4. Exo septs. 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 Mīrzāpur they derive the name from dual, a leather belt which is supposed to have been the uniform of their forefathers when serving as soldiers.1 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 Khairchūra, who take their name from the khair tree and are catechu-makers. The tribe have a large number of exogamous groups gamous named after plants and animals. Members of the mouse, tortoise, parrot, pig, monkey, vulture, banyan tree and datepalm 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 Känsi sept sprinkle water mixed with kāns 2 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 Brāhman. 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 1 Crooke, Tribes and Castes. 2 Saccharum spontaneum. II DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD 433 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. 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. of the dead. As a rule, the tribe bury the dead, though the Hindu 6. Disposal custom of cremation is coming into fashion among the wellto-do. Before the interment they carry the corpse seven times round the grave, and it is buried with the feet pointing to the north. They observe mourning for ten days and abstain from animal food and liquor during that period. A curious custom is reported from the Bilaspur District, where it is said that children cut a small piece of flesh from the finger of a dead parent and swallow it, considering this as a requital for the labour of the mother in having carried the child for nine months in her womb. So in return they carry a piece of her flesh in their bodies. But the correct explanation as given by Sir J. G. Frazer is that they do it to prevent themselves from being haunted by the ghosts of their parents. "Thus Orestes,2 after he had gone mad from murdering his mother, recovered his wits by biting off one of his own fingers; since his victim was his own mother it might be supposed that the tasting of his own blood was the same as hers; and the furies of his murdered mother, which had appeared black to him before, appeared white as soon as he had mutilated himself in this way. The Indians of Guiana believe that an 1 Tribes and Castes, art. Birhor. 2 The above instances are reproduced from Sir J. G. Frazer's Psyche's Task (London, 1909). These cases are VOL. III all of homicide, but it seems likely that 2 F 7. Religion. 8. Inherit ance. avenger of blood who has slain his man must go mad unless he tastes the blood of his victim, the notion apparently being that the ghost drives him crazy. A similar custom was observed by the Maoris in battle. When a warrior had slain his foe in combat, he tasted his blood, believing that this preserved him from the avenging spirit (atua) of his victim; for they imagined that 'the moment a slayer had tasted the blood of the slain, the dead man became a part of his being and placed him under the protection of the atua or guardianspirit of the deceased.' Some of the North American Indians also drank the blood of their enemies in battle. Strange as it may seem, this truly savage superstition exists apparently in Italy to this day. There is a widespread opinion in Calabria that if a murderer is to escape he must suck his victim's blood from the reeking blade of the dagger with which he did the deed." The religion of the tribe is of the usual animistic type. Colonel Dalton notes that they have, like the Kols, a village priest, known as Pahan or Baiga. He is always one of the impure tribes, a Bhuiya, a Kharwar or a Korwa, and he offers a great triennial sacrifice of a buffalo in the sacred grove, or on a rock near the village. The fact that the Khairwārs employed members of the Korwa and Bhuiya tribes as their village priests may be taken to indicate that the latter are the earlier residents of the country, and are on this account employed by the Khairwārs as later arrivals for the conciliation of the indigenous deities. Colonel Dalton states that the Khairwārs made no prayers to any of the Hindu gods, but when in great trouble they appealed to the sun. In the Central Provinces the main body of the tribe, and particularly those who belong to the landholding class, profess the Hindu religion. The Khairwārs have now also adopted the Hindu rule of inheritance, and have abandoned the tribal custom which Sir H. Risley records as existing in Bengal. "Here the eldest son of the senior wife, even if younger than one of the sons of the second wife, inherits the entire property, subject to the obligation of providing for all other legitimate children. If the inheritance consists of land, the heir is expected to create separate maintenance grants in favour of his younger II THE KHAIRWAS OF DAMOH 435 brothers. Daughters can never inherit, but are entitled to live in the ancestral home till they are married.” 1 Khairwas The Khairwas or Khairwārs of the Kaimur hills. are 9. The derived, as already seen, from the Gonds and Savars, and of Damoh. therefore are ethnologically a distinct group from those of the Chota Nagpur plateau, who have been described above. But as nearly every caste is made up of diverse ethnological elements held together by the tie of a common occupation, it does not seem worth while to treat these groups separately. Colonel Dalton, who also identifies them with the main tribe, records an interesting notice of them at an earlier period : 2 "There is in the seventh volume of the Asiatic Researches a notice of the Kharwars of the Kaimur hills in the Mirzapur District, to the north of the Son river, by Captain J. P. Blunt, who in his journey from Chunar to Ellora in A.D. 1794, met with them and describes them as a very primitive tribe. He visited one of their villages consisting of half a dozen poor huts, and though proceeding with the utmost caution, unattended, to prevent alarm, the inhabitants fled at his approach. The women were seen, assisted by the men, carrying off their children and moving with speed to hide themselves in the woods. It was observed that they were nearly naked, and the only articles of domestic use found in the deserted huts were a few gourds for water-vessels, some bows and arrows, and some fowls as wild as their masters. With great difficulty, by the employment of Kols as mediators, some of the men were induced to return. They were nearly naked, but armed with bows and arrows and a hatchet." In Damoh the Khairwārs are said to come from Panna State. During the working season they live in temporary sheds in the forest, and migrate from place to place as the supply of trees is exhausted. Having cut down a tree they strip off the bark and cut the inner and tender wood into small pieces, which are boiled for two or three days until a thick black paste is obtained. From this the water is allowed to drain off, and the residue is made into cakes and dried in the sun. It is eaten in small pieces with betel-leaf and areca-nut. Duty is levied by the Forest Department at the 1 Risley, loc. cit. 2 Ethnology of Bengal, pp. 128, 129. rate of a rupee per handi or pot in which boiling is carried on. In Bombay various superstitious observances are connected with the manufacture of catechu; and Mr. Crooke quoted the following description of them from the Bombay Gazetteer: 1 "Every year on the day after the Holi the chulha ceremony takes place. In a trench seven feet long by three, and about three deep, khair logs are carefully stacked and closely packed till they stand in a heap about three feet above ground. The pile is then set on fire and allowed to burn to the level of the ground. The village sweeper breaks a cocoanut, kills a couple of fowls and sprinkles a little liquor near the pile. Then, after washing their feet, the sweeper and the village headman walk barefoot hurriedly across the fire. After this strangers come to fulfil vows, and giving one anna and a half cocoanut to the sweeper, and the other half cocoanut to the headman, wash their feet, and turning to the left, walk over the pile. The fire seems to cause none of them any pain." The following description of the Kathkāris as hunters of monkeys is also taken by Mr. Crooke from the Bombay Gazetteer: 2 "The Kathkāris represent themselves as descended from the monkeys of Rāma. Now that their legitimate occupation of preparing catechu (kath) has been interfered with, they subsist almost entirely by hunting, and habitually kill and eat monkeys, shooting them with bows and arrows. In order to approach within range they are obliged to have recourse to stratagems, as the monkeys at once recognise them in their ordinary costume. The ruse usually adopted is for one of the best shots to put on a woman's robe (sāri), under the ample folds of which he conceals his murderous weapons. Approaching the tree in which the monkeys are seated, the sportsman affects the utmost unconcern, and busies himself with the innocent occupation of picking up twigs and leaves, and thus disarming suspicion he is enabled to get a sufficiently close shot to render success a certainty." Khandait, Khandayat.-The military caste of Orissa, the word Khandait meaning 'swordsman,' and being derived Gazetteer, x. 48 and iii. 310. 2 Loc. cit. 1 Crooke's Tribes and Castes, art. Khairwa. Quoting from Bombay |
