The caste has a large number of subdivisions. The Usrete belonged
to Bundelkhand, where this name is found in several castes; they are
also known as Havelia, because they live in the rich level tract of
the Jubbulpore Haveli, covered like a chessboard with large embanked
wheat-fields. The name Haveli seems to have signified a palace or
headquarters of a ruler, and hence was applied to the tract surrounding
it, which was usually of special fertility, and provided for the
maintenance of the chief's establishment and household troops. Thus in
Jubbulpore, Mandia and Betul we find the forts of the old Gond rulers
dominating an expanse of rich plain-country. The Usrete Kurmis abstain
from meat and liquor, and may be considered as one of the highest
subcastes. Their name may be derived from _a-sreshtha,_ or not the
best, and its significance would be that formerly they were considered
to be of mixed origin, like most castes in Bundelkhand. The group of
Sreshtha or best-born Kurmis has now, however, died out if it ever
existed, and the Usretes have succeeded in establishing themselves in
its place. The Chandnahes of Jubbulpore or Chandnahus of Chhattisgarh
are another large subdivision. The name may be derived from the village
Chandnoha in Bundelkhand, but the Chandnahus of Chhattisgarh say that
three or four centuries ago a Rajput general of the Raja of Ratanpur
had been so successful in war that the king allowed him to appear
in Durbar in his uniform with his forehead marked with sandalwood,
as a special honour. When he died his son continued to do the same,
and on the king's attention being drawn to it he forbade him. But
the son did not obey, and hence the king ordered the sandalwood to be
rubbed from his forehead in open Durbar. But when this was done the
mark miraculously reappeared through the agency of the goddess Devi,
whose favourite he was. Three times the king had the mark rubbed
out and three times it came again. So he was allowed to wear it
thereafter, and was called Chandan Singh from _chandan_, sandalwood;
and his descendants are the Chandnahu Kurmis. Another derivation is
from Chandra, the moon. In Jubbulpore these Chandnahes sometimes kill
a pig under the palanquin of a newly married bride. In Bilaspur they
are prosperous and capable cultivators, but are generally reputed to
be stingy, and therefore are not very popular. Here they are divided
into the Ekbahinyas and Dobahinyas, or those who wear glass bangles
on one or both arms respectively. The Chandraha Kurmis of Raipur
are probably a branch of the Chandnahus. They sprinkle with water
the wood with which they are about to cook their food in order to
purify it, and will eat food only in the _chauka_ or sanctified place
in the house. At harvest when they must take meals in the fields,
one of them prepares a patch of ground, cleaning and watering it,
and there cooks food for them all.
The Singrore Kurmis derive their name from Singror, a place near
Allahabad. Singror is said to have once been a very important town,
and the Lodhis and other castes have subdivisions of this name. The
Desha Kurmis are a group of the Mungeli tahsil of Bilaspur. Desh
means one's native country, but in this case the name probably
refers to Bundelkhand. Mr. Gordon states [54] that they do not rear
poultry and avoid residing in villages in which their neighbours keep
poultry. The Santore Kurmis are a group found in several Districts,
who grow _san_-hemp, [55] and are hence looked down upon by the
remainder of the caste. In Raipur the Manwa Kurmis will also do
this; Mana is a word sometimes applied to a loom, and the Manwa
Kurmis may be so called because they grow hemp and weave sacking
from the fibres. The Pataria are an inferior group in Bilaspur, who
are similarly despised because they grow hemp and will take their
food in the fields in _patris_ or leaf-plates. The Gohbaiyan are
considered to be an illegitimate group; the name is said to signify
'holding the arm.' The Bahargaiyan, or 'those who live outside the
town,' are another subcaste to which children born out of wedlock
are relegated. The Palkiha subcaste of Jubbulpore are said to be
so named because their ancestors were in the service of a certain
Raja and spread his bedding for him; hence they are somewhat looked
down on by the others. The name may really be derived from _palal_,
a kind of vegetable, and they may originally have been despised for
growing this vegetable, and thus placing themselves on a level with
the gardening castes. The Masuria take their name from the _masur_
or lentil, a common cold-weather crop in the northern Districts,
which is, however, grown by all Kurmis and other cultivators; and the
Agaria or iron-workers, the Kharia or catechu-makers, and the Lonhare
or salt-makers, have already been mentioned. There are also numerous
local or territorial subcastes, as the Chaurasia or those living
in a Chaurasi [56] estate of eighty-four villages, the Pardeshi or
foreigners, the Bundelkhandi or those who came from Bundelkhand, the
Kanaujias from Oudh, the Gaur from northern India, and the Marathe and
Telenge or Marathas and Telugus; these are probably Kunbis who have
been taken into the caste. The Gabel are a small subcaste in Sakti
State, who now prefer to drop the name Kurmi and call themselves simply
Gabel. The reason apparently is that the other Kurmis about them sow
_san_-hemp, and as they have ceased doing this they try to separate
themselves and rank above the rest. But they call the bastard group
of their community Rakhaut Kurmis, and other people speak of all of
them as Gabel Kurmis, so that there is no doubt that they belong to
the caste. It is said that formerly they were pack-carriers, but have
now abandoned this calling in favour of cultivation.