_Ojha._--The community of soothsayers and minstrels of the Gonds. The
Ojhas may now be considered a distinct subtribe, as they are looked
down upon by the Gonds and marry among themselves. They derive their
name from the word _ojh_ meaning 'entrail,' their original duty
having been, like that of the Roman augurs, to examine the entrails
of the victim immediately after it had been slain as an offering to
the gods. In 1911 the Ojhas numbered about 5000 persons distributed
over all Districts of the Central Provinces. At present the bulk
of the community subsist by beggary. The word Ojha is of Sanskrit
and not of Gond origin and is applied by the Hindus to the seers or
magicians of several of the primitive tribes, while there is also a
class of Ojha Brahmans who practise magic and divination. The Gond
Ojhas, who are the subject of this article, originally served the
Gonds and begged from them alone, but in some parts of the western
Satpuras they are also the minstrels of the Korkus. Those who beg
from the Korkus play on a kind of drum called _dhank_ while the Gond
Ojhas use the _kingri_ or lyre. Some of them also catch birds and
are therefore known as Moghia. Mr. Hislop [354] remarks of them:
"The Ojhas follow the two occupations of bard and fowler. They lead
a wandering life and when passing through villages they sing from
house to house the praises of their heroes, dancing with castanets in
their hands, bells at their ankles and long feathers of jungle birds
in their turbans. They sell live quails and the skins of a species
of Buceros named Dhan-chiria; these are used for making caps and for
hanging up in houses in order to secure wealth (_dhan_), while the
thigh-bones of the same bird when fastened round the waists of children
are deemed an infallible preservative against the assaults of devils
and other such calamities. Their wives tattoo the arms of Hindu and
Gond women. Among them there is a subdivision known as the Mana Ojhas,
who rank higher than the others. Laying claim to unusual sanctity,
they refuse to eat with any one, Gonds, Rajputs or even Brahmans, and
devote themselves to the manufacture of rings and bells which are in
request among their own race, and even of _lingas_ (phallic emblems)
and _nandis_ (bull images), which they sell to all ranks of the Hindu
community. Their wives are distinguished by wearing the cloth of the
upper part of the body over the right shoulder, whereas those of the
common Ojhas and of all the other Gonds wear it over the left."
Mr. Tawney wrote of the Ojhas as follows: [355] "The Ojha women do
not dance. It is only men who do so, and when thus engaged they put
on special attire and wear anklets with bells. The Ojhas like the
Gonds are divided into six or seven god _gots_ (classes or septs),
and those with the same number of gods cannot intermarry. They worship
at the same Deokhala (god's threshing-floor) as the Gonds, but being
regarded as an inferior caste they are not allowed so near the sacred
presence. Like the Gonds they incorporate the spirits of the dead with
the gods, but their manner of doing so is somewhat different, as they
make an image of brass to represent the soul of the deceased and keep
this with the household gods. As with the Gonds, if a household god
makes himself too objectionable he is quietly buried to keep him out
of mischief and a new god is introduced into the family. The latter
should properly bear the same name as his degraded predecessor, but
very often does not. The Ojhas are too poor to indulge in the luxury
of burning their deceased friends and therefore invariably bury them."
The customs of the Ojhas resemble those of the Gonds. They take the
bride to the bridegroom's house to be married, and a widow among
them is expected, though not obliged, to wed her late husband's
younger brother. They eat the flesh of fowls, pigs, and even oxen,
but abstain from that of monkeys, crocodiles and jackals. They will
not touch an ass, a cat or a dog, and consider it sinful to kill
animals which bark or bray.
They will take food from the hands of all except the most impure
castes, and will admit into the community any man who has taken an Ojha
woman to live with him, even though he be a sweeper, provided that he
will submit to the prescribed test of begging from the houses of five
Gonds and eating the leavings of food of the other Ojhas. They will
pardon the transgression of one of their women with an outsider of
any caste whatever, if she is able and willing to provide the usual
penalty feast. They have no _sutak_ or period of impurity after a
death, but merely take a mouthful of liquor and consider themselves
clean. In physical appearance the Ojhas resemble the Gonds but are
less robust. They rank below the Gonds and are considered as impure
by the Hindu castes. In 1865, an Ojha held a village in Hoshangabad
District which he had obtained as follows: [356] "He was singing
and dancing before Raja Raghuji, when the Raja said he would give a
rent-free village to any one who would pick up and chew a quid of
betel-leaf which he (the Raja) had had in his mouth and had spat
out. The Ojha did this and got the village."
The Maithil or Tirhut Brahmans who are especially learned in Tantric
magic are also sometimes known as Ojha, and a family bearing this
title were formerly in the service of the Gond kings of Mandla. They
do not now admit that they acted as augurs or soothsayers, but state
that their business was to pray continuously for the king's success
when he was engaged in any battle, and to sit outside the rooms of sick
persons repeating the sacred Gayatri verse for their recovery. This is
often repeated ten times, counting by a special method on the joints
of the fingers and is then known as _Jap_. When it is repeated a
larger number of times, as 54 or 108, a rosary is used.