Central Provinces District Gazetteers
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54 DRUG. POPULATION. A few cases of lathyrism or paralysis ansmg from the REI.IGION, 55 consumption of the pulse tiura (Lalhyms sativus) were thine also. A full notice of Cbhattisgarhi 1s contained noticed after the famine of 1900. In Drug town some in the Raipur and Bilaspur District Volumes. Bagheli is cases of elephantiasis of the leg are noticed among the spoken by zg,ooo persons principally in the north of the people living on the bank of the moat round the old fort. District, and ;\!arathi by about 17,ooo to the west. The Venereal disease is more prevalent than in the northern fig ures of Marathi-speakers include the Halbas, who Districts, hut is not particularly virulent in form. Plague have a dialect of their own compounded from Marathi, appeared for the first time in indigenous form in Drug Uriya and Chhattisgarhi. Gondi is returned by about town in 1907 and caused 70 deaths. f 7000 persons . .u. In 1901, four-fifths of the entire population were shown as dependent on pasture RELIGION. •ll"cupation. and agriculture, and this proportion 45· The statistics of religion show that Hindus probably represents fairly accurately the existing state constitute nearly 90 per cent. of of the District's development. Of the remaining one Religion-Village the population and Animists about gods and priests. fifth also a considerable proportion consists of th.e villagl' 9 per cent. The number of Muham artisans and menials who are directly dependent on madans is insignificant. Chhattisgarhi Brahmans act agriculture for their livelihood. The District is altogether as the priests of all castes except Chamars, Mehras, and without important industries. Ghasias. The fmrohit or village priest has a clientele H· The principal language of the District is the extending over one or more villages. He often receives Chhattisgarhi dialect of Eastern Language. a piece of land from the malguzar rent free and also small Hindi. which is spoken by more contributions from the tenants for the services which than go per cent. of the population. Towards Balaghat. he performs. He gives names to children out of his Chhattisgarhi is known as Khaltahi from the name of almanac and officiates on behalf of the village at the Khaloti or lowlands, applied by the dwellers on the :Maikal principal Hindu festivals. The Baiga is another village range to the Chhattisgarh plain. Chhattisgarbi, Mr. Hira priest, and is usually a Gond or Pardhan, as there are no Liil states, greatly resembles its sister dialect of Bagheli, real Baigas in Drug. But as the Baigas commonly act but being surrounded by Uriya on one side and Marathi as priests in Gond villages, in virtue of. their being the on the other, it has heen somewhat influenced by these oldest residents and being supposed to have a more two languages. The addition of the termination man intimate knowledge of the local deities, the name of the to form the plural comes from the Uriya mane, as manukh, tribe has become attached to the office. Vishnu or Par a man, mant1-kh man, men. The post-position lii meaning meshwar is the favourite Hindu deity, and Sitala Devi to or for, is borrowed from Marathi, as molii, for me, or the goddess of small-pox is the principal of the village ~ltodii Ia, to the horse. The syllables ech and och meaning gods, small-pox being the most dreaded calamity from even and also respectively, are profusely used in ordinary which the community suffers. Pilgrimages are fre conversation. Thus dai-clz-kii, even to the mother,tor-och, quently made and are a source of considerable expendi ture among all classes. Rajim is the principal holy DRUG. POPULATION. CASTE. 57 place of the locality, and those who desire a longer ex still very backward and primitive in their customs. cursion go to Orissa or Benares. A large section of the Panabaras and Koracha do not properly belong to th~ population belong to the Kabirpanthi and Satnami sects. Chhattisgarh country 1 hut rather resemble Bastar, and a description of which is given in the BiHi.spur and Raipur here the !IHi.ria Gonds, the wildest section of the tribe ' Volumes. For information on the village deities and the are met with. Some of the forest Gonds display con beliefs in witchcrafts and kindred superstitions which make siderable skill in cultivation. :\lr. Heming\\'ay writes 1 up the bulk of the religion of the people of Chhattisgarh. of them: ' In the jungle curiously enough, the Gonds reference may also be made to 'these volumes. The ' are intelligent cultivators, and very hard-working. principal Christian Mission is the station of the Ge~man ' They take great care of their fields, turn nullahs into ' fhils with large masonry sluices, and take the trouble Lutheran Church at Chandkhuri 1 founded in 1885, and now consisting of a community more than 1000 strong. ' to replough their rice-land for the second crop.' :\Iost The chief institution connected with it is a leper asylum of the zamindars are Raj-Gonds. Of other aboriginal supported by ' The Mission to Lepers in India and the tribes, a few Kawars may be found in the north and Hal East,' which is managed by a member of the mission. It bas in the south, but these latter at any rate are com is one of the largest asylums in India and contains more paratively civilised and scarcely to he distinguished than 400 adult lepers. There are also separate homes from Hindus. Some Halba proprietors are founcl in the for tainted and untainted children containing 20 and Sanjari tahsil and clo fairly well, while Halba cultiva Bo inmates respectively. It has been decided to trans tors and labourers have a good name for industrY. The fer the Government Leper Asylum at Nagpur and principal cultivating castes are the Kurmis and Telis. attach it to the Chandkhuri asylum. The mission also ).fr. Blen~insop describes them as ' The backbone of a supports schools for boys and girls at Chandkhuri ' tenantry that is on the whole good, though till recently and some out-stations. The Methodist Episcopal Church ' somewhat spoilt by prosperity and tending towards in has a missiou station at Drug, and the American . dolence, careless cultivation and want of forethought.' ~fennonite Mission at Dhamtari has rrn out-station at The Kurmis are perhaps the better cultivators but the • I Balod. The Pentecostal Mission Banet supports a school Tehs have more capacity for economical management and at Batera. for saving money. Along the banks of the numerous streams which water the valleys of the Kharun and CASTE. Seonath, are settled colonies of Kewats and ~[arars who The Chamars are the most numerous caste grow melons and vegetables in the stretches of sand in the in the District and are found all river beds. The Rawats, who are herdsmen and private General notice. over the open country, and next to servants, are a fairly numerous class and own about 40 vil them come the Gonds who belong to the north-western lages. The principal castes of proprietors are the and south-western zamindaris. In Panabaras and Kora Brahmanswho have350 villages, the Kurmis3oo, the Telis cha and the forest tracts of the northern zamindaris, the Gonds const\tute the majority of the population and are 1 Pr r · e 1m1nary Report on the Dhamtarf Tahsil (t905), p. 3. SOCIAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. 59 DRUG. P0PU LATI0N. SOCIAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. 1-- the Rajputs and Banias I6o each, and the Chamars, :\{:;athas and Lodh'is about 70 each. Many of the mAI -l7· The description of the social customs of the guzars, Mr. Blenkinsop states, are very wea~thy, ~s people of Chhattisgarh, given in l\Iarriage, birlh and the Raipur an.d Bilaspur District pecially the Kurmis and Brahmans ; the Ag~rwal B~~as death. haw large estates, but they are indebted owmg to litiga Gazetteers, is equally applicable to tion. The Lodhis are probably immigrants from B~Hi Drug. Reference may be made to tpe Raipur Volume ghat, while the :Marathiis obtained their estates .dunng for a description of the houses, clothes and food the rule of the Bhonsla dynasty of Nagpur ti the of the people, and to the Bilaspur Volume for in seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The Maratha formation on the ceremonies attendant on marriages, ma\guzars belong principally to the Sanjari tahs~l. A births and deaths. )farriage festivities usually last 11escription of all the principal castes of the Dtstnct for three days, being held for two days at the from an ethnographic point of view is given in the bride's house and one day at the bridegroom's, when Raipur and Bilaspur District Volumes, to which refer the latter's party gives a big feast. As a rule a price is ence" m:.1s ht· matle But the following remarks of paid for the bride, sometimes amounting to a large sum, :\fr. Blenkin!'>Op 011 the Chamars deserve insertion while the minimum is stated to be seven pieces of cloth here : 1 ' The Ch:imars have during recent years been and five rupees. These are used in the marriage cere · at their worst. '!'hey seem to be subject to no mony, while the bride's mother takes the best piece of • moral ~cruples or restraint. Very few of them have cloth. At the wedding the bridegroom smears vermilion ' anv real respect for their guru, and to lie, steal, on the parting of the bride's hair. Among the lower • de~troy cattle and ~ommit arson are everyday affairs.; classes the marriage is often held at the bridegroom's 1 while the bolder spirib> indulge in burglaries, dacm house when the expenditure is much less.