Injhwar. [171]--A caste of agricultural labourers and fishermen found
in the Maratha tract of the Wainganga Valley, comprised in the Bhandara
and Balaghat Districts. In 1901 they numbered 8500 persons as against
11,000 in 1891. The name Injhwar is simply a Marathi corruption of
Binjhwar, as is for bis (twenty) and Ithoba for Bithoba or Vithoba. In
his Census Report of 1891 Sir Benjamin Robertson remarked that the
name was often entered in the census books as Vinjhwar, and in Marathi
B and V are practically interchangeable. The Injhwars are thus a caste
formed from the Binjhwars or highest subdivision of the Baiga tribe of
Balaghat; they have adopted the social customs of the Marathi-speaking
people among whom they live, and have been formed into a separate caste
through a corruption of their name. They still worship Injha or Vindhya
Devi, the tutelary deity of the Vindhyan hills, from which the name of
the Binjhwars is derived. The Injhwars have also some connection with
the Gowari or cowherd caste of the Maratha country. They are sometimes
known as Dudh-Gowari, and say that this is because an Injhwar woman was
a wet-nurse of the first-born Gowari. The Gowaris themselves, as a low
caste of herdsmen frequenting the jungles, would naturally be brought
into close connection with both the Baigas and Gonds. Their alliances
with the Gonds have produced the distinct caste of Gond-Gowari, and
it is not improbable that one fact operating to separate the Injhwars
from their parent tribe of the Baigas was an admixture of Gowari
blood. But they rank higher than the Gond-Gowaris, who are regarded as
impure; this is probably on account of the superior position of the
Binjhwars, who form the aristocracy of the Baiga tribe, and, living
in the forests, were never reduced to the menial and servile condition
imposed on the Gond residents in Hindu villages. The Injhwars, however,
admit the superiority of the Gowaris by taking food from their hands,
a favour which the latter will not reciprocate. Several of the sept
or family names of the caste are also taken from the Gonds, and this
shows an admixture of Gond blood; the Injhwars are thus probably a
mixed group of Gonds, Gowaris, and Binjhwars or Baigas.