In Singhbhum the Bhuiyas call themselves _Pawan-bans_ or 'The Children
of the Wind,' and in connection with Hanuman's title of _Pawan-ka-put_
or 'The Son of the Wind,' are held to be the veritable apes of
the Ramayana who, under the leadership of Hanuman, the monkey-god,
assisted the Aryan hero Rama on his expedition to Ceylon. This may be
compared with the name given to the Gonds of the Central Provinces
of Rawanbansi, or descendants of Rawan, the idea being that their
ancestors were the subjects of Rawan, the demon king of Ceylon, who was
conquered by Rama. "All Bhuiyas," Sir H. Risley states, "affect great
reverence for the memory of Rikhmun or Rikhiasan, whom they regard,
some as a patron deity, others as a mythical ancestor, whose name
distinguishes one of the divisions of the tribe. It seems probable that
in the earliest stage of belief Rikhmun was the bear-totem of a sept of
the tribe, that later on he was transformed into an ancestral hero, and
finally promoted to the rank of a tribal god." The Rikhiasan Mahatwar
subtribe of the Bhuiyas in the Central Provinces are named after this
hero Rikhmun; the designation of Mahatwar signifies that they are the
Mahtos or leaders of the Bhuiyas. The Khandaits or Paiks are another
subcaste formed from those who became soldiers; in Orissa they are now,
as already stated, a separate caste of fairly high rank. The Parja
or 'subject people' are the ordinary Bhuiyas, probably those living
in Hindu tracts. The Dhur or 'dust' Gonds, and the Parja Gonds of
Bastar may be noted as a parallel in nomenclature. The Rautadi are a
territorial group, taking their name from a place called Raotal. The
Khandaits practise hypergamy with the Rautadi, taking daughters from
them, but not giving their daughters to them. The Pabudia or Madhai
are the hill Bhuiyas, and are the most wild and backward portion of
the tribe. Dalton writes of them in Keonjhar: "They are not bound
to fight for the Raja, though they occasionally take up arms against
him. Their duty is to attend on him and carry his loads when he travels
about, and so long as they are satisfied with his person and his rule,
no more willing or devoted subjects could be found. They are then in
Keonjhar, as in Bonai, a race whom you cannot help liking and taking
an interest in from the primitive simplicity of their customs, their
amenability and their anxiety to oblige; but unsophisticated as they
are they wield an extraordinary power in Keonjhar, and when they take
it into their heads to use that power, the country may be said to be
governed by an oligarchy composed of the sixty chiefs of the Pawri
Desh, the Bhuiya Highlands. A knotted string passed from village to
village in the name of the sixty chiefs throws the entire country into
commotion, and the order verbally communicated in connection with
it is as implicitly obeyed as if it emanated from the most potent
despot." This knotted string is known as _Ganthi_. The Pabudias say
that their ancestors were twelve brothers belonging to Keonjhar,
of whom eight went to an unknown country, while the remaining four
divided among themselves all the territory of which they had knowledge,
this being comprised in the four existing states of Keonjhar, Bamra,
Palahara and Bonai. Any Pabudia who takes up his residence permanently
beyond the boundaries of these four states is considered to lose his
caste, like Hindus in former times who went to dwell in the foreign
country beyond the Indus. [374] But if the wandering Pabudia returns
in two years, and proves that he has not drunk water from any other
caste, he is taken back into the fold. Other subdivisions are the Kati
or Khatti and the Bathudia, these last being an inferior group who
are said to be looked down on because they have taken food from other
low castes. No doubt they are really the offspring of irregular unions.