_Balahi._ [108]--A low functional caste of weavers and village
watchmen found in the Nimar and Hoshangabad Districts and in Central
India. They numbered 52,000 persons in the Central Provinces in
1911, being practically confined to the two Districts already
mentioned. The name is a corruption of the Hindi _bulahi_, one who
calls, or a messenger. The Balahis seem to be an occupational group,
probably an offshoot of the large Kori caste of weavers, one of
whose subdivisions is shown as Balahi in the United Provinces. In
the Central Provinces they have received accretions from the spinner
caste of Katias, themselves probably a branch of the Koris, and
from the Mahars, the great menial caste of Bombay. In Hoshangabad
they are known alternatively as Mahar, while in Burhanpur they are
called Bunkar or weaver by outsiders. The following story which they
tell about themselves also indicates their mixed origin. They say
that their ancestors came to Nimar as part of the army of Raja Man
of Jodhpur, who invaded the country when it was under Muhammadan
rule. He was defeated, and his soldiers were captured and ordered
to be killed. [109] One of the Balahis among them won the favour of
the Muhammadan general and asked for his own freedom and that of the
other Balahis from among the prisoners. The Musalman replied that
he would be unable to determine which of the prisoners were really
Balahis. On this the Balahi, whose name was Ganga Kochla, replied
that he had an effective test. He therefore killed a cow, cooked its
flesh and invited the prisoners to partake of it. So many of them
as consented to eat were considered to be Balahis and liberated; but
many members of other castes thus obtained their freedom, and they and
their descendants are now included in the community. The subcastes
or endogamous groups distinctly indicate the functional character
of the caste, the names given being Nimari, Gannore, Katia, Kori and
Mahar. Of these Katia, Kori and Mahar are the names of distinct castes,
Nimari is a local subdivision indicating those who speak the peculiar
dialect of this tract, and the Gannore are no doubt named after the
Rajput clan of that name, of whom their ancestors were not improbably
the illegitimate offspring. The Nimari Balahis are said to rank lower
than the rest, as they will eat the flesh of dead cattle which the
others refuse to do. They may not take water from the village well,
and unless a separate one can be assigned to them, must pay others
to draw water for them. Partly no doubt in the hope of escaping from
this degraded position, many of the Nimari group became Christians in
the famine of 1897. They are considered to be the oldest residents
of Nimar. At marriages the Balahi receives as his perquisite the
leaf-plates used for feasts with the leavings of food upon them;
and at funerals he takes the cloth which covers the corpse on its
way to the burning-_ghat_. In Nimar the Korkus and Balahis each
have a separate burying-ground which is known as Murghata. [110] The
Katias weave the finer kinds of cloth and rank a little higher than
the others. In Burhanpur, as already stated, the caste are known as
Bunkar, and they are probably identical with the Bunkars of Khandesh;
Bunkar is simply an occupational term meaning a weaver.