_Dewar._ [521]--(Derived from Devi, whom they worship, or from Diabar,
'One who lights a lamp,' because they always practise magic with
a lighted lamp.) A Dravidian caste of beggars and musicians. They
numbered about 2500 persons in 1911 and are residents of the
Chhattisgarh plain. The Dewars themselves trace their origin from a
Binjhia named Gopal Rai, who accompanied Raja Kalyan Sai of Ratanpur
on a visit to the Court of Delhi in Akbar's time. Gopal Rai was
a great wrestler, and while at Delhi he seized and held a _mast_
elephant belonging to the Emperor. When the latter heard of it he
ordered a wrestling match to be arranged between Gopal Rai and his
own champion wrestler. Gopal Rai defeated and killed his opponent,
and Kalyan Sai ordered him to compose a triumphal song and sing it in
honour of the occasion. He composed his song in favour of Devi Maha
Mai, or Devi the Great Mother, and the composition and recitation of
similar songs has ever since been the profession of his descendants
the Dewars. The caste is, as is shown by the names of its sections,
of mixed origin, and its members are the descendants of Gonds and
Kawars reinforced probably by persons who have been expelled from
their own caste and have become Dewars. They will still admit persons
of any caste except the very lowest.