_Nahal, Nihal._ [288]--A forest tribe who are probably a mixture
of Bhils and Korkus. In 1911 they numbered 12,000 persons, of whom
8000 belonged to the Hoshangabad, Nimar and Betul Districts, and
nearly 4000 to Berar. They were classed at the census as a subtribe
of Korkus. According to one story they are descended from a Bhil
father and a Korku mother, and the writer of the _Khandesh Gazetteer_
calls them the most savage of the Bhils. But in the Central Provinces
their family or sept names are the same as those of the Korkus,
and they speak the Korku language. Mr. Kitts [289] says that the
Korkus who first went to Berar found the Nahals in possession of
the Melghat hills. Gradually the latter caste lost their power and
became the village drudges of the former. He adds that the Nahals
were fast losing their language, and the younger generation spoke only
Korku. The two tribes were very friendly, and the Nahals acknowledged
the superior position of the Korkus. This, if it accurately represents
the state of things prevailing for a long period, and was not merely an
incidental feature of their relative position at the time Mr. Kitts'
observations were made, would tend to show that the Nahals were the
older tribe and had been subjected by the Korkus, just as the Korkus
themselves and the Baigas have given way to the Gonds. Mr. Crosthwaite
also states that the Nahal is the drudge of the Korku and belongs to
a race which is supposed to have been glorious before the Korku star
arose, and which is now fast dying out. In any case there is no doubt
that the Nahals are a very mixed tribe, as they will even now admit
into the community Gonds, Korkus and nearly all the Hindu castes,
though in some localities they will not eat from the other tribes
and the lower Hindu castes and therefore refuse to admit them. There
are, moreover, two subdivisions of the caste called Korku and Marathi
Nahals respectively. The latter are more Hinduised than the former and
disclaim any connection with the Korkus. The Nahals have totemistic
exogamous septs. Those of the Kasa sept worship a tortoise and also
a bell-metal plate, which is their family god. They never eat off a
bell-metal plate except on one day in the month of Magh (January),
when they worship it. The members of the Nagbel sept worship the
betel-vine or 'snake-creeper,' and refrain from chewing betel-leaves,
and they also worship the Nag or cobra and do not kill it, thus having
a sort of double totem. The Bhawaria sept, named after the _bhaunr_
or black bee, do not eat honey, and if they see a person taking the
honey-comb from a nest they will run away. The Khadia sept worship
the spirits of their ancestors enshrined in a heap of stones (_khad_),
or according to another account they worship a snake which sits on a
heap of pebbles. The Surja sept worship Surya or the sun by offering
him a fowl in the month of Pus (December-January), and some members of
the sept keep a fast every Sunday. The Saoner sept worship the _san_
or flax plant.