Chapter 1

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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 Lal 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

Kumhar (Potter) 3 Kunbi (Cultivator) 16 Kunjra (Greengrocer) 50 Kuramwar (Shepherd) 52 Kurmi (Cultivator) 55 Lakhera (Worker in lac) 104 Lodhi (Landowner and cultivator) 112 Lohar (Blacksmith) 120 Lorha (Growers of san-hemp) 126 Mahar (Weaver and labourer) 129 Mahli (Forest tribe) 146 Majhwar (Forest tribe) 149 Mal (Forest tribe) 153 Mala (Cotton-weaver and labourer) 156 Mali (Gardener and vegetable-grower) 159 Mallah (Boatman and fisherman) 171 Mana (Forest tribe, cultivator) 172 Manbhao (Religious mendicant) 176 Mang (Labourer and village musician) 184 Mang-Garori (Criminal caste) 189 Manihar (Pedlar) 193 Mannewar (Forest tribe) 195 Maratha (Soldier, cultivator and service) 198 Mehtar (Sweeper and scavenge) 215 Meo (Tribe) 233 Mina or Deswali (Non-Aryan tribe, cultivator) 235 Mirasi (Bard and genealogist) 242 Mochi (Shoemaker) 244 Mowar (Cultivator) 250 Murha (Digger and navvy) 252 Nagasia (Forest tribe) 257 Nahal (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 Paik (Soldier, cultivator) 321 Panka (Labourer and village watchman) 324 Panwar Rajput (Landowner and cultivator) 330 Pardhan (Minstrel and priest) 352 Pardhi (Hunter and fowler) 359 Parja (Forest tribe) 371 Pasi (Toddy-drawer and labourer) 380 Patwa (Maker of silk braid and thread) 385 Pindari (Freebooter) 388 Prabhu (Writer and clerk) 399 Raghuvansi (Cultivator) 403 Rajjhar (Agricultural labourer) 405 Rajput (Soldier and landowner) 410 Rajput Clans

Baghel. Bagri. Bais. Baksaria. Banaphar. Bhadauria. Bisen. Bundela. Chandel. Chauhan. Dhakar. Gaharwar. Gaur. Haihaya. Huna. Kachhwaha. Nagvansi. Nikumbh. Paik. Parihar. Rathor. Sesodia. Solankhi. Somvansi. Surajvansi. Tomara. Yadu.

Rajwar (Forest tribe) 470 Ramosi (Village watchmen and labourers, formerly thieves) 472 Rangrez (Dyer) 477 Rautia (Forest tribe and cultivators, formerly soldiers) 479 Sanaurhia (Criminal thieving caste) 483 Sansia (Vagrant criminal tribe) 488 Sansia (Uria) (Mason and digger) 496 Savar (Forest tribe) 500 Sonjhara (Gold-washer) 509 Sudh (Cultivator) 514 Sunar (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 Waghya (Religious mendicant) 603 Yerukala (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 Hindustani 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. Mang musicians with drums 186 115. Statue of Maratha leader, Bimbaji 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 Pardhans 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 Kali 574 127. Waghya mendicants 604

PRONUNCIATION

a has the sound of u in _but_ or _murmur_. a 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_. i 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_. u has the sound of oo in _poor_ or _boot_

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

KUMHAR--YEMKALA

VOL. IV

Kumhar

List of Paragraphs

1. _Traditions of origin_. 2. _Caste subdivisions_. 3. _Social Customs_. 4. _The Kumhar 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

_Kumhar, Kumbhar_.--The caste of potters, the name being derived from the Sanskrit _kumbh_, a water-pot. The Kumhars numbered nearly 120,000 persons in the Central Provinces in 1911 and were most numerous in the northern and eastern or Hindustani-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 Vaivartta Purana says that the Kumbhakar or maker of water-jars (_kumbka_), is born of a Vaishya woman by a Brahman father; the Parasara Samhita makes the father a Malakar (gardener) and the mother a Chamar; while the Parasara Padhati holds that the ancestor of the caste was begotten of a Tili woman by a Pattikar or weaver of silk cloth." Sir Monier Williams again, in his Sanskrit Dictionary, describes them as the offspring of a Kshatriya woman by a Brahman. 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 Brahman writers, and also the position given to the Kumhar 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 Brahmanical type: "In the Kritayuga, when Maheshwar (Siva) intended to marry the daughter of Hemvanta, the Devas and Asuras [2] assembled at Kailas (Heaven). Then a question arose as to who should furnish the vessels required for the ceremony, and one Kulalaka, a Brahman, was ordered to make them. Then Kulalaka 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 Mandara was fixed as a pivot beneath it to hold it up. The scraper was Adi Kurma the tortoise, and a rain-cloud was used for the water-tub. So Kulalaka made the pots and gave them to Maheshwar for his marriage, and ever since his descendants have been known as Kumbhakar or maker of water-jars."

2. Caste sub-divisions

The Kumhars 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 Malwi from Malwa, the Telenga from the Telugu country in Hyderabad, the Pardeshi from northern India and the Maratha from the Maratha Districts. Other divisions are the Lingayats who belong to the sect of this name, the Gadhewal 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 Hathgarhia [3] mould vessels with their hands only without using the wheel; the Goria [4] 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 Kumhars who use the wheel (_chak_) in localities where other Kumhars 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 Chanda 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 Brahman usually officiates, but in Betul it is performed by the Sawasa 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 Kumhars 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 Lingayat Kumhars 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 Deothan Igaras. The village Brahman serves as their priest. In Balaghat a Kumhar is put out of caste if a dead cat is found in his house. At the census of 1901 the Kumhar 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 Lohar and not much above the Chamar. 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 Kumhar ranks not much below the Barhai and Lohar, that is in what I have designated the grade of village menials above the impure and below the cultivating castes. In Bengal the Kumhars have a much higher status and Brahmans 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 Kumhar as a village menial

The Kumhar 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 Kumhar of Saugor presents five pots with covers on them to each cultivator and receives 2 1/2 lbs. of grain in exchange. One of these the tenant fills with water and presents to a Brahman 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 Kumharin's house as part of the _sohag_ ceremony for making the marriage propitious. The Kumhar seats the bride on his wheel and turns it round with her seven times. The Kumharin 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 Kumharin receives a present of clothes. At a funeral also the Kumhar must supply thirteen vessels which are known as _ghats_, 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 Maratha 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 _surahis_ 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 Marathas, and, as already noticed, the Kumhar 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 Kumhar to improve his art. Another product of the Kumhar'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 Prajapati 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 Kumhars as well as the Dhimars 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 Bhainsasur, or the buffalo demon, for the protection of the crops. Bhainsasur is represented by a stone in the fields, and when crops are beaten down at night by the wind it is supposed that Bhainsasur has passed over them and trampled them down. Hindus, usually of the lower castes, offer pigs to Bhainsasur 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 Kumhar the price of the pig and get him to offer it to Bhainsasur on their behalf. The Kumhar 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 full [7]: "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.