Kewat, Khewat, Kaibartta. [464]--A caste of fishermen, boatmen,
grain-parchers, and cultivators, chiefly found in the Chhattisgarh
Districts of Drug, Raipur, and Bilaspur. They numbered 170,000 persons
in 1911. The Kewats or Kaibarttas, as they are called in Bengal,
are the modern representatives of the Kaivartas, a caste mentioned in
Hindu classical literature. Sir H. Risley explains the origin of the
name as follows: [465] "Concerning the origin of the name Kaibartta
there has been considerable difference of opinion. Some derive it
from ka, water, and vartta, livelihood; but Lassen says that the
use of ka in this sense is extremely unusual in early Sanskrit,
and that the true derivation is Kivarta, a corruption of Kimvarta,
meaning a person following a low or degrading occupation. This, he
adds, would be in keeping with the pedigree assigned to the caste in
Manu, where the Kaivarta, also known as Margava or Dasa, is said to
have been begotten by a Nishada father and an Ayogavi mother, and to
subsist by his labour in boats. On the other hand, the Brahma-Vaivarta
Purana gives the Kaibartta a Kshatriya father and a Vaishya mother,
a far more distinguished parentage; for the Ayogavi having been born
from a Sudra father and a Vaishya mother is classed as pratiloma,
begotten against the hair, or in the inverse order of the precedence
of the castes." The Kewats are a mixed caste. Mr. Crooke says that
they merge on one side into the Mallahs and on the other into the
Binds. In the Central Provinces their two principal subdivisions
are the Laria and Uriya, or the residents of the Chhattisgarh and
Sambalpur plains respectively. The Larias are further split up
into the Larias proper, the Kosbonwas, who grow kosa or tasar silk
cocoons, and the Binjhwars and Dhuris (grain-parchers). The Binjhwars
are a Hinduised group of the Baiga tribe, and in Bhandara they have
become a separate Hindu caste, dropping the first letter of the name,
and being known as Injhwar. The Binjhwar Kewats are a group of the
same nature. The Dhuris are grain-parchers, and there is a separate
Dhuri caste; but as grain-parching is also a traditional occupation
of the Kewats, the Dhuris may be an offshoot from them. The Kewats
are so closely connected with the Dhimars that it is difficult to
make any distinction; in Chhattisgarh it is said that the Dhimars
will not act as ferrymen, while the Kewats will not grow or sell
singara or water-nut. The Dhimars worship their fishing-nets on the
Akti day, which the Kewats will not do. Both the Kewats and Dhimars
are almost certainly derived from the primitive tribes. The Kewats
say that formerly the Hindus would not take water from them; but
on one occasion during his exile Rama came to them and asked them
to ferry him across a river; before doing so they washed his feet
and drank the water, and since that time the Hindus have considered
them pure and take water from their hands. This story has no doubt
been invented to explain the fact that Brahmans will take water from
the non-Aryan Kewats, the custom having in reality been adopted as
a convenience on account of their employment as palanquin-bearers
and indoor servants. But in Saugor, where they are not employed as
servants, and also grow san-hemp, their position is distinctly lower
and no high caste will take water from them.