Part 40

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 certain classes of Banias, will take pakki food from Kayasths. Kayasths of different subcastes will sometimes also take it from each other. They will give the huqqa with the reed in to members of their own subcaste, and without the reed to any Kayasth. The caste eat the flesh of goats, sheep, fish, and birds. They were formerly somewhat notorious for drinking freely, but a great reform has been effected in this respect by the community itself through the agency of their caste conference, and many are now total abstainers.

15. Occupation.

The occupations of the Kayasths have been treated in discussing the origin of the caste. They set the greatest store by their profession of writing and say that the son of a Kayasth should be either literate or dead. The following is the definition of a Lekhak or writer, a term said to be used for the Kayasths in Puranic literature:

"In all courts of justice he who is acquainted with the languages of all countries and conversant with all the Shastras, who can arrange his letters in writing in even and parallel lines, who is possessed of presence of mind, who knows the art of how and what to speak in order to carry out an object in view, who is well versed in all the Shastras, who can express much thought in short and pithy sentences, who is apt to understand the mind of one when one begins to speak, who knows the different divisions of countries and of time, [462] who is not a slave to his passions, and who is faithful to the king deserves the name and rank of a Lekhak or writer." [463]

Kewat

1. General notice.

Kewat, Khewat, Kaibartta. [464]--A caste of fishermen, boatmen, grain-parchers, and cultivators, chiefly found in the Chhattisgarh Districts of Drug, Raipur, and Bilaspur. They numbered 170,000 persons in 1911. The Kewats or Kaibarttas, as they are called in Bengal, are the modern representatives of the Kaivartas, a caste mentioned in Hindu classical literature. Sir H. Risley explains the origin of the name as follows: [465] "Concerning the origin of the name Kaibartta there has been considerable difference of opinion. Some derive it from ka, water, and vartta, livelihood; but Lassen says that the use of ka in this sense is extremely unusual in early Sanskrit, and that the true derivation is Kivarta, a corruption of Kimvarta, meaning a person following a low or degrading occupation. This, he adds, would be in keeping with the pedigree assigned to the caste in Manu, where the Kaivarta, also known as Margava or Dasa, is said to have been begotten by a Nishada father and an Ayogavi mother, and to subsist by his labour in boats. On the other hand, the Brahma-Vaivarta Purana gives the Kaibartta a Kshatriya father and a Vaishya mother, a far more distinguished parentage; for the Ayogavi having been born from a Sudra father and a Vaishya mother is classed as pratiloma, begotten against the hair, or in the inverse order of the precedence of the castes." The Kewats are a mixed caste. Mr. Crooke says that they merge on one side into the Mallahs and on the other into the Binds. In the Central Provinces their two principal subdivisions are the Laria and Uriya, or the residents of the Chhattisgarh and Sambalpur plains respectively. The Larias are further split up into the Larias proper, the Kosbonwas, who grow kosa or tasar silk cocoons, and the Binjhwars and Dhuris (grain-parchers). The Binjhwars are a Hinduised group of the Baiga tribe, and in Bhandara they have become a separate Hindu caste, dropping the first letter of the name, and being known as Injhwar. The Binjhwar Kewats are a group of the same nature. The Dhuris are grain-parchers, and there is a separate Dhuri caste; but as grain-parching is also a traditional occupation of the Kewats, the Dhuris may be an offshoot from them. The Kewats are so closely connected with the Dhimars that it is difficult to make any distinction; in Chhattisgarh it is said that the Dhimars will not act as ferrymen, while the Kewats will not grow or sell singara or water-nut. The Dhimars worship their fishing-nets on the Akti day, which the Kewats will not do. Both the Kewats and Dhimars are almost certainly derived from the primitive tribes. The Kewats say that formerly the Hindus would not take water from them; but on one occasion during his exile Rama came to them and asked them to ferry him across a river; before doing so they washed his feet and drank the water, and since that time the Hindus have considered them pure and take water from their hands. This story has no doubt been invented to explain the fact that Brahmans will take water from the non-Aryan Kewats, the custom having in reality been adopted as a convenience on account of their employment as palanquin-bearers and indoor servants. But in Saugor, where they are not employed as servants, and also grow san-hemp, their position is distinctly lower and no high caste will take water from them.

2. Exogamous divisions and marriage.

The caste have also a number of exogamous groups, generally named after plants or animals, or bearing some nickname given to the reputed founder. Instances of the first class are Tuma, a gourd, Karsayal, a deer, Bhalwa, a bear, Ghughu, an owl, and so on. Members of such a sept abstain from injuring the animal after which the sept is named or eating its flesh; those of the Tuma sept worship a gourd with offerings of milk and a cocoanut at the Holi festival. Instances of titular names are Garhtod, one who destroyed a fort, Jhagarha quarrelsome, Dehri priest, Kala black, and so on. One sept is named Rawat, its founder having probably belonged to the grazier caste. Members of this sept must not visit the temple of Mahadeo at Rajim during the annual fair, but give no explanation of the prohibition. Others are the Ahira, also from the Ahir (herdsman) caste; the Rautele, which is the name of a subdivision of Kols and other tribes; and the Sonwani or 'gold water' sept, which is often found among the primitive tribes. In some localities these three have now developed into separate subcastes, marrying among themselves; and if any of their members become Kabirpanthis, the others refuse to eat and intermarry with them. The marriage of members of the same sept is prohibited, and also the union of first cousins. Girls are generally married under ten years of age, but if a suitable husband cannot be found for a daughter, the parents will make her over to any member of the caste who offers himself on condition that he bears the expenses of the marriage. In Sambalpur she is married to a flower. Sir H. Risley notes [466] the curious fact that in Bihar it is deemed less material that the bridegroom should be older than the bride than that he should be taller. "This point is of the first importance, and is ascertained by actual measurement. If the boy shorter than the girl, or if his height is exactly the same as hers, it is believed that the union of the two would bring ill-luck, and the match is at once broken off." The marriage is celebrated in the customary manner by walking round the sacred pole, after which the bridegroom marks the forehead of the bride seven times with vermilion, parts her hair with a comb, and then draws her cloth over her head. The last act signifies that the bride has become a married woman, as a girl never covers her head. In Bengal [467] a drop of blood is drawn from the fingers of the bride and bridegroom and mixed with rice, and each eats the rice containing the blood of the other. The anointing with vermilion is probably a substitute for this. Widow-remarriage and divorce are permitted. In Sambalpur a girl who is left a widow under ten years of age is remarried with full rites as a virgin.

3. Social customs.

The Kewats worship the ordinary Hindu deities and believe that a special goddess, Chaurasi Devi, dwells in their boats and keeps them from sinking. She is propitiated at the beginning of the rains and in times of flood, and an image of her is painted on their boats. They bury the dead, laying the corpse with the feet to the south, while some clothes, cotton, til and salt are placed in the grave, apparently as a provision for the dead man's soul. They worship their ancestors at intervals on a Monday or a Saturday with an offering of a fowl. As is usual in Chhattisgarh, their rules as to food are very lax, and they will eat both fowls and pork. Nevertheless Brahmans will take water at their hands and eat the rice and gram which they have parched. The caste consider fishing to have been their original occupation, and tell a story to the effect that their ancestors saved the deity in their boat on the occasion of the Deluge, and in return were given the power of catching three or four times as many fish as ordinary persons in the same space of time. Some of them parch gram and rice, and others act as coolies and banghy-bearers. [468] Kewats are usually in poor circumstances, but they boast that the town of Bilaspur is named after Bilasa Keotin, a woman of their caste. She was married, but was sought after by the king of the country, so she held out her cloth to the sun, calling on him to set it on fire, and was burnt alive, preserving her virtue. Her husband burnt himself with her, and the pair ascended to heaven.

KHAIRWAR

[Authorities: Colonel Dalton's Ethnology of Bengal; Sir H. Risley's Tribes and Castes of Bengal; Mr. Crooke's Tribes and Castes of the N.-W.P. and Oudh.]

List of Paragraphs

1. Historical notice of the tribe. 2. Its origin. 3. Tribal subdivisions. 4. Exogamous septs. 5. Marriage. 6. Disposal of the dead. 7. Religion. 8. Inheritance. 9. The Khairwas of Damoh.

1. Historical notice of the tribe.

Khairwar, Kharwar, Khaira, Khairwa. [469]--A primitive tribe of the Chota Nagpur plateau and Bihar. Nearly 20,000 Khairwars are now under the jurisdiction of the Central Provinces, of whom two-thirds belong to the recently acquired Sarguja State, and the remainder to the adjoining States and the Bilaspur District. A few hundred Khairwars or Khairwas are also returned from the Damoh District in the Bundelkhand country. Colonel Dalton considers the Khairwars to be closely connected with the Cheros. He relates that the Cheros, once dominant in Gorakhpur and Shahabad, were expelled from these tracts many centuries ago by the Gorkhas and other tribes, and came into Palamau. "It is said that the Palamau population then consisted of Kharwars, Gonds, Mars, Korwas, Parheyas and Kisans. Of these the Kharwars were the people of most consideration. The Cheros conciliated them and allowed them to remain in peaceful possession of the hill tracts bordering on Sarguja; all the Cheros of note who assisted in the expedition obtained military service grants of land, which they still retain. It is popularly asserted that at the commencement of the Chero rule in Palamau they numbered twelve thousand families and the Kharwars eighteen thousand, and if an individual of one or the other is asked to what tribe he belongs, he will say not that he is a Chero or a Kharwar, but that he belongs to the twelve thousand or the eighteen thousand, as the case may be. Intermarriages between Chero and Kharwar families have taken place. A relative of the Palamau Raja married a sister of Maninath Singh, Raja of Ramgarh, and this is among themselves an admission of identity of origin, as both claiming to be Rajputs they could not intermarry till it was proved to the satisfaction of the family priest that the parties belonged to the same class.... The Rajas of Ramgarh and Jashpur are members of this tribe, who have nearly succeeded in obliterating their Turanian traits by successive intermarriages with Aryan families. The Jashpur Raja is wedded to a lady of pure Rajput blood, and by liberal dowries has succeeded in obtaining a similar union for three of his daughters. It is a costly ambition, but there is no doubt that the liberal infusion of fresh blood greatly improves the Kharwar physique." [470] This passage demonstrates the existence of a close connection between the Cheros and Khairwars. Elsewhere Colonel Dalton connects the Santals with the Khairwars as follows: [471] "A wild goose coming from the great ocean alighted at Ahiri Pipri and there laid two eggs. From these two eggs a male and female were produced, who were the parents of the Santal race. From Ahiri Pipri our (Santal) ancestors migrated to Hara Dutti, and there they greatly increased and multiplied and were called Kharwar." This also affords some reason for supposing that the Khairwars are an offshoot of the Cheros and Santals. Mr. Crooke remarks, "That in Mirzapur the people themselves derive their name either from their occupation as makers of catechu (khair) or on account of their emigration from some place called Khairagarh, regarding which there is a great difference of opinion. If the Santal tradition is to be accepted, Khairagarh is the place of that name in the Hazaribagh District; but the Mirzapur tradition seems to point to some locality in the south or west, in which case Khairagarh may be identified with the most important of the Chhattisgarh Feudatory States, or with the pargana of that name in the Allahabad District." [472] According to their own traditions in Chota Nagpur, Sir H. Risley states that, [473] "The Kharwars declare their original seat to have been the fort of Rohtas, so called as having been the chosen abode of Rohitaswa, son of Harischandra, of the family of the Sun. From this ancient house they also claim descent, calling themselves Surajvansis, and wearing the Janeo or caste thread distinguishing the Rajputs. A less flattering tradition makes them out to be the offspring of a marriage between a Kshatriya man and a Bhar woman contracted in the days of King Ben, when distinctions of caste were abolished and men might marry whom they would." A somewhat similar story of themselves is told by the tribe in the Bamra State. Here they say that their original ancestors were the Sun and a daughter of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, who lived in the town of Sara. She was very beautiful and the Sun desired her, and began blowing into a conch-shell to express his passion. While the girl was gaping at the sight and sound, a drop of the spittle fell into her mouth and impregnated her. Subsequently a son was born from her arm and a daughter from her thigh, who were known as Bhujbalrai and Janghrai. [474] Bhujbalrai was given great strength by the Sun, and he fought with the people of the country, and became king of Rathgarh. But in consequence of this he and his family grew proud, and Lakshmi determined to test them whether they were worthy of the riches she had given them. So she came in the guise of a beggar to the door, but was driven away without alms. On this she cursed them, and said that their descendants, the Khairwars, should always be poor, and should eke out a scanty subsistence from the forests. And in consequence the Khairwars have ever since been engaged in boiling wood for catechu. Mr. Hira Lal identifies the Rathgarh of this story with the tract of Rath in the north of the Raigarh State and the town of Sara, where Lakshmi's daughter lived and her children were born, with Saria in Sarangarh.

2. Its origin.

On the information available as to the past history of the tribe it seems probable that the Khairwars may, as suggested by Sir H. Risley, be an offshoot from some other group. The most probable derivation of the name seems to be from the khair or catechu tree (Acacia catechu); and it may be supposed that it was the adoption as a calling of the making of catechu which led to their differentiation. Mr. Crooke derives their name either from the khair tree or a place called Khairagarh; but this latter name almost certainly means 'The fort of the khair trees.' The Khairwas or Khairwars of the Kaimur hills, who are identified by Colonel Dalton and in the India Census of 1901 with the Khairwars of Chota Nagpur, are certainly named after the tree; they are generally recognised as being Gonds who have taken to the business of boiling catechu, and are hence distinguished, being a little looked down upon by other Gonds. Mr. Crooke describes them in Mirzapur as "Admittedly a compound of various jungle tribes who have taken to this special occupation; while according to another account they are the offspring of the Saharias or Saonrs, with whom their sept names are said to be identical." He also identifies them with the Kathkaris of Bombay, whose name means 'makers of katha or prepared catechu.' The Khairwars of Chota Nagpur have everywhere a subdivision which makes catechu, this being known as Khairchura in the Central Provinces, Khairi in Bengal and Khairaha in the United Provinces. This group is looked down upon by the other Khairwars, who consider their occupation to be disreputable and do not marry with them. Possibly the preparation of catechu, like basket- and mat-making, is despised as being a profession practised by primitive dwellers in forests, and so those Khairwars who have become more civilised are now anxious to disclaim it. Sir H. Risley has several times pointed out the indeterminate nature of the constitution of the Chota Nagpur tribes, between several of whom intermarriage is common. And it seems certain that the tribes as we know them now must have been differentiated from one or more common stocks much in the same fashion as castes, though rather by the influence of local settlement than by differences of occupation, and at a much earlier date. And on the above facts it seems likely that the Khairwars of Chota Nagpur are an occupational offshoot of the Cheros and Santals, as those of the Kaimur hills are of the Gonds and Savars.

3. Tribal subdivisions.

Colonel Dalton states that the tribe had four subdivisions, Bhogta, Mahto, Rawat and Manjhi. Of these Mahto simply means a village headman, and is used as a title by many castes and tribes; Rawat is a term meaning chief, and is in common use as a title; and Manjhi too is a title, being specially applied to boatmen, and also means a village headman among the Santals. These divisions, too, afford some reason for considering the tribe to be a mixed group. Other occupational subtribes are recorded by Sir H. Risley, and are found in the Central Provinces, but these apparently have grown up since Colonel Dalton's time.

The most important group in Bengal are the Bhogtas, who are found, says Colonel Dalton, "In the hills of Palamau, skirting Sarguja, in Tori and Bhanwar Pahar of Chota Nagpur and other places. They have always had an indifferent reputation. The head of the clan in Palamau was a notorious freebooter, who, after having been outlawed and successfully evaded every attempt to capture him, obtained a jagir [475] on his surrendering and promising to keep the peace. He kept to his engagement and died in fair repute, but his two sons could not resist the opportunity afforded by the disturbances of 1857-58. After giving much trouble they were captured; one was hanged, the other transported for life and the estate was confiscated." Mr. Crooke notes that the Khairwars since adopting Hinduism performed human sacrifices to Kali. Some of our people who fell into their hands during the Mutiny were so dealt with. [476]

In the Central Provinces there is a group known as Surajvansi or Descendants of the Sun, or Janeodhari, 'Those who wear the sacred thread.' This is the aristocratic division of the caste, to which the chiefs and zamindars belong, and according to the usual practice they have consolidated their higher position by marrying only among themselves. Other groups are the Dualbandhi, who say that they are so called because they make a livelihood by building the earthen diwals or walls for houses and yards; but in Mirzapur they derive the name from dual, a leather belt which is supposed to have been the uniform of their forefathers when serving as soldiers. [477] The Patbandhi or silk-makers, according to their own story, are thus named because their ancestors were once very rich and wore silk; but a more probable hypothesis is that they were rearers of tasar silk cocoons. The Beldar or Matkora work as navvies, and are also known as Kawarvansi or 'Descendants of the Kawars,' another tribe of the locality; and last come the Khairchura, who take their name from the khair tree and are catechu-makers.

4. Exogamous septs.

The tribe have a large number of exogamous groups named after plants and animals. Members of the mouse, tortoise, parrot, pig, monkey, vulture, banyan tree and date-palm septs worship their totem animal or tree, and when they find the dead body of the animal they throw away an earthen cooking-pot to purify themselves, as is done when a member of the family dies. Those of the Dhan (rice), Non (salt), Dila (plough) and Dhenki (rice pounding-lever) septs cannot dispense with the use of these objects, but make a preliminary obeisance before employing them. Those of the Kansi sept sprinkle water mixed with kans [478] grass over the bride and bridegroom at the marriage ceremony, and those of the Chandan or sandalwood sept apply sandal-paste to their foreheads. They cannot clearly explain the meaning of these observances, but some of them have a vague idea that they are descended from the totem object.

5. Marriage.

Marriage is either infant or adult, and in the latter case a girl is not disposed of without her consent. A bride-price varying from five to ten rupees is paid, and in the case of a girl given to a widower the amount is doubled. The Hindu ceremonial has been adopted for the wedding, and an auspicious day is fixed by a Brahman. In Bengal Sir H. Risley notes that "Remnants of non-Aryan usage may be discerned in the marriage ceremony itself. Both parties must first go through the form of marriage to a mango tree or at least a branch of the tree; and must exchange blood mixed with sindur, though in the final and binding act sindur alone is smeared by the bridegroom upon the bride's forehead and the parting of her hair." As has been pointed out by Mr. Crooke, the custom of smearing vermilion on the bride's forehead is a substitute for an earlier anointing with blood; just as the original idea underlying the offering of a cocoanut was that of substitution for a human head. In some cases blood alone is still used. Thus Sir H. Risley notes that among the Birhors the marriage rite is performed by drawing blood from the little fingers of the bride and bridegroom and smearing it on each of them. [479] The blood-covenant by which a bride was admitted to her husband's sept by being smeared with his blood is believed to have been a common rite among primitive tribes.

6. Disposal of the dead.