In view of the information available the most probable theory of
the origin of the Halbas is that they were a mixed caste, born of
irregular alliances between the Uriya Rajas and their retainers with
the women of their household servants and between the different
servants themselves. Mr. Gokul Prasad points out that many of the
names of Halba sections are those of the haguas or household menials
of the Uriya chiefs. The Halbas, according to their own story, came
here in attendance on one of the chiefs, and are still employed as
household servants in Kanker and Bastar. They are clearly a caste
of mixed origin as they still admit women of other castes married
by Halba men into the community, and one of their two subcastes in
each locality consists of families of impure descent. The Dhakars of
Bastar are the illegitimate offspring of Brahmans with women of the
country who have grown into a caste, and Mr. Panda Baijnath quotes a
proverb, saying that 'The Halbas and Dhakars form two portions of a
bedsheet.' Instances of other castes similarly formed are the Audhelias
of Bilaspur, who are said to be the offspring of Daharia Rajputs
by their kept women, and the Bargahs, descended from the nurses of
Rajput families. The name Halba might be derived from hal, a plough,
and be a variant for harwaha, the common term for a farmservant in
the northern Districts. This derivation they give themselves in one
of their stories, saying that their first ancestor was created from
a sod of earth on the plough of Balaram or Haladhara, the brother of
Krishna; and it has also the support of Sir G. Grierson. The caste
includes no doubt a number of Gonds, Rawats (herdsmen) and others,
and it may be partly occupational, consisting of persons employed as
farmservants by the Hindu settlers. The farmservant in Chhattisgarh
has a very definite position, his engagement being permanent and
his wages consisting always in a fourth share of the produce, which
is divided among them when several are employed. The caste have
a peculiar dialect of their own, which Dr. Grierson describes as
follows: [142] "Linguistic evidence also points to the fact that the
Halbas are an aboriginal tribe, who have adopted Hinduism and an Aryan
language. Their dialect is a curious mixture of Uriya, Chhattisgarhi
and Marathi, the proportions varying according to the locality. In
Bhandara it is nearly all Marathi, but in Bastar it is much more mixed
and has some forms which look like Telugu." If the home of the Halbas
was in the debateable land between Chhattisgarh and the Uriya country
to the east and south of the Mahanadi, their dialect might, as Mr. Hira
Lal points out, have originated here. They themselves give the ruined
but once important city of Sihawa on the banks of the Mahanadi in this
tract as that of their first settlement; and Uriya is spoken to the
east of Sihawa and Marathi to the west, while Chhattisgarhi is the
language of the locality itself and of the country extending north
and south. Subsequently the Halbas served as soldiers in the armies of
the Ratanpur kings and their position no doubt considerably improved,
so that in Bastar they became an important landholding caste. Some
of these soldiers may have migrated west and taken service under the
Gond kings of Chanda, and their descendants may now be represented
by the Bhandara zamindars, who, however, if this theory be correct,
have entirely forgotten their origin. Others took up weaving and have
become amalgamated with the Koshti caste in Bhandara and Berar.