The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, Volume 3

No special rites are observed during pregnancy, and the superstitions about women in this condition resemble those of the Hindus. [65] A pregnant woman must not go near a horse...

When they think a child has been overlooked they fetch a strip of leather from the Chamar's house, make it into a little bag, fill it with scrapings from a clean bit of leather,...

The priests of the Korkus are of two kinds--Parihars and Bhumkas. The Parihar may be any man who is visited with the divine afflatus or selected as a mouthpiece by the deity; th...

Matches are usually arranged on the initiative of the boy's father through a mutual friend who resides in the girl's village, and is known as the Mahalia or matchmaker. When the...

The most distinctive feature of a Gond marriage is that the procession usually starts from the bride's house and the wedding is held at that of the bridegroom, in contradistinct...

Marriage is regulated by exogamous groups, two of which, Watari from the Otari or brass-worker, and Dhankar from the Dhangar or shepherds, are named after other castes. Some are...

Korwa. [607]--A Kolarian tribe of the Chota Nagpur plateau. In 1911 about 34,000 Korwas were returned in the Central Provinces, the great bulk of whom belong to the Sarguja and...

Marriage is adult and a large price, varying from 12 to 20 head of cattle, was formerly demanded for the bride. This has now, however, been reduced in some localities to two or...

The Kol legend of origin is that Sing-Bonga or the Sun created a boy and a girl and put them together in a cave to people the world; but finding them to be too innocent to give...

The Kharia legend of origin resembles that of the Mundas, and tends to show that they are an elder branch of that tribe. They say that a child was born to a woman in the jungle,...

Mr. Wilson quotes [78] an account, written by Lieutenant Prendergast in 1820, in which he states that he had discovered a tribe of Gonds who were cannibals, but ate only their o...

Gondhali. [97]--A caste or order of wandering beggars and musicians found in the Maratha Districts of the Central Provinces and in Berar. The name is derived from the Marathi wo...

They have two subdivisions, the Bundhrajia and Makadia. The latter are so called because they eat monkeys and are looked down on by the others. They have only a few gots or sept...

"It is certainly not easy at the present day," Professor Oman states, [196] "for the western mind to enter into the spirit of the so-called Yoga philosophy; but the student of r...

They believe that the spirits of ancestors are reincarnated in children or in animals. Sometimes they make a mark with soot or vermilion on the body of a dead man, and if some s...

"The Hebrew conception of homosexual love to some extent affected Muhammadanism, and passed into Christianity. The notion that it is a form of sacrilege was here strengthened by...

Kasai, Kassab.--The caste of Muhammadan butchers, of whom about 4000 persons were returned from the Central Provinces and Berar in 1911. During the last decade the numbers of th...

The derivation of the word Gond is uncertain. It is the name given to the tribe by the Hindus or Muhammadans, as their own name for themselves is Koitur or Koi. General Cunningh...

The caste sometimes employ a Brahman for the marriage ceremony; but generally his services are limited to fixing an auspicious date, and the functions of a priest are undertaken...

Though in the cold regions of Central Asia the cheering and warming liquor had been held divine, in the hot plains of India the evil effects of alcohol were apparently soon real...

Gadba, Gadaba. [5]--A primitive tribe classified as Mundari or Kolarian on linguistic grounds. The word Gadba, Surgeon-Major Mitchell states, signifies a person who carries load...

The remarriage of widows is freely permitted. In Chanda if the widow is living with her father he receives Rs. 40 from the second husband, but if with her father-in-law no price...

The caste employ Brahmans for religious ceremonies, but their social position is low, and they rank with castes from whom a Brahman cannot take water. On the tenth day of Jeth (...

Girls are tattooed before marriage, usually at the age of four or five years, with dots on the left nostril and centre of the chin, and three dots in a line on the right shoulde...

The religion of the Kawars is entirely of an animistic character. They have a vague idea of a supreme deity whom they call Bhagwan and identify with the sun. They bow to him in...

Both men and women were formerly much tattooed among the Gonds, though the custom is now going out among men. Women are tattooed over a large part of the body, but not on the hi...

In former times the Gosains often became soldiers and entered the service of different military chiefs. The most famous of these fighting priests were the Naga Gosains of the Ja...

The Kaikaris eat flesh, including pork and fowls, but not beef. In Nimar the animals which they eat must have their throats cut by a Muhammadan with the proper formula, otherwis...

Among the Gonds proper there are two aristocratic subdivisions, the Raj-Gonds and Khatolas. According to Forsyth the Raj-Gonds are in many cases the descendants of alliances bet...

Julaha, Momin.--A low Muhammadan caste of weavers resident mainly in Saugor and Burhanpur. They numbered about 4000 persons in 1911. In Nagpur District the Muhammadan weavers ge...

Although of low caste the Kolhatis refrain from eating the flesh of the cow and other animals of the same tribe. The wild cat, mongoose, wild and tame pig and jackal are conside...

The caste worship the goddess Ramchandi, whose principal shrine is at Sarsara in Baud State. In order to establish a local Ramchandi, a handful of earth must be brought from her...

No detailed description of the Jats need be attempted here, but some information which has been obtained on their customs in this Province may be recorded. They entered the Hosh...

In the Central Provinces the Kirars have no regular subcastes. In Chhindwara a subdivision is in course of formation from the illegitimate offspring of male Kirars, who are know...

Jangam, Jangama.--A Sivite order of wandering religious mendicants. The Jangams are the priests or gurus of the Sivite sect of Lingayats. They numbered 3500 persons in the Centr...

As a rule, the tribe bury the dead, though the Hindu custom of cremation is coming into fashion among the well-to-do. Before the interment they carry the corpse seven times roun...

The Kohlis were the builders of the great tanks of the Bhandara District. The most important of these are Nawegaon with an area of five square miles and a circumference of seven...

Colonel Dalton notes that the Kols, like the Gonds, give names to their children after officers visiting the village when they are born. Thus Captain, Major, Doctor are common n...

Boys are invested with the sacred thread at the age of five, seven or nine years, and until that time they are considered to be Sudras and not members of the caste. From a hundr...

The possession of these attractions naturally gave the courtesan an advantage over ordinary women who lacked them, and her society was much sought after, as shown in the followi...

The Kayasths will take food cooked with water from Brahmans, and that cooked without water (pakki) from Rajputs and Banias. Some Hindustani Brahmans, as well as Khatris and cert...

[138] This article is compiled principally from a monograph by Munshi Kanhya Lal, Assistant Master, Raipur High School, and formerly of the Gazetteer Office; and also from paper...

The Bhadris are a class of Joshis who wander about and live by begging, telling fortunes and giving omens. They avert the evil influences of the planet Saturn and accept the gif...

From the above argument it seems legitimate to deduce that the Kayasths formerly occupied a lower position in Hindu society. The Brahmans were no doubt jealous of them and, as D...

The penalty for a serious offence involves three feasts. The first, known as the meal of impurity, consists of sweet wheaten cakes which are eaten by the elders on the bank of a...

Sir J. Campbell identified the Gujars with the Khazar tribe of Central Asia: [119] "What is known of the early history of the Gujaras in India points to their arrival during the...

The above argument renders it probable that the gipsies are derived from the Doms; and as Mr. Nesfield gives it as a common legend that they originated from the Kanjars, this is...

The occupation of the Khatik is of course horrible to Hindu ideas, and the social position of the caste is very low. In some localities they are considered impure, and high-cast...

This method of adjusting the solar and lunar years, though clumsy, is so far scientific that the solar and lunar years are made to agree without any artificial intercalation of...

Muhammadans however cannot eat the flesh of an animal unless its throat is cut and the blood allowed to flow before it dies. At the time of cutting the throat a sacred text or i...

He said, I will show you something; see if anywhere in your Waistbands there is a flint; if so, take it out and make fire. But the matches did not ignite. As they were doing thi...

"In these Khond sacrifices the Meriahs are represented by our authorities as victims offered to propitiate the Earth-Goddess. But from the treatment of the victims both before a...

It thus appears that the sacrifice of the divine animal which was the god of the tribe or clan, and the eating of its flesh and drinking of its blood together, was the only tang...

Ghosi. [30]--A caste of herdsmen belonging to northern India and found in the Central Provinces in Saugor and other Districts of the Jubbulpore and Nerbudda Divisions. In 1911 t...

Page Gadaria (Shepherd) 3 Gadba (Forest tribe) 9 Ganda (Weaver and labourer) 14 Gandhmali (Uriya village priests and temple servants) 17 Garpagari (Averter of hailstorms) 19 Gau...

According to their own traditions the Korkus like so many other early people were born from the soil. They state that Rawan, the demon king of Ceylon, observed that the Vindhyan...

[474] From bhuj, an arm, and jangh, a thigh. These are Hindi words, and the whole story is obviously a Brahmanical legend. Balrai seems a corruption of Balaram, the brother of K...