The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume III Part 1

The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India.

by R. V. Russell.

Volume 3.

PART III

ARTICLES ON CASTES AND TRIBES

GARARDIA--KOSHTI

Gadaria

List of Paragraphs

1. General notice.

2. Subdivisions.

3. Marriage customs.

4. Religion and funeral rites.

5. Social customs.

6. Goats and sheep.

7. Blanket-weaving.

8. Sanct.i.ty of wool.

1. General notice.

Gadaria, Gadri. [1]--The occupational shepherd caste of northern India. The name is derived from the Hindi gadar and the Sanskrit gandhara, a sheep, the Sanskrit name being taken from the country of Gandhara or Kandahar, from which sheep were first brought. The three main shepherd castes all have functional names, that of the Dhangars or Maratha shepherds being derived from dhan, small stock, while the Kuramwars or Telugu shepherds take their name like the Gadarias from kuruba, a sheep. These three castes are of similar nature and status, and differ only in language and local customs. In 1911 the Gadarias numbered 41,000 persons. They are found in the northern Districts, and appear to have been amongst the earliest settlers in the Nerbudda valley, for they have given their name to several villages, as Gadariakheda and Gadarwara.

2. Subdivisions.

The Gadarias are a very mixed caste. They themselves say that their first ancestor was created by Mahadeo to tend his rams, and that he married three women who were fascinated by the sight of him shearing the sheep. These belonged to the Brahman, Dhimar and Barai castes respectively, and became the ancestors of the Nikhar, Dhengar and Barmaiyan subcastes of Gadarias. The Nikhar subcaste are the highest, their name meaning pure. Dhengar is probably, in reality, a corruption of Dhangar, the name of the Maratha shepherd caste. They have other subdivisions of the common territorial type, as Jheria or jungly, applied to the Gadarias of Chhattisgarh; Desha from desh, country, meaning those who came from northern India; Purvaiya or eastern, applied to immigrants from Oudh; and Malvi or those belonging to Malwa. Nikhar and Dhengar men take food together, but not the women; and if a marriage cannot be otherwise arranged these subcastes will sometimes give daughters to each other. A girl thus married is no longer permitted to take food at her father's house, but she may eat with the women of her husband's subcaste. Many of their exogamous groups are named after animals or plants, as Hiranwar, from hiran, a deer; Sapha from the cobra, Moria from the peac.o.c.k, Nahar from the tiger, Phulsungha, a flower, and so on. Others are the names of Rajput septs and of other castes, as Ahirwar (Ahir) and Bamhania (Brahman).

Another more ambitious legend derives their origin from the Bania caste. They say that once a Bania was walking along the road with a cocoanut in his hand when Vishnu met him and asked him what it was. The Bania answered that it was a cocoanut. Vishnu said that it was not a cocoanut but wool, and told him to break it, and on breaking the cocoanut the Bania found that it was filled with wool. The Bania asked what he should do with it, and Vishnu told him to make a blanket out of it for the G.o.d to sit on. So he made a blanket, and Vishnu said that from that day he should be the ancestor of the Gadaria caste, and earn his bread by making blankets from the wool of sheep. The Bania asked where he should get the sheep from, and the G.o.d told him to go home saying 'Ehan, Ehan, Ehan,' all the way, and when he got home he would find a flock of sheep following him; but he was not to look behind him all the way. And the Bania did so, but when he had almost got home he could not help looking behind him to see if there were really any sheep. And he saw a long line of sheep following him in single file, and at the very end was a ram with golden horns just rising out of the ground. But as he looked it sank back again into the ground, and he went back to Vishnu and begged for it, but Vishnu said that as he had looked behind him he had lost it. And this was the origin of the Gadaria caste, and the Gadarias always say 'Ehan, Ehan,' as they lead their flocks of sheep and goats to pasture.

3. Marriage customs.

Marriage within the clan is forbidden and also the union of first cousins. Girls may be married at any age, and are sometimes united to husbands much younger than themselves. Four castemen of standing carry the proposal of marriage from the boy's father, and the girl's father, being forewarned, sends others to meet them. One of the amba.s.sadors opens the conversation by saying, 'We have the milk and you have the milk-pail; let them be joined.' To which the girl's party, if the match be agreeable, will reply, "Yes, we have the tamarind and you have the mango; if the panches agree let there be a marriage." The boy's father gives the girl's father five areca-nuts, and the latter returns them and they clasp each other round the neck. When the wedding procession reaches the bride's village it is met by their party, and one of them takes the sarota or iron nut-cutter, which the bridegroom holds in his hand, and twirls it about in the air several times. The ceremony is performed by walking round the sacred pole, and the party return to the bridegroom's lodging, where his brother-in-law fills the bride's lap with sweetmeats and water-nut as an omen of fertility. The maihar or small wedding-cakes of wheat fried in sesamum oil are distributed to all members of the caste present at the wedding. While the bridegroom's party is absent at the bride's house, the women who remain behind enjoy amus.e.m.e.nts of their own. One of them strips herself naked, tying up her hair like a religious mendicant, and is known as Baba or holy father. In this state she romps with her companions in turn, while the others laugh and applaud. Occasionally some man hides himself in a place where he can be a witness of their play, but if they discover him he is beaten severely with belnas or wooden bread-rollers. Widow-marriage and divorce are permitted, the widow being usually expected to marry her late husband's younger brother, whether he already has a wife or not. s.e.xual offences are not severely reprobated, and may be atoned for by a feast to the caste-fellows.

4. Religion and funeral rites.

The Gadarias worship the ordinary Hindu deities and also Dishai Devi, the G.o.ddess of the sheep-pen. No Gadaria may go into the sheep-pen with his shoes on. On entering it in the morning they make obeisance to the sheep, and these customs seem to indicate that the G.o.ddess Dishai Devi [2] is the deified sheep. When the sheep are shorn and the fleeces are lying on the ground they take some milk from one of the ewes and mix rice with it and sprinkle it over the wool. This rite is called Jimai, and they say that it is feeding the wool, but it appears to be really a sacrificial offering to the material. The caste burn the dead when they can afford to do so, and take the bones to the Ganges or Nerbudda, or if this is not practicable, throw them into the nearest stream.

5. Social customs.

Well-to-do members of the caste employ Brahmans for ceremonial purposes, but others dispense with their services. The Gadarias eat flesh and drink liquor, but abstain from fowls and pork. They will take food cooked with water from a Lodhi or a Dangi, members of these castes having formerly been their feudal chieftains in the Vindhyan Districts and Nerbudda valley. Brahmans and members of the good cultivating castes would be permitted to become Gadarias if they should so desire. The head of the caste committee has the t.i.tle of Mahton and the office is hereditary, the holder being invariably consulted on caste questions even if he should be a mere boy. The Gadarias rank with those castes from whom a Brahman cannot take water, but above the servile and labouring castes. They are usually somewhat stupid, lazy and good-tempered, and are quite uneducated. Owing to their work in cleaning the pens and moving about among the sheep, the women often carry traces of the peculiar smell of these animals. This is exemplified in the saying, 'Ek to Gadaria, dusre lahsan khae,' or 'Firstly she is a Gadaria and then she has eaten garlic'; the inference being that she is far indeed from having the scent of the rose.

6. Goats and sheep.

The regular occupations of the Gadarias are the breeding and grazing of sheep and goats, and the weaving of country blankets from sheep's wool. The flocks are usually tended by the children, while the men and women spin and weave the wool and make blankets. Goats are bred in larger numbers than sheep in the Central Provinces, being more commonly used for food and sacrifices, while they are also valuable for their manure. Any Hindu who thinks an animal sacrifice requisite, and objects to a fowl as unclean, will choose a goat; and the animal after being sacrificed provides a feast for the worshippers, his head being the perquisite of the officiating priest. Muhammadans and most castes of Hindus will eat goat's meat when they can afford it. The milk is not popular and there is very little demand for it locally, but it is often sold to the confectioners, and occasionally made into b.u.t.ter and exported. Sheep's flesh is also eaten, but is not so highly esteemed. In the case of both sheep and goats there is a feeling against consuming the flesh of ewes. Sheep are generally black in colour and only occasionally white. Goats are black, white, speckled or reddish-white. Both animals are much smaller than in Europe. Both sheep and goats are in brisk demand in the cotton tracts for their manure in the hot-weather months, and will be kept continually on the move from field to field for a month at a time. It is usual to hire flocks at the rate of one rupee a hundred head for one night; but sometimes the cultivators combine to buy a large flock, and after penning them on their fields in the hot weather, send them to Nagpur in the beginning of the rains to be disposed of. The Gadaria was formerly the bete noir of the cultivator, on account of the risk incurred by the crops from the depredations of his sheep and goats. This is exemplified in the saying:

Ahir, Gadaria, Pasi, Yeh tinon satyanasi,

or, 'The Ahir (herdsman), the Gadaria and the Pasi, these three are the husbandmen's foes.' And again:

Ahir, Gadaria, Gujar, Yeh tinon chahen ujar,

or 'The Ahir, the Gadaria and the Gujar want waste land,' that is for grazing their flocks. But since the demand for manure has arisen, the Gadaria has become a popular personage in the village. The shepherds whistle to their flocks to guide them, and hang bells round the necks of goats but not of sheep. Some of them, especially in forest tracts, train ordinary pariah dogs to act as sheep-dogs. As a rule, rams and he-goats are not gelt, but those who have large flocks sometimes resort to this practice and afterwards fatten the animals up for sale. They divide their sheep into five cla.s.ses, as follows, according to the length of the ears: Kanari, with ears a hand's length long; Semri, somewhat shorter; Burhai, ears a forefinger's length; Churia, ears as long as the little finger; and Neori, with ears as long only as the top joint of the forefinger. Goats are divided into two cla.s.ses, those with ears a hand's length long being called Bangalia or Bagra, while those with small ears a forefinger's length are known as Gujra.

7. Blanket-weaving.

While ordinary cultivators have now taken to keeping goats, sheep are still as a rule left to the Gadarias. These are of course valued princ.i.p.ally for their wool, from which the ordinary country blanket is made. The sheep [3] are shorn two or sometimes three times a year, in February, June and September, the best wool being obtained in February from the cold weather coat. Members of the caste commonly shear for each other without payment. The wool is carded with a kamtha, or simple bow with a catgut string, and spun by the women of the household. Blankets are woven by men on a loom like that used for cotton cloth. The fabric is coa.r.s.e and rough, but strong and durable, and the colour is usually a dark dirty grey, approaching black, being the same as that of the raw material. Every cultivator has one of these, and the various uses to which it may be put are admirably described by 'Eha' as follows: [4]

"The kammal is a home-spun blanket of the wool of black sheep, thick, strong, as rough as a farrier's rasp, and of a colour which cannot get dirty. When the Kunbi (cultivator) comes out of his hole in the morning it is wrapped round his shoulders and reaches to his knees, guarding him from his great enemy, the cold, for the thermometer is down to 60 Fahrenheit. By-and-by he has a load to carry, so he folds his kammal into a thick pad and puts it on the top of his head. Anon he feels tired, so he lays down his load, and arranging his kammal as a cushion, sits with comfort on a rugged rock or a stony bank, and has a smoke. Or else he rolls himself in it from head to foot, like a mummy, and enjoys a sound sleep on the roadside. It begins to rain, he folds his kammal into an ingenious cowl and is safe. Many more are its uses. I cannot number them all. Whatever he may be called upon to carry, be it forest produce, or grain or household goods, or his infant child, he will make a bundle of it with his kammal and poise it on his head, or sling it across his back, and trudge away."