The Basors of the northern Districts are divided into a number of
subcastes, the principal of which are: the Purania or Juthia, who
perhaps represent the oldest section, Purania being from _purana_ old;
they are called Juthia because they eat the leavings of others; the
Barmaiya or Malaiya, apparently a territorial group; the Deshwari or
Bundelkhandi who reside in the _desh_ or native place of Bundelkhand;
the Gudha or Gurha, the name being derived by some from _guda_
a pigsty; the Dumar or Dom Basors; the Dhubela, perhaps from the
Dhobi caste; and the Dharkar. Two or three of the above names appear
to be those of other low castes from which the Basor caste may have
been recruited, perhaps at times when a strong demand existed for
bamboo-workers. The Buruds do not appear to be sufficiently numerous
to have subcastes. But they include a few Telenga Buruds who are
really Medaras, and the caste proper are therefore sometimes known as
Maratha Buruds to distinguish them from these. The caste has numerous
_bainks_ or exogamous groups or septs, the names of which may chiefly
be classified as territorial and totemistic. Among the former are
Mahobia, from the town of Mahoba; Sirmaiya, from Sirmau; Orahia,
from Orai, the battlefield of the Banaphar generals, Alha and Udal;
Tikarahia from Tikari, and so on. The totemistic septs include the
Sanpero from _sanp_ a snake, the Mangrelo from _mangra_ a crocodile,
the Morya from _mor_ a peacock, the Titya from the _titehri_ bird
and the Sarkia from _sarki_ or red ochre, all of which worship their
respective totems. The Katarya or 'dagger' sept worship a real or
painted dagger at their marriage, and the Kemia, a branch of the _kem_
tree (_Stephegyne parvifolia_). The Bandrelo, from _bandar_, worship a
painted monkey. One or two groups are named after castes, as Bamhnelo
from Brahman and Bargujaria from Bargujar Rajput, thus indicating that
members of these castes became Basors and founded families. One sept
is called Marha from Marhai, the goddess of cholera, and the members
worship a picture of the goddess drawn in black. The name of the
Kulhantia sept means somersault, and these turn a somersault before
worshipping their gods. So strong is the totemistic idea that some
of the territorial groups worship objects with similar names. Thus
the Mahobia group, whose name is undoubtedly derived from the town
of Mahoba, have adopted the mahua tree as their totem, and digging
a small hole in the ground place in it a little water and the liquor
made from mahua flowers, and worship it. This represents the process
of distillation of country liquor. Similarly, the Orahia group,
who derive their name from the town of Orai, now worship the _urai_
or _khaskhas_ grass, and the Tikarahia from Tikari worship a _tikli_
or glass spangle.