_Bania, Gahoi._ [147]--This Hindu subcaste numbered nearly 7000
persons in 1911, belonging principally to the Saugor, Jubbulpore and
Narsinghpur Districts. Their home is the Bundelkhand country, which
these Districts adjoin, and they say that their original headquarters
was at Kharagpur in Bundelkhand, whence they have spread over the
surrounding country. They tell a curious story of their origin to the
effect that once upon a time there was a certain schoolmaster, one
Biya Pande Brahman, who could foretell the future. One day he was in
his school with his boys when he foresaw that there was about to be an
earthquake. He immediately warned his boys to get out of the building,
and himself led the way. Only twelve of the boys had followed, and the
others were still hesitating, when the earthquake began, the school
fell in, and they were all buried in the ruins. The schoolmaster
formed the boys who had escaped into one caste, calling them Gahoi,
which is supposed to mean that which is left or the residue; and he
determined that he and his descendants would be the priests of the
new caste. At the weddings of the Gahois an image of the schoolmaster
is painted on the house wall, and the bridegroom worships it with
offerings of butter and flowers. The story indicates clearly that
the Gahois are of mixed descent from several castes.
The subcaste has twelve _gotras_ or sections, and seventy-two _al_
or _anken_, which are subsections of the _gotras_. Several of the
_al_ names appear to be of a titular or totemistic character, as Mor
peacock, Sohania beautiful, Nagaria a drummer, Paharia a hillman,
Matele the name of a village headman in Bundelkhand, Piparvania from
the pipal tree, Dadaria a singer. The rule of exogamy is said to be
that a man must not marry in his own _gotra_ nor in the _al_ of his
mother or either grandmother. [148] Their weddings are held only at
the bride's house, no ceremonies being performed at the bridegroom's;
at the ceremony the bridegroom stands in the centre of the shed by
the marriage-post and the bride walks seven times round him. At their
weddings the Gahois still use the old rupees of the Nagpur kingdom for
presents and payments to menials, and they hoard them up, when they
can get them, for this special purpose. The rupee is sacred with the
Bania, and this is an instance of the preservation of old accessories
for religious ceremonies when they have been superseded in ordinary
use. Polygamy is permitted, but is rare. The Gahois employ Bhargava
Brahmans for their priests, and these are presumably the descendants
of the schoolmaster who founded the caste. At the thirteenth-day feast
after a death the Brahmans must be fed first before the members of the
caste. On this occasion thirteen brass or earthen vessels are filled
with flour, and a piece of money, and presented to thirteen Brahmans,
while the family priest receives a bed and piece of cloth. The priests
are said to be greedy, and to raise quarrels over the value of the
presents given to them. At the Diwali festival the Gahois worship the
implements of their trade, pen and ink, and their account-books. The
Gahois are Vaishnava Hindus, and abstain from all flesh and alcoholic
liquor. They trade in grain and groceries, and are bankers and
moneylenders. They are considered to be cunning in business, and a
proverb says that a Gahoi will deceive even his own father.