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Districts.|Number.
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Agra | 9,717
Etah | 6
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Total | 9,723
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Males | 5,315
Females | 4,408
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Goli.—A caste shown at the last Census only to the number of 21 in the
Muzaffarnagar District. As far as can be ascertained they are really
only a sub-caste of Luniyas. The detailed Census Returns give only one
section, Kaprahti.
Gond; Gonr.—Probably meaning an “inhabitant of Gauda” or Western
Kosala; according to Mr. Hislop from the Telugu Konda, “a hill.” Dr.
Oppert [459] suggests that the names of tribes with the first syllable
Ko or Go, such as the Kodulu, Konda, Gonda, Ganda, Kurava, etc., are
derived from the Gauda Dravidian root Ko, Konda, etc., in the sense of
“mountain.” In the Census Returns under the name Gond two quite
distinct classes of people seem to be mixed up,—the true Gonds of the
Central Indian hill country, and the Gonr of the Eastern Districts of
these Provinces, who is usually classed with the fishing tribes of
Kahâr and Mallâh and is a domestic servant, stone-cutter or
grain-parcher. In the detailed Census Returns the sections of these two
distinct tribes are inextricably mixed up together and defy analysis.
[The Central Indian Gonds.] 2. Of the Central Indian Gonds there are
very few in these Provinces except in Jhânsi and Lalitpur. But as will
be seen from the account of the Mânjhis and Kharwârs of South Mirzapur,
they are almost certainly an offshoot from the great Gond race, and
still preserve much of the tribal organisation of the real Gonds along
the Hills to the west. According to Mr. Hislop [460] the true Gonds
divide themselves into twelve and-a-half castes or classes in imitation
of the Hindus. These are Râj Gond; Raghuwâl; Dadavê; Katulya; Pâdâl;
Dholi; Ojhyâl; Thotyâl; Koilabhutâl; Koikopâl; Kolâm; Madyâl, and an
inferior sort of Pâdâl as the half caste. The first four, with the
addition, according to some, of the Kolâm, are comprehended under the
name of Koitor, the Gond par excellence.
[The Râj Gonds.] 3. The only branch of the tribe which seems to exist
under this name in these Provinces is the Râj Gond, some of whom are
reported to exist in the Jhânsi District. They are divided into the
following sections (gotra):—Sohâm; Chagâba; Markâm; Posâm; Korâm;
Dewar, which are exogamous. Of the Râj Gonds Mr. Hislop writes:—“The
Râj Gonds are so called because they have furnished from their number
most of the families who have attained to royal power. They are widely
spread over the plains and mountains of the Province of Nâgpur, and are
found in Berâr and the jungle south of the Wârda, as well as those
north of the Narbada. The Raghuwâl and Dadavê are more limited in their
range, being confined principally to the District of Chhindwâra. These
three classes generally devote themselves to agriculture. They eat with
each other, but do not intermarry. The Katulya, though not a very
numerous class in regard to individuals, is extensively scattered. It
includes all those who, originally belonging to one or other of the
preceding Koitor classes, have begun to conform to the Hindu religion
and to ape Hindu manners. Professing to be Kshatriyas, they have
invested themselves with a sacred thread, and make great efforts to get
the claim allowed by contracting marriage with needy Râjput brides.
With scrupulous exactness they perform the prescribed ablutions of
their adopted faith, and carry their passion for purification so far as
to have their faggots duly sprinkled with water before they are used
for cooking. At the time of dinner if a stranger or a crow come near
them the food is thrown away as polluted. These practices, which other
Koitors regard with profound contempt, are gaining ground among the
rich. It was only one or two generations ago that the Zamîndâr or petty
Râja of Khairagarh, the present bearer of which title still carries in
his features unmistakeable traces of his Gond origin, was received
within the pale of Hinduism; and similar transformations, though at a
more distant date, seem to have been undergone, by the royal dynasties
of Bastar, Mandla, and various smaller principalities. The tendency to
claim connection with Râjputs is not peculiar to ambitious Gonds: it
prevails among the Bhîls of Mâlwa, and is not unknown to the wandering
Kaikâdis of the Dakkhin, both of whom boast of being Yadavas or
Panwârs, or some equally highborn section of the Kshatriyas.” Exactly
the same is the case with the Kharwârs of Mirzapur, one of whom has in
quite recent times blossomed into a Râjput and invented a clan, the
Benbans, for himself. He has succeeded in marrying into a clan as
respectable as that of the Chandel.
[Physical appearance of the Gonds.] 4. Of the physical appearance of
the Gonds Mr. Hislop writes:—“All are a little below the average size
of Europeans, and in complexion darker than the generality of Hindus.
Their bodies are well proportioned, but their features are rather ugly.
They have a roundish head, distended nostrils, wide mouth, thickish
lips, straight, black hair, and scanty beard and moustache. It has been
supposed that some of the aborigines of Central India have woolly hair;
but this is a mistake. Among the thousands I have seen I have not found
one with hair like a Negro. A few, indeed, have curly locks, as a few
Britons have; but I have not met with one inhabitant of the forest who
exhibited any marked resemblance to the African race. On the contrary,
both their hair and features are decidedly Mongolian.” “Their women,”
writes Captain Forsyth, [461] “differ among themselves more than do the
men of these races. Those of the Gonds are somewhat lighter in colour
and less fleshy than the Korkus. But the Gond women of different parts
of the country vary greatly in appearance, many of them in the opener
parts near the plains being great robust creatures; finer animals by
far than the men, and here Hindu blood may be fairly expected. In the
interior, again, bevies of Gond women may be seen who are liker monkeys
than human beings. The features of all are strongly marked and coarse.
The girls occasionally possess such comeliness as attaches to general
plumpness and a good-humoured expression of face; but when their short
youth is over, all pass at once into a hideous age. Their hard lives,
sharing as they do all the labours of the men, except that of hunting,
suffice to account for this. They dress decently enough, in a short
petticoat, often dyed blue, tucked in between the legs so as to leave
them naked to the thigh, and a mantle of white cotton covering the
upper part of the body, with a fold thrown over the head. The most
eastern section of the Korkus add a boddice, as do some of the
Hinduised Gonds. The Gond women have the legs as far as they are
suffered to be seen tattooed in a variety of fantastic patterns, done
in indigo or gun-powder blue. The Pardhâns are the great artists in
this line, and the figures they design are almost the only ornamental
art attempted by these tribes. It is done when the girl becomes
marriageable; and the traveller will sometimes hear dreadful shrieks
issuing from their villages, which will be attributed to some young
Gondin being operated upon with the tattooing needle. Like all
barbarians, both races deck themselves with an inordinate amount of
what they consider ornaments. Quantity rather than quality is aimed at;
and both arms and legs are usually loaded with tiers of heavy rings, in
silver among the more wealthy, but, rather than not at all, then in
brass, iron, or coloured glass. Ear and noserings and bulky necklaces
of coins and beads are also common; and their ambrosial locks are
intertwined on State occasions with the hair of goats and other
animals.”
[Domestic rites—Marriage.] 5. The following account of Gond domestic
ceremonies by a writer in the Central Provinces Gazette may be quoted
[462], as the book is rare:—“Some of the Gond ceremonies are peculiar.
Thus, they have seven different kinds of marriages, some much more
binding than others, but all supposed to contain a sufficient quantum
of matrimonial sanctity about them. The first and surest is when a Gond
wants to marry his daughter, he first looks for a husband among his
sister’s children, as it is considered the proper thing for first
cousins to marry whenever such an arrangement is possible; though,
strange to say, the rule is only thought absolutely binding when the
brother’s child happens to be a girl, and the sister’s a boy. Even in
the opposite case, however, it is very commonly done, as by so
providing for a relation for life, the man is said to have performed a
very right and proper act. Another reason is that less expense is
entailed in marrying a relation than the daughter of a stranger, who is
apt to be more exacting. Among the poorer classes who can afford no
money as a dower, the bridegroom serves the bride’s father for periods
varying from seven or eight months to three years, or sometimes more,
according to arrangements made by the parents. When the children are
ten or eleven years old, a committee of the village elders is generally
held, and the term of apprenticeship decided; the term of service being
usually somewhat longer when the youth is serving his uncle for his
cousin, as relations are not supposed to exact so much work from the
Lamjina. The youth lives in one of the outhouses, and has to perform
all the menial work of the household, both in the house and in the
field. During his period of probation he is forbidden to hold any
intercourse with the girl.
6. “Another description of marriage is when the woman makes her own
match, and declining the husband provided for her by her relatives,
runs away with the man of her choice. A case of this sort seldom
happens. It is, however, quite recognised among the Gonds that the
women have the right to take their own way if they have the courage;
and the elders of the village in which the man resides generally
endeavour to arrange matters to the satisfaction of both parties.
Connected with this is compulsory marriage. Even after the girl has run
away from her father’s house, and taken up her residence in the house
of the man of her choice, it is quite allowable for the man she has
deserted to assert his rights to her person by carrying her off by
force; in fact not only is this right allowed to the deserted lover,
but any one of the girl’s first cousins may forcibly abduct her and
keep her for himself, if he has the power. Once carried off, she is
kept in the house of her captor, carefully watched, until she finds it
useless to attempt to resist, and gives in. Occasionally where the girl
has made what is considered an objectionable match with a poor man, who
has few friends, abductions of this sort are successfully carried out;
but, as a rule, they are not attempted. The last form is for very poor
people, or girls with no relations. In the latter case she selects some
man of her acquaintance, and going to his house takes up her abode
there. He signifies his acceptance by putting on her arms bangles
(chûri) and giving a small feast to the village elders. Sometimes he
objects, if the woman is useless or of bad character; but he gets
little redress from the elders; and unless he can induce some other man
to take her off his hands he is generally supposed to be bound to keep
the woman. As, however, the women are usually good labourers, and well
worthy of their hire, a man of property seldom raises any objection,
and the women, too, are usually sufficiently worldly-wise to choose for
their keepers men fairly well-to-do.”
[Widow-marriage.] 7. “Widows are expected to re-marry, and the Gond
customs provide for their re-marriage in two ways. The first consists
simply in the woman proceeding to the house of the man she has agreed
to live with after her husband’s death. The other is where the younger
brother marries his elder brother’s widow, which he is expected to do
by the custom of the tribe, unless the widow should insist on making
some other arrangement for herself. The ceremony in both the cases
consists simply of a presentation of bangles by the husband to the
wife, and a feast to the village elders. Elder brothers are not allowed
to marry the widows of their younger brothers. The only limit to the
number of wives a Gond may have is his means of supporting them.
[Death rites.] 8. “Cremation is considered the most honourable mode of
disposing of the dead, but being expensive is very seldom resorted to,
except in the case of elders of the tribe. The rule is that, if
possible, men over fifty should be burned; but as these wild tribes
have no means of telling the ages of their friends, it results that all
old men are burnt. Women are always buried. Formerly the Gonds used to
bury their dead in the houses in which they died, just deep enough to
prevent their being dug up again by the dogs; now they have generally
some place, set apart as a burial-ground near the village. Their
funeral ceremonies are very few; the grave is dug so that the head
shall lie to the south and the feet to the north; the idea being that
the deceased has gone to the home of the deities, which is supposed to
be somewhere in the north; but the Gonds do not appear to have any real
theory as regards an after-life, or the immortality of the soul. They
seem to consider that man is born to live a certain number of years on
the earth, and, having fulfilled his time, to disappear. When the
father of a family dies, his spirit is supposed to haunt the house in
which he lived until it is laid. The ceremony for this purpose may be
gone through apparently at any time after death, from one month to a
year and-a-half, or even to two years. During that period the spirit of
the deceased is the only object of worship in the house. A share of the
family food is set aside for him, and he is supposed to remain in the
house and watch over its inmates. After his funeral, when, if the
relatives can afford it, they clothe the corpse in a new dress, a
little turmeric and a pice is tied up in a cloth, and suspended by the
Baiga to one of the beams of the house; there it remains till the time
comes to lay the spirit, which is done by the Baiga removing the cloth
and offering it, with a portion of the flesh of a goat or a pig, to the
god of the village; a feast is given to the relations and elders, and
the ceremony is complete.”
[Religion.] 9. In Jhânsi they worship all the ordinary Hindu gods,
Mahâdeva, Bhawâni, Râma, Krishna, Mahâbîr, and Hardaul; but their
special tribal deity is Gonr Bâba, who is apparently one of the deified
worthies of the tribe. They seem to have become completely Hinduised:
cremate their dead, throw the ashes into the Ganges or one of its
tributaries, and employ the ordinary village Brâhmans in their domestic
ceremonies.
10. In their real home the number of their deities seems everywhere to
differ. Mr. Hislop says that he could never get any one man to name
more than seven. The best known are Dulha Deo, Nârâyan Deo, Sûraj Deo,
Mâta, Devi, Bara Deo, Khair Mâta, Thâkur Deo and Gansyâm Deo. Besides
these, the Gond peoples the forests in which he lives with spirits of
all kinds, most of them vested with the power of inflicting evil, and
quite inclined to use their power. To propitiate these he sets up a
shrine (pâl) in spots selected either by himself or by his ancestors,
and there performs certain rites, generally consisting of small
offerings on certain days. These shrines are sometimes merely a bamboo
with a piece of rag tied to the end, a heap of stones, or perhaps only
a few pieces of rag tied to the branches of a tree. However, the spirit
is supposed to have taken up its abode there, and, in consequence, on
the occasion of any event of importance happening in the Gond’s family,
the spirit has his share of the good things going, in the shape of a
little spirit and possibly a fowl sacrificed to him. In Mandla Thâkur
Deo is supposed to represent especially the household deity, and to
preside over the wellbeing of the house and farmyard; he has no special
residence, but has the credit of being omnipresent, and is consequently
not represented by any image. In Râmgarh, too, this deity is held in
great reverence; but there he is supposed to occupy more than one
shape. One village in the Shahpur Ta’aluqa is said to be very highly
favoured as one of the residences of their deity. Captain Ward was
shown there a few links of a roughly forged chain which the
superstition of the people had gifted with the power of voluntary
motion; this chain looked very old, and no one could say how long it
had been at Jata; it was occasionally found hanging on a ber tree,
sometimes on a stone under the tree, at others in the bed of a
neighbouring stream. At the time of Captain Ward’s visit it was on a
stone under the tree, from which it was said to have descended four
days before. Each of these movements is made the occasion for some
petty sacrifice, of which the attendant Baiga reaps the benefit, so
that it is, of course, his advantage to work on the credulity of the
Gonds; he does not appear, however, to abuse his power, as these
movements only occur about once in four months; so that the Gonds can
hardly complain of being priest-ridden to any extent.
11. The following account of Gansyâm Deo may be compared with what has
been elsewhere said about this deity. [463] “Throughout the greater
part of Râmgarh, and also in parts of Mandla, Gansyâm Deo is held in
great reverence, and about one hundred yards from each village where he
is in favour, a small hut is built for him. It is generally of the
rudest material, with little attempt at ornamentation. A bamboo, with a
red or yellow flag tied to the end, is planted in one corner, an old
withered garland or two is hung up, and a few blocks of rough stone,
some smeared with vermilion, are strewn about the place, which is thus
especially dedicated to Gansyâm Deo. He is considered the protector of
the crops, and in the month of Kârttik (November) the whole village
assembles at his shrine to worship him: sacrifices of fowls and
spirits, or a pig occasionally, according to the size of the village,
are offered, and Gansyâm is said to descend on the head of one of the
worshippers, who is suddenly seized with a sort of fit, and after
staggering about for a little, rushes off into the wildest jungles,
where, the popular theory is, if not pursued and brought back, he would
inevitably die of starvation, a raving lunatic; for as it is, after
being brought back, he does not recover his senses for one or two days.
The idea is that one man is thus singled out as a scapegoat for the
sins of the rest of the village.”