriage among the Vekkiliyans, two huts are constructed in an open space outside the village, in front of which a pandal is erected, supported by twelve posts, and roofed with leafy twigs of the pongu tree and Mimusops hexandra. On the following day, the bride being sometimes carried in the arms of her maternal uncle, they worship the ancestral heroes, who are represented by new cloths folded and placed on a tray. The bridegroom's sister ties the bottu on the bride's neck inside her hut, in front of which kumbu grain is scattered. Betel and a fanam (coin) are placed in the bride's lap. On the third day the bridegroom is dressed up, and, mounting a horse, goes, accompanied by the marriage pots, three times round the huts. He then enters the bride's hut, and she is carried in the arms of the cousins of the bridegroom thrice round the huts. The contracting couple then sit on planks, and the cousins, by order of the Mettu Nâyakan, link their little fingers together. They then enter the bridegroom's hut, and a mock ploughing ceremony is performed. Coming out from the hut, they take up a child, and carry it three times round the huts. This is, it is said, done because, in former days, the Tottiyan bride and bridegroom had to remain in the marriage huts till a child was born, because the Mettu nâyakan was so busy that he had no time to complete the marriage ceremony until nearly a year had elapsed.

At wedding among the nomad Tottiyans, a fowl is killed near the marriage (aravéni) pots, and with its blood a mark is made on the foreheads of the bride and bridegroom on their entry into the booths. The Vekkiliyans sacrifice a goat or sheep instead of a fowl, and the more advanced among them substitute the breaking of a cocoanut for the animal sacrifice.

In connection with marriage, Mr. Hemingway writes that " the Tottiyans very commonly marry a young boy to a grown woman, and, as among the Konga Vellâlas, the boy's father takes the duties of a husband upon himself until the boy is grown up. Married women are allowed to bestow their favours upon their husband's relations, and it is said to be an understood thing that a man should not enter his dwelling, if he sees another's slippers placed outside as a sign that the owner of them is with the mistress of the house. Intercourse with men of another caste is, however, punished by expulsion, and widows and unmarried girls who go astray are severely dealt with. Formerly, it is said, they were killed."

At a Tottiyan funeral, fire is carried to the burning gound by a Chakkiliyan, and the pure is lighted, not by the sons, but by the sammandhis (relations by marriage).

The Tottiyans of the Madura district observe the worship of ancestors, who are represented by a number of stones set up somewhere within the village boundaries. Such places are called mâle. According to Mr. Hemingway, when a member of the caste dies, some of the bones are buried in this shed, along with a coin, and a stone is planted on the spot. The stones are arranged in an irregular circle. The circles of the Yerrakollas are exceedingly simple, and recall to mind those of the Nâyâdis of Malabar, but without the tree. The stones are set up in an open space close to the burning-ground. When a death occurs, a stone is erected among the ashes of the deceased on the last day of the funeral ceremonies (karmândhiram), and worshipped. It is immediately transferred to the ancestral circle. The mâlé of the Vekkiliyan section of the Tottiyans consists of a massive central wooden pillar, carved with male and female human figures, set up in a cavity in a round boulder, and covered over by a conical canopy supported on pillars. When this canopy is set in motion, the central pillar, which is

824 about ten feet high, a number of stones of different sizes are set up. The central pillar represents Jakkamma and other remote ancestors. The surrounding stones are the representatives of those who have died in recent times. Like the Yerrakollas, the Vekkiliyans erect a stone on the Karmândhiram day at the spot where the body was cremated, but, instead of transferring it at once to the ancestral circle, they wait till the day of periodical mâlé worship, which, being an expensive ceremonial, may take place only once in twelve years. If the interval is long, the number of stones representing those who have died meanwhile may be very large. News of the approaching mâlé worship is sent to the neighbouring villages, and on the appointed day, people of all castes pour in, bringing with them several hundred bulls. The hosts supply their guests with fodder, pots, and a liberal allowance of sugar-cane. Refusal to bestow sugar-cane freely would involve failure of the object of the ceremonial. After the completion of the worship, the bulls are let loose, and the animal which reaches the mâlé first is decorated, and held in reverence. Its owner is presented with cloths, money, etc. The ceremony may be compared with that of selecting the king bull among the Kâppiliyans.

Self-cremation is said1 to have been "habitually practised by Tottiya widows in the times anterior to British domination: and great respect was always shown to the memory of such as observed the custom. Small tombs termed thipanjankóvil (fire-torch temple) were erected in their honour on the high-roads, and at these oblations were once a year offered to the names of the deceased heroines. Sati was not, however, compulsory among them, and, if a widow lived at all times a perfectly chaste and religious life, she was honoured equally with such as performed the rite." It is noted, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that "sati was formerly very common in the caste, and the two caste goddesses Jakkamma and Bommayya, are deifications of women who thus sacrificed themselves. Every four years a festival is held in their honour, one of the chief events in which is a bullock race. The owner of the winning animal receives a prize, and gets the first betel and nut during the feast. The caste god is Perumâl, who is worshipped in the form of a curry grinding stone. The story goes that, when the Tottiyans were fleeing to the south, one of their women found her grinding-stone so intolerably heavy that she threw it away. It, however, re-appeared in her basket. Thrown away again, it once more re-appeared, and she then realised that the caste god must be accompanying them."

"The Tottiyans," Mr. Hemingway writes, "do not recognise the superiority of Brâhmans, or employ them as priests at marriages or funerals. They are deeply devoted to their own caste deities. Some of these are Bommaka and Mallamma (the spirits of women who committed sati long ago), Vírakâran or Víramâti (a bridegroom who was killed in a fight with a tiger), Pattâlamma (who helped them in their flight from the north), and Mâlai Tambirân, the god of ancestors. Muttalamma and Jakkamma are also found. Mâlai Tambirân is worshipped in the mâlé. The Tottiyans are known for their uncanny devotion to sorcery and witchcraft. All of them are supposed to possess unholy powers, especially the Nalla Gollas, and they are much dreaded by their neighbours. They do not allow any stranger to enter their villages with shoes on, or on horseback, or holding up an umbrella, lest their god should be offended. It is generally believed that, if any one breaks this rule, he will be visited with illness or some other punishment."

The Tottiyans have attached to them a class of beggars called Pichiga vâdu, concerning whose origin the following legend is narrated. There were, once upon a time, seven brothers and a sister belonging to the Irrivâru exogamous sept. The brothers went on a pilgrimage to Benares, leaving their sister behind. One day, while she was bathing, a sacred bull(Nandi) left its sperm on her cloth, and she conceived. Her condition was noticed by her brothers on their return, and, suspecting her of immorality, they were about to excommunicate her. But they discovered some cows in calf as the result of parthenogenesis, and six of the brothers were satisfied as to the girl's innocence. The seventh, however, required further proof. After

1 Manual of the Madura district.

825 the child was born, it was tied to a branch of a dead chilla tree (Stuychnos potatorum), which at once burst into leaf and flower. The doubting brother became a cripple, and his descendants are called Pichiga vâru, and those of the baby Chilla vâru.

Turaihas.: -They are ceremonial drummers and musicians in Uttar Pradesh,

Turi.: -A non-Aryan caste of cultivators1, basket makers and bamboo-workers of Chota Nagpur, numbering at the recent Census 45,000, being distributed over several districts in small numbers, but fully half of the caste reside in Hazaribagh. They are divided into four subcastes, which again are split up into a large number of septs of clearly totemistic origin. The septs closely resemble those of the Mundas, and it is probable that the caste consists of infusions of members of various races who have adopted the profession of workers in bamboo. They are usually indistinguishable physically and in their speech from the people among whom they have made their homes, and there can be no doubt but that many pose as Mundas, Uraons and Kharias when tendering themselves as recruits for Assam. Their religion is closely akin to that of the Mundas which has been discussed at length in the article on that tribe.

Turi.: -a non-Aryan caste of cultivators, workers in bamboo, and basket-makers in Chota Nagpur2. The physical type of the Turi, their language, and their religion, place it beyond doubt that they are a Hinduised offshoot of the Mundas In Lohardaga, where the caste is most numerous, it is divided into four sub-castes-- Turi or Kisan-Turi, Or, Dom, and Domra-- distinguished by the particular modes of basket and bamboo-work which they practise. Thus the Turi or Kisan-Turi, who are also cultivators and hold bhuinhari land make the sup, a winnowing sieve made of sirkl, the upper joint of Saccharum procerum; the tokri or tokiya, a large open basket of split bamboo twigs woven up with the fibre of the leaves of the tal palm; the sair and nadua, used for catching fish. The Ors are said to take their name from the oriya basket used by the sower, and made of split bamboo sometimes helped out with tal fibre. They also make umbrellas, and the chhotka dali or dala, a flat basket with vertical sides used for handling grain in small quantities. Doms make the harka and scale-pans (taraju). Domars make the peli and fans. Turis frequently reckon in as a fifth sub-caste the Birhors, who cut bamboos and make the sikas used for carrying loads slung on a shoulder- yoke (bahangi), and a kind of basket called phanda. Doms and Domras speak Hindu; Turis, Ors, and Birhors use among themselves a dialect of Mundari. All these sub-castes profess to be strictly endogamous; but a Turi can marry the daughter of an Or provided that she is formally admitted into the Turi sub-caste. This is effected by her lover giving a feast to the leading men of the local caste community. Members of other castes who have taken to themselves Turi women and have been ejected from their own group may be admitted on similar terms.

Marriage. The sections of the Turis are for the most part totemistic, and correspond closely with those in force among the Mundas. The rule of exogamy extends only to a man's own section, and is supplemented by the standard table of prohibited degrees. Except in Hinduised and comparatively wealthy families, whose tendency is to affect infant-marriage, girls usually marry as adults. Free courtship is recognized, and sexual license before marriage tolerated. Both youths and maidens are said, however, to lead purer lives than the Oraons, owing, it is

1 See Hand Book. 2 Risley

826 suggested, to the fact that they do not frequent the dancing ground (akhra), and are thus less exposed to the temptations of the flesh. Before a marriage can be celebrated the consent of the heads of the Madalwar and Surinwar sections, who are known respectively as Raja and Thakur, is obtained, and a bride price of Rs. 2-8 is paid. The village pahan attends, and the head of the Charchagiya section officiates as priest. Sindurdan is the binding portion of the ceremony. Polygamy is permitted, the only limit to the number of wives a man may have being his ability to maintain them. A widow may marry again by the sagai form, and it is usual for her to marry her husband's younger brother if there is one. Sindur is not used in the sagai ceremony as practised by the Turis. The essential points are the consent of the chief relatives and the presentation to the bride of a new cloth and a lac armlet. Divorce is allowed, and divorced women may marry again.

Religion. The original religion of the Turis is beyond doubt closely akin to the form of animism current among the Mundas and described at length in the article on that tribe. In many villages, indeed, they hold the office of pahan. Baranda Bhut and Bura-Buri are held in special reverence. Of late years large numbers of Turis have embraced the tenets of the deistic sect, known to its members as Sri-Narayani, from the name of God, and to outsiders as Siva- Narayani, from the name of its founder, a Rajput of Ghazipur, who lived early in the eighteenth century. These however, who call themselves Sri-Narayan Panthis, have by no means broken with the animistic faith of their ancestors, and in cases of illness have recourse to the regular aboriginal methods on propitiating the spirit who is believed to be afflicting them.

Social status. Turis will eat cooked food with Mundas and Oraons, take sweetmeats from Ahirs and Telis, and water from the Or sub-caste. They will smoke only with members of their own sub-caste. For the rest they are as lax in matters of diet as the Mundas and Oraons. Sri-Narayanis abstain from the flesh of animals which have died a natural death, and from spirituous liquors.

Turi.: -A non-Aryan caste1 of cultivators, workers in bamboo, and basket-markers, belonging to the Chota Nagpur plateau. They number about 4000 persons in Raigarh, Sarangarh and the States recently transferred from Bengal. The physical type of the Turis, Sir H. Risley states, their religion place it beyond doubt that they are a Hinduised offshoot of the Munda tribe. They still speak a dialect from Mundari, and their principal deity is Singbonga or the sun, the great god of the Mundas: "In Lohardaga where the caste is most numerous, it is divided into four subcastes-- Turi or Kisan-Turi, Or, Dom, and Domra-- distinguished by the particular modes of basket and bamboo-work which they practise. Thus the Turi or Kisan- Turi, who are also cultivators and hold bhuinhari land, make the sup, a winnowing sieve made of sirki, the upper joint of Saccharum procerum; the tokri or tokiya, a large open basket of split bamboo twigs woven up with the fibre of the leaves of the tal palm; the sair and nadua, used for catching fish. The Ors are said to take their name from the Oriya basket used by the sower, and made of split bamboo, sometimes helped out with tal fibre. They also make umbrellas, and the chhota dali or dala, a flat basket with vertical sides used for handling grain in small quantities. Doms make the harka and scale-pans (taraju) . Domras make the peti and fans. Turis frequently reckon in as a fifth subcaste the Birhors, who cut bamboos and make the sikas used for carrying loads slung on a shoulder-yoke (Bhangi), and a kind of basket called phanda. Doms and Domras speak Hindi; Turis, Ors and Birhors use among themselves a dialect of Mundari."2

1 See Russell. 2 Tribes and castes of Bengal, art. Turi.

827 Subdivisions. In Raigarh and Sarangarh of the central Provinces the above subcastes are not found, and there are no distinct endogamous groups; but the more Hinduised members of the caste have begun to marry among themselves and call themselves Turia, while they look down on the others to whom they restrict the designation Turi. The names of subcastes given by Sir. H. Risley appear to indicate that the Turis are an offshoot from the Mundas, with an admixture of Doms and other low Uriya castes. Among themselves the caste is also known as Husil, a term which signifies a worker in bamboo. The caste say that their original ancestor was created by Singbonga, the sun, and had five sons, one of whom found a wooden image of their deity in the Baranda forest, near the Barpahari hill in Chota Nagpur. This image was adopted as their family deity, and is revered to the present day as Barpahari Deo. The deity is thus called after the hill, of which it is clear that he is the personified representative. From the five sons are descended the five main septs of the Turis. The eldest was called Mailuar, and his descendants are the leaders or headmen of the caste. The group sprung from the second son are known as Chardhagia, and it is their business to purify and readmit offenders to caste intercourse. The descendants of the third son conduct the ceremonial shaving of such offenders, and are known as Surennar, while those of the fourth son bring water for the ceremony and are called Tirkuar. The fifth group is known as Hasdagia, and it is said that they are the offspring of the youngest brother, who committed some offence, and the four other brothers took the parts which are still played by their descendants in his ceremony of purification. Traces of similar divisions appear to be found in Bengal, as Sir. H. Risley states that before a marriage can be celebrated the consent of the heads of the Madalwar and Surinwar sections, who are known respectively as Raja and Thakur is obtained, while the head of the Charchagiya section officiates as priest. The above names are clearly only variants of those found in the Central Provinces. But besides the above groups the Turis have a large number of exogamous septs of a totemistic nature, some of which are identical with those of the Mundas.

Marriage. Marriage is adult and the bride and bridegroom are usually about the same age; but girls are scarce in the caste, and betrothals are usually effected at an early age, so that the fathers of boys may obtain brides for their sons. A contract of betrothal, once made, cannot be broken without incurring social disgrace, and compensation in money is also exacted. A small bride- price of three or four rupees and a piece of cloth is payable to the girl's father. As in the case of some other Uriya castes the proposal for a marriage is couched in poetic phraseology, the Turi bridegroom's ambassador announcing his business with the phrase: "I hear that a sweet- scented flower has blossomed in your house and I have come to gather it"; to which the bride's father, if the match be acceptable, replies: "You may take away my flower if you will not throw it away when its sweet scent has gone." The girl then appears, and the boy's father gives her a piece of cloth and throws a little liquor over her feet. He then takes her on his lap and gives her an anna to buy a ring for herself, and sometimes kisses her and says, 'You will preserve my lineage.' He washes the feet of her relatives, and the contract of betrothal is thus completed, and its violation by either party is a serious matter. The wedding is performed according to the ritual commonly practised by the Uriya caste. The binding portion of it consists in the perambulation of the sacred pole five or seven times. After each circle the bridegroom takes hold of the bride's toe and makes her kick away a small heap of rice on which a nut and a piece coin are placed. After this a cloth is held over the couple and each rubs vermilion on the other's forehead. At this moment the bride's brother appears, and gives the bridegroom a blow in the back. This is probably in token of his wrath at being deprived of his sister. A meal of rice and fowls is set before the bridegroom, but he feigns displeasure, and refuses to eat them. The bride's parents then presents him with a pickaxe and a crooked knife, saying that these are the implements of their trade, and will suffice him for a livelihood. The bridegroom, however, continues obdurate until they promise him a cow or a bullock, when he consents to eat. The bride's family usually spend twenty or more

828 rupees on her wedding, and the bridegroom's family about fifty rupees. A window is expected to marry her Dewar or deceased husband's younger brother, and if she takes somebody else he must repay to the Dewar the expenditure incurred by the latter's family on her first marriage. Divorce is permitted for misconduct on the part of the wife or for incompatibility of temper.

Funeral Rites. The caste bury the dead, placing the head to the north. They make libations to the spirits of their ancestors on the last day of Phagun (February), and not during the fortnight of Pitripaksh in Kunwar (September) like other Hindu castes. They believe that the spirits of ancestors are reborn in children, and when a baby is born they put a grain if rice into a pot of water and then five other grains in, each one representing a particular ancestor. When one of these meets the grain representing the child they hold that the ancestor in question had been born again. The principal deity of the caste is Singbonga, the sun, and according to one of their stories the sun is female. They say that the sun and moon were two sisters, both of whom had children, but when the sun gave out great heat the moon was afraid that her children would be burnt up, so she hid them in a handi or earthen pot. When the sun messed her sister's children she asked her where they were, and the moon replied that she had eaten them up; on which the sun also ate her own children. But when night came the moon took her children out of the earthen pot and they spread out in the sky and became the stars. And when the sun saw this she was greatly angered and vowed that she would never look on the moon's face again. And it is on this account that the moon is not seen in the daytime, and as the sun ate up all her children there are no stars during the day.

Occupation. The caste make and sell all kinds of articles manufactured from the wood of the bamboo, and the following list of their wares will give an idea of the variety of purposes for which this product is utilised: " Tukna, an ordinary basket; dauri, a basket for washing rice in a stream; lodhar, a large basket for carrying grain on carts; chuki, a small basket for measuring grain; grani and sikosi, a small basket for holding betel-leaf and a box for carrying it in the pocket; dhitori, a fish-basket; Dholi, a large bamboo shed for storing grain; ghurki and paili, grain measures; chhanni, a sieve; taji, a balance; pankha and bijna, fans; pelna, a triangular frame for a fishing-net; choniya, a cage for catching fish; chatai, matting; chhata, an umbrella; chhitori, a leaf hat for protecting the body from rain; pinjra a cage; khunkhuna, a rattle; and guna, a muzzle for bullocks. Most of them are very poor, and they say that when Singbonga made their ancestors he told them to fetch something in which to carry away the grain which he would give them for their support; but the Turis brought a bamboo sieve, and when Singbonga poured the grain into the sieve nearly the whole of it ran out. So he reproved them for their foolishness, and said, 'Khasar, tin pasar,' which meant that, however hard they should works, they would never earn more than three handfuls of grain a day.

Social Status. The social status of the Turis is very low, and their touch is regarded as impure. They must live outside the village and may not draw water from the common well; the village barber will not shave them nor the washerman wash their clothes. They will eat all kinds of food, including the flesh of rats and other vermin, but not beef. The rules regarding social impurity are more strictly observed in the Uriya country than elsewhere, owing to the predominant influence of the Brahmans, and this is probably the reason why the Turis are so severely ostracised. Their code of social morality is not strict, and a girl who is seduced by a man of the caste is simply made over to him as his wife, the ordinary bride-price being exacted from him. He must also feed the caste-fellows, and any money which is received by the girl's father is expended in the same manner. Members of Hindu caste and Gonds may be admitted into the community, but not the Munda tribes, such as the Mundas themselves and the Kharias and Korwas; and this, though the Turis, as has been seen, are themselves an

829 offshoot of the Munda tribe. The fact indicates that in Chota Nagpur the tribes of the Munda family occupy a lower social position than the Gonds and others belonging to the Dravidian family. When an offender of either sex is to be readmitted into caste after having been temporarily expelled for some offence he or she is given water to drink and has a lock of hair cut off. Their women are tattooed on the arms, breast and feet, and say that this is the only ornament which they can carry to the grave.

Tîrí.: -According to Mr. Risley, the Tîrís are "a non-Aryan caste of cultivators, workers in bamboo, and basket-makers in Chota Nagpur1. The physical type of the Tîrís, their language and their religion, place it beyond doubt that they are a Hinduised off-shoot of the Mu∑πâs. In Lohardaga, where the caste is most numerous, it is divided into four sub-castes-- Tîrí or Kisân -Tîrí, Or, Dom, and Domrâ -- distinguished by the particular modes of basket and bamboo-work which they practise. Tîrís frequently reckon in as a fifth sub-caste the Birhâ®s, who cut bamboos and make the sikâs used for carrying loads slung on a shoulder yoke (bahangi), and a kind of basket called phanda . Doms and Domrâs speak Hindi; Tîrís, Ors, and Birhâ®s use among themselves a dialect of Mu∑πârí." The Birhâ® dialect is closely related to Mu∑πârí, and the speech of the Tîrís also agrees with that language in most essential points. In a few characteristics, however, it follows Santâlí, as against Mu∑πârí. According to information collected for the purposes of this Survey, Tîrí is spoken in Ranchi, the Jashpur State, Sambalpur, and Sarangarh. The following are the revised figures returned for the purposes of this Survey:

Ranchi 456 Jashpur State 2,000 Sambalpur 1,000 Sarangarh 271 ------Total 3,727

The corresponding figures at the Census of 1901 were as follows: Burdwan 38 24-Parganas 384 Jessore 94 Dinajpur 258 Jalpaiguri 547 Darjeeling 209 Bogra 546 Sontal Parganas 1 Ranchi 450 Palamau 24 Singbhum 39 Chota Nagpur Tributary States 630 Sambalpur 660 ------Total 3,880

In Sambalpur the Tîrí dialect is almost pure Mu∑πârí. 'A man' is, however, ho®. Compare Santâlí: forms such as péâ, three; pîniâ, four, in Tîrí agree with Santâlí, as does the phonology of the dialect in most points. Thus we find ñel, to see, in Jashpur, but lel in Ranchi.

1 Linguistic Survey of India.

830 The inflexion of nouns and pronouns is mainly regular. The dative-accusative adds the Aryan ke, and the two genders are occasionally confounded. Thus, ap -tai -ke, to his father; sukri -ren jojomak', the swine's food. In Sarangarh we find forms such as apan, is, and the singular and plural forms of the pronouns are often confounded in the specimen from that State; thus, yem-âd- i -y -â -e, he gave him, i .e . them; âm, thou, instead of âpé, you and so forth. The inflexion of verbs agrees with Santâlí But replaces the k of kan by t in the same way as in Mu∑πârí. The distinction between the various suffixes which are used to denote past time is rather loose. On the whole, however, the conjugation is regular. Compare senok '-a -i©g, I shall go; katha -i -a -in••g, I shall say to him; bigu® -jun -â -pe, you will become at variance with yourselves; goch '-tan -â -in••g, I die; sap '-ked -â, seized; lâ†ék'- lid -i -â, struck him; hoi -en -â, became, and so forth.

Uppalingas.: -See Upparas.

Upparas.: -They used to be salt workers and earth diggers. Now they earn a living as farmers and agricultural casual labour. They live in Karnataka. They are like the Uppalingas.

Vada.: -They are specialists in wooden handicraft work. They move around in Kashmir and West India.

Vaddar.: -See Od and Beldar

Vadi.: -They are snake-charmers of Rajasthan

Vaghe.: -See Nandiwalas.

Vagiri.: -A Nomadic group of South India. They speak Marathi. Men catch birds and jackals, women beg and sing songs. They wander in the jungle and from village to village with their pack bullocks. They worship Kali.

Vaidu.: -They are specially concentrated in Maharashtra, where they arrived around the year 1700. %Vaidiya‘ means village doctor or charlatan. They prepare medicines with herbs and roots. Their remedies are appreciated by local villagers. See Baydda.

Vaidu.: -See Baidya,

Vajantris.: -See Hallir.

831 Varli.: -They live in Maharashtra. They live in small groups with their headman. They have four endogamic divisions: Suddha, Murde, Davar and Nihir, and 40 exogamous divisions: Bautria, Bhanjara, Bhavar, Korbat, Kondaria etc.,

Vendan.: -The vedans1 are described by Mr. H.A. Stuart, in the North Arcot Manual, as having been "formerly hunters and soldiers, and it is this caste which furnished a considerable and valuable contingent to the early Hindu kings, and later to the armies of Hyder and Tippoo. They are supposed by some to be the remnants of the earliest inhabitants of the peninsula, and identical with the Veddahs of Ceylon. They are also called Valmikulu, which means those who live on the products of anthills (valmikum)." It is noted, in the Census Report, 1891, that the two castes Bedar (or Boya) and Vedan were, "through a misapprehension of instructions, treated as identical in the tabulation papers. The two words are, no doubt, etymologically identical, the one being Canarese and the other Tamil, but the castes are quite distinct." It may be noted that the name Valmika or Valmiki is assumed by the Boyas, who claim descent from Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana, who did penance for so long in one spot that a white-ant hill grew up round him.

In the Madras Report, 1901, the Vedans are described as "a Tamil-speaking labouring and hunting caste, the members of which were formerly soldiers, and subsequently dacoits. The name means a hunter, and is loosely applied to the Irulas in some places (e. g., Chingleput). There is some connection between the Vedans and Tamil Vettuvans, but its precise nature is not clear. The Vettuvans now consider themselves superior to the Vedans, and are even taking to calling themselves Vettuva Vellalas. Marriage (among the Vedans) is either infant or adult. Widows may marry their late husband's brother or agnates. Some employ Brahmans as priests. They either burn or bury their dead. They claim descent from Kannappa Nayanar, one of the sixty-three Saivits saints. Ambalakarans also claim to be descended from Kannappa Nayanar. In Tanjore, the Valaiyans declare themselves to have a similar origin. The title of the Vedans is Nayakkan." In the Madura Manual, the Vedans are described as a very low caste, who get their living in the jungles. They are not numerous now. They appear to have been naked savages not very long ago, and their civilisation is far from complete. They are held in the greatest contempt by men of all classes. They are described further, in the Coimbatore Manual, as "a very degraded, poor tribe, living by basket-making, small game, and so on. They speak a low Canarese, and are as simple as savage. The delight of a party at the gift of a rupee is something curious." In the Salem district some Vedans are said2 to be "known by the caste name Tiruvalar, who are dintinguished as the Kattukudugirajati, a name derived from a custom among them which authorises temporary matrimonial arrangements."

The following story in connection with bears and Vedans is worthy of being placed on record. The bears are said to collect ripe wood-apples (Feronia elephantum) during the season, and store them in the forest. After a small quantity has been collected, they remove the rind of the fruits, and heap together all the pulp. They then bring honey and petals of sweet-smelling flowers, put them on the heap of pulp, and thresh them with their feet and with sticks in their hands. When the whole has become a consistent mass, they feed on it. The Vedan, who knows the season, is said to drive off the bears by shooting at them, and rob them of their feast, which is sold as karadi panchamritham, or bear delicacy made of five ingredients. The Vedars of Travancore are summed up by the Rev. S. Mateer3 as "living in jungle clearings or working in the rice fields, and formerly sold and bought as slaves. They have to

1 Se Thurston. 2 Manual of the Salem district. 3 Native Life in Travancore.

832 wander about in seasons of scarcity in search of wild yams, which they boil and eat on the spot, and are thorough gluttons, eating all they can get at any time, then suffering want for days. Polygamy is common, as men are not required to provide for the support of their wives. Some, who have been converted to Christianity, show wonderful and rapid improvement in moral character, civilisation and diligence."

For the following note in the Mala (hill) Vedans of Travancore, I am indebted to Mrs. J.W. Evans1: "They live in wretched huts amid the rice-flats at the foot of the hills, and are employed by farmers to guard the crops from the ravages of wild beasts. The upper incisor teeth of both men and women are filed to a sharp point, like crocodile's fangs. One ugly old man, Tiruvatiran by name (the name of a star), had the four teeth very slightly filed. On being pressed for the reason why he had not conformed to Mala Vedar fashion, he grinned, and said 'What beauty I was born with is enough for me.' Probably the operation had been more painful than he could bear, or maybe he could not afford to pay the five betel leaves and area nuts, which are the customary fee of the filer. Any man may perform the operation. A curved bill-hook, with serrated edge, is the instrument used. On being asked whether they had any tradition about the custom of tooth-filing, they replied it was to distinguish their caste, and the good Chattan would be angry if they neglected the custom. It may be noted that tooth-filing is also practiced by the jungle Kadirs (q.v.). Both males and females wore a cotton loin-cloth, mellowed by wear and weather to a subtle greenish hue. Red and blue necklaces, interstrung with sections of the chank shell (Turbinella rapa) adorned the necks and chests. one woman was of special interest. Her neck and breasts were literally concealed by a medley of beads, shells, brass bells, and two common iron keys - these last, she said, for ornament. Around her hips, over her cloth, hung several rows of small bones of pig and sambar (Cervus unicolor). The Mala Vedars find these bones in the jungle. An aged priest said that he used to perform devil-dancing, but was now too stiff to dance, and had to labour like the younger men. The Mala Vedans apparently possess no temples or shrines, but Hindus permit them to offer money at the Hindu shrines from a distance, at times of sudden sickness or during other seasons of panic. Their god Chattan, or Sattan, has no fixed abode, but, where the Mala Vedans are, there he is in the midst of them. They bury their dead in a recumbent posture, near the hut of the deceased. The Mala Vedans practice the primitive method of kindling fire by the friction of wood (also practiced by the Kanakars), and, like the Kanakars, they eat the black monkey. Their implements are bill-hooks, and bows and arrows. They weave grass baskets, which are slung to their girdles, and contain betel, etc."

The more important measurements of twenty-five Mala Vedans examined by myself were as follows: Max Min Average

Stature (cm) 163.8 140.8 154.2 Cephalic index 80.9 68.8 73.4 Nasla index 102.6 71.1 85.0

The figures show that, like other primitive jungle tribes is Southern India, the Mala Vedans are short of stature, dolichocephalic, and platyrrhine.

The following menstrual ceremony has been described2 as occurring among the Vedans of Travancore. "The wife at menstruation is secluded for five days in a hut a quarter of a mile from her home, which is also used by her at childbirth. The next five days are passed in a second hut, halfway between the first and her house. On the ninth day her husband holds a feast, sprinkles his floor with wine, and invites his friends to a spread of rice and palm wine. Until this evening, he has not dared to eat anything but roots, for fear of being killed by the

1 Madras Museum, Bull. 111, 1, 1900. 2 Crawley. The Mystic Rose. Fide Jagor. Zeitsch : Ethnol. X1, 164.

833 devil. On the tenth day he must leave his house, to which he may not return until the woman, her sister have bathed his wife, escorted her home, and eaten rice together. For four days after his return, however, he may not eat rice in his own house, or have connection with his wife. "

Wâghya.: -Vâghe, Murli1.- An order of mendicant devotees of the god Khandoba, an incarnation of Siva; they belong to the Marâtha Districts and Bombay where Khandoba is worshipped. The term Wâghya is derived from vâgh, a tiger, and had been given to the order on account of the small bag of tiger-skin, containing bhandâr, or powdered turmeric, which they carry round their necks. This has been consecrated to Khandoba and they apply a pinch of it to the foreheads of those who give them alms. Murli, signifying 'a flute' is the name given to female devotees. Wâghya is a somewhat indefinite term and in the Central Provinces does not strictly denote a caste. The order originated in the practice followed by childless mothers of vowing to Khandoba that if they should bear a child, their first-born should be devoted to his service. Such a child became a Wâghya or Murli according as it was a boy or a girl. But they were not necessarily severed from their own caste and might remain members of it and marry in it. Thus there are Wâghya Telis in Wardha, who marry with other Telis. The child might also be kept in the temple for a period and then withdrawn, and nowadays this is always done. The children of rich parents sometimes simply remain at home and worship Khandoba there. But they must beg on every Sunday from at least five persons all their lives. Another practice, formerly existing, was for the father and mother to vow that if a child was born they would be swung. They were then suspended from a wooden post on a rope by an iron hook inserted in the back and swung round four or five times. The sacred turmeric was applied to the wound and it quickly healed up. Others would take a Wâghya child to Mahâdeo's cave in Pachmarhi and let it fall from the top of a high tree. If it lived it was considered to be a Râja of Mahâdeo, and if it died happiness might confidently be anticipated for it in the next birth. Besides the children who are dedicated to Khandoba, a man may become a Wâghya either for life or for a certain period in fulfilment of a vow, and in the latter case will be an ordinary member of his own caste again on its termination. The Wâghyas and Murlis who are permanent members of the order sometimes also live together and have children who are brought up it. The constitution of the order is therefore in several respects indefinite, and it has not become a self-contained caste, though there are Wâghyas who have no other caste.

The following description of the dedication of children to Khandoba is taken from the Bombay Gazetteer.2 When parents have to dedicate boy to Khandoba they go to his temple at Jejuri in Poona on any day in the month of Chaitra (March-April). They stay at a Gurao's house and tell him the object of their visit. The boy's father brings offerings and they go in procession to Khandoba's temple. There the Gurao marks the boy's brow with turmeric, throws turmeric over his head, fastens round his neck a deer or tiger-skin wallet hung from a black woollen string, and throws turmeric over the god, asking him to take the boy. The Murlis or girls dedicated to the god are married to him between one and twelve years of age. The girl is taken to the temple by her parents accompanied by the Gurao priest and other Murlis. At the temple she is bathed and her body rubbed with turmeric, with which the feet of the idol are also anointed. She is dressed in a new robe and bodice, and green glass bangles are put on the wrists. A turban and sash are presented to the god, and the guru taking a necklace of nine cowries (shells) fastens it round the girl's neck. She then stands before the god, a cloth being held between them as at a proper wedding, and the priest repeats the marriage verses. Powdered turmeric is thrown on the heads of the girl and of the idol, and from that day she is considered to be the wife of Khandoba and cannot marry any

1 See Russell. This article is partly based on a paper by Pandit Pyâre Lâl Misra, ethnographic clerk. 2. Vol. xx. pp. 19-190.

834 other man. When a Murli comes of age she sits by herself for four days. Then she looks about for a patron, and when she succeeds in getting one she calls a meeting of her brethren, the Wâghyas, and in their presence the patron says, 'I will fill the Murli's lap.' The Wâghyas ask him what he will pay and after some haggling a sum is agreed on, which thirty years ago varied between twenty-five and a hundred rupees. If it is more than Rs. 50 a half of the money goes to the community, who spend it on a feast. With the balance the girl buys clothes for herself. She lives with her patron for as long as he wishes to keep her, and is then either attached to the temple or travels about as a female mendicant. Sometimes a married woman will leave her home and become a Murli, with the object as a rule of leading a vicious life.

A man who takes a vow to become a Wâghya must be initiated by a guru, who is some elder member of the order. The initiation takes place early on a Sunday morning, and after the disciple is shaved, bathed and newly clad, the guru places a string of cowries round his neck and gives him the tiger-skin bag in which the turmeric is kept. He always retains much reverence for his guru , and invokes him with the exclamation, 'Jai Guru,' before starting out to beg in the morning. The following articles are carried by the Wâghyas when begging. The dapdi is a circular single drum of wood, covered with goat-skin, and suspended to the shoulder. The chouka consists of a single wire suspended from a bar and passing inside a hollow wooden conical frame. The wire is struck with a stick to produce the sound. The ghâti is an ordinary temple bell; and the kutumba is a metal saucer which serves for a begging- bowl. This is considered sacred, and sandalwood is applied to it before starting out in the morning. The Wâghyas usually beg in parties of four, each man carrying one of these articles. Two of them walk in front and two behind, and they sing songs in praise of Khandoba and play on the instruments. Every Wâghya has also the bag made of tiger-skin, or, if this cannot be had, of deer-hair round the neck. Alms, after being received in the kutumba or saucer, are carried in a bag, and before setting out in the morning they put a little grain in this bag, as they think that it would unlucky to start with it empty. At they end of the day they set out their takings on the ground and make a little offering of fire to them, throwing a pinch of turmeric in the air in the name of Khandoba. The four men then divide the takings and go home. Marâthas, Murlis and Telis are the castes who revere Khandoba, and they invite the Wâghyas to sing on the Dasahra and also at their marriages. In Bombay the Wâghyas force iron bars through their calves and pierce the palms of their hands with needles. To the needle a strip of wood is attached, and on this five lighted torches are set out, and the Wâghya waves them about on his hand before the god.1 Once in three years each Wâghya makes a pilgrimage to Khandoba's chief temple at Jejuri near Poona, and there are also local temples to this deity at Hinganghât and Nâgpur. The Wâghyas eat flesh and drink liquor, and their social and religious customs resemble those of the Marâthas and Kunbis.

Wagri.: -Wandering Tribe from Rajasthan. They make statues.

1. Bombay Gazetteer , vol. xxii. p. 212.

835