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Title: The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, Volume
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Author: R. V. Russell

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRIBES
AND CASTES OF THE CENTRAL PROVINCES OF INDIA, VOLUME
4 ***

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 Lāl
Extra Assistant Commissioner

Published Under the Orders of the Central
Provinces Administration
In Four Volumes
Vol. IV.
Macmillan and Co., Limited St. Martin’s Street,
London.
1916

Contents of Volume IV

Articles on Castes and Tribes of the Central
Provinces in Alphabetical Order
The articles which are considered to be of most general interest are shown
in capitals

Kumhār (Potter) 3
Kunbi (Cultivator) 16
Kunjra (Greengrocer) 50
Kuramwār (Shepherd) 52
Kurmi (Cultivator) 55
Lakhera (Worker in lac) 104
Lodhi (Landowner and cultivator) 112
Lohār (Blacksmith) 120
Lorha (Growers of san-hemp) 126
Mahār (Weaver and labourer) 129
Mahli (Forest tribe) 146
Majhwar (Forest tribe) 149
Māl (Forest tribe) 153
Māla (Cotton-weaver and labourer) 156
Māli (Gardener and vegetable-grower) 159
Mallāh (Boatman and fisherman) 171
Māna (Forest tribe, cultivator) 172
Mānbhao (Religious mendicant) 176
Māng (Labourer and village musician) 184
Māng-Garori (Criminal caste) 189
Manihār (Pedlar) 193
Mannewār (Forest tribe) 195
Marātha (Soldier, cultivator and service) 198
Mehtar (Sweeper and scavenge) 215
Meo (Tribe) 233
Mīna or Deswāli (Non-Aryan tribe, cultivator) 235

Mirāsi (Bard and genealogist) 242
Mochi (Shoemaker) 244
Mowār (Cultivator) 250
Murha (Digger and navvy) 252
Nagasia (Forest tribe) 257
Nāhal (Forest tribe) 259
Nai (Barber) 262
Naoda (Boatman and fisherman) 283
Nat (Acrobat) 286
Nunia (Salt-refiner; digger and navvy) 294
Ojha (Augur and soothsayer) 296
Oraon (Forest tribe) 299
Pāik (Soldier, cultivator) 321
Panka (Labourer and village watchman) 324
Panwār Rājpūt (Landowner and cultivator) 330
Pardhān (Minstrel and priest) 352
Pārdhi (Hunter and fowler) 359
Parja (Forest tribe) 371
Pāsi (Toddy-drawer and labourer) 380
Patwa (Maker of silk braid and thread) 385
Pindāri (Freebooter) 388
Prabhu (Writer and clerk) 399
Rāghuvansi (Cultivator) 403
Rājjhar (Agricultural labourer) 405
Rājpūt (Soldier and landowner) 410
Rājpūt Clans
Baghel. Hūna.
Bāgri. Kachhwāha.
Bais. Nāgvansi.
Baksaria. Nikumbh.
Banāphar. Pāik.
Bhadauria. Parihār.
Bisen. Rāthor.
Bundela. Sesodia.
Chandel. Solankhi.

Chauhān. Somvansi.
Dhākar. Sūrajvansi.
Gaharwār. Tomara.
Gaur. Yādu.
Haihaya.
Rajwār (Forest tribe) 470
Rāmosi (Village watchmen and labourers, formerly thieves) 472
Rangrez (Dyer) 477
Rautia (Forest tribe and cultivators, formerly soldiers) 479
Sanaurhia (Criminal thieving caste) 483
Sānsia (Vagrant criminal tribe) 488
Sānsia (Uria) (Mason and digger) 496
Savar (Forest tribe) 500
Sonjhara (Gold-washer) 509
Sudh (Cultivator) 514
Sunār (Goldsmith and silversmith) 517
Sundi (Liquor distiller) 534
Tamera (Coppersmith) 536
Taonla (Soldier and labourer) 539
Teli (Oilman) 542
Thug (Criminal community of murderers by strangulation) 558
Turi (Bamboo-worker) 588
Velama (Cultivator) 593
Vidur (Village accountant, clerk and writer) 596
Wāghya (Religious mendicant) 603
Yerūkala (Criminal thieving caste) 606

Illustrations in Volume IV
97. Potter and his wheel 4
98. Group of Kunbis 16
99. Figures of animals made for Pola festival 40
100. Hindu boys on stilts 42
101. Throwing stilts into the water at the Pola festival 46
102. Carrying out the dead 48
103. Pounding rice 60
104. Sowing 84
105. Threshing 86
106. Winnowing 88
107. Women grinding wheat and husking rice 90
108. Group of women in Hindustāni dress 92
109. Coloured Plate: Examples of spangles worn by women on the
forehead 106
110. Weaving: sizing the warp 142
111. Winding thread 144
112. Bride and bridegroom with marriage crowns 166
113. Bullocks drawing water with mot 170
114. Māng musicians with drums 186
115. Statue of Marātha leader, Bīmbāji Bhonsla, in armour 200
116. Image of the god Vishnu as Vithoba 248
117. Coolie women with babies slung at the side 256
118. Hindu men showing the choti or scalp-lock 272
119. Snake-charmer with cobras 292
120. Transplanting rice 340
121. Group of Pardhāns 352
122. Little girls playing 400
123. Gujarati girls doing figures with strings and sticks 402
124. Ornaments 524
125. Teli’s oil-press 544
126. The Goddess Kāli 574

127. Wāghya mendicants 604

Pronunciation

a, has the sound of u in but or murmur.
ā 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.
ī 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.
ū has the sound of oo in poor or boot

The plural of caste names and a few common Hindustāni words is formed
by adding s in the English manner according to ordinary usage, though this
is not, of course, the Hindustāni 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

Kumhār—Yemkala

Vol. IV

Kumhār
List of Paragraphs

1. Traditions of origin
2. Caste sub-divisions
3. Social Customs
4. The Kumhār as a village menial
5. Occupation
6. Breeding pigs for sacrifices
7. The goddess Demeter
8. Estimation of the pig in India
9. The buffalo as a corn-god
10. The Dasahra festival
11. The goddess Devi

1. Traditions of origin

Kumhār, Kumbhār.—The caste of potters, the name being derived from
the Sanskrit kumbh, a water-pot. The Kumhārs numbered nearly 120,000
persons in the Central Provinces in 1911 and were most numerous in the
northern and eastern or Hindustāni-speaking Districts, where earthen vessels
have a greater vogue than in the south. The caste is of course an ancient one,
vessels of earthenware having probably been in use at a very early period,
and the old Hindu scriptures consequently give various accounts of its origin
from mixed marriages between the four classical castes. “Concerning the
traditional parentage of the caste,” Sir H. Risley writes,1 “there seems to be a
wide difference of opinion among the recognised authorities on the subject.
Thus the Brahma Vaivārtta Purāna says that the Kumbhakār or maker of

water-jars (kumbka), is born of a Vaishya woman by a Brāhman father; the
Parāsara Samhita makes the father a Mālākār (gardener) and the mother a
Chamār; while the Parāsara Padhati holds that the ancestor of the caste was
begotten of a Tili woman by a Pattikār or weaver of silk cloth.” Sir Monier
Williams again, in his Sanskrit Dictionary, describes them as the offspring of
a Kshatriya woman by a Brāhman. No importance can of course be attached
to such statements as the above from the point of view of actual fact, but
they are interesting as showing the view taken of the formation of castes by
the old Brāhman writers, and also the position given to the Kumhār at the
time when they wrote. This varies from a moderately respectable to a very
humble one according to the different accounts of his lineage. The caste
themselves have a legend of the usual Brāhmanical type: “In the Kritayuga,
when Maheshwar (Siva) intended to marry the daughter of Hemvanta, the
Devas and Asuras2 assembled at Kailās (Heaven). Then a question arose as
to who should furnish the vessels required for the ceremony, and one
Kulālaka, a Brāhman, was ordered to make them. Then Kulālaka stood
before the assembly with folded hands, and prayed that materials might be
given to him for making the pots. So Vishnu gave his Sudarsana (discus) to
be used as a wheel, and the mountain of Mandāra was fixed as a pivot
beneath it to hold it up. The scraper was Adi Kūrma the tortoise, and a rain-
cloud was used for the water-tub. So Kulālaka made the pots and gave them
to Maheshwar for his marriage, and ever since his descendants have been
known as Kumbhakār or maker of water-jars.”

Potter and his wheel

2. Caste sub-divisions

The Kumhārs have a number of subcastes, many of which, as might be
expected, are of the territorial type and indicate the different localities from
which they migrated to the Central Provinces. Such are the Mālwi from
Mālwa, the Telenga from the Telugu country in Hyderābād, the Pardeshi
from northern India and the Marātha from the Marātha Districts. Other
divisions are the Lingāyats who belong to the sect of this name, the
Gadhewāl or Gadhere who make tiles and carry them about on donkeys
(gadha), the Bardia who use bullocks for transport and the Sungaria who
keep pigs (suar). Certain endogamous groups have arisen simply from
differences in the method of working. Thus the Hāthgarhia3 mould vessels
with their hands only without using the wheel; the Goria4 make white or red
pots only and not black ones; the Kurere mould their vessels on a stone slab
revolving on a stick and not on a wheel; while the Chakere are Kumhārs who
use the wheel (chāk) in localities where other Kumhārs do not use it. The

Chhutakia and Rakhotia are illegitimate sections, being the offspring of kept
women.

3. Social Customs

Girls are married at an early age when their parents can afford it, the matches
being usually arranged at caste feasts. In Chānda parents who allow a
daughter to become adolescent while still unwed are put out of caste, but
elsewhere the rule is by no means so strict. The ceremony is of the normal
type and a Brāhman usually officiates, but in Betūl it is performed by the
Sawāsa or husband of the bride’s paternal aunt. After the wedding the couple
are given kneaded flour to hold in their hands and snatch from each other as
an emblem of their trade. In Mandla a bride price of Rs. 50 is paid.

The Kumhārs recognise divorce and the remarriage of widows. If an
unmarried girl is detected in criminal intimacy with a member of the caste,
she has to give a feast to the caste-fellows and pay a fine of Rs. 1–4 and five
locks of her hair are also cut off by way of purification. The caste usually
burn the dead, but the Lingāyat Kumhārs always bury them in accordance
with the practice of their sect. They worship the ordinary Hindu deities and
make an offering to the implements of their trade on the festival of Deothān
Igāras. The village Brāhman serves as their priest. In Bālāghāt a Kumhār is
put out of caste if a dead cat is found in his house. At the census of 1901 the
Kumhār was ranked with the impure castes, but his status is not really so
low. Sir D. Ibbetson said of him: “He is a true village menial; his social
standing is very low, far below that of the Lohār and not much above the
Chamār. His association with that impure beast, the donkey, the animal
sacred to Sitala, the smallpox goddess, pollutes him and also his readiness to
carry manure and sweepings.” As already seen there are in the Central
Provinces Sungaria and Gadheria subcastes which keep donkeys and pigs,
and these are regarded as impure. But in most Districts the Kumhār ranks not
much below the Barhai and Lohār, that is in what I have designated the
grade of village menials above the impure and below the cultivating castes.

In Bengal the Kumhārs have a much higher status and Brāhmans will take
water from their hands. But the gradation of caste in Bengal differs very
greatly from that of other parts of India.

4. The Kumhār as a village menial

The Kumhār is not now paid regularly by dues from the cultivators like other
village menials, as the ordinary system of sale has no doubt been found more
convenient in his case. But he sometimes takes the soiled grass from the
stalls of the cattle and gives pots free to the cultivator in exchange. On Akti
day, at the beginning of the agricultural year, the village Kumhār of Saugor
presents five pots with covers on them to each cultivator and receives 2½
lbs. of grain in exchange. One of these the tenant fills with water and
presents to a Brāhman and the rest he reserves for his own purposes. On the
occasion of a wedding also the bridegroom’s party take the bride to the
Kumhārin’s house as part of the sohāg ceremony for making the marriage
propitious. The Kumhār seats the bride on his wheel and turns it round with
her seven times. The Kumhārin presents her with seven new pots, which are
taken back to the house and used at the wedding. They are filled with water
and are supposed to represent the seven seas. If any two of these pots
accidentally clash together it is supposed that the bride and bridegroom will
quarrel during their married life. In return for this the Kumhārin receives a
present of clothes. At a funeral also the Kumhār must supply thirteen vessels
which are known as ghāts, and must also replace the broken earthenware.
Like the other village menials at the harvest he takes a new vessel to the
cultivator in his field and receives a present of grain. These customs appear
to indicate his old position as one of the menials or general servants of the
village ranking below the cultivators. Grant-Duff also includes the potter in
his list of village menials in the Marātha villages.5

5. Occupation

The potter is not particular as to the clay he uses and does not go far afield
for the finer qualities, but digs it from the nearest place in the neighbourhood
where he can get it free of cost. Red and black clay are employed, the former
being obtained near the base of hills or on high-lying land, probably of the
laterite formation, and the latter in the beds of tanks or streams. When the
clay is thoroughly kneaded and ready for use a lump of it is placed on the
centre of the wheel. The potter seats himself in front of the wheel and fixes
his stick or chakrait into the slanting hole in its upper surface. With this stick
the wheel is made to revolve very rapidly, and sufficient impetus is given to
it to keep it in motion for several minutes. The potter then lays aside the
stick and with his hands moulds the lump of clay into the shape required,
stopping every now and then to give the wheel a fresh spin as it loses its
momentum. When satisfied with the shape of his vessel he separates it from
the lump with a piece of string, and places it on a bed of ashes to prevent it
sticking to the ground. The wheel is either a circular disc cut out of a single
piece of stone about a yard in diameter, or an ordinary wooden wheel with
spokes forming two diameters at right angles. The rim is then thickened with
the addition of a coating of mud strengthened with fibre.6 The articles made
by the potter are ordinary circular vessels or gharas used for storing and
collecting water, larger ones for keeping grain, flour and vegetables, and
surāhis or amphoras for drinking-water. In the manufacture of these last salt
and saltpetre are mixed with the clay to make them more porous and so
increase their cooling capacity. A very useful thing is the small saucer which
serves as a lamp, being filled with oil on which a lighted wick is floated.
These saucers resemble those found in the excavations of Roman remains.
Earthen vessels are more commonly used, both for cooking and eating
purposes among the people of northern India, and especially by
Muhammadans, than among the Marāthas, and, as already noticed, the
Kumhār caste musters strong in the north of the Province. An earthen vessel
is polluted if any one of another caste takes food or drink from it and is at

once discarded. On the occasion of a death all the vessels in the house are
thrown away and a new set obtained, and the same measure is adopted at the
Holi festival and on the occasion of an eclipse, and at various other
ceremonial purifications, such as that entailed if a member of the household
has had maggots in a wound. On this account cheapness is an indispensable
quality in pottery, and there is no opening for the Kumhār to improve his art.
Another product of the Kumhār’s industry is the chilam or pipe-bowl. This
has the usual opening for inhaling the smoke but no stem, an impromptu
stem being made by the hands and the smoke inhaled through it. As the
chilam is not touched by the mouth, Hindus of all except the impure castes
can smoke it together, passing it round, and Hindus can also smoke it with
Muhammadans.

It is a local belief that, if an earthen pot is filled with salt and plastered over,
the rains will stop until it is opened. This device is adopted when the fall is
excessive, but, on the other hand, if there is drought, the people sometimes
think that the potter has used it to keep off the rain, because he cannot pursue
his calling when the clay is very wet. And on occasions of a long break in
the rains, they have been known to attack his shop and break all his vessels
under the influence of this belief. The potter is sometimes known as
Prājapati or the ‘The Creator,’ in accordance with the favourite comparison
made by ancient writers of the moulding of his pots with the creation of
human beings, the justice of which will be recognised by any one who
watches the masses of mud on a whirling wheel growing into shapely vessels
in the potter’s creating hands.

6. Breeding pigs for sacrifices

Certain Kumhārs as well as the Dhīmars make the breeding of pigs a means
of subsistence, and they sell these pigs for sacrifices at prices varying from
eight annas (8d.) to a rupee. The pigs are sacrificed by the Gonds to their
god Bura Deo and by Hindus to the deity Bhainsāsur, or the buffalo demon,
for the protection of the crops. Bhainsāsur is represented by a stone in the

fields, and when crops are beaten down at night by the wind it is supposed
that Bhainsāsur has passed over them and trampled them down. Hindus,
usually of the lower castes, offer pigs to Bhainsāsur to propitiate him and
preserve their crops from his ravages, but they cannot touch the impure pig
themselves. What they have to do, therefore, is to pay the Kumhār the price
of the pig and get him to offer it to Bhainsāsur on their behalf. The Kumhār
goes to the god and sacrifices the pig and then takes the body home and eats
it, so that his trade is a profitable one, while conversely to sacrifice a pig
without partaking of its flesh must necessarily be bitter to the frugal Hindu
mind, and this indicates the importance of the deity who is to be propitiated
by the offering. The first question which arises in connection with this
curious custom is why pigs should be sacrificed for the preservation of the
crops; and the reason appears to be that the wild pig is the animal which, at
present, mainly damages the crops.

7. The goddess Demeter

In ancient Greece pigs were offered to Demeter, the corn-goddess, for the
protection of the crops, and there is good reason to suppose that the
conceptions of Demeter herself and the lovely Proserpine grew out of the
worship of the pig, and that both goddesses were in the beginning merely the
deified pig. The highly instructive passage in which Sir J. G. Frazer
advances this theory is reproduced almost in full7: “Passing next to the corn-
goddess Demeter, and remembering that in European folklore the pig is a
common embodiment of the corn-spirit, we may now ask whether the pig,
which was so closely associated with Demeter, may not originally have been
the goddess herself in animal form? The pig was sacred to her; in art she was
portrayed carrying or accompanied by a pig; and the pig was regularly
sacrificed in her mysteries, the reason assigned being that the pig injures the
corn and is therefore an enemy of the goddess. But after an animal has been
conceived as a god, or a god as an animal, it sometimes happens, as we have
seen, that the god sloughs off his animal form and becomes purely
anthropomorphic; and that then the animal which at first had been slain in

the character of the god, comes to be viewed as a victim offered to the god
on the ground of its hostility to the deity; in short, that the god is sacrificed
to himself on the ground that he is his own enemy. This happened to
Dionysus and it may have happened to Demeter also. And in fact the rites of
one of her festivals, the Thesmophoria, bear out the view that originally the
pig was an embodiment of the corn-goddess herself, either Demeter or her
daughter and double Proserpine. The Thesmophoria was an autumn festival
celebrated by women alone in October, and appears to have represented with
mourning rites the descent of Proserpine (or Demeter) into the lower world,
and with joy her return from the dead. Hence the name Descent or Ascent
variously applied to the first, and the name Kalligeneia (fair-born) applied to
the third day of the festival. Now from an old scholium on Lucian we learn
some details about the mode of celebrating the Thesmophoria, which shed
important light on the part of the festival called the Descent or the Ascent.
The scholiast tells us that it was customary at the Thesmophoria to throw
pigs, cakes of dough, and branches of pine-trees into ‘the chasms of Demeter
and Proserpine,’ which appear to have been sacred caverns or vaults.

“In these caverns or vaults there were said to be serpents, which guarded the
caverns and consumed most of the flesh of the pigs and dough-cakes which
were thrown in. Afterwards—apparently at the next annual festival—the
decayed remains of the pigs, the cakes, and the pine-branches were fetched
by women called ‘drawers,’ who, after observing, rules of ceremonial purity
for three days, descended into the caverns, and, frightening away the
serpents by clapping their hands, brought up the remains and placed them on
the altar. Whoever got a piece of the decayed flesh and cakes, and sowed it
with the seed-corn in his field, was believed to be sure of a good crop.

“To explain this rude and ancient rite the following legend was told. At the
moment when Pluto carried off Proserpine, a swineherd called Eubuleus
chanced to be herding his swine on the spot, and his herd was engulfed in the
chasm down which Pluto vanished with Proserpine. Accordingly, at the
Thesmophoria pigs were annually thrown into caverns to commemorate the
disappearance of the swine of Eubuleus. It follows from this that the casting
of the pigs into the vaults at the Thesmophoria formed part of the dramatic
representation of Proserpine’s descent into the lower world; and as no image

of Proserpine appears to have been thrown in, we may infer that the descent
of the pigs was not so much an accompaniment of her descent as the descent
itself, in short, that the pigs were Proserpine. Afterwards, when Proserpine or
Demeter (for the two are equivalent) became anthropomorphic, a reason had
to be found for the custom of throwing pigs into caverns at her festival; and
this was done by saying that when Pluto carried off Proserpine, there
happened to be some swine browsing near, which were swallowed up along
with her. The story is obviously a forced and awkward attempt to bridge over
the gulf between the old conception of the corn-spirit as a pig and the new
conception of her as an anthropomorphic goddess. A trace of the older
conception survived in the legend that when the sad mother was searching
for traces of the vanished Proserpine, the footprints of the lost one were
obliterated by the footprints of a pig; originally, we may conjecture, the
footprints of the pig were the footprints of Proserpine and of Demeter
herself. A consciousness of the intimate connection of the pig with the corn
lurks in the legend that the swineherd Eubuleus was a brother of
Triptolemus, to whom Demeter first imparted the secret of the corn. Indeed,
according to one version of the story, Eubuleus himself received, jointly with
his brother Triptolemus, the gift of the corn from Demeter as a reward for
revealing to her the fate of Proserpine. Further, it is to be noted that at the
Thesmophoria the women appear to have eaten swine’s flesh. The meal, if I
am right, must have been a solemn sacrament or communion, the
worshippers partaking of the body of the god.”

8. Estimation of the pig in India

We thus see how the pig in ancient Greece was worshipped as a corn-deity
because it damaged the crops and subsequently became an anthropomorphic
goddess. It is suggested that pigs are offered to Bhainsāsur by the Hindus for
the same reason. But there is no Hindu deity representing the pig, this animal
on the contrary being regarded as impure. It seems doubtful, however,
whether this was always so. In Rājputāna on the stone which the Regent of
Kotah set up to commemorate the abolition of forced taxes were carved the

effigies of the sun, the moon, the cow and the hog, with an imprecation on
whoever should revoke the edict.8 Colonel Tod says that the pig was
included as being execrated by all classes, but this seems very doubtful. It
would scarcely occur to any Hindu nowadays to associate the image of the
impure pig with those of the sun, moon and cow, the representations of three
of his greatest deities. Rather it gives some reason for supposing that the pig
was once worshipped, and the Rājpūts still do not hold the wild boar impure,
as they hunt it and eat its flesh. Moreover, Vishnu in his fourth incarnation
was a boar. The Gonds regularly offer pigs to their great god Bura Deo, and
though they now offer goats as well, this seems to be a later innovation. The
principal sacrifice of the early Romans was the Suovetaurilia or the sacrifice
of a pig, a ram and a bull. The order of the words, M. Reinach remarks,9 is
significant as showing the importance formerly attached to the pig or boar.
Since the pig was the principal sacrificial animal of the primitive tribes, the
Gonds and Baigas, its connection with the ritual of an alien and at one time
hostile religion may have strengthened the feeling of aversion for it among
the Hindus, which would naturally be engendered by its own dirty habits.

9. The buffalo as a corn-god

It seems possible then that the Hindus reverenced the wild boar in the past as
one of the strongest and fiercest animals of the forest and also as a destroyer
of the crops. And they still make sacrifices of the pig to guard their fields
from his ravages. These sacrifices, however, are not offered to any deity who
can represent a deified pig but to Bhainsāsur, the deified buffalo. The
explanation seems to be that in former times, when forests extended over
most of the country, the cultivator had in the wild buffalo a direr foe than the
wild pig. And one can well understand how the peasant, winning a scanty
subsistence from his poor fields near the forest, and seeing his harvest
destroyed in a night by the trampling of a herd of these great brutes against
whom his puny weapons were powerless, looked on them as terrible and
malignant deities. The sacrifice of a buffalo would be beyond the means of a
single man, and the animal is now more or less sacred as one of the cow

tribe. But the annual joint sacrifice of one or more buffaloes is a regular
feature of the Dasahra festival and extends over a great part of India. In
Betūl and other districts the procedure is that on the Dasahra day, or a day
before, the Māng and Kotwār, two of the lowest village menials, take a
buffalo bull and bring it to the village proprietor, who makes a cut on its
nose and draws blood. Then it is taken all round the village and to the
shrines of the gods, and in the evening it is killed and the Māng and Kotwār
eat the flesh. It is now believed that if the blood of a buffalo does not fall at
Dasahra some epidemic will attack the village, but as there are no longer any
wild buffaloes except in the denser forests of one or two Districts, the
original meaning of the rite might naturally have been forgotten.10

10. The Dasahra festival

The Dasahra festival probably marks the autumnal equinox and also the time
when the sowing of wheat and other spring crops begins. Many Hindus still
postpone sowing the wheat until after Dasahra, even though it might be
convenient to begin before, especially as the festival goes by the lunar month
and its date varies in different years by more than a fortnight. The name
signifies the tenth day, and prior to the festival a fast of nine days is
observed, when the pots of wheat corresponding to the gardens of Adonis are
sown and quickly sprout up. This is an imitation of the sowing and growth of
the real crop and is meant to ensure its success. During these nine days it is
said that the goddess Devi was engaged in mortal combat with the buffalo
demon Mahisāsur or Bhainsāsur, and on the tenth day or the Dasahra she
slew him. The fast is explained as being observed in order to help her to
victory, but it is really perhaps a fast in connection with the growing of the
crops. A similar nine daysfast for the crops was observed by the Greeks.11

11. The goddess Devi

Devi signifies ‘the goddess’ par excellence. She is often the tutelary goddess
of the village and of the family, and is held to have been originally Mother
Earth, which may be supposed to be correct. In tracts where the people of
northern and southern India meet she is identified with Anna Pūrna, the
corn-goddess of the Telugu country; and in her form of Gauri or ‘the Yellow
One’ she is perhaps herself the yellow corn. As Gauri she is worshipped at
weddings in conjunction with Ganesh or Ganpati, the god of Good Fortune;
and it is probably in honour of the harvest colour that Hindus of the upper
castes wear yellow at their weddings and consider it lucky. A Brahman also
prefers to wear yellow when eating his food. It has been seen12 that red is the
lucky colour of the lower castes of Hindus, and the reason probably is that
the shrines of their gods are stained red with the blood of the animals
sacrificed. High-caste Hindus no longer make animal sacrifices, and their
offerings to Siva, Vishnu and Devi consist of food, flowers and blades of
corn. Thus yellow would be similarly associated with the shrines of the gods.
All Hindu brides have their bodies rubbed with yellow turmeric, and the
principal religious flower, the marigold, is orange-yellow. Yellow is,
however, also lucky as being the colour of Vishnu or the Sun, and a yellow
flag is waved above his great temple at Rāmtek on the occasion of the fair.
Thus Devi as the corn-goddess perhaps corresponds to Demeter, but she is
not in this form an animal goddess. The Hindus worshipping Mother Earth,
as all races do in the early stage of religion, may by a natural and proper
analogy have ascribed the gift of the corn to her from whom it really comes,
and have identified her with the corn-goddess. This is by no means a full
explanation of the goddess Devi, who has many forms. As Pārvati, the hill-
maiden, and Durga, the inaccessible one, she is the consort of Siva in his
character of the mountain-god of the Himalayas; as Kāli, the devourer of
human flesh, she is perhaps the deified tiger; and she may have assimilated
yet more objects of worship into her wide divinity. But there seems no
special reason to hold that she is anywhere believed to be the deified buffalo;

and the probable explanation of the Dasahra rite would therefore seem to be
that the buffalo was at first venerated as the corn-god because, like the pig in
Greece, he was most destructive to the crops, and a buffalo was originally
slaughtered and eaten sacramentally as an act of worship. At a later period
the divinity attaching to the corn was transferred to Devi, an
anthropomorphic deity of a higher class, and in order to explain the
customary slaughter of the buffalo, which had to be retained, the story
became current that the beneficent goddess fought and slew the buffalo-
demon which injured the crops, for the benefit of her worshippers, and the
fast was observed and the buffalo sacrificed in commemoration of this event.
It is possible that the sacrifice of the buffalo may have been a non-Aryan
rite, as the Mundas still offer a buffalo to Deswāli, their forest god, in the
sacred grove; and the Korwas of Sargūja nave periodical sacrifices to Kāli in
which many buffaloes are slaughtered. In the pictures of her fight with
Bhainsāsur, Devi is shown as riding on a tiger, and the uneducated might
imagine the struggle to have resembled that between a tiger and a buffalo. As
the destroyer of buffaloes and deer which graze on the crops the tiger may
even be considered the cultivator’s friend. But in the rural tracts Bhainsāsur
himself is still venerated in the guise of a corn-deity, and pig are perhaps
offered to him as the animals which nowadays do most harm to the crops.

1 Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Kumhār.

2 Gods and demons.
3 Hāth, hand and garhna to make or mould.

4 Gora, white or red, applied to Europeans.
5 History of the Marāthas, edition 1878, vol. i. p. 26.
6 The above description is taken from the Central Provinces Monograph on Pottery and Glassware
by Mr. Jowers, p. 4.
7 Golden Bough, ii. pp. 299, 301.

8 Rājasthān, ii. p. 524.
9 Orphèus, p. 152.

10 The sacrifice is now falling into abeyance, as landowners refuse to supply the buffalo.

11 Dr. Jevons, Introduction to the History of Religion, p. 368.

12 Vide article on Lakhera.

Kunbi
[This article is based on the information collected for the District Gazetteers
of the Central Provinces, manuscript notes furnished by Mr. A.K. Smith,
C.S., and from papers by Pandit Pyāre Lāl Misra and Munshi Kanhya Lāl.
The Kunbis are treated in the Poona and Khāndesh volumes of the Bombay
Gazetteer. The caste has been taken as typical of the Marāthi-speaking
Districts, and a fairly full description of the marriage and other ceremonies
has therefore been given, some information on houses, dress and food being
also reproduced from the Wardha and Yeotmal District Gazetteers.]

List of Paragraphs

1. Distribution of the caste and origin of name
2. Settlement in the Central Provinces
3. Subcastes
4. The cultivating status
5. Exogamus septs
6. Restrictions on marriage of relatives
7. Betrothal and marriage
8. Polygamy and divorce
9. Widow-marriage
10. Customs at birth
11. Sixth and twelfth day ceremonies
12. Devices for procuring children
13. Love charms
14. Disposal of the dead
15. Mourning
16. Religion
17. The Pola festival
18. Muhammadan tendencies of Berār Kunbis
19. Villages and houses
20. Furniture

21. Food
22. Clothes and ornaments
23. The Kunbi as cultivator
24. Social and moral characteristics

1. Distribution of the caste and origin of name

Kunbi—The great agricultural caste of the Marātha country. In the Central
Provinces and Berār the Kunbis numbered nearly 1,400,000 persons in 1911;
they belong to the Nāgpur, Chānda, Bhandāra, Wardha, Nimār and Betūl
Districts of the Central Provinces. In Berār their strength was 800,000, or
nearly a third of the total population. Here they form the principal cultivating
class over the whole area except in the jungles of the north and south, but
muster most strongly in the Buldāna District to the west, where in some
tāluks nearly half the population belongs to the Kunbi caste. In the combined
Province they are the most numerous caste except the Gonds. The name has
various forms in Bombay, being Kunbi or Kulambi in the Deccan, Kulwādi
in the south Konkan, Kanbi in Gujarāt, and Kulbi in Belgaum. In Sanskrit
inscriptions it is given as Kutumbika (householder), and hence it has been
derived from kutumba, a family. A chronicle of the eleventh century quoted
by Forbes speaks of the Kutumbiks or cultivators of the grāms, or small
villages.1 Another writer describing the early Rājpūt dynasties says:2 “The
villagers were Koutombiks (householders) or husbandmen (Karshuks); the
village headmen were Putkeels (patels).” Another suggested derivation is
from a Dravidian root kul a husbandman or labourer; while that favoured by
the caste and their neighbours is from kun, a root, or kan grain, and bi, seed;
but this is too ingenious to be probable.

Group of Kunbis

2. Settlement in the Central Provinces

It is stated that the Kunbis entered Khāndesh from Gujarāt in the eleventh
century, being forced to leave Gujarāt by the encroachments of Rājpūt tribes,
driven south before the early Muhammadan invaders of northern India.3
From Khāndesh they probably spread into Berār and the adjoining Nāgpur
and Wardha Districts. It seems probable that their first settlement in Nāgpur
and Wardha took place not later than the fourteenth century, because during
the subsequent period of Gond rule we find the offices of Deshmukh and
Deshpāndia in existence in this area. The Deshmukh was the manager or
headman of a circle of villages and was responsible for apportioning and

collecting the land revenue, while the Deshpāndia was a head patwari or
accountant. The Deshmukhs were usually the leading Kunbis, and the titles
are still borne by many families in Wardha and Nāgpur. These offices4
belong to the Marātha country, and it seems necessary to suppose that their
introduction into Wardha and Berār dates from a period at least as early as
the fourteenth century, when these territories were included in the dominions
of the Bahmani kings of Bījapur. A subsequent large influx of Kunbis into
Wardha and Nāgpur took place in the eighteenth century with the conquest
of Raghūji Bhonsla and the establishment of the Marātha kingdom of
Nāgpur. Traces of these separate immigrations survive in the subdivisions of
the caste, which will now be mentioned.

3. Subcastes

The internal structure of the Kunbi caste in the Central Provinces shows that
it is a mixed occupational body recruited from different classes of the
population. The Jhāre or jungly5 Kunbis are the oldest immigrants and have
no doubt an admixture of Gond blood. They do not break their earthen
vessels after a death in the house. With them may be classed the Mānwa
Kunbis of the Nāgpur District; these appear to be a group recruited from the
Mānas, a primitive tribe who were dominant in Chānda perhaps even before
the advent of the Gonds. The Mānwa Kunbi women wear their cloths drawn
up so as to expose the thigh like the Gonds, and have some other primitive
practices. They do not employ Brāhmans at their marriages, but consult a
Mahār Mohtūria or soothsayer to fix the date of the ceremony. Other Kunbis
will not eat with the Mānwas, and the latter retaliate in the usual manner by
refusing to accept food from them; and say that they are superior to other
Kunbis because they always use brass vessels for cooking and not earthen
ones. Among the other subcastes in the Central Provinces are the Khaire,
who take their name from the khaīr6 or catechu tree, presumably because
they formerly prepared catechu; this is a regular occupation of the forest
tribes, with whom it may be supposed that the Khaire have some affinity.
The Dhanoje are those who took to the occupation of tending dhan7 or small

stock, and they are probably an offshoot of the Dhangar or shepherd caste
whose name is similarly derived. Like the Dhangar women they wear
cocoanut-shell bangles, and the Mānwa Kunbis also do this; these bangles
are not broken when a child is born, and hence the Dhanojes and Mānwas
are looked down on by the other subcastes, who refuse to remove their leaf-
plates after a feast. The name of the Khedule subcaste may be derived from
kheda a village, while another version given by Mr. Kitts8 is that it signifies
‘A beardless youth.’ The highest subcaste in the Central Provinces are the
Tirole or Tilole, who now claim to be Rājpūts. They say that their ancestors
came from Therol in Rājputāna, and, taking to agriculture, gradually became
merged with the Kunbis. Another more probable derivation of the name is
from the til or sesamum plant. The families who held the hereditary office of
Deshmukh, which conferred a considerable local position, were usually
members of the Tirole subcaste, and they have now developed into a sort of
aristocratic branch of the caste, and marry among themselves when matches
can be arranged. They do not allow the remarriage of widows nor permit
their women to accompany the wedding procession. The Wāndhekars are
another group which also includes some Deshmukh families, and ranks next
to the Tiroles in position. Mr. Kitts records a large number of subcastes in
Berār.9 Among them are some groups from northern India, as the Hindustāni,
Pardesi, Dholewār, Jaiswār and Singrore; these are probably Kurmis who
have settled in Berār and become amalgamated with the Kunbis. Similarly
the Tailanges and Munurwārs appear to be an offshoot of the great Kāpu
caste of cultivators in the Telugu country. The Wanjāri subcaste is a fairly
large one and almost certainly represents a branch of the Banjāra caste of
carriers, who have taken to agriculture and been promoted into the Kunbi
community. The Lonhāre take their name from Lonār Mehkar, the well-
known bitter lake of the Buldāna District, whose salt they may formerly
have refined. The Ghātole are those who dwelt above the ghāts or passes of
the Saihadri range to the south of the Berār plain. The Baone are an
important subcaste both in Berār and the Central Provinces, and take their
name from the phrase Bāwan Berār,10 a term applied to the province by the
Mughals because it paid fifty-two lakhs of revenue, as against only eight
lakhs realised from the adjoining Jhādi or hill country in the Central
Provinces. In Chhindwāra is found a small local subcaste called Gādhao
because they formerly kept donkeys, though they no longer do so; they are

looked down on by the others who will not even take water from their hands.
In Nimār is a group of Gujarāti Kunbis who are considered to have been
originally Gūjars.11 Their local subdivisions are Leve and Karwa and many
of them are also known as Dālia, because they made the dāl or pulse of
Burhānpur, which had a great reputation under native rule. It is said that it
was formerly despatched daily to Sindhia’s kitchen.

4. The cultivating status

It appears then that a Kunbi has in the past been synonymous with a
cultivator, and that large groups from other castes have taken to agriculture,
have been admitted into the community and usually obtained a rise in rank.
In many villages Kunbis are the only ryots, while below them are the village
menials and artisans, several of whom perform functions at weddings or on
other occasions denoting their recognition of the Kunbi as their master or
employer; and beneath these again are the impure Mahārs or labourers. Thus
at a Kunbi betrothal the services of the barber and washerman must be
requisitioned; the barber washes the feet of the boy and girl and places
vermilion on the foreheads of the guests. The washerman spreads a sheet on
the ground on which the boy and girl sit. At the end of the ceremony the
barber and washerman take the bride and bridegroom on their shoulders and
dance to music in the marriage-shed; for this they receive small presents.
After a death has occurred at a Kunbi’s house the impurity is not removed
until the barber and washerman have eaten in it. At a Kunbi’s wedding the
Gurao or village priest brings the leafy branches of five trees, the mango,
jāmun12 umar13 and two others and deposits them at Māroti’s temple,
whence they are removed by the parents of the bride. Before a wedding
again a Kunbi bride must go to the potter’s house and be seated on his wheel
while it is turned round seven times for good luck. At seed-time and harvest
all the village menials go to the cultivator’s field and present him with a
specimen of their wares or make obeisance to him, receiving in return a
small present of grain. This state of things seems to represent the primitive
form of Hindu society from which the present widely ramified system, of

castes may have expanded, and even now the outlines of the original
structure may be discernible under all subsequent accretions.

5. Exogamus septs

Each subcaste has a number of exogamous septs or clans which serve as a
table of affinities in regulating marriage. The vernacular term for these is
kul. Some of the septs are named after natural objects or animals, others
from titles or nicknames borne by the reputed founder of the group, or from
some other caste to which he may have belonged, while others again are
derived from the names of villages which maybe taken to have been the
original home of the sept or clan. The following are some septs of the Tirole
subcaste: Kole, jackal; Wānkhede, a village; Kadu, bitter; Jagthāp, famous;
Kadam, a tree; Meghe, a cloud; Lohekari, a worker in iron; Ughde, a child
who has been exposed at birth; Shinde, a palm-tree; Hagre, one who suffers
from diarrhoea; Aglāwe, an incendiary; Kalamkār, a writer; Wāni (Bania), a
caste; Sutār, a carpenter, and so on, A few of the groups of the Bāone
subcaste are:—Kāntode, one with a torn ear; Dokarmāre, a killer of pigs;
Lūte, a plunderer; Titarmāre, a pigeon-killer; and of the Khedule: Patre, a
leaf-plate; Ghoremāre, one who killed a horse; Bāgmare, a tiger-slayer;
Gadhe, a donkey; Burāde, one of the Burud or Basor caste; Nāktode, one
with a broken nose, and so on. Each subcaste has a number of septs, a total
of 66 being recorded for the Tiroles alone. The names of the septs confirm
the hypothesis arrived at from a scrutiny of the subcastes that the Kunbis are
largely recruited from the pre-Aryan or aboriginal tribes. Conclusions as to
the origin of the caste can better be made in its home in Bombay, but it may
be noted that in Canara, according to the accomplished author of A
Naturalist on the Prowl14 the Kunbi is quite a primitive forest-dweller, who
only a few years back lived by scattering his seed on patches of land burnt
clear of vegetation, collecting myrobalans and other fruits, and snaring and
trapping animals exactly like the Gonds and Baigas of the Central Provinces.
Similarly in Nāsik it is stated that a large proportion of the Kunbi caste are
probably derived from the primitive tribes15. Yet in the cultivated plains

which he has so largely occupied, he is reckoned the equal in rank of the
Kurmi and other cultivating castes of Hindustān, who in theory at any rate
are of Aryan origin and of so high a grade of social purity that Brāhmans
will take water from them. The only reasonable explanation of this rise in
status appears to be that the Kunbi has taken possession of the land and has
obtained the rank which from time immemorial belongs to the hereditary
cultivator as a member and citizen of the village community. It is interesting
to note that the Wanjāri Kunbis of Berār, who, being as already seen
Banjāras, are of Rājpūt descent at any rate, now strenuously disclaim all
connection with the Banjāra caste and regard their reception into the Kunbi
community as a gain in status. At the same time the refusal of the Marātha
Brāhmans to take water to drink from Kunbis may perhaps have been due to
the recognition of their non-Aryan origin. Most of the Kunbis also eat fowls,
which the cultivating castes of northern India would not usually do.

6. Restrictions on marriage of relatives

A man is forbidden to marry within his own sept or kul, or in that of his
mother or either of his grandmothers. He may marry his wife’s younger
sister but not her elder sister. Alliances between first and second cousins are
also prohibited except that a sister’s son may be married to a brother’s
daughter. Such marriages are also favoured by the Marātha Brāhmans and
other castes, and the suitability of the match is expressed in the saying Ato
ghari bhāsi sūn, or ‘At a sister’s house her brother’s daughter is a daughter-
in-law.’ The sister claims it as a right and not unfrequently there are quarrels
if the brother decides to give his daughter to somebody else, while the
general feeling is so strongly in favour of these marriages that the caste
committee sometimes imposes a fine on fathers who wish to break through
the rule. The fact that in this single case the marriage of near relatives is not
only permitted but considered almost as an obligation, while in all other
instances it is strictly prohibited, probably points to the conclusion that the
custom is a survival of the matriarchate, when a brother’s property would
pass to his sister’s son. Under such a law of inheritance he would naturally

desire that his heir should be united to his own daughter, and this union
might gradually become customary and at length almost obligatory. The
custom in this case may survive when the reasons which justified it have
entirely vanished. And while formerly it was the brother who would have
had reason to desire the match for his daughter, it is now the sister who
insists on it for her son, the explanation being that among the Kunbis as with
other agricultural castes, to whom a wife’s labour is a valuable asset, girls
are expensive and a considerable price has to be paid for a bride.

7. Betrothal and marriage

Girls are usually married between the ages of five and eleven and boys
between ten and twenty. The Kunbis still think it a mark of social distinction
to have their daughters married as young as possible. The recognised bride-
price is about twenty rupees, but much larger sums are often paid. The boy’s
father goes in search of a girl to be married to his son, and when the bride-
price has been settled and the match arranged the ceremony of Māngni or
betrothal takes place. In the first place the boy’s father proceeds to his future
daughter-in-law’s house, where he washes her feet, smears her forehead with
red powder and gives her a present of a rupee and some sweetmeats. All the
party then eat together. This is followed by a visit of the girl’s father to the
boy’s house where a similar ceremony is enacted and the boy is presented
with a cocoanut, a pagri and cloth, and a silver or gold ring. Again the boy’s
relatives go to the girl’s house and give her more valuable presents of
jewellery and clothing. A Brāhman is afterwards consulted to fix the date of
the marriage, but the poorer Kunbis dispense with his services as he charges
two or three rupees. Prior to the ceremony the bodies of the bride and
bridegroom are well massaged with vegetable oil and turmeric in their
respective houses, partly with a view to enhance their beauty and also
perhaps to protect them during the trying period of the ceremony when
maleficent spirits are particularly on the alert. The marriage-shed is made of
eleven poles festooned with leaves, and inside it are placed two posts of the
sāleh (Boswellia serrata) or umar (Ficus glomerata) tree, one longer than

the other, to represent the bride and bridegroom. Two jars filled with water
are set near the posts, and a small earthen platform called baola is made. The
bridegroom wears a yellow or white dress, and has a triangular frame of
bamboo covered with tinsel over his forehead, which is known as bāsing and
is a substitute for the maur or marriage-crown of the Hindustāni castes. Over
his shoulder he carries a pickaxe as the representative implement of
husbandry with one or two wheaten cakes tied to it. This is placed on the top
of the marriage-shed and at the end of the five days’ ceremonies the
members of the families eat the dried cakes with milk, no outsider being
allowed to participate. The barāt or wedding procession sets out for the
bride’s village, the women of the bridegroom’s family accompanying it
except among the Tirole Kunbis, who forbid the practice in order to
demonstrate their higher social position. It is received on the border of the
girl’s village by her father and his friends and relatives, and conducted to the
janwāsa or temporary lodging prepared for it, with the exception of the
bridegroom, who is left alone before the shrine of Māroti or Hanumān. The
bridegroom’s father goes to the marriage-shed where he washes the bride’s
feet and gives her another present of clothes, and her relatives then proceed
to Māroti’s temple where they worship and make offerings, and return
bringing the bridegroom with them. As he arrives at the marriage pavilion he
touches it with a stick, on which the bride’s brother who is seated above the
shed pours down some water and is given a present of money by the
bridegroom. The bridegroom’s feet are then washed by his father-in-law and
he is given a yellow cloth which he wears. The couple are made to stand on
two wooden planks opposite each other with a curtain between them, the
bridegroom facing east and the bride west, holding some Akshata or rice
covered with saffron in their hands. As the sun sets the officiating Brāhman
gets on to the roof of the house and repeats the marriage texts from there. At
his signal the couple throw the rice over each other, the curtain between
them is withdrawn, and they change their seats. The assembled party
applaud and the marriage proper is over. The Brāhman marks their foreheads
with rice and turmeric and presses them together. He then seats them on the
earthen platform or baola, and ties their clothes together, this being known
as the Brahma Gānthi or Brāhman’s knot. The wedding usually takes place
on the day after the arrival of the marriage procession and another two days
are consumed in feasting and worshipping the deities. When the bride and

bridegroom return home after the wedding one of the party waves a pot of
water round their heads and throws it away at a little distance on the ground,
and after this some grain in the same manner. This is a provision of food and
drink to any evil spirits who may be hovering round the couple, so that they
may stop to consume it and refrain from entering the house. The expenses of
the bride’s family may vary from Rs. 60 to Rs. 100 and those of the
bridegroom’s from Rs. 160 to Rs. 600. A wedding carried out on a lavish
scale by a well-to-do man is known as Lāl Biāh or a red marriage, but when
the parties are poor the expenses are curtailed and it is then called Safed
Biāh or a white marriage. In this case the bridegroom’s mother does not
accompany the wedding procession and the proceedings last only two days.
The bride goes back with the wedding procession for a few days to her
husband’s house and then returns home. When she arrives at maturity her
parents give a feast to the caste and send her to her husband’s house, this
occasion being known as Bolvan (the calling). The Karwa Kunbis of Nimār
have a peculiar rule for the celebration of marriages. They have a guru or
priest in Gujarāt who sends them a notice once in every ten or twelve years,
and in this year only marriages can be performed. It is called Singhast ki sāl
and is the year in which the planet Guru (Jupiter) comes into conjunction
with the constellation Sinh (Leo). But the Karwas themselves think that there
is a large temple in Gujarāt with a locked door to which there is no key. But
once in ten or twelve years the door unlocks of itself, and in that year their
marriages are celebrated. A certain day is fixed and all the weddings are held
on it together. On this occasion children from infants in arms to ten or twelve
years are married, and if a match cannot be arranged for them they will have
to wait another ten or twelve years. A girl child who is born on the day fixed
for weddings may, however, be married twelve days afterwards, the twelfth
night being called Māndo Rāt, and on this occasion any other weddings
which may have been unavoidably postponed owing to a death or illness in
the families may also be completed. The rule affords a loophole of escape
for the victims of any such contretemps and also insures that every girl shall
be married before she is fully twelve years old. Rather than not marry their
daughter in the Singhast ki sāl before she is twelve the parents will accept
any bridegroom, even though he be very poor or younger than the bride.
This is the same year in which the celebration of marriages is forbidden
among the Hindus generally. The other Kunbis have the general Hindu rule

that weddings are forbidden during the four months from the 11th Asārh
Sudi (June) to the 11th Kārtik Sudi (October). This is the period of the rains,
when the crops are growing and the gods are said to go to sleep, and it is
observed more or less as a time of abstinence and fasting. The Hindus should
properly abstain from eating sugarcane, brinjals, onions, garlic and other
vegetables for the whole four months. On the 12th of Kārtik the marriage of
Tulsi or the basil plant with the Sāligrām or ammonite representing Vishnu is
performed and all these vegetables are offered to her and afterwards
generally consumed. Two days afterwards, beginning from the 14th of
Kārtik, comes the Diwāli festival. In Betūl the bridal couple are seated in the
centre of a square made of four plough yokes, while a leaf of the pīpal tree
and a piece of turmeric are tied by a string round both their wrists. The
untying of the string by the local Brāhman constitutes the essential and
binding portion of the marriage. Among the Lonhāre subcaste a curious
ceremony is performed after the wedding. A swing is made, and a round
pestle, which is supposed to represent a child, is placed on it and swung to
and fro. It is then taken off and placed in the lap of the bride, and the effect
of performing this symbolical ceremony is supposed to be that she will soon
become a mother.

8. Polygamy and divorce

Polygamy is permitted but rarely practised, a second wife being only taken if
the first be childless or of bad character, or destitute of attractions. Divorce is
allowed, but in some localities at any rate a divorced woman cannot marry
again unless she is permitted to do so in writing by her first husband. If a girl
be seduced before marriage a fine is imposed on both parties and they are
readmitted to social intercourse, but are not married to each other. Curiously
enough, in the Tirole and Wāndhekar, the highest subcastes, the keeping of a
woman is not an offence entailing temporary exclusion from caste, whereas
among the lower subcastes it is.16

9. Widow-marriage

The Kunbis permit the remarriage of widows, with the exception of the
Deshmukh families of the Tirole subcaste who have forbidden it. If a
woman’s husband dies she returns to her father’s house and he arranges her
second marriage, which is called choli-pātal, or giving her new clothes. He
takes a price for her which may vary from twenty-five to five hundred
rupees according to the age and attractions of the woman. A widow may
marry any one outside the family of her deceased husband, but she may not
marry his younger brother. This union, which among the Hindustāni castes is
looked upon as most suitable if not obligatory, is strictly forbidden among
the Marātha castes, the reason assigned being that a wife stands in the
position of a mother to her husband’s younger brothers. The contrast is
curious. The ceremony of widow-marriage is largely governed by the idea of
escaping or placating the wrath of the first husband’s ghost, and also of its
being something to be ashamed of and contrary to orthodox Hinduism. It
always takes place in the dark fortnight of the month and always at night.
Sometimes no women are present, and if any do attend they must be
widows, as it would be the worst of omens for a married woman or
unmarried girl to witness the ceremony. This, it is thought, would lead to her
shortly becoming a widow herself. The bridegroom goes to the widow’s
house with his male friends and two wooden seats are set side by side. On
one of these a betel-nut is placed which represents the deceased husband of
the widow. The new bridegroom advances with a small wooden sword,
touches the nut with its tip, and then kicks it off the seat with his right toe.
The barber picks up the nut and burns it. This is supposed to lay the
deceased husband’s spirit and prevent his interference with the new union.
The bridegroom then takes the seat from which the nut has been displaced
and the woman sits on the other side to his left. He puts a necklace of beads
round her neck and the couple leave the house in a stealthy fashion and go to
the husband’s village. It is considered unlucky to see them as they go away
because the second husband is regarded in the light of a robber. Sometimes

they stop by a stream on the way home, and, taking off the woman’s clothes
and bangles, bury them by the side of the stream. An exorcist may also be
called in, who will confine the late husband’s spirit in a horn by putting in
some grains of wheat, and after sealing up the horn deposit it with the
clothes. When a widower or widow marries a second time and is afterwards
attacked by illness, it is ascribed to the illwill of their former partner’s spirit.
The metal image of the first husband or wife is then made and worn as an
amulet on the arm or round the neck. A bachelor who wishes to marry a
widow must first go through a mock ceremony with an ākra or swallow-wort
plant, as the widow-marriage is not considered a real one, and it is
inauspicious for any one to die without having been properly married once.
A similar ceremony must be gone through when a man is married for the
third time, as it is held that if he marries a woman for the third time he will
quickly die. The ākra or swallow-wort (Calotropis gigantea) is a very
common plant growing on waste land with mauve or purple flowers. When
cut or broken a copious milky juice exudes from the stem, and in some
places parents are said to poison children whom they do not desire to keep
alive by rubbing this on their lips.

10. Customs at birth

During her monthly impurity a woman stays apart and may not cook for
herself nor touch anybody nor sleep on a bed made of cotton thread. As soon
as she is in this condition she will untie the cotton threads confining her hair
and throw them away, letting her hair hang down. This is because they have
become impure. But if there is no other woman in the house and she must
continue to do the household work herself, she does not throw them away
until the last day.17 Similarly she must not sleep on a cotton sheet or mattress
during this time because she would defile it, but she may sleep on a woollen
blanket as wool is a holy material and is not defiled. At the end of the period
she proceeds to a stream and purifies herself by bathing and washing her
head with earth. When a woman is with child for the first time her women
friends come and give her new green clothes and bangles in the seventh

month; they then put her into a swing and sing songs. While she is pregnant
she is made to work in the house so as not to be inactive. After the birth of a
child the mother remains impure for twelve days. A woman of the Māng or
Mahār caste acts as midwife, and always breaks her bangles and puts on new
ones after she has assisted at a birth. If delivery is prolonged the woman is
given hot water and sugar or camphor wrapped in a betel-leaf, or they put a
few grains of gram into her hand and then someone takes and feeds them to
a mare, as it is thought that the woman’s pregnancy has been prolonged by
her having walked behind the tethering-ropes of a mare, which is twelve
months in foal. Or she is given water to drink in which a Sulaimāni onyx or
a rupee of Akbar’s time has been washed; in the former case the idea is
perhaps that a passage will be made for the child like the hole through the
bead, while the virtue of the rupee probably consists in its being a silver coin
and having the image or device of a powerful king like Akbar. Or it may be
thought that as the coin has passed from hand to hand for so long, it will
facilitate the passage of the child from the womb. A pregnant woman must
not look on a dead body or her child may be still-born, and she must not see
an eclipse or the child may be born maimed. Some believe that if a child is
born during an eclipse it will suffer from lung-disease; so they make a silver
model of the moon while the eclipse lasts and hang it round the child’s neck
as a charm. Sometimes when delivery is delayed they take a folded flower
and place it in a pot of water and believe that as its petals unfold so the
womb will be opened and the child born; or they seat the woman on a
wooden bench and pour oil on her head, her forehead being afterwards
rubbed with it in the belief that as the oil falls so the child will be born. If a
child is a long time before learning to speak they give it leaves of the pīpal
tree to eat, because the leaves of this tree make a noise by rustling in the
wind; or a root which is very light in weight, because they think that the
tongue is heavy and the quality of lightness will thus be communicated to it.
Or the mother, when she has kneaded dough and washed her hands
afterwards, will pour a drop or two of the water down the child’s throat. And
the water which made her hands clean and smooth will similarly clear the
child’s throat of the obstruction which prevented it from speaking. If a
child’s neck is weak and its head rolls about they make it look at a crow
perching on the house and think this will make its neck strong like the
crow’s. If he cannot walk they make a little triangle on wheels with a pole

called ghurghuri, and make him walk holding on to the pole. The first teeth
of the child are thrown on to the roof of the house, because the rats, who
have especially good and sharp teeth, live there, and it is hoped that the
child’s second teeth may grow like theirs. A few grains of rice are also
thrown so that the teeth may be hard and pointed like the rice; the same
word, kani, being used for the end of a grain of rice and the tip of a tooth. Or
the teeth are placed under a water-pot in the hope that the child’s second
teeth may grow as fast as the grass does under water-pots. If a child is lean
some people take it to a place where asses have lain down and rolled in
ashes; they roll the child in the ashes similarly and believe that it will get fat
like the asses are. Or they may lay the child in a pigsty with the same idea.
People who want to injure a child get hold of its coat and lay it out in the sun
to dry, in the belief that the child’s body will dry up in a similar manner. In
order to avert the evil eye they burn some turmeric and juāri flour and hold
the newly-born child in the smoke. It is also branded on the stomach with a
burning piece of turmeric, perhaps to keep off cold. For the first day or two
after birth a child is given cow’s milk mixed with water or honey and a little
castor oil, and after this it is suckled by the mother. But if she is unable to
nourish it a wet-nurse is called in, who may be a woman of low caste or even
a Muhammadan. The mother is given no regular food for the first two days,
but only some sugar and spices. Until the child is six months old its head and
body are oiled every second or third day and the body is well hand-rubbed
and bathed. The rubbing is meant to make the limbs supple and the oil to
render the child less susceptible to cold. If a child when sitting soon after
birth looks down through its legs they think it is looking for its companions
whom it has left behind and that more children will be born. It is considered
a bad sign if a child bites its upper teeth on its underlip; this is thought to
prognosticate illness and the child is prevented from doing so as far as
possible.

11. Sixth and twelfth day ceremonies

On the sixth day after birth they believe that Chhathi or Satwai Devi, the
Sixth-day Goddess, comes at midnight and writes on the child’s forehead its
fate in life, which writing, it is said, may be seen on a man’s skull when the
flesh has come off it after death. On this night the women of the family stay
awake all night singing songs and eating sweetmeats. A picture of the
goddess is drawn with turmeric and vermilion over the mother’s bed. The
door of the birth-room is left open, and at midnight she comes. Sometimes a
Sunār is employed to make a small image of Chhathi Devi, for which he is
paid Rs. 1–4, and it is hung round the child’s neck. On this day the mother is
given to eat all kinds of grain, and among flesh-eating castes the soup of fish
and meat, because it is thought that every kind of food which the mother eats
this day will be easily digested by the child throughout its life. On this day
the mother is given a second bath, the first being on the day of the birth, and
she must not bathe in between. Sometimes after childbirth a woman buys
several bottles of liquor and has a bath in it; the stimulating effect of the
spirit is supposed to remedy the distension of the body caused by the birth. If
the child is a boy it is named on the twelfth and if a girl on the thirteenth day.
On the twelfth day the mother’s bangles are thrown away and new ones put
on. The Kunbis are very kind to their children, and never harsh or quick-
tempered, but this may perhaps be partly due to their constitutional lethargy.
They seldom refuse a child anything, but taking advantage of its innocence
will by dissimulation make it forget what it wanted. The time arrives when
this course of conduct is useless, and then the child learns to mistrust the
word of its parents. Minute quantities of opium are generally administered to
children as a narcotic.

12. Devices for procuring children

If a woman is barren and has no children one of the remedies prescribed by
the Sarodis or wandering soothsayers is that she should set fire to
somebody’s house, going alone and at night to perform the deed. So long as
some small part of the house is burnt it does not matter if the fire be
extinguished, but the woman should not give the alarm herself. It is

supposed that the spirit of some insect which is burnt will enter her womb
and be born as a child. Perhaps she sets fire to someone else’s house so as to
obtain the spirit of one of the family’s dead children, which may be supposed
to have entered the insects dwelling on the house. Some years ago at
Bhāndak in Chānda complaints were made of houses being set on fire. The
police officer18 sent to investigate found that other small fires continued to
occur. He searched the roofs of the houses, and on two or three found little
smouldering balls of rolled-up cloth. Knowing of the superstition he called
all the childless married women of the place together and admonished them
severely, and the fires stopped. On another occasion the same officer’s wife
was ill, and his little son, having fever, was sent daily to the dispensary for
medicine in charge of a maid. One morning he noticed on one of the soles of
the boy’s feet a stain of the juice of the bhilawa19 or marking-nut tree, which
raises blisters on the skin. On looking at the other foot he found six similar
marks, and on inquiry he learned that these were made by a childless woman
in the expectation that the boy would soon die and be born again as her
child. The boy suffered no harm, but his mother, being in bad health, nearly
died of shock on learning of the magic practised against her son.

Another device is to make a pradakshana or pilgrimage round a pīpal tree,
going naked at midnight after worshipping Māroti or Hanumān, and holding
a necklace of tulsi beads in the hand. The pīpal is of course a sacred tree, and
is the abode of Brahma, the original creator of the world. Brahma has no
consort, and it is believed that while all other trees are both male and female
the pīpal is only male, and is capable of impregnating a woman and
rendering her fertile. A variation of this belief is that pīpal trees are inhabited
by the spirits of unmarried Brāhman boys, and hence a woman sometimes
takes a piece of new thread and winds it round the tree, perhaps with the idea
of investing the spirit of the boy with the sacred thread. She will then walk
round the tree as a symbol of the wedding ceremony of walking round the
sacred post, and hopes that the boy, being thus brought to man’s estate and
married, will cause her to bear a son. But modest women do not go naked
round the tree. The Amawas or New Moon day, if it falls on a Monday, is
specially observed by married women. On this day they will walk 108 times
round a pīpal tree, and then give 108 mangoes or other fruits to a Brahman,
choosing a different fruit every time. The number 108 means a hundred and

a little more to show there is no stint, ‘Full measure and flowing over,’ like
the customary present of Rs. 1–4 instead of a rupee. This is also no doubt a
birth-charm, fruit being given so that the woman may become fruitful. Or a
childless woman will pray to Hanumān or Mahābir. Every morning she will
go to his shrine with an offering of fruit or flowers, and every evening will
set a lamp burning there; and morning and evening, prostrating herself, she
makes her continuous prayer to the god: ‘Oh, Mahābīr, Mahārāj! hamko ek
batcha do, sirf ek batcha do.’20 Then, after many days, Mahābir, as might be
anticipated, appears to her in a dream and promises her a child. It does not
seem that they believe that Mahabir himself directly renders the woman
fertile, because similar prayers are made to the River Nerbudda, a goddess.
But perhaps he, being the god of strength, lends virile power to her husband.
Another prescription is to go to the burying-ground, and, after worshipping
it, to take some of the bone-ash of a burnt corpse and wear this wrapped up
in an amulet on the body. Occasionally, if a woman can get no children she
will go to the father of a large family and let him beget a child upon her, with
or without the connivance of her husband. But only the more immodest
women do this. Or she cuts a piece off the breast-cloth of a woman who has
children, and, after burning incense on it, wears it as an amulet For a
stronger charm she will take a piece of such a woman’s cloth and a lock of
her hair and some earth which her feet have pressed and bury these in a pot
before Devi’s shrine, sometimes fashioning an image of the woman out of
them. Then, as they rot away, the child-bearing power of the fertile woman
will be transferred to her. If a woman’s first children have died and she
wishes to preserve a later one, she sometimes weighs the child against sugar
or copper and distributes the amount in charity. Or she gives the child a bad
name, such as Dagharia (a stone), Kachria (sweepings), Ukandia (a
dunghill).

13. Love charms

If a woman’s husband is not in love with her, a prescription of a Mohani or
love-charm given by the wise women is that she should kill an owl and serve

some of its flesh to her husband as a charm. “It has not occurred,” Mr.
Kipling writes, “to the oriental jester to speak of a boiled owl in connection
with intoxication, but when a husband is abjectly submissive to his wife her
friends say that she has given him boiled owl’s flesh to eat.”21 If a man is in
love with some woman and wishes to kindle a similar sentiment in her the
following method is given: On a Saturday night he should go to a graveyard
and call out, ‘I am giving a dinner tomorrow night, and I invite you all to
attend.’ Then on the Sunday night he takes cocoanuts, sweetmeats, liquor
and flowers to the cemetery and sets them all out, and all the spirits or
Shaitans come and partake. The host chooses a particularly big Shaitan and
calls to him to come near and says to him, ‘Will you go with me and do what
I ask you.’ If the spirit assents he follows the man home. Next night the man
again offers cocoanuts and incense to the Shaitan, whom he can see by night
but not by day, and tells him to go to the woman’s house and call her. Then
the spirit goes and troubles her heart, so that she falls in love with the man
and has no rest till she goes to him. If the man afterwards gets tired of her he
will again secretly worship and call up the Shaitan and order him to turn the
woman’s inclination away. Another method is to fetch a skull from a
graveyard and go to a banyan tree at midnight. There, divesting himself of
his clothes, the operator partially cooks some rice in the skull, and then
throws it against the tree; he gathers all the grains that stick to the trunk in
one box and those that fall to the ground in another box, and the first rice
given to the woman to eat will turn her inclination towards him, while the
second will turn it away from him. This is a sympathetic charm, the rice
which sticks to the tree having the property of attracting the woman.

14. Disposal of the dead

The Kunbis either bury or burn the dead. In Berār sepulture is the more
common method of disposal, perhaps in imitation of the Muhammadans.
Here the village has usually a field set apart for the disposal of corpses,
which is known as Smashān. Hindus fill up the earth practically level with
the ground after burial and erect no monument, so that after a few years

another corpse can be buried in the same place. When a Kunbi dies the body
is washed in warm water and placed on a bier made of bamboos, with a
network of san-hemp.22 Ordinary rope must not be used. The mourners then
take it to the grave, scattering almonds, sandalwood, dates, betel-leaf and
small coins as they go. These are picked up by the menial Mahārs or
labourers. Halfway to the grave the corpse is set down and the bearers
change their positions, those behind going in front. Here a little wheat and
pulse which have been tied in the cloth covering the corpse are left by the
way. On the journey to the grave the body is covered with a new unwashed
cloth. The grave is dug three or four feet deep, and the corpse is buried
naked, lying on its back with the head to the south. After the burial one of
the mourners is sent to get an earthen pot from the Kurnhār; this is filled
with water at a river or stream, and a small piece is broken out of it with a
stone; one of the mourners then takes the pot and walks round the corpse
with it, dropping a stream of water all the way. Having done this, he throws
the pot behind him over his shoulder without looking round, and then all the
mourners go home without looking behind them. The stone with which the
hole has been made in the earthen pot is held to represent the spirit of the
deceased. It is placed under a tree or on the bank of a stream, and for ten
days the mourners come and offer it pindas or balls of rice, one ball being
offered on the first day, two on the second, and so on, up to ten on the tenth.
On this last day a little mound of earth is made, which is considered to
represent Mahādeo. Four miniature flags are planted round, and three cakes
of rice are laid on it; and all the mourners sit round the mound until a crow
comes and eats some of the cake. Then they say that the dead man’s spirit
has been freed from troubling about his household and mundane affairs and
has departed to the other world. But if no real crow comes to eat the cake,
they make a representation of one out of the sacred kusha grass, and touch
the cake with it and consider that a crow has eaten it. After this the mourners
go to a stream and put a little cow’s urine on their bodies, and dip ten times
in the water or throw it over them. The officiating Brāhman sprinkles them
with holy water in which he has dipped the toe of his right foot, and they
present to the Brāhman the vessels in which the funeral cakes have been
cooked and the clothes which the chief mourner has worn for ten days. On
coming home they also give him a stick, umbrella, shoes, a bed and anything
else which they think the dead man will want in the next world. On the

thirteenth day they feed the caste-fellows and the head of the caste ties a new
pagri on the chief mourner’s head backside foremost; and the chief mourner
breaking an areca-nut on the threshold places it in his mouth and spits it out
of the door, signifying the final ejectment of the deceased’s spirit from the
house. Finally, the chief mourner goes to worship at Maroti’s shrine, and the
household resumes its ordinary life. The different relatives of the deceased
man usually invite the bereaved family to their house for a day and give
them a feast, and if they have many relations this may go on for a
considerable time. The complete procedure as detailed above is observed
only in the case of the head of the household, and for less important
members is considerably abbreviated. The position of chief mourner is
occupied by a man’s eldest son, or in the absence of sons by his younger
brother, or failing him by the eldest son of an elder brother, or failing male
relations by the widow. The chief mourner is considered to have a special
claim to the property. He has the whole of his head and face shaved, and the
hair is tied up in a corner of the grave-cloth. If the widow is chief mourner a
small lock of her hair is cut off and tied up in the cloth. When the corpse is
being carried out for burial the widow breaks her mangalsūtram or marriage
necklace, and wipes off the kunku or vermilion from her forehead. This
necklace consists of a string of black glass beads with a piece of gold, and is
always placed on the bride’s neck at the wedding. The widow does not break
her glass bangles at all, but on the eleventh day changes them for new ones.

15. Mourning

The period of mourning for adults of the family is ten days, and for children
three, while in the case of distant relatives it is sufficient to take a bath as a
mark of respect for them. The male mourners shave their heads, the walls of
the house are whitewashed and the floor spread with cowdung. The chief
mourner avoids social intercourse and abstains from ordinary work and from
all kinds of amusements. He debars himself from such luxuries as betel-leaf
and from visiting his wife. Oblations are offered to the dead on the third day
of the light fortnight of Baisākh (June) and on the last day of Bhādrapad

(September). The Kunbi is a firm believer in the action of ghosts and spirits,
and never omits the attentions due to his ancestors. On the appointed day he
diligently calls on the crows, who represent the spirits of ancestors, to come
and eat the food which he places ready for them; and if no crow turns up, he
is disturbed at having incurred the displeasure of the dead. He changes the
food and goes on calling until a crow comes, and then concludes that their
previous failure to appear was due to the fact that his ancestors were not
pleased with the kind of food he first offered. In future years, therefore, he
changes it, and puts out that which was eaten, until a similar contretemps of
the non-appearance of crows again occurs. The belief that the spirits of the
dead pass into crows is no doubt connected with that of the crow’s longevity.
Many Hindus think that a crow lives a thousand years, and others that it
never dies of disease, but only when killed by violence. Tennyson’s ‘many-
wintered crow’ may indicate some similar idea in Europe. Similarly if the
Gonds find a crow’s nest they give the nestlings to young children to eat, and
think that this will make them long-lived. If a crow perches in the house
when a woman’s husband or other relative is away, she says, ‘Fly away,
crow; fly away and I will feed you’; and if the crow then flies away she
thinks that the absent one will return. Here the idea is no doubt that if he had
been killed his spirit might have come home in the shape of the crow
perching on the house. If a married woman sees two crows breeding it is
considered a very bad omen, the effect being that her husband will soon die.
It is probably supposed that his spirit will pass into the young crow which is
born as a result of the meeting which she has seen.

Mr. A. K. Smith states that the omen applies to men also, and relates a story
of a young advocate who saw two crows thus engaged on alighting from the
train at some station. In order to avert the consequences he ran to the
telegraph office and sent messages to all his relatives and friends announcing
his own death, the idea being that this fictitious death would fulfil the omen,
and the real death would thus become unnecessary. In this case the belief
would be that the man’s own spirit would pass into the young crow.

16. Religion

The principal deities of the caste are Māroti or Hanumān, Mahādeo or Siva,
Devi, Satwai and Khandoba. Māroti is worshipped principally on Saturdays,
so that he may counteract the evil influences exercised by the planet Saturn
on that day. When a new village is founded Māroti must first be brought and
placed in the village and worshipped, and after this houses are built. The
name Māroti is derived from Marut, the Vedic god of the wind, and he is
considered to be the son of Vāyu, the wind, and Anjini. Khandoba is an
incarnation of Siva as a warrior, and is the favourite deity of the Marāthas.
Devi is usually venerated in her Incarnation of Marhai Māta, the goddess of
smallpox and cholera—the most dreaded scourges of the Hindu villager.
They offer goats and fowls to Marhai Devi, cutting the throat of the animal
and letting its blood drop over the stone, which represents the goddess; after
this they cut off a leg and hang it to the tree above her shrine, and eat the
remainder. Sometimes also they offer wooden images of human beings,
which are buried before the shrine of the goddess and are obviously
substitutes for a human sacrifice; and the lower castes offer pigs. If a man
dies of snake-bite they make a little silver image of a snake, and then kill a
real snake, and make a platform outside the village and place the image on it,
which is afterwards regularly worshipped as Nāgoba Deo. They may perhaps
think that the spirit of the snake which is killed passes into the silver image.
Somebody afterwards steals the image, but this does not matter. Similarly if
a man is killed by a tiger he is deified and worshipped as Bāghoba Deo,
though they cannot kill a tiger as a preliminary. The Kunbis make images of
their ancestors in silver or brass, and keep them in a basket with their other
household deities. But when these get too numerous they take them on a
pilgrimage to some sacred river and deposit them in it. A man who has lost
both parents will invite some man and woman on Akshaya Tritiya,23 and call
them by the names of his parents, and give them a feast. Among the
mythological stories known to the caste is one of some interest, explaining
how the dark spots came on the face of the moon. They say that once all the

gods were going to a dinner-party, each riding on his favourite animal or
vāhan (conveyance). But the vāhan of Ganpati, the fat god with the head of
an elephant, was a rat, and the rat naturally could not go as fast as the other
animals, and as it was very far from being up to Ganpati’s weight, it tripped
and fell, and Ganpati came off. The moon was looking on, and laughed so
much that Ganpati was enraged, and cursed it, saying, ‘Thy face shall be
black for laughing at me.’ Accordingly the moon turned quite black; but the
other gods interfered, and said that the curse was too hard, so Ganpati agreed
that only a part of the moon’s face should be blackened in revenge for the
insult. This happened on the fourth day of the bright fortnight of Bhādon
(September), and on that day it is said that nobody should look at the moon,
as if he does, his reputation will probably be lowered by some false charge
or libel being promulgated against him. As already stated, the Kunbi firmly
believes in the influence exercised by spirits, and a proverb has it,
‘Brāhmans die of indigestion, Sunārs from bile, and Kunbis from ghosts’;
because the Brāhman is always feasted as an act of charity and given the best
food, so that he over-eats himself, while the Sunār gets bilious from sitting
all day before a furnace. When somebody falls ill his family get a Brāhman’s
cast-off sacred thread, and folding it to hold a little lamp, will wave this to
and fro. If it moves in a straight line they say that the patient is possessed by
a spirit, but if in a circle that his illness is due to natural causes. In the former
case they promise an offering to the spirit to induce it to depart from the
patient. The Brāhmans, it is said, try to prevent the Kunbis from getting hold
of their sacred threads, because they think that by waving the lamp in them,
all the virtue which they have obtained by their repetitions of the Gāyatri or
sacred prayer is transferred to the sick Kunbi. They therefore tear up their
cast-off threads or sew them into clothes.

17. The Pola festival

The principal festival of the Kunbis is the Pola, falling at about the middle of
the rainy season, when they have a procession of plough-bullocks. An old
bullock goes first, and on his horns is tied the makhar, a wooden frame with

pegs to which torches are affixed. They make a rope of mango-leaves
stretched between two posts, and the makhar bullock is made to break this
and stampede back to the village, followed by all the other cattle. It is said
that the makhar bullock will die within three years. Behind him come the
bullocks of the proprietors and then those of the tenants in the order, not so
much of their wealth, but of their standing in the village and of the
traditional position held by their families. A Kunbi feels it very bitterly if he
is not given what he considers to be his proper rank in this procession. It has
often been remarked that the feudal feeling of reverence for hereditary rights
and position is as strong among the Marātha people as anywhere in the
world.

Figures of animals made for Pola festival

18. Muhammadan tendencies of Berār Kunbis

In Wardha and Berār the customs of the Kunbis show in several respects the
influence of Islām, due no doubt to the long period of Muhammadan
dominance in the country. To this may perhaps be attributed the prevalence
of burial of the dead instead of cremation, the more respectable method
according to Hindu ideas. The Dhanoje Kunbis commonly revere Dāwal
Mālik, a Muhammadan saint, whose tomb is at Uprai in Amraoti District. An
urus or fair is held here on Thursdays, the day commonly sacred to
Muhammadan saints, and on this account the Kunbis will not be shaved on
Thursdays. They also make vows of mendicancy at the Muharram festival,
and go round begging for rice and pulse; they give a little of what they
obtain to Muhammadan beggars and eat the rest. At the Muharram they tie a
red thread on their necks and dance round the alāwa, a small hole in which
fire is kindled in front of the tāsias or tombs of Hussain. At the Muharram24
they also carry horseshoes of silver or gilt tinsel on the top of a stick
decorated with peacock’s feathers. The horseshoe is a model of that of the
horse of Hussain. The men who carry these horseshoes are supposed to be
possessed by the spirit of the saint, and people make prayers to them for
anything they want. If one of the horseshoes is dropped the finder will keep
it in his house, and next year if he feels that the spirit moves him will carry it
himself. In Wardha the Kunbis worship Khwāja Sheikh Farīd of Girar, and
occasionally Sheikh Farīd appears to a Kunbi in a dream and places him
under a vow. Then he and all his household make little imitation beggars’
wallets of cloth and dye them with red ochre, and little hoes on the model of
those which saises use to drag out horses’ dung, this hoe being the badge of
Sheikh Farīd. Then they go round begging to all the houses in the village,
saying, ‘Dam,25 Sāhib, dam.’ With the alms given them they make cakes of
malīda, wheat, sugar and butter, and give them to the priest of the shrine.
Sometimes Sheikh Farīd tells the Kunbi in the dream that he must buy a goat
of a certain Dhangar (shepherd), naming the price, while the Dhangar is
similarly warned to sell it at the same price, and the goat is then purchased

and sacrificed without any haggling: At the end of the sacrifice the priest
releases the Kunbi from his vow, and he must then shave the whole of his
head and distribute liquor to the caste-fellows in order to be received back
into the community. The water of the well at Sheikh Farīd’s shrine at Girar is
considered to preserve the crops against insects, and for this purpose it is
carried to considerable distances to be sprinkled on them.

Hindu boys on stilts

19. Villages and houses

An ordinary Kunbi village26 contains between 70 and 80 houses or some 400
souls. The village generally lies on a slight eminence near a nullah or
stream, and is often nicely planted with tamarind or pīpal trees. The houses
are now generally tiled for fear of fire, and their red roofs may be seen from

a distance forming a little cluster on high lying ground, an elevated site
being selected so as to keep the roads fairly dry, as the surface tracks in
black-soil country become almost impassable sloughs of mud as soon as the
rains have broken. The better houses stand round an old mud fort, a relic of
the Pindāri raids, when, on the first alarm of the approach of these
marauding bands, the whole population hurried within its walls. The village
proprietor’s house is now often built inside the fort. It is an oblong building
surrounded by a compound wall of unbaked bricks, and with a gateway
through which a cart can drive. Adjoining the entrance on each side are
rooms for the reception of guests, in which constables, chuprāssies and
others are lodged when they stay at night in the village. Kothas or sheds for
keeping cattle and grain stand against the walls, and the dwelling-house is at
the back. Substantial tenants have a house like the proprietor’s, of well-laid
mud, whitewashed and with tiled roof; but the ordinary cultivator’s house is
one-roomed, with an angan or small yard in front and a little space for a
garden behind, in which vegetables are grown during the rains. The walls are
of bamboo matting plastered over with mud. The married couples sleep
inside, the room being partitioned off if there are two or more in the family,
and the older persons sleep in the verandahs. In the middle of the village by
the biggest temple will be an old pīpal tree, the trunk encircled by an earthen
or stone platform, which answers to the village club. The respectable
inhabitants will meet here while the lower classes go to the liquor-shop
nearly every night to smoke and chat. The blacksmith’s and carpenter’s
shops are also places of common resort for the cultivators. Hither they wend
in the morning and evening, often taking with them some implement which
has to be mended, and stay to talk. The blacksmith in particular is said to be
a great gossip, and will often waste much of his customer’s time, plying him
for news and retailing it, before he repairs and hands back the tool brought to
him. The village is sure to contain two or three little temples of Māroti or
Mahādeo. The stones which do duty for the images are daily oiled with
butter or ghī, and a miscellaneous store of offerings will accumulate round
the buildings. Outside the village will be a temple of Devi or Māta Mai
(Smallpox Goddess) with a heap of little earthen horses and a string of hens’
feet and feathers hung up on the wall. The little platforms which are the
shrines of the other village gods will be found in the fields or near groves. In
the evening the elders often meet at Māroti’s temple and pay their respects to

the deity, bowing or prostrating themselves before him. A lamp before the
temple is fed by contributions of oil from the women, and is kept burning
usually up to midnight. Once a year in the month, of Shrāwan (July) the
villagers subscribe and have a feast, the Kunbis eating first and the menial
and labouring castes after them. In this month also all the village deities are
worshipped by the Joshi or priest and the villagers. In summer the cultivators
usually live in their fields, where they erect temporary sheds of bamboo
matting roofed with juāri stalks. In these most of the household furniture is
stored, while at a little distance in another funnel-shaped erection of bamboo
matting is kept the owner’s grain. This system of camping out is mainly
adopted for fear of fire in the village, when the cultivator’s whole stock of
grain and his household goods might be destroyed in a few minutes without
possibility of saving them. The women stay in the village, and the men and
boys go there for their midday and evening meals.

20. Furniture

Ordinary cultivators have earthen pots for cooking purposes and brass ones
for eating from, while the well-to-do have all their vessels of brass. The
furniture consists of a few stools and cots. No Kunbi will lie on the ground,
probably because a dying man is always laid on the ground to breathe his
last; and so every one has a cot consisting of a wooden frame with a bed
made of hempen string or of the root-fibres of the palās tree (Butea
frondosa). These cots are always too short for a man to lie on them at full
length, and are in consequence supremely uncomfortable. The reason may
perhaps be found in the belief that a man should always lie on a bed a little
shorter than himself so that his feet project over the end. Because if the bed
is longer than he is, it resembles a bier, and if he lies on a bier once he may
soon die and lie on it a second time. For bathing they make a little enclosure
in the compound with mats, and place two or three flat stones in it. Hot
water is generally used and they rub the perspiration off their bodies with a
flat stone called Jhāwar. Most Kunbis bathe daily. On days when they are
shaved they plaster the head with soft black earth, and then wash it off and

rub their bodies with a little linseed or sesamum oil, or, if they can afford it,
with cocoanut oil.

21. Food

The Kunbis eat three times a day, at about eight in the morning, at midday
and after dark. The morning meal is commonly eaten in the field and the two
others at home. At midday the cultivator comes home from work, bathes and
takes his meal, having a rest for about two hours in all. After finishing work
he again comes home and has his evening meal, and then, after a rest, at
about ten o’clock he goes again to the fields, if the crops are on the ground,
and sleeps on the mara or small elevated platform erected in the field to
protect the grain from birds and wild animals; occasionally waking and
emitting long-drawn howls or pulling the strings which connect with
clappers in various parts of the field. Thus for nearly eight months of the
year the Kunbi sleeps in his fields, and only during the remaining period at
home. Juāri is the staple food of the caste, and is eaten both raw and cooked.
The raw pods of juāri were the provision carried with them on their saddles
by the marauding Marātha horsemen, and the description of Sivaji getting
his sustenance from gnawing at one of these as he rode along is said to have
struck fear into the heart of the Nizām. It is a common custom among well-
to-do tenants and proprietors to invite their friends to a picnic in the fields
when the crop is ripe to eat hurda or the pods of juāri roasted in hot ashes.
For cooking purposes juāri is ground in an ordinary handmill and then
passed through a sieve, which separates the finer from the coarser particles.
The finer flour is made into dough with hot water and baked into thick flat
chapātis or cakes, weighing more than half a pound each; while the coarse
flour is boiled in water like rice. The boiled pulse of arhar (Cajanus indicus)
is commonly eaten with juāri, and the chapātis are either dipped into cold
linseed oil or consumed dry. The sameness of this diet is varied by a number
of green vegetables, generally with very little savour to a European palate.
These are usually boiled and then mixed into a salad with linseed or
sesamum oil and flavoured with salt or powdered chillies, these last being

the Kunbi’s indispensable condiment. He is also very fond of onions and
garlic, which are either chopped and boiled, or eaten raw. Butter-milk when
available is mixed with the boiled juāri after it is cooked, while wheat and
rice, butter and sugar are delicacies reserved for festivals. As a rule only
water is drunk, but the caste indulge in country liquor on festive occasions.
Tobacco is commonly chewed after each meal or smoked in leaf cigarettes,
or in chilams or clay pipe-bowls without a stem. Men also take snuff, and a
few women chew tobacco and take snuff, though they do not smoke. It is
noticeable that different subdivisions of the caste will commonly take food
from each other in Berār, whereas in the Central Provinces they refuse to do
so. The more liberal usage in Berār is possibly another case of
Muhammadan influence. Small children eat with their father and brothers,
but the women always wait on the men, and take their own food afterwards.
Among the Dālia Kunbis of Nimār, however, women eat before men at caste
feasts in opposition to the usual practice. It is stated in explanation that on
one occasion when the men had finished their meal first and gone home, the
women on returning were waylaid in the dark and robbed of their ornaments.
And hence it was decided that they should always eat first and go home
before nightfall. The Kunbi is fairly liberal in the matter of food. He will eat
the flesh of goats, sheep and deer, all kinds of fish and fowls, and will drink
liquor. In Hoshangābād and Nimār the higher subcastes abstain from flesh
and wine. The caste will take food cooked without water from Brāhmans,
Banias and Sunārs, and that mixed with water only from Marātha Brāhmans.
All castes except Marātha Brāhmans will take water from the hands of a
Kunbi.

Throwing stilts into the water at the Pola festival

22. Clothes and ornaments

The dress of the ordinary cultivator is most common-place and consists only
of a loin-cloth, another cloth thrown over the shoulders and upper part of the
body, which except for this is often bare, and a third rough cloth wound
loosely round the head. All these, originally white, soon assume a very dingy
hue. There is thus no colour in a man’s everyday attire, but the gala dress for
holidays consists of a red pagri or turban, a black, coloured or white coat,
and a white loin-cloth with red silk borders if he can afford it. The Kunbi is
seldom or never seen with his head bare; this being considered a bad omen
because every one bares his head when a death occurs. Women wear lugras,
or a single long cloth of red, blue or black cotton, and under this the choli, or
small breast-cloth. They have one silk-bordered cloth for special occasions.
A woman having a husband alive must not wear a white cloth with no colour
in it, as this is the dress of widows. A white cloth with a coloured border may
be worn. The men generally wear shoes which are open at the back of the

heel, and clatter as they move along. Women do not, as a rule, wear shoes
unless these are necessary for field work, or if they go out just after their
confinement. But they have now begun to do so in towns. Women have the
usual collection of ornaments on all parts of the person. The head ornaments
should be of gold when this metal can be afforded. On the finger they have a
miniature mirror set in a ring; as a rule not more than one ring is worn, so
that the hands may be free for work. For a similar reason glass bangles,
being fragile, are worn only on the left wrist and metal ones on the right. But
the Dhanoje Kunbis, as already stated, have cocoanut shell bangles on both
wrists. They smear a mark of red powder on the forehead or have a spangle
there. Girls are generally tattooed in childhood when the skin is tender, and
the operation is consequently less painful. They usually have a small
crescent and circle between the brows, small circles or dots on each temple
and on the nose, cheeks and chin, and five small marks on the back of the
hands to represent flies. Some of the Deshmukh families have now adopted
the sacred thread; they also put caste marks on the forehead, and wear the
shape of pagri or turban formerly distinctive of Marātha Brāhmans.

23. The Kunbi as cultivator

The Kunbi has the stolidity, conservative instincts, dulness and patience of
the typical agriculturist. Sir R. Craddock describes him as follows27: “Of the
purely agricultural classes the Kunbis claim first notice. They are divided
into several sections or classes, and are of Marātha origin, the Jhāri Kunbis
(the Kunbis of the wild country) being the oldest settlers, and the Deshkar
(the Kunbis from the Deccan) the most recent. The Kunbi is certainly a most
plodding, patient mortal, with a cat-like affection for his land, and the
proprietary and cultivating communities, of both of which Kunbis are the
most numerous members, are unlikely to fail so long as he keeps these
characteristics. Some of the more intelligent and affluent of the caste, who
have risen to be among the most prosperous members of the community, are
as shrewd men of business in their way as any section of the people, though
lacking in education. I remember one of these, a member of the Local Board,

who believed that the land revenue of the country was remitted to England
annually to form part of the private purse of the Queen Empress. But of the
general body of the Kunbi caste it is true to say that in the matter of
enterprise, capacity to hold their own with the moneylender, determination
to improve their standard of comfort, or their style of agriculture, they lag far
behind such cultivating classes as the Kirār, the Rāghvi and the Lodhi.
While, however, the Kunbi yields to these classes in some of the more
showy attributes which lead to success in life, he is much their superior in
endurance under adversity, he is more law-abiding, and he commands, both
by reason of his character and his caste, greater social respect among the
people at large. The wealthy Kunbi proprietor is occasionally rather spoilt by
good fortune, or, if he continues a keen cultivator, is apt to be too fond of
land-grabbing. But these are the exceptional cases, and there is generally no
such pleasing spectacle as that afforded by a village in which the cultivators
and the proprietors are all Kunbis living in harmony together.” The feeling28
of the Kunbi towards agricultural improvements has hitherto probably been
something the same as that of the Sussex farmer who said, ‘Our old land, it
likes our old ploughs’ to the agent who was vainly trying to demonstrate to
him the advantages of the modern two-horse iron plough over the great
wooden local tool; and the emblem ascribed to old Sussex—a pig couchant
with the motto ‘I wun’t be druv’—would suit the Kunbi equally well. But
the Kunbi, too, though he could not express it, knows something of the
pleasure of the simple outdoor life, the fresh smell of the soil after rain, the
joy of the yearly miracle when the earth is again carpeted with green from
the bursting into life of the seed which he has sown, and the pleasure of
watching the harvest of his labours come to fruition. He, too, as has been
seen, feels something corresponding to “That inarticulate love of the English
farmer for his land, his mute enjoyment of the furrow crumbling from the
ploughshare or the elastic tread of his best pastures under his heel, his ever-
fresh satisfaction at the sight of the bullocks stretching themselves as they
rise from the soft grass.”

Carrying out the dead

24. Social and moral characteristics

Some characteristics of the Marātha people are noticed by Sir R. Jenkins as
follows29: “The most remarkable feature perhaps in the character of the
Marāthas of all descriptions is the little regard they pay to show or ceremony
in the common intercourse of life. A peasant or mechanic of the lowest order,
appearing before his superiors, will sit down of his own accord, tell his story
without ceremony, and converse more like an equal than an inferior; and if
he has a petition he talks in a loud and boisterous tone and fearlessly sets
forth his claims. Both the peasantry and the better classes are often coarse
and indelicate in their language, and many of the proverbs, which they are

fond of introducing into conversation, are extremely gross. In general the
Marāthas, and particularly the cultivators, are not possessed of much activity
or energy of character, but they have quick perception of their own interest,
though their ignorance of writing and accounts often renders them the dupes
of the artful Brāhmans.” “The Kunbi,” Mr. Forbes remarks,30 “though
frequently all submission and prostration when he makes his appearance in a
revenue office, is sturdy and bold enough among his own people. He is fond
of asserting his independence and the helplessness of others without his aid,
on which subject he has several proverbs, as: ‘Wherever it thunders there the
Kunbi is a landholder,’ and ‘Tens of millions are dependent on the Kunbi,
but the Kunbi depends on no man.’” This sense of his own importance,
which has also been noticed among the Jāts, may perhaps be ascribed to the
Kunbi’s ancient status as a free and full member of the village community.
“The Kunbi and his bullocks are inseparable, and in speaking of the one it is
difficult to dissociate the other. His pride in these animals is excusable, for
they are most admirably suited to the circumstances in which nature has
placed them, and possess a very wide-extended fame. But the Kunbi
frequently exhibits his fondness for them in the somewhat peculiar form of
unmeasured abuse. ‘May the Kāthis31 seize you!’ is his objurgation if in the
peninsula of Surat; if in the Idar district or among the mountains it is there
‘May the tiger kill you!’ and all over Gujarāt, ‘May your master die!’
However, he means by this the animal’s former owner, not himself; and
when more than usually cautious he will word his chiding thus—‘May the
fellow that sold you to me perish.’” But now the Kāthis raid no more and the
tiger, though still taking good toll of cattle in the Central Provinces, is not
the ever-present terror that once he was. But the bullock himself is no longer
so sacrosanct in the Kunbi’s eyes, and cannot look forward with the same
certainty to an old age of idleness, threatened only by starvation in the hot
weather or death by surfeit of the new moist grass in the rains; and when
therefore the Kunbi’s patience is exhausted by these aggravating animals, his
favourite threat at present is, ‘I will sell you to the Kasais’ (butchers); and
not so very infrequently he ends by doing so. It may be noted that with the
development of the cotton industry the Kunbi of Wardha is becoming much
sharper and more capable of protecting his own interests, while with the
assistance and teaching which he now receives from the Agricultural

Department, a rapid and decided improvement is taking place in his skill as a
cultivator.

1 Rāsmāla, i. p. 100.

2 Ibidem, p. 241.
3 Khāndesh Gazetteer, p. 62.

4 Bombay Gazetteer, vol. i. part ii. p. 34.
5 From jihār, a tree or shrub.

6 Acacia catechu.
7 Dhan properly means wealth, cf. the two meanings of the word stock in English.

8 Berār Census Report (1881), para. 180.
9 Ibidem.

10 Bāwan = fifty-two.
11 Bombay Gazetteer, Hindus of Gujarāt p. 490, App. B, Gūjar.

12 Eugenia jambolana.
13 Ficus glomerata.

14 See the article entitled ‘An Anthropoid.’
15 Bombay Gazetteer; Nāsik p. 26.

16 This is the rule in the Nāgpur District.
17 From a note by Mr. A. K. Smith, C.S.

18 Circle Inspector Ganesh Prasād.
19 Semicarpus anacardium.

20 ‘Oh, Lord Mahābīr, give me a child, only one child.’
21 Beast and Man in India, p. 44. But, according to the same writer, the Hindus do say, ‘Drunk as an
owl’ and also ‘Stupid as an owl.’

22 Crotalaria juncea.
23 The 3rd Baisākh (May) Sudi, the commencement of the agricultural year. The name means, ‘The
day of immortality.’

24 Furnished by Inspector Ganesh Prasād.

25 Dam: breath or life.
26 These paragraphs are largely based on a description of a Wardha village by Mr. A.K. Smith, C.S.

27 Nāgpur Settlement Report, para. 45.
28 The references to English farming in this paragraph are taken from an article in the Saturday
Review of 22nd August 1908.

29 Report on the Territories of the Rāja of Nāgpur.
30 Rāsmālā, ii. 242.

31 A freebooting tribe who gave their name to Kāthiawār.

Kunjra
Kunjra.1—A caste of greengrocers, who sell country vegetables and fruit
and are classed as Muhammadans. Mr. Crooke derives the name from the
Sanskrit kunj, ‘a bower or arbour.’ They numbered about 1600 persons in the
Central Provinces in 1911, principally in the Jubbulpore Division. The
customs of the Kunjras appear to combine Hindu and Muhammadan rites in
an indiscriminate medley. It is reported that marriage is barred only between
real brothers and sisters and foster brothers and sisters, the latter rule being
known as Dudh bachāna, or ‘Observing the tie of the milk.’ At their
betrothal presents are given to the parties, and after this a powder of henna
leaves is sent to the boy, who rubs it on his fingers and returns it to the girl
that she may do the same. As among the Hindus, the bodies of the bridal
couple are anointed with oil and turmeric at their respective houses before
the wedding. A marriage-shed is made and the bridegroom goes to the
bride’s house wearing a cotton quilt and riding on a bullock. The barber
holds the umbrella over his head and must be given a present before he will
fold it, but the wedding is performed by the Kāzi according to the Nikāh
ceremony by the repetition of verses from the Korān. The wedding is held at
four o’clock in the morning, and as a preliminary to it the bride is presented
with some money by the boy’s father, which is known as the Meher or
dowry. On its conclusion a cup of sherbet is given to the bridegroom, of
which he drinks half and hands the remainder to the bride. The gift of the
Meher is considered to seal the marriage contract. When a widow is married
the Kāzi is also employed, and he simply recites the Kalama or
Muhammadan profession of belief, and the ceremony is completed by the
distribution of dates to the elders of the caste. Divorce is permitted and is
known as talāq. The caste observe the Muhammadan festivals, and have
some favourite saints of their own to whom they make offerings of gulgula a
kind of pudding, with sacrifices of goats and fowls. Participation in these
rites is confined to members of the family. Children are named on the day of
their birth, the Muhammadan Kāzi or a Hindu Brāhman being employed
indifferently to select the name. If the parents lose one or more children, in

order to preserve the lives of those subsequently born, they will allow the
choti or scalp-lock to grow on their heads in the Hindu fashion, dedicating it
to one of their Muhammadan saints. Others will put a hasli or silver circlet
round the neck of the child and add a ring to this every year; a strip of
leather is sometimes also tied round the neck. When the child reaches the
age of twelve years the scalp-lock is shaved, the leather band thrown into a
river and the silver necklet sold. Offerings are made to the saints and a feast
is given to the friends of the family. The dead are buried, camphor and attar
of roses being applied to the corpse. On the Tīja and Chālisa, or third and
fortieth days after a death, a feast is given to the caste-fellows, but no
mourning is observed, neither do the mourners bathe nor perform
ceremonies of purification. On the Tīja the Korān is also read and fried grain
is distributed to children. For the death of a child the ordinary feasts need not
be given, but prayers are offered for their souls with those of the other dead
once a year on the night of Shab-i-Barāt or the fifteenth day of the month
Shabān,2 which is observed as a vigil with prayer, feasts and illuminations
and offerings to the ancestors. Kunjra men are usually clean-shaven with the
exception of the beard, which is allowed to grow long below the chin. Their
women are not tattooed. In the cities, Mr. Crooke remarks,3 their women
have an equivocal reputation, as the better-looking girls who sit in the shops
are said to use considerable freedom of manners to attract customers. They
are also very quarrelsome and abusive when bargaining for the sale of their
wares or arguing with each other. This is so much the case that men who
become very abusive are said to be behaving like Kunjras; while in Dacca
Sir H. Risley states4 that the word Kunjra has become a term of abuse, so
that the caste are ashamed to be known by it, and call themselves Mewa-
farosh, Sabzi-farosh or Bepāri. When two women are having an altercation,
their husbands and other male relatives are forbidden to interfere on pain of
social degradation. The women never sit on the ground, but on small wooden
stools or pīrhis. The Kunjras belong chiefly to the north of the Province, and
in the south their place is taken by the Marārs and Mālis who carry their own
produce for sale to the markets. The Kunjras sell sugarcane, potatoes, onions
and all kinds of vegetables, and others deal in the dried fruits imported by
Kābuli merchants.

1 This article is partly based on papers by Nanhe Khān, Sub-Inspector of Police, Khurai, Saugor,
and Kesho Rao, Headmaster, Middle School, Seoni-Chhapāra.

2 Literally ‘The Month of Separatica.’ It is the eighth month of the Muhammadan year and is said
to be so called because in this month the Arabs broke up their encampments and scattered in
search of water. On the night of Shab-i-Barāt God registers all the actions of men which they are to
perform during the year; and all the children of men who are to be born and die in the year are
recorded. Though properly a fast, it is generally observed with rejoicings and a display of fireworks.
Hughes’ Dictionary of Islam, p. 570.
3 Tribes and Castes of the N.W.P., art. Kunjra.

4 Tribes and Castes of Bengal, ibidem.

Kuramwār
Kuramwār.1—The shepherd caste of southern India, who are identical with
the Tamil Kurumba and the Telugu Kuruba. The caste is an important one in
Madras, but in the Central Provinces is confined to the Chānda District
where it numbered some 4000 persons in 1911. The Kuramwārs are
considered to be the modern representatives of the ancient Pallava tribe
whose kings were powerful in southern India in the seventh century.2

The marriage rules of the Kuramwārs are interesting. If a girl reaches
adolescence while still single, she is finally expelled from the caste, her
parents being also subjected to a penalty for readmission. Formerly it is said
that such a girl was sacrificed to the river-goddess by being placed in a small
hut on the river-bank till a flood came and swept her away. Now she is taken
to the river and kept in a hut, while offerings are made to the river-goddess,
and she may then return and live in the village though she is out of caste. In
Madras, as a preliminary to the marriage, the bridegroom’s father observes
certain marks or ‘curls’ on the head or hair of the bride proposed. Some of
these are believed to forecast prosperity and others misery to the family into
which she enters. They are therefore very cautious in selecting only such
girls as possess curls (sūli) of good fortune. The writer of the North Arcot
Manual3 after recording the above particulars, remarks: “This curious
custom obtaining among this primitive tribe is observed by others only in the
case of the purchase of cows, bulls and horses.” In the Central Provinces,
however, at least one parallel instance can be given from the northern
Districts where any mark resembling the V on the head of a cobra is
considered to be very inauspicious. And it is told that a girl who married into
one well-known family bore it, and to this fact the remarkable succession of
misfortunes which has attended the family is locally attributed. Among the
Kuramwārs marriages can be celebrated only on four days in the year, the
fifth day of both fortnights of Phāgun (February), the tenth day of the second
fortnight of the same month and the third day of Baisākh (April). At the
marriage the bride and bridegroom are seated together under the canopy,

with the shuttle which is used for weaving blankets between them, and they
throw coloured rice at each other. After this a miniature swing is put up and a
doll is placed in it in imitation of a child and swung to and fro. The bride
then takes the doll out and gives it to the bridegroom, saying: ‘Here, take
care of it, I am now going to cook food’; while after a time the boy returns
the doll to the girl, saying, ‘I must now weave the blanket and go to tend the
flock.’ The proceeding seems a symbolic enactment of the cares of married
life and the joint tending of the baby, this sort of symbolism being
particularly noticeable in the marriage ceremonies of the people of Madras.
Divorce is not permitted even though the wife be guilty of adultery, and if
she runs away to her father’s house her husband cannot use force to bring
her back if she refuses to return to him. The Kuramwārs worship the
implements of their calling at the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi, and if any
family fails to do this it is put out of caste. They also revere annually
Mallana Deva and Mallani Devi who guard their flocks respectively from
attacks of tigers and epidemics of murrain. The shrines of these deities are
generally built under a banyan tree and open to the east. The caste are
shepherds and graziers and also make blankets. They are poor and ignorant,
and the Abbé Dubois4 says of them: “Being confined to the society of their
woolly charge, they seem to have contracted the stupid nature of the animal,
and from the rudeness of their nature they are as much beneath the other
castes of Hindus as the sheep by their simplicity and imperfect instruction
are beneath the other quadrupeds.” Hence the proverbial comparison ‘As
stupid as a Kuramwār.’ When out of doors the Kuramwār retains the most
primitive method of eating and drinking; he takes his food in a leaf and licks
it up with his tongue, and sucks up water from a tank or river with his
mouth. They justify this custom by saying that on one occasion their god had
taken his food out of the house on a leaf-plate and was proceeding to eat it
with his hands when his sheep ran away and he had to go and fetch them
back. In the meantime a crow came and pecked at the food and so spoilt it. It
was therefore ordained that all the caste should eat their food straight off the
leaf, in order to do which they would have to take it from the cooking-pot in
small quantities and there would be no chance of leaving any for the crows
to spoil. The story is interesting as showing how very completely the deity of
the Kuramwārs is imagined on the principle that god made man in his own
image. Or, as a Frenchman has expressed the idea, ‘Dieu a fait l’homme à

son image, mais l’homme le lui a bein rendu.’ The caste are dark in colour
and may be distinguished by their caps made from pieces of blankets, and by
their wearing a woollen cord round the waist over the loin-cloth. They speak
a dialect of Canarese.

1 This article is compiled from notes taken by Mr. Hīra Lāl and by Pyāre Lāl Misra, Ethnographic
clerk.

2 North Arcot Manual, vol. i. p. 220.
3 Vol. i. p. 224.

4 Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies.

Kurmi
List of Paragraphs

1. Numbers and derivation of name
2. Functional character of the caste
3. Subcastes
4. Exogamous groups
5. Marriage rules. Betrothal
6. The marriage-shed or pavilion
7. The marriage-cakes
8. Customs at the wedding
9. Walking round the sacred post
10. Other ceremonies
11. Polygamy widow-marriage and divorce
12. Impurity of women
13. Pregnancy rites
14. Earth-eating
15. Customs at birth
16. Treatment of mother and child
17. Ceremonies after birth
18. Suckling children
19. Beliefs about twins
20. Disposal of the dead
21. Funeral rites
22. Burning the dead
23. Burial
24. Return of the soul
25. Mourning
26. Shaving, and presents to Brahmans
27. End of mourning
28. Anniversaries of the dead
29. Beliefs in the hereafter

30. Religion. Village gods
31. Sowing the Jawaras or Gardens of Adonis
32. Rites connected with the crops. Customs of cultivation
33. Agricultural superstitions
34. Houses
35. Superstitions about houses
36. Furniture
37. Clothes
38. Women’s clothes
39. Bathing
40. Food
41. Caste-feasts
42. Hospitality
43. Social customs. Tattooing
44. Caste penalties
45. The cultivating status
46. Occupation
Appendix: List of Exogamous Clans

1. Numbers and derivation of name

Kurmi.1—The representative cultivating caste of Hindustān or the country
comprised roughly in the United Provinces, Bihār arid the Central Provinces
north of the Nerbudda. In 1911 the Kurmis numbered about 300,000 persons
in the Central Provinces, of whom half belonged to the Chhattīsgarh
Division and a third to the Jubbulpore Division; the Districts in which they
were most numerous being Saugor, Damoh, Jubbulpore, Hoshangābād,
Raipur, Bilāspur and Drūg. The name is considered to be derived from the
Sanskrit krishi, cultivation, or from kurma, the tortoise incarnation of
Vishnu, whether because it is the totem of the caste or because, as suggested
by one writer, the Kurmi supports the population of India as the tortoise
supports the earth. It is true that many Kurmis say they belong to the

Kashyap gotra, Kashyap being the name of a Rishi, which seems to have
been derived from kachhap, the tortoise; but many other castes also say they
belong to the Kashyap gotra or worship the tortoise, and if this has any
connection with the name of the caste it is probable that the caste-name
suggested the gotra-name and not the reverse. It is highly improbable that a
large occupational caste should be named after an animal, and the
metaphorical similitude can safely be rejected. The name seems therefore
either to come from krishi, cultivation, or from some other unknown source.

2. Functional character of the caste

There seems little reason to doubt that the Kurmis, like the Kunbis, are a
functional caste. In Bihār they show traces of Aryan blood, and are a fine-
looking race. But in Chota Nāgpur Sir H. Risley states: “Short, sturdy and of
very dark complexion, the Kurmis closely resemble in feature the Dravidian
tribes around them. It is difficult to distinguish a Kurmi from a Bhumij or
Santāl, and the Santāls will take cooked food from them.”2 In the Central
Provinces they are fairly dark in complexion and of moderate height, and no
doubt of very mixed blood. Where the Kurmis and Kunbis meet the castes
sometimes amalgamate, and there is little doubt that various groups of
Kurmis settling in the Marātha country have become Kunbis, and Kunbis
migrating to northern India have become Kurmis. Each caste has certain
subdivisions whose names belong to the other. It has been seen in the article
on Kunbi that this caste is of very diverse origin, having assimilated large
bodies of persons from several other castes, and is probably to a
considerable extent recruited from the local non-Aryan tribes; if then the
Kurmis mix so readily with the Kunbis, the presumption is that they are of a
similar mixed origin, as otherwise they should consider themselves superior.
Mr. Crooke gives several names of subcastes showing the diverse
constitution of the Kurmis. Thus three, Gaharwār, Jādon and Chandel are the
names of Rājpūt clans; the Kori subcaste must be a branch of the low weaver
caste of that name; and in the Central Provinces the names of such subcastes
as the Agaria or iron-workers, the Lonhāre or salt-refiners, and the Khaira or

catechu-collectors indicate that these Kurmis are derived from low Hindu
castes or the aboriginal tribes.

3. Subcastes

The caste has a large number of subdivisions. The Usrete belonged to
Bundelkhand, where this name is found in several castes; they are also
known as Havelia, because they live in the rich level tract of the Jubbulpore
Haveli, covered like a chessboard with large embanked wheat-fields. The
name Haveli seems to have signified a palace or headquarters of a ruler, and
hence was applied to the tract surrounding it, which was usually of special
fertility, and provided for the maintenance of the chief’s establishment and
household troops. Thus in Jubbulpore, Mandia and Betūl we find the forts of
the old Gond rulers dominating an expanse of rich plain-country. The Usrete
Kurmis abstain from meat and liquor, and may be considered as one of the
highest subcastes. Their name may be derived from a-sreshtha, or not the
best, and its significance would be that formerly they were considered to be
of mixed origin, like most castes in Bundelkhand. The group of Sreshtha or
best-born Kurmis has now, however, died out if it ever existed, and the
Usretes have succeeded in establishing themselves in its place. The
Chandnāhes of Jubbulpore or Chandnāhus of Chhattīsgarh are another large
subdivision. The name may be derived from the village Chandnoha in
Bundelkhand, but the Chandnāhus of Chhattīsgarh say that three or four
centuries ago a Rājpūt general of the Rāja of Ratanpur had been so
successful in war that the king allowed him to appear in Durbār in his
uniform with his forehead marked with sandalwood, as a special honour.
When he died his son continued to do the same, and on the king’s attention
being drawn to it he forbade him. But the son did not obey, and hence the
king ordered the sandalwood to be rubbed from his forehead in open Durbār.
But when this was done the mark miraculously reappeared through the
agency of the goddess Devi, whose favourite he was. Three times the king
had the mark rubbed out and three times it came again. So he was allowed to
wear it thereafter, and was called Chandan Singh from chandan,

sandalwood; and his descendants are the Chandnāhu Kurmis. Another
derivation is from Chandra, the moon. In Jubbulpore these Chandnāhes
sometimes kill a pig under the palanquin of a newly married bride. In
Bilāspur they are prosperous and capable cultivators, but are generally
reputed to be stingy, and therefore are not very popular. Here they are
divided into the Ekbahinyas and Dobahinyas, or those who wear glass
bangles on one or both arms respectively. The Chandrāha Kurmis of Raipur
are probably a branch of the Chandnāhus. They sprinkle with water the
wood with which they are about to cook their food in order to purify it, and
will eat food only in the chauka or sanctified place in the house. At harvest
when they must take meals in the fields, one of them prepares a patch of
ground, cleaning and watering it, and there cooks food for them all.

The Singrore Kurmis derive their name from Singror, a place near
Allahābād. Singror is said to have once been a very important town, and the
Lodhis and other castes have subdivisions of this name. The Desha Kurmis
are a group of the Mungeli tahsīl of Bilāspur. Desh means one’s native
country, but in this case the name probably refers to Bundelkhand. Mr.
Gordon states3 that they do not rear poultry and avoid residing in villages in
which their neighbours keep poultry. The Santore Kurmis are a group found
in several Districts, who grow san-hemp,4 and are hence looked down upon
by the remainder of the caste. In Raipur the Mānwa Kurmis will also do this;
Māna is a word sometimes applied to a loom, and the Mānwa Kurmis may
be so called because they grow hemp and weave sacking from the fibres.
The Pataria are an inferior group in Bilāspur, who are similarly despised
because they grow hemp and will take their food in the fields in patris or
leaf-plates. The Gohbaiyān are considered to be an illegitimate group; the
name is said to signify ‘holding the arm.’ The Bāhargaiyan, or ‘those who
live outside the town,’ are another subcaste to which children born out of
wedlock are relegated. The Palkiha subcaste of Jubbulpore are said to be so
named because their ancestors were in the service of a certain Rāja and
spread his bedding for him; hence they are somewhat looked down on by the
others. The name may really be derived from palal, a kind of vegetable, and
they may originally have been despised for growing this vegetable, and thus
placing themselves on a level with the gardening castes. The Masūria take
their name from the masūr or lentil, a common cold-weather crop in the

northern Districts, which is, however, grown by all Kurmis and other
cultivators; and the Agaria or iron-workers, the Kharia or catechu-makers,
and the Lonhāre or salt-makers, have already been mentioned. There are also
numerous local or territorial subcastes, as the Chaurasia or those living in a
Chaurāsi5 estate of eighty-four villages, the Pardeshi or foreigners, the
Bundelkhandi or those who came from Bundelkhand, the Kanaujias from
Oudh, the Gaur from northern India, and the Marāthe and Telenge or
Marāthas and Telugus; these are probably Kunbis who have been taken into
the caste. The Gabel are a small subcaste in Sakti State, who now prefer to
drop the name Kurmi and call themselves simply Gabel. The reason
apparently is that the other Kurmis about them sow san-hemp, and as they
have ceased doing this they try to separate themselves and rank above the
rest. But they call the bastard group of their community Rakhaut Kurmis,
and other people speak of all of them as Gabel Kurmis, so that there is no
doubt that they belong to the caste. It is said that formerly they were pack-
carriers, but have now abandoned this calling in favour of cultivation.

4. Exogamous groups

Each subcaste has a number of exogamous divisions and these present a
large variety of all types. Some groups have the names of Brāhman saints as
Sāndil, Bhāradwaj, Kausil and Kashyap; others are called after Rājpūt septs,
as Chauhān, Rāthor, Panwār and Solanki; other names are of villages, as
Khairagarhi from Khairagarh, Pandariha from Pandaria, Bhadaria, and
Harkotia from Harkoti; others are titular, as Sondeha, gold-bodied,
Sonkharchi, spender of gold, Bimba Lohir, stick-carrier, Banhpagar, one
wearing a thread on the arm, Bhandāri, a store-keeper, Kumaria, a potter, and
Shikaria, a hunter; and a large number are totemistic, named after plants,
animals or natural objects, as Sadāphal, a fruit; Kathail from kath or catechu;
Dhorha, from dhor, cattle; Kānsia, the kāns grass; Karaiya, a frying-pan;
Sarang, a peacock; Samundha, the ocean; Sindia, the date-palm tree; Dudhua
from dudh, milk, and so on. Some sections are subdivided; thus the Tidha
section, supposed to be named after a village, is divided into three

subsections named Ghurepake, a mound of cowdung, Dwarparke, door-
jamb, and Jangi, a warrior, which are themselves exogamous. Similarly the
Chaudhri section, named after the title of the caste headman, is divided into
four subsections, two, Majhgawān Bamuria, named after villages, and two,
Purwa Thok and Pascham Thok, signifying the eastern and western groups.
Presumably when sections get so large as to bar the marriage of persons not
really related to each other at all, relief is obtained by subdividing them in
this manner. A list of the sections of certain subcastes so far as they have
been obtained is given at the end of the article.

Pounding rice

5. Marriage rules. Betrothal

Marriage is prohibited between members of the same section and between
first and second cousins on the mother’s side. But the Chandnāhe Kurmis
permit the wedding of a brother’s daughter to a sister’s son. Most Kurmis
forbid a man to marry his wife’s sister during her lifetime. The Chhattīsgarh
Kurmis have the practice of exchanging girls between two families. There is
usually no objection to marriage on account of religious differences within
the pale of Hinduism, but the difficulty of a union between a member of a
Vaishnava sect who abstains from flesh and liquor, and a partner who does
not, is felt and expressed in the following saying:

Vaishnava purush avaishnava nāri
Unt beil ki jot bichāri,

or ‘A Vaishnava husband with a non-Vaishnava wife is like a camel yoked
with a bullock.’ Muhammadans and Christians are not retained in the caste.
Girls are usually wedded between nine and eleven, but well-to-do Kurmis
like other agriculturists, sometimes marry their daughters when only a few
months old. The people say that when a Kurmi gets rich he will do three
things: marry his daughters very young and with great display, build a fine
house, and buy the best bullocks he can afford. The second and third
methods of spending his money are very sensible, whatever may be thought
of the first. No penalty is imposed for allowing a girl to exceed the age of
puberty before marriage. Boys are married between nine and fifteen years,
but the tendency is towards the postponement of the ceremony. The boy’s
father goes and asks for a bride and says to the girl’s father, ‘I have placed
my son with you,’ that is, given him in adoption; if the match be acceptable
the girl’s father replies, ‘Yes, I will give my daughter to collect cowdung for
you’; to which the boy’s father responds, ‘I will hold her as the apple of my
eye.’ Then the girl’s father sends the barber and the Brāhman to the boy’s
house, carrying a rupee and a cocoanut. The boy’s relatives return the visit
and perform the ‘God bharna,’ or ‘Filling the lap of the girl.’ They take some
sweetmeats, a rupee and a cocoanut, and place them in the girl’s lap, this
being meant to induce fertility. The ceremony of betrothal succeeds, when
the couple are seated together on a wooden plank and touch the feet of the
guests and are blessed by them. The auspicious date of the wedding is fixed

by the Brāhman and intimation is given to the boy’s family through the
lagan or formal invitation, which is sent on a paper coloured yellow with
powdered rice and turmeric. A bride-price is paid, which in the case of well-
to-do families may amount to as much as Rs. 100 to Rs. 400.

6. The marriage-shed or pavilion

Before the wedding the women of the family go out and fetch new earth for
making the stoves on which the marriage feast will be cooked. When about
to dig they worship the earth by sprinkling water over it and offering flowers
and rice. The marriage-shed is made of the wood of the sāleh tree,6 because
this wood is considered to be alive. If a pole of sāleh is cut and planted in the
ground it takes root and sprouts, though otherwise the wood is quite useless.
The wood of the kekar tree has similar properties and may also be used. The
shed is covered with leaves of the mango or jāmun7 trees, because these
trees are evergreen and hence typify perpetual life. The marriage-post in the
centre of the shed is called Magrohan or Khām; the women go and worship
it at the carpenter’s house; two pice, a piece of turmeric and an areca-nut are
buried below it in the earth and a new thread and a toran or string of mango-
leaves is wound round it. Oil and turmeric are also rubbed on the marriage-
post at the same time as on the bride and bridegroom. In Saugor the
marriage-post is often a four-sided wooden frame or a pillar with four pieces
of wood suspended from it. The larger the marriage-shed is made the greater
honour accrues to the host, even though the guests may be insufficient to fill
it. In towns it has often to be made in the street and is an obstacle to traffic.
There may be eight or ten posts besides the centre one.

7. The marriage-cakes

Another preliminary ceremony is the family sacrament of the Meher or
marriage-cakes. Small balls of wheat-flour are kneaded and fried in an
earthen pan with sesamum oil by the eldest woman of the family. No metal
vessel may be used to hold the water, flour or oil required for these cakes,
probably because earthen vessels were employed before metal ones and are
therefore considered more sacred. In measuring the ingredients a quarter of a
measure is always taken in excess, such as a seer8 and a quarter for a seer of
wheat, to foreshadow the perpetual increase of the family. When made the
cakes are offered to the Kul Deo or household god. The god is worshipped
and the bride and bridegroom then first partake of the cakes and after them
all members of the family and relatives. Married daughters and daughters-in-
law may eat of the cakes, but not widows, who are probably too impure to
join in a sacred sacrament Every person admitted to partake of the marriage-
cakes is held to belong to the family, so that all other members of it have to
observe impurity for ten days after a birth or death has occurred in his house
and shave their heads for a death. When the family is so large that this
becomes irksome it is cut down by not inviting persons beyond seven
degrees of relationship to the Meher sacrament This exclusion has
sometimes led to bitter quarrels and actions for defamation. It seems likely
that the Meher may be a kind of substitute for the sacrificial meal, at which
all the members of the clan ate the body of the totem or divine animal, and
some similar significance perhaps once attached to the wedding-cake in
England, pieces of which are sent to relatives unable to be present at the
wedding.

8. Customs at the wedding

Before the wedding the women of each party go and anoint the village gods
with oil and turmeric, worshipping them, and then similarly anoint the bride
and bridegroom at their respective houses for three days. The bridegroom’s
head is shaved except for his scalp-lock; he wears a silver necklet on his
neck, puts lamp-black on his eyes, and is dressed in new yellow and white
clothes. Thus attired he goes round and worships all the village gods and

visits the houses of his relatives and friends, who mark his forehead with rice
and turmeric and give him a silver piece. A list of the money thus received is
made and similar presents are returned to the donors when they have
weddings. The bridegroom goes to the wedding either in a litter or on a
horse, and must not look behind him. After being received at the bride’s
village and conducted to his lodging, he proceeds to the bride’s house and
strikes a grass mat hung before the house seven times with a reed-stick. On
entering the bride’s house the bridegroom is taken to worship her family
gods, the men of the party usually remaining outside. Then, as he goes
through the room, one of the women who has tied a long thread round her
toe gets behind him and measures his height with the thread without his
seeing. She breaks off the thread at his height and doubling it once or twice
sews it round the top of the bride’s skirt, and they think that as long as the
bride wears this thread she will be able to make her husband do as she likes.
If the girls wish to have a joke they take one of the bridegroom’s shoes
which he has left outside the house, wrap it up in a piece of cloth, and place
it on a shelf or in a cupboard, where the family god would be kept, with two
lamps burning before it. Then they say to the bridegroom, ‘Come and
worship our household god’; and if he goes and does reverence to it they
unwrap the cloth and show him his own shoe and laugh at him. But if he has
been to one or two weddings and knows the joke he just gives it a kick. The
bride’s younger brother steals the bridegroom’s other shoe and hides it, and
will not give it back without a present of a rupee or two. The bride and
bridegroom are seated on wooden seats, and while the Brāhman recites texts,
they make the following promises. The bridegroom covenants to live with
his wife and her children, to support them and tell her all his concerns,
consult her, make her a partner of his religious worship and almsgiving, and
be with her on the night following the termination of her monthly impurity.
The bride promises to remain faithful to her husband, to obey his wishes and
orders, to perform her household duties as well as she can, and not to go
anywhere without his permission. The last promise of the bridegroom has
reference to the general rule among Hindus that a man should always sleep
with his wife on the night following the termination of her menses because
at this time she is most likely to conceive and the prospect of a child being
born must not be lost. The Shāstras lay it down that a man should not visit
his wife before going into battle, this being no doubt an instance of the

common custom of abstinence from conjugal intercourse prior to some
important business or undertaking; but it is stated that if on such an occasion
she should have just completed a period of impurity and have bathed and
should desire him to come in to her, he should do so, even with his armour
on, because by refusing, in the event of his being killed in battle, the chance
of a child being born would be finally lost. To Hindu ideas the neglect to
produce life is a sin of the same character, though in a minor degree, as that
of destroying life; and it is to be feared that it will be some time before this
ingrained superstition gives way to any considerations of prudential restraint
Some people say that for a man not to visit his wife at this time is as great a
sin as murder.

9. Walking round the sacred post

The binding ceremony of the marriage is the walking seven times round the
marriage-post in the direction of the sun. The post probably represents the
sun and the walk of the bridal couple round it may be an imitation of the
movement of the planets round the sun. The reverence paid to the marriage-
post has already been noticed. During the procession the bride leads and the
bridegroom puts his left hand on her left shoulder. The household pounding-
slab is near the post and on it are placed seven little heaps of rice, turmeric,
areca-nut, and a small winnowing-fan. Each time the bride passes the slab
the bridegroom catches her right foot and with it makes her brush one of the
little heaps off the slab. These seven heaps represent the seven Rishis or
saints who are the seven large stars of the constellation of the Great Bear.

10. Other ceremonies

After the wedding the bride and bridegroom resume their seats and the
parents of the bride wash their feet in a brass tray, marking their foreheads
with rice and turmeric. They put some silver in the tray, and other relations
and friends do the same. The presents thus collected go to the bridegroom.
The Chandnāhu Kurmis then have a ceremony known as palkachār. The
bride’s father provides a bed on which a mattress and quilt are laid and the
bride and bridegroom are seated on it, while their brother and sister sprinkle
parched rice round them. This is supposed to typify the consummation of the
marriage, but the ceremony is purely formal as the bridal couple are
children. The bridegroom is given two lamps and he has to mix their flames,
probably to symbolise the mixing of the spirits of his wife and himself. He
requires a present of a rupee or two before he consents to do so. During the
wedding the bride is bathed in the same water as the bridegroom, the joint
use of the sacred element being perhaps another symbolic mark of their
union. At the feasts the bride eats rice and milk with her husband from one
dish, once at her own house and once after she goes to her husband’s house.
Subsequently she never eats with her husband but always after him. She also
sits and eats at the wedding-feasts with her husband’s relations. This is
perhaps meant to mark her admission into her husband’s clan. After the
wedding the Brāhmans on either side recite Sanskrit verses, praising their
respective families and displaying their own learning. The competition often
becomes bitter and would end in a quarrel, but that the elders of the party
interfere and stop it.

The expenses of an ordinary wedding on the bridegroom’s side may be Rs.
100 in addition to the bride-price, and on the bride’s Rs. 200. The bride goes
home for a day or two with the bridegroom’s party in Chhattīsgarh but not in
the northern Districts, as women accompany the wedding procession in the
former but not in the latter locality. If she is too small to go, her shoes and
marriage-crown are sent to represent her. When she attains maturity the
chauk or gauna ceremony is performed, her husband going to fetch her with
a few friends. At this time her parents give her clothes, food and ornaments
in a basket called jhanpi or tipara specially prepared for the occasion.

11. Polygamy widow-marriage and divorce

A girl who becomes pregnant by a man of the caste before marriage is
wedded to him by the rite used for widows. If the man is an outsider she is
expelled from the community. Women are much valued for the sake of their
labour in the fields, and the transgressions of a wife are viewed with a
lenient eye. In Damoh it is said that a man readily condones his wife’s
adultery with another Kurmi, and if it becomes known and she is put out of
caste, he will give the penalty feasts himself for her admission. If she is
detected in a liaison with an outsider she is usually discarded, but the
offence may be condoned should the man be a Brāhman. And one instance is
mentioned of a mālguzār’s wife who had gone wrong with a Gond, and was
forgiven and taken back by her husband and the caste. But the leniency was
misplaced as she subsequently eloped with an Ahīr. Polygamy is usual with
those who can afford to pay for several wives, as a wife’s labour is more
efficient and she is a more profitable investment than a hired servant. An
instance is on record of a blind Kurmi in Jubbulpore, who had nine wives. A
man who is faithful to one wife, and does not visit her on fast-days, is called
a Brahmachari or saint and it is thought that he will go to heaven. The
remarriage of widows is permitted and is usual. The widow goes to a well on
some night in the dark fortnight, and leaving her old clothes there puts on
new ones which are given to her by the barber’s wife. She then fills a pitcher
with water and takes it to her new husband’s house. He meets her on the
threshold and lifts it from her head, and she goes into the house and puts
bangles on her wrists. The following saying shows that the second marriage
of widows is looked upon as quite natural and normal by the cultivating
castes:

“If the clouds are like partridge feathers it will rain, and if a widow puts
lamp-black on her eyes she will marry again; these things are certain.”9

A bachelor marrying a widow must first go through the ceremony with a ring
which he thereafter wears on his finger, and if it is lost he must perform a
funeral ceremony as if a wife had died. If a widower marries a girl she must
wear round her neck an image of his first wife. A girl who is twice married
by going round the sacred post is called Chandelia and is most unlucky. She
is considered as bad or worse than a widow, and the people sometimes make
her live outside the village and forbid her to show them her face. Divorce is
open to either party, to a wife on account of the impotency or ill-treatment of
her husband, and to a husband for the bad character, ill-health or
quarrelsome disposition of his wife. A deed of divorce is executed and
delivered before the caste committee.

12. Impurity of women

During her periodical impurity, which lasts for four or five days, a woman
should not sleep on a cot. She must not walk across the shadow of any man
not her husband, because it is thought that if she does so her next child will
be like that man. Formerly she did not see her husband’s face for all these
days, but this rule was too irksome and has been abandoned. She should eat
the same kind of food for the whole period, and therefore must take nothing
special on one day which she cannot get on other days. At this time she will
let her hair hang loose, taking out all the cotton strings by which it is tied
up.10 These strings, being cotton, have become impure, and must be thrown
away. But if there is no other woman to do the household work and she has
to do it herself, she will keep her hair tied up for convenience, and only
throw away the strings on the last day when she bathes. All cotton things are
rendered impure by her at this time, and any cloth or other article which she
touches must be washed before it can be touched by anybody else; but
woollen cloth, being sacred, is not rendered impure, and she can sleep on a
woollen blanket without its thereby becoming a defilement to other persons.
When bathing at the end of the period a woman should see no other face but
her husband’s; but as her husband is usually not present, she wears a ring
with a tiny mirror and looks at her own face in this as a substitute.

If a woman desires to procure a miscarriage she eats a raw papāya fruit, and
drinks a mixture of ginger, sugar, bamboo leaves and milk boiled together.
She then has her abdomen well rubbed by a professional masseuse, who
comes at a time when she can escape observation. After a prolonged course
of this treatment it is said that a miscarriage is obtained. It would seem that
the rubbing is the only treatment which is directly effective. The papāya,
which is a very digestible fruit, can hardly be of assistance, but may be eaten
from some magical idea of its resemblance to a foetus. The mixture drunk is
perhaps designed to be a tonic to the stomach against the painful effects of
the massage.

13. Pregnancy rites

As regards pregnancy Mr. Marten writes as follows:11 “A woman in
pregnancy is in a state of taboo and is peculiarly liable to the influence of
magic and in some respects dangerous to others. She is exempt from the
observance of fasts, is allowed any food she fancies, and is fed with sweets
and all sorts of rich food, especially in the fifth month. She should not visit
her neighbour’s houses nor sleep in any open place. Her clothes are kept
separate from others. She is subject to a large number of restrictions in her
ordinary life with a view of avoiding everything that might prejudice or
retard her delivery. She should eschew all red clothes or red things of any
sort, such as suggest blood, till the third or fourth month, when conception is
certain. She will be careful not to touch the dress of any woman who has had
a miscarriage. She will not cross running water, as it might cause premature
delivery, nor go near a she-buffalo or a mare lest delivery be retarded, since
a mare is twelve months in foal. If she does by chance approach these
animals she must propitiate them by offerings of grain. Nor in some cases
will she light a lamp, for fear the flame in some way may hurt the child. She
should not finish any sowing, previously begun, during pregnancy, nor
should her husband thatch the house or repair his axe. An eclipse is
particularly dangerous to the unborn child and she must not leave the house
during its continuance, but must sit still with a stone pestle in her lap and

anoint her womb with cowdung. Under no circumstances must she touch any
cutting instrument as it might cause her child to be born mutilated.

“During the fifth month of pregnancy the family gods are worshipped to
avoid generally any difficulties in her labour. Towards the end of that month
and sometimes in the seventh month she rubs her body with a preparation of
gram-flour, castor-oil and turmeric, bathes herself, and is clothed with new
garments and seated on a wooden stool in a space freshly cleaned and spread
with cowdung. Her lap is then filled with sweets called pakwān made of
cocoanut. A similar ceremony called Boha Jewan is sometimes performed in
the seventh or eighth month, when a new sāri is given to her and grain is
thrown into her lap. Another special rite is the Pansavan ceremony,
performed to remove all defects in the child, give it a male form, increase its
size and beauty, give it wisdom and avert the influence of evil spirits.”

14. Earth-eating

Pregnant women sometimes have a craving for eating earth. They eat the
earth which has been mixed with wheat on the threshing-floor, or the ashes
of cowdung cakes which have been used for cooking. They consider it as a
sort of medicine which will prevent them from vomiting. Children also
sometimes get the taste for eating earth, licking it up from the floor, or
taking pieces of lime-plaster from the walls. Possibly they may be attracted
by the saltish taste, but the result is that they get ill and their stomachs are
distended. The Panwar women of Bālāghāt eat red and white clay in order
that their children may be born with red and white complexions.

15. Customs at birth

During the period of labour the barber’s wife watches over the case, but as
delivery approaches hands it over to a recognised midwife, usually the
Basorin or Chamārin, who remains in the lying-in room till about the tenth
day after delivery. “If delivery is retarded,” Mr. Marten continues,12
“pressure and massage are used, but coffee and other herbal decoctions are
given, and various means, mostly depending on sympathetic magic, are
employed to avert the adverse spirits and hasten and ease the labour. She
may be given water to drink in which the feet of her husband13 or her
mother-in-law or a young unmarried girl have been dipped, or she is shown
the swastik or some other lucky sign, or the chakra-vyuha, a spiral figure
showing the arrangement of the armies of the Pāndavas and Kauravas which
resembles the intestines with the exit at the lower end.”

The menstrual blood of the mother during child-birth is efficacious as a
charm for fertility. The Nāin or Basorin will sometimes try and dip her big
toe into it and go to her house. There she will wash her toe and give the
water to a barren woman, who by drinking it will transfer to herself the
fertility of the woman whose blood it is. The women of the family are in the
lying-in room and they watch her carefully, while some of the men stand
about outside. If they see the midwife coming out they examine her, and if
they find any blood exclaim, ‘You have eaten of our salt and will you play us
this trick’; and they force her back into the room where the blood is washed
off. All the stained clothes are washed in the birth-room, and the water as
well as that in which the mother and child are bathed is poured into a hole
dug inside the room, so that none of it may be used as a charm.

16. Treatment of mother and child

The great object of the treatment after birth is to prevent the mother and
child from catching cold. They appear to confuse the symptoms of
pneumonia and infantile lockjaw in a disease called sanpāt, to the prevention
of which their efforts are directed. A sigri or stove is kept alight under the
bed, and in this the seeds of ajwāin or coriander are burnt. The mother eats

the seeds, and the child is waved over the stove in the smoke of the burning
ajwāin. Raw asafoetida is put in the woman’s ears wrapped in cotton-wool,
and she eats a little half-cooked. A freshly-dried piece of cowdung is also
picked up from the ground and half-burnt and put in water, and some of this
water is given to her to drink, the process being repeated every day for a
month. Other details of the treatment of the mother and child after birth are
given in the articles on Mehtar and Kunbi. For the first five days after birth
the child is given a little honey and calf’s urine mixed. If the child coughs it
is given bans-lochan, which is said to be some kind of silicate found in
bamboos. The mother does not suckle the child for three days, and for that
period she is not washed and nobody goes near her, at least in Mandla. On
the third day after the birth of a girl, or the fourth after that of a boy, the
mother is washed and the child is then suckled by her for the first time, at an
auspicious moment pointed out by the astrologer. Generally speaking the
whole treatment of child-birth is directed towards the avoidance of various
imaginary magical dangers, while the real sanitary precautions and other
assistance which should be given to the mother are not only totally
neglected, but the treatment employed greatly aggravates the ordinary risks
which a woman has to take, especially in the middle and higher castes.

17. Ceremonies after birth

When a boy is born the father’s younger brother or one of his friends lets off
a gun and beats a brass plate to proclaim the event The women often
announce the birth of a boy by saying that it is a one-eyed girl. This is in
case any enemy should hear the mention of the boy’s birth, and the envy felt
by him should injure the child. On the sixth day after the birth the Chhathi
ceremony is performed and the mother is given ordinary food to eat, as
described in the article on Kunbi. The twelfth day is known as Barhon or
Chauk. On this day the father is shaved for the first time after the child’s
birth. The mother bathes and cuts the nails of her hands and feet; if she is
living by a river she throws them into it, otherwise on to the roof of the
house. The father and mother sit in the chauk or space marked out for

worship with cowdung and flour; the woman is on the man’s left side, a
woman being known as Bāmangi or the left limb, either because the left limb
is weak or because woman is supposed to have been made from man’s left
side, as in Genesis. The household god is brought into the chauk and they
worship it. The Bua or husband’s sister brings presents to the mother known
as bharti, for filling her lap: silver or gold bangles if she can afford them, a
coat and cap for the boy; dates, rice and a breast-cloth for the mother; for the
father a rupee and a cocoanut. These things are placed in the mother’s lap as
a charm to sustain her fertility. The father gives his sister back double the
value of the presents if he can afford it. He gives her husband a head-cloth
and shoulder-cloth; he waves two or three pice round his wife’s head and
gives them to the barber’s wife. The latter and the midwife take the clothes
worn by the mother at child-birth, and the father gives them each a new cloth
if he can afford it. The part of the navel-string which falls off the child’s
body is believed to have the power of rendering a barren woman fertile, and
is also intimately connected with the child’s destiny. It is therefore carefully
preserved and buried in some auspicious place, as by the bank of a river.

In the sixth month the Pasni ceremony is performed, when the child is given
grain for the first time, consisting of rice and milk. Brāhmans or religious
mendicants are invited and fed. The child’s hair and nails are cut for the first
time on the Shivrātri or Akti festival following the birth, and are wrapped up
in a ball of dough and thrown into a sacred river. If a child is born during an
eclipse they think that it will suffer from lung disease; so a silver model of
the moon is made immediately during the eclipse, and hung round the child’s
neck, and this is supposed to preserve it from harm.

18. Suckling children

A Hindu woman will normally suckle her child for two to three years after
its birth, and even beyond this up to six years if it sleeps with her. But they
think that the child becomes short of breath if suckled for so long, and advise
the mother to wean it. And if she becomes pregnant again, when she has

been three or four months in this condition, she will wean the child by
putting nīm leaves or some other bitter thing on her breasts. A Hindu should
not visit his wife for the last six months of her pregnancy nor until the child
has been fed with grain for the first time six months after its birth. During
the former period such action is thought to be a sin, while during the latter it
may have the effect of rendering the mother pregnant again too quickly, and
hence may not allow her a sufficiently long period to suckle the first child.

19. Beliefs about twins

Twins, Mr. Marten states, are not usually considered to be inauspicious.14 “It
is held that if they are of the same sex they will survive, and if they are of a
different sex one of them will die. Boy twins are called Rāma and
Lachhman, a boy and a girl Mahādeo and Pārvati, and two girls Ganga and
Jamuni or Sīta and Konda. They should always be kept separate so as to
break the essential connection which exists between them and may cause
any misfortune which happens to the one to extend to the other. Thus the
mother always sleeps between them in bed and never carries both of them
nor suckles both at the same time. Again, among some castes in
Chhattīsgarh, when the twins are of different sex, they are considered to be
pāp (sinful) and are called Pāpi and Pāpin, an allusion to the horror of a
brother and sister sharing the same bed (the mother’s womb).” Hindus think
that if two people comb their hair with the same comb they will lose their
affection for each other. Hence the hair of twins is combed with the same
comb to weaken the tie which exists between them, and may cause the
illness or death of either to follow on that of the other.

20. Disposal of the dead

The dead are usually burnt with the head to the north. Children whose ears
have not been bored and adults who die of smallpox or leprosy are buried,
and members of poor families who cannot afford firewood. If a person has
died by hanging or drowning or from the bite of a snake, his body is burnt
without any rites, but in order that his soul may be saved, the hom sacrifice
is performed subsequently to the cremation. Those who live near the
Nerbudda and Mahānadi sometimes throw the bodies of the dead into these
rivers and think that this will make them go to heaven. The following
account of a funeral ceremony among the middle and higher castes in Saugor
is mainly furnished by Major W. D. Sutherland, I.M.S., with some additions
from Mandla, and from material furnished by the Rev. E. M. Gordon:15
“When a man is near his end, gifts to Brāhmans are made by him, or by his
son on his behalf. These, if he is a rich man, consist of five cows with their
calves, marked on the forehead and hoofs with turmeric, and with garlands
of flowers round their necks. Ordinary people give the price of one calf,
which is fictitiously taken at Rs. 3–4, Rs. 1–4, ten annas or five annas
according to their means. By holding on to the tail of this calf the dead man
will be able to swim across the dreadful river Vaitarni, the Hindu Styx. This
calf is called Bachra Sānkal or ‘the chain-calf,’ as it furnishes a chain across
the river, and it may be given three times, once before the death and twice
afterwards. When near his end the dying man is taken down from his cot and
laid on a woollen blanket spread on the ground, perhaps with the idea that he
should at death be in contact with the earth and not suspended in mid-air as a
man on a cot is held to be. In his mouth are placed a piece of gold, some
leaves of the tulsi or basil plant, or Ganges water, or rice cooked in
Jagannāth’s temple. The dying man keeps on repeating ‘Rām, Rām,
Sitārām.’”

21. Funeral rites

As soon as death occurs the corpse is bathed, clothed and smeared with a
mixture of powdered sandalwood, camphor and spices. A bier is constructed
of planks, or if this cannot be afforded the man’s cot is turned upside down

and the body is carried out for burial on it in this fashion, with the legs of the
cot pointing upwards. Straw is laid on the bier, and the corpse, covered with
fine white cloth, is tied securely on to it, the hands being crossed on the
breast, with the thumbs and great toes tied together. When a married woman
dies she is covered with a red cloth which reaches only to the neck, and her
face is left open to the view of everybody, whether she went abroad unveiled
in her life or not. It is considered a highly auspicious thing for a woman to
die in the lifetime of her husband and children, and the corpse is sometimes
dressed like a bride and ornaments put on it. The corpse of a widow or girl is
wrapped in a white cloth with the head covered. At the head of the funeral
procession walks the son of the deceased, or other chief mourner, and in his
hand he takes smouldering cowdung cakes in an earthen pot, from which the
pyre will be kindled. This fire is brought from the hearth of the house by the
barber, and he sometimes also carries it to the pyre. On the way the
mourners change places so that each may assist in bearing the bier, and once
they set the bier on the ground and leave two pice and some grain where it
lay, before taking it up again. After the funeral each person who has helped
to carry it takes up a clod of earth and with it touches successively the place
on his shoulder where the bier rested, his waist and his knee, afterwards
dropping the clod on the ground. It is believed that by so doing he removes
from his shoulder the weight of the corpse, which would otherwise press on
it for some time.

22. Burning the dead

At the cremation-ground the corpse is taken from the bier and placed on the
pyre. The cloth which covered it and that on which it lay are given to a
sweeper, who is always present to receive this perquisite. To the corpse’s
mouth, eyes, ears, nostrils and throat is applied a mixture of barley-flour,
butter, sesamum seeds and powdered sandalwood. Logs of wood and
cowdung cakes are then piled on the body and the pyre is fired by the son,
who first holds a burning stick to the mouth of the corpse as if to inform it
that he is about to apply the fire. The pyre of a man is fired at the head and

of a woman at the foot. Rich people burn the corpse with sandalwood, and
others have a little of this, and incense and sweet-smelling gum. Nowadays
if the rain comes on and the pyre will not burn they use kerosine oil. When
the body is half-consumed the son takes up a piece of wood and with it
strikes the skull seven times, to break it and give exit to the soul. This,
however, is not always done. The son then takes up on his right shoulder an
earthen pot full of water, at the bottom of which is a small hole. He walks
round the pyre three times in the direction of the sun’s course and stands
facing to the south, and dashes the pot on the ground, crying out in his grief,
‘Oh, my father.’ While this is going on mantras or sacred verses are recited
by the officiating Brāhman. When the corpse is partly consumed each
member of the assembly throws the Pānch lakariya (five pieces of wood or
sprigs of basil) on to the pyre, making obeisance to the deceased and saying,
‘Swarg ko jao,’ or ‘Ascend to heaven.’ Or they may say, ‘Go, become
incarnate in some human being.’ They stay by the corpse for 1¼ pahars or
watches or some four hours, until either the skull is broken by the chief
mourner or breaks of itself with a crack. Then they bathe and come home
and after some hours again return to the corpse, to see that it is properly
burnt. If the pyre should go out and a dog or other animal should get hold of
the corpse when it is half-burnt, all the relatives are put out of caste, and
have to give a feast to all the caste, costing for a rich family about Rs. 50 and
for a poor one Rs. 10 to Rs. 15. Then they return home and chew nīm leaves,
which are bitter and purifying, and spit them out of their mouth, thus
severing their connection with the corpse. When the mourners have left the
deceased’s house the women of the family bathe, the bangles of the widow
are broken, the vermilion on the parting of her hair and the glass ornament
(tikli) on her forehead are removed, and she is clad in white clothing of
coarse texture to show that henceforth she is only a widow.

On the third day the mourners go again and collect the ashes and throw them
into the nearest river. The bones are placed in a silken bag or an earthen pot
or a leaf basket, and taken to the Ganges or Nerbudda within ten days if
possible, or otherwise after a longer interval, being buried meantime. Some
milk, salt and calfs urine are sprinkled over the place where the corpse was
burnt. These will cool the place, and the soul of the dead will similarly be
cooled, and a cow will probably come and lick up the salt, and this will

sanctify the place and also the soul. When the bones are to be taken to a
sacred river they are tied up in a little piece of cloth and carried at the end of
a stick by the chief mourner, who is usually accompanied by several caste-
fellows. At night during the journey this stick is planted in the ground, so
that the bones may not touch the earth.

23. Burial

Graves are always dug from north to south. Some people say that heaven is
to the north, being situated in the Himalayas, and others that In the Satyug or
Golden Age the sun rose to the north. The digging of the grave only
commences on the arrival of the funeral party, so there is of necessity a delay
of several hours at the site, and all who attend a funeral are supposed to help
in digging. It is considered to be meritorious to assist at a burial, and there is
a saying that a man who has himself conducted a hundred funerals will
become a Rāja in his next birth. When the grave has been filled in and a
mound raised to mark the spot, each person present makes five small balls of
earth and places them in a heap at the head of the grave. This custom is also
known as Pānch lakariya, and must therefore be an imitation of the placing
of the five sticks on the pyre; its original meaning in the latter case may have
been that the mourners should assist the family by bringing a contribution of
wood to the pyre. As adopted in burial it seems to have no special
significance, but somewhat resembles the European custom of the mourners
throwing a little dust into the grave.

24. Return of the soul

On the third day the pindas or sacrificial cakes are offered and this goes on
till the tenth day. These cakes are not eaten by the priest or Mahā-Brāhman,

but are thrown into a river. On the evening of the third day the son goes,
accompanied by a Brāhman and a barber, and carrying a key to avert evil, to
a pīpal16 tree, on whose branches he hangs two earthen pots: one containing
water, which trickles out through a hole in the bottom, and the other a lamp.
On each succeeding night the son replenishes the contents of these pots,
which are intended to refresh the spirit of the deceased and to light it on its
way to the lower world. In some localities on the evening of the third day the
ashes of the cooking-place are sifted, and laid out on a tray at night on the
spot where the deceased died, or near the cooking-place. In the morning the
layer of ashes is inspected, and if what appears to be a hand- or footprint is
seen, it is held that the spirit of the deceased has visited the house. Some
people look for handprints, some for footprints, and some for both, and the
Nais look for the print of a cow’s hoof, which when seen is held to prove
that the deceased in consideration of his singular merits has been reborn a
cow. If a woman has died in child-birth, or after the birth of a child and
before the performance of the sixth-day ceremony of purification, her hands
are tied with a cotton thread when she is buried, in order that her spirit may
be unable to rise and trouble the living. It is believed that the souls of such
women become evil spirits or Churels. Thorns are also placed over her grave
for the same purpose.

25. Mourning

During the days of mourning the chief mourner sits apart and does no work.
The others do their work but do not touch any one else, as they are impure.
They leave their hair unkempt, do not worship the gods nor sleep on cots,
and abjure betel, milk, butter, curds, meat, the wearing of shoes, new clothes
and other luxuries. In these days the friends of the family come and comfort
the mourners with conversation on the shortness and uncertainty of human
life and kindred topics. During the period of mourning when the family go to
bathe they march one behind the other in Indian file. And on the last day all
the people of the village accompany them, the men first and after they have
returned the women, all marching one behind the other. They also come back

in this manner from the actual funeral, and the idea is perhaps to prevent the
dead man’s spirit from following them. He would probably feel impelled to
adopt the same formation and fall in behind the last of the line, and then
some means is devised, such as spreading thorns in the path, for leaving him
behind.

26. Shaving, and presents to Brahmans

On the ninth, tenth or eleventh day the males of the family have the front of
the head from the crown, and the beard and moustaches, shaved in token of
mourning. The Mahā-Brāhman who receives the gifts for the dead is shaved
with them. This must be done for an elder relation, but a man need not be
shaved on the death of his wife, sister or children. The day is the end of
mourning and is called Gauri Ganesh, Gauri being Pārvati or the wife of
Siva, and Ganesh the god of good fortune. On the occasion the family give
to the Mahā-Brāhman17 a new cot and bedding with a cloth, an umbrella to
shield the spirit from the sun’s rays, a copper vessel full of water to quench
its thirst, a brass lamp to guide it on its journey, and if the family is well-to-
do a horse and a cow, All these things are meant to be for the use of the dead
man in the other world. It is also the Brāhman’s business to eat a quantity of
cooked food, which will form the dead man’s food. It is of great spiritual
importance to the dead man’s soul that the Brāhman should finish the dish
set before him, and if he does not do so the soul will fare badly. He takes
advantage of this by stopping in the middle of the meal, saying that he has
eaten all he is capable of and cannot go on, so that the relations have to give
him large presents to induce him to finish the food. These Mahā-Brāhmans
are utterly despised and looked down on by all other Brāhmans and by the
community generally, and are sometimes made to live outside the village.
The regular priest, the Malai or Purohit, can accept no gifts from the time of
the death to the end of the period of mourning. Afterwards he also receives
presents in money according to the means of his clients, which it is supposed
will benefit the dead man’s soul in the next world; but no disgrace attaches
to the acceptance of these.

27. End of mourning

When the mourning is complete on the Gauri-Ganesh day all the relatives
take their food at the chief mourner’s house, and afterwards the panchāyat
invest him with a new turban provided by a relative. On the next bazār day
the members of the panchāyat take him to the bazār and tell him to take up
his regular occupation and earn his livelihood. Thereafter all his relatives
and friends invite him to take food at their houses, probably to mark his
accession to the position of head of the family.

28. Anniversaries of the dead

Three months, six months and twelve months after the death presents are
made to a Brāhman, consisting of Sīdha, or butter, wheat and rice for a day’s
food. The anniversaries of the dead are celebrated during Pitripaksh or the
dark fortnight of Kunwār (September-October). If a man died on the third
day of any fortnight in the year, his anniversary is celebrated on the third day
of this fortnight and so on. On that day it is supposed that his spirit will visit
his earthly house where his relatives reside. But the souls of women all
return to their homes on the ninth day of the fortnight, and on the thirteenth
day come the souls of all those who have met with a violent death, as by a
fall, or have been killed by wild animals or snakes. The spirits of such
persons are supposed, on account of their untimely end, to entertain a special
grudge against the living.

29. Beliefs in the hereafter

As regards the belief in the hereafter Mr. Gordon writes:18 “That they have
the idea of hell as a place of punishment may be gathered from the belief
that when salt is spilt the one who does this will in Pātāl or the infernal
region have to gather up each grain of salt with his eyelids. Salt is for this
reason handed round with great care, and it is considered unlucky to receive
it in the palm of the hand; it is therefore invariably taken in a cloth or vessel.
There is a belief that the spirit of the deceased hovers round familiar scenes
and places, and on this account, whenever possible, a house in which any
one has died is destroyed or deserted. After the spirit has wandered round
restlessly for a certain time it is said that it will again become incarnate and
take the form either of man or of one of the lower animals.” In Mandla they
think that the soul after death is arraigned and judged before Yama, and is
then chained to a flaming pillar for a longer or shorter period according to its
sins. The gifts made to Brāhmans for the dead somewhat shorten the period.
After that time it is born again with a good or bad body and human or animal
according to its deserts.

30. Religion. Village gods

The caste worship the principal Hindu deities. Either Bhagwān or
Parmeshwar is usually referred to as the supreme deity, as we speak of God.
Bhagwān appears to be Vishnu or the Sun, and Parmeshwar is Siva or
Mahādeo. There are few temples to Vishnu in villages, but none are required
as the sun is daily visible. Sunday or Raviwār is the day sacred to him, and
some people fast in his honour on Sundays, eating only one meal without
salt. A man salutes the sun after he gets up by joining his hands and looking

towards it, again when he has washed his face, and a third time when he has
bathed, by throwing a little water in the sun’s direction. He must not spit in
front of the sun nor perform the lower functions of the body in its sight.
Others say that the sun and moon are the eyes of God, and the light of the
sun is the effulgence of God, because by its light and heat all moving and
immobile creatures sustain their life and all corn and other products of the
earth grow. In his incarnations of Rāma and Krishna there are temples to
Vishnu in large villages and towns. Khermāta, the mother of the village, is
the local form of Devi or the earth-goddess. She has a small hut and an
image of Devi, either black or red. She is worshipped by a priest called
Panda, who may be of any caste except the impure castes. The earth is
worshipped in various ways. A man taking medicine for the first time in an
illness sprinkles a few drops on the earth in its honour. Similarly for the first
three or four times that a cow is milked after the birth of a calf the stream is
allowed to fall on the ground. A man who is travelling offers a little food to
the earth before eating himself. Devi is sometimes considered to be one of
seven sisters, but of the others only two are known, Marhai Devi, the
goddess of cholera, and Sitala Devi, the goddess of smallpox. When an
epidemic of cholera breaks out the Panda performs the following ceremony
to avert it. He takes a kid and a small pig or chicken, and some cloth, cakes,
glass bangles, vermilion, an earthen lamp, and some country liquor, which is
sprinkled all along the way from where he starts to where he stops. He
proceeds in this manner to the boundary of the village at a place where there
are cross-roads, and leaves all the things there. Sometimes the animals are
sacrificed and eaten. While the Panda is doing this every one collects the
sweepings of his house in a winnowing-fan and throws them outside the
village boundary, at the same time ringing a bell continuously. The Panda
must perform his ceremony at night and, if possible, on the day of the new
moon. He is accompanied by a few other low-caste persons called Gunias. A
Gunia is one who can be possessed by a spirit in the temple of Khermāta.
When possessed he shakes his head up and down violently and foams at the
mouth, and sometimes strikes his head on the ground. Another favourite
godling is Hardaul, who was the brother of Jujhār Singh, Rāja of Orchha,
and was suspected by Jujhār Singh of loving the latter’s wife, and poisoned
in consequence by his orders. Hardaul has a platform and sometimes a hut
with an image of a man on horseback carrying a spear in his hand. His shrine

is outside the village, and two days before a marriage the women of the
family visit his shrine and cook and eat their food there and invite him to the
wedding. Clay horses are offered to him, and he is supposed to be able to
keep off rain and storms during the ceremony. Hardaul is perhaps the deified
Rājpūt horseman. Hanumān or Mahābīr is represented by an image of a
monkey coloured with vermilion, with a club in his hand and a slain man
beneath his feet. He is principally worshipped on Saturdays so that he may
counteract the evil influences exercised by the planet Saturn on that day. His
image is painted with oil mixed with vermilion and has a wreath of flowers
of the cotton tree; and gugal or incense made of resin, sandalwood and other
ingredients is burnt before him. He is the deified ape, and is the god of
strength and swiftness, owing to the exploits performed by him during
Rāma’s invasion of Ceylon. Dūlha Deo is another godling whose shrine is in
every village. He was a young bridegroom who was carried off by a tiger on
his way to his wedding, or, according to another account, was turned into a
stone pillar by a flash of lightning. Before the starting of a wedding
procession the members go to Dūlha Deo and offer a pair of shoes and a
miniature post and marriage-crown. On their return they offer a cocoanut.
Dūlha Deo has a stone and platform to the east of the village, or occasionally
an image of a man on horseback like Hardaul. Mirohia is the god of the field
boundary. There is no sign of him, but every tenant, when he begins sowing
and cutting the crops, offers a little curds and rice and a cocoanut and lays
them on the boundary of the field, saying the name of Mirohia Deo. It is
believed among agriculturists that if this godling is neglected he will flatten
the corn by a wind, or cause the cart to break on its way to the threshing-
floor.

31. Sowing the Jawaras or Gardens of Adonis

The sowing of the Jawaras, corresponding to the gardens of Adonis, takes
place during the first nine days of the months of Kunwār and Chait
(September and March). The former is a nine days’ fast preceding the
Dasahra festival, and it is supposed that the goddess Devi was during this

time employed In fighting the buffalo-demon (Bhainsāsur), whom she slew
on the tenth day. The latter is a nine days’ fast at the new year, preceding the
triumphant entry of Rāma into Ajodhia on the tenth day on his return from
Ceylon. The first period comes before the sowing of the spring crop of wheat
and other grains, and the second is at the commencement of the harvest of
the same crop. In some localities the Jawaras are also grown a third time in
the rains, probably as a preparation for the juāri sowings,19 as juāri is planted
in the baskets or ‘gardens’ at this time. On the first day a small room is
cleared and whitewashed, and is known as the diwāla or temple. Some earth
is brought from the fields and mixed with manure in a basket, and a male
member of the family sows wheat in it, bathing before he does so. The
basket is kept in the diwāla and the same man attends on it throughout the
nine days, fasting all day and eating only milk and fruit at night. A similar
nine days’ fast was observed by the Eleusinians before the sacramental
eating of corn and the worship of the Corn Goddess, which constituted the
Eleusinian mysteries.20 During the period of nine days, called the Naorātra,
the plants are watered, and long stalks spring up. On the eighth day the hom
or fire offering is performed, and the Gunias or devotees are possessed by
Devi. On the evening of the ninth day the women, putting on their best
clothes, walk out of the houses with the pots of grain on their heads, singing
songs in praise of Devi. The men accompany them beating drums and
cymbals. The devotees pierce their cheeks with long iron needles and walk
in the procession. High-caste women, who cannot go themselves, hire the
barber’s or waterman’s wife to go for them. The pots are taken to a tank and
thrown in, the stalks of grain being kept and distributed as a mark of amity.
The wheat which is sown in Kunwār gives a forecast of the spring crops. A
plant is pulled out, and the return of the crop will be the same number of
times the seed as it has roots. The woman who gets to the tank first counts
the number of plants in her pot, and this gives the price of wheat in rupees
per māni.21 Sometimes marks of red rust appear on the plants, and this
shows that the crop will suffer from rust. The ceremony performed in Chait
is said to be a sort of harvest thanksgiving. On the ninth day of the autumn
ceremony another celebration called ‘Jhinjhia’ or ‘Norta’ takes place in large
villages. A number of young unmarried girls take earthen pots and, making
holes in them and placing lamps inside, carry them on their heads through
the village, singing and dancing. They receive presents from the villagers,

with which they hold a feast. At this a small platform is erected and two
earthen dolls, male and female, are placed on it; rice and flowers are offered
to them and their marriage is celebrated.

Sowing

The following observances in connection with the crops are practised by the
agricultural castes in Chhattīsgarh:

32. Rites connected with the crops. Customs of
cultivation

The agricultural year begins on Akti or the 3rd day of Baisākh (April-May).
On that day a cup made of palās22 leaves and filled with rice is offered to
Thākur Deo. In some villages the boys sow rice seeds before Thākur Deo’s
shrine with little toy ploughs. The cultivator then goes to his field, and
covering his hand with wheat-flour and turmeric, stamps it five times on the
plough. The mālguzār takes five handfuls of the seed consecrated to Thākur

Deo and sows it, and each of the cultivators also sows a little. After this
regular cultivation may begin on any day, though Monday and Friday are
considered auspicious days for the commencement of sowing. On the Hareli,
or festival of the fresh verdure, which falls on the 15th day of Shrāwan
(July-August), balls of flour mixed with salt are given to the cattle. The
plough and all the implements of agriculture are taken to a tank and washed,
and are then set up in the courtyard of the house and plastered with
cowdung. The plough is set facing towards the sun, and butter and sugar are
offered to it. An earthen pot is whitewashed and human figures are drawn on
it with charcoal, one upside down. It is then hung over the entrance to the
house and is believed to avert the evil eye. All the holes in the cattle-sheds
and courtyards are filled and levelled with gravel. While the rice is growing,
holidays are observed on five Sundays and no work is done. Before harvest
Thākur Deo must be propitiated with an offering of a white goat or a black
fowl. Any one who begins to cut his crop before this offering has been made
to Thākur Deo is fined the price of a goat by the village community. Before
threshing his corn each cultivator offers a separate sacrifice to Thākur Deo
of a goat, a fowl or a broken cocoanut. Each evening, on the conclusion of a
day’s threshing, a wisp of straw is rubbed on the forehead of each bullock,
and a hair is then pulled from its tail, and the hairs and straw made into a
bundle are tied to the pole of the threshing-floor. The cultivator prays, ‘O
God of plenty! enter here full and go out empty.’ Before leaving the
threshing-floor for the night some straw is burnt and three circles are drawn
with the ashes, one round the heap of grain and the others round the pole.
Outside the circles are drawn pictures of the sun, the moon, a lion and a
monkey, or of a cart and a pair of bullocks. Next morning before sunrise the
ashes are swept away by waving a winnowing-fan over them. This ceremony
is called anjan chadhāna or placing lamp-black on the face of the threshing-
floor to avert the evil eye, as women put it on their eyes. Before the grain is
measured it must be stacked in the form of a trapezium with the shorter end
to the south, and not in that of a square or oblong heap. The measurer stands
facing the east, and having the shorter end of the heap on his left hand. On
the larger side of the heap are laid the kalara or hook, a winnowing-fan, the
dauri, a rope by which the bullocks are tied to the threshing-pole, one or
three branches of the ber or wild plum tree, and the twisted bundle of straw
and hair of the bullocks which had been tied to the pole. On the top of the

heap are placed five balls of cowdung, and the hom or fire sacrifice is
offered to it. The first kātha23 of rice measured is also laid by the heap. The
measurer never quite empties his measure while the work is going on, as it is
feared that if he does this the god of abundance will leave the threshing-
floor. While measuring he should always wear a turban. It is considered
unlucky for any one who has ridden on an elephant to enter the threshing-
floor, but a person who has ridden on a tiger brings luck. Consequently the
Gonds and Baigas, if they capture a young tiger and tame it, will take it
round the country, and the cultivators pay them a little to give their children
a ride on it. To enter a threshing-floor with shod feet is also unlucky. Grain is
not usually measured at noon but in the morning or evening.

Threshing

33. Agricultural superstitions

The cultivators think that each grain should bear a hundredfold, but they do
not get this as Kuvera, the treasurer of the gods, or Bhainsāsur, the buffalo
demon who lives in the fields, takes it. Bhainsāsur is worshipped when the
rice is coming into ear, and if they think he is likely to be mischievous they
give him a pig, but otherwise a smaller offering. When the standing corn in
the fields is beaten down at night they think that Bhainsāsur has been
passing over it. He also steals the crop while it is being cut and is lying on
the ground. Once Bhainsāsur was absent while the particular field in the
village from which he stole his supply of grain was cut and the crop
removed, and afterwards he was heard crying that all his provision for the
year had been lost. Sometimes the oldest man in the house cuts the first five
bundles of the crop, and they are afterwards left in the field for the birds to
eat. And at the end of harvest the last one or two sheaves are left standing in
the field, and any one who likes can cut and carry them away. In some
localities the last stalks are left standing in the field and are known as
barhona or the giver of increase. Then all the labourers rush together at this
last patch of corn and tear it up by the roots; everybody seizes as much as he
can and keeps it, the master having no share in this patch. After the barhona
has been torn up all the labourers fall on their faces to the ground and
worship the field. In other places the barhona is left standing for the birds to
eat. This custom, arises from the belief demonstrated by Sir J. G. Frazer in
The Golden Bough that the corn-spirit takes refuge in the last patch of grain,
and that when it is cut he flies away or his life is extinguished. And the idea
is supported by the fact that the rats and other vermin, who have been living
in the field, seek shelter in the last patch of corn, and when this is cut have to
dart out in front of the reapers. In some countries it is thought, as shown by
Sir J. G. Frazer, that the corn-spirit takes refuge in the body of one of these
animals.

34. Houses

The house of a mālguzār or good tenant stands in a courtyard or angan 45 to
60 feet square and surrounded by a brick or mud wall. The plan of a typical

house is shown below:—

The dālān or hall is for the reception of visitors. One of the living-rooms is
set apart for storing grain. Those who keep their women secluded have a
door at the back of the courtyard for their use. Cooking is done in one of the
rooms, and there are no chimneys, the smoke escaping through the tiles.
They bathe either in the chauk or central courtyard, or go out and bathe in a
tank or river or at a well. The family usually sleep inside the house in the
winter and outside in the hot weather. A poor mālguzār or tenant has only
two rooms with a veranda in front, one of which is used by the family, while
cattle are kept in the other; while the small tenants and labourers have only
one room in which both men and cattle reside. The walls are of bamboo
matting plastered on both sides with mud, and the roof usually consists of
single small tiles roughly baked in an improvised kiln. The house is
surrounded by a mud wall or hedge, and sometimes has a garden behind in
which tobacco, maize or vegetables are grown. The interior is dark, for light
is admitted only by the low door, and the smoke-stained ceiling contributes

to the gloom. The floor is of beaten earth well plastered with cowdung, the
plastering being repeated weekly.

Winnowing

35. Superstitions about houses

The following are some superstitious beliefs and customs about houses. A
house should face north or east and not south or west, as the south is the
region of Yama, the god of death, who lives in Ceylon, and the west the
quarter of the setting sun. A Muhammadan’s house, on the other hand,
should face south or west because Mecca lies to the south-west. A house may
have verandas front and back, or on the front and two sides, but not on all
four sides. The front of a house should be lower than the back, this shape
being known as gai-mukh or cow-mouthed, and not higher than the back,
which is singh-mukh or tiger-mouthed. The front and back doors should not

be in a straight line, which would enable one to look right through the house.
The angan or compound of a house should be a little longer than it is wide,
no matter how little. Conversely the building itself should be a little wider
along the front than it is long from front to rear. The kitchen should always
be on the right side if there is a veranda, or else behind. When an astrologer
is about to found a house he calculates the direction in which Shesh Nāg, the
snake on whom the world reposes, is holding his head at that time, and
plants the first brick or stone to the left of that direction, because snakes and
elephants do not turn to the left but always to the right. Consequently the
house will be more secure and less likely to be shaken down by Shesh Nāg’s
movements, which cause the phenomenon known to us as an earthquake.
Below the foundation-stone or brick are buried a pice, an areca-nut and a
grain of rice, and it is lucky if the stone be laid by a man who has been
faithful to his wife. There should be no echo in a house, as an echo is
considered to be the voice of evil spirits. The main beam should be placed in
position on a lucky day, and the carpenter breaks a cocoanut against it and
receives a present. The width of the rooms along the front of a house should
be five cubits each, and if there is a staircase it must have an uneven number
of steps. The door should be low so that a man must bend his head on
entering and thus show respect to the household god. The floor of the
verandas should be lower than that of the room inside; the Hindus say that
the compound should not see the veranda nor the veranda the house. But this
rule has of course also the advantage of keeping the house-floor dry. If the
main beam of a house breaks it is a very bad omen, as also for a vulture or
kite to perch on the roof; if this should happen seven days running the house
will inevitably be left empty by sickness or other misfortune. A dog howling
in front of the house is very unlucky, and if, as may occasionally happen, a
dog should get on to the roof of the house and bark, the omen is of the worst
kind. Neither the pīpal nor banyan trees should be planted in the yard of a
house, because the leavings of food might fall upon them, and this would be
an insult to the deities who inhabit the sacred trees. Neither is it well to plant
the nīm tree, because the nīm is the tree of anchorites, and the frequent
contemplation of it will take away from a man the desire of offspring and
lead to the extinction of his family. Bananas should not be grown close to the
house, because the sound of this fruit bursting the pod is said to be audible,
and to hear it is most unlucky. It is a good thing to have a gular24 tree in the

yard, but at a little distance from the house so that the leavings of food may
not fall upon it; this is the tree of the saint Dattatreya, and will cause wealth
to increase in the house. A plant of the sacred tulsi or basil is usually kept in
the yard, and every morning the householder pours a vessel of water over it
as he bathes, and in the evening places a lamp beside it. This holy plant
sanctifies the air which passes over it to the house.

No one should ever sit on the threshold of a house; this is the seat of
Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, and to sit on it is disrespectful to her. A
house should never be swept at twilight, because it is then that Lakshmi
makes her rounds, and she would curse it and pass by. At this time a lamp
should be lighted, no one should be allowed to sleep, and even if a man is
sick he should sit up on his bed. At this time the grinding-mill should not be
turned nor grain be husked, but reverence should be paid to ancestors and to
the household deities. No one must sit on the grinding-mill; it is regarded as
a mother because it gives out the flour by which the family is fed. No one
must sit on cowdung cakes because they are the seat of Saturn, the Evil One,
and their smell is called Sanīchar ke bās. No one must step on the chūlka or
cooking-hearth nor jar it with his foot. At the midday meal, when food is
freshly cooked, each man will take a little fire from the hearth and place it in
front of him, and will throw a little of everything he eats on to the fire, and
some ghī as an offering to Agni, the god of fire. And he will also walk round
the hearth, taking water in his hand and then throwing it on the ground as an
offering to Agni. A man should not sleep with his feet to the south, because a
corpse is always laid in that direction. He should not sleep with his feet to
the east, nor spit out water from his mouth in the direction of the east.

Women grinding wheat and husking rice

36. Furniture

Of furniture there is very little. Carefully arranged in their places are the
brass cooking-pots, water-pots and plates, well polished with mud and water
applied with plenty of elbow-grease by the careful housewife. Poor tenants
frequently only have one or two brass plates and cups and an iron girdle,
while all the rest of their vessels are of earthenware. Each house has several
chūlhas or small horseshoe erections of earth for cooking. Each person in the
house has a sleeping-cot if the family is comfortably off, and a spare one is
also kept. These must be put out and exposed to the sun at least once a week
to clear them of fleas and bugs. It is said that the Jains cannot adopt this
method of disinfecting their beds owing to the sacrifice of insect life thereby

involved; and that there are persons in Calcutta who make it their profession
to go round and offer to lie on these cots for a time; they lie on them for
some hours, and the little denizens being surfeited with their blood
subsequently allow the owner of the cot to have a quiet night. A cot should
always be shorter than a man’s length, so that his legs project over the end; if
it is so long as to contain his whole length it is like a bier, and it is feared
that lying on a cot of this kind will cause him shortly to lie on a bier. Poor
tenants do not usually have cots, but sleep on the ground, spreading kodon-
straw on it for warmth. They have no bedding except a gudri or mattress
made of old rags and clothes sewn together. In winter they put it over them,
and sleep on it in summer. They will have a wooden log to rest their heads
on when sleeping, and this will also serve as a seat for a guest. Mālguzārs
have a razai or quilt, and a doria or thick cloth like those used for covering
carts. Clothes and other things are kept in jhāmpis or round bamboo baskets.
For sitting on there are machnīs or four-legged stools about a foot high with
seats of grass rope or pīrhis, little wooden stools only an inch or two from
the ground. For lighting, wicks are set afloat in little earthen saucers filled
with oil.

37. Clothes

Landowners usually have a long coat known as angarkha reaching to the
knees, with flaps folding over the breasts and tied with strings. The bandi is
a short coat like this but coming only to the hips, and is more popular with
cultivators. In the cold weather it is frequently stuffed with cotton and dyed
dark green or dark blue so as not to show the dirt. For visits of ceremony a
pair of paijāmas are kept, but otherwise the dhoti or loin-cloth is commonly
worn. Wearing the dhoti pulled half-way up to the thighs is called
‘cultivator’s fashion.’ A shirt may be worn under the coat; but cultivators
usually have only one garment, nowadays often a sleeveless coat with
buttons in front. The proper head-dress is the pagri, a piece of coloured cloth
perhaps 30 feet long and a foot wide, twisted tightly into folds, which is
lifted on and off the head and is only rarely undone. Twisting the pagri is an

art, and a man is usually hired to do it and paid four annas. The pagris have
different shapes in different parts of the country, and a Hindu can tell by the
shape of a man’s pagri where he comes from. But nowadays cultivators
usually wear a dupatta or short piece of cloth tied, loosely round the head.
The tenant arranges his head-cloth with a large projection on one side, and in
it he carries his chilam or pipe-bowl, and also small quantities of vegetables,
salt or condiments purchased at the bazār. In case of necessity he can
transform it into a loin-cloth, or tie up a bundle of grass with it, or tie his lota
to it to draw water from a well. ‘What can the washerman do in a village
where the people live naked?’ is a Chhattīsgarhi proverb which aptly
indicates that scantiness is the most prominent feature of the local apparel.
Here a cloth round the loins, and this usually of meagre dimensions,
constituted, until recently, the full dress of a cultivator. Those who have
progressed a stage farther throw a cloth loosely over one shoulder, covering
the chest, and assume an apology for a turban by wrapping another small rag
carelessly round the head, leaving the crown generally bare, as if this part of
the person required special sunning and ventilation. Hindus will not be seen
out-of-doors with the head bare, though the Gonds and other tribes only
begin to wear head-cloths when they are adopting Hinduism. The Gondi
fashion was formerly prevalent in Chhattīsgarh. Some sanctity attaches to
the turban, probably because it is the covering of the head. To knock off a
man’s turban is a great insult, and if it drops off or he lets it fall, it is a very
bad omen.

Group of women in Hindustāni dress

38. Women’s clothes

Women, in the northern Districts wear a skirt made of coarse cloth, usually
red or blue, and a shoulder-cloth of the same material. Hand-woven cloth is
still commonly used in the interior. The skirt is sometimes drawn up through
the legs behind so as to give it a divided appearance; this is called kachhota.
On the upper part of the body they wear an angia or breast-cloth, that is a
short, tight, sleeveless jacket reaching only to below the breasts. The angia
is tied behind, while the Marātha choli, which is the same thing, is buttoned
or tied in front. High-caste women draw their shoulder-cloth right over the
head so that the face cannot be seen. When a woman goes before a person of
position she covers her head, as it is considered immodest to leave it bare.
Women of respectable families wear a sheet of fine white, yellow, or red
cloth drawn over the head and reaching to the ankles when they go on a
journey, this being known as pichhora. In Chhattīsgarh all the requirements
of fashion among women are satisfied by one cloth from 8 to 12 yards long

and about a yard wide, which envelops the person in one fold from the waist
to below the knee, hanging somewhat loosely. It is tied at the waist, and the
remaining half is spread over the breast and drawn across the right shoulder,
the end covering the head like a sheet and falling over the left shoulder. The
simplicity of this solitary garment displays a graceful figure to advantage,
especially on festival days, when those who can afford it are arrayed in tasar
silk. When a girl is married the bridegroom’s family give her expensive
clothes to wear at festivals and her own people give her ordinary clothes, but
usually not more than will last a year. Whenever she goes back to her
father’s house after her marriage, he gives her one or two cloths if he can
afford it. Women of the middle and lower classes wear ornaments of bell-
metal, a mixture of copper and zinc, which are very popular. Some women
wear brass and zinc ornaments, and well-to-do persons have them of silver
or gold.

39. Bathing

Hot water is not used for bathing in Saugor, except by invalids, but is
customary in Betūl and other Districts. The bathing-place in the courtyard is
usually a large square stone on which the bather sits; he has a big circular
brass vessel by him called gangāl,25 and from this he takes water either in a
cup or with his hands and throws it over himself, rubbing his body. Where
there is a tank or stream people go to bathe in it, and if there is none the
poorer classes sometimes bathe at the village well. Each man or woman has
two body-or loin-cloths, and they change the cloth whenever they bathe—
going into the water in the one which they have worn from the previous day,
and changing into the other when they come out; long practice enables them
to do this in public without any undue exposure of the body. A good tank or
a river is a great amenity to a village, especially if it has a ghāt or flight of
stone steps. Many people will spend an hour or so here daily, disporting
themselves in the water or on the bank, and wedding and funeral parties are
held by it, owing to the facilities for ceremonial bathing.

40. Food

People who do not cultivate with their own hands have only two daily meals,
one at midday and the other at eight or nine in the evening. Agriculturists
require a third meal in the early morning before going out to the fields.
Wheat and the millets juāri and kodon are the staple foods of the cultivating
classes in the northern Districts, and rice is kept for festivals. The millets are
made into thick chapātis or cakes, their flour not being sufficiently adhesive
for thin ones, and are eaten with the pulses, lentils, arhar,26 mung27 and
urad.28 The pulses are split into half and boiled in water, and when they get
soft, chillies, salt and turmeric are mixed with them. Pieces of chapāti are
broken off and dipped into this mixture. Various vegetables are also eaten.
When pulse is not available the chapātis are simply dipped into buttermilk.
If chapātis cannot be afforded at both meals, ghorna or the flour of kodon or
juār boiled into a paste with water is substituted for them, a smaller quantity
of this being sufficient to allay hunger. Wheat-cakes are fried in ghī
(clarified butter) as a luxury, and at other times in sesamum oil. Rice or
ground gram boiled in buttermilk are other favourite foods.

In Chhattīsgarh rice is the common food: it is eaten with pulses at midday
and with vegetables cooked in ghī in the evening. In the morning they drink
a rice-gruel, called bāsi> which consists of the previous night’s repast mixed
with water and taken cold. On festivals rice is boiled in milk. Milk is often
drunk at night, and there is a saying, “He who drinks water in the morning
and milk at night and takes harra before he sleeps will never need a doctor.”
A little powdered harra or myrobalan acts as an aperient. The food of
landowners and tenants is much the same, except that the former have more
butter and vegetables, according to the saying, ‘Rāja praja ka ekhi khāna’ or
‘The king and peasant eat the same food.’ Those who eat flesh have an
occasional change of food, but most Kurmis abstain from it. Farmservants
eat the gruel of rice or kodon boiled in water when they can afford it, and if
not they eat mahua flowers. These are sometimes boiled in water, and the

juice is then strained off and mixed with half-ground flour, and they are also
pounded and made into chapātis with flour and water. The leaves of the
young gram-plants make a very favourite vegetable and are eaten raw, either
moist or dried. In times of scarcity the poorer classes eat tamarind leaves, the
pith of the banyan tree, the seeds of the bamboo, the bark of the semar
tree,29 the fruit of the babūl,30 and other articles. A cultivator will eat 2 lbs.
of grain a day if he can get it, or more in the case of rice. Their stomachs get
distended owing to the large quantities of boiled rice eaten at one time. The
leaves of the chirota or chakora a little plant31 which grows thickly at the
commencement of the rains near inhabited sites, are also a favourite
vegetable, and a resource in famine time. The people call it ‘Gaon ka
thākur,’ or ‘lord of the village,’ and have a saying:

Amarbel aur kamalgata,
Gaon ka thākur, gai ka matha,
Nagar sowāsan, unmen milai,
Khāj, dād, sehua mīt jāwe.

Amarbel is an endless creeper, with long yellow strings like stalks, which
infests and destroys trees; it is called amarbel or the immortal, because it has
no visible root. Kamalgata is the seed of the lotus; gai ka matha is
buttermilk; nagar sowāsan, ‘the happiness of the town,’ is turmeric, because
married women whose husbands are alive put turmeric on their foreheads
every day; khāj, dād and sehua are itch, ringworm and some kind of rash,
perhaps measles; and the verse therefore means:

“Eat amarbel, lotus seeds, chirota, buttermilk and turmeric mixed together,
and you will keep off itch, ringworm and measles.” Chirota is good for the
itch.

41. Caste-feasts

At the commencement of a marriage or other ceremonial feast the host must
wash the feet of all the guests himself. If he does not do this they will be
dissatisfied, and, though they will eat at his house, will consider they have
not been properly welcomed. He takes a large brass plate and placing the
feet of his guest on it, pours water over them and then rubs and dries them;
the water is thrown away and fresh water poured out for the next guest
unless they should be brothers. Little flat stools about three inches high are
provided for the guests, and if there are not enough of them a carpet is
spread; or baithkis or sitting-mats plaited from five or six large leaves are set
out. These serve as a mark of attention, as it would be discourteous to make
a man sit on the ground, and they also prevent the body-cloth from getting
wet. The guests sit in the chauk or yard of the house inside, or in the angan
or outside yard, either in lines or in a circle; members of the same caste sit
with their crossed knees actually touching those of the man on either side of
them to emphasise their brotherhood; if a man sat even a few inches apart
from his fellows people would say he was out of caste—and this is how a
man who is put out of caste actually does sit. Before each guest may be set
two plates of leaves and eight donas or leaf-cups. On the plates are heaped
rice, cakes of wheat fried in butter, and of husked urad pulse cooked with
tilli or sesamum oil, and the pulse of gram and lentils. In the cups will be
sugar, ghī, dahi or curded milk, various vegetables, pumpkins, and besin or
ground gram cooked with buttermilk. All the male members of the host’s
family serve the food and they take it round, heaping and pouring it into
each man’s plates or cups until he says enough; and they continue to give
further helpings as required. All the food is served at once in the different
plates and cups, but owing to the number of guests a considerable time
elapses before all are fully served, and the dinner lasts about two hours. The
guests eat all the different dishes together with their fingers, taking a little of
each according to their fancy. Each man has his lota or vessel of water by
him and drinks as he eats. When the meal is finished large brass plates are
brought in, one being given to about ten guests, and they wash their hands
over these, pouring water on them from their vessels. A fresh carpet is then
spread in the yard and the guests sit on it, and betel-leaf and tobacco are
distributed. The huqqa is passed round, and chilams and chongis (clay pipe-
bowls and leaf-pipes) are provided for those who want them. The women do

not appear at the feast but stay inside, sitting in the angan or inner court,
which is behind the purda.

42. Hospitality

The people still show great hospitality, and it is the custom of many
mālguzārs, at least in Chhattīsgarh, to afford food and a night’s rest to all
travellers who may require it. When a Brāhman comes to the village such
mālguzārs will give him one or two annas, and to a Pandit or learned man as
much as a rupee. Formerly it is said that when any stranger came through the
village he was at once offered a cup of milk and told to drink it or throw it
away. But this custom has died out in Chhattīsgarh, though one has met with
it once or twice in Sambalpur. When District Officers go on tour, well-to-do
landowners ask to be allowed to supply free provisions for the whole camp
at least for a day, and it is difficult to refuse them gracefully. In Mandla,
Banias and mālguzārs in villages near the Nerbudda sometimes undertake to
give a pound of grain to every parikramawāsi or pilgrim perambulating the
Nerbudda. And as the number of these steadily increases in consequence,
they often become impoverished as a result of such indiscriminate charity.

43. Social customs. Tattooing

The Kurmis employ Brāhmans for their ceremonies. They have gurus or
spiritual preceptors who may be Brāhmans or Bairāgis; the guru is given
from 8 annas to Rs. 5 when he initiates a neophyte, as well as his food and a
new white cloth. The guru is occasionally consulted on some religious
question, but otherwise he does nothing for his disciple except to pay him an
occasional visit, when he is hospitably entertained. The Kurmis of the
northern Districts do not as a rule eat meat and also abstain from alcohol, but

in Chhattīsgarh they eat the flesh of clean animals and fish, and also of
fowls, and drink country liquor. Old men often give up flesh and wine as a
mark of piety, when they are known as Bhagat or holy. They will take food
cooked with water only from Brāhmans, and that cooked without water from
Rājpūts, Banias and Kāyasths as well. Brāhmans and Rājpūts will take water
from Kurmis in the northern Districts though not in Chhattīsgarh. Here the
Kurmis do not object to eating cooked food which has been carried from the
house to the fields. This is called rengai roti, and castes which will eat it are
considered inferior to those who always take their food in the chauka or
purified place in the house. They say ‘Rām, Rām’ to each other in greeting,
and the Raipur Kurmis swear by a dog or a pig. Generally they do not
plough on the new or full moon days. Their women are tattooed after
marriage with dots on the cheeks, marks of flies on the fingers, scorpions on
the arms, and other devices on the legs.

44. Caste penalties

Permanent expulsion from caste is inflicted for a change of religion, taking
food or having sexual intercourse with a member of an impure caste, and for
eating beef. For killing a man, a cow, a buffalo, an ass, a horse, a squirrel, a
cat or a monkey a man must purify himself by bathing in the Ganges at
Allahābād or Benāres and giving a feast to the caste. It will be seen that all
these are domestic animals except the monkey, who is the god Hanumān.
The squirrel is counted as a domestic animal because it is always about the
house, and the souls of children are believed to go into squirrels. One
household animal, the dog, is omitted, and he appears to be less sacred than
the others. For getting maggots in a wound the offender must bathe in a
sacred river, such as the Nerbudda or Mahānadi, and give a feast to the caste.
For eating or having intercourse with a member of any caste other than the
impure ones, or for a liaison within the caste, or for divorcing a wife or
marrying a widow, or in the case of a woman for breaking her bangles in a
quarrel with her husband, a penalty feast must be given. If a man omits to

feast the caste after a death in his family a second feast is imposed, and if he
insults the panchāyat he is fined.

45. The cultivating status

The social status of the Kurmi appears to be that of the cultivator. He is
above the menial and artisan castes of the village and the impure weaving
and labouring castes; he is theoretically equal to the artisan castes of towns,
but one or two of these, such as the Sunār or goldsmith and Kasār or brass-
worker, have risen in the world owing to the prosperity or importance of
their members, and now rank above the Kurmi. The Kurmi’s status appears
to be that of the cultivator and member of the village community, but a large
proportion of the Kurmis are recruited from the non-Aryan tribes, who have
obtained land and been admitted into the caste, and this tends to lower the
status of the caste as a whole. In the Punjab Kurmis apparently do not hold
land and are employed in grass-cutting, weaving, and tending horses, and are
even said to keep pigs.32 Here their status is necessarily very low as they
follow the occupations of the impure castes. The reason why the Kurmi as
cultivator ranks above the village handicraftsmen may perhaps be that
industrial pursuits were despised in early times and left to the impure Sūdras
and to the castes of mixed descent; while agriculture and trade were the
occupations of the Vaishya. Further, the village artisans and menials were
supported before the general use of current coin by contributions of grain
from the cultivators and by presents of grain at seed-time and harvest; and
among the Hindus it is considered very derogatory to accept a gift, a man
who does so being held to admit his social inferiority to the giver. Some
exception to this is made in the case of Brāhmans, though even with them
the rule partly applies. Of these two reasons for the cultivator’s superiority to
the menial and artisan castes the former has to a large extent lost its force.
The handicrafts are no longer considered despicable, and, as has been seen,
some of the urban tradesmen, as the Sunār and Kasār, now rank above the
Kurmi, or are at least equal to him. Perhaps even in ancient times these
urban artificers were not despised like the village menials, as their skill was

held in high repute. But the latter ground is still in full force and effect in the
Central Provinces at least: the village artisans are still paid by contributions
from the cultivator and receive presents from him at seed-time and harvest.
The remuneration of the village menials, the blacksmith, carpenter,
washerman, tanner, barber and waterman is paid at the rate of so much grain
per plough of land according to the estimated value of the work done by
them for the cultivators during the year. Other village tradesmen, as the
potter, oilman and liquor-vendor, are no longer paid in grain, but since the
introduction of currency sell their wares for cash; but there seems no reason
to doubt that in former times when no money circulated in villages they were
remunerated in the same manner. They still all receive presents, consisting of
a sowing-basketful of grain at seed-time and one or two sheaves at harvest.
The former are known as Bījphuti, or ‘the breaking of the seed,’ and the
latter as Khanvār, or ‘that which is left.’ In Bilāspur the Kamias or village
menials also receive as much grain as will fill a winnowing-fan when it has
been threshed. When the peasant has harvested his grain all come and beg
from him. The Dhīmar brings waternut, the Kāchhi or market-gardener some
chillies, the Teli oil and tobacco, the Kalār some liquor if he drinks it, the
Bania some sugar, and all receive grain in excess of the value of their gifts.
The village menials come for their customary dues, and the Brāhman, the
Nat or acrobat, the Gosain or religious mendicant, and the Fakīr or
Muhammadan beggar solicit alms. On that day the cultivator is like a little
king in his fields, and it is said that sometimes a quarter of the crop may go
in this way; but the reference must be only to the spring crop and not to the
whole holding. In former times grain must have been the principal source of
wealth, and this old custom gives us a reason for the status of the cultivator
in Hindu society. There is also a saying:

Uttam kheti, madhyam bān,
Kanisht chākri, bhīk nidān,

or ‘Cultivation is the best calling, trade is respectable, service is menial, and
begging is degraded.’

46. Occupation

The Kurmi is the typical cultivator. He loves his land, and to lose it is to
break the mainspring of his life. His land gives him a freedom and
independence of character which is not found among the English farm-
labourers. He is industrious and plodding, and inured to hardship. In some
Districts the excellent tilth of the Kurmi’s fields well portrays the result of
his persevering labour, which he does not grudge to the land because it is his
own. His wife is in no way behind him; the proverb says, “Good is the caste
of the Kurmin; with a hoe in her hand she goes to the fields and works with
her husband.” The Chandnāhu Kurmi women are said to be more
enterprising than the men, keeping them up to their work, and managing the
business of the farm as well as the household.

Appendix

List of Exogamous Clans

Sections of the Chandnāhu subcaste:

Chānwar bambar Fly fan.
Sandil Name of a Rishi.
Gaind Ball.
Sadāphal A fruit.
Sondeha Gold-bodied.
Sonkharchi Spender of gold.
Kathail Kath, wood, or kaththa, catechu.

Kāshi Benares. The Desha Kurmis are all of this gotra. It may also be a corruption of
Kachhap, tortoise.
Dhorha Dhor, cattle.
Sumer A mountain.
Chatur Midalia Chatur, clever.
Bhāradwāj After the Rishi of that name; also a bird.
Kousil Name of a Rishi.
Ishwar God.
Samund Karkari A particle in an ocean.
Akālchuwa Akāl, famine.
Padel Fallow.
Bāghmār Tiger-slayer.
Hardūba Green grass.
Kānsia Kāns, a kind of grass.
Ghiu Sāgar Ocean of ghī
Dharam Most charitable.
Dhurandar
Singnāha Singh, a lion.
Chimangarhia Belonging to Chimangarh.
Khairagarhia Belonging to Khairagarh.
Gotam A Rishi.
Kāskyap A Rishi.
Pandariha From Pandaria, a village.
Paipakhār One who washes feet.
Bānhpakhār One who washes arms.
Chauria Chaurai, a vegetable.
Sānd Sathi Sānd, bullock.
Singhi Singh, lion or horn.
Agra—Chandan Sandalwood.
Tek Sanichar Saturday.
Karaiya Frying-pan.

Pukharia Pond.
Dhubinha Dhobi, a caste.
Pāwanbare Pāwan, air.
Modganga Ganges.

Sections of the Gabel subcaste:

Gangajal Ganges water.
Bimba Lohir Bearer of a lāthi (stick).
Sarang Peacock.
Rāja Rāwat Royal prince.
Singūr Beauty.
Bānk pagar With a thread on the arm.
Samundha Ocean.
Parasrām, Rishi
Katārmal Katār, dagger.
Chaultān Sept of Rājpūts.
Pātan Village.
Gajmani Elephant.
Deori Sumer Village.
Lahura Samudra Small sea.
Hansbimbraon Hans, goose.
Sunwāni Purifier.

Sections of the Santora subcaste:

Narvaria Narwar, a town in Gwalior State.
Mundharia Mundhra, a village.
Naigaiyan Naogaon, a town in Bundelkhand.
Pipraiya Piparia, a village.
Dindoria Dindori, a village in Mandla District.
Baheria A village.

Bāndha Bāndh, embankment.
Ktmūsar Wooden pestle.

Sections of the Tirole subcaste:

Baghele Bāgh, tiger, or a sept of Rājpūts.
Rāthor Clan of Rājpūts.
Panwār Clan of Rājpūts.
Solanki Clan of Rājpūts.
Aulia Aonla, a fruit-bearing tree.
Sindia Sindi, date-palm tree.
Khusia Khusi, happiness.
Sanoria San, hemp.
Gora Fair-coloured.
Bhākrya Bhākar, a thick bread.

Sections of the Gaur subcaste:

Bhandāri Storekeeper.
Dudhua Dūdh, milk.
Patele A headman.
Lonia Salt-maker.
Kumaria A potter.
Sionia Seoni town.
Chhaparia Chhapāra, a town.
Bijoria A tree.
Simra A village.
Ketharia Keth, a fruit.
Usarguiyan Perhaps a village.
Bhadoria Village.
Rurgaiyan Village.
Musrele Mūsar, a pestle.

Sections of the Usrete subcaste:

Shikāre Hunter.
Nāhar Tiger.
Gursaraiyan Gursarai, a town.
Bardia A village.
Sandia Sānd, a bull.
Sirwaiyan Sirwai, a village.
Itguhān A village.
Sengaiyan or Sengai, a village.
Singaiyan
Harkotia Harkoti, a village.
Noria Norai, a village.
Larent Lareti, a village.
Rabia Rabai, a village.
Lakhauria (Lakori village. It is said that whoever utters the name of this section early in the
morning is sure to remain hungry the whole day, or at least will get into some
trouble that day.)
Dhandkonya Dhandakna, to roll.
Badgaiyan Badagaon, a large village.
Kotia Kot, a fort
Bilwār Billi, cat
Thutha Stump of a tree.

Sections of the Kanaujia subcaste:

Tidha.—From Tidha, a village. This section is subdivided into (a)
Ghureparke (of the cow-dung hill); (b) Dwārparke (of the door); and
(c) Jangi (warrior).
Chamania—From Chamyani (village). This is also subdivided into:
(a) Gomarkya
(b) Mathuria (Muttra town).
Chaudhri (caste headman). This is divided as follows:

(a) Majhgawān A village.
(b) Purva thok Eastern group.
(c) Pashchim thok Western group.
(d) Bamurya A village.
Rāwat Title.
Malha Perhaps sailor or wrestler.
Chiloliān Chiloli, a village.
Dhanuiyan Dhanu Kheda, a village.

1 In this article some account of the houses, clothes and food of the Hindus generally of the
northern Districts has been inserted, being mainly reproduced from the District Gazetteers.

2 Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Kurmi.
3 Indian Folk Tales, p. 8.

4 Crotalaria juncea. See article on Lorha for a discussion of the Hindus’ prejudice against this
crop.
5 There are several Chaurāsis, a grant of an estate of this special size being common under native
rule.

6 Boswellia serrata.
7 Eugenia Jambolana.

8 2 lbs.
9 Elliot, Hoshangābād Settlement Report, p. 115.

10 The custom is pointed out by Mr. A. K. Smith, C.S.
11 Central Provinces Census Report (1911), p. 153.

12 C.P. Census Report (1911), p. 153.
13 Or his big toe.

14 C.P. Census Report (1911), p. 158.
15 In Indian Folk Tales.

16 Ficus R.
17 He is also known as Katia or Kattaha Brāhman and as Mahāpātra.

18 Indian Folk Tales, p. 54.

19 Sorghum vulgare, a large millet.

20 Dr. Jevons, Introduction to the History of Religion, p. 365.
21 A measure of 400 lbs.

22 Butea frondosa.
23 A measure containing 9 lb. 2 oz. of rice.

24 Ficus glomerata.
25 From Ganga, or the Ganges, and āla a pot.

26 Cajanus indicus.
27 Phaseolus mungo.

28 Phaseolus radiatus.
29 Bombax malabaricum.

30 Acacia arabica.
31 Cassia tora.

32 Punjab Census Report (1881), p. 340.

Lakhera
List of Paragraphs

1. General notice
2. Social customs
3. The lac industry
4. Lac bangles
5. Red, a lucky colour
6. Vermilion and spangles
7. Red dye on the feet
8. Red threads
9. Lac toys

1. General notice

Lakhera, Laheri.—The small caste whose members make bangles and
other articles of lac. About 3000 persons were shown as belonging to the
caste in the Central Provinces in 1911, being most numerous in the
Jubbulpore, Chhīndwāra and Betūl Districts. From Berār 150 persons were
returned, chiefly from Amraoti. The name is derived from the Sanskrit
laksha-kara, a worker in lac. The caste are a mixed functional group closely
connected with the Kacheras and Patwas; no distinction being recognised
between the Patwas and Lakheras in some localities of the Central
Provinces. Mr. Baillie gives the following notice of them in the Census
Report of the North-Western Provinces (1891): “The accounts given by
members of the caste of their origin are very various and sometimes
ingenious. One story is that like the Patwas, with whom they are connected,
they were originally Kāyasths. According to another account they were made

from the dirt washed from Pārvati before her marriage with Siva, being
created by the god to make bangles for his wife, and hence called Deobansi.
Again, it is stated, they were created by Krishna to make bangles for the
Gopis or milkmaids. The most elaborate account is that they were originally
Yāduvansi Rājpūts, who assisted the Kurus to make a fort of lac, in which
the Pāndavas were to be treacherously burned. For this traitorous conduct
they were degraded and compelled eternally to work in lac or glass.”

2. Social customs

The bulk of these artisan and manufacturing castes tell stories showing that
their ancestors were Kāyasths and Rājpūts, but no importance can be
attached to such legends, which are obviously manufactured by the family
priests to minister to the harmless vanity of their clients. To support their
claim the Lakheras have divided themselves like the Rājpūts into the
Sūrajvansi and Somvansi subcastes or those who belong to the Solar and
Lunar races. Other subdivisions are the Mārwāri or those coming from
Mārwār in Rājpūtana, and the Tarkhera or makers of the large earrings which
low-caste women wear. These consist of a circular piece of wood or fibre,
nearly an inch across, which is worked through a large hole in the lobe of the
ear. It is often the stalk of the ambāri fibre, and on the outer end is fixed a
slab decorated with little pieces of glass. The exogamous sections of the
Lakheras are generally named after animals, plants and natural objects, and
indicate that the caste is recruited from the lower classes of the population.
Their social customs resemble those of the middle and lower Hindustāni
castes. Girls are married at an early age when the parents can afford the
expense of the ceremony, but no penalty is incurred if the wedding is
postponed for want of means. The remarriage of widows and divorce are
permitted. They eat flesh, but not fowls or pork, and some of them drink
liquor, while others abstain. Rājpūts and Banias will take water from them,
but not Brāhmans. In Bombay, however, they are considered to rank above
Kunbis.

3. The lac industry

The traditional occupation of the Lakheras is to make and sell bangles and
other articles of lac. Lac is regarded with a certain degree of superstitious
repugnance by the Hindus because of its red colour, resembling blood. On
this account and also because of the sin committed in killing them, no Hindu
caste will propagate the lac insect, and the calling is practised only by
Gonds, Korkus and other primitive tribes. Even Gonds will often refuse
employment in growing lac if they can make their living by cultivation.
Various superstitions attach to the propagation of the insects to a fresh tree.
This is done in Kunwār (September) and always by men, the insects being
carried in a leaf-cup and placed on a branch of an uninfected tree, usually the
kusum.1 It is said that the work should be done at night and the man should
be naked when he places the insects on the tree. The tree is fenced round and
nobody is allowed to touch it, as it is considered that the crop would thus be
spoiled. If a woman has lost her husband and has to sow lac, she takes her
son in her arms and places the cup containing the insects on his head; on
arriving at the tree she manages to apply the insects by means of a stick, not
touching the cup with her own hands. All this ritual attaches simply to the
infection of the first tree, and afterwards in January or February the insects
are propagated on to other trees without ceremony. The juice of onions is
dropped on to them to make them healthy. The stick-lac is collected by the
Gonds and Korkus and sold to the Lakheras; they clear it of wood as far as
possible and then place the incrusted twigs and bark in long cotton bags and
heat them before a fire, squeezing out the gum, which is spread out on flat
plates so as to congeal into the shape of a pancake. This is again heated and
mixed with white clay and forms the material for the bangles. They are
coloured with chapra, the pure gum prepared like sealing-wax, which is
mixed with vermilion, or arsenic and turmeric for a yellow colour. In some
localities at least only the Lakheras and Patwas and no higher caste will sell
articles made of lac.

Examples of spangles worn by women on the forehead

4. Lac bangles

The trade in lac bangles has now greatly declined, as they have been
supplanted by the more ornamental glass bangles. They are thick and clumsy
and five of them will cover a large part of the space between the elbow and
the wrist. They may be observed on Banjāra women. Lac bangles are also
still used by the Hindus, generally on ceremonial occasions, as at a marriage,
when they are presented to and worn by the bride, and during the month of
Shrāwan (July), when the Hindus observe a fast on behalf of the growing
crops and the women wear bangles of lac. For these customs Mr. Hīra Lāl
suggests the explanation that lac bangles were at one time generally worn by
the Hindus, while glass ones are a comparatively recent fashion introduced
by the Muhammadans. In support of this it may be urged that glass bangles
are largely made by the Muhammadan Turkāri or Sīsgar, and also that lac
bangles must have been worn prior to glass ones, because if the latter had
been known the clumsy and unornamental bracelet made of lac and clay

could never have come into existence. The wearing of lac bangles on the
above occasions would therefore be explained according to the common
usage of adhering on religious and ceremonial occasions to the more ancient
methods and accessories, which are sanctified by association and custom.
Similarly the Holi pyre is often kindled with fire produced by the friction of
wood, and temples are lighted with vegetable instead of mineral oil.

5. Red, a lucky colour

It may be noted, however, that lac bangles are not always worn by the bride
at a wedding, the custom being unknown in some localities. Moreover, it
appears that glass was known to the Hindus at a period prior to the
Muhammadan invasions, though bangles may not have been made from it.
Another reason for the use of lac bangles on the occasions noticed is that lac,
as already seen, represents blood. Though blood itself is now repugnant to
the Hindus, yet red is pre-eminently their lucky colour, being worn at
weddings and generally preferred. It is suggested in the Bombay Gazetteer2
that blood was lucky as having been the first food of primitive man, who
learnt to suck the blood of animals before he ate their flesh. But it does not
seem necessary to go back quite so far as this. The earliest form of sacrifice,
as shown by Professor Robertson Smith,3 was that in which the community
of kinsmen ate together the flesh of their divine or totem animal god and
drank its blood. When the god became separated from the animal and was
represented by a stone at the place of worship and the people had ceased to
eat raw flesh and drink blood, the blood was poured out over the stone as an
offering to the god. This practice still obtains among the lower castes of
Hindus and the primitive tribes, the blood of animals offered to Devi and
other village deities being allowed to drop on to the stones representing
them. But the higher castes of Hindus have abandoned animal sacrifices, and
hence cannot make the blood-offering. In place of it they smear the stone
with vermilion, which seems obviously a substitute for blood, since it is used
to colour the stones representing the deities in exactly the same manner.
Even vermilion, however, is not offered to the highest deities of Neo-

Hinduism, Siva or Mahādeo and Vishnu, to whom animal sacrifices would
be abhorrent. It is offered to Hanumān, whose image is covered with it, and
to Devi and Bhairon and to the many local and village deities. In past times
animal sacrifices were offered to Bhairon, as they still are to Devi, and
though it is not known that they were made to Hanumān, this is highly
probable, as he is the god of strength and a mighty warrior. The Mānbhao
mendicants, who abhor all forms of bloodshed like the Jains, never pass one
of these stones painted with vermilion if they can avoid doing so, and if they
are aware that there is one on their road will make a circuit so as not to see
it.4 There seems, therefore, every reason to suppose that vermilion is a
substitute for blood in offerings and hence probably on other occasions. As
the places of the gods were thus always coloured red with blood, red would
come to be the divine and therefore the propitious colour among the Hindus
and other races.

6. Vermilion and spangles

Among the constituents of the Sohāg or lucky trousseau without which no
Hindu girl of good caste can be married are sendur or vermilion, kunku or
red powder or a spangle (tikli), and mahāwar or red balls of cotton-wool. In
Chhattīsgarh and Bengal the principal marriage rite is usually the smearing
of vermilion by the bridegroom on the parting of the bride’s hair, and
elsewhere this is commonly done as a subsidiary ceremony. Here also there
is little reason to doubt that vermilion is a substitute for blood; indeed, in
some castes in Bengal, as noted by Sir H. Risley, the blood of the parties is
actually mixed.5 This marking of the bride with blood is a result of the
sacrifice and communal feast of kinsmen already described; only those who
could join in the sacrificial meal and eat the flesh of the sacred animal god
were kin to it and to each other; but in quite early times the custom prevailed
of taking wives from outside the clan; and consequently, to admit the wife
into her husband’s kin, it was necessary that she also should drink or be
marked with the blood of the god. The mixing of blood at marriage appears
to be a relic of this, and the marking of the forehead with vermilion is a

substitute for the anointing with blood. Kunku is a pink powder made of
turmeric, lime-juice and borax, which last is called by the Hindus ‘the milk
of Anjini,’ the mother of Hanumān. It seems to be a more agreeable
substitute for vermilion, whose constant use has probably an injurious effect
on the skin and hair. Kunku is used in the Marātha country in the same way
as vermilion, and a married woman will smear a little patch on her forehead
every day and never allow her husband to see her without it. She omits it
only during the monthly period of impurity. The tikli or spangle is worn in
the Hindustāni Districts and not in the south. It consists of a small piece of
lac over which is smeared vermilion, while above it a piece of mica or thin
glass is fixed for ornament. Other adornments may be added, and women
from Rājputāna, such as the Mārwāri Banias and Banjāras, wear large
spangles set in gold with a border of jewels if they can afford it. The spangle
is made and sold by Lakheras and Patwas; it is part of the Sohāg at
marriages and is affixed to the girl’s forehead on her wedding and thereafter
always worn; as a rule, if a woman has a spangle it is said that she does not
smear vermilion on her forehead, though both may occasionally be seen. The
name tikli is simply a corruption of tīka, which means a mark of anointing or
initiation on the forehead; as has been seen, the basis of the tikli is vermilion
smeared on lac-clay, and it is made by Lakheras; and there is thus good
reason to suppose that the spangle is also a more ornamental substitute for
the smear of vermilion, the ancient blood-mark by which a married woman
was admitted into her husband’s clan. At her marriage a bride must always
receive the glass bangles and the vermilion, kunku, or spangle from her
husband, the other ornaments of the Sohāg being usually given to her by her
parents. Unmarried girls now also sometimes wear small ornamental
spangles, and put kunku on their foreheads. But before marriage it is optional
and afterwards compulsory. A widow may not wear vermilion, kunku, or
spangles.

7. Red dye on the feet

The Lakheras also sell balls of red cotton-wool known as māhur ki guleli or
mahāwar. The cotton-wool is dipped in the melted lac-gum and is rubbed on
to the feet of women to colour them red or pink at marriages and festivals.
This is done by the barber’s wife, who will colour the feet of the whole
party, at the same time drawing lines round the outside of the foot and
inward from the toes. The mahāwar is also an essential part of the Sohāg of
marriage. Instead of lac the Muhammadans use mehndi or henna, the henna-
leaves being pounded with catechu and the mixture rubbed on to the feet and
hands. After a little time it is washed off and a red dye remains on the skin. It
is supposed that the similar custom which prevailed among the ancient
Greeks is alluded to in the epithet of ‘rosy-fingered Aurora.’ The Hindus use
henna dye only in the month Shrāwan (July), which is a period of fasting;
the auspicious kunku and mahāwar are therefore perhaps not considered
suitable at such a time, but as special protection is needed against evil spirits,
the necessary red colouring is obtained from henna. When a married woman
rubs henna on her hands, if the dye comes out a deep red tinge, the other
women say that her husband is not in love with her; but if of a pale yellowish
tinge, that he is very much in love.

8. Red threads

The Lakheras and Patwas also make the kardora or waist-band of red thread.
This is worn by Hindu men and women, except Marātha Brāhmans. After he
is married, if a man breaks this thread he must not take food until he has put
on a fresh one, and the same rule applies to a woman all her life. Other
threads are the rākhis tied round the wrists for protection against evil spirits
on the day of Rakshābandhan, and the necklets of silk or cotton thread
wound round with thin silver wire, which the Hindus put on at Anant
Chaudas and frequently retain for the whole year. The colour of all these
threads is generally red in the first place, but they soon get blackened by
contact with the skin.

9. Lac toys

Toys of lac are especially made during the fast of Shrāwan (July). At this
time for five years after her marriage a Hindu bride receives annually from
her husband a present called Shrāoni, or that which is given in Shrāwan. It
consists of a chakri or reel, to which a string is attached, and the reel is
thrown up into the air and wound and unwound on the string; a bhora or
wooden top spun by a string; a bansuli or wooden flute; a stick and ball, lac
bangles and a spangle, and cloth, usually of red chintz. All these toys are
made by the carpenter and coloured red with lac by the Lakhera, with the
exception of the bangles which may be yellow or green. For five years the
bride plays with the toys, and then they are sent to her no longer as her
childhood has passed. It is probable that some, if not all of them, are in a
manner connected with the crops, and supposed to have a magical influence,
because during the same period it is the custom for boys to walk on stilts and
play at swinging themselves; and in these cases the original idea is to make
the crops grow as high as the stilts or swing. As in the other cases, the red
colour appears to have a protective influence against evil spirits, who are
more than usually active at a time of fasting.

1 Schleichera trijuga.

2 Hindus of Gujarat, App., art. Vaghri, footnote.
3 Religion of the Semites.
4 Mackintosh, Report on the Mānbhaos..
5 See articles on Khairwār and Kewat.

Lodhi
List of Paragraphs

1. Origin and traditions
2. Position in the central Provinces
3. Sub-divisions
4. Exogamous groups
5. Marriage customs
6. The gauna ceremoney. Fertility rites
7. Widow-marriage and puberty rite
8. Mourning impurity
9. Social customs
10. Greetings and method of address
11. Sacred thread and social status

1. Origin and traditions

Lodhi, Lodha.—An important agricultural caste residing principally in the
Vindhyan Districts and Nerbudda valley, whence they have spread to the
Wainganga valley and the Khairāgarh State of Chhattīsgarh. Their total
strength in the Province is 300,000 persons. The Lodhis are immigrants from
the United Provinces, in whose Gazetteers it is stated that they belonged
originally to the Ludhiāna District and took their name from it. Their proper
designation is Lodha, but it has become corrupted to Lodhi in the Central
Provinces. A number of persons resident in the Harda tahsīl of Hoshangābād
are called Lodha and say that they are distinct from the Lodhis. There is
nothing to support their statement, however, and it is probable that they
simply represent the separate wave of immigration which took place from

Central India into the Hoshangābād and Betūl Districts in the fifteenth
century. They spoke a different dialect of the group known as Rajasthāni,
and hence perhaps the caste-name did not get corrupted. The Lodhis of the
Jubbulpore Division probably came here at a later date from northern India.
The Mandla Lodhis are said to have been brought to the District by Raja
Hirde Sah of the Gond-Rājpūt dynasty of Garha-Mandla in the seventeenth
century, and they were given large grants of the waste land in the interior in
order that they might clear it of forest.1 The Lodhis are a good instance of a
caste who have obtained a great rise in social status on migrating to a new
area. In northern India Mr. Nesfield places them lowest among the
agricultural castes and states that they are little better than a forest tribe. He
derives the name from lod, a clod, according to which Lodhi would mean
clodhopper.2 Another suggestion is that the name is derived from the bark of
the lodh tree,3 which is collected by the Lodhas in northern India and sold
for use as a dyeing agent. In Bulandshahr they are described as “Of short
stature and uncouth appearance, and from this as well as from their want of a
tradition of immigration from other parts they appear to be a mixed class
proceeding from aboriginal and Aryan parents. In the Districts below Agra
they are considered so low that no one drinks water touched by them; but
this is not the case in the Districts above Agra.”4 In Hamīrpur they appear to
have some connection with the Kurmis, and a story told of them in Saugor is
that the first Lodhi was created by Mahādeo from a scarecrow in a Kurmi
woman’s field and given the vocation of a farmservant But the Lodhis
themselves claim Rājpūt ancestry and say that they are descended from
Lava, the eldest of the two sons of Rāja Rāmchandra of Ajodhya.

2. Position in the central Provinces

In the Central Provinces they have become landholders and are addressed by
the honorific title of Thākur, ranking with the higher cultivating castes.
Several Lodhi landholders in Damoh and Saugor formerly held a quasi-
independent position under the Muhammadans, and subsequently
acknowledged the Raja of Panna as their suzerain, who conferred on some

families the titles of Rāja and Diwān. They kept up a certain amount of state,
and small contingents of soldiery, attended by whom they went to pay their
respects to the representative of the ruling power. “It would be difficult,”
says Grant,5 “to recognise the descendants of the peaceful cultivators of
northern India in the strangely accoutred Rājas who support their style and
title by a score of ragged matchlock-men and a ruined mud fort on a hill-
side.” Sir B. Fuller’s Damoh Settlement Report says of them: “A
considerable number of villages had been for long time past in the
possession of certain important families, who held them by prescription or
by a grant from the ruling power, on a right which approximated as nearly to
the English idea of proprietorship as native custom permitted. The most
prominent of these families were of the Lodhi caste. They have developed
tastes for sport and freebooting and have become decidedly the most
troublesome item in the population. During the Mutiny the Lodhis as a class
were openly disaffected, and one of their proprietors, the Tālukdār of
Hindoria, marched on the District headquarters and looted the treasury.”
Similarly the Ramgarh family of Mandla took to arms and lost the large
estates till then held by them. On the other hand the village of Imjhira in
Narsinghpur belonging to a Lodhi mālguzār was gallantly defended against a
band of marauding rebels from Saugor. Sir R. Craddock describes them as
follows: “They are men of strong character, but their constant family feuds
and love of faction militate against their prosperity. A cluster of Lodhi
villages forms a hotbed of strife and the nearest relations are generally
divided by bitter animosities. The Revenue Officer who visits them is beset
by reckless charges and counter-charges and no communities are less
amenable to conciliatory compromises. Agrarian outrages are only too
common in some of the Lodhi villages.”6 The high status of the Lodhi caste
in the Central Provinces as compared with their position in the country of
their origin may be simply explained by the fact that they here became
landholders and ruling chiefs.

3. Sub-divisions

In the northern Districts the landholding Lodhis are divided into a number of
exogamous clans who marry with each other in imitation of the Rājpūts.
These are the Mahdele, Kerbania, Dongaria, Narwaria, Bhadoria and others.
The name of the Kerbanias is derived from Kerbana, a village in Damoh,
and the Bālākote family of that District are the head of the clan. The
Mahdeles are the highest clan and have the titles of Rāja and Diwān, while
the others hold those of Rao and Kunwar, the terms Diwān and Kunwar
being always applied to the younger brother of the head of the house. These
titles are still occasionally conferred by the Rāja of Panna, whom the Lodhi
clans looked on as their suzerain. The name of the Mahdeles is said to be
derived from the mehndi or henna plant. The above clans sometimes practise
hypergamy among themselves and also with the other Lodhis, taking
daughters from the latter on receipt of a large bridegroom-price for the
honour conferred by the marriage. This custom is now, however, tending to
die out. There are also several endogamous subcastes ranking below the
clans, of whom the principal are the Singrore, Jarha, Jāngra and Mahālodhi.
The Singrore take their name from the old town of Singraur or Shrengera in
northern India, Singrore, like Kanaujia, being a common subcaste name
among several castes. It is also connected more lately with the Singrām Ghat
or ferry of the Ganges in Allahābād District, and the title of Rāwat is said to
have been conferred on the Singrore Lodhis by the emperor Akbar on a visit
there. The Jarha Lodhis belong to Mandla. The name is probably a form of
Jharia or jungly, but since the leading members of the caste have become
large landholders they repudiate this derivation. The Jāngra Lodhis are of
Chhattīsgarh, and the Mahālodhis or ‘Great Lodhis’ are an inferior group to
which the offspring of irregular unions are or were relegated. The
Mahalodhis are said to condone adultery either by a man or woman on
penalty of a feast to the caste. Other groups are the Hardiha, who grow
turmeric (haldi), and the Gwālhare or cowherds. The Lodhas of
Hoshangābād may also be considered a separate subcaste. They disclaim
connection with the Lodhis, but the fact that the parent caste in the United
Provinces is known as Lodha appears to establish their identity. They abstain
from flesh and liquor, which most Lodhis consume.

This division of the superior branch of a caste into large exogamous clans
and the lower one into endogamous subcastes is only found, so far as is

known, among the Rājpūts and one or two landholding castes who have
imitated them. Its origin is discussed in the Introduction.

4. Exogamous groups

The subcastes are as usual divided into exogamous groups of the territorial,
titular and totemistic classes. Among sections named after places may be
mentioned the Chāndpuria from Chāndpur, the Kharpuria from Kharpur, and
the Nāgpuriha, Raipuria, Dhamonia, Damauha and Shāhgariha from Nāgpur,
Raipur, Dhamoni, Damoh and Shāhgarh. Two-thirds of the sections have the
names of towns or villages. Among titular names are Saulākhia, owner of
100 lakhs, Bhainsmār, one who killed a buffalo, Kodonchor, one who stole
kodon,7 Kumharha perhaps from Kumhār a potter, and Rājbhar and Barhai
(carpenter), names of castes. Among totemistic names are Baghela, tiger,
also the name of a Rājpūt sept; Kutria, a dog; Khajūria, the date-palm tree;
Mirchaunia, chillies; Andwār, from the castor-oil plant; Bhainsaiya, a
buffalo; and Nāk, the nose.

5. Marriage customs

A man must not marry in his own section nor in that of his mother. He may
marry two sisters. The exchange of girls between families is only in force
among the Bilāspur Lodhis, who say, ‘Eat with those who have eaten with
you and marry with those who have married with you.’ Girls are usually
wedded before puberty, but in the northern Districts the marriage is
sometimes postponed from desire to marry into a good family or from want
of funds to pay a bridegroom-price, and girls of twenty or more may be
unmarried. A case is known of a man who had two daughters unmarried at
twenty-two and twenty-three years old, because he had been waiting for

good partis, with the result that one of them went and lived with a man and
he then married off the other in the Singhast8 year, which is forbidden
among the Lodhis, and was put out of caste. The marriage and other
ceremonies of the Lodhis resemble those of the Kurmis, except in
Chhattīsgarh where the Marātha fashion is followed. Here, at the wedding,
the bride and bridegroom hold between them a doll made of dough with 21
cowries inside, and as the priest repeats the marriage texts they pull it apart
like a cracker and see how many cowries each has got. It is considered
auspicious if the bridegroom has the larger number. The priest is on the roof
of the house, and before the wedding he cries out:

‘Are the king and queen here?’ And a man below answers, ‘Yes.’

‘Have they shoes on their feet?’ ‘Yes.’

‘Have they bracelets on their hands?’ ‘Yes.’

‘Have they rings in their ears?’ ‘Yes.’

‘Have they crowns on their heads?’ ‘Yes.’

‘Has she glass beads round her neck?’ ‘Yes.’

‘Have they the doll in their hands?’ ‘Yes.’

And the priest then repeats the marriage texts and beats a brass dish while
the doll is pulled apart In the northern Districts after the wedding the
bridegroom must untie one of the festoons of the marriage-shed, and if he
refuses to do this, it is an indelible disgrace on the bride’s party. Before
doing so he requires a valuable present, such as a buffalo.

6. The gauna ceremoney. Fertility rites

When the girl becomes mature the Gauna or going-away ceremony is
performed. In Chhattīsgarh before leaving her home the bride goes out with
her sister and worships a palās tree.9 Her sister waves a lighted lamp seven
times over it, and the bride goes seven times round it in imitation of the
marriage ceremony. At her husband’s house seven pictures of the family
gods are drawn on a wall inside the house and the bride worships these,
placing a little sugar and bread on the mouth of each and bowing before
them. She is then seated before the family god while an old woman brings a
stone rolling-pin10 wrapped up in a piece of cloth, which is supposed to be a
baby, and the old woman imitates a baby crying. She puts the roller in the
bride’s lap saying, ‘Take this and give it milk.’ The bride is abashed and
throws it aside. The old woman picks it up and shows it to the assembled
women saying, ‘The bride has just had a baby,’ amid loud laughter. Then she
gives the stone to the bridegroom who also throws it aside. This ceremony is
meant to induce fertility, and it is supposed that by making believe that the
bride has had a baby she will quickly have one.

7. Widow-marriage and puberty rite

The higher clans of Lodhis in Damoh and Saugor prohibit the remarriage of
widows, but instances of it occur. It is said that a man who marries a widow
is relegated to the Mahālodhi subcaste or the Lahuri Sen, an illegitimate
group, and the Lodhis of his clan no longer acknowledge his family. But if a
girl’s husband dies before she has lived with him she may marry again. The
other Lodhis freely permit widow-marriage and divorce. When a girl first
becomes mature she is secluded, and though she may stay in the house
cannot enter the cook-room. At the end of the period she is dressed in red
cloth, and a present of cocoanuts stripped of their shells, sweetmeats, and a
little money, is placed in her lap, while a few women are invited to a feast.
This rite is also meant to induce fertility, the kernel of the cocoanut being
held to resemble an unborn baby.

8. Mourning impurity

The higher clans consider themselves impure for a period of 12 days after a
birth, and if the birth falls in the Mūl asterism or Nakshatra, for 27 days.
After death they observe mourning for 10 days; on the 10th day they offer
ten pindas or funeral cakes, and on the 11th day make one large pinda or
cake and divide it into eleven parts; on the 12th day they make sixteen
pindas and unite the spirit of the dead man with the ancestors; and on the
13th day they give a feast and feed Brāhmans and are clean. The lower
subcastes only observe impurity for three days after a birth and a death.
Their funeral rites are the same as those of the Kurmis.

9. Social customs

The caste employ Brāhmans for weddings, but not necessarily for birth and
death ceremonies. They eat flesh and fish, and the bulk of the caste eat fowls
and drink liquor, but the landowning section abjures these practices. They
will take food cooked with water from Brāhmans, and that cooked without
water also from Rājpūts, Kāyasths and Sunārs. In Narsinghpur they also
accept cooked food from such a low caste as Rājjahrs,11 probably because
the Rājjhars are commonly employed by them as farmservants, and hence
have been accustomed to carry their master’s food. A similar relation has
been found to exist between the Panwār Rājpūts and their Gond
farmservants. The higher class Lodhis make an inordinate show of
hospitality at their weddings. The plates of the guests are piled up profusely
with food, and these latter think it a point of honour never to refuse it or say
enough. When melted butter is poured out into their cups the stream must
never be broken as it passes from one guest to the other, or it is said that they

will all get up and leave the feast. Apparently a lot of butter must be wasted
on the ground. The higher clans seclude their women, and these when they
go out must wear long clothes covering the head and reaching to the feet.
The women are not allowed to wear ornaments of a cheaper metal than
silver, except of course their glass bangles. The Mahālodhis will eat food
cooked with water in the cook-room and carried to the fields, which the
higher clans will not do. Their women wear the sāri drawn through the legs
and knotted behind according to the Maratha fashion, but whenever they
meet their husband’s elder brother or any other elder of the family they must
undo the knot and let the cloth hang down round their legs as a mark of
respect. They wear no breast-cloth. Girls are tattooed before adolescence
with dots on the chin and forehead, and marks on one hand. Before she is
tattooed the girl is given sweets to eat, and during the process the operator
sings songs in order that her attention may be diverted and she may not feel
the pain. After she has finished the operator mutters a charm to prevent evil
spirits from troubling the girl and causing her pain.

10. Greetings and method of address

The caste have some strict taboos on names and on conversation between the
sexes. A man will only address his wife, sister, daughter, paternal aunt or
niece directly. If he has occasion to speak to some other woman he will take
his daughter or other female relative with him and do his business through
her. He will not speak even to his own women before a crowd. A woman will
similarly only speak to her father, son or nephew, and father-, son- or
younger brother-in-law. She will not speak to her elder brother-in-law, and
she will not address her husband in the presence of his father, elder brother
or any other relative whom he reveres. A wife will never call her husband by
his name, but always address him as father of her son, and, if she has no son,
will sometimes speak to him through his younger brother. Neither the father
nor mother will call their eldest son by his name, but will use some other
name. Similarly a daughter-in-law is given a fresh name on coming into the
house, and on her arrival her mother-in-law looks at her for the first time

through a guna or ring of baked gram-flour. A man meeting his father or
elder brother will touch his feet in silence. One meeting his sister’s husband,
sister’s son or son-in-law, will touch his feet and say, ‘Sāhib, salaam.’

11. Sacred thread and social status

The higher clans invest boys with the sacred thread either when they are
initiated by a Guru or spiritual preceptor, or when they are married. The
thread is made by a Brāhman and has five knots. Recently a large landholder
in Mandla, a Jarha Lodhi, has assumed the sacred thread himself for the first
time and sent round a circular to his caste-men enjoining them also to wear
it. His family priest has produced a legend of the usual type showing how
the Jarha Lodhis are Rājpūts whose ancestors threw away their sacred
threads in order to escape the vengeance of Parasurāma. Generally in social
position the Lodhis may be considered to rank with, but slightly above, the
ordinary cultivating castes, such as the Kurmis. This superiority in no way
arises from their origin, since, as already seen, they are a very low caste in
their home in northern India, but from the fact that they have become large
landholders in the Central Provinces and in former times their leaders
exercised quasi-sovereign powers. Many Lodhis are fine-looking men and
have still some appearance of having been soldiers. They are passionate and
quarrelsome, especially in the Jubbulpore District. This is put forcibly in the
saying that ‘A Lodhi’s temper is as crooked as the stream of a bullock’s
urine.’ They are generally cultivators, but the bulk of them are not very
prosperous as they are inclined to extravagance and display at weddings and
on other ceremonial occasions.

1 Colonel Ward’s Mandia Settlement Report p. 29.

2 Brief View of the Caste System, p. 14.
3 Symplocos racemosa.

4 Rāja Lachman Singh’s Bulandshahr Memo, p. 182, quoted in Mr. Crooke’s Tribes and Castes,
art. Lodha.

5 Narsinghpur Settlement Report (1866), p. 28.

6 Nagpur Settlement Report, p. 24.
7 A small millet.

8 Every twelfth year when the planet Jupiter is in conjunction with the constellation Sinh (Leo).
9 Butea Frondosa.

10 This is known as lodha.
11 The Rājjhars are a low caste of farmservants and labourers, probably an offshoot of the Bhar
tribe.

Lohar

1. Legends of the caste

Lohar, Khati, Ghantra, Ghisāri, Panchāl.—The occupational caste of
blacksmiths. The name is derived from the Sanskrit Lauha-kara>, a worker
in iron. In the Central Provinces the Loharhas in the past frequently
combined the occupations of carpenter and blacksmith, and in such a
capacity he is known as Khāti. The honorific designations applied to the
caste are Karīgar, which means skilful, and Mistri, a corruption of the
English ‘Master’ or ‘Mister.’ In 1911 the Lohārs numbered about 180,000
persons in the Central Provinces and Berār. The Lohār is indispensable to the
village economy, and the caste is found over the whole rural area of the
Province.

“Practically all the Lohārs,” Mr. Crooke writes1, “trace their origin to
Visvakarma, who is the later representative of the Vedic Twashtri, the
architect and handicraftsman of the gods, ‘The fashioner of all ornaments,
the most eminent of artisans, who formed the celestial chariots of the deities,
on whose craft men subsist, and whom, a great and immortal god, they
continually worship,’ One2 tradition tells that Visvakarma was a Brāhman
and married the daughter of an Ahīr, who in her previous birth had been a
dancing-girl of the gods. By her he had nine sons, who became the ancestors
of various artisan castes, such as the Lohār, Barhai, Sunār, and Kasera.”

The Lohārs of the Uriya country in the Central Provinces tell a similar story,
according to which Kamar, the celestial architect, had twelve sons. The
eldest son was accustomed to propitiate the family god with wine, and one
day he drank some of the wine, thinking that it could not be sinful to do so as

it was offered to the deity. But for this act his other brothers refused to live
with him and left their home, adopting various professions; but the eldest
brother became a worker in iron and laid a curse upon the others that they
should not be able to practise their calling except with the implements which
he had made. The second brother thus became a woodcutter (Barhai), the
third a painter (Mahārana), the fourth learnt the science of vaccination and
medicine and became a vaccinator (Suthiār), the fifth a goldsmith, the sixth a
brass-smith, the seventh a coppersmith, and the eighth a carpenter, while the
ninth brother was weak in the head and married his eldest sister, on account
of which fact his descendants are known as Ghantra.3 The Ghantras are an
inferior class of blacksmiths, probably an offshoot from some of the forest
tribes, who are looked down on by the others. It is said that even to the
present day the Ghantra Lohārs have no objection to eating the leavings of
food of their wives, whom they regard as their eldest sisters.

2. Social position of the Lohar

The above story is noticeable as indicating that the social position of the
Lohār is somewhat below that of the other artisan castes, or at least of those
who work in metals. This fact has been recorded in other localities, and has
been explained by some stigma arising from his occupation, as in the
following passage: “His social position is low even for a menial, and he is
classed as an impure caste, in so far that Jāts and others of similar standing
will have no social communion with him, though not as an outcast like the
scavenger. His impurity, like that of the barber, washerman and dyer, springs
solely from the nature of his employment; perhaps because it is a dirty one,
but more probably because black is a colour of evil omen. It is not
improbable that the necessity under which he labours of using bellows made
of cowhide may have something to do with his impurity,”4

Mr. Nesfield also says: “It is owing to the ubiquitous industry of the Lohār
that the stone knives, arrow-heads and hatchets of the indigenous tribes of
Upper India have been so entirely superseded by iron-ores. The memory of

the stone age has not survived even in tradition. In consequence of the evil
associations which Hinduism has attached to the colour of black, the caste of
Lohār has not been able to raise itself to the same social level as the three
metallurgic castes which follow.” The following saying also indicates that
the Lohār is of evil omen:

Ar, Dhār, Chuchkār
In tinon se bachāwe Kartār.

Here Ar means an iron goad and signifies the Lohār; Dhār represents the
sound of the oil falling from the press and means a Teli or oilman; Chuchkār
is an imitation of the sound of clothes being beaten against a stone and
denotes the Dhobi or washerman; and the phrase thus runs, ‘My Friend,
beware of the Lohār, Teli, and Dhobi, for they are of evil omen.’ It is not
quite clear why this disrepute should attach to the Lohār, because iron itself
is lucky, though its colour, black, may be of bad omen. But the low status of
the Lohār may partly arise from the fact of his being a village menial and a
servant of the cultivators; whereas the trades of the goldsmith, brass-smith
and carpenter are of later origin than the blacksmith’s, and are urban rather
than rural industries; and thus these artisans do not commonly occupy the
position of village menials. Another important consideration is that the iron
industry is associated with the primitive tribes, who furnished the whole
supply of the metal prior to its importation from Europe: and it is hence
probable that the Lohār caste was originally constituted from these and
would thus naturally be looked down upon by the Hindus. In Bengal, where
few or no traces of the village community remain, the Lohār ranks as the
equal of Koiris and Kurmis, and Brāhmans will take water from his hands;5
and this somewhat favours the argument that his lower status elsewhere is
not due to incidents of his occupation.

3. Caste subdivisions

The constitution of the Lohār caste is of a heterogeneous nature. In some
localities Gonds who work as blacksmiths are considered to belong to the
caste and are known as Gondi Lohārs. But Hindus who work in Gond
villages also sometimes bear this designation. Another subdivision returned
consists of the Agarias, also an offshoot of the Gonds, who collect and smelt
iron-ore in the Vindhyan and Satpūra hills. The Panchāls are a class of
itinerant smiths in Berār. The Ghantras or inferior blacksmiths of the Uriya
country have already been noticed. The Ghisāris are a similar low class of
smiths in the southern Districts who do rough work only, but sometimes
claim Rājpūt origin. Other subcastes are of the usual local or territorial type,
as Mahūlia, from Māhul in Berār; Jhāde or Jhādia, those living in the
jungles; Ojha, or those professing a Brāhmanical origin; Marātha, Kanaujia,
Mathuria, and so on.

4. Marriage and other customs

Infant-marriage is the custom of the caste, and the ceremony is that prevalent
among the agricultural castes of the locality. The remarriage of widows is
permitted, and they have the privilege of selecting their own husbands, or at
least of refusing to accept any proposed suitor. A widow is always married
from her father’s house, and never from that of her deceased husband. The
first husband’s property is taken by his relatives, if there be any, and they
also assume the custody of his children as soon as they are old enough to
dispense with a mother’s care. The dead are both buried and burnt, and in the
eastern Districts some water and a tooth-stick are daily placed at a cross-road
for the use of the departed spirit during the customary period of mourning,
which extends to ten days. On the eleventh day the relatives go and bathe,
and the chief mourner puts on a new loin-cloth. Some rice is taken and seven
persons pass it from hand to hand. They then pound the rice, and making
from it a figure to represent a human being, they place some grain in its
mouth and say to it, ‘Go and become incarnate in some human being,’ and
throw the image into the water. After this the impurity caused by the death is
removed, and they go home and feast with their friends. In the evening they

make cakes of rice, and place them seven times on the shoulder of each
person who has carried the corpse to the cemetery or pyre, to remove the
impurity contracted from touching it. It is also said that if this be not done
the shoulder will feel the weight of the coffin for a period of six months. The
caste endeavour to ascertain whether the spirit of the dead person returns to
join in the funeral feast, and in what shape it will be born again. For this
purpose rice-flour is spread on the floor of the cooking-room and covered
with a brass plate. The women retire and sit in an adjoining room while the
chief mourner with a few companions goes outside the village, and sprinkles
some more rice-flour on the ground. They call to the deceased person by
name, saying, ‘Come, come,’ and then wait patiently till some worm or
insect crawls on to the floor. Some dough is then applied to this and it is
carried home and let loose in the house. The flour under the brass plate is
examined, and it is said that they usually see the footprints of a person or
animal, indicating the corporeal entity in which the deceased soul has found
a resting-place. During the period of mourning members of the bereaved
family do not follow their ordinary business, nor eat flesh, sweets or other
delicate food. They may not make offerings to their deities nor touch any
persons outside the family, nor wear head-cloths or shoes. In the eastern
Districts the principal deities of the Lohārs are Dūlha Deo and Somlai or
Devi, the former being represented by a knife set in the ground inside the
house, and the latter by the painting of a woman on the wall. Both deities are
kept in the cooking-room, and here the head of the family offers to them rice
soaked in milk, with sandal-paste, flowers, vermilion and lamp-black. He
burns some melted butter in an earthen lamp and places incense upon it. If a
man has been affected by the evil eye an exorcist will place some salt on his
hand and burn it, muttering spells, and the evil influence is removed. They
believe that a spell can be cast on a man by giving him to eat the bones of an
owl, when he will become an idiot.

5. Occupation

In the rural area of the Province the Lohār is still a village menial, making
and mending the iron implements of agriculture, such as the ploughshare,
axe, sickle, goad and other articles. For doing this he is paid in Saugor a
yearly contribution of twenty pounds of grain per plough of land6 held by
each cultivator, together with a handful of grain at sowing-time and a sheaf
at harvest from both the autumn and spring crops. In Wardha he gets fifty
pounds of grain per plough of four bullocks or forty acres. For making new
implements the Lohār is sometimes paid separately and is always supplied
with the iron and charcoal. The hand-smelting iron industry has practically
died out in the Province and the imported metal is used for nearly all
purposes. The village Lohārs are usually very poor, their income seldom
exceeding that of an unskilled labourer. In the towns, owing to the rapid
extension of milling and factory industries, blacksmiths readily find
employment and some of them earn very high wages. In the manufacture of
cutlery, nails and other articles the capital is often found by a Bhātia or
Bohra merchant, who acts as the capitalist and employs the Lohārs as his
workmen. The women help their husbands by blowing the bellows and
dragging the hot iron from the furnace, while the men wield the hammer.
The Panchāls of Berār are described as a wandering caste of smiths, living in
grass mat-huts and using as fuel the roots of thorn bushes, which they batter
out of the ground with the back of a short-handled axe peculiar to
themselves. They move from place to place with buffaloes, donkeys and
ponies to carry their kit.7 Another class of wandering smiths, the Ghisāris,
are described by Mr. Crooke as follows: “Occasional camps of these most
interesting people are to be met with in the Districts of the Meerut Division.
They wander about with small carts and pack-animals, and, being more
expert than the ordinary village Lohār, their services are in demand for the
making of tools for carpenters, weavers and other craftsmen. They are
known in the Punjab as Gādiya or those who have carts (gādi, gāri). Sir D.
Ibbetson8 says that they come up from Rājputāna and the North-Western
Provinces, but their real country is the Deccan. In the Punjab they travel
about with their families and implements in carts from village to village,
doing the finer kinds of iron-work, which are beyond the capacity of the
village artisan. In the Deccan9 this class of wandering blacksmiths are called
Saiqalgar, or knife-grinders, or Ghisāra, or grinders (Hindi, ghisāna ‘to
rub’). They wander about grinding knives and tools.”

1 Tribes and Castes of the N.W.P. and Oudh, art. Lohār.

2 Dowson, Classical Dictionary, s.v.
3 In Uriya the term, Ghantrabela means a person who has illicit intercourse with another. The
Ghantra Lohārs are thus probably of bastard origin, like the groups known as half-castes and
others which are frequently found.

4 Punjab Census Report (1881), para. 624. (Ibbetson.)
5 Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Lohār
6 About 15 acres.
7 Berār Census Report, 1881 (Kitts).

8 Punjāb Ethnography, para. 624.
9 Bombay Gazetteer, xvi. 82.

Lorha
Lorha.1—A small caste of cultivators in the Hoshangābād and Nimār
Districts, whose distinctive occupation is to grow san-hemp (Crotalaria
juncea) and to make sacking and gunny-bags from the fibre. A very strong
prejudice against this crop exists among the Hindus, and those who grow it
are usually cut off from their parent caste and become a separate community.
Thus we have the castes known as Kumrāwat, Patbīna and Dāngur in
different parts of the Province, who are probably offshoots from the Kurmis
and Kunbis, but now rank below them because they grow this crop; and in
the Kurmi caste itself a subcaste of Santora (hemp-picking) Kurmis has
grown up. In Bilāspur the Pathāria Kurmis will grow san-hemp and ret it,
but will not spin or weave the fibre; while the Athāria Kurmis will not grow
the crop, but will spin the fibre and make sacking. The Saugor Kewats grow
this fibre, and here Brāhmans and other high castes will not take water from
Kewats, though in the eastern Districts they will do so. The Narsinghpur
Mallāhs, a branch of the Kewats, have also adopted the cultivation of san-
hemp as a regular profession. The basis of the prejudice against the san-
hemp plant is not altogether clear. The Lorhas themselves say that they are
looked down upon because they use wheat-starch (lapsi) for smoothing the
fibre, and that their name is somehow derived from this fact. But the
explanation does not seem satisfactory. Many of the country people appear
to think that there is something uncanny about the plant because it grows so
quickly, and they say that on one occasion a cultivator went out to sow hemp
in the morning, and his wife was very late in bringing his dinner to the field.
He grew hungry and angry, and at last the shoots of the hemp-seeds which
he had sown in the morning began to appear above the ground. At this he
was so enraged that when his wife finally came he said she had kept him
waiting so long that the crop had come up in the meantime, and murdered
her. Since then the Hindus have been forbidden to grow san-hemp lest they
should lose their tempers in the same manner. This story makes a somewhat
excessive demand on the hearer’s credulity. One probable cause of the taboo
seems to be that the process of soaking and retting the stalks of the plant

pollutes the water, and if carried on in a tank or in the pools of a stream
might destroy the village supply of drinking-water. In former times it may
have been thought that the desecration of their sacred element was an insult
to the deities of rivers and streams, which would bring down retribution on
the offender. It is also the case that the proper separation of the fibres
requires a considerable degree of dexterity which can only be acquired by
practice. Owing to the recent increase in the price of the fibre and the large
profits which can now be obtained from hemp cultivation, the prejudice
against it is gradually breaking down, and the Gonds, Korkus and lower
Hindu castes have waived their religious scruples and are glad to turn an
honest penny by sowing hemp either on their own account or for hire. Other
partially tabooed crops are turmeric and āl or Indian madder (Morinda
citrifolia), while onions and garlic are generally eschewed by Hindu
cultivators. For growing turmeric and āl special subcastes have been formed,
as the Alia Kunbis and the Hardia Mālis and Kāchhis (from haldi, turmeric),
just as in the case of san-hemp. The objection to these two crops is believed
to lie in the fact that the roots which yield the commercial product have to be
boiled, and by this process a number of insects contained in them are
destroyed. But the preparation of the hemp-fibre does not seem to involve
any such sacrifice of insect life. The Lorhas appear to be a mixed group,
with a certain amount of Rājpūt blood in them, perhaps an offshoot of the
Kirārs, with whose social customs their own are said to be identical.
According to another account, they are a lower or illegitimate branch of the
Lodha caste of cultivators, of whose name their own is said to be a
corruption. The Nimār Gūjars have a subcaste named Lorha, and the Lorhas
of Hoshangābād may be connected with these. They live in the Seoni and
Harda tahsīls of Hoshangābād, the san-hemp crop being a favourite one in
villages adjoining the forests, because it is not subject to the depredations of
wild animals. Cultivators are often glad to sublet their fields for the purpose
of having a crop of hemp grown upon them, because the stalks are left for
manure and fertilise the ground. String and sacking are also made from the
hemp-fibre by vagrant and criminal castes like the Banjāras and Bhāmtas,
who formerly required the bags for carrying their goods and possessions
about with them.

1 This article is partly based on papers by Mr. P.B. Telang, Munsiff Seoni-Mālwa, and Mr. Wāman
Rao Mandloi, nāib-tahsīldār, Harda.

Mahār
List of Paragraphs

1. General Notice.
2. Length of residence in the Central Provinces
3. Legend of origin
4. Sub-castes
5. Exogamous groups and marriage customs
6. Funeral rites
7. Childbirth
8. Names
9. Religion
10. Adoption of foreign religions
11. Superstitions
12. Social rules
13. Social subjection
14. Their position improving
15. Occupation

1. General Notice.

Mahār, Mehra, Dhed.—The impure caste of menials, labourers and village
watchmen of the Marātha country, corresponding to the Chamārs and Koris
of northern India. They numbered nearly 1,200,000 persons in the combined
Province in 1911, and are most numerous in the Nāgpur, Bhandāra, Chānda
and Wardha Districts of the Central Provinces, while considerable colonies
are also found in Bālāghāt, Chhindwāra and Betūl. Their distribution thus
follows largely that of the Marāthi language and the castes speaking it. Berār

contained 400,000, distributed over the four Districts. In the whole Province
this caste is third in point of numerical strength. In India the Mahārs number
about three million persons, of whom a half belong to Bombay. I am not
aware of any accepted derivation for the word Mahār, but the balance of
opinion seems to be that the native name of Bombay, Mahārāshtra, is derived
from that of the caste, as suggested by Wilson. Another derivation which
holds it to be a corruption of Maha Rāstrakūta, and to be so called after the
Rāshtrakūta Rājpūt dynasty of the eighth and ninth centuries, seems less
probable because countries are very seldom named after ruling dynasties.1
Whereas in support of Mahārāshtra as ‘The country of the Mahārs,’ we have
Gujarāshtra or Gujarāt, ‘the country of the Gūjars,’ and Saurāshtra or Surat,
‘the country of the Sauras.’ According to Platts’ Dictionary, however,
Mahārāshtra means ‘the great country,’ and this is what the Marātha
Brāhmans themselves say. Mehra appears to be a variant of the name current
in the Hindustāni Districts, while Dheda, or Dhada, is said to be a corruption
of Dharadas or billmen.2 In the Punjab it is said to be a general term of
contempt meaning ‘Any low fellow.’3

Wilson considers the Mahārs to be an aboriginal or pre-Aryan tribe, and all
that is known of the caste seems to point to the correctness of this
hypothesis. In the Bombay Gazetteer the writer of the interesting Gujarāt
volume suggests that the Mahārs are fallen Rājpūts; but there seems little to
support this opinion except their appearance and countenance, which is of
the Hindu rather than the Dravidian type. In Gujarāt they have also some
Rājpūt surnames, as Chauhān, Panwār, Rāthor, Solanki and so on, but these
may have been adopted by imitation or may indicate a mixture of Rājpūt
blood. Again, the Mahārs of Gujarāt are the farmservants and serfs of the
Kunbis. “Each family is closely connected with the house of some
landholder or pattidār (sharer). For his master he brings in loads from the
fields and cleans out the stable, receiving in return daily allowances of
buttermilk and the carcases of any cattle that die. This connection seems to
show traces of a form of slavery. Rich pattidārs have always a certain
number of Dheda families whom they speak of as ours (hamāra) and when a
man dies he distributes along with his lands a certain number of Dheda
families to each of his sons. An old tradition among Dhedas points to some
relation between the Kunbis and Dhedas. Two brothers, Leva and Deva,

were the ancestors, the former of the Kunbis, the latter of the Dhedas.” 4
Such a relation as this in Hindu society would imply that many Mahār
women held the position of concubines to their Kunbi masters, and would
therefore account for the resemblance of the Mahār to Hindus rather than the
forest tribes. But if this is to be regarded as evidence of Rājpūt descent, a
similar claim would have to be allowed to many of the Chamārs and
sweepers. Others of the lowest castes also have Rājpūt sept names, as the
Pārdhis and Bhīls; but the fact can at most be taken, I venture to think, to
indicate a connection of the ‘Droit de Seigneur’ type. On the other hand, the
Mahārs occupy the debased and impure position which was the lot of those
non-Aryan tribes who became subject to the Hindus and lived in their
villages; they eat the flesh of dead cattle and this and other customs appear
to point decisively to a non-Aryan origin.

2. Length of residence in the Central Provinces

Several circumstances indicate that the Mahār is recognised as the oldest
resident of the plain country of Berār and Nāgpur. In Berār he is a village
servant and is the referee on village boundaries and customs, a position
implying that his knowledge of them is the most ancient. At the Holi festival
the fire of the Mahārs is kindled first and that of the Kunbis is set alight from
it. The Kāmdār Mahār, who acts as village watchman, also has the right of
bringing the toran or rope of leaves which is placed on the marriage-shed of
the Kunbis; and for this he receives a present of three annas. In Bhandrā the
Telis, Lohārs, Dhimārs and several other castes employ a Mahār Mohturia or
wise man to fix the date of their weddings. And most curious of all, when the
Panwār Rājpūts of this tract celebrate the festival of Nārāyan Deo, they call a
Mahār to their house and make him the first partaker of the feast before
beginning to eat themselves. Again in Berār5 the Mahār officiates at the
killing of the buffalo on Dasahra. On the day before the festival the chief
Mahār of the village and his wife with their garments knotted together bring
some earth from the jungle and fashioning two images set one on a clay
elephant and the other on a clay bullock. The images are placed on a small

platform outside the village site and worshipped; a young he-buffalo is
bathed and brought before the images as though for the same object. The
Patel wounds the buffalo in the nose with a sword and it is then marched
through the village. In the evening it is killed by the head Mahār, buried in
the customary spot, and any evil that might happen during the coming year is
thus deprecated and, it is hoped, averted. The claim to take the leading part
in this ceremony is the occasion of many a quarrel and an occasional affray
or riot Such customs tend to show that the Mahārs were the earliest
immigrants from Bombay into the Berār and Nāgpur plain, excluding of
course the Gonds and other tribes, who have practically been ousted from
this tract. And if it is supposed that the Panwārs came here in the tenth
century, as seems not improbable,6 the Mahārs, whom the Panwārs recognise
as older residents than themselves, must have been earlier still, and were
probably numbered among the subjects of the old Hindu kingdoms of
Bhāndak and Nagardhan.

3. Legend of origin

The Mahārs say they are descended from Mahāmuni, who was a foundling
picked up by the goddess Pārvati on the banks of the Ganges. At this time
beef had not become a forbidden food; and when the divine cow, Tripād
Gayatri, died, the gods determined to cook and eat her body and Mahāmuni
was set to watch the pot boiling. He was as inattentive as King Alfred, and a
piece of flesh fell out of the pot. Not wishing to return the dirty piece to the
pot Mahāmuni ate it; but the gods discovered the delinquency, and doomed
him and his descendants to live on the flesh of dead cows.7

4. Sub-castes

The caste have a number of subdivisions, generally of a local or territorial
type, as Daharia, the residents of Dāhar or the Jubbulpore country, Baonia
(52) of Berār, Nemādya or from Nimar, Khāndeshi from Khāndesh, and so
on; the Katia group are probably derived from that caste, Katīa meaning a
spinner; the Bārkias are another group whose name is supposed to mean
spinners of fine thread; while the Lonārias are salt-makers. The highest
division are the Somvansis or children of the moon; these claim to have
taken part with the Pāndavas against the Kauravas in the war of the
Mahābhārata, and subsequently to have settled in Mahārāshtra.8 But the
Somvansi Mahārs consent to groom horses, which the Baone and Kosaria
subcastes will not do. Baone and Somvansi Mahārs will take food together,
but will not intermarry. The Ladwān subcaste are supposed to be the
offspring of kept women of the Somvansi Mahārs; and in Wardha the
Dhārmik group are also the descendants of illicit unions and their name is
satirical, meaning ‘virtuous.’ As has been seen, the caste have a subdivision
named Katia, which is the name of a separate Hindustāni caste; and other
subcastes have names belonging to northern India, as the Mahobia, from
Mahoba in the United Provinces, the Kosaria or those from Chhattīsgarh,
and the Kanaujia from Kanauj. This may perhaps be taken to indicate that
bodies of the Kori and Katia weaving castes of northern India have been
amalgamated with the Mahārs in Districts where they have come together
along the Satpūra Hills and Nerbudda Valley.

5. Exogamous groups and marriage customs

The caste have also a large number of exogamous groups, the names of
which are usually derived from plants, animals, and natural objects. A few
may be given as examples out of fifty-seven recorded in the Central
Provinces, though this is far from representing the real total; all the common
animals have septs named after them, as the tiger, cobra, tortoise, peacock,
jackal, lizard, elephant, lark, scorpion, calf, and so on; while more curious
names are—Darpan, a mirror; Khānda Phari, sword and shield; Undrimāria,
a rat-killer; Aglāvi, an incendiary; Andhāre, a blind man; Kutramāria, a dog-

killer; Kodu Dūdh, sour milk; Khobragāde, cocoanut-kernel; Bhājikhai, a
vegetable eater, and so on.

A man must not marry in his own sept, but may take a wife from his
mother’s or grandmother’s. A sister’s son may marry a brother’s daughter,
but not vice versa. A girl who is seduced before marriage by a man of her
own caste or any higher one can be married as if she were a widow, but if
she has a child she must first get some other family to take it off her hands.
The custom of Lamjhana or serving for a wife is recognised, and the
expectant bridegroom will live with his father-in-law and work for him for a
period varying from one to five years. The marriage ceremony follows the
customary Hindustāni or Marātha ritual9 as the case may be. In Wardha the
right foot of the bridegroom and the left one of the bride are placed together
in a new basket, while they stand one on each side of the threshold. They
throw five handfuls of coloured rice over each other, and each time, as he
throws, the bridegroom presses his toe on the bride’s foot; at the end he
catches the girl by the finger and the marriage is complete. In the Central
Provinces the Mohtūria or caste priest officiates at weddings, but in Berār,
Mr. Kitts states10 the caste employ the Brāhman Joshi or village priest. But
as he will not come to their house they hold the wedding on the day that one
takes place among the higher castes, and when the priest gives the signal the
dividing cloth (Antarpat) between the couple is withdrawn, and the garments
of the bride and bridegroom are knotted, while the bystanders clap their
hands and pelt the couple with coloured grain. As the priest frequently takes
up his position on the roof of the house for a wedding it is easy for the
Mahārs to see him. In Mandla some of the lower class of Brāhmans will
officiate at the weddings of Mahārs. In Chhindwāra the Mahārs seat the
bride and bridegroom in the frame of a loom for the ceremony, and they
worship the hide of a cow or bullock filled with water. They drink together
ceremoniously, a pot of liquor being placed on a folded cloth and all the
guests sitting round it in a circle. An elder man then lays a new piece of cloth
on the pot and worships it. He takes a cup of the liquor himself and hands
round a cupful to every person present.

In Mandla at a wedding the barber comes and cuts the bride’s nails, and the
cuttings are rolled up in dough and placed in a little earthen pot beside the

marriage-post. The bridegroom’s nails and hair are similarly cut in his own
house and placed in another vessel. A month or two after the wedding the
two little pots are taken out and thrown into the Nerbudda. A wedding costs
the bridegroom’s party about Rs. 40 or Rs. 50 and the bride’s about Rs. 25.
They have no going-away ceremony, but the occasion of a girl’s coming to
maturity is known as Bolāwan. She is kept apart for six days and given new
clothes, and the caste-people are invited to a meal. When a woman’s
husband dies the barber breaks her bangles, and her anklets are taken off and
given to him as his perquisite. Her brother-in-law or other relative gives her
a new white cloth, and she wears this at first, and afterwards white or
coloured clothes at her pleasure. Her hair is not cut, and she may wear
patelas or flat metal bangles on the forearm and armlets above the elbow, but
not other ornaments. A widow is under no obligation to marry her first
husband’s younger brother; when she marries a stranger he usually pays a
sum of about Rs. 30 to her parents. When the price has been paid the couple
exchange a ring and a bangle respectively in token of the agreement. When
the woman is proceeding to her second husband’s house, her old clothes,
necklace and bangles are thrown into a river or stream and she is given new
ones to wear. This is done to lay the first husband’s spirit, which may be
supposed to hang about the clothes she wore as his wife, and when they are
thrown away or buried the exorcist mutters spells over them in order to lay
the spirit. No music is allowed at the marriage of a widow except the
crooked trumpet called singāra. A bachelor who marries a widow must first
go through a mock ceremony with a cotton-plant, a sword or a ring. Divorce
must be effected before the caste panchāyat or committee, and if a divorced
woman marries again, her first husband performs funeral and mourning
ceremonies as if she were dead. In Gujarāt the practice is much more lax and
“divorce can be obtained almost to an indefinite extent. Before they finally
settle down to wedded life most couples have more than once changed their
partners.”11 But here also, before the change takes place, there must be a
formal divorce recognised by the caste.

6. Funeral rites

The caste either burn or bury the dead and observe mourning for three
days,12 having their houses whitewashed and their faces shaved. On the tenth
day they give a feast to the caste-fellows. On the Akshaya Tritia 13 and the
30th day of Kunwār (September) they offer rice and cakes to the crows in
the names of their ancestors. In Berār Mr. Kitts writes:14 “If a Mahār’s child
has died, he will on the third day place bread on the grave; if an infant, milk;
if an adult, on the tenth day, with five pice in one hand and five betel-leaves
in the other, he goes into the river, dips himself five times and throws these
things away; he then places five lighted lamps on the tomb, and after these
simple ceremonies gets himself shaved as though he were an orthodox
Hindu.”

7. Childbirth

In Mandla the mother is secluded at childbirth in a separate house if one is
available, and if not they fence in a part of the veranda for her use with
bamboo screens. After the birth the mother must remain impure until the
barber comes and colours her toe-nails and draws a line round her feet with
red mahur powder. This is indispensable, and if the barber is not
immediately available she must wait until his services can be obtained.
When the navel-string drops it is buried in the place on which the mother sat
while giving birth, and when this has been done the purification may be
effected. The Dhobi is then called to wash the clothes of the household, and
their earthen pots are thrown away. The head of the newborn child is shaved
clean, as the birth-hair is considered to be impure, and the hair is wrapped up
in dough and thrown into a river.

8. Names

A child is named on the seventh or twelfth day after its birth, the name being
chosen by the Mohtūria or caste headman. The ordinary Hindu names of
deities for men and sacred rivers or pious and faithful wives for women are
employed; instances of the latter being Ganga, Godāvari, Jamuna, Sīta,
Laxmi and Rādha. Opprobrious names are sometimes given to avert ill-luck,
as Damdya (purchased for eight cowries), Kauria (a cowrie), Bhikāria (a
beggar), Ghusia (from ghus, a mallet for stamping earth), Harchatt (refuse),
Akāli (born in famine-time), Langra (lame), Lula (having an arm useless); or
the name of another low caste is given, as Bhangi (sweeper), Domari (Dom
sweeper), Chamra (tanner), Basori (basket-maker). Not infrequently children
are named after the month or day when they were born, as Pusau, born in
Pus (December), Chaitu, born in Chait (March), Manglu (born on Tuesday),
Buddhi (born on Wednesday), Sukka (born on Friday), Sanīchra (born on
Saturday). One boy was called Mulua or ‘Sold’ (mol-dena). His mother had
no other children, so sold him for one pice (farthing) to a Gond woman.
After five or six months, as he did not get fat, his name was changed to
Jhuma or ‘lean,’ probably as an additional means of averting ill-luck.
Another boy was named Ghurka, from the noise he made when being
suckled. A child born in the absence of its father is called Sonwa, or one
born in an empty house.

9. Religion

The great body of the caste worship the ordinary deities Devi, Hanumān,
Dūlha Deo, and others, though of course they are not allowed to enter Hindu
temples. They principally observe the Holi and Dasahra festivals and the
days of the new and full moon. On the festival of Nāg-Panchmi they make
an image of a snake with flour and sugar and eat it. At the sacred Ambāla
tank at Rāmtek the Mahārs have a special bathing-ghāt set apart for them,
and they may enter the citadel and go as far as the lowest step leading up to
the temples; here they worship the god and think that he accepts their
offerings. They are thus permitted to traverse the outer enclosures of the
citadel, which are also sacred. In Wardha the Mahārs may not touch the

shrines of Mahādeo, but must stand before them with their hands joined.
They may sometimes deposit offerings with their own hands on those of
Bhīmsen, originally a Gond god, and Māta Devi, the goddess of smallpox.

10. Adoption of foreign religions

In Berār and Bombay the Mahārs have some curious forms of belief. “Of the
confusion which obtains in the Mahār theogony the names of six of their
gods will afford a striking example. While some Mahārs worship Vithoba,
the god of Pandharpur, others revere Varuna’s twin sons, Meghoni and
Deghoni, and his four messengers, Gabriel, Azrael, Michael and Anādin, all
of whom they say hail from Pandharpur.”15 The names of archangels thus
mixed up with Hindu deities may most probably have been obtained from
the Muhammadans, as they include Azrael; but in Gujarāt their religion
appears to have been borrowed from Christianity. “The Karia Dhedas have
some rather remarkable beliefs. In the Satya Yug the Dhedas say they were
called Satyas; in the Dvāpar Yug they were called Meghas; in the Treta Yug,
Elias; and in the Kāli Yug, Dhedas. The name Elias came, they say, from a
prophet Elia, and of him their religious men have vague stories; some of
them especially about a famine that lasted for three years and a half, easily
fitting into the accounts of Elijah in the Jewish Scriptures. They have also
prophecies of a high future in store for their tribe. The king or leader of the
new era, Kuyām Rai by name, will marry a Dheda woman and will raise the
caste to the position of Brāhmans. They hold religious meetings or
ochhavas, and at these with great excitement sing songs full of hope of the
good things in store for them. When a man wishes to hold an ochhava he
invites the whole caste, and beginning about eight in the evening they often
spend the night in singing. Except perhaps for a few sweetmeats there is no
eating or drinking, and the excitement is altogether religious and musical.
The singers are chiefly religious Dhedas or Bhagats, and the people join in a
refrain ‘Avore Kuyām Rai Rāja’, ‘Oh! come Kuyām Rai, our king.’”16 It
seems that the attraction which outside faiths exercise on the Mahārs is the
hope held out of ameliorating the social degradation under which they

labour, itself an outcome of the Hindu theory of caste. Hence they turn to
Islām, or to what is possibly a degraded version of the Christian story,
because these religions do not recognise caste, and hold out a promise to the
Mahār of equality with his co-religionists, and in the case of Christianity of a
recompense in the world to come for the sufferings which he has to endure
in this one. Similarly, the Mahārs are the warmest adherents of the
Muhammadan saint Sheikh Farīd, and flock to the fairs held in his honour at
Girar in Wardha and Partāpgarh in Bhandāra, where he is supposed to have
slain a couple of giants.17 In Berār18 also they revere Muhammadan tombs.
The remains of the Muhammadan fort and tank on Pimpardol hill in Jalgaon
tāluk are now one of the sacred places of the Mahārs, though to the
Muhammadans they have no religious associations. Even at present Mahārs
are inclined to adopt Islām, and a case was recently reported when a body of
twenty of them set out to do so, but turned back on being told that they
would not be admitted to the mosque.19 A large proportion of the Mahārs are
also adherents of the Kabīrpanthi sect, one of the main tenets of whose
founder was the abolition of caste. And it is from the same point of view that
Christianity appeals to them, enabling European missionaries to draw a large
number of converts from this caste. But even the Hindu attitude towards the
Mahārs is not one of unmixed intolerance. Once in three or four years in the
southern Districts, the Panwārs, Mahārs, Pankas and other castes celebrate
the worship of Nārāyan Deo or Vishnu, the officiating priest being a Mahār.
Members of all castes come to the Panwār’s house at night for the ceremony,
and a vessel of water is placed at the door in which they wash their feet and
hands as they enter; and when inside they are all considered to be equal, and
they sit in a line and eat the same food, and bind wreaths of flowers round
their heads. After the cock crows the equality of status is ended, and no one
who goes out of the house can enter again. At present also many educated
Brāhmans recognise fully the social evils resulting from the degraded
position of the Mahārs, and are doing their best to remove the caste
prejudices against them.

11. Superstitions

They have various spells to cure a man possessed of an evil spirit, or stung
by a snake or scorpion, or likely to be in danger from tigers or wild bears;
and in the Morsi tāluk of Berār it is stated that they so greatly fear the effect
of an enemy writing their name on a piece of paper and tying it to a
sweeper’s broom that the threat to do this can be used with great effect by
their creditors.20 To drive out the evil eye they make a small human image of
powdered turmeric and throw it into boiled water, mentioning as they do so
the names of any persons whom they suspect of having cast the evil eye
upon them. Then the pot of water is taken out at midnight of a Wednesday or
a Sunday and placed upside down on some cross-roads with a shoe over it,
and the sufferer should be cured. Their belief about the sun and moon is that
an old woman had two sons who were invited by the gods to dinner. Before
they left she said to them that as they were going out there would be no one
to cook, so they must remember to bring back something for her. The elder
brother forgot what his mother had said and took nothing away with him; but
the younger remembered her and brought back something from the feast. So
when they came back the old woman cursed the elder brother and said that
as he had forgotten her he should be the sun and scorch and dry up all
vegetation with his beams; but the younger brother should be the moon and
make the world cool and pleasant at night. The story is so puerile that it is
only worth reproduction as a specimen of the level of a Mahār’s intelligence.
The belief in evil spirits appears to be on the decline, as a result of education
and accumulated experience. Mr. C. Brown states that in Malkāpur of Berār
the Mahārs say that there are no wandering spirits in the hills by night of
such a nature that people need fear them. There are only tiny pari or fairies,
small creatures in human form, but with the power of changing their
appearance, who do no harm to any one.

12. Social rules

When an outsider is to be received into the community all the hair on his
face is shaved, being wetted with the urine of a boy belonging to the group
to which he seeks admission. Mahārs will eat all kinds of food including the

flesh of crocodiles and rats, but some of them abstain from beef. There is
nothing peculiar in their dress except that the men wear a black woollen
thread round their necks.21 The women may be recognised by their bold
carriage, the absence of nose-rings and the large irregular dabs of vermilion
on the forehead. Mahār women do not, as a rule, wear the choli or breast-
cloth. An unmarried girl does not put on vermilion nor draw her cloth over
her head. Women must be tattooed with dots on the face, representations of
scorpions, flowers and snakes on the arms and legs, and some dots to
represent flies on the hands. It is the custom for a girl’s father or mother or
father-in-law to have her tattooed in one place on the hand or arm
immediately on her marriage. Then when girls are sitting together they will
show this mark and say, ‘My mother or father-in-law had this done,’ as the
case may be. Afterwards if a woman so desires she gets herself tattooed on
her other limbs. If an unmarried girl or widow becomes with child by a man
of the Mahār caste or any higher one she is subjected after delivery to a
semblance of the purification by fire known as Agnikāsht. She is taken to the
bank of a river and there five stalks of juāri are placed round her and burnt.
Having fasted all day, at night she gives a feast to the caste-men and eats
with them. If she offends with a man of lower caste she is finally expelled.
Temporary exclusion from caste is imposed for taking food or drink from the
hands of a Māng or Chamār or for being imprisoned in jail, or on a Mahār
man if he lives with a woman of any higher caste; the penalty being the
shaving of a man’s face or cutting off a lock of a woman’s hair, together with
a feast to the caste. In the last case it is said that the man is not readmitted
until he has put the woman away. If a man touches a dead dog, cat, pony or
donkey, he has to be shaved and give a feast to the caste. And if a dog or cat
dies in his house, or a litter of puppies or kittens is born, the house is
considered to be defiled; all the earthen pots must be thrown away, the whole
house washed and cleaned and a caste feast given. The most solemn oath of
a Mahār is by a cat or dog and in Yeotmāl by a black dog.22 In Berār, the
same paper states, the pig is the only animal regarded as unclean, and they
must on no account touch it. This is probably owing to Muhammadan
influence. The worst social sin which a Mahār can commit is to get vermin
in a wound, which is known as Deogan or being smitten by God. While the
affliction continues he is quite ostracised, no one going to his house or
giving him food or water; and when it is cured the Mahārs of ten or twelve

surrounding villages assemble and he must give a feast to the whole
community. The reason for this calamity being looked upon with such
peculiar abhorrence is obscure, but the feeling about it is general among
Hindus.

Weaving: sizing the warp

13. Social subjection

The social position of the Mahārs is one of distressing degradation. Their
touch is considered to defile and they live in a quarter by themselves outside
the village. They usually have a separate well assigned to them from which
to draw water, and if the village has only one well the Mahārs and Hindus
take water from different sides of it. Mahār boys were not until recently
allowed to attend school with Hindu boys, and when they could not be
refused admission to Government schools, they were allotted a small corner
of the veranda and separately taught. When Dher boys were first received
into the Chānda High School a mutiny took place and the school was
boycotted for some time. The people say, ‘Mahār sarva jātīcha bāhar’ or
‘The Mahār is outside all castes.’ Having a bad name, they are also given
unwarrantably a bad character; and ‘Mahār jātīchā’ is a phrase used for a
man with no moral or kindly feelings. But in theory at least, as conforming
to Hinduism, they were supposed to be better than Muhammadans and other
unbelievers, as shown by the following story from the Rāsmāla:23 A
Muhammadan sovereign asked his Hindu minister which was the lowest
caste. The minister begged for leisure to consider his reply and, having
obtained it, went to where the Dhedas lived and said to them: “You have
given offence to the Pādishāh. It is his intention to deprive you of caste and
make you Muhammadans.” The Dhedas, in the greatest terror, pushed off in
a body to the sovereign’s palace, and standing at a respectful distance
shouted at the top of their lungs: “If we’ve offended your majesty, punish us
in some other way than that. Beat us, fine us, hang us if you like, but don’t
make us Muhammadans.” The Pādishāh smiled, and turning to his minister
who sat by him affecting to hear nothing, said, ‘So the lowest caste is that to
which I belong.’ But of course this cannot be said to represent the general
view of the position of Muhammadans in Hindu eyes; they, like the English,
are regarded as distinguished foreigners, who, if they consented to be
proselytised, would probably in time become Brāhmans or at least Rājpūts.
A repartee of a Mahār to a Brāhman abusing him is: The Brāhman, ‘Jāre

Mahārya’ or ‘Avaunt, ye Mahār’; the Mahār, ‘Kona dīushi neīn tumchi
goburya’ or ‘Some day I shall carry cowdung cakes for you (at his funeral)’;
as in the Marātha Districts the Mahār is commonly engaged for carrying fuel
to the funeral pyre. Under native rule the Mahār was subjected to painful
degradations. He might not spit on the ground lest a Hindu should be
polluted by touching it with his foot, but had to hang an earthen pot round
his neck to hold his spittle.24 He was made to drag a thorny branch with him
to brush out his footsteps, and when a Brahman came by had to lie at a
distance on his face lest his shadow might fall on the Brāhman. In Gujarāt25
they were not allowed to tuck up the loin-cloth but had to trail it along the
ground. Even quite recently in Bombay a Mahār was not allowed to talk
loudly in the street while a well-to-do Brāhman or his wife was dining in one
of the houses. In the reign of Sidhrāj, the great Solanki Rāja of Gujarāt, the
Dheras were for a time at any rate freed from such disabilities by the
sacrifice of one of their number.26 The great tank at Anhilvāda Pātan in
Gujarāt had been built by the Ods (navvies), but Sidhrāj desired Jusma Odni,
one of their wives, and sought to possess her. But the Ods fled with her and
when he pursued her she plunged a dagger into her stomach, cursing Sidhrāj
and saying that his tank should never hold water. The Rāja, returning to
Anhilvada, found the tank dry, and asked his minister what should be done
that water might remain in the tank. The Pardhān, after consulting the
astrologers, said that if a man’s life were sacrificed the curse might be
removed. At that time the Dhers or outcastes were compelled to live at a
distance from the towns; they wore untwisted cotton round their heads and a
stag’s horn as a mark hanging from their waists so that people might be able
to avoid touching them. The Rāja commanded that a Dher named Māyo
should be beheaded in the tank that water might remain. Māyo died, singing
the praises of Vishnu, and the water after that began to remain in the tank. At
the time of his death Māyo had begged as a reward for his sacrifice that the
Dhers should not in future be compelled to live at a distance from the towns
nor wear a distinctive dress. The Rāja assented and these privileges were
afterwards permitted to the Dhers for the sake of Māyo.

Winding thread

14. Their position improving

From the painful state of degradation described above the Mahārs are
gradually being rescued by the levelling and liberalising tendency of British
rule, which must be to these depressed classes an untold blessing. With the
right of acquiring property they have begun to assert themselves, and the
extension of railways more especially has a great effect in abolishing caste
distinctions. The Brāhman who cannot afford a second-class fare must either
not travel or take the risk of rubbing shoulders with a Mahār in a third-class
carriage, and if he chooses to consider himself defiled will have to go hungry
and thirsty until he gets the opportunity of bathing at his journey’s end. The
observance of the rules of impurity thus becomes so irksome that they are
gradually falling into abeyance.

15. Occupation

The principal occupations of the Mahārs are the weaving of coarse country
cloth and general labour. They formerly spun their own yarn, and their
fabrics were preferred by the cultivators for their durability. But practically
all thread is now bought from the mills; and the weaving industry is also in a
depressed condition. Many Mahārs have now taken to working in the mills,
and earn better wages than they could at home. In Bombay a number of them
are employed as police-constables.27 They are usually the village watchmen
of the Marātha Districts, and in this capacity were remunerated by
contributions of grain from the tenants, the hides and flesh of animals dying
in the village, and plots of rent-free land. For these have now been
substituted in the Central Provinces a cash payment fixed by Government. In
Berār the corresponding official is known as the Kāmdār Mahār. Mr. Kitts
writes of him:28 As fourth balutedār on the village establishment the Mahār
holds a post of great importance to himself and convenience to the village.
To the patel (headman), patwāri and big men of the village, he acts often as a
personal servant and errand-runner; for a smaller cultivator he will also at
times carry a torch or act as escort. He had formerly to clean the horses of
travellers, and was also obliged, if required, to carry their baggage.29 For the
services which he thus renders as pāndhewār the Mahār receives from the
cultivators certain grain-dues. When the cut juāri is lying in the field the
Mahārs go round and beg for a measure of the ears (bhīk payāli). But the
regular payment is made when the grain has been threshed. Another duty
performed by the Mahār is the removal of the carcases of dead animals. The
flesh is eaten and the skin retained as wage for the work. The patel and his
relatives, however, usually claim to have the skins of their own animals
returned; and in some places where half the agriculturists of the village claim
kinship with the patel, the Mahārs feel and resent the loss. A third duty is the
opening of grain-pits, the noxious gas from which sometimes produces
asphyxia. For this the Mahārs receive the tainted grain. They also get the
clothes from a corpse which is laid on the pyre, and the pieces of the burnt

wood which remain when the body has been consumed. Recent observations
in the Nāgpur country show that the position of the Mahārs is improving. In
Nāgpur it is stated:30 “Looked down upon as outcastes by the Hindus they
are hampered by no sense of dignity or family prejudice. They are fond of
drink, but are also hard workers. They turn their hands to anything and
everything, but the great majority are agricultural labourers. At present the
rural Mahār is in the background. If there is only one well in the village he
may not use it, but has to get his water where he can. His sons are consigned
to a corner in the village school, and the schoolmaster, if not superior to
caste prejudices, discourages their attendance. Nevertheless, Mahārs will not
remain for years downtrodden in this fashion, and are already pushing
themselves up from this state of degradation. In some places they have
combined to dig wells, and in Nāgpur have opened a school for members of
their own community. Occasionally a Mahār is the most prosperous man in
the village. Several of them are moneylenders in a small way, and a few are
mālguzārs.” Similarly in Bhandāra Mr. Napier writes that a new class of
small creditors has arisen from the Mahār caste. These people have given up
drinking, and lead an abstemious life, wishing to raise themselves in social
estimation. Twenty or more village kotwārs were found to be carrying on
moneylending transactions on a small scale, and in addition many of the
Mahārs in towns were exceedingly well off.

1 This derivation is also negatived by the fact that the name Mahāratta was known in the third
century B.C., or long before the Rāstrakūtas became prominent.
2 Bombay Gazetteer; Gujarāt Hindus, p. 338.

3 Ibbetson, Punjab Census Report (1881).
4 Bombay Gazetteer, l.c. text and footnote by R. v. J. S. Taylor.

5 Kitts’ Berār Census Report (1881), p. 143.
6 See article on Panwār Rājpūt.

7 Berār Census Report (1881), p. 144.
8 Kitts’ Berār Census Report p. 144.

9 Described in the articles on Kurmi and Kunbi.
10 Loc. cit.

11 Bombay Gazetteer, Gujarāt Hindus, loc. cit.

12 In Berār for ten days—Kitts’ Berār Census Report, l.c.
13 3rd Baisākh (April) Sudi, commencement of agricultural year.

14 Berār Census Report, l.c.
15 Berār Census Report, l.c.

16 Bombay Gazetteer, Gujarat Hindus.
17 It was formerly suggested that the fact of the Mahars being the chief worshippers at the shrines of
Sheikh Farīd indicated that the places themselves had been previously held sacred, and had been
annexed by the Muhammadan priests; and the legend of the giant, who might represent the
demonolatry of the aboriginal faith, being slain by the saint might be a parable, so to say, expressing
this process. But in view of the way in which the Mehtars worship Musalmān saints, it seems quite
likely that the Mahārs might do so for the same reason, that is, because Islām partly frees them from
the utter degradation imposed by Hinduism. Both views may have some truth. As regards the legends
themselves, it is highly improbable that Sheikh Farid, a well-known saint of northern India, can ever
have been within several hundred miles of either of the places with which they connect him.

18 From Mr. C. Brown’s notes.
19 C.P. Police Gazette.

20 Kitts, l.c.
21 Ibidem.

22 Stated by Mr. C. Brown.
23 Vol. ii. p. 237.

24 Bombay Gazetteer, vol. xii. p. 175.
25 Rev. A. Taylor in Bombay Gazetteer, Gujarāt Hindus, p. 341 f.

26 The following passage is taken from Forbes, Rāsmāla, i. p. 112.
27 Bombay Gazetteer, vol. xi p. 73.

28 Bombay Gazetteer, vol. xi. p. 73.
29 Grant Duff; History of the Marāthas, vol. i. p. 24.

30 Nāgpur Settlement Report (1899), p. 29.

Mahli

1. Origin of the caste

Mahli, Mahili.1—A small caste of labourers, palanquin-bearers and workers
in bamboo belonging to Chota Nāgpur. In 1911 about 300 Mahlis were
returned from the Feudatory States in this tract. They are divided into five
subcastes: the Bānsphor-Mahli, who make baskets and do all kinds of
bamboo-work; the Pāhar-Mahli, basket-makers and cultivators; the
Sulunkhi, cultivators and labourers; the Tānti who carry litters; and the
Mahli-Munda, who belong to Lohardaga. Sir H. Risley states that a
comparison of the totemistic sections of the Mahlis given in the Appendix to
his Tribes and Castes with those of the Santāls seems to warrant the
conjecture that the main body of the caste are merely a branch of the Santāls.
Four or five septs, Hansda a wild goose, Hemron, Murmu the nilgai, Saren
or Sarihin, and perhaps Tudu or Turu are common to the two tribes. The
Mahlis are also closely connected with the Mundas. Seven septs of the main
body of the Mahlis, Dumriār the wild fig, Gundli a kind of grain, Kerketa a
bird, Mahukal a bird (long-tail), Tirki, Tunduār and Turu are also Munda
septs; and the three septs given of the Mahli-Munda subcaste, Bhuktuār,
Lāng Chenre, and Sānga are all found among the Mundas; while four septs,
Hansda a wild goose, Induār a kind of eel, as well as Kerketa and Tirki,
already mentioned, are common to the Mahlis and Turis who are also
recognised by Sir H. Risley as an offshoot of the Munda tribe with the same
occupation as the Mahlis, of making baskets.2 The Santāls and Mundas were
no doubt originally one tribe, and it seems that the Mahlis are derived from
both of them, and have become a separate caste owing to their having settled
in villages more or less of the open country, and worked as labourers,
palanquin-bearers and bamboo-workers much in the same manner as the

Turis. Probably they work for hire for Hindus, and hence their status may
have fallen lower than that of the parent tribe, who remained in their own
villages in the jungles. Colonel Dalton notes3 that the gipsy Berias use
Mānjhi and Mahali as titles, and it is possible that some of the Mahlis may
have joined the Beria community.

2. Social customs

Only a very few points from Sir H. Risley’s account of the caste need be
recorded here, and for further details the reader may be referred to his article
in the Tribes and Castes of Bengal. A bride-price of Rs. 5 is customary, but it
varies according to the means of the parties. On the wedding day, before the
usual procession starts to escort the bridegroom to the bride’s house, he is
formally married to a mango tree, while the bride goes through the same
ceremony with a mahua. At the entrance to the bride’s house the bridegroom,
riding on the shoulders of some male relation and bearing on his head a
vessel of water, is received by the bride’s brother, equipped in similar
fashion, and the two cavaliers sprinkle one another with water. At the
wedding the bridegroom touches the bride’s forehead five times with
vermilion and presents her with an iron armlet. The remarriage of widows
and divorce are permitted. When a man divorces his wife he gives her a
rupee and takes away the iron armlet which was given her at her wedding.
The Mahlis will admit members of any higher caste into the community. The
candidate for admission must pay a small sum to the caste headman, and
give a feast to the Mahlis of the neighbourhood, at which he must eat a little
of the leavings of food left by each guest on his leaf-plate. After this
humiliating rite he could not, of course, be taken back into his own caste,
and is bound to remain a Mahli.

1 This article consists of extracts from Sir H. Risley’s account of the caste in the Tribes and Castes
of Bengal.

2 See lists of exogamous septs of Mahli, Sandāl, Munda and Puri in Appendix to Tribes and Castes
cf Bengal.

3 Ethnology of Bengal, p. 326.

Majhwār
List of Paragraphs

1. Origin of the tribe
2. The Mīrzāpur Majhwārs derived from the Gonds
3. Connection with the Kawars
4. Exogamy and totemism
5. Marriage customs.
6. Birth and funeral rites
7. Religious dance

1. Origin of the tribe

Majhwār, Mānjhi, Mājhia.1—A small mixed tribe who have apparently
originated from the Gonds, Mundas and Kawars. About 14,000 Majhwārs
were returned in 1911 from the Raigarh, Sargūja and Udaipur States. The
word Mānjhi means the headman of a tribal subdivision, being derived from
the Sanskrit madhya, or he who is in the centre.2 In Bengal Mānjhi has the
meaning of the steersman of a boat or a ferryman, and this may have been its
original application, as the steersman might well be he who sat in the
centre.3 When a tribal party makes an expedition by boat, the leader would
naturally occupy the position of steersman, and hence it is easy to see how
the term Mānjhi came to be applied to the leader or head of the clan and to
be retained as a title for general use. Sir H. Risley gives it as a title of the
Kewats or fishermen and many other castes and tribes in Bengal. But it is
also the name for a village headman among the Santāls, and whether this
meaning is derived from the prior signification of steersman or is of
independent origin is, uncertain. In Raigarh Mr. Hīra Lāl states that the

Mānjhis or Mājhias are fishermen and are sometimes classed, with the
Kewats. They appear to be Kols who have taken to fishing and, being looked
down on by the other Kols on this account, took the name of Mājhia or
Mānjhi, which they now derive from Machh, a fish. “The appearance of the
Mājhias whom I saw and examined was typically aboriginal and their
language was a curious mixture of Mundāri, Santāl and Korwa, though they
stoutly repudiated connection with any of these tribes. They could count
only up to three in their own language, using the Santāl words mit, baria,
pia. Most of their terms for parts of the body were derived from Mundāri,
but they also used some Santāli and Korwa words. In their own language
they called themselves Hor, which means a man, and is the tribal name of
the Mundas.”

2. The Mīrzāpur Majhwārs derived from the Gonds

On the other hand the Majhwārs of Mīrzāpur, of whom Mr. Crooke gives a
detailed and interesting account, clearly appear to be derived from the
Gonds. They have five subdivisions, which they say are descended from the
five sons of their first Gond ancestor. These are Poiya, Tekām, Marai, Chika
and Oiku. Four of these names are those of Gond clans, and each of the five
subtribes is further divided into a number of exogamous septs, of which a
large proportion bear typical Gond names, as Markām, Netām, Tekām,
Mashām, Sindrām and so on. The Majhwārs of Mīrzāpur also, like the
Gonds, employ Pathāris or Pardhāns as their priests, and there can thus be no
doubt that they are mainly derived from the Gonds. They would appear to
have come to Mīrzāpur from Sargūja and the Vindhyan and Satpūra hills, as
they say that their ancestors ruled from the forts of Mandla, Garha in
Jubbulpore, Sārangarh, Raigarh and other places in the Central Provinces.4
They worship a deified Ahīr, whose legs were cut off in a fight with some
Rāja, since when he has become a troublesome ghost. “He now lives on the
Ahlor hill in Sargūja, where his petrified body may still be seen, and the
Mānjhis go there to worship him. His wife lives on the Jhoba hill in Sargūja.
Nobody but a Baiga dares to ascend the hill, and even the Rāja of Sargūja

when he visits the neighbourhood sacrifices a black goat. Mānjhis believe
that if these two deities are duly propitiated they can give anything they
need.” The story makes it probable that the ancestors of these Mānjhis dwelt
in Sargūja. The Mānjhis of Mīrzāpur are not boatmen or fishermen and have
no traditions of having ever been so. They are a backward tribe and practise
shifting cultivation on burnt-out patches of forest. It is possible that they
may have abandoned their former aquatic profession on leaving the
neighbourhood of the rivers, or they may have simply adopted the name,
especially since it has the meaning of a village headman and is used as a title
by the Santāls and other castes and tribes. Similarly the term Munda, which
at first meant the headman of a Kol village, is now the common name for the
Kol tribe in Chota Nāgpur.

3. Connection with the Kawars

Again the Mānjhis appear to be connected with the Kawar tribe. Mr. Hīra
Lāl states that in Raigarh they will take food with Kewats, Gonds, Kawars
and Rāwats or Ahīrs, but they will not eat rice and pulse, the most important
and sacred food, with any outsiders except Kawars; and this they explain by
the statement that their ancestors and those of the Kawars were connected. In
Mirzāpur the Kaurai Ahirs will take food and water from the Majhwārs, and
these Ahīrs are not improbably derived from the Kawars.5 Here the
Majhwārs also hold an oath taken when touching a broadsword as most
binding, and the Kawars of the Central Provinces worship a sword as one of
their principal deities.6 Not improbably the Mānjhis may include some
Kewats, as this caste also use Mānjhi for a title; and Mānjhi is both a
subcaste and title of the Khairwārs. The general conclusion from the above
evidence appears to be that the caste is a very heterogeneous group whose
most important constituents come from the Gond, Munda, Santāl and Kawar
tribes. Whether the original bond of connection among the various people
who call themselves Mānjhi was the common occupation of boating and
fishing is a doubtful point.

4. Exogamy and totemism

The Mānjhis of Sargūja, like those of Raigarh, appear to be of Munda and
Santāl rather than of Gond origin. They have no subdivisions, but a number
of totemistic septs. Those of the Bhainsa or buffalo sept are split into the
Lotan and Singhan subsepts, lotan meaning a place where buffaloes wallow
and singh a horn. The Lotan Bhainsa sept say that their ancestor was born in
a place where a buffalo had wallowed, and the Singhan Bhainsa that their
ancestor was born while his mother was holding the horn of a buffalo. These
septs consider the buffalo sacred and will not yoke it to a plough or cart,
though they will drink its milk. They think that if one of them killed a
buffalo their clan would become extinct. The Bāghani Majhwārs, named
after the bāgh or tiger, think that a tiger will not attack any member of their
sept unless he has committed an offence entailing temporary
excommunication from caste. Until this offence has been expiated his
relationship with the tiger as head of his sept is in abeyance and the tiger will
eat him as he would any other stranger. If a tiger meets a member of the sept
who is free from sin, he will run away. When the Bāghani sept hear that any
Majhwār has killed a tiger they purify their houses by washing them with
cowdung and water. Members of the Khoba or peg sept will not make a peg
or drive one into the ground. Those of the Dūmar7 or fig-tree sept say that
their first ancestor was born under this tree. They consider the tree to be
sacred and never eat its fruit, and worship it once a year. Members of the
sept named after the shiroti tree worship the tree every Sunday.

5. Marriage customs.

Marriage within the sept is prohibited and for three generations between
persons related through females. Marriage is adult, but matches are arranged
by the parents of the parties. At betrothal the elders of the caste must be
regaled with cheora or parched rice and liquor. A bride-price of Rs. 10 is
paid, but a suitor who cannot afford this may do service to his father-in-law
for one or two years in lieu of it. At the wedding the bridegroom puts a
copper ring on the bride’s finger and marks her forehead with vermilion. The
couple walk seven times round the sacred post, and seven little heaps of rice
and pieces of turmeric are arranged so that they may touch one of them with
their big toes at each round. The bride’s mother and seven other women
place some rice in the skirts of their cloths and the bridegroom throws this
over his shoulder. After this he picks up the rice and distributes it to all the
women present, and the bride goes through the same ceremony. The rice is
no doubt an emblem of fertility, and its presentation to the women may
perhaps be expected to render them fertile.

6. Birth and funeral rites

On the birth of a child the navel-string is buried in front of the house. When
a man is at the point of death they place a little cooked rice and curds in his
mouth so that he may not go hungry to the other world, in view of the fact
that he has probably eaten very little during his illness. Some cotton and rice
are also placed near the head of the corpse in the grave so that he may have
food and clothing in the next world. Mourning is observed for five days, and
at the end of this period the mourners should have their hair cut, but if they
cannot get it done on this day, the rite may be performed on the same day in
the following year.

7. Religious dance

The tribe worship Dūlha Deo, the bridegroom god, and also make offerings
to their ploughs at the time of eating the new rice and at the Holi and
Dasahra festivals. They dance the karma dance in the months of Asārh and
Kunwār or at the beginning and end of the rains. When the time has come
the Gaontia headman or the Baiga priest fetches a branch of the karma tree
from the forest and sets it up in his yard as a notice and invitation to the
village. After sunset all the people, men, women and children, assemble and
dance round the tree, to the accompaniment of a drum known as Māndar.
The dancing continues all night, and in the morning the host plucks up the
branch of the karma tree and consigns it to a stream, at the same time
regaling the dancers with rice, pulse and a goat. This dance is a religious rite
in honour of Karam Rāja, and is believed to keep sickness from the village
and bring it prosperity. The tribe eat flesh, but abstain from beef and pork.
Girls are tattooed on arrival at puberty with representations of the tulsi or
basil, four arrow-heads in the form of a cross, and the foot-ornament known
as pairi.

1 This article is based on papers by Mr. Hīra Lāl and Suraj Baksh Singh, Assistant Superintendent,
Udaipur State, with references to Mr. Crooke’s exhaustive article on the Majhwārs in his Tribes
and Castes.

2 Crooke, art Majhwār, para. 1.
3 Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Mānjhi.

4 Crooke, Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Mānjhi, para. 4.
5 Crooke, Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Mānjhi, para. 63.

6 Ibidem, para. 54.
7 Ficus glomerata.

Māl
Māl, Māle, Māler, Māl Pahāria.1—A tribe of the Rājmahal hills, who may
be an isolated branch of the Savars. In 1911 about 1700 Māls were returned
from the Chota Nāgpur Feudatory States recently transferred to the Central
Provinces. The customs of the Māls resemble those of the other hill tribes of
Chota Nāgpur. Sir H. Risley states that the average stature is low, the
complexion dark and the figure short and sturdy. The following particulars
are reproduced from Colonel Dalton’s account of the tribe:

“The hill lads and lasses are represented as forming very romantic
attachments, exhibiting the spectacle of real lovers ‘sighing like furnaces,’
and the cockney expression of ‘keeping company’ is peculiarly applicable to
their courtship. If separated only for an hour they are miserable, but there are
apparently few obstacles to the enjoyment of each other’s society, as they
work together, go to market together, eat together, and sleep together! But if
it be found that they have overstepped the prescribed limits of billing and
cooing, the elders declare them to be out of the pale, and the blood of
animals must be shed at their expense to wash away the indiscretion and
obtain their readmission into society.

“On the day fixed for a marriage the bridegroom with his relations proceeds
to the bride’s father’s house, where they are seated on cots and mats, and
after a repast the bride’s father takes his daughter’s hand and places it in that
of the bridegroom, and exhorts him to be loving and kind to the girl that he
thus makes over to him. The groom then with the little finger of his right
hand marks the girl on the forehead with vermilion, and then, linking the
same finger with the little finger of her right hand, he leads her away to his
own house.

“The god of hunting is called Autga, and at the close of every successful
expedition a thank-offering is made to him. This is the favourite pastime,
and one of the chief occupations of the Mālers, and they have their game

laws, which are strictly enforced. If a man, losing an animal which he has
killed or wounded, seeks for assistance to find it, those who aid are entitled
to one-half of the animal when found. Another person accidentally coming
on dead or wounded game and appropriating it, is subjected to a severe fine.
The Mānjhi or headman of the village is entitled to a share of all game killed
by any of his people. Any one who kills a hunting dog is fined twelve
rupees. Certain parts of an animal are tabooed to females as food, and if they
infringe this law Autga is offended and game becomes scarce. When the
hunters are unsuccessful it is often assumed that this is the cause, and the
augur never fails to point out the transgressing female, who must provide a
propitiatory offering. The Mālers use poisoned arrows, and when they kill
game the flesh round the wound is cut off and thrown away as unfit for food.
Cats are under the protection of the game laws, and a person found guilty of
killing one is made to give a small quantity of salt to every child in the
village.

“I nowhere find any description of the dances and songs of the Pahārias. Mr.
Atkinson found the Mālers extremely reticent on the subject, and with
difficulty elicited that they had a dancing-place in every village, but it is only
when under the influence of God Bacchus that they indulge in the
amusement. All accounts agree in ascribing to the Pahārias an immoderate
devotion to strong drink, and Buchanan tells us that when they are dancing a
person goes round with a pitcher of the home-brew and, without
disarranging the performers, who are probably linked together by circling or
entwining arms, pours into the mouth of each, male and female, a refreshing
and invigorating draught. The beverage is the universal pachwai, that is,
fermented grain. The grain, either maize, rice or janera (Holcus sorghum), is
boiled and spread out on a mat to cool. It is then mixed with a ferment of
vegetables called takar, and kept in a large earthen vessel for some days;
warm water may at any time be mixed with it, and in a few hours it ferments
and is ready for use.”

When the attention of English officers was first drawn to them in 1770 the
Māles of the Rājmahal hills were a tribe of predatory freebooters, raiding
and terrorising the plain country from the foot of the hills to the Ganges. It
was Mr. Augustus Cleveland, Collector of Bhāgalpur, who reduced them to

order by entering into engagements with the chiefs for the prevention and
punishment of offences among their own tribesmen, confirming them in
their estates and jurisdiction, and enrolling a corps of Māles, which became
the Bhāgalpur Hill Rangers, and was not disbanded till the Mutiny. Mr.
Cleveland died at the age of 29, having successfully demonstrated the
correct method of dealing with the wild forest tribes, and the Governor-
General in Council erected a tomb and inscription to his memory, which was
the original of that described by Mr. Kipling in The Tomb of his Ancestors,
though the character of the first John Chinn in the story was copied from
Outram.2

1 Based entirely on Colonel Dalton’s account in the Ethnology of Bengal, and Sir H. Risley’s in the
Tribes and Castes of Bengal.
2 See The Khāndesh Bhīl Corps, by Mr. A. H. A. Simcox, p. 62.

Mala
Mala.—A low Telugu caste of labourers and cotton-weavers. They
numbered nearly 14,000 persons in the Central Provinces in 1911, belonging
mainly to the Chānda, Nāgpur, Jubbulpore, and Yeotmāl Districts, and the
Bastar State. The Marāthas commonly call them Telugu Dhers, but they
themselves prefer to be known as ‘Telangi Sadar Bhoi,’ which sounds a more
respectable designation. They are also known as Mannepuwār and Netkāni.
They are the Pariahs of the Telugu country, and are regarded as impure and
degraded. They may be distinguished by their manner of tying the head-cloth
more or less in a square shape, and by their loin-cloths, which are worn very
loose and not knotted. Those who worship Narsinghswāmi, the man-lion
incarnation of Vishnu, are called Namaddār, while the followers of Mahādeo
are known as Lingadārs. The former paint their foreheads with vertical lines
of sandal-paste, and the latter with horizontal ones. The Mālas were formerly
zealous partisans of the right-handed sect in Madras, and the description of
this curious system of faction given by the Abbé Dubois more than a century
ago may be reproduced:1

“Most castes belong either to the left-hand or right-hand faction. The former
comprises the Vaishyas or trading classes, the Panchālas or artisan classes
and some of the low Sūdra castes. It also contains the lowest caste, viz. the
Chaklas or leather-workers, who are looked upon as its chief support. To the
right-hand faction belong most of the higher castes of Sūdras. The Pariahs
(Mālas) are also its great support, as a proof of which they glory in the title
of Valangai Maugattar or Friends of the Right Hand. In the disputes and
conflicts which so often take place between the two factions it is always the
Pariahs who make the most disturbance and do the most damage. The
Brāhmans, Rājas and several classes of Sūdras are content to remain neutral
and take no part in these quarrels. The opposition between the two factions
arises from certain exclusive privileges to which both lay claim. But as these
alleged privileges are nowhere clearly defined and recognised, they result in
confusion and uncertainty, and are with difficulty capable of settlement.

When one faction trespasses on the so-called right of the other, tumults arise
which spread gradually over large tracts of territory, afford opportunity for
excesses of all kinds, and generally end in bloody conflicts. The Hindu,
ordinarily so timid and gentle in all other circumstances of life, seems to
change his nature completely on occasions like these. There is no danger that
he will not brave in maintaining what he calls his rights, and rather than
sacrifice a little of them he will expose himself without fear to the risk of
losing his life. The rights and privileges for which the Hindus are ready to
fight such sanguinary battles appear highly ridiculous, especially to a
European. Perhaps the sole cause of the contest is the right to wear slippers
or to ride through the streets in a palanquin or on horseback during marriage
festivals. Sometimes it is the privilege of being escorted on certain occasions
by armed retainers, sometimes that of having a trumpet sounded in front of a
procession, or of being accompanied by native musicians at public
ceremonies.” The writer of the Madras Census Report of 1871 states:2 “It is
curious that the females of two of the inferior castes should take different
sides to their husbands in these disputes. The wives of the agricultural
labourers side with the left hand, while their husbands help in fighting the
battles of the right, and the shoemakers’ wives also take the side opposed to
their husbands. During these festival disturbances, the ladies who hold
political views opposed to those of their husbands deny to the latter all the
privileges of the connubial state.” The same writer states that the right-hand
castes claimed the prerogative of riding on horseback in processions, of
appearing with standards bearing certain devices, and of erecting twelve
pillars to sustain their marriage booths; while the left-hand castes might not
have more than eleven pillars, nor use the same standards as the right. The
quarrels arising out of these small differences of opinion were so frequent
and serious in the seventeenth century that in the town of Madras it was
found necessary to mark the respective boundaries of the right- and left-hand
castes, and to forbid the right-hand castes in their processions from
occupying the streets of the left hand and vice versa. These disturbances
have gradually tended to disappear under the influence of education and
good government, and no instance of them is known to have occurred in the
Central Provinces. The division appears to have originated among the
members of the Sākta sect or the worshippers of Sakti as the female
principle of life in nature. Dr. L. D. Barnett writes:3—“The followers of the

sect are of two schools. The ‘Walkers in the Right Way’ (Dakshināchāri) pay
a service of devotion to the deity in both male and female aspects, and
except in their more pronounced tendency to dwell upon the horrific aspects
of the deity (as Kāli, Durga, etc.), they differ little from ordinary Saivas and
Vaishnavas. The ‘Walkers in the Left Way’ (Vāmachāri), on the other hand,
concentrate their thought upon the godhead in its sexually maternal aspect,
and follow rites of senseless magic and—theoretically at least—promiscuous
debauchery.” As has been seen, the religious differences subsequently gave
rise to political factions.

1 Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, ed. 1897, pp. 25, 26.

2 Page 130.
3 Hinduism, in ‘Religions Ancient and Modern’ Series, p. 26.

Māli
List of Paragraphs

1. General notice of the caste, and its social position
2. Caste legend
3. Flowers offered to the gods
4. Custom of wearing garlands
5. Sub-castes
6. Marriage
7. Widow-marriage, divorce and polygamy
8. Disposal of the dead
9. Religion
10. Occupation
11. Traits and character
12. Other functions of the Māli
13. Physical appearance

1. General notice of the caste, and its social position

Māli, Marār, Marāl.1—The functional caste of vegetable and flower-
gardeners. The terms Māli and Marār appear to be used indifferently for the
same caste, the former being more common in the west of the Province and
the latter in the eastern Satpūra Districts and the Chhattīsgarh plain. In the
Nerbudda valley and on the Vindhyan plateau the place of both Māli and
Marār is taken by the Kāchhi of Upper India.2 Marār appears to be a Marāthi
name, the original term, as pointed out by Mr. Hira Lāl, being Malāl, or one
who grows garden-crops in a field; but the caste is often called Māli in the
Marātha country and Marār in the Hindi Districts. The word Māli is derived

from the Sanskrit māla, a garland. In 1911 the Mālis numbered nearly
360,000 persons in the present area of the Central Provinces, and 200,000 in
Berār. A German writer remarks of the caste3 that: “It cannot be considered
to be a very ancient one. Generally speaking, it may be said that flowers
have scarcely a place in the Veda. Wreaths of flowers, of course, are used as
decorations, but the separate flowers and their beauty are not yet
appreciated. That lesson was first learned later by the Hindus when
surrounded by another flora. Amongst the Homeric Greeks, too, in spite of
their extensive gardening and different flowers, not a trace of horticulture is
yet to be found.” It seems probable that the first Mālis were not included
among the regular cultivators of the village but were a lower group permitted
to take up the small waste plots of land adjoining the inhabited area and
fertilised by its drainage, and the sandy stretches in the beds of rivers, on
which they were able to raise the flowers required for offerings and such
vegetables as were known. They still hold a lower rank than the ordinary
cultivator. Sir D. Ibbetson writes4 of the gardening castes: “The group now
to be discussed very generally hold an inferior position among the
agricultural community and seldom if ever occupy the position of the
dominant tribe in any considerable tract of country. The cultivation of
vegetables is looked upon as degrading by the agricultural classes, why I
know not, unless it be that night-soil is generally used for their fertilisation;
and a Rājpūt would say: ‘What! Do you take me for an Arāin?’ if anything
was proposed which he considered derogatory.” But since most Mālis in the
Central Provinces strenuously object to using night-soil as a manure the
explanation that this practice has caused them to rank below the agricultural
castes does not seem sufficient. And if the use of night-soil were the real
circumstance which determined their social position, it seems certain that
Brāhmans would not take water from their hands as they do. Elsewhere Sir
D. Ibbetson remarks:5 “The Mālis and Sainis, like all vegetable growers,
occupy a very inferior position among the agricultural castes; but of the two
the Sainis are probably the higher, as they more often own land or even
whole villages, and are less generally mere market-gardeners than are the
Mālis.” Here is given what may perhaps be the true reason for the status of
the Māli caste as a whole. Again Sir C. Elliot wrote in the Hoshangābād
Settlement Report: “Garden crops are considered as a kind of fancy
agriculture and the true cultivator, the Kisān, looks on them with contempt

as little peddling matters; what stirs his ambition is a fine large wheat-field
eighty or a hundred acres in extent, as flat as a billiard-table and as black as
a Gond.” Similarly Mr. Low6 states that in Bālāghāt the Panwārs, the
principal agricultural caste, look down on the Marārs as growers of petty
crops like sama and kutki. In Wardha the Dāngris, a small caste of melon
and vegetable growers, are an offshoot of the Kunbis; and they will take
food from the Kunbis, though these will not accept it from them, their social
status being thus distinctly lower than that of the parent caste. Again the
Kohlis of Bhandāra, who grow sugarcane with irrigation, are probably
derived from an aboriginal tribe, the Kols, and, though they possess a
number of villages, rank lower than the regular cultivating castes. It is also
worth noting that they do not admit tenant-right in their villages among their
own caste, and allot the sugarcane plots among the cultivators at pleasure.7
In Nimār the Mālis rank below the Kunbis and Gūjars, the good agricultural
castes, and it is said that they grow the crops which the cultivators proper do
not care to grow. The Kāchhis, the gardening caste of the northern Districts,
have a very low status, markedly inferior to that of the Lodhis and Kurmis
and little if any better than the menial Dhīmars. Similarly, as will be seen
later, the Marārs themselves have customs pointing clearly to a non-Aryan
origin. The Bhoyars of Betūl, who grow sugarcane, are probably of mixed
origin from Rājpūt fathers and mothers of the indigenous tribes; they eat
fowls and are much addicted to liquor and rank below the cultivating castes.
The explanation seems to be that the gardening castes are not considered as
landholders, and have not therefore the position which attaches to the
holding of land among all early agricultural peoples, and which in India
consisted in the status of a constituent member of the village community. So
far as ceremonial purity goes there is no difference between the Mālis and
the cultivating castes, as Brāhmans will take water from both. It may be
surmised that this privilege has been given to the Mālis because they grow
the flowers required for offerings to the gods, and sometimes officiate as
village priests and temple servants; and their occupation, though not on a
level with regular agriculture, is still respectable. But the fact that Brāhmans
will take water from them does not place the Mālis on an equality with the
cultivating castes, any more than it does the Nais (barbers) and Dhīmars
(watermen), the condemned menial servants of the cultivators, from whom
Brāhmans will also take water from motives of convenience.

2. Caste legend

The Mālis have a Brāhmanical legend of the usual type indicating that their
hereditary calling was conferred and ratified by divine authority.8 This is to
the effect that the first Māli was a garland-maker attached to the household
of Rāja Kānsa of Mathura. One day he met with Krishna, and, on being
asked by him for a chaplet of flowers, at once gave it. On being told to fasten
it with string, he, for want of any other, took off his sacred thread and tied it,
on which Krishna most ungenerously rebuked him for his simplicity in
parting with his paīta, and announced that for the future his caste would be
ranked among the Sūdras.

The above story, combined with the derivation of Māli from māla, a garland,
makes it a plausible hypothesis that the calling of the first Mālis was to grow
flowers for the adornment of the gods, and especially for making the
garlands with which their images were and still are decorated. Thus the
Mālis were intimately connected with the gods and naturally became priests
of the village temples, in which capacity they are often employed. Mr.
Nesfield remarks of the Māli:9 “To Hindus of all ranks, including even the
Brāhmans, he acts as a priest of Mahādeo in places where no Gosain is to be
found, and lays the flower offerings on the lingam by which the deity is
symbolised. As the Māli is believed to have some influence with the god to
whose temple he is attached, none objects to his appropriating the fee which
is nominally presented to the god himself. In the worship of those village
godlings whom the Brāhmans disdain to recognise and whom the Gosain is
not permitted to honour the Māli is sometimes employed to present the
offering. He is thus the recognised hereditary priest of the lower and more
ignorant classes of the population.” In the Central Provinces Mālis are
commonly employed in the temples of Devi because goats are offered to the
goddess and hence the worship cannot be conducted by Brāhmans. They also
work as servants in Jain temples under the priest. They sweep the temple,

clean the utensils, and do other menial business. This service, however, does
not affect their religion and they continue to be Hindus.

His services in providing flowers for the gods would be remunerated by
contributions of grain from the cultivators, the acceptance of which would
place the Māli below them in the rank of a village menial, though higher
than most of the class owing to the purity of his occupation. His status was
probably much the same as that of the Guraos or village priests of Mahādeo
in the Marātha country. And though he has now become a cultivator, his
position has not improved to the level of other cultivating castes for the
reasons already given. It was probably the necessity of regularly watering his
plants in order to obtain a longer and more constant supply of blooms which
first taught the Māli the uses of irrigation.

3. Flowers offered to the gods

Flowers are par excellence suited for the offerings and adornment of the
gods, and many Hindus have rose or other plants in their houses whose
flowers are destined to the household god. There is little reason to doubt that
this was the purpose for which cultivated flowers were first grown. The
marigold, lotus and champak are favourite religious flowers, while the tulsi
or basil is itself worshipped as the consort of Vishnu; in this case, however,
the scent is perhaps the more valued feature. In many Hindu households all
flowers brought into the house are offered to the household god before being
put to any other use. A Brāhman school-boy to whom I had given some
flowers to copy in drawing said that his mother had offered them to the god
Krishna before he used them. When faded or done with they should be
consigned to the sacred element, water, in any stream or river. The statues of
the gods are adorned with sculptured garlands or hold them in their hands. A
similar state of things prevailed in classical antiquity:

Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
To what green altar, O mysterious priest,

Lead’st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?

And,

Fairer than these, though temple thou hast none,
Nor altar decked with flowers,
Nor virgin choir to make delicious moan
Upon the midnight hours.

M. Fustel de Coulanges describes the custom of wearing crowns or garlands
of flowers in ancient Rome and Greece as follows: “It is clear that the
communal feasts were religious ceremonies. Each guest had a crown on the
head; it was an ancient custom to crown oneself with leaves or flowers for
any solemn religious act.” “The more a man is adorned with flowers,” they
said, “the more pleasing he is to the gods; but they turn away from him who
wears no crown at his sacrifice.” And again, ‘A crown is the auspicious
herald which announces a prayer to the gods.’10

Among the Persians the flowers themselves are worshipped:11 “When a pure
Iranian sauntered through (the Victoria Gardens in Bombay) ... he would
stand awhile and meditate over every flower in his path, and always as in a
vision; and when at last the vision was fulfilled, and the ideal flower found,
he would spread his mat or carpet before it, and sit before it to the going
down of the sun, when he would arise and pray before it, and then refold his
mat or carpet and go home; and the next night, and night after night, until
that bright particular flower faded away, he would return to it, bringing his
friends with him in ever-increasing numbers, and sit and sing and play the
guitar or lute before it—and anon they all would arise together and pray
before it; and after prayers, still sit on, sipping sherbet and talking the most
hilarious and shocking scandal, late into the moonlight.”

4. Custom of wearing garlands

From the custom of placing garlands on the gods as a mark of honour has no
doubt arisen that of garlanding guests. This is not confined to India but
obtained in Rome and probably in other countries. The word ‘chaplet’12
originally meant a garland or wreath to be worn on the head; and a garland
of leaves with four flowers at equal distances. Dryden says, ‘With chaplets
green upon their foreheads placed.’ The word māla originally meant a
garland, and subsequently a rosary or string of beads. From this it seems a
legitimate deduction that rosaries or strings of beads of a sacred wood were
substituted for flower-garlands as ornaments for the gods in view of their
more permanent nature. Having been thus sanctified they may have come to
be worn as a mark of holiness by saints or priests in imitation of the divine
images, this being a common or universal fashion of Hindu ascetics.
Subsequently they were found to serve as a useful means of counting the
continuous repetition of prayers, whence arose the phrase ‘telling one’s
beads.’ Like the Sanskrit māla, the English word rosary at first meant a
garland of roses and subsequently a string of beads, probably made from
rose-wood, on which prayers were counted. From this it may perhaps be
concluded that the images of the deities were decorated with garlands of
roses in Europe, and the development of the rosary was the same as the
Indian māla. If the rose was a sacred flower we can more easily understand
its importance as a badge in the Wars of the Roses.

5. Sub-castes

The caste has numerous endogamous groups, varying in different localities.
The Phūlmālis, who derive their name from their occupation of growing and

selling flowers (phūl), usually rank as the highest. The Ghāse Mālis are the
only subcaste which will grow and prepare turmeric in Wardha; but they will
not sell milk or curds, an occupation to which the Phūlmālis, though the
highest subcaste, have no objection. In Chānda the Kosaria Mālis, who take
their name from Kosala, the classical designation of the Chhattīsgarh
country, are the sole growers of turmeric, while in Berār the Halde subcaste,
named after the plant, occupy the same position. The Kosaria or Kosre
subcaste abstain from liquor, and their women wear glass bangles only on
one hand and silver ones on the other. The objection entertained to the
cultivation of turmeric by Hindus generally is said to be based on the fact
that when the roots are boiled numbers of small insects are necessarily
destroyed; but the other Mālis relate that one of the ancestors of the caste
had a calf called Hardulia, and one day he said to his daughter, Haldi pakā,
or ‘Cook turmeric.’ But the daughter thought that he said ‘cook Hardulia,’ so
she killed and roasted the calf, and in consequence of this her father was
expelled from the caste, and his descendants are the Ghāse or Halde
subcaste. Ever since this happened the shape of a calf may be seen in the
flower of turmeric. This legend has, however, no real value and the meaning
of the superstition attaching to the plant is obscure. Though the growing of
turmeric is tabooed yet it is a sacred plant, and no Hindu girl, at least in the
Central Provinces, can be married without having turmeric powder rubbed
on her body. Mr. Gordon remarks in Indian Folk-Tales: “I was once speaking
to a Hindu gardener of the possibility of turmeric and garlic being stolen
from his garden. ‘These two vegetables are never stolen,’ he replied, ‘for we
Hindus believe that he who steals turmeric and garlic will appear with six
fingers in the next birth, and this deformity is always considered the birth-
mark of a thief.’” The Jīre Mālis are so named because they were formerly
the only subcaste who would grow cumin (jira), but this distinction no
longer exists as other Mālis, except perhaps the Phūlmālis, now grow it.
Other subcastes have territorial names, as Baone from Berār, Jaipuria,
Kanaujia, and so on. The caste have also exogamous septs or bargas, with
designations taken from villages, titles or nicknames or inanimate objects.

Bride and bridegroom with marriage crowns

6. Marriage

Marriage is forbidden between members of the same sept and between first
and second cousins. Girls are generally betrothed in childhood and should be
married before maturity. In the Uriya country if no suitable husband can be
found for a girl she is sometimes made to go through the marriage ceremony
with a peg of mahua wood driven into the ground and covered over with a
cloth. She is then tied to a tree in the forest and any member of the caste may
go and release her, when she becomes his wife. The Marārs of Bālāghāt and
Bhandāra have the lamjhana form of marriage, in which the prospective
husband serves for his wife; this is a Dravidian custom and shows their
connection with the forest tribes. The marriage ceremony follows the
standard form prevalent in the locality. In Betūl the couple go seven times
round a slab on which a stone roller is placed, with their clothes knotted
together and holding in their hands a lighted lamp. The slab and roller may

be the implements used in powdering turmeric. “Among the Marārs of
Bālāghāt13 the maternal uncle of the bridegroom goes to the village of the
bride and brings back with him the bridal party. The bride’s party do not at
once cross the boundary of the bridegroom’s village, but will stay outside it
for a few hours. Word is sent and the bridegroom’s party will bring out
cooked food, which they eat with the bride’s party. This done, they go to the
house of the bridegroom and the bride forthwith walks five times round a
pounding-stone. Next day turmeric is applied to the couple, and the caste
people are given a feast. The essential portion of the ceremony consists in
the rubbing of vermilion on the foreheads of the couple under the cover of a
cloth. The caste permit the practice of ralla-palla or exchanging sisters in
marriage. They are said to have a custom at weddings known as kondia,
according to which a young man of the bridegroom’s party, called the Sānd
or bull, is shut up in a house at night with all the women of the bride’s party;
he is at liberty to seize and have intercourse with any of them he can catch,
while they are allowed to beat him as much as they like. It is said that he
seldom has much cause to congratulate himself.” But the caste have now
become ashamed of this custom and it is being abandoned. In Chhattīsgarh
the Marārs, like other castes, have the forms of marriage known as the Badi
Shādi and Chhoti Shādi or great and small weddings. The former is an
elaborate form of marriage, taking place at the house of the bride. Those
who cannot afford the expense of this have a ‘Small Wedding’ at the house
of the bridegroom, at which the rites are curtailed and the expenditure
considerably reduced.

7. Widow-marriage, divorce and polygamy

Widow-marriage is permitted. The widower, accompanied by his relatives
and a horn-blower, goes to the house of the widow, and here a space is
plastered with cowdung and the couple sit on two wooden boards while their
clothes are knotted together. In Bālāghāt14 the bridegroom and bride bathe in
a tank and on emerging the widow throws away her old cloth and puts on a
new one. After this they walk five times round a spear planted in the ground.

Divorce is permitted and can be effected by mutual consent of the parties.
Like other castes practising intensive cultivation the Mālis marry several
wives when they can afford it, in order to obtain the benefit of their labour in
the vegetable garden; a wife being more industrious and honest than a hired
labourer. But this practice results in large families and household
dissensions, leading to excessive subdivision of property, and wealthy
members of the caste are rare. The standard of sexual morality is low, and if
an unmarried girl goes wrong her family conceal the fact and sometimes try
to procure an abortion. If these efforts are unsuccessful a feast must be given
to the caste and a lock of the woman’s hair is cut off by way of punishment.
A young hard-working wife is never divorced, however bad her character
may be, but an old woman is sometimes abandoned for very little cause.

8. Disposal of the dead

The dead may be either buried or burnt; in the former case the corpse is laid
with the feet to the north. Mourning is observed only for three days and
propitiatory offerings are made to the spirits of the dead. If a man is killed by
a tiger his family make a wooden image of a tiger and worship it.

9. Religion

Devi is the principal deity of the Mālis. Weddings are celebrated before her
temple and large numbers of goats are sacrificed to the favourite goddess at
her festival in the month of Māgh (January). Many of the Marārs of Bālāghāt
are Kabīrpanthis and wear the necklace of that sect; but they appear none the
less to intermarry freely with their Hindu caste-fellows.15 After the birth of a
child it is stated that all the members of the sept to which the parents belong
remain impure for five days, and no one will take food or water from them.

10. Occupation

The Māli combines the callings of a gardener and nurseryman. “In laying out
a flower-garden and in arranging beds,” Mr. Shearing remarks,16 “the Māli is
exceedingly expert. His powers in this respect are hardly surpassed by
gardeners in England. He lacks of course the excellent botanical knowledge
of many English gardeners, and also the peculiar skill displayed by them in
grafting and crossing, and in watching the habits of plants. Yet in
manipulative labour, especially when superintended by a European, he is,
though much slower in execution, almost if not quite equal to gardeners at
home.” They are excellent and very laborious cultivators, and show much
skill in intensive cultivation and the use of water. Mālis are the best
sugarcane growers of Betūl and their holdings usually pay a higher rental
than those of other castes. “In Bālāghāt,” Mr. Low remarks,17 “they are great
growers of tobacco and sugarcane, favouring the alluvial land on the banks
of rivers. They mostly irrigate by a dhekli or dipping lift, from temporary
wells or from water-holes in rivers. The pole of the lift has a weight at one
end and a kerosene tin suspended from the other. Another form of lift is a
hollowed tree trunk worked on a fulcrum, but this only raises the water a
foot or two. The Marārs do general cultivation as well; but as a class are not
considered skilled agriculturists. The proverb about their cultivating status
is:

Marār, Māli jote tāli
Tāli margayi, dhare kudāli

or, ‘The Marār yokes cows; if the cow dies he takes to the pickaxe’;
implying that he is not usually rich enough to keep bullocks.” The saying has
also a derogatory sense, as no good Hindu would yoke a cow to the plough.
Another form of lift used by the Kāchhis is the Persian wheel. In this two
wheels are fixed above the well or tank and long looped ropes pass over

them and down into the well, between which a line of earthen pots is
secured. As the ropes move on the wheels the pots descend into the well, are
filled with water, brought up, and just after they reach the apex of the wheel
and turn to descend again, the water pours out to a hollow open tree-trunk,
from which a channel conveys it to the field. The wheel which turns the rope
is worked by a man pedalling, but he cannot do more than about three hours
a day. The common lift for gardens is the mot or bag made of the hide of a
bullock or buffalo. This is usually worked by a pair of bullocks moving
forwards down a slope to raise the mot from the well and backwards up the
slope to let it down when empty.

Bullocks drawing water with mot

11. Traits and character

“It is necessary,” the account continues, “for the Marār’s business for one
member at least of his family to go to market with his vegetables; and the
Marārin is a noteworthy feature in all bazārs, sitting with her basket or

garment spread on the ground, full of white onions and garlic, purple brinjals
and scarlet chillies, with a few handfuls of strongly flavoured green stuff.
Whether from the publicity which it entails on their women or from
whatever cause, the Marārin does not bear the best of reputations for
chastity; and is usually considered rather a bold, coarse creature. The
distinctive feature of her attire is the way in which she ties up her body-cloth
so as to leave a tail sticking up behind; whence the proverb shouted after her
by rude little boys: ‘Jump from roof to roof, Monkey. Pull the tail of the
Marārin, Monkey,’ She also rejoices in a very large tikli or spangle on her
forehead and in a peculiar kind of angia (waistcoat). The caste are usually
considered rather clannish and morose. They live in communities by
themselves, and nearly always inhabit a separate hamlet of the village. The
Marārs of a certain place are said to have boycotted a village carpenter who
lost an axe belonging to one of their number, so that he had to leave the
neighbourhood for lack of custom.”

12. Other functions of the Māli

Many Mālis live in the towns and keep vegetable- or flower-gardens just
outside. They sell flowers, and the Māli girls are very good flower-sellers,
Major Sutherland says, being famous for their coquetry. A saying about them
is: “The crow among birds, the jackal among beasts, the barber among men
and the Mālin among women; all these are much too clever.” The Māli also
prepares the maur or marriage-crown, made from the leaves of the date-
palm, both for the bride and bridegroom at marriages. In return he gets a
present of a rupee, a piece of cloth and a day’s food. He also makes the
garlands which are used for presentation at entertainments, and supplies the
daily bunches of flowers which are required as offerings for Mahādeo. The
Māli keeps garlands for sale in the bazār, and when a well-to-do person
passes he goes up and puts a garland round his neck and expects a present of
a pice or two.

13. Physical appearance

“Physically,” Mr. Low states, “the Marār is rather a poor-looking creature,
dark and undersized; but the women are often not bad looking, and dressed
up in their best at a wedding, rattling their castanets and waving light-
coloured silk handkerchiefs, give a very graceful dance. The caste are not as
a rule celebrated for their cleanliness. A polite way of addressing a Marār is
to call him Patel.”

1 This article is based principally on Mr. Low’s description of the Marārs in the Bālāghāt District
Gazetteer and on a paper by Major Sutherland, I.M.S.
2 C.P. Census Report (1891), para. 180.
3 Schröder, Prehistoric Antiquities, 121, quoted in Crooke’s Tribes and Castes, art. Māli.

4 Punjab Census Report (1881), para. 483.
5 Ibidem, para. 484.

6 Bālāghāt District Gazetteer, para. 59.
7 Mr. Napier’s Bhandara Settlement Report, quoted in article on Kohli.

8 Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Māli.
9 Brief View of the Caste System, p. 15.

10 La Cité antique, 21st ed., p. 181.
11 The Antiquity of Oriental Carpets, Sir G. Birdwood (Society of Arts, 6th November 1908).

12 The derivations of chaplet and rosary are taken from Ogilvy’s Dictionary.
13 Bālāghāt District Gazetteer (C.E. Low), para. 59.

14 Ibidem, loc. cit.
15 Bālāghāt District Gazetteer, para. 59.
16 Hindu Castes, vol. i. p. 327.
17 Bālāghāt District Gazetteer, loc. cit.

Mallāh
Mallāh, Malha.1—A small caste of boatmen and fishermen in the
Jubbulpore and Narsinghpur Districts, which numbered about 5000 persons
in 1911. It is scarcely correct to designate the Mallāhs as a distinct caste, as
in both these Districts it appears from inquiry that the term is synonymous
with Kewat. Apparently, however, the Mallāhs do form a separate
endogamous group, and owing to many of them having adopted the
profession of growing hemp, a crop which respectable Hindu castes usually
refuse to cultivate, it is probable that they would not be allowed to
intermarry with the Kewats of other Districts. In the United Provinces Mr.
Crooke states that the Mallāhs, though, as their Arabic name indicates, of
recent origin, have matured into a definite social group, including a number
of endogamous tribes. The term Mallāh has nothing to do with the Mulla or
Muhammadan priest among the frontier tribes, but comes from an Arabic
word meaning ‘to be salt,’ or, according to another derivation, ‘to move the
wings as a bird.’2 The Mallāhs of the Central Provinces are also, in spite of
their Arabic name, a purely Hindu caste. In Narsinghpur they say that their
original ancestor was one Bali or Balirām, who was a boatman and was so
strong that he could carry his boat to the river and back under his armpit. On
one occasion he ferried Rāma across the Ganges in Benāres, and it is said
that Rāma gave him a horse to show his gratitude; but Balirām was so
ignorant that he placed the bridle on the horse’s tail instead of the head. And
from this act of Balirām’s arose the custom of having the rudder of a boat at
the stern instead of at the bow. The Mallāhs in the Central Provinces appear
from their family names to be immigrants from Bundelkhand. Their customs
resemble those of lower-class Hindus. Girls are usually married under the
age of twelve years, and the remarriage of widows is permitted, while
divorce may be effected in the presence of the panchāyat or caste committee
by the husband and wife breaking a straw between them. They are scantily
clothed and are generally poor. A proverb about them says:

Jahān bethen Malao

Tahan lage alao,

or, ‘Where Mallāhs sit, there is always a fire.’ This refers to their custom of
kindling fires on the river-bank to protect themselves from cold. In
Narsinghpur the Mallāhs have found a profitable opening in the cultivation
of hemp, a crop which other Hindu castes until recently tabooed on account
probably of the dirty nature of the process of cleaning out the fibre and the
pollution necessarily caused to the water-supply. They sow and cut hemp on
Sundays and Wednesdays, which are regarded as auspicious days. They also
grow melons, and will not enter a melon-field with their shoes on or allow a
woman during her periodical impurity to approach it. The Mallāhs are poor
and illiterate, but rank with Dhīmars and Kewats, and Brāhmans will take
water from their hands.

1 This article is based on papers by Mr. Shyāmācharan, B.A., B.L., Pleader, Narsinghpur, and
Pyāre Lāl Misra, Ethnographic clerk.

2 Crooke’s Tribes and Castes of the N. W. P. and Oudh, art. Mallāh.

Māna
Māna.1—A Dravidian caste of cultivators and labourers belonging to the
Chānda District, from which they have spread to Nāgpur, Bhandāra and
Bālāghāt. In 1911 they numbered nearly 50,000 persons, of whom 34,000
belonged to Chānda. The origin of the caste is obscure. In the Chānda
Settlement Report of 1869 Major Lucie Smith wrote of them: “Tradition
asserts that prior to the Gond conquest the Mānas reigned over the country,
having their strongholds at Surajgarh in Ahiri and at Mānikgarh in the
Mānikgarh hills, now of Hyderābād, and that after a troubled rule of two
hundred years they fell before the Gonds. In appearance they are of the Gond
type, and are strongly and stoutly made; while in character they are hardy,
industrious and truthful. Many warlike traditions still linger among them,
and doubtless in days gone by they did their duty as good soldiers, but they
have long since hung up sword and shield and now rank among the best
cultivators of rice in Chānda.” Another local tradition states that a line of
Māna princes ruled at Wairāgarh. The names of three princes are
remembered: Kurumpruhoda, the founder of the line; Surjāt Badwāik, who
fortified Surjāgarh; and Gahilu, who built Mānikgarh. As regards the name
Mānikgarh, it may be mentioned that the tutelary deity of the Nāgvansi kings
of Bastar, who ruled there before the accession of the present Rāj-Gond
dynasty in the fourteenth century, was Mānikya Devi, and it is possible that
the chiefs of Wairāgarh were connected with the Bastar kings. Some of the
Mānas say that they, as well as the Gowāris, are offshoots of the Gond tribe;
and a local saying to the effect that ‘The Gond, the Gowāri and the Māna eat
boiled juāri or beans on leaf-plates’ shows that they are associated together
in the popular mind. Hislop states that the Ojhas, or soothsayers and
minstrels of the Gonds, have a subdivision of Māna Ojhas, who lay claim to
special sanctity, refusing to take food from any other caste.2 The Gonds have
a subdivision called Mannewār, and as wār is only a Telugu suffix for the
plural, the proper name Manne closely resembles Māna. It is shown in the
article on the Parja tribe that the Parjas were a class of Gonds or a tribe akin
to them, who were dominant in Bastar prior to the later immigration under

the ancestors of the present Bastar dynasty. And the most plausible
hypothesis as to the past history of the Mānas is that they were also the
rulers of some tracts of Chānda, and were displaced like the Parjas by a
Gond invasion from the south.

In Bhandāra, where the Mānas hold land, it is related that in former times a
gigantic kite lived on the hill of Ghurkundi, near Sākoli, and devoured the
crops of the surrounding country by whole fields at a time. The king of
Chānda proclaimed that whoever killed the kite would be granted the
adjoining lands. A Māna shot the kite with an arrow and its remains were
taken to Chānda in eight carts, and as his reward he received the grant of a
zamīndāri. In appearance the Mānas, or at least some of them, are rather fine
men, nor do their complexion and features show more noticeable traces of
aboriginal descent than those of the local Hindus. But their neighbours in
Chānda and Bastar, the Māria Gonds, are also taller and of a better physical
type than the average Dravidian, so that their physical appearance need not
militate against the above hypothesis. They retained their taste for fighting
until within quite recent times, and in Kātol and other towns below the
Satpūra hills, Mānas were regularly enlisted as a town guard for repelling the
Pindāri raids. Their descendants still retain the ancestral matchlocks, and
several of them make good use of these as professional shikāris or hunters.
Many of them are employed as servants by landowners and moneylenders
for the collection of debts or the protection of crops, and others are
proprietors, cultivators and labourers, while a few even lend money on their
own account. Mānas hold three zamīndāri estates in Bhandāra and a few
villages in Chānda; here they are considered to be good cultivators, but have
the reputation as a caste of being very miserly, and though possessed of
plenty, living only on the poorest and coarsest food.3 The Māna women are
proverbial for the assistance which they render to their husbands in the work
of cultivation.

Owing to their general adoption of Marātha customs, the Mānas are now
commonly regarded as a caste and not a forest tribe, and this view may be
accepted. They have two subcastes, the Badwāik Mānas, or soldiers, and the
Khād Mānas, who live in the plains and are considered to be of impure
descent. Badwāik or ‘The Great Ones’ is a titular term applied to a person

carrying arms, and assumed by certain Rājpūts and also by some of the
lower castes. A third group of Mānas are now amalgamated with the Kunbis
as a regular subdivision of that caste, though they are regarded as somewhat
lower than the others. They have also a number of exogamous septs of the
usual titular and totemistic types, the few recognisable names being Marāthi.
It is worth noticing that several pairs of these septs, as Jamāre and Gazbe,
Narnari and Chudri, Wāgh and Rāwat, and others are prohibited from
intermarriage. And this may be a relic of some wider scheme of division of
the type common among the Australian aborigines. The social customs of the
Mānas are the same as those of the other lower Marātha castes, as described
in the articles on Kunbi, Kohli and Mahār. A bride-price of Rs. 12–8 is
usually paid, and if the bridegroom’s father has the money, he takes it with
him on going to arrange for the match. Only one married woman of the
bridegroom’s family accompanies him to the wedding, and she throws rice
over him five times. Four days in the year are appointed for the celebration
of weddings, the festivals of Shivrātri and of Akhātij, and a day each in the
months of Māgh (January) and Phāgun (February). This rule, however, is not
universal. Brāhmans do not usually officiate at their ceremonies, but they
employ a Brāhman to prepare the rice which is thrown over the couples.
Marriage within the sept is forbidden, as well as the union of the children of
two sisters. But the practice of marrying a brother’s daughter to a sister’s son
is a very favourite one, being known as Māhunchār, and in this respect the
Mānas resemble the Gonds. When a widow is to be remarried, she stops on
the way by the bank of a stream as she is proceeding to her new husband’s
house, and here her clothes are taken off and buried by an exorcist with a
view to laying the first husband’s spirit and preventing it from troubling the
new household. If a woman goes wrong with a man of another caste she is
not finally cast out, but if she has a child she must first dispose of it to
somebody else after it is weaned. She may then be re-admitted into caste by
having her hair shaved off and giving three feasts; the first is prepared by the
caste and eaten outside her house, the second is prepared by her relatives and
eaten within her house, and at the third the caste reinstate her by partaking of
food cooked by herself. The dead are either buried or burnt; in the former
case a feast is given immediately after the burial and no further mourning is
observed; in the latter the period of mourning is three days. As among the

Gonds, the dead are laid with feet to the north. A woman is impure for seven
days after child-birth.

The Mānas have Bhāts or genealogists of their own caste, a separate one
being appointed for each sept. The Bhāt of any sept can only accept gifts
from members of that sept, though he may take food from any one of the
caste. The Bhāts are in the position of beggars, and the other Mānas will not
take food from them. Every man must have a Bhāt for his family under
penalty of being temporarily put out of caste. It is said that the Bhāts
formerly had books showing the pedigrees of the different families, but that
once in a spirit of arrogance they placed their shoes upon the books; and the
other Mānas, not brooking this insolence, burnt the books. The gravity of
such an act may be realised when it is stated that if anybody even threatens
to hit a Māna with a shoe, the indignity put upon him is so great that he is
temporarily excluded from caste and penalised for readmission. Since this
incident the Bhāts have to address the Mānas as ‘Brahma,’ to show their
respect, the Māna replying ‘Rām, Rām.’ Their women wear short loin-cloths,
exposing part of the thigh, like the Gonds. They eat pork and drink liquor,
but will take cooked food only from Brāhmans.

1 This article is based on papers by Mr. Hīra Lāl and G. Padaya Naidu of the Gazetteer Office.
2 Papers on the Aboriginal Tribes of the Central Provinces, p. 6.
3 Rev. A. Wood in Chānda District Gazetteer, para. 96.

Mānbhao

1. History and nature of the sect

Mānbhao.1—A religious sect or order, which has now become a caste,
belonging to the Marātha Districts of the Central Provinces and to Berār.
Their total strength in India in 1911 was 10,000 persons, of whom the
Central Provinces and Berār contained 4000. The name would appear to
have some such meaning as ‘The reverend brothers.’ The Mānbhaos are
stated to be a Vaishnavite order founded in Berār some two centuries ago.2
They themselves say that their order is a thousand years old and that it was
founded by one Arjun Bhat, who lived at Domegaon, near Ahmadnagar. He
was a great Sanskrit scholar and a devotee of Krishna, and preached his
doctrines to all except the Impure castes. Ridhpur, in Berār, is the present
headquarters of the order, and contains a monastery and three temples,
dedicated to Krishna and Dattātreya,3 the only deities recognised by the
Mānbhaos. Each temple is named after a village, and is presided over by a
Mahant elected from the celibate Mānbhaos. There are other Mahants, also
known after the names of villages or towns in which the monasteries over
which they preside are located. Among these are Sheone, from the village
near Chāndur in Amraoti District; Akulne, a village near Ahmadnagar;
Lāsorkar, from Lāsor, near Aurangābād; Mehkarkar, from Mehkar in
Buldāna; and others. The order thus belongs to Berār and the adjoining parts
of India. Colonel Mackenzie describes Ridhpur as follows: “The name is
said to be derived from ridh, meaning blood, a Rākshas or demon having
been killed there by Parasurāma, and it owes its sanctity to the fact that the
god lived there. Black stones innumerable scattered about the town show
where the god’s footsteps became visible. At Ridhpur Krishna is represented
by an ever-open, sleeplessly watching eye, and some Mānbhaos carry about

a small black stone disk with an eye painted on it as an amulet.” Frequently
their shrines contain no images, but are simply chabutras or platforms built
over the place where Krishna or Dattātreya left marks of their footprints.
Over the platform is a small veranda, which the Mānbhaos kiss, calling upon
the name of the god. Sukli, in Bhandāra, is also a headquarters of the caste,
and contains many Mānbhao tombs. Here they burn camphor in honour of
Dattātreya and make offerings of cocoanuts. They make pilgrimages to the
different shrines at the full moons of Chait (March) and Kārtik (October).
They pay reverence to no deities except Krishna and Dattātreya, and observe
the festivals of Gokul Ashtami in August and Datta-Jayantri in December.
They consider the month of Aghan (November) as holy, because Krishna
called it so in the Bhāgavat-Gīta. This is their sacred book, and they reject
the other Hindu scriptures. Their conception of Krishna is based on his
description of himself to Arjun in the Bhāgavat-Gīta as follows: “‘Behold
things wonderful, never seen before, behold in this my body the whole
world, animate and inanimate. But as thou art unable to see with these thy
natural eyes, I will give thee a heavenly eye, with which behold my divine
connection.’

“The son of Pandu then beheld within the body of the god of gods standing
together the whole universe divided forth into its vast variety. He was
overwhelmed with wonder and every hair was raised on end. ‘But I am not
to be seen as thou hast seen me even by the assistance of the Vedas, by
mortification, by sacrifices, by charitable gifts: but I am to be seen, to be
known in truth, and to be obtained by that worship which is offered up to me
alone: and he goeth unto me whose works are done for me: who esteemeth
me supreme: who is my servant only: who hath abandoned all consequences,
and who liveth amongst all men without hatred.’”

Again: “He my servant is dear to me who is free from enmity, the friend of
all nature, merciful, exempt from all pride and selfishness, the same in pain
and in pleasure, patient of wrong, contented, constantly devout, of subdued
passions and firm resolves, and whose mind and understanding are fixed on
me alone.”

2. Divisions of the order

The Mānbhaos are now divided into three classes: the Brahmachāri; the
Gharbāri; and the Bhope. The Brahmachāri are the ascetic members of the
sect who subsist by begging and devote their lives to meditation, prayer and
spiritual instruction. The Gharbāri are those who, while leading a mendicant
life, wearing the distinctive black dress of the order and having their heads
shaved, are permitted to get married with the permission of their Mahant or
guru. The ceremony is performed in strict privacy inside a temple. A man
sometimes signifies his choice of a spouse by putting his jholi or beggar’s
wallet upon hers; if she lets it remain there, the betrothal is complete. A
woman may show her preference for a man by bringing a pair of garlands
and placing one on his head and the other on that of the image of Krishna.
The marriage is celebrated according to the custom of the Kunbis, but
without feasting or music. Widows are permitted to marry again. Married
women do not wear bangles nor toe-rings nor the customary necklace of
beads; they put on no jewellery, and have no choli or bodice. The Bhope or
Bhoall, the third division of the caste, are wholly secular and wear no
distinctive dress, except sometimes a black head-cloth. They may engage in
any occupation that pleases them, and sometimes act as servants in the
temples of the caste. In Berār they are divided into thirteen bas or orders,
named after the disciples of Arjun Bhat, who founded the various shrines.
The Mānbhaos are recruited by initiation of both men and women from any
except the impure castes. Young children who have been vowed by their
parents to a religious life or are left without relations, are taken into the
order. Women usually join it either as children or late in life. The celibate
members, male or female, live separately in companies like monks and nuns.
They do not travel together, and hold services in their temples at different
times. A woman admitted into the order is henceforward the disciple of the
woman who initiated her by whispering the guru mantra or sacred verse into
her ear. She addresses her preceptress as mother and the other women as
sisters. The Mānbhaos are intelligent and generally literate, and they lead a

simple and pure life. They are respectable and are respected by the people,
and a guru or spiritual teacher is often taken from them in place of a
Brāhman or Gosain. They often act as priests or gurus to the Mahārs, for
whom Brāhmans will not perform these services. Their honesty and humility
are proverbial among the Kunbis, and are in pleasing contrast to the
character of many of the Hindu mendicant orders. They consider it essential
that all their converts should be able to read the Bhāgavat-Gīta or a
commentary on it, and for this purpose teach them to read and write during
the rainy season when they are assembled at one of their monasteries.

3. Religious observances and customs

One of the leading tenets of the Mānbhaos is a respect for all forms of
animal and even vegetable life, much on a par with that of the Jains. They
strain water through a cloth before drinking it, and then delicately wipe the
cloth to preserve any insects that may be upon it. They should not drink
water in, and hence cannot reside in, any village where animal sacrifices are
offered to a deity. They will not cut down a tree nor break off a branch, or
even a blade of grass, nor pluck a fruit or an ear of corn. Some, it is said, will
not even bathe in tanks for fear of destroying insect-life. For this reason also
they readily accept cooked food as alms, so that they may avoid the risk of
the destruction of life involved in cooking. The Mānbhaos dislike the din
and noise of towns, and live generally in secluded places, coming into the
towns only to beg. Except in the rains they wander about from place to
place. They beg in the morning, and then return home and, after bathing and
taking their food, read their religious books. They must always worship
Krishna before taking food, and for this purpose when travelling they carry
an image of the deity about with them. They will take food and water from
the higher castes, but they must not do so from persons of low caste on pain
of temporary excommunication. They neither smoke nor chew tobacco. Both
men and women shave the head clean, and men also the face. This is first
done on initiation by the village barber. But the sendhi or scalp-lock and
moustaches of the novice must be cut off by his guru, this being the special

mark of his renunciation of the world. The scalp-locks of the various
candidates are preserved until a sufficient quantity of hair has been collected,
when ropes are made of it, which they fasten round their loins. This may be
because Hindus attach a special efficacy to the scalp-lock, perhaps as being
the seat of a man’s strength or power. The nuns also shave their heads, and
generally eschew every kind of personal adornment. Both monks and nuns
usually dress in black or ashen-grey clothes as a mark of humility, though
some have discarded black in favour of the usual Hindu mendicant colour of
red ochre. The black colour is in keeping with the complexion of Krishna,
their chief god. They dye their cloths with lamp-black mixed with a little
water and oil. They usually sleep on the ground, with the exception of those
who are Mahants, and they sometimes have no metal vessels, but use bags
made of strong cloth for holding food and water. Men’s names have the
suffix Boa, as Datto Boa, Kesho Boa, while those of boys end in da, as
Manoda, Raojīda, and those of women in Bai, as Gopa Bai, Som Bai. The
dead are buried, not in the common burial-grounds, but in some waste place.
The corpse is laid on its side, facing the east, with head to the north and feet
to the south. A piece of silk or other valuable cloth is placed on it, on which
salt is sprinkled, and the earth is then filled in and the ground levelled so as
to leave no trace of the grave. No memorial is erected over a Mānbhao tomb,
and no mourning nor ceremony of purification is observed, nor are oblations
offered to the spirits of the dead. If the dead man leaves any property, it is
expended on feeding the brotherhood for ten days; and if not, the Mahant of
his order usually does this in his name.

4. Hostility between Mānbhaos and Brāhmans

The Mānbhaos are dissenters from orthodox Hinduism, and have thus
naturally incurred the hostility of the Brāhmans. Mr. Kitts remarks of them:4
“The Brāhmans hate the Mānbhaos, who have not only thrown off the
Brāhmanical yoke themselves, but do much to oppose the influence of
Brāhmans among the agriculturists. The Brāhmans represent them as
descended from one Krishna Bhat, a Brāhman who was outcasted for

keeping a beautiful Māng woman as his mistress. His four sons were called
the Māng-bhaos or Māng brothers.” This is an excellent instance of the
Brāhman talent for pressing etymology into their service as an argument, in
which respect they resemble the Jesuits. By asserting that the Mānbhaos are
descended from a Māng woman, one of the most despised castes, they
attempt to dispose of these enemies of a Brāhman hegemony without further
ado.

Another story about their wearing black or ashen-coloured clothes related by
Colonel Mackenzie is that Krishna Bhat’s followers, refusing to believe the
aspersions cast on their leader by the Brāhmans, but knowing that some one
among them had been guilty of the sin imputed to him, determined to decide
the matter by the ordeal of fire. Having made a fire, they cast into it their
own clothes and those of their guru, each man having previously written his
name on his garments. The sacred fire made short work of all the clothes
except those of Krishna Bhat, which it rejected and refused to burn, thereby
forcing the unwilling disciples to believe that the finger of God pointed to
their revered guru as the sinner. In spite of the shock of thus discovering that
their idol had feet of very human clay, they still continued to regard Krishna
Bhat’s precepts as good and worthy of being followed, only stipulating that
for all time Mānbhaos should wear clothes the colour of ashes, in memory of
the sacred fire which had disclosed to them their guru’s sin.

Captain Mackintosh also relates that “About A.D. 1780, a Brāhman named
Anand Rishi, an inhabitant of Paithan on the Godāvari, maltreated a
Mānbhao, who came to ask for alms at his door. This Mānbhao, after being
beaten, proceeded to his friends in the vicinity, and they collected a large
number of brethren and went to the Brāhman to demand satisfaction; Anand
Rishi assembled a number of Gosains and his friends, and pursued and
attacked the Mānbhaos, who fled and asked Ahalya Bai, Rāni of Indore, to
protect them; she endeavoured to pacify Anand Rishi by telling him that the
Mānbhaos were her gurus; he said that they were Māngs, but declared that if
they agreed to his proposals he would forgive them; one of them was that
they were not to go to a Brāhman’s house to ask for alms, and another that if
any Brāhman repeated Anand Rishi’s name and drew a line across the road
when a Mānbhao was advancing, the Mānbhao, without saying a word, must

return the road he came. Notwithstanding this attempt to prevent their
approaching a Brāhman’s house, they continue to ask alms of the Brāhmans,
and some Brāhmans make a point of supplying them with provisions.”

This story endeavours to explain a superstition still observed by the caste.
This is that when a Mānbhao is proceeding along a road, if any one draws a
line across the road with a stick in front of him the Mānbhao will wait
without passing the line until some one else comes up and crosses it before
him. In reality this is probably a primitive superstition similar to that which
makes a man stop when a snake has crossed the road in front of him and
efface its track before proceeding. It is said that the members of the order
also carry their sticks upside down, and a saying is repeated about them:

Mānbhao hokar kāle kapre dārhi mūchi mundhāta hai,
Ulti lakri hāth men pakri woh kya Sāhib milta hai;

or, “The Mānbhao wears black clothes, shaves his face and holds his stick
upside down, and thinks he will find God that way.”

This saying is attributed to Kabīr.

1 This article is compiled from notes on the caste drawn up by Colonel Mackenzie and contributed
to the Pioneer newspaper by Mrs. Horsburgh; Captain Mackintosh’s Account of the Manbhaos
(India Office Tracts); and a paper by Pyāre Lāl Misra, Ethnographic clerk.

2 Berār Census Report (1881), p. 62.
3 Dattātreya was a celebrated Sivite devotee who has been deified as an incarnation of Siva.

4 Berār Census Report (1881), p. 62.

Māng
List of Paragraphs

1. Origin and traditions
2. Subdivisions
3. Marriage
4. Widow marriage
5. Burial
6. Occupation
7. Religion and social status

1. Origin and traditions

Māng.1—A low impure caste of the Marātha Districts, who act as village
musicians and castrate bullocks, while their women serve as midwives. The
Māngs are also sometimes known as Vājantri or musician. They numbered
more than 90,000 persons in 1911, of whom 30,000 belonged to the Nāgpur
and Nerbudda Divisions of the Central Provinces, and 60,000 to Berār. The
real origin of the Māngs is obscure, but they probably originated from the
subject tribes and became a caste through the adoption of the menial services
which constitute their profession. In a Marātha book called the Shūdra
Kamlākar2, it is stated that the Māng was the offspring of the union of a
Vaideh man and an Ambashtha woman. A Vaideh was the illegitimate child
of a Vaishya father and a Brāhman mother, and an Ambashtha of a Brāhman
father and a Vaishya mother. The business of the Māng was to play on the
flute and to make known the wishes of the Rāja to his subjects by beat of
drum. He was to live in the forest or outside the village, and was not to enter
it except with the Rāja’s permission. He was to remove the dead bodies of

strangers, to hang criminals, and to take away and appropriate the clothes
and bedding of the dead. The Māngs themselves relate the following legend
of their origin as given by Mr. Sāthe: Long ago before cattle were used for
ploughing, there was so terrible a famine upon the earth that all the grain
was eaten up, and there was none left for seed. Mahādeo took pity on the
few men who were left alive, and gave them some grain for sowing. In those
days men used to drag the plough through the earth themselves. But when a
Kunbi, to whom Mahādeo had given some seed, went to try and sow it, he
and his family were so emaciated by hunger that they were unable, in spite
of their united efforts, to get the plough through the ground. In this pitiable
case the Kunbi besought Mahādeo to give him some further assistance, and
Mahādeo then appeared, and, bringing with him the bull Nandi, upon which
he rode, told the Kunbi to yoke it to the plough. This was done, and so long
as Mahādeo remained present, Nandi dragged the plough peaceably and
successfully. But as soon as the god disappeared, the bull became restive and
refused to work any longer. The Kunbi being helpless, again complained to
Mahādeo, when the god appeared, and in his wrath at the conduct of the bull,
great drops of perspiration stood upon his brow. One of these fell to the
ground, and immediately a coal-black man sprang up and stood ready to do
Mahādeo’s bidding. He was ordered to bring the bull to reason, and he went
and castrated it, after which it worked well and quietly; and since then the
Kunbis have always used bullocks for ploughing, and the descendants of the
man, who was the first Māng, are employed in the office for which he was
created. It is further related that Nandi, the bull, cursed the Māng in his pain,
saying that he and his descendants should never derive any profit from
ploughing with cattle. And the Māngs say that to this day none of them
prosper by taking to cultivation, and quote the following proverb: ‘Keli
kheti, Zhāli mati,’ or, ‘If a Māng sows grain he will only reap dust.’

2. Subdivisions

The caste is divided into the following subcastes: Dakhne, Khāndeshe and
Berārya, or those belonging to the Deccan, Khāndesh and Berār; Ghodke,

those who tend horses; Dafle, tom-tom players; Uchle, pickpockets; Pindāri,
descendants of the old freebooters; Kakarkādhe, stone-diggers; Holer, hide-
curers; and Garori. The Garoris3 are a sept of vagrant snake-charmers and
jugglers. Many are professional criminals.

Māng musicians with drums

3. Marriage

The caste is divided into exogamous family groups named after animals or
other objects, or of a titular nature. One or two have the names of other
castes. Members of the same group may not intermarry. Those who are well-
to-do marry their daughters very young for the sake of social estimation, but
there is no compulsion in this matter. In families which are particularly
friendly, Mr. Sāthe remarks, children may be betrothed before birth if the
two mothers are with child together. Betel is distributed, and a definite
contract is made, on the supposition that a boy and girl will be born.
Sometimes the abdomen of each woman is marked with red vermilion. A

grown-up girl should not be allowed to see her husband’s face before
marriage. The wedding is held at the bride’s house, but if it is more
convenient that it should be in the bridegroom’s village, a temporary house
is found for the bride’s party, and the marriage-shed is built in front of it. The
bride must wear a yellow bodice and cloth, yellow and red being generally
considered among Hindus as the auspicious colours for weddings. When she
leaves for her husband’s house she puts on another or going-away dress,
which should be as fine as the family can afford, and thereafter she may
wear any colour except white. The distinguishing marks of a married woman
are the mangal-sūtram or holy thread, which her husband ties on her neck at
marriage; the garsoli or string of black beads round the neck; the silver toe-
rings and glass bangles. If any one of these is lost, it must be replaced at
once, or she is likely soon to be a widow. The food served at the wedding-
feast consists of rice and pulse, but more essential than these is an ample
provision of liquor. It is a necessary feature of a Māng wedding that the
bridegroom should go to it riding on a horse. The Mahārs, another low caste
of the Marātha Districts, worship the horse, and between them and the
Māngs there exists a long-standing feud, so that they do not, if they can help
it, drink of the same well. The sight of a Māng riding on a horse is thus gall
and wormwood to the Mahārs, who consider it a terrible degradation to the
noble animal, and this fact inflaming their natural enmity, formerly led to
riots between the castes. Under native rule the Māngs were public
executioners, and it was said to be the proudest moment of Māng’s life when
he could perform his office on a Mahār.

The bride proceeds to her husband’s house for a short visit immediately after
the marriage, and then goes home again. Thereafter, till such time as she
finally goes to live with him, she makes brief visits for festivals or on other
social occasions, or to help her mother-in-law, if her assistance is required. If
the mother-in-law is ill and requires somebody to wait on her, or if she is a
shrew and wants some one to bully, or if she has strict ideas of discipline and
wishes personally to conduct the bride’s training for married life, she makes
the girl come more frequently and stay longer.

4. Widow marriage

The remarriage of widows is permitted, and a widow may marry any one
except persons of her own family group or her husband’s elder brother, who
stands to her in the light of a father. She is permitted, but not obliged, to
marry her husband’s younger brother, but if he has performed the dead man’s
obsequies, she may not marry him, as this act has placed him in the relation
of a son to her deceased husband. More usually the widow marries some one
in another village, because the remarriage is always held in some slight
disrepute, and she prefers to be at a distance from her first husband’s family.
Divorce is said to be permitted only for persistent misconduct on the part of
the wife.

5. Burial

The caste always bury the dead and observe mourning only for three days.
On returning from a burial they all get drunk, and then go to the house of the
deceased and chew the bitter leaves of the nīm tree (Melia indica). These
they then spit out of their mouths to indicate their complete severance from
the dead man.

6. Occupation

The caste beat drums at village festivals, and castrate cattle, and they also
make brooms and mats of date-palm and keep leeches for blood-letting.
Some of them are village watchmen and their women act as midwives. As
soon as a baby is born, the midwife blows into its mouth, ears and nose in
order to clear them of any impediments. When a man is initiated by a guru
or spiritual preceptor, the latter blows into his ear, and the Māngs therefore
say that on account of this act of the midwife they are the gurus of all
Hindus. During an eclipse the Māngs beg, because the demons Rāhu and
Ketu, who are believed to swallow the sun and moon on such occasions,
were both Māngs, and devout Hindus give alms to their fellow-castemen in
order to appease them. Those of them who are thieves are said not to steal
from the persons of a woman, a bangle-seller, a Lingāyat Māli or another
Māng.4 In Marātha villages they sometimes take the place of Chamārs, and
work in leather, and one writer says of them: “The Māng is a village menial
in the Marātha villages, making all leather ropes, thongs and whips, which
are used by the cultivators; he frequently acts as watchman; he is by
profession a thief and executioner; he readily hires himself as an assassin,
and when he commits a robbery he also frequently murders.” In his menial
capacity he receives presents at seed-time and harvest, and it is said that the
Kunbi will never send the Māng empty away, because he represents the
wrath of Mahādeo, being made from the god’s sweat when he was angry.

7. Religion and social status

The caste especially venerate the goddess Devi. They apparently identify
Devi with Sāraswati, the goddess of wisdom, and they have a story to the
effect that once Brahma wished to ravish his daughter Sāraswati. She fled
from him and went to all the gods, but none of them would protect her for
fear of Brahma. At last in despair she came to a Māng’s house, and the Māng
stood in the door and kept off Brahma with a wooden club. In return for this
Sāraswati blessed him and said that he and his descendants should never lack
for food. They also revere Mahādeo, and on every Monday they worship the
cow, placing vermilion on her forehead and washing her feet. The cat is

regarded as a sacred animal, and a Māng’s most solemn oath is sworn on a
cat. A house is defiled if a cat or a dog dies or a cat has kittens in it, and all
the earthen pots must be broken. If a man accidentally kills a cat or a dog a
heavy penance is exacted, and two feasts must be given to the caste. To kill
an ass or a monkey is a sin only less heinous. A man is also put out of caste
if kicked or beaten with a shoe by any one of another caste, even a Brāhman,
or if he is struck with the kathri or mattress made of rags which the villagers
put on their sleeping-cots. Mr. Gayer remarks5 that “The Māngs show great
respect for the bamboo; and at a marriage the bridal couple are made to stand
in a bamboo basket. They also reverence the nīm tree, and the Māngs of
Sholapur spread hariāli6 grass and nīm leaves on the spot where one of their
caste dies.” The social status of the Māngs is of the lowest. They usually live
in a separate quarter of the village and have a well for their own use. They
may not enter temples. It is recorded that under native rule the Mahārs and
Māngs were not allowed within the gates of Poona between 3 P.M. and 9
A.M., because before nine and after three their bodies cast too long a
shadow; and whenever their shadow fell upon a Brāhman it polluted him, so
that he dare not taste food or water until he had bathed and washed the
impurity away. So also no low-caste man was allowed to live in a walled
town; cattle and dogs could freely enter and remain but not the Mahār or
Māng.7 The caste will eat the flesh of pigs, rats, crocodiles and jackals and
the leavings of others, and some of them will eat beef. Men may be
distinguished by the senai flute which they carry and by a large ring of gold
or brass worn in the lobe of the ear. A Māng’s sign-manual is a
representation of his bhall-singāra or castration-knife. Women are tattooed
before marriage, with dots on the forehead, nose, cheeks and chin, and with
figures of a date-palm on the forearm, a scorpion on the palm of the hand,
and flies on the fingers. The caste do not bear a good character, and it is said
of a cruel man, ‘Māng-Nirdayi,’ or ‘Hardhearted as a Māng.’

1 This article is based partly on a paper by Mr. Achyut Sitārām Sāthe, Extra Assistant
Commissioner.

2 P. 389.
3 See also separate article Māng-Garori.

4 Berār Census Report (1881), p. 147.

5 Lectures on the Criminal Tribes of the Central Provinces, p. 79.
6 Cynodon dactylon.

7 Dr, Murray Mitchell’s Great Religions of India, p. 63.

Māng-Garori
Māng-Garori.—This is a criminal subdivision of the Māng caste, residing
principally in Berār. They were not separately recorded at the census. The
name Garori appears to be a corruption of Garūdi, and signifies a snake-
charmer.1 Garūda, the Brahminy kite, the bird on which Vishnu rides, was
the great subduer of snakes, and hence probably snake-charmers are called
Garūdi. Some of the Māng-Garoris are snake-charmers, and this may have
been the original occupation of the caste, though the bulk of them now
appear to live by dealing in cattle and thieving. The following notice of them
is abstracted from Major Gunthorpe’s Notes on Criminal Tribes.2 They
usually travel about with small pāls or tents, taking their wives, children,
buffaloes and dogs with them. The men are well set up and tall. Their
costume is something like that worn by professional gymnasts, consisting of
light and short reddish-brown drawers (chaddi), a waistband with fringe at
either end (katchhe), and a sheet thrown over the shoulders. The Nāik or
headman of the camp may be recognised by his wearing some red woollen
cloth about his person or a red shawl over his shoulders. The women have
short sāris (body-cloths), usually of blue, and tied in the Telugu fashion.
They are generally very violent when any attempt is made to search an
encampment, especially if there is stolen property concealed in it. Instances
have been known of their seizing their infants by the ankles and swinging
them round their heads, declaring they would continue doing so till the
children died, if the police did not leave the camp. Sometimes also the
women of a gang have been known to throw off all their clothing and appear
in a perfect state of nudity, declaring they would charge the police with
violating their modesty. Men of this tribe are expert cattle-lifters, but confine
themselves chiefly to buffaloes, which they steal while out grazing and very
dexterously disguise by trimming the horns and firing, so as to avoid
recognition by their rightful owners. To steal goats and sheep is also one of
their favourite occupations, and they will either carry the animals off from
their pens at night or kill them while out grazing, in the following manner:
having marked a sheep or goat which is feeding farthest away from the

flock, the thief awaits his opportunity till the shepherd’s back is turned, when
the animal is quickly captured. Placing his foot on the back of the neck near
the head, and seizing it under the chin with his right hand, the thief breaks
the animal’s neck by a sudden jerk; he then throws the body into a bush or in
some dip in the ground to hide it, and walks away, watching from a distance.
The shepherd, ignorant of the loss of one of his animals, goes on leisurely
driving his flock before him, and when he is well out of sight the Māng-
Garori removes the captured carcase to his encampment. Great care is taken
that the skin, horns and hoofs should be immediately burnt so as to avoid
detection. Their ostensible occupation is to trade in barren half-starved
buffaloes and buffalo calves, or in country ponies. They also purchase from
Gaoli herdsmen barren buffaloes, which they profess to be able to make
fertile; if successful they return them for double the purchase-money, but if
not, having obtained if possible some earnest-money, they abscond and sell
the animals at a distance.3 Like the Bhāmtas, the Māng-Garoris, Major
Gunthorpe states, make it a rule not to give a girl in marriage until the
intended husband has proved himself an efficient thief. Mr. Gayer4 writes as
follows of the caste: “I do not think Major Gunthorpe lays sufficient
emphasis on the part taken by the women in crimes, for they apparently do
by far the major part of the thieving, Sherring says the men never commit
house-breaking and very seldom rob on the highway: he calls them
‘wanderers, showmen, jugglers and conjurors,’ and describes them as
robbers who get their information by performing before the houses of rich
bankers and others. Māng-Gārori5 women steal in markets and other places
of public resort. They wait to see somebody put down his clothes or bag of
rupees and watch till his attention is attracted elsewhere, when, walking up
quietly between the article and its owner, they drop their petticoat either over
or by it, and manage to transfer the stolen property into their basket while
picking up the petticoat. If an unfavourable omen occurs on the way when
the women set out to pilfer they place a stone on the ground and dash
another on to it saying, ‘If the obstacle is removed, break’; if the stone struck
is broken, they consider that the obstacle portended by the unfavourable
omen is removed from their path, and proceed on their way; but if not, they
return. Stolen articles are often bartered at liquor-shops for drink, and the
Kalārs act as receivers of stolen property for the Māng-Gāroris.”

The following are some particulars taken from an old account of the criminal
Māngs;6 Their leader or headman was called the nāik and was elected by a
majority of votes, though considerable regard was paid to heredity. The
nāik’s person and property were alike inviolable; after a successful foray
each of the gang contributed a quarter of his share to the nāik, and from the
fund thus made up were defrayed the expenses of preparation, religious
offerings and the triumphal feast. A pair of shoes were usually given to a
Brāhman and alms to the poor. To each band was attached an informer, who
was also receiver of the stolen goods. These persons were usually bangle- or
perfume-sellers or jewellers. In this capacity they were admitted into the
women’s apartments and so enabled to form a correct notion of the
topography of a house and a shrewd guess as to the wealth of its inmates.
Like all barbarous tribes and all persons addicted to criminal practices the
Māngs were extremely superstitious. They never set out on an expedition on
a Friday. After the birth of a child the mother and another woman stood on
opposite sides of the cradle, and the former tossed her child to the other,
commending it to the mercy of Jai Gopāl, and waited to receive it back in
like manner in the name of Jai Govind. Both Gopāl and Govind are names of
Krishna, The Māngs usually married young in life. If a girl happened to hang
heavy on hand she was married at the age of puberty to the deity. In other
words, she was attached as a prostitute to the temple of the god Khandoba or
the goddess Yellama. Those belonging to the service of the latter were wont
in the month of February to parade the streets in a state of utter nudity. When
a bachelor wished to marry a widow he was first united to a swallow-wort
plant, and this was immediately dug up and transplanted, and withering
away left him at liberty to marry the widow. If a lady survived the sorrow
caused by the death of two or three husbands she could not again enter the
holy state unless she consented to be married with a fowl under her armpit;
the unfortunate bird being afterwards killed to appease the manes of her
former consorts.

1 From a note by Mr. Hīra Lāl.
2 Times Press, Bombay, 1882.

3 Kennedy, Criminal Classes of the Bombay Presidency, p. 122.

Lectures on some Criminal Tribes of India.

4 5 This passage is quoted by Mr. Gayer from the Supplement to the Central Provinces Police
Gazette of 24th January 1905.

6 Hutton’s Thugs, Dacoits and Gang-robbers of India (1857), pp. 164–168, quoting an account by
Captain Barr.

Manihār
Manihār.1—A small caste of pedlars and hawkers. In northern India the
Manihārs are makers of glass bangles, and correspond to the Kachera caste
of the Central Provinces. Mr. Nesfield remarks2 that the special industry of
the Manihārs of the United Provinces is the making of glass bangles or
bracelets. These are an indispensable adjunct to the domestic life of the
Hindu woman; for the glass bangle is not worn for personal ornament, but as
the badge of the matrimonial state, like the wedding-ring in Europe. But in
the Central Provinces glass bangles are made by the Kacheras and the
Muhammadan Turkāris or Sīsgars, and the Manihārs are petty hawkers of
stationery and articles for the toilet, such as miniature looking-glasses,
boxes, stockings, needles and thread, spangles, and imitation jewellery; and
Hindu Jogis and others who take to this occupation are accustomed to give
their caste as Manihār. In 1911 nearly 700 persons belonging to the caste
were returned from the northern Districts of the Central Provinces. The
Manihārs are nominally Muhammadans, but they retain many Hindu
customs. At their weddings they erect a marriage-tent, anoint the couple with
oil and turmeric and make them wear a kankan or wrist-band, to which is
attached a small purse containing a little mustard-seed and a silver ring. The
mustard is intended to scare away the evil spirits. When the marriage
procession reaches the bride’s village it is met by her people, one of whom
holds a bamboo in his hands and bars the advance of the procession. The
bridegroom’s father thereupon makes a present of a rupee to the village
panchāyat, and his people are allowed to proceed. When the bridegroom
reaches the bride’s house he finds her younger sister carrying a kalās or pot
of water on her head; he drops a rupee into it and enters the house. The
bride’s sister then comes holding above her head a small frame like a tāzia3
with a cocoanut core hanging inside. She raises the frame as high as she can
to prevent the bridegroom from plucking out the cocoanut core, which,
however, he succeeds in doing in the end. The girl applies powdered mehndi
or henna to the little finger of the boy’s right hand, in return for which she
receives a rupee and a piece of cloth. The Kāzi then recites verses from the

Korān which the bridegroom repeats after him, and the bride does the same
in her turn. This is the Nikāh or marriage proper, and before it takes place
the bridegroom’s father must present a nose-ring to the bride. The parents
also fix the Meher or dowry, which, however, is not a dowry proper, but a
stipulation that if the bridegroom should put away his wife after marriage he
will pay her a certain agreed sum. After the Nikāh the bridegroom is given
some spices, which he grinds on a slab with a roller. He must do the grinding
very slowly and gently so as to make no noise, or it is believed that the
married life of the couple will be broken by quarrels. A widow is permitted
to marry the younger brother of her deceased husband, but not his elder
brother. The caste bury their dead with the head to the north. The corpse is
first bathed and wrapped in a new white sheet, with another sheet over it,
and is then laid on a cot or in a janāza or coffin. While it is being carried to
the cemetery the bearers are changed every few steps, so that every man who
accompanies the funeral may carry the corpse for a short distance. When it is
lowered into the grave the sheet is taken off and given to a Fakīr or beggar.
When the body is covered with earth the priest reads the funeral verses at a
distance of forty steps from the grave. Feasts are given to the caste-fellows
on the third, tenth, twentieth and fortieth days after the death. The Manihārs
observe the Shabrāt festival by distributing to the caste-fellows halua or a
mixture of melted butter and flour. The Shabrāt is the middle night of the
month Shabān, and Muhammad declared that on this night God registers the
actions which every man will perform during the following year, and all
those who are fated to die and the children who are to be born. Like Hindu
widows the Manihār women break their bangles when their husband’s corpse
is removed to the burial-ground. The Manihārs eat flesh, but not beef or
pork; and they also abstain from alcoholic liquor. If a girl is seduced and
made pregnant before marriage either by a man of the caste or an outsider,
she remains in her father’s house until her child has been born, and may then
be married either to her paramour or any other man of the caste by the
simple repetition of the Nikāh or marriage verses, omitting all other
ceremonies. The Manihārs will admit into their community converted
Hindus belonging even to the lowest castes.

1 This article is based on papers by Rai Sāhib Nānakchand, B.A., Headmaster, Saugor High
School, and Munshi Pyāre Lāl Misra of the Gazetteer office.

2 Brief View, p. 30.

3 The tāzias are ornamental representations of the tomb of Hussain, which the Muhammadans
make at the Muharram festival.

Mannewār
Mannewār.1—A small tribe belonging to the south or Telugu-speaking
portion of the Chānda District, where they mustered about 1600 persons in
1911. The home of the tribe is the Hyderābād State, where it numbers 22,000
persons, and the Mannewārs are said to have once been dominant over a part
of that territory. The name is derived from a Telugu word mannem, meaning
forest, while wār is the plural termination in Telugu, Mannewār thus
signifying ‘the people of the forest.’ The tribe appear to be the inferior
branch of the Koya Gonds, and they are commonly called Mannewār Koyas
as opposed to the Koya Doras or the superior branch, Dora meaning ‘lord’ or
master. The Koya Doras thus correspond to the Rāj-Gonds of the north of the
Province and the Mannewār Koyas to the Dhur or ‘dust’ Gonds.2 The tribe is
divided into three exogamous groups: the Nalugu Velpulu worshipping four
gods, the Ayidu Velpulu worshipping five, and the Anu Velpulu six. A man
must marry a woman of one of the divisions worshipping a different number
of gods from his own, but the Mannewārs do not appear to know the names
of these gods, and consequently no veneration can be paid to them at
present, and they survive solely for the purpose of regulating marriage.
When a betrothal is made a day is fixed for taking an omen. In the early
morning the boy who is to be married has his face washed and turmeric
smeared on his feet, and is seated on a wooden seat inside the house. The
elders of the village then proceed outside it towards the rising sun and watch
for any omen given by an animal or bird crossing their path. If this is good
the marriage is celebrated, and if bad the match is broken off. In the former
case five of the elders take their food on returning from the search for the
omen and immediately proceed to the bride’s village. Here they are met by
the Pesāmuda or village priest, and stay for three days, when the amount of
the dowry is settled and a date fixed for the wedding. The marriage
ceremony resembles that of the low Telugu castes. The couple are seated on
a plough-yoke, and coloured rice is thrown on to their heads, and the
bridegroom ties the mangalya or bead necklace, which is the sign of
marriage, round the neck of the bride. If a girl is deformed, or has some

other drawback which prevents her from being sought in marriage, she is
given away with her sister to a first cousin3 or some other near relative, the
two sisters being married to him together. A widow may marry any man of
the tribe except her first husband’s brothers. If a man takes a widow to his
house without marrying her he is fined three rupees, while for adultery with
a married woman the penalty is twenty rupees. A divorce can always be
obtained, but if the husband demands it he is mulcted of twenty rupees by
the caste committee, while a wife who seeks a divorce must pay ten rupees.
The Mannewārs make an offering of a fowl and some liquor to the
ploughshare on the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi. After the picking of the
flowers of the mahua4 they worship that tree, offering to it some of the liquor
distilled from the new flowers, with a fowl and a goat. This is known as the
Burri festival. At the Holi feast the Mannewārs make two human figures to
represent Kāmi and Rati, or the god of love and his wife. The male figure is
then thrown on to the Holi fire with a live chicken or an egg. This may be a
reminiscence of a former human sacrifice, which was a common custom in
many parts of the world at the spring festival. The caste usually bury the
dead, but are beginning to adopt cremation. They do not employ Brāhmans
for their ceremonies and eat all kinds of food, including the flesh of pigs,
fowls and crocodiles, but in view of their having nominally adopted
Hinduism, they abstain from beef.

1 This article is based on a note furnished by Mr. M. Aziz, Officiating Nāib-Tahsīldār, Sironcha.
2 From a glossary published by Mr. Gupta, Assistant Director of Ethnology for India.

3 Generally the paternal aunt’s son.
4 Bassia latifolia.

Marātha
List of Paragraphs

1. Numerical statistics
2. Double meaning of the term Marātha
3. Origin and position of the caste
4. Exogamous clans
5. Other subdivisions
6. Social customs
7. Religion
8. Present position of the caste
9. Nature of the Marātha insurrection
10. Marātha women in past times
11. The Marātha horseman
12. Cavalry in the field
13. Military administration
14. Sitting Dharna
15. The infantry
16. Character of the Marātha armies

1. Numerical statistics

Marātha, Mahrātta.—The military caste of southern India which manned
the armies of Sivaji, and of the Peshwa and other princes of the Marātha
confederacy. In the Central Provinces the Marāthas numbered 34,000
persons in 1911, of whom Nāgpur contained 9000 and Wardha 8000, while
the remainder were distributed over Raipur, Hoshangābād and Nimār. In
Berār their strength was 60,000 persons, the total for the combined province

being thus 94,000. The caste is found in large numbers in Bombay and
Hyderābād, and in 1901 the India Census tables show a total of not less than
five million persons belonging to it.

2. Double meaning of the term Marātha

It is difficult to avoid confusion in the use of the term Marātha, which
signifies both an inhabitant of the area in which the Marāthi language is
spoken, and a member of the caste to which the general name has in view of
their historical importance been specifically applied. The native name for the
Marāthi-speaking country is Mahārāshtra, which has been variously
interpreted as ‘The great country’ or ‘The country of the Mahārs.’1 A third
explanation of the name is from the Rāshtrakūta dynasty which was
dominant in this area for some centuries after A.D. 750. The name
Rāshtrakūta was contracted into Rattha, and with the prefix of Mahā or
Great might evolve into the term Marātha. The Rāshtrakūtas have been
conjecturally identified with the Rāthor Rājpūts. The Nāsik Gazetteer2 states
that in 246 B.C. Mahāratta is mentioned as one of the places to which Asoka
sent an embassy, and Mahārashtraka is recorded in a Chālukyan inscription
of A.D. 580 as including three provinces and 99,000 villages. Several other
references are given in Sir J. Campbell’s erudite note, and the name is
therefore without doubt ancient. But the Marāthas as a people do not seem to
be mentioned before the thirteenth or fourteenth century.3 The antiquity of
the name would appear to militate against the derivation from the
Rāshtrakūta dynasty, which did not become prominent till much later, and
the most probable meaning of Mahārāshtra would therefore seem to be ‘The
country of the Mahārs.’ Mahāratta and Marātha are presumably derivatives
from Mahārāshtra.

3. Origin and position of the caste

The Marāthas are a caste formed from military service, and it seems
probable that they sprang mainly from the peasant population of Kunbis,
though at what period they were formed into a separate caste has not yet
been determined. Grant-Duff mentions several of their leading families as
holding offices under the Muhammadan rulers of Bījapur and Ahmadnagar
in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, as the Nimbhālkar, Ghārpure and
Bhonsla;4 and presumably their clansmen served in the armies of those
states. But whether or no the designation of Marātha had been previously
used by them, it first became prominent during the period of Sivaji’s guerilla
warfare against Aurāngzeb. The Marāthas claim a Rājpūt origin, and several
of their clans have the names of Rājpūt tribes, as Chauhān, Panwār, Solanki
and Suryavansi. In 1836 Mr. Enthoven states,5 the Sesodia Rāna of Udaipur,
the head of the purest Rājpūt house, was satisfied from inquiries conducted
by an agent that the Bhonslas and certain other families had a right to be
recognised as Rājpūts. Colonel Tod states that Sivaji was descended from a
Rājpūt prince Sujunsi, who was expelled from Mewār to avoid a dispute
about the succession about A.D. 1300. Sivaji is shown as 13th in descent
from Sujunsi. Similarly the Bhonslas of Nāgpur were said to derive their
origin from one Bunbir, who was expelled from Udaipur about 1541, having
attempted to usurp the kingdom.6 As Rājpūt dynasties ruled in the Deccan
for some centuries before the Muhammadan conquest, it seems reasonable to
suppose that a Rājpūt aristocracy may have taken root there. This was
Colonel Tod’s opinion, who wrote: “These kingdoms of the south as well as
the north were held by Rājpūt sovereigns, whose offspring, blending with
the original population, produced that mixed race of Marāthas inheriting
with the names the warlike propensities of their ancestors, but who assume
the names of their abodes as titles, as the Nimalkars, the Phalkias, the
Patunkars, instead of their tribes of Jādon, Tüār, Püār, etc.”7 This statement
would, however, apply only to the leading houses and not to the bulk of the
Marātha caste, who appear to be mainly derived from the Kunbis. In

Sholāpur the Marāthas and Kunbis eat together, and the Kunbis are said to
be bastard Marāthas.8 In Satāra the Kunbis have the same division into 96
clans as the Marāthas have, and many of the same surnames.9 The writer of
the Satara Gazetteer says:10 “The census of 1851 included the Marāthas
with the Kunbis, from whom they do not form a separate caste. Some
Marātha families may have a larger strain of northern or Rājpūt blood than
the Kunbis, but this is not always the case. The distinction between Kunbis
and Marāthas is almost entirely social, the Marāthas as a rule being better
off, and preferring even service as a constable or messenger to husbandry.”
Exactly the same state of affairs prevails in the Central Provinces and Berār,
where the body of the caste are commonly known as Marātha Kunbis. In
Bombay the Marāthas will take daughters from the Kunbis in marriage for
their sons, though they will not give their daughters in return. But a Kunbi
who has got on in the world and become wealthy may by sufficient payment
get his sons married into Marātha families, and even be adopted as a member
of the caste.11 In 1798 Colonel Tone, who commanded a regiment of the
Peshwa’s army, wrote12 of the Marāthas: “The three great tribes which
compose the Marātha caste are the Kunbi or farmer, the Dhangar or
shepherd, and the Goāla or cowherd; to this original cause may perhaps be
ascribed that great simplicity of manner which distinguishes the Marātha
people.”

Statue of Marātha leader, Bīmbāji Bhonsla, in armour

It seems then most probable that, as already stated, the Marātha caste was of
purely military origin, constituted from the various castes of Mahārāshtra
who adopted military service, though some of the leading families may have
had Rājpūts for their ancestors. Sir D. Ibbetson thought that a similar relation

existed in past times between the Rājpūts and Jāts, the landed aristocracy of
the Jāt caste being gradually admitted to Rājpūt rank. The Khandaits or
swordsmen of Orissa are a caste formed in the same manner from military
service. In the Imperial Gazetteer Sir H. Risley suggests that the Marātha
people were of Scythian origin:

“The physical type of the people of this region accords fairly well with this
theory, while the arguments derived from language and religion do not seem
to conflict with it.... On this view the wide-ranging forays of the Marāthas,
their guerilla methods of warfare, their unscrupulous dealings with friend
and foe, their genius for intrigue and their consequent failure to build up an
enduring dominion, might well be regarded as inherited from their Scythian
ancestors.”

4. Exogamous clans

In the Central Provinces the Marāthas are divided into 96 exogamous clans,
known as the Chhānava Kule, which marry with one another. During the
period when the Bhonsla family were rulers of Nāgpur they constituted a
sort of inner circle, consisting of seven of the leading clans, with whom
alone they intermarried; these are known as the Sātghare or Seven Houses,
and consist of the Bhonsla, Gūjar, Ahirrao, Mahādik, Sirke, Palke and Mohte
clans. These houses at one time formed an endogamous group, marrying
only among themselves, but recently the restriction has been relaxed, and
they have arranged marriages with other Marātha families. It may be noted
that the present representatives of the Bhonsla family are of the Gūjar clan to
which the last Rāja of Nāgpur, Raghūji III., belonged prior to his adoption.
Several of the clans, as already noted, have Rājpūt sept names; and some are
considered to be derived from those of former ruling dynasties; as Chālke,
from the Chālukya Rājpūt kings of the Deccan and Carnatic; More, who may
represent a branch of the great Maurya dynasty of northern India; Sālunke,
perhaps derived from the Solanki kings of Gujarāt; and Yādav, the name of
the kings of Deogiri or Daulatābād.13 Others appear to be named after

animals or natural objects, as Sinde from sindi the date-palm tree, Ghorpade
from ghorpad the iguana; or to be of a titular nature, as Kāle black, Pāndhre
white, Bhāgore a renegade, Jagthāp renowned, and so on. The More,
Nimbhālkar, Ghātge, Māne, Ghorpade, Dafle, Jādav and Bhonsla clans are
the oldest, and held prominent positions in the old Muhammadan kingdoms
of Bījapur and Ahmadnagar. The Nimbhālkar family were formerly Panwār
Rājpūts, and took the name of Nimbhālkar from their ancestral village
Nimbālik. The Ghorpade family are an offshoot of the Bhonslas, and
obtained their present name from the exploit of one of their ancestors, who
scaled a fort in the Konkan, previously deemed impregnable, by passing a
cord round the body of a ghorpad or iguana.14 A noticeable trait of these
Marātha houses is the fondness with which they clung to the small estates or
villages in the Deccan in which they had originally held the office of a patel
or village headman as a watan or hereditary right, even after they had carved
out for themselves principalities and states in other parts of India. The
present Bhonsla Rāja takes his title from the village of Deor in the Poona
country. In former times we read of the Rāja of Satāra clinging to the watans
he had inherited from Sivaji after he had lost his crown in all but the name;
Sindhia was always termed patel or village headman in the revenue accounts
of the villages he acquired in Nimār; while it is said that Holkar and the
Panwār of Dhār fought desperately after the British conquest to recover the
pateli rights of Deccan villages which had belonged to their ancestors.15

5. Other subdivisions

Besides the 96 clans there are now in the Central Provinces some local
subcastes who occupy a lower position and do not intermarry with the
Marāthas proper. Among these are the Deshkar or ‘Residents of the country’;
the Waindesha or those of Berār and Khāndesh; the Gangthade or those
dwelling on the banks of the Godāvari and Wainganga; and the Ghātmāthe
or residents of the Mahādeo plateau in Berār. It is also stated that the
Marāthas are divided into the Khāsi or ‘pure’ and the Kharchi or the
descendants of handmaids. In Bombay the latter are known as the

Akarmāshes or 11 māshas, meaning that as twelve māshas make a tola, a
twelfth part of them is alloy.

6. Social customs

A man must not marry in his own clan or that of his mother. A sister’s son
may be married to a brother’s daughter, but not vice versa. Girls are
commonly married between five and twelve years of age, and the ceremony
resembles that of the Kunbis. The bridegroom goes to the bride’s house
riding on horseback and covered with a black blanket When a girl first
becomes mature, usually after marriage, the Marathas perform the Shāntik
ceremony. The girl is secluded for four days, after which she is bathed and
puts on new clothes and dresses her hair and a feast is given to the caste-
fellows. Sometimes the bridegroom comes and is asked whether he has
visited his wife before she became mature, and if he confesses that he has
done so a small fine is imposed on him. Such cases are, however, believed to
be rare. The Marāthas proper forbid widow-marriage, but the lower groups
allow it. If a maiden is seduced by one of the caste she may be married to
him as if she were a widow, a fine being imposed on her family; but if she
goes wrong with an outsider she is finally expelled. Divorce is not ostensibly
allowed but may be concluded by agreement between the parties. A wife
who commits adultery is cast off and expelled from the caste. The caste burn
their dead when they can afford it and perform the shrāddh ceremony in the
month of Kunwār (September), when oblations are offered to the dead and a
feast is given to the caste-fellows. Sometimes a tomb is erected as a
memorial to the dead, but without his name, and is surmounted usually by an
image of Mahādeo. The caste eat the flesh of clean animals and of fowls and
wild pig, and drink liquor. Their rules about food are liberal like those of the
Rājpūts, a too great stringency being no doubt in both cases incompatible
with the exigencies of military service. They make no difference between
food cooked with or without water, and will accept either from a Brāhman,
Rājpūt, Tirole Kunbi, Lingāyat Bania or Phūlmāli.

The Marāthas proper observe the parda system with regard to their women,
and will go to the well and draw water themselves rather than permit their
wives to do so. The women wear ornaments only of gold or glass and not of
silver or any baser metal. They are not permitted to spin cotton as being an
occupation of the lower classes. The women are tattooed in the centre of the
forehead with a device resembling a trident. The men commonly wear a
turban made of many folds of cloth twisted into a narrow rope and large gold
rings with pearls in the upper part of the ear. Like the Rājpūts they often
have their hair long and wear beards and whiskers. They assume the sacred
thread and invest a boy with it when he is seven or eight years old or on his
marriage. Till then they let the hair grow on the front of his head, and when
the thread ceremony is performed they cut this off and let the choti or scalp-
lock grow at the back. In appearance the men are often tall and well-built
and of a light wheat-coloured complexion.

7. Religion

The principal deity of the Marāthas is Khandoba, a warrior incarnation of
Mahādeo. He is supposed to have been born in a field of millet near Poona
and to have led the people against the Muhammadans in early times. He had
a watch-dog who warned him of the approach of his enemies, and he is
named after the khanda or sword which he always carried. In Bombay16 he
is represented on horseback with two women, one of the Bania caste, his
wedded wife, in front of him, and another, a Dhangarin, his kept mistress,
behind. He is considered the tutelary deity of the Marātha country, and his
symbol is a bag of turmeric powder known as bhandār. The caste worship
Khandoba on Sundays with rice, flowers and incense, and also on the 21st
day of Māgh (January), which is called Champa Sashthi and is his special
festival. On this day they will catch hold of any dog, and after adorning him
with flowers and turmeric give him a good feed and let him go again. The
Marāthas are generally kind to dogs and will not injure them. At the Dasahra
festival the caste worship their horses and swords and go out into the field to
see a blue-jay in memory of the fact that the Marātha marauding expeditions

started on Dasahra. On coming back they distribute to each other leaves of
the shami tree (Bauhinia racemosa) as a substitute for gold. It was formerly
held to be fitting among the Hindus that the warrior should ride a horse
(geldings being unknown) and the zamīndār or landowner a mare, as more
suitable to a man of peace. The warriors celebrated their Dasahra, and
worshipped their horses on the tenth day of the light fortnight of Kunwār
(September), while the cultivators held their festival and worshipped their
mares on the ninth day. It is recorded that the great Rāghuji Bhonsla, the first
Rāja of Nāgpur, held his Dasahra on the ninth day, in order to proclaim the
fact that he was by family an agriculturist and only incidentally a man of
arms.17

8. Present position of the caste

The Marāthas present the somewhat melancholy spectacle of an
impoverished aristocratic class attempting to maintain some semblance of
their former position, though they no longer have the means to do so. They
flourished during two or three centuries of almost continuous war, and
became a wealthy and powerful caste, but they find a difficulty in turning
their hands to the arts of peace. Sir R. Craddock writes of them in Nāgpur:

“Among the Marāthas a large number represent connections of the Bhonsla
family, related by marriage or by illegitimate descent to that house. A
considerable proportion of the Government political pensioners are
Marāthas. Many of them own villages or hold tenant land, but as a rule they
are extravagant in their living; and several of the old Marātha nobility have
fallen very much in the world. Pensions diminish with each generation, but
the expenditure shows no corresponding decrease. The sons are brought up
to no employment and the daughters are married with lavish pomp and show.
The native army does not much attract them, and but few are educated well
enough for the dignified posts in the civil employ of Government. It is a
question whether their pride of race will give way before the necessity of
earning their livelihood soon enough for them to maintain or regain some of

their former position. Otherwise those with the largest landed estates may be
saved by the intervention of Government, but the rest must gradually
deteriorate till the dignities of their class have become a mere memory. The
humbler members of the caste find their employment as petty contractors or
traders, private servants, Government peons, sowārs and hangers-on in the
retinue of the more important families.

“What18 little display his means afford a Marātha still tries to maintain.
Though he may be clad in rags at home, he has a spare dress which he
himself washes and keeps with great care and puts on when he goes to pay a
visit. He will hire a boy to attend him with a lantern at night, or to take care
of his shoes when he goes to a friend’s house and hold them before him
when he comes out. Well-to-do Marāthas have usually in their service a
Brāhman clerk known as divānji or minister, who often takes advantage of
his master’s want of education to defraud him. A Marātha seldom rises early
or goes out in the morning. He will get up at seven or eight o’clock, a late
hour for a Hindu, and attend to business if he has any or simply idle about
chewing or smoking tobacco and talking till ten o’clock. He will then bathe
and dress in a freshly-washed cloth and bow before the family gods which
the priest has already worshipped. He will dine, chew betel and smoke
tobacco and enjoy a short midday rest. Rising at three, he will play cards,
dice or chess, and in the evening will go out walking or riding or pay a visit
to a friend. He will come back at eight or nine and go to bed at ten or eleven.
But Marāthas who have estates to manage lead regular, fairly busy lives.”

9. Nature of the Marātha insurrection

Sir D. Ibbetson drew attention to the fact that the rising of the Marāthas
against the Muhammadans was almost the only instance in Indian history of
what might correctly be called a really national movement. In other cases, as
that of the Sikhs, though the essential motive was perhaps of the same
nature, it was obscured by the fact that its ostensible tendency was religious.
The gurus of the Sikhs did not call on their followers to fight for their

country but for a new religion. This was only in accordance with the Hindu
intellect, to which the idea of nationality has hitherto been foreign, while its
protests against both alien and domestic tyrannies tend to take the shape of a
religious revolt. A similar tendency is observable even in the case of the
Marāthas, for the rising was from its inception largely engineered by the
Marātha Brāhmans, who on its success hastened to annex for themselves a
leading position in the new Poona state. And it has been recorded that in
calling his countrymen to arms, Sivaji did not ask them to defend their
hearths and homes or wives and children, but to rally for the protection of
the sacred persons of Brāhmans and cows.

10. Marātha women in past times

Although the Marāthas have now in imitation of the Rājpūts and
Muhammadans adopted the parda system, this is not a native custom, and
women have played quite an important part in their history. The women of
the household have also exercised a considerable influence and their
opinions are treated with respect by the men. Several instances occur in
which women of high rank have successfully acted as governors and
administrators. In the Bhonsla family the Princess Bāka Bāi, widow of
Raghūji II., is a conspicuous instance, while the famous or notorious Rāni of
Jhānsi is another case of a Marātha lady who led her troops in person, and
was called the best man on the native side in the Mutiny.

11. The Marātha horseman

This article may conclude with one or two extracts to give an idea of the way
in which the Marātha soldiery took the field. Grant Duff describes the
troopers as follows:

“The Marātha horsemen are commonly dressed in a pair of light breeches
covering the knee, a turban which many of them fasten by passing a fold of
it under the chin, a frock of quilted cotton, and a cloth round the waist, with
which they generally gird on their swords in preference to securing them
with their belts. The horseman is armed with a sword and shield; a
proportion in each body carry matchlocks, but the great national weapon is
the spear, in the use of which and the management of their horse they evince
both grace and dexterity. The spearmen have generally a sword, and
sometimes a shield; but the latter is unwieldy and only carried in case the
spear should be broken. The trained spearmen may always be known by
their riding very long, the ball of the toe touching the stirrup; some of the
matchlockmen and most of the Brāhmans ride very short and ungracefully.
The bridle consists of a single headstall of cotton-rope, with a small but very
severe flexible bit”

12. Cavalry in the field

The following account of the Marātha cavalry is given in General Hislop’s
Summary of the Marātha and Pindāri Campaigns of 1817–1819:

“The Marāthas possess extraordinary skill in horsemanship, and so intimate
an acquaintance with their horses, that they can make their animals do
anything, even in full speed, in halting, wheeling, etc.; they likewise use the
spear with remarkable dexterity, sometimes in full gallop, grasping their
spears short and quickly sticking the point in the ground; still holding the
handles, they turn their horse suddenly round it, thus performing on the point
of a spear as on a pivot the same circle round and round again. Their horses
likewise never leave the particular class or body to which they belong; so
that if the rider should be knocked off, away gallops the animal after its
fellows, never separating itself from the main body. Every Marātha brings
his own horse and his own arms with him to the field, and possibly in the
interest they possess in this private equipment we shall find their usual
shyness to expose themselves or even to make a bold vigorous attack. But if

armies or troops could be frightened by appearances these horses of the
Marāthas would dishearten the bravest, actually darkening the plains with
their numbers and clouding the horizon with dust for miles and miles
around. A little fighting, however, goes a great way with them, as with most
others of the native powers in India.”

On this account the Marāthas were called razāh-bazān or lance-wielders.
One Muhammadan historian says: “They so use the lance that no cavalry can
cope with them. Some 20,000 or 30,000 lances are held up against their
enemy so close together as not to leave a span between their heads. If
horsemen try to ride them down the points of the spears are levelled at the
assailants and they are unhorsed. While cavalry are charging them they
strike their lances against each other and the noise so frightens the horses of
the enemy that they turn round and bolt.”19 The battle-cries of the Marāthas
were, ‘Har, Har Mahādeo,’ and ‘Gopāl, Gopāl.’20

13. Military administration

An interesting description of the internal administration of the Marātha
cavalry is contained in the letter on the Marāthas by Colonel Tone already
quoted. But his account must refer to a period of declining efficiency and
cannot represent the military system at its best:

“In the great scale of rank and eminence which is one peculiar feature of
Hindu institutions the Marātha holds a very inferior situation, being just
removed one degree above those castes which are considered absolutely
unclean. He is happily free from the rigorous observances as regards food
which fetter the actions of the higher castes. He can eat of all kinds of food
with the exception of beef; can dress his meal at all times and seasons; can
partake of all victuals dressed by any caste superior to his own; washing and
praying are not indispensable in his order and may be practised or omitted at
pleasure. The three great tribes which compose the Marātha caste are the
Kunbi or farmer, the Dhangar or shepherd and the Goāla or cowherd; to this

original cause may perhaps be ascribed that great simplicity of manner
which distinguishes the Marātha people. Homer mentions princesses going
in person to the fountain to wash their household linen. I can affirm having
seen the daughters of a prince who was able to bring an army into the field
much larger than the whole Greek confederacy, making bread with their own
hands and otherwise employed in the ordinary business of domestic
housewifery. I have seen one of the most powerful chiefs of the Empire,
after a day of action, assisting in kindling a fire to keep himself warm during
the night, and sitting on the ground on a spread saddle-cloth dictating to his
secretaries.

“The chief military force of the Marāthas consists in their cavalry, which
may be divided into four distinct classes: First the Khāsi Pagah or household
forces of the prince; these are always a fine well-appointed body, the horses
excellent, being the property of the Sirkār, who gives a monthly allowance to
each trooper of the value of about eight rupees. The second class are the
cavalry furnished by the Sillādārs,21 who contract to supply a certain number
of horse on specified terms, generally about Rs. 35 a month, including the
trooper’s pay. The third and most numerous description are volunteers, who
join the camp bringing with them their own horse and accoutrements; their
pay is generally from Rs. 40 to Rs. 50 a month in proportion to the value of
their horse. There is a fourth kind of native cavalry called Pindāris, who are
mere marauders, serve without any pay and subsist but by plunder, a fourth
part of which they give to the Sirkār; but these are so very licentious a body
that they are not employed but in one or two of the Marātha services.

“The troops collected in this manner are under no discipline whatever and
engage for no specific period, but quit the army whenever they please; with
the exception of furnishing a picquet while in camp, they do no duty but in
the day of battle.

“The Marātha cavalry is always irregularly and badly paid; the household
troops scarcely ever receive money, but are furnished with a daily allowance
of coarse flour and some other ingredients from the bazār which just enable
them to exist. The Sillādār is very nearly as badly situated. In his
arrangements with the State he has allotted to him a certain proportion of

jungle where he pastures his cattle; here he and his family reside, and his
sole occupation when not on actual service is increasing his Pagah or troop
by breeding out of his mares, of which the Marātha cavalry almost entirely
consist. There are no people in the world who understand the method of
rearing and multiplying the breed of cattle equal to the Marāthas. It is by no
means uncommon for a Sillādār to enter a service with one mare and in a
few years be able to muster a very respectable Pagah. They have many
methods of rendering the animal prolific; they back their colts much earlier
than we do and they are consequently more valuable as they come sooner on
the effective strength.

“When called upon for actual service the Sillādār is obliged to give muster.
Upon this occasion it is always necessary that the Brāhman who takes it
should have a bribe; and indeed the Hāzri, as the muster is termed, is of such
a nature that it could not pass by any fair or honourable means. Not only any
despicable tattus are substituted in the place of horses but animals are
borrowed to fill up the complement. Heel-ropes and grain-bags are produced
as belonging to cattle supposed to be at grass; in short every mode is
practised to impose on the Sirkār, which in turn reimburses itself by irregular
and bad payments; for it is always considered if the Sillādārs receive six
months’ arrears out of the year that they are exceedingly well paid. The
Volunteers who join the camp are still worse situated, as they have no
collective force, and money is very seldom given in a Marātha State without
being extorted. In one word, the native cavalry are the worst-paid body of
troops in the world. But there is another grand error in this mode of raising
troops which is productive of the worst effects. Every man in a Marātha
camp is totally independent; he is the proprietor of the horse he rides, which
he is never inclined to risk, since without it he can get no service. This single
circumstance destroys all enterprise and spirit in the soldier, whose sole
business, instead of being desirous of distinguishing himself, is to keep out
of the way of danger; for notwithstanding every horseman on entering a
service has a certain value put upon his horse, yet should he lose it even in
action he never receives any compensation or at least none proportioned to
his loss. If at any time a Sillādār is disgusted with the service he can go away
without meeting any molestation even though in the face of an enemy. In
fact the pay is in general so shamefully irregular that a man is justified in

resorting to any measure, however apparently unbecoming, to attain it. It is
also another very curious circumstance attending this service that many great
Sillādārs have troops in the pay of two or three chiefs at the same time, who
are frequently at open war with each other.

14. Sitting Dharna

“To recover an arrear of pay there is but one known mode which is
universally adopted in all native services, the Mughal as well as the Marātha;
this is called Dharna,22 which consists in putting the debtor, be he who he
will, into a state of restraint or imprisonment, until satisfaction be given or
the money actually obtained. Any person in the Sirkār’s service has a right to
demand his pay of the Prince or his minister, and to sit in Dharna if it be not
given; nor will he meet with the least hindrance in doing so; for none would
obey an order that interfered with the Dharna, as it is a common cause; nor
does the soldier incur the slightest charge of mutiny for his conduct, or suffer
in the smallest manner in the opinion of his Chief, so universal is the custom.
The Dharna is sometimes carried to very violent lengths and may either be
executed on the Prince or his minister indifferently, with the same effect; as
the Chief always makes it a point of honour not to eat or drink while his
Diwān is in duress; sometimes the Dharna lasts for many days, during which
time the party upon whom it is exercised is not suffered to eat or drink or
wash or pray, or in short is not permitted to move from the spot where he
sits, which is frequently bare-headed in the sun, until the money or security
be given; so general is this mode of recovery that I suppose the Marātha
Chiefs may be said to be nearly one-half of their time in a state of Dharna.

15. The infantry

“In the various Marātha services there are very little more than a bare
majority who are Marāthas by caste, and very few instances occur of their
ever entering into the infantry at all. The sepoys in the pay of the different
princes are recruited in Hindustān, and principally of the Rājpūt and Pūrbia
caste; these are perhaps the finest race of men in the world for figure and
appearance; of lofty stature, strong, graceful and athletic; of acute feelings,
high military pride, quick, apprehensive, brave, prudent and economic; at the
same time it must be confessed they are impatient of discipline, and
naturally inclined to mutiny. They are mere soldiers of fortune and serve
only for their pay. There are also a great number of Musalmāns who serve in
the different Marātha armies, some of whom have very great commands.

16. Character of the Marātha armies

“The Marātha cavalry at times make very long and rapid marches, in which
they do not suffer themselves to be interrupted by the monsoon or any
violence of weather. In very pressing exigencies it is incredible the fatigue a
Marātha horseman will endure; frequently many days pass without his
enjoying one regular meal, but he depends entirely for subsistence on the
different corn-fields through which the army passes: a few heads of juāri,
which he chafes in his hands while on horseback, will serve him for the day;
his horse subsists on the same fare, and with the addition of opium, which
the Marāthas frequently administer to their cattle, is enabled to perform
incredible marches.”

The above analysis of the Marātha troops indicates that their real character
was that of freebooting cavalry, largely of the same type as, though no doubt
greatly superior in tone and discipline to the Pindāris. Like them they lived
by plundering the country. “The Marāthas,” Elphinstone remarked, “are
excellent foragers. Every morning at daybreak long lines of men on small
horses and ponies are seen issuing from their camps in all directions, who
return before night loaded with fodder for the cattle, with firewood torn
down from houses, and grain dug up from the pits where it had been

concealed by the villagers; while other detachments go to a distance for
some days and collect proportionately larger supplies of the same kind.”23
They could thus dispense with a commissariat, and being nearly all mounted
were able to make extraordinarily long marches, and consequently to carry
out effectively surprise attacks and when repulsed to escape injury in the
retreat. Even at Pānīpat where their largest regular force took the field under
Sadāsheo Rao Bhao, he had 70,000 regular and irregular cavalry and only
15,000 infantry, of whom 9000 were hired sepoys under a Muhammadan
leader. The Marāthas were at their best in attacking the slow-moving and
effeminate Mughal armies, while during their period of national ascendancy
under the Peshwa there was no strong military power in India which could
oppose their forays. When they were by the skill of their opponents at length
brought to a set battle, their fighting qualities usually proved to be distinctly
poor. At Pānīpat they lost the day by a sudden panic and flight after Ibrahīm
Khān Gārdi had obtained for them a decided advantage; while at Argaon and
Assaye their performances were contemptible. After the recovery from
Pānīpat and the rise of the independent Marātha states, the assistance of
European officers was invoked to discipline and train the soldiery.24

1 Sir H. Risley’s India Census Report (1901), Ethnographic Appendices, p. 93.
2 P. 48, footnote.

3 Nāsik Gazetteer, ibidem. Elphinstone’s History, p. 246.
4 The proper spelling is Bhosle, but Bhonsla is adopted in deference to established usage.

5 Bombay Census Report (1901), pp. 184–185.
6 Rājasthān, i. 269.

7 Ibidem, ii. 420.
8 Sholapur Gazetteer, p. 87.

9 Satāra Gazetteer, p. 64.
10 Ibidem, p. 75.

11 Bombay Census Report (1907), ibidem.
12 Letter on the Marāthas (India Office Tracts).

13 Satāra Gazetteer, p. 75.