Traditionally the Khonds have thirty-two exogamous septs, but the
number has now increased. All the members of one sept live in the same
locality about some central village. Thus the Tupa sept are collected
round the village of Teplagarh in the Patna State, the Loa sept round
Sindhekala, the Borga sept round Bangomunda, and so on. The names
of the septs are derived either from the names of villages or from
titles or nicknames. Each sept is further divided into a number of
subsepts whose names are of a totemistic nature, being derived from
animals, plants or natural objects. Instances of these are Bachhas
calf, Chhatra umbrella, Hikoka horse, Kelka the kingfisher, Konjaka
the monkey, Mandinga an earthen pot, and so on. It is a very curious
fact that while the names of the septs appear to belong to the Khond
language, those of the subsepts are all Uriya words, and this affords
some ground for the supposition that they are more recent than the
septs, an opinion to which Sir H. Risley inclines. On the other hand,
the fact that the subsepts have totemistic names appears difficult
of explanation under this hypothesis. Members of the subsept regard
the animal or plant after which it is named as sacred. Those of the
Kadam group will not stand under the tree of that name. Those of
the Narsingha [511] sept will not kill a tiger or eat the meat of
any animal wounded or killed by this animal. The same subsept will
be found in several different septs, and a man may not marry a woman
belonging either to the same sept or subsept as his own. But kinship
through females is disregarded, and he may take his maternal uncle's
daughter to wife, and in Kalahandi is not debarred from wedding his
mother's sister. [512]