Gurao. [130]--A caste of village priests of the temples of Mahadeo
in the Maratha Districts. They numbered about 14,000 persons in the
Central Provinces and Berar in 1911. The Guraos say that they were
formerly Brahmans and worshippers of Siva, but for some negligence
or mistake in his ritual they were cursed by the god and degraded
from the status of Brahmans, though subsequently the god relented
and permitted them to worship him and take the offerings made to him.
It is related that a certain Brahman, who was a votary of Siva, had to
go on a journey. He left his son behind and strictly enjoined on him
to perform the worship of the god at midday. The son had bathed and
purified himself for this purpose, when shortly before midday his wife
came to him and so importuned him to have conjugal intercourse with her
that he was obliged to comply. It was then midday and in his impure
condition the son went to the shrine of the god to worship him. But
Siva cursed him and said that his descendants should be degraded from
the status of Brahmans, though he afterwards relented so far as to
permit of their continuing to act as his priests; and this was the
origin of the Guraos. It seems doubtful, however, whether the caste
are really of Brahman origin. They were formerly village priests,
and Grant-Duff gives the Gurao as one of the village menials in the
Maratha villages. They have the privilege of taking the Naivedya
or offerings of cooked food made to the god Mahadeo, which Brahmans
will not accept. They also sell leaf-plates and flowers and bel leaves
[131] which are offered at the temples of Mahadeo; and on the festival
of Shivratri and during the month of Shrawan (July) they take round
the bel leaves which the cultivators require for their offerings and
receive presents in return. In Wardha the Guraos get small gifts of
grain from the cultivators at seed-time and harvest. They also act as
village musicians and blow the conch-shell, beat the drum and play
other musical instruments for the morning and evening worship at
the temple. They play on the cymbals and drums at the marriages of
Brahmans and other high castes. In the Bombay Presidency [132] some
are astrologers and fortune-tellers, and others make the basing or
coronet of flowers which the bridegroom wears. Sometimes they play on
the drum or fiddle for their spiritual followers, the dancing-girls
or Kalavants. When a dancing-girl became pregnant she worshipped
the Gurao, and he, in return, placed the missi or tooth-powder made
from myrobalans on her teeth. If this was not done before her child
was born, a Kalavantin was put out of caste. In some localities
the Guraos will take food from Kunbis. And further, as will be seen
subsequently, the caste have no proper gotras or exogamous sections,
but in arranging their marriages they simply avoid persons having
a common surname. All these considerations point to the fact that
the caste is not of Brahmanical origin but belongs to a lower class
of the population. Nevertheless in Wardha they are known as Shaiva
Brahmans and rank above the Kunbis. They may study the Sama Veda only
and not the others, and may repeat the Rudra Gayatri or sacred verse
of Siva. Clearly the Brahmans could not accept the offerings of cooked
food made at Siva's shrine; though the larger temples of this deity
have Brahman priests. It seems uncertain whether Siva or Mahadeo was
first a village deity and was subsequently exalted to the position of
a member of the supreme Hindu Trinity, or whether the opposite process
took place and the Guraos obtained their priestly functions on his
worship being popularised. But in any case it would appear that they
were originally a class of village priests regarded as the servants
of the cultivating community, by whose gifts and offerings they were
maintained. Grant-Duff in enumerating the village servants says:
"Ninth, the Gurao, who is a Sudra employed to wash the ornaments and
attend the idol in the village temples, and on occasions of feasting
to prepare the patraoli or leaves which the Hindus substitute for
plates. They are also trumpeters by profession and in this capacity
are much employed in Maratha armies." [133]