Chapter 38

_Brahman, Sanadhya, Sanaurhia._--The Sanadhyas are considered in the Central Provinces to be a branch of the Kanaujia division. Their home is in the Ganges-Jumna Doab and Rohilkhand, between the Gaur Brahmans to the north-west and the Kanaujias to the east. Mr. Crooke states that in some localities the Sanadhyas intermarry with both the Kanaujia and Gaur divisions. But formerly both Kanaujias and Gaurs practised hypergamy with the Sanadhyas, taking daughters from them in marriage but not giving their daughters to them. [434] This fact indicates the inferiority of the Sanadhya group, but marriage is now becoming reciprocal. In Bengal the Sanadhyas account for their inferiority to the other Kanaujias by saying that their ancestors on one occasion at the bidding of a Raja partook of a sacrificial feast with all their clothes on, instead of only their loin-cloths according to the rule among Brahmans, and were hence degraded. The Sanadhyas themselves have two divisions, the _Sarhe-tin ghar_ and _Dasghar_, or Three-and-a-half houses and Ten houses, of whom the former are superior, and practise hypergamy with the latter. Further, it is said that the Three-and-a-half group were once made to intermarry with the degraded Kataha or Maha-Brahmans, who are funeral priests. [435] This further indicates the inferior status of the Sanadhyas. The Sanaurhia criminal caste of pickpockets are supposed to be made up of a nucleus of Sanadhya Brahmans with recruits from all other castes, but this is not certain. In the Central Provinces a number of Sanadhyas took to carrying grain and merchandise on pack-bullocks, and are hence known as Belwar. They form a separate subcaste, ranking below the other Sanadhyas and marrying among themselves. Mr. Crooke notes that at their weddings the Sanadhyas worship a potter's wheel. Some make an image of it on the wall of the house, while others go to the potter's house and worship his wheel there. In the Central Provinces after the wedding they get a bed newly made with _newar_ tape and seat the bride and bridegroom on it, and put a large plate at their feet, in which presents are placed. The Sanadhyas differ from the Kanaujias in that they smoke tobacco but do not eat meat, while the Kanaujias eat meat but do not smoke. They greet each other with the word Dandawat, adding Maharaj to an equal or superior.

Brahman, Sarwaria

_Brahman, Sarwaria._--This is the highest class of the Kanaujia Bramans, who take their name from the river Sarju or Gogra in Oudh, where they have their home. They observe strict rules of ceremonial purity, and do not smoke tobacco nor plough with their own hands. An orthodox Sarwaria Braman will not give his daughter in marriage in a village from which his family has received a girl, and sometimes will not even drink the water of that village. The Sarwarias make widows dress in white and sometimes shave their heads. In some tracts they intermarry with the Kanaujia Brahmans, and in others take daughters in marriage but do not give their own daughters to them. In Dr. Buchanan's time, a century ago, the Sarwaria Brahmans would not eat rice sold in the bazar which had been cleaned in boiling water, as they considered that it had thereby become food cooked with water; and they carried their own grain to the grain-parcher to be prepared for them. When they ate either parched grain or sweetmeats from a confectioner in public they must purify the place on which they sat down with cowdung and water. [436] This may be compared with a practice observed by very strict Brahmans even now, of adding water to the medicine which they obtain from a Government dispensary, to purify it before drinking it.

Brahman, Utkal

_Brahman, Utkal._--These are the Brahmans of Orissa and one of the Panch-Gaur divisions. They are divided into two groups, the Dakshinatya or southern and the Jajpuria or northern clan. The Utkal Brahmans, who first settled in Sambalpur, are known as Jharia or jungly, and form a separate subcaste, marrying among themselves, as the later immigrants refuse to intermarry with them. Another group of Orissa Brahmans have taken to cultivation, and are known as Halia, from _hal_, a plough. They grow the betel-vine, and in Orissa the areca and cocoanuts, besides doing ordinary cultivation. They have entirely lost their sacerdotal character, but glory in their occupation, and affect to despise the Bed or Veda Brahmans, who live upon alms. [437] A third class of Orissa Brahmans are the Pandas, who serve as priests and cooks in the public temples and also in private houses, and travel about India touting for pilgrims to visit the temple at Jagannath. Dr. Bhattacharya describes the procedure of the temple-touts as follows: [438]

"Their tours are so organised that during their campaigning season, which commences in November and is finished by the car-festival at the beginning of the rains, very few villages of the adjoining Provinces escape their visits and taxation. Their appearance causes a disturbance in every household. Those who have already visited 'The Lord of the World' at Puri are called upon to pay an instalment towards the debt contracted by them while at the sacred shrine, which, though paid many times over, is never completely satisfied. That, however, is a small matter compared with the misery and distraction caused by the 'Jagannath mania,' which is excited by the preachings and pictures of the Panda. A fresh batch of old ladies become determined to visit the shrine, and neither the waitings and protestations of the children nor the prospect of a long and toilsome journey can dissuade them. The arrangements of the family are for the time being altogether upset, and the grief of those left behind is heightened by the fact that they look upon the pilgrims as going to meet almost certain death...."

This vivid statement of the objections to the habit of pilgrimage from a Brahman writer is very interesting. Since the opening of the railway to Puri the danger and expense as well as the period of absence have been greatly reduced; but the pilgrimages are still responsible for a large mortality, as cholera frequently breaks out among the vast assembly at the temple, and the pilgrims, hastily returning to all parts of India, carry the disease with them, and cause epidemics in many localities. All castes now eat the rice cooked at the temple of Jagannath together without defilement, and friendships are cemented by eating a little of this rice together as a sacred bond.

Chadar

_Chadar, [439] Kotwar._--A small caste of weavers and village watchmen resident in the Districts of Saugor, Damoh, Jubbulpore and Narsinghpur. They numbered 28,000 persons in 1911. The caste is not found outside the northern Districts of the Central Provinces. The name is derived from the Sanskrit _chirkar_, a weaver, and belongs to Bundelkhand, but beyond this the Chadars have no knowledge or traditions of their origin. They are probably an occupational group formed from members of the Dravidian tribes and others who took to the profession of village watchmen. A number of other occupational castes of low status are found in the northern Districts, and their existence is probably to be accounted for by the fact that the forest tribes were subjected and their tribal organisation destroyed by the invading Bundelas and other Hindus some centuries ago. They were deprived of the land and relegated to the performance of menial and servile duties in the village, and they have formed a new set of divisions into castes arising from the occupations they adopted. The Chadars have two subcastes based on differences of religious practice, the Parmesuria or worshippers of Vishnu, and Athia or devotees of Devi. It is doubtful, however, whether these are strictly endogamous. They have a large number of exogamous septs or _bainks_, which are named after all sorts of animals, plants and natural objects. Instances of these names are Dhana (a leaf of the rice plant), Kasia (bell-metal), Gohia (a kind of lizard), Bachhulia (a calf), Gujaria (a milkmaid), Moria (a peacock), Laraiya (a jackal), Khatkira (a bug), Sugaria (a pig), Barraiya (a wasp), Neora (a mongoose), Bhartu Chiraiya (a sparrow), and so on. Thirty-nine names in all are reported. Members of each sept draw the figure of the animal or plant after which it is named on the wall at marriages and worship it. They usually refuse to kill the totem animal, and the members of the Sugaria or pig sept throw away their earthen vessels if a pig should be killed in their sight, and clean their houses as if on the death of a member of the family. Marriage between members of the same sept is forbidden and also between first cousins and other near relations. The Chadars say that the marriages of persons nearly related by blood are unhappy, and occasion serious consequences to the parties and their families. Girls are usually wedded in the fifth, seventh, ninth, or eleventh year of their age and boys between the ages of eight and sixteen. If an unmarried girl is seduced by a member of the caste she is married to him by the simple form adopted for the wedding of a widow. But if she goes wrong with an outsider of low caste she is permanently expelled. The remarriage of widows is permitted and divorce is also allowed, a deed being executed on stamped paper before the _panchayat_ or caste committee. If a woman runs away from her husband to another man he must repay to the husband the amount expended on her wedding and give a feast to the caste. A Brahman is employed to fix the date of a wedding and sometimes for the naming of children, but he is only consulted and is never present at the ceremony. The caste venerate the goddess Devi, offering her a virgin she-goat in the month of Asarh (June-July). They worship their weaving implements at the Diwali and Holi festivals, and feed the crows in Kunwar (September-October) as representing the spirits of their ancestors. This custom is based on the superstition that a crow does not die of old age or disease, but only when it is killed. To cure a patient of fever they tie a blue thread, irregularly knotted, round his wrist. They believe that thunder-bolts are the arrows shot by Indra to kill his enemies in the lower world, and that the rainbow is Indra's bow; any one pointing at it will feel pain in his finger. The dead are mourned for ten days, and during that time a burning lamp is placed on the ground at some distance from the house, while on the tenth day a tooth-stick and water and food are set out for the soul of the dead. They will not throw the first teeth of a child on to a tiled roof, because they believe that if this is done his next teeth will be wide and ugly like the tiles. But it is a common practice to throw the first teeth on to the thatched roof of the house. The Chadars will admit members of most castes of good standing into the community, and they eat flesh, including pork and fowls, and drink liquor, and will take cooked food from most of the good castes and from Kalars, Khangars and Kumhars. The social status of the caste is very low, but they rank above the impure castes and are of cleanly habits, bathing daily and cleaning their kitchens before taking food. They are employed as village watchmen and as farmservants and field-labourers, and also weave coarse country cloth.

Chamar

List of Paragraphs

1. _General notice of the caste._ 2. _Endogamous divisions._ 3. _Subcastes continued._ 4. _Exogamous divisions._ 5. _Marriage._ 6. _Widow-marriage and divorce._ 7. _Funeral customs._ 8. _Childbirth._ 9. _Religion._ 10. _Occupation._ 11. _The tanning process._ 12. _Shoes._ 13. _Other articles made of leather._ 14. _Customs connected with shoes._ 15. _The Chamar as general village drudge._ 16. _Social status._ 17. _Character._

1. General notice of the caste.

_Chamar, Chambhar._ [440]--The caste of tanners and menial labourers of northern India. In the Central Provinces the Chamars numbered about 900,000 persons in 1911. They are the third caste in the Province in numerical strength, being exceeded by the Gonds and Kunbis. About 600,000 persons, or two-thirds of the total strength of the caste in the Province, belong to the Chhattisgarh Division and adjacent Feudatory States. Here the Chamars have to some extent emancipated themselves from their servile status and have become cultivators, and occasionally even malguzars or landed proprietors; and between them and the Hindus a bitter and long-standing feud is in progress. Outside Chhattisgarh the Chamars are found in most of the Hindi-speaking Districts whose population has been recruited from northern and central India, and here they are perhaps the most debased class of the community, consigned to the lowest of menial tasks, and their spirit broken by generations of servitude. In the Maratha country the place of the Chamars is taken by the Mehras or Mahars. In the whole of India the Chamars are about eleven millions strong, and are the largest caste with the exception of the Brahmans. The name is derived from the Sanskrit Charmakara, a worker in leather; and, according to classical tradition, the Chamar is the offspring of a Chandal or sweeper woman by a man of the fisher caste. [441] The superior physical type of the Chamar has been noticed in several localities. Thus in the Kanara District of Bombay [442] the Chamar women are said to be famed for their beauty of face and figure, and there it is stated that the Padminis or perfect type of women, middle-sized with fine features, black lustrous hair and eyes, full breasts and slim waists, [443] are all Chamarins. Sir D. Ibbetson writes [444] that their women are celebrated for beauty, and loss of caste is often attributed to too great a partiality for a Chamarin. In Chhattisgarh the Chamars are generally of fine stature and fair complexion; some of them are lighter in colour than the Chhattisgarhi Brahmans, and it is on record that a European officer mistook a Chamar for a Eurasian and addressed him in English. This, however, is by no means universally the case, and Sir H. Risley considers [445] that "The average Chamar is hardly distinguishable in point of features, stature or complexion from the members of those non-Aryan races from whose ranks we should primarily expect the profession of leather-dressers to be recruited." Again, Sir Henry Elliot, writing of the Chamars of the North-Western Provinces, says: "Chamars are reputed to be a dark race, and a fair Chamar is said to be as rare an object as a black Brahman:

Karia Brahman, gor Chamar, Inke sath na utariye par,

that is, 'Do not cross a river in the same boat with a black Brahman or a fair Chamar,' both being of evil omen." The latter description would certainly apply to the Chamars of the Central Provinces outside the Chhattisgarh Districts, but hardly to the caste as a whole within that area. No satisfactory explanation has been offered of this distinction of appearance of some groups of Chamars. It is possible that the Chamars of certain localities may be the descendants of a race from the north-west, conquered and enslaved by a later wave of immigrants; or that their physical development may owe something to adult marriage and a flesh diet, even though consisting largely of carrion. It may be noticed that the sweepers, who eat the broken food from the tables of the Europeans and wealthy natives, are sometimes stronger and better built than the average Hindu. Similarly, the Kasais or Muhammadan butchers are proverbially strong and lusty. But no evidence is forthcoming in support of such conjectures, and the problem is likely to remain insoluble.

"The Chamars," Sir H. Risley states, [446] "trace their own pedigree to Ravi or Rai Das, the famous disciple of Ramanand at the end of the fourteenth century, and whenever a Chamar is asked what he is, he replies a Ravi Das. Another tradition current among them alleges that their original ancestor was the youngest of four Brahman brethren who went to bathe in a river and found a cow struggling in a quicksand. They sent the youngest brother in to rescue the animal, but before he could get to the spot it had been drowned. He was compelled, therefore, by his brothers to remove the carcase, and after he had done this they turned him out of their caste and gave him the name of Chamar." Other legends are related by Mr. Crooke in his article on the caste.

2. Endogamous divisions.

The Chamars are broken up into a number of endogamous subcastes. Of these the largest now consists of the members of the Satnami sect in Chhattisgarh, who do not intermarry with other Chamars. They are described in the article on that sect. The other Chamars call the Satnamis Jharia or 'jungly', which implies that they are the oldest residents in Chhattisgarh. The Satnamis are all cultivators, and have given up working in leather. The Chungias (from _chungi_, a leaf-pipe) are a branch of the Satnamis who have taken to smoking, a practice which is forbidden by the rules of the sect. In Chhattisgarh those Chamars who still cure hides and work in leather belong either to the Kanaujia or Ahirwar subcastes, the former of whom take their name from the well-known classical town of Kanauj in northern India, while the latter are said to be the descendants of unions between Chamar fathers and Ahir mothers. The Kanaujias are much addicted to drink, and though they eat pork they do not rear pigs. The Ahirwars, or Erwars as they are called outside Chhattisgarh, occupy a somewhat higher position than the Kanaujias. They consider themselves to be the direct descendants of the prophet Raidas or Rohidas, who, they say, had seven wives of different castes; one of them was an Ahir woman, and her offspring were the ancestors of the Ahirwar subcaste. Both the Kanaujias and Ahirwars of Chhattisgarh are generally known to outsiders as Paikaha, a term which indicates that they still follow their ancestral calling of curing hides, as opposed to the Satnamis, who have generally eschewed it. Those Chamars who are curriers have, as a rule, the right to receive the hides of the village cattle in return for removing the carcases, each family of Chamars having allotted to them a certain number of tenants whose dead cattle they take, while their women are the hereditary midwives of the village. Such Chamars have the designation of Meher. The Kanaujias make shoes out of a single piece of leather, while the Ahirwars cut the front separately. The latter also ornament their shoes with fancy work consisting of patterns of silver thread on red cloth. No Ahirwar girl is married until she has shown herself proficient in this kind of needlework. [447] Another well-known group, found both in Chhattisgarh and elsewhere, are the Jaiswaras, who take their name from the old town of Jais in the United Provinces. Many of them serve as grooms, and are accustomed to state their caste as Jaiswara, considering it a more respectable designation than Chamar. The Jaiswaras must carry burdens on their heads only and not on their shoulders, and they must not tie up a dog with a halter or neck-rope, this article being venerated by them as an implement of their calling. A breach of either of these rules entails temporary excommunication from caste and a fine for readmission. Among a number of territorial groups may be mentioned the Bundelkhandi or immigrants from Bundelkhand; the Bhadoria from the Bhadawar State; the Antarvedi from Antarved or the Doab, the country lying between the Ganges and Jumna; the Gangapari or those from the north of the Ganges; and the Pardeshi (foreigners) and Desha or Deswar (belonging to the country), both of which groups come from Hindustan. The Deswar Chamars of Narsinghpur [448] are now all agriculturists and have totally abjured the business of working in leather. The Mahobia and Khaijraha take their names from the towns of Mahoba and Khaijra in Central India. The Ladse or Ladvi come from south Gujarat, which in classical times was known as Lat; while the Maratha, Beraria and Dakhini subdivisions belong to southern India. There are a number of other territorial groups of less importance.

3. Subcastes continued.

Certain subcastes are of an occupational nature, and among these may be mentioned the Budalgirs of Chhindwara, who derive their name from the _budla_, or leather bag made for the transport and storage of oil and _ghi_. The _budla_, Mr. Trench remarks, [449] has been ousted by the kerosene oil tin, and the industry of the Budalgirs has consequently almost disappeared; but the _budlas_ are still used by barbers to hold oil for the torches which they carry in wedding processions. The Daijanya subcaste are so named because their women act as midwives (_dai_), but this business is by no means confined to one particular group, being undertaken generally by Chamar women. The Kataua or Katwa are leather-cutters, the name being derived from _katna_, to cut. And the Gobardhua (from _gobar_, cowdung) collect the droppings of cattle on the threshing-floors and wash out and eat the undigested grain. The Mochis or shoemakers and Jingars [450] or saddlemakers and bookbinders have obtained a better position than the ordinary Chamars, and have now practically become separate castes; while, on the other hand, the Dohar subcaste of Narsinghpur have sunk to the very lowest stage of casual labour, grass-cutting and the like, and are looked down on by the rest of the caste. [451] The Korchamars are said to be the descendants of alliances between Chamars and Koris or weavers, and the Turkanyas probably have Turk or Musalman blood in their veins. In Berar the Romya or Haralya subcaste claim the highest rank and say that their ancestor Harlya was the primeval Chamar who stripped off a piece of his own skin to make a pair of shoes for Mahadeo. [452] The Mangya [453] Chamars of Chanda and the Nona Chamars of Damoh are groups of beggars, who are the lowest of the caste and will take food from the hands of any other Chamar. The Nona group take their name from Nona or Lona Chamarin, a well-known witch about whom Mr. Crooke relates the following story: [454] "Her legend tells how Dhanwantari, the physician of the gods, was bitten by Takshaka, the king of the snakes, and knowing that death approached he ordered his sons to cook and eat his body after his death, so that they might thereby inherit his skill in medicine. They accordingly cooked his body in a cauldron, and were about to eat it when Takshaka appeared to them in the form of a Brahman and warned them against this act of cannibalism. So they let the cauldron float down the Ganges, and as it floated down, Lona the Chamarin, who was washing on the bank of the river, took the vessel out in ignorance of its contents, and partook of the ghastly food. She at once obtained power to cure diseases, and especially snake-bite. One day all the women were transplanting rice, and it was found that Lona could do as much work as all her companions put together. So they watched her, and when she thought she was alone she stripped off her clothes (nudity being an essential element in magic), muttered some spells, and threw the plants into the air, when they all settled down in their proper places. Finding she was observed, she tried to escape, and as she ran the earth opened, and all the water of the rice-fields followed her and thus was formed the channel of the Loni River in the Unao District." This Lona or Nona has obtained the position of a nursery bogey, and throughout Hindustan, Sir H. Risley states, parents frighten naughty children by telling them that Nona Chamarin will carry them off. The Chamars say that she was the mother or grandmother of the prophet Ravi Das, or Rai Das already referred to.

4. Exogamous divisions.