Part 15

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 word gondharne, to make a noise. In 1911 the Gondhalis numbered about 3000 persons in Berar and 500 in the Central Provinces, and they are also found in Bombay. The origin of the caste is obscure, but it appears to have been recruited in recent times from the offspring of Waghyas and Murlis or male and female children devoted to temples by their parents in fulfilment of a vow. Mr. Kitts states in the Berar Census Report [98] of 1881 that the Gondhalis are there attached either to the temple of Tukai at Tuljapur or the temple of Renuka at Mahur, and in consequence form two subcastes, the Kadamrai and Renurai, who do not intermarry. In the Central Provinces, however, besides these two there are a number of other subcastes, most of which bear the names of distinct castes, and obviously consist of members of that caste who became Gondhalis, or of their descendants. Thus among the names of subcastes reported are the Brahman, Maratha, Mane Kunbi, Khaire Kunbi, Teli, Mahar, Mang and Vidur Gondhalis, as well as others like the Deshkars, or those coming from the Deccan, the Gangapare, [99] or those from beyond the Ganges, and the Hijade or eunuchs. It is clear, therefore, that members of these castes becoming Gondhalis attempt to arrange their marriages with other converts from their own caste and to retain their relative social position. There is little doubt that all Gondhalis are theoretically meant to be equal, a principle which at their first foundation applies to nearly all sects and orders, but here as elsewhere the social feeling of caste has been too strong to permit of its retention. It may be doubted, however, whether in view of the small total numbers of the caste all these groups can be strictly endogamous. The Kunbi Gondhalis can take food from the ordinary Kunbis, but they rank below them, as being mendicants. The caste has also a number of exogamous groups or gotras, the names of which may be classified as titular or territorial. Instances of the former kind are Dokiphode or one who broke his head while begging, Sukt (thin, emaciated), Muke (dumb), Jabal (one with long hair like a Jogi), and Panchange (one who has five limbs). Girls are married as a rule before adolescence, and the ceremony resembles that of the Kunbis, but a special prayer is offered to the deity Renuka, and the boy is invested with a necklace of cowries by five married men of the caste. Till this has been done he is not considered to be a proper Gondhali. Celibacy is not a tenet of the order. The remarriage of widows is allowed, and the ceremony consists in the husband placing a string of small black glass beads round the woman's neck, while she holds out a pair of new shoes for him to put his feet into. The second wife often wears a small silver or golden image of the first wife round her neck, and worships it before she eats by touching it with food; she also asks its permission before going to sleep with her husband. The goddess Bhawani or Devi is especially revered by the caste, and they fast in her honour on Tuesdays and Fridays. They worship their musical instruments at Dasahra with an offering of a goat, and afterwards sing and dance for the whole night, this being their principal festival. They also observe the nine days' fasts in honour of Devi in Chait (March) and Kunwar (September) and sow the Jawaras or pots of wheat. The Gondhalis are mendicant musicians, and are engaged on the occasion of marriages among the higher castes to perform their gondhal or dance accompanied by music. Four men are needed for it, one being the dancer who is dressed in a long white robe with a necklace of cowries and bells on his ankles, while the other three stand behind him, two of them carrying drums and the third a sacred torch called dioti. The torch-bearer serves as a butt for the witticisms of the dancer. Their instruments are the chonka, an open drum carrying an iron string which is beaten with a small wooden pin, and two sambals or double drums of iron, wood or earth, one of which emits a dull and the other a sharp sound. The dance is performed in honour of the goddess Bhawani. They set up a wooden stool on the stage arranged for the performance, covered with a cloth on which wheat is spread, and over this is placed a brass vessel containing water and a cocoanut. This represents the goddess. After the performance the Gondhalis take away and eat the cocoanut and wheat; their regular fee for an engagement is Rs. 1-4, and the guests give them presents of a few pice (farthings). They are engaged for important ceremonies such as marriages, the Barsa or name-giving of a boy, and the Shantik or maturity of a girl, and also merely for entertainment; but in this case the stool and cocoanut representing the goddess are not set up. The following is a specimen of a Gondhali religious song:

Where I come from and who am I, This mystery none has solved; Father, mother, sister and brother, these are all illusions. I call them mine and am lost in my selfish concerns. Worldliness is the beginning of hell, man has wrapped himself in it without reason. Remember your guru, go to him and touch his feet. Put on the shield of mercy and compassion and take the sword of knowledge. God is in every human body.

The caste beg between dawn and noon, wearing a long white or red robe and a red turban folded from twisted strings of cloth like the Marathas. Their status is somewhat low, but they are usually simple and honest. Occasionally a man becomes a Gondhali in fulfilment of a vow without leaving his own caste; he will then be initiated by a member of the caste and given the necklace of cowries, and on every Tuesday he will wear this and beg from five persons in honour of the goddess Devi; while except for this observance he remains a member of his own caste and pursues his ordinary business.

Gopal

Gopal, Borekar.--Bibliography: Major Gunthorpe's Criminal Tribes; Mr. Kitt's Berar Census Report, 1881.

A small vagrant and criminal caste of Berar, where they numbered about 2000 persons in 1901. In the Central Provinces they were included among the Nats in 1901, but in 1891 a total of 681 were returned. Here they belong principally to the Nimar District, and Major Gunthorpe considers that they entered Berar from Nimar and Indore.

They are divided into five classes, the Marathi, Vir, Pangul, Pahalwan, or Kham, and Gujarati Gopals. The ostensible occupation of all the groups is the buying and selling of buffaloes. The word Gopal means a cowherd and is a name of Krishna. The Marathi Gopals rank higher than the rest, and all other classes will take food from them, while the Vir Gopals eat the flesh of dead cattle and are looked down upon by the others. The ostensible occupation of the Vir Gopals is that of making mats from the leaves of the date-palm tree. They build their huts of date-leaves outside a village and remain there for one or two years or more until the headman tells them to move on. The name Borekar is stated to have the meaning of mat-maker. The Pangul Gopals also make mats, but in addition to this they are mendicants, begging from off trees, and must be the same as the Harbola mendicants of the Central Provinces. The Pangul spreads a cloth below a tree and climbing it sits on some high branch in the early morning. Here he sings and chants the praises of charitable persons until somebody throws a small present on to the cloth. This he does only between cock-crow and sunrise and not after sunrise. Others walk through the streets, ejaculating dam! [100] dam! and begging from door to door. With the exception of shaving after a death they never cut the hair either of their head or face. Their principal deity is Dawal Malik, but they also worship Khandoba; and they bury the bodies of their dead. The corpse is carried to the grave in a jholi or wallet and is buried in a sitting posture. In order to discover whether a dead ancestor has been reborn in a child they have recourse to magic. A lamp is suspended from a thread, and the upper stone of the grinding-mill is placed standing upon the lower one. If either of them moves when the name of the dead ancestor is pronounced they consider that he has been reborn. One section of the Panguls has taken to agriculture, and these refuse to marry with the mendicants, though eating and drinking with them. The Pahalwan Gopals live in small tents and travel about, carrying their belongings on buffaloes. They are wrestlers and gymnasts, and belong mainly to Hyderabad. [101] The Kham Gopals are a similar group also belonging to Hyderabad; and are so named because they carry about a long pole (kham) on which they perform acrobatic feats. They also have thick canvas bags, striped blue and white, in which they carry their property. The Gujarati Gopals are lower than the other divisions, who will not take food from them. They are tumblers and do feats of strength and also perform on the tight-rope. All five groups, Major Gunthorpe states, are inveterate cattle-thieves; and have colonies of their people settled on the Indore and Hyderabad borders and between them along the foot of the Satpura Hills. Buffaloes or other animals which they steal are passed along from post to post and taken to foreign territory in an incredibly short space of time. A considerable proportion of them, however, have now taken to agriculture, and their proper traditional calling is to sell milk and butter, for which they keep buffaloes. Gopal is a name of Krishna, and they consider themselves to be descended from the herdsmen of Brindaban.

GOSAIN

List of Paragraphs

1. Names for the Gosains. 2. The ten orders. 3. Initiation. 4. Dress. 5. Methods of begging and greetings. 6. The Dandis. 7. The Rawanvansis. 8. Monasteries. 9. The fighting Gosains. 10. Burial. 11. Sexual indulgence. 12. Missionary work. 13. The Gosain caste.

1. Names for the Gosains.

Gosain, Gusain, Sanniasi, Dasnami. [102]--A name for the orders of religious mendicants of the Sivite sect, from which a caste has now developed. In 1911 the Gosains numbered a little over 40,000 persons in the Central Provinces and Berar, being distributed over all Districts. The name Gosain signifies either gao-swami, master of cows, or go-swami, master of the senses. Its significance sometimes varies. Thus in Bengal the heads of Bairagi or Vaishnava monasteries are called Gosain, and the priests of the Vishnuite Vallabhacharya sect are known as Gokulastha Gosain. But over most of India, as in the Central Provinces, Gosain appears to be a name applied to members of the Sivite orders. Sanniasi means one who abandons the desires of the world and the body. Properly every Brahman should become a Sanniasi in the fourth stage or ashram of his life, when after marrying and begetting a son to celebrate his funeral rites in the second stage, he should retire to the forest, become a hermit and conquer all the appetites and passions of the body in the third stage. Thereafter, when the process of mortification is complete he should beg his bread as a Sanniasi. But only those who enter the religious orders now become Sanniasis, and the name is therefore confined to them. Dasnami means the ten names, and refers to the ten orders in which the Gosains or Sivite anchorites are commonly classified. Sadhu is a generic term for a religious mendicant. The name Gosain is now more commonly applied to the married members of the caste, who pursue ordinary avocations, while the mendicants are known as Sadhu or Sanniasi.

2. The ten orders.

The Gosains consider their founder to have been Shankar Acharya, the great apostle of the revival of the worship of Siva in southern India, who lived between the eighth and tenth centuries. He had four disciples from whom the ten orders of Gosains are derived. These are commonly stated as follows:

1. Giri (peak or top of a hill). 2. Puri (a town). 3. Parbat (a mountain). 4. Sagar (the ocean). 5. Ban or Van (the forest). 6. Tirtha (a shrine of pilgrimage). 7. Bharthi (the goddess of speech). 8. Saraswati (the goddess of learning). 9. Aranya (forest). 10. Ashram (a hermitage).

The names may perhaps be held to refer to the different places in which the members of each order would pursue their austerities. The different orders have their headquarters at great shrines. The Saraswati, Bharthi and Puri orders are supposed to be attached to the monastery at Sringeri in Mysore; the Tirtha and Ashram to that at Dwarka in Gujarat; the Ban and Aranya to the Govardhan monastery at Puri; and the Giri, Parbat and Sagara to the shrine of Badrinath in the Himalayas.

Dandi is sometimes shown as one of the ten orders, but it seems to be the special designation of certain ascetics who carry a staff and may belong to either the Tirtha, Ashram, Bharthi or Saraswati groups. Another name for Gosain ascetics is Abdhut, or one who has separated himself from the world. The term Abdhut is sometimes specially applied to followers of the Maratha saint, Dattatreya, an incarnation of Siva.

The commonest orders in the Central Provinces are Giri, Puri and Bharthi, and the members frequently use the name of the order as their surname. Members of the Aranya, Sagara and Parbat orders are rarely met with at present.

3. Initiation.

A notice of the Gosains who have become an ordinary caste will be given later. Formerly only Brahmans or members of the twice-born castes could become Gosains, but now a man of any caste, as Kurmi, Kunbi or Mali, from whom a Brahman takes water, may be admitted. In some localities it is said that Gonds and Kols can now be made Gosains, and hence the social position of the Gosains has greatly fallen, and high-caste Hindus will not take water from them. It is supposed, however, that the Giri order is still recruited only from Brahmans.

At initiation the body of a neophyte is cleaned with the five products of the sacred cow, milk, curds, ghi, dung and urine. He drinks water in which the great toe of his guru has been dipped and eats the leavings of the latter's food, thus severing himself from his own caste. His sacred thread is taken off and broken, and it is sometimes burned and he eats the ashes. All the hair of his head is shaved, including the scalp-lock, which every secular Hindu wears. A mantra or text is then whispered or blown into his ear.

4. Dress.

The novice is dressed in a cloth coloured with geru or red ochre, such as the Gosains usually wear. It is probable that the red or pink colour is meant to symbolise blood and to signify that the Gosains allow the sacrifice of animals and the consumption of flesh, and on this account they are called Lal Padri or red priest, while Vishnuite mendicants, who dress in white, are called Sita Padri. He has a necklace or rosary of the seeds of the rudraksha tree, [103] sacred to Siva, consisting of 32 or 64 beads. These are like nuts with a rough indented shell. On his forehead he marks with bhabhut or ashes three horizontal lines to represent the trident of Siva, or sometimes the eye of the god. Others make only two lines with a dot above or below, and this sign is said to represent the phallic emblem. A crescent moon or a triangle may also be made. [104] The marks are often made in sandalwood, and the Gosains say that the original sandalwood grows on a tree in the Himalayas, which is guarded by a great snake so that nobody can approach it; but its scent is so strong that all the surrounding trees of the grove are scented with it and sandalwood is obtained from them. Those who worship Bhairon make a round mark with vermilion between the eyes, taking it from beneath the god's foot. A mendicant usually has a begging-bowl and a pair of tongs, which are useful for kindling a fire. Those who have visited Badrinath or one of the other Himalayan shrines have a ring of iron, brass or copper on the arm, often inscribed with the image of a deity. If they have been to the temple of Devi at Hinglaj in the Lasbela State of Beluchistan they have a necklace of little white stone beads called thumra; and one who has made a pilgrimage to Rameshwaram at the extreme southern point of India has a ring of conch-shell on the wrist. When he can obtain it a Gosain also carries a tiger- or panther-skin, which he wears over his shoulders and uses to sit and lie down on. Among the ancient Greeks it was the custom to sleep in a temple or its avenue either on the bare ground or on the skin of a sacred animal, in order to obtain visions or appearances of the god in a dream or to be cured of diseases. [105] Formerly the Gosains were accustomed to go about naked, and at the religious festivals they would go in procession naked to bathe in the river. At Amarnath in the Punjab they would throw themselves naked on the block of ice which represented Siva. [106] The Naga Gosains, so called because they were once accustomed to go naked into battle, were a famous fighting corps. Though they shave the head and scalp-lock on initiation the Gosains usually let the hair grow, and either have it hanging down in matted locks over the shoulders, which gives them a wild and unkempt appearance, or wind it on the top of the head into a coil often thickened with strips of sheep's wool. They say that they let the hair grow in imitation of the ancient forest ascetics, who could not but let it grow as they had no means to shave it, and also of the matted locks of the god Siva. Sometimes they let the hair grow during the whole period of a pilgrimage, and on arrival at the shrine of their destination shave it off and offer it to the god. Those who are initiated on the banks of the Nerbudda throw the hair cut from their head into the sacred river.

5. Methods of begging and greetings.

They have various rules about begging. Some will never turn back to receive alms. They may also make a rule only to accept the surplus of food cooked for the family, and to refuse any of special quality or cooked expressly for them. One Gosain, noticed by Mr. A. K. Smith, always begged hopping, and only from five houses; he took from them respectively two handfuls of flour, a pinch of salt, and sufficient quantities of vegetables, spices and butter for his meal, and then went hopping home. Those who are performing the perikrama or circuit of the Nerbudda from its source to its mouth and back, do not cut their hair or nails during the whole period of about three years. They may not enter the Nerbudda above their knees nor wash their vessels in it. After crossing any tributary river or stream in their path they may not re-cross this; and if they have forgotten or left any article behind, must abandon it unless they can persuade somebody to go back and fetch it for them. Some carry a gourd with a single string stretched on a stick, on which they twang some notes; others have a belt of sheep's hair hung with the bells of bullocks which they tie round the waist, so that the tinkling of the bells may announce their coming. A common begging cry is Alakh, which is said to mean 'apart,' and to refer to themselves as being apart or separated from the world. The beggar gives this cry and stands at the door of the house for half a minute, shaking his body about all the time. If no alms are brought in this time he moves on.

When an ordinary Hindu meets a Gosain he says 'Namu Narayan' or 'I go to Narayan,' and the Gosain answers 'Narayan.' Narayan is a name of Vishnu, and its use by the Gosains is curious. Those who have performed the circuit of the Nerbudda say 'Har Nerbudda,' and the person addressed answers 'Nerbudda Mai ki Jai' or 'Victory to Mother Nerbudda.'

6. The Dandis.

The Dandis are a special group of ascetics belonging to several of the ten orders. According to one account a novice who desires to become a Sanniasi must serve a period of probation for twelve years as a Dandi. Others say that only a Brahman can be a Dandi, while members of other castes may become Sanniasis, and a Brahman can only become one if he is without father, mother, wife or child. [107] The Dandi is so called because he has a dand or bamboo staff like the ancient Vedic students. He must always carry this and never lay it down, but when sleeping plant it in the ground. Sometimes a piece of red cloth is tied round the staff. The Dandi should live in the forest, and only come once a day to beg at a Brahman's house for a part of such food as the family may have cooked. He should not ask for food if any one else, even a dog, is waiting for it. He must not accept money, or touch fire or any metal. As a matter of fact these rules are disregarded, and the Dandi frequents towns and is accompanied by companions who will accept all kinds of alms on his behalf. [108] Dandis and Sanniasis do not worship idols, as they are themselves considered to have become part of the deity. They repeat the phrase 'Sevoham,' which signifies 'I am Siva.'

7. The Rawanvansis.

Another curious class of Gosains are the Rawanvansis, who go about in the character of Rawan, the demon king of Ceylon, as he was when he carried off Sita. The legend is that in order to do this, Rawan first sent his brother in the shape of a golden deer before Rama's palace. Sita saw it and said she must have the head of the deer, and sent Rama to kill it. So Rama pursued it to the forest, and from there Rawan cried out, imitating Rama's voice. Then Sita thought Rama was being attacked and told his brother Lachman to go to his help. But Lachman had been left in charge of her by Rama and refused to leave her, till Sita said he was hoping Rama would be killed, so that he might marry her. Then he drew a circle round her on the ground, and telling her not to step outside it until his return, went off. Then Rawan took the disguise of a beggar and came and begged for alms from Sita. She told him to come inside the magic circle and she would give him alms, but he refused. So finally Sita came outside the circle, and Rawan at once seized her and carried her off to Ceylon. The Rawanvansi Gosains wear rings of hair all up their arms and a rope of hair round the waist, and the hair of their head hanging down. It would appear that they are intended to represent some animal. They smear vermilion on the forehead, and beg only at twilight and never at any other time, whether they obtain food or not. In begging they will never move backwards, so that when they have passed a house they cannot take alms from it unless the householder brings the gift to them.

8. Monasteries.

Unmarried Sanniasis often reside in Maths or monasteries. The superior is called Mahant, and he appoints his successor by will from the members. The Mahant admits all those willing and qualified to enter the order. If the applicant is young the consent of the parents is usually obtained; and parents frequently vow to give a child to the order. Many convents have considerable areas of land attached to them, and also dependent institutions. The whole property of the convent and its dependencies seems to be at the absolute disposal of the Mahant, but he is bound to give food, raiment and lodging to the inmates, and he entertains all travellers belonging to the order. [109]

9. The fighting Gosains.