_Basdewa, [246] Wasudeo, Harbola, Kaparia, Jaga, Kapdi._--A wandering
beggar caste of mixed origin, who also call themselves Sanadhya or
Sanaurhia Brahmans. The Basdewas trace their origin to Wasudeo,
the father of Krishna, and the term Basdewa is a corruption of
Wasudeo or Wasudeva. Kaparia is the name they bear in the Anterved
or country between the Ganges and Jumna, whence they claim to have
come. Kaparia has been derived from _kapra_, cloth, owing to the custom
of the Basdewas of having several dresses, which they change rapidly
like the Bahrupia, making themselves up in different characters as a
show. Harbola is an occupational term, applied to a class of Basdewas
who climb trees in the early morning and thence vociferate praises
of the deity in a loud voice. The name is derived from _Har_, God,
and _bolna_, to speak. As the Harbolas wake people up in the morning
they are also called Jaga or Awakener. The number of Basdewas in
the Central Provinces and Berar in 1911 was 2500, and they are found
principally in the northern Districts and in Chhattisgarh. They have
several territorial subcastes, as Gangaputri or those who dwell on
the banks of the Ganges; Khaltia or Deswari, those who belong to
the Central Provinces; Parauha, from _para_, a male buffalo calf,
being the dealers in buffaloes; Harbola or those who climb trees and
sing the praises of God; and Wasudeo, the dwellers in the Maratha
Districts who marry only among themselves. The names of the exogamous
divisions are very varied, some being taken from Brahman _gotras_ and
Rajput septs, while others are the names of villages, or nicknames,
or derived from animals and plants. It may be concluded from these
names that the Basdewas are a mixed occupational group recruited
from high and low castes, though they themselves say that they do
not admit any outsiders except Brahmans into the community. In Bombay
[247] the Wasudevas have a special connection with Kumhars or potters,
whom they address by the term of _kaka_ or paternal uncle, and at whose
houses they lodge on their travels, presenting their host with the two
halves of a cocoanut. The caste do not observe celibacy. A price of
Rs. 25 has usually to be given for a bride, and a Brahman is employed
to perform the ceremony. At the conclusion of this the Brahman invests
the bridegroom with a sacred thread, which he thereafter continues to
wear. Widow marriage is permitted, and widows are commonly married to
widowers. Divorce is also permitted. When a man's wife dies he shaves
his moustache and beard, if any, in mourning and a father likewise
for a daughter-in-law; this is somewhat peculiar, as other Hindus do
not shave the moustache for a wife or daughter-in-law. The Basdewas
are wandering mendicants. In the Maratha Districts they wear a plume
of peacock's feathers, which they say was given to them as a badge
by Krishna. In Saugor and Damoh instead of this they carry during the
period from Dasahra to the end of Magh or from September to January a
brass vessel called _matuk_ bound on their heads. It is surmounted by
a brass cone and adorned with mango-leaves, cowries and a piece of red
cloth, and with figures of Rama and Lakshman. Their stock-in-trade for
begging consists of two _kartals_ or wooden clappers which are struck
against each other; _ghungrus_ or jingling ornaments for the feet,
worn when dancing; and a _paijna_ or kind of rattle, consisting of
two semicircular iron wires bound at each end to a piece of wood with
rings slung on to them; this is simply shaken in the hand and gives
out a sound from the movement of the rings against the wires. They
worship all these implements as well as their beggar's wallet on
the Janam-Ashtami or Krishna's birthday, the Dasahra, and the full
moon of Magh (January). They rise early and beg only in the morning
from about four till eight, and sing songs in praise of Sarwan and
Karan. Sarwan was a son renowned for his filial piety; he maintained
and did service to his old blind parents to the end of their lives,
much against the will of his wife, and was proof against all her
machinations to induce him to abandon them. Karan was a proverbially
charitable king, and all his family had the same virtue. His wife gave
away daily rice and pulse to those who required it, his daughter gave
them clothes, his son distributed cows as alms and his daughter-in-law
cocoanuts. The king himself gave only gold, and it is related of him
that he was accustomed to expend a maund and a quarter [248] weight
of gold in alms-giving before he washed himself and paid his morning
devotions. Therefore the Basdewas sing that he who gives early in the
morning acquires the merit of Karan; and their presence at this time
affords the requisite opportunity to anybody who may be desirous of
emulating the king. At the end of every couplet they cry 'Jai Ganga'
or 'Har Ganga,' invoking the Ganges.
The Harbolas have each a beat of a certain number of villages which
must not be infringed by the others. Their method is to ascertain the
name of some well-to-do person in the village. This done, they climb
a tree in the early morning before sunrise, and continue chanting
his praises in a loud voice until he is sufficiently flattered
by their eulogies or wearied by their importunity to throw down a
present of a few pice under the tree, which the Harbola, descending,
appropriates. The Basdewas of the northern Districts are now commonly
engaged in the trade of buying and selling buffaloes. They take the
young male calves from Saugor and Damoh to Chhattisgarh, and there
retail them at a profit for rice cultivation, driving them in large
herds along the road. For the capital which they have to borrow to
make their purchases, they are charged very high rates of interest. The
Basdewas have here a special veneration for the buffalo as the animal
from which they make their livelihood, and they object strongly to
the calves being taken to be tied out as baits for tiger, refusing,
it is said, to accept payment if the calf should be killed. Their
social status is not high, and none but the lowest castes will take
food from their hands. They eat flesh and drink liquor, but abstain
from pork, fowls and beef. Some of the caste have given up animal food.