_Binjhwar, Binjhal._ [381]--A comparatively civilised Dravidian
tribe, or caste formed from a tribe, found in the Raipur and Bilaspur
Districts and the adjoining Uriya country. In 1911 the Binjhwars
numbered 60,000 persons in the Central Provinces. There is little
or no doubt that the Binjhwars are an offshoot of the primitive
Baiga tribe of Mandla and Balaghat, who occupy the Satpura or Maikal
hills to the north of the Chhattisgarh plain. In these Districts a
Binjhwar subdivision of the Baigas exists; it is the most civilised
and occupies the highest rank in the tribe. In Bhandara is found the
Injhwar caste who are boatmen and cultivators. This caste is derived
from the Binjhwar subdivision of the Baigas, and the name Injhwar
is simply a corruption of Binjhwar. Neither the Binjhwars nor the
Baigas are found except in the territories above mentioned, and it
seems clear that the Binjhwars are a comparatively civilised section
of the Baigas, who have become a distinct caste. They are in fact the
landholding section of the Baigas, like the Raj-Gonds among the Gonds
and the Bhilalas among Bhils. The zamindars of Bodasamar, Rampur,
Bhatgaon and other estates to the south and east of the Chhattlsgarh
plain belong to this tribe. But owing to the change of name their
connection with the parent Baigas has now been forgotten. The name
Binjhwar is derived from the Vindhya hills, and the tribe still worship
the goddess Vindhyabasini of these hills as their tutelary deity. They
say that their ancestors migrated from Binjhakop to Lampa, which may be
either Lamta in Balaghat or Laphagarh in Bilaspur. The hills of Mandla,
the home of perhaps the most primitive Baigas, are quite close to the
Vindhya range. The tribe say that their original ancestors were _Barah
bhai betkar_, or the twelve Brother Archers. They were the sons of
the goddess Vindhyabasini. One day they were out shooting and let off
their arrows, which flew to the door of the great temple at Puri and
stuck in it. Nobody in the place was able to pull them out, not even
when the king's elephants were brought and harnessed to them; till
at length the brothers arrived and drew them forth quite easily with
their hands, and the king was so pleased with their feat that he gave
them the several estates which their descendants now hold. The story
recalls that of Arthur and the magic sword. According to another legend
the mother of the first Raja of Patna, a Chauhan Rajput, had fled from
northern India to Sambalpur after her husband and relations had been
killed in battle. She took refuge in a Binjhwar's hut and bore a son
who became Raja of Patna; and in reward for the protection afforded to
his mother he gave the Binjhwar the Bodasamar estate, requiring only
of him and his descendants the tribute of a silk cloth on accession to
the zamindari; and this has been rendered ever since by the zamindars
of Bodasamar to the Rajas of Patna as a mark of fealty. It is further
stated that the twelve archers when they fired the memorable arrows in
the forest were in pursuit of a wild boar; and the landholding class of
Binjhwars are called Bariha from _barah_, a boar. As is only fitting,
the Binjhwars have taken the arrow as their tribal symbol or mark;
their cattle are branded with it, and illiterate Binjhwars sign it
in place of their name. If a husband cannot be found for a girl she
is sometimes married to an arrow. At a Binjhwar wedding an arrow
is laid on the trunk of mahua [382] which forms the marriage-post,
and honours are paid to it as representing the bridegroom.