Chapter 39

The Prabhus wear the sacred thread. In Bombay boys receive it a short time before their marriage without the ceremonies which form part of the regular Brahman investiture. On the fifth day after the birth of a child, the sword and also pens, paper and ink are worshipped, the sword being the symbol of their Kshatriya origin and the pens, paper and ink of their present occupation of clerks. [451] The funeral ceremonies, Mr. Enthoven writes, are performed during the first thirteen days after death. Oblations of rice are offered every day, in consequence of which the soul of the dead attains a spiritual body, limb by limb, till on the thirteenth day it is enabled to start on its journey. In twelve months the journey ends, and a _shraddh_ ceremony is performed on an extensive scale on the anniversary of the death. Most of the Prabhus are in Government service and others are landowners. In the Bombay Presidency [452] they had at first almost a monopoly of Government service as English writers, and the term Prabhu was commonly employed to denote a clerk of any caste who could write English. Both men and women of the caste are generally of a fair complexion, resembling the Maratha Brahmans. The taste of the women in dress is proverbial, and when a Sunar, Sutar or Kasar woman has dressed herself in her best for some family festival, she will ask her friends, '_Prabhuin disto_,' or 'Do I look like a Prabhu?'

Raghuvansi

1. Historical notice

_Raghuvansi, Raghvi._--A class of Rajputs of impure descent, who have now developed in the Central Provinces into a caste of cultivators, marrying among themselves. Their first settlement here was in the Nerbudda Valley, and Sir C. Elliott wrote of them: [453] "They are a queer class, all professing to be Rajputs from Ajodhia, though on cross-examination they are obliged to confess that they did not come here straight from Ajodhia, but stopped in Bundelkhand and the Gwalior territory by the way. They are obviously of impure blood as they marry only among themselves; but when they get wealthy and influential they assume the sacred thread, stop all familiarity with Gujars and Kirars (with whom they are accustomed to smoke the huqqa and to take water) and profess to be very high-caste Rajputs indeed." From Hoshangabad they have spread to Betul, Chhindwara and Nagpur and now number 24,000 persons in all in the Central Provinces. Chhindwara, on the Satpura plateau, is supposed to have been founded by one Ratan Raghuvansi, who built the first house on the site, burying a goat alive under the foundations. The goat is still worshipped as the tutelary deity of the town. The name Raghuvansi is derived from Raja Raghu, king of Ajodhia and ancestor of the great Rama, the hero of the Ramayana. In Nagpur the name has been shortened to Raghvi, and the branch of the caste settled here is somewhat looked down upon by their fellows in Hoshangabad. Sir R. Craddock [454] states that their religion is unorthodox and they have _gurus_ or priests of their own caste, discarding Brahmans. Their names end in Deo. Their origin, however, is still plainly discernible in their height, strength of body and fair complexion. The notice continues: "Whatever may happen to other classes the Raghvi will never give way to the moneylender. Though he is fond of comfort he combines a good deal of thrift with it, and the clannish spirit of the caste would prevent any oppression of Raghvi tenants by a landlord or moneylender of their own body." In Chhindwara, Mr. Montgomerie states, [455] they rank among the best cultivators, and formerly lived in clans, holding villages on _bhaiachari_ or communal tenure. As malguzars or village proprietors, they are very prone to absorb tenant land into their home-farms.

2. Social customs

The Raghuvansis have now a set of exogamous groups of the usual low-caste type, designated after titles, nicknames or natural objects. They sometimes invest their sons with the sacred thread at the time of marriage instead of performing the proper thread ceremony. Some discard the cord after the wedding is over. At a marriage the Raghuvansis of Chhindwara and Nagpur combine the Hindustani custom of walking round the sacred pole with the Maratha one of throwing coloured rice on the bridal couple. Sometimes they have what is known as a _gankar_ wedding. At this, flour, sugar and _ghi_ [456] are the only kinds of food permissible, large cakes of flour and sugar being boiled in pitchers full of _ghi_, and everybody being given as much of this as he can eat. The guests generally over-eat themselves, and as weddings are celebrated in the hot weather, one or two may occasionally die of repletion. The neighbours of Raghuvansis say that the host considers such an occurrence as evidence of the complete success of his party, but this is probably a libel. Such a wedding feast may cost two or three thousand rupees. After the wedding the women of the bride's party attack those of the bridegroom's with bamboo sticks, while these retaliate by throwing red powder on them. The remarriage of widows is freely permitted, but a widow must be taken from the house of her own parents or relatives, and not from that of her first husband or his parents. In fact, if any members of the dead husband's family meet the second husband on the night of the wedding they will attack him and a serious affray may follow. On reaching her new house the woman enters it by a back door, after bathing and changing all her clothes. The old clothes are given away to a barber or washerman, and the presentation of new clothes by the second husband is the only essential ceremony. No wife will look on a widow's face on the night of her second marriage, for fear lest by doing so she should come to the same position. The majority of the caste abstain from liquor, and they eat flesh in some localities, but not in others. The men commonly wear beards divided by a shaven patch in the centre of the chin; and the women have two body-cloths, one worn like a skirt according to the northern custom. Mr. Crooke states [457] that "in northern India a tradition exists among them that the cultivation of sugar is fatal to the farmer, and that the tiling of a house brings down divine displeasure upon the owner; hence to this day no sugar is grown and not a tiled house is to be seen in their estates." These superstitions do not appear to be known at all in the Central Provinces.

Rajjhar

1. General notice

_Rajjhar, Rajbhar, Lajjhar._--A caste of farmservants found in the northern Districts. In 1911 they numbered about 8000 persons in the Central Provinces, being returned principally from the Districts of the Satpura plateau. The names Rajjhar and Rajbhar appear to be applied indiscriminately to the same caste, who are an offshoot of the great Bhar tribe of northern India. The original name appears to have been Raj Bhar, which signifies a landowning Bhar, like Raj-Gond, Raj-Korku and so on. In Mandla all the members of the caste were shown as Rajbhar in 1891, and Rajjhar in 1901, and the two names seem to be used interchangeably in other Districts in the same manner. Some section or family names, such as Bamhania, Patela, Barhele and others, are common to people calling themselves Rajjhar and Rajbhar. But, though practically the same caste, the Rajjhars seem, in some localities, to be more backward and primitive than the Rajbhars. This is also the case in Berar, where they are commonly known as Lajjhar and are said to be akin to the Gonds. A Gond will there take food from a Lajjhar, but not a Lajjhar from a Gond. They are more Hinduised than the Gonds and have prohibited the killing or injuring of cows by some caste penalties. [458]

2. Origin and subdivisions

The caste appears to be in part of mixed origin arising from the unions of Hindu fathers with women of the Bhar tribe. Several of their family names are derived from those of other castes, as Bamhania (from Brahman), Sunarya (from Sunar), Baksaria (a Rajput sept), Ahiriya (an Ahir or cowherd), and Bisatia from Bisati (a hawker). Other names are after plants or animals, as Baslya from the _bans_ or bamboo, Mohanya from the _mohin_ tree, Chhitkaria from the _sitaphal_ or custard-apple tree, Hardaya from the banyan tree, Richhya from the bear, and Dukhania from the buffalo. Members of this last sept will not drink buffalo's milk or wear black cloth, because this is the colour of their totem animal. Members of septs named after other castes have also adopted some natural object as a sept totem; thus those of the Sunarya sept worship gold as being the metal with which the Sunar is associated. Those of the Bamhania sept revere the banyan and pipal trees, as these are held sacred by Brahmans. The Bakraria or Bagsaria sept believe their name to be derived from that of the _bagh_ or tiger, and they worship this animal's footprints by tying a thread round them.

3. Marriage

The marriage of members of the same sept, and also that of first cousins, is forbidden. The caste do not employ Brahmans at their marriage and other ceremonies, and they account for this somewhat quaintly by saying that their ancestors were at one time accustomed to rely on the calculations of Brahman priests; but many marriages which the Brahman foretold as auspicious turned out very much the reverse; and on this account they have discarded the Brahman, and now determine the suitability or otherwise of a projected union by the common primitive custom of throwing two grains of rice into a vessel of water and seeing whether they will meet. The truth is probably that they are too backward ever to have had recourse to the Brahman priest, but now, though they still apparently have no desire for his services, they recognise the fact to be somewhat discreditable to themselves, and desire to explain it away by the story already given. In Hoshangabad the bride still goes to the bridegroom's house to be married as among the Gonds. A bride-price is paid, which consists of four rupees, a _khandi_ [459] of juari or wheat, and two pieces of cloth. This is received by the bride's father, who, however, has in turn to pay seven rupees eight annas and a goat to the caste _panchayat_ or committee for the arrangement and sanction of the match. This last payment is known as _Skarab-ka-rupaya_ or liquor-money, and with the goat furnishes the wherewithal for a sumptuous feast to the caste. The marriage-shed must be made of freshly-cut timber, which should not be allowed to fall to the ground, but must be supported and carried off on men's shoulders as it is cut. When the bridegroom arrives at the marriage-shed he is met by the bride's mother and conducted by her to an inner room of the house, where he finds the bride standing. He seizes her fist, which she holds clenched, and opens her fingers by force. The couple then walk five times round the _chauk_ or sacred space made with lines of flour on the floor, the bridegroom holding the bride by her little finger. They are preceded by some relative of the bride, who walks round the post carrying a pot of water, with seven holes in it; the water spouts from these holes on to the ground, and the couple must tread in it as they go round the post. This forms the essential and binding portion of the marriage. That night the couple sleep in the same room with a woman lying between them. Next day they return to the bridegroom's house, and on arriving at his door the boy's mother meets him and touches his head, breast and knees with a churning-stick, a winnowing-fan and a pestle, with the object of exorcising any evil spirits who may be accompanying the bridal couple. As the pair enter the marriage-shed erected before the bridegroom's house they are drenched with water by a man sitting on the roof, and when they come to the door of the house the bridegroom's younger brother, or some other boy, sits across it with his legs stretched out to prevent the bride from entering. The girl pushes his legs aside and goes into the house, where she stays for three months with her husband, and then returns to her parents for a year. After this she is sent to her husband with a basket of fried cakes and a piece of cloth, and takes up her residence with him. When a widow is to be married, the couple pour turmeric and water over each other, and then walk seven times round in a circle in an empty space, holding each other by the hand. A widow commonly marries her deceased husband's younger brother, but is not compelled to do so. Divorce is permitted for adultery on the part of the wife.

4. Social Customs

The caste bury their dead with the head pointing to the west. This practice is peculiar, and is also followed, Colonel Dalton states, by the hill Bhuiyas of Bengal, who in so doing honour the quarter of the setting sun. When a burial takes place, all the mourners who accompany the corpse throw a little earth into the grave. On the same day some food and liquor are taken to the grave and offered to the dead man's spirit, and a feast is given to the caste-fellows. This concludes the ceremonies of mourning, and the next day the relatives go about their business. The caste are usually petty cultivators and labourers, while they also collect grass and fuel for sale, and propagate the lac insect. In Seoni they have a special relation with the Ahirs, from whom they will take cooked food, while they say that the Ahirs will also eat from their hands. In Narsinghpur a similar connection has been observed between the Rajjhars and the Lodhi caste. This probably arises from the fact that the former have worked for several generations as the farm-servants of Lodhi or Ahir employers, and have been accustomed to live in their houses and partake of their meals, so that caste rules have been abandoned for the sake of convenience. A similar intimacy has been observed between the Panwars and Gonds, and other castes who stand in this relation to each other. The Rajjhars will also eat _katcha_ food (cooked with water) from Kunbis and Kahars. But in Hoshangabad some of them will not take food from any caste, even from Brahmans. Their women wear glass bangles only on the right hand, and a brass ornament known as _mathi_ on the left wrist. They wear no ornaments in the nose or ears, and have no breast-cloth. They are tattooed with dots on the face and patterns of animals on the right arm, but not on the left arm or legs. A _liaison_ between a youth and maiden of the caste is considered a trifling matter, being punished only with a fine of two to four annas or pence. A married woman detected in an intrigue is mulcted in a sum of four or five rupees, and if her partner be a man of another caste a lock of her hair is cut off. The caste are generally ignorant and dirty, and are not much better than the Gonds and other forest tribes.

Rajput

[The following article is based mainly on Colonel Tod's classical _Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan_, 2nd ed., Madras, Higginbotham, 1873, and Mr. Crooke's articles on the Rajput clans in his _Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh_. Much information as to the origin of the Rajput clans has been obtained from inscriptions and worked up mainly by the late Mr. A.M.T. Jackson and Messrs. B.G. and D.R. Bhandarkar; this has been set out with additions and suggestions in Mr. V.A. Smith's _Early History of India_, 3rd ed., and has been reproduced in the subordinate articles on the different clans. Though many of the leading clans are very weakly represented in the Central Provinces, some notice of them is really essential in an article treating generally of the Rajput caste, on however limited a scale, and has therefore been included. In four cases, Panwar, Jadum, Raghuvansi and Daharia, the original Rajput clans have now developed into separate cultivating castes, ranking well below the Rajputs; separate articles have been written on these as for independent castes.]

List of Paragraphs

1. _Introductory notice_. 2. _The thirty-six royal races_. 3. _The origin of the Rajputs_. 4. _Subdivisions of the clans_. 5. _Marriage customs_. 6. _Funeral rites_. 7. _Religion_. 8. _Food_. 9. _Opium_. 10. _Improved training of Rajput chiefs_. 11. _Dress_. 12. _Social customs_. 13. _Seclusion of women_. 14. _Traditional character of the Rajputs_. 15. _Occupation_.

List of Subordinate Articles

1. Baghel. 2. Bagri. 3. Bais. 4. Baksaria. 5. Banaphar. 6. Bhadauria. 7. Bisen. 8. Bundela. 9. Chandel. 10. Chauhan. 11. Dhakar. 12. Gaharwar, Gherwal. 13. Gaur, Chamar-Gaur. 14. Haihaya, Haihaivansi, Kalachuri. 15. Huna, Hoon. 16. Kachhwaha, Cutchwaha. 17. Nagvansi. 18. Nikumbh. 19. Paik. 20. Parihar. 21. Rathor, Rathaur. 22. Sesodia, Gahlot, Aharia. 23. Solankhi, Solanki, Chalukya. 24. Somvansi, Chandravansi. 25. Surajvansi. 26. Tomara, Tuar, Tunwar. 27. Yadu, Yadava, Yadu-Bhatti, Jadon.

1. Introductory notice

_Rajput, Kshatriya, Chhatri, Thakur._--The Rajputs are the representatives of the old Kshatriya or warrior class, the second of the four main castes or orders of classical Hinduism, and were supposed to have been made originally from the arms of Brahma. The old name of Kshatriya is still commonly used in the Hindi form Chhatri, but the designation Rajput, or son of a king, has now superseded it as the standard name of the caste. Thakur, or lord, is the common Rajput title, and that by which they are generally addressed. The total number of persons returned as Rajputs in the Province in 1911 was about 440,000. India has about nine million Rajputs in all, and they are most numerous in the Punjab, the United Provinces, and Bihar and Orissa, Rajputana returning under 700,000 and Central India about 800,000.

The bulk of the Rajputs in the Central Provinces are of very impure blood. Several groups, such as the Panwars of the Wainganga Valley, the Raghuvansis of Chhindwara and Nagpur, the Jadams of Hoshangabad and the Daharias of Chhattisgarh, have developed into separate castes and marry among themselves, though a true Rajput must not marry in his own clan. Some of them have abandoned the sacred thread and now rank with the good cultivating castes below Banias. Reference may be made to the separate articles on these castes. Similarly the Surajvansi, Gaur or Gorai, Chauhan, and Bagri clans marry among themselves in the Central Provinces, and it is probable that detailed research would establish the same of many clans or parts of clans bearing the name of Rajput in all parts of India. If the definition of a proper Rajput were taken, as it should be correctly, as one whose family intermarried with clans of good standing, the caste would be reduced to comparatively small dimensions. The name Dhakar, also shown as a Rajput clan, is applied to a person of illegitimate birth, like Vidur. Over 100,000 persons, or nearly a quarter of the total, did not return the name of any clan in 1911, and these are all of mixed or illegitimate descent. They are numerous in Nimar, and are there known as _chhoti-tur_ or low-class Rajputs. The Bagri Rajputs of Seoni and the Surajvansis of Betal marry among themselves, while the Bundelas of Saugor intermarry with two other local groups, the Panwar and Dhundhele, all the three being of impure blood. In Jubbulpore a small clan of persons known as Paik or foot-soldier return themselves as Rajputs, but are no doubt a mixed low-caste group. Again, some landholding sections of the primitive tribes have assumed the names of Rajput clans. Thus the zamindars of Bilaspur, who originally belonged to the Kawar tribe, call themselves Tuar or Tomara Rajputs, and the landholding section of the Mundas in Chota Nagpur say that they are of the Nagvansi clan. Other names are returned which are not those of Rajput clans or their offshoots at all. If these subdivisions, which cannot be considered as proper Rajputs, and all those who have returned no clan be deducted, there remain not more than 100,000 who might be admitted to be pure Rajputs in Rajputana. But a close local scrutiny even of these would no doubt result in the detection of many persons who have assumed and returned the names of good clans without being entitled to them. And many more would come away as being the descendants of remarried widows. A Rajput of really pure family and descent is in fact a person of some consideration in most parts of the Central Provinces.

2. The thirty-six royal races

Traditionally the Rajputs are divided into thirty-six great clans or races, of which Colonel Tod gives a list compiled from different authorities as follows (alternative names by which the clan or important branches of it are known are shown in brackets):

1. Ikshwaka or Surajvansi. 2. Indu, Somvansi or Chandravansi. 3. Gahlot or Sesodia (Raghuvansi). 4. Yadu (Bhatti, Jareja, Jadon, Banaphar). 5. Tuar or Tomara. 6. Rathor. 7. Kachhwaha (Cutchwaha). 8. Pramara or Panwar (Mori). 9. Chauhan (Hara, Khichi, Nikumbh, Bhadauria). 10. Chalukya or Solankhi (Baghel). 11. Parihar. 12. Chawara or Chaura. 13. Tak or Takshac (Nagvansi, Mori). 14. Jit or Gete. 15. Huna. 16. Kathi. 17. Balla. 18. Jhalla. 19. Jaitwa or Kamari. 20. Gohil. 21. Sarweya. 22. Silar. 23. Dhabi. 24. Gaur. 25. Doda or Dor. 26. Gherwal or Gaharwar (Bundela). 27. Badgujar. 28. Sengar. 29. Sikarwal. 30. Bais. 31. Dahia. 32. Johia. 33. Mohil. 34. Nikumbh. 35. Rajpali. 36. Dahima.

And two extra, Hul and Daharia.

Several of the above races are extinct or nearly so, and on the other hand some very important modern clans, as the Gautam, Dikhit and Bisen, and such historically important ones as the Chandel and Haihaya, are not included in the thirty-six royal races at all. Practically all the clans should belong either to the solar and lunar branch, that is, should be descended from the sun or moon, but the division, if it ever existed, is not fully given by Colonel Tod. Two special clans, the Surajvansi and Chandra or Somvansi, are named after the sun and moon respectively; and a few others, as the Sesodia, Kachhwaha, Gohil, Bais and Badgujar, are recorded as being of the solar race, descended from Vishnu through his incarnation as Rama. The Rathors also claimed solar lineage, but this was not wholly conceded by the Bhats, and the Dikhits are assigned to the solar branch by their legends. The great clan of the Yadavas, of whom the present Jadon or Jadum and Bhatti Rajputs are representatives, was of the lunar race, tracing their descent from Krishna, though, as a matter of fact, Krishna was also an incarnation of Vishnu or the sun; and the Tuar or Tomara, as well as the Jit or Gete, the Rajput section of the modern Jats, who were considered to be branches of the Yadavas, would also be of the moon division, The Gautam and Bisen clans, who are not included in the thirty-six royal races, now claim lunar descent. Four clans, the Panwar, Chauhan, Chalukya or Solankhi, and Parihar, had a different origin, being held to have been born through the agency of the gods from a firepit on the summit of Mount Abu. They are hence known as Agnikula or the fire races. Several clans, such as the Tak or Takshac, the Huna and the Chaura, were considered by Colonel Tod to be the representatives of the Huns or Scythians, that is, the nomad invading tribes from Central Asia, whose principal incursions took place during the first five centuries of the Christian era.