The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume II Part 2

9. Marriage customs.

As a rule, girls may be married before or after p.u.b.erty, but the Golkars of Chanda insist on infant marriage, and fine the parents if an unmarried girl becomes adolescent. On the other hand, the Kaonra Ahirs of Mandla make a practice of not getting a girl married till the signs of p.u.b.erty have appeared. It is said that in Mandla if an unmarried girl becomes pregnant by a man of the caste the _panchayat_ give her to him and fine him Rs. 20 or 30, which they appropriate themselves, giving nothing to the father. If an Ahir girl is seduced by an outsider, she is made over to him, and a fine of Rs. 40 or 50 is exacted from him if possible. This is paid to the girl's father, who has to spend it on a penalty feast to the caste. Generally, s.e.xual offences within the community are leniently regarded. The wedding ceremony is of the type prevalent in the locality. The proposal comes from the boy's family, and a price is usually given for the bride. The Kaonra Ahirs of Mandla and the Jharia and Kosaria Rawats of Chhattisgarh employ a Brahman only to write the _lagun_ or paper fixing the date of the wedding, and the ceremony is conducted by the _sawasins_ or relatives of the parties. In Chhattisgarh the bridegroom is dressed as a girl to be taken to the wedding. In Betul the weddings of most Gaolis are held in Magh (January), and that of the Ranya subcaste in the bright fortnight of Kartik (October). At the ceremony the bride is made to stand on a small stone roller; the bridegroom then takes hold of the roller facing the bride and goes round in a circle seven times, turning the roller with him. Widow remarriage is permitted, and a widow is often expected to marry the younger brother of her deceased husband. If a bachelor wishes to marry a widow he first goes through the ceremony with a dagger or an earthen vessel. Divorce is freely permitted. In Hoshangabad a strip is torn off the clothes worn by husband and wife as a sign of their divorce. This is presumably in contrast to the knotting of the clothes of the couple together at a wedding.

10. Birth customs.

Among the Rawats of Chhattisgarh, when a child is shortly to be born the midwife dips her hand in oil and presses it on the wall, and it is supposed that she can tell by the way in which the oil trickles down whether the child will be a boy or a girl. If a woman is weak and ill during her pregnancy it is thought that a boy will be born, but if she is strong and healthy, a girl. A woman in advanced pregnancy is given whatever she desires to eat, and on one occasion especially delicate kinds of food are served to her, this rite being known as Sidhori. The explanation of the custom is that if the mother does not get the food she desires during pregnancy the child will long for it all through life. If delivery is delayed, a line of men and boys is sometimes made from the door of the house to a well, and a vessel is then pa.s.sed from hand to hand from the house, filled with water, and back again. Thus the water, having acquired the quality of speed during its rapid transit, will communicate this to the woman and cause her quick delivery. Or they take some of the clay left unmoulded on the potter's wheel and give it her to drink in water; the explanation of this is exactly similar, the earth having acquired the quality of swiftness by the rapid transit on the wheel. If three boys or three girls have been born to a woman, they think that the fourth should be of the same s.e.x, in order to make up two pairs. A boy or girl born after three of the opposite s.e.x is called t.i.tra or t.i.tri, and is considered very unlucky. To avert this misfortune they cover the child with a basket, kindle a fire of gra.s.s all round it, and smash a bra.s.s pot on the floor. Then they say that the baby is the fifth and not the fourth child, and the evil is thus removed. When one woman gives birth to a male and another to a female child in the same quarter of a village on the same day and they are attended by the same midwife, it is thought that the boy child will fall ill from the contagion of the girl child communicated through the midwife. To avoid this, on the following Sunday the child's maternal uncle makes a banghy, which is carried across the shoulders like a large pair of scales, and weighs the child in it against cowdung. He then takes the banghy and deposits it at cross-roads outside the village. The father cannot see either the child or its mother till after the Chathi or sixth-day ceremony of purification, when the mother is bathed and dressed in clean clothes, the males of the family are shaved, all their clothes are washed, and the house is whitewashed; the child is also named on this day. The mother cannot go out of doors until after the Barhi or twelfth-day ceremony. If a child is born at an unlucky astrological period its ears are pierced in the fifth month after birth as a means of protection.

11. Funeral rites. Bringing back the soul.

The dead are either buried or burnt. When a man is dying they put basil leaves and boiled rice and milk in his mouth, and a little piece of gold, or if they have not got gold they put a rupee in his mouth and take it out again. For ten days after a death, food in a leaf-cup and a lamp are set out in the house-yard every evening, and every morning water and a tooth-stick. On the tenth day they are taken away and consigned to a river. In Chhattisgarh on the third day after death the soul is brought back. The women put a lamp on a red earthen pot and go to a tank or stream at night. The fish are attracted towards the light, and one of them is caught and put in the pot, which is then filled with water. It is brought home and set beside a small heap of flour, and the elders sit round it. The son of the deceased or other near relative anoints himself with turmeric and picks up a stone. This is washed with the water from the pot, and placed on the floor, and a sacrifice of a c.o.c.k or hen is made to it according as the deceased was a man or a woman. The stone is then enshrined in the house as a family G.o.d, and the sacrifice of a fowl is repeated annually. It is supposed apparently that the dead man's spirit is brought back to the house in the fish, and then transferred to the stone by washing this with the water.

12. Religion. Krishna and other deified cowherds.

The Ahirs have a special relation to the Hindu religion, owing to their a.s.sociation with the sacred cow, which is itself revered as a G.o.ddess. When religion gets to the anthropomorphic stage the cowherd, who partakes of the cow's sanct.i.ty, may be deified as its representative. This was probably the case with Krishna, one of the most popular G.o.ds of Hinduism, who was a cowherd, and, as he is represented as being of a dark colour, may even have been held to be of the indigenous races. Though, according to the legend, he was really of royal birth, Krishna was brought up by Nand, a herdsman of Gokul, and Jasoda or Dasoda his wife, and in the popular belief these are his parents, as they probably were in the original story. The subst.i.tution of Krishna, born as a prince, for Jasoda's daughter, in order to protect him from destruction by the evil king Kansa of Mathura, is perhaps a later gloss, devised when his herdsman parentage was considered too obscure for the divine hero. Krishna's childhood in Jasoda's house with his miraculous feats of strength and his amorous sports with Radha and the other milkmaids of Brindawan, are among the most favourite Hindu legends. Govind and Gopal, the protector or guardian of cows, are names of Krishna and the commonest names of Hindus, as are also his other epithets, Murlidhar and Bansidhar, the flute-player; for Krishna and Balaram, like Greek and Roman shepherds, were accustomed to divert themselves with song, to the accompaniment of the same instrument. The child Krishna is also very popular, and his birthday, the Janam-Ashtami on the 8th of dark Bhadon (August), is a great festival. On this day potsful of curds are sprinkled over the a.s.sembled worshippers. Krishna, however, is not the solitary instance of the divine cowherd, but has several companions, humble indeed compared to him, but perhaps owing their apotheosis to the same reasons. Bhilat, a popular local G.o.dling of the Nerbudda Valley, was the son of an Ahir or Gaoli woman; she was childless and prayed to Parvati for a child, and the G.o.ddess caused her votary to have one by her own husband, the G.o.d Mahadeo. Bhilat was stolen away from his home by Mahadeo in the disguise of a beggar, and grew up to be a great hero and made many conquests; but finally he returned and lived with his herdsman parents, who were no doubt his real ones. He performed numerous miracles, and his devotees are still possessed by his spirit. Singaji is another G.o.dling who was a Gaoli by caste in Indore. He became a disciple of a holy Gokulastha Gosain or ascetic, and consequently a great observer of the Janam-Ashtami or Krishna's birthday. [26] On one occasion Singaji was late for prayers on this day, and the _guru_ was very angry, and said to him, 'Don't show your face to me again until you are dead.' Singaji went home and told the other children he was going to die. Then he went and buried himself alive. The occurrence was noised abroad and came to the ears of the _guru_, who was much distressed, and proceeded to offer his condolences to Singaji's family. But on the way he saw Singaji, who had been miraculously raised from the dead on account of his virtuous act of obedience, grazing his buffaloes as before. After asking for milk, which Singaji drew from a male buffalo calf, the _guru_ was able to inform the bereaved parents of their son's joyful reappearance and his miraculous powers; of these Singaji gave further subsequent demonstration, and since his death, said to have occurred 350 years ago, is widely venerated. The Gaolis pray to him for the protection of their cattle from disease, and make thank-offerings of b.u.t.ter if these prayers are fulfilled. Other pilgrims to Singaji's shrine offer unripe mangoes and sugar, and an annual fair is held at it, when it is said that for seven days no cows, flies or ants are to be seen in the place. In the Betul district there is a village G.o.dling called Dait, represented by a stone under a tree. He is the spirit of any Ahir who in his lifetime was credited in the locality with having the powers of an exorcist. In Mandla and other Districts when any buffalo herdsman dies at a very advanced age the people make a platform for him within the village and call it Mahashi Deo or the buffalo G.o.d. Similarly, when an old cattle herdsman dies they do the same, and call it Balki Deo or the bullock G.o.d. Here we have a clear instance of the process of subst.i.tuting the spirit of the herdsman for the cow or buffalo as an object of worship. The occupation of the Ahir also lends itself to religious imaginations. He stays in the forest or waste gra.s.s-land, frequently alone from morning till night, watching his herds; and the credulous and uneducated minds of the more emotional may easily hear the voices of spirits, or in a half-sleeping condition during the heat and stillness of the long day may think that visions have appeared to them. Thus they come to believe themselves selected for communication with the unseen deities or spirits, and on occasions of strong religious excitement work themselves into a frenzy and are held to be possessed by a spirit or G.o.d.

13. Caste deities.

Among the special deities of the Ahirs is Kharak Deo, who is always located at the _khirkha_, or place of a.s.sembly of the cattle, on going to and returning from pasture. He appears to be the spirit or G.o.d of the _khirkha_. He is represented by a platform with an image of a horse on it, and when cattle fall ill the owners offer flour and b.u.t.ter to him. These are taken by the Ahirs in charge, and it is thought that the cattle will get well. Matar Deo is the G.o.d of the pen or enclosure for cattle made in the jungle. Three days after the Diwali festival the Rawats sacrifice one or more goats to him, cutting off their heads. They throw the heads into the air, and the cattle, smelling the blood, run together and toss them with their horns as they do when they scent a tiger. The men then say that the animals are possessed by Matar Deo. Guraya Deo is a deity who lives in the cattle-stalls in the village and is worshipped once a year. A man holds an egg in his hand, and walks round the stall pouring liquid over the egg all the way, so as to make a line round it. The egg is then buried beneath the shrine of the G.o.d, the rite being probably meant to ensure his aid for the protection of the cattle from disease in their stalls. A favourite saint of the Ahirs is Haridas Baba. He was a Jogi, and could separate his soul from his body at pleasure. On one occasion he had gone in spirit to Benares, leaving his body in the house of one of his disciples, who was an Ahir. When he did not return, and the people heard that a dead body was lying there, they came and insisted that it should be burnt. When he came back and found that his body was burnt, he entered into a man and spoke through him, telling the people what had happened. In atonement for their unfortunate mistake they promised to worship him.

14. Other deities.

The Mahakul Ahirs of Jashpur have three deities, whom they call Mahadeo or Siva, Sahadeo, one of the five Pandava brothers, and the G.o.ddess Lakshmi. They say that the buffalo is Mahadeo, the cow Sahadeo, and the rice Lakshmi. This also appears to be an instance of the personification of animals and the corn into anthropomorphic deities.

15. The Diwali festival.

The princ.i.p.al festival of the Ahirs is the Diwali, falling about the beginning of November, which is also the time when the autumn crops ripen. All cla.s.ses observe this feast by illuminating their houses with many small saucer-lamps and letting off crackers and fireworks, and they generally gamble with money to bring them good luck during the coming year. The Ahirs make a mound of earth, which is called Govardhan, that is the mountain in Mathura which Krishna held upside down on his finger for seven days and nights, so that all the people might gather under it and be protected from the devastating storms of rain sent by Indra. After dancing round the mound they drive their cattle over it and make them trample it to pieces. At this time a festival called Marhai is held, at which much liquor is drunk and all cla.s.ses disport themselves. In Damoh on this day the Ahirs go to the standing-place for village cattle, and after worshipping the G.o.d, frighten the cattle by waving leaves of the basil-plant at them, and then put on fantastic dresses, decorating themselves with cowries, and go round the village, singing and dancing. Elsewhere at the time of the Marhai they dance round a pole with peac.o.c.k feathers tied to the top, and sometimes wear peac.o.c.k feathers themselves, as well as ap.r.o.ns sewn all over with cowries. It is said that Krishna and Balaram used to wear peac.o.c.k feathers when they danced in the jungles of Mathura, but this rite has probably some connection with the worship of the peac.o.c.k. This bird might be venerated by the Ahirs as one of the prominent denizens of the jungle. In Raipur they tie a white c.o.c.k to the top of the pole and dance round it. In Mandla, Khila m.u.t.h.a, the G.o.d of the threshing-floor, is worshipped at this time, with offerings of a fowl and a goat. They also perform the rite of _jagana_ or waking him up. They tie branches of a small shrub to a stick and pour milk over the stone which is his emblem, and sing, 'Wake up, Khila m.u.t.h.a, this is the night of Amawas' (the new moon). Then they go to the cattle-shed and wake up the cattle, crying, 'Poraiya, G.o.d of the door, watchman of the window, open the door, Nand Gowal is coming.' Then they drive out the cattle and chase them with the branches tied to their sticks as far as their grazing-ground. Nand Gowal was the foster-father of Krishna, and is now said to signify a man who has a lakh (100,000) of cows. This custom of frightening the cattle and making them run is called _dhor jagana_ or _bichkana_, that is, to wake up or terrify the cattle. Its meaning is obscure, but it is said to preserve the cattle from disease during the year. In Raipur the women make an image of a parrot in clay at the Diwali and place it on a pole and go round to the different houses, singing and dancing round the pole, and receiving presents of rice and money. They praise the parrot as the bird who carries messages from a lover to his mistress, and as living on the mountains and among the green verdure, and sing:

"Oh, parrot, where shall we sow _gondla_ gra.s.s and where shall we sow rice?

"We will sow _gondla_ in a pond and rice in the field.

"With what shall we cut _gondla_ gra.s.s, and with what shall we cut rice?

"We shall cut _gondla_ with an axe and rice with a sickle."

It is probable that the parrot is revered as a spirit of the forest, and also perhaps because it is destructive to the corn. The parrot is not, so far as is known, a.s.sociated with any G.o.d, but the Hindus do not kill it. In Bilaspur an ear of rice is put into the parrot's mouth, and it is said there that the object of the rite is to prevent the parrots from preying on the corn.

16. Omens.

On the night of the full moon of Jesth (May) the Ahirs stay awake all night, and if the moon is covered with clouds they think that the rains will be good. If a cow's horns are not firmly fixed in the head and seem to shake slightly, it is called Maini, and such an animal is considered to be lucky. If a bullock sits down with three legs under him and the fourth stretched out in front it is a very good omen, and it is thought that his master's cattle will increase and multiply. When a buffalo-calf is born they cover it at once with a black cloth and remove it from the mother's sight, as they think that if she saw the calf and it then died her milk would dry up. The calf is fed by hand. Cow-calves, on the other hand, are usually left with the mother, and many people allow them to take all the milk, as they think it a sin to deprive them of it.

17. Social customs.

The Ahirs will eat the flesh of goats and chickens, and most of them consume liquor freely. The Kaonra Ahirs of Mandla eat pork, and the Rawats of Chhattisgarh are said not to object to field-mice and rats, even when caught in the houses. The Kaonra Ahirs are also said not to consider a woman impure during the period of menstruation. Nevertheless the Ahirs enjoy a good social status, owing to their relations with the sacred cow. As remarked by Eha: "His family having been connected for many generations with the sacred animal he enjoys a certain consciousness of moral respectability, like a man whose uncles are deans or canons." [27] All castes will take water from the hands of an Ahir, and in Chhattisgarh and the Uriya country the Rawats and Gahras, as the Ahir caste is known respectively in these localities, are the only caste from whom Brahmans and all other Hindus will take water. On this account, and because of their comparative purity, they are largely employed as personal servants. In Chhattisgarh the ordinary Rawats will clean the cooking-vessels even of Muhammadans, but the Thethwar or pure Rawats refuse this menial work. In Mandla, when a man is to be brought back into caste after a serious offence, such as getting vermin in a wound, he is made to stand in the middle of a stream, while some elderly relative pours water over him. He then addresses the members of the caste _panchayat_ or committee, who are standing on the bank, saying to them, 'Will you leave me in the mud or will you take me out?' Then they tell him to come out, and he has to give a feast. At this a member of the Meliha sept first eats food and puts some into the offender's mouth, thus taking the latter's sin upon himself. The offender then addresses the _panchayat_ saying, 'Rajas of the Panch, eat.' Then the _panchayat_ and all the caste take food with him and he is readmitted. In Nandgaon State the head of the caste _panchayat_ is known as Thethwar, the t.i.tle of the highest subcaste, and is appointed by the Raja, to whom he makes a present. In Jashpur, among the Mahakul Ahirs, when an offender is put out of caste he has on readmission to make an offering of Rs. 1-4 to Balaji, the tutelary deity of the State. These Mahakuls desire to be considered superior to ordinary Ahirs, and their social rules are hence very strict. A man is put out of caste if a dog, fowl or pig touches his water or cooking-pots, or if he touches a fowl. In the latter case he is obliged to make an offering of a fowl to the local G.o.d, and eight days are allowed for procuring it. A man is also put out of caste for beating his father. In Mandla, Ahirs commonly have the t.i.tle of Patel or headman of a village, probably because in former times, when the country consisted almost entirely of forest and gra.s.s land, they were accustomed to hold large areas on contract for grazing.

18. Ornaments.

In Chhattisgarh the Rawat women are especially fond of wearing large _churas_ or leg-ornaments of bell-metal. These consist of a long cylinder which fits closely to the leg, being made in two halves which lock into each other, while at each end and in the centre circular plates project outwards horizontally. A pair of these _churas_ may weigh 8 or 10 lbs., and cost from Rs. 3 to Rs. 9. It is probable that some important magical advantage was expected to come from the wearing of these heavy appendages, which must greatly impede free progression, but its nature is not known.

19. Occupation.

Only about thirty per cent of the Ahirs are still occupied in breeding cattle and dealing in milk and b.u.t.ter. About four per cent are domestic servants, and nearly all the remainder cultivators and labourers. In former times the Ahirs had the exclusive right of milking the cow, so that on all occasions an Ahir must be hired for this purpose even by the lowest castes. Any one could, however, milk the buffalo, and also make curds and other preparations from cow's milk. [28] This rule is interesting as showing how the caste system was maintained and perpetuated by the custom of preserving to each caste a monopoly of its traditional occupation. The rule probably applied also to the bulk of the cultivating and the menial and artisan castes, and now that it has been entirely abrogated it would appear that the gradual decay and dissolution of the caste organisation must follow. The village cattle are usually entrusted jointly to one or more herdsmen for grazing purposes. The grazier is paid separately for each animal entrusted to his care, a common rate being one anna for a cow or bullock and two annas for a buffalo per month. When a calf is born he gets four annas for a cow-calf and eight annas for a she-buffalo, but except in the rice districts nothing for a male buffalo-calf, as these animals are considered useless outside the rice area. The reason is that buffaloes do not work steadily except in swampy or wet ground, where they can refresh themselves by frequent drinking. In the northern Districts male buffalo-calves are often neglected and allowed to die, but the cow-buffaloes are extremely valuable, because their milk is the princ.i.p.al source of supply of _ghi_ or boiled b.u.t.ter. When a cow or buffalo is in milk the grazier often gets the milk one day out of four or five. When a calf is born the teats of the cow are first milked about twenty times on to the ground in the name of the local G.o.d of the Ahirs. The remainder of the first day's milk is taken by the grazier, and for the next few days it is given to friends. The village grazier is often also expected to prepare the guest-house for Government officers and others visiting the village, fetch gra.s.s for their animals, and clean their cooking vessels. For this he sometimes receives a small plot of land and a present of a blanket annually from the village proprietor. Malguzars and large tenants have their private herdsmen. The pasturage afforded by the village waste lands and forest is, as a rule, only sufficient for the plough-bullocks and more valuable milch-animals. The remainder are taken away sometimes for long distances to the Government forest reserves, and here the herdsmen make stockades in the jungle and remain there with their animals for months together. The cattle which remain in the village are taken by the owners in the early morning to the _khirkha_ or central standing-ground. Here the grazier takes them over and drives them out to pasture. He brings them back at ten or eleven, and perhaps lets them stand in some field which the owner wants manured. Then he separates the cows and milch-buffaloes and takes them to their masters' houses, where he milks them all. In the afternoon all the cattle are again collected and driven out to pasture. The cultivators are very much in the grazier's hands, as they cannot supervise him, and if dishonest he may sell off a cow or calf to a friend in a distant village and tell the owner that it has been carried off by a tiger or panther. Unless the owner succeeds by a protracted search or by accident in finding the animal he cannot disprove the herdsman's statement, and the only remedy is to dispense with the latter's services if such losses become unduly frequent. On this account, according to the proverbs, the Ahir is held to be treacherous and false to his engagements. They are also regarded as stupid because they seldom get any education, retain their rustic and half-aboriginal dialect, and on account of their solitary life are dull and slow-witted in company. 'The barber's son learns to shave on the Ahir's head.' 'The cow is in league with the milkman and lets him milk water into the pail.' The Ahirs are also hot-tempered, and their propensity for drinking often results in affrays, when they break each other's head with their cattle-staffs. 'A Gaoli's quarrel: drunk at night and friends in the morning.'

20. Preparations of milk.

Hindus nearly always boil their milk before using it, as the taste of milk fresh from the cow is considered unpalatable. After boiling, the milk is put in a pot and a little old curds added, when the whole becomes _dahi_ or sour curds. This is a favourite food, and appears to be exactly the same substance as the Bulgarian sour milk which is now considered to have much medicinal value. b.u.t.ter is also made by churning these curds or _dahi_. b.u.t.ter is never used without being boiled first, when it becomes converted into a sort of oil; this has the advantage of keeping much better than fresh b.u.t.ter, and may remain fit for use for as long as a year. This boiled b.u.t.ter is known as _ghi_, and is the staple product of the dairy industry, the bulk of the surplus supply of milk being devoted to its manufacture. It is freely used by all cla.s.ses who can afford it, and serves very well for cooking purposes. There is a comparatively small market for fresh milk among the Hindus, and as a rule only those drink milk who obtain it from their own animals. The acid residue after b.u.t.ter has been made from _dahi_ (curds) or milk is known as _matha_ or b.u.t.ter-milk, and is the only kind of milk drunk by the poorer cla.s.ses. Milk boiled so long as to become solidified is known as _khir_, and is used by confectioners for making sweets. When the milk is boiled and some sour milk added to it, so that it coagulates while hot, the preparation is called _chhana_. The whey is expressed from this by squeezing it in a cloth, and a kind of cheese is obtained. [29] The liquid which oozes out at the root of a cow's horns after death is known as _gaolochan_ and sells for a high price, as it is considered a valuable medicine for children's cough and lung diseases.

Andh

_Andh._ [30]--A low cultivating caste of Berar, who numbered 52,000 persons in 1911, and belong to the Yeotmal, Akola and Buldana Districts. The Andhs appear to be a non-Aryan tribe of the Andhra or Tamil country, from which they derive their name. The territories of the Andhra dynasty extended across southern India from sea to sea in the early part of the Christian era. This designation may, however, have been given to them after migration, emigrants being not infrequently called in their new country by the name of the place from which they came, as Berari, Purdesi, Audhia (from Oudh), and so on. At present there seems to be no caste called Andh in Madras. Mr. Kitts [31] notes that they still come from Hyderabad across the Penganga river.

The caste are divided into two groups, Vartati or pure and Khaltati or illegitimate, which take food together, but do not intermarry. They have a large number of exogamous septs, most of which appear to have Marathi names, either taken from villages or of a t.i.tular character. A few are called after animals or plants, as Majiria the cat, Ringni a kind of tree, Dumare from Dumar, an ant-hill, Dukare from Dukar, a pig, and t.i.tawe from t.i.tawa, a bird. Baghmare means tiger-killer or one killed by a tiger; members of this sept revere the tiger. Two septs, Bhoyar and Wanjari, are named after other castes.