The tribe have a large number of exogamous septs, which are generally
totemistic or named after plants and animals. The names of 117 septs
have been recorded, and there are probably even more. The following
list gives a selection of the names:
Andil Born from an egg.
Bagh Tiger.
Bichhi Scorpion.
Bilwa Wild cat.
Bokra Goat.
Chandrama Moon.
Chanwar A whisk.
Chita Leopard.
Chuva A well.
Champa A sweet-scented flower.
Dhenki A pounding-lever.
Darpan A mirror.
Gobira A dung insect.
Hundar A wolf.
Janta Grinding-mill.
Kothi A store-house.
Khumari A leaf-umbrella.
Lodha A wild dog.
Mama Maternal uncle.
Mahadeo The deity.
Nunmutaria A packet of salt.
Sendur Vermilion.
Sua A parrot.
Telasi Oily.
Thath Murra Pressed in a sugarcane press.
Generally it may be said that every common animal or bird and even
articles of food or dress and household implements have given their
names to a sept. In the Paikara subcaste a figure of the plant or
animal after which the sept is named is made by each party at the time
of marriage. Thus a bridegroom of the Bagh or tiger sept prepares a
small image of a tiger with flour and bakes it in oil; this he shows
to the bride's family to represent, as it were, his pedigree, or prove
his legitimacy; while she on her part, assuming that she is, say,
of the Bilwa or cat sept, will bring a similar image of a cat with
her in proof of her origin. The Andil sept make a representation
of a hen sitting on eggs. They do not worship the totem animal
or plant, but when they learn of the death of one of the species,
they throw away an earthen cooking-pot as a sign of mourning. They
generally think themselves descended from the totem animal or plant,
but when the sept is called after some inanimate object, such as a
grinding-mill or pounding-lever, they repudiate the idea of descent
from it, and are at a loss to account for the origin of the name. Those
whose septs are named after plants or animals usually abstain from
injuring or cutting them, but where this rule would cause too much
inconvenience it is transgressed: thus the members of the Karsayal
or deer sept find it too hard for them to abjure the flesh of that
animal, nor can those of the Bokra sept abstain from eating goats. In
some cases new septs have been formed by a conjunction of the names
of two others, as Bagh-Daharia, Gauriya-Sonwani, and so on. These
may possibly be analogous to the use of double names in English,
a family of one sept when it has contracted a marriage with another
of better position adding the latter's name to its own as a slight
distinction. But it may also simply arise from the constant tendency
to increase the number of septs in order to remove difficulties from
the arrangement of matches.