In Raigarh and Sarangarh of the Central Provinces the above subcastes
are not found, and there are no distinct endogamous groups; but
the more Hinduised members of the caste have begun to marry among
themselves and call themselves Turia, while they look down on the
others to whom they restrict the designation Turi. The names of
subcastes given by Sir H. Risley appear to indicate that the Turis
are an offshoot from the Mundas, with an admixture of Doms and other
low Uriya castes. Among themselves the caste is also known as Husil,
a term which signifies a worker in bamboo. The caste say that their
original ancestor was created by Singbonga, the sun, and had five sons,
one of whom found a wooden image of their deity in the Baranda forest,
near the Barpahari hill in Chota Nagpur. This image was adopted as
their family deity, and is revered to the present day as Barpahari
Deo. The deity is thus called after the hill, of which it is clear that
he is the personified representative. From the five sons are descended
the five main septs of the Turis. The eldest was called Mailuar, and
his descendants are the leaders or headmen of the caste. The group
sprung from the second son are known as Chardhagia, and it is their
business to purify and readmit offenders to caste intercourse. The
descendants of the third son conduct the ceremonial shaving of such
offenders, and are known as Surennar, while those of the fourth son
bring water for the ceremony and are called Tirkuar. The fifth group
is known as Hasdagia, and it is said that they are the offspring of
the youngest brother, who committed some offence, and the four other
brothers took the parts which are still played by their descendants in
his ceremony of purification. Traces of similar divisions appear to be
found in Bengal, as Sir H. Risley states that before a marriage can
be celebrated the consent of the heads of the Madalwar and Surinwar
sections, who are known respectively as Raja and Thakur, is obtained,
while the head of the Charchagiya section officiates as priest. The
above names are clearly only variants of those found in the Central
Provinces. But besides the above groups the Turis have a large number
of exogamous septs of a totemistic nature, some of which are identical
with those of the Mundas.