_Chauhan._ [471]--A small caste of village watchmen and labourers
in the Chhattisgarh Division. They are also known as Chandel by
outsiders. In 1911 the Chauhans numbered 7000 persons in the Raipur
and Bilaspur Districts, and the adjoining Feudatory States. The
caste claim themselves to be of Rajput origin, and say that their
ancestors came from Mainpuri, which is the home of the Chauhan clan of
Rajputs. A few of their section names are taken from those of Rajput
clans, but the majority are of a totemistic nature, being called
after animals and plants, as Nag the cobra, Neora the mongoose,
Kolhia the jackal, Kamal the lotus, Pat silk, Chanwar rice, Khanda
a sword, and so on. Members of each sept worship the object after
which it is named at the time of marriage, and if the tree or animal
itself is not readily available, they make a representation of it
in flour and pay their respects to that. Thus members of the Bedna
or sugarcane sept make a stick of flour and worship it. They will
not kill or eat their sept totem, but in some cases, as in that of
the Chanwar or rice sept, this rule is impossible of observance, so
the members of this sept content themselves with abstaining from a
single variety of rice, the kind called Nagkesar. Families who belong
to septs named after heroic ancestors make an image in flour of the
ancestral saint or hero and worship it. The caste employ Brahmans
for their marriage and other ceremonies, and will not take food from
any caste except Brahmans and their Bairagi _gurus_ or spiritual
preceptors. But their social position is very low, as none except
the most debased castes will take food or water from their hands, and
their hereditary calling of village watchman would not be practised
by any respectable caste. By outsiders they are considered little,
if at all, superior to the Pankas and Gandas, and the most probable
theory of their origin is that they are the descendants of irregular
alliances between immigrant Rajput adventurers and the women of the
country. Their social customs resemble those of other low castes in
Chhattisgarh. Before the bridegroom starts for a wedding, they have
a peculiar ceremony known as Naodori. Seven small earthen cups full
of water are placed on the boy's head, and then poured over him in
succession. A piece of new cloth is laid on his head, and afterwards
placed seven times in contact with the earth. During this ritual the
boy keeps his eyes shut, and it is believed that if he should open
them before its completion, his children would be born blind. When
the bride leaves her father's house she and all her relatives mourn
and weep noisily, and the bride continues doing so until she is well
over a mile from her own village. Similarly on the first three or
four visits which she pays to her parents after her wedding, she
begins crying loudly a mile away from their house, and continues
until she reaches it. It is the etiquette also that women should
cry whenever they meet relatives from a distance. In such cases
when two women see each other they cry together, each placing her
head on the other's shoulder and her hands at her sides. While they
cry they change the position of their heads two or three times, and
each addresses the other according to their relationship, as mother,
sister, and so on. Or if any member of the family has recently died,
they call upon him or her, exclaiming 'O my mother! O my sister! O
my father! Why did not I, unfortunate one, die instead of thee?' A
woman when weeping with a man holds to his sides and rests her head
against his breast. The man exclaims at intervals, 'Stop crying,
do not cry.' When two women are weeping together it is a point of
etiquette that the elder should stop first and then beg her companion
to do so, but if it is doubtful which is the elder, they sometimes
go on crying for an hour at a time, exciting the younger spectators
to mirth, until at length some elder steps forward and tells one of
them to stop. The Chauhans permit the remarriage of widows, and a
woman is bound by no restrictions as to her choice of a second husband.
The goddess Durga or Devi is chiefly revered by the caste, who observe
fasts in her honour in the months of Kunwar (September) and Chait
(March). When they make a _badna_ or vow, they usually offer goats
to the goddess, and sow the _Jawaras_ or Gardens of Adonis in her
name, but except on such occasions they present less costly articles,
as cocoanuts, betel-leaves, areca-nuts and flowers. On the Dasahra
festival they worship the _lathi_ or stick which is the badge of
office of the village watchman. They were formerly addicted to petty
theft, and it is said that they worshipped the _khunta_ or pointed
rod for digging through the wall of a house. The caste usually burn
the dead, but children whose ears or noses have not been pierced are
buried. Children who die before they have begun to eat grain are not
mourned at all, while for older children the period of mourning is
three to seven days, and for adults ten days. On the tenth day they
clean their houses, shave themselves and offer balls of rice to the
dead under the direction of a Brahman, to whom they present eating
and drinking vessels, clothes, shoes and cattle with the belief that
the articles will thus become available for the use of the dead man
in the other world. The Chauhans will not eat fowls, pork or beef,
and in some places they abstain from drinking liquor.