_Lorha._ [109]--A small caste of cultivators in the Hoshangabad and
Nimar Districts, whose distinctive occupation is to grow _san_-hemp
(_Crotalaria juncea_) and to make sacking and gunny-bags from the
fibre. A very strong prejudice against this crop exists among the
Hindus, and those who grow it are usually cut off from their parent
caste and become a separate community. Thus we have the castes known
as Kumrawat, Patbina and Dangur in different parts of the Province,
who are probably offshoots from the Kurmis and Kunbis, but now rank
below them because they grow this crop; and in the Kurmi caste itself
a subcaste of Santora (hemp-picking) Kurmis has grown up. In Bilaspur
the Patharia Kurmis will grow _san_-hemp and ret it, but will not spin
or weave the fibre; while the Atharia Kurmis will not grow the crop,
but will spin the fibre and make sacking. The Saugor Kewats grow this
fibre, and here Brahmans and other high castes will not take water
from Kewats, though in the eastern Districts they will do so. The
Narsinghpur Mallahs, a branch of the Kewats, have also adopted the
cultivation of _san_-hemp as a regular profession. The basis of the
prejudice against the _san_-hemp plant is not altogether clear. The
Lorhas themselves say that they are looked down upon because they use
wheat-starch (_lapsi_) for smoothing the fibre, and that their name
is somehow derived from this fact. But the explanation does not seem
satisfactory. Many of the country people appear to think that there
is something uncanny about the plant because it grows so quickly,
and they say that on one occasion a cultivator went out to sow hemp
in the morning, and his wife was very late in bringing his dinner to
the field. He grew hungry and angry, and at last the shoots of the
hemp-seeds which he had sown in the morning began to appear above the
ground. At this he was so enraged that when his wife finally came
he said she had kept him waiting so long that the crop had come up
in the meantime, and murdered her. Since then the Hindus have been
forbidden to grow _san_-hemp lest they should lose their tempers in
the same manner. This story makes a somewhat excessive demand on the
hearer's credulity. One probable cause of the taboo seems to be that
the process of soaking and retting the stalks of the plant pollutes
the water, and if carried on in a tank or in the pools of a stream
might destroy the village supply of drinking-water. In former times
it may have been thought that the desecration of their sacred element
was an insult to the deities of rivers and streams, which would bring
down retribution on the offender. It is also the case that the proper
separation of the fibres requires a considerable degree of dexterity
which can only be acquired by practice. Owing to the recent increase in
the price of the fibre and the large profits which can now be obtained
from hemp cultivation, the prejudice against it is gradually breaking
down, and the Gonds, Korkus and lower Hindu castes have waived their
religious scruples and are glad to turn an honest penny by sowing hemp
either on their own account or for hire. Other partially tabooed crops
are turmeric and _al_ or Indian madder (_Morinda citrifolia_), while
onions and garlic are generally eschewed by Hindu cultivators. For
growing turmeric and _al_ special subcastes have been formed, as the
Alia Kunbis and the Hardia Malis and Kachhis (from _haldi_, turmeric),
just as in the case of _san_-hemp. The objection to these two crops is
believed to lie in the fact that the roots which yield the commercial
product have to be boiled, and by this process a number of insects
contained in them are destroyed. But the preparation of the hemp-fibre
does not seem to involve any such sacrifice of insect life. The Lorhas
appear to be a mixed group, with a certain amount of Rajput blood in
them, perhaps an offshoot of the Kirars, with whose social customs
their own are said to be identical. According to another account, they
are a lower or illegitimate branch of the Lodha caste of cultivators,
of whose name their own is said to be a corruption. The Nimar Gujars
have a subcaste named Lorha, and the Lorhas of Hoshangabad may be
connected with these. They live in the Seoni and Harda tahsils of
Hoshangabad, the _san_-hemp crop being a favourite one in villages
adjoining the forests, because it is not subject to the depredations
of wild animals. Cultivators are often glad to sublet their fields
for the purpose of having a crop of hemp grown upon them, because
the stalks are left for manure and fertilise the ground. String and
sacking are also made from the hemp-fibre by vagrant and criminal
castes like the Banjaras and Bhamtas, who formerly required the bags
for carrying their goods and possessions about with them.