The most important of these are the Sunar or goldsmith; the Kasar

or worker in brass and bell-metal; the Tamera or coppersmith; the

Barhai or carpenter; and the Halwai and Bharbhunja or confectioner

and grain-parcher. The Sansia or stone-mason of the Uriya country

may perhaps also be included. These industries represent a higher

degree of civilisation than the village trades, and the workers may

probably have been formed into castes at a later period, when the

practice of the handicrafts was no longer despised. The metal-working

castes are now usually urban, and on the average their members are

as well-to-do as the cultivators. The Sunars especially include a

number of wealthy men, and their importance is increased by their

association with the sacred metal, gold; in some localities they

now claim to be Brahmans and refuse to take food from Brahmans. [62]

The more ambitious members abjure all flesh-food and liquor and wear

the sacred thread. But in Bombay the Sunar was in former times one

of the village menial castes, and here, before and during the time

of the Peshwas, Sunars were not allowed to wear the sacred thread,

and they were forbidden to hold their marriages in public, as it was

considered unlucky to see a Sunar bridegroom. Sunar bridegrooms were

not allowed to see the state umbrella or to ride in a palanquin, and

had to be married at night and in secluded places, being subject to

restrictions and annoyances from which even Mahars were free. Thus

the goldsmith's status appears to vary greatly according as his

trade is a village or urban industry. Copper is also a sacred metal,

and the Tameras rank next to the Sunars among the artisan castes,

with the Kasars or brass-workers a little below them; both these

castes sometimes wearing the sacred thread. These classes of artisans

generally live in towns. The Barhai or carpenter is sometimes a village

menial, but most carpenters live in towns, the wooden implements of

agriculture being made either by the blacksmith or by the cultivators

themselves. Where the Barhai is a village menial he is practically

on an equality with the Lohar or blacksmith; but the better-class

carpenters, who generally live in towns, rank higher. The Sansia or

stone-mason of the Uriya country works, as a rule, only in stone,

and in past times therefore his principal employment must have been

to build temples. He could not thus be a village menial, and his

status would be somewhat improved by the sanctity of his calling. The

Halwai and Bharbhunja or confectioner and grain-parcher are castes of

comparatively low origin, especially the latter; but they have to be

given the status of ceremonial purity in order that all Hindus may be

able to take sweets and parched grain from their hands. Their position

resembles that of the barber and waterman, the pure village menials,

which will be discussed later. In Bengal certain castes, such as the

Tanti or weaver of fine muslin, the Teli or oil-presser, and the Kumhar

or potter, rank with the ceremonially pure castes. Their callings

have there become important urban industries. Thus the Tantis made the

world-renowned fine muslins of Dacca; and the Jagannathia Kumhars of

Orissa provide the earthen vessels used for the distribution of rice

to all pilgrims at the temple of Jagannath. These castes and certain

others have a much higher rank than that of the corresponding castes

in northern and Central India, and the special reasons indicated seem

to account for this. Generally the artisan castes ranking on the same

or a higher level than the cultivators are urban and not rural. They

were not placed in a position of inferiority to the cultivators by

accepting contributions of grain and gifts from them, and this perhaps

accounts for their higher position. One special caste may be noticed

here, the Vidurs, who are the descendants of Brahman fathers by women

of other castes. These, being of mixed origin, formerly had a very

low rank, and worked as village accountants and patwaris. Owing to

their connection with Brahmans, however, they are a well-educated

caste, and since education has become the door to all grades of

advancement in the public service, the Vidurs have taken advantage

of it, and many of them are clerks of offices or hold higher posts

under Government. Their social status has correspondingly improved;

they dress and behave like Brahmans, and in some localities it is

said that even Maratha Brahmans will take water to drink from Vidurs,

though they will not take it from the cultivating castes. There are

also several menial or serving castes from whom a Brahman can take

water, forming the third class of this group, but their real rank is

much below that of the cultivators, and they will be treated in the

next group.

26. Castes from whom a Brahman cannot take water; the village menials.

The third main division consists of those castes from whom a

Brahman cannot take water, though they are not regarded as impure

and are permitted to enter Hindu temples. The typical castes of this

group appear to be the village artisans and menials and the village

priests. The annexed list shows the principal of these.

_Village menials_.

Lohar--Blacksmith.

Barhai--Carpenter.

Kumhar--Potter.

Nai--Barber.

Dhimar--Waterman.

Kahar--Palanquin-bearer.

Bari--Leaf-plate maker.

Bargah--Household servant.

Dhobi--Washerman.

Darzi--Tailor.

Basor or Dhulia--Village musician.

Bhat and Mirasi--Bard and genealogist.

Halba--House-servant and farm-servant.

_Castes of village watchmen_.

Khangar.

Chadar.

Chauhan.

Dahait.

Panka.

_Village priests and mendicants_.

Joshi--Astrologer.

Garpagari--Hail-averter.

Gondhali--Musician.

Manbhao

Jangam

Basdewa Wandering priests and mendicants.

Satani

Waghya

_Others_.

Mali--Gardener and maker of garlands.

Barai--Betel-vine grower and seller.

_Other village traders and artisans_.

Kalar--Liquor-vendor.

Teli--Oil-presser.

Hatwa

Manihar Pedlar.

Banjara--Carrier.

Bahelia

Pardhi Fowlers and hunters.

Bahna--Cotton-cleaner.

Chhipa--Calico-printer and dyer.

Chitrakathi--Painter and picture-maker.

Kachera--Glass bangle-maker.

Kadera--Fireworks-maker.

Nat--Acrobat.

Gadaria

Dhangar Shepherds.

Kuramwar

Beldar

Murha Diggers, navvies, and salt-refiners.

Nunia

The essential fact which formerly governed the status of this group

of castes appears to be that they performed various services for the

cultivators according to their different vocations, and were supported

by contributions of grain made to them by the cultivators, and by

presents given to them at seed-time and harvest. They were the clients

of the cultivators and the latter were their patrons and supporters,

and hence ranked above them. This condition of things survives only

in the case of a few castes, but prior to the introduction of a metal

currency must apparently have been the method of remuneration of all

the village industries. The Lohar or blacksmith makes and mends the

iron implements of agriculture, such as the ploughshare, axe, sickle

and goad. For this he is paid in Saugor a yearly contribution of 20

lbs. of grain per plough of land held by each cultivator, together with

a handful of grain at sowing-time and a sheaf at harvest from both the

autumn and spring crops. In Wardha he gets 50 lbs. of grain per plough

of four bullocks or 40 acres. For new implements he must either be

paid separately or at least supplied with the iron and charcoal. In

Districts where the Barhai or carpenter is a village servant he is

paid the same as the Lohar and has practically an equal status. The

village barber receives in Saugor 20 lbs. of grain annually from each

adult male in the family, or 22 1/2 lbs. per plough of land besides

the seasonal presents. In return for this he shaves each cultivator

over the head and face about once a fortnight. The Dhobi or washerman

gets half the annual contribution of the blacksmith and carpenter, with

the same presents, and in return for this he washes the clothes of the

family two or three times a month. When he brings the clothes home he

also receives a meal or a wheaten cake, and well-to-do families give

him their old clothes as a present. The Dhimar or waterman brings water

to the house morning and evening, and fills the earthen water-pots

placed on a wooden stand or earthen platform outside it. When the

cultivators have marriages he performs the same duties for the whole

wedding party, and receives a present of money and clothes according to

the means of the family, and his food every day while the wedding is

in progress. He supplies water for drinking to the reapers, receiving

three sheaves a day as payment, and takes sweet potatoes and boiled

plums to the field and sells them. The Kumhar or potter is not now paid

regularly by dues from the cultivators like other village menials,

as the ordinary system of sale has been found to be more convenient

in his case. But he sometimes takes for use the soiled grass from

the stalls of the cattle and gives pots free to the cultivator in

exchange. On Akti day, at the beginning of the agricultural year,

the village Kumhar in Saugor presents five pots with covers on them

to each cultivator and is given 2 1/2 lbs. of grain. He presents the

bride with seven new pots at a wedding, and these are filled with

water and used in the ceremony, being considered to represent the

seven seas. At a funeral he must supply thirteen vessels which are

known as _ghats_, and must replace the household earthen vessels,

which are rendered impure on the occurrence of a death in the house,

and are all broken and thrown away. In the Punjab and Maratha country

the Kumhar was formerly an ordinary village menial.

27. The village watchmen.

The office of village watchman is an important one, and is usually

held by a member of the indigenous tribes. These formerly were the

chief criminals, and the village watchman, in return for his pay,

was expected to detect the crimes of his tribesmen and to make good

any losses of property caused by them. The sections of the tribes who

held this office have developed into special castes, as the Khangars,

Chadars and Chauhans of Chhattisgarh. These last are probably of

mixed descent from Rajputs and the higher castes of cultivators with

the indigenous tribes. The Dahaits were a caste of gatekeepers and

orderlies of native rulers who have now become village watchmen. The

Pankas are a section of the impure Ganda caste who have embraced the

doctrines of the Kabirpanthi sect and formed a separate caste. They

are now usually employed as village watchmen and are not regarded as

impure. Similarly those members of the Mahar servile caste who are

village watchmen tend to marry among themselves and form a superior

group to the others. The village watchman now receives a remuneration

fixed by Government and is practically a rural policeman, but in former

times he was a village menial and was maintained by the cultivators

in the same manner as the others.

28. The village priests. The gardening castes.

The village priests are another class of this group. The regular

village priest and astrologer, the Joshi or Parsai, is a Brahman, but

the occupation has developed a separate caste. The Joshi officiates

at weddings in the village, selects auspicious names for children

according to the constellations under which they were born, and points

out the auspicious moment or _mahurat_ for weddings, name-giving

and other ceremonies, and for the commencement of such agricultural

operations as sowing, reaping, and threshing. He is also sometimes

in charge of the village temple. He is supported by contributions of

grain from the villagers and often has a plot of land rent-free from

the proprietor. The social position of the Joshis is not very good,

and, though Brahmans, they are considered to rank somewhat below the

cultivating castes. The Gurao is another village priest, whose fortune

has been quite different. The caste acted as priests of the temples

of Siva and were also musicians and supplied leaf-plates. They were

village menials of the Maratha villages. But owing to the sanctity

of their calling, and the fact that they have become literate

and taken service under Government, the Guraos now rank above the

cultivators and are called Shaiva Brahmans. The Gondhalis are the

village priests of Devi, the earth-goddess, who is also frequently

the tutelary goddess of the village. They play the kettle-drum and

perform dances in her honour, and were formerly classed as one of

the village menials of Maratha villages, though they now work for

hire. The Garpagari, or hail-averter, is a regular village menial, his

duty being to avert hail-storms from the crops, like the qalazof'ulax

in ancient Greece. The Garpagaris will accept cooked food from Kunbis

and celebrate their weddings with those of the Kunbis. The Jogis,

Manbhaos, Satanis, and others, are wandering religious mendicants, who

act as priests and spiritual preceptors to the lower classes of Hindus.

With the village priests may be mentioned the Mali or gardener. The

Malis now grow vegetables with irrigation or ordinary crops, but

this was not apparently their original vocation. The name is derived

from _mala_, a garland, and it would appear that the Mali was first

employed to grow flowers for the garlands with which the gods and

also their worshippers were adorned at religious ceremonies. Flowers

were held sacred and were an essential adjunct to worship in India

as in Greece and Rome. The sacred flowers of India are the lotus,

the marigold and the _champak_ [63] and from their use in religious

worship is derived the custom of adorning the guests with garlands at

all social functions, just as in Rome and Greece they wore crowns on

their heads. It seems not unlikely that this was the purpose for which

cultivated flowers were first grown, at any rate in India. The Mali

was thus a kind of assistant in the religious life of the village,

and he is still sometimes placed in charge of the village shrines and

is employed as temple-servant in Jain temples. He would therefore

have been supported by contributions from the cultivators like the

other village menials and have ranked below them, though on account

of the purity and sanctity of his occupation Brahmans would take

water from him. The Mali has now become an ordinary cultivator, but

his status is still noticeably below that of the good cultivating

castes and this seems to be the explanation. With the Mali may be

classed the Barai, the grower and seller of the _pan_ or betel-vine

leaf. This leaf, growing on a kind of creeper, like the vine, in

irrigated gardens roofed with thatch for protection from the sun,

is very highly prized by the Hindus. It is offered with areca-nut,

cloves, cardamom and lime rolled up in a quid to the guests at all

social functions. It is endowed by them with great virtues, being

supposed to prevent heartburn, indigestion, and other stomachic and

intestinal disorders, and to preserve the teeth, while taken with

musk, saffron and almonds, the betel-leaf is held to be a strong

aphrodisiac. The juice of the leaf stains the teeth and mouth red,

and the effect, though repulsive to Europeans, is an indispensable

adjunct to a woman's beauty in Hindu eyes. This staining of the mouth

red with betel-leaf is also said to distinguish a man from a dog. The

idea that betel preserves the teeth seems to be unfounded. The teeth of

Hindus appear to be far less liable to decay than those of Europeans,

but this is thought to be because they generally restrict themselves

to a vegetable diet and always rinse out their mouths with water after

taking food. The betel-leaf is considered sacred; a silver ornament

is made in its shape and it is often invoked in spells and magic. The

original vine is held to have grown from a finger-joint of Basuki,

the Queen of the Serpents, and the cobra is worshipped as the tutelary

deity of the _pan_-garden, which this snake is accustomed to frequent,

attracted by the moist coolness and darkness. The position of the

Barai is the same as that of the Mali; his is really a low caste,

sometimes coupled with the contemned Telis or oil-pressers, but he

is considered ceremonially pure because the betel-leaf, offered to

gods and eaten by Brahmans and all Hindus, is taken from him. The

Barai or Tamboli was formerly a village menial in the Maratha villages.

29. Other village traders and menials.

The castes following other village trades mainly fall into this

group, though they may not now be village menials. Such are the

Kalar or liquor-vendor and Teli or oil-presser, who sell their

goods for cash, and having learnt to reckon and keep accounts, have

prospered in their dealings with the cultivators ignorant of this

accomplishment. Formerly it is probable that the village Teli had the

right of pressing all the oil grown in the village, and retaining a

certain share for his remuneration. The liquor-vendor can scarcely

have been a village menial, but since Manu's time his trade has

been regarded as a very impure one, and has ranked with that of the

Teli. Both these castes have now become prosperous, and include a

number of landowners, and their status is gradually improving. The

Darzi or tailor is not usually attached to the village community; sewn

clothes have hitherto scarcely been worn among the rural population,

and the weaver provides the cloths which they drape on the body and

round the head. [64] The contempt with which the tailor is visited in

English proverbial lore for working at a woman's occupation attaches

in a precisely similar manner in India to the weaver. [65] But in

Gujarat the Darzi is found living in villages and here he is also a

village menial. The Kachera or maker of the glass bangles which every

Hindu married woman wears as a sign of her estate, ranks with the

village artisans; his is probably an urban trade, but he has never

become prosperous or important. The Banjaras or grain-carriers were

originally Rajputs, but owing to the mixed character of the caste

and the fact that they obtained their support from the cultivators,

they have come to rank below these latter. The Wanjari cultivators

of Berar have now discarded their Banjara ancestry and claim to be

Kunbis. The Nat or rope-dancer and acrobat may formerly have had

functions in the village in connection with the crops. In Kumaon

[66] a Nat still slides down a long rope from the summit of a cliff

to the base as a rite for ensuring the success of the crops on the

occasion of a festival of Siva. Formerly if the Nat or Badi fell to

the ground in his course, he was immediately despatched with a sword

by the surrounding spectators, but this is now prohibited. The rope

on which he slid down the cliff is cut up and distributed among

the inhabitants of the village, who hang the pieces as charms on

the eaves of their houses. The hair of the Nat is also taken and

preserved as possessing similar virtues. Each District in Kumaon has

its hereditary Nat or Badi, who is supported by annual contributions

of grain from the inhabitants. Similarly in the Central Provinces it

is not uncommon to find a deified Nat, called Nat Baba or Father Nat,

as a village god. A Natni, or Nat woman, is sometimes worshipped; and

when two sharp peaks of hills are situated close to each other, it is

related that there was once a Natni, very skilful on the tight-rope,

who performed before the king; and he promised her that if she would

stretch a rope from the peak of one hill to that of the other, and

walk across it, he would marry her and make her wealthy. Accordingly

the rope was stretched, but the queen from jealousy went and cut

it nearly through in the night, and when the Natni started to walk,

the rope broke, and she fell down and was killed. Having regard to

the Kumaon rite, it may be surmised that these legends commemorate

the death of a Natni or acrobat during the performance of some feat of

dancing or sliding on a rope for the magical benefit of the crops. And

it seems possible that acrobatic performances may have had their

origin in this manner. The point bearing on the present argument is,

however, that the Nat performed special functions for the success of

the village crops, and on this account was supported by contributions

from the villagers, and ranked with the village menials.

30. Household servants.

Some of the castes already mentioned, and one or two others having

the same status, work as household servants as well as village

menials. The Dhimar is most commonly employed as an indoor servant

in Hindu households, and is permitted to knead flour in water and

make it into a cake, which the Brahman then takes and puts on the

girdle with his own hands. He can boil water and pour pulse into the

cooking-pot from above, so long as he does not touch the vessel after

the food has been placed in it. He will take any remains of food

left in the cooking-pot, as this is not considered to be polluted,

food only becoming polluted when the hand touches it on the dish after

having touched the mouth. When this happens, all the food on the dish

becomes _jutha_ or leavings of food, and as a general rule no caste

except the sweepers will eat these leavings of food of another caste

or of another person of their own. Only a wife, whose meal follows

her husband's, will eat his leavings. As a servant, the Dhimar is

very familiar with his master; he may enter any part of the house,

including the cooking-place and the women's rooms, and he addresses

his mistress as 'Mother.' When he lights his master's pipe he takes

the first pull himself, to show that it has not been tampered with,

and then presents it to him with his left hand placed under his

right elbow in token of respect. Maid-servants frequently belong

also to the Dhimar caste, and it often happens that the master of

the household has illicit intercourse with them. Hence there is a

proverb: 'The king's son draws water and the water-bearer's son sits

on the throne,'--similar intrigues on the part of high-born women

with their servants being not unknown. The Kahar or palanquin-bearer

was probably the same caste as the Dhimar. Landowners would maintain

a gang of Kahars to carry them on journeys, allotting to such men

plots of land rent-free. Our use of the word 'bearer' in the sense

of a body-servant has developed from the palanquin-bearer who became

a personal attendant on his master. Well-to-do families often have a

Nai or barber as a hereditary family servant, the office descending

in the barber's family. Such a man arranges the marriages of the

children and takes a considerable part in conducting them, and acts

as escort to the women of the family when they go on a journey. Among

his daily duties are to rub his master's body with oil, massage his

limbs, prepare his bed, tell him stories to send him to sleep, and so

on. The barber's wife attends on women in childbirth after the days

of pollution are over, and rubs oil on the bodies of her clients,

pares their nails and paints their feet with red dye at marriages

and on other festival occasions. The Bari or maker of leaf-plates

is another household servant. Plates made of large leaves fastened

together with little wooden pins and strips of fibre are commonly used

by the Hindus for eating food, as are little leaf-cups for drinking;

glazed earthenware has hitherto not been commonly manufactured, and

that with a rougher surface becomes ceremonially impure by contact

with any strange person or thing. Metal vessels and plates are the

only alternative to those made of leaves, and there are frequently

not enough of them to go round for a party. The Baris also work as

personal servants, hand round water, and light and carry torches at

entertainments and on journeys. Their women are maids to high-caste

Hindu ladies, and as they are always about the zenana are liable to

lose their virtue.

31. Status of the village menials.

The castes of village and household menials form a large group between

the cultivators on the one hand and the impure and servile labourers

on the other. Their status is not exactly the same. On the one hand,

the Nai or barber, the Kahar and Dhimar or watermen, the household

servants, the Bari, Ahir, and others, some of the village priests and

the gardening castes, are considered ceremonially pure and Brahmans

will take water from them. But this is a matter of convenience, as,

if they were not so held pure, they would be quite useless in the

household. Several of these castes, as the Dhimars, Baris and others,

are derived from the primitive tribes. Sir H. Risley considered the

Baris of Bengal as probably an offshoot from the Bhuiya or Musahar

tribe: "He still associates with the Bhuiyas at times, and if the

demand for leaf-plates and cups is greater than he can cope with

himself, he gets them secretly made up by his ruder kinsfolk and

passes them off as his own production. Instances of this sort, in

which a non-Aryan or mixed group is promoted on grounds of necessity

or convenience to a higher status than their antecedents would

entitle them to claim, are not unknown in other castes, and must

have occurred frequently in outlying parts of the country, where

the Aryan settlements were scanty and imperfectly supplied with the

social apparatus demanded by the theory of ceremonial purity. Thus

the undoubtedly non-Aryan Bhuiyas have in parts of Chota Nagpur been

recognised as Jal-Acharani (able to give water to the higher castes)

and it may be conjectured that the Kahars themselves only attained this

privilege in virtue of their employment as palanquin-bearers." [67]

The fact that Brahmans will take water from these castes does not in

any way place them on a level with the cultivators; they remain menial

servants, ranking, if anything, below such castes as Lohar, Teli and

Kalar, from whom Brahmans will not take water; but these latter are,

as corporate bodies, more important and prosperous than the household

menial castes, because their occupation confers a greater dignity

and independence.

On the other hand, one or two of the village menials, such as the

Dhobi or washerman, are considered to some extent impure. This is

due to specially degrading incidents attaching to their occupation,

as in the case of the Dhobi, the washing of the clothes of women in

childbirth. [68] And the Sungaria subcaste of Kumhars, who keep pigs,

are not touched, because the impurity of the animal is necessarily

communicated to its owner's house and person. Still, in the village

society there is little real difference between the position of these

castes and those of the other village menials.

32. Origin of their status

The status of the village menial castes appears to be fixed by their

dependent position on the cultivators. The latter are their patrons and

superiors, to whom they look for a livelihood. Before the introduction

of a currency in the rural tracts (an event of the last fifty to a

hundred years) the village artisans and menials were supported by

contributions of grain from the cultivators. They still all receive

presents, consisting of a sowing-basketful of grain at seed-time and

one or two sheaves at harvest. The former is known as _Bij phutni_, or

'The breaking of the seed,' and the latter as _Khanvar,_ or 'That which

is left' Sometimes, after threshing, the menials are each given as much

grain as will fill a winnowing-fan. When the peasant has harvested his

grain, all come and beg from him. The Dhimar brings some water-nut,

the Kachhi or market-gardener some chillies, the Barai betel-leaf,

the Teli oil and tobacco, the Kalar liquor (if he drinks it), the

Bania some sugar, and all receive grain in excess of the value of

their gifts. The Joshi or village priest, the Nat or acrobat, the

Gosain or religious mendicant and the Fakir or Muhammadan beggar

solicit alms. On that day the cultivator is said to be like a little

king in his fields, and the village menials constitute his court. In

purely agricultural communities grain is the principal source of

wealth, and though the average Hindu villager may appear to us to

be typical of poverty rather than wealth, such standards are purely

relative. The cultivator was thus the patron and supporter of the

village artisans and menials, and his social position was naturally

superior to theirs. Among the Hindus it is considered derogatory to

accept a gift from another person, the recipient being thereby placed

in a position of inferiority to the donor. Some exception to this

rule is made in the case of Brahmans, though even with them it partly

applies. Generally the acceptance of a gift of any value among Hindus

is looked upon in the same manner as the taking of money in England,

being held to indicate that the recipient is in an inferior social

position to the giver. And the existence of this feeling seems to

afford strong support to the reason suggested here for the relative

status of the cultivating and village menial castes.

The group of village menial and artisan castes comes between the good

cultivating castes who hold the status of the Vaishyas or body of

the Aryans, and the impure castes, the subjected aborigines. The most

reasonable theory of their status seems to be that it originated in

mixed descent. As has already been seen, it was the common practice of

members of the higher classes to take lower-caste women either as wives

or concubines, and a large mixed class would naturally result. Such

children, born and brought up in the households of their fathers,

would not be full members of the family, but would not be regarded as

impure. They would naturally be put to the performance of the menial

household duties, for which the servile castes were rendered unsuitable

through their impure status. This would correspond with the tradition

of the large number of castes originating in mixed descent, which is

given in the Hindu sacred books. It has been seen that where menial

castes are employed in the household, classes of mixed descent do as a

matter of fact arise. And there are traces of a relationship between

the cultivators and the menial castes, which would be best explained

by such an origin. At a betrothal in the great Kunbi cultivating

caste of the Marathas, the services of the barber and washerman must

be requisitioned. The barber washes the feet of the boy and girl and

places vermilion on the foreheads of the guests; the washerman spreads

a sheet on the ground on which the boy and girl sit. At the end of

the ceremony the barber and washerman take the bride and bridegroom

on their shoulders and dance to music in the marriage-shed, for which

they receive small presents. After a death has occurred at a Kunbi's

house, the impurity is not removed until the barber and washerman have

eaten in it. At a Kunbi's wedding the Gurao or village priest brings

the leafy branches of five trees and deposits them at Maroti's [69]

temple, whence they are removed by the parents of the bride. Before

a wedding, again, a Kunbi bride must go to the potter's house and be

seated on his wheel, while it is turned round seven times for good

luck. Similarly at a wedding among the Hindustani cultivating castes

the bride visits the potter's house and is seated on his wheel; and

the washerman's wife applies vermilion to her forehead. The barber's

wife puts red paint on her feet, the gardener's wife presents her with

a garland of flowers and the carpenter's wife gives her a new wooden

doll. At the wedding feast the barber, the washerman and the Bari or

personal servant also eat with the guests, though sitting apart from

them. Sometimes members of the menial and serving castes are invited

to the funeral feast as if they belonged to the dead man's caste. In

Madras the barber and his wife, and the washerman and his wife, are

known as the son and daughter of the village. And among the families

of ruling Rajput chiefs, when a daughter of the house is married,

it was customary to send with her a number of handmaidens taken from

the menial and serving castes. These became the concubines of the

bridegroom and it seems clear that their progeny would be employed

in similar capacities about the household and would follow the castes

of their mothers. The Tamera caste of coppersmiths trace their origin

from the girls so sent with the bride of Dharam-Pal, the Haihaya Rajput

Raja of Ratanpur, through the progeny of these girls by the Raja.

33. Other castes who rank with the village menials.

Many other castes belong to the group of those from whom a Brahman

cannot take water, but who are not impure. Among these are several

of the lower cultivating castes, some of them growers of special

products, as the Kachhis and Mowars or market-gardeners, the

Dangris or melon-growers, and the Kohlis and Bhoyars who plant

sugarcane. These subsidiary kinds of agriculture were looked down

upon by the cultivators proper; they were probably carried out on the

beds and banks of streams and other areas not included in the regular

holdings of the village, and were taken up by labourers and other

landless persons. The callings of these are allied to, or developed

from, that of the Mali or gardener, and they rank on a level with

him, or perhaps a little below, as no element of sanctity attaches

to their products. Certain castes which were formerly labourers,

but have now sometimes obtained possession of the land, are also in

this group, such as the Rajbhars, Kirs, Manas, and various Madras

castes of cultivators. Probably these were once not allowed to hold

land, but were afterwards admitted to do so. The distinction between

their position and that of the hereditary cultivators of the village

community was perhaps the original basis of the different kinds of

tenant-right recognised by our revenue law, though these now, of

course, depend solely on length of tenure and other incidents, and

make no distinction of castes. The shepherd castes who tend sheep

and goats (the Gadarias, Dhangars and Kuramwars) also fall into

this group. Little sanctity attached to these animals as compared

with the cow, and the business of rearing them would be left to

the labouring castes and non-Aryan tribes. The names of all three

castes denote their functional origin, Gadaria being from _gadar_,

a sheep, Dhangar from _dhan_ or small-stock, the word signifying a

flock of sheep or goats and also wealth; and Kuramwar from _kurri_,

the Telugu word for sheep. Others belonging to this group are the

digging and earth-working castes, the Beldars, Murhas, Nunias and so

on, practically all derived from the indigenous tribes, who wander

about seeking employment from the cultivators in the construction

and repair of field embankments and excavation of wells and tanks;

and various fishing and boating castes, as the Injhwars, Naodas,

Murhas and Kewats, who rank as equal to the Dhimars, though they may

not be employed in household or village service. Such castes, almost

entirely derived from the non-Aryan tribes, may have come gradually

into existence as the wants of society developed and new functions

were specialised; they would naturally be given the social status

already attaching to the village menial castes.

34. The non-Aryan tribes.

The fourth group in the scheme of precedence comprises the non-Aryan

or indigenous tribes, who are really outside the caste system when

this is considered as the social organisation of the Hindus, so

long at least as they continue to worship their own tribal deities,

and show no respect for Brahmans nor for the cow. These tribes have,

however, entered the Hindu polity in various positions. The leaders

of some of them who were dominant in the early period were admitted

to the Kshatriya or Rajput caste, and the origin of a few of the

Rajput clans can be traced to the old Bhar and other tribes. Again,

the aristocratic or landholding sections of several existing tribes

are at present, as has been seen, permitted to rank with the good

Hindu cultivating castes. In a few cases, as the Andhs, Halbas and

Manas, the tribe as a whole has become a Hindu caste, when it retained

possession of the land in the centre of a Hindu population. These have

now the same or a slightly higher position than the village menial

castes. On the other hand, those tribes which were subjugated and

permitted to live with a servile status in the Hindu villages have

developed into the existing impure castes of labourers, weavers,

tanners and others, who form the lowest social group. The tribes

which still retain their distinctive existence were not enslaved

in this manner, but lived apart in their own villages in the forest

tracts and kept possession of the land. This seems to be the reason

why they rank somewhat higher than the impure castes, even though

they may utterly defile themselves according to Hindu ideas by eating

cow's flesh. Some tribes, such as the Gonds, Binjhwars and Kawars,

counted amongst them the owners of large estates or even kingdoms,

and consequently had many Hindu cultivators for their subjects. And,

as the Hindus themselves say, they could not regard the Gonds as

impure when they had a Gond king. Nevertheless, the Gond labourers

in Hindu villages in the plains are more despised than the Gonds who

live in their own villages in the hill country. And the conversion

of the tribes as a whole to Hinduism goes steadily forward. At each

census the question arises which of them should be classed as Hindus,

and which as Animists or worshippers of their own tribal gods, and

though the classification is necessarily very arbitrary, the process

can be clearly observed. Thus the Andhs, Kolis, Rautias and Halbas

are now all Hindus, and the same remark applies to the Kols, Bhils

and Korkus in several Districts. By strict abstention from beef,

the adoption of Hindu rites, and to some extent of child-marriage,

they get admission to the third group of castes from whom a Brahman

cannot take water. It will be desirable here to digress from the

main argument by noticing briefly the origin and affinities of the

principal forest tribes of the Central Provinces.

35. The Kolarians and Dravidians.

These tribes are divided into two families, the Munda or Kolarian,

named after the Kol tribe, and the Dravidian, of which the former are

generally held to be the older and more primitive. The word Kol is

probably the Santali _har_, a man. "This word is used under various

forms, such as _har, hara, ho_ and _koro_ by most Munda tribes in

order to denote themselves. The change of _r_ to _l_ is familiar and

presents no difficulty." [70] The word is also found in the alternative

name Ho for the Kol tribe, and in the names of the cognate Korwa and

Korku tribes. The word Munda is a Sanskrit derivative meaning a head,

and, as stated by Sir H. Risley, is the common term employed by the

Kols for the headman of a village, whence it has been adopted as an

honorific title for the tribe. In Chota Nagpur those Kols who have

partly adopted Hinduism and become to some degree civilised are called

Munda, while the name Ho or Larka (fighting) Kol is reserved for the

wilder section of the tribe.

36. Kolarian tribes.

The principal tribes of the Munda or Kolarian family in the Central

Provinces are shown below:

Kol, Munda, Ho.

Bhumij.

Santal.

Kharia.

Korwa.

Korku.

Nahal

Savar or Saonr.

Mal, Male.

Gadba.

Khairwar.

Baiga.

Bhuiya.

Bhaina.

Bhunjia.

Binjhwar.

_Probable_: Bhar, Koli, Bhil, Chero.

One large group includes the Kol, Munda or Ho tribe itself and the

Bhumij and Santals, who appear to be local branches of the Kols

called by separate names by the Hindus. The Kharias seem to be the

earliest Kol settlers in Chota Nagpur, who were subjugated by the

later comers. The name Kol, as already seen, is probably a form of

the Santali _har_, a man. Similarly the name of the Korku tribe

is simply a corruption of _Koraku_, young men, and that of the

Korwa tribe is from the same root. The dialects of the Korku and

Korwa tribes closely approximate to Mundari. Hence it would seem

that they were originally one tribe with the Kols, but have been

separated for so long a period that their direct connection can no

longer be proved. The disintegrating causes which have split up what

was originally one into a number of distinct tribes, are probably no

more than distance and settlement in different parts of the country,

leading to cessation of intermarriage and social intercourse. The

tribes have then obtained some variation in the original names or been

given separate territorial or occupational designations by the Hindus,

and their former identity has gradually been forgotten. Both the Korwas

of the Chota Nagpur plateau and the Korkus of the Satpura hills were

known as Muasi, a term having the meaning of robber or raider. The

Korwas have also a subtribe called Koraku, and Mr. Crooke thinks that

they were originally the same tribe. Sir G. Grierson states that the

Korwa dialect is closely allied to Kharia. Similarly the resemblance

of the name raises a presumption that the great Koli tribe of Gujarat

and western India may be a branch of the Kols who penetrated to the

western coast along the Satpulra and Central India hill ranges. The

Kolis and Bhils are tribes of the same country and are commonly spoken

of together. Both have entirely lost their own language and cannot

therefore be classified definitely either as Kolarian or Dravidian,

but there is a probability that they are of the Kolarian family. The

Nahals, another tribe of the western Satpura range, are an offshoot

of the Korkus. They are coupled with the Bhils and Kolis in old

Hindu accounts.

The Savars, Sawaras or Saonrs are also a widely distributed tribe,

being found as far west as Bundelkhand and east in Orissa and

Ganjam. In the Central Provinces they have lost their own language and

speak Hindi or Uriya, but in Madras they still retain their original

speech, which is classified by Sir G. Grierson with Gadba as a Munda

or Kolarian dialect. The name occurs in Vedic literature, and the

tribe is probably of great antiquity. In the classical stories of

their origin the first ancestor of the Savars is sometimes described

as a Bhil. The wide extension of the Savar tribe east and west is

favourable to the hypothesis of the identity of the Kols and Kolis,

who have a somewhat similar distribution. The Gadbas of Ganjam, and

the Mal or Male Paharia tribe of Chota Nagpur seem to be offshoots

of the Savars. The Khairwars or Kharwars are an important tribe of

Mirzapur and Chota Nagpur. There is some reason for supposing that

they are an occupational offshoot of the Kols and Cheros, who have

become a distinct group through taking to the manufacture of edible

catechu from the wood of the _khair_ tree. [71]

Another great branch of the Kolarian family is that represented by the

Bhuiya and Baiga tribes and their offshoots, the Bhunjias, Bhainas and

Binjhwars. The Kolarian origin of the Bhuiyas has been discussed in the

article on that tribe, and it has also been suggested that the Baiga

tribe of the Central Provinces are an offshoot of the Bhuiyas. These

tribes have all abandoned their own languages and adopted the local

Aryan vernaculars. The name Bhuiya is a Sanskrit derivative from _bhu_,

earth, and signifies 'belonging to the soil.' Bhumij, applied to a

branch of the Kol tribe, has the same origin. Baiga is used in the

sense of a village priest or a sorcerer in Chota Nagpur, and the office

is commonly held by members of the Bhuiya tribe in that locality,

as being the oldest residents. Thus the section of the tribe in the

Central Provinces appears to have adopted, or been given, the name of

the office. The Bharias or Bharia-Bhumias of Jubbulpore seem to belong

to the great Bhar tribe, once dominant over large areas of the United

Provinces. They also hold the office of village priest, which is there

known as Bhumia, and in some tracts are scarcely distinguished from

the Baigas. Again, in Sambalpur the Bhuiyas are known as Bhumia Kol,

and are commonly regarded as a branch of the Kol tribe. Thus it would

seem that two separate settlements of the Kolarian races may have

occurred; the earlier one would be represented by the Bhars, Bhuiyas,

Baigas and kindred tribes who have entirely lost their own languages

and identity, and have names given to them by the Hindus; and a later

one of the Kols or Mundas and their related tribes, whose languages

and tribal religion and organisation, though in a decaying state, can

be fully recognised and recorded. And the Dravidian immigration would

be subsequent to both of them. To judge from the cases in which the

fissure or subdivision of single tribes into two or more distinct ones

can still be observed, it seems quite a plausible hypothesis that the

original immigrants may have consisted only of a single tribe on each

occasion, and that the formation of new ones may have occurred after

settlement. But the evidence does not warrant any definite assertion.

37. Dravidian tribes.

The principal Dravidian tribes are the Gonds, Khonds and Oraons. The

Gonds were once dominant over the greater part of the Central

Provinces, which was called Gondwana after them. The above three

names have in each case been given to the tribes by the Hindus. The

following tribes are found in the Province:

Gond, Oraon or Kurukh, Khond, Kolam, Parja, Kamar. _Tribal Castes_:

Bhatra, Halba, Dhoba. _Doubtful_: Kawar, Dhanwar.

The Gonds and Khonds call themselves Koi or Koitur, a word which

seems to mean man or hillman. The Oraon tribe call themselves Kurukh,

which has also been supposed to be connected with the Kolarian _horo_,

man. The name Oraon, given to them by the Hindus, may mean farmservant,

while Dhangar, an alternative name for the tribe, has certainly this

signification.

There seems good reason to suppose that the Gonds and Khonds were

originally one tribe divided through migration. [72] The Kolams are

a small tribe of the Wardha Valley, whose dialect resembles those of

the Gonds and Khonds. They may have split off from the parent tribe

in southern India and come northwards separately. The Parjas appear to

represent the earliest Gond settlers in Bastar, who were subjugated by

later Gond and Raj-Gond immigrants. The Halbas and Bhatras are mixed

tribes or tribal castes, descended from the unions of Gonds and Hindus.

38. Origin of the Kolarian tribes

The Munda languages have been shown by Sir G. Grierson to have

originated from the same source as those spoken in the Indo-Pacific

islands and the Malay Peninsula. "The Mundas, the Mon-Khmer,

the wild tribes of the Malay Peninsula and the Nicobarese all use

forms of speech which can be traced back to a common source though

they mutually differ widely from each other." [73] It would appear,

therefore, that the Mundas, the oldest known inhabitants of India,

perhaps came originally from the south-east, the islands of the Indian

Archipelago and the Malay Peninsula, unless India was their original

home and these countries were colonised from it.

Sir Edward Gait states: "Geologists tell us that the Indian Peninsula

was formerly cut off from the north of Asia by sea, while a land

connection existed on the one side with Madagascar and on the other

with the Malay Archipelago; and though there is nothing to show that

India was then inhabited, we know that it was so in palaeolithic times,

when communication was probably still easier with the countries to the

north-east and south-west than with those beyond the Himalayas." [74]

In the south of India, however, no traces of Munda languages remain at

present, and it seems therefore necessary to conclude that the Mundas

of the Central Provinces and Chota Nagpur have been separated from the

tribes of Malaysia who speak cognate languages for an indefinitely

long period; or else that they did not come through southern India

to these countries but by way of Assam and Bengal or by sea through

Orissa. There is good reason to believe from the names of places and

from local tradition that the Munda tribes were once spread over Bihar

and parts of the Ganges Valley; and if the Kolis are an offshoot of the

Kols, as is supposed, they also penetrated across Central India to the

sea in Gujarat and the hills of the western Ghats. The presumption is

that the advance of the Aryans or Hindus drove the Mundas from the

open country to the seclusion of the hills and forests. The Munda

and Dravidian languages are shown by Sir G. Grierson to be distinct

groups without any real connection.

Though the physical characteristics of the two sets of tribes display

no marked points of difference, the opinion has been generally held

by ethnologists who know them that they represent two distinct waves

of immigration, and the absence of connection between their languages

bears out this view. It has always been supposed that the Mundas were

in the country of Chota Nagpur and the Central Provinces first, and

that the Dravidians, the Gonds, Khonds and Oraons came afterwards. The

grounds for this view are the more advanced culture of the Dravidians;

the fact that where the two sets of tribes are in contact those of the

Munda group have been ousted from the more open and fertile country,

of which, according to tradition, they were formerly in possession;

and the practice of the Gonds and other Dravidian tribes of employing

the Baigas, Bhuiyas and other Munda tribes for their village priests,

which is an acknowledgment that the latter as the earlier residents

have a more familiar acquaintance with the local deities, and can

solicit their favour and protection with more prospect of success. Such

a belief is the more easily understood when it is remembered that

these deities are not infrequently either the human ancestors of the

earliest residents or the local animals and plants from which they

supposed themselves to be descended.

39. Of the Dravidian tribes.

The Dravidian languages, Gondi, Kurukh and Khond, are of one family

with Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Canarese, and their home is the

south of India. The word Dravida comes from an older form Damila

or Dramila, and was used in ancient Pali and Jain literature as a

name for the people of the Tamil country. [75] Afterwards it came to

signify generally the people of southern India as opposed to Gaur or

northern India.

As stated by Sir Edward Gait there is at present no evidence to

show that the Dravidians came to southern India from any other

part of the world, and for anything that is known to the contrary

the languages may have originated there. The existence of the small

Brahui tribe in Baluchistan who speak a Dravidian language but have no

physical resemblance to other Dravidian races cannot be satisfactorily

explained, but, as he points out, this is no reason for holding that

the whole body of speakers of Dravidian languages entered India from

the north-west, and, with the exception of this small group of Brahuis,

penetrated to the south and settled there without leaving any traces

of their passage.

The Dravidian languages occupy a large area in Madras, Mysore and

Hyderabad, and they extend north into the Central Provinces and Chota

Nagpur where they die out, practically not being found west and north

of this tract. As the languages are more highly developed and the

culture of their speakers is far more advanced in the south, it is

justifiable to suppose, pending evidence to the contrary, that the

south is their home and that they have spread thence as far north as

the Central Provinces. The Gonds and Oraons, too, have stories to the

effect that they came from the south. The belief has hitherto been,

at least in the Central Provinces, that both the Gonds and Baigas have

been settled in this territory for an indefinite period, that is, from

prior to any Aryan or Hindu immigration. Mr. H.A. Crump, C.S., has

however pointed out that if this was the case the Munda or Kolarian

tribes, which have lost their own languages, should have adopted

Dravidian and not Hindu forms of speech. As already seen, numerous

Kolarian tribes, as the Binjhwar, Bhaina, Bhuiya, Baiga, Bhumij,

Chero, Khairwar and the Kols themselves in the Central Provinces have

entirely lost their own languages, as well as the Bhils and Kolis,

if these are held to be Kolarian tribes. None of them have adopted a

Dravidian language, but all speak corrupt forms of the ancient Aryan

vernaculars derived from Sanskrit. The fact seems to indicate that

at the time when they abandoned their own languages these tribes were

in contact with Hindus, and were not surrounded by Gonds, as several

of them are at present. The history of the Central Provinces affords

considerable support to the view that the Gond immigration occurred at

a comparatively late period, perhaps in the ninth or tenth century,

or even later, after a considerable part of the Province had been

governed for some centuries by Rajput dynasties. [76] The Gonds

and Oraons still have well-defined legends about their immigration,

which would scarcely be the case if it had occurred twenty centuries

or more ago.

Any further evidence or argument as to the date of the Dravidian

immigration would be of considerable interest.

40. Origin of the impure castes.

The fifth or lowest group in the scheme of precedence is that of the

impure castes who cannot be touched. If a high-caste Hindu touches one

of them he should bathe and have his clothes washed. These castes are

not usually allowed to live inside a Hindu village, but have a hamlet

to themselves adjoining it. The village barber will not shave them,

nor the washerman wash their clothes. They usually have a separate

well assigned to them from which to draw water, and if the village

has only one well, one side of it is allotted to them and the Hindus

take water from the other side. Formerly they were subjected to more

humiliating restrictions. In Bombay a Mahar might not spit on the

ground lest a Hindu should be polluted by touching it with his foot,

but had to hang an earthen pot round his neck to hold his spittle. He

was made to drag a thorny branch with him to brush out his footsteps,

and when a Brahman came by had to lie at a distance on his face lest

his shadow might fall on the Brahman. [77] Even if the shadow of a

Mahar or Mang fell on a Brahman he was polluted and dare not taste

food and water until he had bathed and washed the impurity away. In

Madras a Paraiyan or Pariah pollutes a high-caste Hindu by approaching

within a distance of 64 feet of him. [78] The debased and servile

position of the impure castes corresponds to that which, as already

seen, attached to the Sudras of the classical period. The castes

usually regarded as impure are the tanners, bamboo-workers, sweepers,

hunters and fowlers, gipsies and vagrants, village musicians and

village weavers. These castes, the Chamars, Basors, Mahars, Koris,

Gandas and others are usually also employed as agricultural and

casual labourers. Formerly, as already seen, they were not allowed to

hold land. There is no reason to doubt that the status of impurity,

like that of the Sudra, was originally the mark of a subjugated and

inferior race, and was practically equivalent to slavery. This was the

position of the indigenous Indians who were subjugated by the Aryan

invaders and remained in the country occupied by them. Though they

were of different races, and the distinction was marked and brought

home to themselves by the contrast in the colour of their skins,

it seems probable that the real basis for their antagonism was not

social so much as religious. The Indians were hated and despised by

the immigrants as the worshippers of a hostile god. They could not join

in the sacrifices by which the Aryans held communion with their gods,

and the sacrifice itself could not even be held, in theory at least,

except in those parts of India which were thoroughly subdued and

held to have become the dwelling-place of the Aryan gods. The proper

course prescribed by religion towards the indigenous residents was

to exterminate them, as the Israelites should have exterminated the

inhabitants of Canaan. But as this could not be done, because their

numbers were too great or the conquerors not sufficiently ruthless,

they were reduced to the servile condition of impurity and made

the serfs of their masters like the Amalekites and the plebeians

and helots.

If the whole of India had been thoroughly subjugated and settled like

the Punjab and Hindustan, it may be supposed that the same status

of impurity would have been imposed upon all the indigenous races;

but this was very far from being the case. In central and southern

India the Aryans or subsequent immigrants from Central Asia came at

first at any rate only in small parties, and though they may have

established territorial states, did not regularly occupy the land nor

reduce the indigenous population to a condition of servitude. Thus

large bodies of these must have retained a free position, and on

their acceptance of the new religion and the development of the caste

system, became enrolled in it with a caste status on the basis of

their occupation. Their leaders were sometimes admitted to rank as

Kshatriyas or Rajputs, as has been stated.

Subsequently, as the racial distinction disappeared, the impure

status came to attach to certain despised occupations and to customs

abhorrent to Hinduism, such as that of eating beef. But, as already

seen, the tribes which have continued to live apart from the Hindus

are not usually regarded as impure, though they may eat beef and even

skin animals. The Dhimars, who keep pigs, still have a higher status

than the impure castes because they are employed as water-bearers and

household servants. It is at least doubtful whether at the time when

the stigma of impurity was first attached to the Sudras the Hindus

themselves did not sacrifice cows and eat beef. [79] The castes noted

below are usually regarded as impure in the Central Provinces.

The Dhobi (washerman) and Kumhar (potter) are sometimes included among

the impure castes, but, as already noted, their status is higher than

that of the castes in this list.

Audhelia: Labouring caste of mixed descent who keep pigs.

Balahi: Weavers and village messengers and watchmen.

Basor: Bamboo basket-makers and village musicians.

Chamar: Tanners and labourers.

Ganda: Weavers and village musicians.

Ghasia: Grass-cutters, labourers and sweepers.

Kaikari: Vagrant basket-makers.

Kanjar, Beria, Sansia: Gipsies and thieves.

Katia: Cotton-spinners.

Kori: Weavers and labourers.

Madgi: Telugu tanners and hide-curriers.

Mahar: Weavers and labourers.

Mala: Telugu weavers and labourers.

Mang: Broom- and mat-makers and village musicians. They also castrate

cattle.

Mehtar: Sweepers and scavengers.

Certain occupations, those of skinning cattle and curing hides, weaving

the coarse country cloth worn by the villagers, making baskets from

the rind of the bamboo, playing on drums and tom-toms, and scavenging

generally are relegated to the lowest and impure castes. The hides of

domestic animals are exceedingly impure; a Hindu is defiled even by

touching their dead bodies and far more so by removing the skins. Drums

and tom-toms made from the hides of animals are also impure. But in

the case of weaving and basket-making the calling itself entails no

defilement, and it would appear simply that they were despised by the

cultivators, and as a considerable number of workers were required to

satisfy the demand for baskets and cloth, were adopted by the servile

and labouring castes. Basket- and mat-making are callings naturally

suited to the primitive tribes who would obtain the bamboos from the

forests, but weaving would not be associated with them unless cloth

was first woven of tree-cotton. The weavers of the finer cotton and

silk cloths, who live in towns, rank much higher than the village

weavers, as in the case of the Koshtis and Tantis, the latter of whom

made the famous fine cotton cloth, known as _abrawan_, or 'running

water,' which was supplied to the imperial Zenana at Delhi. On one

occasion a daughter of Aurangzeb was reproached on entering the room

for her immodest attire and excused herself by the plea that she had on

seven folds of cloth over her body. [80] In Bengal Brahmans will take

water from Tantis, and it seems clear that their higher status is a

consequence of the lucrative and important nature of their occupation.

The Katias are a caste of cotton-spinners, the name being derived

from _katna_, to cut or spin. But hand-spinning is now practically

an extinct industry and the Katias have taken to weaving or ordinary

manual labour for a subsistence. The Kanjars and Berias are the gipsy

castes of India. They are accustomed to wander about carrying their

grass-matting huts with them. Many of them live by petty thieving and

cheating. Their women practise palmistry and retail charms for the cure

of sickness and for exorcising evil spirits, and love-philtres. They

do cupping and tattooing and also make reed mats, cane baskets,

palm-leaf mats and fans, ropes from grass- and tree-fibre, brushes

for the cotton-loom, string-net purses and balls, and so on; and the

women commonly dance and act as prostitutes. There is good reason for

thinking that the Kanjars are the parents of the European gipsies,

while the Thugs who formerly infested the high-roads of India,

murdering solitary travellers and small parties by strangulation,

may also have been largely derived from this caste. [81]

41. Derivation of the impure castes from the indigenous tribes.

It can only be definitely shown in a few instances that the existing

impure occupational castes were directly derived from the indigenous

tribes. The Chamar and Kori, and the Chuhra and Bhangi, or sweepers

and scavengers of the Punjab and United Provinces, are now purely

occupational castes and their original tribal affinities have entirely

disappeared. The Chamars and Mehtars or sweepers are in some places

of a superior physical type, of comparatively good stature and light

complexion; [82] this may perhaps be due to a large admixture of

Hindu blood through their women, during a social contact with the

Hindus extending over many centuries, and also to the fact that they

eat flesh when they can obtain it, including carrion. Such types are,

however, exceptional among the impure castes, and there is no reason

to doubt their general origin from the non-Aryan tribes, which in

a few instances can be directly traced. Thus it seems likely that

the Kanjars, Berias, Sansias and other gipsy groups, as well as the

Mirasis, the vagrant bards and genealogists of the lower classes of

Hindus, are derived from the Dom caste or tribe of Bengal, who are

largely employed as sweepers and scavengers as well as on ordinary

labour. The evidence for the origin of the above groups from the

Doms is given in the article on Kanjar. Sir H.M. Elliot considered

the Doms to be one of the original tribes of India. Again, there is

no doubt that the impure Ganda caste, who are weavers, labourers and

village musicians in the Uriya country and Chhattisgarh Districts

of the Central Provinces, are derived from the Pan tribe of Chota

Nagpur. The Pans or Pabs are a regular forest tribe, and are sometimes

called Ganda, while the Gandas may be alternatively known as Pan. But

the section of the tribe who live among the Hindus and are regarded

as impure have now become a distinct caste with a separate name. The

Bhuiya tribe were once the rulers of Chota Nagpur; they still install

the Raja of Keonjhar, and have a traditional relation to other ruling

families. But in parts of Chota Nagpur and southern Bihar the Bhuiyas

living in Hindu villages have become a separate impure caste with

the opprobrious designation of Musahar or rat-eater. The great Mahar

caste of the Maratha country or Bombay are weavers and labourers,

and formerly cured hides, like the Chamars and Koris of northern

India. They are regarded as impure and were the serfs or villeins

of the Kunbis, attached to the land. An alternative name for them is

Dher, and this is supposed to be a corruption of Dharada a hillman,

a name applied in Manu to all the indigenous races of India. Though

the connection cannot be traced in all cases, there is thus no reason

to doubt that the existing impure castes represent the subjected or

enslaved section of the primitive non-Aryan tribes.

42. Occupation the basis of the caste system.

It has been seen that the old Aryan polity comprised four classes:

the Brahmans and Kshatriyas or priestly and military aristocracy;

the Vaishyas or body of the Aryans, who were ceremonially pure

and could join in sacrifices; and the Sudras or servile and impure

class of labourers. The Vaishyas became cultivators and herdsmen,

and their status of ceremonial purity was gradually transferred to

the cultivating members of the village community, because land was

the main source of wealth. Between the last two there arose another

class of village menials and craftsmen, originating principally from

the offspring of fathers of the Aryan classes and Sudra women, to

whom was left the practice of the village industries, despised by the

cultivators. In spite of the almost complete fusion of races which

the intercourse of centuries has effected, and the multiplication

and rearrangement of castes produced by the diversity of occupation

and other social factors, the divisions of the village community can

still be recognised in the existing social gradation.

It has been seen also that occupation is the real basis of the division

and social precedence of castes in India, as in all communities

which have made any substantial progress in civilisation and social

development. Distinctions of race, religion and family gradually

disappear, and are merged in the gradation according to wealth or

profession. The enormous majority of castes are occupational and their

social position depends on their caste calling. Thus in the case of

an important industry like weaving, there are separate castes who

weave the finer kinds of cloth, as the Tantis and Koshtis, while one

subcaste of Koshtis, the Salewars, are distinguished as silk-weavers,

and a separate caste of Patwas embroider silk and braid on cloth;

other castes, as the Mahars, Gandas and Koris, weave coarse cloth,

and a distinct caste of Katias existed for the spinning of thread,

and the Muhammadan caste of Bahnas for cleaning cotton. The workers

in each kind of metal have formed a separate caste, as the Lohars or

blacksmiths, the Kasars or brass-workers, the Tameras or coppersmiths,

and the Sunars or gold- and silversmiths, while the Audhia subcaste of

Sunars [83] and the Bharewas, an inferior branch of the Kasars, work

in bell-metal. Each of these castes makes ornaments of its own metal,

while the Kachera caste [84] make glass bangles, and the Lakheras make

bangles from lac and clay. In the case of agriculture, as has been

seen, there is usually a functional cultivating caste for each main

tract of country, as the Jats in the Punjab, the Kurmis in Hindustan,

the Kunbis in the Deccan, the Chasas in Orissa, the Kapus in the Telugu

country and the Vellalas in the Tamil country. Except the Jats, who

were perhaps originally a racial caste, the above castes appear to

include a number of heterogeneous groups which have been welded into

a single body through the acquisition of land and the status which it

confers. Various other cultivating castes also exist, whose origin

can be traced to different sources; on obtaining possession of the

land they have acquired the cultivating status, but retained their

separate caste organisation and name. Other agricultural castes have

been formed for the growing of special products. Thus the Malis are

gardeners, and within the caste there exist such separate groups as

the Phulmalis who grow flowers, the Jire Malis cumin and the Halde

Malis turmeric. [85] Hindus generally object to cultivate _san_-hemp,

[86] and some special castes have been formed from those who grew

it and thus underwent some loss of status; such are the Lorhas and

Kumrawats and Pathinas, and the Santora subcaste of Kurmis. The _al_

[87] or Indian madder-dye is another plant to which objection is

felt, and the Alia subcastes of Kachhis and Banias consist of those

who grow and sell it. The Dangris and Kachhis are growers of melons

and other vegetables on the sandy stretches in the beds of rivers and

the alluvial land on their borders which is submerged in the monsoon

floods. The Barais are the growers and sellers of the betel-vine.

Several castes have been formed from military service, as the Marathas,

Khandaits, Rautias, Taonlas and Paiks. All of these, except the

Marathas, are mainly derived from the non-Aryan tribes; since they

have abandoned military service and taken as a rule to agriculture,

their rank depends roughly on their position as regards the land. Thus

the Marathas and Khandaits became landowners, receiving grants of

property as a reward for, or on condition of, military service like

the old feudal tenures; they rank with, but somewhat above, the

cultivating castes. The same is the case, though to a less degree,

with the Rautias of Chota Nagpur, a military caste mainly formed from

the Kol tribe. On the other hand, the Paiks or foot-soldiers and

Taonlas have not become landholders and rank below the cultivating

castes. The Hatkars are a caste formed from Dhangars or shepherds

who entered the Maratha armies. They are now called Bangi Dhangars

or shepherds with the spears, and rank a little above other Dhangars.

43. Other agents in the formation of castes.

The great majority of castes have been formed from occupation, but

other sources of origin can be traced. Several castes are of mixed

descent, as the Vidurs, the descendants of Brahman fathers and mothers

of other castes; the Bhilalas, by Rajput fathers and Bhil mothers;

the Chauhans, Audhelias, Khangars and Dhakars of Bastar, probably by

Hindu fathers and women of various indigenous tribes; the Kirars of

mixed Rajput descent, and others. These also now generally take rank

according to their occupation and position in the world. The Vidurs

served as village accountants and ranked below the cultivators, but

since they are well educated and have done well in Government service

their status is rapidly improving. The Bhilalas are landholders

and rank as a good cultivating caste. The Chauhans and Khangars

are village watchmen and rank as menials below the cultivators, the

Dhakars are farmservants and labourers with a similar position, while

the Audhelias are labourers who keep pigs and are hence regarded as

impure. The Halbas or 'ploughmen' are another mixed caste, probably

the descendants of house-servants of the Uriya Rajas, who, like the

Khandaits, formed a sort of militia for the maintenance of the chiefs

authority. They are now mainly farmservants, as the name denotes,

but where they hold land, as in Bastar, they rank higher, almost as

a good cultivating caste.

Again, very occasionally a caste may be formed from a religious sect

or order. The Bishnois were originally a Vaishnava sect, worshipping

Vishnu as an unseen god, and refusing to employ Brahmans. They have now

become cultivators, and though they retain their sectarian beliefs, and

have no Brahman priests, are generally regarded as a Hindu cultivating

caste. The Pankas are members of the impure Ganda caste who adhered to

the Kabirpanthi sect. They are now a separate caste and are usually

employed as village watchmen, ranking with menials above the Gandas

and other similar castes. The Lingayats are a large sect of southern

India, devoted to the worship of Siva and called after the _lingam_ or

phallic emblem which they wear. They have their own priests, denying

the authority of Brahmans, but the tendency now is for members of

those castes which have become Lingayats to marry among themselves

and retain their relative social status, thus forming a sort of inner

microcosm of Hinduism.

44. Caste occupations divinely ordained.

Occupation is the real determining factor of social status in India

as in all other societies of at all advanced organisation. But though

in reality the status of occupations and of castes depends roughly on

the degree to which they are lucrative and respectable, this is not

ostensibly the case, but their precedence, as already seen, is held to

be regulated by the degree of ceremonial purity or impurity attaching

to them. The Hindus have retained, in form at any rate, the religious

constitution which is common or universal in primitive societies. The

majority of castes are provided with a legend devised by the Brahmans

to show that their first ancestor was especially created by a god to

follow their caste calling, or at least that this was assigned to him

by a god. The ancestors of the bearer-caste of Kahars were created by

Siva or Mahadeo from the dust to carry his consort Parvati in a litter

when she was tired; the first Mang was made by Mahadeo from his own

sweat to castrate the divine bull Nandi when he was fractious, and

his descendants have ever since followed the same calling, the impiety

of mutilating the sacred bull in such a manner being thus excused by

the divine sanction accorded to it. The first Mali or gardener gave a

garland to Krishna. The first Chamar or tanner made sandals for Siva

from a piece of his own skin; the ancestor of the Kayasth or writer

caste, Chitragupta, keeps the record of men's actions by which they

are judged in the infernal regions after death; and so on.

45. Subcastes. local type.

All important castes are divided into a number of subordinate groups

or subcastes, which as a rule marry and take food within their own

circle only. Certain differences of status frequently exist among the

subcastes of the occupational or social type, but these are usually

too minute to be recognised by outsiders. The most common type of

subcaste is the local, named after the tract of country in which

the members reside or whence they are supposed to have come. Thus

the name Kanaujia from the town of Kanauj on the Ganges, famous in

ancient Indian history, is borne by subcastes of many castes which have

immigrated from northern India. Jaiswar, from the old town of Jais in

the Rai Bareli District, is almost equally common. Pardeshi or foreign,

and Purabia or eastern, are also subcaste names for groups coming from

northern India or Oudh. Mahobia is a common name derived from the town

of Mahoba in Central India, as are Bundeli from Bundelkhand, Narwaria

from Narwar and Marwari from Marwar in Rajputana. Groups belonging

to Berar are called Berari, Warade or Baone; those from Gujarat are

called Lad, the classical term for Gujarat, or Gujarati, and other

names are Deccani from the Deccan, Nimari of Nimar, Havelia, the name

of the wheat-growing tracts of Jubbulpore and Damoh; Chhattisgarhia,

Kosaria, Ratanpuria (from the old town of Ratanpur in Bilaspur), and

Raipuria (from Raipur town), all names for residents in Chhattisgarh;

and so on. Brahmans are divided into ten main divisions, named after

different tracts in the north and south of India where they reside;

[88] and these are further subdivided, as the Maharashtra Brahmans

of the Maratha country of Bombay into the subcastes of Deshasth

(belonging to the country) applied to those of the Poona country

above the western Ghats; Karhara or those of the Satara District,

from Karhar town; and Konkonasth or those of the Concan, the Bombay

coast; similarly the Kanaujia division of the Panch-Gaur or northern

Brahmans has as subdivisions the Kanaujia proper, the Jijhotia from

Jajhoti, the old name of the Lalitpur and Saugor tract, which is part

of Bundelkhand; the Sarwaria or those dwelling round the river Sarju

in the United Provinces; the Mathuria from Muttra; and the Prayagwals

or those of Allahabad (Prayag), who act as guides and priests to

pilgrims who come to bathe in the Ganges at the sacred city. The

creation of new local subcastes seems to arise in two ways: when

different groups of a caste settle in different tracts of country

and are prevented from attending the caste feasts and assemblies,

the practice of intermarriage and taking food together gradually

ceases, they form separate endogamous groups and for purposes of

distinction are named after the territory in which they reside; this

is what has happened in the case of Brahmans and many other castes;

and, secondly, when a fresh body of a caste arrives and settles in a

tract where some of its members already reside, they do not amalgamate

with the latter group, but form a fresh one and are named after the

territory from which they have come, as in the case of such names as

Pardeshi, Purabia, Gangapari ('from the other side of the Ganges'),

and similar ones already cited. In former times, when the difficulties

of communication were great, these local subcastes readily multiplied;

thus the Kanaujia Brahmans of Chhattisgarh are looked down upon by

those of Saugor and Damoh, as Chhattisgarh has been for centuries

a backward tract cut off from the rest of India, and they may be

suspected of having intermarried with the local people or otherwise

derogated from the standard of strict Hinduism. Similarly the Kanaujia

Brahmans of Bengal are split into several local subcastes named

after tracts in Bengal, who marry among themselves and neither with

other Kanaujias of Bengal nor with those of northern India. Since the

opening of railways people can travel long distances to marriage and

other ceremonies, and the tendency to form new subcastes is somewhat

checked; a native gentleman said to me, when speaking of his people,

that when a few families of Khedawal Brahmans from Gujarat first

settled in Damoh they had the greatest difficulty in arranging their

marriages; they could not marry with their caste-fellows in Gujarat

because their sons and daughters could not establish themselves, that

is, could not prove their identity as Khedawal Brahmans; but since the

railway has been opened intermarriage takes place freely with other

Khedawals in Gujarat and Benares. Proposals are on foot to authorise

the intermarriage of the three great subcastes of Maratha Brahmans:

Deshasth, Konkonasth and Karhara. As a rule, there is no difference

of status between the different local subcastes, and a man's subcaste

is often not known except to his own caste-fellows. But occasionally

a certain derogatory sense may be conveyed; in several castes of the

Central Provinces there is a subcaste called Jharia or jungly, a term

applied to the oldest residents, who are considered to have lapsed in

a comparatively new and barbarous country from the orthodox practices

of Hinduism. The subcaste called Deshi, or 'belonging to the country,'

sometimes has the same signification. The large majority of subcastes

are of the local or territorial type.

46. Occupational subcastes.

Many subcastes are also formed from slight differences of occupation,

which are not of sufficient importance to create new castes. Some

instances of subcastes formed from growing special plants or crops have

been given. Audhia Sunars (goldsmiths) work in brass and bell-metal,

which is less respectable than the sacred metal, gold. The Ekbeile

Telis harness one bullock only to the oil-press and the Dobeile two

bullocks. As it is thought sinful to use the sacred ox in this manner

and to cover his eyes as the Telis do, it may be slightly more sinful

to use two bullocks than one. The Udia Ghasias (grass-cutters) cure

raw hides and do scavengers' work, and are hence looked down upon

by the others; the Dingkuchia Ghasias castrate cattle and horses,

and the Dolboha carry dhoolies and palanquins. The Mangya Chamars are

beggars and rank below all other subcastes, from whom they will accept

cooked food. Frequently, however, subcastes are formed from a slight

distinction of occupation, which connotes no real difference in social

status. The Hathgarhia Kumhars (potters) are those who used to fashion

the clay with their own hands, and the Chakarias those who turned it

on a wheel. And though the practice of hand pottery is now abandoned,

the divisions remain. The Shikari or sportsmen Pardhis (hunters)

are those who use firearms, though far from being sportsmen in our

sense of the term; the Phanse Pardhis hunt with traps and snares;

the Chitewale use a tame leopard to run down deer, and the Gayake

stalk their prey behind a bullock. Among the subcastes of Dhimars

(fishermen and watermen) are the Singaria, who cultivate the _singara_

or water-nut in tanks, the Tankiwalas or sharpeners of grindstones,

the Jhingars or prawn-catchers, the Bansias and Saraias or anglers

(from _bansi_ or _sarai_, a bamboo fishing-rod), the Kasdhonias

who wash the sands of the sacred rivers to find the coins thrown

or dropped into them by pious pilgrims, and the Sonjharas who wash

the sands of auriferous streams for their particles of gold. [89]

The Gariwan Dangris have adopted the comparatively novel occupation

of driving carts (_gari_) for a livelihood, and the Panibhar are

water-carriers, while the ordinary occupation of the Dangris is to grow

melons in river-beds. It is unnecessary to multiply instances; here,

as in the case of territorial subcastes, the practice of subdivision

appears to have been extended from motives of convenience, and the

slight difference of occupation is adopted as a distinguishing badge.

47. Subcastes formed from social or religious differences, or from

mixed descent.

Subcastes are also occasionally formed from differences of social

practice which produce some slight gain or loss of status. Thus

the Biyahut or 'Married' Kalars prohibit the remarriage of widows,

saying that a woman is married once for all, and hence rank a little

higher than the others. The Dosar Banias, on the other hand, are said

to take their name from _dusra_, second, because they allow a widow

to marry a second time and are hence looked upon by the others as a

second-class lot. The Khedawal Brahmans are divided into the 'outer'

and 'inner': the inner subdivision being said to exist of those who

accepted presents from the Raja of Kaira and remained in his town,

while the outer refused the presents, quitted the town and dwelt

outside. The latter rank a little higher than the former. The Suvarha

Dhimars keep pigs and the Gadhewale donkeys, and are considered to

partake of the impure nature of these animals. The Gobardhua Chamars

wash out and eat the undigested grain from the droppings of cattle

on the threshing-floors. The Chungia group of the Satnami Chamars

are those who smoke the _chongi_ or leaf-pipe, though smoking is

prohibited to the Satnamis. The Nagle or 'naked' Khonds have only

a negligible amount of clothing and are looked down upon by the

others. The Makaria Kamars eat monkeys and are similarly despised.

Subcastes are also formed from mixed descent. The Dauwa Ahirs are held

to be the offspring of Ahir women who were employed as wet-nurses in

the houses of Bundela Rajputs and bore children to their masters. The

Halbas and Rautias are divided into subcastes known as Purait or

'pure,' and Surait or of 'mixed' descent. Many castes have a subcaste

to which the progeny of illicit unions is relegated, such as the Dogle

Kayasths, and the Lahuri Sen subcaste of Barais, Banias and other

castes. Illegitimate children in the Kasar (brass-worker) caste form

a subcaste known as Takle or 'thrown out,' Vidur or 'illegitimate,'

or Laondi Bachcha, the issue of a kept wife. In Berar the Mahadeo

Kolis, called after the Mahadeo or Pachmarhi hills, are divided into

the Khas, or 'pure,' and the Akaramase or 'mixed'; this latter word

means gold or silver composed of eleven parts pure metal and one part

alloy. Many subcastes of Bania have subcastes known as Bisa or Dasa,

that is 'Twenty' or 'Ten' groups, the former being of pure descent or

twenty-carat, as it were, and the latter the offspring of remarried

widows or other illicit unions. In the course of some generations

such mixed groups frequently regain full status in the caste.

Subcastes are also formed from members of other castes who have taken

to the occupation of the caste in question and become amalgamated

with it; thus the Korchamars are Koris (weavers) adopted into the

Chamar (tanner) caste; Khatri Chhipas are Khatris who have become

dyers and printers; the small Dangri caste has subcastes called Teli,

Kalar and Kunbi, apparently consisting of members of those castes who

have become Dangris; the Baman Darzis or tailors will not take food

from any one except Brahmans and may perhaps be derived from them,

and the Kaith Darzis may be Kayasths; and so on.

Occasionally subcastes may be formed from differences of religious

belief or sectarian practice. In northern India even such leading Hindu

castes as Rajputs and Jats have large Muhammadan branches, who as a

rule do not intermarry with Hindus. The ordinary Hindu sects seldom,

however, operate as a bar to marriage, Hinduism being tolerant of

all forms of religious belief. Those Chamars of Chhattisgarh who have

embraced the doctrines of the Satnami reforming sect form a separate

endogamous subcaste, and sometimes the members of the Kabirpanthi

sect within a caste marry among themselves.

Statistics of the subcastes are not available, but their numbers are

very extensive in proportion to the population, and even in the same

subcaste the members living within a comparatively small local area

often marry among themselves and attend exclusively at their own

caste feasts, though in the case of educated and well-to-do Hindus

the construction of railways has modified this rule and connections

are kept up between distant groups of relatives. Clearly therefore

differences of occupation or social status are not primarily

responsible for the subcastes, because in the majority of cases

no such differences really exist. I think the real reason for their

multiplication was the necessity that the members of a subcaste should

attend at the caste feasts on the occasion of marriages, deaths

and readmission of offenders, these feasts being of the nature of

a sacrificial or religious meal. The grounds for this view will be

given subsequently.

48. Exogamous groups.

The caste or subcaste forms the outer circle within which a man must

marry. Inside it are a set of further subdivisions which prohibit the

marriage of persons related through males. These are called exogamous

groups or clans, and their name among the higher castes is _gotra_. The

theory is that all persons belonging to the same _gotra_ are descended

from the same male ancestor, and so related. The relationship in the

_gotra_ now only goes by the father's side; when a woman marries

she is taken into the clan of her husband and her children belong

to it. Marriage is not allowed within the clan and in the course of

a few generations the marriage of persons related through males or

agnates is prohibited within a very wide circle. But on the mother's

side the _gotra_ does not serve as a bar to marriage and the union

of first cousins would be possible, other than the children of two

brothers. According to Hindu law, intermarriage is prohibited within

four degrees between persons related through females. But generally

the children of first cousins are allowed to marry, when related

partly through females. And several castes allow the intermarriage of

first cousins, that of a brother's daughter to a sister's son and in a

less degree of a brother's son to a sister's daughter being specially

favoured. One or two Madras castes allow a man to marry his niece,

and the small Dhoba caste of Mandla permit the union of children of

the same mother but different fathers.

Sir Herbert Risley classed the names of exogamous divisions as

eponymous, territorial or local, titular and totemistic. In the body of

this work the word clan is usually applied only to the large exogamous

groups of the Rajputs and one or two other military castes. The small

local or titular groups of ordinary Hindu castes are called 'section,'

and the totemic groups of the primitive tribes 'sept.' But perhaps

it is simpler to use the word 'clan' throughout according to the

practice of Sir J.G. Frazer. The vernacular designations of the clans

or sections are _gotra_, which originally meant a stall or cow-pen;

_khero_, a village; _dih_, a village site; _baink_, a title; _mul_

or _mur_, literally a root, hence an origin; and _kul_ or _kuri_, a

family. The sections called eponymous are named after Rishis or saints

mentioned in the Vedas and other scriptures and are found among the

Brahmans and a few of the higher castes, such as Vasishta, Garga,

Bharadwaj, Vishvamitra, Kashyap and so on. A few Rajput clans are

named after kings or heroes, as the Raghuvansis from king Raghu of

Ajodhia and the Tilokchandi Bais from a famous king of that name. The

titular class of names comprise names of offices supposed to have

been held by the founder of the clan, or titles and names referring

to a personal defect or quality, and nicknames. Instances of the

former are Kotwar (village watchman), Chaudhri, Meher or Mahto (caste

headman), Bhagat (saint), Thakuria and Rawat (lord or prince), Vaidya

(physician); and of titular names and nicknames: Kuldip (lamp of the

family), Mohjaria (one with a burnt mouth), Jachak (beggar), Garkata

(cut-throat), Bhatpagar (one serving on a pittance of boiled rice),

Kangali (poor), Chikat (dirty), Petdukh (stomach-ache), Ghunnere

(worm-eater) and so on. A special class of names are those of offices

held at the caste feasts; thus the clans of the Chitrakathi caste are

the Atak or Mankari, who furnish the headman of the caste _panchayat_

or committee; the Bhojin who serve the food at marriages and other

ceremonies; the Kakra who arrange for the lighting; the Gotharya

who keep the provisions, and the Ghorerao (_ghora_, a horse) who

have the duty of looking after the horses and bullock-carts of the

caste-men who assemble. Similarly the five principal clans of the

small Turi caste are named after the five sons of Singhbonga or the

sun: the eldest son was called Mailuar and his descendants are the

leaders or headmen of the caste; the descendants of the second son,

Chardhagia, purify and readmit offenders to caste intercourse; those

of the third son, Suremar, conduct the ceremonial shaving of such

offenders, and those of the fourth son bring water for the ceremony

and are called Tirkuar. The youngest brother, Hasdagia, is said

to have committed some caste offence, and the four other brothers

took the parts which are still played by their descendants in his

ceremony of purification. In many cases exogamous clans are named

after other castes or subcastes. Many low castes have adopted the

names of the Rajput clans, either from simple vanity as people may

take an aristocratic surname, or because they were in the service of

Rajputs, and have adopted the names of their masters or are partly

descended from them. Other names of castes found among exogamous

groups probably indicate that an ancestor belonging to that caste was

taken into the one in which the group is found. The Bhaina tribe have

clans named after the Dhobi, Ahir, Gond, Mali and Panka castes. The

members of such clans pay respect to any man belonging to the caste

after which they are named and avoid picking a quarrel with him;

they also worship the family gods of the caste.

Territorial names are very common, and are taken from that of some

town or village in which the ancestor of the clan or the members of the

clan themselves resided. [90] The names are frequently distorted, and

it seems probable that the majority of the large number of clan names

for which no meaning can be discovered were those of villages. These

unknown names are probably more numerous than the total of all those

classes of names to which a meaning can be assigned.

49. Totemistic clans.

The last class of exogamous divisions are those called totemistic,

when the clan is named after a plant or animal or other natural

object. These are almost universal among the non-Aryan or primitive

tribes, but occur also in most Hindu castes, including some of the

highest. The commonest totem names are those of the prominent animals,

including several which are held sacred by the Hindus, as _bagh_

or _nahar_, the tiger; _bachas_, the calf; _morkuria_, the peacock;

_kachhwaha_ or _limuan_, the tortoise; _nagas_, the cobra; _hasti_, the

elephant; _bandar_, the monkey; _bhainsa_, the buffalo; _richharia_,

the bear; _kuliha_, the jackal; _kukura_, the dog; _karsayal_,

the deer; _heran_, the black-buck, and so on. The utmost variety

of names is found, and numerous trees, as well as rice, kodon and

other crops, salt, sandalwood, cucumber, pepper, and some household

implements, such as the pestle and rolling-slab, serve as names of

clans. Names which may be held to have a totemistic origin occur

even in the highest castes. Thus among the names of eponymous Rishis

or saints, Bharadwaj means a lark, Kaushik may be from the _kusha_

grass, Agastya from the _agasti_ flower, Kashyap from _kachhap_,

a tortoise; Taittiri from _titar_, a partridge, and so on. Similarly

the origin of other Rishis is attributed to animals, as Rishishringa

to an antelope, Mandavya to a frog, and Kanada to an owl. [91] An

inferior Rajput clan, Meshbansi, signifies descendants of the sheep,

while the name of the Baghel clan is derived from the tiger (bagh),

that of the Kachhwaha clan perhaps from _kachhap_, a tortoise, of

the Haihaivansi from the horse, of the Nagvansi from the cobra, and

of the Tomara clan from _tomar_, a club. The Karan or writer caste

of Orissa, similarly, have clans derived from the cobra, tortoise

and calf, and most of the cultivating and other middle castes have

clans with totemistic names. The usual characteristics of totemism,

in its later and more common form at any rate, are that members of a

clan regard themselves as related to, or descended from, the animal

or tree from which the clan takes its name, and abstain from killing

or eating it. This was perhaps not the original relation of the clan

to its clan totem in the hunting stage, but it is the one commonly

found in India, where the settled agricultural stage has long been

reached. The Bhaina tribe have among their totems the cobra, tiger,

leopard, vulture, hawk, monkey, wild dog, quail, black ant, and so

on. Members of a clan will not injure the animal after which it is

named, and if they see the corpse of the animal or hear of its death

they throw away an earthen cooking-pot, and bathe and shave themselves

as for one of the family. At a wedding the bride's father makes an

image in clay of the bird or animal of the groom's sept and places it

beside the marriage-post. The bridegroom worships the image, lighting

a sacrificial fire before it, and offers to it the vermilion which

he afterwards smears on the forehead of the bride. Women are often

tattooed with representations of their totem animal, and men swear

by it as their most sacred oath. A similar respect is paid to the

inanimate objects after which certain septs are named. Thus members

of the Gawad or cowdung clan will not burn cowdung cakes for fuel;

and those of the Mircha clan do not use chillies. One clan is named

after the sun, and when an eclipse occurs they perform the same formal

rites of mourning as others do on the death of their totem animal. The

Baghani clan of Majhwars, named after the tiger, think that a tiger

will not attack any member of their clan unless he has committed an

offence entailing temporary excommunication from caste. Until this

offence has been expiated his relationship with the tiger as head of

the clan is in abeyance, and the tiger will eat him as he would any

other stranger. If a tiger meets a member of the clan who is free from

sin, he will run away. Members of the Khoba or peg clan will not make a

peg nor drive one into the ground. Those of the Dumar or fig-tree clan

say that their first ancestor was born under this tree. They consider

the tree to be sacred and never eat its fruit, and worship it once a

year. Sometimes the members of the clan do not revere the object after

which it is named but some other important animal or plant. Thus the

Markam clan of Gonds, named after the mango-tree, venerate the tortoise

and do not kill it. The Kathotia clan of Kols is named after _kathota_,

a bowl, but they revere the tiger. Bagheshwar Deo, the tiger-god,

resides on a little platform in their verandas. They may not join

in a tiger-beat nor sit up for a tiger over a kill. In the latter

case they think that the tiger would not come and would be deprived

of his food, and all the members of their family would get ill. The

Katharia clan take their name from _kathri_, a mattress. A member of

this sept must never have a mattress in his house, nor wear clothes

sewn in crosspieces as mattresses are sewn. The name of the Mudia or

Mudmudia clan is said to mean shaven head, but they apparently revere

the white _kumhra_ or gourd, perhaps because it has some resemblance to

a shaven head. They give a white gourd to a woman on the day after she

has borne a child, and her family then do not eat this vegetable for

three years. The Kumraya sept revere the brown _kumhra_ or gourd. They

grow this vegetable on the thatch of their house-roof and from the time

of planting it till the fruits have been plucked they do not touch it,

though of course they afterwards eat the fruits. The Bhuwar sept

are named after _bhu_ or _bhumi_, the earth. They must always

sleep on the earth and not on cots. The Nun (salt) and Dhan (rice)

clans of Oraons cannot dispense with eating their totems or titular

ancestors. But the Dhan Oraons content themselves with refusing to

consume the scum which thickens on the surface of the boiled rice,

and the Nun sept will not lick a plate in which salt and water have

been mixed. At the weddings of the Vulture clan of the small Bhona

caste one member of the clan kills a small chicken by biting off the

head and then eats it in imitation of a vulture. Definite instances

of the sacrificial eating of the totem animal have not been found,

but it is said that the tiger and snake clans of the Bhatra tribe

formerly ate their totems at a sacrificial meal. The Gonds also

worship the cobra as a household god, and once a year they eat the

flesh of the snake and think that by doing so they will be immune

from snake-bite throughout the year. On the festival of Nag-Panchmi

the Mahars make an image of a snake with flour and sugar and eat

it. It is reported that the Singrore Dhimars who work on rivers and

tanks must eat the flesh of a crocodile at their weddings, while the

Sonjharas who wash the sands of rivers for gold should catch a live

crocodile for the occasion of the wedding and afterwards put it back

into the river. These latter customs may probably have fallen into

abeyance owing to the difficulty of catching a crocodile, and in any

case the animals are tribal gods rather than totems.

50. Terms of relationship.

Exogamy and totemism are found not only in India, but are the

characteristics of primitive social groups over the greater part

of the world. Totemism establishes a relation of kinship between

persons belonging to one clan who are not related by blood, and

exogamy prescribes that the persons held to be so related shall not

intermarry. Further, when terms of relationship come into existence it

is found that they are applied not to members of one family, but to

all the persons of the clan who might have stood in each particular

relationship to the person addressing them. Thus a man will address

as mother not only his own mother, but all the women of his clan who

might have stood to him in the relation of mother. Similarly he will

address all the old men and women as grandfather or grandmother or

aunt, and the boys and girls of his own generation as brother and

sister, and so on. With the development of the recognition of the

consanguineous family, the use of terms of relationship tends to

be restricted to persons who have actual kinship; thus a boy will

address only his father's brothers as father, and his cousins as

brothers and sisters; but sufficient traces of the older system of

clan kinship remain to attest its former existence. But it seems also

clear that some, at least, of the terms of relationship were first

used between persons really related; thus the word for mother must

have been taught by mothers to their own babies beginning to speak,

as it is a paramount necessity for a small child to have a name by

which to call its mother when it is wholly dependent on her; if the

period of infancy is got over without the use of this term of address

there is no reason why it should be introduced in later life, when

in the primitive clan the child quickly ceased to be dependent on its

mother or to retain any strong affection for her. Similarly, as shown

by Sir J.G. Frazer in _Totemism and Exogamy_, there is often a special

name for the mother's brother when other uncles or aunts are addressed

simply as father or mother. This name must therefore have been brought

into existence to distinguish the mother's brother at the time when,

under the system of female descent, he stood in the relation of a

protector and parent to the child. Where the names for grandfather and

grandmother are a form of duplication of those for father and mother

as in English, they would appear to imply a definite recognition of

the idea of family descent. The majority of the special names for

other relatives, such as fraternal and maternal uncles and aunts,

must also have been devised to designate those relatives in particular,

and hence there is a probability that the terms for father and brother

and sister, which on _a priori_ grounds may be considered doubtful,

were also first applied to real or putative fathers and brothers and

sisters. But, as already seen, under the classificatory system of

relationship these same terms are addressed to members of the same

clan who might by age and sex have stood in such a relationship to

the person addressing them, but are not actually akin to him at

all. And hence it seems a valid and necessary conclusion that at

the time when the family terms of relationship came into existence,

the clan sentiment of kinship was stronger than the family sentiment;

that is, a boy was taught or made to feel that all the women of the

clan of about the same age as his mother were as nearly akin to him

as his own mother, and that he should regard them all in the same

relation. And similarly he looked on all the men of the clan of an age

enabling them to be his fathers in the same light as his own father,

and all the children of or about his own age as his brothers and

sisters. The above seems a necessary conclusion from the existence

of the classificatory system of relationship, which is very widely

spread among savages, and if admitted, it follows that the sentiment of

kinship within the clan was already established when the family terms

of relationship were devised, and therefore that the clan was prior

to the family as a social unit. This conclusion is fortified by the

rule of exogamy which prohibits marriage between persons of the same

clan between whom no blood-relationship can be traced, and therefore

shows that some kind of kinship was believed to exist between them,

independent of and stronger than the link of consanguinity. Further,

Mr. Hartland shows in _Primitive Paternity_ [92] that during the period

of female descent when physical paternity has been recognised, but the

father and mother belong to different clans, the children, being of

the mother's clan, will avenge a blood-feud of their clan upon their

own father; and this custom seems to show clearly that the sentiment

of clan-kinship was prior to and stronger than that of family kinship.

51. Clan kinship and totemism.