_Pardhan, Pathari, Panal._--An inferior branch of the Gond tribe whose
occupation is to act as the priests and minstrels of the Gonds. In
1911 the Pardhans numbered nearly 120,000 persons in the Central
Provinces and Berar. The only other locality where they are found is
Hyderabad, which returned 8000. The name Pardhan is of Sanskrit origin
and signifies a minister or agent. It is the regular designation of the
principal minister of a Rajput State, who often fulfils the functions
of a Mayor of the Palace. That it was applied to the tribe in this
sense is shown by the fact that they are also known as Diwan, which
has the same meaning. There is a tradition that the Gond kings employed
Pardhans as their ministers, and as the Pardhans acted as genealogists
they may have been more intelligent than the Gonds, though they are
in no degree less illiterate. To themselves and their Gond relations
the Pardhans are frequently not known by that name, which has been
given to them by the Hindus, but as Panal. Other names for the tribe
are Parganiha, Desai and Pathari. Parganiha is a title signifying the
head of a _pargana_, and is now applied by courtesy to some families
in Chhattisgarh. Desai has the same signification, being a variant
of Deshmukh or the Maratha revenue officer in charge of a circle of
villages. Pathari means a bard or genealogist, or according to another
derivation a hillman. On the Satpura plateau and in Chhattisgarh the
tribe is known as Pardhan Patharia. In Balaghat they are also called
Mokasi. The Gonds themselves look down on the Pardhans and say that
the word Patharia means inferior, and they relate that Bura Deo, their
god, had seven sons. These were talking together one day as they dined
and they said that every caste had an inferior branch to do it homage,
but they had none; and they therefore agreed that the youngest brother
and his descendants should be inferior to the others and make obeisance
to them, while the others promised to treat him almost as their equal
and give him a share in all the offerings to the dead. The Pardhans or
Patharias are the descendants of the youngest brother and they accost
the Gonds with the greeting 'Babu Johar,' or 'Good luck, sir.' The
Gonds return the greeting by saying 'Pathari Johar,' or 'How do you
do, Pathari.' Curiously enough Johar is also the salutation sent by
a Rajput chief to an inferior landholder, [400] and the custom must
apparently have been imitated by the Gonds. A variant of the story
is that one day the seven Gond brothers were worshipping their god,
but he did not make his appearance; so the youngest of them made a
musical instrument out of a string and a piece of wood and played on
it. The god was pleased with the music and came down to be worshipped,
and hence the Pardhans as the descendants of the youngest brother
continue to play on the _kingri_ or lyre, which is their distinctive
instrument. The above stories have been invented to account for the
social inferiority of the Pardhans to the Gonds, but their position
merely accords with the general rule that the bards and genealogists
of any caste are a degraded section. The fact is somewhat contrary
to preconceived ideas, but the explanation given of it is that such
persons make their living by begging from the remainder of the caste
and hence are naturally looked down upon by them; and further, that in
pursuit of their calling they wander about to attend at wedding feasts
all over the country, and consequently take food with many people of
doubtful social position. This seems a reasonable interpretation of
the rule of the inferiority of the bard, which at any rate obtains
generally among the Hindu castes.