_Panka._ [366]--A Dravidian caste of weavers and labourers found
in Mandla, Raipur and Bilaspur, and numbering 215,000 persons in
1911. The name is a variant on that of the Pan tribe of Orissa
and Chota Nagpur, who are also known as Panika, Chik, Ganda and by
various other designations. In the Central Provinces it has, however,
a peculiar application; for while the Pan tribe proper is called Ganda
in Chhattisgarh and the Uriya country, the Pankas form a separate
division of the Gandas, consisting of those who have become members
of the Kabirpanthi sect. In this way the name has been found very
convenient, for since Kabir, the founder of the sect, was discovered by
a weaver woman lying on the lotus leaves of a tank, like Moses in the
bulrushes, and as a newly initiated convert is purified with water,
so the Pankas hold that their name Is _pani ka_ or 'from water.' As
far as possible then they disown their connection with the Gandas,
one of the most despised castes, and say that they are a separate
caste consisting of the disciples of Kabir. This has given rise to
the following doggerel rhyme about them:
Pani se Panka bhae, bundan rache sharir,
Age age Panka bhae, pachhe Das Kabir.
Which may be rendered, 'The Panka indeed is born of water, and his body
is made of drops of water, but there were Pankas before Kabir.' Or
another rendering of the second line is, 'First he was a Panka,
and afterwards he became a disciple of Kabir,' Nevertheless the
Pankas have been successful in obtaining a somewhat higher position
than the Gandas, in that their touch is not considered to convey
impurity. This is therefore an instance of a body of persons from
a low caste embracing a new religion and thereby forming themselves
into a separate caste and obtaining an advance in social position.