The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, Volume 2
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Title: The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, Volume 2
Author: R. V. Russell
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Most recently updated: January 2, 2021
Language: English
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The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India
By
R.V. Russell
Of the Indian Civil Service Superintendent of Ethnography, Central
Provinces
Assisted by
Rai Bahadur Hira Lal
Extra Assistant Commissioner
Published Under the Orders of the Central Provinces Administration
In Four Volumes
Vol. II.
Macmillan and Co., Limited St. Martin's Street, London.
1916
CONTENTS OF VOLUME II
Articles on Castes and Tribes of the Central Provinces in Alphabetical
Order
The articles which are considered to be of most general interest
are shown in capitals
Agaria (_Iron-worker_) 3
Agharia (_Cultivator_) 8
Aghori (_Religious mendicant_) 13
AHIR (_Herdsman and milkman_) 18
Andh (_Tribe, now cultivators_) 38
Arakh (_Hunter_) 40
Atari (_Scent-seller_) 42
Audhelia (_Labourer_) 45
BADHAK (_Robber_) 49
BAHNA (_Cotton-cleaner_) 69
Baiga (_Forest tribe_) 77
Bairagi (_Religious mendicants_) 93
Balahi (_Labourer and village watchman_) 105
Balija (_Cultivator_) 108
BANIA (_Merchant and moneylender_) 111
Subcastes of Bania
Agarwala.
Agrahari.
Ajudhiabasi.
Asathi.
Charnagri.
Dhusar.
Dosar.
Gahoi.
Golapurab.
Kasarwani.
Kasaundhan.
Khandelwal.
Lad.
Lingayat.
Maheshri.
Nema.
Oswal.
Parwar.
Srimali.
Umre.
BANJARA (_Pack-carrier_) 162
Barai (_Betel-vine grower and seller_) 192
Barhai (_Carpenter_) 199
Bari (_Maker of leaf-plates_) 202
Basdewa (_Cattle-dealer and religious mendicant_) 204
Basor (_Bamboo-worker_) 208
Bedar (_Soldier and public service_) 212
Beldar (_Digger and navvy_) 215
Beria (_Vagabond gipsy_) 220
Bhaina (_Forest tribe_) 225
Bhamta (_Criminal tribe and labourers_) 234
Bharbhunja (_Grain-parcher_) 238
Bharia (_Forest tribe_) 242
BHAT (_Bard and genealogist_) 251
Bhatra (_Forest tribe_) 271
BHIL (_Forest tribe_) 278
Bhilala (_Landowner and cultivator_) 293
Bhishti (_Water-man_) 298
Bhoyar (_Cultivator_) 301
Bhuiya (_Forest tribe_) 305
Bhulia (_Weaver_) 319
Bhunjia (_Forest tribe_) 322
Binjhwar (_Cultivator_) 329
Bishnoi (_Cultivator_) 337
Bohra (_Trader_) 345
BRAHMAN (_Priest_) 351
Subcastes of Brahman
Ahivasi.
Jijhotia.
Kanaujia, Kanyakubja.
Khedawal.
Maharashtra.
Maithil.
Malwi.
Nagar.
Naramdeo.
Sanadhya.
Sarwaria.
Utkal.
Chadar (_Village watchman and labourer_) 400
CHAMAR (_Tanner and labourer_) 403
Chasa (_Cultivator_) 424
Chauhan (_Village watchman and labourer_) 427
Chhipa (_Dyer and calico-printer_) 429
CHITARI (_Painter_) 432
Chitrakathi (_Picture showman_) 438
Cutchi (_Trader and shopkeeper_) 440
DAHAIT (_Village watchman and labourer_) 444
Daharia (_Cultivator_) 453
Dangi (_Landowner and cultivator_) 457
Dangri (_Vegetable-grower_) 463
DARZI (_Tailor_) 466
Dewar (_Beggar and musician_) 472
Dhakar (_Illegitimate, cultivator_) 477
Dhangar (_Shepherd_) 480
Dhanuk (_Bowman, labourer_) 484
Dhanwar (_Forest tribe_) 488
DHIMAR (_Fisherman, water-carrier, and household servant_) 502
Dhoba (_Forest tribe, cultivator_) 515
DHOBI (_Washerman_) 519
Dhuri (_Grain-parcher_) 527
Dumal (_Cultivator_) 530
Fakir (_Religious mendicant_) 537
ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME II
31. Aghori mendicant 14
32. Ahirs decorated with cowries for the Stick Dance at Diwali 18
33. Image of Krishna as Murlidhar or the flute-player, with
attendant deities 28
34. Ahir dancers in Diwali costume 32
35. Pinjara cleaning cotton 72
36. Baiga village, Balaghat District 88
37. Hindu mendicants with sect-marks 94
38. Anchorite sitting on iron nails 98
39. Pilgrims carrying water of the river Nerbudda 100
40. _Coloured Plate_: Examples of Tilaks or sect-marks worn on
the forehead 102
41. Group of Marwari Bania women 112
42. Image of the god Ganpati carried in procession 116
43. The elephant-headed god Ganpati. His conveyance is a rat,
which can be seen as a little blob between his feet 120
44. Mud images made and worshipped at the Holi festival 126
45. Bania's shop 128
46. Banjara women with the _singh_ or horn 184
47. Group of Banjara women 188
48. Basors making baskets of bamboo 210
49. Bhat with his _putla_ or doll 256
50. Group of Bhils 278
51. Tantia Bhil, a famous dacoit 282
52. Group of Bohras at Burhanpur (Nimar) 346
53. Brahman worshipping his household gods 380
54. Brahman bathing party 384
55. Brahman Pujaris or priests 390
56. Group of Maratha Brahman men 392
57. Group of Naramdeo Brahman women 396
58. Group of Naramdeo Brahman men 398
59. Chamars tanning and working in leather 416
60. Chamars cutting leather and making shoes 418
61. Chhipa or calico-printer at work 430
62. Dhimar or fisherman's hut 502
63. Fishermen in dug-outs or hollowed tree trunks 506
64. Group of Gurujwale Fakirs 538
PRONUNCIATION
_a_ has the sound of _u_ in _but_ or _murmur_.
_a_ has the sound of _a_ in _bath_ or _tar_.
_e_ has the sound of _é_ in _écarté_ or _ai_ in _maid_.
_i_ has the sound of _i_ in _bit_, or (as a final letter)
of _y_ in _sulky_
_i_ has the sound of _ee_ in _beet_.
_o_ has the sound of _o_ in _bore_ or _bowl_.
_u_ has the sound of _u_ in _put_ or _bull_.
_u_ has the sound of _oo_ in _poor_ or _boot_.
The plural of caste names and a few common Hindustani words is formed
by adding _s_ in the English manner according to ordinary usage,
though this is not, of course, the Hindustani plural.
Note.--The rupee contains 16 annas, and an anna is of the same value
as a penny. A pice is a quarter of an anna, or a farthing. Rs. 1-8
signifies one rupee and eight annas. A lakh is a hundred thousand,
and a krore ten million.
PART II
ARTICLES ON CASTES AND TRIBES
AGARIA--FAKIR
Agaria
1. Origin and subdivisions.
Agaria. [1]--A small Dravidian caste, who are an offshoot of the Gond
tribe. The Agarias have adopted the profession of iron-smelting and
form a separate caste. They numbered 9500 persons in 1911 and live
on the Maikal range in the Mandla, Raipur and Bilaspur Districts.
The name probably signifies a worker with _ag_ or fire. An Agaria
subcaste of Lohars also exists, many of whom are quite probably Gonds,
but they are not included in the regular caste. Similar Dravidian
castes of Agarias are to be found in Mirzapur and Bengal. The Agarias
are quite distinct from the Agharia cultivating caste of the Uriya
country. The Raipur Agarias still intermarry with the Rawanbansi
Gonds of the District. The Agarias think that their caste has existed
from the beginning of the world, and that the first Agaria made
the ploughshare with which the first bullocks furrowed the primeval
soil. The caste has two endogamous divisions, the Patharia and the
Khuntia Agarias. The Patharias place a stone on the mouth of the
bellows to fix them in the ground for smelting, while the Khuntias
use a peg. The two subcastes do not even take water from one another.
Their exogamous sections have generally the same names as those of
the Gonds, as Sonwani, Dhurua, Tekam, Markam, Uika, Purtai, Marai,
and others. A few names of Hindi origin are also found, as Ahindwar,
Ranchirai and Rathoria, which show that some Hindus have probably been
amalgamated with the caste. Ahindwar or Aindwar and Ranchirai mean
a fish and a bird respectively in Hindi, while Rathoria is a _gotra_
both of Rajputs and Telis. The Gond names are probably also those of
animals, plants or other objects, but their meaning has now generally
been forgotten. Tekam or _teka_ is a teak tree. Sonwani is a sept
found among several of the Dravidian tribes, and the lower Hindu
castes. A person of the Sonwani sept is always chosen to perform
the ceremony of purification and readmission into caste of persons
temporarily excommunicated. His duty often consists in pouring on such
a person a little water in which gold has been placed to make it holy,
and hence the name is considered to mean Sonapani or gold-water. The
Agarias do not know the meanings of their section names and therefore
have no totemistic observances. But they consider that all persons
belonging to one _gotra_ are descended from a common ancestor, and
marriage within the _gotra_ is therefore prohibited. As among the
Gonds, first cousins are allowed to marry.
2. Marriage.
Marriage is usually adult. When the father of a boy wishes to arrange a
marriage he sends emissaries to the father of the girl. They open the
proceedings by saying, 'So-and-so has come to partake of your stale
food.' [2] If the father of the girl approves he gives his consent by
saying, 'He has come on foot, I receive him on my head.' The boy's
father then repairs to the girl's house, where he is respectfully
received and his feet are washed. He is then asked to take a drink of
plain water, which is a humble method of offering him a meal. After
this, presents for the girl are sent by a party accompanied by tomtom
players, and a date is fixed for the marriage, which, contrary to the
usual Hindu rule, may take place in the rains. The reason is perhaps
because iron-smelting is not carried on during the rains and the
Agarias therefore have no work to do. A few days before the wedding
the bride-price is paid, which consists of 5 seers each of _urad_
and til and a sum of Rs. 4 to Rs. 12. The marriage is held on any
Monday, Tuesday or Friday, no further trouble being taken to select
an auspicious day. In order that they may not forget the date fixed,
the fathers of the parties each take a piece of thread in which
they tie a knot for every day intervening between the date when the
marriage day is settled and the day itself, and they then untie one
knot for every day. Previous to the marriage all the village gods
are propitiated by being anointed with oil by the Baiga or village
priest. The first clod of earth for the ovens is also dug by the
Baiga, and received in her cloth by the bride's mother as a mark
of respect. The usual procedure is adopted in the marriage. After
the bridegroom's arrival his teeth are cleaned with tooth-sticks,
and the bride's sister tries to push _saj_ leaves into his mouth,
a proceeding which he prevents by holding his fan in front of his
face. For doing this the girl is given a small present. A _paili_
[3] measure of rice is filled alternately by the bride and bridegroom
twelve times, the other upsetting it each time after it is filled. At
the marriage feast, in addition to rice and pulse, mutton curry and
cakes of _urad_ pulse fried in oil are provided. _Urad_ is held in
great respect, and is always given as a food at ceremonial feasts
and to honoured guests. The greater part of the marriage ceremony
is performed a second time at the bridegroom's house. Finally, the
decorations of the marriage-shed and the palm-leaf crowns of the bride
and bridegroom are thrown into a tank. The bride and bridegroom go
into the water, and each in turn hides a jar under water, which the
other must find. They then bathe, change their clothes, and go back
to the bridegroom's house, the bride carrying the jar filled with
water on her head. The boy is furnished with a bow and arrows and
has to shoot at a stuffed deer over the girl's shoulder. After each
shot she gives him a little sugar, and if he does not hit the deer
in three shots he must pay 4 annas to the _sawasa_ or page. After
the marriage the bridegroom does not visit his wife for a month in
order to ascertain whether she is already pregnant. They then live
together. The marriage expenses usually amount to Rs. 15 for the
bridegroom's father and Rs. 40 for the bride's father. Sometimes the
bridegroom serves his father-in-law for his wife, and he is then not
required to pay anything for the marriage, the period of service being
three years. If the couple anticipate the ceremony, however, they
must leave the house, and then are recalled by the bride's parents,
and readmitted into caste on giving a feast, which is in lieu of the
marriage ceremony. If they do not comply with the first summons of
the parents, the latter finally sever connection with them. Widow
marriage is freely permitted, and the widow is expected to marry her
late husband's younger brother, especially if he is a bachelor. If
she marries another man with his consent, the new husband gives him
a turban and shoulder-cloth. The children by the first husband are
made over to his relatives if there are any. Divorce is permitted for
adultery or extravagance or ill-treatment by either party. A divorced
wife can marry again, but if she absconds with another man without
being divorced the latter has to pay Rs. 12 to the husband.
3. Birth and death ceremonies.
When a woman becomes pregnant for the first time, her mother goes to
her taking a new cloth and cakes and a preparation of milk, which
is looked on as a luxurious food, and which, it is supposed, will
strengthen the child in the womb. After birth the mother is impure
for five days. The dead are usually burnt, but children under six
whose ears have not been pierced, and persons dying a violent death
or from cholera or smallpox are buried. When the principal man of
the family dies, the caste-fellows at the mourning feast tie a cloth
round the head of his successor to show that they acknowledge his
new position. They offer water to the dead in the month of Kunwar
(September-October).
4. Religion and social customs.
They have a vague belief in a supreme God but do not pay much attention
to him. Their family god is Dulha Deo, to whom they offer goats,
fowls, cocoanuts and cakes. In the forest tracts they also worship
Bura Deo, the chief god of the Gonds. The deity who presides over
their profession is Loha-Sur, the Iron demon, who is supposed to live
in the smelting-kilns, and to whom they offer a black hen. Formerly,
it is said, they were accustomed to offer a black cow. They worship
their smelting implements on the day of Dasahra and during Phagun,
and offer fowls to them. They have little faith in medicine, and in
cases of sickness requisition the aid of the village sorcerer, who
ascertains what deity is displeased with them by moving grain to and
fro in a winnowing-fan and naming the village gods in turn. He goes
on repeating the names until his hand slackens or stops at some name,
and the offended god is thus indicated. He is then summoned and enters
into the body of one of the persons present, and explains his reason
for being offended with the sick person, as that he has passed by
the god's shrine without taking off his shoes, or omitted to make the
triennial offering of a fowl or the like. Atonement is then promised
and the offering made, while the sick person on recovery notes the
deity in question as one of a vindictive temper, whose worship must
on no account be neglected. The Agarias say that they do not admit
outsiders into the caste, but Gonds, Kawars and Ahirs are occasionally
allowed to enter it. They refuse to eat monkeys, jackals, crocodiles,
lizards, beef and the leavings of others. They eat pork and fowls
and drink liquor copiously. They take food from the higher castes
and from Gonds and Baigas. Only Bahelias and other impure castes will
take food from them. Temporary excommunication from caste is imposed
for conviction of a criminal offence, getting maggots in a wound, and
killing a cow, a dog or a cat. Permanent excommunication is imposed
for adultery or eating with a very low caste. Readmission to caste
after temporary exclusion entails a feast, but if the offender is
very poor he simply gives a little liquor or even water. The Agarias
are usually sunk in poverty, and their personal belongings are of
the scantiest description, consisting of a waist-cloth, and perhaps
another wisp of cloth for the head, a brass _lota_ or cup and a few
earthen vessels. Their women dress like Gond women, and have a few
pewter ornaments. They are profusely tattooed with representations of
flowers, scorpions and other objects. This is done merely for ornament.
5. Occupation.
The caste still follow their traditional occupation of iron-smelting
and also make a few agricultural implements. They get their ore from
the Maikal range, selecting stones of a dark reddish colour. They
mix 16 lbs. of ore with 15 lbs. of charcoal in the furnace, the blast
being produced by a pair of bellows worked by the feet and conveyed
to the furnace through bamboo tubes; it is kept up steadily for four
hours. The clay coating of the kiln is then broken down and the ball of
molten slag and charcoal is taken out and hammered, and about 3 lbs. of
good iron are obtained. With this they make ploughshares, mattocks,
axes and sickles. They also move about from village to village with an
anvil, a hammer and tongs, and building a small furnace under a tree,
make and repair iron implements for the villagers.
Agharia
1. Origin.
_Agharia_ [4] (a corruption of Agaria, meaning one who came from
Agra).--A cultivating caste belonging to the Sambalpur District [5]
and adjoining States. They number 27,000 persons in the Raigarh and
Sarangarh States and Bilaspur District of the Central Provinces,
and are found also in some of the Chota Nagpur States transferred
from Bengal. According to the traditions of the Agharias their
forefathers were Rajputs who lived near Agra. They were accustomed
to salute the king of Delhi with one hand only and without bending
the head. The king after suffering this for a long time determined
to punish them for their contumacy, and summoned all the Agharias to
appear before him. At the door through which they were to pass to his
presence he fixed a sword at the height of a man's neck. The haughty
Agharias came to the door, holding their heads high and not seeing
the sword, and as a natural consequence they were all decapitated as
they passed through. But there was one Agharia who had heard about the
fixing of the sword and who thought it better to stay at home, saying
that he had some ceremony to perform. When the king heard that there
was one Agharia who had not passed through the door, he sent again,
commanding him to come. The Agharia did not wish to go but felt it
impossible to decline. He therefore sent for a Chamar of his village
and besought him to go instead, saying that he would become a Rajput
in his death and that he would ever be held in remembrance by the
Agharia's descendants. The Chamar consented to sacrifice himself for
his master, and going before the king was beheaded at the door. But
the Agharia fled south, taking his whole village with him, and came
to Chhattisgarh, where each of the families in the village founded a
clan of the Agharia caste. And in memory of this, whenever an Agharia
makes a libation to his ancestors, he first pours a little water on
the ground in honour of the dead Chamar. According to another version
of the story three brothers of different families escaped and first
went to Orissa, where they asked the Gajpati king to employ them
as soldiers. The king caused two sheaths of swords to be placed
before them, and telling them that one contained a sword and the
other a bullock-goad, asked them to select one and by their choice
to determine whether they would be soldiers or husbandmen. From one
sheath a haft of gold projected and from the other one of silver. The
Agharias pulled out the golden haft and found that they had chosen the
goad. The point of the golden and silver handles is obvious, and the
story is of some interest for the distant resemblance which it bears
to the choice of the caskets in _The Merchant of Venice_. Condemned,
as they considered, to drive the plough, the Agharias took off their
sacred threads, which they could no longer wear, and gave them to
the youngest member of the caste, saying that he should keep them
and be their Bhat, and they would support him with contributions
of a tenth of the produce of their fields. He assented, and his
descendants are the genealogists of the Agharias and are termed
Dashanshi. The Agharias claim to be Somvansi Rajputs, a claim which
Colonel Dalton says their appearance favours. "Tall, well-made, with
high Aryan features and tawny complexions, they look like Rajputs,
though they are more industrious and intelligent than the generality
of the fighting tribe." [6]
2. Subdivisions.
Owing to the fact that with the transfer of the Sambalpur District,
a considerable portion of the Agharias have ceased to be residents
of the Central Provinces, it is unnecessary to give the details
of their caste organisation at length. They have two subdivisions,
the Bad or superior Agharias and the Chhote, Sarolia or Sarwaria,
the inferior or mixed Agharias. The latter are a cross between an
Agharia and a Gaur (Ahir) woman. The Bad Agharias will not eat with or
even take water from the others. Further local subdivisions are now
in course of formation, as the Ratanpuria, Phuljharia and Raigarhia
or those living round Ratanpur, Phuljhar and Raigarh. The caste is
said to have 84 _gotras_ or exogamous sections, of which 60 bear
the title of Patel, 18 that of Naik, and 6 of Chaudhri. The section
names are very mixed, some being those of eponymous Brahman _gotras_,
as Sandilya, Kaushik and Bharadwaj; others those of Rajput septs, as
Karchhul; while others are the names of animals and plants, as Barah
(pig), Baram (the pipal tree), Nag (cobra), Kachhapa (tortoise),
and a number of other local terms the meaning of which has been
forgotten. Each of these sections, however, uses a different mark
for branding cows, which it is the religious duty of an Agharia to
rear, and though the marks now convey no meaning, they were probably
originally the representations of material objects. In the case of
names whose meaning is understood, traces of totemism survive in the
respect paid to the animal or plant by members of the sept which bears
its name. This analysis of the structure of the caste shows that it
was a very mixed one. Originally consisting perhaps of a nucleus
of immigrant Rajputs, the offspring of connections with inferior
classes have been assimilated; while the story already quoted is
probably intended to signify, after the usual Brahmanical fashion,
that the pedigree of the Agharias at some period included a Chamar.
3. Marriage customs.
Marriage within the exogamous section and also with first cousins is
forbidden, though in some places the union of a sister's son with
a brother's daughter is permitted. Child marriage is usual, and
censure visits a man who allows an unmarried daughter to arrive at
adolescence. The bridegroom should always be older than the bride,
at any rate by a day. When a betrothal is arranged some ornaments
and a cloth bearing the _swastik_ or lucky mark are sent to the
girl. Marriages are always celebrated during the months of Magh
and Phagun, and they are held only once in five or six years,
when all children whose matches can be arranged for are married
off. This custom is economical, as it saves expenditure on marriage
feasts. Colonel Dalton also states that the Agharias always employ
Hindustani Brahmans for their ceremonies, and as very few of these
are available, they make circuits over large areas, and conduct all
the weddings of a locality at the same period. Before the marriage a
kid is sacrificed at the bride's house to celebrate the removal of her
status of maidenhood. When the bridegroom arrives at the bride's house
he touches with his dagger the string of mango-leaves suspended from
the marriage-shed and presents a rupee and a hundred betel-leaves
to the bride's _sawasin_ or attendant. Next day the bridegroom's
father sends a present of a bracelet and seven small earthen cups to
the bride. She is seated in the open, and seven women hold the cups
over her head one above the other. Water is then poured from above
from one cup into the other, each being filled in turn and the whole
finally falling on the bride's head. This probably symbolises the
fertilising action of rain. The bride is then bathed and carried
in a basket seven times round the marriage-post, after which she
is seated in a chair and seven women place their heads together
round her while a male relative winds a thread seven times round
the heads of the women. The meaning of this ceremony is obscure. The
bridegroom makes his appearance alone and is seated with the bride,
both being dressed in clothes coloured yellow with turmeric. The
bridegroom's party follows, and the feet of the couple are washed
with milk. The bride's brother embraces the bridegroom and changes
cloths with him. Water is poured over the hands of the couple,
the girl's forehead is daubed with vermilion, and a red silk cloth
is presented to her and the couple go round the marriage-post. The
bride is taken for four days to the husband's house and then returns,
and is again sent with the usual _gauna_ ceremony, when she is fit
for conjugal relations. No price is usually paid for the bride, and
each party spends about Rs. 100 on the marriage ceremony. Polygamy
and widow marriage are generally allowed, the widow being disposed
of by her parents. The ceremony at the marriage of a widow consists
in putting vermilion on the parting of her hair and bangles on her
wrists. Divorce is allowed on pain of a fine of Rs. 50 if the divorce
is sought by the husband, and of Rs. 25 if the wife asks for it. In
some localities divorce and also polygamy are said to be forbidden,
and in such cases a woman who commits adultery is finally expelled
from the caste, and a funeral feast is given to symbolise her death.
4. Religious and social customs.
The family god of the Agharias is Dulha Deo, who exists in every
household. On the Haraiti day or the commencement of the agricultural
year they worship the implements of cultivation, and at Dasahra
the sword if they have one. They have a great reverence for cows
and feed them sumptuously at festivals. Every Agharia has a _guru_
or spiritual guide who whispers the _mantra_ or sacred verse into
his ear and is occasionally consulted. The dead are usually burnt,
but children and persons dying of cholera or smallpox are buried,
males being placed on the pyre or in the grave on their faces and
females on their backs, with the feet pointing to the south. On
the third day the ashes are thrown into a river and the bones of
each part of the body are collected and placed under the pipal
tree, while a pot is slung over them, through which water trickles
continually for a week, and a lighted lamp, cooked food, a leaf-cup
and a tooth-stick are placed beside them daily for the use of the
deceased during the same period. Mourning ends on the tenth day,
and the usual purification ceremonies are then performed. Children
are mourned for a shorter period. Well-to-do members of the caste
feed a Brahman daily for a year after a death, believing that food
so given passes to the spirit of the deceased. On the anniversary of
the death the caste-fellows are feasted, and after that the deceased
becomes a _purkha_ or ancestor and participates in devotions paid
at the _shradhh_ ceremony. When the head of a joint family dies,
his successor is given a turban and betel-leaves, and his forehead
is marked by the priest and other relations with sandalwood. After a
birth the mother is impure for twenty-one days. A feast is given on
the twelfth day, and sometimes the child is named then, but often
children are not named until they are six years old. The names of
men usually end in _Ram_, _Nath_ or _Singh_, and those of women in
_Kunwar_. Women do not name their husbands, their elderly relations,
nor the sons of their husband's eldest brother. A man does not name
his wife, as he thinks that to do so would tend to shorten his life
in accordance with the Sanskrit saying, 'He who is desirous of long
life should not name himself, his _guru_, a miser, his eldest son,
or his wife.' The Agharias do not admit outsiders into the caste. They
will not take cooked food from any caste, and water only from a Gaur
or Rawat. They refuse to take water from an Uriya Brahman, probably
in retaliation for the refusal of Uriya Brahmans to accept water from
an Agharia, though taking it from a Kolta. Both the Uriya Brahmans
and Agharias are of somewhat doubtful origin, and both are therefore
probably the more concerned to maintain the social position to which
they lay claim. But Kewats, Rawats, Telis and other castes eat cooked
food from Agharias, and the caste therefore is admitted to a fairly
high rank in the Uriya country. The Agharias do not drink liquor or
eat any food which a Rajput would refuse.
5. Occupation.
As cultivators they are considered to be proficient. In the census of
1901 nearly a quarter of the whole caste were shown as malguzars or
village proprietors and lessees. They wear a coarse cloth of homespun
yarn which they get woven for them by Gandas; probably in consequence
of this the Agharias do not consider the touch of the Ganda to pollute
them, as other castes do. They will not grow turmeric, onions, garlic,
_san_-hemp or tomatoes, nor will they rear tasar silk-cocoons. Colonel
Dalton says that their women do no outdoor work, and this is true in
the Central Provinces as regards the better classes, but poor women
work in the fields.
Aghori
1. General accounts of the caste.
_Aghori, Aghorpanthi._ [7]--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 _Malati
Madhava_, the hero of which rescues his mistress from being offered
as a sacrifice by one named Aghori Ghanta. [8] According to Lassen,
quoted by Sir H. Risley, the Aghoris of the present day are closely
connected with the Kapalika sect of the Middle Ages, who wore crowns
and necklaces of skulls and offered human sacrifices to Chamunda,
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 Benares 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 carry out 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, [9] "the Aghorpanthis lead a wandering
life, are without homes, and prefer to dwell in holes, clefts of rocks
and burning-_ghats_. They do not cook, but eat the fragments given
them in charity as received, which they put as far as may be into the
cavity of the skull used as a begging-bowl. The bodies of _chelas_
(disciples) who die in Benares are thrown into the Ganges, but the
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 hold converse with all the evil
spirits frequenting the burning-_ghats_, and funeral parties must
be very badly off who refuse to pay him something. In former days he
claimed five pieces of wood at each funeral in Benares; 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 Kali 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 zamindar of Muzaffarnagar, who at Allahabad refused to eat a
piece of human flesh offered to him by an Aghori; the latter thereupon
threw the flesh at the zamindar's head, on which it stuck. The zamindar
afterwards became so exceedingly wealthy that he had difficulty in
storing his wealth."
2. Instances of cannibalism.
In former times it is believed that 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: [10]
"Another horrible case, unconnected with magic and apparently arising
from mere blood-thirst, occurred at Neirad in June 1878. An Aghori
mendicant of Dwarka staying at the temple of Sitaram Laldas seized a
boy of twelve, named Shankar Ramdas, who was playing with two other
boys, 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 transportation 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 Maharaja
Bishnath 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 Maharaja was much
troubled, and at last, in order to get rid of his unwelcome visitor,
sent for Ghansiam Das, another Aghori, a Fakir, who had for some
years lived in Rewah. Ghansiam Das 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, Ghansiam Das 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 Ghansiam Das was rewarded
for his services."
The following recent instance of an Aghori devouring human corpses
is reported from the Punjab: [11] "The loathsome story of a human
ghoul from Patiala 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 other day, when the police
succeeded in arresting a man in the act of desecrating a child's grave,
some forty miles distant from the capital (Patiala). 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 Ram Nath, 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 Sadhus 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 they passed through. When Ram Nath was
thoroughly educated in this rank the Sadhus 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 Maharaja 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: [12] "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, they declared, 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 reminiscences of the curries they had eaten."
Ahir
List of Paragraphs
1. _General notice._
2. _Former dominance of the Abhiras._
3. _Ahir dialects._
4. _The Yadavas and Krishna._
5. _The modern Ahirs an occupational caste._
6. _Subcastes._
7. _The Dauwa or wet-nurse Ahirs. Fosterage._
8. _Exogamy._
9. _Marriage customs._
10. _Birth customs._
11. _Funeral rites. Bringing back the soul._
12. _Religion. Krishna and other deified cowherds._
13. _Caste deities._
14. _Other deities._
15. _The Diwali festival._
16. _Omens._
17. _Social customs._
18. _Ornaments._
19. _Occupation._
20. _Preparations of milk._
1. General notice.
_Ahir, [13] Gaoli, Guala, Golkar, Gaolan, Rawat, Gahra, Mahakul._--The
caste, of cowherds, milkmen and cattle-breeders. In 1911 the Ahirs
numbered nearly 750,000 persons in the Central Provinces and Berar,
being the sixth caste in point of numbers. This figure, however,
excludes 150,000 Gowaris or graziers of the Maratha Districts,
and if these were added the Ahirs would outnumber the Telis and
rank fifth. The name Ahir is derived from Abhira, a tribe mentioned
several times in inscriptions and the Hindu sacred books. Goala,
a cowherd, from Gopala, [14] a protector of cows, is the Bengali
name for the caste, and Gaoli, with the same signification, is now
used in the Central Provinces to signify a dairyman as opposed to
a grazier. The Gaolans appear to be an inferior class of Gaolis in
Berar. The Golkars of Chanda may be derived from the Telugu Golars or
graziers, with a probable admixture of Gond blood. They are described
as wild-looking people scattered about in the most thickly forested
tracts of the District, where they graze and tend cattle. Rawat, a
corruption of Rajputra or a princeling, is the name borne by the Ahir
caste in Chhattisgarh; while Gahra is their designation in the Uriya
country. The Mahakul Ahirs are a small group found in the Jashpur
State, and said to belong to the Nandvansi division. The name means
'Great family.'
2. Former dominance of the Abhiras.
The Abhiras appear to have been one of the immigrant tribes from
Central Asia who entered India shortly before or about the commencement
of the Christian era. In the Puranas and Mahabharata they are spoken
of as Dasyu or robbers, and Mlechchhas or foreigners, in the story
which says that Arjuna, after he had burned the dead bodies of
Krishna and Balaram at Dwarka, was proceeding with the widows of the
Yadava princes to Mathura through the Punjab when he was waylaid by
the Abhiras and deprived of his treasures and beautiful women. [15]
An inscription of the Saka era 102, or A.D. 180, speaks of a grant
made by the Senapati or commander-in-chief of the state, who is
called an Abhira, the locality being Sunda in Kathiawar. Another
inscription found in Nasik and assigned by Mr. Enthoven to the fourth
century speaks of an Abhira king, and the Puranas say that after the
Andhrabhrityas the Deccan was held by the Abhiras, the west coast
tract from the Tapti to Deogarh being called by their name. [16]
In the time of Samudragupta in the middle of the fourth century
the Abhiras were settled in Eastern Rajputana and Malwa. [17] When
the Kathis arrived in Gujarat in the eighth century, they found the
greater part of the country in the possession of the Ahirs. [18] In the
Mirzapur District of the United Provinces a tract known as Ahraura is
considered to be named after the tribe; and near Jhansi another piece
of country is called Ahirwar. [19] Elliot states that Ahirs were also
Rajas of Nepal about the commencement of our era. [20] In Khandesh,
Mr. Enthoven states, the settlements of the Ahirs were important. In
many castes there is a separate division of Ahirs, such as the Ahir
Sunars, Sutars, Lohars, Shimpis, Salis, Guraos and Kolis. The fort
of Asirgarh in Nimar bordering on Khandesh is supposed to have been
founded by one Asa Ahir, who lived in the beginning of the fifteenth
century. It is said that his ancestors had held land here for seven
hundred years, and he had 10,000 cattle, 20,000 sheep and 1000 mares,
with 2000 followers; but was still known to the people, to whom
his benevolence had endeared him, by the simple name of Asa. This
derivation of Asirgarh is clearly erroneous, as it was known as
Asir or Asirgarh, and held by the Tak and Chauhan Rajputs from the
eleventh century. But the story need not on that account, Mr. Grant
says, [21] be set down as wholly a fable. Firishta, who records it,
has usually a good credit, and more probably the real existence of
a line of Ahir chieftains in the Tapti valley suggested a convenient
ethnology for the fortress. Other traditions of the past domination
of the pastoral tribes remain in the Central Provinces. Deogarh on
the Chhindwara plateau was, according to the legend, the last seat
of Gaoli power prior to its subversion by the Gonds in the sixteenth
century. Jatba, the founder of the Deogarh Gond dynasty, is said to
have entered the service of the Gaoli rulers, Mansur and Gansur, and
subsequently with the aid of the goddess Devi to have slain them and
usurped their kingdom. But a Gaoli chief still retained possession of
the fort of Narnala for a few years longer, when he also was slain by
the Muhammadans. Similarly the fort of Gawilgarh on the southern crest
of the Satpuras is said to be named after a Gaoli chief who founded
it. The Saugor traditions bring down the Gaoli supremacy to a much
later date, as the tracts of Etawa and Khurai are held to have been
governed by their chieftains till the close of the seventeenth century.
3. Ahir dialects.
Certain dialects called after the Abhiras or Ahirs still remain. One,
known as Ahirwati, is spoken in the Rohtak and Gurgaon Districts of
the Punjab and round Delhi. This is akin to Mewati, one of the forms
of Rajasthani or the language of Rajputana. The Malwi dialect of
Rajasthani is also known as Ahiri; and that curious form of Gujarati,
which is half a Bhil dialect, and is generally known as Khandeshi,
also bears the name of Ahirani. [22] The above linguistic facts seem
to prove only that the Abhiras, or their occupational successors,
the Ahirs, were strongly settled in the Delhi country of the Punjab,
Malwa and Khandesh. They do not seem to throw much light on the origin
of the Abhiras or Ahirs, and necessarily refer only to a small section
of the existing Ahir caste, the great bulk of whom speak the Aryan
language current where they dwell. Another authority states, however,
that the Ahirs of Gujarat still retain a dialect of their own, and
concludes that this and the other Ahir dialects are the remains of
the distinct Abhira language.
4. The Yadavas and Krishna.
It cannot necessarily be assumed that all the above traditions relate
to the Abhira tribe proper, of which the modern Ahir caste are scarcely
more than the nominal representatives. Nevertheless, it may fairly be
concluded from them that the Abhiras were widely spread over India
and dominated considerable tracts of country. They are held to have
entered India about the same time as the Sakas, who settled in Gujarat,
among other places, and, as seen above, the earliest records of the
Abhiras show them in Nasik and Kathiawar, and afterwards widely spread
in Khandesh, that is, in the close neighbourhood of the Sakas. It has
been suggested in the article on Rajput that the Yadava and other lunar
clans of Rajputs may be the representatives of the Sakas and other
nomad tribes who invaded India shortly before and after the Christian
era. The god Krishna is held to have been the leader of the Yadavas,
and to have founded with them the sacred city of Dwarka in Gujarat. The
modern Ahirs have a subdivision called Jaduvansi or Yaduvansi, that is,
of the race of the Yadavas, and they hold that Krishna was of the Ahir
tribe. Since the Abhiras were also settled in Gujarat it is possible
that they may have been connected with the Yadavas, and that this may
be the foundation for their claim that Krishna was of their tribe. The
Dyashraya-Kavya of Hemachandra speaks of a Chordasama prince reigning
near Junagarh as an Abhira and a Yadava. But this is no doubt very
conjectural, and the simple fact that Krishna was a herdsman would be
a sufficient reason for the Ahirs to claim connection with him. It is
pointed out that the names of Abhira chieftains given in the early
inscriptions are derived from the god Siva, and this would not have
been the case if they had at that epoch derived their origin from
Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu. "If the Abhiras had really been
the descendants of the cowherds (Gopas) whose hero was Krishna, the
name of the rival god Siva would never have formed components of the
names of the Abhiras, whom we find mentioned in inscriptions. Hence
the conclusion may safely be drawn that the Abhiras were by no means
connected with Krishna and his cowherds even as late as about A.D. 300,
to which date the first of the two inscriptions mentioned above is
to be assigned. Precisely the same conclusion is pointed to by the
contents of the Harivansha and Bhagwat Purana. The upbringing of
Krishna among the cowherds and his flirtations with the milkmaids are
again and again mentioned in these works, but the word Abhira does not
occur even once in this connection. The only words we find used are
Gopa, Gopi and Vraja. This is indeed remarkable. For the descriptions
of the removal of Krishna as an infant to Nanda, the cowherd's hut,
of his childhood passed in playing with the cowherd boys, and of his
youth spent in amorous sports with the milkmaids are set forth at
great length, but the word Abhira is not once met with. From this
only one conclusion is possible, that is, that the Abhiras did not
originally represent the Gopas of Krishna. The word Abhira occurs for
the first time in connection with the Krishna legend about A.D. 550,
from which it follows that the Abhiras came to be identified with
the Gopas shortly before that date." [23]
This argument is interesting as showing that Abhira was not originally
an occupational term for a herdsman, nor a caste name, but belonged
to an immigrant tribe. Owing apparently to the fact that the Abhiras,
like the Gujars, devoted themselves to a pastoral mode of life in
India, whereas the previous Aryan immigrants had settled down to
cultivation, they gave their name to the great occupational caste
of herdsmen which was subsequently developed, and of which they may
originally have constituted the nucleus. The Gujars, who came to India
at a later period, form a parallel case; although the Gujar caste,
which is derived from them, is far less important than the Ahir,
the Gujars have also been the parents of several Rajput clans. The
reason why the early Mathura legends of Krishna make no mention of
the Ahirs may be that the deity Krishna is probably compounded of at
least two if not more distinct personalities. One is the hero chief of
the Yadavas, who fought in the battle of the Pandavas and Kauravas,
migrated to Gujarat and was killed there. As he was chief of the
Yadavas this Krishna must stand for the actual or mythical personality
of some leader of the immigrant nomad tribes. The other Krishna,
the boy cowherd, who grazed cattle and sported with the milkmaids of
Brindaban, may very probably be some hero of the indigenous non-Aryan
tribes, who, then as now, lived in the forests and were shepherds
and herdsmen. His lowly birth from a labouring cowherd, and the
fact that his name means black and he is represented in sculpture
as being of a dark colour, lend support to this view. The cult of
Krishna, Mr. Crooke points out, was comparatively late, and probably
connected with the development of the worship of the cow after the
decay of Buddhism. This latter Krishna, who is worshipped with his
mother as a child-god, was especially attractive to women, both actual
and prospective mothers. It is quite probable therefore that as his
worship became very popular in Hindustan in connection with that of
the cow, he was given a more illustrious origin by identification
with the Yadava hero, whose first home was apparently in Gujarat. In
this connection it may also be noted that the episodes connected with
Krishna in the Mahabharata have been considered late interpolations.
5. The modern Ahirs an occupational caste.
But though the Ahir caste takes its name and is perhaps partly
descended from the Abhira tribe, there is no doubt that it is now
and has been for centuries a purely occupational caste, largely
recruited from the indigenous tribes. Thus in Bengal Colonel Dalton
remarks that the features of the Mathuravasi Goalas are high, sharp
and delicate, and they are of light-brown complexion. Those of the
Magadha subcaste, 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 Singhbhum Kols, there is no
distinguishing one from the other. There has doubtless been much
mixture of blood." [24] Similarly in the Central Provinces the Ahirs
are largely recruited from the Gonds and other tribes. In Chanda the
Gowaris are admittedly descended from the unions of Gonds and Ahirs,
and one of their subcastes, the Gond-Gowaris, are often classed as
Gonds. Again, the Kaonra Ahirs of Mandla are descended from the unions
of Ahirs either with the Gonds or Kawars, and many of them are probably
pure Gonds. They have Gond sept-names and eat pork. Members of one
of their subdivisions, the Gond-Kaonra, will take water from Gonds,
and rank below the other Kaonras, from whom they will accept food and
water. As cattle have to go into the thick jungles to graze in the hot
weather, the graziers attending them become intimate with the forest
tribes who live there, and these latter are also often employed to
graze the cattle, and are perhaps after a time admitted to the Ahir
caste. Many Ahirs in Mandla are scarcely considered to be Hindus,
living as they do in Gond villages in sole company with the Gonds.
6. Subcastes.
The principal subcastes of the Ahirs in northern India are the
Jaduvansi, Nandvansi and Gowalvansi. The Jaduvansi claimed to be
descended from the Yadavas, who now form the Yadu and Jadon-Bhatti
clans of Rajputs. The probability of a historical connection between
the Abhiras and Yadavas has already been noticed. The Nandvansi
consider their first ancestor to have been Nand, the cowherd, the
foster-father of Krishna; while the name of the Gowalvansi is simply
Goala or Gauli, a milkman, a common synonym for the caste. The Kaonra
Ahirs of Mandla and the Kamarias of Jubbulpore are considered to belong
to the Nandvansi group. Other subcastes in the northern Districts are
the Jijhotia, who, like the Jijhotia Brahmans, take their name from
Jajhoti, the classical term for Bundelkhand; the Bharotia; and the
Narwaria from Narwar. The Rawats of Chhattisgarh are divided into the
Jhadia, Kosaria and Kanaujia groups. Of these the Jhadia or 'jungly,'
and Kosaria from Kosala, the ancient name of the Chhattisgarh country,
are the oldest settlers, while the Kanaujia are largely employed as
personal servants in Chhattisgarh, and all castes will take water
from their hands. The superior class of them, however, refuse to
clean household cooking vessels, and are hence known as Thethwar,
or exact or pure, as distinguished from the other Rawats, who will
perform this somewhat derogatory work.
7. The Dauwa or wet-nurse Ahirs. Fosterage.
The Dauwa or wet-nurse Ahirs are descended from the illegitimate
offspring of Bundela Rajput fathers by Ahir mothers who were employed
in this capacity in their families. An Ahir woman kept by a Bundela
was known as Pardwarin, or one coming from another house. This is
not considered a disgraceful origin; though the Dauwa Ahirs are not
recognised by the Ahirs proper, they form a separate section of the
caste, and Brahmans will take water from them. The children of such
mothers stood in the relation of foster-brothers to the Rajputs,
whom their mothers had nursed. The giving of milk, in accordance with
the common primitive belief in the virtue attaching to an action
in itself, was held to constitute a relation of quasi-maternity
between the nurse and infant, and hence of fraternity between her own
children and her foster-children. The former were called Dhai-bhais
or foster-brothers by the Rajputs; they were often given permanent
grants of land and employed on confidential missions, as for the
arrangement of marriages. The minister of a Raja of Karauli was
his Dauwa or foster-father, the husband of his nurse. Similarly,
Colonel Tod says that the Dhai-bhai or foster-brother of the Raja
of Boondi, commandant of the fortress of Tanagarh, was, like all
his class, devotion personified. [25] A parallel instance of the
tie of foster-kinship occurs in the case of the foster-brothers of
Conachar or Hector in _The Fair Maid of Perth_. Thus the position
of foster-brother of a Rajput was an honourable one, even though
the child might be illegitimate. Ahir women were often employed as
wet-nurses, because domestic service was a profession in which they
commonly engaged. Owing to the comparatively humble origin of a large
proportion of them they did not object to menial service, while the
purity of their caste made it possible to use them for the supply
of water and food. In Bengal the Uriya Ahirs were a common class of
servants in European houses.
The Gaolis or milkmen appear to form a distinct branch of the caste
with subcastes of their own. Among them are the Nandvans, common to
the Ahirs, the Malwi from Malwa and the Raghuvansi, called after the
Rajput clan of that name. The Ranyas take their designation from _ran_,
forest, like the Jhadia Rawats.
8. Exogamy.
The caste have exogamous sections, which are of the usual low-caste
type, with titular or totemistic names. Those of the Chhattisgarhi
Rawats are generally named after animals. A curious name among the
Mahakul Ahirs is Mathankata, or one who bit his mother's nipples. The
marriage of persons belonging to the same section and of first cousins
is prohibited. A man may marry his wife's younger sister while his
wife is living, but not her elder sister. The practice of exchanging
girls between families is permissible.
9. Marriage customs.
As a rule, girls may be married before or after puberty, but the
Golkars of Chanda insist on infant marriage, and fine the parents if
an unmarried girl becomes adolescent. On the other hand, the Kaonra
Ahirs of Mandla make a practice of not getting a girl married till
the signs of puberty have appeared. It is said that in Mandla if an
unmarried girl becomes pregnant by a man of the caste the _panchayat_
give her to him and fine him Rs. 20 or 30, which they appropriate
themselves, giving nothing to the father. If an Ahir girl is seduced
by an outsider, she is made over to him, and a fine of Rs. 40 or 50
is exacted from him if possible. This is paid to the girl's father,
who has to spend it on a penalty feast to the caste. Generally,
sexual offences within the community are leniently regarded. The
wedding ceremony is of the type prevalent in the locality. The
proposal comes from the boy's family, and a price is usually given
for the bride. The Kaonra Ahirs of Mandla and the Jharia and Kosaria
Rawats of Chhattisgarh employ a Brahman only to write the _lagun_ or
paper fixing the date of the wedding, and the ceremony is conducted
by the _sawasins_ or relatives of the parties. In Chhattisgarh the
bridegroom is dressed as a girl to be taken to the wedding. In Betul
the weddings of most Gaolis are held in Magh (January), and that of
the Ranya subcaste in the bright fortnight of Kartik (October). At
the ceremony the bride is made to stand on a small stone roller; the
bridegroom then takes hold of the roller facing the bride and goes
round in a circle seven times, turning the roller with him. Widow
remarriage is permitted, and a widow is often expected to marry
the younger brother of her deceased husband. If a bachelor wishes
to marry a widow he first goes through the ceremony with a dagger
or an earthen vessel. Divorce is freely permitted. In Hoshangabad a
strip is torn off the clothes worn by husband and wife as a sign of
their divorce. This is presumably in contrast to the knotting of the
clothes of the couple together at a wedding.
10. Birth customs.
Among the Rawats of Chhattisgarh, when a child is shortly to be born
the midwife dips her hand in oil and presses it on the wall, and it
is supposed that she can tell by the way in which the oil trickles
down whether the child will be a boy or a girl. If a woman is weak
and ill during her pregnancy it is thought that a boy will be born,
but if she is strong and healthy, a girl. A woman in advanced pregnancy
is given whatever she desires to eat, and on one occasion especially
delicate kinds of food are served to her, this rite being known as
Sidhori. The explanation of the custom is that if the mother does
not get the food she desires during pregnancy the child will long for
it all through life. If delivery is delayed, a line of men and boys
is sometimes made from the door of the house to a well, and a vessel
is then passed from hand to hand from the house, filled with water,
and back again. Thus the water, having acquired the quality of speed
during its rapid transit, will communicate this to the woman and cause
her quick delivery. Or they take some of the clay left unmoulded on
the potter's wheel and give it her to drink in water; the explanation
of this is exactly similar, the earth having acquired the quality of
swiftness by the rapid transit on the wheel. If three boys or three
girls have been born to a woman, they think that the fourth should
be of the same sex, in order to make up two pairs. A boy or girl
born after three of the opposite sex is called Titra or Titri, and is
considered very unlucky. To avert this misfortune they cover the child
with a basket, kindle a fire of grass all round it, and smash a brass
pot on the floor. Then they say that the baby is the fifth and not
the fourth child, and the evil is thus removed. When one woman gives
birth to a male and another to a female child in the same quarter of
a village on the same day and they are attended by the same midwife,
it is thought that the boy child will fall ill from the contagion
of the girl child communicated through the midwife. To avoid this,
on the following Sunday the child's maternal uncle makes a banghy,
which is carried across the shoulders like a large pair of scales,
and weighs the child in it against cowdung. He then takes the banghy
and deposits it at cross-roads outside the village. The father cannot
see either the child or its mother till after the Chathi or sixth-day
ceremony of purification, when the mother is bathed and dressed in
clean clothes, the males of the family are shaved, all their clothes
are washed, and the house is whitewashed; the child is also named on
this day. The mother cannot go out of doors until after the Barhi or
twelfth-day ceremony. If a child is born at an unlucky astrological
period its ears are pierced in the fifth month after birth as a means
of protection.
11. Funeral rites. Bringing back the soul.
The dead are either buried or burnt. When a man is dying they put
basil leaves and boiled rice and milk in his mouth, and a little
piece of gold, or if they have not got gold they put a rupee in his
mouth and take it out again. For ten days after a death, food in
a leaf-cup and a lamp are set out in the house-yard every evening,
and every morning water and a tooth-stick. On the tenth day they are
taken away and consigned to a river. In Chhattisgarh on the third
day after death the soul is brought back. The women put a lamp on a
red earthen pot and go to a tank or stream at night. The fish are
attracted towards the light, and one of them is caught and put in
the pot, which is then filled with water. It is brought home and set
beside a small heap of flour, and the elders sit round it. The son
of the deceased or other near relative anoints himself with turmeric
and picks up a stone. This is washed with the water from the pot,
and placed on the floor, and a sacrifice of a cock or hen is made to
it according as the deceased was a man or a woman. The stone is then
enshrined in the house as a family god, and the sacrifice of a fowl
is repeated annually. It is supposed apparently that the dead man's
spirit is brought back to the house in the fish, and then transferred
to the stone by washing this with the water.
12. Religion. Krishna and other deified cowherds.
The Ahirs have a special relation to the Hindu religion, owing
to their association with the sacred cow, which is itself revered
as a goddess. When religion gets to the anthropomorphic stage the
cowherd, who partakes of the cow's sanctity, may be deified as its
representative. This was probably the case with Krishna, one of
the most popular gods of Hinduism, who was a cowherd, and, as he is
represented as being of a dark colour, may even have been held to
be of the indigenous races. Though, according to the legend, he was
really of royal birth, Krishna was brought up by Nand, a herdsman of
Gokul, and Jasoda or Dasoda his wife, and in the popular belief these
are his parents, as they probably were in the original story. The
substitution of Krishna, born as a prince, for Jasoda's daughter,
in order to protect him from destruction by the evil king Kansa of
Mathura, is perhaps a later gloss, devised when his herdsman parentage
was considered too obscure for the divine hero. Krishna's childhood in
Jasoda's house with his miraculous feats of strength and his amorous
sports with Radha and the other milkmaids of Brindawan, are among
the most favourite Hindu legends. Govind and Gopal, the protector
or guardian of cows, are names of Krishna and the commonest names of
Hindus, as are also his other epithets, Murlidhar and Bansidhar, the
flute-player; for Krishna and Balaram, like Greek and Roman shepherds,
were accustomed to divert themselves with song, to the accompaniment
of the same instrument. The child Krishna is also very popular, and
his birthday, the Janam-Ashtami on the 8th of dark Bhadon (August),
is a great festival. On this day potsful of curds are sprinkled over
the assembled worshippers. Krishna, however, is not the solitary
instance of the divine cowherd, but has several companions, humble
indeed compared to him, but perhaps owing their apotheosis to the
same reasons. Bhilat, a popular local godling of the Nerbudda Valley,
was the son of an Ahir or Gaoli woman; she was childless and prayed
to Parvati for a child, and the goddess caused her votary to have
one by her own husband, the god Mahadeo. Bhilat was stolen away from
his home by Mahadeo in the disguise of a beggar, and grew up to be
a great hero and made many conquests; but finally he returned and
lived with his herdsman parents, who were no doubt his real ones. He
performed numerous miracles, and his devotees are still possessed by
his spirit. Singaji is another godling who was a Gaoli by caste in
Indore. He became a disciple of a holy Gokulastha Gosain or ascetic,
and consequently a great observer of the Janam-Ashtami or Krishna's
birthday. [26] On one occasion Singaji was late for prayers on this
day, and the _guru_ was very angry, and said to him, 'Don't show your
face to me again until you are dead.' Singaji went home and told the
other children he was going to die. Then he went and buried himself
alive. The occurrence was noised abroad and came to the ears of the
_guru_, who was much distressed, and proceeded to offer his condolences
to Singaji's family. But on the way he saw Singaji, who had been
miraculously raised from the dead on account of his virtuous act of
obedience, grazing his buffaloes as before. After asking for milk,
which Singaji drew from a male buffalo calf, the _guru_ was able
to inform the bereaved parents of their son's joyful reappearance
and his miraculous powers; of these Singaji gave further subsequent
demonstration, and since his death, said to have occurred 350 years
ago, is widely venerated. The Gaolis pray to him for the protection
of their cattle from disease, and make thank-offerings of butter if
these prayers are fulfilled. Other pilgrims to Singaji's shrine offer
unripe mangoes and sugar, and an annual fair is held at it, when it is
said that for seven days no cows, flies or ants are to be seen in the
place. In the Betul district there is a village godling called Dait,
represented by a stone under a tree. He is the spirit of any Ahir who
in his lifetime was credited in the locality with having the powers of
an exorcist. In Mandla and other Districts when any buffalo herdsman
dies at a very advanced age the people make a platform for him within
the village and call it Mahashi Deo or the buffalo god. Similarly,
when an old cattle herdsman dies they do the same, and call it Balki
Deo or the bullock god. Here we have a clear instance of the process
of substituting the spirit of the herdsman for the cow or buffalo as
an object of worship. The occupation of the Ahir also lends itself to
religious imaginations. He stays in the forest or waste grass-land,
frequently alone from morning till night, watching his herds; and
the credulous and uneducated minds of the more emotional may easily
hear the voices of spirits, or in a half-sleeping condition during
the heat and stillness of the long day may think that visions have
appeared to them. Thus they come to believe themselves selected for
communication with the unseen deities or spirits, and on occasions
of strong religious excitement work themselves into a frenzy and are
held to be possessed by a spirit or god.
13. Caste deities.
Among the special deities of the Ahirs is Kharak Deo, who is always
located at the _khirkha_, or place of assembly of the cattle, on
going to and returning from pasture. He appears to be the spirit or
god of the _khirkha_. He is represented by a platform with an image
of a horse on it, and when cattle fall ill the owners offer flour
and butter to him. These are taken by the Ahirs in charge, and it is
thought that the cattle will get well. Matar Deo is the god of the
pen or enclosure for cattle made in the jungle. Three days after the
Diwali festival the Rawats sacrifice one or more goats to him, cutting
off their heads. They throw the heads into the air, and the cattle,
smelling the blood, run together and toss them with their horns as
they do when they scent a tiger. The men then say that the animals
are possessed by Matar Deo. Guraya Deo is a deity who lives in the
cattle-stalls in the village and is worshipped once a year. A man
holds an egg in his hand, and walks round the stall pouring liquid
over the egg all the way, so as to make a line round it. The egg is
then buried beneath the shrine of the god, the rite being probably
meant to ensure his aid for the protection of the cattle from disease
in their stalls. A favourite saint of the Ahirs is Haridas Baba. He
was a Jogi, and could separate his soul from his body at pleasure. On
one occasion he had gone in spirit to Benares, leaving his body
in the house of one of his disciples, who was an Ahir. When he did
not return, and the people heard that a dead body was lying there,
they came and insisted that it should be burnt. When he came back
and found that his body was burnt, he entered into a man and spoke
through him, telling the people what had happened. In atonement for
their unfortunate mistake they promised to worship him.
14. Other deities.
The Mahakul Ahirs of Jashpur have three deities, whom they call Mahadeo
or Siva, Sahadeo, one of the five Pandava brothers, and the goddess
Lakshmi. They say that the buffalo is Mahadeo, the cow Sahadeo,
and the rice Lakshmi. This also appears to be an instance of the
personification of animals and the corn into anthropomorphic deities.
15. The Diwali festival.
The principal festival of the Ahirs is the Diwali, falling about the
beginning of November, which is also the time when the autumn crops
ripen. All classes observe this feast by illuminating their houses
with many small saucer-lamps and letting off crackers and fireworks,
and they generally gamble with money to bring them good luck during
the coming year. The Ahirs make a mound of earth, which is called
Govardhan, that is the mountain in Mathura which Krishna held upside
down on his finger for seven days and nights, so that all the people
might gather under it and be protected from the devastating storms of
rain sent by Indra. After dancing round the mound they drive their
cattle over it and make them trample it to pieces. At this time a
festival called Marhai is held, at which much liquor is drunk and
all classes disport themselves. In Damoh on this day the Ahirs go to
the standing-place for village cattle, and after worshipping the god,
frighten the cattle by waving leaves of the basil-plant at them, and
then put on fantastic dresses, decorating themselves with cowries,
and go round the village, singing and dancing. Elsewhere at the time
of the Marhai they dance round a pole with peacock feathers tied to the
top, and sometimes wear peacock feathers themselves, as well as aprons
sewn all over with cowries. It is said that Krishna and Balaram used
to wear peacock feathers when they danced in the jungles of Mathura,
but this rite has probably some connection with the worship of the
peacock. This bird might be venerated by the Ahirs as one of the
prominent denizens of the jungle. In Raipur they tie a white cock
to the top of the pole and dance round it. In Mandla, Khila Mutha,
the god of the threshing-floor, is worshipped at this time, with
offerings of a fowl and a goat. They also perform the rite of _jagana_
or waking him up. They tie branches of a small shrub to a stick and
pour milk over the stone which is his emblem, and sing, 'Wake up,
Khila Mutha, this is the night of Amawas' (the new moon). Then they
go to the cattle-shed and wake up the cattle, crying, 'Poraiya,
god of the door, watchman of the window, open the door, Nand Gowal
is coming.' Then they drive out the cattle and chase them with the
branches tied to their sticks as far as their grazing-ground. Nand
Gowal was the foster-father of Krishna, and is now said to signify a
man who has a lakh (100,000) of cows. This custom of frightening the
cattle and making them run is called _dhor jagana_ or _bichkana_, that
is, to wake up or terrify the cattle. Its meaning is obscure, but it is
said to preserve the cattle from disease during the year. In Raipur the
women make an image of a parrot in clay at the Diwali and place it on
a pole and go round to the different houses, singing and dancing round
the pole, and receiving presents of rice and money. They praise the
parrot as the bird who carries messages from a lover to his mistress,
and as living on the mountains and among the green verdure, and sing:
"Oh, parrot, where shall we sow _gondla_ grass and where shall we
sow rice?
"We will sow _gondla_ in a pond and rice in the field.
"With what shall we cut _gondla_ grass, and with what shall we
cut rice?
"We shall cut _gondla_ with an axe and rice with a sickle."
It is probable that the parrot is revered as a spirit of the forest,
and also perhaps because it is destructive to the corn. The parrot
is not, so far as is known, associated with any god, but the Hindus
do not kill it. In Bilaspur an ear of rice is put into the parrot's
mouth, and it is said there that the object of the rite is to prevent
the parrots from preying on the corn.
16. Omens.
On the night of the full moon of Jesth (May) the Ahirs stay awake
all night, and if the moon is covered with clouds they think that
the rains will be good. If a cow's horns are not firmly fixed in
the head and seem to shake slightly, it is called Maini, and such an
animal is considered to be lucky. If a bullock sits down with three
legs under him and the fourth stretched out in front it is a very
good omen, and it is thought that his master's cattle will increase
and multiply. When a buffalo-calf is born they cover it at once with
a black cloth and remove it from the mother's sight, as they think
that if she saw the calf and it then died her milk would dry up. The
calf is fed by hand. Cow-calves, on the other hand, are usually left
with the mother, and many people allow them to take all the milk,
as they think it a sin to deprive them of it.
17. Social customs.
The Ahirs will eat the flesh of goats and chickens, and most of them
consume liquor freely. The Kaonra Ahirs of Mandla eat pork, and the
Rawats of Chhattisgarh are said not to object to field-mice and rats,
even when caught in the houses. The Kaonra Ahirs are also said not to
consider a woman impure during the period of menstruation. Nevertheless
the Ahirs enjoy a good social status, owing to their relations with
the sacred cow. As remarked by Eha: "His family having been connected
for many generations with the sacred animal he enjoys a certain
consciousness of moral respectability, like a man whose uncles are
deans or canons." [27] All castes will take water from the hands of
an Ahir, and in Chhattisgarh and the Uriya country the Rawats and
Gahras, as the Ahir caste is known respectively in these localities,
are the only caste from whom Brahmans and all other Hindus will take
water. On this account, and because of their comparative purity,
they are largely employed as personal servants. In Chhattisgarh the
ordinary Rawats will clean the cooking-vessels even of Muhammadans,
but the Thethwar or pure Rawats refuse this menial work. In Mandla,
when a man is to be brought back into caste after a serious offence,
such as getting vermin in a wound, he is made to stand in the middle
of a stream, while some elderly relative pours water over him. He
then addresses the members of the caste _panchayat_ or committee,
who are standing on the bank, saying to them, 'Will you leave me in
the mud or will you take me out?' Then they tell him to come out,
and he has to give a feast. At this a member of the Meliha sept first
eats food and puts some into the offender's mouth, thus taking the
latter's sin upon himself. The offender then addresses the _panchayat_
saying, 'Rajas of the Panch, eat.' Then the _panchayat_ and all the
caste take food with him and he is readmitted. In Nandgaon State the
head of the caste _panchayat_ is known as Thethwar, the title of the
highest subcaste, and is appointed by the Raja, to whom he makes a
present. In Jashpur, among the Mahakul Ahirs, when an offender is put
out of caste he has on readmission to make an offering of Rs. 1-4 to
Balaji, the tutelary deity of the State. These Mahakuls desire to be
considered superior to ordinary Ahirs, and their social rules are hence
very strict. A man is put out of caste if a dog, fowl or pig touches
his water or cooking-pots, or if he touches a fowl. In the latter
case he is obliged to make an offering of a fowl to the local god,
and eight days are allowed for procuring it. A man is also put out of
caste for beating his father. In Mandla, Ahirs commonly have the title
of Patel or headman of a village, probably because in former times,
when the country consisted almost entirely of forest and grass land,
they were accustomed to hold large areas on contract for grazing.
18. Ornaments.
In Chhattisgarh the Rawat women are especially fond of wearing large
_churas_ or leg-ornaments of bell-metal. These consist of a long
cylinder which fits closely to the leg, being made in two halves which
lock into each other, while at each end and in the centre circular
plates project outwards horizontally. A pair of these _churas_ may
weigh 8 or 10 lbs., and cost from Rs. 3 to Rs. 9. It is probable that
some important magical advantage was expected to come from the wearing
of these heavy appendages, which must greatly impede free progression,
but its nature is not known.
19. Occupation.
Only about thirty per cent of the Ahirs are still occupied in breeding
cattle and dealing in milk and butter. About four per cent are domestic
servants, and nearly all the remainder cultivators and labourers. In
former times the Ahirs had the exclusive right of milking the cow,
so that on all occasions an Ahir must be hired for this purpose even
by the lowest castes. Any one could, however, milk the buffalo, and
also make curds and other preparations from cow's milk. [28] This
rule is interesting as showing how the caste system was maintained
and perpetuated by the custom of preserving to each caste a monopoly
of its traditional occupation. The rule probably applied also to the
bulk of the cultivating and the menial and artisan castes, and now
that it has been entirely abrogated it would appear that the gradual
decay and dissolution of the caste organisation must follow. The
village cattle are usually entrusted jointly to one or more herdsmen
for grazing purposes. The grazier is paid separately for each animal
entrusted to his care, a common rate being one anna for a cow or
bullock and two annas for a buffalo per month. When a calf is born
he gets four annas for a cow-calf and eight annas for a she-buffalo,
but except in the rice districts nothing for a male buffalo-calf, as
these animals are considered useless outside the rice area. The reason
is that buffaloes do not work steadily except in swampy or wet ground,
where they can refresh themselves by frequent drinking. In the northern
Districts male buffalo-calves are often neglected and allowed to die,
but the cow-buffaloes are extremely valuable, because their milk is
the principal source of supply of _ghi_ or boiled butter. When a cow
or buffalo is in milk the grazier often gets the milk one day out
of four or five. When a calf is born the teats of the cow are first
milked about twenty times on to the ground in the name of the local
god of the Ahirs. The remainder of the first day's milk is taken by
the grazier, and for the next few days it is given to friends. The
village grazier is often also expected to prepare the guest-house for
Government officers and others visiting the village, fetch grass for
their animals, and clean their cooking vessels. For this he sometimes
receives a small plot of land and a present of a blanket annually
from the village proprietor. Malguzars and large tenants have their
private herdsmen. The pasturage afforded by the village waste lands
and forest is, as a rule, only sufficient for the plough-bullocks and
more valuable milch-animals. The remainder are taken away sometimes
for long distances to the Government forest reserves, and here the
herdsmen make stockades in the jungle and remain there with their
animals for months together. The cattle which remain in the village are
taken by the owners in the early morning to the _khirkha_ or central
standing-ground. Here the grazier takes them over and drives them out
to pasture. He brings them back at ten or eleven, and perhaps lets them
stand in some field which the owner wants manured. Then he separates
the cows and milch-buffaloes and takes them to their masters' houses,
where he milks them all. In the afternoon all the cattle are again
collected and driven out to pasture. The cultivators are very much in
the grazier's hands, as they cannot supervise him, and if dishonest he
may sell off a cow or calf to a friend in a distant village and tell
the owner that it has been carried off by a tiger or panther. Unless
the owner succeeds by a protracted search or by accident in finding
the animal he cannot disprove the herdsman's statement, and the only
remedy is to dispense with the latter's services if such losses become
unduly frequent. On this account, according to the proverbs, the Ahir
is held to be treacherous and false to his engagements. They are also
regarded as stupid because they seldom get any education, retain their
rustic and half-aboriginal dialect, and on account of their solitary
life are dull and slow-witted in company. 'The barber's son learns to
shave on the Ahir's head.' 'The cow is in league with the milkman and
lets him milk water into the pail.' The Ahirs are also hot-tempered,
and their propensity for drinking often results in affrays, when they
break each other's head with their cattle-staffs. 'A Gaoli's quarrel:
drunk at night and friends in the morning.'
20. Preparations of milk.
Hindus nearly always boil their milk before using it, as the taste
of milk fresh from the cow is considered unpalatable. After boiling,
the milk is put in a pot and a little old curds added, when the whole
becomes _dahi_ or sour curds. This is a favourite food, and appears
to be exactly the same substance as the Bulgarian sour milk which is
now considered to have much medicinal value. Butter is also made by
churning these curds or _dahi_. Butter is never used without being
boiled first, when it becomes converted into a sort of oil; this
has the advantage of keeping much better than fresh butter, and may
remain fit for use for as long as a year. This boiled butter is known
as _ghi_, and is the staple product of the dairy industry, the bulk
of the surplus supply of milk being devoted to its manufacture. It
is freely used by all classes who can afford it, and serves very well
for cooking purposes. There is a comparatively small market for fresh
milk among the Hindus, and as a rule only those drink milk who obtain
it from their own animals. The acid residue after butter has been
made from _dahi_ (curds) or milk is known as _matha_ or butter-milk,
and is the only kind of milk drunk by the poorer classes. Milk boiled
so long as to become solidified is known as _khir_, and is used by
confectioners for making sweets. When the milk is boiled and some sour
milk added to it, so that it coagulates while hot, the preparation is
called _chhana_. The whey is expressed from this by squeezing it in a
cloth, and a kind of cheese is obtained. [29] The liquid which oozes
out at the root of a cow's horns after death is known as _gaolochan_
and sells for a high price, as it is considered a valuable medicine
for children's cough and lung diseases.
Andh
_Andh._ [30]--A low cultivating caste of Berar, who numbered 52,000
persons in 1911, and belong to the Yeotmal, Akola and Buldana
Districts. The Andhs appear to be a non-Aryan tribe of the Andhra or
Tamil country, from which they derive their name. The territories
of the Andhra dynasty extended across southern India from sea to
sea in the early part of the Christian era. This designation may,
however, have been given to them after migration, emigrants being not
infrequently called in their new country by the name of the place from
which they came, as Berari, Purdesi, Audhia (from Oudh), and so on. At
present there seems to be no caste called Andh in Madras. Mr. Kitts
[31] notes that they still come from Hyderabad across the Penganga
river.
The caste are divided into two groups, Vartati or pure and Khaltati or
illegitimate, which take food together, but do not intermarry. They
have a large number of exogamous septs, most of which appear to have
Marathi names, either taken from villages or of a titular character. A
few are called after animals or plants, as Majiria the cat, Ringni
a kind of tree, Dumare from Dumar, an ant-hill, Dukare from Dukar,
a pig, and Titawe from Titawa, a bird. Baghmare means tiger-killer
or one killed by a tiger; members of this sept revere the tiger. Two
septs, Bhoyar and Wanjari, are named after other castes.
Marriage between members of the same sept is prohibited, and also
between first cousins, except that a sister's son may marry a brother's
daughter. Until recently marriage has been adult, but girls are now
wedded as children, and betrothals are sometimes arranged before they
are born. The ceremony resembles that of the Kunbis. Betrothals are
arranged between October and December, and the weddings take place
three or four months later, from January to April. If the bride is
mature she goes at once to her husband's house. Polygamy is allowed;
and as only a well-to-do man can afford to obtain more than one wife,
those who have several are held to be wealthy, and treated with
respect. Divorce and the remarriage of widows are permitted, but
the widow may not marry her husband's brother nor any member of his
clan. If an unmarried girl becomes pregnant by a man of her own or a
superior caste she is fined, and can then be married as a widow. Her
feet are not washed nor besmeared with red powder at the wedding
ceremony like those of other girls. In some localities Andh women
detected in a criminal intimacy even with men of such impure castes
as the Mahars and Mangs have been readmitted into the community. A
substantial fine is imposed on a woman detected in adultery according
to her means and spent on a feast to the caste. All the members thus
have a personal interest in the detection and punishment of such
offences. The dead are usually buried, and water and sugar are placed
in a dying man's mouth instead of the sacred objects used by Hindus;
nor are the dying urged to call on Rama. The dead are buried with
the head to the south, in opposition to the Hindu custom. The Andhs
will eat the flesh of fowls and pigs, and even cats, rats and snakes
in some localities, though the more civilised have abjured these
latter. They are very fond of pork, and drink liquor, and will take
food from Kunbis, Malis and Kolis, but not from Gonds. They have
a caste _panchayat_ or committee, with a headman called Mohtaria,
and two officers known as Phopatia and Dukria. When a caste offence
is committed the Dukria goes to call the offender, and is given the
earthen pots used at the penalty-feast, while the Phopatia receives
a new piece of cloth. The Mohtaria or headman goes from village to
village to decide cases, and gets a share of the fine. The caste are
_shikaris_ or hunters, and cultivators. They catch antelope, hares,
pig and nilgai in their nets, and kill them with sticks and stones,
and they dam up streams and net fish. Birds are not caught. Generally,
the customs of the Andhs clearly point to an aboriginal origin, but
they are rapidly being Hinduised, and in some tracts can scarcely be
distinguished from Kunbis.
They have Marathi names; and though only one name is given at birth,
Mr. Slaney notes that this is frequently changed for some pet name,
and as often as not a man goes regularly by some name other than his
real one.
Arakh
_Arakh._--A small caste of cultivators and labourers found
principally in the Chanda District and Berar and scattered over other
localities. The Arakhs are considered to be an offshoot of the Pasi or
Bahelia caste of hunters and fowlers. Mr. Crooke [32] writes of them:
"All their traditions connect them with the Pasis and Parasurama, the
sixth Avatara of Vishnu. One story runs that Parasurama was bathing
in the sea, when a leech bit his foot and caused it to bleed. He
divided the blood into two parts; out of one part he made the first
Pasi and out of the second the first Arakh. Another story is that
the Pasis were made out of the sweat (_pasina_) of Parasurama. While
Parasurama was away the Pasi shot some animals with his bow, and
the deity was so enraged that he cursed the Pasi, and swore that
his descendants should keep pigs. This accounts for the degradation
of the Pasis. Subsequently Parasurama sent for some Pasis to help
him in one of his wars; but they ran away and hid in an _arhar_
[33] field and were hence called Arakhs." This connection with the
Pasis is also recognised in the case of the Arakhs of Berar, of whom
Mr. Kitts writes: [34] "The Arakhs found in Morsi are a race akin to
the Bahelias. Their regular occupation is bird-catching and _shikar_
(hunting). They do not follow Hindu customs in their marriages,
but although they keep pigs, eat flesh and drink spirits, they will
not touch a Chamar. They appear to be a branch of the Pasi tribe,
and are described as a semi-Hinduised class of aborigines." In the
Chanda District, however, the Arakhs are closely connected with the
Gond tribe, as is evident from their system of exogamy. Thus they
say that they are divided into the Matia, Tekam, Tesli, Godam, Madai,
Sayam and Chorliu septs, worshipping respectively three, four, five,
six, seven, eight and twelve gods; and persons who worship the same
number of gods cannot marry with one another. This system of divisions
according to the different number of gods worshipped is found in the
Central Provinces only among the Gonds and one or two other tribes
like the Baigas, who have adopted it from them, and as some of the
names given above are also Gondi words, no doubt need be entertained
that the Arakhs of Chanda are largely of Gond descent. They are
probably, in fact, the offspring of irregular connections between
the Gonds and Pasis, who, being both frequenters of the forests,
would naturally come much into contact with each other. And being
disowned by the true Pasis on account of their defective pedigree,
they have apparently set up as a separate caste and adopted the name
of Arakh to hide the deficiencies of their ancestry.
The social customs of the Arakhs resemble those of other low Hindu
castes, and need not be given in detail. Their weddings are held
near a temple of Maroti, or if there be none such, then at the place
where the Holi fire was lit in the preceding year. A bride-price
varying from Rs. 25 to Rs. 40 is usually paid. In the case of the
marriage of a widow, the second husband goes to the house of the
woman, where the couple are bathed and seated on two wooden boards,
a branch of a cotton-plant being placed near them. The bridegroom then
ties five strings of black glass beads round the woman's neck. The
dead are mourned for one day only, and a funeral feast is given to
the caste-fellows. The Arakhs are a very low caste, but their touch
does not convey impurity.
Atari
1. General notice.
_Atari, [35] Gandhi, Bukekari._--A small Muhammadan caste of retailers
of scent, incense, tooth-powder and _kunku_ or pink powder. Atari
is derived from _atar_ or _itra_, attar of roses. Gandhi comes from
_gandh_, a Sanskrit word for scent. Bukekari is a Marathi word meaning
a seller of powder. The Ataris number about two hundred persons
in Nagpur, Wardha and Berar. Both Hindus and Muhammadans follow
the profession, but the Hindu Ataris are not a separate caste, and
belong to the Teli, Gurao and Beldar castes. The Muhammadan Ataris,
to whom this article refers, may marry with other Muhammadans, with
the exception of low-class tradesmen like the Pinjaras, Kasais and
Kunjras. One instance of an Atari marrying a Rangrez is known, but
usually they decline to do so. But since they are not considered to
be the equals of ordinary Muhammadans, they constitute more or less
a distinct social group. They are of the same position as Muhammadan
tin-workers, bangle-makers and pedlars, and sometimes intermarry
with them. They admit Hindu converts into the community, but the
women refuse to eat with them, and the better-class families will
not intermarry with converts. A new convert must be circumcised,
but if he is of advanced age, or if his foreskin is wanting, as
sometimes happens, they take a rolled-up betel-leaf and cut it in
two in substitution for the rite.
2. Marriage customs.
It is essential that a girl should be married before adolescence, as it
is said that when the signs of puberty appear in her before wedlock her
parents commit a crime equivalent to the shedding of human blood. The
father of the boy looks for a bride, and after dropping hints to
the girl's family to see if his proposal is acceptable, he sends some
female relatives or friends to discuss the marriage. Before the wedding
the boy is presented with a _chhap_ or ring of gold or silver with
a small cup-like attachment. A _mehar_ or dowry must be given to the
bride, the amount of which is not below Rs. 50 or above Rs. 250. The
bride's parents give her cooking vessels, bedding and a bedstead. After
the wedding, the couple are seated on a cot while the women sing songs,
and they see each other's face reflected in a mirror. The procession
returns after a stay of four days, and is received by the women of
the bridegroom's family with some humorous ceremonies bearing on the
nature of marriage. A feast called Tamm Walima follows, and the couple
are shut up together in an inner room, even though they may be under
age. The marriage includes some Hindu customs, such as the erection
of the _pandal_ or shed, rubbing the couple with turmeric and oil,
and the tying on of _kankans_ or wrist-bands. A girl going wrong
before marriage may be wedded with full rites so long as she has not
conceived, but after conception until her child is born she cannot go
through the ceremony at all. After the birth of the child she may be
married simply with the rite for widows. She retains the child, but it
has no claim to succeed to her husband's property. A widow may marry
again after an interval of forty days from her first husband's death,
and she may wed her younger brother-in-law. Divorce is permitted at
the instance of either party, and for mere disagreement. A man usually
divorces his wife by vowing in the presence of two witnesses that he
will in future consider intercourse with her as incestuous in the same
degree as with his mother. A divorced woman has a claim to her _mehar_
or dowry if not already paid, but forfeits it if she marries again. A
man can marry the daughter of his paternal uncle. The services of a
Kazi at weddings are paid for with a fee of Rs. 1-4, and well-to-do
persons also give him a pair of turbans.
3. Religion.
The Ataris are Muhammadans of the Sunni sect. They revere the
Muhammadan saints, and on the night of Shabrat they let off fireworks
in honour of their ancestors and make offerings of _halwa_ [36] to
them and place lamps and scent on their tombs. They swear by the pig
and abstain from eating its flesh. The dog is considered an unclean
animal and its tail, ears and tongue are especially defiling. If the
hair of a dog falls on the ground they cannot pray in that place
because the souls of the prophets cannot come there. To see a dog
flapping its ears is a bad omen, and a person starting on a journey
should postpone his departure. They esteem the spider, because they
say it spread its web over the mouth of the cave where Hasan and
Husain lay concealed from their enemies and thus prevented it from
being searched. Some of them have Pirs or spiritual preceptors, these
being Muhammadan beggars, not necessarily celibate. The ceremony of
adhesion is that a man should drink sherbet from the cup from which
his preceptor has drunk. They do not observe impurity after a death
nor bathe on returning from a funeral.
4. Social customs.
Liquor is of course prohibited to the Ataris as to other Muhammadans,
but some of them drink it nevertheless. Some of them eat beef and
others abstain. The blood of animals killed must flow before death
according to the rite of _halal_, but they say that fish are an
exception, because when Abraham was offering up his son Ishmael and
God substituted a goat, the goat bleated before it was killed, and
this offended Abraham, who threw his sacrificial knife into the sea:
the knife struck and killed a fish, and on this account all fish
are considered to be _halal_ or lawful food without any further
rite. The Ataris observe the Hindu law of inheritance, and some of
them worship Hindu deities, as Mata the goddess of smallpox. As a rule
their women are not secluded. The Ataris make _missi_ or tooth-powder
from myrobalans, cloves and cardamoms, and other constituents. This
has the effect of blackening the teeth. They also sell the _kunku_
or red powder which women rub on their foreheads, its constituents
being turmeric, borax and the juice of limes. They sell scent and
sometimes deal in tobacco. The scents most in demand are _gulab-pani_
or rose-water and _phulel_ or essence of tilli or sesamum. Scents are
usually sold by the tola of 18 annas silver weight, [37] and a tola
of attar may vary in price from 8 annas to Rs. 80. Other scents are
made from _khas-khas_ grass, the mango, henna and musk, the _bela_
flower, [38] the champak [39] and cucumber. Scent is manufactured
by distillation from the flowers boiled in water, and the drops of
congealed vapour fall into sandalwood oil, which they say is the basis
of all scents. Fragrant oils are also sold for rubbing on the hair,
made from orange flowers, jasmine, cotton-seed and the flowers of
the _aonla_ tree. [40] Scent is sold in tiny circular glass bottles,
and the oils in little bottles made from thin leather. The Ataris
also retail the little black sticks of incense which are set up and
burnt at the time of taking food and in temples, so that the smell
and smoke may keep off evil spirits. When professional exorcists are
called upon to clear any building, such as a hospital, supposed to be
haunted by spirits or the ghosts of the dead, they commence operations
by placing these sticks of incense at the entrance and setting them
alight as in a temple.
Audhelia
1. Origin.
_Audhelia (Audhalia)._--A small hybrid caste found almost exclusively
in the Bilaspur District, where they number about 1000 persons. The
name is derived from the word Udharia, meaning a person with
clandestine sexual intimacies. The Audhelias are a mixed caste and
trace their origin from a Daharia Rajput ancestor, by one Bhuri Bandi,
a female slave of unknown caste. This couple is supposed to have
resided in Ratanpur, the old capital of Chhattisgarh, and the female
ancestors of the Audhelias are said to have been prostitutes until
they developed into a caste and began to marry among themselves. Their
proper avocation at present is the rearing of pigs, while some of
them are also tenants and farm-labourers. Owing to the base descent
and impure occupation of the caste they are held in very low esteem,
and their touch is considered to convey pollution.
2. Marriage.
The caste have at present no endogamous divisions and still admit
members of other castes with the exception of the very lowest. But
social gradations exist to a certain extent among the members
according to the position of their male ancestors, a Daharia Audhelia,
for instance, being reluctant to eat or intermarry with a Panka
Audhelia. Under these circumstances it has become a rule among the
Audhelias not to eat with their caste-fellows excepting their own
relations. On the occasion of a caste feast, therefore, each guest
prepares his own food, taking only uncooked grain from his host. At
present seven _gotras_ or exogamous divisions appear to have been
formed in the caste with the names of Pachbhaiya, Chhahri, Kalkhor,
Bachhawat, Dhanawat, Bhainsa and Limuan. The following story exists as
to the origin of these _gotras_: There were formerly three brothers,
Sahasman, Budha and Mangal, who were Sansis or robbers. One evening
the three brothers halted in a forest and went to look for food. One
brought back a buffalo-horn, another a peacock's feather and the
youngest, Mangal, brought plums. The other brothers asked Mangal to
let them share his plums, to which he agreed on condition that one
of the brothers should give his daughter to him in marriage. As
Mangal and his brothers were of one _gotra_ or section, and the
marriage would thus involve splitting up the _gotra_, the brothers
were doubtful whether it could be performed. They sought about for
some sign to determine this difficult question, and decided that if
Mangal succeeded in breaking in pieces an iron image of a cat simply
by blows of his naked fist, it would be a sufficient indication
that they might split up their _gotra_. Mangal was therefore put
to the ordeal and succeeded in breaking the image, so the three
brothers split up their _gotra_, the eldest assuming the _gotra_
name of Bhainsa because he had found a buffalo-horn, the second that
of Kalkhor, which is stated to mean peacock, and the third that of
Chhahri, which at any rate does not mean a plum. The word Chhahri
means either 'shadow,' or 'one who washes the clothes of a woman in
confinement.' If we assume it to have the latter meaning, it may be
due to the fact that Mangal had to wash the clothes of his own wife,
not being able to induce a professional washerman to do so on account
of the incestuous nature of the connection. As the eldest brother
gave his daughter in an incestuous marriage he was also degraded, and
became the ancestor of the Kanjars or prostitutes, who, it is said,
to the present day do not solicit Audhelias in consideration of the
consanguinity existing between them. The story itself sufficiently
indicates the low and mixed descent of the Audhelias, and its real
meaning may possibly be that when they first began to form a separate
caste they permitted incestuous marriages on account of the paucity of
their members. A curious point about the story is that the incestuous
nature of the connection is not taken to be the most pressing objection
to the marriage of Mangal with his own niece, but the violation of the
caste rule prohibiting marriage within the same _gotra_. Bachhawat
and Dhanawat are the names of sections of the Banjara caste, and
the persons of these _gotras_ among the Audhelias are probably
the descendants of illicit connections among Banjaras. The word
Pachbhaiya means 'five brothers,' and this name possibly commemorates a
polyandrous connection of some Audhelia woman. Limuan means a tortoise,
which is a section of many castes. Several of the section-names are
thus totemistic, and, as in other castes, some reverence is paid to
the animal from whom the name is derived. At present the Audhelias
forbid marriage within the same _gotra_ and also the union of first
cousins. Girls are married between five and seven years of age as their
numbers are scarce, and they are engaged as early as possible. Unless
weddings are arranged by exchanging girls between two families, a
high bride-price, often amounting to as much as Rs. 60, is paid. No
stigma is incurred, however, if a girl should remain unmarried till
she arrives at adolescence, but, on the contrary, a higher price is
then obtained for her. Sexual licence either before or after marriage
is considered a venial offence, but a woman detected in a _liaison_
with a man of one of the lowest castes is turned out of caste. Widow
marriage and divorce are freely allowed.
3. Religion, birth and death.
The Audhelias venerate Dulha Deo and Devi, to whom they usually offer
pigs. Their principal festival is the Holi, at which their women were
formerly engaged to perform as professional dancers. They usually burn
their dead and remove the ashes on the third day, throwing them into
the nearest stream. A few of the bones are picked up and buried under
a pipal tree, and a pitcher with a hole in the bottom is hung on the
tree so that water may trickle down on to them. On the tenth day the
caste-people assemble and are shaved and bathe and rub their bodies
with oil under the tree. Unmarried men and persons dying of cholera
are buried, the head being placed to the north. They consider that if
they place the corpse in the reverse position it would be an insult
to the Ganges equivalent to kicking the holy river, as the feet of
the body would then be turned towards it.
Badhak
List of Paragraphs
1. _Introductory notice._
2. _The Badhak dacoits._
3. _Instances of dacoities._
4. _Further instances of dacoities._
5. _Disguise of religious mendicants._
6. _Countenance and support of landowners._
7. _Pride in their profession._
8. _Caste rules and admission of outsiders._
9. _Religion. Offerings to ancestors._
10. _The wounded haunted by spirits._
11. _Pious funeral observances._
12. _Taking the omens._
13. _Suppression of dacoity._
14. _The Badhaks or Baoris at the present time._
15. _Lizard-hunting._
16. _Social observances._
17. _Criminal practices._
1. Introductory notice.
_Badhak, Bagri, Baoria._--A famous tribe of dacoits who flourished
up to about 1850, and extended their depredations over the whole
of Northern and Central India. The Bagris and Baorias or Bawarias
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, [41] who may be regarded as the virtual founder
of the Thuggee and Dacoity Department. Some mention of the existing
Bagri and Baoria tribes is added at the end.
2. The Badhak dacoits.
The origin of the Badhaks is obscure, but they seem to have belonged
to Gujarat, as their peculiar dialect, still in use, is a form of
Gujarati. The most striking feature in it is the regular substitution
of _kh_ for _s_. They claimed to be Rajputs and were divided into clans
with the well-known Rajput names of Solanki, Panwar, Dhundhel, Chauhan,
Rathor, Gahlot, Bhatti and Charan. 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 Gujarati it seems more
probable that they belonged to Gujarat, a fertile breeding-place of
criminals, and they may have been descended from the alliances of
Rajputs with the primitive tribes of this locality, the Bhils and
Kolis. The existing Bagris 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 Rajput 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. And they lived and robbed with
the connivance or open support of the petty chiefs and landholders,
to 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; and 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 they fled with
the booty acquired." [42]
3. Instances of dacoities.
Colonel Sleeman thus described a dacoity in the town of Narsinghpur
when he was in charge of that District: [43] "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
piquet of sepoys 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, Baji Rao, at Bithur
near Cawnpore. This was accomplished by a gang of about eighty men,
who proceeded to the locality in the disguise of carriers of Ganges
water. Having purchased a boat and a few muskets to intimidate
the guard they crossed the Ganges about six miles below Bithur,
and reached the place at ten o'clock at night; and after wounding
eighteen persons who attempted resistance they possessed themselves
of property, chiefly in 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 recovered a portion of the treasure
and captured two or three hundred of the Badhaks. But none of the
recovered property reached the hands of Baji Rao and the prisoners
were soon afterwards released. [44] Again in 1839, a gang of about
fifty men under a well-known leader, Gajraj, scaled the walls of
Jhansi and plundered the Surafa or bankers' 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 account of this
raid was obtained by Colonel Sleeman from one of the robbers: [45]
"The spy (_hirrowa_) having returned and reported that he had found a
merchant's house in Jhansi which contained a good deal of property,
we proceeded to a grove where we took the auspices by the process
of _akut_ (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 plain about a mile from the town, where we rested to take
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 to 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. Thana and Saldewa, who carried the
axes, soon broke them open, while Kulean lighted up his torch. Gajraj
with twenty men entered, while the rest stood posted at the different
avenues leading to the place. When all the property they could find
had been collected, Gajraj hailed the god Hanuman and gave orders for
the retreat. We got back safely to Mondegri in two days and a half,
and then reposed for two or three days with the Raja 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 either killed or wounded,
but whether any of the bankers' people were I know not."
4. Further instances of dacoities.
Colonel Sleeman writes elsewhere [46] of the leader of the above
exploit: "This Gajraj had risen from the vocation of a _bandarwala_
(monkey showman) to be the Robin Hood of Gwalior and the adjacent
States; he was the governor-general of banditti in that country of
banditti and kept the whole in awe; he had made himself so formidable
that the Durbar appointed him to keep the _ghats_ 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 bazars 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 fell them
to the ground with their bludgeons. This device was often practised
and usually succeeded. [47] Of another Badhak chief, Meherban, it is
stated [48] 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 Meherban's spies (_hirrowa_) were sent to visit the great
commercial towns and report any despatches 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 Benares; and having
attacked it at 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 Meherban 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 Seosagar, one of his halting-places, he gave
a large sum of money to a gardener to plant a grove of mango trees
near a tank for the benefit of travellers, in the name of Raja
Meherban 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. [49]
5. Disguise of religious mendicants.
But naturally not all the Badhaks could do things in the style of
Meherban 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 Banjaras 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, [50] had four or five
tents of white and dyed cloth, two or three pairs of _nakkaras_
or kettle-drums and trumpets, with a great number of buffaloes,
cows, goats, sheep and ponies. Some were clothed, 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 Bairagis, whose 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 the fears of the ignorant. 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 a kind of fusee 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 [51] 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 place of rendezvous
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.
6. 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 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 singular, 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 entertain large
bodies of them in the attack and defence of forts and camps whenever
unusual courage and skill were required. The son of the Raja 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 Garhakota in Saugor had been taken by the Maharaja Sindhia, Zalim
Singh, a cousin of the dispossessed Bundela chief, collected a force
of Bundelas and Pindaris and ravaged the country round Garhakota
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, obtained a number of picked Badhaks from
Rajputana and offered them a rich reward for the head of Zalim Singh;
and after watching his camp for three months they managed to come on
him asleep in the tent of a dancing-girl, who was following his camp,
and stabbed him to 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 a 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 of easy avenues of
escape for those who could afford to pay; and Colonel Sleeman records
the deposition of a Badhak describing their methods of bribery:
"When police officers arrest Badhaks their old women get round them
and give them large sums of money; and they either release them or
get their depositions so written 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 these rupees
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 Nazirs 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." [52]
7. Pride in their profession.
It may be noticed 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,
[53] "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. [54] "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 zamindars (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 zamindars. "Our profession," another Badhak remarked, [55] "has
been a _Padshahi Kam_ (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, Ajit Singh,
who was drafted into the native army and rose to be commander of a
company. "I have seldom seen a man," he wrote, [56] "whom I would
rather have with me in scenes of peril and difficulty." An attempt of
the King of Oudh's, however, to form a regiment of Badhaks had 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
officers sent to them, until they were disbanded by the British on
the province of Allahabad 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 disgraced or insulted by
them. They are all Hindus, and this reverence for the sex pervades
all Hindu society." [57] 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 live in the jungles and
commit dacoities upon the people of the towns as a kind of _shikar_
(sport); they delighted in it, and they felt living in towns or among
other men as a kind of prison, and got quite confused (_ghabraye_),
and their women even more than the men.
8. 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 Rajputs 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. [58] The Badhaks were often known to the
people as Siarkhawa 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 eat the flesh of the jackal at a sacrificial meal,
and hence that they worshipped the jackal, revering it probably
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. The fact of their eating jackals also points to the conclusion
that the Badhaks were not Rajputs, but a low hunting caste like the
Pardhis and Bahelias. The Pardhis have Rajput sept names as well as the
Badhaks. No doubt a few outcaste Rajputs 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 Ghulami or Slave Badhaks, like the Jangar Banjaras;
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, and 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 stringency from lack of spoil. They
also stated that Badhak widows 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.
9. Religion: offerings to ancestors.
Like other Indian criminals the Badhaks were of a very religious
or 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 as exercising a vicarious
authority under these deities in guiding them to their prey and warning
them of danger. [59] The following is an account of a Badhak sacrifice
given to Colonel Sleeman by the Ajit 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. Ajit 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, 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 had 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 to us to desist." Their mode [60] of ascertaining which of their
ancestors interested 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 other 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 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 Kali,
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. [61]
10. The wounded haunted by spirits.
Whenever one of the gang was wounded and was taken with his wounds
bleeding near a place haunted by a spirit, they believed the spirit
got angry and took hold of him, [62] in the manner described by
Ajit Singh as follows: "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 instrument, as spirits are much afraid of
weapons of this kind. If there be any good conjurer at hand to charm
away the spirits from the person wounded he recovers, but nothing else
can save him." In one case a dacoit named Ghisa 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 four 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 Ajit Singh continued:
"When the spirit seized Ghisa under the tree we had unfortunately no
conjurer, and he, poor fellow, 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."
11. Pious funeral observances.
Like pious Hindus as they were, the Badhaks were accustomed, whenever
it was possible, to preserve the bones of their dead after the body
had been burnt and carry 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 two or three fingers and sent these to the Ganges to
be deposited instead of the whole body. [63] In one case a dacoit,
Kundana, was killed in an affray, 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," Ajit 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."
12. Taking the omens.
Before setting out on an expedition it was their regular custom
to take the omens, and the following account may be quoted of the
preliminaries to an expedition of the great leader, Meherban Singh,
who has already been mentioned: "In the latter end of that year,
Meherban and his brother set out and assembled their friends on the
bank of the Bisori river, where the rate at which each member of the
party should share in the spoil was determined in order to secure to
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, amounted to two hundred, and when the shares had been
determined the goats were sacrificed for the feast. Each leader and
member of the gang dipped his finger in the blood and swore fidelity
to his engagements and his associates under all circumstances. The
whole feasted together and drank freely till the next evening, when
Meherban advanced with about twenty of the principal persons to a spot
chosen a little way from the camp on the road they proposed to take in
the expedition, and lifting up his hands in supplication said aloud,
'If it be thy will, O God, and thine, Kali, to prosper 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. All then sat
down and waited in silence for the reply or spoke only in whispers. At
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 were all much rejoiced." The following was another more elaborate
method of taking omens described by Ajit 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,
Mahajit, my grandfather, and Sahiba, his father, are called gods
and admitted to be so by us all. We have all of us some such gods
to be proud of among our ancestors; we propitiate them and ask for
favourable omens from them before we enter upon any enterprise. We
sometimes propitiate the Suraj Deota (sun god) and seek good omens
from him. We get two or three goats or rams, and sometimes even ten
or eleven, at the place where we determine to take the auspices, 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 blow a shell; and
taking out a pinch of wheat grains, put them on the 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 Akut, we take that
of the Siarni or female jackal. If it calls on the left it is good,
but if on the right 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 out of the three the enterprise must be given up."
13. Suppression of dacoity.
Between 1837 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 with small bodies of
military and police were set to hunt down different bands of dacoits,
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 magistrate 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 avocations, 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.
14. 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 Bagri and Baori or
Bawaria, both of which were borne by the original Badhaks. The word
Bagri is derived from a tract of country in Malwa which is known
as the Bagar or 'hedge of thorns,' because it is surrounded on all
sides by wooded hills. [64] There are Bagri Jats and Bagri Rajputs,
many of whom are now highly respectable landholders. Bawaria or
Baori is derived from _banwar_, 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. [65] The term Badhak signifies a hunter or fowler, hence
a robber or murderer (Platts). The Bagris and Bawarias are sometimes
considered to be separate communities, but it is doubtful whether there
is any real distinction between them. In Bombay the Bagris are known
as Vaghris by the common change of _b_ into _v_. A good description
of them is contained in Appendix C to Mr. Bhimbhai Kirparam's volume
_Hindus of Gujarat_ in the _Bombay Gazetteer_. He divides them into the
Chunaria or lime-burners, the Datonia 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 _shikaris_ or hunters. They traffic in
green parrots, which they buy from Bhils and sell for a profit."
15. 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 _goh_ and _sandha_ or iguana lizards, which a Vaghri
prizes very highly. This is also the case with the Bawarias 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: [66]
"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 Chuhra 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 a sense
of his danger. Another plan, which I have not seen, is to tie 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 so that he may not see his executioner. The sportsman
seizes his tail and snatches him out before he has time to learn his
mistake." This common fondness for lizards is a point in favour of
a connection between the Gujarat Vaghris and the Punjab Bawarias.
16. Social observances.
In Sirsa the great mass of the Bawarias are not given to crime,
and in Gujarat also they do not appear to have special criminal
tendencies. It is a curious point, however, that Mr. Bhimbhai Kirparam
emphasises the chastity of the women of the Gujarat Vaghris. [67]
"When a family returns home after a money-making tour to Bombay
or some other city, the women are taken before Vihat (Devi), and
with the women is brought a buffalo or a sheep that is tethered in
front of Vihat's shrine. They must confess all, even their slightest
shortcomings, such as the following: 'Two weeks ago, when begging in
Parsi Bazar-street, a drunken sailor caught me by the hand. Another
day a Miyan or Musalman 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." [68]
On the other hand, Mr. Crooke states [69] that in northern India,
"The standard of morality is very low because in Muzaffarnagar it is
extremely rare for a Bawaria 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 Gujarat [70] the Vaghris 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 Vaghri ceremonies. A Bhuva is a male
child born after the mother has made a vow to the goddess Vihat
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."
17. Criminal practices.
The criminal Bagris still usually travel about in the disguise of
Gosains and Bairagis, and are very difficult of detection except to
real religious mendicants. Their housebreaking implement or jemmy
is known as _Gyan_, but in speaking of it they always add _Das_,
so that it sounds like the name of a Bairagi. [71] They are usually
very much afraid of the _gyan_ 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, [72] 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 _ghi_ (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 sun-down 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. [73]
Mr. Gayer [74] 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 customs of wearing
a peculiar necklace of small wooden beads and a kind of gold pin
fixed to the front teeth, which Mr. Crooke [75] records as having
been prevalent some years ago, have apparently been since abandoned,
as they are not mentioned in more recent accounts. The Dehliwal and
Malpura Baorias have, Mr. Kennedy states, [76] 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 commonest is a loop, the straight line
indicating the direction a gang or individual has taken:
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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 encamped in the vicinity; while
a square inside a circle and line as below means that property has
been secured by friends who have left in the direction pointed 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 Marwari Baorias
desire to indicate to others of their caste, who may follow in their
footsteps, the route taken, 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. [77] The form
of crime most in favour among the ordinary Baoris is housebreaking
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 only
occasionally they dig a hole in the base of the wall to admit of the
passage of a man, while another favoured alternative is to break in
through a barred window, the bars being quickly and forcibly bent and
drawn out. [78] One class of Marwari Bagris are also expert coiners.
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Bahna
1. Nomenclature and internal structure.
_Bahna, Pinjara, Dhunia._ [79]--The occupational caste of
cotton-cleaners. The Bahnas numbered 48,000 persons in the Central
Provinces and Berar in 1911. The large increase in the number
of ginning-factories has ruined the Bahna's trade of cleaning
hand-ginned cotton, and as no distinction attaches to the name of
Bahna it is possible that members of the caste who have taken to
other occupations may have abandoned it and returned themselves simply
as Muhammadans. The three names Bahna, Pinjara, Dhunia appear to be
used indifferently for the caste in this Province, though in other
parts of India they are distinguished. Pinjara 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 Pathani. 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. [80]
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 its members have come, as Badharia from
Badhas in Mirzapur, Sarsutia from the Saraswati river, Berari of Berar,
Dakhni from the Deccan, Telangi from Madras, Pardeshi from northern
India, and so on. Two groups are occupational, the Newaris of Saugor,
who make the thick _newar_ 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 says [81] 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 Nasik the Telis and Pinjaras are said to form one community,
under the government of a single _panchayat_. In cases of dispute
or misconduct the usual penalty is temporary excommunication, which
is known as the stopping of food and water. [82] 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 Billingsgate, the other will say to him,
'_Hamko Julaha Dhunia neh jano_,' or 'Don't talk to me as if I was
a Julaha or a Dhunia.'
2. 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 Kazi
with an imitation of the Nikah rite. The bridegroom's party sit under
the marriage-shed, and the bride with the women of her party inside
the house. The Kazi selects two men, one from the bride's party, who
is known as the Nikahi Bap or 'Marriage Father,' and the other from
the bridegroom's, who is called the Gowah or 'Witness.' These two
men go to the bride and ask her whether she accepts the bridegroom,
whose name is stated, 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 Kazi 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 'Farkhati.'
3. Religious and other customs.
The Bahnas venerate Muhammad, and also worship the tombs of Muhammadan
saints or _Pirs_. 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 _malida_
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 Koran
on paper and burn them before the sufferer. The caste bury the dead
with the feet pointing to the south. On the way to the grave each
one of the mourners places his shoulder under the bier for a time,
partaking of the impurity communicated by it. Incense is burnt daily
in the name of a deceased person for forty days after his death, with
the object probably 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 Jhalar. Some parents leave a lock of hair to grow on
the head in the name of the famous saint Sheikh Farid, thinking that
they will thus ensure a long life for the child. It is probably in
reality a way of preserving the Hindu _choti_ or scalp-lock.
4. Occupation.
The hereditary calling [83] of the Bahna is the cleaning or scutching
of cotton, which is done by subjecting it to the vibration 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 straight 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 on to 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 method of the Bahna
has been superseded by the ginning-factory, and little or no cotton
destined for the spindle is now cleaned by him. 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
against 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 Islam;
and further, they share 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 Khan first made an
expedition into the north of the Central Provinces he found the famous
Gond-Rajput queen Durgavati of the Garha-Mandla dynasty governing with
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 by 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.
5. Proverbs about Bahnas.
Various sayings show that the Bahna is not considered a proper
Muhammadan, as
Turuk to Turuk
Aur Bahna Turuk,
or 'A Muhammadan (Turk) is a Muhammadan and the Bahna is also a
Muhammadan'; and again--
Achera, [84] Kachera, Pinjara,
Muhammad se dur, Din se niyara,
or 'The Kachera and Pinjara are lost to Muhammad and far from the
faith'; and again--
Adho Hindu adho Musalman
Tinkhon kahen Dhunak Pathan,
or 'Half a Hindu and half a Muhammadan, that is he who is a Dhunak
Pathan.' They have a grotesque imitation of the Muhammadan rite of
_halal_, or causing an animal's blood to flow on to 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:
Kahe karkarat hai?
Kahe barbarat hai?
Kahe jai jai logon ka dana khat hai?
Tor kiamat mor niamat,
Bismillah 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. Such a 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 Bilaspur, 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 Brahmans on the tenth day
after a death. They have a priest whom they call their Kazi, 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 Raj-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 caste. Another saying about the Bahnas is--
Sheikhon ki Sheikhi,
Pathanon ki tarr,
Turkon ki Turkshahi,
Bahnon ki bharrr ...
or 'Proud as a Sheikh, obstinate as a Pathan, 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 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 darhi_' or 'A Bahna's beard.' It may be repeated in
conclusion that much of the ridicule attaching 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 Islam. 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.
Baiga
List of Paragraphs
1. _The tribe and its offshoots._
2. _Tribal legends._
3. _Tribal subdivisions._
4. _Marriage._
5. _Birth and funeral rites._
6. _Religion._
7. _Appearance and mode of life._
8. _Dress and food._
9. _Occupation._
10. _Language._
1. The tribe and its offshoots.
_Baiga._ [85]--A primitive Dravidian tribe whose home is on the eastern
Satpura hills in the Mandla, Balaghat and Bilaspur Districts. The
number of the Baigas proper was only 30,000 in 1911. But the Binjhals
or Binjhwars, a fairly numerous caste in the Chhattisgarh 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 Binjhwar zamindars, or large landowners, whose families would
naturally desire a more respectable pedigree than one giving them the
wild Baigas of the Satpuras for their forefathers. And the evolution of
the Binjhwar caste is a similar phenomenon to the constitution of the
Raj-Gonds, the Raj-Korkus, and other aristocratic subdivisions among
the forest tribes, who have been admitted to a respectable position
in the Hindu social community. The Binjhwars, 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 Balaghat and Mandla the Binjhwar subtribe is still recognised as
the most civilised subdivision of the Baigas. The Bhainas, a small
tribe in Bilaspur, are probably another offshoot, Kath-Bhaina being
the name of a subtribe of Baigas in that District, and Rai-Bhaina
in Balaghat, though the Bhainas too no longer admit identity with
the Baigas. A feature common to all three branches is that they have
forgotten their original tongue, and 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 [86] 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 as somewhat more respectable
than their own, and it is therefore generally true to say that the
people known as Bhumias in Jubbulpore are really Bharias, but in
Mandla and Bilaspur 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
Baiga tribe 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. [87] There seems reason to suppose
that the Baigas are really a branch of the primitive Bhuiya tribe
of Chota Nagpur, and that they have taken or been given the name of
Baiga, the designation of a 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 Nagpur, the home of the Bhuiyas. The considerations
in favour of this view are given in the article on Bhuiya, to which
reference may be made.
2. 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 afterwards born, 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 _sal_ [88] 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 Binjhwar tradition Nanga Baiga and Nangi Baigin dwelt on the
_kajli ban pahar_, which being interpreted is the hill of elephants,
and may well refer to the ranges of Mandla and Bilaspur. It is
stated in the _Ain-i-Akbari_ [89] 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 out
from their houses a bamboo mat fastened to a long pole to represent
a flag which they say once flew from the palace of a Baiga king. It
seems likely that the original home of the tribe may have been the
Chhattisgarh 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, as the Bhainas and Binjhwars. The point is
further discussed in the article on Bhuiya. Most of the Baigas speak
a corrupt form of the Chhattisgarhi dialect. When they first came
under the detailed observation of English officers in the middle of
the nineteenth century, the tribe were even more solitary and retired
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, but perched away in snug
corners in the hills, and hidden by convenient projecting spurs and
dense forests from the country round, they could not be seen except
when nearly approached, 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 trees distinguished the
tracks to them from those of the sambhar and other wild animals.
3. Tribal subdivisions.
The following seven subdivisions or subtribes are recognised: Binjhwar,
Bharotia, Narotia or Nahar, Raibhaina, Kathbhaina, Kondwan or Kundi,
and Gondwaina. Of these the Binjhwar, Bharotia and Narotia are the
best-known. The name of the Binjhwars 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 Balaghat the Bharotias
and Narotias both eat together and intermarry. In both places the
Binjhwars occupy the highest position, and the other two subtribes
will take food from them. The Binjhwars consider themselves as Hindus
and abjure the consumption of buffalo's and cow's 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's 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 Kondwans apparently derive their name from
the tract south of the Mahanadi which is named after the Khond tribe,
and was formerly owned by them.
Each subtribe is divided into a number of exogamous septs, the names of
which are identical in many cases with those of the Gonds, as Markam,
Maravi, Netam, Tekam 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 worshippers of the same
number of gods. Thus the four septs above mentioned worship seven gods
and may not intermarry. But they may marry among other septs such as
the Dhurua, Pusam, Bania and Mawar 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 exist among the Gonds in some
localities, and the system is confined to the lower subtribes. The
meanings of the sept names have been forgotten and no instances of
totemism are known. And the Binjhwars and Bharotias, who are more or
less Hinduised, have now adopted territorial names for their septs,
as Lapheya from Lapha zamindari, Ghugharia from Ghughri village in
Mandla, and so on. The adoption of Gond names and septs 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 Binjhwars 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.
4. Marriage.
A Baiga must not take a wife from his own sept or from another one
worshipping the same number of gods. But he may marry within his
mother's sept, and in some localities the union of first cousins is
permitted. Marriage is adult and the proposal comes from 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 take service for a wife. Three ceremonies
should precede the marriage. The first, which may take place at
any time 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. While on the approach of the children to marriageable age
the final betrothal or _barokhi_ is held. The 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 from the bridegroom's house [90] 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 for
an elephant. The elephant makes pretence to charge and trample down
the marriage procession, until a rupee is paid, when the two parties
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 has 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 breaking a straw in the presence of the caste _panchayat_
or 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 _panchayat_ so long as her husband is alive and
remains single. Polygamy is permitted.
5. Birth and funeral rites.
A woman is unclean for a month after childbirth, though the Binjhwars
restrict the period to 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, Phagu, Saoni, and so on, from the months
of Chait, Phagun and Shrawan. 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 Bhiri 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 Bhiri 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 for a period of from two to nine days,
and during this time 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. The next day a small chicken is taken to the place, and after
a mark supposed to be the dead man's name is made on its head with
red ochre, 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 and at the same time to 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. [91]
They also think that they can shut up the tiger's _dar_ or jaws,
so that he cannot bite them, by driving a nail into a tree. The
forest track from Kanha to Kisli in the Banjar forest reserve of
Mandla was formerly a haunt of man-eating tigers, to whom a number
of the wood-cutters and Baiga coolies, clearing the jungle paths,
fell victims 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.
6. Religion.
Although the Binjhwar subcaste now profess Hinduism, the religion of
the Baigas is purely animistic. Their principal deity is Bura Deo, [92]
who is supposed to reside in a _saj_ tree (_Terminalia tomentosa_); he
is worshipped in the month of Jeth (May), when goats, fowls, cocoanuts,
and the liquor of the new mahua crop are offered to him. Thakur 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 Thakur 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 remainder. 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. Bhimsen is the
deity of rainfall, and Dharti Mata or Mother Earth is considered to be
the wife of Thakur 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. Thus it
would be sacrilege on the part of a Hindu to offer animal sacrifices
to Narayan 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 _saj_-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 haunted by spirits, and in certain localities _pats_
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 trees afford a shelter to the souls of the unmarried,
who become _bhuts_ or malignant spirits after death. Nag Deo or the
cobra is supposed to live in an ant-hill, and offerings are made to
him there. Demoniacal possession is an article of faith, and a popular
remedy is to burn human hair mixed with chillies and pig's dung near
the person possessed, as the horrible smell thus produced will drive
away the spirit. Many and weird, Mr. Low writes, are the simples
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 Satpura
railway [93] 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 Brahman 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 so much 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 the shrine of Khermata, the goddess of the village,
to whom 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 has
the common idea of a substituted victim.
7. 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. [94] Their figures are very nearly perfect,
says Colonel Bloomfield, [95] 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 nutriment 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 bamboos and 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 on a visitation of epidemic
disease, 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. [96] 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 also, 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 rest of 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 being given. On being
questioned as to why they had not caused the Baigas to be 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.'
8. Dress and food.
Their dress is of the most simple description, a small strip of rag
between the legs and another wisp for a head-covering 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 her 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 with and make them presentable on appearance 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 bazar, and is the most interesting object in it. His almost
nude figure, wild, tangled hair innocent of such inventions as brush
or comb, lithe wiry limbs and jungly and uncivilised appearance,
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 minute bundles
tied up in it.
In Baihar of Balaghat buying and selling are conducted on perhaps
the most minute scale known, and if a Baiga has one or two pice [97]
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 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 fruits and roots with a scanty allowance of rice or the
light millets, 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 Brahman. The Baiga dearly
loves the common country liquor made from the mahua flower, and this is
consumed as largely as funds will permit of at weddings, funerals and
other social gatherings, and also if obtainable at other times. They
have a tribal _panchayat_ or committee which imposes penalties for
social offences, one punishment being the abstention from meat for a
fixed period. A girl going wrong with a man of the caste is punished
by a fine, but cases of unchastity among unmarried Baiga girls are
rare. Among their pastimes dancing is one of the chief, 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 _mandar_, gives out a deep bass note which
can be heard for miles. The two lines advance and retire, everybody
singing at the same time, and when the dancers get fully into the
time and swing, 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.
9. Occupation.
The Baigas formerly practised only shifting cultivation, burning down
patches of jungle and sowing seed 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
to regular cultivation, but with indifferent success in Balaghat. An
idea of the difficulties to be encountered 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 continue 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 s
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