8. Character. which is a kind of reformed creed, based on a mixture of Hinduism and Islām. The Gujars wear the dress of northern India and their women usually have skirts (lahenga) and not sāris or bodycloths. Married women have a number of strings of black beads round the neck and widows must change these for red ones. As a rule neither men nor women are tattooed. The men sometimes have their hair long and wear beards and whiskers. The Gujars are now considered the best cultivators of the Nimār District. They are fond of irrigation and sink unfaced wells to water their land and get a second crop off it. They are generally prosperous and make good landlords. Members of the caste have the custom of lending and borrowing among themselves and not from outsiders, and this no doubt conduces to mutual economy and solvency. Like keen cultivators elsewhere, such as the Panwars and Kurmis, the Gūjar sets store by having a good house and good cattle. The return from a Mundle Gujar's wedding, Captain Forsyth wrote,1 is a sight to be seen. Every Gujar from far and near has come with his whole family in his best bullock-cart gaily ornamented, and, whatever the road may be, nothing but a smash will prevent a breakneck race homewards at full gallop, cattle which have won in several such races acquiring a much coveted reputation throughout the District. 1 Nimăr Settlement Report (1868). of the caste. Gurao. A caste of village priests of the temples of 1. Origin Mahadeo in the Maratha Districts. They numbered about 14,000 persons in the Central Provinces and Berar in 1911. The Guraos say that they were formerly Brahmans and worshippers of Siva, but for some negligence or mistake in his ritual they were cursed by the god and degraded from the status of Brahmans, though subsequently the god relented and permitted them to worship him and take the offerings made to him. It is related that a certain Brāhman, who was a votary of Siva, had to go on a journey. He left his son behind and strictly enjoined on him to perform the worship of the god at midday. The son had bathed and purified himself for this purpose, when shortly before midday his wife came to him and so importuned him to have conjugal intercourse with her that he was obliged to comply. It was then midday and in his impure condition the son went to the shrine of the god to worship him. But Siva cursed him and said that his descendants should be degraded from the status of Brahmans, though he afterwards relented so far as to permit of their continuing to act as his priests; and this was the origin of the Guraos. It seems doubtful, 1 This article is based partly on a paper by Mr. Abdus Subhān Khān, Tahsildar, Hinganghat, and Mr. Adūrām Chaudhri of the Gazetteer 1 however, whether the caste are really of Brāhman origin. They were formerly village priests, and Grant-Duff gives the Gurao as one of the village menials in the Maratha villages. They have the privilege of taking the Naivedya or offerings of cooked food made to the god Mahadeo, which Brahmans will not accept. They also sell leaf-plates and flowers and bel leaves 1 which are offered at the temples of Mahādeo; and on the festival of Shivratri and during the month of Shrawan (July) they take round the bel leaves which the cultivators require for their offerings and receive presents in return. In Wardha the Guraos get small gifts of grain from the cultivators at seed-time and harvest. They also act as village musicians and blow the conch-shell, beat the drum and play other musical instruments for the morning, and evening worship at the temple. They play on the cymbals and drums at the marriages of Brāhmans and other high castes. In the Bombay Presidency 2 some are astrologers and fortune-tellers, and others make the basing or coronet of flowers which the bridegroom wears. Sometimes they play on the drum or fiddle for their spiritual followers, the dancing-girls or Kalāvants. When a dancing-girl became pregnant she worshipped the Gurao, and he, in return, placed the missi or tooth-powder made from myrobalans on her teeth. If this was not done before her child was born, a Kalāvantin was put out of caste. In some localities the Guraos will take food from Kunbis. And further, as will be seen subsequently, the caste have no proper gotras or exogamous sections, but in arranging their marriages they simply avoid persons having a common surname. All these considerations point to the fact that the caste is not of Brahmanical origin but belongs to a lower class of the population. Nevertheless in Wardha they are known as Shaiva Brahmans and rank above the Kunbis. They may study the Sama Veda only and not the others, and may repeat the Rudra Gayatri or sacred verse of Siva. Clearly the Brahmans could not accept the offerings of cooked food made at Siva's shrine; though the larger temples of this deity have Brāhman priests. It seems uncertain whether 1 The trifoliate leaf of Aegle Marmelos. 2 Bombay Gazetteer, vol. xviii. p. 266. |