_Brahman, Utkal._--These are the Brahmans of Orissa and one of
the Panch-Gaur divisions. They are divided into two groups, the
Dakshinatya or southern and the Jajpuria or northern clan. The Utkal
Brahmans, who first settled in Sambalpur, are known as Jharia or
jungly, and form a separate subcaste, marrying among themselves,
as the later immigrants refuse to intermarry with them. Another
group of Orissa Brahmans have taken to cultivation, and are known as
Halia, from _hal_, a plough. They grow the betel-vine, and in Orissa
the areca and cocoanuts, besides doing ordinary cultivation. They
have entirely lost their sacerdotal character, but glory in their
occupation, and affect to despise the Bed or Veda Brahmans, who live
upon alms. [437] A third class of Orissa Brahmans are the Pandas,
who serve as priests and cooks in the public temples and also in
private houses, and travel about India touting for pilgrims to visit
the temple at Jagannath. Dr. Bhattacharya describes the procedure of
the temple-touts as follows: [438]
"Their tours are so organised that during their campaigning season,
which commences in November and is finished by the car-festival at the
beginning of the rains, very few villages of the adjoining Provinces
escape their visits and taxation. Their appearance causes a disturbance
in every household. Those who have already visited 'The Lord of the
World' at Puri are called upon to pay an instalment towards the debt
contracted by them while at the sacred shrine, which, though paid
many times over, is never completely satisfied. That, however, is a
small matter compared with the misery and distraction caused by the
'Jagannath mania,' which is excited by the preachings and pictures of
the Panda. A fresh batch of old ladies become determined to visit the
shrine, and neither the waitings and protestations of the children nor
the prospect of a long and toilsome journey can dissuade them. The
arrangements of the family are for the time being altogether upset,
and the grief of those left behind is heightened by the fact that
they look upon the pilgrims as going to meet almost certain death...."
This vivid statement of the objections to the habit of pilgrimage from
a Brahman writer is very interesting. Since the opening of the railway
to Puri the danger and expense as well as the period of absence have
been greatly reduced; but the pilgrimages are still responsible for
a large mortality, as cholera frequently breaks out among the vast
assembly at the temple, and the pilgrims, hastily returning to all
parts of India, carry the disease with them, and cause epidemics in
many localities. All castes now eat the rice cooked at the temple of
Jagannath together without defilement, and friendships are cemented
by eating a little of this rice together as a sacred bond.