_Arakh._--A small caste of cultivators and labourers found
principally in the Chanda District and Berar and scattered over other
localities. The Arakhs are considered to be an offshoot of the Pasi or
Bahelia caste of hunters and fowlers. Mr. Crooke [32] writes of them:
"All their traditions connect them with the Pasis and Parasurama, the
sixth Avatara of Vishnu. One story runs that Parasurama was bathing
in the sea, when a leech bit his foot and caused it to bleed. He
divided the blood into two parts; out of one part he made the first
Pasi and out of the second the first Arakh. Another story is that
the Pasis were made out of the sweat (_pasina_) of Parasurama. While
Parasurama was away the Pasi shot some animals with his bow, and
the deity was so enraged that he cursed the Pasi, and swore that
his descendants should keep pigs. This accounts for the degradation
of the Pasis. Subsequently Parasurama sent for some Pasis to help
him in one of his wars; but they ran away and hid in an _arhar_
[33] field and were hence called Arakhs." This connection with the
Pasis is also recognised in the case of the Arakhs of Berar, of whom
Mr. Kitts writes: [34] "The Arakhs found in Morsi are a race akin to
the Bahelias. Their regular occupation is bird-catching and _shikar_
(hunting). They do not follow Hindu customs in their marriages,
but although they keep pigs, eat flesh and drink spirits, they will
not touch a Chamar. They appear to be a branch of the Pasi tribe,
and are described as a semi-Hinduised class of aborigines." In the
Chanda District, however, the Arakhs are closely connected with the
Gond tribe, as is evident from their system of exogamy. Thus they
say that they are divided into the Matia, Tekam, Tesli, Godam, Madai,
Sayam and Chorliu septs, worshipping respectively three, four, five,
six, seven, eight and twelve gods; and persons who worship the same
number of gods cannot marry with one another. This system of divisions
according to the different number of gods worshipped is found in the
Central Provinces only among the Gonds and one or two other tribes
like the Baigas, who have adopted it from them, and as some of the
names given above are also Gondi words, no doubt need be entertained
that the Arakhs of Chanda are largely of Gond descent. They are
probably, in fact, the offspring of irregular connections between
the Gonds and Pasis, who, being both frequenters of the forests,
would naturally come much into contact with each other. And being
disowned by the true Pasis on account of their defective pedigree,
they have apparently set up as a separate caste and adopted the name
of Arakh to hide the deficiencies of their ancestry.
The social customs of the Arakhs resemble those of other low Hindu
castes, and need not be given in detail. Their weddings are held
near a temple of Maroti, or if there be none such, then at the place
where the Holi fire was lit in the preceding year. A bride-price
varying from Rs. 25 to Rs. 40 is usually paid. In the case of the
marriage of a widow, the second husband goes to the house of the
woman, where the couple are bathed and seated on two wooden boards,
a branch of a cotton-plant being placed near them. The bridegroom then
ties five strings of black glass beads round the woman's neck. The
dead are mourned for one day only, and a funeral feast is given to
the caste-fellows. The Arakhs are a very low caste, but their touch
does not convey impurity.