II CHAUHAN 427 Chauhan.1-A small caste of village watchmen and labourers in the Chhattisgarh Division. They are also known as Chandel by outsiders. In 1911 the Chauhāns numbered 7000 persons in the Raipur and Bilaspur Districts, and the adjoining Feudatory States. The caste claim themselves to be of Rajput origin, and say that their ancestors came from Mainpuri, which is the home of the Chauhan clan of Rājpūts. A few of their section names are taken from those of Rājpūt clans, but the majority are of a totemistic nature, being called after animals and plants, as Nāg the cobra, Neora the mongoose, Kolhia the jackal, Kamal the lotus, Pat silk, Chanwar rice, Khanda a sword, and so on. Members of each sept worship the object after which it is named at the time of marriage, and if the tree or animal itself is not readily available, they make a representation of it in flour and pay their respects to that. Thus members of the Bedna or sugarcane sept make a stick of flour and worship it. They will not kill or eat their sept totem, but in some cases, as in that of the Chanwar or rice sept, this rule is impossible of observance, so the members of this sept content themselves with abstaining from a single variety of rice, the kind called Nagkesar. Families who belong to septs named after heroic ancestors make an image in flour of the ancestral saint or hero and worship it. The caste employ Brahmans for their marriage and other ceremonies, and will not take food from any caste except Brahmans and their Bairagi gurus or spiritual preceptors. But their social position is very low, as none except the most debased castes will take food or water from their hands, and their hereditary calling of village watchman would not be practised by any respectable caste. By outsiders they are considered little, if at all, superior to the Pankas and Gāndas, and the most probable theory of their origin is that they are the descendants of irregular alliances between immigrant Rājpūt adventurers and the women of the country. Their social customs resemble those of other low castes in Chhattisgarh. Before the bridegroom starts for a wedding, they have a peculiar ceremony known as Naodori. Seven small earthen cups full of water are placed on the boy's head, and 1 This article is based principally on notes taken by Mr. Hīra Lāl at Bhatgaon. then poured over him in succession. A piece of new cloth is laid on his head, and afterwards placed seven times in contact with the earth. During this ritual the boy keeps his eyes shut, and it is believed that if he should open them before its completion, his children would be born blind. When the bride leaves her father's house she and all her relatives mourn and weep noisily, and the bride continues doing so until she is well over a mile from her own village. Similarly on the first three or four visits which she pays to her parents after her wedding, she begins crying loudly a mile away from their house, and continues until she reaches it. It is the etiquette also that women should cry whenever they meet relatives from a distance. In such cases when two women see each other they cry together, each placing her head on the other's shoulder and her hands at her sides. While they cry they change the position of their heads two or three times, and each addresses the other according to their relationship, as mother, sister, and so on. Or if any member of the family has recently died, they call upon him or her, exclaiming 'O my mother! O my sister! O my father! Why did not I, unfortunate one, die instead of thee?' A woman when weeping with a man holds to his sides and rests her head against his breast. The man exclaims at intervals, 'Stop crying, do not cry.' When two women are weeping together it is a point of etiquette that the elder should stop first and then beg her companion to do so, but if it is doubtful which is the elder, they sometimes go on crying for an hour at a time, exciting the younger spectators to mirth, until at length some elder steps forward and tells one of them to stop. The Chauhāns permit the remarriage of widows, and a woman is bound by no restrictions as to her choice of a second husband. The goddess Durga or Devi is chiefly revered by the caste, who observe fasts in her honour in the months of Kunwar (September) and Chait (March). When they make a badna or vow, they usually offer goats to the goddess, and sow the Jawaras or Gardens of Adonis in her name, but except on such occasions they present less costly articles, as cocoanuts, betel-leaves, areca-nuts and flowers. On the Dasahra festival they worship the lathi or stick which is the II CHHIPA 429 badge of office of the village watchman. They were formerly addicted to petty theft, and it is said that they worshipped the khunta or pointed rod for digging through the wall of a house. The caste usually burn the dead, but children whose ears or noses have not been pierced are buried. Children who die before they have begun to eat grain are not mourned at all, while for older children the period of mourning is three to seven days, and for adults ten days. On the tenth day they clean their houses, shave themselves and offer balls of rice to the dead under the direction of a Brahman, to whom they present eating and drinking vessels, clothes, shoes and cattle with the belief that the articles will thus become available for the use of the dead man in the other world. The Chauhans will not eat fowls, pork or beef, and in some places they abstain from drinking liquor. the caste. Chhipa, Rangāri, Bhaosar, Nirāli, Nilgar.—The Hindu 1. Consticaste of cotton printers and dyers. They are commonly tution of known as Chhipa in the northern Districts and Rangāri or Bhaosar in the Maratha country. The Chhīpas and Rangāris together number about 23,000 persons. In the south of the Central Provinces and Berar cotton is a staple crop, and the cotton-weaving industry is much stronger than in the north, and as a necessary consequence the dyers also would be more numerous. Though the Chhīpas and Rangāris do not intermarry or dine together, no essential distinction exists between them. They are both of functional origin, pursue exactly the same occupation, and relate the same story about themselves, and no good reason therefore exists for considering them as separate castes. Nilgar or Nirali is a purely occupational term applied to Chhipas or Rangāris who work in indigo (nil); while Bhaosar is another name for the Rangāris in the northern Districts. The Rangāris say that when Parasurāma, the Brāhman, 2. Its was slaying the Kshatriyas, two brothers of the warrior caste origin and position. took refuge in a temple of Devi. One of them, called Bhaosar, threw himself upon the image, while the other hid behind it. The goddess saved them both and told them to adopt the vocation of dyers. The Rangāris are descended 3. Caste sub divisions. 4. Marriage and other customs. from the brother who was called Bhaosar and the Chhipas from the other brother, because he hid behind the image (chhipna, to hide). The word is really derived from chhapna, to print, because the Chhipas print coloured patterns on cotton cloths with wooden stamps. Rangāri comes from the common word rang or colour. The Chhipas have a slightly different version of the same story, according to which the goddess gave one brother a needle and a piece of thread, and the other some red betel-leaf which she spat at him out of her mouth; and told one to follow the vocation of a tailor, and the other that of a dyer. Hence the first was called Chhipi or Shimpi and the second Chhipa. This story indicates a connection between the dyeing and tailoring castes in the Maratha Districts, which no doubt exists, as one subcaste of the Rangāris is named after Namdeo, the patron saint of the Shimpis or tailors. Both the dyeing and tailoring industries are probably of considerably later origin than that of cottonweaving, and both are urban rather than village industries. And this consideration perhaps accounts for the fact that the Chhīpas and Rangāris rank higher than most of the weaving castes, and no stigma or impurity attaches to them. The caste have a number of subdivisions, such as the Malaiyas or immigrants from Malwa, the Gujrāti who come from Gujarāt, the Golias or those who dye cloth with goli ka rang, the fugitive aniline dyes, the Namdeos who belong to the sect founded by the Darzi or tailor of that name, and the Khatris, these last being members of the Khatri caste who have adopted the profession. Marriage is forbidden between persons so closely connected as to have a common ancestor in the third generation. In Bhandara it is obligatory on all members of the caste, who know the bride or bridegroom, to ask him or her to dine. The marriage rite is that prevalent among the Hindustani castes, of walking round the sacred post. Divorce and the marriage of widows are permitted. In Narsinghpur, when a bachelor marries a widow, he first goes through a mock ceremony by walking seven times round an earthen vessel filled with cakes; this rite being known as Langra Biyah or the lame marriage. placing the head to the north. The caste burn their dead, |
