The Beldars of Chhattisgarh are divided into the Odia or Uriya, Larhia,
Kuchbandhia, Matkuda and Karigar groups. Uriya and Larhia are local
names, applied to residents of the Uriya country and Chhattisgarh
respectively. Odia is the name of a low Madras caste of masons,
but whether it is a corruption of Uriya is not clear. Karigar means
a workman, and Kuchbandhia is the name of a separate caste, who make
loom-combs for weavers. The Odias pretend to be fallen Rajputs. They
say that when Indra stole the sacrificial horse of Raja Sagar and
kept it in the underworld, the Raja's thousand sons dug great holes
through the earth to get it. Finally they arrived at the underworld
and were all reduced to ashes by the Rishi Kapil Muni, who dwelt
there. Their ghosts besought him for life, and he said that their
descendants should always continue to dig holes in the earth, which
would be used as tanks; and that whenever a tank was dug by them, and
its marriage celebrated with a sacrifice, the savour of the sacrifice
would descend to the ghosts and would afford them sustenance. The Odias
say that they are the descendants of the Raja's sons, and unless a tank
is dug and its marriage celebrated by them it remains impure. These
Odias have their tutelary deity in Rewah State, and at his shrine is a
flag which none but an Odia of genuine descent from Raja Sagar's sons
can touch without some injury befalling him. If any Beldaar therefore
claims to belong to their caste they call on him to touch the flag,
and if he does so with impunity they acknowledge him as a brother.