_Nunia, Lunia._ [351]--A mixed occupational caste of salt-makers and
earth-workers, made up of recruits from the different non-Aryan tribes
of northern India. The word _non_ means salt, and is a corruption of
the Sanskrit _lavana_, 'the moist,' which first occurs as a name for
sea-salt in the Atharva Veda. [352] In the oldest prose writings salt
is known as Saindhava or 'that which is brought from the Indus,' this
perhaps being Punjab rock-salt. The Nunias are a fairly large caste in
Bengal and northern India, numbering 800,000 persons, but the Central
Provinces and Berar contain only 3000, who are immigrants from Upper
India. Here they are navvies and masons, a calling which they have
generally adopted since the Government monopoly has interfered with
their proper business of salt-refining. The mixed origin of the caste
is shown by the list of their subdivisions in the United Provinces,
which includes the names Mallah, Kewat, Kuchbandhia, Bind, Musahar,
Bhuinhar and Lodha, all of which are distinct castes, besides a number
of territorial subcastes. A list of nearly thirty subcastes is given
by Mr. Crooke, and this is an instance of the tendency of migratory
castes to split up into small groups for the purpose of arranging
marriages, owing to the difficulty of ascertaining the status and
respectability of each other's families, and the unwillingness to
contract alliances with those whose social position may turn out to
be not wholly satisfactory. "The internal structure of the caste,"
Mr. Crooke remarks, "is far from clear; it would appear that they are
still in a state of transition, and the different endogamous subcastes
are not as yet fully recognised." In Bilaspur the Nunias have three
local subcastes, the Bandhaiya, the Ratanpuria and the Kharodhia. The
two last, deriving their names from the towns of Ratanpur and Kharod
in Bilaspur, are said to have been employed in former times in the
construction of the temples and other buildings which abound in
these localities, and have thus acquired a considerable degree of
professional skill in masonry work; while the Bandhaiya, who take their
name from Bandhogarh, confine themselves to the excavation of tanks
and wells. The exogamous divisions of the caste are also by no means
clearly defined; in Mirzapur they have a system of local subdivisions
called _dih_, each subdivision being named after the village which
is supposed to be its home. The word _dih_ itself means a site or
village. Those who have a common _dih_ do not intermarry. [353] This
fact is interesting as being an instance of the direct derivation of
the exogamous clan from residence in a parent village and not from
any heroic or supposititious ancestor.
The caste have a legend which shows their mixed origin. Some centuries
ago, they say, a marriage procession consisting of Brahmans, Rajputs,
Banias and Gosains went to a place near Ajodhya. After the ceremony was
over the bride, on being taken to the bridegroom's lodging, scraped up
a little earth with her fingers and put it in her mouth. She found it
had a saltish taste, and spat it out on the ground, and this enraged
the tutelary goddess of the village, who considered herself insulted,
and swore that all the bride's descendants should excavate salt in
atonement; and thus the caste arose.
In Bilaspur the caste permit a girl to be married to a boy younger
than herself. A price of five rupees has to be paid for the bride,
unless her family give a girl in exchange. The bridegroom is taken to
the wedding in a palanquin borne by Mahars. After its conclusion the
couple are carried back in the litter for some distance, after which
the bridegroom gets out and walks or rides. When he goes to fetch
his wife on her coming of age the bridegroom wears white clothes,
which is rather peculiar, as white is not a lucky colour among the
Hindus. The Nunias employ Brahmans at their ceremonies, and they have
a caste _panchayat_ or committee, whose headman is known as Kurha. The
Bilaspur section of the caste has two Kurhas. Here Brahmans take water
from them, but not in all places. They consider their traditional
occupation to have been the extraction of salt and saltpetre from
saline earth. At present they are generally employed in the excavation
of tanks and the embankment of fields, and they also sink wells,
build and erect houses, and undertake all kinds of agricultural labour.