==============+=======
Districts. |Number.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~
Sahâranpur | 1
Muzaffarnagar | 338
+~~~~~~~
Total | 339
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Dom; [339] Domra; Domahra (Sans. Doma; Dama; Domba), a Dravidian menial
caste found scattered throughout these Provinces, regarding whose
origin and ethnological affinities there has been much speculation. To
the east of the Province they are usually known as Dom, but are
sometimes called Jallâd, “executioner,” Hatyâra, “murderous,
blood-thirsty,” or Supach, which is, as we shall see, traditionally the
name of the founder of the tribe, and who also enters into the legends
of the Bhangis. The name seems to represent the Svapâka or “cooker of
dogs,” a man of a degraded and outcast tribe, the son of an Ugra woman
by a Kshatriya. He is required to live outside towns like the Chandâla,
to eat his food in broken vessels, to wear the clothes of the dead, and
to be excluded from all intercourse with other tribes; he can possess
no other property than asses and dogs, and his only office is to act as
public executioner or to carry out the bodies of those who die without
kindred. His kinsman, the Chandâla, according to Manu, [340] ranks in
impurity with the town boar, the dog, a woman in her courses, and an
eunuch, none of whom must a Brâhman allow to see him when eating.
According to Dr. Caldwell [341] they are the surviving representatives
of an older, ruder, and blacker race who preceded the Dravidians in
India. Sir H. M. Elliot [342] considers them to be “one of the original
tribes of India. Tradition fixes their residence to the north of the
Ghâgra, touching the Bhars on the east in the vicinity of the Rohini.
Several old forts testify to their former importance, and still retain
the names of their founders, as, for instance, Domdiha and Domingarh,
in the Gorakhpur District. Râmgarh and Sahnkot, on the Rohini, are also
Dom forts.” Attempts have, also, been made to connect them in some way
with the Domkatâr or Domtikâr Râjputs of Gorakhpur, and with the Domwâr
Bhuînhârs. [343] All this discussion is, as Mr. Risley says, somewhat
profitless; but out of it seems to emerge “a general consensus of
opinion that the Doms belong to one of the races whom, for convenience
of expression, we may call the aborigines of India. Their personal
appearance bears out this opinion.” Mr. Beames [344] describes the Doms
of Champâran as “small and dark, with long tresses of unkempt hair, and
the peculiar glassy eye of the non-Aryan autochthon,” and Mr. Sherring
[345] remarks that “dark-complexioned, low of stature, and somewhat
repulsive in appearance, they are readily distinguished from all the
better castes of Hindus.” “The type, however,” Mr. Risley adds, “as is
the case with most widely-diffused castes, seems to display appreciable
variations. In Eastern Bengal, according to Dr. Wise, the Dom’s hair is
long, black, and coarse, while his complexion is oftener of a brown
than a black hue; and among the Magahiya Doms, whom I have seen in
Bihâr, only a small portion struck me as showing any marked resemblance
to the aborigines of Chota Nâgpur, who are, I suppose, among the purest
specimens of the non-Aryan races of India. On the whole, however, the
prevalent type of physique and complexion seems to mark the caste as
not of Aryan descent, although evidence is wanting to connect it with
any compact aboriginal tribe of the present day. The fact that for
centuries they have been condemned to the most menial duties, and have
served as the helots of the entire village community, would, of itself,
be sufficient to break down whatever tribal spirit they may once have
possessed, and to obliterate all structural traces of their true
origin.”
2. To this must be added another point which cannot be left out of
consideration in dealing with these menial races. The tribes of
scavengers, such as the Bhangi and Dom, have for many generations
formed a sort of Cave of Adullam for the outcastes of the higher races,
and the notorious immoral character of the women of these tribes must
have had a powerful effect in modifying the physique and appearance of
castes such as these. If the Dom varies in physical character from one
part of the Province to another, it is only what might naturally be
expected. On the whole it may perhaps be safer to regard the Doms, not
as a single, individual aggregate, but as a more or less mixed body of
menials, who have been for ages in a state of the utmost degradation,
and whose appearance and physique have been largely modified by the
rigour of their occupation and environment.
[Tradition of origin—Eastern Doms.] 3. The origin of the Dom to the
east of the Province is thus told by themselves. In the good old times
all people were equally well-to-do and happy. The Brâhmans had no
property and built no houses for themselves. When Parameswar desired to
appear in the world he took the form of a Brâhman. Then intending to
divide men into castes, he went about begging as a Brâhman, wishing to
ascertain what occupation each family followed. As he begged for alms
no man gave him aught but silver and gold. At last he reached the house
of a man who had killed a cow and was preparing to feed on the beef. He
begged for alms, and the cow-killer brought from his house a handful of
gold coins. Parameswar refused the money and asked for a little barley.
The Domin, or woman of the house, went inside and found a place in the
courtyard which had been trampled into mud by the feet of the cow in
her death struggle, and there a few ears of barley had suddenly
sprouted up. The woman plucked the grain and offered it to Parameswar,
who asked her where she had found it. She told him how the grain had
sprouted in her courtyard. Parameswar asked where was the cow which had
prepared the ground in which the grain had grown. She replied that it
had been killed by her husband. Then Parameswar was wroth and cursed
her husband: “Thou and thy posterity shall kill animals and remain
beggars for ever.” Then the Domin cursed Parameswar in the form of a
Brâhman—
Jahân Brâhman jâwê,
Châr dhakka khâwê,
Ek pichhâri, chhattîs gantha.
“Wherever the Brâhman goes he shall receive four pushes. Thirty-six
knots in a single sheet.” So ever since Doms are beggars and slayers of
animals, and Brâhmans are poor and live on alms. This legend, of
course, cannot be of any great antiquity, as the feeling of respect for
the cow is of comparatively modern origin.
4. According to the Panjâb legend the ancestor of the Doms was a
Brâhman named Malludant. He was the youngest of the family, and his
elder brothers expelled him. One day the calf of their cow died, and
they asked Malludant to take away the carcass and bury it. When he did
so he was treated as an outcast, and was obliged ever after to make his
living by skinning and burying dead animals. This legend, under a
slightly different form, is told also in connection with the Bhangis.
5. Another story, again, makes the Doms the descendants of Râja Ben or
Vena, and from him one of their sub-castes has taken the name Benbansi.
The legend of this king suggests that he was some early reformer who
made himself obnoxious to Brâhmans. When he became king he issued a
proclamation,—“Men must not sacrifice nor give gifts nor present
oblations. Who else but myself is the object of sacrifice? I am for
ever the lord of offerings.” The sages remonstrated respectfully with
him, but in vain. They admonished him in sterner terms, and when he
persisted in his piety they slew him with blades of the sacred kusa
grass. After his death the sages beheld clouds of dust, and on inquiry
found that they arose from the bands of men who had taken to plundering
because the land was left without a king. As Vena was childless, the
sages rubbed his thigh, and from it there came a man “like a charred
log, with flat face and extremely short.” The sages told him to sit
down (nishâda). He did so, and hence was called Nishâda, from whom
sprang the “Nishâdas dwelling in the Vindhyan mountains, distinguished
by their wicked deeds.” It may be noted that Benbans is the title of a
modern Râjput sept which is of obvious Kharwâr origin. By another
account the name is derived by the Doms from their trade in making fans
(bena, Sans. vyajana).
[Internal structure.] 6. As might have been expected in the case of a
tribe which is obviously composed of various elements their internal
structure is most intricate. Under the general term Dom there are in
these Provinces at least three distinct classes of people. There are,
first, the wandering race of houseless thieves and vagrants who infest
Bihâr and the eastern districts of the North-Western Provinces. Some of
these have gradually raised themselves above the degraded status of
their vagabond brethren. Some of them have settled down on the
outskirts of towns and villages, and have taken to scavengering or
industries connected with cane-work and basket-making. Such are the
Dharkâr and Bânsphor or Basor, whom it is more convenient to discuss
separately. Next come the Doms of the Himalayan districts, who deny all
connection with the eastern branch of the tribe, and have gained a
fairly respectable position as husbandmen and artisans. Lastly come the
Dom or Dûm Mirâsi, who are singers and musicians, and are treated of
under the head Mirâsi.
[The Doms of the Eastern districts.] 7. Like so many of the lower
castes the Eastern Doms profess to have seven endogamous sub-castes.
According to the Mirzapur enumeration these are,—Magahiya; Bânsphor;
Litta; Domra or Domahra; Jallâd or Hatyâra; Dharkâr; and Harchanni;
which last take their name from the famous Râja Harischandra, whose
legend is given in connection with the Bhangis. Again, in Bânda, we
have a list of so-called exogamous sections or gotras inasmuch as they
will not give a bride to a section from which within memory they have
taken a bride. These sections are Tarkiya; Gepar; Gemar or Gaymar;
Pesadeli, Barhel; Hazâriya; Usarbarsa; Kundahor; Dharkâl or Dharkâr;
Chamrel; Chureliya; Satchuliha; Samand; Asrent; Mahtama; Naharkârei;
Mungariya; Nanet; Kaithel; Suador; Jugin; Nagarband; Dhaunsiya; Birha;
Sarkhiya; Baksariya; Gujariya; Lungtaya or Langotiya. Some of these
names probably denote some connection with other tribes, as the Chamrel
with Chamârs, Kaithel with Kâyasths, and Gujariya with Gûjrat. Others
are perhaps occupational or totemistic; but we know at present too
little of the origin or metamorphosis of these section names to make
any speculations as to their meaning of any value.
8. From Gorakhpur, again, we have another enumeration which is thus
described by Mr. J. Kennedy:—“The Doms say that they formerly
cultivated and owned the land, but when pressure came the Magahiyas
divided into two great sub-divisions—the Magahiyas and the Bânsphors.
The Magahiyas took to thieving, while the Bânsphors were content to
weave baskets and cultivate what land they could. These two
sub-divisions do not intermarry, and it must be remembered that my
notes relate to the thieving class alone, Magahiyas proper, who count
themselves the true, original stock. They always describe themselves as
sub-divided into seven distinct families; but excluding the Bânsphors,
of whom I have spoken, there are really six—Sâwant; Balgai; Chaudhari;
Chauhân; Bihâri, and Hazâri. The most of these names are taken from the
Hindus, and as Hazâri is a Muhammadan title of honour, this division
into families is probably of a comparatively recent date. Chaudhari and
Chauhân are evidently also meant as honorific titles, and at the time
the division was first made it must have been purely artificial. The
families have no recollection of any common ancestor, nor have they any
cult in memory of the founder. The Bânsphors, I am told, have no such
sub-divisions. The recent and artificial origin of the six
sub-divisions is, therefore, tolerably certain; they are imitations of
Hinduism, and the only use to which they are put is to regulate
marriage. Neither Magahiyas nor Bânsphors can marry their first cousins
by blood, and this was probably the original rule. Besides this no
Sâwant can marry a Sâwant or a Balgai, but any of the six families can
intermarry with any other. The wandering gangs of Magahiyas are
composed indiscriminately of men belonging to each clan family; but
each gang has its own leader and the office is hereditary in the
leader’s family. An outsider is never selected unless the family stock
has failed.” At the same time it may be urged that this form of
sectional exogamy is probably much more primitive than Mr. Kennedy is
disposed to believe. It is, of course, possible that the names of the
exogamous sections may have been changed under Hindu or Muhammadan
influence, but it seems also certain that this form of exogamy is one
of the primitive institutions of the caste.
9. The Magahiya Doms take their name from the ancient kingdom of
Magadha or South Bihâr. Curiously enough the Mirzapur Magahiyas have
lost all traditions of any connection with Magadha, and say that their
name means “vagrant” from the Hindi mag, Sanskrit marga, “a road.” They
have been identified with the Maccocalingae of Pliny, [346] and they
are found as far south as Madras. [347] In their original state the
Magahiyas are vagrants pure and simple, who have not even mats or tents
to cover themselves in rainy or cold weather. In this respect they are
in a lower grade than nomads like the Sânsyas or Hâbûras. They frequent
the jungles, but seem to have no aptitude for hunting or fishing. They
live by burglary and theft, while the women prostitute themselves. In
dry weather they sleep under trees, and in the rains or chill of winter
they slink into outhouses or crouch under a thatch or any other shelter
they can find. In their depredations they never use the sabari or
“jemmy” used by the ordinary Indian burglar. Their characteristic
weapon is the curved knife (bânka), with which they are supposed to
split the bamboo for making baskets, which with begging are their
ostensible occupations. But this knife is generally used for making
holes beside doorposts (baghli). In cold weather they carry about at
night an earthen pot full of hot coals, over which they crouch and warm
themselves; and this, when closely beset, they fling with great
accuracy at their assailants, often causing severe wounds.
10. Various attempts have been made to reform this branch of the tribe.
To quote a note by Mr. D. T. Roberts, prepared for the last Police
Commission:—“In Gorakhpur almost every scheme possible to think of has
been considered over and over again and rejected as hopeless, the
prevailing opinion being that nothing short of confinement between four
walls would do any good. In 1873, and again in 1880, the question of
bringing them under the Criminal Tribes Act was considered, and the
conclusion come to in 1880 was that no special measures for the
reclamation of this tribe seem likely to be successful, and there was
no use proclaiming them under the Act, because they have no means of
earning their livelihood honestly, and the only thing to be done was to
keep them under unceasing surveillance, and to punish with severity on
commission of crime.
11. “In 1884, Mr. Kennedy, the Magistrate of Gorakhpur, again applied
himself to the task. Some of the Doms were collected in the city and
employed as sweepers, taught brick-making, and made to work on the
roads, and others were settled in larger or smaller groups in different
villages, and received assignments of land, and up to date this scheme,
supported by an annual grant of Rs. 1,500, is being carried on. Some
Doms do regular work as sweepers; none of them have as yet acquired any
handicraft, even the simple one of brick-making. No work can be got out
of them except under incessant supervision. Their fields are cultivated
only when some one is standing over them, and when assistance is
rendered by other cultivators.
12. “Nevertheless, on a comparison of the earlier with the later
reports, a certain advance is observable. The Doms no longer skulk in
fields and forests. They are all settled in some village or another
which they recognise as their home. Whereas formerly Doms said that
they could not sleep under a roof because ghosts troubled them, they
now take kindly enough to living in houses, and will complain, not of
ghosts, but of the roof leaking. It is something to have restrained
their wandering propensities to this extent, and to have given them
some appreciation of a settled and civilised life.”
[Eastern Doms; tribal traditions.] 13. According to one story Mahâdeva
and Pârvati invited all the castes to a feast. Supach Bhagat, the
ancestor of the tribe, came late; and being very hungry ate the
leavings of the others. Since that time they have been degraded, and
eat the leavings of the other people.
14. Another legend connects them with Râja Râmchandra, in whose camp
one of their ancestors committed theft; hence the deity cursed them
with a life of begging and stealing.
15. A third legend tells that once upon a time the gods held a council
for the distribution of the nectar among themselves. A demon came and
stole some of the nectar and was detected by Vishnu, who severed his
head from his body; but as the demon had eaten the nectar he had become
immortal, the two pieces of his body became the demons, Râhu and Ketu,
who periodically devour the moon and cause eclipses. As the Doms, who
worship these demons are able to induce them to release the moon, pious
people give alms to this caste at eclipses in order to secure their
good offices to release the moon.
16. By another story Râmchandra once blessed Supach Bhagat, and said
that if any one were cremated with fire, received from him or any of
his descendants he would go straight to heaven. Since then the
descendants of Supach Bhagat supply fire at cremation grounds.
17. Lastly, a story explains the hatred of the Magahiya Doms for
Dhobis. Supach Bhagat once put up at the house of a Dhobi who, when he
was drunk, fed his guest on the dung of his ass. Supach Bhagat cursed
him and his kin for ever, and since that time no Dom will touch an ass
or a Dhobi. In the Bihâr form of the legend, as told by Mr. Risley,
Supach Bhagat had a quarrel with a Dhobi and killed and ate his ass. He
subsequently cursed the Dhobi. Mr. Risley suggests that the legend may
perhaps be a distorted version of some primitive taboo in which Dhobis
and donkeys somehow played a part, but it is perhaps equally possible
that the story may have been invented to explain why the general Hindu
taboo against the Dhobi and his ass is followed by a caste so little
scrupulous as the Doms.
[The Bânsphor Doms.] 18. The Bânsphor branch of the Eastern Doms forms
the subject of a special article, and they need not be discussed more
specially here.
[The Litta Doms.] 19. The Litta branch of the Doms are said to derive
their name from some word which means “wanderer.” They may perhaps be
connected with the Let sub-caste of the Bengal Bâgdis, who are probably
akin to the Doms. These people have no home and live by begging.
[The Domra branch of the Eastern Doms.] 20. The term Domra or Domahra,
which is applied to the whole tribe, is also apparently sometimes used
in the more restricted sense as designating those Doms who supply fire
at cremation grounds.
[The Jallâd or Hatyâra branch of the Eastern Doms.] 21. The term
Jallâd, which is an Arabic term for “a public flogger,” and Hatyâra
(Sans. hatya, “murder”) is more specially applied to those Doms who are
employed in cities to kill ownerless dogs and to act as public
executioners.
[The Dharkâr branch of the Eastern Doms.] 22. The Dharkâr branch of the
Eastern Doms has been treated of in a separate article.
[The Harchanni branch of the Eastern Doms.] 23. The Harchanni branch of
the Eastern Doms claim their name and descent from the celebrated Râja
Harischandra who, as told in connection with the Bhangis, gave away all
his wealth in charity and was reduced to become the slave of a Dom. In
return for the kindness of his master the Râja converted the whole
tribe to his religion, which they followed ever since.
[The tribal council of the Eastern Doms.] 24. Writing of the Magahiyas
of Gorakhpur Mr. Kennedy says:—“All disputes are settled by the
panchâyat, but the longest term of exclusion from the brotherhood is
twelve years. During that period no companionship can be held with the
outlaw even in a theft. Outlawry is, however, redeemable by a fine and
feast. The abduction of a Domra girl by force and the introduction of
foreign women into the camp are a frequent cause of panchâyats. I am
told that murder of any human being or of a cow is also severely
punished; but this is about the boundary line of Domra morality with
regard to outsiders. Strangers are occasionally adopted by the
Magahiyas. Two or three Chamârs, a Muhammadan, an Ahîr, and a Teli, who
had turned Domras, were lately among the inmates of the jail. It is the
women who chiefly attract these recruits.” Another frequent cause of
meetings of the Domra council is interference with the begging beat of
one camp. These beats are carefully recognised, and are sometimes given
as a dowry at marriage. Any strange Domra who begs or steals in the
beat of another is liable to excommunication, and the Domra of that
beat will have no hesitation in giving up to the Police a stranger of
the tribe who steals within his jurisdiction.
[Marriage rules.] 25. Among the Doms of Mirzapur the endogamous
sub-castes have exogamous sections, some of which are territorial or
titular, and some apparently totemistic; but no Dom can give even an
approximately correct list of his sections. If he is asked all he says
is,—“The Panch know.” This rule of exogamy is reinforced by the
prohibition of marriage in the family of the maternal uncle, the
father’s sister, or their own sisters, as long as there is any
remembrance of relationship, which is usually about three or perhaps
four generations. Polygamy is prohibited except the first wife be
barren, in which case a man, with the previous sanction of the council,
may take a second wife. But there seems no restriction in regard to
concubinage. Sahây, the famous Dom executioner at Gorakhpur, used to
keep four women. In Mirzapur if an unmarried girl is detected in an
intrigue with a member of the tribe, her lover has to pay a fine of
five rupees and a sheet to her father, and he then takes her over as
his recognised wife with the sanction of the council. They practise
adult marriage, the usual age for the marriage of a girl being eleven
or twelve. The marriage is arranged by the Chharidâr or “wandsman,” who
is the assistant of the Chaudhari or headman. The consent of the
parents is said to be necessary, but runaway matches appear not to be
uncommon. The bride-price among the settled Doms of Mirzapur is five
rupees, five sers of treacle, a sheet, five lumps of tobacco, and five
packets of betel leaf. The persons of both bride and bridegroom are
carefully examined, and any physical defects which may subsequently
appear are not sufficient grounds for annulling the marriage. After
betrothal if the bride’s friends refuse to make her over they are
obliged to refund the bride-price, and if the man fail to perform the
engagement he is severely punished by the council. Divorce is allowed
when habitual adultery is proved to the satisfaction of the council,
but, as a rule, only the direct evidence of eye-witnesses is considered
sufficient. Divorced women can marry again by the lower or Sagâi form.
Bastard children follow the caste of the father; but a man who
intrigues with a woman not a member of the tribe, if the union has not
been recognised, must pay a fine of two-and-a-half rupees and give a
feast of pork and rice to the clansmen. Widows can marry by the Sagâi
form, and are generally married to widowers. The bridegroom has to make
over eight rupees and one hundred cakes (pûri) to the father of the
woman. He then gives a feast to the clansmen, in the course of which
the relatives of the deceased husband come forward and claim the woman.
Then the assembled clansmen direct the woman’s father to make over the
compensation he has received to the relatives of her first husband.
When this is done the man takes the woman home, puts red lead on the
parting of her hair and palm leaf ornaments (tarki) in her ears. After
he does this and feeds the clansmen on rice and pork the marriage is
considered valid.
The levirate under the usual restrictions is admitted; but there is no
fiction that the children of the levir are attributed to the deceased
brother. Adoption is, of course, unusual; but if a man adopts, he
generally adopts the son of his brother.
26. In Gorakhpur it appears that the bride-price is always spent on the
marriage, and it is alleged that if either party after marriage become
blind, crippled, or leprous, the marriage may be annulled.
[Eastern Doms: birth ceremonies.] 27. Among the Doms of Mirzapur the
mother is attended by the Chamârin midwife and the ceremonies of
purification common to the menial castes are performed. On the twelfth
day after birth the hair of the baby is shaved to remove that last
taint of the birth pollution. The child is named by the senior man in
the family a year after birth. When a man’s children have died in
succession the next baby is sold to some one for a nominal sum; and
then is called Pachkauri, Chhakauri, “he that was sold for five or six
cowries,” or by some other opprobrious epithet. In Gorakhpur the
services of the Chamârin midwife are dispensed with on the sixth day.
The Barahi or twelfth-day ceremony is done on the tenth day. The mother
and child are bathed; her hair is smeared with vermilion, and the
relatives are feasted, then a little liquor is sprinkled over the
woman, and after that she is considered pure.
28. Of the Magahiyas of Gorakhpur Mr. Kennedy writes:—“The birth of a
Domra is always celebrated by a sacrifice to Gandak and Samaiya.
Marriages are contracted when the boy is about ten years old. The
matter is settled by a go-between. The boy’s father pays for the
marriage feast and gives presents to the father of the girl; but the
Magahiyas deny that there is any idea of purchase. No religious
ceremony accompanies the marriage. A panchâyat is assembled, a feast
held, and the girl henceforth resides with her father-in-law. A man is
not restricted in the number of his wives, and concubinage is also
permitted, but the concubine is held in somewhat less esteem than the
wife. A woman is apparently allowed to leave her husband and transfer
herself to another; but in that case she becomes a concubine. The
panchâyat will not restore a wife who has decamped, but they will give
back any property she took away. The frequent residence of the
Magahiyas in jail often obliges women to transfer themselves to other
husbands for support, and makes polygamy advantageous. Polyandry is
unknown.”
[Marriage ceremonies: Eastern Doms.] 29. In Mirzapur the marriage is
arranged by the sister’s husband of the boy’s father. The betrothal
(barrekhi) is done in the usual way by the interchange of two leaf
platters full of liquor, into one of which the boy’s father puts a
couple of rupees, which he passes on to the representative of the
bride. They have the ordinary matmangara ceremony, with the difference
that the lucky earth brought from the village claypit is used for
constructing a large fireplace with a single opening on which the women
of the family cook a mess of rice and pulse, which is placed on a leaf
mat in the place where the marriage is performed. This is an offering
to the Manes, and the phrase used is pitr charhâna. The usual anointing
of bride and bridegroom follows, which is begun by the two fathers, who
sprinkle a little turmeric and oil on the ground and invoke the sainted
dead to assist them in bringing the marriage to a successful
conclusion. It is a peculiarity of the tribe that both men and women
join in the marriage procession. No Brâhman is employed. The boy’s
father repeats the names of his ancestors for five generations, and the
father of the bride does the same for her. Then the pair are seated
close together on a mat made of leaves. The husband of the sister of
the bride’s father drops water on her hands and says:—”Bar kanya
chiranjîva rahen”—“May the bride and bridegroom live long.” This is
done five times. The prominent part taken by the sister’s husband is
possibly a survival of the matriarchate. Then the garments of the pair
are knotted together, and they walk round a branch of the cotton tree
(semal), planted in the middle of the company, five times. After this
the boy puts red lead on the parting of the bride’s hair, and this
constitutes the binding part of the ceremony. They then go into a
retiring room (kohabar) or behind some bushes close by, and there a
good deal of coarse merriment goes on—an obvious survival of the habit
of immediate consummation of the marriage. Besides this, the
respectable form of marriage among the settled Doms, which is known as
charhauwa, there is another form called gurâwat, where two persons
exchange sisters, and a still lower form of the dola type, where the
girl is merely taken by her father to the house of her husband and
lives with him as his wife after a dinner has been given to the
brethren. The temporary connections of women whose husbands are in jail
with other men are also fully recognised. In addition to this almost
any kind of runaway match is allowed; in fact it would be hard to say
what form of sexual intercourse is not recognised as a marriage.
[Death ceremonies: Eastern Doms.] 30. “According to Dr. Wise it is
universally believed in Bengal that Doms do not burn or bury their
dead, but dismember the corpse at night, like the inhabitants of Tibet,
placing the pieces in a pot and sinking them in the nearest river or
reservoir. This horrid idea probably arose from the old Hindu law which
compelled the Doms to bury their dead at night.” [348] This idea does
not seem to prevail in these Provinces. The Doms appear to have no
settled usage as regards the disposal of the corpse. Those who are
fairly well off cremate the corpse, but unlike Hindus, take with them
from the house the fire which is applied to the pyre. The poorer and
vagrant Doms either bury, or sometimes cremate in a very rude and
perfunctory way, or, when it is more convenient, throw the corpse into
running water. Bodies of unmarried children are always thrown into a
river or buried. The Magahiya Doms of Gorakhpur often leave the body in
the jungle. Among the settled Doms of Mirzapur after a cremation they
return to the house of the deceased, light a little oil in the
courtyard and warm their feet in the smoke, the object apparently being
to bar the return of the ghost. Some of them, once the corpse is burnt,
do not take any trouble about the ashes, but leave them where the
cremation took place. Others who are more scrupulous collect them on
the third day and throw them into a neighbouring stream. Then they fix
upon the bank a few blades of grass as a refuge for the wandering
spirit, on which a little water is poured daily. Others lay out a
little platter of food for the use of the departed during the days of
mourning. On the tenth day they assemble at a tank, shave themselves,
bathe, and offer three balls (pinda) of flour. At these ceremonies the
sister’s husband of the chief mourner officiates as priest. This seems
to be another survival of the matriarchate. The same rule applies in
the Bihâr branch of the tribe:—“The son of a deceased man’s sister or
of his female cousin officiates as priest at his funeral and recites
appropriate texts (mantra), receiving a fee for his services when the
inheritance comes to be divided. Some Doms, indeed, assured me that the
sister’s son used formerly to get a share of the property, and that
this rule had only recently fallen into disuse; but their statements
did not seem to be definite enough to carry entire conviction, and I
have met with no corroborative evidence bearing on the point. So also
in marriage the sister’s son or occasionally the sister (suâsin)
repeats mantras and acts generally as priest. Failing either of these
the head of the household officiates. No other indications of an
extinct custom of female kinship appear to exist, and the fact that in
Western Bengal the eldest son gets an extra share on the division of an
inheritance seems to show that kinship by males must have been in force
for a very long time past.” [349]
[Religion: Eastern Doms.] 31. The religious practices of the tribe vary
with the social status of the sub-castes, and there is no standard type
of worship because they are not controlled by Brâhmans. Of the Magahiya
Doms of Gorakhpur Mr. Kennedy writes:—“The Magahiya Domras have two
special divinities of their own; the chief is Gandak, whose grave is to
be found at Karmaini Garhi, two days’ journey to the east of Motihâri,
in Bengal. According to their traditions Gandak was hanged for theft a
long time ago, and when dying he promised always to help the Magahiyas
in trouble. He is worshipped by the whole tribe and is invoked on all
important occasions; but he is pre-eminently the patron god of thefts.
A successful theft is always celebrated by a sacrifice and feast in his
honour. They also worship Samaiya, a female divinity. She is without
any special history, and there is no sharp distinction between her
sphere and Gandak’s. Her functions apparently relate chiefly to birth
and illness, etc.
32. “The Magahiyas sacrifice young pigs and wine with sugar and spices
to these two deities. Every Magahiya is capable of performing the
sacrifice, and the remains are divided among the company, when a vow is
made to Samaiya, e.g., on the birth of a child or when it is teething,
or on the occasion of an illness a special pig is chosen and devoted to
her, and is sacrificed in the fulfilment of the vow. The Magahiyas have
neither altars nor idols, nor do they erect any platform (chabûtra) for
worship. A spot is cleared and plastered in the middle of a field, and
the sacrifice is then offered.
33. “The Magahiyas naturally believe in ghosts and spirits. When a man
dies, my informant told me, he turns into an evil spirit (shaitân). The
godlings (deota) also, he added, were innumerable. In most villages of
this district there is a special altar for all the local ghosts and
deities, which may reside within the village boundaries, and the
Magahiyas are always ready to share in the sacrifices of the villagers
to them. They also reverence trees and platforms consecrated by Hindus
in passing, but pay no further homage. They acknowledge the village
Kâli and sometimes sacrifice to her; but the sacrifices do not differ
from those of the Hindus. They do not acknowledge Mahâdeva or any other
divinity, but they share the general Hindu belief in Parameswar, the
giver and destroyer of life and the author of good and evil. He created
the Magahiyas, they say, and ordered them to be filth and outcasts
among the Hindus. They somehow resort to a Brâhman for the reading of
the Vedas (katha). My informant had given a katha in this way on the
last occasion of his release from jail. In these cases the Magahiyas go
to the Brâhman’s house, but I could not find any other trace of special
reverence for the Brâhmans, nor have they any necessity for them.”
34. In Mirzapur Doms of the better class worship Bhawâni, to whom at
the Naurâtra of Chait they make an offering of hogs, cakes (pûri),
gruel (lapsi), and wreaths of flowers. The Bhawâni, if appeased, keeps
off illness from her votaries. They have a vague idea of an
all-powerful deity, Parameswar, who punishes the guilty, and of a hell,
but what it is and how sinners are punished they know not. The
scavenger Doms, like the Jallâd, have a special female deity called
Kukarmari, “the killer of dogs,” to whom a sacrifice of a young pig and
some spirits is offered outside the village as a propitiation for the
death of these animals. In the same way when a Dom hangman is tying the
rope round the neck of a criminal, he shouts out Dohâi Mahârâni, Dohâi
Sarkâr, Dohâi Judge Sâhib. “Help O great Queen! Help O Government! Help
Mr. Judge!” in order to free himself from any guilt attaching to the
death. They worship the collective local gods (deohâr) at marriages;
but the wandering, vagrant habits of the tribe prevent them possessing
any real respect for the village deities. Women have no worship special
to themselves. On the last day of the first fortnight of Kuâr they make
ten lumps (pinda) of flour and throw them into a river, and when they
come home they put some cakes and sweetened rice on a leaf-platter, and
lay it in a field to propitiate the dead. Some fast on Sunday in the
name of the Sun god Sûraj Nârâyan, but these practises prevail only
among the more Hinduised Doms in the neighbourhood of towns.
35. In Gorakhpur, besides the worship described above, they also
venerate their Guru who is said to have had his head-quarters at
Bhojpur, in the Ballia District, and to his shrine they make occasional
pilgrimages and make an offering of a pig at least four years old,
wine, and flowers. To a goddess named Juthaiya Bhawâni, of whose
functions they can give no account, they offer a young pig and some red
lead, with a lock of their hair, a forehead spangle, and a cake of
flour boiled with pulse.
[Demonology.] 36. Their demonology is much of the usual type common to
the lower castes by whom they are surrounded. They believe that trees
are inhabited by evil spirits, and unless they bow down to trees of
this kind, their ghosts revenge themselves by bringing disease and
death upon them. To such malignant ghosts they offer a young pig, which
is eaten by the worshippers. In Mirzapur the chief Dom festivals are
the Kajari and Phagua or Holi. At the Kajari in the month of Sâwan they
get drunk, dance, and sing. It is the regular woman’s saturnalia, and
on this occasion gross sexual license is tolerated. At the Phagua or
Holi the same is the case. In Gorakhpur, besides the Holi, they observe
the Jiutiya on the eighth of the dark half of Kuâr, and the Khichari on
the day the sun enters the sign of Makar. On the Jiutiya the women fast
in order to ensure long life to their husbands, and the Khichari they
beg boiled rice and pulse from door to door.
37. The Eastern Doms are particularly afraid of the ghosts of drowned
people who are called Bûrna (bûrna “to be drowned”). These malignant
ghosts drag under the water and drown boys who bathe in tanks and
rivers infested by them. [350] Fields are in charge of Mari Masân, the
deity which haunts cremation grounds, and Kukarmari, the dog goddess,
already mentioned. They are ever in dread of the ghosts of the dead,
which torment them in dreams if not propitiated with an annual
sacrifice. If neglected they appear in their original shapes and demand
a sacrifice. Women are tattooed on the arms, wrists, breasts, and
cheeks. If a woman not tattooed attempt to enter heaven the gate-keeper
of Parameswar pitches her down to the earth again. They have the usual
omens of meeting. Many of their women, as in the case of all solitary
and uncanny races such as they are, are said to practise witchcraft.
One way such persons acquire influence over a man is by throwing a
cowry shell at him. They believe firmly in the Evil Eye. When children
have been overlooked and pine away, the cure is to wave some garlic and
pepper pods round the child’s head on a Tuesday or Sunday, and then to
throw them into the fire. The evil influence is supposed to pass away
with the filthy smoke.
[Occupations and social position of the Eastern Doms.] 38. The
occupation and social position of the Eastern Doms differ much
according to the sub-castes. One duty of the ordinary Dom is to supply
fire for cremation. Mr. Sherring [351] describes the custom at Benares
as follows:—“On the arrival of the dead body at the place of cremation,
which in Benares is at the base of one of the steep stairs (ghât)
called the Burning Ghât, leading down from the streets above to the bed
of the River Ganges, the Dom supplies five logs of wood, which he lays
in order upon the ground, the rest of the wood being given by the
family of the deceased. When the pile is ready for burning, a handful
of lighted fire is brought by the Dom, and applied by one of the chief
members of the family to the wood. The Dom is the only person who can
furnish the light for this purpose; and if, from any circumstance, the
services of one cannot be obtained, great delay and inconvenience are
apt to occur. The Dom exacts his fee for three things, namely, first,
for the five logs, secondly, for the bunch of straw, and thirdly, for
the light.” There is no fixed fee, and as the Dom naturally makes the
best of his position and raises his demands according to the position
and wealth of his customers, this class of Dom, who is known as
Kâshiwâla or “he of Benares,” has a bad reputation for insolence and
extortion.
39. From his business and environment the Dom is, of course, regarded
by all respectable Hindus with contempt, fear, and abhorrence. No one
will touch food or water from his hands. The Magahiya Dom of Gorakhpur
will eat anything except the flesh of the monkey, serpent, and lizard.
Mr. Kennedy says that they eat most things, including carrion; but
certain animals, beasts of prey, cats, and dogs, etc., they will not
eat. In Mirzapur I have seen them squabbling over the carcass of a dead
horse in an obvious condition of advanced decomposition. They are
always on the look out for tiger flesh, but they say that they stew it
down more than once, as it is very heating. They will, as already
stated, refuse the leavings of a Dhobi, and to this the more settled
Doms of Mirzapur add those of the Hela, Musahar, and Chamâr. Doms who
have adopted more cleanly occupations than their vagrant and scavenger
brethren, such as basket-making, are naturally becoming more Hinduised
and more careful in matters of diet. Those Doms who have settled down,
like the Bânsphor and the Dharkâr, to working in cane, and the Jallâd
to scavenging and acting as public executioners, are fairly
respectable, industrious people. Those who work in cane use a peculiar
curved knife known as bânki. They make fans (bena), baskets (dauri),
boxes (petâra), scales (tarâzu), winnowing fans (sûp), lampstands
(dîwat), irrigation baskets (dala), and betel boxes (belhara). These
workers in cane are known in cities by the Persian title of Bedbâf
[352] (Pers. bed, “cane;” bâftan, “to weave”). They split the cane into
eight strips (târ), with an instrument (taraunthi) like a lemon-slicer.
The outside cuttings he sells to bakers for making the mould (sâncha)
used for applying cakes to the walls of the ovens. The Bedbâf weaves
the backs and seats of chairs and makes baskets, etc. The Bânsphor
makes baskets, but works only in bamboo. He splits the bamboo into
strips (patta), which are soaked and woven into baskets. The allied
people known as Kori Chhapparband make door-screens (chiq, tatti) and
thatches (chhappar). They work in bamboos and the reed grass known as
sentha (saccharum sara). The Parchhatti and Gudariya make stools
(mondha), and the Dharkâr fine furniture, fine door-screens, baskets,
fans, etc., from bamboo, but he works in bamboo and they in reed.
40. Of the Gorakhpur Magahiyas Mr. Kennedy writes:—“They eat cow’s
flesh readily, but they will not kill the cow. They also offer milk,
like Hindus, to snakes at the Nâgpanchami, but have no reverence for
tigers or other animals. They express some reverence for the great
rivers, Ganga and Nârâyani, etc. This, I think, nearly marks the extent
to which they have been Hinduised. The pîpal is the only sacred tree,
and no Magahiya will pluck its leaves. They hold this superstition so
firmly that I suspect it is aboriginal. No reverence is paid to the
banyan or any other sacred Hindu tree or plant. They have a special
superstition about iron, and will not use it for certain purposes. A
Magahiya who commits burglary with an iron instrument will not only be
excluded from the brotherhood, but his eyes will some day start out of
his head. Their most solemn oath is celebrated after the following
fashion: A piece of ground is cleared and plastered as if for
sacrifice. A piece of iron, a dish of water, some leaves of the pîpal,
and a particular kind of Tarâi grass with some lighted charcoal are all
put separately on the ground. On the top a pice is placed, and the oath
is taken over it. An oath by the Dhobi is also particularly binding.”
Other oaths of the Eastern Doms are on the altar of the deities they
worship, on a pîpal leaf, on a knife stuck in the ground, with the
fingers of the right hand resting on a vessel full of spirits, or with
some cow-dung fixed on the horn of a dead cow. They use none of the
ordinary forms of salutation, but simply join their hands as a mark of
respect.
[The Doms of the Himalayas.] 41. The Doms of Kumâun have been thought
to be akin to the aboriginal Râjis; but the latter repudiate the idea
and profess the very greatest contempt for the Doms; so that if one of
that class enter the dwelling of a Râji, the place must be purified
with water brought from twenty-two different sources. They are supposed
to be the relics of the original inhabitants of the country,
corresponding to the Dhiyar or ore-smelters of Jammu, the Bâtal of the
Kashmîr Valley, the Bem of Ladâkh, the Newâr of Nepâl. In Garhwâl they
appear to have been enslaved by the immigrant Khasiyas. Under the name
of Dûm they are described in Jammu [353] as “dark in colour, small in
limb, and their countenance is of a much lower type than that of the
Dogras generally, though one sees exceptions, due no doubt to an
admixture of blood, for, curiously, the separation of them from the
daily life of the others does not prevent an occasional intercourse
that tends in some degree to assimilate the races.” In the Himalayan
Districts of these Provinces the Dom has been recognised as a
descendant of the Dasyus of the Veda, who are supposed to have held
Upper India before the advent of the Nâga or Khasa race.
[Sub-castes of the Himalayan Doms.] 42. The complete Census Returns
show as the main sections of the Hill Doms the Auji, Badhai, Bera,
Baroda, Chamâr, Chunara, Darzi, Das, Dhaki, Dhobi, Dholi, Dhunâr,
Kamar, Koli, Lohâr, Mochi, Nâth, Pahariya, Sahiya, Tamoli, Tamta, and
Teli, most of which are occupational. In Garhwâl, according to Mr.
Atkinson, [354] they are divided in popular estimation into four
classes. To the first belong the Kolis, Tamotas, Lohârs, Orhs, and
Dhârhis. The Kolis weave cloth, keep pigs and fowls, and are
agricultural labourers. The Tamotas or Tamtas represent the Thatheras
of the plains, and are workers in brass and copper. The Lohârs are
workers in iron. The Orhs comprise both masons and carpenters. Dhârhis,
though socially ranked with Doms, do not belong to them, for they
properly include only those Khasiyas who have been put out of caste for
some offence, and their offspring form a new caste with the addition of
the fresh avocation. To the second class belong the Bhûls, Chunyârs,
Ruriyas, Agaris, and Pahris. The Bhûls represent the Telis of the
plains, but also do field work. They are also called Bâryas. The
Chunyâras are turners, and make wooden vessels and the bottoms of
huqqas. The Ruriyas make various kinds of bamboo baskets and sieves.
The Agaris are iron smelters, and must be carefully discriminated from
the Dravidian Agariyas of Mirzapur. They are Doms attached to the
service of the mines by the former Râjas, but are gradually exchanging
a very ill-paid and dangerous avocation for that of road-making and
other profitable work. The Pahris are village messengers, and are the
same as the Chamâr village watchmen of the plains. To the third class
belong the Mallâhs, Daryas, and Chamârs. The Mallâhs are also called
Dhunârs, and are for the most part engaged in agriculture. The Daryas
are village sorcerers, and conjure away hailstorms and the like, for
which service they receive annual dues of grain. The Chamârs call
themselves Bairsawa, and will never acknowledge the name of Chamâr.
They sew leather and perform all the usual service duties of the Dom.
43. The fourth class includes the professional beggars and vagrant
musicians of the Hills—the Bâdi, Hurkiya, Darzi, and Dholi. The Bâdi is
the village musician; in the plains he is considered to be a Nat. He
plays on various instruments and sings at festivals. He goes from
village to village begging from door to door, and belongs to the class
of sturdy beggars who, if they do not get what they expect, lampoon the
people of the house and abuse them. For these reasons they are, to some
extent, feared, and are able to maintain themselves at the expense of
their neighbours. They also snare fowl and fish. The Hurkiya are so
called from the small double drum (huruk, huruka) shaped like an
hourglass which he carries. This is an archaic musical instrument like
the damaru, which is one of Siva’s emblems. They never take to
agriculture, and wander about with their women, who dance and sing. The
Darzi, also called Auji and Suji, lives by tailoring, though often
solely by agriculture. To the Darzi class belongs the Dholi so called
from beating the drum (dholak). This is done by way of incantation to
cause sprites and ghosts to enter or leave the person of any one, and
so induce that person to give money to the performer. The Darya, Bâdi,
Hurkiya, and Dholi are all Doms, and “are in the hills the recognised
priests of the malignant spirits of the hill and glen, whose aid is
always sought after before anything serious is undertaken or any
difficult task is attempted. It is the Doms who preserve to the present
day the pure demonism of the aborigines, while the Khasiyas temper it
with the worship of the village deities, the named and localised divine
entities, and furnish from their ranks the priests. Most of the Barhais
belong to the Orh division of the Doms, and the Chunapaz or
lime-burners belong to the Agari and Lohâr branches of the Doms.
Finally there is a class known as Domjogi, who are beggars. The portion
of the village site assigned to Doms is in the hills known as Domaura
or Domtola, like the Chamrauti where the Chamârs of the plains
congregate.”
44. Most of these divisions of the Doms of the hills are thus purely
occupational, and, as might have been expected, the enumeration varies.
Thus Pandit Juâla Dat Joshi writing of the Doms of Kumâun says that
Doms usually do not use the term Dom in speaking of themselves, but
call themselves Bairsawa, or Tallijâti or Bâbarjâti, “outcasts,” or
they call themselves by their occupation Orh, Lohâr, and so on. He
enumerates the Kumâun Doms under the heads of Sarki Dotiwâla, who work
in leather; Tamta, workers in brass; Lohâr, workers in iron; Orh and
Bârele masons; Tirua, who do tinning and making of horse shoes; Bhûl,
oilmen; Mochi, workers in leather; Koli, cloth-weavers; Bâruri, makers
of bamboo baskets, Dhuni, Dhuni Dom, and ordinary Doms who are said to
be a mixed race of men from the plains and ordinary Hill Doms who work
as ploughmen and day labourers; Dholi, who play on drums at festivals;
Hurkiya, who play and sing and prostitute their women; Chamâr, who skin
animals; Bâdi, who play on drums and work as tailors. He adds that the
reason of the increase of this caste is that they admit outcasts from
the superior tribes. The Baura are separate from the Dom, and say that
they were originally Jâts.
According to the same authority, the Orh, Tamta, Lohâr, Bârê, Bhûl,
Tirua, Mochi, Dhuni, Koli, and Bâruri are exogamous, but as they
advance in wealth, they show a tendency to break up into endogamous
groups. The Chamâr, Dholi, Bâdi, and Hurkiya are endogamous, and will
eat kachchi and pakki only from members of their own sub-caste. Their
rule of exogamy is simply that the recognised descendants of one common
ancestor will not intermarry. Some of them, as they are becoming more
Hinduised, have adopted the rule of not intermarrying within five
generations on the side of the mother and seven on the side of the
father. They can marry as many wives as they please, of whom the
youngest and best-looking is regarded as head. He says that the Doms do
not prostitute their women before marriage; but that among the Bhotiyas
it used to be the habit for young men and girls to meet in a special
house in the village, where, after drinking, each youth selected a girl
and cohabited with her in perfect freedom. The custom is now
disappearing. We have here a good example of that form of promiscuity
before marriage, of which Dr. Westermarck has collected numerous
instances. [355]
46. Girls, he goes on to say, are married between the age of eight and
ten. When the parties are of that age, their relatives arrange the
marriage for them; but when a girl has passed the age of puberty she
may choose a husband for herself. There are two recognised forms of
marriage, the superior, in which the father of the bride gives her away
with a dowry, and the less respectable form in which the relatives of
the bridegroom pay one-third of the expenses of the marriage.
47. They put away a woman when she is attacked with leprosy, becomes a
lunatic or loses caste. A divorced woman, provided she has not been
divorced on account of disease, may be taken on as a concubine, but she
cannot be married again by any of the regular forms. The levirate and
widow-marriage are recognised, and the children of a widow regularly
married and of a widow rank equally; but the children of a concubine
hold a lower rank, as they cannot join in the worship of deceased
ancestors. A widow taken over by a man is known as rakhui, and it is
said to be the custom for widows not to live with a man unless they
have no one to support them.
[Domestic ceremonies: Himalayan Doms.] 48. When a woman comes to the
seventh month of pregnancy she is forbidden to cook for her family or
to perform the domestic worship. When the child is born, a lump of
coarse sugar is distributed to those present; the child is bathed, and
red powder (rori) applied to its head and to that of the mother and all
the women of the house. For eleven days the male members of the family
are considered impure. In the case of the birth of twins, they perform
a propitiatory ceremony.
49. The marriage ceremony is in the form usual among the lower castes.
No Brâhman officiates, and his place is taken by the sister’s son who
receives a fee for his services. The binding portion of the ceremony is
the feeding of the brethren.
50. They burn their dead and dispose of the ashes into a neighbouring
stream. In this case also the sister’s son or the son-in-law of the
dead man officiates and is given a loin cloth and some money. The death
impurity lasts for eleven days. At her first menstruation a girl is
impure for eleven days, and only for four days at each subsequent
occurrence of the menses.
[Religion of the Himalayan Doms.] 51. According to Mr. Atkinson, [356]
“their montane and non-Brâhmanical origin is sufficiently shown by the
names of the deities worshipped by them—Ganganâth, Bholanâth, Masân,
Khabîsh, Goril, Kshetrpâl, Saim, Airi Kalbisht or Kaluwa, Chaumu,
Badhân, Hâru, Latu, Bheliya, the Katyûri Râjas, Rûniya, Bâlchan,
Kâlchan, Bhausi, Chhurmal. Ganganâth is the favourite deity of the Doms
and his origin is thus accounted for. The son of Bhabichand, Râja of
Doti, quarrelled with his family and became a religious mendicant. In
the course of his wanderings he arrived at Adoli, a village in Patti
Sâlam, and there saw and fell in love with the wife of one Krishna
Joshi. This Joshi was a servant at Almora, and the Jogi disguised
himself and took service in the house in which the woman lived. When
Krishna heard of the intrigue, he set out for Adoli, and, with the aid
of one Jhaparna Lohâr, murdered his wife and her lover. Like Bholanâth
and his companions, the Jogi, his mistress, and the unborn child became
goblins and vexed the people so that they built a temple and instituted
a regular service in honour of the three sprites. From Adoli the cult
of Ganganâth spread over Kumâun, and at Takuriya Lwâli and Narai in his
home patti we have temples in his honour. He is supposed especially to
harass the young and beautiful, if they do not propitiate him. When any
one is aggrieved by the wicked or powerful, he goes to Ganganâth for
aid, who invariably punishes the evil-doer. He sometimes possesses a
follower, and through him promises all that they desire to those who
offer the following articles—to Ganganâth himself a kid, cakes,
sweetmeats, beads, a bag and a pair of Jogi’s ear rings; to his
mistress Bhâna, a petticoat, a sheet, and a nose ring; and to the child
a coat and amulets—altogether forming a fair spoil to the Ghantuwa or
astrologer who conducts the ceremonies.
52. “The current legend regarding the origin of the local deity
Bholanâth and his consort Barhini forms one of the connecting links
between the Brâhmanical system of the present day and the universal
hierarchy of sprites and goblins common to all mountainous countries.
With the better classes Bholanâth is recognised as a form of Mahâdeva,
and Barhini as a form of his Sâkti, [357] thus meeting the requirements
of the popular worship and the demands of the orthodox school, but it
is evident that the idea of deifying mortals is an old one, and in this
case merely localised to explain the origin of a class of temples which
are acknowledged not to belong to the orthodox forms of Mahâdeva. One
story tells us how Uday Chand, Râja of Almora, had two queens, each of
whom bore him a son. When the children arrived at man’s estate, the
elder of the two took to evil courses and was disinherited and left
Kumâun. The younger in course of time succeeded his father as Gyân
Chand, and his administration gave great satisfaction and relief to the
people. Gyân Chand had been some years on the throne when his elder
brother returned to Almora, and took up his quarters there in the guise
of a religious mendicant. In spite of his disguise several recognised
the disinherited prince, and conveyed the news of his arrival to his
brother Gyân Chand. He became alarmed and gave orders for the
assassination of his brother which was carried out by a man of the
Bariya or gardener caste. The elder prince and his pregnant mistress
were both slain near the temple of Sîtala Devi. The mistress was the
wife of a Brâhman, and her connection with the Chand prince was
considered something more than adulterous. After death the elder
brother became a bhût. A small iron trident is sometimes placed in the
corner of a cottage as an emblem of Bholanâth, and is usually resorted
to when any sudden or unexpected calamity attacks the inmates.
53. “The demon Masân is usually found at burning grounds. He is
supposed to be of black colour and hideous appearance. He comes from
the remains of a funeral pyre and chases people passing by who
sometimes die of fright, others linger for a few days and some even go
mad. When a person becomes possessed by Masân, the people invoke the
beneficent spirit of the house to come and take possession of some
member of the family, and all begin to dance. At length some one works
himself into a state of frenzy and commences to torture and belabour
the body of the person possessed by Masân, until at length a cure is
effected or the patient perishes under this drastic treatment.
54. “Khabîsh resembles Masân in his malignant nature and fondness for
charnel grounds. He is also met with in dark glens and forests in
various shapes. Sometimes he imitates the bellow of a buffalo, or the
cry of a goat-herd or neat-herd, and sometimes he grunts like a wild
pig. At other times he assumes the guise of a religious mendicant and
joins travellers on their way, but his conversation (like that of all
the Indian bhûts who speak through their nose) is always
unintelligible. Like Masân he often frightens people and sometimes
possesses unfortunate travellers who get benighted.”
55. Goril, Goriya, Gwel, Gwâll or Gol is another deified mortal of whom
the legend is given by Mr. Atkinson. He was beaten out of Garhwâl by
Sudarsan Sâh. The idea that a bhût can be driven out by beating is
embodied in two well-known Hindi proverbs—Mâr kê âge bhût bhâgta hai,
“A thrashing makes a bhût run;” and Lâton kê bhût bâton sê nahîn mântê,
“Goblins that want kicking won’t mind words.”
56. Khetrpâl is the same as Bhûmiya, the protector of field and
homestead, extensively worshipped in the western districts. Saim or
Sayam, “the black one” (Sans. shyâma) is another form of the same
deity. He sometimes possesses people, and his sign is that the hair of
the scalp-lock becomes hopelessly entangled.
57. Kalbisht or Kaluwa is said to have been a neat-herd who lived some
two hundred years ago. His enemies persuaded his brother-in-law Himmat
to drive a peg into the hoof of one of Kalbisht’s buffaloes, intending
that he should be killed in attempting to extract it, but no harm
ensued. Himmat next attacked him from behind with an axe, and so
wounded him on the neck that he died, but not before he had torn the
treacherous Himmat limb from limb. He has now become a benevolent
sprite, and his name is used by herdsmen as a charm against wild
beasts, and oppressed persons resort to his temple for justice against
their oppressors.
58. Chaumu is also a deified mortal and a god of cattle; so is Badhân.
On the eleventh day after the birth of a calf his linga is washed first
with water and then milk and cakes, rice and milk are offered at his
temples. Hâru is the deified Haris Chandra, Râja of Champawat who built
the sacred bathing place at Hardwâr. Lâtu was his brother. The Katyûri
Râjas are the defied last independent Râjas of Katyûr. Rûniya is a
malignant bhût who wanders from village to village on coursers formed
of huge boulders, and at night especially exercises his noisy steeds.
He attacks only females, and should any woman attract his attentions
she invariably wastes away, haunted by her ghostly lover and joins him
in the spirit land. Bâlchan, Kâlchan, Bhasni, and Chhurmal are
malignant bhûts of the same kind.
[Religious and social customs of the Himalayan Doms.] 59. To quote
again Mr. Atkinson’s excellent account of this caste—“Doms do not wear
the sacred thread or the bracelet (râkhi) nor do they have caste marks
or wear, as a rule, the top-knot (sikha), and in a rough way they
imitate the customs of the better classes, especially those who have
made money in their contracts with Government. Their offerings to
deceased ancestors (srâddha), when made at all, are performed at the
Amâwas or last day of the Kanyâgat of Kuâr. The sister’s son, younger
sister’s husband or son-in-law act as Brâhmans on the occasion and
receive gifts as such. Doms eat the flesh of all animals, use their
skins, and eat food from all classes except the Bhangi, Musalmân, and
Christian. There is no fixed time for marriage. When an elder brother
dies the younger takes the widow to wife whether she has children or
not; hence the proverb Mal bhîr adhari ber, talai chîr men onchhi “When
the upper walls fall they come on the lower wall.” When the elder
brother dies, the burden falls upon the younger. The elder brother
cannot, however, take to wife the widow of a deceased younger brother,
and contracts a stain if even her shadow crosses his path. He transfers
her to some other of the brotherhood, but if during the lifetime of her
second husband he or she be dissatisfied, another may take her by
paying the cost of her marriage. This may be repeated several times.
The prohibited degrees are only a daughter, sister, uncle, aunt,
brother, and these they cannot eat or smoke with.”
60. To this may be added from the notes of Pandit Juâla Dat Joshi that
their greatest oath is to place the hand on the head of their son;
others say: “If I swear falsely may I eat your flesh.” They also swear
by placing their hands on the grain mortar (okhli), flour mill
(chakki), or on a bell. When there is a dispute about boundaries they
write a curse (bunda) on a piece of paper and holding it on the head of
a son recite the words which run as follows—“If the land in dispute be
mine may I and my children enjoy it, if it be not mine may Parameswar
prevent me from enjoying it.” They believe in the Evil Eye and remove
it by waving some mustard over the patient and then burning it near him
in a pan. They fully believe in the demoniacal theory of disease, and
patients are treated by an exorcisor known as Gannua. They salute one
another by the term pâlâgan; Brâhmans by the word seva and English and
Musalmâns by salâm. Many of them in addition cultivate and some
practise a kind of nomadic cultivation by burning down patches of
jungle.
[Connection between the Doms and Gypsies.] 61. There seems reason to
believe that some at least of the Gypsy tribes of Europe are akin to
the Magahiya Doms; and a connection has been traced between their
languages. Much speculation has been devoted to the term Romani, the
designation of the European gypsies. According to one theory it means
Roman or Roumanian. According to another “the word Rom in all the gypsy
dialects of Europe has a twofold meaning signifying “man” and “husband”
as well as “gypsy.” A satisfactory connection has still to be found for
it, that connected with Râma, the incarnate Vishnu of the Hindus being
discountenanced by the authority of Professor Ascoli of Milan. By a
curious and unexplained coincidence the identical word Rom or Rome
occurs with the meaning “man” in modern Coptic, and according to
Herodotus belonged also to the language of the ancient Egyptians.
Although this isolated fact in no way affects the general bearing of
the question, it is worth noting as an etymological curiosity. It is
not impossible that among the original elements of the Aryan mother
speech may have existed a root ro or rom, expressive of power, the
survival of which we can discern in the Greek romê, “strength,” the
Latin robur, and perhaps in the illustrious name of Rome itself.” On
the other hand Dr. Schrader [358] suggests that the word robur in the
sense of “oak” is the equivalent of arbor “a tree.” At the same time
there seems some reason for believing that Romani in the sense of “a
gypsy” may be connected with our Indian terms Dom and Domra. [359]